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Japan spreads its powah, now all it needs is surprise Comintern.

Then we truly have THE GREATER GOOD!
 
I just finished reading your last AAR. It was great and I will be following this one too :)
 
Very good so far, it's interesting to see the change in style of operation; Germany just seems too strong to falter under a large invasion with the goal of grabbing territory (as found out in the previous AARs), so Trebuchet is scaled down to actually deliver some decent results. The loss of 3 divisions won't massively hurt Germany, but it does provide a real result to the operation rather than grabbing territory then being pushed back, so well done :)
 
Divisions under attack should not be able to retreat to sea.

Definately. This, at least, would be quite easy for paradox to fix in a patch, I think. And it's logic too. The "wonder" at Dunkerque is standard operation in HoI3 ;) Still, with our history of Axis victories, the Allies need a little help ;)

One other thing I found out had been changed was the sub war. Either the allies have come up with some kind of very good defense strategy, or it has been changed considerably since the last patch. I lost sub after sub, an unwelcome surprise.

Is it really such a big difference? The losses initially was also due to the fact that you started with intence convoy raiding with Wilhelmshaven as you westernmost port, meaning you get a quite limited operational range... meaning our intence sub-hunting effort was norrowed down to a quite small area. Especially the oldest German subs get toasted quite quickly (I lost my obsolete subs quite fast in last game too). But I havn't read the latest patch's readme. Our strategy, intitally, was just a massive number of patrols on a limited area. We didn't have much else to do with our navies (French/Brit) at the time.

Very good so far, it's interesting to see the change in style of operation; Germany just seems too strong to falter under a large invasion with the goal of grabbing territory (as found out in the previous AARs), so Trebuchet is scaled down to actually deliver some decent results. The loss of 3 divisions won't massively hurt Germany, but it does provide a real result to the operation rather than grabbing territory then being pushed back, so well done :)

Yes, exactly that thinking lead to this Operation design. You read me as an open book ADEE ;)
 
Definately. This, at least, would be quite easy for paradox to fix in a patch, I think. And it's logic too. The "wonder" at Dunkerque is standard operation in HoI3
Don't know about that. Such change would encourage gamey pinning attacks, i.e. attacking with crappy divs a massive stack so that they cannot escape while they are being encircled and bombed. Maybe there should be a limit of sorts, so that one friendly division engaged could only "block" one enemy division.
 
Don't know about that. Such change would encourage gamey pinning attacks, i.e. attacking with crappy divs a massive stack so that they cannot escape while they are being encircled and bombed. Maybe there should be a limit of sorts, so that one friendly division engaged could only "block" one enemy division.
I suppose you could set a limit on how many divisions you can pin inside the port to 4 or 5 divisions per attacking division or something like that. That way you'd still be encouraged to deploy at least some token perimeter forces around the port to hold off the enemy's forward divisions while you're pulling your main army out.

I also think something needs to be done about the 'instant load-up' we currently have where you can load hundreds of thousands of soldiers into transport ships through a single port in a matter of seconds and then sail off with them. If the system was changed so that it'd take a few hours to load up each division, that would go a long way to make amphibious attacks and invasions carry a more reasonable amount of risk for the attacking player and hopefully force players to give more thought to their moves.

Also loving the AAR CptEasy. Here's to hoping the fascist hordes will finally meet their match this game. ;)
 
I also think something needs to be done about the 'instant load-up' we currently have where you can load hundreds of thousands of soldiers into transport ships through a single port in a matter of seconds and then sail off with them. If the system was changed so that it'd take a few hours to load up each division, that would go a long way to make amphibious attacks and invasions carry a more reasonable amount of risk for the attacking player and hopefully force players to give more thought to their moves.
This is not a bad idea, although the AI should probably be exempt from such limitations in order not to hamper its amphibious invasion capabilities too severely.

