40 width for major nations?

[Gort11]

I think I'd probably spend the industry required to build another airfield if I was that pressed for airfield space. A level 10 airfield costs about as much as a civilian factory.

I'd also say that competitive multiplayer anecdotes don't really apply to a guy playing solo against the AI Axis. He's not going to get a ton of aircraft sent to him from the USA, for example.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I think I'd probably spend the industry required to build another airfield if I was that pressed for airfield space. A level 10 airfield costs about as much as a civilian factory.

I'd also say that competitive multiplayer anecdotes don't really apply to a guy playing solo against the AI Axis. He's not going to get a ton of aircraft sent to him from the USA, for example.

If we're going strictly SP as a major you can make a serious case for fishy-fishing 1000 bombing "WC" then transitioning them to whatever while you enjoy air superiority the whole way. Alternatively you can just spam out fighter 3 for air superiority and absolutely flatten everything for joke casualties with a little micro thanks to high relative speed/low enemy defense, which is something a new player should take steps to learn.

 

[Tarkilth]

I enjoy large divisions and Grand Battleplan if it can be afforded. Hold the line against the onslaught from the enemies and once they tire and the org runs out, execute plan and overwhelm them with the great striking force of the large divisions multiplied by ridiculous planning bonuses. I do however not claim it is the best way. I have no real way of knowing what's best out of all possible configurations. As many here have said, you might be of the policy to never attack with infantry and thus focus on smaller divisions of INF for defense while makign your armored and motorized divions the best at brekaign throug henemy lines and causing encirclements. If you're planning to use your line infantry to attack they will probably need artillery - though with enough air force you cna demolish just about anything even with plain INF. Whether you'll have enough production capabilities to achieve the levels you need for any given strategy depends on starting country and build up I'd wager.

 

[N3UTR0N]

Is it worth switching to Free trade law, does it's extra factory and research time bonus worth over the thing that you have to buy more resources?

 

[a_sophist]

Is it worth switching to Free trade law, does it's extra factory and research time bonus worth over the thing that you have to buy more resources?

I have played several games of pure Export Focus, pure Free Trade, and switching back to Export Focus once I'm done building civs and run out of aluminum, and found that as long as you spend the first two years or so building only civs the outcome is basically the same. That being said against the AI all you need is infantry equipment, support equipment, artillery, and 1940 fighters, so you could probably spend the whole game building mils on Free Trade and be fine too. What to use as the USSR ultimately comes down to how long you want to play. I don't bother with playing past World War II most of the time, so I don't need to be building much by the end of my games. If you plan on playing til 1948 without acquiring any new territory you will probably be needing to trade for too much aluminum and tungsten to stay on Free Trade (unless all the AIs stupidly go closed economy ).