Campaign - I'm struggling

[mike1097]

Hello,

Hope all is well.

Before I start DISCLAIMER: It is me who isn't very good, not the game being is too difficult.

I'm on the first campaign as Russia, though at the moment I have had some success in the centre, and holding well in the south....My north is also making some grounds.

HOWEVER: For what ever reason, I am finding the tactical battles a lot harder in the campaign.

The majority of the battles are infantry vs infantry with artillery, as Russia i'm mainly the attacker. Both myself and the A.I are struggling to counter the Germans as:

the infantry can't advance as defensive machine gun positions AND two shots from artillery breaks them.

Can't move motorised as they get killed by the defensive AT guns.(the critical instant kill seems to always get me as well...)

One battle my AI ally lost 120 units by just enemy artillery, they just couldn't push ...

Any campaign advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

Michael

[KiwiDox]

im pretty much in the same boat, AT infintary in woodland cant even come within firing range of a tank before being pinned while in woodland, its like everything i send to counter one thing, another just arives to counter my counter making it a very tedious process of just guessing, since camoflage values dont seem to exist to almost any extent meaning that using recon units to spot a tank will result in them being spotted by said tank 2km away

i seem to also have a vicious cycle of taking out AT guns to counter tanks, and then said AT gun gets gang banged out of existance by said tank before they even line up a shot from within a tree line

[CatGrenade]

Did you start with the ORSHA campaign? That is the biggest and most complicated. They go in chronological order not simplicity.

Even veterans of Eugen games aren't all winning their first attempts so don't feel discouraged.

Infantry vs Infantry into a dug in enemy without armor is always going to be a bloody battle. I don't know what to say there. If you can bring Air support or Armor in some form do so. It may seem like AT bunkers just pick your armor off one by one. The simplest way to beat that is just mass a ball of armor before attacking them and overwhelm them. They will get suppressed and can then be surrendered in close range or just blasted over some time till they break.

Combined arms are technically better, as is flanking, but lets face it. You don't get access to all tools every battle in these operations.

The AI assist in tactical battles is decent. I don't use it personally. If I can't keep up I just pause or slow down the game speed. I don't mind, but others do. Something to try if you need to preserve an important battalion or unit.

Use bombers and artillery to "bombard" with their special strategic map ability to keep the most dangerous enemies from participating in certain fights or from moving.

Any time you can get a fight with an enemy without anti air you can consider grinding them down with a close air support or bomber wing. This can save manpower.

Enemy artillery will tax your infantry and artillery pretty hard. I strive to take them them on with armor, air, a massive artillery advantage, or disabling them with bombard. A few 81 mm mortars can be dealt with on the field, but more than that can devastate infantry only pushes.

All the above isn't always possible. Sometimes you have to push hard at heavy costs because of time constraints. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and sacrifice a battalion or two to stall an advance and rack up some casualties. Its a messy thing and there aren't any perfect options.

You will get better at tactical battles over time, but these campaigns can produce unwinnable battles. Its all about the strategic goals.

[mike1097]

Originally posted by 1FCZ1LoneWolf™:

im pretty much in the same boat, AT infintary in woodland cant even come within firing range of a tank before being pinned while in woodland, its like everything i send to counter one thing, another just arives to counter my counter making it a very tedious process of just guessing, since camoflage values dont seem to exist to almost any extent meaning that using recon units to spot a tank will result in them being spotted by said tank 2km away

I'm glad it's not just me...

Originally posted by CatGrenade:

Did you start with the ORSHA campaign? That is the biggest and most complicated. They go in chronological order not simplicity.

Yes, I appreciate that, I like the story aspect, when I skipped to the second one after struggling, it felt wrong as it was saying the Soviets had broke through with a crushing victory... I thought: But not by me :(

Originally posted by CatGrenade:

Infantry vs Infantry into a dug in enemy without armor is always going to be a bloody battle. I don't know what to say there. If you can bring Air support or Armor in some form do so. It may seem like AT bunkers just pick your armor off one by one. The simplest way to beat that is just mass a ball of armor before attacking them and overwhelm them. They will get suppressed and can then be surrendered in close range or just blasted over some time till they break.

Combined arms are technically better, as is flanking, but lets face it. You don't get access to all tools every battle in these operations.

The AI assist in tactical battles is decent. I don't use it personally. If I can't keep up I just pause or slow down the game speed. I don't mind, but others do. Something to try if you need to preserve an important battalion or unit.

Use bombers and artillery to "bombard" with their special strategic map ability to keep the most dangerous enemies from participating in certain fights or from moving.

Any time you can get a fight with an enemy without anti air you can consider grinding them down with a close air support or bomber wing. This can save manpower.

Enemy artillery will tax your infantry and artillery pretty hard. I strive to take them them on with armor, air, a massive artillery advantage, or disabling them with bombard. A few 81 mm mortars can be dealt with on the field, but more than that can devastate infantry only pushes.

All the above isn't always possible. Sometimes you have to push hard at heavy costs because of time constraints. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and sacrifice a battalion or two to stall an advance and rack up some casualties. Its a messy thing and there aren't any perfect options.

You will get better at tactical battles over time, but these campaigns can produce unwinnable battles. Its all about the strategic goals.

Thank you for the advice.

[Gilmund]

Do you use smoke before your assaults?

[Remove Sniper from TF2]

when you choose a campaign the game tells you they are not ordered by easy to hard, but by historical date. the game also tells you the two campaigns listed at the bottom are easiest, while the top one is hardest.

