Anthropoid wrote:Until the possible "Blue Always Win" bug gets pinned down and/or fixed for sure, I'm holding off on playing as U.S. and minor powers. If I play USSR, and act friendly enough, on Normal diplo I know I can even grow my red sphere, even if there is some sort of 'bug' causing blue sphere to grow disproportionately.
I've started and restarted as USSR a few times now and find their strengths and weaknesses very intriguing and would really like to play all the way to 'end game.' I feel like I now have a sufficient handle on their OOB, economic and industrial situation, techs and diplomacy to play and have developed some general strategic principles (which I'll list below).
Last night I started up a new game with the settings that I've come to realize are most suited for my interests: Hard Milit; Normal econ and diplo; High random events; enhanced spotting and range off; Sphere victory (this seems to me to be the most realistic in that, it should hypothetically be feasible to 'win' without ever actually declaring war on anyone and simply growing your sphere through 'philanthropy' and diplomacy; pretty much everything else default.
My question to anyone who has also played as USSR is:
What do you do with all those UNITS!?
First off, my apologies as "I'm a little late for the party." Having said that, I came across your post after trying to dig up a little info on the IS-6 tank. I haven't played SRCW as the USSR, normally I'm the US. But I can tell you how I'd play them which wouldn't be all that different from how I play the US. First, I'm kind of a stickler for authenticity when it comes to the military. Generally, the first step I do is activate all of my reserve units usually with the exception of straight leg infantry units which I'll either sell or deactivate for no other purpose than to make my next step go quicker. Anything really old, like the base M4 Sherman, I will just sell. Once done, I'll pick 2 barracks, usually Ft. Bragg on the East Coast and Las Vegas or Ft. Irwin on the West. After activation, I will just take the cursor and highlight every unit by branch and divide it roughly in half of the country. All the units to from Camp Bowie to the east I will select and have them all travel to Ft. Bragg and upon arrivial, go back into the reserves. Than I do the same for the West Coast, So now, I have all of my forces at two bases. Again, I'm anal about authenticity, so from there, I will start creating divisional sized units that generally coincide with the US Army & Marines TO&E. So, once I've selected the units I need, I'll starting naming (w/Battle groups addon)them and sending them to their respective bases. e.g. 1st Cavalry Division goes into the reserves at Ft. Hood. 24th Infantry Division goes to Ft. Benning. 2nd Marine Division goes to Camp Lejeune and so on. Usually, the 82nd and 101st are the last to be created since I don't have any decent transports or choppers to carry them in, plus there is no air droppable artillery or armor until later like the 105mm howitzer and T92 & M56 Tank Destroyers. From there, I take stock of everything on a unit by unit basis and start either creating new units to "Round out" the divisions or to replace obsolete eqt. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but its a lot better that with the original SRGC 2020 game as there are a lot less slow moving leg units. By January everyone's back in the reserves at their new bases. I usually gut my navy pretty hard. 60+ aircraft carriers? Yeah, not really a need for that many. But I will do the same and create my own Carrier Battle Groups or Surface Action Groups and send them to their bases. The air force, I don't go into detail by naming air wings or squadrons. But I will gut them pretty hard also, especially carrier wings and start modernizing. No one is going to attack you that early in the game and its long done by the time Korea rolls around. Finally go through and see what bases I don't want to keep and get rid of them to save on costs. (Unless they are the only one in a particular part of the country.) The last step i do is save it all to two folders. One for the campaign I'm playing now and the other will be a "start up" save so that if sometime down the line I decide to restart the game, I don't have to go through creating everything again. Its there.
In SRGC 2020, I have played as Russia and do pretty much the same thing except I'll choose 4-6 bases to initially send my units into the reserves to. (It'll take a year for a T-80 to travel to Moscow.LoL)
I start the same process except I'm usually just making up names for divisions. They're generally close to reality like the "1st Guards Tank Division" so I'm content with that. it would be that much different at all in SRCW. Even units in East Germany would come back to the USSR for a short time. NATO won't attack. Also, for both militarily's, I'll kind of use a blend of new and old TO&E to equip them all. THAN, the game begins in earnest.
As for your mention of the MiG-15 and Yak-23, they have the same issue with being undervalued in stats like the F-86 does for the US. It sucks. (No idea if anyone has created a mod that fixes this issue. If so, point me in the right direction. Please!)
I'm glad I read your post about the West always winning bug. Had no idea one existed. But, I will handicap myself a little as the game goes on. For example, I'll buy the technology for the T-54, BTR-40, MiG-15 and IL-28 and manufacture them myself after which i'll sell them cheap to North Vietnam, Egypt, Syria and China. ( Don't do this too often or they'll actually start becoming "buddy buddy" with you.) I'll build them and than let them sit in my reserves until they reach a decent quantity. Then, i will sell them. Just to add more balance. Plus I just can't accept the French winning in Vietnam. Drives me crazy.
Than, let the fun begin!
So, yeah, I know I prolly sound a little nuts but its really not all that hard and once you've get everything set and than save that 2nd startup file, you don't have to worry about it again.
Sorry for the book I just wrote. Hope it helps!
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