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RE: Soviet counter offensive starts - 12/17/2010 1:32:13 PM   
karonagames


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From: The Duchy of Cornwall, nr England
Status: offline 		Sorry that I forgot to mention in my email, that I think you should consider disbanding the fortified zones that are likely to be retreated so that you can get the men and equipment into "proper" fighting units, and I also forgot to say that I would recommend putting every unit in refit mode apart from garrisons and partisan chasers so you get the men from the fortified zones into the combat units ASAP.

More haste; less speed.

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RE: Soviet counter offensive starts - 12/17/2010 3:39:59 PM   
Arstavidios

 

Posts: 780
Joined: 11/19/2004
Status: offline 		I disbanded the fortified zones that were left.
so far i changed my strategy a bit.

He who runs and flies away lives to fight an other day. Fighting strength is low but many of the men are just disabled. real losses are still moderate although the fortified zones experiment cost me somewhat.

So I'm giving groung to preserve my army so that I'll have a good offensive capacity in 1942.

After the Von Fubar defensive line, I'm testing the Von Fubarblizzard withdrawal strategy :)

One of the advantages is that I'm shortening my lines.

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He who flies and runs away lives to fight an other day - 12/17/2010 3:59:57 PM   
Arstavidios

 

Posts: 780
Joined: 11/19/2004
Status: offline 		Mein Fuhrer this is not a retreat.
This is a carefully devised plot to lure the red army into a cunning trap where it will be anihitated.
So between running and dying I chose the running, which significantly reduced losses this turn.

I don't know how far I'll run but it will likeky last a few turns :)




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< Message edited by Arstavidios -- 12/17/2010 6:09:08 PM >

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RE: He who flies and runs away lives to fight an other day - 12/17/2010 4:06:42 PM   
Arstavidios

 

Posts: 780
Joined: 11/19/2004
Status: offline 		In the centre 2 divisions were gobled around Orel, falling back too but more slowly.
The aim is not to have units isolated.




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< Message edited by Arstavidios -- 12/17/2010 5:34:33 PM >

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RE: He who flies and runs away lives to fight an other day - 12/17/2010 4:10:33 PM   
Arstavidios

 

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Status: offline 		North is holding. I left the fortified zones here so far, but i'll start disbanding some soon.




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< Message edited by Arstavidios -- 12/17/2010 5:35:19 PM >

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RE: He who flies and runs away lives to fight an other day - 12/17/2010 4:15:52 PM   
Arstavidios

 

Posts: 780
Joined: 11/19/2004
Status: offline 		losses are still ugly but better than the almost 300 000 of previous turns.




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Post #: 126
RE: He who flies and runs away lives to fight an other day - 12/17/2010 4:32:55 PM   
Arstavidios

 

Posts: 780
Joined: 11/19/2004
Status: offline 		With the red army on steroids and the german army wearing thin the coming turns look unpromising.
Hopefully Soviet tank losses in the early turns help somewhat. A 6000 or 7000 tank strong red army would be an ugly sight.




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Post #: 127
RE: He who flies and runs away lives to fight an other day - 12/17/2010 5:35:49 PM   
Tokugawa

 

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Status: offline 		Ty for the screens. Impressive on how bad the winter really hit you.

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RE: He who flies and runs away lives to fight an other day - 12/17/2010 5:50:55 PM   
Arstavidios

 

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Joined: 11/19/2004
Status: offline 		And the red army keeps growing. hopefully if I manage to avoid having units cut off and destroyed and avoit too much soviet pounding i should be able to come back hard in 1942. hopefully i'll be able to cut large slices of the red army. unless they run east until the next winter.

< Message edited by Arstavidios -- 12/17/2010 6:12:14 PM >

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Post #: 129
Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/17/2010 10:38:21 PM   
Arstavidios

 

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Post #: 130
RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 2:46:22 AM   
Erik Rutins

 

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Status: offline 		Well, the good news I suppose is that as you get into February and March the first winter penalties become a bit less severe, but ouch! The first time I played against the Soviet AI on Challenging I had a very similar first winter experience.

