Matrix Games Forums

Yep - you can slow it down .......by not taking losses!![8D]

But you can never reverse it.

ORIGINAL: SiTheSly
Who has defeated France first and still won?

I have been lucky enough to defeat France and eventually knock out Russia and won a decisive victory. It took a lot of luck, but here is what worked for me.

1. Invest in Poison Gas early. It can be decisive in defeating France.

2. Buy diplomatic points consistently. I buy one a turn. I use them first to delay italian entry, and after the italians enter, I use them to delay American entry. Seems to make a big difference.

3. After France is defeated, refit & entrench your army instead of immediately invading Russia/Italy. Let them attack you and spend all their resources on offesives. During this part of the war, I also invest heavily in Barrages, to wear down Russia, instead of wasting resources on offensives.

4. Be prepared for Italian entry. You need to establish a strong defensive positions BEFORE Italy declares war. Italy and BE will still push you back a few hexes, but the offensive will eventually lose momentum if you have enough corps on the italian front.

5. While on the defensive on the italian & russian fronts, clear out the Balkans. You want to have a fair amount troops in the Balkans so that you can quickly take out Greece and Romania after they declare war on you, rather than letting them hang around for awhile. Once Greece & Romania have surrenderred, you will finally have enough manpower to deal with Russia.

6. After the Balkans are cleared out, your army is in decent shape, and you have stabilized the Italian front, you can then concentrate everything you have on Russia. By this time (late 1917-early 1918) the Russians should be weakening, assuming that you have been able to wear them down throughout 1916/1917. Their troop quality will really go downhill in 1918 and makes them much easier to deal with.

Easier said than done, but it did work for me.

Nice strategy - makes sense to me, I tried again to get France to surrender and they finially did but in was at the end of 1916 after I was already starting to attack Russia. I had all of France from Paris in a line north to south but they still hung on and I had to leave them alone although they weren't a problem.

I use them to delay American entry

Strange I've never been able to influence the Americans since there is no overture button. Maybe I was trying too early or something. Also they have never been a threat in any of my games and I always go for unrestricted subs although haven't tried the poison gas yet. They normally declare war end of 1916 begining of 1917.

ORIGINAL: Lava

ORIGINAL: ojnab_bob

am making only minimal progress with my forces against 4-stack Russian troops

The Russian war machine ramps up fairly steeply as time passes. They are worse in quality... but they have quantity.

Ray (alias Lava)

"Quantity is a quality all it's own"

Game over.  End of 1919.  Major CP victory.  83 points.  In the last year I just slugged at the Russians and could feel them wearing out.  Made big gains in the north the last two turns, retaking Danzig and Konigsberg and breaking through the Russian border to take Limja on the last impulse of Nov-Dec 1919.  I saw the Brits come in to reinforce the Russian front.  They came in in the south, so I focused on the north.  I could have won just by sitting back and digging in really deep in 1919, but what the hell. 
 
Great game.  After I took out France I thought I had it made, but I still had to fight for my life over the next three years. 

ORIGINAL: SiTheSly

I use them to delay American entry

Strange I've never been able to influence the Americans since there is no overture button. Maybe I was trying too early or something. Also they have never been a threat in any of my games and I always go for unrestricted subs although haven't tried the poison gas yet. They normally declare war end of 1916 begining of 1917.

There should be an overture button - there's no time limit or other restrictions AFAIK. Take a screenshot perhaps & send it and hte save files to Frank?

ORIGINAL: jnier

I have been lucky enough to defeat France and eventually knock out Russia and won a decisive victory.

Well done!

Ray (alias Lava)