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Strategic Command series

Silva

Arcane
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I wish stormtroopers were better represented here, even if it's probably hard at division -level.

If I'm getting it right, they're represented by experienced/elite units and higher-level infantry tech, both seen in the Ludendorff scenario in the Germany side. The problem is, all sides can research tech and get experienced units given enough time.

I see the game editor allows giving infantry from different countries different stats. Perhaps a better way to represent stormtroopers in this case would be giving German highest level infantry unique stats like de-moralization or de-entrenchment, etc.
 

sser

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Mar 10, 2011
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I'm playing the WWII Euro version and it's pretty fun so far. Simplistic, yet oddly addictive. Might pick up the WWI one though it'd feel like double-dipping a little. The American Civil War version is supposed to be pretty ahistorical because the way the unit system works you end up spamming units all over the front, instead of having corps moving about more cohesively – that does however sound like more of WWI's bag.
 

Silva

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Messages
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I'm playing the WWII Euro version and it's pretty fun so far. Simplistic, yet oddly addictive. Might pick up the WWI one though it'd feel like double-dipping a little. The American Civil War version is supposed to be pretty ahistorical because the way the unit system works you end up spamming units all over the front, instead of having corps moving about more cohesively – that does however sound like more of WWI's bag.
Does the WW2 Euro allow picking only a single nation from a bloc (axis or allies) and delegate the rest to the AI, just like the WW1 entry?

My ADHD makes controlling whole blocs impossible.
 

sser

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Developer
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Messages
1,866,840
I'm playing the WWII Euro version and it's pretty fun so far. Simplistic, yet oddly addictive. Might pick up the WWI one though it'd feel like double-dipping a little. The American Civil War version is supposed to be pretty ahistorical because the way the unit system works you end up spamming units all over the front, instead of having corps moving about more cohesively – that does however sound like more of WWI's bag.
Does the WW2 Euro allow picking only a single nation from a bloc (axis or allies) and delegate the rest to the AI, just like the WW1 entry?

My ADHD makes controlling whole blocs impossible.

1723762220461.png


Yes, though I've no idea how competent the AI is as an ally.
 

Silva

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Messages
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Finally had time to give the game an honest try. It's not as hard as it looked the first time. I'm playing the Ludendorff Offensive scenario, which disables diplomacy and navies. At first it seemed a lot of stuff to keep track but eventually things fall into place and now I'm finding it quite addicting.

Afrer finishing this scenario I'll try the full campaign.
 

sser

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Developer
Joined
Mar 10, 2011
Messages
1,866,840
My "War in Europe" Axis campaign is going off the rails. Amusingly similar to real life, I tried really hard to take Malta but failed. I lost paratroopers in Crete and had to spend precious Germoids to help Italy in mainland Greece. I put a little too much support into Africa so I took Egypt, but now my resources are strained elsewhere. I hit the gates of Moscow/Leningrad, but lost steam. HUGE reserves of Russians started appearing so now in mid-'42 I'm doing an active retreat to see if I can stabilize the line as there are large gaps between my spearheads. I'm probably not using the HQ's as well as I should, there's a lot of mechanics under the hood with these things.

The partisans are pretty well simulated. There's a constant war in the backline, and a lot popping in Russia/Yugoslavia as expected.

I'm tempted to just get all these games to try them out. It's a surprisingly addictive beer'n'pretzels type of fun.
 

Tanaka

Scholar
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Messages
104
My "War in Europe" Axis campaign is going off the rails. Amusingly similar to real life, I tried really hard to take Malta but failed. I lost paratroopers in Crete and had to spend precious Germoids to help Italy in mainland Greece. I put a little too much support into Africa so I took Egypt, but now my resources are strained elsewhere. I hit the gates of Moscow/Leningrad, but lost steam. HUGE reserves of Russians started appearing so now in mid-'42 I'm doing an active retreat to see if I can stabilize the line as there are large gaps between my spearheads. I'm probably not using the HQ's as well as I should, there's a lot of mechanics under the hood with these things.

The partisans are pretty well simulated. There's a constant war in the backline, and a lot popping in Russia/Yugoslavia as expected.

