Clash of Empires EP 14

[ComradeP]

jonnymacbrown: I was referring to the Russian units in the southwest, which face little opposition initially and which start relatively close to objectives. Territorial gains elsewhere combined with Russian cavalry in the rear might cause a sudden death victory based on comments from players thus far that the Russians were in some cases close to victory (before the arrival of German units from the northern part of the map) without a breakthrough to the German rear.

As you say, the on and off Fixing of units in the north reduces most of the potential gamey moves in that area, and the Germans seemingly have enough forces there to prevent being outflanked.

The problem with regulating the flow of the battle with Fixed units in a scenario like Lodz, where the chance of victory of the attacker depends on being able to take out forces without them concentrating (after withdrawing), is that there is often nothing that limits a withdrawal aside from being Fixed. Depending on the visibility and whether units are T-released at divisional level or higher, this can mean the defender can withdraw after being spotted, particularly when high point objectives are in the rear.

In FWWC, lots of points can be gained from destroying units due to how big they are, points that might be needed to win, but if you withdraw those points can't be gained by the attacker. It can be cheaper in terms of points to withdraw than to sacrifice units, also because initial defensive positions tend to be untenable so you'll lose both the units and the objectives near the initial frontline anyway if you stay and fight.

Without T-releases or without allowing the defender to withdraw, you might get the other extreme of the attacker being able to overrun the defender without the defender being able to do much about it due to being Fixed, a problem which increases almost exponentially if the attacker is more mobile (like in WWII titles in open terrain where the attacker has numerous mobile divisions and the defender doesn't combinedwith not having a second line force to "catch" the initial breakthrough).

In East Prussia, the differences in unit quality are not that significant (if they're different to begin with). The Russian handicap in terms of unit efficiency comes from their small HQ range and losing a quality level if out of that range, not from poor average unit quality like in early-mid war WWII titles. The D quality reserve units that serve as little more than a pinata for the Germans if left in place are backed by a pile of regular divisions.

Still, I'll start a campaign game soon to see what it's like in practice before drawing further conclusions based purely on the map and dispositions .