Matrix Games Forums

I purchased this game a couple of weeks ago, and I still don't think I'm anywhere near getting over the initial hump of learning this game. I've been reading the manual, trolling the forums, etc and I have some unanswered questions.

- Other than feel, how do people estimate the effectiveness of an attack or air directive? I'm playing with fow off and I still have no idea how many troops to devote to any particular offensive. Take Operation Husky for example, other than playing the scenario over and over, I have no idea how many units to send towards Messina and how many units to send east. The manual is correct when it says that the CV values can be way off. Using the predicted CVs when hovering over an enemy unit doesn't help me. By the time I've moved units adjacent to an enemy, those units are committed to this front whether they're too much/too little for the job. Don't get me wrong; I'm not looking for a complete breakdown of how CVs are calculated or to min/max every piece of equipment moving forward. I'm just finding the opacity getting in the way of making meaningful, bigger picture decisions.

- On other side of that coin, is there any way to see the effects of various elements in combat? I'm having a hard time evaluating whether my success or failure is largely due to the: engineers I committed, the proximity of commanders up the chain, the interdiction in the hex. Without being able to find the feedback, the whole things turning into a spamfest where my only tactic has been "have more".

- Is there any way to see the enemy's logistics/etc. on the map? I've been reconing the enemy areas pretty heavily on days 1,2,3 and 6,7. When I hover over the enemy rails, ports, etc. I'm seeing depot values and rail usage values. Is there any way to visualize this on the map so I can prioritize particular ports/railyards etc. It seems kinda silly that the information is available to me, but only in a way that forces me to hover over each particular location of interest. I'm aware that the factory button shows which factories are damaged, but I'm looking for more than that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Waging war is art. The same applies to this game. Unlike simpler games where you can see every factor dissected, here they are hidden and their interactions subtle. By playing a lot you gain experience and some kind of a 6th sense, that allows you to play better without knowing exact percentages for possible combat results. There is no way to fully optimize or min-max this game. Sometimes I think it was designed so on purpose, as war is not as simple as totaling strength, incorporating modifiers and rolling on a CRT. But sometimes I think not enough data is presented and too many elements are hidden under the hood, in a black box. You have to choose which view is true for you. Min-maxing boardgamers may indeed feel lost. But great generals were gamblers too and you have to become one in this game.

Terrain is a huge factor, and it's important to realize that armor is weak in dense terrain and infantry is better there. This is accounted for in the CV estimates in the rollover you see when about to launch an attack. The thing is you need to know what terrain you're attacking before you know exactly what your attacking CVs are, which is why the counter values can be misleading. Engineers are good, and so is keeping your units within command range of their HQs (especially the corps HQ so it can provide support units to the battle). Paying attention to the combat predictor values in the rollover for several attacks, and getting a sense of what works and what doesn't, will help you. Bringing infantry to attack in difficult terrain, and leaving armor to attack in lighter terrain or used to exploit and get behind the enemy will greatly improve your chances (although sometimes you need to use your armor to attack difficult terrain, but you shouldn't do this too often unless you are up against very weak opposition. Interdiction can be a critical factor, but you're not likely to get high interdiction values early in the war. Finding ways to isolate the enemy is important (i.e. cutting them off or closing down ports via naval interdiction and/or use of amphib HQs in the case of an island).

The Combat CV Value is not a representation of your ability to cause casualties. It is the number used to determine whether or not you take a hex...

For example...a dug in mountain regiment sitting in a mountain hex has a very high CV. If I attack it with 3 armoured divisions (who suffer CV penalties for attacking mountain), it may seem that it is impossible for them to win...maybe like 30 CV attack to X (over 100) defence.

But the mountain regiment has very little ability to damage the armour divisions. And the armour divisions have a very great ability to damage the regiment. So even if you don't get the final 2-1 odds to force a retreat, you will not take a lot of casualties in this attack.

In another attack you could be facing 3 panzer divisions in a hex. Unfortified. So the CV looks low (say 50ish) and you have 9 divisions attacking them. Even if you have over 100 CV attacking so it looks like an easy 2-1...the panzer divisions are going to cause casualties before they retreat. And they may cause enough damage to you during the combat sequence to lower your CV to prevent retreat.

The retreating side usually loses extra stuff for retreating. So you want them to retreat.

My simple rule of thumb is to try and have 3-1 in numbers. So 9 divs vrs 3 divs. That way you tend to cause more damage then you take (depending on your troop makeup/artillery) even if you don't take the hex.

You can try and up the odds by using reserve units...either in attack or defence.

As for ground attacking with aircraft....the more the merrier. I firmly believe in OverKill. It is easier to hurt smaller units then bigger ones with air, but enough air will hurt anything. If the target has a lot of flak, then this will seriously diminish your attacking power though.

Bombing logistics is kind of a continuous operation. It is also most effective when combined with interdiction.

Depots are usually built in places with a good railyards. Even if you cant see them (the depots), it is good to just reduce the railyards to zero.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I think there is this paranoia that comes from having so many things simulated. There's this weird desire to understand why x-number of rifle elements died or why the assault was stopped at 1200m. In looking back, I realize that with board games, I'm not not trying to do the same in depth CRT analyses. I admit that I'm experiencing something that just needs to be let go.

I think I'm coming to terms with assaulting positions and predicting the correct amount of divisions to bring based on terrain, etc. The hardest time I'm having now is with support elements and aircraft. I'm getting wild CV swings by manually assigning support groups which make sense, but are still difficult for me to predict without being on the actual front line. I'm also not entirely sure how to gauge how much airpower I should expect to support a given attack.