New player questions as CP vs AI

[Chuske]

On my first ever full game of vanilla Call to Arms it is also my first SC game.

Finding it tough going while I'm learning the mechanics etc and its far from certain that I will be succcesful on this playthrough. Been caught out or confused by:-

1) Not being sure what units I was getting when as some seeemed to appear from mobilsation events (not in production queue) so wasn't too sure what I needed to build when and where the threats would be.
2) I was also caught out by not realising how little defense the improved trenches would give to my troops once Britain and France had upgraded their artillery.
3) I also struggled to work out a decent naval strategy as didn't have a feel for strengths of units nor how to use them effectively and whether to use subs as scouts, supply raiders or risk US swinging to Entente through raiding the NM hexes of UK coast. I've taken out some Entente big ships but at cost of quite a few destroyers.
4) Not realising a supply source city could effectively supply a massive pocket of surrounded Russians holding the area around Warsaw meaning it has taken ages to batter them down, whereas my commonsense from other games was a large pocket would have have supply shortage even if it has a supply source, as its supply would be limited.
5) Being too slow to build artillery and planes.
6) Struggling to find troops to cover Italian front
7) Diplomacy

My biggest questions are research priorities, naval strat and build priorities.I read some threads on these but still not totally clear on a few things particularly early spending of MPPs in first few turns.

My questions are:-

1) Research threads on this suggest quite a lot of priorities but not how early and in what order. For example threads suggest trenches, artillery, shells, industry, S&I & infantry weapons all important but I wasn't sure how quickly to max these out at the expense of of other MPP demands. I have now lvl 5 trenches and max artillery in autumn 1916. So what would you spend on immediately at turn 2 and what the next few turns? In this game for Germany I mostly just had a couple of chits in trenches then by late 1914 started on the others, then maxed all the above out by mid-1915 (Austria & Ottomans was modest investment in trenches only). I'm thinking I needed to invest more earlier?

2) Cost effective unit build priorities? I didn't have a good feel for what I needed to build early on and def needed to get more artillery & planes I think and perhaps have built mountain troops for Italian front. I had just mainly built corps till mid-1915, then suddenly got blasted by guns on the western front where I had been winning early on. What are some good rules of thumb on this? e.g. How many artlliery units on each front and by when?

3) Is there somewhere a list of what mobilised units you get and when?

4) Naval. Prob my biggest issue has been understanding how to scout with subs and destroyers effectively and to decide on how much effort to put in raiding supply routes with subs and whether to try and lure big ships into traps or just focus on the sub war. I also not doing too well hunting ruusian subs in the Baltic. Any tips?

5) What are opinions on replace commanders at HQs with better candidates vs buying new hQs vs fighting with what you have and saving MPPs for production/research?

6) Ottoman morale is very fragile and I had trouble in Causcasus early on but managed to fight back after got troops into the area and build a strong line of 4 corps near Gaza as well as retake Gallipolli back off the Brits. Baghdad is through under threat now. How on earth do you keep Ottoman morale up though? It's the lowest of any country at 58% in my game in mid-1916. Tricky to manage these guys with poor terrain and not enough rail and widely spread fronts to cover with not many units. Again tips on strategy and build/research priorities for these guys?

[mdsmall]

Hi - as a player who was introduced to the whole Strategic Command series with the Call to Arms campaign in SC WW1, I can identify with your situation. You are asking a lot of good questions. The best way to learn the game mechanics is to play a couple of games against the AI and to experiment with a few hot-seat tests (see below). The best way to learn about the strategy is play against a human opponent - the AI, as good as it is, can not respond as nimbly or rationally to new situations as a human opponent. Here are some brief responses to your questions

1) Research priorities: in my view there are three must-have techs: trench warfare (for defence); artillery weapons (for attack) and infantry weapons (for both). Every power (save for Serbia which can't afford to invest in artillery, and the USA which faces no homeland threats) needs to invest in all three of these techs asap. Infantry weapons is important because you can invest only 1 chit in them so it takes about 15 turns to reach level 1. If your infantry are behind the enemy in infantry weapons, everything suffers until you catch up. After these three there is a second tier of techs: gas/shell tech; industrial tech; command and control (for the powers that start at zero), spying and intelligence (for the strongest power on your side) plus advanced subs for Germany and ASW for the UK, which are important to invest in as resources permit. The rest are all valuable but can wait till mid-game before you start to invest in them. I generally try to invest at least one tech chit per turn for each of the larger powers.

2) The top unit build priority is simple: buy all the artillery you can, as soon as you can. Without artillery at Artillery Weapons one, you cannot destroy units dug in with Trench Level tech. With them, you can. While half strength artillery units still de-entrench, they have a bigger morale effect and more chances to knock off strength points if built up to full strength.