Regards,

- Erik

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RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 3:38:44 AM   
Arstavidios

 

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Status: offline 		first winter blizzard experience
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCPCMCceNMY&feature=related

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Post #: 132
RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 5:06:59 AM   
kfmiller41


Posts: 1063
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From: Saint Marys, Ga
Status: offline 		this is making me wonder why I am trying a campaign against a real person, I must be crazy

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RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 11:34:04 AM   
Arstavidios

 

Posts: 780
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Status: offline 		Well the AI made a big push at the joint between AGC and AGS. Partisans disrupted my rail lines which did not help for supplies and sending reinforcements.
So my reinforcements did not make it in time to shore up the line.

Casualties are about 420 000 men kIA or prisoner swith 1 000 000 disabled, this must includes a number of axis allies as the rumanians are takind a pounding in the south. German army is down to 2 500 000 men with 2 200 000 ready.

21 st of January so far. So plenty of turns of blizzard still to go. So far 3 german infantry divisios have been destroyed and a handful of support units.
But with this big hole it may be mounting soon. I have to figure out how to get the army through the blizzard in decent shape.

So that makes me a 20 hex gap in my front to fill up with a dozen divisions half of them almost isolated to cover it. I think I can forget about runing wild into russia in the 1942 campaigning season
restoring my lines will be good enough


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Post #: 134
RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 11:39:39 AM   
Arstavidios

 

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Status: offline 		So I have to stabilize the situation so that I can pocket all that when good weather comes back.

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Post #: 135
RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 11:54:19 AM   
karonagames


Posts: 4712
Joined: 7/10/2006
From: The Duchy of Cornwall, nr England
Status: offline 		Balancing the first winter was an interesting project and nearly "fun". As Arstavidious found, if you lose line cohesion, GAIA will jump on any crack with everything she has. The more times I tested it, the more I saw the importance of the rail grid, firstly for getting bashed up units back into action quickly (refitting at a railhead is much quicker) and for moving reinforcements to threatened areas, and to this end I would try to build some north/south "spur" lines to help move reinforcements laterally.

Arstavidious was also a little late in getting his garrisons in place, so the rail grid got bashed.

If the pressure gets too much you can always use the "chicken" switch and change the settings to easy. I have not tested the final, final version, but I think "Challenging" may be slightly OTT in favour of the SU and would not have a problem in telling players to switch back to "normal" for the Blizzard turns.

In my pbem test with Trey, the retreat went pretty historically, so we were happy to sign off on the first winter, but Joel and Gary subsequently made changes that made the Axis' life a little easier.



< Message edited by BigAnorak -- 12/18/2010 12:04:57 PM >

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RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 12:58:06 PM   
Arstavidios

 

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Status: offline 		Some planning of the rail grid and more attention to garrison seem to imprtant for sure.
Running through that first winter a couple of times will help getting ready for what's up in store. Good preparation should help.

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RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 1:27:08 PM   
Arstavidios

 

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Status: offline 		Do fortified zones protect from partisan attacks?
Protecting a few critical railway segment could be a good idea a would help keeping the front supplied.

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Post #: 138
RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 1:31:34 PM   
karonagames


Posts: 4712
Joined: 7/10/2006
From: The Duchy of Cornwall, nr England
Status: offline 		Not 100% certain on this, but I think Fortified zones are brigade sized units, which have weaker ZOCs than divisions, and I am not sure how strong the partisan ZOCs are.

I will investigate.

Pieter may know.

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Post #: 139
RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 2:34:57 PM   
Arstavidios

 

Posts: 780
Joined: 11/19/2004
Status: offline 		Puting a few static defensive zones in the pripet marshes for exemple would help keep the partisans at bay.

< Message edited by Arstavidios -- 12/18/2010 2:38:24 PM >

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Post #: 140
RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 7:29:53 PM   
Arstavidios

 

Posts: 780
Joined: 11/19/2004
Status: offline 		Well February comes and the situation moves from bad to worse as the Soviet army pursues its offensive with renewed strength.
Most German frontline divisions are unready and troop s are just brushed aside from north to south.
Reinforcements from Germany had little effect and had lost 25% of their strength by the time they had reached the front line.

