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[size=+1]1938 – Year of the Earth Tiger[/size]

First, I present a brief review. I’ve joined the Axis, and together with Japan have eliminated Nationalist China from the game. Looking over that war, I would have been better served leaving Yunnan alone and sending everything I had after Chiang to gobble up as much of their turf as I could ahead of the Japanese, especially that nearby port. Since Yunnan is mostly blocked off from Japanese attack there would have been plenty of time to get in there a bit later. I knew it would be tough to crack Yunnan without Mountain troops, but I thought a preponderance of force would fix that problem. I was wrong.

I’ve been focusing my production on building Artillery brigades to beef up my existing divisions and have been eschewing new divisions for the moment. I’m also creating Convoys, but I’ve discovered it is more helpful to build your stockpile before you need them, rather than run dry in the middle of a war. For the same reason I will likely queue up Escorts as soon as they become available. At the moment, however, nothing is being produced since my troops started 1936 with equipment far below what I can supply, so I am going to go flat-out trying to fix this situation:

Ch02_01_MakingUpgrades.jpg

I’ve also finally dealt with my chronic officer shortage (I started out at 59%, I think, the lowest I’ve seen for any country to start with). With that problem fixed I can now divert my insane (for a Minor country) amount of leadership back to a research focus:

Ch02_02_Tech1938Start.jpg

And here is the front: I’ve already had Nationalist partisans pop up. Troops are being redirected west. I would prefer to sit and wait a bit so they can re-equip. but I have to try and grab as much of Yunnan as I can before Japan does:

Ch02_03_NorthernFront.jpg

With that, I’m about ready to start.

14 January: I see something that looks like a map error, I can’t attack Chuxiong from Zhaotong even though Zhaotong claims to have a link to that province. This puts a big crimp in my plan to envelop Yunnan’s capital.

Ch02_04_CantMove.jpg

28 January: Still trying to encircle Kunming.

Ch02_05_KunmingAttack.jpg

29 January: New Zealand joins the Allies.

3 February: I take Kunming. Troops are being strategically redeployed to attack Dali from Xichang.

Ch02_06_MoveOnDali.jpg

But I have the same problem, it won’t let me attack even though the provinces are adjacent. Something is wrong with this whole area, there doesn’t seem to be any way to cross over into Yunnan from the east side of the entire country.

8 March: Enough troops have shiny new toys that I can spend ICs on production again.

11 March: Germany gets the Anschluss of Austria.

18 March: The Republicans win the Spanish Civil War and annex the Nationalists.

25 March: I get Economic Boost.

28 March: I take Dali, and Yunnan surrenders. I annex them; next stop, Xibei San Ma! It will be hard to get any booty there since Shanxi puppet troops have already gobbled up most of it while I have been stuck in the mountains of Yunnan.

Ch02_07_ShanxiAdvances.jpg

Since only one VP remains to them, I may be better off letting them go and preparing for an attack on Tibet instead. Coincidentally Tibet happens to see me as their highest threat at the moment. Looking over my production queue, I realize I need to bite the bullet and start getting some Industry produced as I badly need some practical going. I’ve also added a Mountain division to the queue, in serial format as I don’t have enough ICs yet for anything better. The realization slowly comes to me that even though there is plenty of land nearby I could conquer, most of it is pretty worthless- a stark contrast to the rich Balkans where I usually hang out. If I want any ICs before I tackle the Allies, I’ll need to crank ‘em out myself.

” Miss Teschmacher, when I was six years old, my father said to me...”
“Get out!”
“Nope. Before that... He said, ‘Son... stocks may rise and fall, utilities and transportation systems may collapse, people are no !@#$ good, but they will always need land…’ ” – Lex Luthor and Miss Teschmacher

Ch02_08_Production.jpg

I’m also thinking I should try to upgrade some of my existing divisions to Mountain troops, but the method to do that escapes me at the moment – I’m not finding the upgrade button when I click on one of my Infantry divisions.

