Re: Playing against the computer.

[IMSANDY01]

Hi, I would like to know if there is anyway to make the game easier to play against the computer other than to set the computer experience to 0 and set human difficulty to (-100%). I have been beaten real bad after quite a few games!

[Philippeatbay]

Set human and computer advantages to zero.

Be sure you're playing WW I and not WW II.

Read the game manual two or three more times.

Read the Strategic Guide for the appropriate campaign a couple of times.

Read the game manual again. Make sure you know how to do everything and exactly how the different pieces interconnect.

Try playing the game Hotseat a few times. You'll be up against an opponent of exactly equal skill. You'll even be able to read his mind.

[IMSANDY01]

Thank you for the good advice. I have read the game manual quite a few times while playing both against myself as well as the computer. I find that the computer breaks through my lines as does a great job taking over towns and cities as well as ports every different game I play. The computer is doing what it should, but I feel that maybe the next time there is a updated version of the game- that the human should have a more advantage setting like 500% or more. This looks like a good game with quite a lot information to input and I think it could be more fun to be able to beat the computer with better advantage settings. I'm sure a lot of people would agree!

[Philippeatbay]

If you aren't that familiar with playing hex-based wargames, one thing that might help is to play a few turns with the fog of war turned off.

There's also an AAR with small screenshots in this forum that you can read to give you a few ideas.

Whenever the counter-shuffling portion of your turn starts you should ask yourself two questions: what can I do to him that will make his life miserable and ultimately lead to winning the war, and what can he do to me that will make my life miserable and ultimately lead to my losing the war. What that means is that before you figure out how to launch that offensive that will win you the war, you have to figure out what you absolutely have to guard against.

The counter-shuffling portion of your turn should not be the first thing you do. Glance at the situation on the map, but then start thinking about diplomacy, research, and production. You'll never have enough MPP's to go around, and you need to decide how to use the few that you've got. The reason you glance at the map before you start thinking this through is that you'll need to have a sense of how many MPP's you need to channel into replacements (the lack of replacements may be one of the reasons the AI keeps breaking through your lines) before you start spending on the other two. And you'll often have to make some hard choices along the way.

I usually ask myself if there's anything on the diplomatic front that either absolutely has to happen, or absolutely has to be guarded against. Depending on the answer (and the number of diplomacy chits I have), I mentally subtract my potential diplomatic cost from the available MPP pool. Because I've already glanced at the map, I probably have a sense of whether I'm going to need to buy anything or not. I mentally subtract the cost of that from my dwindling MPP pool, and then I revisit research. You don't just start researching things because you have the points. You develop a research strategy for the entire game and pour MPP's into the research monster when you can afford it. But alway ask yourself what kind of research disparity would lead to your opponent having a catastrophic advantage, and guard against it. Then ask yourself what kind of research disparity would lead to your always winning on the battlefield. If you've neglected to develop trench warfare and your opponent has been pouring MPP's into infantry warfare and shells, you're going to have a hard time holding a line.

You're fighting a war of attrition, and you have to make sure you can win it. When looking at the game map, don't just attack something because you can. You attack something because you really need to capture it or you will inflict more losses on him than he will on you, or perhaps because you are trying to distract his defensive artillery from the real attack. But even then, avoid Nivelle-style suicidal attacks or you will end up on your opponent's turn with a weakened line on the verge of mutiny. When you've decided you absolutely must take something, soften it up first with air (if it's late enough in the war and you've done the research) and artillery, and drive it's entrenchment value down to zero. You can damage your target some more by going after its morale and readiness, but the artillery shells are often better saved for attacking somewhere else, or for defensive fire. The same attack will inflict different damage on a unit depending on when in the turn you launch it, so you might want to start off with the attacks that do the most damage first. Often you'll find that after you've worn down your target a bit, 1-1 attacks start morphing into 1-2's and 1-3's. There is rarely any justification for making an attack that is 0-1 or worse, except when you absolutely have to make sure his defensive artillery isn't available (and that's another reason why it's important to research gas and shells).

[Ramses]

I in such cases can recommend to make use of the editor. Edit 'your' country's industrial modifier , initial MPP or just place additional troops
This is cheating, for sure, but can help to stay with the game as a newbie or just have fun