Advice wanted

[dave123]

I'm getting my butt handed to me as allies in 1942. the axis just seem unstoppable. all my invasions are tossed into the sea, and the russians are just fodder. heck, last turn, i had 2 lvl 3 russian tanks attack a GARRISON with a total of 4 combats and did 0 damage on the garrison.

before i dump this game as flawed beyond repair, i thought i might ask for some advice on how to win as allied in 1942.

i've played awhile and have a good understanding of the game, so i'm not asking for advice such as "maximize your research in fighters and tanks".

Not being rude here, just saying i'm looking for deeper advice.

thanx

dave

[Sugar]

Keep your readiness up and enemy entrenchement low. Arty on lvl 1 reduces entrenchement by 2/shot. Build up unit's and HQs xp, units gain xp from fighting, HQs by winning fights. Attach your most efficient units to your HQs you want to gain xp and be carefull about supply.

[crispy131313]

Be mindful of terrain, such horrible results as described above could be because you have your Tanks bogged down in marshlands? Like Sugar said, Auto-Assist your HQ to attach the strongest offensive units prior to attacking and you will get better results.

[dave123]

ok, just realized i had a major flaw in my first post. made it look like i was german. i'm allied.

thanx for the advice, the russian tanks i had were in clear with supply around 5 I think.

i believe the problem is the german hq's are so powerful that the allies just bounce off everything. the german subs are also owning me bad.

all the allies seem to have going for them is a bunch of money. but the germans just keep piling on the experience dicing up russians.

[DeriKuk]

Be sure that your front-line units are UNDER COMMAND, especially the attacking units. 'Command and Control' is not a waste of $$$. Also, be ruthless: Replace a mediocre commander with a better one. It is cheaper than waiting for a new HQ.

[xwormwood]

Check the enrenchment level of the unit you're going to attack. It might take some effort to hurt a well entrenched unit.
Check the readiness and morale of your own units. If you send wasted units into combat they will give you the same results (sh*t in, sh*t out).

What you describe sound as if you use units out of supply, with low morale &readiness, in bad weather conditions etc. against an opponent unit with opposite values.

The game is not flawed, so please check what is going on when you get these results.

Another hint: attack out of prepared positions. Meaning: if you move and attack you will get worse results compared to the approach "attack and move after the attack". Moving will bring less good combat results compared to battle situations where you did NOT move before you attacked.

Invasions in 1942 don't sound like such a great idea, at least if we're talking about D-Day kind of invasions. But if you invade, don't forget that your amphibs are able to attack too. So you can attack a unit from your amphib unit, land the unit on the shore, and attack with your land unit once more.
Make sure to attack in force, if possible with air units or shore bombardement. If you can, strat bomb the supply of adjacent towns and cities below 5, as this will prevent OP movement into or even through these places.

There is lots of more advice, of course.

Just don't give up, but try to read the manual, and maybe read some AAR or watch some videos. Or play against a friendly human player, and ask him, when you don't understand what is going on (or why something doesn't work out).

[dave123]

Thanx again for the advice. To address some of the points you have made:

My invasions in the last game were never in 42. I built up and waited until I could hit with a ton of stuff (summer 44). I got almost to paris when he op moved a bunch of big tanks and good hq's over from russia. Although this slowed him in russia, the russians don't have the strength to hit him, as their units just bounce off. and he tossed all my allied units into the sea.

I diplo took turkey, and tried invasion from the underbelly, and got chased to the turkish capital. his tac bombers didn't even need escort as they defeated intercepting fighters themselves.

I've read the manual, and have a good understanding of the game. I always check hq support before attacking/defending. i hit with artillery and air first to soften defenses etc. I have a good understanding or research, and command and control is always my first priority, along with fighters, inf weapons, and tanks.

Here is an example that just happened in our new game:

My russian attacking army:

zukov support, supply 11, rediness of 101, morale of 97, inf weapons lvl 1inf weapons.

defender: german corps. unknown hq support, supply 3, rediness of 49, morale of 17, entrenchment of 0 and strength of 3, lvl 2 inf weapons.
predicted results, attacker lose 1, defender 0. I didn't even bother to attack

really, how can the allies ever win??? I know that the corps has essentially 2 levels of inf weapons on me, but the rest of the stats are so bad that
this should really be an easy victory. and my past game tells me that even when russians have lvl 3, the odds just won't get much better.

I would really like someone who has won this scenario against a competent german opponent tell me how he did it.

thanx again!

