• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
I have been enjoying this AAR very much. My experience with submarines is very similar. For the current SF rules, it seems the biggest issue if that subs don't take any damage/org loss from attacking convoy's with escorts and that early to mid game naval and air forces have very low probability of detecting subs at all. The bottom line to me is that subs can simply patrol forever, sinking whatever they can, and never suffer any losses (even 10% or org). The only really effective tactic I have developed is to simply deny subs ports within range to effect supply lines (which is a potential option for Japan, but not the UK - if the UK could take all the ports that Germany has, the game would be over anyway).

Thanks for the hard work and good luck - Joe
 
Episode 18

The Siege of Warszawa


June 21 - July 1, 1938


start-world-war-2-4.jpg


My forces reached the outskirts of Warszawa, the Polish capital, from the south on June 16. In the following days German infantry pushed into Ostroleka north of Warszawa, allowing me to attack simultaneously from the north and south on June 21, when the 7. Panzer-Division no longer would suffer from the blasted attack delay penalty.

Having taken Praha, Krakow and Bratislava with ease, I expected very few problems capturing Warszawa even though the province is urban territory. I decided to allow my panzer forces to participate in the attack instead of just infantry and mobile infantry. Armour is mostly useless in urban territory but I wanted some of my panzer commanders to gain some experience. Particularly the blitzing Walther Nehring, commander of the 7. Panzer-Division, was low on experience because Hoi3 does not award experience for encircling units, capturing provinces or capturing Victory Points. :(


The Assault Begins
On June 21 at 10 am, I attack Warszawa with a combination of 2 panzer divisions, 1 motorised infantry division and 1 regular infantry division attacking from three different directions.

AAR168.jpg


To begin with the progress is... modest.

The next day, Major General Keiner’s 53. Infanterie-Division arrives in Ostroleka at 5 am and immediately begins to attack across the river. Two more fresh infantry divisions arrive at 3 pm and are also committed to the battle - meaning a total of 4 infantry divisions are now attacking Warszawa from the north. For a short while the attackers manage to stage an assault on Warszawa, granting them +25% attack bonus.

AAR169.jpg


Still, Warszawa is defended by two Polish infantry divisions and an HQ unit and my attack is after 36 hours still only 66% successful.


Encirclement of the City
On June 23, progress is still slow - despite massive Luftwaffe bombings of the city. I therefore order the newly arrived 6. Panzer-Division under Dietrich and 4. Panzer-Division under von Arnim to attack Pruszkow and Ostrow Mazowiecka to the east and west of Warszawa to begin a full encirclement of the city. In the past 24 hours the Poles have been moving reinforcements into the capital and the fight is in danger of dragging on and on.

AAR170.jpg


At the same time I order a German infantry division in Allenstein to try to push south and force the Polish defenders out of Mlawa next to Warszawa. An hour later that turns out to be pretty hard because the Poles are well dug in.


More Troops to the Front
Every division in reserve in a battle has a miniscule chance of being called up to partake in the fighting. Whenever I have checked, the chances have always been something like 0.20 - 1.60 % chance, so - rather slim. But the reinforce chance must be checked by the AI rather often, I suspect, because in many battles I have seen reinforcements move up to the front line in a matter of a day or two.

This also happens in Warszawa. On June 24 at 4 am I finally get another infantry division up front where it can do some good.

AAR171.jpg


Four hours later, Dietrich's panzers slam into a Polish division that has been sent to block his way into Pruszkow. It looks like the encirclement of Warszawa might take a while.

AAR172.jpg



Fierce Defenders
On June 25 at 5 am the battle has almost lasted a full four days - much more than I had anticipated. And the Poles are nowhere near surrendering. The HQ unit in the city is shattered by my attacks and has either fled to Mlawa or been destroyed. But a new Polish infantry division has moved into the city and will probably soon reinforce the defending force. Von Arnim's 4. Panzer-Division is still 24 hours away from cutting off the Poles' escape route to the east.

AAR173.jpg



Turning the Tide of the Battle
I finally dare a bit of optimism on June 26. The 4. Panzer-Division captures Ostrow Mazowiecka east of Warszawa and I order von Arnim to help attack the Polish capital. By now, Warszawa is only defended by one infantry division with another in reserve. Victory seems assured! :D

AAR174.jpg



The Garbage Heap in Mlawa
While the battle for Warszawa rages on, Mlawa is quickly becoming a chaos of broken and fleeing divisions from the capital trying to resist air strikes from the Luftwaffe and the attack by my infantry from Allenstein. It looks like it can drag on, so at 8 am on June 27, I add another attack on Mlawa by the 66. Infanterie-Division from Rypin.

