Berlin--September 1942--Some Observations
Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 5:17 am
Not sure if this is best in AARs or where, but wanted to share some observations after finishing my first campaign game vs the German AI; I took Berlin in early September 1942, and the game ended in October 1942.
While this was on "Normal" preferences, and I will try it on "Hard" or "Challenging" or whatever next time, I don't think it should be this easy even on "Normal." Also, I understand very very well that human opponents are much more difficult and will play more PBEM games, but still, I also enjoy games against the AI.
Anyway, here are my observations, I think fixes should be considered for some of them:
1) The Germans really never had a chance--while they did OK in the North and Center (reaching the outskirts of L'grad, taking Smolensk, and threatening Brryansk), they never did anything in the South; didn't take Vinnitsa, were some 10-12 hexes West of Kiev, and never took Odessa. Thus I kept most of my manpower. Not sure what can be done about this other than vastly improving the AI, which is probably not feasible.
2) Beginning in November 1941, I could create massive amounts of units. More units than I could ever use; Indeed, for the first half of 1942, I had two entire FRONTS in reserve behind the lines (as well as many armies in other fronts), just because I couldn't fit them into the line. When the game ended, I had one front which hadn't moved at all since early 1942, and most of two other fronts were far, far behind the lines and thus useless. I know the Sovs had numerical superiority, but is this realistic? I believe that in the latest patch, Sov manpower has been reduced or slowed down, hopefully this will mitigate this problem, but am not sure.
3) The blizzard of course was brutal for the Germans, as expected. But the real problem was that just when they started to catch their breath in the Spring of 1942, I could create massive numbers of Rifle Corp, which started kicking the snot out of them all over again. By mid-1942, massive holes had been ripped in the north (near Riga) and south (near Lvov). The Germans never recovered, and after that there was never really a solid front along most of the front (only in the very center and in the mountains in the south). I think that the Sovs should not be able to create so many rifle corps so quickly, it gives them too much offensive punch too early, which doesn't seem realistic.
4) German strategy/tactics were pretty awful. Not sure if this can be fixed, but maybe the AI can be tweaked. The AI was very bad about letting units be encircled, either in ones-twos or by the dozen. It just didn't react as units were gradually isolated. I should look at the numbers, but I'm guessing that I captured a couple of hundred axis divisions; indeed, by the end, I was generally only facing security divisions/regiments or apparently reconsituted (and very weak) divisions. After mid-1942 on most of the front I rarely encountered German units with a CV of greater than 1. A second problem was that the AI insisted on using the panzer divisions in the most inappropriate places, at various points commiting several panzer divisions to the Pripet Marshes, the mountains in Rumania, and the Rumanian plains (seven panzer divisions!) even as the rest of the front crumbled to dust.
5) After mid 1942 my biggest problem was not the Germans but supply. I didn't have, and couldn't create any of the "directable" RR repair units, so had to wait while the autonomous units repaired the rail. When the game ended, most of the units were still near the Sov border, so my units had very long supply chains. Nonetheless, they were generally able to keep attacking attacking attacking. Two comments: I think that the RR Repair units should be available at the latest, when you leave Sov territory, not in 43 or 44 when they arrive as reinforcements. It is kind of ludicrous to think that the Sovs could not figure out how to repair rail? Also, although I had supply diffiiculties, not sure if they were great enough given the vast distances between my leading units and the railhead. I'm not sure if they should have been able to attack at all at that point. Note that I tried to keep my leading army supplied by air, the range was very far so could only do one or two drops per turn.
6) Axis Allied Surrenders. Rumania surrendered as soon as I took Galata during the winter. Hungary, however, kept fighting well after I had captured much of Hungary, including Budapest. Hungarian units kept fighting for at least two full turns after I'd captured Budapest, which is not right according to the manual, which says that Hungary should surrender when Budapest is taken. Bug?
7) EDITED I forgot to add this one before--for some reason, the AI failed to, or maybe I should say refused to, defend most cities. After crossing the Russian border, I am guessing that 80-90% of the cities were captured without a fight. Often my units would move up next to a city occupied by Germans, and the next turn the Germans would be gone! All of the Berlin hexes were captured without a fight. It is really odd, especially since automatic victory is calculated on the basis of cities captured.
