Matrix Games Forums

As there has been a bit of interest in game balance under 1.02, I thought I'd post some progress notes from my ongoing game against Vic.

I consider it a rare delight to have the chance to play against the creator of this wonderful game! We're playing beta 1.02f, with me as the Germans.

Settings are Decisions, Plots, and Past History all ON, Geneva Convention OFF. No What Ifs, no helpers. No house rules, though for my own part I try to avoid moves that seem extremely gamey.

Vic, you're most welcome to read these notes.

(by the way, I'm going with following the Fuhrer's directives)

Turn 1

AGN: Russian deployments are thin north of Tilsit, so 4PzG storms directly north, fanning out to the east to try to discover some weakpoints on the Dvina line. Infantry punch forward towards Kaunas.

AGC: Western MD appears to have a forward deployment, and horror of horrors I fail to close the Bialystok pocket! No matter, they'll not get far through the swamp hex that is their sole lifeline. A bit of luck at Grodno, where only a single tank division is defending, which of course is easily evicted. PzG2 surrounds Brest-Litovsk. On the whole, a standard opening.

AGS: Again a pretty standard opening, PzG1 smashes forward to the southeast, gaining 2 hexsides on Lvov and nearly cutting off a significant force to the west.

Finland: not much to report here, the Finns advance in good order. In the next 2 turns, they get in a few licks against the Russians, but Vic opts for a retreat to the pre-1940 border. I'll not report further on the Finns until they intervene.

On the whole, a satisfactory first turn.

Turn 2

Vic reports he had terrible luck with activations, which prevented any semblance of a response in critical sectors.

AGN: The big news is here, where to my utter disbelief, Riga is found empty. The Panzers move in, cutting off all of Baltic MD in Courland, and poised already to move into Estonia next turn. The infantry struggle to keep up on the flanks while also eliminating pockets of defenders on the frontier.

AGC: PzG3 exploits towards Vilnius, battling through elements of Western MD. One panzer division moves into the town without opposition, though it gets briefly cut off. Brest-Litovsk falls to infantry assault, as does Bialystok with a big haul of prisoners.

AGS: Vic doesn't contest Lvov, only a single division sits there, and it is easily evicted. A large pocket is reduced west of Lvov. Elsewhere, Vic pulls back a bit.

To the south, the advance into Bessarabia is enhanced by some command bonuses, and several Russian divisions are cut off by the rapidly advancing 11th Army. The Russians mount a counterattack against the Romanians further north, which inflicts some losses.

The combination of bad Russian activation and good commander bonuses has set me up really well this turn.

Turn 3

If memory serves, Stalin had a meltdown which further inhibit Soviet activations this turn. In many areas of the front, my panzers could do as they like.

AGN: 6th Panzer division has a pleasant, unopposed drive through the Estonian countryside, all the way to an unoccupied Tallinn, where they settle in to await resupply. Further south, my forces push towards Jakobstadt, and press in on the Courland pocket, taking Liepaja. PzG4 switches to sustained offensive, to save fuel.

AGC: A motorized division from PzG2 rushes through the Pripet marshes, unopposed, to seize Gomel and the bridge over the Dniepr in a coup-de-main. Further north, PzG2 pockets most of what's left of Western MD and advances to the gates of Minsk. PzG3 secures the forests around Vilnius and switched to sustained offensive, to save fuel.

AGS: A steady push forward across the line, with the main armies switching to sustained offensive. 11th Army crosses the Dniestr and advances quickly on Odessa, eliminating one Soviet pocket. A pocket of four divisions north of Kishinev manages to break its encirclement, for now. Some further attackes on the Romanians. Vic is causing some hurt here, but now all of 9th and 12th armies are at risk of being cut off. I think he should've tried to pull back instead...

Turn 4

AGN: The Panzer division at Tallinn is stalled. PzG4 takes Jakobstadt for the airfield, and otherwise repositions northwards. The infantry press ahead in Courland, and towards Daugavpils, eliminating another pocket of frontier troops. One problem here is that my rail engineers are working on the Daugavpils line, but the unexpectedly quick advance through Riga means I'd rather have them working on the Riga line. The FSB gets relocated to Riga, and we'll just have to work with Russian gauge for now.

