Artillery

The artillery piece is a valuable unit but does have its drawbacks, such as mobility.  However, when playing as the Americans or the British, infantry and artillery are always the more valuable purchase over inf and arm because you don’t need a lot of mobility when moving from Western Europe to Germany and fighting in that theater.

The artillery piece could also be an invaluable piece to the Germans who, if playing with National Advantages, may use Fortress Europe to hold off combined Allied forces for 2-3 turns at least; allowing the Japanese to take Moscow and giving the Axis a fighting chance to win the game.

Artillery purchases for the Russians are rare because, of course, their main purchase is infantry.

You see the major downfall of the artillery piece when playing as Japan.  The Imperial Army has to move quickly and agressively against Russia to have any hope of winning the game, thereby, allowing the Japanese player little oppurtunity to invest heavily in artillery.

The other thing to remember is that INF MUST outnumber ART  to be practical.

The true value of Artillery is not the artillery itself (which is OK, but for 1 IPC more you get 3/3 instead of 2/2), it is the boost that the Artillery gives to INF (making a single INF/ART pair a combined attack/defense of 4/4)

But you WILL lose INF in battle.  And ART without INF to support is a BAD buy.

So make sure that you ALWAYS will have enough INF to be paired up with your ART AFTER a battle for the NEXT battle.  Otherwise, you are wasting your IPC’s

The artillery piece is a valuable unit but does have its drawbacks, such as mobility.  However, when playing as the Americans or the British, infantry and artillery are always the more valuable purchase over inf and arm because you don’t need a lot of mobility when moving from Western Europe to Germany and fighting in that theater.

Hmm, I don’t think you’re right at all. Infantry/tanks are better for the UK/US because they have a limited number of troops that can get into action, thus you want the best units going into transports.

The thing you probably don’t realize about art/inf vs tank/inf is that art/inf have a worse “skew” effect. The skew effect is when you lose units during combat that affect your combat power. If you attack with 4 inf 4 art for instance, and you lose 4 units in the first combat round, your attack power has decreased 8 points because those infantry are actually attacking at a 2. With an attack force of 4 inf 4 tank, however, your attack power only decreases by 4 points since those infantry are just attacking at a 1. It’s pretty clear to see what 4 tanks are better than 4 artillery on their own. Plus, tanks/inf have better defensive qualities than do artillery.

Also realize that the UK can only deploy 8 units out of the capital, and you will probably be making at least 32 IPCs which fits 4 inf 4 tank. For the US to utilize the economic efficiency of artillery/inf would require a larger transport system like a 5x5 or 6x6 which requires a ridiculous number of transports.

Art/inf are the best economic purchase for Russia/Germany because they have a ton of room to mobilize units (thus the money saved on artillery can be used), but packing transports requires tanks/infantry for the UK/US, and Japan is relying more on tanks/inf for blitzing beacuse of how long it takes to get to Moscow.

Trihero, armor is a must-need purchase for the Allies if they plan to defeat Germany.  However, if the Allies were to incorporate a strategy where the UK concentrated on armor/inf purchases and the US on the inf/art purchases, you have yourself and very diversified army and a strong one at that.  This works particularly well if you’re using the Joint Strike capability.  Once the British and Americans have established themselves (hopefully in the same round), the Allies can then choose the right time to use this ability and crush Germany with a one, two, three punch of inf, art, arm.

Virtually no offensive army can be successful without the use of armor, but I have found the inf/art build to be extremely useful with the Allies in the downfall of Germany along with a good stream of armor.

Well,

after I read the other posts, I stick with my point of view…
I think it is best to have all three kinds of units at once, for EVERY army (axis or allie)
indeed, you have pro’s and con’s on every mathematical contribution to the purchase of units.
but if you have 4 trannies? I would like them to have 4 inf, 3 art, 1 arm or preferable 4 inf, 2 art, 2 arm.
do you have 5 trannies? then I try to occupy them with 5 inf, 3 art and 2 arm…

then you have a mix of every possible good option but unfortunately of course, some of the negative features as well…
but if you want to blitz? you can.
your first units you’ll lose? they have only an attack value of 1.
your defense? still has some 3’s in it…

So, for me? artillery is definitely not the “I got a buck left” strategy…

Artillery are only good buys in the beginning of the game. They are less mobile and have less defense then a inf/arm combo and are greatly inferior to tanks alone. However, in the beginning of the game the countries that start with lots of inf in combat zones (rus and ger) have a reason to by art because they boost their existing inf for free essentially boosting they forces that they start with. On G1 if you buy 9 art and 1 inf (the pair for Africa) then overall you basically gained 8 attacking die points for free (due to existing inf).
Bottomline, art are only a good buy on T1 and T2 for Russia and Germany.

Bumped.
@ P@nther or Wittmann
Please move this Revised Edition’s Thread into Player help.
Thanks,
Baron

I must say that I like artillery, but not nearly as much as mechanized infantry. To me mobility is key. This can be said for both Axis and Allied armies. Think about it… Germany needs to push Russia as quickly as possible. Japan needs the mobility to move inland, and the mechs also act as fodder for your massive air force. For the allies, especially the US, the ability to move quickly will be a must to constrict the IPC intake of the Axis. Now keep in mind that you need to pair tanks to blitz, however the mobility of the units especially during the noncombat phase is extremely useful.

@Requester45:

I must say that I like artillery, but not nearly as much as mechanized infantry. To me mobility is key. This can be said for both Axis and Allied armies. Think about it… Germany needs to push Russia as quickly as possible. Japan needs the mobility to move inland, and the mechs also act as fodder for your massive air force. For the allies, especially the US, the ability to move quickly will be a must to constrict the IPC intake of the Axis. Now keep in mind that you need to pair tanks to blitz, however the mobility of the units especially during the noncombat phase is extremely useful.

Interesting points. The new MI unit from Global is a game changer in A&A franchise.
Brings mobility, defense and fodder altogether.