I'm tempted to just get all these games to try them out. It's a surprisingly addictive beer'n'pretzels type of fun.
Yes the games are great fun and really good at the strategic and operational but imperfect tactically such as ACW. The newest in the series SCWITP just came out:



 
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sser

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Mar 10, 2011
Messages
1,866,840
My "War in Europe" Axis campaign is going off the rails. Amusingly similar to real life, I tried really hard to take Malta but failed. I lost paratroopers in Crete and had to spend precious Germoids to help Italy in mainland Greece. I put a little too much support into Africa so I took Egypt, but now my resources are strained elsewhere. I hit the gates of Moscow/Leningrad, but lost steam. HUGE reserves of Russians started appearing so now in mid-'42 I'm doing an active retreat to see if I can stabilize the line as there are large gaps between my spearheads. I'm probably not using the HQ's as well as I should, there's a lot of mechanics under the hood with these things.

The partisans are pretty well simulated. There's a constant war in the backline, and a lot popping in Russia/Yugoslavia as expected.

I'm tempted to just get all these games to try them out. It's a surprisingly addictive beer'n'pretzels type of fun.
Yes the games are great fun and really good at the strategic and operational but imperfect tactically such as ACW. The newest in the series SCWITP just came out:



They change up the systems? Sea battles seem a little weak, so I'm thinking it can't be a 1:1 with a Pacific coat of paint.
 

Silva

Arcane
Joined
Jul 17, 2005
Messages
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Location
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
sser , I just got the WW2: War in Europe on the current sale. :smug:

Does it have mods, specially ones like BlueMax for ww1 that just improve visuals?


Tangent: there is this "Order of Battle WW2" on sale for PS5. Is it worth it?
 

Tanaka

Scholar
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Messages
104
My "War in Europe" Axis campaign is going off the rails. Amusingly similar to real life, I tried really hard to take Malta but failed. I lost paratroopers in Crete and had to spend precious Germoids to help Italy in mainland Greece. I put a little too much support into Africa so I took Egypt, but now my resources are strained elsewhere. I hit the gates of Moscow/Leningrad, but lost steam. HUGE reserves of Russians started appearing so now in mid-'42 I'm doing an active retreat to see if I can stabilize the line as there are large gaps between my spearheads. I'm probably not using the HQ's as well as I should, there's a lot of mechanics under the hood with these things.

The partisans are pretty well simulated. There's a constant war in the backline, and a lot popping in Russia/Yugoslavia as expected.

I'm tempted to just get all these games to try them out. It's a surprisingly addictive beer'n'pretzels type of fun.
Yes the games are great fun and really good at the strategic and operational but imperfect tactically such as ACW. The newest in the series SCWITP just came out:



They change up the systems? Sea battles seem a little weak, so I'm thinking it can't be a 1:1 with a Pacific coat of paint.

They have added improvements to naval yes:

As this question has been raised, I thought it might be useful to make a post explaining how this campaign differs from the Pacific aspect of our WWII: World at War game.

Note that while the engine for WWII: World at War will in due course be upgraded, for the most part the campaign changes listed below will not be added to the official campaigns.

1) Japan’s allies are much more heavily featured:

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11997&t=403321

2) China is more divided and troops will be needed both to maintain internal order and to fight the enemy:

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11997&t=404156

3) French forces in Indochina can now revolt against the Japanese.

4) The Doolittle raid can now be launched.

5) Ports on islands now provide less supply to naval units, making things more realistic.

6) A new research category has been added called Naval Construction, allowing for port supply on small islands to be increased (think Seabees).

7) Having naval superiority in “The Slot” is now important to winning the battle for control of Guadalcanal in the Solomons.

8) There are now Battleships and Super Battleships, the latter being for ships like the Yamato and the Iowa class.

9) Japan’s Light Cruisers and both side’s Super Battleships have an increased spotting range at sea to reflect their use of spotting planes.

10) There are no Long Range Amphibious Transports in this campaign, so invasions require more planning and will be more effective the less time the troops spend at sea – making limited island hopping possible, while rendering long range missions effectively impossible.

11) Coupled with the above, unless they capture Hawaii, Japanese units to the east of the island will suffer penalties due to being far from home.

12) Naval units now have significantly increased Zones of Control, making it easier to protect vulnerable ships such as your Carriers and invasion forces.

13) Additionally, naval retreat ranges and the chances of ships retreating have been increased significantly, improving the “feel” of naval battles.

14) A second new research category is Submarine Warfare. Neither the US nor Japanese submarine fleets engaged in many attacks on merchant shipping early in the war, and only the US began doing so as the war progressed.

