@GeneralTuna:

Just ordered the game and haven’t played it.  But I’m looking at the starting unit numbers and the Central Powers heavily outnumber the Allies on the Eastern and Western Front (which is historically wrong in terms of the size of the armies in 1914).

Observe:

Central Powers
Germany (63 inf, 23 art) (actual size of army 1914: 4.5 million)
Austria (48 inf, 12 art) (actual size of army 1914: 3 million)
Turkey (23 inf, 6 art) (actual size of army 1914: 210,000)
Total (134 inf, 41 art) (actual combined size of army 1914: 7.71 million)

Allies
Russia (36 inf, 13 art) (actual size of army 1914: 6 million)
France (30 inf, 8 art) (actual size of army 1914: 4 million)
UK (34 inf, 10 art) (actual size of army 1914: 1 million)
Italy (22 inf, 7 art) (actual size of army 1914: 1.25 million)
U.S. (6 inf, 2 art) (actual size of army 1914: 200,000)
Total (128 inf, 40 art) (actual combined size of army 1914: 12.45 million)

What I find most bizarre of all is that austria-hungary is significantly stronger than Russia, which is laughable.  AHO was as everyone knows “a corpse shackled to Germany.”  Yet in this game AHO is a huge power stronger than every other power outside of Germany.

Furthermore, the central powers are poised to flatten Russia with all that power thus making it pre-ordained that Russia falls due to sheer numbers deployed on the eastern front.  I look forward to seeing how things play out but my first impression is that the Central Powers should be the clear favorites in this game.

You forgot to count the units for the minor allied countries, the Allies actually start with more units when you include them in the count.

I am still working the feasibility of this particular plan, so the details are still fuzzy.  Responding to you comments:

1. This is the biggest obstacle of the plan, however, for every IPC the UK spends on warships, the less it is spending on troops to land in Europe or India.

2.  This is less than what France starts with, so not necessarily a deal breaker.  I also don’t thin it is possible to capture London on a single landing either.

3.  France can dump 30 IPC or in Paris as well, not to mention everything else that has fallen back.  I also have ruled out SZ 9 as a feasible option.  One, you have to deal with mines and to prevent having to move transports back and forth risking mines each time you would have to load through an uncontested Belgium (not easy to keep it that way).

The best option I am considering now is to funnel through Norway with half you transports in your home port and the rest between Scotland and Norway.  This option also provides a boost in income.  Also, half your transports are better protected.  This option also puts pressure on Russia from the north.

As far as your comments regarding Germany’s efforts being hampered in mainland Europe is true, you also don’t have to do as much.  You don’t even need to attack France since you don’t need to capture Paris.

Like I said, I am still hammering out the details, but I am favoring 6 transports at the moment.  Picking up Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland (12 IPCs) helps offset the expenses.

@loki17:

To answer your inital question…The same reason there wasn’t enough pieces or IPCs or the game could only be won by one side–
money.

What do you mean there wasn’t enough IPCs?

The ones with two flags stand up troops.  For example, Portugal has a French and Portuguese flag.  For the true neutrals, only the ones with larger flags, for example Ethiopia will stand up troops, Sp. Morocco will not.

It doesn’t generate much income advantage, but that is only half of the economy.  What it does is increases the cost of the Allies.  It costs the Allies more at sea due to the cost of transports and both the US and UK need their own escorts.  I also don’t think anyone said buy just one and you are good to go.

A little more detail on you strat would be helpful.  That strategy appears to be what most people have been trying with little success.  what are you doing differently.  What is as fast as possible?  What do you do with France in the mean time?  How do you prevent the Ottomans from getting crushed with the Brits dumping their entire income in India or shuttling them in to northern Russia.  You seem to be stuck on just focusing on the income difference without focusing on the cost of the war.  A hyper aggressive plan is expensive and it typically widens the gap you are attempting to reduce.  Not to mention your supply lines are getting longer, so if you are losing units faster than the resupply you will have issues.  Perhaps the details resolves these issues and they aren’t readily apparent from your brief explanation.

Which furthers the need for a German navy.  Dropping a ship in SZ 8 or 9 will prevent transports from being loaded.  If the Germans control SZ 9, it delays another turn since the UK would have to load from Wales.

@xxstefanx:

AH must NOT waste any money on ships!

Germany must not waste any money on ships!

Ottoman Empire must not waste any money on ships!

Ground forces and fighters that’s all there is for the CPs to win - nothing else!
And even then it’s difficult enough!

How do you resolve the problem of the UK, France, and US putting 75-90 IPCs worth of units in Paris every turn?  The only way I know of is to disrupt it with a CP navy.

@Flashman:

Can Germany afford to have that much wonga sitting in the bank? You still need infantry to soak up hits when the tank stack is attacked. The Germans should still be able to afford, say 6 tanks on turn 4 then 6 more turn 5.

You have a good amount if infantry to start with, the idea is to not be so aggressive before tanks make it to the front lines and conserve the infantry.

@xxstefanx:

AH must NOT waste any money on ships!

Germany must not waste any money on ships!

Ottoman Empire must not waste any money on ships!

Ground forces and fighters that’s all there is for the CPs to win - nothing else!
And even then it’s difficult enough!

For those not familiar with brainstorming, the idea is to generate ideas, not shoot ideas down.  As far as your comments on ground forces, can you provide a bit more on what your plan is?

I have been thinking that as well.  Reserve 12 IPCs each round in the first three to dump a bunch of tanks turn 4.  I like the idea.  In my opinion tanks are the key to winning with the CPs, the earlier you can get a large stack of them, the better.