Matrix Games Forums

Hello all.

New to the game, first campaign (as CP), really enjoying it so far. I dig the HQ mechanic quite a bit, makes the game feel very much like a WWI game vs. WWII, which has been the holy grail for seemingly forever.

That said, I'm running into a few snags here and there. I've perused the manual (haven't really read it in depth yet), and searched the forum, so if I missed something, please let me know.

A few questions/comments:

1. Once you make your national purchases during the strategic phase, is there any way to change them? Appears to me that once you purchase something on the national screen, you're stuck. It's a minor interface beg, but it would be nice to have the flexibility to change those purchases before hitting "continue".

2. Using the naval orders, I sent the AH fleet raiding out into the Eastern Med, using most (if not all-- can't recall) of my naval assets. Next turn, they fight with a bunch of fleets, very satisfying. But then they were damaged, and I wanted to recall them to port-- but I saw no way of doing it. I figured that the "return" function would do the trick, but it never seemed to work. Is there an obvious way of doing this? (In the meantime, the AH fleet was stuck out there, and eventually got sunk).

3. WRT transports, I get that as a basic strategy for the CP you should always use 2 transports in the Baltic at all times, and that it's really not a good idea to use transports in the Atlantic, as they get sunk. Correct?

4. Is there a good submarine strategy for the CP? Has anyone ever used subs effectively? How many do you need? Where do you deploy them? Is it cost-effective, or a waste of CP resources?

5. Bulgaria enters the war, I use them against Serbia. I exhaust their 2 HQ points. Bulgaria eventually accrues enough industrial points to purchase new HQ refits, the HQ refit button is there on the national purchase screen. . . but I can't purchase any HQ refits. Is this WAD or a bug? My forum search found some discussion about minor powers not getting HQ refits, but if that was the case, why is HQ refit even an option for Bulgaria? (Besides, the Ottomans can refit their HQ's no problem. . . ?)

6. This is probably in the manual, but are assaults into hexes improved by attacking from multiple hexes/directions? I.e. if I can load up a 4-corps attack from one hex or two 2-corps attacks from two hexes, does it make any difference which I choose?

7. Any tips on the "ideal" attack into a hex? I'm guessing it's a mix of "Arty on 1st impulse, attack with high readiness/high strength units plus Arty support on 2nd impulse, outnumber the enemy, outclass the enemy" kind of tactic, but I was wondering what the best way is to maximize my chances.

8. Is there an advantage to attacking with friendly artillery that's already been loaded vs. "reload and barrage"?

9. Is there a defensive advantage to having friendly artillery in a hex? Does it have to already be loaded? Is it just versus enemy artillery (counterbattery) or is it against enemy units attacking into the hex? Does friendly arty assist surrounding hexes when attacked?

10. Is it better to use artillery early and often, even when not attacking? For the points cost, it seems a cheap way to keep up the "wastage" on the enemy front, as long as the enemy isn't entrenched. But not sure if this is cost effective to use artillery outside of assaults.

11. If I understand it correctly, artillery vs. trenches is a straight progression, i.e. Level 1 artillery is good only against targets out in the open, but nullified by Level 1 (or higher) entrenchments. Basically, to be effective artillery technology level must be at least one level higher than the target entrenchment. Is this true? Or is artillery still effective if it's equal to the entrenchment? Is there any (degraded) effectiveness in using lower-level artillery against higher-level entrenchments?

10. I've found the number of industrial points to be VERY limiting-- I find myself wishing I had just a few more on every turn. I understand that you can't/shouldn't be able to do everything you want every turn, but it's really on the margin of being less than it should be. By the end of 1916 my R&D is far behind what I think it should be, my HQ points are hard to keep up, I have understrength units everywhere, not enough air, forget about doing more than one naval sortie of the High Seas Fleet, I haven't built ANY new units, etc. etc..

All this feeds my first impression is that the game is TOO limiting, but again, it could be just because I'm not focusing on what I need to focus on.

What's the most direct way to maximize German and AH industrial points? I.e. the best/easiest areas to attack/obtain? Other strategies for it?

