Axis AI vs Commanderski

[larryfulkerson]

You and I both got off easy in terms of Turn 1 Air Losses. The developers have really toned that down a lot. I remember seeing 4500+ losses in some AAR's in the earlier versions of the game.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

Thanks again for playing and AAR! [:)]


I am especially interested in AI encirclements... please report those (including failed ones)...


Leo "Apollo11"

[Commanderski]

Turn 4 losses.

[Commanderski]

The 7th Panzer division teamed up with the 20th and blasted through the defensive line I had set up near Smolensk. Army Group Center is pretty much having it way with my troops. The AI is picking single depth lines and hitting them hard and leaving anything in depth or multi-stacked alone for the follow up forces.

[Commanderski]

Here is an overall view of the Center.

[Commanderski]

In the North the AI is making pretty fair progress. I did have a defensive line along the junction of the Velikaya and Sorot rivers but it rolled over them pretty good and went straight up to Pskov. The Totenkopf Division took Pskov then backed off to maintain contact with the rest of their forces.

[Commanderski]

In the South I am doing pretty fair. They didn't blast through anywhere yet. I think it's looking for a weak spot as the AI doesn't have a solid line. I've come to know through experience that it usually means it's regrouping and will exploit any weakness it sees.

[Commanderski]

In the South I am doing pretty fair. They didn't blast through anywhere yet. I think it's looking for a weak spot as the AI doesn't have a solid line. I've come to know through experience that it usually means it's regrouping and will exploit any weakness it sees.

I also reduced my TO&E for the NKVD units to 50% and my Artillery to 75% in order to see if I can get some of my divisions filled up a little quicker.

[Commanderski]

Just a side note to those who may be following this. I also have a PBEM game that is just about wrapped up and that is taking some of my time. Also I am very meticulous with my turns and sometimes takes a couple of days to complete a turn, as being in charge of the Soviet forces is only a part time job...[:)]

[Commanderski]

I was able to cut off the spearhead in the Center. I bombed some of the armor units and the HQ unit. Hopefully without a direct supply line for 1 turn it will slow it down some. I could have attacked the HQ unit but didn't as that would be taking advantage of the AI. However if this was a human opponent I would have.

It will be interesting to see how the AI reacts to this.

[randallw]

This is the downside of clumping units together; the German armor can launch a bunch of hasty attacks on weak units and scatter them like bowling pins.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: Commanderski

I was able to cut off the spearhead in the Center. I bombed some of the armor units and the HQ unit. Hopefully without a direct supply line for 1 turn it will slow it down some. I could have attacked the HQ unit but didn't as that would be taking advantage of the AI. However if this was a human opponent I would have.

It will be interesting to see how the AI reacts to this.

Please keep us posted - I am interested to see how AI is doing as well!


Leo "Apollo11"

[Commanderski]

I think I am at the end of Turn 4, I want to do a quick review before I end the turn. Depending on how much snow I have to shovel tomorrow we should see some interesting developments in the Center. Looking at two other games in progress I have been switching over to an in-depth defense rather than stacking them. But the line I have East of Smolensk is a very powerful force. They average 25,00 men per hex with a total of over 600 T-34's, 350 KV-1's and 2's and high morale for this time in the game (high 40's to low 50's).

Even at the 110% setting I'm thinking the Axis units may be weakened. A human player would probably attack from both sides at the cut-off line to regain their supply lines. The units that are cut off are the 7th, 17th and 20th Panzer Divisions and the 14th Motorized division. I couldn't find out which HQ units they are.

[Commanderski]

Turn 5 losses.

[Commanderski]

In the Center the AI did concentrate their attacks on the units that were cutting off the spearhead. The 7th Panzer division also did come back to attack that line. It didn't continue forward too far so they must have been short on supplies. I will be launching a counter attack on the forward units.

[Commanderski]

T5 North. The AI is making slow but constant gains in the North. On the left side I just moved all my remaining forces to East side of the Narva Marshes to set up my defenses there.

[Commanderski]

In the South I am holding on pretty good. I am going to reform the line to get rid of the bulge before the AI does it for me.

[Commanderski]

The counter attack (or counter stroke as some call it) on the 12th Panzer division.

Stavka called for a counter attack to stop the advancing Facists forces that are rapidly approaching towards Moscow. At the pace they are going they will be at Moscow before any good defenses can be set up.

It was determined to concentrate our main attack against the 12th Panzer division as that was probably the strongest lead division. There were no recent battle reports against that division. There may be a second attack against the 20th Panzer division depending on the results of this attack and available resources. They did have some action the week before and may not be up to full strength yet. Here is the Order of Battle for the attack:

31st Army led by Lieutenant General Maksin Purkaev
252nd Rifle Division
245th Rifle Division
248th Rifle Division

29th Army led by Major General Konstantin Rokossovsky
15th Tank Division
16th Tank Division
4th AT Artillery Brigade
34th Tank Division in Reserve
37th Tank Division in Reserve
3rd AT Artillery Brigade in Reserve
11th Tank Division in Reserve

12th Army led by Major General Leonid V Bobkin
32nd Tank division
12th Tank Division
13th Tank Division

6th IAK PVO Air Command led by Major General Fyodor Falakeev
46 SAD Air Base
6/1 PVO Air Base
6/2 PVO Air Base

The attack was started with a bombing run by 25 bombers. The results weren't bad.

[Commanderski]

The main attack! I did the attack in level 4 detail and that was quite interesting. You get to see who did what to who. I was also a little surprised at the Axis air losses compared to mine.

The results are that the 12th Panzer division retreated after suffering heavy losses. That's quite a severe loss of tanks for this stage of the war. Since they retreated, a lot of the damaged tanks should not have been recoverable and would be a loss. Our vehicle losses were high but a lot of that was due to BT and Armored car losses.

Stavka is quite happy with the results and is looking at doing second attack on the 20th Panzer Division.

[randallw]

No German elements damaged during the retreat. Another peculiar thing about the combat engine I had not noticed yet.