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A Germany Tutorial: Ode to Semper Fi

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@Blackpaw: The reason I only build 1 level of fort is simply because you don't need more as long as you have it manned by 2 infantry divisions at all times.
Contrary to HOI2, you no longer see the final date of a serial run. only the completion date of the current one is shown. After that one is finished, the AI will calculate how much practical you gained and base time and cost for the next one on this. As a consequence, Serial runs are no longer the be all and end all. It is now more cost-efficient to start a new run every time the last one is finished. That doesn't mean I won't use them. mainly, if there are "small" things, such as trooptransports or convoys/esorts, that you could forget, use serial runs to keep them going.
adding more levels to your forts does make them harder to breach. But with all the stuff we'll need, we can't afford to spend 2 years on them.

Another thing I would advice everyone who's reading this, is to try not thinking in HOI2 terms. HOI3, especially with the addition of Semper Fi and For The Motherland, is a different game. The artillery brigade, for instance, no longer slows infantry down, like it did in HOI2. It is now a force multiplier. I will explain in more detail later, but for now, simply put, each combat takes up a certain amount of space on the battlefield. Support brigades do not. So they allow you to squeeze in more firepower in the same amount of space. When we get to the good stuff, I will be spending quite some time at explaining the OOB of your army and how combat works. It is quite a different mechanic under the hood.
 
TheBromgrev said:
There's another good tutorial you can find here: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?508595-TutAARial-or-How-I-learned-to-Stop-Fearing-Hearts-of-Iron-3-%28Semper-Fi%29&highlight=tutaarial. The author plays as France instead of Germany, but shows some examples of strategic maneuvers as Germany against the USSR.

In regards to building IC, there are many views on whether to do so or not for Germany. Some players, like misterbean here, build some IC right away and a little each year after the first batch is done so they can build more units at once. Other players, like myself, prefer to build units right away and use the improved practicals to build more later. Both strategies have their benefits and costs. I did the math earlier, and you'd need to build a total of around 170 IC before your input cost (IC invested into making more IC) equals your return (how much IC you get from spending IC to build more). That's because, if you look at the screenshot, with 0 practical in construction 1 unit of new IC costs 4.5 IC, so your initial return is 0.22 IC for every 1 IC spent. After about 170 IC spent you get more IC out of your investment that you paid, which takes about 3 years in-game to do, making this strategy only really useful for the US and USSR IMO since they have longer to prepare. To top that off, look at how long it takes to build 1 unit of new IC with 0 practical. It's almost a year. To compare, infantry costs roughly 3 IC and finish in about 3 to 4 months, so you could either spend 1 year building 3 or 4 new infantry brigades at a total cost of 3 IC (3 per unit) or you could spend 1 year to build 1 new IC at a cost of 4.5, which you can then use the new 1 IC for something else.

So, what it really comes down to is personal preference. Do you want to invest in your economy for about a year so you can build more units that you could have made without the investment, or do you want to instead build more units from the start, with their costs going down after each round of building? The first option lets you do more at once and might be better in the long run, while the second option takes a little longer to achieve the same result. Another thing to consider is the fact that IC costs resources, and Germany gets free annexations later down the road.
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Welcome, TheBromgrev! Nice of you to join us.
you're absolutely right. you could be building subs, planes and troops right out of the gate. I will be building up my forces soon enough. I just wanted to get the factories going now.
your way is more relaxed. You have more time in which to manage all your builds.
 
maybe this is a mistake.
I'm not half the teacher that Ironhead5 was.
don't get me wrong. I have every confidence im my ability to win the war.
just not in my ability as a teacher.
go with the one TheBromgrev posted. He does an excellent job.
abandonned :sad:
 
misterbean said:
maybe this is a mistake.
I'm not half the teacher that Ironhead5 was.
don't get me wrong. I have every confidence im my ability to win the war.
just not in my ability as a teacher.
go with the one TheBromgrev posted. He does an excellent job.
abandonned :sad:
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To mildly disagree - there is a need for this sort of thing. Rens' guides remain an excellent resource but are now useful for the more generic (almost game unrelated) thinking rather than walking someone through the game as it now is. If you want a focus its not on the mechanics but on the flow and interaction. This is often implicit in many AARs (for eg, to be parochial, my Great Patriotic War does cover a lot of how to sort out the Red Army, but its all buried in the history book format and how I presented it). Its a bit like what Valentinian is doing, there is merit both as an AAR and as a intro-guide to be really explicit about some of these decisions. So if you are going the route with Germany of IC first, discuss that - whats the pros and antis (I think with the FTM tweaks to resources its a bit less of an obvious choice) - then if you think on balance its the way to go ... how to set it up. So level 1 forts are essentially useful in any case and = construction practical .... therefore the cost of IC drops. Its that sort of slightly non-intuitive looping that is why a lot of people coming to HOI3 are thrown.

If you want an eg of a very different way to tackle a beginners AAR look at Gela1212's EU3 one. Thats more focussed on getting someone new to the game on their feet and over the first 50-75 years, but again he's into the cause and effect loops.

