ChuckBerger
Posts: 278
Joined: 8/10/2006 Status: offline
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Sounds like you're having fun, and a good challenge... There's no real benchmark in terms of where you should be on territory, force preservation in is my view more important. Falling back to Vyazma is no big deal, if you still have a sound army to make a stand there. 4.5:1 loss ratio isn't bad, but really as Soviets you want it down around 3:1 to be assured of victory. The AI runs down its panzers pretty fast, as you've found, so the long term challenge is definitely the wall of infantry. In the centre, once the panzers are neutered, you need to find an army or two or three to put on to offensive posture, ideally with Zhukov in charge of the lead army, and take the fight to the Germans. Their infantry divisions die just as quickly as yours when they are surrounded and out of supply. The south is a tough theatre. As you say, the conscripts don't cut it. Divert a couple of regular armies south if you can afford to. My games always end early with me grabbing Konigsberg or Warsaw, so I don't actually know if Rostov can be held all the way through the game. The Axis forces in AGS are far stronger than they were historically. 1.03 should redress the balance a bit here, due to a better starting posture for the Russians in Bessarabia. On the "More power from the politburo card" - no, probably not viable against a real human, especially after it was nerfed in 1.02 with a big cost increase. Zhukov: plan ahead. Where will you need to make a strong defensive stand, or where do you want to try for a strategic counterattack? Put Zhukov in charge of that army and watch him work his magic. I love to put him in a fortress (Riga, Odessa, Kiev) with a garrison and about six divisions and their headquarters on at least neutral posture. Dug in, and with "all out" card. The German AI will crash against it, losing up to 15K troops each attack, sometimes for 6 to 8 consecutive turns before the fortress finally falls. And luckily, Zhukov always makes it out!
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