29 March: I finish research of Destroyers, which I wanted so I could build up Naval bases to get both construction practical and to increase my supply output for any islands I get my hands on later. Of course, in order for the supply to be worth anything, I also need more than 30% infrastructure running from Guilin to Guangzhou (again, another big difference between SE Asia and the Balkans).

Ch02_09_InfraPic.jpg

30 March: I finish research of Fleet Auxiliary Submarine Doctrine, which I wanted as the lead-in to the all-important Basing tech, again to help with running supply to islands.

10 April: I complete Sea Lane Defense, and add Escorts to my now overstretched production queue.

16 April: I declare war on Tibet. Troops are in position to move into Tibet and try to get one of the last bits of Xibei San Ma territory left. I think they are down to their last Ma.

Ch02_10_XibeiFront.jpg

18 April: USA joins the Allies.

28 April: First contact with the Tibetan People’s Front crack suicide squad. I figure out the upgrade interface but it turns out I don’t have the ICs for it.

Ch02_11_TibetanTroops.jpg

23 May: I get Economic Boost.

30 May: Going for Xibei San Ma’s capital.

Ch02_12_XibeiAttack.jpg

6 June: Their capital falls, only one VP left.

7 September: Xibei San Ma surrenders to Japan, and we split the spoils.

17 September: South Africa joins the Allies.

27 September: UK goes with “Peace in Our Time” option for the Munich Agreement. The Czechs accept the claims.

Ch02_13_SudetenPic.jpg

2 October: Tibet surrenders, and I annex them. I would probably be better off making them a puppet, but the political map looks so much cooler with all that land under my thrall…

Ch02_14_WorldMap.jpg

Now I have a bit of a problem… what problem, you might ask?

”Anybody… anybody… anybody” – Economics Teacher, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

The problem with finding myself suddenly at peace, is, that now I have this unwelcome demand for consumer goods. It seems like once you start a war or two (and Tibet makes my 4th!) the people shouldn’t be begging for consumer goods if you happen to be at peace for a week. It might be nice if that in addition to lowering demand based on your neutrality, they also lowered your demand based on the threat you have generated with your neighbors (the implication being that the populace is well aware they might be back at war forthwith).

Ch02_15_ConsumerGoods.jpg

I’ve had the same issue in other games- once you get that nice drop in consumer goods demand, you don’t want to go back! My usual scheme is to declare war on Vichy France if I have run out of opponents, since Syria is easy to grab and you don’t have to fear any reprisals from anywhere. However, once they added the guarantee of independence from Germany in Semper Fi, that sort of put the kibosh on that idea.

” You know I've kiboshed before… and I will… kibosh again.”- Crazy Joe Davola

So, looking around, whom else might I pick on? Hmmm….

Ch02_16_MacauPic.jpg

I think we have a winner!

”Tell them what they’ve won, Rod” – Bob Barker

A phony war with Portugal seems like it might fit the bill. Macau is begging to be occupied, and the Portuguese are too far away to take it back. If I get any ships online in 1939 or 1940, then I have an excuse to step into Africa ahead of going to war with the Allies. Now, one thing is bothering me. I had thought that when you agreed to a deal proposed to you, that the other party supplied the convoys. However, you’ll see that my list here is chock full of them! Many of these are in the Pacific and thus won’t be under attack from Lisbon once Macau is in my hands, but I know from reading [post=12014972]an excellent AAR about submarine warfare[/post] that just about everything seems to flow right past Portugal if it goes to Europe. So I may end up having to cancel a lot of deals and try to get them rerouted via the Pacific. I will also gamble that Italy might do something against the Portuguese Navy if I bring the entire Axis in immediately. This will only help us in the long run as all the Axis powers can then stay on a war footing throughout 1939 before the Danzig event.

Ch02_17_Convoys.jpg

I don’t actually find this too ahistorical, since it seems plausible that a rogue Chinese warlord might decide to abrogate the treaty and snag this city for himself to avenge past humiliations. After all, that treaty was the responsibility of Chiang and the national government, which are now gone. The ahistorical part might be that with Japan now dominant in China, that the Portuguese wouldn’t just simply surrender the city without a war. Since I’m expecting convoy losses, I switch my Spies over from lowering neutrality to raising national unity. Since I’m sitting at 60 right now, this is probably a good idea. If I had done the same in my last Hungary game, I might not have surrendered so soon.

