Grifman -> RE: Please report Game Results! (4/27/2005 5:03:21 AM)
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Gametype: Me against the AI I played the Western Allies, the AI played the Germans, Japanese, Chinese and Soviets) Scenario: First, the complete war Victory Level: Total Allied Victory, Western Allies, Normal Difficulty, won the war in the Winter of 1946, "auto win" option not used. Points: Allied - 6,594 points, Axis - 213 points!!! Key turning points: Against the Germans - a few points: 1) I hid my British Navy in the E Med in port since the Italian Navy outnumbered them. Then the Italians only maintained a transport in the C. Med to maintain links to N. Africa - for some strange reason they kept their fleet in port too. This allowed me to unite the E. Med Fleet with the Atlantic Fleet since I didn't have to initiate combat - I could move through the Central Med. Then I could dominate the Med with a combined Fleet and the Italians never came out again. 2) The AI made a show of going for Cairo but never did anything once I reinforced from India/Australia. Instead they ended up wasting about 9 units in N Africa that they couldn't spare. 3) The AI was beating up pretty badly on the USSR for most of the game - Moscow was a rock, but they flowed around it pretty far north, taking Leningrad, Murmansk and other points south and east of those cities. But for some strange reason they failed to take Leningrad - didn't even attack it - on the first turn - which I know they can do because I've seen the AI do it. That may have doomed their eastern campaign from the start. 4) I invaded S. Italy in Winter of 1943. But I felt the AI over reacted. It pulled too many units out of the Eastern Front and sent them to Italy - including a significant number of armored units - they ended up outnumbering me in Italy by 2 to 1 I think but never attacked. They should have fought a delaying battle with a minimal number of troops there. This absolutely destroyed their Eastern Offensive which they were winning/holding their own until then. But after the move to Italy, the floodgates opened on the Eastern Front - it was over then. 5) Late 1943/Early 1944 I invaded Eastern/Southern France. AI fell back to East/West Germany. I sat there, building up forces for the final assault for several turns - just too many Nazis in there. The USSR took Eastern Germany though. Finally they assaulted W. Germany and took heavy losses - but so did the Germans. Surprisingly, the Germans counterattacked, taking Czechslovakia and Poland - the Soviets were overextended and had little other than what was in E. Germany. That next turn after the Soviet failure I took West Germany and ended the war in Europe. 6) I don't think the AI really did badly overall other than over reacting to Italy. Which is strange because another game I started, I landed one unit in S. Italy once to see what would happen. And the Germans sent only a couple of units - which were more than enough with the units already there in N. Italy to toss me out - but they did nothing! The defense of Italy seems erratic at best. I agree that guessing how much to throw at Italy wouldn't be easy, but I think the AI could use some work here. 7) I think the AI should use their surface fleets more agressively. Yes, they will lose them - but they just sit there anyway. Using them will force the Allied player to spend time/effort hunting destroying them. The AI screwed up by letting me unite my fleets in the Eastern Med. 8) Lastly, the AI didn't use U boats properly. It didn't use shoot and scoot - when it did send them out, they were too far out to return and I pounced on them at all costs to destroy them. The AI should use them carefully early on to avoid losses and keep the threat in place. What they could do I saw late in the war - the Germans got 2 teched up subs (evasion 3, torps 4) out in the Atlantic and it caused problems to no end hunting them down. If they had maintained their fleet and sent 6 after me at that point I would have been in trouble trying to invade France. Against Japan: 1) Not much I can really think of here. They were just overwhelmed by US production. After the US entered the war, I ordered 4 carriers to be built, and moved all but one of the East Coast carriers to the Pacific. By mid 1942 I had seven ready to go. I teched up CAG to 6 evasion, 6 air attack, and 6 ship attack. They devastated the Japanese - oftentimes I'd have no losses - and if I did, I had reserve CAG ready to go (which paralled the real war where the Japanese had no effective reserves for their air losses while the US had many). 2) Submarines are killers against the Japanese. I had a US fleet of 6 tech up to 3 evasion, 4 torps and the Japanese couldn't touch them, even with large number of aircraft and light fleets. In a few turns I had sunk the entire Japanese transport fleet and they were doomed. I wondering that since the US had problems with their torpedoes early in the war that if they shouldn't start with a lower torp rating to simulate this and not make it as easy to decimate Japanes shipping so early. 3) The Japanese seemed slow to advance in Indonesia, didn't take Sumatra until a couple of turns after declaring war. Took Thailand, but didn't move into Burma - I built up Indian forces and late 44 retook Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. Japanese advance stopped midway down the Solomons but I didn't fight them there - they stopped to face my Central Pac campaign - and lose. 4) I will give the AI credit for one thing. I left a transport lightly protected as I prepared for my invasion of Japan. The crafty AI slipped two light fleets out of Japan under the nose of my fleet, sank my transport, delaying the invasion of Japan for 3 months until I could get my supply line re-established! Sneaky Japanese! :) Overall, great game! Playing as the Western Allies really gives you an appreciation for how hard it was to get a major force into Europe and the Pacific. Logistics is indeed king in this war. Loved it and would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in history and warfare. Can't wait for the ACW version! :) PS, both the German and Japanese AI's seemed to have alot of problems with partisans. I don't know if that is an AI problem, or inevitable given lack of resources and areas conquered. Just thought I'd point that out.
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