GUIDE: Doctrines.

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    • GUIDE: Doctrines.

      Hello.

      I have been playing on the 100 player maps since they were released. Each doctrine requires a massive reevaluation of how to play the game, to the point where your doctrine choice matters more than anything else. I will evaluate the strengths of units and the games doctrines. First let me evaluate all the units as a whole. Then I'll break down the strengths of the doctrines. Comintern, Allies, and Pan-Asian all require micromanaging, while Axis can just put units on a path to the enemy or on a defensive position and trust with relative confidence that they will still be there in the morning. Therefore Axis is the best for those that don't play this game 24/7, and is the easiest doctrine to win as. Having 15% attack power AND 15% health is absolutely amazing and a 10% resource penalty ends up being nothing.

      Consider all of Axis units. Each one can be extremely effective thanks to the doctrine buff that makes EVERY UNIT better than those of basically any other doctrine. If you want to use anti-tanks as Axis, do it. Want to make tanks, do it. Focus on ships or subs? Do it. I'll show you what I mean:

      Militia: Militia are useless in the early game for axis, but great at end game. At the early game you are nearly always better building infantry no matter the doctrine. At end game however, high level militia are very cheap to build, have stealth, and have an extremely strong state baseline. When other units like motorized infantry are starting to take 12+ hours to build, you can count on militia.

      Infantry: Axis infantry aren't the best to make but are the best infantry in the game. They have +15% attack and HP. Comintern just gets a research buff so can make higher level ones a little faster.

      Moto Infantry: Get a +15% move speed to an already super fast unit. Also get +15% damage against infantry ONTOP of the +15% damage doctrine bonus for +30% more damage! Amazing unit to use as Axis.


      Mech Infantry: Honestly a bit expensive to use but as Axis you get them earlier than everyone. Great to use side by side with moto infantry. When level 3 or 4 moto infantry start taking a long time to produce, try switching to level 1 mechanized infantry from the same production plants and you will see that you can suddenly produce capable units for a fraction of time.

      Commando: Garbage but still better than anyone elses. They actually do the same damage to infantry as Allied commandos but are better at everything else since Allied commandos have +15% to infantry but axis has +15% to everything AND 15% more health.

      Paratroopers: A waste of resources but situationally very useful. I once saw paratroopers flown across the med to take an enemies capital instantly. Yours are the best if you do make them. Sure, allies get +10% health bonus, but axis get +15% and +15% damage!

      Artillery: You get artillery available a little later than everyone else at +1/+2, but yours is the best in the game! Pan-Asian gets a +15% artillery bonus to infantry which is great, but you get a +15% artillery bonus to everything!

      Anti-tank: Probably your worst unit. This would be on-par with soviet anti-tank, but even though they get +15% to light armor and heavy tank, they get -10% damage overall so they are worse than you.

      Anti-air: These units are amazing and have a historical buff against heavy tanks as the german 88 and 105 flak guns were used against tanks in WW2! They also have a +15% bonus to aircraft giving you +30% more damage than any other doctrine and are the ONLY doctrine with anti-air specific bonus. These puppies are good, honestly I build these towards end-game in place of anti-tank. With the city bonus they get, a small stack of them just makes cities unconquerable unless they hit you with artillery fire.

      SP Arty: Kinda expensive, and ordinance plants are expensive to get to high level and are limited in what they can build. Allies get +10% to heavy armor and +10% hitpoints. You get +15% to both, lol. They just get theirs -1/-2.

      SP Anti-Air: You get these before everyone else, and yours are strictly better! Allies get them 0/0. Comintern and pan-asian get them +1/+2. You get them -1/-2! Nuff said.


      Like, do I even need to keep going? Axis is just better at everything. They even have the battleships in the game. Wait, right? BATTLESHIPS? Axis are known for subs, how can they have the best battleships? Pan-Asian has the best battleships right? Nope, their only advantage is that they get them earlier than axis. Pan-asian battleships have +10% health and damage, however that health buff only brings their units up to +0% since all their units have -10%! This means that Axis battleships, with +15% health and +15 damage from their doctrine bonus are actually better than even the might yamato!! Isn't that nuts? TLDR: Play Axis.



      Allies: Unit doctrine bonuses:

      Allies: Basic doctrine bonuses.
      -30% production time.
      -25% research cost.
      -20% upgrade cost / time.
      -10% move speed.

