1.03 Event Comments for 1939 Campaign
Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:28 pm
I've played through 85 turns of the 1939 Grand Campaign as every country and have some comments regarding events. For the most part the events are rather excellent, a few I could definitely live without and a few that could be better.
In the 1.02 version I saw the German AI conquer Norway regularly, with no units involved to boot. In 1.03 I noticed that changed. The German AI dutifully declared war on Norway but didn't get it's conquest as I'd seen before, the Norway units stood their ground. I always thought that man if I play Britain against a German AI I'll just have my AIP's loaded with two British infantry divisions and be ready to send them in to counter invade Narvik and Oslo before the German AI garrisons those cities. I waited until after taking down France before invading Norway. I ended up using infantry corps for both invasion sites. I did notice that at Narvik with Fog of War on I couldn't do a prepatory bombardment before attacking the infantry division defending there at full strength. I had plenty of tactical bombers and fighters to aid the Oslo attack. I was able to take both cities and Norway but am doubtful the German AI could. I saw the Crete event and thought wow what a perfect solution for the German AI, give it an event that puts boots on the ground at Narvik and Oslo and that costs Germany production points. If the German AI isn't going to actually do the Norway invasion then don't let it declare war on Norway and take an unnecessary War Economy hit.
The other early event that I didn't see was an event for Finland's surrender of territory. I played both the USSR and Finland and didn't get an event that ended the Russo-Finnish War. It ended when I conquered Finland in late May or early June of 1940. I did see that event work perfectly in Strategic
War in Europe so know it can be done. One of the things I noticed when the AI is playing both USSR and Finland is how pathetically pitiful the Soviet AI is at getting busy with Finland. The Finnish AI always gets off to attacking and taking Mga and near to Volhov east of Leningrad before teh Soviet AI wakes up to doing war with Finland in that area. The Soviet AI gets after Petsamo early, but very poorly. I've watched many games of the AI's playing in 1.02 and it's always the same old song and dance around Finland. Where's the event that ends the Russo-Finnish war at the end of March 1940 that emulates history? That's what's really needed.
I saw some comments on the forum about how good the Soviet AI is and now that I understand how the game works I can only laugh. It's because the Soviet AI is so pathetic at conquering Finland that it prolongs being at war thus it's War Economy keeps going up until Germany attacks. At that time the Soviet War Economy is seriously inflated above the historical level and that inflated WE allows the Soviet AI to puke out units like crazy. That's why it looks good, not because it is smart. In my game I was able to conquer Finland despite defending it well in late May or early June of 1940 and thus the Soviet War Economy level dropped each month until it is at 61 when I DoW it as Germany. I've seen that when the USSR stays at perpetual war with Finland the Soviet WE is over 100 to begin Barbarossa and that puts the German AI or human behind the eightball versus the Soviet AI.
So please make sure there's an event to end the Russo-Finnish war around the historical time it did. The Bessarabia event works rather nicely when both the USSR and Romania answer the questions properly.
The Crete event was a funny event that happened just as I was going to invade Crete as Germany. I was just getting ready to drop two level 1 airborne divisions near Iraklion when that event popped up so I decided to see what 250 PP's bought me. I dropped them adjacent to Iraklion and moved that level 3 infantry division adjacent to set up the attack the following turn. I had plenty of tactical bombers to bombard the defending Greek unit and attacked with the infantry division and one airborne unit to kill the Greek unit and the other one walked into Iraklion. While it was a nice surprise to help me take Iraklion I tend to doubt I needed it. I could have dropped my airborne and then bought an AIP to use an infantry division to do the amphibious invasion. It does look like a good event for helping the AI, or a newbie human, do the trick of conquering Crete. This would be a perfect kind of event for helping the German AI conquer Norway and garrison it right away, unlike before when it got handed Norway without doing any garrisoning of it. Heck it would be nice for human Germany players.
The French event that frees all remaining frozen French units does not work. I had quite a few French units still frozen after that event along the border of Switzerland and Spain.
As Germany I found that I kind of like those Polish partisan events. I was riding rather close to my production point limit with my unit upkeep and started to figure that having my units take the 15% efficiency hit might be good for reducing my upkeepp cost. I'm not sure how the strength is measured for upkeep costing but it seems like efficiency matters. If the strength calculated for upkeep is affected by efficiency then those 15% Polish partisan punishments are my kind of punishment. [:'(]
Corruption? Really? Et Tu scenario event designer? Kind of funny but definitely annoying. Dang how are we supposed to save up 1,000 PP's to buy nuclear tech investment? Those 10% take aways are frustrating and happen a tad too often for my likes.
I like the conscription event that lets me buy 1 DP for 10 PP's. I wish there was a check box on the screen for the British choice of spending 20 PP for British Colony transports that woud say it won't show me that annoying screen anymore. I found out the hard way that's a fool's errand event and now always just say no. I like the events that increase War Economy. I also like the events that give us units for a very reasonable price.
I really like the events that give us stuff after conquering countries or certain Soviet cities, some nice little prizes tucked away there. I like the events that happen when we hit a new tech level that give us options as to what improvement we want. I'm glad I have a choice as to whether I want Croatia or the Ukraine, I always say no. Wish I could just say no to Slovakia.
