Chapter Twenty - First Intermission (How to be Canada)
Years ago my Dad took my son and I to a hockey game, courtesy of one of the pharmaceutical companies who are always looking for ways to get the attention of physicians. The thing I remember most about the game - other than "luxury boxes are cool!" - was the first intermission. I hadn't previously associated hockey with a fancy dessert tray. Now, of course, we sit down with real fans and practice the proper pronunciation of the first name of the other team's goalie.
Here's our first intermission. No dessert tray for you guys, just a discussion of the war so far.
Cue Hockey Music
Before we begin
I must point out that two of the six current captains on Original Six hockey teams were born and raised in my hometown, a (pretty big) suburb of Rochester, in upstate New York. They both still live here.
Canada Overview.
I'll probably repeat some things I've said already, and repeat them again when the game is over, but there are quite a few points which have been running through my mind lately that I want to discuss while they're still fresh. Mostly it's how I would do things differently, but some is an appreciation of the stuff that's gone right.
What to Build
- You get three or four Corps, and only if you build basic two brigade divisions. Add specialized brigades over time. You might squeeze a fifth corps out of your manpower later in the war, or I suppose if you manage to conquer enough manpower to matter, but count on a small army. Treat them well. Protect them. These troops are 90% of what you're going to be using to accomplish anything for the entire game. Canada has enough money and resources to run its IC, plus safe access to the US Auction House. All you can expect to run short of is manpower. Any apparent IC shortage is really just a temporary glut of manpower. It will pass.
- Build Navy and Air Force. This one I'm still working on, but it seems to me that Canada has enough IC to build a decent Navy, meaning one which can protect transports and cause troubles for the enemy (not defeat a real navy). Canada also has enough IC to build a decent Air Force, meaning four squadrons or so. If you don't have a navy, don't expect to hold the Straits of Messina. If you don't have an Air Force, you suffer from ground attacks like I have. So I'd try for a navy similar to the one I have, and a larger air force early. We'll be testing this theory as the game progresses. What this means is that I wish I'd built 3-4 air units of different kinds and skipped industry and delayed some other builds.
- Forget industry. My IC build was a mistake. I will get back the IC I put in by the end of the war, and a different schedule would have been less bad. As it is I maximized the punishment of starting with poor practicals. Also, if I'd built 1937 equipment and tried to use it through the war, that wouldn't have been as good as building 1941 equipment with my expanded IC. So, I did shift builds from the 30s to the 40s where units are better. Still, I'd skip industry builds altogether and pile up stuff that doesn't turn obsolete.
- License Everything - This has to do with research, so I'll discuss it in depth there, but the short answer is that Canada should never research anything that rusts. This means you're stuck with non-capital ships, escorts only, but that's okay.
- Special forces rule! I knew this going in, but I should have built 50-75% special forces instead of 25-30% special forces. Think value added. How much IC can I tack on to the backs of the Manpower I have? I don't mean you should build 1938-era tanks. Any armor you can't use right away will just get obsolete. I think special forces are the way to go. Perhaps license armor later in the war.
- Have some way to prevent repeated air attacks on a single province [Ed - ya think?]. If you don't have air cover, make sure somebody brings an AA gun or five. If you cannot shoot them down in a dogfight, then making enemy CAS maximize time spent on R&R is critical. Tear them up with AA when they attack or they'll attack constantly.
- Escorts and Convoys. Yes, everyone needs these, but Canada more than most. It starts off isolated, with most trades probably done over land with the USA. Once you conquer territory, the situation changes dramatically. So don't neglect Escorts and Convoys. It's tough to play catch up once the war starts. Don't know what to build 1936-1938? Escorts and Convoys don't become obsolete. 1936 Escorts and Convoys are just as good as 1946 Escorts and Convoys.
- Also, pre-build bases and defenses. It would have been nice to have AA or fortress or whatnot for Messina, and I could certainly see the attacks coming. I've also played to a point where I really wish I had a pre-built airfield. The only downside of Naval Bases, Air Bases etc is that they keep the "you have units built" icon lit up, depriving you of a handy warning when real units become available.
- Consider oddball units. I like Armored Cars. No, they don't have the punching power of real tanks, but they are fast. Speed kills (the enemy). There are going to be many occasions when you could outmaneuver an enemy if you had speed, cutting supply lines. This is especially true if you stay very active (see What to Do). Armored cars are meant for fast movement more than combat, so obsolescence is less of a worry.
What to Research
Infantry!
- If it rusts, license it. Armor, Navy, Air Force, all that stuff. Just license it. Look at DD and CL. That's just escorts, but you're stuck researching 4-6 tech every level, and all Canada gets is 5-6 slots. There's no way to keep up here, or even stay respectable, without hurting your infantry techs. Same thing with specialized brigades like Artillery, Anti-Tank and Anti-Air. They're only a few slots, but you can't afford them. Before the war starts, the UK will require far too much money for licenses, if you ask me. Still, money you can trade for, leadership you cannot. After the war starts the UK still wants too much money, but worth trying three times to get a cheap offer for every deal, IMHO. Until the USA lets you have techs, I'd default to the UK. The things I got from France were cheaper but inferior. Not worth the trade off.
- I'd also sign up for short-term deals, no more serial builds. Why? Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but licensed stuff won't upgrade (????), and you want the latest. So a deal which takes two years to build
will spend half that time making units which aren't as good as you could be getting. You can get all the diplomats you need for this from around 0.10 Leadership.
