Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: Gilber

Hi,

I discover PBEM games, until now I had only played the axis against the AI.
I find that the arrival of the unit generated by event scripts can be a problem.
For example, when the Barbarossa operation was launched, the Russian fleet arrived in front of Leningrad. The problem is that an experienced player knows exactly when and where these units appear, so in positioning German naval units in the right place the Russian fleet is massacred in 1 turn.
I think that the positioning of units should not be predictable for the opposing player, and in general I find that events give too much of an advantage to an experienced player who ends up knowing them very well and can therefore anticipate and manage them.
What does the community think about it?
otherwise I find the game really interesting.

Started a new thread so not to burden the tourney one.

I agree and have often argued for more randomness in the placement of the Soviet "reinforcements".

If your newer your experience may be worse because under v.1.16 they start at 0 supply and are destroyed very easily, they are changing this.

The irony of the SU "reinforcements" is that against a skilled player they are a net negative for the SU, none survive and all they do is provide high experience points to the Axis. Attacking Axis troops destroy all troops that can be operated on turn one surround and destroy the rest turn two. The ships are going to be wiped out anyway but them starting in a port might be nice. When I was new to the game I found it very debilitating to get wiped out in Poland, France, etc and then have all SU reinforcement killed so easily. Just from a psychological perspective for the newer player it would be nice if a couple could survive.

One Allied counter is if your Axis opponent commits a large portion of his Navy to Barbarossa the GB convoy lane is open or its raiders vulnerable. Gives you the chance to take the convoy up to 40% and help the SU out for a while. Also can ramp up US=> GB convoy.




enjoy

The devs have suggested that the spawning is done to represent the mass destruction of units which historically occurred in the opening weeks of Barbarossa. The Soviet player is not actually intended to derive any benefit from the spawning units, it's purely for gameplay. Otherwise the Soviet player would simply denude the frontier prior to the invasion, which is hardly fair.

That said, I would prefer to see Soviet units that were fixed in place and could not be moved prior to the invasion commencing. It seems weird that these units materialize out of thin air.

Due to the additions of the Baltic States and areas of Finland, Poland and Rumania, the Soviet defenses at the original border [Fortified Regions] were in the process of being dismantled and relocated to these new forward areas. Additionally, all of the regular forces were in various states of a slow and secret mobilization, so as not to alarm the feared German enemy.

The historical reality was that the Soviets were completely unprepared for war. The result was that the Soviets lost around 5,000,000 troops in the opening stage. The way that the game is currently set up seems to best represent this situation.

The game allows for a very "a historic" event in the Sealion "what if" and allows for a very "a historic" All Axis/GB AF in NA couldn't the SU have handled it better thus a "what if" with the soviet reinforcements?

At least don't put them in the same exact place.

I understand the historic point my issue is that the SU lose ALL the reinforcements. Letting a couple survive would help the franchise keep newer players.

In my current MP game as an Axis - due to a bad and therefore unusually long western campaign - I had to fight against a rat tail of delays. As a result essential parts of my Luftwaffe and some relevant ground forces were still tied in the final fight for Greece, as the offensive against the SU had to be started because of a very high war readiness of the Russians. As a result, I could not destroy (as usual) all border troops of the SU. In particular, the escaped Air Force and the now larger number of defense troops has a noticeable negative effect on the advance of my Wehrmacht.

I am therefore a little afraid that a regular "what if" survival of some of the Russian border forces will have a negative impact on the balance at the expense of the axis...at least in multiplayer games!

Agreed Battlefield. There are many times that the German player cannot afford a force that will entirely wipe the SU reinforcements. He might be struggling in NA or Greece moving more mobile and air units than usual or he may DoW SU a bit too late and face a muddy slow Barbarossa.

I have yet to see a game where Allies didn't win after most of their reinforcements escaped.
SU reinforcements are there more to force Axis player commit to a very strong Barbarossa or risk failure in the long run.

Game shouldn't make compromises to attract new, old or any kind of gamers. If its good it will have a following. And it is good.