Bah, still no proper borders (cores occupied by legal owner). As bad as it was. 
Still, thanks Singleton for your effort to give us a preview.
Still, thanks Singleton for your effort to give us a preview.
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nice looking forward to following it ... Attack on the West is a weird name for the scenario though i would have imagine Battle of France or Fall Gelb would have been used but oh well
... Attack on the West is a weird name for the scenario though i would have imagine Battle of France or Fall Gelb would have been used but oh well 
... Attack on the West is a weird name for the scenario though i would have imagine Battle of France or Fall Gelb would have been used but oh well
Agreed, it is weird indeed.
One more update for today
Chapter Three: Moving into position
While checking out Southern Command's units, those designated for combat commands in France with the BEF, I found a new future. Two of my light armor regiments could be upgraded to armor. I don't want to do this now as these units will be taken from the OOB and retrained, in this case that will take to August. These units are needed now so I won't.
On the 12th the BEF's I, II and III corps arrived at their half-way point to their designated front positions. Three more days and the BEF was in place. I had expected the Germans to have captured several provinces on the border by now and moved up as far as Breda and Leuven, nothing like that had happened however. Nevertheless it looked like the defense in the Northern part of Holland, the part above the big rivers, was slowly crumbling.
At the same time the first British troops end up in a fight, “No 13 Group” of the RAF supports the French airforce in an interdiction bombing mission of 12th Armee units.
On May 13th two divisions of Southern command sails from Southampton to Calais and arrives without incident.
By the 15th the last division of the force is shipped across the Channel as well. All left now is one corps HQ which is still marching to Southampton from Cornwall, I'll see to that later.
Southern Command will now be the reserve for the BEF.
Yes, in these provinces air-combat (swords) and bombardment (explosions) took place.
Ah, ok. They seem to be a part of the two new map modes regarding air and naval combat. Are there also the same icons for naval combat?
I like them. Some eye candy.
Ah, ok. They seem to be a part of the two new map modes regarding air and naval combat. Are there also the same icons for naval combat?
I like them. Some eye candy.
Yes, we'll see them in a future update of the AAR.
Chapter Four: The other theatres
Unexpectedly, having completely focused on the front in France I decide to check out the other British theatre-HQs. Lagos HQ, somewhere in Africa, is commanding......the Northwest Expeditionary Force in Norway. Eh right.
Of course this has to be 'mended' and here I have my first opportunity to fiddle a bit with the new OOB. Four regiments, all motorized infantry (?) are combined into two divisions, the NEF (?!?) is detached from Lagos HQ and subordinated to the Home Command. Only annoying thing is I can't move them up in position inside Home Command and thus have to scroll down through naval and air units to find them
Playing about with the onscreen-OOB was nice so I continue searching the theatre-HQs and end up in Egypt. Middle East Command has few forces under its command but they have to be readied already in case the Italians join the war.
Hence the two divisions defending Egypt (one of them the large 7th armored) are moved from Cairo to the edge of the desert. Palestine command, currently stationed in Baghdad is moved to Palestine.
On the 21st the NEF in Narvik is, surprisingly, attacked by the Germans. At first I think they are making a very daring move. Which turns out not to be the case, however, five days later my four regiments withdraw and the Royal navy is called in to distract my troops from this awkward position.
Still no breaktrough at Sedan?
Maybee one day,say in HOI IV ,German AI will try to break at Sedan and send a river of tanks and wehicles behind Forces in Belgium,towards Pas de Caley.
For that I believe,in future,developer will script historical operations for AI to conduct them,parallel to custom/random made decisions.But that is relatively distant future,neverthelees is I believe inevitable path of the evolution of this great game
I hope one day,fiew years from now Singleton Moresby AAR for HOI IV will go like this:
"Its the days of decision,German Computer AI command presented options for conducting operation Fall Gelb.
It obviously choosed scripted Sichelschnittplan .
However I was not sure which aproach Germans will take amongst dosen of options.
Here is what my inteligence, presented to me,anfortunately when Germans allready atacked,it poped up in my inteligence window.Damn!
