Ozone2, in regards as to when to buy armour, I say when you have enough infantry. For the first few rounds for me it’s all infantry unless you have 2 IPC left, then upgrade an infantry to a tank.
If I could show you an example where I claimed that infantry were just as good on offense as tanks ‘pound for pound’ would you believe me? Nobody in there right mind would but I can and will……
In this example when doing the odds I will round fractions as follows:
2.4999 hits = 2 hits
2.5 = 3 hits
Lets spend 90 IPC under 2 different scenarios
(30 Inf OR 18 Tanks) attacking 21 Infantry
Infantry combat example #1: 30 Infantry attacking 21 Infantry
30 Attack force versus a 42 Defense force (oh no, you can’t win with lower numbers…)
Round 1:
30 Inf versus 21 Inf
Attacker does 5 hits, Defender does 7 hits
Round 2:
23 Inf versus 16 Inf
Attacker does 4 hits, Defender does 5 hits
Round 3:
18 Inf versus 12 Inf
Attacker does 3 hits, Defender does 4 hits
Round 4:
14 Inf versus 9 Inf
Attacker does 2 hits, Defender does 3 hits
Round 5:
11 Inf versus 7 Inf
Attacker does 2 hits, Defender does 2 hits
Round 6:
9 Inf versus 5 Inf
Attacker does 2 hits, Defender does 2 hits
Round 7:
7 Inf versus 3 Inf
Attacker does 1 hit, Defender does 1 hit
Round 8:
6 Inf versus 2 Inf
Attacker does 1 hit, Defender does 1 hit
Round 9:
5 Inf versus 1 Inf
Attacker does 1 hit, Defender does 1 hit (Yeah I broke my rule, I like the underdog!)
Finee, attacker wins with 4 Infantry worth 12 IPC
This highlights the fact you don’t need a higher offensive attack number versus the defensive number. One should establish this number then examine what each side loses in casualties. In this case the offense was losing 1’s, the defense 2’s. So the initial ratio is not 7:5 loss ratio in favour of the defender but in reality a 10:7 ratio in favour of the attacker. Next look at how long you can maintain this, if after round 3 you’re losing tanks and the ratio numbers favour the defender again. Food for thought I hope :-)
Now, lets look at the Tank combat example:
Tank combat example #2: 18 Tanks attacking 21 Infantry
54 Attack force versus a 42 Defense force (Oh my, such a big difference you have Mr. Tank)
Round 1:
18 Tanks versus 21 Inf
Attacker does 9 hits, Defender does 7 hits
Round 2:
11 Tanks versus 12 Inf
Attacker does 6 hits, Defender does 4 hits
Round 3:
7 Tanks versus 6 Inf
Attacker does 4 hits, Defender does 2 hits
Round 4:
5 Tanks versus 2 Inf
Attacker does 3 hits, Defender does 1 hit
Finee, the attacker wins with 4 tanks worth 20 IPC, the same number of units! Attacking with tanks does net you 8 IPC more worth of equipment at the conclusion of this battle, however, when the defender becomes the attacker 4 infantry defend as well as 4 tanks. Can you see a difference, is there a difference?
Of course, tank mobility is huge, I’m a fan of ‘liquid’ power so of course you need tanks. But I think this shows that if you have time to get the equipment there and it’s a faceoff across a single front (kinda like e. Europe V. Karelia) then there is more reason to go with infantry.
By building all infantry then all tanks you get a 1-2 punch at karelia, keep counting the numbers, if you see a supply chain that might be the time for the ole 1-2 punch.
One foe of mine who plays Germany has an opening move where he builds a fighter as germany T1, it’s risky but if it works the allies must wait until at least T2 to have navy off england. No russian first move (is that RR?), 1 hit bb, no sub submerge, jet power germany, super sub japan. He doesn’t go for the US transport, does sub and ftr against brit BB off gibralter. Doesn’t go for the canadian xport. Not sure exactly what he tosses at the english/russian navy, but its german xport, sub and 4 fighters at least, he might go for the canadian xport come to think of it…). Does the egypt battle as you mentioned and always wins, I hate it when he rolls for tech… In any event, the plan is the russian/english navy is sunk without going 3 rounds, the bastard usually ends up with a sub and I need to hit it with english air power! Germany has bomber, 2 fighters, 1 inf and 1 tank on west europe (maybe more air but not less)
BB. All 6 ftrs and bomber hit any navy that comes close. Having 3-4 jet fighters on E. Europe helps offset the fewer infantry. Not having to defend against allied navies for awhile puts INTENSE pressure on russia.
BB
