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| SC - Basics |
SC - Tutorial |
SC-Bugs |
This SC strategy manual was written to explain to you the most important strategies and to be available as a work of reference.
With questions and completions, please send an email to: Terif
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| A strategy manual for Strategic Command |
General Strategies:
- Better 1 unit within the supply of a headquarter (HQ) than 2 units without HQ (fights almost as good, is cheaper and doesn't use up so much space).
If there are not enough HQs available to supply every unit then make sure that the units in combat are supported (those that you use for defence respectively for attacks during the next turn) and not some unimportant corps in the back.
HQs have a range of 5 hexes and always support (max. 5) units within their nearest neighbourhood first.
So if e.g. 5 units stand like a ring only one hex away then these 5 units will be supplied and no other units. If there are not 5 units 1 hex away then the computer will take a look whether there are units 2 hexes away, then 3 hexes and so on until the 5 units to support are found.
With several units at the same range things get trickier and there is no practical way to calculate during combat which one will be supported (it is possible, but simply needs too much time since it depends on the geographical position of the HQ). Here a proper time to swear has arrived, when the damn computer does it again and supplies the wrong units :-D. If you have several HQs, then they support in a specific order: from West to East and when they are on the same longitude, then from North to South. Therefore you only need to make sure your last HQ in the row supports the right units and move the surplus units out of his range - so you can determine which units are supported and which ones not.
- When you place a ship in a port and send a ground unit into a transport, this transport will appear one hex away (the port is occupied and in SC there is no piling up of units). This transport can be unloaded within the same turn.
That is extremely helpful e.g. from London to France in one turn, from Manchester to Ireland and from Kiel to Copenhagen.
As an order of attack it is useful to attack first with the strongest units (armies and tanks) and then to follow with air fleets (there are of cause exceptions, especially when the enemy is entrenched). Air fleets are more mobile so you can choose which target to attack and fit the task best to give an enemy unit the last strike. After the heavy units have attacked you can see very well where the air fleets are best to be used.
Obviously, it is twice as expensive to buy a destroyed unit back than to reinforce it. Thus, it always has to be the goal to destroy enemy units. So concentrate your attacks and destroy your enemy there and do not attack on many different places to only damage the enemy.
- When a port is unattended (or not anymore, after the enemy unit was destroyed) you can take it over by moving up a ground unit near it. Then you can land with your troops via this port in the same turn.
- This you'll find also in the manual and everybody should know it ... but apparently most players do not read the manual: in the upper part of the SC screen the expected combat results are shown when one of your units is activated and you move the cursor over on an enemy unit. That greatly helps planning the attack and you also see whether the attack makes sense or if it doesn't. Especially you see which of the targets you can destroy and which you cannot and whether you should plan your turn over again.
The actual results deviate from the expected combat results only by + - 1.
It also pays off to take a look at the attack and defence values of the respective units (manual or buy menu in the game). There you see e.g. that the use of bombers (attack 1) against tanks (defence 3) - and other ground units - is not recommendable, likewise the attack of a bomber (1) without escort against an air fleet (3). The other way round you should not misuse air fleets (def. 0) to block enemy armies (attack 8!) at the front...
Specific strategies for some countries:
- To conquer Norway in one turn you need 2-3 air fleets (in Denmark), 2 Armies (or tanks) to the left and right side of Oslo, plus a corps to conquer the port and another unit to take the capital.
- Vichy France can also be taken within one turn if you take Marseilles and Algiers simultaneously.
- When the allies attack Portugal, Spain will join the axis as soon as France falls. When Spain is no longer neutral, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria do not join the axis as a consequence of it.
- When the axis likes to attack the Balkan states after Spain joined her, she needs to be cautious: Hungary and Bulgaria increase the war readiness of the USA/UDSSR like any other normal small country (i.e. Norway, Denmark), but Romania belongs almost to Russia and the declaration of war against Romania raises the Russian war readiness by 15-25%. So better stay away from Romania as long as you are not ready for Russia!
- Never ever attack Yugoslavia until you are in war with Russia! Firstly the Yugoslavian Coup will come anyway and secondly the Russians absolutely don't like that and you are in war with them in very short notice.
Now, in the last part, I like to state some possible strategies for France and Russia. I will only describe 2 basic strategies for each of them (defensive and offensive), for that is what brings the fun during the game: developing/detecting new strategies that fit your opponent.
There are hundreds/thousands of possible strategies and everything depends heavily on the current situation and your opponent.
In principle, the allies need to plan on a very long-term basis and have to decide relatively early which strategy they choose. They neither have the MPPs (to compensate losses) nor the time (ships do not move that fast from England to the Mediterranean and the other way round, whereas the axis can operate her troops within one turn to the other end of the world).
The axis will win a one front war. It is decisive to timely establish a second front, when Russia is attacked.
The axis will then have to decide on which front she likes to be offensive and on which she remains defensive. That means the axis is either strong in Russia + gains ground fast, in the same time the western allies take, admittedly slower but steadily, France and Spain. Or the axis throws everything to the west so that she can destroy the invasion forces. But then Russia gets the opportunity to grow strong and to press on the axis from the east. Often it is a race: Either the axis is first in Stalingrad and in the Ural or the allies reach Berlin first before Russia surrenders and the axis can send her troops back to the west.