11. Still don't quite understand R&D. What do the percentages mean on the R&D screen? If I add points, is it a set number of points required for each advance, or am I buying a percentage chance for increase?

12. After the first few turns I realized that I was playing the game FAR too aggressively. I did great in France-- during the setup I reinforced the Schlieffen right wing, marched into Paris before 1914 was out-- but used up HQ points like crazy. I ignored the east until 1915, and found that the Russians have a steamroller right on the border. I'm into 1916 now, and AH is growing very weak, still haven't finished off Serbia, the Italians and now Romanians have jumped in, and I just can't seem to do much against the Russians with Germany-- the line is as static as in the West.

Aside from the obvious advice to take things slower next time, is there any advice/basic strategies for handling the East and the Balkans? Given the quality and quantity of troops in the West, I'm confident that I can make progress/hold my own against the Brits and the French. Trouble is, I just don't see the AH as being good for anything but speedbumps (quite historical, I guess), and I don't get enough extra German units early to do anything against Russia until 1915/1916, but by then it's too late.

Sooo. . . any ideas?

---
Anyway, I apologize, there's a lot to chew over. Thank you to all in advance. I'm enjoying the game so far, it's really well done, and I appreciate how many questions get answered/clarified in this excellent forum!

Cheers,
Dave

Hi Dave, I've left your strategy questions to others, hope I can help with the game stuff.

1. Once you make your national purchases during the strategic phase, is there any way to change them? Appears to me that once you purchase something on the national screen, you're stuck. It's a minor interface beg, but it would be nice to have the flexibility to change those purchases before hitting "continue".

What version are you running? There should be a "Cancel" button on your purchases screen next to the "OK" button.

2. Using the naval orders, I sent the AH fleet raiding out into the Eastern Med, using most (if not all-- can't recall) of my naval assets. Next turn, they fight with a bunch of fleets, very satisfying. But then they were damaged, and I wanted to recall them to port-- but I saw no way of doing it. I figured that the "return" function would do the trick, but it never seemed to work. Is there an obvious way of doing this? (In the meantime, the AH fleet was stuck out there, and eventually got sunk).

3. WRT transports, I get that as a basic strategy for the CP you should always use 2 transports in the Baltic at all times, and that it's really not a good idea to use transports in the Atlantic, as they get sunk. Correct?

Correct

5. Bulgaria enters the war, I use them against Serbia. I exhaust their 2 HQ points. Bulgaria eventually accrues enough industrial points to purchase new HQ refits, the HQ refit button is there on the national purchase screen. . . but I can't purchase any HQ refits. Is this WAD or a bug? My forum search found some discussion about minor powers not getting HQ refits, but if that was the case, why is HQ refit even an option for Bulgaria? (Besides, the Ottomans can refit their HQ's no problem. . . ?)

This sounds like an early version, you should be able to refit Bulgarian HQs once you've accumulated 9 Bulgarian refit points.

6. This is probably in the manual, but are assaults into hexes improved by attacking from multiple hexes/directions? I.e. if I can load up a 4-corps attack from one hex or two 2-corps attacks from two hexes, does it make any difference which I choose?

Not directly.

8. Is there an advantage to attacking with friendly artillery that's already been loaded vs. "reload and barrage"?

No

9. Is there a defensive advantage to having friendly artillery in a hex? Does it have to already be loaded? Is it just versus enemy artillery (counterbattery) or is it against enemy units attacking into the hex? Does friendly arty assist surrounding hexes when attacked?

No. For artillery to be effective in a defensive role it would have to be firing into the hex the attack is coming from.

10. Is it better to use artillery early and often, even when not attacking?

I think so, unless the enemy is entrenched above your arty tech level.

11. If I understand it correctly, artillery vs. trenches is a straight progression, i.e. Level 1 artillery is good only against targets out in the open, but nullified by Level 1 (or higher) entrenchments. Basically, to be effective artillery technology level must be at least one level higher than the target entrenchment. Is this true? Or is artillery still effective if it's equal to the entrenchment? Is there any (degraded) effectiveness in using lower-level artillery against higher-level entrenchments?