      Allied Infantry:
      Your infantry are weak, likely the worst in the game. Motorized infantry which are a staple scout unit in this game get an availability research penalty of one day. You get a minor buff to commandos and paratroopers but those are generally luxury units. You get a HP buff to Mechanized infantry and a reduction in unit cost but they are already expensive and take a long time to produce which doesn't make them any more attractive. Your best bet if you need infantry is to just level up basic infantry as high as possible and supplement them with ordinance and air power. Your infantry are bad. Build the infantry you need to take and hold cities and don't get too tricky.

      Allies Ordinance:
      Your ordinance is all bad, likely the worst in the game. Wait, what? You read that right. You don't get any buffs to any counter-units (anti-air, anti-tanks) which makes you generally rely on infantry alone for holding ground. SP artillery is amazing and you get a buff to it's damage against heavy tanks and it's... uh...health but it is still an expensive premium unit. Would it not be better to just completely forgo investment in ordinance foundries?

      Allies Tanks:
      Your tanks are all bad, likely the worst in the game. WAIT? WHAT? What can I say, the allies strength is really quantity. They should be swapped with Comintern. Both your light and medium tanks get a research penalty. Tank destroyers are a fun unit to use and you get a 15% production cost decrease and speed bonus of 15%, but even with that speed bonus they are only 5% faster than other doctrines because of your -10% speed penalty! While fun, they aren't really worth it because they aren't flexible enough to do more than defense. This makes your tanks also sub-par.

      Allies Aircraft:
      Aircraft. Aircraft make up for all the downfalls of your other units. If you want to play as the allies, learn all the mechanics of aircraft. Your interceptors can be researched gotten a day earlier than axis or comintern which keeps your skies clear of enemy aircraft. Then you have range bonuses on tactical bombers and strategic bombers that can absolutely cut down enemy infantry or destroy their cities and infrastructure. Just don't let your planes die on the runway.

    • You're correct that a strict unit-to-unit comparison shows that Axis units are stronger than their counterparts, but the increased price means you'll likely have fewer of them and makes it harder to react to your opponents' strategies because of your sluggish pace of production. There's much more to the game than close combat battles. That said, Axis is a fine recommendation for new players who want to get the hang of the game without getting run over on day 1, and is also a good choice if you can't micro manage a particular game.

    • Florp wrote:

      Infantry: Axis infantry aren't the best to make but are the best infantry in the game. They have +15% attack and HP. Comintern just gets a research buff so can make higher level ones a little faster.
      I'll disagree with this. In my opinion, if used as a defensive unit as intended, Pan Asian are better. They get earlier access to upgrades and, doctrine terrain bonuses (to include in forests), make them worth building.

      Pan Asian is the only doctrine I bother building infantry with.

      Also for battleships, don't forget about the Pan Asian speed and view range bonuses. They make a big difference. Technically in a standup fight, yes ship for ship Axis is better. However, for cost efficiency, Pan Asian is better here.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by 6thDragon ().

    • 6thDragon wrote:

      Florp wrote:

      Infantry: Axis infantry aren't the best to make but are the best infantry in the game. They have +15% attack and HP. Comintern just gets a research buff so can make higher level ones a little faster.
      I'll disagree with this. In my opinion, if used as a defensive unit as intended, Pan Asian are better. They get earlier access to upgrades and, doctrine terrain bonuses (to include in forests), make them worth building.
      Pan Asian is the only doctrine I bother building infantry with.

      Also for battleships, don't forget about the Pan Asian speed and view range bonuses. They make a big difference. Technically in a standup fight, yes ship for ship Axis is better. However, for cost efficiency, Pan Asian is better here.
      Motorized infantry, coupled with light tanks in axis doctrine, and there’s nothing stopping you.

      Day 8 Axis death stack: 4 lvl. 2 mot inf, 4 lvl. 2 light tank, 2 lvl. 2 arty
      “A battle fought without determination is a battle lost.” - Josip Broz Tito

    • Brando Dilla wrote:

      Motorized infantry, coupled with light tanks in axis doctrine, and there’s nothing stopping you.
      Day 8 Axis death stack: 4 lvl. 2 mot inf, 4 lvl. 2 light tank, 2 lvl. 2 arty

      I love it when people throw 1-2 artillery into a stack like this.
      Such an easy target.
      Enough arty to get them stuck in firing mode, but not enough to do real damage.

