Analytical Help

@bongaroo:

@bugoo:

Ok i’m looking at game 8 and see a few mistakes.

R1
Do NOT abandon Karelia!  G had 4 inf, 1 art, 3 arm and a bunch of planes in range.  Russia could have had a stack of 11 inf, 1 art, 1 arm plus 2 uk figs there.  You gave germany free money without them even having to work for it.  If you had to do an attack you should have struck Baltic States.

So I loose the fleet you suggest to not spend as much $ on?  If those fighters are in KAR they sure as heck aren’t keeping a fleet above the waters, right?

If Germany wants it they can take KAR on G2and If I stack all my defense there I just end up with nothing to trade territories with.

As I said G only had a handful of units in striking range of Karelia.  If you give G that much free money you will loose the game.  You could have stacked 11 inf, 1 arm, 1 art, plus an optional 2 UK figs, more than enough to hold it.  On R1 you must stack the crap outta Karelia or else Germany just makes too much money.

As far as navy best UK1 buy in my book is 1 AC, 3 trans, 1 Destroyer, land the 2 US figs on the carrier.  If G has a large quantity of air in range, scratch 2 of the transports for another AC or destroyer.  I really like the 3 transports though.  In the game I was looking at G only had 2 fighters and 1 bomber in range of SZ 2, the ideal location to drop your fleet.  Because of such a large transport buy, you force the germans to defend france heavily.  On UK2 you can begin a large shuck of units into Karelia, or, if you need more boats stop in SZ 6, trade NWE and do a large drop on Norway and build more boats.

@bugoo:

On R1 you must stack the crap outta Karelia or else Germany just makes too much money.

I am not so sure about this. Taking Karelia is worth 7 IPCs (2 plus the bonus). If Russia stacks Karelia, this means they don’t attack Finland and Norway, which are worth 5 IPCs together (5 IPCS I would prefer Russia to have than UK). That is a net gain for Germany of only 2 IPCS.

Additionally, if you are stacking Karelia with the help of the two British fighters, you are costing Russia 5 IPCS for having foreign units on Russian soil.

I agree with Rockinroboff on this.

It is a bitter loss that Germany gets Karelia. But I really think that stacking it commits to many Russian forces. They are pinned and if Germany goes a southern route then they are out of range to intervene.

For that same reason - I don’t tend to like putting Russia troops into Norway/Finland.

And also - Rockinroboff is quite right - if you’re bothered about 5 IPCs then putting UK fighters into Karelia loses you 5 anyway.

I say let Germany take Karelia turn 1. It will force her to spread her force. Consolidate around Belorussia and cause trouble in the south - once Germany is moving south - get Karelia back. SBR it and remove AA to invalidate it as a production point. That way the Germans (if they want to use the factory will have to pay (hopefully) 3-4 IPCs just to use it and 6 IPCs just to AA it. They probably won’t - so you can concentrate on fighting in Ukraine. Pushing for Bulgaria and your 10 IPCs as the UK/US take scandinavia.

In a KGF it is all about keeping G’s income low.  The UK/US should take finland/norway turn 2 regardless, and that extra 7 IPCs for Germany is huge.  No matter what G will be making 10 units a turn, an extra 7 IPCs turns two inf they would have built, into 2 armors, or 1 inf into a fighter, or almost another bomber to keep US/UK fleets at bay.  Germany will not crumble to the UK/US before Russia crumbles to Japan if you let Germany make 50ish IPCs and Italy 20ish.  You must keep there incomes in check.  And on turn 2 the UK should begin there shuck into Karelia so that the Russians don’t have to send any more units up there.  Now granted if G puts a ton of units in range of Karelia, then you are forced to abandon it typically, but when they only have like 6 ground units in range it is foolish to just give it to them.  Also, by abandoning Karelia you allow Germany to put a large stack there to continue trading Finland with the allies, making R’s 10 IPC NO harder to get, and it makes it more difficult for the UK shuck to take off.

I almost always stack Kar and here is why.

1. 2 UK figs that I land there are UK units killing Germans as early as G2.
2. AA guns can really wreak G’s air and cause CDF during an attack on Kar by G.
3. It is where I start my UK shuck on UK2, even if G takes it in force, UK will usually wipe out any survivors
4. It kills German units.

If you let G reach critical mass in IPCs OR unit count you are doomed.  But if you kill German units your friends (US/UK) have a much easier time cracking that nut open.  I have had many games where on R1 I stack Kar, on G2 it is taken leaving a few German tanks left, Russia begins to push back in the south and begins stacking up Persia/Chingai and the UK lands in Kar killing the remaining armor.  This means G will usually only have token inf/art on Russias doorstep with 9 inf/1art in Poland and whatever they built in Berlin.  A very good looking board for the allies.

Let me give you an example, if Germany were to bring 10 inf, 1 art, and 6 arm up against 11 inf, 1 art, 1 arm, 2 figs, they would have roughly 5 units left on average.  That is the most ground G can have in range for G2.  For each plane that comes along you can assume 1 more ground unit left, but that gets messy because of AA gun.  If the UK builds boats in SZ 2 (the best) the US can land up to 2 fighters on UK’s carrier.  The UK should have 2-4 transports loaded up ready to drop into Kar on UK2 killing all german survivors.  This is a worst case assumption, G should not have that many units in range.

