Don't Feel Sorry For The AI
I now know better. My 3rd battle in 9/39 Poland was so bad I thought I stood a chance to lose, though I came in with a fairly substabtial draw (which I consider a defeat). I was stupid enough to play with a visibility of only 7. I doubt I will ever let that happen again. The AI Poles were advancing on me, and the following is the reason you should not feel sorry for the AI at all.
For artillery, I had 4 core 100mm offboard guns (which didn't counterfire a single gun, but then I figured later it was better being used for regular bombardment, as the AI couldn't possibly counterfire it if fired on the field, and probably wouldn't reserve anything for counterfiring anyway) and 2 150IG's and 2 75IG's. Wow, 8 whole guns. What did the AI pick? 60 75mm guns, only four of which were onboard. There was some other artillery but I didn't bother counting them.
The guns are what mostly gets me here, as having that many guns going off gets to be a real nuisance irrespective of what damage it may cause, but this battle also rather epitomized how lopsided things can often get in favor of the AI. In most situations at this close range (7 max) my AFV's would very often not hit on the first shot (probably 80% misses), while the Polish ones did, often destroying, with something close to a 50% ratio. For a couple of times I noticed the percentage on one of my tanks, it would state 95% and miss, then fire 75% and miss. Then of course the AI fires one time in response and kaboom! Naturally I didn't see the AI percentages but that's pretty close to how the whole battle went, where the AI was hitting and often killing 50% of the time, whereas my shots were almost always over 50% and were hitting more like 25%, especially if it was the first shot. It seemed like a ripoff. So yeah, guys, don't feel any mercy for those bastards. It's hard to believe I destroyed 93 tanks to my 21 lost (I have between 33-38 core AFV's).
Next battle you ask? Why, the 4th battle is again in 9/39 Poland (the mass grave of the Wehrmacht). I can only wonder how many lovely polish battles 10/39 will generate (60 battle campaign) if I ever get there.
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