So I think you're doing a great job, and for what its worth, I make my living writing professional papers and do quite a lot of putting together on line pedagogic (apols!) material. But an interesting and valid AAR would be to constantly link what you are doing now (1936-8) to what you want to do in 1939 and so on.
 
I must admit, I hadn't expected such praise. you could be right, of course. maybe the mistake IS just a beginning AARtist's, not my own as teacher.
hmmm. I'll have to ponder this.
okay. I'll go on or I could start a new one.
A mini-poll, then.
Go on with this one or start over?
SF or FtM?
Start your voting now.
 
I suggest the FTM because there is no comprehensive FTM tutorial. Loki100 has a point and I will add that I am far from a good writer myself, and even worse teacher and my AARs are full of gramatical mistakes but then it doesn't stop me write them anyway :)) Do it your own style.
 
mnplastic said:
I suggest the FTM because there is no comprehensive FTM tutorial. Loki100 has a point and I will add that I am far from a good writer myself, and even worse teacher and my AARs are full of gramatical mistakes but then it doesn't stop me write them anyway :)) Do it your own style.
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thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm fairly certain though, that this AAR will be somewhat less gamey than yours usually are. :p
 
You don't need to start a new tutorial at all - just edit thread title and title it FTM - or whatever and just edit your posts and fill in more information and change some aspects, (ill install FTM again - after you made me yesterday to uninstall FTM and install Semper Fi) because so far I don't think there is much of a difference between the 2 expansions.

Your tutorial so far is good - not as good as the one by Ironhead5 - because he invested more time in explaining everything (leaving nothing to the wiki) that was on the screen (maybe thats alot easier for HOI-DD because there is less things to explain there compared to HOI3). Also if you read his thread he asks a lot on how to progress with the tutorial and what to build, and he accepted many suggestions from the users posting in his thread.

misterbean - the only thing that you lack IMHO is confidence and will to continue. If you do some mistakes like for example MrBromgev says this loki100 that - and you are in doubt that you are wrong and they are right -calculate and decide whether it is good to go this path or that - and edit your post and change the mistake - cancel factories and build infantries or stay with the current option (its not that hard it is still - 1st of Januari - please change that typo :D )

I'm not going to list the modifiers here. the HOI3 Wiki
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You said that when explaining terrain types. You don't need to list all modifiers just explain which troops are better at what terrain and how much they are better for ex. mnt +10.

This thread will be helpful to many. I wouldn't post here in this particular thread after 2 years of lurking - if I didn't see the potential of this. There are many more like me "leechers" that will just get the information - use it and not even say thanks. But that means you are helping them play the game - many new beginners will learn the game thanks to you, but you won't know that because 99% won't reply here. Just watch the views of the thread.

What is important is that you have motivation, put aside laziness and edit your posts, and keep going until you finish Barbarossa. If you don't think you will have the patience to finish this to the end cancel it now, I hate to see it abandoned in the middle of the Polish campaign.

Also about the mentioned guide on France by mankle30 - I tried to read it but stopped at the point where he explains the diplomacy tab - this is what he wrote:

There’s not much to do here yet, except we can see our Neutrality here, which is 90%. For better economic laws, we need to get that way down. Germany will do some of that for us by their threatening ways, but we can help out with…..
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and then continues to the intelligence tab. And I have a lot of unexplained things - what does embargo do, what is that big triangle to the right what does country drifiting means? what influences and how to increase? who is easier to influence or are they the same, how does trade work? etc etc.

Also writing an AAR for a country that is historically doomed to be destroyed and then function as a bunch of colonies is uninteresting.

I really like the Valentinan's guides on OOB planning but they are too specific and without knowing the basics they are hard to follow.

I suggest the FTM because there is no comprehensive FTM tutorial. Loki100 has a point and I will add that I am far from a good writer myself, and even worse teacher and my AARs are full of gramatical mistakes but then it doesn't stop me write them anyway ) Do it your own style.
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I agree grammatical mistakes are inevitable as most of us are not native English speakers, but typos lower case letters at the beginning of a sentence are something that can be avoided. It makes reading much more pleasant and easier. I don't want to sound like a grammar nazi here but IMO if you are writing an AAR you should structure it and avoid making punctuation mistakes.

To mildly disagree - there is a need for this sort of thing. Rens' guides remain an excellent resource but are now useful for the more generic (almost game unrelated) thinking rather than walking someone through the game as it now is. If you want a focus its not on the mechanics but on the flow and interaction.
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Rens' guides? What are you reffering to?
 
I'll post a link to one of Rensslaer's AARs. In his signature is mention of his "inkwell page". There you will find some excellent strategy guides. They wre written for the first version of the game and the first 2 patches, but they talk so much about general strategy that, even though they are out-of-date, they are still useful for any strategy game dealing with WWII, regardless of the version used.
Here's the link: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?533499-Locarno-Italy-vs.-Germany-(SF-HPP)
Happy reading.
 
After reading through my own earlier posts, I am not happy with it. I think it is pretty obvious a lot is missing. details, such as provided by Ironhead5 in his AAR, are merely glossed over in my beginner's rush. I know I can do better. So as soon as I'm ready, I'll post a link to the new thread.