All artillery is very effective against units in the open. But once trenches are being employed then the difference in the tech level and the trench level is what determines effectiveness. Artillery can produce hits when fired on trenches of an equal level but its effectiveness is impaired.

11. Still don't quite understand R&D. What do the percentages mean on the R&D screen? If I add points, is it a set number of points required for each advance, or am I buying a percentage chance for increase?

You are buying a chance for an increase of one level and a reduced chance of an increase of two levels.

missed your #2...

Again, this sounds like an early version. Heavily damaged ships should return to port automatically while other fleets should be available when you select the "Return" mission.

Thanks so much for the quick replies, Mr Hunter.  I was using the version that came with the Matrix download that I purchased this past Sunday, I thought I saw somewhere (the title screen, maybe?) that it was patched up to the current standard.  Sounds like it may not have been.
 
That said,
 
1.  There *is* a cancel button on the National Production screen, and it closes out the screen fine.  The trouble is in making the purchases, hitting "Okay," then wanting to go back into the screen later on in the same strategic phase wanting to make changes.  It doesn't seem you can do that.

Obviously, I can avoid this problem by saving the National Production screen until the very end of the strategic phase, after I've done all the refits/R&D/naval assets etc., but I admit to enjoying the ability to tweak along the way.
 
FYI, I'm pretty sure this same problem exists on multiple Strategic Phase screens-- i.e. the Build Units screen, where if you build a unit you can't unbuild it, the Naval Assets screen where you can't change assignments once entered, etc.  Ideally, I'd love it if all the Strategic Phase choices were modifiable until you hit continue to enter the next phase (okay, perhaps not the R&D box, since that involves a random modifier-- I can't recall if that modifier hits instantaneously or doesn't show up until the next screen).
 
The game is not in front of me, but I think the dynamic I'm looking for is the Airpower screen, with the "Reset" button.  IIRC, even after you close out that screen and return to it later, you always have the option to reset your choices before you continue to the next phase.
 
5.  RE: Bulgarian HQ refits. . . it takes *9* industrial points (versus the normal 3 for Germany/AH/OE) to buy 1 HQ refit for Bulgaria?  I must've missed that.  Oh well, guess I'll have to let them sit for a lot longer.
 
Thanks again for the quick answers,
Dave
 
P.S.  I've been a fan of your games since back to the mid-90's Civil War game.  Part of me *hated* that game, it was so freakin' buggy .  But yet, I never stopped playing it, for years afterward, because it was just such a great concept, and for years the only strategic Civil War game out there.  Glad to have you still in business (and GOA is an *excellent* achievement-- and a whole lot more playable!).

Hi Dave, you're right, once you've hit the OK buttons on those screens your choices are locked in. If I was doing it over I would change that.

The Bulgarians require 9 points because they're a minor and it takes 3 minor points to equal 1 major power point. That's to give the minors a little more flexibility.

Part of me *hated* that game, it was so freakin' buggy

A part of me hates that game too for the same reason [:)]

Okay then, I'll just have to be extra careful in my IP planning for the turn.  And good to know about the Bulgarians.
 
Thanks again!

Naval aspect of the game is difficult, that will take some trial and error. Damaged ships can repair at sea! Now if this counts for refueling or re-arming I'm not sure but I see no reason to allow it.
 
Shipping is important, Germany can starve and surrender without baltic shipping. 2 transports always, and reserves.. England is in the same predicament... oddly enough most of English soil was productive so she should have SOME home resource
 
Artillery is a special an important weapon early but I find the more crowded a front and the more dug in the less important it is, but for a good year of the game it can literally kill an army in itself, which is historical but historically artillery was still deadly against entrenchments too... in the game I've found assualt troops and tanks better against trenches than advanced artillery which should be remedied
 
 
 
 

ORIGINAL: davekinva

Hello all.

New to the game, first campaign (as CP), really enjoying it so far. I dig the HQ mechanic quite a bit, makes the game feel very much like a WWI game vs. WWII, which has been the holy grail for seemingly forever.

