Has anyone tried DDay as the axis.

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gwfgardiner
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Joined: Tue Mar 07, 2017 6:14 am

Has anyone tried DDay as the axis.

Post by gwfgardiner »

I have started this campaign and it seems very difficult.
Much harder than the long campaigns or DDay as the Allies and the American
reinforcements haven't crossed the Atlantic yet. I would be interested how
others are finding it.
Guy.
vonik
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RE: Has anyone tried DDay as the axis.

Post by vonik »

It is not difficult . It is lost and there is no point to continue . The smart move is to surrender :)
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Seminole
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RE: Has anyone tried DDay as the axis.

Post by Seminole »

"War is never a technical problem only, and if in pursuing technical solutions you neglect the psychological and the political, then the best technical solutions will be worthless." - Hermann Balck
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Zuxius
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RE: Has anyone tried DDay as the axis.

Post by Zuxius »

I've edited the program, so now the Koayashi Maru is winnable. I don't like unwinnable scenarios.
Bertram
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Location: Netherlands

RE: Has anyone tried DDay as the axis.

Post by Bertram »

I am currently playing this scenario against a human opponent. I am thinking of writing a longer review of this scenario, but the short version for now, is that it is pretty bad.

Ok, somewhat longer review:

At start of the scenario the Allies are posed to land at Normandy, the Russians are ready for another push, and the Germans are hanging on in Italy. The Germans have about 45 corps and armies on the east front, about 8 on the Western front, and 7 in Italy (for a total of 60). They also have a big number of garrisons. What is noticable, is that the Russians have inherently better infantry weapons than the Germans (level 3 against level 2). The Germans get about 1000 - 1100 points/turn during the first turns. The Allies start.

A competent Allied player will be able to wipe out about 15 Axis (main) units in the first turn. One or 2 units in France, one in Italy, and 12 - 14 at the East front. A number of units wil be seriously damaged. The Allied player also can get a number of Partisan units (8 spawn locations are unguarded - in my PBEM game, 6 spawned. That seems unlucky, but - it happens). The Normandy invasion (at least in my game) lost less steps than the German defenders. The Russian units in the center and up north forced several breakthroughs. In Italy the losses were about equal, but the losses of the attacker were spread over several units, while a German unit got wiped out.

Now the German player has to choose - reinforce the damaged units in place, or retreat. The number of replacement points in the first turn is 400. This is about enough to reinforce all damaged units. In Italy this is no problem. In France you can reinforce most units, reposition one or two, and race the units up north to Normandy (we *know* there won't be a second invasion in Belgium). On the Eastern front this does not work.... due to the breakthroughs (and the lack of depth of the front) you need to fall back. This means reinforcing some key units, and retreating the others. It also means you can buy one or two units back (plenty at half price.....).

Next turn saw the same pattern. I lost about 12 units on the east front, 2 in France, and one in Italy. The Allies lost one unit in both turns. Once again I could easily reinforce all units that were damaged, but especially on the east front had to retreat (and thus not reinforce) most of the units. I now could rebuy 12 main units - but they would be ready in 6 turns. This went on for 3 more turns. In august I was on the East Front down to 5 main units, including 2 in front Berlin (VolksGrenadiers, a scripted reinforcement) in addition to some garrisons. On the Balkan front I actually kept something worth naming a front - mainly because the Russians just ignored them. Only garrisons on the West Front, and my Italian Front was down to 2 main units - not enough to keep a line.

Each turn I had plenty of points to reinforce all damaged units, and buy about 10 new ones. Problem is, that when I reinforced a unit, it would be surrounded and destroyed next time. And all those purchased units would only turn up from September onwards. By then the Allies were already in Aachen, had liberated Belgium and Holland, and crossed the Rhine. The Russians were 2 hexes from Berlin. Italy was liberated 2 turns ago, and even the Balkan was falling. I had 40 main units in the pipeline - but there were not enough hexes between Berlin and the enemy to deploy them.

What went wrong in the scenario?
- it seems to me the Russian units are relative to strong.
- the Normandy landings are to easy. The defender looses more steps and units than the attacker, and the German line is broken in the first turn.
- the system that forces you to retreat or reinforce does not work in this situation, unless you want to simulate a total front wipe out in 2-3 turns.
- the reinforcement system does not work well when one side is so much stronger that it can pick which units to wipe out. This is made worse by the higher movement of the units late in the war - the attacker can easily rotate several units/hex in and out of combat against a single defender. When about 1/3 of your units get destroyed each turn, it does not matter how many reinforcement points you have - when building new units take 6 turns, you will be wiped out after three.
- ?

What could improve it?
- More losses upon landing? More morale loss? Worse supply for landing troops? All not scenario problems though, but an engine change.
- Units less easily wiped out in one turn (more retreats? higher costs of rotating in and out of combat?) Again, engine changes.
- A more in depth front line for the Germans? Especially on the east front, but also in France. Maybe some seriously under-strenght units as fall back units?
- Units in the pipeline. As it is, all units start at 100% strenght, full morale. Then, next 6 turns, not one unit is produced (except for some scripted reinforcements). After that the Axis suddenly gets 10-15 units/turn. The war didn't start on D-Day... At the East Front part of the units would be understrenght, or at lower morale. The same for Italy... And both Russia and Germany would have (in game terms) a number of units being build and becoming available each turn.

Ason
Posts: 361
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RE: Has anyone tried DDay as the axis.

Post by Ason »

I don't have this scenario in my list.. Is this some custom scenario you are talking about?
n0kn0k
Posts: 490
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 10:59 pm

RE: Has anyone tried DDay as the axis.

Post by n0kn0k »

What is noticable, is that the Russians have inherently better infantry weapons than the Germans (level 3 against level 2). The Germans get about 1000 - 1100 points/turn during the first turns. The Allies start.

Their base stat is 1 lower then the Germans. So they should be equally strong now.
Bertram
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Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2003 9:56 pm
Location: Netherlands

RE: Has anyone tried DDay as the axis.

Post by Bertram »

It's official name is 1944: D-Day to Berlin.
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BillRunacre
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RE: Has anyone tried DDay as the axis.

Post by BillRunacre »

Thanks for the feedback Bertram. I'm currently playing this by PBEM too. I'm Axis and my experiences are rather different from yours but it might be that I learned a lot from a previous game where my lines fell apart very quickly.

The thing I found as German is to adopt a flexible approach, falling back in some areas, holding in others, sometimes launching counterattacks against vulnerable targets, and to prioritise the purchase of cheap units and avoid too many gaps in your line as they are deadly.

It's now the end of 1944 and Paris remains in my hands, but I was rather lucky in some earlier counterattacks in Normandy, and I am definitely under increasing pressure on the Eastern Front, with intense fighting around Warsaw and in East Prussia.

Now, it may be that my years of experience with this game engine are a major factor, as well as having learned from my first game where I was beaten.

That said, I am cautious to change too much without hearing more, and as you play more, and if others have experiences with it too then I'll be very interested to hear more. [:)]
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