Consequently to reflect this, both sides can now change their Submarine units’ doctrines as the war progresses, increasing both the size and raiding capabilities of their submarine fleet in order to better target enemy convoy routes.

15) Airfields have been introduced to many Pacific islands, and units occupying them benefit from increases in their range and effectiveness. This makes these useful places to station Maritime Bombers to watch for enemy shipping. It does of course also make them important places to fight over, and to give just one example: Henderson Field does tend to be very intensely fought over, just as it was in real life.

16) Victory Conditions will change as the campaign progresses, and both sides should have a good chance of winning. Japan does not need to conquer everything in order to win, so it can make for a high intensity experience if they get to close to victory before the US has fully got its amphibious invasion forces into position to make a difference.

17) Australia is now a Major power.

18) Communist China can expand as the war progresses should the conditions allow it.

19) If the Allies can capture Lorengau then Rabaul can be effectively isolated.

20) Strategic Bombers are less effective.

21) There are lots of new Decision to take based on new research into the war, and this campaign also comes with a 40-page Strategy Guide full of useful information, including a list of all the National Morale locations with coordinates.

22) The historical Pop Ups can be turned off by going to: Options -> Advanced -> Scripts -> Decision (it's the one right at the bottom) and turn off DE 163 (it's the one right at the top).

23) Submarines' base attack values are lower, therefore they will need upgrading if they are to prove useful as fleet auxiliaries, although Japan does start with a higher level of research in order to reflect the quality of its Long Lance torpedoes.

24) Australia has the option to invest in Coast Watchers who will provide intelligence reports on Japanese dispositions.

25) If the US does want to use Atomic Bombs, it will need to invest in them at an earlier date, planning ahead rather than paying for them when they are used.

Hopefully I have captured all the important differences here, because after working on the Pacific for months on end and making literally hundreds of changes before beta even began, it can be hard to remember everything. I will of course update this if it does transpire that I missed something important, so please tell me if I have.
 

Tanaka

Scholar
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Messages
104
sser , I just got the WW2: War in Europe on the current sale. :smug:

Does it have mods, specially ones like BlueMax for ww1 that just improve visuals?


Tangent: there is this "Order of Battle WW2" on sale for PS5. Is it worth it?
Yes there are mods for each game in the series on the Matrix forums.
 

sser

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Mar 10, 2011
Messages
1,866,840
Playing the WWI title. I like how more malleable it feels. The war starts immediately and the events aren't game-shifting so it's more dependent on the player (as opposed to, say, the WWII titles where you have things automating Norway/Denmark and the like).

Central Powers are tough as fuck to play. Italy just entered the war which I expected and prepared for. Thinking the game would simulate the usual Italian dipshittery, I was ready for some lower end detachments and the like, but instead it just vomited out like six or more Corps right onto the front. I have it covered with Austrian detachments but I dunno if that's going to be enough. I took the capital of Serbia early 1915 (step 1 of the process), but that front is just gruesome for both sides. Russia's a tough nut on the Eastern Front. Since I went for the Schlieffen Plan, I've been a little light there and had to very carefully do a fighting retreat, narrowly avoiding a cauldron at one point. They've also committed a shocking amount of soldiers to Turkey.

I had each Central Power deposit funds to sway Bulgaria and try and get them in the war as soon as possible.

I'm almost of the mind to scuttle half of Germany's fleet to pump out more soldiers or something. I'm barely using the ships as venturing out results in hitting mines and getting swarmed by UK vessels anyway. Wouldn't hurt to maybe consider this for Austria-Hungary and Turkey as well.
 

Silva

Arcane
Joined
Jul 17, 2005
Messages
4,913
Location
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Playing the WWI title. I like how more malleable it feels. The war starts immediately and the events aren't game-shifting so it's more dependent on the player (as opposed to, say, the WWII titles where you have things automating Norway/Denmark and the like).

Central Powers are tough as fuck to play. Italy just entered the war which I expected and prepared for. Thinking the game would simulate the usual Italian dipshittery, I was ready for some lower end detachments and the like, but instead it just vomited out like six or more Corps right onto the front. I have it covered with Austrian detachments but I dunno if that's going to be enough. I took the capital of Serbia early 1915 (step 1 of the process), but that front is just gruesome for both sides. Russia's a tough nut on the Eastern Front. Since I went for the Schlieffen Plan, I've been a little light there and had to very carefully do a fighting retreat, narrowly avoiding a cauldron at one point. They've also committed a shocking amount of soldiers to Turkey.