However, HOI3 has other problems connected with naval matters, too. Some are related to the convoy system, which allows you to transport 140196591805651 goods from one part of the planet to the another in just one day. Battle of the Atlantic would become much more interesting if there was a delay of sorts and if the port capacity mattered for the purpose of transporting resources. Same can be said about supplies - supplying Singapore should be harder for the UK than supplying Caen, for example.
 
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To add a little to the discussion - it will be tricky to deside the actual number of units to pin down. I had a more detailed suggestion in a previous discussion on the same topic. The most interesting thing there is to included softness as a factor. It is obviously rediculus to land an armor division into hostile territory and directly move into action without penelty - and the other way around - losses would be enormous when trying to pick up an armor division under attack from the sea-side.
 
I like the general idea, but IMO the penalty shouldn't be based on softness, but determined on the unit basis, i.e. in the text files. It would be more flexible that way, as HOI3's softness system is a bit strange.

Coasts should have varying difficulty levels, which would be visible in the naval map mode (RED for the worst and GREEN for the best coast for invasion purposes). Landing on RED coasts would not even be possible and they would represent places which are completely unsuitable for amphibious landings in most plausible scenarios. ORANGE coasts would give significant movement (!) and attack penalties and units would get attack delay and an ORG penalty (like in case of paratroopers after para-dropping) on disembarking. Therefore, it would be possible to land on such coasts, but with significant penalties. YELLOW coasts would give movement and attack penalties (lower than in case of ORANGE coasts) and attack delay, but no ORG penalty. Yellow coasts would be the most prevalent ones. GREEN coasts would only give movement and attack penalties (smaller than in case of other coast types) and they would represent places which are perfectly suitable for landing.

Additionally, there should be a pop-up which would tell the player that one of they provinces is being invaded, even if there is no garrison there AND all invading TPs should become visible to the country which is being invaded (it would help the AI to react properly, too).

This could make the invasions more realistic IMO.
 
Sorry just a little late.:mad:

First of all congratulations on being a dad.
Very bold move ingame.I would have said 3 divs versus the fate of an entire army korps.wasn't worth the balance but u pulled it off really well.

Now with russia out of the picture for a while,the whole pressure will fall on france.Lets see How the allies do.I would suggest a continous riverbank defense.With heavy forces covering gaps from multiple directions.
If u can deny luftwaffe air superiority then it might actually hold off.

If i were italy i would either make a sudden move in africa just as the germany's full weight falls on french and british defenders and divisions become engaged,or alternatively a coordinated amphibious and land attack on southern france.With french and brit eyes on germany's offensive ,they have a very good chance of slipping in if they time it right when the heavy action starts.

Looking eagerly forward.:cool:
 
Royal Carnage

Chapter III, The War-Mashine is turning westwards









Human Players: Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, France, Soviet







Recap: Poland has surrenered and several new wars have erupted. With the Polish front secured, the initiative is all Germany.












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July 3rd-4th, 1939

While Germany moved on the Danes, driving them back, British naval bombers based in Copenhagen conducted several attacks on the harbor of Kiel where maritime surveillance had spotted German U-boats on repair. The German leadership was obviously surprised with this kind of attack, and their anti aircraft capability far too weak. Two entire wolf packs were sunk in the port in what was later celebrated in British media for weeks to come, with interviews of pilots and officers as well as showing some blurry pictures from the burning port of Kiel - shown over and over again.
As the German war on British convoys had been painfully successful so far, it was deadly important to hamper their capability as much as possible.

The British leadership was eager to try these kinds of attacks again but knew that Luftwaffe was not likely to be slow a second time.

With Poland gone, the French Expeditionary Force in Denmark pulled back and returned to France.











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July 14th-17th, 1939

Germany captured the Danish main land with ease. Also, Wehrmacht pushed the French forces back from German soil to the safety of the Maginot – a magnificent fortress the German leadership did not dare to face.

Elsewhere in Europe, it was far from peaceful. The Fins and Yugoslavians surrendered after short and pointless resistance. The Soviet Union, however, had not satisfied its hunger for lands and attacked Romania too.

