First game

[Sionnach]

So, I finally had some time this weekend to start playing and learning. I decided to play the North African campaign as there are fewer units to look after and only one country to play on the Allied side.

Currently getting beaten all ends up! It's 1st May 1942 and I have been pushed all the way back to Sid Barrani, where I have finally managed to hold for a bit, mainly by entrenching and simply not doing much.

Now, please remember that I am still quite new to strategy games in general, and definitely to this one. One thing that confuses me is what to do with my fleet. Any time I move it anywhere, it's immediately out of support, so it has to go straight back to port. I have given up for now and just leave it in port, unsure what to do with it.
The few aircraft that I have seem to do very little when I try to soften some units, not sure why but I am sure I will figure it out eventually.

Anyway, it's good fun so far, and I will reply this scenario again once this one is finished. If anyone has some good tips on what to do from the start as Allies, I would be very interested to hear them!

[gwgardner]

Air strikes against land units do most damage to their efficiency/readiness. Kind of like their morale, combat supply, communications, etc. It is a critical factor in their combat strength. So you may not see an actual strength point loss every hit, but damage is there.

Not sure what you mean by sending your ships 'out of support.' Unless you're referring to supply. Ships can stay at sea for generally three turns, sometimes more for subs. They need to return to port before or when their supply is zero. Alternatively they can be supplied at sea by oilers.

[ago1000]

Great game to start off with. Early game as Allies. Retreat. Your units are lacking strength and you are easy pickings for the Germans. Head back to Egypt to form a defensive line and build strength. If you lose units they will be hard to rebuild. Don't forget to increase your reinforcement/upgrade spending.

First time I played I went back to El Alamein. There I build my defensive line. You will be getting reinforcements and you may use your production to build trucks and replenish your strength. Once that's done, you can build units. You will need the trucks in the upcoming battles to help build effectiveness. Your armor is the key to punching holes in enemy lines and cutting off supply to their troops. Every turn or so I would click on the supply button on top and check my supply chain. You will need to expand your supply by recapturing the roads and ports you retreated from. Try to surround their armor and cut them off from supply. The next time you play, move your defensive line up, like try to hold Tobruk.

As for fleet action, I keep all my navy in Alexandria. I keep them in port in the early game and away from enemy air units. In this game, they have an extended range. Always keep a fighter plane over Alexandria to protect your fleet in full support mode. When the German fleet comes out, try to attack them with your planes. Once weakened then I would attack with my navy.

Have fun[8D].

[Sionnach]

@gwgardner Sorry, I wasn't clear at all, I meant that when I send the fleet out to sea, the very next turn it tells me that it has low supplies (not support, not sure why I wrote that) or none at all.
Thanks for the info on air strikes.

@ago1000 Ah excellent, many thanks for those tips. I think I realised a little too late that I should have retreated to begin with, and I had lost too many units before I began to do it properly. Since I have, things have steadied a bit, but I doubt I will get enough units to win, but that's fine, live and learn. I have also been spamming support trucks, which help a lot!

Thanks for the replies and advice!

[AlvaroSousa]

The next patch will have the latest rules book in the link on the Matrix launcher with more charts on them.

[Sionnach]

ORIGINAL: AlvaroSousa

The next patch will have the latest rules book in the link on the Matrix launcher with more charts on them.

Excellent, thank you.