The game cheats, it's as simple as that. It's blatant, too.
Something like an artillery unit can be miles away from any of it's support, completely surrounded and the combined beating of up to 8 full infantry divisions has almost no effect. Not "once or twice for super units". Constantly, for every unit. And in spite of being completely surrounded? If you don't somehow manage to completely destroy it in a single turn, it will magically restock and get replacements, so you have to start all over next turn... tying up way too many units and resources way too long. This seems to be a recurring theme with this series... in the WWII game I had to beat on a Japanese unit that sneaked into Anchorage, Alaska with 4 other units including 2 Marine divisions, artillery a cruiser and a battleship for 75% of the allotted game time to finally destroy it. Meanwhile my reinforcements are seemingly based on the AI's whim, no matter how close to home bases and with open supply lines.
My artillery? Fires once with almost no effect. Theirs? Fires multiple times and all but makes units disappear or set them up to be wiped out by repeated infantry assaults. My submarines? Might take 1 or 2 HP off a non-destroyer ship. Theirs? Wreak havoc with impunity, including my destroyers. If I even think about attacking their destroyers with a sub? Is suicidal.
If I have to reinforce more than 2 bars? Wipes out any and all hard-earned experience. I understand recruits coming in aren't going to be experienced, but I have had 1 1/2 XP evaporate from 30% reinforcements!
There's no attrition, no diminishing effectiveness, no resupply issues, etc... "If you are the computer". Trying to dislodge a single enemy from anything, anywhere ( don't even think about Verdun, which at least has a tinge of historical realism to it!) is a Herculean feat and completely unrealistic.
I send in "bombers" ( another bad joke), and artillery to reduce entrenchment levels. Then more experienced units are slapped down one after another by an weaker enemy who takes little or no damage. Wash, rinse, repeat ad nauseum and that is "the game".
The computer can waltz around the map anywhere it wants. You? Severely limited with no rhyme or reason. It makes it almost impossible to mount an effective offense against any given target. Your units become strung out piecemeal and chopped to bits. You are left constantly having to shift entire lines like a Chinese puzzle box, losing any accumulated entrenchment values along the way... or leave your line with so much as a tiny diagonal gap and he will start pouring through like his ass is on fire. I understand "mountainous terrain", but this is literally "every terrain".
Strangely the American Civil War version is the only one in the series I have found that allows for any semblance of freedom of maneuver, and allows for realistic behavior.
The "Every unit is filled with supermen who can travel anywhere, resupply and reinforce anywhere, suffer almost no damage no matter what they are hit with no matter how isolated they are and surrounded" makes every game devolve into a brutally unrealistic slugging match of attrition that is not only no fun but disheartening because you know you are ultimately going to lose.
So I absolutely do not recommend this game, or really any of the series except ACW until they make changes and add realism. Unless you just like hours and days of aggravation.
