Rant about USSR surrending

[schnetzler]

Let consider a game (september 43 with Allied in France) : USSR has lost its 3 capitals and Leningrad, Volkhov, Astrakhan, etc ; the Murmansk road is cut ; USSR holds Ural industries, Arkhangelsk, Grozny, Sebastopol and Baku. Nevertheless the soviet morale is 100 % (better than GB and USA morale) !
Of course USSR does not surrender because the soviet army holds a lot of corps, AA units and garnisons and this prevents surrending (assuming the 3 % rule, the surrending probability is 0 % when the defender holds 34 units)  !

Eventually, taking the last capital and Ural industries is a very difficult and very long task because :
- the only way is a montainous road (high defense value and no surrounding)
- German units has a very low supply when advancing (there is no cities on the path and the maximum length of HQ chain is 2)

With a 800 MP income (it couid be 1000 or more), the soviet player may buy 8 units per turn. Do you think that German could destroy 8 units per turn in mountainous area ! No. So you need to take Ural industries. It’s a very long and very costly task.
The 3 % rule is suited for France when the remaining army is less than 10 units and resources are 100 MPP per turn, not for USSR when resources are more than 800 MPP per turn. A 1 % rule should be more appropriate.

[schnetzler]

The rest of the story (september 44) : the Ural industries or the height of pettiness and ridiculous
(Taking Perm and reaching Ural industries needs ALL german bombers)

Industries are located in montainous area
- progression : 1 hex per turn (8 hex = 4 turns for 2 units ; and then 4 others turn to come back) ;
- supply is very difficult (you need a HQ close to 1 unit for getting a 1 supply level ; the other unit cannot be supply because there is no transversal road between the two rows)
- of course, with a 1 hex progression, you cannot attack a retreating unit ; next you need to keep 1 HQ and 1 unit to avoid the come back of a soviet HQ

Of course, on the other fronts (Caucasus), soviet units retreat 1 hex per turn and you can’t destroy the soviet army

Conclusion : at the end of september 44 (one year later), the USSR has not surrender and will NEVER surrender (with a 300 MPP income the soviet player is able to replace each destroyed corps) . Note that this income means that the Caucasus provides 140 MPP (160 for Vladivostok and Iran) … more than the France income in 1940 !!!

Eventually there is no more gaming but only tricks to win

[El_Condoro]

There is no requirement to take all of the USSR to win the game - you have the 3 victory condition Soviet cities. It is possible to take Perm - it has been done to me in PBEM games and I like to think that I'm better than the AI. In AI games, I guess they spawn a lot more units to slow things down but, as I said, once you have the 3 cities, you can focus on London or whatever it is that still needs to be taken.