FIrst playthrough in 1.4, Ironman, Recruit diff., played as Egypt. Germany actually fought pretty well. I was playing Egypt, and clearing Africa of Italian and German troops was a grind. Sadly the AI didn't push as far as El Alamein, so I never got to use my defenses. They expanded pretty well in East Africa though. It took us until 1941 to clear Africa, and at that point Germany was already deep in the Soviet Union, however it never reached Moscow.
Even then, it took us another 3 years to finally bring down Germany. The Soviets were able to force the Germans into a stalemate. The Americans initiated an invasion of Southern France and Italy, and although the landings were successful, post-landing battles were stalemates. It wasn't until early 1943 that we'd finally broken through. After the breakthrough, the capture of Rome and subsequent capitulation of Italy and Vichy France, the Race to Berlin began. Sadly, the Russians won the race, capturing Berlin and ending the war, October of 1944.
Checking the casualty counts, it was significantly more than previous patches. Before Oak, usual casualty counts were around 2 million. Now however, the Axis lost 9 million men compared to the Allies 8 million. For the Eastern front, numbers clocked in around Soviet 12 million dead to Axis 3 million dead.
I say this patch really got around to fixing the land combat AI! I never encountered any gamebreaking AI logics anymore except for the suicidal troop transports. My only complaint was that it isn't aggressive enough. It still sometimes refuses to advance even though there is no enemy in the area, and sometimes there will be a month-long quiet time where the AI doesn't attack or advance at all for an entire month, maybe more. It only occured a couple of times though, and really gave me some breathing space lol/
Even then, it took us another 3 years to finally bring down Germany. The Soviets were able to force the Germans into a stalemate. The Americans initiated an invasion of Southern France and Italy, and although the landings were successful, post-landing battles were stalemates. It wasn't until early 1943 that we'd finally broken through. After the breakthrough, the capture of Rome and subsequent capitulation of Italy and Vichy France, the Race to Berlin began. Sadly, the Russians won the race, capturing Berlin and ending the war, October of 1944.
Checking the casualty counts, it was significantly more than previous patches. Before Oak, usual casualty counts were around 2 million. Now however, the Axis lost 9 million men compared to the Allies 8 million. For the Eastern front, numbers clocked in around Soviet 12 million dead to Axis 3 million dead.
I say this patch really got around to fixing the land combat AI! I never encountered any gamebreaking AI logics anymore except for the suicidal troop transports. My only complaint was that it isn't aggressive enough. It still sometimes refuses to advance even though there is no enemy in the area, and sometimes there will be a month-long quiet time where the AI doesn't attack or advance at all for an entire month, maybe more. It only occured a couple of times though, and really gave me some breathing space lol/