@Blackpaw: I will watch the spelling and be sure to explore every nook and cranny. and sorry about the waste of time with reinstalling Semper Fi and all. BTW, in FtM, you can still have an effect on France itself, even from the colonies.
 
Keep going if you want to. Simply seeing your reasoning behind your actions is of great help to people who aren't quite sure what to do.
 
I will start over in a couple of days. just RL stuff I have to take care of first. expect a new start friday or so.
 
If you got a story to tell then tell it, write it down first off line, then read it again from start, authors are their own worst critics :) don't be afraid to rewrite it if you find it bad.

If you restart I'd say do it in FTM as there are some bad errors in SF that are fixed in FTM (and a new one in that I hear). Also tutorials might as well be in the newest version.
 
I'm already planning FtM, myself. just one note of caution at submarine avicionados; in FtM is has become impossible to have large wolfpacks AND invade Norway now that the actual strait in around Copenhagen. I tried earlier and Home Fleet thought they were in the Mariannah's (sp?) shooting turkey with my convoys.
I'd like people's opinion here. to me, it seems that HOI2-style sub campaigns have become a lesson in micromanagement, rather in gameplay fun. not exactly how to advocate the game to new players. If I have my way, I'll have a more balanced approach to actually be able to intervene. what do you guys think? it is either subs or Norway, which, with the heavy water, does become attractive.
 
I find that subs die very quickly in FtM, even when teched up to date. They're still effective, but carriers will tear them to shreds since CAGs have different spotting values than ships. Personally, I normally ignore Norway and focus on Sealion instead, taking great care to man the eastern front since the USSR will declare war on you as soon as it's able to break the NAP once you take London. If you do a Sealion very early, like in March 1940, then the USSR won't be in any shape to seriously oppose you if you make sure to put the bulk of your army on the border. Despite the danger of having the USSR attack you early, the big plus of an early Sealion, aside from getting rid of any threat from the west, is that the USSR will drag the entire Axis into the war against it, so if you're aggressive diplomatically you can bring a large alliance together against the Soviets.

Of course, all of that depends on how well you plan for Sealion from the start and how lucky you are in the initial battles against the Royal Navy. If you want to take out the UK later, then I'd suggest going heavy on the subs, knowing that you're going to lose quite a few to the RN's carriers. If you want access to Heavy Water for nukes then going historical and invading Norway is the best way to go.

Speaking of subs, there are a few heavily used convoy routes you could prioritize. I'm going off of memory here, but you can start a game as the UK and look at its convoy system to decide where to focus on. My suggestions are:

* East of Newfoundland. You can get there with 1937-tech subs if they're based out of western France.
* A zone or two north of the Azores. Every convoy from the Carribean, South America, and eastern Pacific goes through there. The UK AI patrols this area moderately due to range, but it patrols with carriers.
* Near Cadiz. Every convoy going to Asia goes through there, and the UK patrols it heavily as well. High risk and high reward
* The area immediately south of Ireland. Very risky since it's in range of land-based aircraft and the RN likes to move through here on its way somewhere else, but it's the last bottleneck before the English Channel and you can score tons of hits on convoys.
* Western Sahara near the Canary Islands. Too far from the major bases and lightly patrolled. A lot of convoys go through here from the many western and southern African ports, but nowhere near what goes past the Azores and Gibraltar. Probably the safest place to hunt convoys next to Canada until the US starts being able to attack your ships.

Finally, if you plan on having a go with FtM, I highly recommend the Community Map Project, which is almost done (should be ready by this Friday) and will be included in the upcoming 3.06 patch.
 
I would like to see a more surface navy based Germany, rather than a sub based German navy. For me, I like to build a bunch of BB and then go heavy on the cruisers (CA and CL) as it's easily possible to build and research large cruiser fleets as they share practicals. With some lvl IV BB (that Germany can build from the start) such fleets can take a beating and punch really hard, while being easily replacable at the same time as long as the BB dont get sunk. Against CAG, I use INT and when the CAG can't fight due to strength or org, NAV will take out the CV with some luck - or anything else the RN will send into the north sea or the Channel.
 
@TheBromgrev: any ETA on 3.06 then? If it's for the next week or so, I'd be willing to wait a while.
I'm thinking of going with the 1934 plan initially, which is essentially, a cruiser fleet with a couple of CVs and migrate from there. I did a test on it once for TheBromgrev's naval thread and it did take out a UK carrier/BB fleet after a running battle in the Baltic...and gave me a CTD :rolleyes:
About Sealion: do you know what happens to the UK when you take the British Isles but stay out of London? Mnplastic, you'll love this one: the most gamey tactic ever :cool:
 
No idea when 3.06 is coming out. I'd think after CK2 and the new Vicky 2 expansion is out.

Regarding Sealion, I don't know. I'd guess that the UK starves because the capital can't ship out supplies.
 
exactly. I did it once and Churchill was sitting in London on over 1,000 convoys with no way to send them.
 
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