AAR175.jpg



By nightfall on June 27, my attack on Warszawa has shattered and routed two Polish infantry divisions and an HQ unit. Nonetheless, the Poles still maintain a strong position in the city. A fresh infantry division is defending it while another remains in reserve. This way the fight for Warszawa turns into a giant meat grinder that consumes men, tanks and guns with a ferocious appetite. :eek: The Poles have even managed to pull off a delay event!

AAR176.jpg



The Fall of Pruszkow
Pruszkow finally falls to Dietrich's 6. Panzer-Division on June 28 at 4 am. I have suffered almost 200 casualties making this the 3rd or 4th bloodiest battle so far (from a German perspective) in the entire war.

AAR177.jpg


At 5 am we manage to commit another infantry division from our reserves to the battle in Warszawa, but it seems to have very little effect. At 7 pm my forces capture Plock to the west, thereby isolating the provinces Mlawa and Warszawa in a new pocket. The attack on Warszawa continues all day throughout June 29 but progress is still desperately slow... :(

AAR178.jpg

The situation at the end of June 29...

On June 30 at 5 pm, Dietrich’s 6. Panzer-Division finally joins in the attack on Warszawa and at 9 pm one of the two remaining Polish divisions in the city breaks and leaves the front. Now they can call on no more reserves.

AAR179.jpg



The Fall of Warszawa
On the morning of July 1, 1938, at 6 am, the bloodiest battle of the war is finally over. Warszawa surrenders to the German forces and is occupied an hour later.

AAR180.jpg


The battle has lasted almost 10 days and is a clear example of how devastating it can be for an army to be dragged into urban warfare. With surprisingly weak and numerically inferior forces the Poles were able to last much longer than I had anticipated and the lessons learned here by the Wehrmacht will contribute to shape new approaches to urban fighting in the future.


Up Next: The Fall of Poland - or not?
 
thanks for reading!

You can prepare your post in your favorite text editor...

Yeah, and often I do that for the spell check etc. but last night I was in a hurry and just wrote it directly in the interface - and then I lost it. It actually happened once again today, but this time I had a back up in a seperate text file :p

it sucks when that happens, but c'est la vie. (or, in plain English, these things happen). we'll be here tomorrow.

Thanks for the mental support ;)

IIRC, 1 build of transports or convoys equals 10 ships. still, it is safe to say you could ruin UK with it. especially since you're at war so early, it may take the US longer to join the Allies.
an interesting first-hand look at submarine operations. well worth the wait.

Thank you. Yeah, the magnitude of the Allied losses surprised me when I summed up the total. It is a bit sad that Paradox still hasn't come up with a perfect sub war system but it definetly is a lot better than in Hoi1 and Hoi2. A guy in the forum said that the sub detection values are too low in Semper Fi, which is why the Royal Navy cannot find my subs - supposedly it is fixed in the 2.03 beta patch for Semper Fi but I decided to wait as long as it was still in beta state because I was afraid it would ruin more than it would fix in my game :)

Yes, very interesting update for sure, maybe it is worth it to build some subs in hoi3 since they were almost useless in hoi2

Thanks for commenting! Yeah, subs are definetly "worth it" - now it is more a question of not building too many and actually handicapping your ability to hurt the enemy to get a challenging game :rofl:

I have been enjoying this AAR very much. My experience with submarines is very similar. For the current SF rules, it seems the biggest issue if that subs don't take any damage/org loss from attacking convoy's with escorts and that early to mid game naval and air forces have very low probability of detecting subs at all. The bottom line to me is that subs can simply patrol forever, sinking whatever they can, and never suffer any losses (even 10% or org). The only really effective tactic I have developed is to simply deny subs ports within range to effect supply lines (which is a potential option for Japan, but not the UK - if the UK could take all the ports that Germany has, the game would be over anyway).

Thanks for the hard work and good luck - Joe

Thanks for reading and commenting Joe - glad to have you with us! :)

I agree that subs run virtually no risks attacking even convoy escorts - who you would suppose are armed, right? :p It would be nice to see some difference when a convoy was guarded. Not a single time have I received the message "We spotted a convoy too heavily protected to attack". My subs just sink everything - meaning that there is absolutely NO incentive at the moment to build the more expensive escorts in the game.

