The Art of Defense

@Complexity:

…, in A&A, most successful attacks are possible because of a defensive failure on the part of your opponent.

unless it’s a trap or the opponent is leaving 3-4 units for you to risk a straffe or sacrifice the territory.  This is a very key aspect to being able to advance on the allies with Japan against a competent allied player.

I like the initial idea. Didn’t Robert E.Lee use much this “strategic attack through tactical defense” using the advantages of both ?

In A&A, tactical defense is either an economic attack (say, Axis holding Caucasus) or a positional attack (in a ‘light KJF’ an Allied fleet have only to survive in Solomons) setting up a dangerous ‘fork’ between deeper targets (Borneo, Dutch East Indies).

Technology (intrinsic in unit ratings) is only a small part of defender’s advantage in A&A. On land, that’s ~1.15x for optimal attackers (6inf 3art 1tnk = 35 IPC slightly better than defending 10inf = 30 IPC). At sea, it can be more, between the ‘pure defensive fleets’ of sets of (1car 2ftr). They still benefit from some ‘attack-oriented’ submarines added.

Multi-power defender’s advantage is more important - up to 1.41x for two countries or 1.73x for three, if they are equal. Even if unequal, a few British with minimal attack on their own still help US fleet survive in Solomons.

Often the Allies have some economic advantage in a KGF, but not enough to overcome the 1.41x 1.15x of Germany defending against UK+US. Then it’s better if one of the powers switches to another domain of force (say, fleet, or strategic bombing) letting the other alone to do an easier land offensive after the economic imbalance increases.

The original post was exactly like one of my first. You oversold the value of your advice. Unlike Bunnies I think it is ok to start a discussion just to get the dialogue going. This game is absolutely set up for attack. If you are the axis you must attack. As the Allies you must counter attack. Russia is one of the few places where you can just plan an elaborate defense, but still you need to counter attack from time to time. A key historical point regarding this game is that these countries did not start out with much of the natural resources they needed to wage war. This was why Japan started in Manchuria and the Nazis made such a push for the caucus oil fields. Similar to history Axis and Allies forces countries to expand in order go gather these resources in the form of IPCs. The only country that is somewhat self-sufficient is the US. All defense in this game should be geared towards devastating counter attacks or to intimidate your opponent to not attack somewhere.

I disagree completely. The basic defense premise being touted here is static defense. Once that point is reached the only thing the defending player is hoping to do is try and last an extra turn or two. If Russia is holed up in Moscow that player better have his team mates at the gates of Berlin.

No the best defense in A&A is mobile defense. Basically what an attacking player is trying to do is swap his cheap inf boys for the defenders hard assest, fighters and tanks. A decent player should always being aiming to defend from a counter attacking/smack position. Leave a territory with a couple of inf but be prepared to go back in hard if neccessary if lost.

p.s. That is why fighters are superior to tanks;

Hmmm
Heres a scenario.

Russian player A:

Attacks 2 Jap inf with 6 inf and 1 fighter. Gets on average 2 hits. (Jap player gets none on defense)
Jap player counter attacks and lands 6 hits to kill the inf. The russian player lands 2 hits on defense.

The russian player killed 12pt but lost 18pt.

Russian player B

Attacks 2 jap inf with 3 inf + 1 art and 3 tanks. Gets on ave 2.5 hits. (Jap player gets none on defense)
Jap player counters and lands 6 hits first round. The russian player lands 3 hits in total.

The russian player killed 15pt but lost all 28pt.

Which Russian player would be in the better position to do yet another counter-smack?

allies win by defending well and axis win by attacking well - just my opinion
I dont find it hard to defense - the tricky point is to make the right attacks.
i dont think sz5 is strong like bunny and the only chance off keping some defense power is to buy a carrier but it seems like a waste off money
The only right thing to do is play with LHTR NA that gives Germany an alternate attacking force with fighters and armor - otherwise it gets pretty boring and most veteran players can play defense with one strong area and areas that almost isnt covered (often it can be an advantage by making a area total clear - example western europe when the allies declare joint strike or if uk/US have a solid stack ready to go

and by the way you cant win by defensing without attacking and i really think that is the interesting part of the game

kind  regards
niels

I think theres an other point that has been left out, but is worth mentioning.

You pointed out options for the attacker:

The only problem with DEFENSE is that the ATTACKER chooses where to attack, meaning that they can opt to bypass your defenses.

But you didn’t mention the option of using massive air support, and attacking one area from multiple areas. I usually find my self in positions, specially in naval battles, were i wold rather be the attacker. In the east front, heavy air support can also make attacks very profitable.

Overwhelming the defender, and massing in areas were the defender placed valuable units is often very profitable.

-Skel-

This is absolutely right and not new discovery. In the very beginning several chapters of On War, Carl von Clausewitz has concluded the defense is stronger than attack in general. That’s why a war, although its nature is to use violence unlimitedly, can last for a long while and sometimes shows a medium-to-long-term stable status. The point is the defense itself can’t win a war. The purpose of defense is to dwarf off enemy’s force and to choose correct opportunity to launch counter attack.