9 October: My energy convoys to Stettin take the first losses, so I pull out the ships assigned to it until I can get some Escorts on there. I see Italian ships heading for the Portuguese coast as hoped for.

Ch02_18_ItalianNavy.jpg

11 October: Germany declares war on Denmark, Luxemburg, Belgium, and the Netherlands! I’ve created a monster...

”It’s alive! It’s aliiiiive!” – Baron Viktor von Frankenstein
”That’s frAHnkenStEEn” – Gene Wilder

13 October (was this a Friday?): All my trade routes to Europe are now on hiatus. The carnage in the Low Countries begins.

Ch02_19_Germany.jpg

18 October: It looks like Il Duce is ready to invade! Awesome! These Marines are so suave that I suspect they can win without a fight!

Ch02_20_ItalianInvasion.jpg

ItalianMarine.jpg

30 October: Luxemburg surrenders to Germany and is annexed. The Italians are still landing on the beaches, so I guess those guys weren’t quite suave enough.

31 October: Denmark surrenders and is annexed.

2 November: Sweden mobilizes for war.

11 November: Greece joins the Allies.

13 November: Extra! Extra! Italians take Lisbon!

Ch02_21_AttackLisbon.jpg

14 November: Czechoslovakia mobilizes their troops. Does this mean they won’t just be annexed a week later by default? To be safe, I redeploy some troops near Hong Kong in case I find myself at war with Britain unexpectedly.

26 November: Portugal is going down fast…

Ch02_22_PortugalLosing.jpg

18 December: Czechoslovakia picks ’Give it a Go’ for their Emergency Legislation event. I’m not sure what this means, but I am surprised they are still here.

22 December: The Czechs get the Unauthorized Demonstration event.

25 December: Portugal loses their last Iberian province. Nice Christmas present for Il Duce. I notice an invasion force is lined up for the Azores. And with this, I stop for the night.
 
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Could the infastructure not be high enough for your troops to move through to those provinces?
What are your going to do if Italy wipes out Portugal and you find yourself in peace again? War Siam?
 
Could the infastructure not be high enough for your troops to move through to those provinces?
What are your going to do if Italy wipes out Portugal and you find yourself in peace again? War Siam?

I don't think the infrastructure is the problem, since I usually get a tool-tip telling me so when that happens. Also, I don't see why if the infrastructure is too low to move A -> B that I could move A -> C -> D-> B. This was also happening up in the area where Tibet, Sinkiang, and Xibei San Ma meet. Needless to say, it gets difficult to plan an attack when you don't know where your troops will suddenly get blocked.

Sadly I think Siam is blocked off by India and Indochina, so I don't know what I can do there unless I try and attack by sea, which will be tough to do with the single Transport I have now. Portugal won't surrender unless Italy both takes the Azores and at least half of the African colonies, so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that they skip Africa since that area has no value for them anyway.
 
Attack Siam before it becomes Japan puppet and invade Indochina before Vichy fires.

Vichy France is something that has been worrying me. If I have to DoW France in order to get a foothold in Indochina then I am going to be at war with the UK and Australia long before I am ready. I was hoping I could wait until Indochina turns Vichy and then swoop into a province before Japan makes their claim, but I won't be able to do this if they make their claim the split second the Vichy government forms. My big concern about getting into it with the Allies now is the potential complete loss of trade since I have no convoy defense. I'm also curious as to what will happen if I try to make more trades with Japan- now that I have a land border via mainland China, will I still need convoys to trade with them?

These early attacks from Germany have certainly put a monkey wrench of sorts in my plans... I expected to pass 1939 being able to quietly build up a bit in the Navy department, but with an early Vichy France this may not be an option for me. I'm curious as to whether or not my DoW on Portugal triggered this behavior, but I'll never know for sure.
 
I forgot that you are not at war with the Allies :eek:o

Try to make trade with Japan just to see if you need any convoys. Can you trade with the USSR without convoys?
 