AGC: Minsk falls easily, as there was only a single infantry division defending. The rest of Western MD troops are crushed to the west of Minsk, as far as I can tell there is nothing left of the initial Russian AGC armies. Two fast divisions from PzG2 swing north from Gomel, taking one of the bridges at Mogilev, and meeting another panzer division which moves into Mogilev itself, unopposed. It appear Vic is fortifying the line from Polotsk through Orsha, but I've already outflanked it to the south by taking Mogilev & Gomel and the crossings.

AGS: The panzers advance southeast towards Proskurow, but fuel is beginning to be a problem. Odessa falls to 11th Army without opposition; what appear to be the last remnants of Southern Front are trapped to the west of Odessa. 9th and 12th Russian armies are still near their start positions, and are now nearly certain to be trapped wholesale. They take a few swipes at the Romanians, with no decisive results. FSB South is relocated to Lvov.

By this point I am thrilled with progress all around. In 4 turns, I have advanced to a line including Tallinn-Riga-Vilnius-Mogilev-Lvov-Odessa. Most of those cities were taken with only minimal opposition. Most of the Russian frontier armies have been destroyed. Organised resistance is apparent only from Ostrov to Daugavpils, and Southwestern from from Rovno to Tarnopol, neither of which I really care about.

I think Vic has had some terrible luck, and I've had good luck with relationship bonus APs for many of my Panzergruppen. About the only real error I think he's made is in the south, where 9th and 12th armies are about to be cut off and destroyed - perhaps they should have been pulled back to Proskurow. At this point fuel is very scarce on all fronts, though, and there will be a slow-down. Perhaps he can salvage the situation.

Turn 5

AGN: A bit of an error here, as I forget to leave enough fuel for the 6th Panzer to advance on Narva, while most of PzG4 moves up into Estonia. This may cost me a lot, as I suspect most of his forces from the Finnish front are now heading to Narva. I hope I didn't miss the chance to break into the Leningrad area with minimal opposition... elsewhere, still slogging in Courland and advancing infantry on Daugavpils.

AGC: I wanted to pause here for fuel, but an irresistable opportunity presented itself to surround 5 divisions plus the headquarters of the Soviet 20th Army in the hex NE of Mogilev. I use the last dregs of AGC fuel to complete this encirclement. The trapped troops will certainly try to break out, we'll see if they succeed. I think either way I have totally outflanked the Orsha position. And if not, I have my siege train moving up to just in front of Orsha.

AGS: My panzers here also use the last dregs of their fuel to push on to Proskorov, linking up with the Romanians here and isolating the entirety of the Red 9th and 12th armies. I doubt they can escape. Rovno and Tarnopol fall to infantry assault; Vic didn't make a serious effort to defend either.

Further south, the last of Souther front is destroyed in Bessarabia. And the Romanian tank division (my favourite unit in the whole game) achieves an astonishing breakthrough. It crosses to Nikolaev then, finding no opposition, proceeds to take the lower Dniepr bridge east of Nikolaev. Then, still finding no Soviets at all, it cruises on into Perekop! It is far, far out of command distance. We shall see whether this totally unhinges the Russians, or just leads to the loss of the unit...

At this point, there is very little evidence of Soviet reinforcement armies, except in the Orsha area. I don't know whether this is the altered reinforcement schedule, or whether Vic has deployed them well back from the front line. Either way, the German advance has been very rapid.

Turn 5:

So far the Soviets suffered a number of turns of very lousy dice rolls for activations and already 2 paranoia turns out of 5.

All in all the situation looks quite grim. I have lost almost all my starting armies already.

Lost recently deployed 20A in an encirclement just south of Orsha.

This game actually seems to mimick very closely the real German advance speed. In the south even better. They already passed the Dnjepr. Decided to garrison Kerch instead of Sevastopol.

Best wishes,
Vic

ORIGINAL: ChuckBerger

Turn 4

About the only real error I think he's made is in the south, where 9th and 12th armies are about to be cut off and destroyed - perhaps they should have been pulled back to Proskurow. At this point fuel is very scarce on all fronts, though, and there will be a slow-down. Perhaps he can salvage the situation.

Even vs the AI if These do not activate, they do not have the AP to cross the river.It is probably a lack of activating rather than an error.

Indeed, one of the problems with no activation is divisions get stuck since they are not able to cross the river....

This one reason why Zhukov always has to go south at the start. Otherwise 12th Army can't cross the river and is lost.

