So, I finally decide to get into HOI 2. I’m playing as Germany. It’s January of 1945. The Swastika flies over Paris, London, and Jerusalem. But the !@#!@ Russians refuse to die.
I’ve taken Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad. I’ve nuked them. I’ve done everything but soak the !@#@!#! country in lighter fluid and throw a match on them. And they are STILL throwing troops at me. I’m out of manpower, my economy is at the breaking point…and I should have KO’d the !@#@!# Russians, by any realistic point, at least a year and a half ago.
I’d love to know what kind of !#@@!#@! cheating the AI in this game does. I’ve taken most of their arable land…what production I didn’t take I nuked…and they keep on coming. I’m going to lose this game, and I shouldn’t be. I am trying to resist giving the CD the microwave sendoff at this point…what the !@#@! did I miss?
If it matters, by the way, in the Pacific the Americans have the Japanese on the ropes. I’m still at war with them, but since I took England, and consolidated control of North Africa, they’ve pretty much concentrated on Japan and left me alone.
I have no experience with HoI 2, and only limited experience with the original, but could it be possible that the Americans are propping Russia up?
But yeah: That sounds really frustrating. And if it’s all coming from AI production advantages, and you’re not playing on the “sadistic” difficulty level, I’d call that grounds for shelving the game.
I’m playing at average diff level, whatever it’s called. They HAVE to have some kind of huge !@#@!#@! production advantages. All these tanks are coming from somewhere, and the Americans can’t be propping them up THIS much.
It’s frustrating to me because I always found this game daunting. Finally tackled it, and I think I’ve played pretty damn well. I can deal just fine with losing because I deserve to lose…but losing just because AI has jacked-up production advantages sucks.
In the north, around Archangel…east of Moscow a bit…east of Stalingrad a bit. I don’t have the manpower to advance any more. But as I said above…I’ve dropped more than one nuke here :). Those tanks and infantry are coming out of thin air :(.
Ok well as far as I know a good chunk of soviet IC relocates to the Ural mountain area, Kuibyshev I beleive, so their economy remains quite viable even if they lose Moscow and the other major European cities.
Probably getting lend lease events from the US as well, cant remember how those work…
So you’ve conquered most of Russia’s productive land, taken their capital and their other major cities, and dropped multiple nuclear weapons onto them, and not only will they not accept a peace agreement, but they’re actively on the offensive?
If you’re looking for a “realistic” World War 2 simulation, my best advice to you is to stop playing and declare yourself the winner, because you clearly are. Alternately, just try to enjoy it more as a game, and less as a simulation.
Soapyfrog, let’s just say that Kuibyshev is…glowing. Yes, it’s glowing. And I don’t think anyone will be skiing in the Urals without a lead suit.
Unless they moved their production to the Moon…
Dave may have a point, as much as it frustrates me to say so. A pity…because I love the game system…and I loved the game until I realized it wasn’t going to allow me to win no matter what I did. I get the feeling at this point that if I deployed the Death Star the Russians would still be throwing tank divisions at me :(.
Ok, just did that. Now I know the !@#@!#!@ AI is cheating…because when I load up the save game as Russia, I don’t have enough !@#!@# production intact to stock a Starbucks.
They could still be getting propped up by the USA, especially since the Americans have nothing to do with all that IC other than give it away (as you noted, they are not attacking you much)
Not saying the AI doesn’t cheat, just giving another possibility
To force a Soviet surrender, Germany needs to hold Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad, Baku (Caucasus, on the Persian border) and Sverdlovsk. Sverdlovsk (which is fairly far east, in Siberia) will probably be the sticking point.
If Japan’s at war with the USSR you will need to take Vladivostok (in the far east), not Sverdlovsk.
The AI doesn’t have any jacked-up production advantages - it’s just that the USSR doesn’t quit, ever. Even with just Siberia they still have an insane amount of IC and manpower. Thus why the bitter peace event exists; otherwise you’d spend years trying to chase down every VP province in Siberia.
And yeah, if you’re to the point where you’re wondering why the USSR hasn’t died yet, you’ve effectively won the game. The rest is just ahistorical “let’s build a navy and invade all the places we don’t yet own” stuff.
As for why they’re still going strong in your game - you’re probably dealing with the remnants of leftover reserves from when they were merrily building up. The AI Sovs with the latest patch will build to upwards of 300-400 (!) divisions if left unmolested for awhile, and unless you encircle and demolish them ALL the AI will do a pretty good job of withdrawing them and keeping them going. The US is probably feeding them supplies if they’ve run out, but nations can’t trade IC (and as far as I know the USSR doesn’t get IC through lend-lease)
Germany usually has manpower issues when seizing the USSR (which kind of makes sense - there’s only so many Germans to go around). Options at that point include researching the agriculture techs that boost manpower generation and demobilizing useless units to get the manpower back. If you didn’t already, switching security ministers to the one that gives you a manpower boost from conquered lands will help significantly as well.