Can you trade with the USSR without convoys?

Sadly, no, it is all routing through Vladivostock. A bit of a puzzlement since previously as Hungary, I was able to trade with them long before I had the ports in Yugoslavia- it was only the US that was blocked. The trade system is just getting more and more confusing as time goes on.
 
Your strategies are always fun to read, and this time is no exception. I actually played a little last night as Guangxi and saw much of what you've faced. Sadly, I did myself in by opting into a war with the UK/Allies. Suddenly the Brits swarmed my southern flank.

Loved the Italian Marines. That's one suave looking solder!
 
Sadly, no, it is all routing through Vladivostock. A bit of a puzzlement since previously as Hungary, I was able to trade with them long before I had the ports in Yugoslavia- it was only the US that was blocked. The trade system is just getting more and more confusing as time goes on.

You can trade with any country on the same continent, even if you would have to route your trains through enemy territory. Doesn't make sense, but that is the way it is. You will always need convoys for Japan, it is an island, and trade is through the port in Tokyo, or another one on the main island.
 
You can trade with any country on the same continent, even if you would have to route your trains through enemy territory.
I had thought this was true, but it isn't- as an example, as Hungary I was prohibited from trading with Tibet with the tool-tip saying the problem was that both of us were required to have a port. Of course, maybe the game is treating 'Europe' and 'Asia' as different continents depsite the rather large land connection between them, in that case, this would be true and I would call it a bug.
 
Your strategies are always fun to read, and this time is no exception. I actually played a little last night as Guangxi and saw much of what you've faced. Sadly, I did myself in by opting into a war with the UK/Allies. Suddenly the Brits swarmed my southern flank...

Thanks! Yes, I need to avoid getting into it with the Allies until I see they are fully committed to Japan, or until I get more Navy, which won't happen any time soon with 52 ICs.

...Loved the Italian Marines. That's one suave looking solder!

I wanted to get an image of Italian Marines in combat, but I stopped looking after I found that guy. He clearly knows he's awesome.
 
[size=+1]1939 – Danzig or War? Too late![/size]

Loading up my save game in January, 1939, I do my usual review of what’s going on. The fighting in China is over. Japan holds Mengkukuo and Shanxi as puppets, Sinkiang has joined the Comintern, and the rest of it has been annexed between me and Japan. I’ve also taken Tibet for myself. Not much I can do there except have a back door into India.

” Sorry, Mr. Burns, but I don't go in for these backdoor shenanigans. Sure, I'm flattered, maybe even a little curious, but the answer is no.” – Homer Simpson

Not wanting to waste my ICs on consumer goods production, I declared war on Portugal so I wouldn’t get stuck in useless peace. I had assumed that the remaining Axis powers would back me up in Europe so that the Portuguese wouldn’t pose any real threat to me. So far this has paid off in spades. The Italians have not only actually conquered all of Portugal itself, but are currently making landings in the Azores. I hadn’t noticed this earlier, but the Japanese have actually done their part too and taken Portuguese Timor. So my evil scheme is going almost too well at the moment, since I don’t want Portugal tossing in the towel this quickly. Right now their surrender progress is at 44.7%, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that Il Duce won’t be in a hurry to run down into Africa.

On its own, the German AI declared war on Luxembourg, Denmark, Holland, and Belgium in the same day. This has put them at war with the Allies already before we’ve even reached the Danzig or War event. So far Denmark and Luxembourg have already been annexed, Holland is 50% gone, and small inroads are starting to be made into Belgium and France. I have no idea why this happened. Also, as another oddity, Czechoslovakia is still in the game, although they did lose the Sudetenland. They haven’t joined the Allies and nobody is guaranteeing their independence. Now I am very curious to see what will happen with Poland at the end of the year.

I am sorely, sorely tempted to declare war on Australia. Why? I’d thought they were in the Allies already, but they haven’t joined yet. If I declare on them now, then the Japanese can do the heavy lifting to keep them busy while I keep that war on the back-burner. This will allow me to attack them later without having to get involved in a war with the UK before I am ready. However, I will pass on that for now since I don’t want the Aussies disrupting my remaining trades.