Omnius
In the 1.02 version I saw the German AI conquer Norway regularly, with no units involved to boot. In 1.03 I noticed that changed. The German AI dutifully declared war on Norway but didn't get it's conquest as I'd seen before, the Norway units stood their ground. I always thought that man if I play Britain against a German AI I'll just have my AIP's loaded with two British infantry divisions and be ready to send them in to counter invade Narvik and Oslo before the German AI garrisons those cities. I waited until after taking down France before invading Norway. I ended up using infantry corps for both invasion sites. I did notice that at Narvik with Fog of War on I couldn't do a prepatory bombardment before attacking the infantry division defending there at full strength. I had plenty of tactical bombers and fighters to aid the Oslo attack. I was able to take both cities and Norway but am doubtful the German AI could. I saw the Crete event and thought wow what a perfect solution for the German AI, give it an event that puts boots on the ground at Narvik and Oslo and that costs Germany production points. If the German AI isn't going to actually do the Norway invasion then don't let it declare war on Norway and take an unnecessary War Economy hit.
The other early event that I didn't see was an event for Finland's surrender of territory. I played both the USSR and Finland and didn't get an event that ended the Russo-Finnish War. It ended when I conquered Finland in late May or early June of 1940. I did see that event work perfectly in Strategic
War in Europe so know it can be done. One of the things I noticed when the AI is playing both USSR and Finland is how pathetically pitiful the Soviet AI is at getting busy with Finland. The Finnish AI always gets off to attacking and taking Mga and near to Volhov east of Leningrad before teh Soviet AI wakes up to doing war with Finland in that area. The Soviet AI gets after Petsamo early, but very poorly. I've watched many games of the AI's playing in 1.02 and it's always the same old song and dance around Finland. Where's the event that ends the Russo-Finnish war at the end of March 1940 that emulates history? That's what's really needed.
I saw some comments on the forum about how good the Soviet AI is and now that I understand how the game works I can only laugh. It's because the Soviet AI is so pathetic at conquering Finland that it prolongs being at war thus it's War Economy keeps going up until Germany attacks. At that time the Soviet War Economy is seriously inflated above the historical level and that inflated WE allows the Soviet AI to puke out units like crazy. That's why it looks good, not because it is smart. In my game I was able to conquer Finland despite defending it well in late May or early June of 1940 and thus the Soviet War Economy level dropped each month until it is at 61 when I DoW it as Germany. I've seen that when the USSR stays at perpetual war with Finland the Soviet WE is over 100 to begin Barbarossa and that puts the German AI or human behind the eightball versus the Soviet AI.
So please make sure there's an event to end the Russo-Finnish war around the historical time it did. The Bessarabia event works rather nicely when both the USSR and Romania answer the questions properly.
The Crete event was a funny event that happened just as I was going to invade Crete as Germany. I was just getting ready to drop two level 1 airborne divisions near Iraklion when that event popped up so I decided to see what 250 PP's bought me. I dropped them adjacent to Iraklion and moved that level 3 infantry division adjacent to set up the attack the following turn. I had plenty of tactical bombers to bombard the defending Greek unit and attacked with the infantry division and one airborne unit to kill the Greek unit and the other one walked into Iraklion. While it was a nice surprise to help me take Iraklion I tend to doubt I needed it. I could have dropped my airborne and then bought an AIP to use an infantry division to do the amphibious invasion. It does look like a good event for helping the AI, or a newbie human, do the trick of conquering Crete. This would be a perfect kind of event for helping the German AI conquer Norway and garrison it right away, unlike before when it got handed Norway without doing any garrisoning of it. Heck it would be nice for human Germany players.
The French event that frees all remaining frozen French units does not work. I had quite a few French units still frozen after that event along the border of Switzerland and Spain.
As Germany I found that I kind of like those Polish partisan events. I was riding rather close to my production point limit with my unit upkeep and started to figure that having my units take the 15% efficiency hit might be good for reducing my upkeepp cost. I'm not sure how the strength is measured for upkeep costing but it seems like efficiency matters. If the strength calculated for upkeep is affected by efficiency then those 15% Polish partisan punishments are my kind of punishment. [:'(]
Corruption? Really? Et Tu scenario event designer? Kind of funny but definitely annoying. Dang how are we supposed to save up 1,000 PP's to buy nuclear tech investment? Those 10% take aways are frustrating and happen a tad too often for my likes.
I like the conscription event that lets me buy 1 DP for 10 PP's. I wish there was a check box on the screen for the British choice of spending 20 PP for British Colony transports that woud say it won't show me that annoying screen anymore. I found out the hard way that's a fool's errand event and now always just say no. I like the events that increase War Economy. I also like the events that give us units for a very reasonable price.
I really like the events that give us stuff after conquering countries or certain Soviet cities, some nice little prizes tucked away there. I like the events that happen when we hit a new tech level that give us options as to what improvement we want. I'm glad I have a choice as to whether I want Croatia or the Ukraine, I always say no. Wish I could just say no to Slovakia.
Omnius