I remember reading some stuff I think at Caspian Sub about Kill zones and Dead zones. Kill zone means anything the enemy leaves there you can kill without much loss. Dead zone means anything you leave there yourself you are likely to lose. So on these concepts, your strategy is to keep the enemy in your kill zone while keeping yourself out of his or hers (your dead zone)
My last few games against the TripleA AI (I know it’s weak but the only opponent that’s ready when I am) I’ve moved away from keeping a solid front (just 1 inf pickets to prevent blitzing) to keeping a huge stack in a position where it can strike at anything. It can be on the front, but doesn’t have to be, it can be one behind the line. Whatever the enemy takes as easy bait by killing my 1 inf, I take back by wiping out the entire occupying force. Of course, the AI has no strategy, so I don’t know how it would work against a human player.
[edit] I guess what I’m describing is really a defence to strafing
The risk is such a defence to strafes is economic…
Yes, you will get paid when you re-take (lightly) the dead-zone territory. BUT your opponent is ALSO getting paid for it. The advantage goes with the nation that made the initial forward push in such cases… or more accurately it goes AGAINST the nation that is the same color as the territory that is the dead zone.
Deadzoning Ukraine leaves Germany getting paid for it yes, but it also means that Russia is getting paid for it too. And that is a net benefit to Russia.
Strafing as a short term strat to waste an opponent’s stack, or to build up your own force is a good thing… strafing against your own core territories forver in a game is a losign strat.
If both sides are retaking with 1 inf or whatever, I agree. But if each round he kills 1 inf and then I kill 1 Inf 1 Art 2 Tnk he’s still down 14 IPCs on each exchange (for example).
But maybe only a really dumb opponent (TripleA) would keep doing that. I need a real game. That might happen Saturday. Cystic Crypt and I have discovered that we live within a mile of each other (and that I’ve met his sister) so I’m pumped to gear up the old war machine. Whatever that means.
Small unit battles are AF and INF, preserving ART and ARM.
what do you want to do with his sister?
Nothing, I’ve just met her, that’s all. Sheesh. Get your mind out of the gutter.
It’s just weird to suddenly realize you have a connection to someone else on this board.
Back on topic, Switch, I assume that AF means Air Force - good point. That way you can retreat your better units and just leave Inf exposed. But the guys I’ve played with don’t play that way - they try to hold everything they capture.
And mojo, when I say “played with,” I mean - you know…
oh i know frood i definitely know.
yea back on topic. you cannot hold every territory. i call it " buck mongering" where you both exchange a country using just enough inf. + planes. this may go on for a long time, thats where the money is so huge. can you continue to retake those countrys? once you cannot & your opponet holds them your in trouble.
don’t mind my sense of humor frood, i am a little raw.
We have not seen the sister, nor do we know her availability status. So that is not really a question any of us can answer :-)
@ncscswitch:
We have not seen the sister, nor do we know her availability status. So that is not really a question any of us can answer :-)
We can speculate, though.
Hubbahubba.
–
Yeah, strafing is good. But if you know your opponent can strafe, you play differently. Example - usually, I try to take Ukraine, Belorussia, and Karelia from West Russia with minimal forces, because even if Germany is stretched out, it can strafe me if I take heavily. So I take lightly.
I find that it’s the THREAT of strafing that I use and see, rather than strafing itself.
And the other side of the coin is…
Threaten strafe and TAKE instead. It just worked in my current game. Jen was afraid of a German Strafe from Caucuses (I am guessing) making her Moscow force too weak to hold against the Japan. So she evac’d instead killing the German force and surrendering Moscow.
Strafe Threats CAN be very fun :-D
