Towards a General Strategic Framework - 11 Conclusions

@ampdrive

Yep!

@panther thanks Panther! It seemed unintentional but given the comically immense amount of coast Sea Zone 10 covers I couldn’t rule out part of Mexico touching 11.

@The-Pripet-Martian said in General strategy question:

For example, 3 defending INF can be expected to get one hit per combat round. If you send in enough planes to ensure you’ll kill all 3 enemy INF, you only need to send 2 INF in to secure the territory.

According to probability, yes, but in practise, if you really need that territory, I’d go in with atleast 3 inf. Hitting 2 with 3 inf on def is not too uncommon. Hitting 3 is rather unlikely.

On top of that it also depends who will earn from a war of attrition. If I do, I go, no worries. If I don’t, I won’t, unless it’s for clear strategical and tactical purposes (like your opponent not being able to land planes in a stack next to your Capital).

@KGrimB:

I think that because the US has the potential to build a naval base in Morocco and the sz is always 1 turn away from 2 major complexes the proposal to turn off the naval base there indefinitely is impossible to sustain. Even if the base is bombed the US can still land in southern France and pass through to enter the med. if you conquer the territory you cannot hold it against determined American effort.

If the US is completely focused on the pacific than the bombing is still inconsequential. What bombing Gibraltar really does is divert planes from the critical path to Moscow. Their absence will cost additional units on the eastern front that are needed in that fight.

Not to mention that if a single aa gun hits you lose money because the base caps at 6 damage. Attacking the Gibraltar base is an interesting idea but is ultimately a vain effort.

I agree with that, its almost worthless. The only way to turn it off is to do a Sea lion and bomb Gibraltar and not take it and Morocco. The only problem is if the US decides its going to violate the Neutrality of the True Neutrals and Builds a Naval Base in Spain. Doesnt matter what you do, the US will find a way to make it work.

Alright, confirmed again! Thanks again for clarification, great to know you always get a competent reply asap!:)

@Sgt.:

Also, is it defender’s choice whether to take interceptor hits on strategic bombers or tac bombers?

No, it is the attacker’s choice, as they are his bombers.

Sorry, that’s what I meant. Thanks for the quick response!

@RedHunter:

How was Russia able to advance that far? It shouldn’t be possible without direct America help. The moment that Russia moves beyond poland in Global you can call the game right there.

I dont think that I fully understand your question about Russia. They have only moved into Finland. The axis did surrender after six rounds however.

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I am in a Global game now.  We just finished Round 9 and decided on a break for a while.  I am playing Germany and the Russian player is also handling China.
Germany captured Paris Round 1, forced a Sealion Round 2 and was successful but at somewhat high cost.  Round 3 took the 3 big neutrals - Spain, Sweeden and Turkey - which also took a fair amount of resources.  Therefore, I don’t think I was able to build up enough in the east for Barbarossa like I would have preferred.  I had a good force by end of Round 3, but it certainly could have been better.
Italy really struggled with Britain in Africa and the Med.
Japan took a gamble by bringing USA into the war Round 1 by attacking Brits and the Philippines.
As for Russia, first three rounds she spent building a lot of infantry along the border with a few artillery and tanks.  Round 4 Russia actually attacked Germany, which I really was not expecting.  Sank all my transports and took an unoccupied Sweeden from me.  Round 5, she had destroyed all three army groups in Europe, took Warsaw and was only frustrated by Finland with a bloody repulse.  Round 6, she threw a massive army at Berlin.  Lucklily, the last couple of rounds of combat went my way and Berlin survived with just 1 fighter unit left.  Both sides were severely depleted but Germany still had her capital.
Fast forward to Round 9. 
Now Germany is getting strong again, starting to advance into Russia itself and threatening Leningrad.  German Navy has been sunk by the US Navy and they keep fighting back and forth over Spain, which US currently holds with a fairly strong force. 
Italy finally finished off all British and French troops in Africa and has a tank running around blitzing territories.  Most of Italy’s resources have been spent trying to help Germany with Spain and threatening Russia with a small force from the south.
Japan has all but destroyed China – 1 territory and 1 infantry unit left.  They have grabbed Calcutta and control Eastern Asia and the DEI.  However, both the Imperial Navy and the US Navy have been slugging it out and are almost non-existant.  Also, Japan has tanks creeping west toward Russia.
So, while Russia is still a ways from being “out of it”, they are in pretty bad shape.  I have seen this in other games as well.  Russia is just too dang big and can’t seem to get a decent number of reiinforcements to the front.  When they start a big offensive, if it runs out of steam then it seems like Germany always grinds them back.  Unless the US can get over there with a large enough force to really threaten Germany in Western Europe, Russia will be taken out and then Germany will have plenty of money to deal with the US and push them back out of Europe with help from Italy.