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As usual, very good update. I still feel uncomfortable with the shortage of troops you're fielding, although the French front has been eleminated and Bulgaria does not seem to want to join the war. However, once things between Russia and Germany heat up, you'll be severely outnumbered and those nations both field at least as advanced technologies as you. Britain is another concern, as you'll undoubtly want to go for Egypt later on. Even with the weak AI, the British will prove more of a problem than any of your opponents so far.
 
Myth said:
Also, try to cut back on the historical discussion a bit, hmm? This isn't the history forum, after all. ;)
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I will submit to your will, although I must say the comments below are ashtonishingly ignorant, and pathetically bigoted.

Baltasar said:
Intelligent decisions was something almost unheard of off the Italian military leadership during WWII. From the invasion of Somalia onward right through to the miserably failed attacks on the British in Egypt, the Italian commanders were not worth their titles.

Even if someone inside the Italian HQ had had the brains to plan a decisive campaign against Greece, it's not sure whether the fleet and air forces involved would have sufficient fuel and spare parts for such an operation.
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On to lighter matters, things looks to be going well in Greece. I'm interested to hear what this "special assignment" is, I noticed the Greeks forgot to defend their Bulgarian border...

Four months for France, and I'm taking it you didn't actually get those provinces?
 
Maj. von Mauser, if you wish to further comment on above mentioned posting, you're welcome to do so via PM.
 
Bad Commanders

Bad commanders, ugg. The way to offset bad commanders is with good troops. As the strategy guide sugests one needs to season existing troops, and to use specialized training for new troops. Also, check the officer pool every January to see if any more useful commanders show up on the list.

See my earlier post on conducting field promotions, its mostly a hold-over strategy from HOI2 and some new information has come my way since then.

Commander's gain experience from combat. If you don't have good commanders it's logical to involve the HQ's more in action, especially the corps commanders because corps commanders improve the odds of reserves moving forward in combat. Try overbuilding your divisions, then split off extra brigades, armored cars, artillery, anti-tank wepons, even infantry, and give them to HQ units.

A final suggestion is to use Old Guard commanders only for high eschelon jobs; army commander and above. Theater commanders reduce stacking penalty's, group commanders reduce supply consumption, and army commanders improve organization (and re-organization?). So long as these factors are not a problem, there's no use putting your best commanders in those slots.

There is some trickle-down effect of commander specialities (engineer, defense, offence, command, etc.), so always check to make sure your units are in radio range. One can also build on these factors through the order of battle. For example, put an engineer in charge of a division of mountain troops, and engineer commanders right up the chain of command. Now watch your Alpine troops fly across the map.

There are lots of factors to consider, hopefully this will give you some ideas.
 
(I'm racking my brains to work in a bad pun about Greek tragedies, but I am failing miserably)

Things looked hairy for a while, but they appear to have settled down in the south. More troops in the north should mean more success there, which then lessens the pressure in the south and allows for further advances there (unless you go for a decapitation strike and quickly take whatever VPs you still need to collect up north).

Now that France has folded, are there any forces on the Franco-Italian border that you can redeploy to greater effect?
 
If what I read was correct, the experience gain for a commander decreases by half every level you move up the hierarchy (although I've not seen Theater HQs gain experience?) In theory, since each level can command up to five units of the next-lower level, the higher-level commanders can potentially gain experience faster than the lower-level commanders. However, the reality is that most combat is done by relatively few divisions--the majority of divisions tend to be guarding something in the rear, holding a line without actually fighting, or advancing into empty territory. So it seems that the experience pattern tends to be as follows:

Most low-level commanders will get little or no experience.
High-level commanders will usually get a moderate amount of experience.
A few low-level commanders will get massive amounts of experience.

Does this sound correct? It seems to hold with my (admittedly not comprehensive) experience.
 
Some nice progress in Italy's reconquest of the Mediterranean. Cant wait to see whats planned for the newly freed up armies along the French boarder. Tripoli to Suez? Malta?

Stuyvesant said:
(I'm racking my brains to work in a bad pun about Greek tragedies, but I am failing miserably)
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Hmm, how about: "Greece is going down like an Oedipal figure on his mother!"

I'm here all week folks...
 
FlyingDutchie: A bit more finesse, but not much more. ;)

Sokraates: It's possible that I'm more reckless. Personally, I think I'm about the same as before, but there's just more provinces to be reckless in, so my handful of forces don't cover the front as they used to, so I'm weaker (and more reckless) compared to previously, if that makes any sense. :p Oh, and welcome! Good to see another friendly face. :D

Piko: Yeah, it was precarious for a bit, but it's all right now. I'm definitely looking forward to more challenges though. ;)

Baltasar: I hope the British prove to be more troublesome. They're the closest thing to a world superpower at this moment, or should be at any rate, regardless of the fact that they're badly declining. If they're not a spot of trouble, something is wrong. :p

Maj. von Mauser: Hey, there's always the history forum. ;) As for those French provinces, AFAIK I didn't get them. :p

Baltasar: That's a good idea too. :p

Valentinan: My 7a Armata commanders are pretty good actually, certainly the cream of the crop. I think my best three there are Messe, Roatta and Bitossi but the rest are pretty good true. To be fair though, I find myself spoiled when playing a major power, given that I'm used to leader-starved minors. :p

Stuyvesant: I'll leave the forces on the French border alone for now as I don't need them yet. Plus, I'd need to reorganize those two corps-sized armies into one two-corps army and I want to procrastinate on that as long as possible. Is it possible to drag and drop when it comes to army organization? :p

Evil4Zerggin: I think that makes sense, more or less, yeah.
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Cacahuananche: Oooh that's terrible. :p As for Suez, I've already got an army earmarked for that. The two armies on the French border will be amalgamated into one and then I'll use them where I need them. ;)
 
Yes, low level commanders get all the experience... and then you promote them to the top! Unless you play as nationalist spain which gets a 4 skill theatre commander from day one.

Also, convoy raiding is an amazing way to skill up your naval leaders... I got 2 level 0 leaders up to level 4 just by putting them in charge of my 2 subs as Spain and sending them raiding... Then I put one in charge of my battleship fleet and sent that raiding :).
 
quetzilla: That's quite cheeky. :D

BlitzMartinDK: Yes. :p

I'll try to have an update for tomorrow evening!
 
So did Il Duce not learn anything from the war in Yugoslavia? Or did the swift victory in Turkey blind his eyes to the realities of war? Or...has he been seeing a Greek mistress on the side? :rofl:
 
Jorath13: Most likely because there was nearly a month between my play sessions, so I forgot anything I learned! :p

I'll try to have an update for tonight, guys. Busy day though, no guarantees.
 
Gen. Hillier: Another one! I'll certainly do my best to keep it up! :D

Unfortunately though, too busy for an update tonight. Will try to get one for tomorrow. :p
 
Piko: There just aren't enough hours in the day at times, unfortunately. Still, hoping for tonight! :p
 
So I just noticed something weird about commanders.. sometimes they level up with extra experience? Perhaps its based on starting level? My level 2 commander goes to 3 and 50% experience, level 3 goes to 4 and 66% experience. I have a feeling its based on starting level, so for every level after their starting level they get some bonus experience. Only problem is this discourages promotion! Why should I promote my 4.66 leader and lose the 66%!
 
Piko: That's a good story. :D

quetzilla: Hehe, I've heard that to be the case. I've not paid sufficient attention (or played enough) to be able to confirm it on my own though. :p

Update coming up!
 
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