In a game I am in my activations have been terrible even with Zhukav. SW and 12th army only move at full activation when I directly attach Zhukav. Both armies have been lost for nothing and they are both good armies.

Turn 6 - July 12

Some mud this turn, but thankfully nothing over the area of active operations. FSBs are still moving forward, except in AGS where the new FSB at Lvov comes online and a nice dose of fuel moves forward. My relationships with all 3 army group commanders are strong, and continue to pay dividends in additional APs.

AGN: As predicted, the Red Army is now at Narva in force. Looks like Vic is moving most of Leningrad MD here. I have enough fuel to move a few divisions up next to Narva, but no assault this turn. Further south, Vic pulls back, leaving Daugavpils undefended. Unclear whether he'll defend at Ostrov, or pull back further. Windau falls, and with it Baltic MD headquarters, leaving just 3 leaderless and out of supply divisions left in Courland.

AGC: The surrounded units of 20th Army east of Mogilev tried to break out -- they battered a panzer division pretty hard, but the line held and this turn I bagged 20th Army HQ and four divisions in this pocket. Lead troops of PzG2 are just two hexes from Smolensk, but AGC is out of fuel. Infantry move forward. Frustratingly, I still have no option to move AGC airfield forward. It's been 2 turns since the capture of Minsk, but I can't move my airbase there, not sure why. To the south of Smolensk, there is only a thin screen of infantry, which PzG2 could slice through like butter. Unfortunately, without fuel, PzG2 can't slice through anything at the moment.

AGS: With the fuel tap flowing again, PzG1 launches northwards from Proskurow, through Vinnitsa and taking Zhitomyr with no opposition. They nearly meet up with fast-moving infantry of 6th Army. Although one hex is still open, basically all of Southwestern Front is cut off by this move. 17 Divisions are nearly surrounded, I think only one or two of them can escape.

Further south, the noose tightens around the 18 surviving divisions of 9th and 12th armies, now hopelessly encircled on the wrong side of the Dniestr. The Romanian tank division is out of command range, but still has enough APs to move from Perekop to Melitopol, which is seized without opposition. The tank division could be lost if Vic has any troops in the Crimea, but I think I'll take the risk.

My armies have mostly all transitioned to sustained offensive, and the PzGs are by and large in good shape, not in need of a wholesale refit. However, 2 panzer divisions in AGC and one in AGN have very high levels of breakdowns, and so are given division-specific refit orders.

Turn 7 - July 16

AGN: Fuel is flowing again to PzG4, and it wastes no time assaulting Narva. Totenkopf spearheads the assault, muscling aside the defenders and managing to seize the crucial bridge over the Narva River as well. Leningrad MD troops are just not up to the task... quite a few troops of the Soviet 11th and 29th armies are south of Pskov, there is very little between my panzers at Narva and Leningrad. I expect Vic will pull more troops off the Finnish front to delay my panzers. 18th Army finishes off the last of the Courland pocket and begins the long march north.

AGC: No fuel here. Vic pulled off a local counterattack south of Smolensk, which bruised Das Reich a fair bit. Without fuel, there's no much I can do in response, for now. Infantry continue to move up. All of 4th Army is now East of the Dniepr and ready to resume combat operations. 9th Army moves through Polotsk unopposed, and is poised to assault Vitebsk next turn. I've identified two Red armies around Smolensk, but not a single division north or south. My troops are only 3 hexes from Bryansk in the south part of this sector. There is a thin fortified line of Russians from Vitebsk to Orsha still, but it's outflanked on both ends and will only be encircled if Vic stays there.

AGS: The Russians fail in a tepid bid to save Southwestern Front from encirclement, but my Hungarians hold fast at Zhitomyr. This turn, the pocket is sealed on these 17 divisions, while the panzers continue on to Kiev. They shatter a few divisions and take some fortifications in front of Kiev before they can be properly manned. I have a hex on Kiev - there is a major garrison present, but still I expect to be in a position to take the city in the next turn or two. Cherkassy falls, again with no opposition.

South of Proskorow, the noose draws tighter around the encircled 18 divisions and 2 army HQs (9th and 18th).

