Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: Froonp

Persia :
Russia can easily take advantage of Persia (especially in CWiF where Teheran is in a Clear hex -- I would advise to put it back in a Mountain hex), and grab the 3 Oil resources it has.

Advantages :
Those 3 Oil wil come handy when Russia has to use oil to reorg oil dependant units, and the one Oil that is railable will be useful to help to produce at maximum level while Russia is giving 5 RP & 2 Oil to Germany. Also, this oil can be useful when Russia is rampaged by Germany and a lot of her resources are conquered.
Russia can use the Army of Siberia led by Zhukov for this, and only leave Vladivostock & the area to the defense of a couple of the weakest units and the reserves.

Drawback :
Using the Army of Siberia led by Zhukov to do this, might lead to an aggressive Japan play around Vlad. Anyway, if Japan had planned on taking Vlad and the surrounding area, Russian could not do much to prevent it.

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ORIGINAL: paulderynck

Japan must DoW Russia or teleport out when Persia is conquered. However they can get all three oil so this should be a possibility Japan thinks hard about. As Japan I try to make sure I have SCS with Divs or a 4-4 TRS available in Canton or Hainan so that I can go after the oil if Russia DoWs Persia. As Russia I mass on the border with Persia to threaten the possibility.

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ORIGINAL: Phelan

Japan won´t achieve anything if it only aligns Persia and sends peacekeepers, since those will teleport out of there after conquest.

DOWing Russia will allow them to stay after Persia is conquered.

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ORIGINAL: Phelan

Japan won´t achieve anything if it only aligns Persia and sends peacekeepers, since those will teleport out of there after conquest.

DOWing Russia will allow them to stay after Persia is conquered.

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ORIGINAL: micheljq

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ORIGINAL: Phelan

Japan won´t achieve anything if it only aligns Persia and sends peacekeepers, since those will teleport out of there after conquest.

DOWing Russia will allow them to stay after Persia is conquered.

Ah forgot that detail, anyway I think a DOW on USSR for 3 oil is really worth it.

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ORIGINAL: paulderynck

I observed a game recently where Japan invaded Persia, thinking they could take at least 2 oil for the balance of the game even if Persia aligned with Russia. This is because if Persia defends the 2-oil hex, the defenders can be easily put out of supply and Persia's controller faces the prospect of losing all 3 oil. So normally the Persian Cav is set up on the 1-oil hex. But Russia was ready, set up the Persian Cav on the 2-oil hex and then surprised Japan by airlifting peacekeepers into the city beside the now Japanese controlled 1-oil hex as well as onto the Persian Cav. (It was verified by Harry that Japan could not intercept the Russian ATRs, per the Multiple States of War rules, even if they flew to re-org a flipped Persian!) That game is ongoing and it will be interesting to see what Japan does next.

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ORIGINAL: paulderynck
You would not retreat to the Urals unless forced there and often there may be other pockets of resistance like around Leningrad and/or in the Caucasus and/or holding railed factories in Archangel or Murmansk. Urals plus Caucasus is viable if you can keep convoys in the Caspian to bring oil to the factories in Siberia. Western Allies can send resources and build points to Murmansk and Archangel.

With only Siberia, you are in a tough spot to come back unless you have managed to build up a lot of stored oil there as well - to augment production.

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ORIGINAL: paulderynck

You would not retreat to the Urals unless forced there and often there may be other pockets of resistance like around Leningrad and/or in the Caucasus and/or holding railed factories in Archangel or Murmansk. Urals plus Caucasus is viable if you can keep convoys in the Caspian to bring oil to the factories in Siberia. Western Allies can send resources and build points to Murmansk and Archangel.

With only Siberia, you are in a tough spot to come back unless you have managed to build up a lot of stored oil there as well - to augment production.

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ORIGINAL: brian brian

you don't simply retreat straight back to the Urals. you carefully choose which units the Axis can attack, and where. the goal is to keep your HQ (even rail moving the slow ones) and ARM and MECH as long as you possibly can, hopefully all the way back to the valley south of the Caucasus and the Volga line in front of the Urals. At those points you have to turn and fight even with the armor. But before that you need to trade in your GARR and INF for railing out factories and impulses of Axis time (and some MIL, but over-reliance on weak MIL can make things too easy for the Germans; it is also key to scrap your 3 and 4 factor units after they are lost). keeping your ARM and MECH alive is a matter of managing your fighter cover well to help keep them from getting ground-struck, and just generally keeping them out of range of the Stukas at least. To do that you have to move them backwards, which is a retreat. two ARM/MECH units in a clear hex, outside of Stuka range, are a strong defense, especially when they can only be attacked from two hexes, and are unlikely to even be attacked while the Axis is also busy reducing your cities full of infantry. all that changes as soon as those tanks are without enough Fighter cover and within range of too many Axis bombers - watch carefully for strong Axis LND3.

trying to maintain a strong solid line in front of the Axis for too long allows them to use their air superiority and blitz bonuses (smart Panzer commanders change Shatter results to Retreat results to keep the Russian units from the safety of the production spiral) to destroy your units too fast for you to replace them. you will lose units no matter what; the key is to keep your best units until the Axis forces start to thin out as they have to divide their efforts on to the many strategic axes that are key to the long-term Russian defense - Leningrad, Archangel, the rail lines to the Urals (Saratov and Kuybyshev are key hexes now), the Turkish border and then Baku, and the Crimea.

