Too bad Moscow can’t be reached by sea, eh? ;)
If you attack West Russia and Ukraine, you’ll kill 6 INF (plus 1 INF lost to kill the Soviet armor on Ukraine on G1), 2 ART, 2 ARM and 1 FTR at the average expense of 6 INF, 1 ART and 3 ARM. That’s 51 IPC of German hardware against 40 of Soviet hardware.
As the Soviets you usually will never have another opportunity to deal so much damage to Germany. Plus you’re securing both W Russia and Caucasus and prevent a Karelia stack.
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2 out of 3 Russian factories can be reached by the sea, if they are taken, Russia is pretty much done :) That is one of the reasons Stalin won, Hitler didn’t manage to take Leningrad and Stalingrad, Moscow would have collapsed if that happened, the same is the case in the game.
Yes, one good point is that Russia can take out 51 vs 40. However at what cost if you understand what I mean? Germany has 41 IPCs and a lot more units, which means, Germany can afford to lose a little more, Russia on the other hand has to sacrifise it’s offensive capability, leaving Russia with only 2 ART and 2 Armor after G1 turn.
You can’t prevent Karelia attack, there will basically be like 1-2 INF on Karelia left when it’s German turn, and it’s easy to take that out. 3 German INF on Finland + Baltic area with another 1 INF and 1 Armor and the rest wipes out Russian 2 tanks in Ukraine, with 1 or 2 INF losses. Germany doesn’t lose any IPC’s , they gain 1 IPC in Syria with most of UK ships annihilated, and Russia is dependable on UK since they are closest to Karelia.