excellent stuff again ... you really are the master of the HOI3 MP AAR ... great game play and really clear updates. To me it seems as if not taking the M-R pact and being able to escalate the advantages with the Japanese was probably the key element, but hats off to you all - not least for playing till there really was no remaining doubt as to the outcome --- enjoy your drink.
Copy + paste here Loki's comment
Thanks a lot. Cred like that means a lot. Yes, it would not have been possible without Japan (which I think is a clear sign of a weakness in the game), but as mentioned before, we will try and adjust that ‘till next game.
Wonderful AAR. As I have not played HOI, I have not been able to meaningfully comment but I have followed this carefully all the time.
This was great, well played. Thanks for the entertainment, cant wait till the next.
Excellent game; very dramatic at the end by the brits but too little too late.
Great MP AAR, really enjoyed it.
Exiting, tremendous AAR ; thanks !Just can't wait for the next one....
Congrats on your victory!
Great AAR! Can't wait for the next one.
Fantastic AAR! And very well played.
Another saga has been concluded. I've enjoyed this AAR very much and it was interesting to follow. Thanks for the good times and I am looking forward to the next one.
Simply thanks for a great AAR i've been following impatiently.
Thank you all, guys! It warms my heart . I probably would have stopped writing a long time ago without being cheered on in such inspiring way. And obviously… I wont be able to stop now…
Very interesting AAR. You are incorrect about event that dragged Italy to war with allies. The game mechanics works this way: if you are a faction member and are at war with allies, dow on comintern WILL bring all axis members that are at war with allies, only members that are at peace won't auto join war.
Maybe we misunderstand each other here. Axis was at war with the Commies but only Germany was at war with Allies. Then Japan DoWs Allies with “Declare limited war” – which to our surprise led to an event were UK could declare war on Italy (and this was not due to the threat/neutrality relation). Anyhow… we just didn’t know this would happen. Maybe it’s somewhat logic.
I don't get the rule in some mp games thatChina player should be AI controled for balance reasons, for balance reasons it should be ALWAYS controled by player.
I agree with you there. The reason we don’t do that is mainly due to lack of players as we preferable want to have players on France and Poland to prepare them – and we don’t want more players on allies/commies as they quite soon don’t have many playable countries (‘till US and CAN comes along). Also, we played this game from Sept-38 to May -39 on faster speed, forcing Jap player to run the major part of his armies on AI-control (not that it seemed to delay the Chinese fall very much).
What happened to those mech units he researched early on, and I'm sure he must have had many more division in the UK by 1941 at his disposal.
Did you miss when I deployed them in the East? They were active on the southern East front until the end. I deployed plenty of those “Heavy Mechanized” divisions the last months – but then the outcome of the game was already quite certain.
I've read all of these AAR's and they are excellent. Love to see players facing off instead of the AI. I do have some thoughts;
Perhaps you should allow the American (as a player) and the Brit to send expeditionary forces to USSR, representing the vast amount of lend lease equipment and resources sent to them by the allies. At present you do not seem to have a mechanic for this.
Is it possible for the Us to send expeditionary forces without being at war? it's been a while... if they can, that should be allowed -to the soviet- if possible.
Also, it might be a good idea to let the soviets build reserve units during a certain time period, perhaps once the war has started for half a year to a year or something, to represent the vast amount of troops the soviets raised at the outset of the russian war. These units would not be usable for combat immediately of course as they would need reinforcements, but they could be deployed further back and then create a "second wave" during 1942, giving the russians some more staying power.
Your bitter peace conditions might need a looking at, there were no guarantees that the soviets would surrender after the fall of leningrad/Moscow/stalingrad, especially not unless the vast aeas of Baku were taken or the rebuilt factories in the urals.
The game could also use some tighter supply rules I think, that would have to be hard coded. There does not seem to be enough supply and weather problems in the game right now, especially not in Asia. Something for paradox to rectify perhaps.
Hey Ash. Lot of thought there. Interesting. We have been quite careful with allowing EFs between player countries for the simple reason that it’s easier to do gamey, unlogic things. We also have tried to limit what US can do before they entry the war – a little bit for the same reason. In our first game (before Wildfires) where I, as Germany, had a powerful Kriegsmarine and kicked RNs butt – I suddenly faced two packed stacks of US ships under British flag (as US was not in the war). That felt extremely gamey so that’s why we early on limited US pre war-entry.
About “reserves”. I hate them . It’s mainly because I think they are too good in HoI. In reality, calling reserves from civil life and shape battle-ready divisions takes longer time. Also, they would not have the same quality as “full time” soldiers. This is not reflected in HoI. Also, I am uncertain if Soviet needs beefing up. Had it not been for Japan (as previously mentioned) they’d had a lot better chance.
About Bitter Peace. During “Wildfires”, Soviet was broken but it still took months to reach all VPs. But maybe you are right. We simply havn’t played enough MP-games where Soviet have perished to be sure we have reached the right balance. We will probably continue to use it until proven wrong by ourselves .
Yes, especially during amphibious landings and battle without friendly ports – the troops last a little bit too long, I think. Together with the fact that amphibious landings and retreats are far too easy, this kind of warfare is much more efficient in HoI than in reality, I think. As I have argued in other MP-AARs, there should be something like and org-penalty on landings and an additional cost to forced retreats to waiting transports. An extra cost modifier would then be related to the softness of the units. A “harder” (heavier) unit would suffer worse penalties than “plain” infantry. And yes, Weather should have more impact.
Excellant job with this AAR. It had me riveted all the way through. I eagerly await the next one Is there any word on when you might begin it?
This was a really fun AAR; I will certainly follow whichever one you start next. I wonder how you folks will do when/if FtM is incorporated!
Ah, finally. The conclusion has come! Good job, Cpt! A well-played game, indeed. Cpt, you should play the Soviet Union or Italy for a change of pace. Also, someone should definitely play Nationalist China in the next game, in order to give the Japs as much trouble as possible.
Great AAR as always, and equally great play by you Great game and I'm looking forward to your next one! (Would be interesting how you fare as the USSR in the next game maybe? )
I hope we get another awesomely fabulous MP AAR by you guys. Personally I'd like to see an cpteasy play USa, maybe that way they end up actually fighting in the war, or something that he didn't play in earlier AARs, maybe soviet?
Thanks a lot guys. Can’t be said ‘nuff times – your praise means everything.
Well – of course there will be more AARs and of course the next one has already begun (but not posted). I like your suggestions for new AARs. However, since I have had the luxury of choosing what country to play in all the last sessions, other players primary wished were priorities for the next game – and I got to pick what was left. Personally, I wanted to play France and later move to the US – but that combo was picked by another player. Also, we had to consider the fact that we have some unbalance in experience (and addiction) among the players so we need to distribute as evenly as possible – thus inhibiting amount of variation.
In the end, I got to be United Kingdom…. again (like in “Jolly Carnage”). Still, UK is never boring and we have adjusted House Rules quite a lot since Jolly Carnage, so I am quite eager to lead the Brits once again – and I can already assure you, as we have reached into the beginning of 1940, this will be a completely different game from Jolly Carnage
So… more action coming from CptEasy in the autumn. Cheers for now.