My first game was also playing CP and I finished it around late the fall of 1917, managed to conquer France, but only in the summer of 1916 and due to that, and because I stayed on the defensive in Serbia (Why?... I don't know! Maybe I was put off by the historical A-H difficulties there...), I lost the iniative as the Russian army grew powerful, I also almost completely ignored the naval war which turned out to be a huge mistake. Had I continued the game I probably would have slowly been pushed back to Germany/Austria.
So this educational experience in mind I decided to tackle again as the CP player.
West Front Starting Strategy
My strategy here was pretty much the standard: March through Belgium and advance along the channel coast and then turn south.
My attacking techniques had improved a great deal at this point and I was able to keep up the pace. I also tried to surround the French army wherever possible and managed to create few pockets.
When Paris was in imminent threat, the AI started to strip the Belfort-Verdun line. I took this opportunity to launch a massive attack from Alsace Lorraine region. My other attack from Paris to south was also gaining ground and after Verdun, which was the last possible supply city in the pocket was captured, quite a few corps were effectively eliminated.
I dashed towards Dijon and Lyon to keep up the pace and complete the victory. France fell at Jul-Aug1915. And I was free to rail the Germans east.
East Front Starting Strategy
This time I decided to finish Serbia quickly as I knew I had my hands full at holding down the Russians. Idea was to attack from two areas. One attack to take Belgrad and advance Nish. Other attack to take Scutari (and deny any possible British reinforcements) and advance to Skopje. Careful planning and pace payed of and Serbia fell in 4-5 impulses.
My previous game taught a lot on how to organize my eastern fronts defense. Looking at the map it's pretty obvious where you can afford to lose ground and where not. Big AH cities and resource hexes run on Krakow-Lemberg line, Vienna is also close if you need to retreat here, so I decided to defend this area with my best units. Southern area is much less significant and I kept only a light force there.
In the German sector defence was organized the same with focus on holding resources and large population areas.
This tactic worked out well and the Russians only made limited gains.
Continue later...
