I postponed buying IC till the release of the patch and I enjoy my game very much. Of course, some things could be better 
[playing patched IC on AoD 1.05]
I'm in the middle of my first game - USA from 1933 and it's May 1943. Axis IA was doing great as long, as I wasn't involved but with a little help - The Netherlands joined Allies on their own and were beaten in a week or two, but Belgium didn't and Germany didn't attack them so I was afraid there will be nothing to do later on for me and I "joined" them by editing my saved game. Afterwards everything was splendid, fall of France, Balkans conquered, fall of Soviets (well, that was too quick - just over a year, but possible, and USA didn't send any help to Soviets whatsoever :] ), of Persia, India... in mid '42 (when i was doing some early fighting in Africa and Pacific) German and Japanese forces met more or less in Bangladesh. I had to send some National Guard to secure Port Said and Africa but I don't want to go into details, just a sketch and now to the problems...
My computer-controlled oponents I quite passive in the areas of naval and aerial warfare. Italy, Germany (none subs in the Atlantic!!) the only action - attack by Bearn (CV inherited from Vichy) on Annapolis - unsuccesfull, I had waves of planes not yet sent to Africa nearby.
And while Germany doesn't depend on Kriegsmaine so much, Imperial Navy is crucial for Japan. And they do nothing. There where a few small-scale battles, but carriers went to fight only after my invasion of Japanese Isles - and quickly escaped to Saigon. Leapfrogging through Pacific was opposed only by small garrisons - so I was able to secure bases for the invasion easily. Hell, Okinawa wasn't protected at all and was taken by... Dominicana then left without garrison and... nothing. On the Pacific there were no counterattacks.
Japanese fleet was rather small, but not becouse of losses - there was no significant build-up before the war... still, they had plenty of transports and did nothing to recapture even unprotected islands. In 15 months of war there was one amphibious assault, on my forces in Kagoshima (unsuccesful, but at least the tried...).
Anyway - ok, from time to time there is a naval battle. And... almost nothing. Two sunk cruisers tops. Unprotected transports escape fleets of 3 CVs and lots of other ships. It's not IC -specific problem, but still - not solved. I was able to keep my naval losses to ridiculous minimum (while not destroying that many hostile ships, but it's not a problem - Axis navies rarely leave their ports).
In the skies it's not so good either. Generaly passive, very small air forces... from time to time one bombing raid on my lone division, not coordinated with land operations, sometimes fighter would attack my bombers (but not often). A few Japanese naval bomers are in Spain (both countries in the Axis) doing nothing...
The technology system is probably the best feature of IC, but computer has problems dealing with it. In 1942 Germans still had only light tanks, in 1943 first level of medium... only infantry is quite modern in most of the countries.
I love the map and German/Japanese armies are doing well - heavy counterattacks in Italy, lots of delaying actions in Japan etc. Many smaller changes also great. Aod and IC combined definitely form a great game and I haven't enjoyed my II WW that much for quite some time
Well, those are just some impressions from one unfinished game...
And now a cry for help - "Italy surrenders" (or, in this cas "joins the Allies"), a nightmare of my USA games, strikes again... as usual, generating general chaos across the board. I forgot to disable it before starting a game and now I've changed the details of the event in the event files (hoi2 event file?) but it doesn't work... is there anything I can do to disable the event at this stage? Maybe the real one is in different location? I hate it... it's not as bad as it used to be - with millions of soldiers teleported to Washington D.C., but it seriously spoils the fun.
[playing patched IC on AoD 1.05]I'm in the middle of my first game - USA from 1933 and it's May 1943. Axis IA was doing great as long, as I wasn't involved
but with a little help - The Netherlands joined Allies on their own and were beaten in a week or two, but Belgium didn't and Germany didn't attack them so I was afraid there will be nothing to do later on for me and I "joined" them by editing my saved game. Afterwards everything was splendid, fall of France, Balkans conquered, fall of Soviets (well, that was too quick - just over a year, but possible, and USA didn't send any help to Soviets whatsoever :] ), of Persia, India... in mid '42 (when i was doing some early fighting in Africa and Pacific) German and Japanese forces met more or less in Bangladesh. I had to send some National Guard to secure Port Said and Africa but I don't want to go into details, just a sketch and now to the problems...My computer-controlled oponents I quite passive in the areas of naval and aerial warfare. Italy, Germany (none subs in the Atlantic!!) the only action - attack by Bearn (CV inherited from Vichy) on Annapolis - unsuccesfull, I had waves of planes not yet sent to Africa nearby.
And while Germany doesn't depend on Kriegsmaine so much, Imperial Navy is crucial for Japan. And they do nothing. There where a few small-scale battles, but carriers went to fight only after my invasion of Japanese Isles - and quickly escaped to Saigon. Leapfrogging through Pacific was opposed only by small garrisons - so I was able to secure bases for the invasion easily. Hell, Okinawa wasn't protected at all and was taken by... Dominicana
then left without garrison and... nothing. On the Pacific there were no counterattacks.Japanese fleet was rather small, but not becouse of losses - there was no significant build-up before the war... still, they had plenty of transports and did nothing to recapture even unprotected islands. In 15 months of war there was one amphibious assault, on my forces in Kagoshima (unsuccesful, but at least the tried...).
Anyway - ok, from time to time there is a naval battle. And... almost nothing. Two sunk cruisers tops. Unprotected transports escape fleets of 3 CVs and lots of other ships. It's not IC -specific problem, but still - not solved. I was able to keep my naval losses to ridiculous minimum (while not destroying that many hostile ships, but it's not a problem - Axis navies rarely leave their ports).
In the skies it's not so good either. Generaly passive, very small air forces... from time to time one bombing raid on my lone division, not coordinated with land operations, sometimes fighter would attack my bombers (but not often). A few Japanese naval bomers are in Spain (both countries in the Axis) doing nothing...
The technology system is probably the best feature of IC, but computer has problems dealing with it. In 1942 Germans still had only light tanks, in 1943 first level of medium... only infantry is quite modern in most of the countries.
I love the map and German/Japanese armies are doing well - heavy counterattacks in Italy, lots of delaying actions in Japan etc. Many smaller changes also great. Aod and IC combined definitely form a great game and I haven't enjoyed my II WW that much for quite some time
Well, those are just some impressions from one unfinished game...
And now a cry for help - "Italy surrenders" (or, in this cas "joins the Allies"), a nightmare of my USA games, strikes again... as usual, generating general chaos across the board. I forgot to disable it before starting a game and now I've changed the details of the event in the event files (hoi2 event file?) but it doesn't work... is there anything I can do to disable the event at this stage? Maybe the real one is in different location? I hate it... it's not as bad as it used to be - with millions of soldiers teleported to Washington D.C., but it seriously spoils the fun.