Level of difficulty

[Cunctator]

Probably there's too much difference between the normal level and the first step of greater difficulty.
I won with axis easily at normal.
One step ahead of difficulty and now I am in April '43 having all North Africa, France, Yugo, a line in Russia Novgorod - Smolensk - Kharkov, but:
- I have only 200 german manpower;
- I destroyed a ton of allied troops on french beaches;
- Gb alone has 10 battleships, 5 cruisers and 4 aircraft carriers;
- Russia has a huge (I mean HUGE) numbers of inf and armor units....
Am I loosing this game?
Is it too difficult, compared wih the normal level?

[Mike Parker]

I always find in my games that as the Germans Manpower is my limiting factor.  Perhaps its my style of play, but its what causes the Reich to fall.  I don't think you have lost, but your not going to defeat the USSR, and the game will now shift to the Wallies and Comintern having the initiative.  Having Italy in the game still will help.  Build lots of Italian Infantry to prop up your lines in the east.

[jjdenver]

Just play PBEM then you don't have to worry about difficulty level - human opponents are all hard.

[Ras Tshubai]

Same experience for me. I have always played at normal level and found it quiet balanced playing Axis. After a while you know how to win and it is getting easier by experience. After about 40 games trying different tactics I played Axis at max advantage for Allies and had the same effect. E.g. UK has an enormous fleet to start with and Russia is not only having units everywhere but also there quality is much better. They have level three tanks already beginning 1942.
I figure the main parameters are limiting war effort for Axis and number of research labs you can have.
Maybe Firepowerjohan can shed some more light about what else changes if you increase the difficulty?
Hard to win but I am trying different tactics in order to beat the AI. In another post I asked the question if anybody has experiene with playing the 1944 scenario and winning it. But no response.
So I would say the AI might not be the smartest but it is decent. If anybody is looking for a challenge against the AI this is the way to go.