ORIGINAL: SeaMonkey
Leb, what side would you suggest playing against the AI to have the best(hardest) game for the human opponent?
Do you recommend any settings in this case(AI)?
Is the game balanced for humans or does one side have an advantage(IYO)?
Lets start with the worst one first. That would be playing the UN. Why? because you would be all over the Germans in a heart beat. Because of fixed scripting that I can't change, Germany does little to protect itself from D-day. That I believe was intended by 2by3 to be a match for the timid UN AI. For if it was any harder to invade, the UN AI would never do so. This would give you little challenge. So I suggest not to bother playing the UN unless you deliberately hold off on D-day.
The best experience I feel would be Russia with all others using the AI. Let Japan and US do their thing in the Pacific and Britain and Germany do theirs. Just focus on trying to get a German surrender. While watching the AI play though many games, D-day was generally in 1944 sometimes even 1945 and rarer still, never. If you happen to be playing a game as Russia and the WA's for some reason are really timid that game, you will find it very hard to force a German surrender. Try smashing your way through 60 8/8 infantry, 35 10/9 tanks and other units.
Japan would probably be next best as long as you don't use the Axis double squeeze on Russia. Try a tradition Pacific campaign and shoot for AV. You can count on Germany netting you at least 37 AV points. Use either of my 2 new Jap AV conditions instead of relying on Germany to get the victory cities. My UN AI will throw alot of subs and about 8 carriers at the Japanese.
Germany is just a bit under Japan. What keeps it from being better is that any competent German player can keep the UN AI from ever landing in France. You just put enough infantry and flak there and your set for the rest of the game. I could never overcome the timid UN AI with anything I tried. The UN AI just does not like making attacks that will result in loses. So once you commit enough garrison in the west to hold off the UN it boils down to a slug fest between you and Russia. Once Russia hits its target tech levels it really begins to pump out the units. So you are in a race to hit AV before that happens. Once again I stress not to use the Axis double squeeze as that will make it to easy to win.
EDIT:Now that 1.200 is out, a bug in the combat analizer has been fixed. The UN AI is not as timid now, and will lanch more agressive attacks. So concider parts of my old statements to be out of date now.
As far as game settings go make sure you check auto and area supply for the AI players. It seems to help the Axis avoid partisan problems. When the Axis have it off, I notice there are a lot more cases of paritsan attacks.
I'm not sure what your asking when you asked if the game was balanced. Balanced for PBEM or balanced between human vs AI. If you mean human vs AI, then I would have to say that just depends on how good you are. Casual WAW players may not be able beat my Russian or German AI. And don't forget, you can always up the difficulty level. With all the AI players building and researching smarter under my new AI, a combat bonus can be a real killer when they are teched up in the right areas. On the other hand if you mean balance under human vs human play, I think the balance is very good. Let me know if your experience differs in that regard and I'll certainly address it in future updates.
Edit: I would suggest to turn off advanced supply for the AI instead. It will have an easier time repairing and dealing with partisans. For the country you play, leave advanced supply on to make it a bit more difficult for you.
