New player contemplating game balance

[Jomppexx]

Hello fine folk of Strategic Command WW2!

I've recently picked up Strategic Command WW2 World at War and I'm quite hooked and have spent an unhealthy amount of hours learning this game during the past week. I was sick off work and suffice to say had a lot of freetime...

I'm currently playing the normal 1939 scenario as Axis, my first game ever, against an unbuffed AI Allies opponent. Things are going quite decent I'd say despite the learning process of the game and almost non-existent optimization. I also played the Rostov 1941 scenario as the Germans once and won handily. I checked the Soviet start in that scenario also to see why I did so well, considering that perhaps Soviets had reserves for counter-attack or a defense in depth... Well they did not and I did not give it a shot but merely saw that the Soviet situation in the scenario is extremely dire and I will have to challenge myself at some point to try beat it. It seems very difficult to not get encircled and destroyed by a powerful German panzer + bomber thrust through the virtually empty soviet middle. This then leads to the northern and southern armies becoming under threat of encirclement and forces them to retreat. Anyhow the Rostov scenario is not my biggest concern. Reading through some AARs the Axis seems to do very well in most games with the US becoming active very late and the soviets struggling incredibly to make any potent dent in the Axis advance. How do experienced players feel about the game balance? Is it skewed towards one faction or another? If so are there any attempt to rebalance via custom scenarios? It should not be overly difficult to hand the allies a few extra units or for example strengthen the polish units marginally to make the invasion more costly and time consuming on the germans. Glad to hear any opinions.

Also if there are players interested in giving me a lesson so to speak I am open to playing PBEM games as either side

[LoneRunner]

Hi Jomppexx. Welcome to World at War. I'm glad you could join us. You'll find the World at War group to be friendly and helpful. And it's pretty easy to find an opponent.

World at War is one of my favorite games. It feels simple at first but the more you know about the game, the more you know you don't know, haha. Overall, the sides seem pretty even to me. However, many people feel that the Allies have a slight advantage.

Viewing AARs is a great start. I think that's one of the best ways to learn the game, other than just playing it. Taifun and Wevilc are posting two current AARs. Feel free to join the AARs and post questions. Both Taifun and Wevilc provide excellent commentary on their strategy and the results of their campaigns.

I recommend that you join the ELO Tournament. It's not really a tournament. Just a rating system, like chess. The idea is to help people match up with an equally skilled opponent. Don't worry about being a beginner. We've all been there. Most players are really helpful and will provide advice during the game. Just go into the Multiplayer section of this forum and post a request for an ELO opponent. You'll probably get a response within a couple days.

[Elessar2]

A lot of the Russian reserves are in Unit scripts (i.e. NOT the build queue), usually triggered by Axis units getting close to specific objectives (tho other triggers exist), so you won't see them anywhere in the game exe interface until they suddenly show up.

[wevilc]

wevilc is honoured & surprised to be mentioned in the same sentence as Taifun (by lonerunner). He is strong, I am not. Bear that in mind when reading our AARs.

On game balance, FWIW, I reckon the game favours the allies. Slightly. But I'm a biased allied player.

[havoc1371]

Welcome.

Be aware that the AI is fairly weak, as in most computer games, so at normal settings it is pretty predictable and prone to making bad decisions. A game against a fairly experienced player will give you a challenge, and you'll find that the advantage is not on the Axis side. The Axis is on a timetable: 1939 Fall, Poland; 1940 Spring, France; 1941 Spring Yugoslavia; 1941 Spring/Summer, Russia; 1941 Fall, Pearl Harbor. Anything the Allies do to upset this timetable can have a ripple effect. France not falling by 1940 Fall means delays to Barbarossa. Two equal players loosely follows history, with the Allies trying to defeat the Axis before the summer of 1947 (default end).

Many Axis players try different methods to try to game the system, such as attacking France and the Low Countries immediately following Poland, because they know the poor condition the French army, and that the BEF is understrength when it arrives. If successful, they shift to Yugoslavia, attacking the Axis "ally" early because they have pre knowledge of the coup. Then they set up for a Barbarossa by the Fall of 1940, because Russia is also weak early on.

In my opinion, the Allies have the advantage unless the Axis uses pre knowledge of events and game the system to get an upper hand.

[Illiniwek80]

Welcome to the ultimate JOMT (just one more turn) game.

Personally, I would pay up for an upgraded version of this game, AI wise. It does wacky things, like charge the Afrika Corps off into the middle of the desert where it withers away. It can't maintain supply lines well, except for some well scripted parts. Anything unusual thrown at it, and it's helpless.

Also, if there were some areas reworked (for example, IMHO, I would like to see artillery thrown in as another unit stat), I would gladly pay full purchase price again.

[havoc1371]

The AI is weak. Against a human opponent who is at your skill level, I think you'll find the game favors the Allies. The Axis is on a timetable that is not very flexible: Fall 1939 Poland, Spring 1940 France, Fall 1940 Afrika Korps using most of your mpp's to bring up to strength, whether you use them in North Africa, or against Russia. Fall 1940 Greece, unless you forgo the event and have a 65% pro-allied country at your rear. Spring 1941 Yugoslavia (many players use their knowledge that it will coup and invade it while its still 45% pro-axis to get it out of the way). Spring/Summer 1941 Russia. Fall 1941 Pearl Harbor. If you don't attack Russia or the US, they build towards war regardless.

Anything they can do to upset the timetable lowers the Axis chances of a straight up win by defeating Russia. There comes a tipping point where the Axis is spending all it's mpp's to repair units and lacks funds to build new ones. If your Allied opponent is good, that tipping point comes in 1942, especially if the Axis Barbarossa is not well executed and Russia holds the line from Riga to Rostov by spring 1942. Japan usually does well at the end of 1941, capturing a lot of small nations and colonies, but they aren't the Allied focus. In 1942, the US troops will begin to make themselves felt, first with airpower showing up, then by ground troops following historical routes, or by inventive attacks directly at Italy, Denmark to capture the ahistorical strait that allows the Allies to flood the Baltic with ships and AVL's immediately upon capture.

Time is on the Allies side. For the Axis, the clock is ticking.