- The basic techs which everyone needs, industry, resources, infantry and a few odds and ends will consume all of Canada's Leadership. To stay up to date in infantry, IC, Agriculture and the like, you must abandon everything else. On the other hand, you CAN have top-notch Infantry if you abandon almost everything else. Since your primary active force will be infantry, this is a GOOD THING.
LAND is where I am least confident, having recently discovered things which I ought to have researched long ago.
Suffice it to say, however, that most things other than Infantry & Industry are best ignored by Canada. You'll put yourself behind in areas where you could have kept up with the big boys without gaining anything which will affect your real power in the game.
What to Do
- Send your transports out to die pointlessly as soon as hostilities begin! This is the key to victory. Heck, the USA spent all 1942 doing this with its Merchant Marine.
- Do not defend Canada at all, ever. You're a part of the Commonwealth, your role in WW2 is to strip the home country bare.
- Pick a few commanders and build them up. Canada has so few units that nothing is truly micromanagement. Granted, I have done poorly at this, but whatever, that's me, I play too fast. And I'm still learning. You will have enough combat that a few of your commanders can become very impressive. Pick the right ones.
- Remember that you're human. Normally this would mean keeping your imperfections in mind, but here I mean remember that you can do all kinds of unexpected stuff. Whether you exploit the AI's inability to defend points of supply is up to you. You have such limited power that I'd say go ahead, make the most of what you've got. Regardless, jump around. Rensslaer's Portugal AAR is a great example of this, but a series of short operations with limited objectives seems to me the way to maximize your contribution to the war. I suppose I should have said Spoiler Alert.
- Islands, Gandalf, I want to see islands! You're Canada, you can't really hold a perimeter against serious opposition. Islands, on the other hand, provide a natural barrier to the enemy that don't require a meat shield you cannot afford. In EU I hate owning islands because any rebellion requires manual suppression (I love the new "squash all rebels" button). Well, it's same thing here, except you are the rebels. Any enemy attempt to re-take an island requires a fairly serious AI effort. Even holding Sicily, with its land bridge to Italy, is far easier than holding bits of Italy proper.
- Don't count enemy casualties. Okay, I'm doing that and I intend to keep doing it, but shouldn't. If the enemy loses 10,000 guys and you lose 5,000, or even 3000, that's a big win for the bad guys. The Axis have far more men than you. You need to shoot for a 5-1 or 10-1 advantage in losses. Canada needs to think like the Brit generals who saw the slaughter in WW1. Avoid casualties. I only count casualties because I need a way to keep score.
- Feel free to go ahistorical. I probably won't, but I'd still suggest DoWing Portugal and other small states on any pretext. It's up to you, obviously, but my point is that if you have a choice between staring at Italy and Germany while doing nothing, trying your own personal D-Day all by yourself, or conquering bite-sized morsels, then dive into the hors d'ouvres tray! Eat up. They're all secretly Axis, trust me.
- Hit and run. This is my plan for a bit down the road. We'll see how it works, but what I hope to do over the course of the war is to launch major raids, inflict real casualties (20,000+), then withdraw. There are many places which the Axis MUST defend. If I capture the garrisons then flee, the AI will still have to defend these territories. The net result will be that I reduce the number of troops the Axis have for their front lines by making them replace their garrisons over and over again. Heck, it would be cheesy, but I could capture the same city's garrison ten times. I won't, but that's the rough idea. The trick will be landing, surrounding, and capturing before reinforcements come. The fun will be hanging on long enough to draw off the inevitable AI reaction. My defensive general might just be the right guy for this kind of play. At first, he'll be attacking with overwhelming odds. Later he'll be defending with closer to even odds. I just hope my transports live to tell the tale. I should be able to do all my retreats from port. Hmmm, time to plan something.
Who to Fight
- Italy, certainly. It's big enough to matter, but weak enough to be in Canada's weight class. Take Sardinia first. Grab Sicily, sure, but Sardinia is more valuable yet less well defended. North Africa is harder but doable, obviously. Italy itself, well, we'll see.
- Japan? I doubt I'll find out, in my Italy game the USA "Enforced Conquer" on Japan before doing much of anything else. We'll see. The trouble is that Japan has a serious navy, which might be impossible to avoid. Plus, Japanese held territory might have high a ratio of defense to strategic value. It certainly would be interesting to liberate, say, the Phillipines or Formosa or what have you. Hmm.
- Germany? Um, I think not. You could conceivably grab Denmark or a bit of western France and try to defend. Giving the Allies an objective might get you the kind of help which changes everything. However, you risk fighting waves of German troops. A country with three or four understrength Corps can't really go toe to toe with a country with, what, ten times that? Plus, if you succeed, that's it. What you hold is likely to be all you get for the duration of the war. Let's say you take Brittany and keep it against repeated German counter attacks. Bo-ring. Holding Sicily - especially as I didn't know how it would turn out in the end, look how close the later fights got - holding Sicily for a few months with one Corps was fun. A few years of holding bits of the continent with everything you've got, not so much.
- Germany? On the other hand, once the Germans have their hands full in the east, why not grab what you can. Denmark, Greece, can you say "Greater Canadian Co-Prosperity Sphere?"
- Little Axis Wannabes - sure! Portugal, Persia, anything which is smallish and isolated looks good to me. Watch out for the Monroe Doctrine, though.