Petiloup
Posts: 505
Joined: 6/4/2006 Status: offline
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The AI is just terrible on a strategic level but does a good job on a tactical one. Just finished my first game with an Axis major victory not even sweating a little. Just did the following: - Poland [evidently] - Accept to take Norway and Denmark. - Crush Holland [just move against the Capital and leave the reast as it will surrender] - Same for Belgium. - Take the whole of France and move German Troops to take Algiers then you get it all. In the meantime invest 5 Diplomacy ****s to Turkey with the German and 3 to Spain with Italy. Once Turkey is Axis then switch to Spain with the German as well. After the Fall of France you get Spain easily then you'll get Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria [assuming you gave to Stalin what he wanted] Then move all your Diplomacy points to keep Russia out of the war as long as possible. - From Spain take Gibraltar. - From Turkey take Palestine, Jordania, and help Iraq then crush Egypt between the Afrika Korps and Palestine troops [not forgetting to get Malta in the meantime]. - Once done move troops from Egypt close to Persia and make sure the whole Turkish army is on the border with Russia. During that time invest heavily in Infantry, Armor, Planes, Long Range Planes, Production research. Leave out Rockets, Hvy Bombers, Naval, Subs, Anti-Subs. That should give you the edge once Russia enters the war around 1942 as they will have more troops but not as good as the German, keep upgrading troops as much as you can [Infantry, Planes, Tanks] Once Russia enters the wars move Diplomacy points against the US [it's expensive but worth it] to delay the US entry as long as possible. Dont build any Naval troops to get enough troops to start moving into Russia from the West and from Middle East [Get back Persia as well]. In 1942 the US should go to war as well and will first invade Marocco, just move 2-3 tanks and 2-3 armies to push them back to the sea. Use Uboats and the Italian Navy and don't care if you loose the Italian Navy in the meantime. Start when the US enters the war to search Advance UBoats so they are more efficient sinking transports and other ships [don't attack destroyers]. Upgrade the whole Spanish Army and build everything you can for them, leave them in Spain just as a reserve. The AI surprised me invading France in 1943 while I was busy in Russia but I stopped them with the Spanish army long enough to bring more troops. [I did build a lot of Garrison in France as well to slow down any invasion, especially on the ports]. Once the France invasion is containing then start the push back with tanks and have some fighters in cover. They will get hit heavily each turn but your production is almost 1,500 points at that time so you can afford it. In 1944 France will be cleared of Allies troop easily. In Russia just destroy troops at every opportunity with Tanks and planes. I upgrade my Tanks constantly and the plane as well. In 1943 all the German army was in Mobility 2 so you can move quite well in the vastness of Russia. Winter just upgrade and repair troops, keep your HQ close enough and build a few as needed. Those are a must or your troops starts to suffer penalties and can't be reinforced/upgraded. Turkey front is hard to move but with 3-4 Italian Tactical and Medium bombers you can move [even slowly] enough to capture oil wells. Upgrade German and Axis Allies troops as they benefit from the Germany research so the Rumanian/Hungarian/... are as good as German troops almost. Strategy in Russia is to move against Leningrad to take it first, move against Smolensk and in the direction of Moscow. In the South just destroy troops when possible and move slowly towards Kiev/Odessa. Besides 1 tank in the South all the tanks are against Leningrad/Moscow. All the Luftwaffe in the North as well. With 2-3 planes you can soften any Russian unit in a city and take it right away then keep pushing forward. Encirle the Russian troops at every opportunity. It's a slow process as there is a lot of Russian but they take a lot of losses against Tanks so you can push forward. By keeping the Luftwaffe together you can clear any hex even heavily defended. Just keep fighters all over the front line to protect your own troops. Once Leningrad is taken, join with the Finns and move to Moscow. The South is getting easier as Russian troops are moving North to protect Moscow. By 1944 the whole front was getting much easier, Tanks upgraded to 5 were plowing through Russian troops like a knife in melted butter. By 1945 most of Russia should be conquered and Moscow fallen. The rest of Europe free of Allies. VICTORY. The AI is really unimaginative strategically, the attacks are following the real WW2 with invading North Africa then Normandy. Now tactically it does a great job I must say, great use of air power to soften troops then destroy them with infantry, and then use Tanks to create a hole and exploit. So whenever possible you need a second line of troops to prevent a breaktrough. It never tries to attack somewhere else like Spain or take Portugal as an Ally or invade Denmark, anything that I wouldn't be able to prevent. I had to keep no troops but a few Garrison here and there just in case. At the end I was destroying US troop transports with UBoats and surface ships like it would be Turkey shooting. All the AI was doing is keep sending more and bombing my production in France/Germany. First game and I won without even trying anything fancy. So if you are a casual wargamer then it's a great game, looks amazingly nice, the AI is doing well for that level. If you are an experienced wargamer like me then give it a pass. Not worth the money. Might be fun trying against a human.
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