Back after ~15 months, what has changed?

Gary Grigsby’s War in the East: The German-Soviet War 1941-1945 is a turn-based World War II strategy game stretching across the entire Eastern Front. Gamers can engage in an epic campaign, including division-sized battles with realistic and historical terrain, weather, orders of battle, logistics and combat results.

The critically and fan-acclaimed Eastern Front mega-game Gary Grigsby’s War in the East just got bigger and better with Gary Grigsby’s War in the East: Don to the Danube! This expansion to the award-winning War in the East comes with a wide array of later war scenarios ranging from short but intense 6 turn bouts like the Battle for Kharkov (1942) to immense 37-turn engagements taking place across multiple nations like Drama on the Danube (Summer 1944 – Spring 1945).

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fsp1978
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu May 02, 2013 4:06 pm

Back after ~15 months, what has changed?

Post by fsp1978 »

I have had to take a break from this game for over a year and am back to playing it SP now, want to try my first MP campaign soon as well. I have never been a great player but won the GC41-45 on standard level as Germany and the SU. Here are a couple of questions I have, especially with so many patches having come out. I know there are lots of guides and good forum posts, but some changes have been drastic so I don't know which of those guides are up to date anymore and figured asking would make more sense.

Feel free to just answer one or two questions, I fully appreciate that!

Thanks for your help!

1)A winning strategy as SU is easy, bleed the Germans to death. But if playing Germany, does it make sense to target
a) the Red Army?
b) the manpower centres?
c) armament?
What is the weakness of the SU if you want to win the game?

2) How frequently is HQ buildup being used? How much sense does it make to use it on a permanent basis?

3) How bad is playing as a rainbow warrior? Especially when on attack, armies and sometimes even AG/Fronts get terribly mixed. Do good players avoid this or is it something you really cannot avoid that much? I try to get C&C set up again, but often a couple of units are too far away from their respective HQs (most often infantry). Again: Is this normal for good players?

4) What is the most efficient way to get support units like heavy artillery and engineers to certain units which you expect to make an assault on a heavily defended position? I understand the general concept I think but would like someone to point me to how to do it most efficiently as
a) German
b) Soviet

5) Is anyone building fortified zones right now? Last time I played the consensus seemed to be they were rather useless.

6) Blizzard as Germans: Do you keep Panzer divisions back at the railheads or in reserve mode to counter Soviet attacks?

7) What is the most efficient way to repair RR besides the specialised units? Parking AG and Front HQs next to destroyed RR?

8) Is there a consensus on if it makes more sense to pocket Soviet units until November 41 or just to kick them around over and over again (making them lose trucks etc. several times)?

9) What are standard air doctrine settings for most people? Why? How much of an influence does the airforce have in battles? Sometimes it seems there is no influence at all, sometimes I think there is a lot?

10) Do people manually change aircraft types or is there not much sense doing so? Especially as SU, since it costs AP?

11) Where do you usually put the best commanders? Mech/Inf in Corps HQ and guys with high initiative in AG/Fronts or OKW/OKH/STAVKA? Do you swap best commanders around the front all the time or keep them in one place fairly long?

12) What are the best ideads to manage the motor pool? When does it begin to hurt supply distribution? Never had much problems with this in playing the AI, but I think this could really hurt me when playing MP?

13) Do people directly bomb units much? Doesn't seem to do much in my book.

14) How much sense is there in targeting cities/factories/Ploesti with level bombers for either side? What about airfields and HQs?

15) Is there any way to make manpower/tanks/planes I have in the pool appear at the front? Differences as Germany or SU?

16) I did a test run on targeting manpower in Minsk with my bombers. It said I killed 8% of the manpower with my 200 odd bombers. That would be around 130 000 people. Seems fairly efficient to me, or I am interpretating something wrong here?

17) When do people usually rail out factories as SU and which ones do they prefer? Again, as a German, can you catch those factories or do you usually have no chance to do so?

18) How do I do a Lviv pocket? I am sure I can work it out, but is there a guide to it so I don't have to tinker for hours myself?

19) And finally, has someone played the 42 or 43 GC as Germany and won outright? Held on for a marginal victory? I am talking both SP and MP here. 43 GC SP is something I am tempted to try, but if the only thing I can achieve here is slowly crawling back to Germany, I am not that much interest.
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lastkozak
Posts: 267
Joined: Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:56 pm

RE: Back after ~15 months, what has changed?

Post by lastkozak »

What has changed? Everything and nothing!

Not to be a smart ass, but many answers to your questions are dependent upon the players preference. Since nobody really records data and conducts statistical analysis on such data, it is hard to conclude anything. However,I am sure there are something we all agree upon.

1) If you are German, try to win! 2) If you are Soviet, try to win. Quite seriously, that is about the only thing anybody agrees upon here.

As far as any of your questions go, many of the answers would depend on yours tile of play.

10) I try to change out aircraft manually, as I would prefer my highest experienced pilots to have the best planes. It costs AP's, but the other option is the deaths of too many experienced pilots, who are flying rickety old crates. I usually try to get the best pilots in the best planes and fly them near the Rumanians, since they have poorer planes. This is to increase my pilots experience more, and faster. Thus I have 30-40 regiments, ready for my winter offensive, as Soviet. I try not to use the small air battalions, except to fly night missions, and leave one on each base, in case the Germans try a night mission.

5) I do not know what Germans like to do, but I find fortified Zones a great way to build up forts. The hexes beside them will go up to 3's, and it can raise a fort up to 4. I load them down with Sapper Regiments or construction crews, and watch the forts build fast. I use them on hexes on river lines, especially where there its a hex which can be attacked from 3 or more sides. Sometimes I leave them to defend, some times I disband them. If I leave them, I remove a couple sappers, and load them up with BIG GUNS!!!!!

1) I believe this depends on the Soviet player. If there is no soviet army, then it is hard to defend factories. If there are no factories, the soviets won't last a long game. I would say all three that you listed are good, but perhaps a quick damage to the Soviet army is most effective. Then run as fast as you can to take manpower centres and factories. Beware, guys like me and Bozo, can show players just how vicious the bear can be when defending, "The Great Soviet Socialist Republic!"

13) I find bombing units effective if you plan to attack them that turn, as you can damage forts and decrease how many elements are ready to defend. But I am not talking about a few bombers, I am talking about recreating what the Brits did at Caen! Blow the crap out of them, then attack with everything you got.

Well, welcome back and good luck!

lastkozak

Ps what side do you prefer to play? Inquiring comrades wish to know!
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