It might make a difference if one were to build regular Destroyer flotillas and set them on convoy route protection - has anyone here tried that??
 
in my previous game, which ended due to savegame corruption, I had one or two messages like that. when i loaded as UK, i noticed HMS Argus and a destroyer real close to my sub. both times were shipments from or to the west (USA? Canada? UK Colonies?). i went to take a look. The UK AI had, in its infinite wisdom, decided that protecting St. John's island valued 5 full infantry divisions. my guess is that my sub came across one of those.
 
also, the siege of Warsaw lasted practically as long as it did RL. (until Hitler ended it by ordered the Luftwaffe to do something we can't discuss without getting banned).
all in all another nice update.
 
Episode 19

Fall Weiss - The Fall of Poland


June 21 - July 2, 1938


While my forces are attacking Warszawa, the war also continues in the rest of Poland. In the northeast, a series of battles occur along the Johannisburg-Lyck line with Polish forces trying to attack from Lomza and being counterattacked and flanked in Grajewo. In the west, Poznan surrenders at 6 am on June 21 and over the next ten days German infantry moves in from the north and west and motorised infantry from the south to gradually squeeze the Polish forces into a diminishing pocket.

In the south, the Poles recapture Stryj on June 21 at 9 pm, thereby opening the Przemysl Pocket and cutting my lines back to Lwow. It is of little consequence, however, because the 8. Panzer-Division has linked up with the motorised infantry in Presov and has a new land line back to supplies and support.

AAR181.jpg


At 10 pm on June 22 Lwow also falls. By this time I have several motorised infantry divisions racing east to push the Poles back out.

AAR183.jpg


After a fierce battle, the Polish defenders in Lwow are defeated on June 25. Attacking with a single motorised division, however, meant that I did not have numerical superiority or committed enough troops to fill the entire frontage in the battle. Neither did I use the Luftwaffe to gain an advantage in the fight. The result is disturbing and cause for reflection: it is the first battle in which my casualties are higher than those of the enemy.

AAR184.jpg


On June 26, Lodz is captured by von Hubicki's 9. Panzer-Division at 7 am and 7 hours later Lwow is back in German hands - namely the hands of major general Ruoff's 83. Infanterie-Division (mot.). I have now occupied 57.2% of the important Polish VP provinces but the Polish national unity is still 68, so I cannot force them to surrender unless I capture Warszawa or perhaps Grodno - the last two Polish VP provinces.

AAR185.jpg

The situation on June 27 at 3 am. The Krakow pocket has been reduced to nothing by infantry that is finally arriving on foot from Czechoslovakia and the Przemysl Pocket is also almost gone. In the southwest, in Ostrzeszow, surrounded Poles fight desperately (and surprisingly well) to avoid annihilation. Von Arnim's 4. Panzer-Division has cut off Warszawa on the east side and German forces are gradually closing in from all sides.

AAR186.jpg

June 30 at 4 pm. The Polish forces are desperately attacking me out of Torun in an attempt to break out of the pocket.


Warszawa finally falls
At 06 am on July 1, Warszawa finally falls and is occupied an hour later. In the historic battle event I get the options “Victory is ours” (manpower +10%) or “Great work men!” (daily dissent change -10%). Since I am about to lose the dissent reduction from my naval battle event at the start of the war, and I have more use for IC than manpower at the moment, I chose the latter!

AAR187.jpg



Poland Surrenders!
On July 2, 1938, the Polish government finally realises that continued resistance is futile. Although the Poles opt to continue the struggle, I still get to annex them and they disappear from the roster of Allied nations in the struggle against the Axis. Whether this means that they are now a government in exile or out of the game completely, I do not know.

AAR188.jpg


I chose to annex Poland into the Reich. World War II is just over one month old. Now comes the hard part: figuring out what to do about the Soviet Union?


German_SovietmeetinginBrest-Litovsk.jpg

"Are you sure that Germany should extend this far east on the map?"
"Jah jah, das ist right Comrade!"
;)
 
Would be interesting if you could start barbarossa next summer and try to hold the line against France until it's over, but the allied bombing maybe would cripple you to much, even tough the massive AA batteries you have built.

