RE: Decisively Beating the AI (Full Version)

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Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/17/2015 3:41:07 PM)

Below is more or less the same map area but with my supply and logistics showing. Again, I am no expert with this part of the game but as my units are still in pretty good supply I am not concerned. Do note however that I am building depots near the Front and I am repairing rail lines as close to the Front as I can. One thing I did not do, but you should, is change the HHQs of the rail repair units to a closer HQ (I just left them with AFHQ) and set that HQs supply priority to 4. The reason for this is otherwise the rail repair units (well actually the sub-units attached to the rail repair units) will lose TOE and eventually lose the ability to repair rails. I found this out the hard way around turn 43 or so. If anything will prevent me from winning a decisive victory it will be this.


[image]local://upfiles/14737/2860DE912A9C4B27B3A484D98C2D06BC.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/17/2015 3:42:57 PM)

The map below shows my landing zones for my next invasion along with the air drop hexes

[image]local://upfiles/14737/E033BDB4D67444AC837873612C141B46.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/17/2015 3:47:33 PM)

When planning an invasion it is a good idea to attach rangers and commandos to the Invasion TFs. This is especially important for the TFs targeting a hex on the edge of the invasion because if an adjacent hex is vacant there is a chance that the ranger/commando will come ashore in that hex (see Rule 16.7.2). You can see in the screenshot below that I have attached a ranger to this TF and an invasion will soon be possible. However, the more prep points you have the less disorganization your invading units have, so I prefer to have close to the maximum 90 prep points before invading. Besides, my units in Italy are not where I want them to be when this invasion is sprung.

[image]local://upfiles/14737/BF916799CB8B4B0980B9BDBC0E9116B4.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/17/2015 3:49:05 PM)

Finally here is the screenshot from the end of my turn.

[image]local://upfiles/14737/62EFEE8F1349484AB2BEBE0F8132E450.jpg[/image]



Seminole -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/17/2015 3:57:22 PM)

quote:

The map below shows my landing zones for my next invasion along with the air drop hexes


Water is like magnets to my paratroopers. I'm afraid to drop anywhere with water adjacent anymore...



ultradave -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/17/2015 8:35:49 PM)

We don't really care for that much either :-) Water landings while laden down with 80 lbs or more of equipment kind of suck.



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/18/2015 5:27:21 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Seminole

Water is like magnets to my paratroopers. I'm afraid to drop anywhere with water adjacent anymore...


I know what you mean. But I figured it is only one of the paratroopers and it is just one hex of adjacent water, what could go wrong?



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/18/2015 5:28:31 AM)

Turn 16: October 16, 1943

Below is a screenshot of the big picture in Italy before my turn. As you can see the Front line runs North-South not East-West.


[image]local://upfiles/14737/61E591EE359340E79CA3195446594946.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/18/2015 5:29:21 AM)

Below is a closeup of the action along the East coast. My infantry are lagging behind and my 4 armour divisions are fatigued with an average CV of only 8 and an average MP of 32. So I decide to rest my armour while my infantry move up to the Front. The only attack I make is to destroy the isolated German unit (circled in red) and the only enemy territory I occupy in the North are the vacant hexes circled in green. As I said before, sometimes it is better to rest for a turn in order to deliver the hammer blow (or at least a better blow) next turn. Meanwhile I continue to bomb the enemy ports and railyards and interdict their railways.

[image]local://upfiles/14737/ED56F718BF8C408184C0E8F565AF8CE5.jpg[/image]



loki100 -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/18/2015 6:55:35 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Harrybanana

Below is a closeup of the action along the East coast. My infantry are lagging behind and my 4 armour divisions are fatigued with an average CV of only 8 and an average MP of 32.


something to watch out for in this respect (its caught me out) is that while in WiTE, fatigue is the biggest short term killer of cv, here its often fuel and/or ammo.

