Slitherine

I've re-discovered this game as a friend wanted to play it by email with me. With the GS 2.0 mod it is very enjoyable. As I failed to read the manual again before we started our game, I did not invest much in labs. It is now April 44 and my Allies are fairly low tech, getting the short end in battles against about anything. However, I was able to build a lot of units which hopefully will overwhelm my friend's Reich.

Coming to this postings main question. How viable is it to stay low tech as Axis? From the AAR section and my gaming against the AI, it seems that up until winter 41/42 not much can stop the German army anyways. So my thought is for the re-match to just invest one lab in each tech as Germany until Barbarossa is on the way and only then, when more production is secured in the East, invest more in General, Inf and Air. I would plan to rely on inf, mech and fighters for the defense.

Buying labs is a matter of 'leverage.' The same 20 points spent on a lab, say, in 1939 is waaaay more cost-effective than spending it two years later. In other words, when it comes to labs, the earlier the better.

On the other hand, it is perfectly legitimate in the early game to decide that at this moment I will get more strategic gain from buying a leader or building/repairing units than I would from the labs. Like so much in CEAW, it's a balancing act. Because of the huge long-term payoff, it's tempting to splurge on labs early, but you have to keep your eyes on the whole strategic picture.

That being said, it's probably suicidal (vs a competent opponent) to skimp on labs in the way you're describing for Axis. If you look at the starting tech values for the USSR and USA, you'll see that they enter the war with some early tech advances. The Germans need to be ahead of those countries if they're going to have a fighting chance to win the war.

BTW - the manual does contain discussions on lab strategies for different major powers...

alec