In my current game I will try to either get Turkey into the axis before 1941 or annex them, thus creating a front in the Caucasus and capture the oilfields there. I don't know how far you have played in your game but maybe that's an idea? : )

Edit: Excellent update btw!
 
congrats on another succesful campaign. what's next? Denmark? Hungary and the Balkans while building up forces against France? lots and lots of options.
 
Just finished reading it all, I really like your style. I'm curious to see just how the Soviets will react.
 
Poland choosed to not put up a Government in excile as you could annexed them. If they put up a Government in excile you cannot annex, their land just stays occupied.
 
Last edited:
Episode 20

After Poland


polishloss.jpg


The Bear in the East
With Poland defeated the time has now come for some hard decisions. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact event can, as far as I know, only fire in 1939 and probably also requires a Germany at peace. Thus, it was never really an option to do any kind of deal with Stalin about splitting Poland unless I was prepared to mod the game.

AAR196.jpg


Now I have a border with the USSR almost thirty provinces long and I am fighting a war against the Allies in the west. I go to the diplomacy interface and check but there is absolutely no chance of getting a non-aggression pact with the Russians or any kind of deal to prolong peace in the east. So, before I figure out anything else I have to decide how long I believe I can go before Stalin attacks me first.

AAR195.jpg


At the moment, I have no spies in the Soviet Union so I am not really sure how many divisions Stalin has but I am quite sure that he must have more than me - although probably of a much lower quality. At the moment I have about 80 divisions total - but only 9 of them are armoured and 10 motorised. I briefly contemplate attacking the Soviet Union now - gain maximum surprise and strike before Stalin is ready. But looking at the vastness of the Soviet Union and my limited troops it is a hopeless endeavour. I would not get halfway to Moscow before I'd get swamped with Soviet troops.

So, the best I can hope for at the moment is to last until next summer and then strike with all possible force in the summer of 1939. I did contemplate a spring offensive until I read about this new Hoi3 game effect called "General Winter". I am not completely sure, but from what I have read it is an in-game effect lasting from December 1st until June 1st during which time Soviet troops regain organisation a lot faster. It is supposedly meant to put a pause in the German offensive during winter and spring - more so than the frost, rain, mud, attrition etc. :rolleyes:

It would be a shame to start a grand offensive a few days too early and have it grind to a halt because the Russian troops just jump back into the fray right away. So, I set the date for Operation Barbarossa: June 1st, 1939!


Now What?
I have 10 months to prepare for the operation - to build more divisions and devise a strategy that can take down the bear. I am going to need more IC to build all those divisions but right now I am really afraid that another unprovoked invasion of a neutral minor will result in another +40 to my threat score - thereby prompting Stalin to possibly declare war.

What I really want to do is attack Hungary and Yugoslavia, annex them and get Romania into the Axis, then attack Bulgaria and give it to Romania. That would give me a port in the Med from which to send the Deutsche Afrika Korps to Libya to help out the idiot Italians.

I’d also like nothing more than to crush Denmark in one swift blow to close the Baltic Sea and to get the Baltic States into the Axis, so I can use them as a stepping stone later in the attack on the USSR.

But I cannot afford the threat. I am using Diplomatic Influence to pull Romania, the USA and Japan closer to me and I am afraid that increased threat could potentially ruin that. Japan is already dangerously close to moving towards the Soviet Union despite my influence because Stalin is influencing them and because of my threat! A few more points and there will be nothing I can do to stop their plunge into the Red corner... :(

AAR194.jpg


Thus, the only thing that makes sense strategically is to make no more new enemies at the moment and instead focus on crushing France as quickly as possible.

And now comes the surprise.


Forza Italia!!
Remember that Italy was fighting the French and the British in North Africa and at home? Well, by July 3 Italy has managed to capture most of Tunisia, which apparently hasn't been guarded by the arrogant French at all. :rolleyes:

AAR191.jpg


The Italian push into Egypt was repulsed by the British and despite some fighting back and forth across the Libyan-Egyptian border in June, the British - assisted by Iraqi mercenaries, ahem, loyalist colonial troops - turn out to be stronger. They capture Tobruk and send the Italians running westward. So, a fairly historical Italian war effort, no?

AAR190.jpg


Well, not quite... :eek:

AAR192.jpg


Italy has actually turned its breakthrough of June 9 into a regular defeat of the proud French army and by July 5 they have advanced more than a 100 kilometres and surrounded Nice!