Russian spearheads are nearing vitebsk. 2 more divisions were gobled up. I keep suffering massive losses every tun while soviet losses remain low. As a result the Soviet army is now about 6 000 000 men strong against 2 300 000 men for the Germans. only In the area of AGN which was not very much attacked is the German line still firm, but attacks are increasing and my troops just break as elsewhere.

Kharkov is holding But I'm going to have to evacuate due to the pression North and south.

South of Dnepropetrovsk the Russians have reached the Dnepr. Many Rumanian units are now routing and two german mobile corps have been repulsed and are going to have to recross the river.
I need to seriously improve my defensive skills. Everybody is retreating, up to now in relatively good order but with the increasing pressure it looks like more and more forces are at risk of being destroyed by the soviet advance.



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Post #: 141
RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 7:41:47 PM   
Arstavidios

 

Posts: 780
Joined: 11/19/2004
Status: offline 		In the North my toops along the Volkhov are repulsed and the russians are nearing Leningrad. Those were my troops in the better condition with entrenchments




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RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 7:52:11 PM   
Arstavidios

 

Posts: 780
Joined: 11/19/2004
Status: offline 		In the centre looks like the next stop will be Minsk. My infantry divisions are just wrecks with many of them with less than 100 squads. Most of them are unready. Mobile divisions are a little bit better with many of them ready. With the increasing soviet advance many HQ where thrown to the back which does not help, although I'm trying to keep them well to the back and when possible with a combat unit.




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RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 7:58:27 PM   
Flaviusx


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From: Southern California
Status: offline 		This is getting kind of ugly, not gonna lie. Blizzard on challenging is no joke.

Hang on until March, try to get the panzers ready for a counterattack. Once the blizzard penalties lift in March, you may be able to restore portions of the line.

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RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 8:08:28 PM   
Arstavidios

 

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Joined: 11/19/2004
Status: offline 		In the South Kharkov is holding But with the Russians accross the Dnepr around nikolaev it's time to fall back to the Dnepr too before AGS gets in trouble.




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RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 8:14:04 PM   
Arstavidios

 

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Joined: 11/19/2004
Status: offline 		Not looking very promising indeed.
Most of 42 will be necessary to restore the situation.
Any advice on how to handle blizzard would be welcome. settings are 100% for the Germans 110% for the soviets with 120% admin
However looks like I'm the one who needs some help here :)

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Post #: 146
RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 8:23:56 PM   
karonagames


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From: The Duchy of Cornwall, nr England
Status: offline 		You are very brave to play those settings for the first try. At those settings the SU gets enough MPs to Attack, advance and attack again, and this can be very damaging. I think the 100/100 setting is historical - tough, like it was like it was historically, but survivable, as it was historically.

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Post #: 147
RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 8:27:52 PM   
Flaviusx


Posts: 7750
Joined: 9/9/2009
From: Southern California
Status: offline 		Bob is the guy to talk to about this, he has perfected what he calls a linebacker defense that works reasonably well in PBEM and against the AI set to normal. (It is even rather effective, conditionally, later on in the war dealing with the Soviet offensive from summer 43 onwards, but that's another topic.)

Blizzard is so strong by itself that any adjustments to settings above normal may simply tip the game beyond the point of recovery. I don't think any of us has figured out a way to deal with it consistently with settings above normal. These things just feed off each other in a non linear fashion.

A hedgehog defensive variant hasn't been properly tested as of yet and may yield good results, but I'd wait to see what Pieter can come up with so far as that goes before taking the plunge.



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RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 8:31:16 PM   
Arstavidios

 

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Status: offline 		unit losses.
So far, I've lost 5 infantry divisions. Disbanded fortified zones zones also appear in the total, so actual losses were much less than that. soviets have not lost a unit for quite some time now.

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Post #: 149
RE: Mein Fuhrer I think we have a problem - 12/18/2010 8:32:33 PM   
Arstavidios

 

Posts: 780
Joined: 11/19/2004
Status: offline 		unit losses.
Many of the fortified zones were disbanded, however they appear in the total




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Post #: 150
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