First Impressions

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uran21
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Re: First Impressions

Unread postby uran21 » Sat May 12, 2018 10:16 am

Kuybyshev

This one gave me some troubles but I had a feeling there is room for tactical improvement on my side. Air Drop supply could support up to two mobile units outflanking but in that case they would be missed in combat and after first objective was cleared there was too much mopping up required which hampered further advance. So I used concentration of force up until closing to first objective and then released mobile groups. Total destruction of Soviet forces around first objective enabled me to be in good shape in front of second objective with some dispersion around flanks. Capture of Kuybyshev was confident on turn 14.

Foot infantry was lined around railroad as protection measure against partisans. Some force rearrangement was done from start by reorganizing Engineer specialist steps and giving them to tank and mobile infantry instead. Also some infantry regular steps from weakened unit were kept in reserve to maximize strength of mobile infantry. Infantry with towed equipment was placed far in advance because on next turn it can benefit from specialist step in attack before moving.

This scenario is rather long and has two phases so even if one is solved properly it can all go wrong in second phase. This to a certain degree gives feeling of wasted time during retries but at the end when I got Brilliant Victory I had feeling of accomplishment which was not the case with those ultra random scenarios. Probably because this one motivated me to dive deeper into combat mechanics.

Toggling of some UI elements was useful around last objective.

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uran21
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Re: First Impressions

Unread postby uran21 » Sat May 19, 2018 6:07 pm

In Baku scenario for the first time I experienced unit staying out of supply in restricted terrain. It could not move nor supply could reach it due to terrain restrictions. I think units should retain some minimal movement of one hex per turn in such situations.

Map could use couple of hexes to the right because objective descriptions are cut off.
Toggling off UI elements really helps on this map as well.

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uran21
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Re: First Impressions

Unread postby uran21 » Sun May 20, 2018 8:41 am

Baku map has interesting elements. My force on the left does matter because they are protecting only supply source and since there are no Airdrop Supply Assets there is no other option. This same left side of map contains points to cut rail supply for the rest of Soviet force. There is no problem at cutting Soviets off supply at turn 2 but due to early reinforcements my mobile elements there stay for a while to clear the area.

I do not know what to think about victory conditions at the moment. In just couple of playthroughs more often I got loss than anything else and the reason is my advance is put to a crawl due to bad weather effects.

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uran21
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Re: First Impressions

Unread postby uran21 » Mon May 21, 2018 1:42 pm

After 2 more attempts I got Brilliant Victory exactly on turn 11, last turn to achieve it.
Still I think scenario is less accessible to those going with more conventional approach.
Battlefield at Baku town is narrow and cramped, even with enough units they cannot reshuffle due to bad weather effects. Bad weather, especially during second part of scenario hampers movement towards objectives and Soviet reinforcements are not helping either. So despite the fact scenario has solution for Brilliant Victory it becomes harder as time progresses.

My solution was as follows: cut Soviets out of rail supply at turn 2, clear rail on left side of the map ASAP, move mobile elements from the left side towards Baku while leaving foot infantry to block Soviet reinforcements from Black Sea. I didn’t even battle with them, they are passive. Those mobile elements that hurried disrupted deployment of reinforcements around Baku and combined with northern force that came along the rail in time to invest the city itself won the battle in time. :D

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uran21
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Re: First Impressions

Unread postby uran21 » Mon May 21, 2018 1:58 pm

Well I came to an end of Stalingrad Campaign 1942-43 (Axis) with all Brilliant Victories won. :twisted:
I am not a newbie anymore 8-) and here is my impression of the game in short.

Brilliant Stalingrad.png


Excellent game design with fewer but crucially important elements. Lots of tradeoffs in decision making. Clean and simple UI. Content not for everyone. More relaxed players could find it too hard even for lower degrees of victory. On higher degrees of victory success often depends on randomness. Suitable for challengers aiming for middle degree of victory.

Despite the fact there are some small points to polish biggest effect in improvement of the game could be achieved in content. More accessibility to relaxed players, less randomness and more skill requirement for challengers. And lastly redefinition of objectives could make it more of immersive experience and less of problem solving situation with dominant strategy. Currently replayability rests solely on desire for higher score.
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Tomislav Uzelac
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Re: First Impressions

Unread postby Tomislav Uzelac » Mon May 21, 2018 6:57 pm

Thanks for posting this diary and analysis, good stuff. :)

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uran21
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Re: First Impressions

Unread postby uran21 » Tue May 22, 2018 1:19 pm

Tomislav Uzelac wrote:Thanks for posting this diary and analysis, good stuff. :)


You are welcome. It was a pleasure to reveal this game.