Hi Saithis,
I`m enjoying this hugely. As you`ve stated several times you want a challenge and therefore edit AI countries I humbly suggest another approach:
- load as Germ or SU and make an alliance between the two. Use acceptall... Just this once...
And then let Australia rid the world of these two abominations in one go!
Rgds, Oldtimer
Thanks for the feedback; although it would certainly be tempting from a gameplay perspective to do so, I'm not likely to allow Germany and the Soviet Union to ally, both as I believe I would have zero chance of victory without very gamey tactic and due to the fact that it more importantly doesn't make much sense in a storyline perspective. That said, if I were to modify the AI's diplomacy manually, I would likely instead set up a two-front allied war against the Axis and Comintern while leaving them in separate factions and unallied - thus the potential that they will still fight and will keep units watching each other's front lines.
Australian forces have achieved some nice tactical victories there, but I don't really think the Germans have brought their full force to bear yet. There is still a lot of southern and central England that they need to pacify and clear of British units. Once that is achieved, I am sure they will concentrate their forces against the northern line and things will become much more competitive! Nevertheless, your position looks sound, so I'm quite optimistic about your chances to halt their advance.
You're definitely right there. What I'm facing in Yorkshire is maybe a third of their troops at most, so if I can defeat it, it will be a huge victory and may make the island defensible in the short term. That said, in the long run, Germany will probably still have free reign to keep landing more units and may stage another landing behind the lines. Unless the Royal Navy establishes a proper blockade, this campaign will be over before terribly long, sound position or not.
I await the outcome of the Australian counterattack with interest, but it still looks pretty bleak for the UK. Even if you manage to isolate and eliminate some German divisions in the north, it's probably too little to rescue the situation. It might be better to follow General Morshead's advice and evacuate what you can to fight another day.
It would have been better to evacuate much sooner, but on the bright side, this is going to earn my divisions and generals some valuable combat experience. The real key here isn't losing Britain, but making sure I can escape with those divisions intact. If I manage that, then I'll come out much stronger for it - and I don't feel comfortable evacuating Britain before the battle is clearly lost either way, for storyline reasons.
This was very well fought, I didn't think there would be any chance for the Aussies to even hold back the tide a bit. But as others said, the fate of this campaign will be decided further South - if everything down there falls, then what's the point in holding a line in the North, unless somewhere along the way the Royal Navy decides to cut off the invading troops.
It's a bit irritating to think that a Sealion landing plus longish campaign would be possible with the RN undefeated but occupied elsewhere...
Good call on the AI-steering uploads, by the way. I would probably resist the temptation to do so now, because it just spoils the fun of playing a bit, but a few well-directed interventions are well worth it. Most importantly it saves you the trouble of realizing too late that one of your key enemies is all rubbish and you wasted a good many hours playing up to an endgame that won't happen.
Exactly. The extra bit of intelligence is nothing when compared with a satisfying end-game.
Well the campaign isn't over until its over. I can at least slow them down, but winning is a long shot since the AI can't really do all that much. The Royal Navy refuses to properly blockade the Kriegsmarine which puts me in a tough position, but there's nothing more to do other than keep playing. The AI-steering adjustments are already done and I didn't pay much attention to individual force positions so much as overall army/navy/airforce strength and research/IC priorities. I didn't gain that much intelligence and I think it'll make the AI a little better rounded and more interesting both to face and to fight alongside. Example: Canada was building nothing but sea forts, no troops or new aircraft/ships. Japan was building no marines although plenty of other stuff. Italy's only new ship in production was a single light cruiser and a destroyer flotilla was off the queue length and part-complete, while their army was already very big (I estimate nearly 300 of their own brigades plus another 100 German expeditionaries) and their air force healthy. These kinds of little fixes should make the AI a much more challenging opponent in the coming years.
I've officially hit the halfway point of this game's lifespan assuming I don't mod the end date, but there's a lot still to come. I hope it'll be interesting.