That said, I'm running into a few snags here and there. I've perused the manual (haven't really read it in depth yet), and searched the forum, so if I missed something, please let me know.

A few questions/comments:

10. I've found the number of industrial points to be VERY limiting-- I find myself wishing I had just a few more on every turn. I understand that you can't/shouldn't be able to do everything you want every turn, but it's really on the margin of being less than it should be. By the end of 1916 my R&D is far behind what I think it should be, my HQ points are hard to keep up, I have understrength units everywhere, not enough air, forget about doing more than one naval sortie of the High Seas Fleet, I haven't built ANY new units, etc. etc..

All this feeds my first impression is that the game is TOO limiting, but again, it could be just because I'm not focusing on what I need to focus on.

What's the most direct way to maximize German and AH industrial points? I.e. the best/easiest areas to attack/obtain? Other strategies for it?

Aside from the obvious advice to take things slower next time, is there any advice/basic strategies for handling the East and the Balkans? Given the quality and quantity of troops in the West, I'm confident that I can make progress/hold my own against the Brits and the French. Trouble is, I just don't see the AH as being good for anything but speedbumps (quite historical, I guess), and I don't get enough extra German units early to do anything against Russia until 1915/1916, but by then it's too late.

Sooo. . . any ideas?

---
Cheers,
Dave

I am also new to GoA and a long time grognard, and man I have to agree. I've played through a couple of times and just come up short, I mean I get a marginal CP victory by the end of '14 and still have one by '15 but I'm just getting by. I also may be too aggressive in '14 but I'm really just trying to get a historical result to understand the game. So I can achieve the early parallel on the west, and I've conquered Serbia in '15 but I can barely get to Warsaw and am in no way in shape to push Russia to its historical end.

I sure would appreciate some detailed tips.

Getting to Warsaw requires 1 of 2 things:
 
1/ Setting up to contront the Russians rather than doing hte Schlefflen Plan, or
 
2/ The Russians screwing up early and making it easy for you!
 
Warsaw didn't fall until August 4 1915, so there's really no reason to expect it to do so early in 1915 unless you do something specific to make it happen.
 
If you look at playing this game "historically" then you will get a historical result....it'll take ages to do anything, and will feel like a horrible long drawn out slog-fest.
 
Fortunately Frank has given us a game that allows us to try all sorts of things to avoid that fate.....go try some

ORIGINAL: davekinva
A few questions/comments:

Well, I'm hardly an expert, but here goes... take it or leave it (or argue over it ).

3. WRT transports, I get that as a basic strategy for the CP you should always use 2 transports in the Baltic at all times, and that it's really not a good idea to use transports in the Atlantic, as they get sunk. Correct?

More or less, though you get cargo from TRs in contested naval hexes, so if you sortie the High Seas Fleet for fun and games it might be worth sending out the transports as well. If you make it as far as the Atlantic and have a battle, you'll get some resources.

But yes, usually I just save them all for the Baltic.

4. Is there a good submarine strategy for the CP? Has anyone ever used subs effectively? How many do you need? Where do you deploy them? Is it cost-effective, or a waste of CP resources?

Subs are extremely effective until the Entente gets ASW, which takes them about a year assuming they are R&Ding right from the start. The presence of submarines does rather force the Entente to divert valuable R&D to ASW warfare, and in 1914 at least there is precious spare Entente industry to go around.

If the Entente doesn't invest in ASW, and the CPs invest in a sub fleet (say, five submarines) then the Brits are toast. So yeah, their impact can be major.

5. Bulgaria enters the war, I use them against Serbia. I exhaust their 2 HQ points. Bulgaria eventually accrues enough industrial points to purchase new HQ refits, the HQ refit button is there on the national purchase screen. . . but I can't purchase any HQ refits.

On the later versions you can do this, though you usually need to transfer finished goods from a major power to a minor as their industry is tiny - fractions of a point.

6. This is probably in the manual, but are assaults into hexes improved by attacking from multiple hexes/directions?

Don't think so, though if you surround a hex completely then it out of supply.

