Won as the CP

[Arne]

Playing as the CP ... I won the game in 1918 ... probably in a fashion envisioned by the developers. By early 1917 I had encircled the bulk of the Russian army around Warsaw and slowly began to close the circle. Just as I began to finish off the few remaining Russian forces ... the Russians surrendered in Oct 1917. I'm not sure if this was my brilliant play or if it happens automatically. I then transferred my 3 large German armies to the west and sent the AH to Italy. In the west I was making progress by very slowly ... with the addition the armies from the east ... I encircled Paris ... which took a few months to fall. With the fall of Paris (Nov 1917) I secured a Major Victory. On side note ... I never had much success with the Ottamans. I was repulsed multiple times in the Sinai and similarly in the east of Turkey.

I never used the subs and as a result the US never was close to entering the war ... in fact, at one time, the US was over 90% leaning towards the CP. Both Bulgaria and Romania joined the CP.

I had only limited success in Africa ... a lot of effort and next to nothing to show for it.

The game was fun in spite of the bugs and learning curve...it's fun managing a huge global war.

I few issues:
1. There should be an easier way to identify when generals are promotable.
2. It's a pain having to move a 3 star general all the way to the GHQ to form an army (especially true for the Ottomans). Especially if you inadvertently merge with another army and you loose your Army status.
3. It's not really clear what role artillery plays and where/how to use it.
4. Same for aircraft. Recon is easy but the fighter part not so much.
5. The minor countries should be able to form armies or at least one or 2
6. The radius of a GHQ is pretty small...is this by design?
7. I wish there was a button which showed ONLY new units created/ready for service and a way to scroll quickly to and through them. There's a lot of units on the board late in the game.

Now time to try as the British/French.

[Švejk]

Russia probably surrendered because you destroying most of its army completely destroyed its morale.

[Nico165]

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

Was this with vanilla or beta patch ?

How was the western front before your russian armies came to rescue ?

[Altaris]

Russia doesn't automatically surrender, it's random once Eastern Entente NM falls below 10. Glad to see it was roughly around historical timeframe when Russia fell though.

Medium/Heavy Artillery has a very strong impact on reducing enemy cohesion and doing some damage prior to the infantry engaging. It's very important for breaking heavily entrenched positions later in the war.

For the air war, having air superiority matters to keep recon high, which is the only real reliable way to keep tabs on enemy strength.

USA war entry may be tweaked some, but I am a pretty firm believer the USA may very well have stayed neutral if the unrestricted submarine warfare had never taken place.

[Švejk]

Probably. As long as we could have sold our stuff in peace, we might have stayed out forever.

[Kensai]

1. There should be an easier way to identify when generals are promotable.
2. It's a pain having to move a 3 star general all the way to the GHQ to form an army (especially true for the Ottomans). Especially if you inadvertently merge with another army and you loose your Army status.
3. It's not really clear what role artillery plays and where/how to use it.
4. Same for aircraft. Recon is easy but the fighter part not so much.
5. The minor countries should be able to form armies or at least one or 2
6. The radius of a GHQ is pretty small...is this by design?
7. I wish there was a button which showed ONLY new units created/ready for service and a way to scroll quickly to and through them. There's a lot of units on the board late in the game.

1. True that.

2. I know, especially when the GHQ is locked. But with the strategic redeployment it is literally two turns away. One to move it near, one to move it again back to the front. Use the Shift button on the GHQ to see his command radius before moving the General to be attached to the Army.

3. Answered by Altaris already, but go to the AGEOD Wiki and read how battles happen at decreasing distance. Having artillery means the obvious: you engage (fire) first and at a distance. When the troops are close enough for rifles and melee, the army that brought more guns will have weakened the enemy more.

4. Have enough of them close to the front and they will counter the enemy's missions as well as decrease some cohesion on the enemy where land battles happen. Bombers are much more efficient on this latter aspect.

5. That would be cool. I feel that every nation should form its own hierarchy albeit with certain limitations to abstract the lesser capabilities.

6. It should depend on the Strategic level of the GHQ General. An awesome 3-star General as GHQ should give a relatively large radius. GHQ is NOT always the same as Theater CiC, so you should send your GHQ to the front, near where the attached armies fight. These armies should be in his "aura" radius, if possible. Extra bonuses should be in if this happens.

7. True that, again.

[Shri]

Ya, Stalwarts like HINDENBURG must have 6-7 radii instead of 3 that nincompoops like Moltke Jr and the Czar get.
This is a big issue certainly, also your army gets a malus if not inside the radii so as Austria and Ottoman it is a huge issue.

[Kensai]

What's the malus, exactly? Activation penalty? Initiative?

[The Red Baron]

When your 3 stars are within the command radius of GHQ, they may receive an increment/decrement to their strategic/offensive/defensive rating; depends upon the rating of the GHQ general. When outside the command radius, your army commanders have no chance to receive any bonus the GHQ may provide to their ratings; that's the only "penalty" I can think of.

[Shri]

Activation.. That means.. If u play tough or historical.. Armies locked

[The Red Baron]

Quite correct. Without the benefit of GHQ cmdr bonuses or because of a GHQ cmdr's low rating, army cmdrs may fail their activation checks more often.

[Kensai]

That's what I suspected/knew. I was kind of perplexed by Shri's answer: so it's not a malus when they are not in range, they behave normally, but there is a certain bonus when in range. It makes sense for it to be the bonus of Strategic/Offensive/Defensive values, this was (I think) what was proposed originally, but it's hard to understand. I have made certain tests with Von Moltke in and out of range and it seems the viewable stats do not change for his subordinate Army Generals. At least on screen.

Perhaps we might want an extra visual cue on the stack's portrait when its Army General is in range. When you select the GHQ the subordinate armies flash in red. Perhaps red and a small icon (or a more RED red, heh) could imply the subordinate Army has also taken the GHQ's advantages for that turn. The GHQ has to be active for the bonuses to apply, right? It works the same way as the CiC in this aspect?

[The Red Baron]

That's what I suspected/knew. I was kind of perplexed by Shri's answer: so it's not a malus when they are not in range, they behave normally, but there is a certain bonus when in range. It makes sense for it to be the bonus of Strategic/Offensive/Defensive values, this was (I think) what was proposed originally, but it's hard to understand. I have made certain tests with Von Moltke in and out of range and it seems the viewable stats do not change for his subordinate Army Generals. At least on screen.

The GHQ has to be active for the bonuses to apply, right? It works the same way as the CiC in this aspect?

GHQ cmdrs may/may not provide a bonus/penalty when subordinates are within range. It not only depends on their strategic/offensive/defensive rating but also a random component; so, a good cmdr may provide no bonus, a mild bonus or a great bonus.

So far in my game as EE, the system works as intended. Your viewable stats for subordinates may not change if your GHQ cmdr suffered from bad random die rolls. As with CWII, you may hover your cursor over the small diamond shape on the inspection panel for subordinate army stacks to view the bonus/penalty that the GHQ cmdr passed onto his subordinates for that turn. If your army cmdr received no bonus, he could be out of range, the GHQ cmdr might be a poor leader or the GHQ cmdr might have suffered from bad die rolls.

I'm unsure if the GHQ cmdr must be active to pass along bonuses/penalties, but it makes sense. Maybe another AGEOD veteran can chime in on this.