War in the East

[Syt]

Berk, I'll have to make my move tomorrow - I put up the best player ever for trade in my online baseball league yesterday as he's too expensive for my club and I'm launching a rebuild, so I had to sift through a dozen of preliminary offers this evening.

[Berkut]

I can see where your priorities lie.

[Habbaku]

So, war proceeds on a similar chronological scale, then?

[PDH]

Just as my game got good*, my opponent is away from his computer for a few days.  I hope this means he hasn't run off.  Apparantly the latest theme is that the Germans stand no chance in this game, and it is BORKEN!  (I think it just takes a lot longer to learn how to play the Germans properly - finesse vs a sledgehammer).

*good for me, as the Germans I managed to kinda close the Kiev Pocket in middle August.

[Syt]

As Germans, finding the right balance for the various units' advance is tricky. Be too cautious and you get bogged down quickly. Drive your tanks too deep and they get cut off.

[Berkut]

Drive your tanks too deep and they get cut off.

Ruh roh.

[Berkut]

Hmmm, just loaded up Turn 2 of the game against Syt.

1. How do I see a replay of his half of turn 1?
2. Where the fuck did the Russians go????

[PDH]

You don't get a replay, you can see battle sites by hitting "f11"

He might be doing the "Comrade Robin-ski" tactic, to withdraw and set up a defense further inland.  Fly recon as far away as you can.

[The Brain]

You don't get a replay,

There's only so much basic functionality you can squeeze into a budget title like this one.

[Ed Anger]

You don't get a replay,

There's only so much basic functionality you can squeeze into a budget title like this one.

I lol'ed.

[Syt]

Berkut, one hint about creating pockets: you don't need it an unbroken line of units to create one. Zone of Control counts towards it.

[Berkut]

You cut off me panzers and motorized divisions!

Although I think I have a pretty substantial pocket down in the south now. Not sure if that is really a good thing though - should I be focused on killing Russians or driving east and north? Who knows?

[PDH]

Your goals should be destroying formations by surrounding them and forcing surrender.  It takes longer for these formations to be rebuilt, the manpower is gone, and you won't be facing the units route that get unrouted and rebuilt in a few weeks.

The Matrix forums has some good stuff on openings for the Germans - they are the harder side to play.

[Syt]

I'm by far no expert on the game, but the three turn Minsk scenario is a good primer on how to play the first turns as Germans, because you have to be ridiculously aggressive to reach all objectives. Germans can get as far as Minsk on turn one and pocket all units west of it. As said, you don't need a continuous line of units to create a pocket, which greatly aids - just make sure your advance doesn't get cut off. Also, pockets take a day to come into full effect. And if you know that units will be pocketed next turn, it makes sense to not attack them this turn, because you will wipe them up next turn, anyways. Attacking now would be a waste of resources.

I like your sweep into the Baltics, though.

As Soviet there's not much more to do in the first turns than trying to save as many units as possible while trying to build up a defense and choke points. Some people seem to favor a "checkerboard defense" of overlapping ZOCs, but though there's some arguments for them it feels a bit gamey.

[Syt]

Btw, I hooked up my old 1920x1200 screen to the laptop for this game ... much more playable than in 1366x768 (I had to hide the taskbar in that to see all).