[Nirvana]

I am in the same boat, i am struggling to learn the game with no real tutorial and having the same issues, i am not a good player, i'm also new and trying to learn but hitting this same exact wall too.

Im trying to practice with small 1v1 and 2v2 games but the AI is kicking my arse, i really don't know what i should be doing, or what troops i should be using,or even understand what half the units actually do. lol

It took me hours to understand how i actually have to use Air assets, and i still dont really understand the difference between all the infantry types and what the leaders / commanders actually do

[mike1097]

Originally posted by Gilmund:

Do you use smoke before your assaults?

I do yes. Seconds later the German artillery shells blocks out the sun... I try to fight in the shade however...

Originally posted by Masked Man:

when you choose a campaign the game tells you they are not ordered by easy to hard, but by historical date. the game also tells you the two campaigns listed at the bottom are easiest, while the top one is hardest.

Yes I appreciate that. However I would much prefer to play it in order.

Originally posted by Nirvana:

I am in the same boat, i am struggling to learn the game with no real tutorial and having the same issues, i am not a good player, i'm also new and trying to learn but hitting this same exact wall too.

Im trying to practice with small 1v1 and 2v2 games but the AI is kicking my arse, i really don't know what i should be doing, or what troops i should be using,or even understand what half the units actually do. lol

It took me hours to understand how i actually have to use Air assets, and i still dont really understand the difference between all the infantry types and what the leaders / commanders actually do

Well, the mildly annoying thing is I was doing quite well against medium AI on skirmish, winning most of the time. Here on easy campaign difficulty, I'm just never able to counter...

Though you may have heard this advice before, go on very easy, then easy, then medium on breakthrough defence, helped me alot.

[Remove Sniper from TF2]

commanders have a circle around them, the zone of influence. other units in this circle act as if they have one grade more experience. they also gain stress at reduced rate (50%) and recover stress at increased rate (200%). lastly, they are immune to surrendering.

experience grades has different effect on different units, but is generally a 10-15% increase to stuff like accuracy, reload time, movement spees, spotting ability...

units are prone to surrender if they are fully stressed (pinned down or falling back), and an enemy get close to them (within 100 meters)

infantry can be divided into machine guns, standard infantry composed mostly of rifles + some lmg/smg, and flamethrower/bomb infantry.

machine guns are great for defending vs enemy infantry in open areas. flamethrowers/bomb infantry is very strong at range less than 100 meters, but weak at longer range.

standard rifle infantry is more general purpose, better speed than machine guns (and cheaper, I think), and better range than flame/bomb infantry.

the role of infantry is to clear villages and woods for units than can ambush your tanks. infantry with portable antitank weapons can also defend these areas vs enemy tanks.

[Poseclop]

Same disclaimer I'm not very good and In campaign I'm struggling. I can manage medium difficulty AI on skirmish yet even on easy diff campaign battle are much more difficult.
- Maps are huge (mostly 3v3, 4v4 maps)
- AI on friendly side focus on 1 area of the battlefield only (same as in skirmish) whatever its type so the combined arms aspect can only work if you control all troops (and buy 4 more hands)
- Opponent AI seems omniscient in comparison. I guess it's the same AI as in skirmish, but it seems it can manage 3 battalions on a 4v4 map exactly the same as a 1v1 match on small map. I can't :(.
-The best strategies I've found for now are either:
1. Control only air groups. AI manages air badly so you'll make plenty of kills + it's the only way to admire the game while playing campaign (in phase A, B at least)
2. Control all troops except air. Focus on a small area in phase A to secure the "main roadway" and destroy the top priority ennemy assets. In phase B+ zoom out as much as you can and start spamming unit then using attack + move on groups of units. Occasionnaly, Focus your micro on artillery (use hotkeys) then getting troops to the frontline asap without them being killed (chain commands).
3. Important thing to know even though its not mentionned anywhere is that at least on soviet side it seems most infantry has AT capability at very close range even if its not mentionned in the unit card (ie. partisans DP) it's some kind of AT grenade which is very deadly but probably 40m range max.

[Gilmund]

Originally posted by mike1097:

Originally posted by Gilmund:

Do you use smoke before your assaults?

I do yes. Seconds later the German artillery shells blocks out the sun... I try to fight in the shade however...

Originally posted by Masked Man:

when you choose a campaign the game tells you they are not ordered by easy to hard, but by historical date. the game also tells you the two campaigns listed at the bottom are easiest, while the top one is hardest.

Yes I appreciate that. However I would much prefer to play it in order.

Originally posted by Nirvana:

I am in the same boat, i am struggling to learn the game with no real tutorial and having the same issues, i am not a good player, i'm also new and trying to learn but hitting this same exact wall too.

Im trying to practice with small 1v1 and 2v2 games but the AI is kicking my arse, i really don't know what i should be doing, or what troops i should be using,or even understand what half the units actually do. lol

It took me hours to understand how i actually have to use Air assets, and i still dont really understand the difference between all the infantry types and what the leaders / commanders actually do

Well, the mildly annoying thing is I was doing quite well against medium AI on skirmish, winning most of the time. Here on easy campaign difficulty, I'm just never able to counter...

Though you may have heard this advice before, go on very easy, then easy, then medium on breakthrough defence, helped me alot.

Rules of thumb is AI always knows what you doing and immediately respond to it. AI is also just spamming you and rushing you the more you resist. Try playing multiplayer games it's more enjoyable, human wil surprise you with best use of combined forces BUT will make more mistakes not automatically looking the part of the front you're attacking and won't spam you constantly.
I did beat AI in hard in some games but game is seriously boring when you come for multiplayer, it's just counterspamming ♥♥♥♥.