At the Dniepr bend, no sign of any Russian troops anywhere. My Romanian tanks are out of command radius, but supporting infantry are now close to reaching them. Next turn they'll be in command radius and will be able to cover a lot of ground. 11th Army is one of the few still in Blitzkrieg mode, and I just can't switch them yet, need to make the most of the lack of any opposition. I'd love to take the Dnepropetrovsk bridge before giving them all a well-deserved rest.

In the south, aside from the 3 encircled armies, I have identified only the 16th army at Kiev.

On the whole, another very good turn. My relationships with all 3 theatre commanders are strong. Of all the important relationships, only Brauchitsch and Gerke are a little cranky with me.

Turn 8 - July 20

AGN: A Russian assault on the Narva bridgehead is repulsed with heavy losses; this sets up a strong advance by PzG4 this turn towards Leningrad. I count 9 divisions between us and Leningrad, but by the end of this turn only 3 of them are in fighting shape. Still, PzG4 probably can't take the city until 18th Army's infantry marches all the way up to the front. As expected, Vic has largely denuded the Finnish frontier of troops. Further south, Vic still holds Ostrov, but will likely abandon it this turn.

AGC: Finally some fuel again, though not as much as I would like. Vic abandons the Vitebsk-Orsha line, pulling back wholesale towards what looks to be a new line at Vyasma. I hope to unhinge it before it can be properly set up... My panzergruppen and infantry all move forward through Orsha and Vitebsk. There are 4 divisions in Smolensk, but it's an untenable position; they will either pull back or be surrounded soon. To the north of Smolensk, there is no coherent line of defense.

AGS: The battle of Kiev enters its final phases, and it will be a great German victory. A Russian counterattack on my panzer spearhead fails, and PzG1 completely surrounds Kiev and eliminates or pockets all that is left outside the city itself. Kiev will be assaulted next turn. The two large pockets in AGS are both reduced to one hex apiece. Krivoirog and Kirovograd both fall without resistance. The Romanian tank unit moves to Mariupol and finds a garrison there. Then, in a feat of folly, I send it north to Stalino, just to have a look... there is a conscript army HQ there, and the division ends the turn in the hex just south of Stalino. If that army activates next turn, there is a fair chance my Romanians will be cut off and destroyed, as again they are far beyond command range and infantry support.

Logistics are OK, but in both AGN and AGS my trucks are traveling very long distances. Time to move FSBs forward in both theatres, perhaps next turn.

Turn 9 - July 24

AGN: The Soviets abandon Ostrov, which my 16th Army takes and moves towards Pskov. Vic has lots of troops around Pskov/Luga, which I'm sure he wishes had been at Leningrad... PzG4 attacks along the coastal road from Narva to Leningrad, boosted by high octane fuel, Luftwaffe support, envelopment focus, and a positive relationship AP bonus. The Russians break after heavy fighting, and behind them there is... nothing. Leningrad is taken in a coup-de-main. Five divisions are shattered. The Russian northern front headquarters is overrun, and two other army headquarters battered and pushed out of the city. Two border divisions are isolated in the Karelian Peninsula, I'm a tinge worried they'll counterattack Leningrad, which has only one depleted panzer division present. So I persuade the Finns - at considerable political cost - to attack over the pre-1940 border to eliminate the threat.

There are at least two armies plus some remnants in the Luga/Pskov area. They'll have to backpedal hard to escape encirclement. FSB relocated to Tallinn. It's game over in the North.

AGC: Vic abandons Smolensk, and generally pulls back to the Vyazma line, where he has put up a line of fortifications and has a growing number of entrenched defenders. He also launches a local counterattack NE of Vitebsk. It is stopped cold, and we counterattack the counterattackers, surrounding and eliminating 2 infantry divisions. Every little bit helps.

Unfortunately I don't have enough fuel for offensive operations for both Panzergruppe here. It seems partisans are derailing quite a few supply trains back in Belarus. Frustrating. I decide to go for broke with 2PzG south of Vyazma, leaving 3 PzG sitting high and dry behind the lines. Guderian succeeds beyond my wildest expectations. At most I had hoped to clear the forests south of Vyazma. There is heavy fighting in the forests, with significant losses on both sides, but the Panzers prevail and, as the shattered remnants of a few Russian divisions retreat to Vyazma, I find the city has no other defenders, aside from 2 Army headquarters. These are shoved out of the city, and a Panzer division even exploits to the east of Vyazma towards Kaluga. At a stroke the heavily fortified and manned Vyazma river line is totally outflanked, and the main Russian line broken in two.