and once the front stabilizes on those various axes, yes it is true that Russia is resource limited. key aids then are convoys in the Caspian, factories in Murmansk and Baku (for Persian Gulf / Suez resource and BP deliveries from the Western Allies), and also factories railed to Archangel to run off saved oil while the port is frozen (thanks Composer99). It also helps to store 8 oil in Leningrad to keep producing during the siege.

saved oil is a big help to the Russians in lots of places and ways. one saved in Rostov with the Koniev HQ might make the difference between a successful Axis attack and another turn of a large German force stuck on trying to clear the hex. an oil in Sevastopol will give the Axis concern about it someday fueling Russian aircraft for runs at Ploesti (an historic fear of Hitler's). a saved oil in Vladivostok can keep the Russian SUB threat against the Japanese alive. as much oil as you can sock away in Siberia can help keep those railed factories building units. and lastly, the West can ship in as much oil as they can build a convoy line for over each summer to the major port at Archangel.

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(6) There is at least one US entry chit in the Ge/It pool that can be used for the entry action Eastern Poland. (If you accord the same WiF rules for human players to the AI should the AI know this?)
(8) Are the US Entry chit values in the Ge/It pool high? (If you accord the same WiF rules for human players to the AI should the AI know this?)

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ORIGINAL: michaelbaldur

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(6) There is at least one US entry chit in the Ge/It pool that can be used for the entry action Eastern Poland. (If you accord the same WiF rules for human players to the AI should the AI know this?)
(8) Are the US Entry chit values in the Ge/It pool high? (If you accord the same WiF rules for human players to the AI should the AI know this?)

the us entry chit value are hidden. so the AI should not know the value

ONLY US know the entry level

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ORIGINAL: Extraneous
(6) Is there a risk for a pass/total pass the next allied impulse? (I’m just wondering why this is important?)

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The base rule whether to occupy Eastern Poland is decided by:
• The action has not been taken.
• The pre conditions are meet, (Poland has not been conquered,The USSR land movement step)
• Any USSR land unit has range to enter the region.
• The USSR can reserve one land move for Eastern Poland.
• There is at least one US entry chit in the Ge/It pool and one chit can be reserved for Eastern Poland.
• It’s the second allied impulse of Sep/Oct 39 or later.

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ORIGINAL: ullern

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The base rule whether to occupy Eastern Poland is decided by:
• The action has not been taken.
• The pre conditions are meet, (Poland has not been conquered,The USSR land movement step)
• Any USSR land unit has range to enter the region.
• The USSR can reserve one land move for Eastern Poland.
• There is at least one US entry chit in the Ge/It pool and one chit can be reserved for Eastern Poland.
• It’s the second allied impulse of Sep/Oct 39 or later.

Since I didn't involve myself much in this AI thing I don't understand for what purpose this script is supposed to run: If no USSR land unit has range to enter the region, then should this script tell the USSR needs to move a unit closer, or is this script just for evaluating what to do exactly right "now."
_or to take it a bit more further: Is this script used to evaluate what it will take to implement this action, or is that handled by some other planning method?

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ORIGINAL: paulderynck

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ORIGINAL: Extraneous
(6) Is there a risk for a pass/total pass the next allied impulse? (I’m just wondering why this is important?)

This is because if all Allies pass, then Russia can't occupy East Poland that impulse, and yet Warsaw and Lodz may have fallen and if the turn ends, then Poland gets conquered and the Russians lose the ability to occupy East Poland in that event - usually viewed as a significant disadvantage.

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10. Choosing Actions
You must choose an action for each major power on your side. Each type of action will affect what that major power can do in the rest of the action stage. You can choose one action type in one impulse and a different type in the next impulse of the same turn.

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10.1 Action types
If you are a neutral major power, you must choose either a pass or a combined action. The only exception is that Germany may instead choose a land action during the first impulse of Sep/Oct 1939.

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13.3.1 Entry markers
The US entry level is changed by the entry markers you draw. You will have an entry level against Japan and another against Germany and Italy. This is explained in “9.4 US entry”.

Only you will know your entry levels, although your opponents will make guesses based on the entry options you choose and may learn some information from intelligence operations (option 63: see 22.1). (Option 63 will not be used in MWiF)

You can look at your own markers after you have committed them to a particular entry pool but you can’t show them to anyone else (even on your own side).

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For Shannon V. Okeets:

In AI/human multi-player games how will the AI handle being assigned multi-major powers as “individual major powers” or “as a single major power group”?

Will a human player have the same information as the AI in reguards to US entry markers?

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ORIGINAL: Extraneous

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ORIGINAL: paulderynck

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ORIGINAL: Extraneous
(6) Is there a risk for a pass/total pass the next allied impulse? (I’m just wondering why this is important?)

This is because if all Allies pass, then Russia can't occupy East Poland that impulse, and yet Warsaw and Lodz may have fallen and if the turn ends, then Poland gets conquered and the Russians lose the ability to occupy East Poland in that event - usually viewed as a significant disadvantage.

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10. Choosing Actions
You must choose an action for each major power on your side. Each type of action will affect what that major power can do in the rest of the action stage. You can choose one action type in one impulse and a different type in the next impulse of the same turn.

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10.1 Action types
If you are a neutral major power, you must choose either a pass or a combined action. The only exception is that Germany may instead choose a land action during the first impulse of Sep/Oct 1939.

Note: the rule states each major power chooses an action. Even if all the other neutral/active major power players (AI or human) choose to pass the USSR (AI or human) would still have to choose an action.

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• Any USSR land unit has range to enter the region.
• The USSR can reserve one land move for Eastern Poland.