Axis tips from more experience players.

[Brian72]

I have learned a lot but am struggling a bit on Axis strategy. I feel like a have the mechanics down and I know my WW2 history well and in my latest game I feel like I I did a lot of things right but will still most likely lose mainly due to the huge economic disparity between the Axis and the Allies. As the axis I took Murmansk, Archangel, Stalingrad, the caucus oil fields, Egypt, the middle east, invaded India from the east and south, crushed China, took DEI early and pacific islands, took vladivastok, prevented convoys via Persia and Russia well and did well in the Pacific against the USA fleet. I made some mistakes here and there but not too bad. Strategically I don't feel like I made any big mistakes and accomplished a lot by early 1943. However even with the oil field gains and as far as i pushed I am still outproduced more than 2 to 1 and have nearly stalled, which means defeat for the axis. Games not over yet but I see the writing on the wall. A few questions I have for the more experienced players which are:

1. Is this game properly balanced? I've read some posts on the Axis strategy of going sealion as a more viable option. Do the Axis have a good chance of winning with a more historical approach?

2. With the sheer amount of MPPs i have to spend on garrison units for the insane amount of partisans in this game should I just not bother with garrisons in the areas that won't spawn units? I really feel like the devs went way overboard with partisans.

3. Is investing a significant amount of MPPs for German subs worth it due to how easily they are destroyed and how much more powerful the UK royal navy is?

4. Italy is so weak they can barely afford pizza. I use them to defend north africa and areas i take while keeping their navy at port because i cant afford to upgrade the boats. Any other advice on using Italy?

Any other advice is welcome, thank you in advance.

[petedalby]

Wow - sounds like you are doing really well. Just crack on and conquer Russia.

1 - I think the game is now weighted towards the Allies. Most of the changes in the last year have buffed the Allies. Sealion is hard to pull off and if you go too early it really accelerates US & USSR mobilisation.

2 - I only ever garrison locations that spawn or that are on key rail junctions. Some junctions have to be maintained in China for example or you lose the ability to operate when a location is reduced below 5 due to partisan activity.

3 - depends how the war at sea is going but my number 1 priority is always to take out Russia.

4 - Italy is a challenge. I research aerial warfare and buy the maritime bomber asap. Some of the auxiliary units are useful like AA, Artillery & the Train. Some advocate letting Italy conquer smaller countries to boost their MPPs. The trouble is Italy will go at some point and any territory they hold goes with them. Don't use Italian garrisons in Russia for example.

Japan can help by pushing on to take Irkutsk and then into the eastern industrial zones. If China surrenders that releases a lot of Japan's units.

Conquering USSR is key IMO but there are other ways to win.

[archmache]

1) Partisans - a partisan spawn location or partisan disrupt supply location is nullified if there is a unit within one hex - meaning if there is a Partisan Hex, non-partisan hex, and then Partisan Hex, if you put a garrison between those two partisan hexes you will nullify both at once. This will reduce the number of garrisons needed. Also knowing what effect the partisan has comes with time - putting a garrison on a town worth 0 MPP is almost never worth it but having one on a key rail-way / mine is necessary.

2) Winning early as Axis causes mobilization triggers. This is a part of the game that need to be more transparent. Every country you invade, and certain objectives (for example taking Malta or getting within 1 hex of Cairo) will cause mobilization for USSR / USA. Understanding these MPP swings is an important consideration. I believe this is a good edition to the game otherwise Axis would just beeline every objectives with overwhelming force.

3) Experience troopers. Axis will have vet 3 HQ's and an advantage of experienced troops. At a certain point in the game as Axis you will always be outnumbered - tactical play will matter. Knowing what places to put engineers, how to defend France, when to buy AA verse having your fighters on intercept, all come into play. Normally, having units on the coastline of France is bad b/c the BROKEN (needs to be fixed!!) AVL and AV do not take damage when attacking so there's no point in defending coastlines or any Japanese islands.

4) NM does become a factor for Russia - I'd wager if Russia has lost oil fields and their NM zones, you have to make a choice. Throw everything into a defeat of Russia and let the Allies get a foothold in Europe, or, wait for Allies to land and then push them back into the sea then hit Russia back. You can't win on all fronts as a general rule of thumb.

5) Italy - can pretty much only go down 1 or 2 tech trees. I always invest in IT, PT, AA for them. Keeping Italy in the game as long as possible lets me use them as garrisons in Yugoslavia. Level 5 AA in Italy is a hard bear to beat for Allies.

[BillRunacre]

2) Winning early as Axis causes mobilization triggers. This is a part of the game that need to be more transparent. Every country you invade, and certain objectives (for example taking Malta or getting within 1 hex of Cairo) will cause mobilization for USSR / USA. Understanding these MPP swings is an important consideration. I believe this is a good edition to the game otherwise Axis would just beeline every objectives with overwhelming force.

You are right in principle, though not specifically about Malta as an Axis conquest of the island doesn't mobilize the US or USSR.

However, an early abandonment of the island does trigger Italian mobilization.

[Brian72]

I appreciate the advice, especially with the partisans and when/where to use them. I will definitely take that advice. Never thought of prioritizing AA research with Italy, that looks to like a great idea as well.

[Zeckke]

funny answerds,,,

1.- The game is not balance, is a game for axis winning

2.- forget garrisons buy divisions, partisans appears in yugoeslavia, vichy france and in russia the line smolenks-kiev,, dont care much about partisans appears late in game, just buy garrisons into yugoeslavia ports

3.- dont expend Mpps in germans subs level one is find, if you increase levels, the allys increase to level 2 antisubmarine warfare and your dead. with your subs on level 3 or 4. just invest in industry and spiying

4.- forget AA italisna invest on antitank levels and buy divisisons this agme with 150 mpps per turn italians is worth and you can buy the 4 divisions and the mechanized and 3 tanks with 150 mpps per turn. Give vichy france to italians and if you can spain and greece,,EGYPT always german.

hope helps

[Jkap]

Researching and upgrading the Italian Navy if it survives past the fall of France is something I like to do. They might not match up with the British but as a fleet in being you can prevent Allied ships from blockading certain ports simply due to the mere existence of the Italian ships.

Subs though are crucial to upgrade because you can spread the British Fleet up and prevent Allied supplies from reaching the USSR in the Gulf and in the Arctic. Something of note is when you declare war on the US, for a time, you can replicate what Germany did and succesfully raid US coastal shipping too, Allied ships won't be too close and the US Navy most likely won't be able to immediately react. Just avoid the DE for the Sub in the Black Sea since it's kind of useless imo.

[Bavre]

About point 3:
In my experience so far subs are basically a dead end tech. They are very useful early on but are bound to get a lot of trouble in the mid and late game. They never get any AA, and with both the ASW capabilities and the enormous vision ranges units like CVLs and naval bombers get, it's game over even for lvl 5 subs once those hard counters show up with enough tech.

I tried it and it has been tried against me, but it always went the same way: subs have initial success, then get murdered without anything to be done about it (kind of like it actually happened). Once you have 8-12 vision range, you easily see them coming (e.g. one naval bomber in Scotland, one in Cornwall) and can just bomb them to pieces at your leisure.

About Italy:
It's been said above, but limit your research to just 2-3 crucial areas. You can also compensate some of it with units from German minors. E.g. the Romanian fighter has german tech but can serve under an italian HQ, so you can circumvent the need for italian fighters and tech completely. The same goes for land units: don't research italian tanks. Instead if you need some limited armor in Italy and don't want/can't send an entire german group with HQ, just send the hungarian or romanian tank over to save the Duce's bacon.