Subject: Fw: Axis and Allies (Europe) Inf to Art ratios 

Michael Sandy <mehawk@teleport.com> wrote in message 
<1ecoark.jcxv5f1gve2dgN%mehawk@teleport.com>...
> Axis and Allies Europe introduces a marvelous new
> ground unit, artillery.  Artillery increases your
> attack pips by the same amount as a tank, although
> it is cheaper, 4 IPCs instead of 5.
> 
> The question is, how much artillery should you
have?

The answer is not as clear as you might think.
A 2 Inf :: 1 Art ratio is about as effective on
offense as a 1 Inf :: 1 Art ratio, and it is
better on defense.

Consider 30 Artillery 30 Infantry or the same IPC
cost in 21 Artillery, 42 Infantry.

120 Attack pips vs 105 Attack pips.  Round 1,
they inflict 20 average hits versus 17.5 average
hits.

So we end up with 30 Art and 12.5 (avg) Inf vs
21 Art and 22 Inf.  At this point both sides get
85 pips.  The infantry heavy side has lost more
units, and so more IPCs, but it will make it up
when the artillery heavy side starts losing the
more expensive artillery units.

Actually, slightly under 2 Inf :: 1 Art might be
a little better.  Optimal appears to be when all
the 1's die on round 1.

If you compare 24 IPCs of units, 8 Inf vs 4 Inf
and 3 Artillery, you have 8 pips of offense vs
13, at the cost of 1 hit point.  5 pips of offense
would expect to take out slightly less than one
hit point on round one, so for an allout offensive
to take a territory, it appears to be a good buy
to have enough extra infantry so that almost all the
round 1 casualties come off the extra infantry.

The more attack pips which come from tanks and planes,
the _higher_ the Inf :: Art ratio should be.  The
number of infantry in excess of the artillery should
be determined by the expected casualties you would
suffer on offense in round 1.


Of course, this advice only applies to multi-round
battles.  For overruns, when the enemy has only a
token defense, and you expect to kill all the defenders
in one round, you want to have as much infantry as
possible to hold the territory.


A 2:1 Inf :: Art ratio does have some drawbacks.
It will inflict fewer casualties on round 1, which
means that in a strafing attack the attacker might
lose more IPCs worth of troops than the defender.
Worse, the round after the strafe, the strafer will
have lost more pip of defense than the target of
the strafe lost pips of offense.  If the Russians
lose 20 Infantry and the Germans lose 25 Infantry
then the Germans will have gained an advantage of
15 pips on offense on their next turn.

My most spectacular strafe attack had
42 Inf, 23 Art, 5 tanks, 3 fighters, 2 bombers
vs 41 Inf, 8 Art, 22 tanks.  75 vs 71 units.

I had 6 Art and 5 tanks and the Germans had 2 tanks
in Belorussia at the very end.  Germany had 9 Inf
and 7 tanks in East Poland, so I was quite happy
that I didn't take Belorussia in that strafe.

The relative totals, -1 Inf, -9 Art, +20 tanks
for an IPC shift of 61 IPCs.

The combat lasted 5 rounds.

On the face of it, I didn't have much of an edge
in attack pips, but after round 1 I had more of an
edge because I lost 1's while the Germans lost 2's.


In my opinion, Russia should try to get to a 2 : 1
Inf :: Art ratio as fast as possible.  Russia should
nibble away at German infantry where possible.  It
doesn't really matter whether it is a lone tank or
lone infantry holding a territory.  Killing it
will reduce the defense pips of the total German force
more than the Russians will lose offense pips by
attacking it.

Suppose that Russia has 40 Infantry and 20 Artillery,
they launch air supported Infantry attacks into
territories held by 1 or 2 German infantry.  Over
the course of two turns of attacking two territories
per turn, the Germans lose 8 infantry, and the
Russians lose 6 or 7, plus they build an extra
infantry.  The Germans lose 16 defense pips for
their main stack while the Russians lose maybe
6 pips.  (Not including builds or reinforcements,
just the results of those battles.)

Michael Sandy 

Subject: Fw: A&AE Psychological Warfare 

Michael Sandy <mehawk@teleport.comwrote in message 
<1ed55z3.1x4io8q1lmrk34N%mehawk@teleport.com>...
One of the neat things about A&AE is that there is
an element of psychological warfare to it.

I played against a Germany who deployed his air force
as if he intended to tenaciously defend the Western
Beaches.  So the Allies built a Carrier and lots of
DDs.  The Germans never attacked the Allies' fleet,
and never had troops exposed on the Coast.  As a
result, the Allies defensive fleet build were largely
wasted points.

Similarly, Germany could pull his air force back, as
if he were going to commit the planes to Attrition
combat versus Russia, but then bring them back
West if England built lots of transports.

England would probably have to pull his transports
out of range, which would cost him the jump on
invading Norway, for example, and another turn to
bring the transports back.

The Allies can play psychological games too.  They
can convince Germany that they intend to go all out
for Germany, prompting Germany to go into solid
infantry production, and then they reinforce Russia
to the point that Russia can take the offensive
against Germany.

People shouldn't be wedded to a particular strategy
independant of what their opponents do, in this or
any game.  It is a good idea to have a solid decision
tree worked out.

For example:
If Germany takes 4 Inf Poland, I take 3 Art
Belorussia.
If Germany takes 4 Inf Hungary, I take 3 Art
Ukraine.
If Germany takes 3 Art Belorussia, I take 4 Inf
Ukraine
If Germany takes transport Danish Sea, I take
sub North Sea, possibly Inf Malta, and save an
IPC.
If Germany takes transport Tyrrhenian, intending
to cripple the Allied production, take steps to
improve the British production.  Take Sub Celtic
Sea and you can immediately retake the 5 Convoy
zone.

If Russia builds artillery on turn 1, I build
Infantry in Germany on turn 2.

If Germany concentrates against Russia, the Allies
build more transports and fewer DDs.  There isn't
going to be anything on the beaches for them to
shell, anyway.

If Germany defends Norway with lots of fighters,
the Allies stage through the Celtic Sea, if they
base out of France or Belgium, they stage through
the Atlantic.

Michael Sandy

Michael Sandy