If you have armour with only 75% of their fuel, they'll have 50% of the cv (if I recall). Think the key ratios are 1% missing ammo, 1% off the cv (for all units) and 1% missing fuel, 2% off the cv for motorised. The combined impact is capped at a max loss of 50%. And then you can lose cv to fatigue etc.

Looking at the map, your nearest depot to the spearheads is Pescara?

Of course stopping the advance has a dual gain, not only do you shed fatigue but you can build up a small store of key resources.



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/18/2015 3:12:38 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: loki100

Looking at the map, your nearest depot to the spearheads is Pescara?



Yes, at the time of the screenshots above Pescara was my closest depot. But on the next turn I built one in Teramo. I find having a depot within 5 hexes or so of the front line units is usually adequate to keep them fully supplied. But of course much depends on the weather and terrain.



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/18/2015 3:13:17 PM)

Turn 17: Oct 23, 1943

The situation before my turn. Resting my armour last turn resulted in only a modest increase in my average CV to 9 but, more importantly, increased my average MPs to 41.


[image]local://upfiles/14737/1F1D240A67D94174B86278756E7825EA.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/18/2015 3:17:32 PM)

The situation at the end of my turn. Relatively modest gain of only a couple hexes Northward due primarily to the ground conditions of heavy mud and light mud. Still, another river crossed. I also moved one of my armoured divisions (broken down into regiments) West into unoccupied hexes. Meanwhile in the South I isolated a couple units in Gaeta. Unfortunately the 26th Panzer would escape due to a bug which has since been fixed.


[image]local://upfiles/14737/66E5E0F9F655423EA87C93FD46BC2E8F.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/19/2015 7:47:04 PM)

Turn 18: October 30, 1943

Another turn with not too much happening due to a combination of weather and supply. Below is the screenshot from before my turn.


[image]local://upfiles/14737/2FF8AED67F024594A1573E74019C385D.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/19/2015 7:48:11 PM)

And this is the screenshot from after. As you can see I primarily just advanced into vacated hexes while resting and rebuilding my forces.

[image]local://upfiles/14737/904026733970422690A81EDE759E56B1.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/20/2015 3:06:43 PM)

Turn 19: November 6, 1943

Another slow turn; but I did manage to advance into the circled hexes.

[image]local://upfiles/14737/5A327D0D70B64B41A17A1E866C6F2F65.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/20/2015 3:42:38 PM)

Turn 20: Nov 13, 1943

Another week in Italy, another 20 mile advance.


[image]local://upfiles/14737/D3FB1373BF8E479894A8B576FBB491F7.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/20/2015 3:43:21 PM)

Some Information for those who are interested.

[image]local://upfiles/14737/C66FF40E585244EF85CDE9936F6D36D4.jpg[/image]



Devonport -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/20/2015 4:10:03 PM)

Going well. You are getting decent Bombing VPs now, what is your strategy? I think that a higher number of targeted attacks by Bomber Command and 8th Air Force seem better than fewer, larger attacks on a wider area, but I have no evidence to justify that. I haven't been able to get the VP numbers that the experts have.

On the ground you seem to be heading for the Alps! Is that the strategy or will you go for the city points at Rome soon?



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/20/2015 4:32:34 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Devonport

Going well. You are getting decent Bombing VPs now, what is your strategy? I think that a higher number of targeted attacks by Bomber Command and 8th Air Force seem better than fewer, larger attacks on a wider area, but I have no evidence to justify that. I haven't been able to get the VP numbers that the experts have.


Well compared to NOSBs 18-19 bombing VPs per turn, I thought 13 was pretty mediocre. I think I maxed out at 15 points a few turns ago, but bad weather has meant no missions for a few turns now. At this point in the game I had not even used Strategic/15th AF for strategic bombing. I am just playing the AI here so I am being very lazy with my bombing strategy. Bomber Command has had the same AD almost every turn, namely to bomb within a 3 hex radius of Dusseldorf. Priorities are Manpower and HI. I have about 1000 bombers in BC, so I set about 10 strikes of 100 aircraft each. I am only bombing 2 days per week. Meanwhile 8th AF has been bombing a variety of targets outside the Ruhr: Berlin, Leipzig, Schweinfurt and others. Whatever my recon says has a lot of HI. Sometimes I will just bomb 1 or 2 specific hexes/cities; other times I will bomb within a certain radius. Of course, every few turns I have to divert 8th to bomb the u-boats.

quote:

On the ground you seem to be heading for the Alps! Is that the strategy or will you go for the city points at Rome soon?