[Sugar]

The most valuable point is missing: xp. And yes, Inf. Warf. 3 makes a big difference. too.

It`s truely nice to build up forces until ready, meanwhile the enemy is gathering xp, and very easily, if you're still fighting on lvl 1 inf. in 44.

[xwormwood]

Ok, so you're playing against a human opponent. Probably against one who "knows" the game close to knowing everything there is to know.
I guess you're playing against the wrong kind of opponent, you need more "regular" players instead.

In your example you didn't inform about the terrain (marsh, rivers, cities) and weather conditions.
From what you've wrote I assume you know about these the combat results influencing parameters.

But in the end that is all there is to tell: losing the tech race: bad for combat results. Bad terrain or weather: bad for combat results. Better morale and readiness: great, but obviously not good enough to improve the battle results. Best would truly to ask your opponent to help you understand what is going on. I'm pretty sure he will be able to tell you all you need to know.

[dave123]

Thank you all. Yes it is a live opponent. I have played him several 1939 scenarios and thrashed him each time (both sides). We started this just for something different. There is little, if anything he could teach me.

The game in question is in the first 2-3 turns of our second go around. Trying to avoid the loss I got before (I also wasted him as German in 42).

Tech and experience is what the scenario comes with, ie. not my fault I have lousy tech

Neither of our units has any experience. His corps is probably supported by Kluge with rating of 8 and 1 experience, but Zhukov has one as well. His corps might be in forest, not sure, my army is in clear for sure. I would have to wait for his next turn to be sure. Clear weather.

But still, a 3 strength corps with low morale and rediness can't be touched by an army with excellent support? That seems right to you gentlemen?

If anyone here would like to play allied against me, and show me how to do this, I would welcome the game. I wish SC had a useful chat box (like panzer corps), but I guess pm's would work.

I guess I started this thread hoping for advice from played games like when the allies can realistically go on the offensive, how to negate german experience, and expected timetable against an equal opponent. At this point, I really don't see how equal opponents could play and expect the allies to win. I do have the "May 1945" thing stuck in my head as the date allies should win by, maybe that is my problem? Maybe I should just try to hold on until I have a bunch of research hits and time to really build a strong military. But in the meanwhile, he is piling up experience knocking my russians to pieces, so by the time I come for him, his experience will be off the charts...

Oh, the advice on using air to knock out the germans ability to op move units into western france is a great one that I will try.

[Sugar]

But still, a 3 strength corps with low morale and rediness can't be touched by an army with excellent support?

I don't know the formula exactly, but I expect to inflict damage, your attack value has to be higher than the defence value of the enemy. If any of the factors in the calculation equals 0, the other factors don't matter. But that`s a guess, the last calculations I saw referred to Breakthrough.

The Allies have got an equal chance to win the 39 campaign, in fact they're in favour, acccording to the results during the current tourney (except playing against Sugar`s Axis, hehe).

I recommend to play other opponents, it will improve your gameplay undoubtly.

[dave123]

Ok, I started 2 more games as allies. Here is what I'm trying, would like feedback if disagree.

Shut down the convoys - germans rule at least until research kicks in.

Put all fighters on escort, british and russian. They just get wasted on intercept. Later as research and situation continues, I will change this.

USA/British 2 chits in anti-sub. Get command/control to 2 for all. Always have a chit in tanks and fighters. Sell my artillery chit.

Sack Russian Hq'S that are less than rating 6.

Lot's of russian units to Caucasus before it gets cut off. No hope of saving Staningrad, the battles will be south of that to protect oil.

Build all units that die first, then money into Diplo/research. Going for max in Turkey and Spain. Hoping to get both by late 1944. Then Sweden. Maybe Vichy if luck is with me.

Once diplo and research are maxed, USA and Britian DD's, escort carriers, MT boats, and paratroopers. Russians just tons of units.

USA hit north africa as by early/mid 1943. By then hoping Germans are out of Egypt and running in Libya.
Build all paratroopers to use as nuisance attackers if he goes light in france.

[xwormwood]

I allway let the convoy "on", but just with the smallest possible setting. This way i get an information if a german raider / sub is active.
But everything else I could tell is worthless to you, because I usually play the AI, not human opponents.
But if I play humans, than only people I know. Waste of time to play against those who have studied the game and play to use all tweaks, glitches etc. simply to win in the end.
I play for fun, and i prefer to play against other persons who play just for fun.