Why is it Germany gets beaten by Soviet Union in 1942

[Sanny]

I've played a couple of historical focus games now on 1.5 and 1.5.1 that have been wrecked as Germany is quickly beaten by the Soviet Union (last game they were beaten in Spring 1942) whilst Italy and Romania hold their own against them. I'm playing with no nation "buffs".

I looked at what the Soviets were attacking with in battles, some divisions have 999 attack and 999 defense points, like how is that even possible? Their T34s also seem to steamroll everything in their path which is strange because Germany had researched medium and heavy/TD tanks.

A bit confused why this is happening? Soviets were far too strong after Germany quickly dealt with Western Europe. I also noticed too that a large portion of their armies were sitting in France doing nothing but I assumed this is because of Supply limits in the East.

Noticed also that the German AI always attacks and never hold a frontline to defend even when they are being pushed back, and having severe equipment issues.

 

[xsmilingbanditx]

Do you have any mods active? Just put of curiosity because some of those just buff nations by events in certain dates and so on...

 

[Sanny]

Do you have any mods active? Just put of curiosity because some of those just buff nations by events in certain dates and so on...

No mods completely vanilla.

 

[Bambilambi]

I has long been a well known fact that the AI on the eco side of the game is bad at keeping equipment and building good templates, which might be the reason for the fast fall of Germany.
I only played a few hours with a unmodded AI in 1.5, but it still needs work sadly.

I'd suggest playing with a mod (expert AI 4.0) until the devs can fix the eco side of the game, which to some extent is moddable.

 

[Shinkuro Yukinari]

Meanwhile in my Qing game both sides are on All Adults Serve well into 1948, Germany is only on the outskirts on Moscow.

 

[Meglok]

Lol, in a thread above this people are complaining about Germany killing Russia all the time. Sounds like either it can go either way or there isnt a large enough sample size yet.

 

[Sanny]

Lol, in a thread above this people are complaining about Germany killing Russia all the time. Sounds like either it can go either way or there isnt a large enough sample size yet.

I think it's possibly Russia either being too powerful or too weak after the Fall of France. They had 1-2 million on the field in 1942 in my game.

 

[caedussl]

I don’t think the AI is adjusting to the soft attack nerfs very well. Sometimes they get stopped at the Polish border and simply turn it in France-Belgium 1915, sometimes they cruise right by and Barbarossa finishes in 1942c sometimes they get smashed. To me the outcome is not anything different from before, it’s just it’s completely unpredictable how it happens.

Russia also seems to either be really slow at mobilizing, or super fast. In my last Germany game they had almost 5 million men in the field in January 1942. Just stupids amount, so many that they couldn’t replace their losses fast enough (8 mil dead by May ‘43).

 

[jamesd]

I've played a couple of games as Cuba with 1.5, partly to try out new mechanics and partly to see how the AI goes in Europe. With no mods or buffs for anyone and historical focuses, both games that I've taken through to 1943 have seen Russia annexed by the Axis. In the first one Germany started Barbarossa in Dec 1940 and the line stayed static near the border for more than a year until the Russians started running out of equipment and then they were steadily pushed back. In the second Barbarossa kicked of in summer 1940, and again was relatively static for a time, but Russia was defeated by mid 1942. In both games I joined the Allies and had a small army in Africa, meaning that if anything my contribution was making it harder for the Axis AI.

Maybe the OP's observations are like the Republicans "always" winning the Spanish civil war? In my first two 1.5 starts the Republicans won, but in the last three the Nationalists have won. I note that someone else complained about the Republicans winning all the time (3 from 3 games) while others reported a mix.

 

[Skritshell]

Caus Pardox cant code an AI if their life depended on it

 

[llib]

Caus Pardox cant code an AI if their life depended on it

I'm not sure if it's quite that bad, however they were greatly optimistic at the beginning what all they will be able to make the AI do, but the delivery is nowhere near there yet, and in some parts it looks like the AI is completely missing the infrastructure for it to work (read: HOI3 theatres).

 

[DragonScythe]

I think a major issue is transporting troops by sea. If Germany allies Italy, Germany will often send troops to support fronts in southern Europe and Africa, which leads to millions of men getting killed at sea along with all their equipment. Paradox really needs to strongly restrict the ai's willingness to transport by sea in general and remove it entirely if it is unable to secure naval dominance.

 

[bERt0r]

If you rely only on battleplans mass assault is a better doctrine than mobile warfare. If you're also too stupid to build tank divisions, concentrate them and encircle enemy divisions you don't utilize the advantages of your doctrine. The AI does both: they do suicide charges until they're at 50% strength but they do it chaotically across the front, hardly ever threatening an encirclement.

 

[Alliegorical]

Meanwhile in my Qing game both sides are on All Adults Serve well into 1948, Germany is only on the outskirts on Moscow.

Sounds like a good time for a road trip across Siberia.

Caus Pardox cant code an AI if their life depended on it

It blows my mind seeing a guy who owns EU4 saying this.

 

[lordgoof]

I have never seen russia win in my 15 odd games since the beta patch.

 

[KalZakath]

Question - what country were you playing and was Germany denied things that they should have had historically? I've found AI Germany to be quite good, unless the player denies it some things that it would normally need (i.e. - Hungarian player reforming Austria-hungary on denying them Austria and Czech, or playing as France and not letting them take the low countries and France.)

 

[RagingJaws]

My only full game so far, AI Germany had no issues beating the Soviets after a period of time. Factors and observations:

• Smaller front line than the Soviets allowed the Germans to fill the front with almost the same or more, in same cases, divisions.
• Defense being stronger hurts the AI with it's suicidal aggressiveness. Watched many a soviet division launch random attack waves, get beaten back, and then falter under a German attack. It was back and forth but more often in Germany's favor.
  
• I can't verify cause Ironman this but I noticed AI Germany managed to keep decent equipment throughout the first two years (42 - early 44). Does Germany build maintenance divisions for all/most of it's units? Do the Soviets build any?
• Finally, Soviets have never really been very good with managing multiple fronts. The assign far too many to the Finnish border, as an example, and I'd imagine the same applies to other nations it has Focus designs on.

 

[Sanny]

I think a major issue is transporting troops by sea. If Germany allies Italy, Germany will often send troops to support fronts in southern Europe and Africa, which leads to millions of men getting killed at sea along with all their equipment. Paradox really needs to strongly restrict the ai's willingness to transport by sea in general and remove it entirely if it is unable to secure naval dominance.

Checked this also as a possibility, but I didn't notice anything like troop convoys being sunk (but it could have happened wasnt watching the entire time obviously). Italy is smashing its way through Africa (this is normal in HoI 4) and Nationalist Spain decided to join the Axis so they are fending off the British and Free French in the North.

 

[Sanny]

Question - what country were you playing and was Germany denied things that they should have had historically? I've found AI Germany to be quite good, unless the player denies it some things that it would normally need (i.e. - Hungarian player reforming Austria-hungary on denying them Austria and Czech, or playing as France and not letting them take the low countries and France.)

I was Japan following the historical root. Germany was doing very well in Europe most of it fell quite swiftly and they started to invade Norway. I just don't know what they did to have the Soviet Union knocking at Berlin's door but most of the army got massacred. I'll talk to my friends to see if they noticed anything strange. In the past Germany could well beat the Soviet Union.

 

[Karaya 1]

Interesting. Every single time out of the like 6 games ive had so far Germany attacks the sovets sometime in 40, runs out of MP and equipment and then dies after suicidal attacks.

Really took the fun out of my US games. Whenever i play as the US Japan fails in china and germany dies to the soviets.