Strategic Command: World War I - Offensive in the East - Part 3

[@ckiane1226]

Beat the game in about 7 hours as the Central Powers. Used a similar strat to you, but focused the extra German units to strike south and cut off Warsaw from the rest of Russia, encircling about half their army. Russia surrendered August 1915, then turned and smashed France and had them surrender by March 1916, winning a major victory. AI will charge into your units in France, so just hold them there and kill what is vulnerable to you. The French shocked me by declaring war on Belgium, at which point they were doomed, because they had lost too many units to me to be able to hold the extended frontline by themselves. When you get the event for Italy, you should probably make the concessions and keep them out of the war, as they have like 20 corps that they ended up transferring to France in my game. Also crushed the French and British navies fairly easily, as the AI isn't great at navy stuff, and will ram their ships into your U-boats, which is the best way to attrite their forces, then swoop in for the kill with your big ships. Hit and run works wonders.

[@jornstones537]

So I just had to get this game, and I kinda opted to do a similar strategy as you by not declaring war on Belgium, at all. What actually ended up happening is France declared war on Belgium after Britain joined the war in an attempt to extend the frontline. Not only did I have enough reserves to extend my own line, I now also had all those belgium units under my command. Another nice thing to play around with is diplomacy; if you can entice Switzerland to join your side later in the war you can open up a very powerfull flank on France. I also discovered, way to late really, that HQ units actually increase the supply of the hex they are on (over time). This is extremely crucial for the Ottoman fronts, your troops there will be utterly useless otherwise.

[@gebus5633]

The bombers increase the effectiveness of artillery on a target (maybe other attacks too?), See how after you used the bomber the hex got a red border to note that you have aerial recon done there. On the western front below Verdun you are just asking to lose a corps. 4 directions of attack, and reinforcing attacks to boot.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

That’s really interesting, I was wondering what the red he meant!

[@jornstones537]

@@thehistoricalgamer Also really usefull is artillery weapons+gas/shell production research. The former actually gives artillery the punch it needs to inflict damage, and the latter allows it to get 2 or even 3 shots every turn. You'll need it if you want any hopes of taking down those french fortresses.

[@terje4394]

The marines are what you use for naval invasions as they have different supply rules compared to regular infantry (they are kind of their own supply source for a few turns after an invasion)

[@thorin1045]

So the marines are the spec force from the WWII version?

[@terje4394]

Yup

[@AlexDiazGranados]

I really enjoy watching all of your videos. Keep up the great work.

[@controbot2557]

I finished this game in about 8-9 hours. Here's how my playthrough went. First of all the Serbian Front. The Serbians are really tough to dislodge from a single place. Some upgrades and perhaps artillery will be useful here. Albania will also join the Entente in a few turns but they won't bring much to the table apart from a Detachment. Also prioritize in taking Montenegro and Albania as soon as possible as it will seriously hurt their national morale Eastern Front: The Russian forces are really really weak, you can virtually wipe out all of their forces if you got level 1 infantry weapons. The Caucasus front is gonna be tough for the Ottomans as they will be outnumbered by the Russians initially but you can offset this by adding more pressure on both the German and Austrian fronts. Ottoman front: The British will launch an invasion that takes Bastra and Kuwait. If you send about two detachments to Iraq you can prevent these forces from spreading further. The British have a lot of forces in Egypt so it's best to wait and get more units to Israel to prevent these forces from getting land into the Empire. Western front: Surprisingly my troops killed a lot of France's troops and lower their morale. Also France launched a reverse Schiefflen and declared war on Belguim which widened the front, of course this proved to be their undoing as they weakened the original front by expanding it and allowed my troops to spread in Northern France. Also you should give Italy its lands back as it will prevent them from ever joining the war, you should also heavily invest in getting Switzerland to join you as Southern France is virtually undefended.

[@kyokyoniizukyo7171]

Dang, hey, you wanna record your own version of this? I would love to see how you handle it...

[@cragnamorra]

I too opted to have A-H cave in on Italy's demands. I felt they just didn't have the troops to cover a third front in the Tyrol. That said, the morale hit is enormous, and the Austrian corps just turn to jelly; I feel it pretty much commits A-H to remaining purely defensive from that point forward.

[@controbot2557]

@@cragnamorra I know right? Also it will weaken the Germans since you have to pick up the slack Austria left since they have to fight defensively. Also to knock Russia out fast you do need to capture as many towns and cities as possible since it will weaken their morale a lot

[@FreethoughtsOnline]

It's no wonder i start losing after mid 1915...I thought i could take on Italy as well. best to keep them sweet.

[@Murskafin]

You shouldn't clump up all your forces at the French border. Instead, set them up so that as soon as Britain joins the war, you can crash through Belgium with them.

[@randallorndorff]

Try that Blue Max mod. It changes the map and counters, makes the game look like a classic wargame but still has images on the counters.

[@bremnersghost948]

Hi THG, Set your Bombers mode to Recon & Bomb instead of just Recon

[@shahmatsimplex4144]

Use those marines to invade Britain when she joins the Entente.

[@jelliottii]

Do you believe they'll ever make somekinda WW3, Modern Day or the like kinda game in this same kinda format?

[@stephenmichalski2643]

I thought this game started with Britain having declared war on Germany????If not.....might have to get it.........as Comm Great War starts as such.I'd like to play similar as you and concentrate mostly against Russia.What are your thoughts as per comparing both games?

[@thorin1045]

Nope, starts from the historical start. UK joins if you attack Belgium (or pretty much anything), or if you are move your navy towards the Atlantic. They also will join in a few month anyway, but that few month can be very useful to do some damage before they start helping.

[@TysonArnold1]

I'm confused here, don't you have control of the Ottoman Empire at this point? It's listed on the resource tab in the upper left and it's units are on the map...but I don't see you using them at all.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

It's hard coded to join the CP at some point, and you can do some things with them like research or build but it's not fully mobilized yet, and until it is you can't go to war with it.

[@Trenacker]

Will armored cars be included in the game?

[@kennyrayman]

How as Germany, do you send convoys to Austria-Hungary? I keep trying but it never shows up for the option to do that.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

It's in the wold map, there's a convoy options, select on Germany and it gives you the option.

[@Trenacker]

Will Bulgaria be in the game? Will they be playable?

[@thorin1045]

They are on the map, and they can be played, if they join the war, usually after some success in Serbia by the AH. They will be an AH minor ally and they armies can be used. They are not playable by themself, since you are only able to choose side (can give the other majors to the AI, so you can play only as AH for example, but not only as Bulgaria)

[@Trenacker]

Gotcha. Thanks! Do you know if Finland and the Baltic States can become minor allies, too?

[@thorin1045]

@@Trenacker They not independent at start, so probably not, at most maybe they get free with the Russian separate peace, but probably not even then, but there are many uprising events, so it might happen that way.

[@jornstones537]

@@Trenacker Yes, Finland can break off from Russia during the war (and will if you push Russia into the Brest-litovsk treaty) You can do diplomacy with them so you can get them into the war as minor allies.

[@jameswatson7270]

wow i don't know but you may want to get them line's and you oil sup. up a bit to your front line's and mayby? i don't know we are watching you:)

[@Tomikchomik1]

I am from Poland. This polish legion, make Poland on map again, under 123 yers of ocupation.