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currently on another quest to find the perfect premodern mass battle miniatures game. I'm coming around on To The Strongest giving up and using a grid, plus I like how it basically rips off Warmaster's command control but makes it a little more predictable. Not really sold on its unit classification though, I kind of like Warmaster or Field of Glory best in that regard
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Feb 13, 2024 23:40
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atelier morgan posted:the second best lotr video game is a mod for an almost 14 year old sandbox rpg yeah I should have specified videogames. But it really gives you a cool rush when you do things like sending an elf relief expedition to bail out the dumb humans who are losing to orcs.
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Feb 14, 2024 02:31
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Frosted Flake posted:I would love to know the rationale for the focus tree system. Most other game systems are something like diegetic but how do you even explain the geist of a nation spending 30 day chunks radically transforming society, building factories out of nothing etc. ? they had a design flowchart and then never made the design
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Feb 14, 2024 04:39
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Frosted Flake posted:I would love to know the rationale for the focus tree system. Most other game systems are something like diegetic but how do you even explain the geist of a nation spending 30 day chunks radically transforming society, building factories out of nothing etc. ? it's just another symptom of Paradox swinging too far in the other direction of prioritizing gamification. You see it too with "ruler mana" in EU4 and the whole design ethos of Victoria 3, as compared to what I'll call the "trends and forces" designs of EU3 and Victoria 2.
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Feb 14, 2024 04:44
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gradenko_2000 posted:it's just another symptom of Paradox swinging too far in the other direction of prioritizing gamification. You see it too with "ruler mana" in EU4 and the whole design ethos of Victoria 3, as compared to what I'll call the "trends and forces" designs of EU3 and Victoria 2. Eh the focus tree is way dumber than vicky3/eu4. Like Vicky's journal entries are exactly that kind of thing, but they at least require you to put some work in to complete then instead of clicking a button and waiting 90 days
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Feb 14, 2024 04:58
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the focus trees were an attempt to fix a 'problem' in HOI3, which is that you had effectively zero control over anything except warfare and the politics system may as well have not even existed they feel tacked-on because the problem they were trying to fix wasn't really even a problem, it was just a consequence of the game's focus. the series is, very narrowly and specifically, about WW2. it is not about simulating a nation in the early 20th century, it is about gaming out a specific historical event, and all of the actual game mechanics are built around doing that one thing. you can, for example, allocate factories to building rifles or artillery pieces or trucks or fighters, but all civilian goods are abstracted into a 'Consumer Goods' modifier that you can't directly control or influence, because the game's economic systems aren't about simulating a national economy, they're about simulating a national war economy. it doesn't really matter that you couldn't radically alter your nation's politics, because the game's setting and focus are not conducive to that kind of gameplay. the games just aren't about that. the focus tree system is an attempt at a compromise between the game's narrow focus and giving players the control and freedom to do whatever absurd bullshit they want. the compromise they settled on is that the game is still about WW2, but you get to flip some switches to select exactly which version of WW2 you want to play. going back to Kaiserreich again, it is also definitely inspired by the original Kaiserreich mod, which did exactly the same thing, it just did it through literal hundreds of long, branching choose-your-own-adventure decision dialogs and event trees for each nation
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Feb 14, 2024 06:06
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goon project: victoria 3 1950s timeline extension mod
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Feb 14, 2024 06:08
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yeah focus tree's were a replacement for events that let people know how to get to desired outcome they screwed up though by forgetting that means they shouldn't have tied in gameplay requirements and direct rewards because they don't make sense stuff should've only changed modifiers
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Feb 14, 2024 06:12
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Mister Bates posted:going back to Kaiserreich again, it is also definitely inspired by the original Kaiserreich mod, which did exactly the same thing, it just did it through literal hundreds of long, branching choose-your-own-adventure decision dialogs and event trees for each nation Hearts of Iron IV Kaiserreich still has this.
