The Eurasian Wars!

[AGRICOLA]

I can well understand you wondering how someone can significantly outproduce you when you have done your very best.

Hope you can get some useful ideas from my post.

[curtsibling]

Cheers for the breakdown of economic powerhousing, dude!

Will look it over for inspiration in my upcoming game!

[PietH]

After my delayed conquest of Britain, I managed to save some time by approaching Russia from a different angle. This allowed me to take Moscow within 2 turns from the start of operation barbarossa. So less defensive forces to be dealt with. I took Stalingrad on a research advance turn, and with 2 turns per advance the problems were managable.

Now off to asia.

[Cyrion]

Stalingrad has fallen

Originally posted by Cyrion
I will soon take on Stalingrad (where I'll use my dirty trick n°2 to minimize the effects of the counter attack), probably in March or April: it should be quite easy! In the meanwhile, I'll advance towards Siberia + take Kuibishev, Astrakhan and Baku.

And this is what I just did!

February 43: Kuibishev and Ufa
March 43: Perm, Uralsk and Port Said, as well as Stalingrad!
April 43: Orenburg, Astrakhan and Amman; about 36 soviet “counter-attack” units were destroyed in the marshes east of Stalingrad
May 43: Baku and Guryev. End of Siege of Stalingrad, destruction of 38 soviet “counter-attack” units in the marshes east of Stalingrad

So, my dirty trick allowed me to end the Siege of Stalingrad in 1 turn (and as the tech for it is removed after the counter-attack units creation, I had to slaughter soviets for 1 more turn in the marshes…

Originally posted by PietH
I took Stalingrad on a research advance turn, and with 2 turns per advance the problems were managable.

Basically, that’s what I did, with a twist: not only did I attack Stalingrad on a research advance turn, but the advance I was about to find (Paramilitaries) was useless but already known by one of my allies! So I:
- took Stalingrad
- exchange Paramilitaries with the Japanese
- End of Turn
- Beginning of new turn: choice of tech: Stalingrad Breakout, which ends the Siege…

Naughty boy…

So I would recommend adding a condition to the tech removal: that the Siege has lasted at least X (3? 5?) turns before the Breakout can be effective (if you want a suggestion on how to do that, I’m sure I can find something suitable).

And if you do that, please place the Siege of Stalingrad tech removal BEFORE the soviet units creation: it’s quite strange to read that the Siege is over and then see dozens of units appear next to it!

Originally posted by AGRICOLA
7. Any chance that the German’s capturing a city to the east like Magnetogorsk rather than discovering a new tech could end the Russian response to the loss of Stalingrad?
...
Afterwards I was curious to see what EVENTS considers to be the expected player response. The proper response is indeed interesting, but very expensive! I’m sorry to say that having to quickly discover yet another tech would have cost me ~15,000 gold. German science was reduced to 20%, Einsteins converted to bean counters and science improvements sold off in October 1942 (turn 22).

For once, I don’t agree with Agricola: it seems that even for him Stalingrad was costly, and it’s only fair! Ending Stalingrad should be costly, one way or another!

So I’ll probably go on playing just for fun, finishing the Soviets and maybe wandering a bit around Asia…

Excellent scenario, Curt!

[AGRICOLA]

Originally posted by Cyrion
For once, I don’t agree with Agricola: it seems that even for him Stalingrad was costly, and it’s only fair! Ending Stalingrad should be costly, one way or another!

It appears that I may not have been adequately clear in what I posted.

Actually, capturing Stalingrad in March '43 and negating the Russian response didn't cost me any units or significant gold. The only cost was having to build a few German Army units. With a net monthly cash flow of 3750 gold in April and May '43 that was but a minor nuisance.

In March '43 the Luftwaffe had 120 Do-335's, with 40+ a/c either in Stalingrad or within easy attacking distance. Most of these were vet units that could easily kill any Russian ground or air unit. At the same time there were 10 Tiger tanks and 23 Jagdpanthers either in the city or in a fortress SE of it.

When the Russians responded in April and May, there was little difficulty in eliminating all Russian units near Stalingrad, thereby ending the Russian threat.

Below are screenshots of the Stalingrad area at the end of the March, April, May and August turns. I hope that they are self-explanatory.

The way I was playing the scen, what would have been extremely expensive was having to research 1.5 techs after having sold all libraries and universities and turned off research in October 1942 when Germany had discovered all the techs it needed to win the war. Changing specialists from bean counters to einsteins would have reduced monthly net cash flow from ~4,000 gold to near zero for a period of 5 months.

