@Make_It_Round:
@Veqryn:
simply because the nut cracker strategy is really bad game design and no fun, in my opinion
The ‘nutcracker’ is fine. It’s a good tactic and makes the game more interesting.
Sure, it challenges the default “I’ll just leave one infantry behind, and I’ll be fine for another turn” mindset, but breaking down that way of thinking is a good thing for the game.
Here’s how the USSR (or any other big power, for that matter) needs to defend against the nutcracker: the minimum ‘holding’ stack becomes the smallest number of units that will be able to successfully hold the Italians (or any small power) off (and leave you with at least the standard one infantry left standing to fend off the more powerful follow-up attack). Given how few units the Italians will normally be able to afford to throw into the eastern front, where none of their N.O.s will be, this minimal stack shouldn’t be too hard for the USSR to afford. And if there are plenty of Italians in Russia, then the Axis will have some pretty big problems coming their way soon from the Med and across the English Channel.
Failing to defend against a nutcracker is just sloppy play. An experienced and vigilant player will be able to see it coming and figure out the appropriate response, whether that’s a defence or a counterattack.
lets say you are playing DICE
and lets say you want to be certain to have 1 infantry or other kind of unit left over approximately 95% of the time
and lets say the italians have 2 tanks and 1 fighter in range, and the germans can take your capital IF the italians do a successful can-opener/nutcracker
according to two different battlecalcs, in order to defeat 2 tanks and 1 fighter the russians need to have
5 russian infantry to be successful 83% of the time
6 russian infantry to be successful 96% of the time
now then, if the germans are in east poland, this means you have to cover 2-3 territories, a minimum of BeloRussia and EastUkraine, and possible normal Ukraine if you like holding on to the Caucasus.
so this means the russians not only 12-18 infantry per turn to cover those 2-3 territories, but they ALSO need to beat whatever german/italian stack is in the territory in the first place and have those 6 infantry left over after the battle is done
tell me where you are getting ~15-25 units per turn
and tell me again why this is a fun strategy that makes the game interesting and good to play?
simply put, the nutcracker/can-opener is a really dumb and easy to do strategy that ruins the fun of aa50: 1941