The End of the Beginning

[ltccone]

I'm playing an EAI game on hard as Germany. I invaded the USSR on June 22, 1941 at 06:00 AM. The Soviets surrendered at 01:00 on July 19; Stalingrad fell a few hours earlier. With NSB coming out, I doubt I will able to duplicate this feat again

I've had a lot a practice invading the USSR. Steam says I have 11,572.9 hours in this game. My OOB:

36 4xARM 6xMOT Panzer Divisions
4 6xARM 4xMEC Panzer Divisions
132 10xINF Infantry Divisions
8 10xPAR Airborne Divisons
8 10xMTN Mountain Divisions

I also had 90% compliance and about 5k aircraft.

Edit: I forgot my EXP forces. 6 HUN, 22 ROM, and 11 POL divisions.

I'm sure I'm going to have to learn this game from scratch on tuesday, and I'm really looking forward to it!

 

[makson]

Don't be so sure about that. In DevDiary (AAR) Soviets were defeated by Poland in less than a year. It doesn't look like this DLC will change that much after all.

Hoi4 Dev Diary - Poland is not yet lost - No step back AAR

Welcome to this AAR dev diary! Join me as I take on the task of surviving as Poland against both the Soviets and the Germans in the upcoming No Step Back expansion. This diary will function as a sort of compilation of the new features. Normal...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

 

[ltccone]

Don't be so sure about that. In DevDiary (AAR) Soviets were defeated by Poland in less than a year. It doesn't look like this DLC will change that much after all.

Hoi4 Dev Diary - Poland is not yet lost - No step back AAR

Welcome to this AAR dev diary! Join me as I take on the task of surviving as Poland against both the Soviets and the Germans in the upcoming No Step Back expansion. This diary will function as a sort of compilation of the new features. Normal...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

I hope you are wrong.

That saying, the Soviets have problems NSB won't fix.

1) I launched an amphibious assault on Leningrad, which was undefended.
2) When I broke through the lines and took Moscow, it was also undefended.
3) I had Panzers drive through the Crimea and all the way to Stalingrad, and saw no Soviet troops the entire time.

The AI REALLY needs to use reserves.

 

[joeenochs]

That is what I never liked about HOI4. You have to play Poland or tihe Czech republic, because Germany or the SU are way to easy to play against the AI. Check War in the East 2 to see, that it can be done differently. This game is an operational level game and no grand strategy game though. Still if SU or Germany are not fun against AI, a WW2 does something wrong.

 

[Cavalry]

That is what I never liked about HOI4. You have to play Poland or tihe Czech republic, because Germany or the SU are way to easy to play against the AI.

Soviet can be hard when play very hard game and EAI and boost Germany on day 1 in EAI, not just very hard because those bonus only kick in when a war start. And/or using the sliders of base game.

Usually limit ourselves is more difficult than increase AI bonuses. We can use the trick to limit our production to 40% in EAI. Now we will value any weapon much more.

 

[ltccone]

Soviet can be hard when play very hard game and EAI and boost Germany on day 1 in EAI, not just very hard because those bonus only kick in when a war start. And/or using the sliders of base game.

Usually limit ourselves is more difficult than increase AI bonuses. We can use the trick to limit our production to 40% in EAI. Now we will value any weapon much more.

Yes; the USSR can be pretty tough in EAI. It took me a bit to develop a winning stratagy. But once you break through the line, it's a hollow shell.

 

[Jays298]

That is what I never liked about HOI4. You have to play Poland or tihe Czech republic, because Germany or the SU are way to easy to play against the AI. Check War in the East 2 to see, that it can be done differently. This game is an operational level game and no grand strategy game though. Still if SU or Germany are not fun against AI, a WW2 does something wrong.

Or Italy. My last game, USSR surrendered in 1948. Not sure what happened other than USA lend leasing and terrible supply issues past Moscow.

It was really intense, fighting off successive invasions in France.

