Good job Vel. I think it's pretty balanced. I've played two different games to about 3600. Enough to get a sense that it truly is tough, and fair.
Here are some highlights: I followed Aeson's advice and built some battleships -- very handy, especially in the inland sea. The AI does a good job of using all its resources to stop you in the inner sea. All of them. Very crafty with the addition of cruise missiles. Remember -- the AI has some left after T1. Eventually, I cleared the sea, and this allowed me to wander around the coast, scout for troop movements and blast roads at will. Very fun. I pretty much took out the Russian road network -- enough so that they were going through German territory again.
The East coast is a mess, as usual. I've been picking off Chinese and Japanese transports and destroyers for a while now. The Chinese didn't do a big rush, instead they're trying to filter through your defenses. I've got this under control, though. With F-15's pulling recon duty, I'm killing them just outside their air envelope and close enough to my cities for quick dashes to heal. I'll hold here.
I didn't get any leaders in the second game, whereas the first I got three in one turn. *shrug* That's why I stopped the game, actually. I didn't think the AI would be able to penetrate through 5 armies, fortified in fortresses, on hills. He wasn't even bothering to attack, just shuffling back and forth. Any additional leaders would right into spaceship parts.
My RA keep shifting fronts. It's pretty fun. They plink at the Germans on one end, then shift back to kill the Russians. They're like my Fire Brigade.
I've used two nukes, one tactical on the German and one ICBM on the Russian. They were dedicated army killers. The Tac-nuke was instrumental in a 2 army kill, plus assorted other German goodies, when used against the Krauts. The ICBM smacked 3 Russian armies, a bundle of Japanese ships and some assorted Russian units.
I killed another German army after it moved in to assault a base. The army beat an MI, but I hammered it with RA fire, and then polished it off with an elite MA. Germany has two armies left (down from 5; he got a leader in T2).
The Russians have two armies (down from 6) left as well. I isolated an MI army in the hills and eliminated it with RA and elite MA fire. At least one German army is hiding in Leipzig and I can see the other two Russian armies.
The key for me, with only two armies, is to shift my forces (the armies) from front to front. Neither Germany nor Russia wants to attack an army, so they avoid whatever space its on. Which can give you an extra turn. Sometimes they'll pull back, or try to maneuver away from that space.
It's pretty unlikely that they'll crack through the front, but it was pretty close on turns 2 and 4. Without the nukes, say goodbye USA. Germany is under 80 MA, and Russia is under 40. (Russia starts with fewer) I have about 40 MI, total. In turn 4, I needed the Marines and Paras to hold the southern hill fort.
Thanks, Vel!
Now, the western ocean is very bad. Since I took my reserve fleet east to help out, it's been tough. The problem is the German fleet. I don't know what it is, but I am unable to kill German ships. Bridget Bardot went down to a destroyer in 4 straight rolls. All my battleships, my carrier (ambushed because all the subs died in attacks), and every aegis went down, too. My subs die on the attack becuase they can't hit. Grrr, defective torpedoes. Destroyers shouldn't be this strong, but they are some kind of German uber-ship. I'm going to be rushing battleships, I think. It's so bad that I know the Germans are going to land troops eventually. I think I'll stop the Chinese here, but only because they're split like me. Clearly, care needs to be taken here.
I think the number of ships is fine, I probably just had a bizarre result. Although, with the number of destroyers Germany has, they probably should do this much quicker. So, all in all, this side is quite a challenge. If I don't take that fleet to the east coast, I might not hold in the east... If the fleet's not in the west, I might lose the west... this is good drama.
I think I'll win, though I know my government will fall soon. Hopefully the anarchy won't be too long.
Oh, and by the way, were the scenario not about staying at war, I could have gotten peace from the Germans, Russians and Chinese. The Japanese haven't been hurt like the other three, so they refuse my emissary.
Looks good to me. So far no changes needed.
Morning all, and outstanding news! I liked the German/Russian first turn "surprise" addition....made that initial enemy attack turn seem to come alive a bit more. Mostly, it was more flash than substance in my own tests, but as you say, with battered forces in a few American cities, it hampered American T2 reinforcement efforts, so if you get hammered pretty hard, it's more of a challenge to retake overrun positions and such.