Russia absolutely needs to be offensive but must be careful because of Italian can opener threat.  This leaves you few options.  You can either build planes and set up trades and deadzones, you can mass up units to push G’s back in Belo or Ukraine, or you get germans to die by attacking you.  I perfer the last 2 options and that is why my favorite R1 purchase is 2 inf, 6 arts.  I stack Kar.  If G ignores Kar I move all those units into Belo and purchase tanks R2, being sure to move as many inf as needed into Ukraine to block the can opener and move my AA guns in Kar and Cauc to cover Belo and Ukraine (let them SBR me there I don’t care).  This gives you a force of around 18 inf, 8 art, and 6-7 armor that can hit East Poland on R3.  Along with G loosing Finland/Norway to the US/UK, an US fleet in SZ 12, and the SBR campain begining in force, this makes for a bad German turn 3.  Sure they can attack you, or continue stacking, but then soon you and the UK will rally in Baltic or East Poland and begin driving the fascist back.  Its almost like revised except the US goes after Italy/Africa instead and stays down there till they can take Italy or France.

There is another way for the Allies.

a 4 TP 2 way shuck between ECa and Fra hitting France on Turn 3, and every turn thereafter with 8 units, not including air units, is a very shocking blow to the Axis.

Problem with that is by the end of I2 there should be around 5 Italy inf on france, going up by 3-6 a turn every turn, not even counting the german inf or the large number of fighters that germany and Japan can put there, and lastly that does nothing directly to take pressure off of Russia.  And with bombers in france you need 2 navies to cover them.  But to each there own.

Analytical help is nice, but there is only one way to be a decent player,and that is to practice and practice again, and play a lot of games, especially against players who are more experienced. Yesterday I played my first AA50 game since several months ago, and most logically, I did a lot of mistakes  :-( :-)

@bongaroo:

I understand that with play my skills and strategies will improve.  I’ve just felt like getting some of the community to talk out some of my gameplay would help me get a grip on what I need to focus on.

Nothing wrong with strat talks!

Personally, I think TripleA is a very efficient way of learning a lot, regardless if one prefers TripleA online vs “anyone”, or if someone prefers F2F in a local playgroup. This is most valid for games that are older than AA50 though. Not many veteran AA50 players yet, compared to revised. If you use the PBF you can achieve the same goal, but TripleA is way more time-efficient.

A couple of years ago I was on par with a couple of revised players, but after I started playing TripleA online I beat the crap out of them! Unfortunately they learned from me, it took only a few games before we were at the same level again, but we all got better then before I started playing against a “worldwide pool” of A&A players.

One of these days Sub i’ll take you down again  :evil:

Just wish TripleA would finish the change, and my weekend connection would improve.

@bugoo:

One of these days Sub i’ll take you down again  :evil:

Not with a $5 bid for allies if I’m axis  :mrgreen:

Remember, you estimated allies bid being lower b/c they are more difficult to learn and to master, and you were right, but with LL you can only bid so low…… :-)

And for regular dice, which I strongly disfavor, AA50 is actually pretty balanced, the only problem is that many games are decided during the first rnd.

This may not be the place to discuss it, but what is up with AA:50 on TripleA?  I haven’t been able to access the Unstable server for several months, though I don’t often get an opportunity to try.  The community boards seem pretty dead as well.  Is the dice server for PBEM still functional?

@Zhukov44:

This may not be the place to discuss it, but what is up with AA:50 on TripleA?  I haven’t been able to access the Unstable server for several months, though I don’t often get an opportunity to try.  The community boards seem pretty dead as well.  Is the dice server for PBEM still functional?

I have heard the unstable lobby is occasionally functional - but never when I have tried. I have had a lot of success advertising for AA50 games in the stable lobby, and just arranging to play over direct connection using the 1034 release.

@rockrobinoff:

I have heard the unstable lobby is occasionally functional - but never when I have tried. I have had a lot of success advertising for AA50 games in the stable lobby, and just arranging to play over direct connection using the 1034 release.

Huh. Good idea, I’ll try that sometime.

@bugoo:

Do NOT abandon Karelia!  G had 4 inf, 1 art, 3 arm and a bunch of planes in range.  Russia could have had a stack of 11 inf, 1 art, 1 arm plus 2 uk figs there.  You gave germany free money without them even having to work for it.  If you had to do an attack you should have struck Baltic States.

While in this game I would agree with you that he should not have given up Karelia, if Germany is really gunning for it I abandon it every time.  While that’s a big stack Russia can put there, Germany will take it if it wants to and it’s inevitable.  If they don’t take it G2 then they’ll take it G3 and then you’re going to have a gigantic German presence there with no Russian troops behind it in Arc.  I’d rather pull the AA gun, 5 inf, and 1 art out of there to be used later instead.

Although granted once again, he should have held on to Karelia in this particular situation.