Will Vic counterattack, or retreat? He has strong forces west of Vyazma and assembling at Bryansk, but nothing that I can see between Vyazma and Moscow. If he counterattacks he could cause me some real problems, but it's a high risk strategy... if it doesn't work out, I could be in Moscow in 3 turns. On the other hand, retreating will leave many of his units exposed with low entrenchment, and will allow Guderian to call the shots again next turn.

AGS: Four pockets of Soviets are cleared in central Ukraine, thus ending the stories of four Russian Armies (including Southwestern Front and the reinforcement 16th Army). Kiev is stormed in a concentric assault by most of 1st PzG, with barely any losses on our side. The bridge over the Dniepr is intact, and the Panzers swarm over it. By the end of the turn, the lead panzer division is half of the way to Kursk.

Further south, the 11th Army is strewn across half of the Ukraine, still in blitzkrieg posture, with many units out of command range, and desperately in need of some rest. The Romanian tank division manages to pull back one hex. It may be surrounded next turn, all depends on Soviet activations. If it survives another turn, I can probably rescue it. I've been a bit silly down here!

AGS airfield is relocated to Melitopol, as I suspect 11th Army is going to need it. Some Romanian forces cross into the Crimea, taking Dshankoi without opposition. FSB will be relocated to Kiev as soon as possible.

Sounds like Vic is in a lot of trouble. Can you post a map?

Turn 10 - July 28

Ugh, late summer rains bring swathes of mud, conveniently placed right across the main area of operations in both AGC and AGS. To add to my woes, I can't relocate AGS FSB to Kiev. Four other options are given, all down south nowhere near my panzers. The rail line to Kiev is completely clear. Very frustrating. I think perhaps there is a limit to the number of options that any given decision can have, and if you have too many choices for possble FSB locations, it's what, luck of the draw? Seems broken.

Anyway, I really can't complain:

AGN: 4PzG consolidates its hold on Leningrad, and smashes up some of the weak infantry remaining in the area. Two units exploit over the Volkhov, seizing both bridges. 18th Army is moving up through Narva. 6th Army keeps up pursuit in the Pskov sector, but also sends a few divisions into the Valdai Hills. The 2 Russian armies plus remnants of two more are now almost certain to be trapped around Luga/Novgorod, encircled and destroyed. 4PzG can probably start to think about heading to AGC.

AGC: Mud everywhere where it counts. At least some fuel is getting through. Guderian's panzers repel a massive attack on Vyazma from 4 sides. The only attack we can pull off in this sector is a large attack on the fortifications to the west of Vyazma. It succeeds, opening up the supply lines to Vyazma and allowing reinforcements to move into the city here. Otherwise, a slow move forward to maintain contact north and south of Vyazma.

AGS: 1PzG moves as far as the outskirts of Kursk. Elsewhere, lots of moving infantry forward. The Romanian 4th Army moves deeper into the Crimea, finding no opposition. The Romanian tank division fights off an attack by Russian conscripts. It would have been saved this turn...but mud renders the unit immobile and it will likely be cut off and destroyed next turn near Mariupol. C'est la vie.

Der Fuhrer is pretty happy with the state of things. So happy he decides to give me a decoration. I am swimming in PPs, wish I could use them to relocate my FSB in the south to Kiev! Or to borrow some more trucks from western front. Or something.

I'd like to, but am running this on a mac airbook using Windows native (my only way to play PC games). So no windows key or screen print, so not sure how to take a screenshot. Could use the grab utility, but apparently not in a full screen program, and DC3 doesn't seem to have a windowed mode...

I'll try to dig out at least one of the screenshots I think the game automatically makes at the end of each turn.

C

ORIGINAL: ChuckBerger

I'd like to, but am running this on a mac airbook using Windows native (my only way to play PC games). So no windows key or screen print, so not sure how to take a screenshot. Could use the grab utility, but apparently not in a full screen program, and DC3 doesn't seem to have a windowed mode...

I'll try to dig out at least one of the screenshots I think the game automatically makes at the end of each turn.

C

Just press print screen button and paste into PAINT or PAINT.NET or any image editing program.

best,
Vic

Just press print screen button

...

This is my problem, I don't have a print screen button!