7. Any tips on the "ideal" attack into a hex? I'm guessing it's a mix of "Arty on 1st impulse, attack with high readiness/high strength units plus Arty support on 2nd impulse, outnumber the enemy, outclass the enemy" kind of tactic, but I was wondering what the best way is to maximize my chances.

Multiple waves and sustained pressure is the guaranteed way to take a hex. The Western and Italian fronts have special rules that make attacking harder, though I dont find them noticeably static until trenches at level 3 are common.

If an assault fails, assuming the odds were not totally in favour of one side you will have badly damaged the enemy even if they won. So a followup assault will crush them badly.

If you dont have reserves you can try a massive and sustained artillery barrage to cut their readiness, but thats still somewhat about reserves as the enemy can rotate in fresh units if they have spare ones.

Rather like the real WW1 its largely about brute force mass.

Poison gas is an exception, you don't get many gas attacks (4 per research, and that only if you beat the enemy to researching it) but gas /rocks/. For those four doses you will have a major advantage. Don't use more than one dose of gas per assault though, pumping all your gas into one hex is a waste.

8. Is there an advantage to attacking with friendly artillery that's already been loaded vs. "reload and barrage"?

Not that I know of.

9. Is there a defensive advantage to having friendly artillery in a hex? Does it have to already be loaded? Is it just versus enemy artillery (counterbattery) or is it against enemy units attacking into the hex? Does friendly arty assist surrounding hexes when attacked?

AFAIK if you dont set it to barrage artillery does nothing. It does help in defensive war though in two ways.

a) if you happen to fire during the turn of the attack it will cut the enemy readiness before the actual assault, thus improving your defence.

b) after the enemy has taken the hex - if they take it - they will be in an untrenched position, so if you promptly drench it with artillery you'll maul them horribly.

I consider artillery to be mainly an attritional thing. Generally speaking it is cost effective to use at all times, providing R&D keeps up (firing level 1 artillery at level 4 trenches is a waste of time). I tend to fire my guns constantly throughout the game, its just a question of finding the juiciest target.

10. Is it better to use artillery early and often, even when not attacking? For the points cost, it seems a cheap way to keep up the "wastage" on the enemy front, as long as the enemy isn't entrenched. But not sure if this is cost effective to use artillery outside of assaults.

Exactly so.

11. If I understand it correctly, artillery vs. trenches is a straight progression, i.e. Level 1 artillery is good only against targets out in the open, but nullified by Level 1 (or higher) entrenchments. Basically, to be effective artillery technology level must be at least one level higher than the target entrenchment. Is this true? Or is artillery still effective if it's equal to the entrenchment? Is there any (degraded) effectiveness in using lower-level artillery against higher-level entrenchments?

Dicerolls are involved, its not an absolute, so artillery will do something, even if outclassed by the defence, just not so much. It isnt cost effective to use low grade artillery against high grade trenches, though. Hopefully by the time they have good trenches, you have good artillery, though! Artillery or aircraft (or both) I consider crucial, I'm R&Ding one or both of those every turn, pretty much.

10. I've found the number of industrial points to be VERY limiting-- I find myself wishing I had just a few more on every turn. I understand that you can't/shouldn't be able to do everything you want every turn, but it's really on the margin of being less than it should be. By the end of 1916 my R&D is far behind what I think it should be, my HQ points are hard to keep up, I have understrength units everywhere, not enough air, forget about doing more than one naval sortie of the High Seas Fleet, I haven't built ANY new units, etc. etc..

I don't think so. If you're playing as the CPs though managing your economy is much more difficult than as the Entente. If Germany is on ~10 industry a turn then you are suffering due to the general lack of resources the CPs suffer from.

I know food is very important too but to keep the CP war machine rolling in the short term as opposed to the medium its imperative that you keep control or capture raw materials hexes. My favourite is the three hexes in France right on the German border (Verdun is I believe a double hex so that counts as x2 raw materials). Even in an east first strategy I simultaneously assault in the west with those as objectives. There are Russian resources in easy range of the Ottomans in the Caucasus too which are well worth having, but in my experience even though the Caucasus Front looks like its not well covered by the Russians, the Ottoman troops are so dire that they need a couple of German units to stiffen them if you try and take those. Also Tblisi has a fort so you need to send some siege artillery down there too ideally.

