Axis & Allies is different than most real-time strategy games in that it takes a
supply line based approach to warfare and manages units on the regimental level.
It works well in the fantasy-based battles of Kohan II but just does not
translate well to Axis & Allies. Supply is generated by HQ buildings and supply
depots and their effective range is signified by a green line on the map. Within
the supply radius units fight at full strength and a regiment’s losses are
automatically replaced. Outside of the supply radius units get progressively
weaker and losses can not be replaced so the regiment runs the risk of being
destroyed completely. The game thus becomes an exercise in building a supply
depot at the edge of your supply range, moving a mass of troops up to the new
extent of your supply radius, building a new depot there, and so on. When
playing against another human it would be wise to protect this string of depots,
but the AI never seems to try and choke your advance by cutting off its
supplies. In fact, the AI pretty much follows the same strategy each time out,
occasionally sending one or two regiments your way in sacrificial nuisance
attacks while it tries to build up a mass of units for a final push.
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| Bases can become sprawling tent cities. |
Its execution may be a bit off but the AI essentially the right idea here;
massing units is pretty much the recipe for success in the game. There are
several reasons for this, the first of which is the regimental command system.
You can order a regiment to move and you can order it to attack another
regiment, but you can’t exert much more control over things than that. You can’t
target individual units in another regiment, concentrate fire, or even try to
maneuver yourself into position for a flanking attack. Regiments attack other
regiments in whatever manner they please until one or the other breaks under
fire and starts to flee. You have to watch for this as pursuing regiments lose
all sense of where they are and will happily go gallivanting across the map
unless you specifically order them to break the pursuit – and it may have to
issue the order a few times before they listen. When you try to make combined or
large scale attacks things just begin to resemble a mob scene and it is
difficult to select a regiment to issue new orders. Or rather it is easy to
select a unit using its unit banner; it’s just really hard to select the right
unit. The banners tend to lag behind the units when they are locked in battle
and stack up with other units’ banners, so there can be confusion as to who to
select or to target.
The units that you move into a territory on the strategic map determine the
units available to you in the battle. Move infantry in and you will start with
infantry and be limited to building infantry. Move armor in and you can field
armored divisions as well. This would make it seem that it is vital to attack a
territory with a combined arms mix but in practice this is really unnecessary.
Infantry can be massed so much faster and cheaper than other units that it makes
it pointless to invest the time and resources into developing anything else.
Just to build an armored division you must deploy a headquarters unit, build and
deploy the required prerequisite buildings, build and deploy armored
headquarters, build and deploy oil depots to supply them, and then when you have
enough supply points you can begin raising your first armored division in your
sprawling tent city. In the time it takes to get to build up a couple of armored
divisions you can research anti-tank capabilities for your infantry, build up a
number of anti-tank divisions, and send your unruly mob at the enemy unleashing
an unstoppable wave of destruction. And since units in supply can quickly heal
themselves, you’re going to need those overwhelming numbers to win or else
you’ll get locked into a protracted stalemate.
If you’d prefer to skip the strategic game altogether, then you can play in one
of the game’s campaign. These are a series of real-time battles based on
historic battles from the war in the case of the Allies, and fanciful “what if?”
scenarios in the case of the Axis. These battles are more interesting than those
in the strategic game as you can have large numbers of pre-existing units and
buildings going in, but the AI still suffers from a number of issues and just
can’t seem to get its strategy right for providing you with a consistent
challenge.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
60%. Although based on a popular board game, you’ll soon grow bored
with this game.
System Requirements: Pentium III 1.5 GHz; 256 MB RAM; 64 MB
Video RAM; 1.4 GB Hard disk space.
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