Latest Opinions on Assault/Defend PBEM Ratio

[seabolt]

If I may ask those of you with far more experience than me: What's your ideal points ratio for an assault/defend PBEM battle in SPWW2? IIRC, the last time I looked, the general consensus was that 2-for-1 for the attacker was about right. That seems awfully low to me.

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[keepitloki]

Bear in mind that in a SP battle, the attacking player may have a point advantage of 2-1, which might seem low. But that attacking player also has the opportunity to concentrate his forces at a single point, increasing that ratio immensely if the defender is forced to spread his forces out to cover all possible avenues of attack.

[keepitloki]

Although I wouldn't say that I had far more experience than you, it's just my opinion.

[seabolt]

I do see your point about a human player concentrating his forces far better than the AI, which is why my response to 2:1 is "seems awfully low" rather than "that's crazy!" ;) Still, if anyone has any actual game experience to pass along, it would be appreciated.

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[Vesku]

1.7 or even 1.5 to 1 usually works best. 2 to 1 can be used if the attacker has a very low xp force against a high xp defender. And then I will tell you a big secret, the experience of the player is the most important factor :)

[Thexder]

In SPWWII the ratio should be about 1:1,5. Against an opponent with substancially lower skills and/or lower experience even 1:1 could work out sometimes in SPWWII.

In SPMBT it's a completely different story. The more recent the battle, the more the advantage goes to the side of the defender. AP-arty, ATGM, vis40, better fire control, higher difference in the cost between AFVs and infantry, better AT capability of infantry all play into the pocket of the defender. I guess that was seen in the Final Armageddon first round as well:cheeky:.

But in SPWWII the AFVs are relatively cheap, only few infantry squads are capable of destroying AFVs from the distance of two hexes or more and smoke can be used very efficiently. All this enables the attacker to operate very efficiently with mech assault using overwhelming superiority in breakthrough points. A defender without CD (=range filter) is in a world of trouble...

,
Thexder

[zeiss]

Yep, 2:1 is actually "awfully high". In SP it's much easier to attack than to defend. The defence must be mobile and able to carry out counterattacks to stand a chance.

I agree with the previous posters that 1:5 is the way to go.

And then I will tell you a big secret, the experience of the player is the most important factor :)

*cough*braggart!*cough* ;)

[Vesku]

*cough*braggart!*cough* ;)

:conf: My last 1 to 1 attack ended up in a draw. :conf:

[seabolt]

And then I will tell you a big secret, the experience of the player is the most important factor :)

*cough*braggart!*cough* ;)

He's shameless, isn't he? ;)

Thanks for all of the feedback. I guess I had in my mind that a competent defender should be able to trade roughly an x-pt AT gun for two 2x-pt tanks in this era, and much the same in MGs vs infantry, without properly appreciating how many defending units will be cut off from the fight.

Then again, my mental default WW2 setting is a wide-open Russian plain, which isn't all that easy for the attacker to smoke up because there's so many angles to cover. The math is radically different in a jungle. It just now occurs to me that terrain probably ought to impact this ratio quite a bit ...

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[zeiss]

He's shameless, isn't he? ;)

Completely shameless.. and he even claims innocence by mentioning that he "only" got a draw when attacking at 1:1. :)