Preparatory Breifings

greeny · March 31, 2003, 14:43

The New Soviet Man must be Educated and Knowledgeable, I suggest all those who are to play a part in the Great Patriotic War to read these stratagies and tactics for sucess from the Art of War
site: http://aow.apolyton.net/

Especialy useful to those with less experience at Red Front.
Red Front Stratagies:

http://aow.apolyton.net/1.shtml
by out own late FMK

http://aow.apolyton.net/4.shtml
By Xin Yu

http://aow.apolyton.net/7.shtml
By Mark L

Note: some of these tips & tricks will not be allowed under the rules we have set ourselves.

And post you own tip & stratagies for Red Front here!

our_man · April 1, 2003, 10:36

Question:

Are bomber/AA battery combos allowed?

Shaka Naldur · April 1, 2003, 12:13

xin yu's one is not very good, he never played the game without moving the fortreses
Mark L's and FMK's are quite good

CannonFodder · April 1, 2003, 16:14

Yeah, the fortress 'cheat' is pretty cheap. It's much harder if you have to use the rules.

EZRhino · April 1, 2003, 17:46

He did have a good point about getting the Airbases in Yarensk, Tobolsk and the urals cities to expidite the building of the roads on the oil squares. It almost doubles the trade arrows in some cities. Bee-line for KV1s also a good idea. Yall are right about the strong-point issue though, kind of contrary to the spirit of the scenario, the damn thing is supposed to be a struggle to survive.

Six Thousand Year Old Man · April 4, 2003, 20:30

Keep the tips coming guys

I'm playing a new game of RF on my own, using FMKs tips and the wisdom I glean from our glorious* commanders here. And then later I may be up to a command role, myself

Interesting that while Xin offers the 'moving fortified position' cheat, he also offers the 'build a city on the fortified position and rehome it' cheat. Are both of these frowned on, or just moving 'em?

____________________
* glorious until they screw up and are executed, of course.

EZRhino · April 4, 2003, 23:59

I think moving them, neccesitates building cities on top of them.

Six Thousand Year Old Man · April 5, 2003, 00:15

Right.. obviously you can't ban building cities on them, and then say moving them is ok

.

But is merely building a city on them verbot- errr... nyekulturny (sp??) as well? I know it is forbidden in our game..what's the consensus among RF players?

EZRhino · April 5, 2003, 02:56

I think it was meant that they should disband as soon as their home cities were captured. Besides, anybody who would build cities that far west is either stupid or obviously trying to exploit something anyway.

Shaka Naldur · April 5, 2003, 14:51

i agree with ezrhino

it shouldn't be legal

Six Thousand Year Old Man · April 7, 2003, 17:02

Quote:

Originally posted by EZRhino
I think it was meant that they should disband as soon as their home cities were captured. Besides, anybody who would build cities that far west is either stupid or obviously trying to exploit something anyway.

OK, OK

I just noticed that a lot of the fortified positions are supported by cities west of them... for example Kursk supports a position on the Volga. Kind of useless - because the city will fall before the unit becomes a strongpoint.

Duly chastened, I begin my game, comrades.

Six Thousand Year Old Man · April 11, 2003, 20:10

Any ideas on how to manage the freighter moves between UK and Murmansk/Archangel, when I play the Murmansk front turns tomorrow?

Typically, I suffer pretty heavy losses to U-boats, and stacking cruisers with freighters does nothing to prevent that. I usually move the freighter onto the mine closest to my eventual destination, and then use it's full move the next turn, to minimize the time at sea. And I'll usually have a freighter waiting on a mine N of Murmansk as a shipchain remnant - if the ship from the UK stops 5 spaces short of the minefield, I'll send the ship in the minefield out to meet it, move the Freight onto it, and then move it back onto the mine... saving my cargo from attack, hopefully.

I also saw tips about leaving warships at sea - stationed on mines (in the Strategy forum) to draw the attention of the Kriegsmarine. Good idea, does anyone know if it works? Other suggestions?

How long until we get the Convoy system Wonder (Magellan)?

Oh, and when we get to build PE-2 bombers, is stacking them over cruisers a legit tactic?

EZRhino · April 11, 2003, 21:12

As to stacking warships on the mines, it does work, sort of... The Ai will occasionally suicide Stukas into the mines. I have never seen German naval vessels fall for this ploy however.

Colwyn · April 11, 2003, 21:37

Quote:

Originally posted by Six Thousand Year Old Man

Typically, I suffer pretty heavy losses to U-boats, and stacking cruisers with freighters does nothing to prevent that.

- best to position escort ships 2-3 spaces around your conveys to take the hits. expect loses 70% . Don't go around edges, take direct aproach +1/-1 offset and move convorys at most every other turn ie in mass. Move destroyers first to locate and kill subs before freighters.

