How to stop Germany as USSR?

[BootyJoe]

ORIGINAL: CLEVELAND
Just got done on Easy playing the Russians. The Panzer Armee deathstars just waltzed around zapping everything they touched. I managed to pocket an Armee and a panzer corps but apparently surrounding them and attacking from all sides caused more damage to me than them. Which I guess I can see but they were surrounded for several months! I killed the panzer corps at least, but the other deathstars came to the aid of the Armee.

Also you can attack from more than one hex only on the first round of combat. After that you can only attack from one hex at a time. I did not know that.

I was under the impression that Barbarossa resulted in huge German losses but here Panzer troops can just kill anything with very few casualties.

Finally players are reacting on MY thread. I was surprised the reaction came so late considering the fact USSR are doomed in GC unless modded/fiddling with difficulty. I guess the late reaction is due to the game being new and most ppl probably start off playing the Germans, then the Allies and last USSR. At least the number of posts confirming my initial worry concering USSR should bring Doomstrader's attention. As I stated in the starting post of this thread patching is needed to address USSR weakness / German deathstars.

Conclusion: I was right - yes I am a smart***

[Windoze]

Won the 1939 scenario with all settings default as USSR.

First of all take out Finland completly early, one less front to think about. Then the key is to defend in depth with lots of cheap lvl 1 infantry corps as speedbumps until your combat strength goes up after a couple of turns. You will need to sacrifice some land doing this, but that means the germans are thinning out his line leaving himself open to counter attacks from your tanks and mech units later on.

[SteveD64]

For the '41 scenario how about changing the OOB and get rid of the Panzer Armees and replace them with, say, a tank and mech corps (or whatever). At least then the Germans will actually take some losses.

[AZKGungHo]

I just tried Windoze's idea - didn't work for me and I had Germany and allies set at Very Easy.

Windoze, I'd love to see an AAR of your approach and exactly how you did it.

[BootyJoe]

ORIGINAL: Windoze

Won the 1939 scenario with all settings default as USSR.

First of all take out Finland completly early, one less front to think about. Then the key is to defend in depth with lots of cheap lvl 1 infantry corps as speedbumps until your combat strength goes up after a couple of turns. You will need to sacrifice some land doing this, but that means the germans are thinning out his line leaving himself open to counter attacks from your tanks and mech units later on.

Please this is a serious thread aimed at improving play balance in SWE - no pranks pls.

[Menschenfresser]

Damn...

The good news is, nearly every constant in the game can be modded. It's quite complex behind the scenes. Bad news is, it's ridiculously hard to weaken those Pz Armees without turning the German war effort into a hopeless cause and/or making the WW2 schedule impossible for the AI. From Sept 39 to 41 German speed depends on the "touch of death" approach we're all lamenting in Russia.

Tank armies enhanced by xp, leader rating, land warfare levels, etc get turned into juggernauts.

Furthermore, on 4 different occasions they have the chance to get a random number of pz armees. That's why in '42 you'll notice the front is covered by a dozen of them.

Shortly I'm going to post a modded version of the 1939 scenario, if anyone's interested. I still haven't gotten a legit win against the Germans, but I'm trying.

[Windoze]

ORIGINAL: BootyJoe

ORIGINAL: Windoze

Won the 1939 scenario with all settings default as USSR.

First of all take out Finland completly early, one less front to think about. Then the key is to defend in depth with lots of cheap lvl 1 infantry corps as speedbumps until your combat strength goes up after a couple of turns. You will need to sacrifice some land doing this, but that means the germans are thinning out his line leaving himself open to counter attacks from your tanks and mech units later on.

Please this is a serious thread aimed at improving play balance in SWE - no pranks pls.

I tried USSR 1939 default setting two more times and I must admit I must have been extremly lucky the first time. Both attempts today I get utterly destroyed by the german panzers.

[Menschenfresser]

USSR mod posted in the mods section.

[mikecoch]

Has anybody ever gotten land units from an event? I have played 4 times (2 as Russians, 2 as Germans) and have never gotten any extra units. If events that confer free units are only executed when the AI is playing a particular side this could go a long way to explaining why we are getting conflicting reports about issues with play balance.

I have been trounced twice when playing Russians (uber Death Star Panzer Armies all over the place)

I have been stuffed twice against AI Russia when playing Germans. (Partly because of Sub-Optimal play on my part but Russian units are way stronger and more numerous than anything I came up with when playing them).

[SteveD64]

I played the 1939 campaign game as Germany and received an extra Panzer Corps that represents the Afrika Korps, for free as an event.

[Bonners]

Have to say I've given up on the game for now, I like simplistic, but equally I would like a bit of a challenge either way. I've played a couple of campaigns as the Germans where I just wait until late '41/early '42 for The Russians to declare war and then stomp all over them.

I've tried four different campaigns as the Russians now (I've tried to make all the settings as easy as possible for me), just to see if there is something I am missing and the furthest I've got to is 1943 where my remaining two troops with a couple of frantically waving sticks finally decide to call it a day. It is no challenge as either side. I'll probably come back to it in a few months once modders/patches have had more of an effect on the balancing issues. It does seem a worthwhile simple strategy game, but still needs some work, especially on the Russians.