Strategic Command WW2 - War in Europe is amazing (biased beta tester)

It smells like…victory!

On the Matrix forum folks write that they have experienced a good game by playing only the UK and US and letting the AI control the rest of the allied nations.

I’ve only played till the fall of 1941 so maybe things will improve but the Soviets under AI control has been a cluster. By October 1941 the Germans are only a few hexes away from Moscow and the AI has been building fortifications in hexes south and west of Moscow, but the AI is placing no units in those hexes. Only one red army is in Moscow.

Leningrad is even worse. With the Germans only three hexes away, there is a red army and two corps positioned in the three hexes north of Leningrad but nothing in Leningrad proper. .

AIs generally do better on defense than offense but it is as if the AI isn’t even trying in the SU. Is this an anomaly or are others seeing similar play on the AI’s part? I get that I can intervene and take control of the Red Army whenever, but I was hoping for a more competent AI.

Uh oh. Why you gotta go and temper my enthusiasm for this? What you’ve described in your post is an absolute deal-breaker for me. I have no desire to take this up if that sort of thing is going to happen. :(

-Tom

In my experience the Soviet AI defended Moscow and Leningrad pretty well. I know from playing the Soviet side that you might not have a lot of units in October and it’s tough choice to put units in front of the Germans or dig in further back. Leningrad in particular is tough since you need to protect against the Fins coming from the North and the Germans cutting the rail line and the city proper.

The USSR will probably be getting some high quality reinforcements soon so that should help. I can’t say that the AI isn’t screwing up, but I know in my advanced difficult game I just barely stopped the Germans short of Leningrad and Moscow. If the difficulty is high the Soviet AI might be just getting too chewed up. Those German units with the extra exoerience bar are real kilĺers. Generally I’ve found the AI to be pretty good.

If the AI was that bad I’d never have recommended it to you all, so it’s definitely an anomaly as far as I’m concerned. I’ve played Fall Weiss and Barbarossa more times than I can count and never had the AI bottom out like that on me. My guess is the player(s) have done something in their game that triggered the AI to pull forces in an unusual manner. But even way back in July the AI never, ever left Moscow open. Not to me and not for any other testers either.

In fact, many testers were complaining that it was nearly impossible to take Moscow as the Germans. If there is a glitch in the current release it is only temporary… if at all.

Bill Runacre got back to me lickety split to say that this is a rare bug that is being addressed in a forthcoming patch.

Not only that, but he performed some wizardry on the saved turn I sent to him and returned it to me with a temporary fix. Service with a save file…

Perhaps this will untemper your enthusiasm. At least please suspend judgement till they patch what I think will be a gem of a game.

And multiplayer is coming.

When?

Not quite yet, Dave.

"Dave, what are you doing, Dave?

…I wouldn’t do that if I were you Dave…"

not sure if anyone picked up I was trying to do my best 2001 Space Odyssey impression which went well with Dave’s two sequential posts :)

I have been reading about this with interest, and it looks absolutely awesome, but also incredibly complicated. Is this game playable (and fun) for someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience with this type of game?

If it’s the same as the previous two, I would rank it somewhere between Panzer Corps and War in the East. If those titles mean nothing to you than I would suggest watching some Let’s Plays. Unfortunately it’s not on Steam (yet) so a refund isn’t an option if you decide it’s not your cup of meat.

I watched the first few episodes of the Youtube videos by Night Phoenix and was able to play the game without reading a word of the manual Not claiming I know everything about the game by watching him but he does provide and excellent overview of the rules as he goes along.

Thanks for the replies. I think it would be quite possible to get into this game, but it’s probably better if I wait until I actually have enough time to invest in it. In the meantime, I’ll just watch the videos!

The interface makes it really easy to get into the game and play. In fact, it can make you feel like you’re doing well til the AI shows you the need to learn many of the rules that govern the game.

Some thoughts.

My first game I played as the allies and rage quit after not doing very well.

