Germany National Advantages?

[DY]

I actually think people underrate the German NAs. I mean obviously the Allies have some really good NAs (Superfortresses, Joint Strike, Lend Lease)

Note I've never played a game with NAs and if I did I'd insist each team gets the same # of NAs. Also note that I am a big fan of IPM, so Panzer Blitz doesn't suit my style as I rarely build tanks for Germany. I do add the occasional artillery, but I find arty most useful when playing as the USSR

I'd rank the German NA's as follows:

1 Atlantic Wall
2 Fortress Europe
3 Panzer Blitz
4 U-Boat Interdiction
5 Wolf-Packs
6 Stukas (utter crud!)

If I played with 3 NAs for the Axis, I'd take Banzai for Japan and either the U-Boat Interdiction and Wolf Pack combo (G1 CV and add 1 sub/turn from G2 onwards) or Atlantic Wall and Panzer blitz (getting 2 defensive NAs is probably sub-optimal).

[DocD]

Stukas uter crude?? Now, I won't say that Dy. I've played with all of the NA's and stukas are not bad. Germany has a good supply of them and can afford to lose one or two over London. Unless, Britian has Radar, a combined strike of two stukas and one German bomber can hurt the British economy soundly. Or they can fly to Stalingrad and bankrupt the Russians.
Subs on the other hand don't live very long if they venture out into the Atlantic, so UBoat interdiction or Wolfpacks are at the bottom of my list. Fort Europe and then Atlantik Wall is at the top of my list.

[Kami]

Wouldn't Panzerblitz fit IPM fairly well? I mean, you could push cheaper units onto the front easily w/ the massive number of tanks? Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm leaning towards panzerblitz now over Fortress Europe. tongue.gif Oh, and DY, why would Atlantic Wall be ranked so high, just to defend W. Eur. and possibly Algeria easier?

[Kami]

I did a search and didn't find anything too useful, just curious what you'd pick as a national advantage (only 1) for germany and why? Fortress Europe seems very good, making artillery fantastic but U-boat interdiction would be a nice way to hit the UK and US money for the entire game if one built a CV in the baltic and ran the navy to the med. The rest dont' really appeal to me = /

[holywolfman]

Actually, I think the Panzer-blitz ability is clearly one of the strongest! It allows you to attack with your tanks and if you destroy the enemy units in 1 cycle (which usually happens unless going into Russia)...you can perform a non-combat move with your tanks as if they didn't move! That means you can attack and push bank the tanks and get ready to strike again with them- not having to worry about your opponent counter-attacking on them!

Pretty strong! :D

-Nick- smile.gif

[squirecam]

Originally posted by DY:

I'd rank the German NA's as follows:

1 Atlantic Wall
2 Fortress Europe
3 Panzer Blitz
4 U-Boat Interdiction
5 Wolf-Packs
6 Stukas (utter crud!)
If you had both U boats and Wolf packs, and played to your strengths, you would never need the atlantic wall. Wolf packs attack at a 3. You could place 2 subs each turn (and still have 24 IPC to defend against USSR) given the 40 start. Of course, you wont have 40, you should have more given the African countries.

The 2 subs will force the UK/USA to build a substantial Navy (which reduces or eliminates the IC problem Japan must deal with. So you help on both fronts.

[series]

I think that Germany has many powerful advantages. However, it seems that all countries have a couple good for new players, and some that are horrible for new players, until they get experienced and can exploit them.

[bunday]

If you had wolfpack, it might almost be worth getting supersubs--think of subs costing $8 and sneak attacking at <gulp> a 4! Then it would definitely be worth it to buy a couple a turn!

[DocD]

Agreed bunday...but why invest in subs when V2 rockets do sooo much more.

[Zombie]

Germany has more decent NAs than any other nation, however they're the only nation with no uber-NA. Personally, i'd say that U-boat interdiction is best. I would buy 5 subs on turn 1 and only land units after that. Those 5 subs, plus the 2 you start with, will cost the Allies a total of 14 IPCs per turn. This really adds up after a while. When you think about it, it takes only 4 turns for one of those subs to pay for itself, and then it's pure profit. And that's on top of its other abilities.

Fortress Europe is the second best if you ask me.

[DY]

I agree that Germany has the best set of NAs overall but they lack one single uber-NA.

I think that the UK has 3 very strong NAs:

Colonial Garrison
Joint Strike
Radar

The US only has 2 good NAs, but they are both awesome:

Superfortresses
Chinese Divisions

The USSR only really has two strong NAs IMHO:

Lend Lease
Non-Agression Treaty

Salvage seems ok at first glance, but it's hard to imagine getting too many tanks from it in realiry.

Japan has some pretty crappy NAs overall, although Lightning Assualts seems like it could be pretty handy and of course Banzai is an insanely good NA (possibly the best -- imagine Japan's first turn with no air power needed to invade China!)

[Kami]

Ok well, I started a game with my roommate and had to practically beg for a 3rd Axis NA. He agreed but I had to roll the 3rd one = /. Allies got Lend-Lease, Colonial Garrison, and Mechanized Infantry. Axis got Fort. Eur. (rolled this one ), Atlantic Wall (picked this one), and Banzai.

So far, the game looks pretty even except Russia made a terrible move and lost a big chunk of their stack in the Ukr, underestimating the strength of artillery+inf combo in E. Eur ;) . I'm having trouble with Russia's Lend-Lease, however, as it is a pain to have a Russia with easily accesible atk pieces...anyone else think its way too strong? :(

[Zombie]

I don't think it's way too strong, i don't even think it's the strongest Russian NA. But other than Japan, i don't think any nation chose their best NA in your game. This may be why it looks strong to you compared to the other ones.

[Zombie]

The best NA is the one that gives you the best chance of winning the game.

[DY]

Originally posted by Zombie:
The best NA is the one that gives you the best chance of winning the game.The best NA depends entirely on your strategy and is therefore relative. Why choose Joint Strike for UK if USA takes Superfortresses, since the USA will like build purely bombers and roll for tech, tkaing the "A" out of NA.

If the UK doesnt build a factory in India then Chinese Divisions isn't likely to be of much benefit since Asia will quickly fall.

[Zombie]

Actually, joint strike and superfortresses go perfectly together. UK sends infantry to Russia through tranports. USA goes the HB route. Eventually, you can mount a formidable assault using (1) the infantry in UK through transports, (2) the UK infantry already in Russia and (3) the US heavy bombers who each attack with 2 dice at 4.

Even if the UK infantry in Russia are out of range and can't be used, you'll still have a devastating attack.

[Kami]

How would you define "best" NA?