Tourney game AAR: KZ (Allies) vs Sugar (Axis)

[KorutZelva]

ORIGINAL: Ktonos

Maybe a dumb question, but could this reverse Schlieffen plan could mean that with smartly placed Para's and tac bombers possibly in Denmark, Axis aim to take Stalingrad and London in the same turn oblivious to allied advances on the continent??

+ Paris too! [;)]

Everything is possible, those Para at tech 5 certainly have some range on them. Plus London can always be amphibiously assaulted. With Stalingrad under immediate duress, I'm marching out of Paris to create some space between what would be my last two victory cities.

[Ktonos]

Ah, forgot Paris is needed for auto victory. Nevermind, this would only be possible if it was only London remaining after Stalingrad

[KorutZelva]

Axis air and tanks showed up on the scene stalling the Allied advances.

Sugar is running a clinic on how to manage an air force. [:D]

Long range is king. More so than I previously though. The obvious benefit is of course being to hit other when they can hit you but there's more. Having long range means you can space out your Air HQs more and still support each other. And by being spaced out more you can make better use of defensive terrain because planes can be further from the HQ without starting to get supply from an other HQ.

The UK have the allied best fighter but shortest range which means to protect as many people as I can I have to keep all my HQ and their units close. However having HQ too close to each other mess with planes supply situation. This means I have to rely on Air donut formation (with the HQ in the middle) to insure that the planes will get its supply from the right HQ. This means I can't really make the best use of defensive terrain. A little forest hex can make a world of difference between being bombed to death and not getting a scratch.

[room]

So where did Sugar chose to stop the allies?

[KorutZelva]

ORIGINAL: room

So where did Sugar chose to stop the allies?

Siegfried line + Black Forest

Those trees make for great airfields apparently [:'(]

[Sugar]

You may choose the "manual"-option to fix the detachement of your best HQ to the fighters. The option "Auto-Assist" also prevents your units from changing their attachments, and additionally allows your HQ to take over another free unit in case one of the units has been destroyed.

Hell man, I didn't expect to be able to deal with 30 western aircraft.[X(]

[KorutZelva]

ORIGINAL: Sugar

You may choose the "manual"-option to fix the detachement of your best HQ to the fighters. The option "Auto-Assist" also prevents your units from changing their attachments, and additionally allows your HQ to take over another free unit in case one of the units has been destroyed.

Hell man, I didn't expect to be able to deal with 30 western aircraft.[X(]

Yeah I do auto-assist but when another HQ is too close then the plane miss out on supply (hard to explain but when planes get that purple hex shading).

I'll freely admit the air war is by far the weakest part of my game. Those german vet pilots made it look easy. [:D]

[Sugar]

But you don`t get less supply than from the original HQ, the purple shows only it could get more from another.

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W-Allies' aircraft are down to 23; 2 brit. + 1 can. tank(s) are also missing. The Axis regained air superiority in the West.

[room]

What a bloodbath, you guys don't disapoint: fabulous game. thx

[KorutZelva]

ORIGINAL: room

What a bloodbath, you guys don't disapoint: fabulous game. thx

Glad you enjoy. [:)] I knew the game got away from me by the time my Russian tech 3 tank stared down the German tech 5 ones. But had I gave up then, then all that hardware built up over the course of 3 years wouldn't get a chance to make big explosions. [:D]

The new objective is to last until 1944! [;)]

[KorutZelva]

ORIGINAL: Sugar

But you don`t get less supply than from the original HQ, the purple shows only it could get more from another.

Ah! Ok so just for supply level, not taking into account HQ rating and pip. I guess I don't have to be OCD in avoiding that purple shading. Sacrificing one point of supply or two for a more experienced HQ would still provide better readiness overall.

[Sugar]

Ah! Ok so just for supply level, not taking into account HQ rating and pip.

Indeed, it shows correctly if the supply could be better by attaching to another HQ, but the detachement to the "wrong" HQ doesn't reduce the supply lvl itself.

