Axis AI has me baffled
Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2025 1:28 pm
I'm playing a modified grand campaign scenario and I'm currently on turn 19 (1941-10-26).
I'm doing all I can think of but this AI is like the Energizer Bunny on steroids AND percotin and I'm falling behind on being able to keep my units ready (as of this turn out of 529 on-map units, 138 are under-strength, 93 are unready and 12 depleted).
In spite of that I'm doing quite well. I have a continuous front well west of where it should be by this date and still hold a number of key cities though some are in danger and I might be losing the Crimea.
I've been falling back slowly to keep my line intact and prevent Axis breakthroughs while at the same time keeping contact with the Axis forces. I haven't been able to fight back worth a damn but I've been able to force the front into a positional warfare situation and make the Axis pay for every hex they take.
From about late August I've been "training" my on-map units my keeping them on REFIT and setting their MAX TOE% equal to their TOE% each turn. That's been a double-edged sword because while it has brought the experience of my units up in the 50s it also sometimes seems to suck replacements too. I'm rethinking the strategy but will stick with it since it does work in bringing up experience.
I had thought that with the mud turns I'd be able to have a turn or two as a breather and be able to swap a lot of under-strength and unready units out with fresh ones. I did not, however, take into consideration that the Axis AI seems to have Hover-Tanks which can hover over the mud. Even though, using the option to see combat values instead of the name, and finding that all units along the front had attack values of 1 the Axis AI still somehow managed to launch a series of attacks which captured two fortress cities in Leningrad. I had already moved my lines east of Leningrad but had the two fortresses in Leningrad built up and manned (both to over 600 CV).
If the mud turns doesn't slow them down (which historically stopped the Germans dead in their tracks) I'm worried what will happen when the snow turns come and the mud freezes. The best I can hope for would be a stalemate situation over the winter but I'm worried about Axis offensives which will force the front closer to Moscow and I won't be able to use the winter to launch a limited offensive to push the front back some.
Between the built-in biases for this point in the game and the fact that the AI cheats big time it almost seems an unwinnable situation. I honestly believe if not for the AI "cheats" I'd be in a better situation but just can't figure out how to counter them.
The changes I'm doing or tried are:
1. I was playing from about August with the National Morale modifier for the Soviets at +11. This past turn I upped it to +15 but it will take a while to flow through.
2. Also around August I started "training" up all my on-map units by putting them all on REFIT and keeping ther TOE % and MAX TOE % equal. It quickly brought the experience of units from mid-30s to mid to upper-50s at a time when my max National Morale was 56. Having the unit morale and experience roughly equal did bring up the combat values considerably. The problem I noticed though was that some units still increased their TOE % beyond what was set for the MAX TOE % and couldn't be explained other than the MAX TOE % not working.
Since that was starting to deplete the amount of manpower I had available in the strategic reserves the units I was bringing on-map were weaker TOE-wise than I wanted. I've decided to try setting units where the experience is above 50 to READY and just "train" the units where the experience is in the 30's and 40's. Hopefully I can start replacing under-strength units with stronger units and get them trained up to where they can hold the line and even possibly attack.
I don't know if I'm doing things right but just didn't start them soon enough or if there is something I'm missing.
Keeping in mind this is a game against the AI can anybody think of anything I might be able to try?
I'm doing all I can think of but this AI is like the Energizer Bunny on steroids AND percotin and I'm falling behind on being able to keep my units ready (as of this turn out of 529 on-map units, 138 are under-strength, 93 are unready and 12 depleted).
In spite of that I'm doing quite well. I have a continuous front well west of where it should be by this date and still hold a number of key cities though some are in danger and I might be losing the Crimea.
- 1941-10-26 - Victory Cities.jpg (190.23 KiB) Viewed 586 times
- 1941-10-26 - Situation Map - North.jpg (1.03 MiB) Viewed 586 times
- 1941-10-26 - Situation Map - South.jpg (1020.67 KiB) Viewed 586 times
- 1941-10-26 - Ground Losses.jpg (59.01 KiB) Viewed 586 times
I had thought that with the mud turns I'd be able to have a turn or two as a breather and be able to swap a lot of under-strength and unready units out with fresh ones. I did not, however, take into consideration that the Axis AI seems to have Hover-Tanks which can hover over the mud. Even though, using the option to see combat values instead of the name, and finding that all units along the front had attack values of 1 the Axis AI still somehow managed to launch a series of attacks which captured two fortress cities in Leningrad. I had already moved my lines east of Leningrad but had the two fortresses in Leningrad built up and manned (both to over 600 CV).
If the mud turns doesn't slow them down (which historically stopped the Germans dead in their tracks) I'm worried what will happen when the snow turns come and the mud freezes. The best I can hope for would be a stalemate situation over the winter but I'm worried about Axis offensives which will force the front closer to Moscow and I won't be able to use the winter to launch a limited offensive to push the front back some.
Between the built-in biases for this point in the game and the fact that the AI cheats big time it almost seems an unwinnable situation. I honestly believe if not for the AI "cheats" I'd be in a better situation but just can't figure out how to counter them.
The changes I'm doing or tried are:
1. I was playing from about August with the National Morale modifier for the Soviets at +11. This past turn I upped it to +15 but it will take a while to flow through.
2. Also around August I started "training" up all my on-map units by putting them all on REFIT and keeping ther TOE % and MAX TOE % equal. It quickly brought the experience of units from mid-30s to mid to upper-50s at a time when my max National Morale was 56. Having the unit morale and experience roughly equal did bring up the combat values considerably. The problem I noticed though was that some units still increased their TOE % beyond what was set for the MAX TOE % and couldn't be explained other than the MAX TOE % not working.
Since that was starting to deplete the amount of manpower I had available in the strategic reserves the units I was bringing on-map were weaker TOE-wise than I wanted. I've decided to try setting units where the experience is above 50 to READY and just "train" the units where the experience is in the 30's and 40's. Hopefully I can start replacing under-strength units with stronger units and get them trained up to where they can hold the line and even possibly attack.
I don't know if I'm doing things right but just didn't start them soon enough or if there is something I'm missing.
Keeping in mind this is a game against the AI can anybody think of anything I might be able to try?