Initiative?

[HansBolter]

On the turn that I took Astrakhan and boosted my VP total to 1020 the initiative was magically gifted to the Soviets.

As can be clearly seen in the attached screen shots below from July 4, 1943 the Soviets are clearly losing the war and clearly DO NOT posses the Initiative.

What, exactly, is Initiative in game terms? What benefit does possessing it bestow on the holder?

Why did it magically switch when nothing, in game terms, warrants such a shift?

[HansBolter]

July 4, 1943 Northern Sector:

[HansBolter]

July 4, 1943 Southern Sector:

[Wiedrock]

On the turn that I took Astrakhan and boosted my VP total to 1020 the initiative was magically gifted to the Soviets.

As can be clearly seen in the attached screen shots below from July 4, 1943 the Soviets are clearly losing the war and clearly DO NOT posses the Initiative.

What, exactly, is Initiative in game terms? What benefit does possessing it bestow on the holder?

Why did it magically switch when nothing, in game terms, warrants such a shift?

[...]

For campaigns that start in June 1941 the system basically encourages the Axis
player to try and capture more cities (either take them earlier, take cities that
historically were not occupied, or hold them for longer). In turn, when the Soviet player
regains the initiative, they too gain bonus points for capturing cities in advance of the
historical schedule.

[...]

29.1.1. Key Concepts
The campaign victory system relies on two key concepts.

#Initiative.
At any stage of the game, only one side has the initiative. This side will gain VPs as
below as they capture cities and lose VPs if their opponent manages to retake a city.
Initiative Switchover can happen to the Soviets between October 1 1942 and July 1
1943 whenever the German score is 10% or more below the German High Water
Mark score. If this has not already happened then the initiative will switch on July 1
1943. Once initiative switches, it never switches back.
Once the initiative changes, the VP score is recalculated using the value of the cities
held by the Soviet player at any stage, plus any bonuses for cities that were historically
lost but not in the current game.

#German High Water Mark (HWM)
This is the highest score ever obtained by the Germans throughout the game. At the
time that the initiative changes, the Axis HWM score is frozen, and the Soviets begin
to score points (in the same way the Germans have been scoring).

Initiative is only the scoring system which is only "adjusted to the actual situation" until July 1943. Then it shifts Initiative to allow for a more historic'ish playthrough. This does not stop you in any way, you can still press on if you want to/can and reach the Urals.
Note that if the Ai is too easy you can always adjust all the settings during your playthrough, either by buffing the Ai or by nerfing you.

[HansBolter]

So I can continue taking objective cities, but will receive no VPs for doing so?

This is my first campaign, so I started it on the Easy setting and without FOW so I could see what is going on.

After the first summer season I leveled the playing field, but left the FOW off.

My next campaign will be on a much tougher setting.

[tm1]

So I can continue taking objective cities, but will receive no VPs for doing so?

This is my first campaign, so I started it on the Easy setting and without FOW so I could see what is going on.

After the first summer season I leveled the playing field, but left the FOW off.

My next campaign will be on a much tougher setting.

Me personally I would play through to Jan 1945 where there is semi automatic victory cutoff ( wrong wording cant think of the correct one at this time ) where by you will either judged winner or loser if The Soviets retake victory cities, also the AI gets tougher in 43 /44.
I'm playing such a game now its late 44 however I have virtually destroyed the Red Army, but if they had a half decent size force I would be in trouble.

regards