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Feb 14, 2024 06:14
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before nsb I was planning out my own take on a Soviet rework, part of which was redoing the purges so that you needed 50%+1 of then central committee supporting you to complete major focuses. your choices for swaying the CC were arguing, blackmail, “accidents”, and purges. killing and purges were the fastest way to get approval because they reduced the size of the opposition quickly and there was going to be a hidden random ticking clock where if you didn’t complete the focuses fast enough Stalin’s paranoia would max out and he’d kill most of your advisors and generals
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Feb 14, 2024 06:22
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the Soviet tree is very funny because it was very obviously made by anticommunists who think the Soviets were bad and evil but it also makes Stalin absolutely 100% right, and if he doesn't do the purges then his paranoia is completely vindicated and the USSR implodes
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Feb 14, 2024 06:33
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BearsBearsBears posted:The Focus trees of HOI4 are basically a visual novel or a choose-your-own-adventure book. HOI4's genre is strategy/VN and it turns out that's a surprisingly popular genre combination. The team that did the remake of Crisis in the Kremlin have a whole series of "choose-your-own-adventure" games about socialist states in the late Cold War era now. I've enjoyed them a little but still don't really understand the mechanics outside of events. The translations to English have improved over time at least.
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Feb 14, 2024 06:36
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Atrocious Joe posted:The team that did the remake of Crisis in the Kremlin have a whole series of "choose-your-own-adventure" games about socialist states in the late Cold War era now. those games rule, the translations are horrible and the UI is incomprehensible and Crisis in particular assumes you already have detailed and specific knowledge of the minutiae of 1980s Soviet domestic politics it’s a game where you can be asked to rule on a law and they don’t bother to explain what the law is or what it contains or what it does, because it assumes that if you’re playing this game at all, you already know and they were right, I did already know
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Feb 14, 2024 06:50
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Atrocious Joe posted:The team that did the remake of Crisis in the Kremlin have a whole series of "choose-your-own-adventure" games about socialist states in the late Cold War era now. I played that game way way too much the secret is that the game is incredibly broken/bugged and the bad translation etc is actually disguising it. Because when something weird happens you assume you did something wrong and not the game broke somewhere. Typo has issued a correction as of 06:59 on Feb 14, 2024 |
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Feb 14, 2024 06:56
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Mister Bates posted:those games rule, the translations are horrible and the UI is incomprehensible and Crisis in particular assumes you already have detailed and specific knowledge of the minutiae of 1980s Soviet domestic politics most of the laws do absolutely nothing like maybe enacting them shift something -somewhere- but they basically have zero impact on game play also do NOT EVER adopt titoism your economy will collapse The devs are super homophobic/transphobic based on my interactions in their discord server so don't feel guilty about pirating it lol Typo has issued a correction as of 07:02 on Feb 14, 2024 |
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Feb 14, 2024 06:57
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Typo posted:I played that game way way too much Everytime I would get mad protests against me in the game I was able to diffuser it by calling my supporters into the streets without having to use the army, except every time it happens in 1991 U get over thrown despite how well society is doing
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Feb 14, 2024 15:43
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KomradeX posted:Everytime I would get mad protests against me in the game I was able to diffuser it by calling my supporters into the streets without having to use the army, except every time it happens in 1991 U get over thrown despite how well society is doing it's almost impossible to tell what's an intended mechanic and what's a bug like at one point I remember increase education funding was actually making my people dumber according to one of the meters. I had the propaganda education minister appointed so I thought "oh maybe it's cuz the brainwashing is making them dumber" so I decreased the funding and sure enough: they got smarter. I was like "wow, what deep simulation"! Except someone looked over the source code later and the devs just fked up a variable somewhere and made education funding subtract rather than add to the education meter the actual good part about the game is that the devs themselves seem to have lived through the 1980s USSR as children so some of the events have very interesting tidbits like who Igor Talkov was Typo has issued a correction as of 16:09 on Feb 14, 2024 |
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Feb 14, 2024 16:06
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lmao, I am using fangorn forest as an elf NATO base now.