But as a human player, if you know what you are doing and know the choreography, then maybe it is boring. Humans can micro tanks .

 

[Fulmen]

I invaded the USSR on June 22, 1941 at 06:00 AM. The Soviets surrendered at 01:00 on July 19; Stalingrad fell a few hours earlier.

[...]

I've had a lot a practice invading the USSR. Steam says I have 11,572.9 hours in this game.

With that much Barbarossa'ing, you should consider playing WitE 2.

 

[ltccone]

With that much Barbarossa'ing, you should consider playing WitE 2.

It looks interesting... I don't see the cost though.

 

[Fulmen]

It looks interesting... I don't see the cost though.

It's €75.99 at the moment, but it's coming on Steam in December, and these types of games tend go on Christmas sales. WitE 1 had a similar price tag, but I got it on the 2019 Christmas sale for €20.15.

 

[Secret Master]

@ltccone

while I think a player of your skill and experience should be able to smack the AI around like a red-headed stepchild, I suspect that abusing speed to take VPs via snaking won’t be as viable anymore.

If i understand the new mechanics correctly, your panzers and fuel using units can’t refuel unless they are in range of a supply hub that is actually connected by rail to your network. And there is lag between taking a railway and the gauge converting. So, it shouldn’t be possible to snake from Warsaw to Stalingrad in one go, because you run out of gas waiting for railways to convert and you have to follow railways anyway. You shouldn’t be able to just draw supply via a random string of tiles anymore.

 

[qqmagnuz]

I'm playing an EAI game on hard as Germany. I invaded the USSR on June 22, 1941 at 06:00 AM. The Soviets surrendered at 01:00 on July 19; Stalingrad fell a few hours earlier. With NSB coming out, I doubt I will able to duplicate this feat again

I've had a lot a practice invading the USSR. Steam says I have 11,572.9 hours in this game. My OOB:

36 4xARM 6xMOT Panzer Divisions
4 6xARM 4xMEC Panzer Divisions
132 10xINF Infantry Divisions
8 10xPAR Airborne Divisons
8 10xMTN Mountain Divisions

I also had 90% compliance and about 5k aircraft.

Edit: I forgot my EXP forces. 6 HUN, 22 ROM, and 11 POL divisions.

I'm sure I'm going to have to learn this game from scratch on tuesday, and I'm really looking forward to it!

Did you boost the Soviets [and all opponents] to the max in the sliders?

Since you took it so quick I assume you snaked a lot with your mobile divisions, instead of taking supply hubs [which will be more important in the new DLC]. Try playing the game less snaky and more province to province by encircling.

 

[ltccone]

@ltccone

while I think a player of your skill and experience should be able to smack the AI around like a red-headed stepchild, I suspect that abusing speed to take VPs via snaking won’t be as viable anymore.

If i understand the new mechanics correctly, your panzers and fuel using units can’t refuel unless they are in range of a supply hub that is actually connected by rail to your network. And there is lag between taking a railway and the gauge converting. So, it shouldn’t be possible to snake from Warsaw to Stalingrad in one go, because you run out of gas waiting for railways to convert and you have to follow railways anyway. You shouldn’t be able to just draw supply via a random string of tiles anymore.

I snaked. I broke the line north of the marshes, and just drove east through the wide open spaces straight to Moscow, and even to Gorki. In the south, I broke through east of the Carpathians, and just drove east to Kiev, southeast to Rostov, south to the Crimea. A single panzer division crossed the Kerch Straits and drove to Stalingrad.

Did you boost the Soviets [and all opponents] to the max in the sliders?

Since you took it so quick I assume you snaked a lot with your mobile divisions, instead of taking supply hubs [which will be more important in the new DLC]. Try playing the game less snaky and more province to province by encircling.

All sliders were maxed out; I even gave the Soviets dynamic reenforcements. All that did was make it harder to break through the line; but clear weather, thousands of CAS, green air, and 40 Panzer Divisons can break though anything. After I broke through there was nothing much behind it, and what there was had low org that could be brushed out of the way.