[PietH]

Is it just these pics, or is your main armour the Tiger? I rarely use it, and focus mainly on the Jagdpanther. And I don't use infantry either.

Some further observations. The war is going well. It will just be a question if I can conquer the whole world before time runs out.

two remarks:
-The SS unit is lagging behind due to it's 1 movement, so it's not very useful anymore
-engineers are in very short supply. Building railroads with just a few engineers makes it a very slow process and impossible to keep up with the front troops. As a replacement for airfields you would need a lot more engineers.
-with no airfields you can't build veteran airunits, right?

[AGRICOLA]

@PietH

Is it just these pics, or is your main armour the Tiger? I rarely use it, and focus mainly on the Jagdpanther. And I don't use infantry either.

The Tiger is my primary DEFENSIVE unit that can, if needed, be used for attacking . There is really no single enemy unit that can kill it up to the time that hostile civs get their second generation of air and ground units. In 1942 the Russians didn’t yet have the Sturmovik or the SU-122 and the Germans didn’t have enough Ju-88’s to protect units weaker than Tigers.

After the Tiger had done their job and the front had moved estward, cheap infantry units took over the Tigers’ job.

Jagdpanthers are also my unit of choice for attacking cities.

BTW, Infantry or Waffen SS are extremely useful in the roadless forests of Siberia, the trackless mountains and deserts of central Asia and the jungles of SE Asia.

-with no airfields you can't build veteran airunits, right?

Correct, but please keep reading.


@Ciran

The Luftwaffe has awarded you its highest honor, the Luftwaffe Gold Propeller mit Diamonds und Oak Leaves for your brilliant, forward-looking anticipation of its needs. Here are some highly paraphrased excerpts from the citation:

November 1943 was a month of momentous Wehrmacht advances, most of them spearheaded by the Luftwaffe. A total of 23 cities were captured during the month.

Operating from its new base (Coldashellburg) at the southern end of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Siberian Korps invaded Japan and captured the 8 cities on Hokkaido and Honshu. Do-335’s led the way by eliminating city garrisons as well as both Russian and Japanese naval units. Only 1 aircraft remained battle-worthy at the end of the month.

Starting from Kunming, Mandalay, Rangoon and Talang, Army Group South pushed the Japanese out of Burma, Indo China and the East Indies and advanced into southern China. The capture of Borneo forced the Allies to surrender. 20 Japanese naval units were sunk, including a Yamato class BB, 2 BB’s and 2 CV’s. In SE Asia, only the Philippines remained in Japanese hands.

Land and carrier based Do-335’s made possible the conquest of this vast, roadless area. As a last gasp, the few remaining undamaged Do-335’s eliminated the garrisons in Guiyang and Changsha. The Luftwaffe expected that it would need 3-5 months to regain its strength.

In December 1943, following the capture of Guiyang, Luftwaffe engineers noticed a strange area near the city, criss-crossed by long and wide strips of ground extremely smoothly paved with rock slabs. Archaeologists identified the stonework to be from the Dingdong dynasty. Hitler’s astrologer claimed that there was a magical aura around the site. The purveyor of Göring’s favorite wines opined that the Dingdongs had invented flight and that this was an airfield.

Consequently, the Reichsmarschall ordered that a major repair facility be set up in Guiyang and that all damaged aircraft be immediately flown to it. By using carriers to gather the widely scattered aircraft and then bring them within flying range of the city, 55+ damaged Do-335’s from Japan and SE Asia arrived in Guiyang in December. A small aircraft manufacturing facility was also set up.

Current indications are that repair work is progressing at a surreal speed and that all aircraft should be repaired by February 1944.


P.S. Hope your PC is clean and up and running.

P.P.S. Dagnab, Preview Post isn't working again. Here goes nothing.

[curtsibling]

Hi there, chaps! You've all been busy - And the feedback is invaluable as always! (bows)

The virus in my system is gone, and I am now gearing up to getting EW's latest update
ready, taking into account all the data in the thread from your posts! I think this latest
version will be slicker, and hopefully be the final and definitive version - Till the next update!



Some really great war reports there too - Especially the blow-by-blow Stalingrad attack,
I will be taking Cyrion and Agricola's recommendations on board for this, and hopefully
this mini-campaign will provide the perilous situation that was intended! Making the
Sturmoviks a 2-turn bomber unit should provide good cover for those Soviet stacks!

I've got some people over tonight, so I'll be on the case with this scenario as of Tuesday!

PPS
Let me say again how much I appreciate your interest and playtests - You guys rule!

[AGRICOLA]

Making the Sturmoviks a 2-turn bomber unit should provide good cover for those Soviet stacks!