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Feb 14, 2024 16:34
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atelier morgan posted:the second best lotr video game is a mod for an almost 14 year old sandbox rpg you referencing the last days mod for mount and blade? i'd say that's probably the best representation and most fun version of the war of the ring i've ever played, it had so many factions that you could literally play for a year and not get bored.
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Feb 14, 2024 19:16
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Ardent Communist posted:you referencing the last days mod for mount and blade? i'd say that's probably the best representation and most fun version of the war of the ring i've ever played, it had so many factions that you could literally play for a year and not get bored. yeah it's crazy good
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Feb 14, 2024 23:26
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Mods aside, Mount & Blade Warband is just one of the best games ever imo Bannerlord is getting there slowly
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Feb 14, 2024 23:27
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Endman posted:Mods aside, Mount & Blade Warband is just one of the best games ever imo I remember being kinda disappointed with Bannerlord but mostly because I was hoping for more, i can't recall what it does outright worse than warband
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Feb 14, 2024 23:37
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The disappointing part of Bannerlord is that it has a whole load of extra systems compared to Warband, but none of them are fully realised yet. Warband was the “completed” version of the original Mount & Blade and feels like a finished product. Also Warband’s modding scene is incredible as previously discussed.
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Feb 15, 2024 01:17
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Yeah in retrospect, Lothlorien is way harder if you don't focus on either isengard or the orcs in mirkwood. Splitting your attention between multiple fronts is pretty difficult. Crossing the Anduin is essentially you painting a huge bullseye on you. You are essentially too small to have a working economy to project a formidable force. Tolkien talked about how the elves in LOTR were fading away and really weren't a military power anymore apart from Mirkwood. Its cool to see the mod makers twist med 2's engine into doing that. The silvan elves starts off in a way better position because both it's flanks are secured by human allies letting you march southwards and systematically defeat mirkwood - but your units are worse than lothlorien.
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Feb 15, 2024 01:45
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StashAugustine posted:I remember being kinda disappointed with Bannerlord but mostly because I was hoping for more, i can't recall what it does outright worse than warband if you haven't played in awhile, it's getting some pretty good full conversion mods. they haven't released the lord of the rings mod, but there's a pretty good warhammer mod that's had some releases, a rome era mod with the same. the cool thing with the warhammer mod is they added a magic system, and careers that help differentiate the factions and roles within them.
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Feb 15, 2024 09:39
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Tankbuster posted:Yeah in retrospect, Lothlorien is way harder if you don't focus on either isengard or the orcs in mirkwood. Splitting your attention between multiple fronts is pretty difficult. Crossing the Anduin is essentially you painting a huge bullseye on you. You are essentially too small to have a working economy to project a formidable force. Tolkien talked about how the elves in LOTR were fading away and really weren't a military power anymore apart from Mirkwood. Its cool to see the mod makers twist med 2's engine into doing that. You decided to get yourself stuck in a two front war where the opponent on your east is significantly larger than you and your only support is some weaker allies to your south? Cool, cool.
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Feb 15, 2024 11:25
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Orange Devil posted:You decided to get yourself stuck in a two front war where the opponent on your east is significantly larger than you and your only support is some weaker allies to your south? hahaha.
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Feb 15, 2024 12:02
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Slavvy posted:Yellow and blue counters are the new black
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Feb 15, 2024 18:02
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Orange Devil posted:You decided to get yourself stuck in a two front war where the opponent on your east is significantly larger than you and your only support is some weaker allies to your south? Anti-orcunism combined with obsessing over 'will' and 'elan' is a hell of a drug...