I know the USSR will never fall in less than a month in NSB, and snaking will be impossible.

 

[Cavalry]

That's why I don't play Germany, but fight against Germany.

 

[rautio]

I'm playing an EAI game on hard as Germany. I invaded the USSR on June 22, 1941 at 06:00 AM. The Soviets surrendered at 01:00 on July 19; Stalingrad fell a few hours earlier. With NSB coming out, I doubt I will able to duplicate this feat again

Did I understood correct? Soviet Union surrendered in one month??

 

[ltccone]

Did I understood correct? Soviet Union surrendered in one month??

Correct. I broke through the Soviet lines, and drove my panzers to to big VP cities. Plus 90% compliance.

 

[Federkiel]

I'm playing an EAI game on hard as Germany. I invaded the USSR on June 22, 1941 at 06:00 AM. The Soviets surrendered at 01:00 on July 19; Stalingrad fell a few hours earlier. With NSB coming out, I doubt I will able to duplicate this feat again

I've had a lot a practice invading the USSR. Steam says I have 11,572.9 hours in this game. My OOB:

36 4xARM 6xMOT Panzer Divisions
4 6xARM 4xMEC Panzer Divisions
132 10xINF Infantry Divisions
8 10xPAR Airborne Divisons
8 10xMTN Mountain Divisions

I also had 90% compliance and about 5k aircraft.

Edit: I forgot my EXP forces. 6 HUN, 22 ROM, and 11 POL divisions.

I'm sure I'm going to have to learn this game from scratch on tuesday, and I'm really looking forward to it!

Within a month - that's admittedly quite a feat and speaks highly for your skill and experience. While NSB will most likely enforce some tuning to your strategy - have you considered playing with something closer to the historical OOB?

I mean, you start out with more than twice the ARM divs the Gerries had at campaign start and i also assume that your divs feature (much) more advanced equipment than it was in reality.

This is just an idea to keep you entertained - and some of it might even become a necessity due to the supply issues to be expected with NSB's introduction.

 

[Praetori]

That is what I never liked about HOI4. You have to play Poland or tihe Czech republic, because Germany or the SU are way to easy to play against the AI. Check War in the East 2 to see, that it can be done differently. This game is an operational level game and no grand strategy game though. Still if SU or Germany are not fun against AI, a WW2 does something wrong.

To be fair, GGWitE2 (and the original) depends on a pretty specialized ruleset (especially regarding the first winter). There are mods for HOI4 that does similar things but I believe it's pretty hard to get the AI to actually act "smart" when the player has as many options as in HOI4. You can't, for example, build 10 para-divisions and the aircraft to land them in GGWitE, nor can you make huge D-Day-1941-style amphibious invasions over the Black Sea or the Gulf of Finland or conjure up thousands upon thousands of CAS and rushed tank-variants.

Even if you scripted the HOI USSR AI to use the scorched earth and lots of logistical bombing an experienced player could circumvent that in various ways and cheese the AI simply because the game allows for so many different approaches to be used. You can cheese the GGWitE AI as well and lure them into strategically sized encirclement ambushes etc.

Also, a lot of players are struggling to defeat the USSR or GER so I wouldn't say it's "easy" unless you've played HOI4 enough to "figure it out". People pat themselves on the back for basically breaking HOI4 with various cheesy builds and then congratulate themselves on the forums complain that it's too easy.

 

[cdub8d]

The Soviet AI has always been soooo bad. Mainly because the ai in general has no idea how to defend. They throw all their divisions on the frontlines so once you get the first encirclement it is GG.

They also never have tanks concentrated to counter attack. I was really hoping we would see more changes to the battle planner to help defend better. Which would help the ai...

 

[Duke_Dave]

I suck at math but according to my calculations you have played almost 6h everyday since release.