The other thing to manage is the Ottoman/Austrian Empires. When Serbia and Bulgaria are in the CPs by hook or by crook, you can transport raw materials from the OE to Germany. By the time Bulgaria is in the OE will have built up quite a stockpile, assuming the Entente havn't stomped them. This will provide a much welcome boost to Germany in the mid war - having 27 industry for a couple of turns in mid war isn't too hard to achieve, and thats a /lot/. Austria needs the raw mats themselves, but they have a one or two point surplus until quite late on, so thats more stuff to be shipped to Germany when the opportunity permits.

12. After the first few turns I realized that I was playing the game FAR too aggressively. I did great in France-- during the setup I reinforced the Schlieffen right wing, marched into Paris before 1914 was out-- but used up HQ points like crazy. I ignored the east until 1915, and found that the Russians have a steamroller right on the border. I'm into 1916 now, and AH is growing very weak, still haven't finished off Serbia, the Italians and now Romanians have jumped in, and I just can't seem to do much against the Russians with Germany-- the line is as static as in the West.

HQ points are extremely valuable and should be used efficiently (obviously!). Try and position your HQs so you get the maximum mileage out of them, you dont really need all that many activations to do a front wide offensive if they are nicely spread out. The initial stock of HQ points is, IMO, if anything too generous. I don't tend to start buying new ones until late 1915 at the earliest.

You can rail in Austrian, Bulgarian or Ottoman HQs too to use them up commanding German troops too remember. I tend to do that quite a lot - the OE is usually a complete backwater in my games.

Aside from the obvious advice to take things slower next time, is there any advice/basic strategies for handling the East and the Balkans?

I'm a big fan of attacking everywhere as the CPs in 1914, though with the focus on France as Russia is just too damn big - they need to be starved and bled out, which takes a long time, while France is small enough for you to actually be able to feasibly occupy it without running out of HQ points. Poland should be fairly easily grabbed, thats 2 food right there. And you want those three raw mat hexes in France too.
The other side of attacking everywhere though is knowing when to give up and go defensive. A lot of people including myself seem to attack and attack and attack with the CPs until long after its doing any good. When you get bogged down and aren't getting anywhere pause and bide your time. Ultimately its attritional warfare and HQ points are expensive (24 arms, thats a whole corp-equivalent of industry used up in an offensive before anybody has been shot!) so unless you're achieving an objective you shouldn't be spending them.

That said putting the hurt on is an objective in itself. Russia and France both need to be bled and badly hurt in the early war - if they survive with their armies intact into 1916 Germany is toast. Russia in particular has a glass jaw due to a lack of industry - they get a lot of units but if the fighting is intense they'll not be able to recoup their losses due to being unable to buy arms. France is more resilient but even they can be bled, France should be a shadow of its former self in 1916 and propped up by the BEF!

...flop. well, thats a long rant/discussion. There really is a lot of possibilities, thats just how I play, but GoA has a surprising amount of depth to it for an outwardly simple game. I've been playing it all year and try out new things all the time. [:D]. So these are only suggestions/observations.

ORIGINAL: SMK-at-work
If you look at playing this game "historically" then you will get a historical result....it'll take ages to do anything, and will feel like a horrible long drawn out slog-fest.
Fortunately Frank has given us a game that allows us to try all sorts of things to avoid that fate.....go try some

Oh I agree, it's just that I learn a game best when I try some of the things I know it should be able to do. As the CP I should be able to "right flank" through Belgium and get near Paris then be able to pressure Russia to surrender before I lose. I'm almost there; once I can do that then I can work on the fun things.

My problem, and I've played a few since last posting, is organizing how I build during the Strategic phase so I can at least pressure Russia. I seem to be unable to get to the historical level. Though I'm getting closer on the Eastern front, I am behind in any semblance of submarine history or R&D.

It's a great game though --- soon I'll switch to TE and see if I can match them.