Do you want to deprive the Russians of their only really good multiple-attack aircraft? As I see it, if and when they get it, it will pose a major threat to the Germans.

Also, Do-335's are powerful enough to destroy T-34's and most other Russian units even if they are stacked with 2-turn aircraft. In Dec '43, the Luftwaffe has 223 of them, more than 2/3 vets, and they are pulverizing most of the opposition. They are about even money when attacking AA guns.

A couple of them even took out a Yamato. In practical terms, Do-335's are so cheap at 70 shields that it is better to lose a couple of them than risk an expensive BB.

[PietH]

In all honesty, Agricola, not many players will manage 223 DO-335's by december '43
I made the mistake to underestimate Operation Overlord. More DO-335's in the area would have made the difference. Now Rennes was razed to the ground kicking the allies back in the sea

But I agree that the Sturmovik should be a multiple attack aircraft. Maybe the Russians should have a good two turn medium bomber or fighter to top the stack.

question: Does acquiring knowledge from your allies benefit you in any way if it's civ specific? The Japanese just asked for Stalingrad Breakout, and for fun I chose the Bushido code from them. I guess neither the Japs nor me have any use for that, right?

[curtsibling]

Agricola is right, the Sturmovik is the only multi-move fighter/bomber in the Soviet ranks,
so I will keep it as is...I might just boost the defence, and see how it affects things...

About the flavour techs, they can be traded without consequence. The only techs
that cause changes are the city-style changing ones, and they are all set to 'no,no'.

PS
The Do-335 is quite a bit of work - My favourite aircraft in WW2, also. I managed to
conquer the map with 50 of them, alongside older cousins like Ju-87 and Ju-88...

[PietH]

@PietH

...
Correct, but please keep reading.

...
In December 1943, following the capture of Guiyang, Luftwaffe engineers noticed a strange area near the city, criss-crossed by long and wide strips of ground extremely smoothly paved with rock slabs. Archaeologists identified the stonework to be from the Dingdong dynasty. Hitler’s astrologer claimed that there was a magical aura around the site. The purveyor of Göring’s favorite wines opined that the Dingdongs had invented flight and that this was an airfield.

Consequently, the Reichsmarschall ordered that a major repair facility be set up in Guiyang and that all damaged aircraft be immediately flown to it. By using carriers to gather the widely scattered aircraft and then bring them within flying range of the city, 55+ damaged Do-335’s from Japan and SE Asia arrived in Guiyang in December. A small aircraft manufacturing facility was also set up.

Current indications are that repair work is progressing at a surreal speed and that all aircraft should be repaired by February 1944.

Ehm, this is a bit cryptic to me. If I read it correctly, Guiyang IS build on an airfield? If so, how do you know this? And what aircraft manufacturing facility do you mean?

[AGRICOLA]

Sorry that you found my BS puzzling.

1. I found out when the Germans captured the bloody place. Take a look inside the city.
2. Aircraft manufacturing facility = For obvious reasons, the best place in the Greater German Empire to IRB Do-335's.
3. Unfortunately, Ciaran will fix.

[PietH]

Sorry that you found my BS puzzling.

1. I found out when the Germans captured the bloody place. Take a look inside the city.
2. Aircraft manufacturing facility = For obvious reasons, the best place in the Greater German Empire to IRB Do-335's.
3. Unfortunately, Ciaran will fix.

Don't worry, the problem is on this side for sure. I'm gazing into Guiyang, but I can't make up anything different from other cities. I'm too thick to manage to post a pic here to show my view.

[AGRICOLA]

Oh,oh, methinks that I'm playing an earlier version of the scen than you are.

It appears that the problem has been fixed in the version that you have.


ATTACHING SCREENSHOTS

1. Position the screen so it shows what you want to attach. It will be trimmed later.
2. Press the Print Screen/SysRq key (NOT Shift + Print Screen/SysRq).
3. Open MsPaint.
4. EDIT/Paste
5. Use the SELECT tool to define the rectangle that you will want to display in your post.
6. EDIT/Copy
7. FILE/New
8. Save Changes to Untitled? NO
9. EDIT/Paste
10. FILE/Save as . . . .
11. Give the file a name and select where it is to be saved.
12. Save as a GIF or PNG file.
13. Then, as fairline once upon a time very kindly explained to me . . . . . . .

“In the 'post reply' screen there is an 'attach file' section as I'm sure you are aware. You can browse either a gif or png file which will be displayed in your post. Don't use a bmp as it will be attached but not displayed. Hope that helps.”

.