My current game I’ve only played as the UK (includes Canada) and Americans (letting the AI control the other allies and Russians) and I’ve learned a heck of a lot by finally managing to kick the Italians and Germans out of Africa and make a landing in France late in '42 and Italy in early '43. Learn the difference between transport and amphibious transport! I did not at first and it hurt my landings.

I’ve been a little gamey as I took the British Expeditionary Force and marched them through France and then transported them to Africa. I then did all I could to ship almost a dozen units (thank god the AI didn’t go for Sea Lion) to Africa.

As the allies I think you should take advantage of the fact that the Italian navy usually doesn’t come out to play until late '40 early '41 and get those units transported and in place to repel the Afrika Corps. Make sure to ‘operate’ at least one or two bombers and fighters as well as ground units. Also, I invested in an Engineer units and sent them to Africa to build some fortifications. I let the Germans and Italians attack me and then went on the counter. I probably should have counter attacked harder since I think with a more aggressive approach I could have kicked them off the continent at least 4 months earlier than I did.

It’s been interesting to watch the Germans and Russians duke it out. The Germans have managed to take Stalingrad and Leningrad but not Moscow and now they have had to divert some of their forces to cover against my landing in France. Sometimes I have felt that the Russians should keep their units entrenched rather than attack a German unit, especially when the Russians have a good defensive line set. I felt that is one of the the things that contributed to the fall of Leningrad.

Also, they did a great job of building fortifications outside of Moscow but didn’t do anything outside of Leningrad and I felt that they over protected Moscow when they could have spared a few more units to protect Stalingrad which at it’s peak only had four units defending it. The Italians are holding Stalingrad so I am confident the AI will take it back if they simply devote more resources (units) to the effort. I’m almost tempted to take control in the East.

I want to note that I am playing on normal with no bonuses to anyone. The Americans are finally starting to get some serious MPP and I don’t think the Germans have enough subs to try and attack my American transports. I hate to lose units which I think is going to hamper me in France since I think I should just be trying to slug it out with the Germans and if I lose some units that’s okay since I can replace them fairly easy. While if I can hurt or destroy some German units they will find it much harder to replenish or replace them.

I’ve definitely learned to keep my ships in big “stacks of doom” in the Atlantic near Germany and the Med. I only split up my destroyers to protect my shipping which those damn U-boats keep hitting. In my first game I separated my Atlantic fleet into three groups and the Germans used some really good hit and run tactics and then took my down in two separate big battles which hurt them but decimated my Atlantic fleet.

With your Carriers, make sure you pay attention to the mode you have them in! For a long time I had them just as fighters rather than tactical/Naval bombers.

Don’t ignore diplomacy. I did in my first game and then invested too late and finally quit when Nationalist Spain joined the Axis.

And really don’t ignore research. Make sure you can fight on the ground and get all those production techs and logistics up a few levels. When you start getting those huge MPP’s each turn you will be thankful for the early sacrifice.

I’m really enjoying this game even though sometimes I get frustrated. Sometimes it’s because of some unlucky dice roles but mostly it’s because I made a dumb mistake and the AI rightfully punishes me for it.

I think when I become a better player at this game I am going to play a game as just the Russians and see how I do against the Germans without having to worry about any other fronts.

Are there any plans to take this to the Pacific?

Just picked this up. Downloaded the installer with box on the way. Three questions:

  1. Any tips for best scenario for first game?

  2. How about which nations? I’m thinking of taking control of either UK/US or just Italy in order to simplify decisions.

  3. Have any patches been released? I haven’t seen any on the website.

  1. There’s a tutorial to follow in the manual that concerns the invasion of Poland. Can’t recall if that’s merely the start of the 1939 grand campaign or a special limited Poland scenario, but that’s the place to start.

  2. I’d recommend Germany because that’s the default and Germany drives the game. But you can play whichever nation floats your boat, really.

  3. No.

Dev has been sick (pneumonia), what patches there may be have been delayed until early this year sometime.

Wow, terrible way to end the year. I hope he gets better and takes the time to recover.