Every power will want to buy back corps that were destroyed at supply 5 or higher and thus cost only 60% of the base cost. Detachments are more cost-efficient than corps for defensive purposes but every power needs more corps if they can afford them in order to prevail over the enemy and to hold their lines.

In terms of aviation, airships are much cheaper and faster to build than recon bombers and their longer range gives you a big recon bonus when flying over enemy lines. Plus they are helpful in harassing enemy naval units and spotting their fleets. Buy them before you invest in recon bombers. But you will need as many air ships or recon bombers as you have artillery pieces, as you can't afford to advance into a captured hex unless you can see what's behind it and thus avoid a surprise combat with a second line unit. If the unit you are are attacking is entrenched, land units can't spot past the trench lines, so you will need aviation for intelligence. Other types of aircraft including fighters are nice to have but not essential.

3) There is a complete list of unit mobilization schedules which you can look up in the Editor (under Events, and then Units). But it can be confusing to figure out how to read the Editor when you are still learning the game. I recommend instead doing a few tests playing both sides in hot-seat mode for the first six turns or so and taking screen-shots. You will quickly see when and where the later arriving units mobilize. This mostly applies to France and Russia on the Entente side and Germany and Austria-Hungary on the CP side.

4) Good questions - which do not have a firm answers. It depends on the power you are playing and the situation in the game. Subs are most useful as scouts in silent mode, as they can move undetected and can reveal enemy units that can then be attacked by surface fleets or aviation. Subs also can't fight other subs so are useful for spotting enemy subs. Don't overlook the ability of German subs in particular to shut down British ports by occupying the NM hexes and thus wreak havoc on British MPP production but at the cost of irritating the USA. Air power (air ships, recon bombers and maritime bombers) can be remarkably useful against enemy naval units - both for spotting and scoring some combat hits - especially in narrow seas like the Adriatic, the Baltic and the English Channel.

5) I only spend MPPs to sack and replace generals when there is a big delta between the rating of existing generals versus the ones available for replacement. That really only applies to Russia. Even a general with a mediocre rating of 4 can become very useful if he gains enough experience to earn one star or more. Investing in command and control to increase the command range, number of units and ratings of your generals is cheaper (though slower) than buying additional generals. Given the huge cost, buying additional general is usually something you can only afford by mid-game. I find the power that most needs to make that investment is the UK (depending on how many separate theatres they have land units deployed).

6) Ottoman National More is a real headache (which is why I gave the Ottomans lots of new opportunities to gain NM points as well as to lose them in my Icarus mod for SC WW1). If you can pull it off, try to force march a unit into Basra just before the Ottomans mobilize. That will prevent the UK from seizing it as soon as the Ottomans go to war. This requires though not sending the Goeben to Constantinople, plus a bit of luck in the Ottoman mobilization rates. My only other suggestion is try not surrender your towns and cities in the Caucasus any faster than necessary - cities in particular drain your national morale by 25 NM points every turn (both sides). The best way to secure the Ottomans is to capture Nish in Serbia as quickly as you can, get the Bulgarians into to war and open a rail line to the other two Central Powers. This will enable the overland convoy to the Ottomans, as well as giving you the option to rail in some German, Austro-Hungarian or Bulgarian reinforcements to help the Ottomans hold key points.

Good luck and enjoy the game!

Michael

[Chuske]

Thanks Michael that is really helpful indeed, I'm playing as Central powers by the way, gave up on my first game in 1916, doing better on my second.

Tried the march on Basra from turn 1 but only got as far as Baghdad.... I forgot to operate across Turkey initially though, even so think it requires luck to get there in time. But I now have two corps at outside Basra, 4 at Gaza and 6 at the Caucasus and morale is holding up much better.

[mdsmall]

Tried the march on Basra from turn 1 but only got as far as Baghdad.... I forgot to operate across Turkey initially though, even so think it requires luck to get there in time.

I should have mentioned that to get to Basra in time requires force marching on the first turn (while the Ottoman units have 5 level supply). Something it took me a while to learn was to make use of the option to force march in various defensive situations.

[Chuske]

Thanks Michael your help is really appreciated. Do airships give an artillery bonus to a reconned hex? You suggested building them instead of recon bombers but I only get the red hex outline meaning artillery bonus with recon bombers. Am I right in thinking airships are used more as spotters to avoid advancing units running into unspotted enemy?

I'm realising one mistake I was making was overspending on reinforcing units at expense of spending on research. I now realise in early turns to be more discerning where I spend on reinforcement steps and make sure I keep pace with my opponents research better.

[mdsmall]

Do airships give an artillery bonus to a reconned hex?

No, they don't. But for me the primary value of reconnaissance is to spot the second line behind trenches so that advancing units do not suffer a surprise attack. Airships do that very well.