I also saw tips about leaving warships at sea - stationed on mines (in the Strategy forum) to draw the attention of the Kriegsmarine. Good idea, does anyone know if it works.

-Not sure but I have ships there to attack and retreat to.

Oh, and when we get to build PE-2 bombers, is stacking them over cruisers a legit tactic?

-Yes, though with a small range it will protect only for 1 turn out of port (but still usefull) good idea!!, build a pe2 in london when you can. I never though of that.

Avoid bottle neck far left petsamo up north, best to wait 3 spaces out than stop near mine. (enemy bomber range)

Six Thousand Year Old Man · April 15, 2003, 09:51

Question: In my game, I have managed to hold Rostov through 1941 and into 1942 (barely!!). However.. in the readme file for RF, it is suggested that recapturing Rostov triggers an event which destroys the German armies in the Caucasus. If I don't lose Rostov, obviously the event can't happen.

In other words, will holding Rostov do me more harm than good?

Re: Convoys...

Quote:

Originally posted by Colwyn

-Yes, though with a small range it will protect only for 1 turn out of port (but still usefull) good idea!!, build a pe2 in london when you can. I never though of that.

Avoid bottle neck far left petsamo up north, best to wait 3 spaces out than stop near mine. (enemy bomber range)

That trick worked well. Covering a Cruiser with a PE-2 bomber drew a lot of U-boats to that location (much like the AI will leave Cruise Missiles 'hanging' around a BB covered by a Bomber in regular Civ2). It was then easy for me to use the Cruiser to kill 6 or 7 of the U-boats.

And I did manage to sneak a loaded Freighter past Petsamo, chaining with a ship that moved 4 squares off the mines, boarded the supplies, and moved back

Good advice!

Shaka Naldur · April 15, 2003, 17:43

I don't know anythin about that Rostov event, are we not suposed to hold the city

DeathByTheSword · April 16, 2003, 04:18

well in RL the germans captured rostov and moved a little bit into the caucacus (orwhat ever) but a couter attack from Stalingrad retook the city and well most of the units south of Rostov were cut of from supplies and could be easly destoyed....it is one of the major turning points in the war after the battle of Stalingrad

Shaka Naldur · April 16, 2003, 07:17

and it is represented in the game?

DeathByTheSword · April 16, 2003, 17:04

yes as far as i know....if you recapture Rostov all units southeast of it will be destroyed...or something like that

Ben Kenobi · April 16, 2003, 18:06

Thanks for the thread!

This is very helpful.

conmcb25 · April 16, 2003, 22:07

I have a dumb question, what level are we playing on? I want to fire up a game of RF to play thru on my own and Im just wondering what level to play on. Im sure its here somewhere but I haven't found it.

Also what happened to FMK. He was my tank knowledge god.

Colwyn · April 16, 2003, 22:12

FMK quit the scene as far as I know, most abruptly or maybe he was just sent to a gulag by comrade h tower after all he did have a very german sounding name.

Six Thousand Year Old Man · April 17, 2003, 08:07

Quote:

Originally posted by conmcb25
I have a dumb question, what level are we playing on? I want to fire up a game of RF to play thru on my own and Im just wondering what level to play on. Im sure its here somewhere but I haven't found it.

Good idea, that;s what I'm doing now.

We're playing MGE, Marshal (Deity) level - and not allowing any of the better known cheats like airlifting Freight from the UK, or building cities on the super-units (Fortified Positions) and rehoming them. The original thread, which is topped I think, lists all the limits.

In my personal game I'm trying not to cheat

conmcb25 · April 17, 2003, 10:18

Thanks Old Guy!

Six Thousand Year Old Man · April 17, 2003, 18:34

Quote:

Originally posted by conmcb25
Thanks Old Guy!

Xin Yu · May 16, 2003, 15:18

There is a new finding that you can use unit-homing trick to build new units during the same turn when a tech is researched. So if you allow bomber-unit stack you should be able to get your bomber units in August. Stack them with AAs will hold off most enemy advances. Since you do not use the bombers to attack, there is no need to build airposts to make them vets. Then if you keep on going, you can probably build some IL-2s in September, or October the latest. They are killers!Don't save them, use them to attack anything that do not have x2 vs. air flags until running out of oil. You only have 2-3 turns to use them before winter, so kill as many enemy units as you can. This method costs a lot money so you need a good budget planning. You'll not be able to build a lot of tanks after buring money on your air force. So build the cavalry unit as a cheap substitute to your tanks. They are very good units.

Alternatively you can get KV-1 in August and produce them en mass, to play a defensive war. Building cost should be a lot less than the previous method but you'll lose a lot more units. It's a trade off.

UK freights should go north along the westmost map squares until reaching the top, then moving east. This way they won't be detected by U-boats during Summer 1940. However it is not necessarily safe for latter periods.

Shaka Naldur · May 16, 2003, 16:17

thanks xin yu!

your strategy sugestions are always more than welcome