I had each Central Power deposit funds to sway Bulgaria and try and get them in the war as soon as possible.

I'm almost of the mind to scuttle half of Germany's fleet to pump out more soldiers or something. I'm barely using the ships as venturing out results in hitting mines and getting swarmed by UK vessels anyway. Wouldn't hurt to maybe consider this for Austria-Hungary and Turkey as well.
Yep, I've read the decisions of the ww1 are more subtle than the ww2 game. I wonder how they are in the newer games.

Schlieffen seems like a noob trap (or a challenge run, depending on how you look at it). I would ignore it on first playthroughs with Central powers and go east instead.

About naval affairs, those sea routes from Norway and Sweden give you monthly MPP right? I would try defending those at the very least or the royal navy will run you dry (also easier if you go non-Schlieffen since you would only mind Russia then).

___


Anybody has tips for the Ludendorf scenario? I'm not sure but I think I must decide between blitzkrieging Paris (only with stromtroopers instead of tanks) or pushing the whole front slowly and conquer various cities to drain French's nation morale.

Oh, and UK started sending tanks, how do I deal with them? Is that big dickus german anti-tank rifle somewhere in the game?


124026639_2285213671622472_318262199633439743_n.jpg



Lol you English are ugly as fuck. Look at those faces. :lol:
 

sser

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Developer
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My Schlieffen went alright, but I got cold feet I think. I believe it can work with enough pressure, but it requires such delicate balancing with the other fronts. Out of some desperation, and now that Russia is fighting the Ottomans, I launched massive offenses in July 1915. This included sacrificing cav by having them cut lines through the gaps and I've now encircled Warsaw. I've depleted all the backup lines to execute this so we'll see how it goes (I can't rotate in reserves nearly as well). I also made inroads into Serbia by cutting through Albania and then swinging back east. I think I can get them out of the war by the end of the year.


Also I misplaced a unit in Turkey and the Bri'ish immediately amphib'd the mainland. :negative:
 

Silva

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Noticed a couple weird things:

- ANZAC corps having 20 demoralization effect. WTF. Are they cannibals?

- General Boroevic in the 1917 starting date being a rating 4 general. FOUR, you heard it right. No way, devs. The guy was the best A-H general. Can you check this in your game, sser ?
 

sser

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Developer
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Mar 10, 2011
Messages
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Borovic is hireable at rank 3 in mine.

Here's my eastern July 1915 offensive. You can see the reserves are pretty much entirely depleted in an effort to break the Russians. I've scouted deeper into their territories a few times, but it's hard to get a picture of their own reserves.

The Ottomans have like zero offensive firepower so I can't apply pressure to the south, unfortunately.

ww1 offensive.jpg
 

sser

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Wheels definitely coming off in the West. Probably have to pull out of Belgium. If you don't get the full Schlieffen toward Paris, this route can't work as the front gets too stringy. Also, the AI is pulling hitting power out of its ass, so I keep losing units on the front to massive, cheap hits from guys who are not even as experienced or well equipped. I think maybe I should have been dumping more into research? I notice that the Allies have "barbed wire" for their trenches.

Also, the Serbs fell back to literally their third capital and still didn't capitulate, so I charged into it with multiple corps and artillery and they lucked out to 1hp and then boosted right back to 10, so instead of taking it in the Fall of 1915 I had to wait 'til May 1916. :lol:

I'm somewhat irritated that there are forts in the East I've surrounded for like a year now and they don't lose supply. So I just move past them, but have to requisition a few units to keep an eye on them. Morale is definitely flagging for the Ottomans, making them suck even more than usual.

Edit: to give an example of them pulling hits out of their ass, I just got counter-fired by artillery in the East with a basic Russian arty, which did 4dmg across 4-attacks. In my entire time in the West including the use of more advanced arty, I've yet to see it actually do unit damage with counter-battery fire.

Edit 2: I really have zero answer for Allied arty. I'm not even sure how they're dropping so many rounds, but every single turn they just rake the entire front and then kill a couple Corps.
 