"France inteligence service : file 1- enemy order of battle.
France inteligence service : file 2-author of this scripted plan
P.S. great AAR, I am looking forward to.
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Hehe, what happened to the "one more update."
Very nice so far and between you and Kriegs I've learned a couple of cool little thing, though a bit of a poor substitute to having it in my own hands. Oh well, keep it up and help pass the time.
Very nice so far and between you and Kriegs I've learned a couple of cool little thing, though a bit of a poor substitute to having it in my own hands
. Oh well, keep it up and help pass the time.
Chapter Five: Air command France
As the BEF moves into position and plans are made what to do next - remember, the Germans are not having their historical success -, I order the RAF to patrol the entire eastern part of Belgium and then decide it would be nice to reorganize the fighter-groups.
RAF fighter-groups 12 and 13 are grouped together and subordinated to a new command. This corps HQ designated BEF Air Command is ordered to Paris while No. 5 Group, tactical bombers are drawn in as well. That organized the next step is Southern Command marching on their assembly area at Cambrai.
First South-Western Corps HQ, still on the march from Cornwall, is abolished as its only subordinate unit is put under command of Saar Command in France, now renamed IV corps of the BEF. The three other units of Southern Command are quickly added to the list and a strong reserve force is formed in the rear of my position, near Brussels.
Having concluded all this reorganization and played enough with the OOB for now I detect some naval combat just of the coast of Holland, near Den Helder. The small flotillia I had send out from Hull to patrol this part of the North-Sea coast has engaged a far superior German force, even the aid of a few subs won't do them any good. The old and new battleships of the German Hogh see flotte (or something like that) severely damage my ships. KMS Admiral Scheer must have severely punished my puny destroyers. None is sunk however.
Having limped back to Bridlington Bay time has come to repair the damages done. Of course Home Fleet is put on full alert.
One very awkward thing I notice on May 18th is the dozen or so French units marching away from the sound of the guns and towards the coast. Do they know something I don't? The German navy didn't break through, it only achieved a minor victory!
Must be a weird AI quirk, wanting to defend its coastal areas or something.
He Singleton i like how you wrote "hogh see flotte" nice, i try to imagine how you speak it for the future it´s very simple "Hochseeflotte" one word. and a little excersise if you want to speak/wrote german, try "Streichholzschächtelchen" i think the germans used it to torture british prisoners in ww2:rofl:
for the future it´s very simple "Hochseeflotte" one word. and a little excersise if you want to speak/wrote german, try "Streichholzschächtelchen" i think the germans used it to torture british prisoners in ww2:rofl:
Hochseeflotte. It means High Seas Fleet.
Anyway, great couple updates. What are the green seazones mean btw?
Anyway, great couple updates. What are the green seazones mean btw?
Its the really annoying Theatre AI thats causing France to re-deploy. It is really obsessive about having a division in every port province in its theatre. When I played as France in 1.4, I could never use the Theatre AI because when I did it would pull a dozen divisions off the front to cover every single port. Even when the Italian and German navies had been completely neutralized. Im disappointed that an AI country like France is doing that in Semper Fi. That is such a serious problem in France's case, I desperately hope that that can somehow be fixed either before release or in a patch.
If the AI didn't defend the Ports, then we would be complaining that Seabourne invasions are too easy.
As you can see PI & their AI will always lose - because if PI would program an AI which is as clever as a Human do you seriously think they would still be programming games?
Why is this necessarily a bad thing, I for one thinks this will help the AI in the long run if it actually defend their coastlines. In Frances case I really think that the OOB should be updated with some additional Garrison divisions/brigades who should be placed at the ports,VP and airfields. One problem with the AI is that it builds too little cheap Garrison units to take care of these matters and waste important infantry divisions from the front.
When I play, I usually have quite allot of Garrison Brigades/Divisions stationed all over the place to help pacify and protect important areas. If the AI was taught to build more Garrisons I think we would see a better performance of a scattered defense by the AI.