Game balance & German strategy

Lokioftheaesir · Post by **Lokioftheaesir** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 1:45 pm

Originally posted by MagnusOlsson:
I'm in a PBEM game right now where 'fist thru the monitor' is about the only viable strategy left .
The plotting seems improved a lot since the 'old days'. I also think the HQ OP adds a nice touch to the game play nowadays.
Maybe it's just bug fixes, but I sure like it more now than before!

Magnus

Before you put your fist through he monitor, i need a new one. How is $50 Aus sound?

Nick

MagnusOlsson · Post by **MagnusOlsson** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 11:32 pm

Great! And then there is shipping and handling Sw-Aus...

I am actually better off now than a couple of turns ago, having Kursk 'in my pocket', to use a bold statement. So the monitor will probably live a while yet.

Guardsman · Post by **Guardsman** » Tue Jun 19, 2001 11:13 pm

Kuniworth:

Its impossible as the germans to reach Smolensk in time not to mention takin Moscow.

In my current game as the Germans it is now the second week of October and I have 2 panzer corps in/near Moscow. They are not totally cut off but it is doubtful that they'll be able to hold more that a week or two. Anyway, the point is that it is possible to reach Moscow, it's just incredibly hard and luck has to be on your side.

On a side note, Africa fell in the 2nd turn and it started snowing the first week of October. I'm starting to suspect that these "random" events are somehow tied to how well the Germans are doing.

Ed Cogburn · Post by **Ed Cogburn** » Wed Jun 20, 2001 2:21 am

Originally posted by Guardsman:

On a side note, Africa fell in the 2nd turn and it started snowing the first week of October. I'm starting to suspect that these "random" events are somehow tied to how well the Germans are doing.

No, nothing like that, I promise. You're just a little paranoid. Its either that or you should find Lady Luck and take her out to dinner and a movie, or somethin'.

Guardsman · Post by **Guardsman** » Wed Jun 20, 2001 2:34 am

Ed:

You're just a little paranoid.

Quite true, but sometimes I'm right. I started playing PC wargames in the mid-80's where the "AI" always played by a different set of rules and was always able to do things a human couldn't. You know what they say about first impressions.

Kuniworth · Post by **Kuniworth** » Wed Jun 20, 2001 12:14 pm

In my current game as the Germans it is now the second week of October and I have 2 panzer corps in/near Moscow. They are not totally cut off but it is doubtful that they'll be able to hold more that a week or two. Anyway, the point is that it is possible to reach Moscow, it's just incredibly hard and luck has to be on your side.

Hm well as I said before and thousand other times; I dont mind it being hard as long as you can make that blitzring strike count in june to august. Of course you can reach Moscow at the end of the year but its the supply-rules that stops the advance in july. And thats whats bugging me.

On a side note, Africa fell in the 2nd turn and it started snowing the first week of October. I'm starting to suspect that these "random" events are somehow tied to how well the Germans are doing.

I agree! If youre doing real good the first week and at the same time transfers the (th italian armys divisions to the Africa corps this will cause it to shatter. So I believe youre right.

Guardsman · Post by **Guardsman** » Wed Jun 20, 2001 5:44 pm

Just an update to my earlier posts. I played some more of the October turns and by the end of the month I'd had 3 snow turns and 1 rain turn. Put a serious damper on my ability to take Moscow. I'm really starting to get suspicious. One of the Panzer corps outside Moscow shattered and the other I managed to save. Not to mention that suddenly every Russian air unit now has 200-250 aircraft in it. Strange. I'm almost as shocke das the real Germans were outside of Moscow, albeit 2 months early.

Ed Cogburn · Post by **Ed Cogburn** » Thu Jun 21, 2001 12:54 pm

Originally posted by Guardsman:
Quite true, but sometimes I'm right. I started playing PC wargames in the mid-80's where the "AI" always played by a different set of rules and was always able to do things a human couldn't. You know what they say about first impressions.

The computer AI does do a lot of cheating, but some of this has been removed by Arnaud. There have been numerous conversations about the Italian front event checks, and no one, including Arnaud, have spoken of any connection in the event formula to the AI if the game is a human vs. AI.

But conspiricy theories are so popular...

Ed Cogburn · Post by **Ed Cogburn** » Thu Jun 21, 2001 1:09 pm

Originally posted by Guardsman:
Just an update to my earlier posts. I played some more of the October turns and by the end of the month I'd had 3 snow turns and 1 rain turn. Put a serious damper on my ability to take Moscow. I'm really starting to get suspicious.

Try playing against a human if you don't believe me. I've run human vs. human games to see if there are more blizzard turns for the Soviet AI and there wasn't a big difference.

Not to mention that suddenly every Russian air unit now has 200-250 aircraft in it. Strange.

The Soviet AI always does this. It pulls air units back and builds them back up. Notice that now the Soviets have a bunch of the older planes in their pool, so they can build up 200 plane units by winter fairly easy. This is a change from the older versions. Now if all those 200 plane units you saw were using Yak fighters then there'd be a problem.

Guardsman · Post by **Guardsman** » Thu Jun 21, 2001 5:57 pm

Ed:

I believe you...really. It's easier to blame the other side for cheating than it is to accept "bad luck" as an explanation. Especially when it is so damn convenient for the enemy. It all goes back to those early PC games and first impressions.

RickyB · Post by **RickyB** » Thu Jun 21, 2001 6:29 pm

Also, regarding the weather, you can almost always count on the entire month of October being rain, with the occasional snow mixed in. The November is almost always all snow, with December being all blizzard. Thus, if there was one snow turn in October, this is actually better than average as snow is much much better for the attacker than mud. The latest versions due seem to have less random weather than before, where there were times blizzards would start in mid November and run for months. I have not had that bad of luck in testing any newer version. As a matter of fact, it seems as if the first blizzard turn is always the first December turn now.

Kuniworth · Post by **Kuniworth** » Thu Jun 21, 2001 6:46 pm

For god sake let the AI cheat as much as possible. Let it make up for tactical errors or this game will be totally unplayable in one player games!

Ed Cogburn · Post by **Ed Cogburn** » Fri Jun 22, 2001 12:08 pm

Originally posted by Guardsman:
Ed:

I believe you...really. It's easier to blame the other side for cheating than it is to accept "bad luck" as an explanation. Especially when it is so damn convenient for the enemy. It all goes back to those early PC games and first impressions.

Gotcha. I understand. The reason why I ran that human v. human game to see the number of blizzard turns, was it happened to me in a human v. AI game and I was convinced the AI was cheating. Convinced.

matt.buttsworth · Post by **matt.buttsworth** » Fri Jun 22, 2001 1:28 pm

am not sure but I think with the ability to increase readiness with motionless Russian units, the Soviets should have a very good chance in version 3.0 as it is.
Would be very, very difficult to play a successful German attack against a good and well organized defence. Matt