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Raghar

Arcane
Vatnik
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Jul 16, 2009
Messages
23,772
I think browser ate my 5 pages long post where I wrote detailed STRATEGIC analysis of German options BEFORE Germany do stupid and starts the war.
I even compared Russian soldiers to US soldiers in Vietnam. Fights hard, but there is no passion. (Thus they lose.)

Frankly BEFORE you start the war you have three options as Germany.
1. Defend in the west and attack Russia.
2. Attack France in Shiefen plan, and when you deploy troops according to Shiefen plan don't move any deployed troops, take reserves and reinforce the areas which Shiefen said they should be kept strong to make them bit stronger. And most importantly DON'T EXECT TO GET TO PARIS in first few months. And more importantly EXPECT THAT FRENCH GOVERNMENT WOULD CONTINUE FIGHTING EVEN IF YOU TAKE PARIS. And plan for the long war.
3. Attack south. (While it might seems disastrous decision it frees Habsburg troops for fight against Russia.)

As you clearly see, you need to invent decent long term functional strategic plan.
 

rezaf

Cipher
Joined
Jan 26, 2015
Messages
664
Wheels definitely coming off in the West. Probably have to pull out of Belgium. If you don't get the full Schlieffen toward Paris, this route can't work as the front gets too stringy. Also, the AI is pulling hitting power out of its ass, so I keep losing units on the front to massive, cheap hits from guys who are not even as experienced or well equipped. I think maybe I should have been dumping more into research? I notice that the Allies have "barbed wire" for their trenches.

Also, the Serbs fell back to literally their third capital and still didn't capitulate, so I charged into it with multiple corps and artillery and they lucked out to 1hp and then boosted right back to 10, so instead of taking it in the Fall of 1915 I had to wait 'til May 1916. :lol:

I'm somewhat irritated that there are forts in the East I've surrounded for like a year now and they don't lose supply. So I just move past them, but have to requisition a few units to keep an eye on them. Morale is definitely flagging for the Ottomans, making them suck even more than usual.

Edit: to give an example of them pulling hits out of their ass, I just got counter-fired by artillery in the East with a basic Russian arty, which did 4dmg across 4-attacks. In my entire time in the West including the use of more advanced arty, I've yet to see it actually do unit damage with counter-battery fire.

Edit 2: I really have zero answer for Allied arty. I'm not even sure how they're dropping so many rounds, but every single turn they just rake the entire front and then kill a couple Corps.
I was wondering how you managed to pull off your relative successes, and I guess you neglected research, having fallen behind in both offensive (ARTY) as well as defensive (trenches). That might cause some issues.
In my games, I always tried to invest as much as possible in research, and even so I found it impossible to really outpace the Entente.

You mentioned two things I'd neglected to go into, Italy and the Ottomans.
About Italy, yeah, like you discovered the Italian front is just another trench to man - I mostly used the Austrians and a few Germans. Over time, I managed to advance a little bit, taking Venice and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, Italy also swamped most of it's territory with infantry units, supported by artillery, so I got bogged down. I even tried an amphibious landing with the Austrians, but even down in the south there were far too many Italian units. Managed to pull out my invasion forces with a bloody nose.

As for the Ottomans, there were two main theatres, the border with Russia and Egypt. Due to the difficult terrain, holding the Russian border is fairly doable, provided a few HQs have been sent over. Used most of my offensive power in Egypt, where I eventually managed to break through and take Cairo. Not that it did me that much good. By and large, I don't think the Ottomans are that bad, I even teched them up to have a tank unit late in the war.

Will be interesting to see if you can actually win the war this way.
 

Silva

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About HQ placement: when is it better to leave them at cities, and when to stick them right on my troops' asses? I still haven't grasped this.
 

Silva

Arcane
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Jul 17, 2005
Messages
4,913
Location
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Anyone know what counter mod this guy is using on WW2 Euro?


You might not agree, but I think that counter mod looks great combined with the boardgame map mod:

file.php


https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10653&t=304929

Yep, that "pastel" tone is my favorite board style. Both Iron Cross mod in WW2 Euro, and BlueMax in WW1 uses that palette.


Another interesting thing: you can use those cool soldier counters on zoom 1 coupled with NATO symbols for zoom level 2, through some trivial file name switching in the game folders. I find this is the best combination since NATO counters are easier to visualize at zoom level 2. For example:

Zoom level 1..

SSCww1-zoom1.png


Meanwhile on zoom level 2..

SSCww1-zoom2.png
 
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