    • I find the logic doesn't matter. People will just stack a random combination of units, and send them to do random things. Most of the time, it works because the target is inactive. Good luck convincing the attacker that they won for the wrong reason. Sort of like convincing a Philly fan that stopping a team with no QB doesn't prove anything ;)

    • z00mz00m wrote:

      Brando Dilla wrote:

      Motorized infantry, coupled with light tanks in axis doctrine, and there’s nothing stopping you.
      Day 8 Axis death stack: 4 lvl. 2 mot inf, 4 lvl. 2 light tank, 2 lvl. 2 arty
      I love it when people throw 1-2 artillery into a stack like this.
      Such an easy target.
      Enough arty to get them stuck in firing mode, but not enough to do real damage.
      I want to fine-tune that stack to make it more able to combat heavy armor. Any suggestions?
      “A battle fought without determination is a battle lost.” - Josip Broz Tito

    • Brando Dilla wrote:

      I want to fine-tune that stack to make it more able to combat heavy armor. Any suggestions?

      As a general rule, you never want your artillery, rocket artillery, or other ranged units to go into direct combat.
      These units have weak defenses, and low HP values.
      Also, they cannot fire from a distance if they are in direct combat.
      This is a bad situation that you should avoid.
      I hope that makes sense?

      What that means is that a general rule, your artillery should be in a separate stack.
      There are two challenges with this:
      1. How to protect your artillery from air attack?
      2. How to protect your artillery from direct ground attack?

      The first challenge is easy to overcome. If you suspect the enemy has air power, put AA with your artillery. I use a roughly 1:1 ratio, meaning if I'm trying to protect 10 artillery, then I'll use 10 AA of similar level. Less than that, and the enemy can ignore the AA and attack anyway. The common practice of adding 1-2 AA guns is not good enough, a skilled enemy will send a stack of 10+ bombers and wipe out the artillery, with few air losses.

      The second challenge requires more activity. It means putting a "meat shield" between your artillery and the enemy. For example, infantry + AT guns, or armored cars + tank destroyers. This defensive stack blocks the enemy from reaching your artillery. If they engage in combat, your artillery will keep firing while the battle goes on, destroying the enemy. This gives every unit a chance to do what it does best. Defenders play defense, artillery shoots from long range.

      Note there are no tanks in this story. Tanks and other mechanized units are best used on offense, to exploit their high attack values and fast movement speed. Why waste them playing defense? I like to use fast units in stacks of 1 to take empty land, or in bigger stacks to take out single enemy infantry and other "soft" targets. If your cavalry finds a "hard" target like a well defended city, just go around and let the artillery pound them to dust.

      Of course, if you need go offline overnight, you can't just leave all these separate stacks sitting around. They either need to come together for mutual protection, or you can pull them back out of enemy range, or both. When you're ready to start moving again, you can split them apart, making sure each stack has units appropriate for the role you want them to play.

      tldr; There is no perfect do-it-all stack. Stacks that try to mix attack/defense/artillery end up being good at nothing.

    • z00mz00m wrote:

      As a general rule, you never want your artillery, rocket artillery, or other ranged units to go into direct combat.
      Sorry forgot to mention - when I know the stack will be going into direct combat with an enemy stack, I separate the ranged units from the rest of the stack, so they can bombard the enemy from a distance.

      z00mz00m wrote:

      Brando Dilla wrote:


      As a general rule, you never want your artillery, rocket artillery, or other ranged units to go into direct combat.
      These units have weak defenses, and low HP values.
      Also, they cannot fire from a distance if they are in direct combat.
      This is a bad situation that you should avoid.
      I hope that makes sense?

      What that means is that a general rule, your artillery should be in a separate stack.
      There are two challenges with this:
      1. How to protect your artillery from air attack?
      2. How to protect your artillery from direct ground attack?

      The first challenge is easy to overcome. If you suspect the enemy has air power, put AA with your artillery. I use a roughly 1:1 ratio, meaning if I'm trying to protect 10 artillery, then I'll use 10 AA of similar level. Less than that, and the enemy can ignore the AA and attack anyway. The common practice of adding 1-2 AA guns is not good enough, a skilled enemy will send a stack of 10+ bombers and wipe out the artillery, with few air losses.

      The second challenge requires more activity. It means putting a "meat shield" between your artillery and the enemy. For example, infantry + AT guns, or armored cars + tank destroyers. This defensive stack blocks the enemy from reaching your artillery. If they engage in combat, your artillery will keep firing while the battle goes on, destroying the enemy. This gives every unit a chance to do what it does best. Defenders play defense, artillery shoots from long range.

      Note there are no tanks in this story. Tanks and other mechanized units are best used on offense, to exploit their high attack values and fast movement speed. Why waste them playing defense? I like to use fast units in stacks of 1 to take empty land, or in bigger stacks to take out single enemy infantry and other "soft" targets. If your cavalry finds a "hard" target like a well defended city, just go around and let the artillery pound them to dust.