AAR193.jpg


It is a bit sad, really, because I doubt the French have the strength to resist both me and Italy now that their back door is wide open. But I need their ports on the Atlantic Coast to use for my submarines against the United Kingdom. And I need to free up troops for the campaign in the East. And I will be damned if I let Mussolini beat me in the race to Paris and snatch up all of France's resource stockpiles! :D

Since Italy is mostly invading France with infantry (they have almost no mobile troops), I figure I can redeploy to the front lines and take over from the Italians with my 4. Panzerarmee, blitzing across France to Paris and the English Channel.


Reorganisation
I decide to set up a new Theatre in the east to handle Poland and the Hungarian and Yugoslavian border. OKW will still be in charge of the central Germany as well as the new Italian-French front. The entire Kriegsmarine as well as the Baltische Flotte will now be under OB West.

AAR189.jpg


XXIII. Armeekorps under von Weichs is transferred to 3. Armee as the new XV. Armeekorps. It will retain positions on the Hungarian border – a symbolic presence of mere 3 divisions (the new 71.-73. Infanterie-Division)

The other 3 corps in 5. Armee as well as the entire 4. Panzerarmee are strategically redeployed to Mattrei in Osttirol because for some stupid reason I cannot strategically redeploy to Italy but only as far as the German-Italian border even though it is allied territory? :mad:

The entire 3. Armee minus von Weichs’ three divisions are redeployed to the new border with the Soviet Union. My 17 divisions are not enough to cover all the provinces but most of them, I am pleased to see.

I rebase the Luftwaffe bombers and Jagdgeschwadergruppe IX and X in Innsbruck and Munich. Jagdgeschwadergruppe VII and VIII go back to Hannover. The Baltische Flotte is rebased in Kiel, to where I also return the 3. Infanterie-Division that captured Danzig on the first day of the war with Poland.


Up Next: Some reflections on war in Hoi3
 
Last edited:
thanks for reading!

also, the siege of Warsaw lasted practically as long as it did RL. (until Hitler ended it by ordered the Luftwaffe to do something we can't discuss without getting banned).
all in all another nice update.

congrats on another succesful campaign. what's next? Denmark? Hungary and the Balkans while building up forces against France? lots and lots of options.

Thanks! Yeah, I suppose that the length of the struggle is fairly realistic - I was just pleasantly surprised that enemy cities no longer fall as easily as they used to in Hoi2.

Regarding your questions: France is next - mostly because it is "safe" to attack them! :rofl:

Would be interesting if you could start barbarossa next summer and try to hold the line against France until it's over, but the allied bombing maybe would cripple you to much, even tough the massive AA batteries you have built.

In my current game I will try to either get Turkey into the axis before 1941 or annex them, thus creating a front in the Caucasus and capture the oilfields there. I don't know how far you have played in your game but maybe that's an idea? : )

Edit: Excellent update btw!

Thanks for reading and commenting!

I am not so worried about British bombings as they have been fairly light in the last month and always concentrated on Hannover. The French air force hasn't tried to bomb me a single time, so the vast majority of my Luftwaffe's Bf-109D's just sit around in their airfields doing nothing :(

As you can read in the most recent update, Barbarossa is indeed scheduled for 1939, but France couldn't wait that long. (Or, rather - Italy couldn't :D).

I haven't formed any plans regarding Turkey. I am not sure it is worth the Leadership to try to get them into the Axis on this short notice. Besides, walking through Turkey on the way to the Caucasus is as close as you get to a cheat without actually cheating :p

Interesting, no MR pact then.

Well, it wasn't by my choosing. I would have preferred a few more years to prepare for the showdown with Stalin. Oh well :rolleyes:

Just finished reading it all, I really like your style. I'm curious to see just how the Soviets will react.

Welcome to the AAR and thanks for reading and commenting! Glad to have you with us. :)

P.S. Regarding the Soviets - me too :D

Poland choosed to not put up a Government in excile as you could annexed them. If they put up a Government in excile you cannot annex, their land just stays occupied.

Yeah, I figured that out later. I read somewhere that if you have played the game historically - i.e. MR Pact and then fall of Poland - then Poland should always choose Government in Exile. I guess in this case the decision was somewhat random. Whether this means that they cannot be "liberated" but only released as a puppet only time will tell :)

Thanks to all readers - watching how many people actually read these updates is a great encouragement!!

I hope to get the next update done Thursday or Sunday because I am away from my computer Friday and Saturday.
 
if you liberate Poland into a puppet, it should bring your threat level down. just thought to remind you.
 
