Air Power problems with this game

[smckechnie]

Playing game as Axis with these issues with Air Power in the game

1. Allied Player has moved most of the USAF into Russia by mid 1943. US strategic bombers can easily destroy all supply in Russia for the Axis as most of the captured cities only provide supply at 5. This halts any axis advance.
2. Unlike previous versions of the game there doesn't appear to be anything to penalize the US for making this move.
3. Axis have built up Air force and Air Defense (AD) , but supply is still easily wiped out by Bombers. German forces essentially can't move forward.
4. Japan invades India, captures half of India including Bombay, but strategic bombers hit all the supply points. Even with Japanese air defenses at some level, supply is wiped out. Allied forces then slowly destroy all ♥♥♥ forces with mostly airpower. Which is ridiculous.
5. Allied bombers hit all supply points in Libya, despite having significant axis defenses, supply is wiped out between bombers and Malta. Allies then just slowly move across Libya destroying all axis units in low supply. Strategic bombing played no real role that I know of in North Africa campaign. Note that this is easily accomplished by the end of 1941!
6. Carrier air wings destroy all axis HQ's in Africa after supply is destroyed by bombers. Call me crazy, but I do not remember carrier air wings having really any effect attacking axis in North Africa. HQ units aren't that dumb in real life and usually have some of the heaviest AD units always with them, so AD of HQ's should be increased.


If the game stays as is, basically all the allies have to do is build up strategic bombers, tac air, and deploy it to Russia, Africa, and India to halt and then destroy the axis with waves of tac bombers. I personally think that the tactical air damage done has to be adjusted down. We are talking about tac air in World War 2, not now days, where I would agree, whole units can be wiped out.

[Bill Runacre]

Hi

Is this an official campaign you're playing?

If it is then it is intriguing as most Allied units (including US) receive no supply in the USSR, so sending their units there wouldn't be a valid thing to do as their effects due to the low supply on enemy targets would be minimal. Counterproductive even, as their losses would be much higher than if they were bombing from (say) the UK where supply is good.

If you could advise the name of the campaign that would be great.

Thanks

Bill

[smckechnie]

I will check the settings for the game when I get a chance, but I think it is official game. 1939 World at War scenario. What should I look for in the settings for the game? Challenge number 145652. Really screws up game for axis if you ask me.

[wmcniff1]

Playing axis 1939 campaign. It is 1943 allied air power running rough shod every theater.

[Bill Runacre]

Originally posted by smckechnie:

I will check the settings for the game when I get a chance, but I think it is official game. 1939 World at War scenario. What should I look for in the settings for the game? Challenge number 145652. Really screws up game for axis if you ask me.

Thanks, and I must apologise as I was slightly confused, but the good news is that although currently Allied air units can receive full supply in the USSR, in a forthcoming patch this is going to be reduced dramatically.

This should greatly reduce the viability of strategies like this.

Additionally, it is wise for the Axis to invest heavily in AA research, AA units and Fighters (supported by HQs where possible) so that they can make an Allied bombing strategy as expensive as possible.

Upgraded resources that are also protected by AA units and/or Fighters will mean that their bombers will generally require repairing between missions, slowing down their accumulation of experience and costing MPPs that could arguably be better used elsewhere.

[oddball]

Except that you can use Allied fighters to strafe the everloving bejesus out of Axis fighters, which prevents any damage to the strat bombers. And anyone going heavy on fighters and AA as Germany to fend off the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is going to get utterly ruined by Russian tank spam. As the Russians it is indeed totally viable to go ham on AA and arty and just ignore your planes. But as the Germans IDK.

Honestly I've been abusing strat bombers too. It's amazing how easy it is to complete the campaign on higher difficulties when you've got a good handle on how to use them.

Oh hey and Bill, it's entirely possible to trap the AI Germany subs in the North Sea by putting a single destroyer 1 tile south of that port off the coast of Norway as the UK. They come out of the German ports and slam into the destroyer taking heavy damage and getting frozen in place. On my next turn I nuke the sub with carriers or if there's any left in 42 with American escort carriers that have upgraded ASW.

I use two destroyers one tile apart to create a line at that point, and then another couple of destroyers north of it to repeat the line. I've managed to get through an entire campaign with only 10 damage to my convoys. I also used the otherwise useless CLs and CAs to blockade all the occupied French ports. Since AI Germany doesn't know to use CAS to blast my ships they can't resupply their subs anywhere but Germany. But the AI doesn't seem to know that, so it just sits beat up subs in the level 0 ports and hopes for the best.

The best is UK carriers nuking them.

[//]

Hello. This very interesting information as I have recently bought the game and I am still learning how to play. I have not got as far as these other players here but will try a strategy that involves more AA, fighters and upgraded resources to see if that can help with the Allied bombing. Another question I have for the developer. Is there a time frame for the next patch? No rush of course. I understand you may still need more feedback. Thanks for such a great game by the way! My friend and I are very excited to learn and play as we are avid Axis and Allies board game players! We love how this models the 1939 version of the game by Wizards of the Coast. A 6 ft by 4 ft long game board with over a 1000 pieces...amazing. We have been looking for a pc version like this one for a while now....thanks again. ;)

[Bill Runacre]

Thanks for the feedback, and we do have a patch in the pipeline. Hard to say when the patch will be out, but the game is still playable before then.

[//]

I totally agree Mr. Runacre. Thanks for your response and of course such a great game. ;)

[Louie Kaboom]

yes, kudos for a very well-done game. I hope to reflect this in a review (wanna put more play time into it first and hopefully remember to write it lol). looking forward to the WW1-equivalent :)

[Cohen]

I think a problem is also that Axis has way too little 'fighter / air' slots in their caps of allowed troops (or before to incur in the extra costs if they play with soft cap).
I actually feel the general amount of Axis cap quite low especially considering the amount of territory they need to man / garrison.

[Hubert Cater]

Hi Cohen, yes it can be a very different game indeed with soft caps enabled. That being said, the v1.03 patch does change some of the supply rules, including how much supply the Western Allies can receive in the USSR and this ideally should have a bit of an effect on this type of strategy where the Allied player sends his Bombers to the USSR as noted above.

Ultimately, with this latest v1.03 patch, we not only tried to address the perceived Soviet weaknesses via other adjustments to HQ supply distributions (which affects Axis supply deep in the USSR) but also the concerns with the above strategy as well.

We hope everyone finds it an improvement and agreeable all around :)