”Where women glow and men plunder” – Men At Work

I’ve decided to change my production strategy again, and I request some Light Cruiser licenses from Japan. It looks like anything I do from this point onwards is going to require Naval support. It was suggested I attack Siam- which would be a great idea given that they started 1936 with a negligible army, however, they have two Light Cruisers and a Destroyer, which is more than a match for the single Transport I have right now. It is extremely unfortunate that India and Indochina are making a one-province buffer border that cuts me off from attacking by land. I’d also like to get some more trades going with Japan, but the diplomacy screen tells me they are running deficits of everything right now. I’ll have to stick with trading with Uncle Joe for the moment and hope that the wacky German actions in Europe will result in a delayed Barbarossa. Once I end up at war with the US and Russia, I expect my economy to crumble fairly quickly. With this, I think I’m ready to resume.

12 January: I may be wrong about the Italian desire to visit Africa, since they have also taken the Cape Verde islands already.

”I bless the rains down in Africa” - Toto

9 February: I’m getting my ships produced, but not much else. I am desperate for some construction practical to get these costs down.

Ch03_01_Production1939.jpg

4 March: I’m getting my hopes dashed about the Duce’s plans, as Italian troops are now sitting in Bissau. Portugal is still sitting at just 62.5% surrender progress, though. If they go down too soon, I may have to declare war on Republican Spain just to get into a new war.

5 May: Italy finishes off Portugal and we annex them. I decide to declare war on Republican Spain, since as I discussed before, I can’t afford to have my ICs siphoned off to consumer goods. And yes, this is a bit lame since I share no border with them. However, I also find it lame that my consumer goods demand just immediately shoots up after a war is over regardless of the current political situation. If I was playing a more historically important country or one that was more powerful, I probably wouldn’t go for this kind of move, but if I expect to accomplish anything as Guangxi, I have to make sure I try to stack the deck in my favor.

”I won’t lie to you, cards are not my bag, baby” – Austin Powers

Il Duce is going to lose a lot of land in Portugal since he sent everybody to Africa, but I’ll find a way to make it up to him later.

Ch03_02_PortugalPic.jpg

9 July: The Italians have recalled whatever their version of the Africa Corps is and are getting ready to bust out in Spain.

Ch03_03_PortugalPart2.jpg

18 July: Germany declares limited war on Norway.

9 August: Nationalist partisans show up in China. This is only the second time partisans have popped up for me in this entire game.

30 August: My first home-brewed factory comes online. My practicals have only shaved off one IC from the price.

20 October: Japan keeps asking me to allow them debt. I suppose it’s only fair since they take debt from me, but I keep ignoring them.

19 November: The Italians are doing alright in Spain. Holland has been overrun. Nothing much is happening on my end except rusting rifles.

Ch03_04_SpanishFront.jpg

Ch03_05_FrenchFront.jpg

The rest of the year passes quietly, so I will conclude this update. I’ve already gone through most of 1940 so I can assure you there will be more action in the near future. Maybe I should demobilize so all my brave troops can see their wives? Nah…

RestingTroopsother_none386.jpg
 
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I had thought this was true, but it isn't- as an example, as Hungary I was prohibited from trading with Tibet with the tool-tip saying the problem was that both of us were required to have a port. Of course, maybe the game is treating 'Europe' and 'Asia' as different continents depsite the rather large land connection between them, in that case, this would be true and I would call it a bug.

Europe and Asia are different continents - take a look at the Diplomacy tab, and sort by continents. Odd game you've got going there.
 
Moar action next update? Sweet...
 
Europe and Asia are different continents - take a look at the Diplomacy tab, and sort by continents.
True, but I had originally thought that was only there for filtering purposes, I had no idea it was also tied in to other game mechanics. I would have thought they could have created a extra 'Eurasia' category to handle the gameplay issues like trade. Oh well...
 
Are you at war with the allies, or has Germany not brought everyone in yet?

Throughout 1939 I'm still at peace with the Allies, despite several urgent calls to arms from Germany, which makes this game the first time I've had an ally ask me to fight.
 
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