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Feb 15, 2024 18:07
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I've been running a small LP (shameless plug) of ASL-like game "Retro", and I tonight decided to try to apply some of the lessons I learned to Second Front: - only ever advance one unit at a time - use these individual movements to bait out defensive fire so the later units won't get shot at - whenever you have broken units that rout, run the leaders back to them so they'll rally - don't be afraid to walk (not necessarily run) directly towards the enemy; as long as you've got even a little bit of cover, the dice are on your side... - ... especially since dislodging an enemy inside a building through fire alone is very difficult with just small arms - the goal is to get to Close Combat asap, because that's how you score complete kills on units quickly and by god I managed to beat the first American scenario, "A Town Too Far", after something like three/four failed attempts two weeks ago
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Feb 15, 2024 18:51
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gradenko_2000 posted:I've been running a small LP (shameless plug) of ASL-like game "Retro", and I tonight decided to try to apply some of the lessons I learned to Second Front: ASL as an actual 1v1 versus another human hits differently because they also know that imo weirdo GMT game fields of fire is a significantly better squad leader-like solitaire experience than any actual ASL-like. not actually knowing what the gently caress is in front of you until it's too late works much better atelier morgan has issued a correction as of 18:57 on Feb 15, 2024 |
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Feb 15, 2024 18:55
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Fields of fire for how much i love it, was one of the worst written wargames i ever played as well its a lot of fun tho
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Feb 15, 2024 19:00
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Yeah Chain of Command also fits in that category of having excellent ideas but terrible copy editing. I still remember that FoF let's play where the author realized that technically nothing prevents a bunker from retreating
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Feb 15, 2024 19:10
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StashAugustine posted:Yeah Chain of Command also fits in that category of having excellent ideas but terrible copy editing. I still remember that FoF let's play where the author realized that technically nothing prevents a bunker from retreating If asteroids can kidnap admirals bunkers should be able to retreat.
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Feb 15, 2024 20:00
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the first Army General campaign for WARNO released, a short outing pitting East German and West German forces against each other. Since AG was the only part of Steel Division I cared about and the thing I was waiting on for this game, I decided to finally give it a try. It's made by a Western developer so the war starts with the Soviets attacking first, of course, and the East German mission is to drive on and take the city of Alsfeld to secure the Pact's northern flank, then hold it against counterattack. The setting is late 1989 so the technology level is relatively high, the campaign is set only hours after the start of the war so both sides are at full strength, and the East Germans have a substantial numbers advantage at the start of the campaign, although their equipment is qualitatively worse (mostly T-55 variants, while the West German defenses are anchored around an American tank battalion composed of M1s). If you've played Steel Division or Wargame you know the gameplay, there's not really any substantial changes there, and graphically it looks pretty much the same too. It does have a nice synthwave-y soundtrack that fits the 80s vibe they're going for, and is a welcome change from the boring forgettable orchestral music that's standard in wargame soundtracks. There are some arbitrary restrictions on battle size because it's a video game - only one artillery support unit, only one air support unit, a maximum of 3 frontline units of which one can only be a recon or other support unit, etc. - and those are slightly annoying and prevent you from doing things that might be done in real life (in particular I found myself using much less artillery than they likely would have in real life), but that's been every game in this series so I don't hold that against them. From a few battles it seems like it'll be as fun as Steel Division 2 was/is, and the sample campaign is a fun bite-sized strategy experience, with straightforward objectives, relatively small forces involved, and a tight turn limit, but still offering what feels like a complete and satisfying scenario. It's still rather short and there is still only the one of them, but as a sample of things to come it's pretty good. It has also made me realize that I would kill for a Graviteam Tactics: Fulda Gap Mister Bates has issued a correction as of 21:30 on Feb 15, 2024 |
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Feb 15, 2024 21:28
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Finally stopped being a carebear and went to war in Old World and I actually wore down Babylonia enough that I rolled over them before long, with the help of the Greeks. Now there's only the Greeks, Carthage, and Persia left, and Greece and Carthage are now allies and I'm a couple points ahead of Greece. It's turn 137/200 and IDK, I think I may just have to turtle up for the rest of the game and win on points. Both individually are stronger than me and are in an alliance, and I can't even make alliances because my god-king Tutankhamun isn't that class of character that can, make alliances?