Episode 21

Reflections on Warfare in Hoi3


Having fought the Czechoslovakians and the Poles in the past month, I have noted some differences in the game compared to Hoi2 that affects how you plan and execute military campaigns.


Attack delay
The attack delay penalty is, in my opinion, the biggest game-changer compared to Hoi2. In short, when you win a battle your units involved will move into the conquered province and then be unable to attack or move on until the attack delay penalty has expired. Unless you research certain land doctrines this can take as much as 175 hours!!

In Hoi2 it was a common tactic to set fast units to "blitz" - i.e. to move through several provinces by using shift+click to create a route - because once a unit arrived at a destination it usually had to rest for a short while (I remember it as something like 24 hours?). So particularly as Germany it made sense to just send the units on a long run through several provinces to maintain speed of advance.

In Hoi3 there is no penalty if you arrive in a new province without having fought along the way. You can move on immediately. So there is really no point in setting up a move through several provinces any more to save time - but you can do it, of course, to save yourself some micro management. The advantage of moving each unit one province at a time, however, is that you can constantly assess where each unit should go to be of most use. And you don't risk running into enemy defences that you would have preferred to go around to avoid a short battle and then a lengthy attack delay penalty.


HQ units and range
The new HQ units add an interesting new dimension to land unit command. You don't need to use them - you don't suffer any penalties if you don't - but you will miss out on some interesting bonuses that HQ's bring to the game such as increased ORG and reduced supply consumption.

The problem with HQs in my game has been speed. The German HQs start out with a land speed of 4 KMPH, meaning that until you research certain land doctrines they will only move as quickly as regular infantry. That makes it very hard for them to keep up with fast moving mobile forces such as armoured formations or motorised infantry.

The poor speed of HQs has made me introduce a principle in my game: HQs never stand still. They must always be on the move towards the front and stay as close as possible behind the units they command. Sometimes it can be difficult to remember to keep them moving forward when you are busy controlling fighting units in the front lines, but forgetting to move the HQs forward will quickly leave you out of command range of your corps HQs and perhaps also Army level HQs.

One good thing about Hoi3 and HQ units is that there seemingly is no need to give them any particular air cover. In Hoi2 the AI loved to seek out HQ units and bomb them so you needed to equip them with AA or have them grouped with strong units. In Hoi3 - where you have many, many more HQs - this does not seem to be of any concern.


Siege of cities
Capturing cities (urban terrain) is a lot harder in Hoi3, I find, because of the attack penalty of -60 and the fact that you can't attack with superstacks because of width and frontage. It is nice that even a single garrison or infantry division can delay the fall of a city attacked by 5-10 divisions by a week or more. Surrounding cities and cutting off reinforcements have thus become much more important than it used to be in Hoi2.


Stacking penalties and air superiority
Stacking penalties also affect air combat, which I experienced more than once during the campaign in Poland. If you try to bomb enemy units fighting on the front and maintain a screen of interceptors or fighters over the same area, you will most likely run into problems with stacking that will negate most of the effect of your bombing. You could of course send your bombers in unprotected but then they are at risk of getting attacked by enemy interceptors. So if you want air superiority, you will most likely have to first engage the enemy interceptors and bring them to low str/org, then bomb the enemy air bases using "runway cratering" missions to prevent them from regaining their combat efficiency and then you can turn to actually bombing the enemy's troops. That tactic could probably take a few days, assuming you have numerical superiority to begin with, and that means that unless you start the air war days before your ground war you will not be able to use your bombers in the initial breakthrough. At least that is what I am thinking so far. If any readers have ideas on how to handle air superiority, I'd like to hear them. :)


Air missions
Your air wings depend greatly on doctrines to be efficient at carrying out various missions. It is a nice system because it allows you to neglect certain mission types and focus on what you will be needing the most. On the other hand, because you do not necessarily know how to perform all types of missions effectively, you might suddenly find yourself unable to use your air forces to its full potential.

I experienced more than once that my tactical bombers did not perform the Interdiction missions assigned to them. I was hoping to strafe retreating units but a lot of the time my planes just sat still in their airfields even thought they had plenty of strength and organisation. I suspect that their mission efficiency was simply too low at the time because I was not finished researching all the necessary doctrines.