      Of course, if you need go offline overnight, you can't just leave all these separate stacks sitting around. They either need to come together for mutual protection, or you can pull them back out of enemy range, or both. When you're ready to start moving again, you can split them apart, making sure each stack has units appropriate for the role you want them to play.

      tldr; There is no perfect do-it-all stack. Stacks that try to mix attack/defense/artillery end up being good at nothing.
      Yes, this stack is used chiefly for offense. For defense in mid-game (circa day 10) I usually use this stack:

      3 lvl 3 Infantry
      1 lvl 1 Mech. Infantry (has identical atk/def stats)
      1 lvl 1/2 SPAA
      2 lvl 2/3 Armoured Cars
      2 lvl 2 Tank Destroyers

      Anyway, thank you for the help! I'll try using a non-ranged stack, where a Mech. Inf. and an SPAA unit would take the places of the 2 artilleries.
      “A battle fought without determination is a battle lost.” - Josip Broz Tito

    • Brando Dilla wrote:

      3 lvl 3 Infantry
      1 lvl 1 Mech. Infantry (has identical atk/def stats)
      1 lvl 1/2 SPAA
      2 lvl 2/3 Armoured Cars
      2 lvl 2 Tank Destroyers

      Why this mix in particular?

      1 lvl 1 Mech. Infantry

      The slowest unit is the foot infantry. This determines the speed of the stack. Why research and build mech infantry? It's limited by the speed of the other units. This takes away one of its biggest advantages. You would be better off using 2 additional foot infantry to get better defense at a similar cost.

      1 lvl 1/2 SPAA

      A single AA unit isn't a deterrent to a serious air force. There's almost no point in this 1 AA unit. Why research this unit if you're building so few of them?

      There's a lot of unneeded variety in your build. Minimize your research variety and maximize the research levels. Don't build level 1 units of the "next" unit in the tech tree just because it's there. Ignore the tech tree. Focus on what units the enemy has, what resources you have, and use the best solution. My stacks rarely contain more than 2-3 unit types. Typically just 1-2.

    • Don't think in terms of "standard" stacks. Merge and split your stacks as the battlefield situation develops.
      When the fake daddies are curtailed, we have failed. When their roller coaster tolerance is obliterated, their education funds are taken by Kazakhstani phishers, and their candy bars distributed between the Botswana youth gangs, we have succeeded.
      - BIG DADDY.

    • Brando Dilla wrote:

      6thDragon wrote:

      Florp wrote:

      Infantry: Axis infantry aren't the best to make but are the best infantry in the game. They have +15% attack and HP. Comintern just gets a research buff so can make higher level ones a little faster.
      I'll disagree with this. In my opinion, if used as a defensive unit as intended, Pan Asian are better. They get earlier access to upgrades and, doctrine terrain bonuses (to include in forests), make them worth building.Pan Asian is the only doctrine I bother building infantry with.

      Also for battleships, don't forget about the Pan Asian speed and view range bonuses. They make a big difference. Technically in a standup fight, yes ship for ship Axis is better. However, for cost efficiency, Pan Asian is better here.
      Motorized infantry, coupled with light tanks in axis doctrine, and there’s nothing stopping you.
      Day 8 Axis death stack: 4 lvl. 2 mot inf, 4 lvl. 2 light tank, 2 lvl. 2 arty
      swap light tanks with medium tanks and your good to go
      知己知彼，百战不殆
      :00010164: :00008172: :00002178: :00002047: :00000156: :00010180: :00010317:

    • Florp wrote:

      Consider all of Axis units. Each one can be extremely effective thanks to the doctrine buff that makes EVERY UNIT better than those of basically any other doctrine.
      Commies are better:
      Axis is 10% more expensive and 15% stronger. Which means they are 5% stronger cost effectively.

      Commies is 15% cheaper and deal 10% less damage. Which means 10% stronger cost effectively.
      (unit strenght as health + damage values, so (10%+0%)/2 -> 5% weaker and then 15% cheaper meaning 10% stronger than normal).

    • There's no such thing as a go-to stack.
      CoW is often compared to rock/paper/scissors.
      Destroyer beats sub, battleship beats destroyer, sub beats battleship.

      A stack for all fights is like a rockpaperscissor.
      It's not very good at anything, and it only wins by brute force.
      A specialized stack will generally do better.

      Try playing against skilled opponents, you will see :)