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Feb 15, 2024 21:29
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Tekopo posted:Fields of fire for how much i love it, was one of the worst written wargames i ever played as well yeah thankfully being a solitaire you can just, run it how you think it should be rather than having to stick to bad RAW like a competitive game
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Feb 15, 2024 23:40
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that's two USA scenarios in Second Front won. It's like a switch went off in my head and now I can see the Matrix EDIT: the next scenarios after the first two are big steps up in terms of scale and length. I tried to do the "Seize the Railway Junction" scenario for the Soviets, and I failed at the very last turn (out of 12!), though I do feel like I have a better grasp of how it went wrong and how to do better next time. What I'll say is that with these bigger and longer scenarios, there's a much better sense of a back-and-forth, where entire platoons can rout, rally, and come back for more. A one-company-to-one-company fight over five turns might come down to a single wave of attackers breaking over the objective hex, but this was a battalion-level engagement, with one objective halfway up the map, and a second objective all the way on the other end. By the 11th turn I had lost so many men to well-placed Flak 37 and Pak 38 guns that the Germans were able to launch a counter-attack against the first objective, and I felt a sharp bitterness at the historical irony of experiencing virtually the paradigm of being able to take a position only to be thrown off of it by a kampfgruppe. Despite the loss, I'm not nearly as bothered about it as with prior incidents, because it doesn't feel like the game is mysterious or arbitrary anymore. gradenko_2000 has issued a correction as of 17:32 on Feb 16, 2024 |
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Feb 16, 2024 10:44
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Some observations on the first Army General campaign for WARNO: - The NATO AI either doesn't have anything capable of SEAD or doesn't use it effectively, couldn't tell which, which made NATO air a complete non-factor in my first go at the campaign. Every time they tried to participate in a battle they were driven off by my air defense, and I never even saw a NATO aircraft in the entire first attempt. - There is a serious dearth of anti-aircraft units in the NATO formations you're pitted against. - NATO also either has almost no artillery to speak of or the AI doesn't use it effectively, again couldn't tell which. These three things together allowed me to completely smash a full-strength American armored cavalry squadron with a battalion-sized force of obsolete T-55s, without having to involve the second battalion I had in reserve at all. I was then able to send said second battalion forward and do the same thing again to mop up the remainder, leaving NATO's most powerful unit on the board a complete non-factor with most of the campaign left to go and the majority of my forces completely uninvolved. Use my scout pickets to locate the enemy, pound the poo poo out of everything with artillery and CAS, and only then send the tanks in. Rinse, repeat. If a shot comes from a position at the tanks while they advance, pound it some more. Receiving no counterbattery fire and having plenty of resupply, there was no reason not to be completely profligate with my artillery and pour it on everything that looked suspicious, and after singling out and destroying the few anti-air units they had, the vaunted M-1 Abrams became so many fish in a barrel. It didn't matter that I was using tanks that couldn't reliably damage them, they mostly died before even seeing my tanks. The Bradley, with its TOW ATGMs, ended up being a bigger threat to me than the tanks were, responsible for the overwhelming majority of my casualties in those initial engagements. They are, unlike the M1s, vulnerable to the T-55's main gun, though, so they didn't last long once caught out. When I attempt the campaign a second time I think I might try using smoke to mask my advances and reduce the amount of time they get to fire missiles at me. Almost every time I win it is because I broke the enemy morale and caused a rout rather than because I actually took and held the objectives.
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Feb 16, 2024 18:25
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warno is tite but yeah the pact artillery and air powers so strong that i don't really know how nato is supposed to do anything the rocket artillery also wipes like entire grids
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Feb 16, 2024 20:59
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