Beta Test

[Ason]

Not sure, about 30 hours since release.

[BillRunacre]

ORIGINAL: rjl518

Okay...September 27, 1940.
Still have not conquered France.
IMO the Allies are over-powered or Germany is under-powered.
The Italian and German Navies are wiped out.
When the Allies attack, they seem to score 50% more damage.
In one turn, a UK Battleship score -8! on an Italian Battleship.
The Italian battleship was sunk on the next attack from an adjacent UK CA.
Both Axis air air forces are pretty much wiped out.
The German Luftwaffe was useless against the French.
Couldnt do anything.
They kept on being blown out of the sky.
I know France had a very good Army, but the Germans were superior to them in materiel and morale.
IMO...you have some MAJOR balancing issues at this time.

Hi

Thanks for your feedback and I wonder if any of our players who have done better against France might have different or similar experiences, or suggestions to make here?

Both in terms of conquering France and also the balance of naval power.

My own view is that sending the Kriegsmarine out to battle the Allied fleets, especially while France is still in the war, should always be risky, and apart from helping to get Subs out into the Atlantic I'm not sure what is gained from doing so.

I think it's better to keep it for limited operations such as:

- Against the Soviet navy
- Raiding in the Atlantic but only setting off for the Atlantic AFTER both France and Norway are in Axis hands.
- Escorting an invasion of the UK
- Trying (perhaps desperately) to hinder DDay.

It may be that we need to make adjustments, and I welcome feedback on all of this. [:)]

[n0kn0k]

I agree with Bill on the Kriegsmarine. Even though i did have some succes sinking a carrier and CC in the northsea.

[RJL5188]

ORIGINAL: Bill Runacre

ORIGINAL: rjl518

Okay...September 27, 1940.
Still have not conquered France.
IMO the Allies are over-powered or Germany is under-powered.
The Italian and German Navies are wiped out.
When the Allies attack, they seem to score 50% more damage.
In one turn, a UK Battleship score -8! on an Italian Battleship.
The Italian battleship was sunk on the next attack from an adjacent UK CA.
Both Axis air air forces are pretty much wiped out.
The German Luftwaffe was useless against the French.
Couldn't do anything.
They kept on being blown out of the sky.
I know France had a very good Army, but the Germans were superior to them in materiel and morale.
IMO...you have some MAJOR balancing issues at this time.

Hi

Thanks for your feedback and I wonder if any of our players who have done better against France might have different or similar experiences, or suggestions to make here?

Both in terms of conquering France and also the balance of naval power.

My own view is that sending the Kriegsmarine out to battle the Allied fleets, especially while France is still in the war, should always be risky, and apart from helping to get Subs out into the Atlantic I'm not sure what is gained from doing so.

I think it's better to keep it for limited operations such as:

- Against the Soviet navy
- Raiding in the Atlantic but only setting off for the Atlantic AFTER both France and Norway are in Axis hands.
- Escorting an invasion of the UK
- Trying (perhaps desperately) to hinder DDay.

It may be that we need to make adjustments, and I welcome feedback on all of this. [:)]

Okay...here is my opinion.
1) I cant get any subs into the Atlantic. The Allies find them WAY too easily and sink them. WWII was where ASW became a science, but not until later in the war when the Enigma code was broken. In that case, GER needs to start with more subs at game start. Also, Germany had a "Happy Time" during the early stages of the Battle of the Atlantic.
2) GER didnt care about the Russian navy, they were more concerned about the UK and French navies. The Russian navy wax very weak at that time, with lot of old outdated surface warships and subs.
3) I cant invade the UK without defeating France first. The French Armies were tough, yes, but their morale was terrible as they really didnt want another war with Germany.
4) North Africa. The British are having a ball against the Italians. The British navy in the Med is invincible. They sank the entire Italian navy in my game.
5) Why do you abstract the sinking of the Graf Spee? I would love to have that ship available at game start.

These are just my opinions of the game setup at this time.
A bug has forced me to restart the game and i will try again.

Anyway...i think this game is on the right track.

[BillRunacre]

1) it might be best to use Naval Cruise in the Subs first move, taking them north to be fairly close to the Norwegian coast.

2) That's true, and it's only because it interfere with Baltic operations which is why I suggest it as a valid target for the Kriegsmarine. Or the Luftwaffe, but that might be better placed to support the ground offensive.

5) The problem is that the Graf Spee was sunk so much further south than our map goes.

[RJL5188]

2) Oh i agree about using the Luftwaffe to support the ground offensive.
Problem is, the French destroyed pretty much most of the Air Force i had by interceptors.
5) I understand that. The Graf Spee was in the South Atlantic before the start of WWII.

I hope you got my bug report in my previous reply up top and look forward to some patches.

[ReinerAllen]

I'm not sure what I'm missing. Playing as Germany. How do you declare war? Diplomacy doesn't have a key for it

[gwgardner]

Go to the War Map, where you will find country icons you can click on to declare war.

[RJL5188]

ORIGINAL: RickEAllen

I'm not sure what I'm missing. Playing as Germany. How do you declare war? Diplomacy doesn't have a key for it

Dont feel bad.
I didnt know that you used the WAR MAP to declare war either.
My invasion of the Low Countries was delayed 1.5 months because of that missed info.

[xwormwood]

Good suggestion here:

Hubert, why not adding a "declare war" button within the diplo menu?
Or, at least, a link to the war map?

[ReinerAllen]

Thanks GWGardner. However, not to belabor the point, but shouldn't declarations or war be through diplomatic channels?

[RJL5188]

Started new game.
Took Poland in two turns.
Now moving German units to French border.
Used silent in order to move German submarines to Atlantic.
Seems to work a little better, but one of my subs was discovered and suddenly, the entire British fleet was on me.
Waiting for some patches to clear up the bugs and balance.

[n0kn0k]

Two turns. Nice. How did you do that? What did the a.i. use to defend the capital with?

[RJL5188]

just what the AI had.
I just tried a different strategy on the Poles.
Worked great...but now...turning attention westward.

[ReinerAllen]

Also started new game. Took Poland in 3 turns - luck of the draw I guess. I'm determined to finish this one and report all thoughts.

[Ason]

I also started a new game on expert, took Poland in 2 turns, basically just opened route to East Prussia through Danzig, then moved my tank group into that area, then went all out for Warzaw, didn't care about supply routes or what enemies I passed by.

I would really like to know how the difficulty levels changes the AI. I really hope it gets smarter rather than just a bonus to the stats.
So for in Poland I didn't notice any difference between expert and beginner, but I guess it's too early to tell.

[zakblood]

if you leave every unit and just go for the capitol, Poland falls easy on turn 2 with next to no losses for yourself, just remove most of your units to west while you do it, as 2 tank units and 2 infantry and no planes it's easy, the rest i just move west right from the start, matters little by what they do or try and take, just bypass them and go for broke, then once the capitol falls, you get any lost back anyway, so rather an easy start, with little real effort needed, and a quicker easier start then in the west and on time, but from here i go to pot as managing stuff elsewhere isn't my thing, so sea and Italy gets forgotten in my plans and push, also the cap on spending on research for me isn't to my liking, i like more freedom, not to just replay history, i like to make my own [:D][;)]

[Ason]

I would also like more freedom in the area of research, but I guess it's pretty easy to edit in the editor.

[zakblood]

yes it is, in your own made ones, but the pre done ones are locked

[Ostwindflak]

ORIGINAL: Mrslobodan

I would also like more freedom in the area of research, but I guess it's pretty easy to edit in the editor.

What do you mean by more freedom?