kirk23
Posts: 2885
Joined: 10/15/2010
From: Fife Scotland
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quote:
ORIGINAL: amtrick
quote:
ORIGINAL: Lecivius
OK, so I can read ( but not type, or play worth a darn)...Let me ask here.
"Ok, so it's obviously possible. How do you get so far as the CP? I played 2 times on easy, and the overwhelming attack ratios ( 4-8 dmg points per attck) plus the ability for the AI to attack, move, and repair all in the same turn just crushed me. Tips are appreciated  "
How to win with CP? I agree that knocking Serbia out of the war is a priority. It also must be done before the Italians show up. The considerable forces that AH will need to defeat Serbia will need to be split between the Italians and the Russian front afterwards. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m going to split this commentary in two, so the posts won’t be as long and people may be able to comment more easily.
The Land War. In your opening moves, bypass the Serbian defenses in the western mountains. Your best bet is to put a holding force there and swing everything else around to Belgrade and east of Belgrade. Concentrate on taking Belgrade early, as it puts a major crimp in Serbian PP. Early in the game entrenchment is not very effective (it makes a bigger difference as entrenchment techs come on line), so move your artillery down and pound away at Belgrade with a couple of infantry corps and don’t be afraid to attack when you can get a couple of corps on a garrison in the open. AH doesn’t incur maintenance costs until sometime later in the game, so build up your infantry and artillery shell production quickly.
While taking out Serbia is Job 1, you can’t ignore the Russians. A good chunk of early unit production by both AH and Germany needs to be sent east, or the Russians will simply overwhelm you. The Russians tend to want to make Prussia their first offensive focus, and having an AH force of several infantry units suddenly driving for Brest-Litovsk will relieve pressure on Koenigsberg/Danzig. As the CP, holding Koenigsberg is important from a PP stand point.
On the Western Front, sweep through Belgium. Be aggressive and take risks with moving units forward. Later in the game they may be candidates for isolation, but at first the French simply don’t have enough units to do this. Taking Antwerp is very important, since it extends the operational range of your subs. In fact, a focus on all the Channel ports is important, since each one you take further extends your naval operational range and denies GB a place to efficiently land troops.
After the first few moves, both the Eastern and Western Fronts will stabilize a bit. Just as the Russian AI wants to attack into Prussia early, the French may very well stage an offensive into Alsace/Lorraine, but you should be able to blunt it easily enough. Now you need to decide strategically …. East or West? I tend to go West, but the “correct” answer could easily be the other direction. Whatever you decide, the basic tactical formula of 2 – 3 larger units attacking a smaller one with at least 1 and preferably 2 artillery units supporting them will allow you to erode the Entente lines and eventually achieve some kind of breakthrough. As the game goes on, artillery becomes more critical in achieving any success on the ground, so find a way to build up your shell production. Eventually you’ll need 3-4 arty units that you move from place to place to have success against the AI. And remember that your battleships can deal out some significant damage to enemy units in coastal hexes.
When Turkey enters the war, they can tie up some Russian units in the Caucus and British units in the Suez, but don’t expect a lot of offensive fireworks, at least until you can get them some artillery. Bulgarian entry seems too hard to get a lot of the time, but if it happens they can be useful addition against the Russians (usually through Romania) or on the Italian front.
Early in the game, dirigibles actually provide better air support than fixed-wing aircraft, chipping away at ground units prior to your attack on them and are very good for attacking and damaging enemy artillery units.
The Sea War. At least early in the game your South Atlantic convoys have very little chance of getting through to your North Sea ports. The Norwegian convoys can sometimes slip through, but your best bet is to try to get the Swedish convoys into a Baltic port. You can get naval superiority over the Russians, although they have the luxury of operating against your convoys from their “home port” hexes. Just move your Grand Fleet into the Baltic and bang away at them when they leave port. Since you can calculate where the Swedish convoys will go (they all use the same route if it isn’t blocked), place a strong surface force around where they will end up on their first move. This means your escorts are already in place when the Russian/Entente subs come to ambush the merchantmen … and you can blast those subs out of the water. Your dirigibles deployed to the north can also get a few licks in on the subs, too. The Swedish convoys are only 30 PP (not like the massive 100 PP the Entente gets!), but they can be critical to getting a victory.
In the Atlantic, it is subs, subs, subs. Since the AI convoy mentality is pretty meager, I found that 7 subs in the Atlantic can pretty well choke the merchant and troop convoys off. I use 3 in the North Atlantic and 3 off the southern entrance to English Channel. Deploy 2 forward about 8 hexes apart and one behind them, placed midway between them and about 5 hexes to the rear. The 7th goes in between the two hunting groups. This way you link up a wall of visibility around the western and southern approaches. Your hunting packs will usually be able to all attack a convoy on one turn, and three sub attacks just about guarantees a complete annihilation of a convoy. Your 7th sub a basically playing a free safety, going to wherever the action is the hottest. As you pick up Channel ports, extend your wall of visibility west and south. The AI simply doesn’t like to send surface ships too far from its port hexes (unless it spots a surface ship roaming around), so you can catch merchantmen with absolutely no protection. One or two subs in the Med are fine to catch the convoys coming through the Suez, although all of those have to run the South Atlantic gauntlet, anyway.
There, that’s enough. And I would welcome different opinions on how to get a CP victory. I could use the help in my next game.
Many thanks for a very interesting post.
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RE: 1.4.2 PATCH - 
Matter of fact: these generals should not be tied to what country they are at war with, to be a condition of deployment, for if there is a commander in the deck (unseen), who qualifies for deployment, but again, because of the pictured general on top prevents this. 
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