I’ve been trying to get a feel for the kind of tactics to use in the game.
Taking into account that I am using the demo for this analysis, all my
observations are only 12 turns deep into the game (that’s when the demo
quits and encourages you to send FAI money <grin>).

The initial set-up is open to modification with up to a 30% plus or minus
adjustment of starting funds (from which you build your initial army) and
with an optional mobliization penalty of up to three months (that means
that you don’t get all your forces at once).

The worst case scenario againt the computer AI has the computer starting
fully mobilized and with a 30% bonus to starting funds. The worst case
player start is with a rolling three month mobilization delay and 30% less
money than normal.

This IS a challenge! You WILL get your butt kicked the first six to ten
turns. So far, however, I have been able to stabilize the front by the
twelveth turn of every game I have played using this handicap. The key is
to give ground where no transportation corridors or cities exist, and hang
on with your teeth to every critical location within three or four hexes
of the border. You should hold on long enough to feed newly mobilized
forces into critical defensive sectors and firm up the line.

My perfered build strategy in this situation is mostly infantry entrenched
along the entire front, with a occasional armor in reserve. Cities within
two hexes of the border get multiple units, and I defend in depth from the
border to the city. I set up two airbases with a couple of fighters and
some bombers to cover the most exposed (and likely) enemy avenue of
approach.

Airbases are a particular problem. You want to build them near enough to
the border to allow maximum mission radii over enemy territory, but if
they are too close you may lose some of them in the AIs initial offensive.

So far the computer has never made an airdrop or marine amphibious against me.
I wouldn’t expect a human opponent to be so kind. Also, the computer
garrisons everything in sight to include every beach hex with cheap, low
grade infantry.
There are forces it then doesn’t have available on the front. There does
not seem to be any reason when playing the computer to garrison anyting
behind your own front line.

So far the computer seem to play a heavy combined arms blitzkrieg style
game with lots of tac air and artillery in support of armored spearheads.
I haven’t seen any deep air interdiction nor strategic city economic
targeting by the computer. The AI does use a lot of CAP and forward placed
AA in the air defense role near the FLOT.

I have not seen the AI use nukes ever, which is good, because they not
only clean your clock (eliminating all units in the target zone) but leave
residual radiation contamination in the surrounding hexes. This degrades
units moving thru or in those hexes when the strike occurs.

I haven’t figured out a good utilization for the airborne mech units yet.
I think I would rather have the mountain troops in the game (do the
Rangers work the same as the deleted mountain units?). I also don’t have
the slighest idea what the ALERT order does. Everything else seems to work
as indicated.