***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 5 Star General ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** COPYWRITE (c) 1999-2001 Narayan Sengupta NewFrontiers@Mindspring.com June, 23- October, 31, 2001 v.1.4 PG2 GAME TIPS [If you are having difficulty with the "Word Wrap" on this document, then do a Save As to save this document to your computer. Then use Notepad to open it and set the word wrap there. Alternatively, you can just view the source from your browser.] The Russians Playing as the Russians is very different from playing as the Germans, British or Americans. For starters, this one is actually kind of hard. Here are some things to do to make it easier. Keep in mind I haven't played the Russians in several months, and so I'm going off of the top of my head. Buy as many fighters and bombers as possible. Your bombers are the only way to take out his heavy tanks, at least at the beginning. However, you're not going to get his bombers unless you take out his fighters. Don't always bring your units to maximum strength between scenarios. Just do it sometimes. Conserve your high experience/high strength units for use after the enemy units have been softened up by your other units, if at all possible. Buy as many of the little mobile 2 range AA units (I forget the names. Are they 20 mm?) Place aforementioned AA next to artillery. Buy lots of recon. As soon as you can get Yak-9s, upgrade them. I don't remember if it's the stock equipment file or not, but the Waffenkammer one has Yak-9Us (I think) with a HA=9! Pray for a really great prototype, such as an early IS-2 or La-9. I consider all of the above force multipliers. If you read between the lines, you'll see that I don't advocate buying infantry, tank destroyers or tanks. Stick with the ones you have and upgrade them. Always advance within range of artillery support. I always buy lots of artillery. I buy about twice as many units as I would buy for the other countries if I were playing them. Use one set to support your advancing line while using the other to move forward behind the advancing line. I usually end up with about the following force composition at the end of the game: AT 1 FTR 4-5 ATK 5-6 INF 6 ART 5 AA 6 REC 5 TANK 7 I know that I'm forgetting some classes, but that's all that I can think of off hand. Ambushing Air Units One trick that I like to use, especially when playing the AI when it has superior air forces in quantity or units, is the following. Leave one of your bomber air units within sight of an enemy unit. Cover that bomber with a fighter that is out of sight of any enemy units. Place AA so that it can cover the bomber and one hex around it, but still remain out of sight of any enemy units. When the enemy attacks with his air unit, your fighter will bounce his fighter. And then when it's your turn, you can attack further with your AA. And then if his fighter is weak enough, then you can attack him again with your fighter. You can use a similar methodology with artillery. Enemy bombers love to go for artillery. Cover it with a hidden fighter and AA. Note that this is, of course, also helpful even when you have the upper hand. However, and this is a big caveat, just because you think that your units are hidden doesn't mean that they necessarily are so. He might have a reconnaisance unit or other unit that spots your setup, and he can then turn the tables. Still, this works more often than not. Use bad weather to surround enemy units that are stronger than yours, and then bring up your own AA as rapidly as possible so that you can hit his fighter(s) with everything you have when the weather gets better again. Fighter air units build experience generally much faster when they're attacking ground units. The best targets are those in trucks or in rivers! NOTE: I got very frustrated that the Soviet campaign was only six scenarios long, which is why I made the "Russian Revenge" scenario. That way I get to use IS-3s for two or three scenarios. Please send me any feedback! Thanks, Narayan Sengupta newfrontiers@mindspring.com INTERESTED IN PEOPLE'S GENERAL? A number of us have been rapidly upgrading People's General in much the same way that PG2 has been upgraded by its ardent fans (including myself). If you would like to contribute, then please come on over! Your Builder's Paradise User ID should work at the People's General forum as well. DON'T HAVE THE GAME? Then let me know, and I will try to get you a CD. Narayan's 5 Star Web Site: www.peachmountain.com/5star People's General Web Site: www.peachmountain.com/5star/PeG People's General Forum: http://pub24.ezboard.com/fjpspanzersfrm10 VIVA SAVANNAH I haven't played Savannah in about a year or so, but, as far as I remember, the key was the following: Place at least one heavy artillery with a leader special on Hilton Head (the island just off shore in South Carolina). That will then provide fire support. I think that I used to also land a AD unit there as well that could fire three or more hexes. The drawback is that both of those units will be stuck on the island for the rest of the scenario. The good news is that they will provide invaluable defense from air and land attack and make landing on the beaches a hell of a lot safer. MALTA Get in there with some hardened artillery or long-range artillery. Soften up his flak that is guarding the airfield with your ships, and then use your bombers to destroy what resistance is left. You should be able to mop up with a good Panzer, some STUIIIs and maybe a recon. You'll lose most of your Italian fleet, but who cares? They're not core forces, and PG2 doesn't appear to even keep track of those kills. BTW, you can use your fighters to shoot at his ships, though it's generally costly. So get some bombers that have high naval attack ratings. ZITADELLE/PROKOROVKA Played Zitadelle again last night. Great scenario. But the dynamics get changed completely with the Waffenkammer e-file (and I suppose other e-files as well). Prokorovka, the Russian counterpart, is less intense, but harder, I think, since maintaining air supremacy is difficult and then influences the rest of the scenario decisively.