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3 of those fighters are detached to the HQ north of Tours, which provides 8 supply. The HQ in Tours would provide 10 supply and be the better choice.

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This fighter receives 6 supply, it is detached to the HQ in Orleans. Orleans is providing 5 supply (1 less than Tours, diminishing the supply provided by the HQ by 2). This also shows that a) the display is correct and not related to the sheer distance; another HQ further away from the fighter would indeed provide better supply, and b) the supply isn`t reduced only because of the existence of better choices; it's as expected (provided supply minus movement costs).

The whole situation shows that 1. the displayed purple colour is indeed a helpfull tool (sadly it shows the development when it's mostly too late) and 2. the reason why I hate the change of the original supply mechanics. It's so inconvenient and requires such carefull planning to get the best result, I find it really frustrating and also completely unnecessary, since it's only reason is to articially reduce the power of aircraft. While that might be kind of reasonable or at least debatable, there are more convenient ways to reach that goal imho.

[KorutZelva]

ORIGINAL: Sugar
It's so inconvenient and requires such carefull planning to get the best result, I find it really frustrating and also completely unnecessary, since it's only reason is to articially reduce the power of aircraft. While that might be kind of reasonable or at least debatable, there are more convenient ways to reach that goal imho.

The steep learning curve works in your favor though. Because once you get it, you get to face a landscape where 95% of opposing player won't. [;)]

As for air balance, I think with the future change of shifting one tac for one medium will get it just perfect. With a bit of AA and defensive terrain air force are not the death star some (including me!) portrays them to be. The fact that massing air in NA is a relatively standard play can gives the wrong impression of its effectiveness overall. In NA there a lack of defensive terrain means airforce can blow up units left and right (when the weather cooperates!) because there's nowhere to hide. Different battlefield, different outcome. On my last turn I had tons of max tech bombers getting 2:0 odds to tanks tucked in german forests. [X(]

[room]

Last Sugar post looks like the bible. Sadly like the Bible, I don't get it [:D]

[Taxman66]

Room:
Higher supply amount better (even at levels 6 and higher)

Defensive terrain (particularly forest and I would guess urban centers/forts? {espicially with AA upgrades}), to defend against enemy planes, better.

[room]

ORIGINAL: Taxman66

Room:
Higher supply amount better (even at levels 6 and higher)

Defensive terrain (particularly forest and I would guess urban centers/forts? {espicially with AA upgrades}), to defend against enemy planes, better.

I got that. I don't understand how it works between attachment and supply level or effective supply level relative to which HQ you re attached too who might be the closer one but might not be so the supply is diffferent but not reaaly different. And like this but not really like this [:D]

[Sugar]

Last Sugar post looks like the bible. Sadly like the Bible, I don't get it

Hope I didn't make a mistake, but you may also ask if anything was confusing you.

I don't understand how it works between attachment and supply level or effective supply level relative to which HQ you re attached too who might be the closer one but might not be so the supply is diffferent but not reaaly different.

Take a look at the wood-hex between Tours and Orleans. Tours is producing 6 supply, so the HQ there will provide 10 supply, but Orleans is producing only 5 supply (recently reoccupied, still damaged by scorched earth), so the HQ there will provide 8 supply.

Any unit - except aircraft - placed in that hex will receive 9 supply, but an aircraft will receive either 9 supply if attached to the HQ in Tours or 7 supply if attached to the HQ in Orleans; in which case it also will be highlighted in purple.

[Taxman66]

Check the supply level each HQ is pushing out and what it is in the target hex. What Sugar is saying is that it is not always the closest HQ that is providing the highest amount.

The other trick is factoring in the HQ rating and experience level. I'm not sure how ine priortizes those factors.

[room]

Ok thanks! I thnink I get it. The supply level as indicated on the supply map is for all units but aircraft.

For aircraft you have the supply level from the HQ you are attached too. Is that correct?

[Taxman66]

Yes.
More than once ive been unable to fully reinforce an air unit in a supply 6+ hex because it was attached to the wrong hq