All these European wars made the Canadian leadership restless and worried and they soon joined their British and French friends. The Canadian support was mighty welcome.

Authors note: The rather intense war against minors has quickly made this game the most aggressive so far in our gaming history. It will be very interesting to see how it all turns out. Soviet Union cannot, according to our House Rules, attack more minors as long as their threat against the US is higher than all of the Axis nations. So – we will have a slightly stronger Italia than usual and a little bit stronger USSR as well. Interesting that Italia and USSR soon will share a common border…











14.jpg

July 20th, 1939

Roughly a month after the fall of Poland, Germany declared war on the Netherlands. It was now certain Germany planned to go through the Benelux to by-pass the Maginot. This did not really come as a surprise to the Allies. Even though they did not expect to be able to save the Dutch, the United Kingdom was not about to sit idle and watch them cave in...











15.jpg

July 24th, 1939

While the battle of the Netherland was initiated, the Germans made a daring operation in Denmark. They dropped a paratroop division in Odense (where Alexander stands now). This maneuver broke the Danish government who surrendered (It’s a VP in Odense), and with the government gone the army lay its weapons down. Now, United Kingdom did not like that at all and occupied the remaining part of Denmark.

The Germans soon realized they could not retreat. For all their cleverness, they could not cross the water which was ruled by the Royal Navy. Soon, a British Army Corps of motorized attacked the paras who fought bravely with naval artillery raining down on them. Alas, they had no way out and surrendered after fierce battle. This was the fourth German division to surrender to the Brits.

Still, the Danish army was gone.

In the south, British Naval Bombers attacked the port of Lübeck but found it under protection of Luftwaffe and the mission was cancelled.











16.jpg

July 28th, 1939

Poland is beaten. Denmark as a country is crushed but United Kingdom holds the Danish Isles and thus the mouth of the Baltic Sea. With this, northern Germany is open to amphibious landings and the ports can be reached by naval bombers based in Copenhagen. With Allied navies in the Baltics, Kriegsmarine is bound to be very careful. So far, they have done nothing.

Netherland is inevitably losing ground. United Kingdom has shipped a few divisions to help the Dutch and to buy more time for the coming battle of France.

France initial land gains in the northern part of the West Wall have been lost and the French have retreated west of the Maginot to lick their wounds. Instead, a French-Anglo attack over the southern part of Maginot was met with success and the Germans have lost several provinces.











17.jpg

July 28th, 1939

The Allied land gains along southern Maginot had little significance when it comes to conquered factories and resources. It had little value but tying down German forces at a location where they could do little harm. It was just to stall and annoy. Soon, the Allied where expected to be pushed back and they were not prepared to bleed very much for it.


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Interesting question for you. Do the allies (small a, as in Japan/Italy/Germany as well as UK/France/USSR/USA) communicate during the game? Do you chat, call, or do this in one big room? Or do you just coordinate stuff in advance? Really like this one, as I have all your AARS!
 
I think that this escapade to the Siegfried Line and beyond is pointless. How is it supposed to improve the Allied strategic situation?

BTW Attacking Netherlands without attacking Belgium seems to be the players' favourite. You can take out the Dutch at your leisure. Realistically, this should force the Belgians to mobilise and join the Allies, unless a fascist party is in power.
 
I read the last AAR long after it had started and didn't comment IIRC, but it is interesting to see how different an MP game can be.

BTW Attacking Netherlands without attacking Belgium seems to be the players' favourite. You can take out the Dutch at your leisure. Realistically, this should force the Belgians to mobilise and join the Allies, unless a fascist party is in power.

Thanks for giving me an idea for my personal mod :).
 
You've done a good job stalling and distracting the Germans, but it's questionable if it's going to be enough. I think the key, as usual, is going to be how the Belgian front holds out. Good luck, it'd be nice to see an Allied victory for once!