Now that its in download status, let me give you a little peek/jump.
This is NOTHING LIKE HoI before.
Let me tell you a little story.
So, as a beta, I took it upon myself, with the last beta copy before release, to test out the Soviet Union in a full blown play-through. This was the beta where the bestest version of the new AI files (which are extremely flexible now, and also highly complex) was implemented. Having done this with previous beta copies over the week, I had gotton a Barbarossa attack by Germany and easily defeated it, although it took some fingernail biting and about 6 months of game time before the tide decisively turned.
So, now I get the latest and greatest version and fire it up. Honestly I was expecting more of the same : challenging, but predictable.
Normally when I go through the prewar years, I try to help out China with techs so I don't have to worry about a far eastern front from Japan. So, I did that. Except the Japanese AI builds 100 divisions now. So, having built some divisions myself, and not wanting to see China fall, I declared war. I figured I had about a year before the Germans attacked. I redeployed a bunch of stuff to the Far East and attacked. The campaign through China took about 6 months, but another 3-4 months was spent cleaning up a huge pocket of Japanese trapped in Tibet. I had just barely managed to save China, but the campaign was arduous and difficult. It wrapped up, finally in January, 1941.
The war in the west had gone pretty much as expected, except the Nationalists won the Civil War and allied with Germany.
So, I started re-deploying and gearing up to meet the German attack. In the east, I left some garrison units in Korea to ward off any Japanese invasion, and made a point of using my 5 strat bombers to pound their industries down. The Japanese were suitably scared and unaggressive, probably due to their massive losses in China. I hadn't the power to take Japan itself, so I had to content myself with this stalemate.
Lo, and behold, on April 1, 1941, Germany and the Axis declare war. Okay, I say to myself, now we're gonna see some action. I hope I can be in Berlin by '42.
Wrong.
The skies were clouded with airplanes. Axis armies of immense size cut through my army sized units in days. I <gasp> am forced to conduct a fighting retreat. I really have zero opportunity to strike back or even conduct a moderate counter-attack. Moreover, for the first time ever in my play of HoI, I see German stratbombers hitting targets like Leningrad and Moscow. I see horde after horde of German divisions marching east, and I'll be very very lucky if I can stop them. Its May 4th, 1941, and they are approaching the Dvina and Dnepr river lines.
Its a whole new tactical ballgame. I've never had to conduct a "fighting retreat" in HoI. How do I do that? Should I leave corps sized units up front to slow them down, or is that just a waste of manpower? Should I move every thing up to the river lines and pray to God that I can hold? How much IC can I spare for building? How many airplane units can I build without leaving my ground forces with nothing in the pipeline? How do I deal with the Luftwaffe? All questions I never thought I'd have to ask myself.
Bottom line : I even decided I just *had* to build some militia units. That's right. Me. A human player, reduced to building militia units against the HoI AI.
Next game, I'll be *better prepared* with *alot* more ground units. and I'll probably say "goodbye" to China because there's just no way I can afford a campaign to save them with an impending Axis juggernaut bearing down on my juggular.
Don't expect easy victories. In fact, don't expect anything like what you've done before in HoI.
Enjoy.
This is NOTHING LIKE HoI before.
Let me tell you a little story.
So, as a beta, I took it upon myself, with the last beta copy before release, to test out the Soviet Union in a full blown play-through. This was the beta where the bestest version of the new AI files (which are extremely flexible now, and also highly complex) was implemented. Having done this with previous beta copies over the week, I had gotton a Barbarossa attack by Germany and easily defeated it, although it took some fingernail biting and about 6 months of game time before the tide decisively turned.
So, now I get the latest and greatest version and fire it up. Honestly I was expecting more of the same : challenging, but predictable.
Normally when I go through the prewar years, I try to help out China with techs so I don't have to worry about a far eastern front from Japan. So, I did that. Except the Japanese AI builds 100 divisions now. So, having built some divisions myself, and not wanting to see China fall, I declared war. I figured I had about a year before the Germans attacked. I redeployed a bunch of stuff to the Far East and attacked. The campaign through China took about 6 months, but another 3-4 months was spent cleaning up a huge pocket of Japanese trapped in Tibet. I had just barely managed to save China, but the campaign was arduous and difficult. It wrapped up, finally in January, 1941.
The war in the west had gone pretty much as expected, except the Nationalists won the Civil War and allied with Germany.
So, I started re-deploying and gearing up to meet the German attack. In the east, I left some garrison units in Korea to ward off any Japanese invasion, and made a point of using my 5 strat bombers to pound their industries down. The Japanese were suitably scared and unaggressive, probably due to their massive losses in China. I hadn't the power to take Japan itself, so I had to content myself with this stalemate.
Lo, and behold, on April 1, 1941, Germany and the Axis declare war. Okay, I say to myself, now we're gonna see some action. I hope I can be in Berlin by '42.
Wrong.
The skies were clouded with airplanes. Axis armies of immense size cut through my army sized units in days. I <gasp> am forced to conduct a fighting retreat. I really have zero opportunity to strike back or even conduct a moderate counter-attack. Moreover, for the first time ever in my play of HoI, I see German stratbombers hitting targets like Leningrad and Moscow. I see horde after horde of German divisions marching east, and I'll be very very lucky if I can stop them. Its May 4th, 1941, and they are approaching the Dvina and Dnepr river lines.
Its a whole new tactical ballgame. I've never had to conduct a "fighting retreat" in HoI. How do I do that? Should I leave corps sized units up front to slow them down, or is that just a waste of manpower? Should I move every thing up to the river lines and pray to God that I can hold? How much IC can I spare for building? How many airplane units can I build without leaving my ground forces with nothing in the pipeline? How do I deal with the Luftwaffe? All questions I never thought I'd have to ask myself.
Bottom line : I even decided I just *had* to build some militia units. That's right. Me. A human player, reduced to building militia units against the HoI AI.
Next game, I'll be *better prepared* with *alot* more ground units. and I'll probably say "goodbye" to China because there's just no way I can afford a campaign to save them with an impending Axis juggernaut bearing down on my juggular.
Don't expect easy victories. In fact, don't expect anything like what you've done before in HoI.
Enjoy.
