Thanks Catt. The answer I inferred from that thread is that the attack and defense values of the individual units within the army are used; the values are not averaged, as the screen suggests. This seems to be reflect what I've observed in the game (such as when the two tanks fail to get the job done, and I see a mech inf start attcking--that's always a bit worrying).
Zachriel's numerical analysis suggests that it's not a big deal, but I submit that it actually is: like you, I noticed that you rarely need more than the first two attackers to take out a given defender. So, for all intents and purposes, a 2 tank/2 mech inf army is just as powerful on attack as a 4 tank army, but MUCH better in defense. If the values were in fact averaged, this would not be true.
I thought about posting this in the strategy forum, as you did; I admit I was hoping for a reply from theseus. But I've seen him here on the general board too.
On a side note, a bit in response to the "why does the poor AI" thread over there: in this game, the germans, after taking over 80% of their own continent, made a well excuted invasion of the neighboring continent, leaving the russians with only 5 cities there. And the russians acted as a human might have in similar circumstances, loading the cities on the front with defenders while leaving the insulated cities in some cases entirely undefended. I had to try to pare back the germans with tanks against panzers, during their golden age, on foreign soil, outnumbered militarily maybe 2 to 1. Quite a challenge, and very enjoyable. There's nothing like smacking down 5 4-panzer armies in 3 turns.
