Axis game on hardest difficulty

[dave74]

Decided to play an axis game on the hardest setting with oil on. (fow off because i want to see how the ai acts).

Firstly, I took poland - this took me 3 turns with what seems to be more damage than usual done to my units. I then took dnmark, norway and holland.

My subs were both killed by a significantly larger royal navy, although i did sink some commerce. Some of the merchant ship stacks were over size 100!!!

I then attacked belgium, even though i hadnt made any new troops as reinforcement is taking up my production points (Which by the way are a lot less due to war support only being 70 odd percent!!) as i could see a huge french army massing.

Whilst attacking belgium the french sent troops to help them which ended up being a slug out for a few turns until brussles fell. By this point though the french had a new line of fresh corps in front of me as well as corps and armour around paris!!!. The french also attacked northern italy at one point when italy joined the war.

Anyway to cut to the chase, After a massive land battle lasting over a year i have finally taken paris in december 1940.

In this time the only new units i have managed to build are 3 corps 1 garrision 1 armour and 1 tactical bomber.

The ai has destroyed 2 corps and 1 armour !! so i am only 1 corps 1 garrision and 1 tac bomber better off. How the hell do i plan for barbarossa now?

The Uk is protected by the RN (As should be) and also has almost as many troops as me on the uk mainland.

The total number of casualties suffered up to taking france are almost 1 million axis troops and over two million british, french and allied troops. About two thousand tanls each as well.

And i was worried after playing on normal for a few hours that this wouldnt be challenging enough.

I will let you all know how barbarossa goes - but i think i know already[&:][;)]

[freeboy]

Same here.. kicked IA butt on normal, then fell to the hun in russia in 43.. darn invincible tanks.. oops, I am supposed to build red army troop and RESAEARCH too!!! having the anti tank upgrade probaly would have helped... this is a tough nut on anything but normal

[IrishGuards]

Well, I feel the only way to play a game of this scope is to ..
Play against other than AI ..
AI will never beat an indepth defensive opponent .. If you gonna give the Allies + 2 ..
Look out .. U r in 4 greif ... Play the Allies and see how U romp ..[:D]
IDG

[Zakhal]

Has AI ever made any amhibious invasions?

[dave74]

I havent seen any, but i havent got past 41 yet. bothers me a bit that the ai seems to leave africa well alone. Apart from that it seems to be as good as any ai. Not saying that means a great deal though.

[IrishGuards]

How U gonna teach comp .. to keep Def position ...
I unit o this scale swings the balance ... 2 .. U r bait ..
IDG

[ijontichy]

ORIGINAL: Zakhal

Has AI ever made any amhibious invasions?

Yes, I have seen it make such landings on the French coast. But it keeps doing it in a piecemeal manner, rather than launching a massive coordinated invasion. I have not seen any amphibious invasions in Italy. In North Africa it harasses me with a single infantry unit but does not launch any major attacks.

[Syagrius]

I have read in another topic that in 1944 there is a DDay for sure. I guess it looks well since the AI will only get better after a patch or two.

[Rob Brennan UK]

ORIGINAL: ijontichy

ORIGINAL: Zakhal

Has AI ever made any amhibious invasions?

Yes, I have seen it make such landings on the French coast. But it keeps doing it in a piecemeal manner, rather than launching a massive coordinated invasion. I have not seen any amphibious invasions in Italy. In North Africa it harasses me with a single infantry unit but does not launch any major attacks.

some brit and yank troops invaded the UK ( german controlled ) never saw them coming either , just appeared in cornwall and near glasgow . they were a bit pitiful imo (on normal )

[JudgeDredd]

Now I've been on these boards saying how great it is...and it is. That doesn't mean I shouldn't mention something I notice...and this is what I notice...

Seeing as we are talking about the AI...the pic below shows my situation.

As you can see from the "world map" in the middle bottom of the pic, the USA has a mass of troops waiting. The UK has a mass of troops waiting. I have the French coast and Africa so lightly defended a strong wind would blow them over. I also have one unit scampering from Cairo all the way to Iraq to grab an oil field and now it's on it's way to southern Russia....completely unopposed (can't wait because there's a shed load of production points down there that I need!)

I would just like to know what they are doing? I mean, I don't want them to attack, because it would be game over for me...I'm too busy in the East...but I feel they should be doing something.

I've seen no naval units in the Med at all and no troop landings either.

Any ideas from the devs, please?

[Forwarn45]

Any follow-up to this from the developers or Judge Dredd? Did the AI end up trying an amphibious invasion?

[IainMcNeil]

We put some code in to stop the AI trying to land too early in the game. It may be that it's holding back a bit too much. We'll investigate.

[JudgeDredd]

I sympathise, I really do. Strategy games of this level, as someone else pointed out, are very hard to code for. Too laid back and you'll be lambasted, too aggressive and it could all go wrong.

What we have is a game where I am playing without fog of war.....but the AI still has fog of war. So whether it "knows" I have left the area lightly defended or not, I have no idea.

If FoW was on, would I be itching to attack the Western Front as the Allies? I don't know. In their position at the minute, as I see it, with FoW on, then probably not....there are only around 10-12 Corps there and some fighters/bombers.

What I AM confused about is the US....they joined the Allies ages ago and I see no US units anywhere other than the US. I know you yanks were slow to join (both times) but I'd have given you more credit that than! [;)]

[Concord Dan]

In my game the AI Allies invaded early in '44 on normal Difficulty. They lined up about 10 units (Brits and Yanks) and invaded all along the coast.

BTW In '43 they atttacked 2-3 times with only one unit.

[targul]

So far it seems I hear a background snore when I play this game from the AI.  Someone please shake up the AI cus it can be a great game but as it is the lack of weather and AI makes it only HvsH playable.

[Forwarn45]

Good to know the Allies will eventually make an effort and that Slitherine is looking into the amphibious invasion planning! Having the Allied AI send US units to Britain is critical as an initial step. And its crucial that the AI consider invading from 1942 on, and be able to plan and execute a larger-scale invasion. Otherwise, the game will be far too easy even if you give the Allied AI some advantages.

There is also the issue about Africa and the med. being ignored.

But on a side-note, I don't think the AI is terrible on land if you give it some advantage. Playing as the Allies with the Axis AI having a moderate advantage (2 levels of advantage of the possible 3), I found the Axis invasion of Russia to be rather challenging.