In Hoi3 it is possible to assign air wings to target a single province, a region or an area defined by geometric values. I found more than once that tactical bombers assigned to bomb a specific province instead bombed another one in the same region. I am not sure whether this is a bug in the AI or if it was because of poor doctrine research on my part.


Hard versus soft units
It may be because anti-tank weapons are not really widely used until something like 1942+ but so far in the game I have noticed a big difference in casualties depending on whether I attack with soft units of combined arms units with hardness. In many battles where soft units engage other soft units, I suffered casualties roughly equal to the enemy's, whereas when I attacked e.g. infantry with armour, I would often win the battle and find that the enemy casualties were up to 10 times bigger than my own!

Armoured units may be a fuel drain but at the same time - at least at the moment - they appear to conserve manpower and IC for reinforcements.


Gaining experience
I may be wrong about this but it seems to me like units gain experience considerably slower than they used to in Hoi2. It may have something to do with me winning the battles too quickly. Unit commanders also gain experience slower than they used to in Hoi2, it seems to me, particularly air commanders. In Hoi2 you did not have to run bombing runs for very many days before you could see a significant xp increase and it was a common gamey tactic to let interceptor and fighter commanders be in charge of bombers for a while, because it was much easier to gain xp bombing than intercepting.

Paradox appears to have nerfed the xp gain from bombing because after one month of warfare I can only detect very small xp gains among the Luftwaffe commanders.

HQ commanders gain a share of the xp whenever one of the units under their command is in combat but the amount of xp tickling back up to them is rather small. If they participate in the fighting themselves (they are rather useless offensively) the commanders gain direct experience much more quickly.
 
nice update. some of the things you're saying I already knew. some I have never really thought about. like the "blitzing" of mobile troops two or three provinces deep. A leftover from HOI2, maybe, but I always seemed to take it for granted.
as for air superiority, what I usually do is to have my fighters set up in "historical" rotte pairs. one set of 2 does offensive work. the other one will be on standby, if you will. that way if they get too banged up, I can switch them around. never realized until now that it also serves to keep potential stacking penalties down. you learn something new every day:p
as for HQ's, you're right. nothing more annoying than finding out Rommel is standing on the Champs Elyssées, while Von Kleist is still cleaning his combat boots on the banks of the Rhine:eek:o
XP gain is a function of their skill. the lower their skill, the easier they gain levels. naturally, we all put the best men in the hot spots. hence, lower XP gain.
 
Last edited:
Episode 22

Alternative Fall Rot via the Back Door


July 2 - August 10, 1938


keslp6mh5.jpg


After the fall of Poland, the 3. Armee took up station on the new German-Soviet border while most elements of the 5. Armee and 4. Panzerarmee were raced by strategic redeployment to the Italian border. For some reason it is not possible to redeploy strategically via an ally's territory. You have to stop at the border, cross it manually and then start redeploying again. The problem is that units that finish strategically redeploying automatically suffer from the attack delay penalty when they arrive - costing precious time.

AAR198.jpg

Deployment on the Eastern border

Von Kluge's HQ of the 5. Armee is the first unit to arrive on the Italian border - on July 7. By this time, Italy is close to encircling Toulon and Marseilles as well. The last units of 5. Armee and 4. Panzerarmee don't arrive until July 13 and it won't be until July 15 that I can start moving them slowly into the Italian Alps.

At this point I learn that I probably should have moved my units into Italy gradually as soon as they arrived on the border because the minute they start to arrive en-masse in Italy there is a supply and fuel problem and the German troop movements grind to a halt while the Italians happily continue to waltz into France almost unopposed. I had not taken into account that having my troops on Italian soil would mean that Roma is obliged to supply them - and because of the new trade system I cannot give Italy supplies nor trade them to them at a favourable price. I am simply stuck trying to survive on whatever the Italian supply system can manage to send me. :(

To avoid another attack delay penalty I decide to let my troops drive to the front in France rather than move by strategic redeployment. I had hoped that my mobile forces could catch up with the Italians, who are mainly on foot. What I forgot to take into account was the terrain in Northern Italy - mountains and hills. My units move at a snail's pace - sometimes they don't move at all because of poor supply levels - and all the while Italy grabs more and more of Southern France for themselves.

I had been worried that Italy would get to keep all the territories they were taking from the French until I read in the forum that the Vichy event would automatically reward Germany with the north and west of France, while Vichy would get the southern and eastern parts - effectively negating all Italian conquests. Although that hardly seemed fair, this is not a game that I am going to mod to achieve "fair" or "pleasing" results - I am just playing to see how things turn out.