My long range plan is to push the Germans to the Alps. But my objective here was simply to stretch the German line by attacking wherever it was weakest. If the Germans were weak on the west coast I would have attacked there, if they were weak in the middle (unlikely with all the mountains) I would have attacked there. I don't worry too much about City points. My objective is Berlin before the New year. Of course, against a human opponent I might have to think differently.



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/20/2015 4:34:22 PM)

Turn 21: Nov 20, 1943

The stretching of the German line finally pays off as a large gap appears to the West. This time recon indicates that the way West is open and there is a rail line heading West as well. This could not come at a more opportune time as it is pefectly positioned to link with my next invasion and thus cut off (I hoped) a large chunk of the German Army in Italy. So 5th Army finally stops it's Northern advance and moves West

[image]local://upfiles/14737/F477748D0D754A76AF336E7D3F8A480D.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/20/2015 4:35:06 PM)

The only bad news is the bad weather, which shows no signs of abating.

[image]local://upfiles/14737/F983CA546C3D4FFDBFF54F887F58F080.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/21/2015 10:24:38 PM)

Turn 22: Nov. 27, 1943

I think the screenshot below tells the whole story for T22. Heavy Rain=Heavy Mud=I'm not going anywhere.

[image]local://upfiles/14737/94DBC48D8B2F4785B8579CB3D86CB2B3.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/21/2015 10:25:41 PM)

Turn 23: Dec 4,1943

The weather clears a little and the Germans retreat North of Rome. I see my chance to surround the German Army in Italy disappearing so I hit the Invade button. However, my advance Westward from the East Coast remains stalled as I move up the infantry and wait for better supply.

[image]local://upfiles/14737/93E63C15861C42C5ABEAED8C7A74F420.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/22/2015 4:59:19 AM)

Turn 24: December 11, 1943

The Invasion lands and 4th Canadian Armour in Perugia is fueled and ready to drive West to link up with 7th Army. Unfortunately, most of the German Army has already escaped.


[image]local://upfiles/14737/94290D10FC644D19A5D32E27986B762E.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/22/2015 5:00:04 AM)

The screenshot after my turn.

[image]local://upfiles/14737/38F82D993D844D4C80A8B15817EE93F1.jpg[/image]



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/22/2015 5:31:44 AM)

Turn 25: Dec 18, 1943

The screenshot below is from before my turn. 8th Army is tasked with cleaning up the isolated German units. 5th Army will just hold the line in the East for now, while 7th Army (with help from some of 5th Army) pushes on towards Florence. This turn the 2 weakest German stacks are attacked (by infantry of course) and a 3rd is surrounded.

[image]local://upfiles/14737/1D21E7E546614940BE1CFA6643F919A5.jpg[/image]


Question: In the screenshot above I have toggled the "Isolated" Units button so that the isolated German units will be outlined in red. But does anyone know why some of my units are outlined in blue?



Seminole -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/22/2015 1:18:13 PM)

IIRC blue is refit status (purple is reserve, green is newly arrived, and orange means they are withdrawing (5 turns or less?))



soeren01 -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/22/2015 2:11:42 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Seminole

IIRC blue is refit status (purple is reserve, green is newly arrived, and orange means they are withdrawing (5 turns or less?))



Yes, that is right.



Harrybanana -> RE: Decisively Beating the AI (6/22/2015 7:52:51 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Seminole

IIRC blue is refit status (purple is reserve, green is newly arrived, and orange means they are withdrawing (5 turns or less?))


Thank you. I suppose I could have looked this up somewhere, but this was easier (for me).



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