When the axis gets enough MPPs to be strong on both fronts then the allied player has either done many things wrong before (then the only thing that helps is the unconditional surrender ;-)) or it is a bluff with the last resources (e.g. you can sell your research chits, after all that amounts to 1250 MPPs and can make you look quite strong for a short time).
France:
- 1. Defensive:
Corps defence; every hex from the Low Countries to Paris is plastered with corps, every whole is consequently closed when the enemy does not move into it. Possibly, you can use the five French armies to make local counter attacks to destroy 1-2 units and to close the resulting wholes again with corps. Using this defence, Germany will indeed be able to destroy 1-2 corps per turn and advance slowly and constantly, yet it takes at least until May but more likely until July 1940 (depending on the luck/skills of your opponent) before Paris and in the consequence France falls and Allies can save a lot of mpps during this time
- 2. Offensive:
Buy a French HQ! (i.e. by disbanding the air fleet (LF) and two warships.) This HQ should always be placed in a way that it supplies the 5 armies and not the corps. British corps are used as a blockade in the first row and as soon as a german unit breaks through or a good opportunity comes up, the 5 armies move forward and destroy the enemy unit. UK/French corps are always used to block and to protect the armies. Evenutally England can provide air support from London. But usually it is better to wait until UK has built a HQ before the air fleets are thrown into combat. Without a HQ air battles are very expensive and do not much damage to the enemy.
Russia:
Here, the strategy depends heavily on the present course of the war and how far, with how many and with which troops the axis invaded Russia.
- 1. Defensive:
Take advantage of the natural defence lines. Units that have to attack from rivers or marshes only get half of their attack value. So entrench your units behind these natural defences and the opponent will have a hard time to break through. Good defence lines are firstly Riga-Minsk-Kiev-Odessa or also behind the Dnjeper river west of Smolensk and Rostov. When the opponent got a definite breakthrough and you cannot patch the whole any longer you need to withdraw your troops to the next defence line.
For defence it is best to use cheap corps. They are easy to replace and they delay the enemy nevertheless. Tanks are indeed the best defence units but also the most expensive ... and Russia does not have too many resources at her disposal.
Always have a close watch on your headquarters! Some players try to destroy enemy HQs with their air fleets. That is easily avoided:
Either station your HQs out of sight/attack range of air fleets, HQs have a range of 5 hexes and the supply comes from russian cities, so they do not need to stand right at the front - and they shouldn't also. Always keep an eye on the enemy's tech advances in long range. Or take advantage of natural defence terrain: mountains are best and then entrench there and the HQ is nearly indestructible by air fleets. Then it will take the enemy much luck and normally at least 10 air fleets to make it. You do have to repair, but hey ... with those forces your opponent could have destroyed a bunch of front units; this way you only need a few MPPs to repair the HQ. Other good terrains are cities (but there you really need to entrench, otherwise they actually do not offer a decent protection) and, if nothing else is available, forest.
If your opponent has a lot of air fleets stationed in Russia then he will have few ground units and/or the west is left open. That is what you need to take advantage of e.g. by counter attacks or even better by an invasion in the west. Never forget: Russia is not alone and the allies should not allow the axis to fight a one front war.
Especially with a corps defence line it can be very helpful to have some armies/tanks with HQ support ready just a few hexes behind the front. Either to patch front breakthroughs or to start a counter attack when the chance arises.
The siberian reinforcement arrives as soon as enemy units approach Moskau or one of the cities eastwards of Moskau (Exception: Russia is very strong and has too many units compared to Axis, but in this case the axis should never come that far).
You can benefit from the Siberians, since you do not need to defend the regions between Leningrad and Moskau by all means but can use your units elsewhere - when the axis moves toward Moskau you will get your reinforcement, even if with a delay of one turn (the Siberians arrive at the end of the allied turn).
- 2. Offensive:
If the axis attacks Russia only weakly or the defence lines hold well and you have some MPPs/units left you can either directly attack the german lines or better conquer a few smaller nations to improve your resource situation.
First target is Finland. Since the Fins join the axis anyways (40% chance per turn as long as either the USA is still neutral or at least one axis unit stands outside Leningrad) it suggests itself to conquer Finland by all means. To prevent that the axis sends in some reinforcement you can bomb the port of Helsinki so that it is fewer than 5 (so bomb it to 3 since 1 strength point returns at the beginning of the axis turn). In a port that is damaged no transports can be shipped in or unloaded.
If Russia is strong enough and is more or less a match with her air fleets Sweden is the next option.
An attack on Turkey opens the way to the valuable Iraq if the axis should have taken it. But don't forget to land with a few transports from the black sea near Istanbul to cut the land connection for the axis. Otherwise she can operate reinforcement into the Middle East which would be the end of your offensive.
A last thing in closing:
Always take a good look at the overall situation. The resources are quite fairly balanced: if someone has got many air fleets then he has few/weak ground troops. If someone builds a lot of submarines the resources will likewise be missing elsewhere. Usually, a well mixed force is the best choice. When someone starts producing one-sided the opponent can take advantage of that and choose the fitting counter strategy.
The axis may be strong at one front but then she is weak at the other. Attacks should always be coordinated so that when an invasion is done in the west also some pressure is brought about in the east. The axis can never afford a two front war (and if so, then the allies have done things wrong before or it is a bluff), therefore, never give her an opportunity to first finish off one side and then turn to the other. Naturally, being the axis player it is the very art to achieve that.
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| © 2003 Terif, Die PanzerLiga |
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