On July 15, my first three Fallschirmjäger-Divisions are at long last ready and I deploy them at the airfield in Stuttgart. In Hoi3 paratroopers cannot perform airborne drops unless they are very near full organisation, so it will be quite a few days before the three new airborne divisions become operational.

On July 14, Nice and Toulon fell to the Italians and for a spell the French actually looked like they might crumble all together. They started abandoning several of the provinces in the Maginot Line - leaving them totally undefended :wacko: - and moving more troops to the south. I decided that I did not want to take advantage of such a weak and incompetent AI, so I just kept my forces back and waited.

AAR197.jpg


By July 18 the French had moved different units into the undefended areas and although the Maginot Line was now more thinly manned, it was manned nonetheless. But it was a little disappointing to see how the AI reacted to the threat.

By July 19 I am getting some sense of what a mess I have created for Mussolini by moving the 4. Panzerarmee into Italy. Even though I am not getting the fuel I need to move forward, Italy is losing 114 units of fuel per day - out of a stockpile of a mere 6400 units of fuel. By this rate, I will have depleted Italy's fuel reserves in just about two months. I am beginning to see, why Italy has so few mobile units. Still, I am not about to let Mussolini capture Paris with all its treasures. :p

AAR199.jpg

Slugging my way across Northern Italy - July 30


The Fighting Can Finally Begin!
On August 3 - a bloody month after the fall of Poland - the 7. Panzer-Division is the first German unit to finally reach the Italian-French front that is rapidly moving west and north. I order the armoured division to wait a short while for some motorised infantry to catch up before the attack on the enemy across the river.

On August 5, Busch's 77. Infanterie-Division (mot.) arrives at the front. I immediately send him across the river to establish a bridgehead for my panzers to cross to in Nuits-St-Georges.

AAR200.jpg

The first attack

It takes him 15 hours to get there and at 5 pm the motorised infantry captures the province, has a short skirmish with a French division moving in from the north and is victorious. Immediately after I start moving the 7. Panzer-Division across the river! Because Busch captured the province without attacking, the troops are still fresh, so I move them on to Epinac beyond! It will take them 22 hours.

At 7 am on August 6, the 7. Panzer-Division arrives in Nuits-St-Georges and I send it into Epinac as well. I have more motorised infantry and tanks moving up in the rear area - also towards the airfield in Besancon. It is now time to break out into the open French countryside.

At 4 pm, the 77. Infanterie-Division (mot.) captures Epinac and I send them onwards towards Dijon. Just after midnight, at 2 am on August 7, the 7. Panzer-Division arrives in Epinac and advances into Saulieu. An hour later, two German motorised infantry divisions arrive in Chaussin. I order Höpner to continue to the bridgehead while von Kortzfleish is ordered to attack across the river into Genlis and cut off French infantry headed for Dijon.

At mid day Busch captures Dijon, sending the French back towards Genlis. At the same time Guderian's 2. Panzer-Division is close behind Nehring's 7. Panzers. At 5 pm the province of Saulieu falls to the 7. Panzer-Division, which continues to Corbigny. All in all things are going well; my motorised infantry has reached Chalon-sur-Saone and begun a new attack across the river to widen the bridgehead to the north. But just before midnight I learn that von Manstein's 1. Panzer-Division is once again out of fuel. I hate the Italian supply system! :mad:

AAR201.jpg


All day long on August 8 the 7. Panzer-Division, now the spearhead of the entire 4. Panzerarmee, races into France heedless of the dangers of losing support or the supply line, always in danger of being cut off, always out of range of the HQ. :) At 4 pm the division captures the French province of Corbigny and races on towards La Charite!

Just before midnight, at 11 pm, Guderian’s 2. Panzer-Division arrives in Saulieu. I decide to send the division north towards Troyes.

AAR202.jpg

The early hours of August 9

On August 9 at 9 am the 7. Panzer-Division arrives in La Charite. I blitz them on towards Cosne Cours and as I see Paris in the distance, a plan begins to form in my head…

AAR203.jpg

August 9 at 7 in the evening

The 7. Panzer-Division completes an astonishing blitz with the capture of Cosne Cours on August 10 at 3 in the morning. There they rest while I complete the next phase of the invasion of France: Operation Adler!

AAR204.jpg



Up Next: Operation Adler