Anyway, just wanted to post my results, hopefully some tweaks could be made to make the AI more challenging. I have saved games for the entire war if any of the devs want to look at them.
While this was on "Normal" preferences, and I will try it on "Hard" or "Challenging" or whatever next time, I don't think it should be this easy even on "Normal." Also, I understand very very well that human opponents are much more difficult and will play more PBEM games, but still, I also enjoy games against the AI.
Anyway, here are my observations, I think fixes should be considered for some of them:
1) The Germans really never had a chance--while they did OK in the North and Center (reaching the outskirts of L'grad, taking Smolensk, and threatening Brryansk), they never did anything in the South; didn't take Vinnitsa, were some 10-12 hexes West of Kiev, and never took Odessa. Thus I kept most of my manpower. Not sure what can be done about this other than vastly improving the AI, which is probably not feasible.
2) Beginning in November 1941, I could create massive amounts of units. More units than I could ever use; Indeed, for the first half of 1942, I had two entire FRONTS in reserve behind the lines (as well as many armies in other fronts), just because I couldn't fit them into the line. When the game ended, I had one front which hadn't moved at all since early 1942, and most of two other fronts were far, far behind the lines and thus useless. I know the Sovs had numerical superiority, but is this realistic? I believe that in the latest patch, Sov manpower has been reduced or slowed down, hopefully this will mitigate this problem, but am not sure.
3) The blizzard of course was brutal for the Germans, as expected. But the real problem was that just when they started to catch their breath in the Spring of 1942, I could create massive numbers of Rifle Corp, which started kicking the snot out of them all over again. By mid-1942, massive holes had been ripped in the north (near Riga) and south (near Lvov). The Germans never recovered, and after that there was never really a solid front along most of the front (only in the very center and in the mountains in the south). I think that the Sovs should not be able to create so many rifle corps so quickly, it gives them too much offensive punch too early, which doesn't seem realistic.
4) German strategy/tactics were pretty awful. Not sure if this can be fixed, but maybe the AI can be tweaked. The AI was very bad about letting units be encircled, either in ones-twos or by the dozen. It just didn't react as units were gradually isolated. I should look at the numbers, but I'm guessing that I captured a couple of hundred axis divisions; indeed, by the end, I was generally only facing security divisions/regiments or apparently reconsituted (and very weak) divisions. After mid-1942 on most of the front I rarely encountered German units with a CV of greater than 1. A second problem was that the AI insisted on using the panzer divisions in the most inappropriate places, at various points commiting several panzer divisions to the Pripet Marshes, the mountains in Rumania, and the Rumanian plains (seven panzer divisions!) even as the rest of the front crumbled to dust.
5) After mid 1942 my biggest problem was not the Germans but supply. I didn't have, and couldn't create any of the "directable" RR repair units, so had to wait while the autonomous units repaired the rail. When the game ended, most of the units were still near the Sov border, so my units had very long supply chains. Nonetheless, they were generally able to keep attacking attacking attacking. Two comments: I think that the RR Repair units should be available at the latest, when you leave Sov territory, not in 43 or 44 when they arrive as reinforcements. It is kind of ludicrous to think that the Sovs could not figure out how to repair rail? Also, although I had supply diffiiculties, not sure if they were great enough given the vast distances between my leading units and the railhead. I'm not sure if they should have been able to attack at all at that point. Note that I tried to keep my leading army supplied by air, the range was very far so could only do one or two drops per turn.
6) Axis Allied Surrenders. Rumania surrendered as soon as I took Galata during the winter. Hungary, however, kept fighting well after I had captured much of Hungary, including Budapest. Hungarian units kept fighting for at least two full turns after I'd captured Budapest, which is not right according to the manual, which says that Hungary should surrender when Budapest is taken. Bug?
7) EDITED I forgot to add this one before--for some reason, the AI failed to, or maybe I should say refused to, defend most cities. After crossing the Russian border, I am guessing that 80-90% of the cities were captured without a fight. Often my units would move up next to a city occupied by Germans, and the next turn the Germans would be gone! All of the Berlin hexes were captured without a fight. It is really odd, especially since automatic victory is calculated on the basis of cities captured.
Anyway, just wanted to post my results, hopefully some tweaks could be made to make the AI more challenging. I have saved games for the entire war if any of the devs want to look at them.