Germany

[prince_blucher]

I've given up with HOI3 FTM and I'm back to HOI2 (after 4-5 years) to try DH! I used to play CORE and HSR back then!

I need a few pointers as Germany in 1936 please, as the build times, upgrades, MP and mobilization are all challenging ATM.

1. The "reserve" divisions at the start (low strength) - how are these utilized? I mean how do I get them operational (i.e. full strength) for the start of the war (Fall 1939)?
2. Should I enact the conscription / mobilization decisions?
3. Is it worth building some IC early game or not worth it? I seem to recall my experiments in HOI2 vanilla, that IC didn't pay for itself until too late in the war.
4. Any advice on build strategy - what to build, when? (to combat the long build times).
5. Any tips on a strategy to defeat U.K? BB/DD or CV/CL or Subs?

Any other general advice / tips / no-nos would be gratefully received.

Thanks, Prince

[Rulestormer]

1. Don't reinforce your divisions! All of your divisions will automatically get 80 strength for free when you enact partial mobilization.
2. Only enact them one step at a time and only if you run out of manpower to build more divisions, since the peacetime IC of France, UK and USA rises with each step.
3. If you want to blitzkrieg Poland, France, and the Soviets as fast as possible, don't build any IC at all.
4. Infantry, Motorized/Light Armor and Armor. That's the best mix if you want to work with encirclements of the enemy.
5. Sorry no tips, I usually ignore UK. I use 8-12 Interceptors to keep my industry in the west intact.

[Duke of Awesome]

1) Those divisions get refilled with manpower when you enact partial mobilization or general mobilization decisions.
2) You should enact those decisions when you need more manpower, as they will conscript more of your populace. Be warned, however, that doing this in peace time will give you dissent. Manpower doesn't naturally grow the way it does in HoI2. Kaiserreich mod still has this manpower system if you want to try that out.

[prince_blucher]

Thanks, so just to confirm, there is no dissent hit when i enact the partial mobilization decision (when at war)?

What about upgrades? is it best to build early and upgrade or build late to aviod the long upgrade times?

[gibbel]

Thanks, so just to confirm, there is no dissent hit when i enact the partial mobilization decision (when at war)?

That's correct. When at war you don't get any dissent from partial mobilization. When you enact full mobilization at war you'll get 4 dissent and when you enact partial mobilization at peace you get 16 dissent.


Quick question: Are the dissent value in events screwed up for you as well? If there is any dissent change from events the tooltip always tells me: "Dissent is changed by 0".

[Epaminondas]

Quick question: Are the dissent value in events screwed up for you as well? If there is any dissent change from events the tooltip always tells me: "Dissent is changed by 0".

Are you talking about dissent in DH or dissent in the Mod33 DH game, gib? If it's the former, I'm not seeing that. If it's the latter I believe that it's a glitch that's being fixed in the new release.

[PlutoniX]

I have another question. Do you release puppets as Germany? If yes, why?

[Epaminondas]

Welcome indeed mighty prince. Good to hear from you after all this time. Four to five years of HoI3 - you have my most sincere sympathy, sir.

Rulesormer's got you covered on most of your questions, but you'll find that 'decision' play adds an important new dimension for old HoI2 players like us. It does lend itself to some exploits - e.g. building lots of low manpower divisions and not bothering to reinforce them at all until you're on the brink of your DoW, then charging them up overnight - but it does throw some extra balls in the air that can take some juggling.

As a small correction, I don't think your division mp gets automatically filled to 80% on partial mobilisation. Instead, I believe, there's a random variable in play that will give you between 50% and (I think) 90% refill with 80% looking most likely.

[Epaminondas]

I have another question. Do you release puppets as Germany? If yes, why?

Pretty much the same reason as in HoI2 - it'll generally give you a better outcome.
Drives up your dissent but drops your belligerence a heap so that you don't have other nations after your head all the time.
In most cases gives you a better return than working with captured IC.
Better manpower outcomes - they'll usually build forces with their own IC that you get to use as allies.
Better trade and resource outcomes - once they've hit their 10% stockpile they'll send the rest to you.

[gibbel]

Are you talking about dissent in DH or dissent in the Mod33 DH game, gib? If it's the former, I'm not seeing that. If it's the latter I believe that it's a glitch that's being fixed in the new release.

I am talking about DH Full. Here's a screenshot.


Edit: I don't have that same problem when playing Kaiserreich.

[^_AC_^]

Please use patch 1.02 final of DH and not previous betas: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...1.02-Hot-fixes

[gibbel]

Thanks, that fixed the problem. I thought I was already playing 1.02 final but it was probably still playing the 1.02 beta.

[prince_blucher]

Welcome indeed mighty prince. Good to hear from you after all this time. Four to five years of HoI3 - you have my most sincere sympathy, sir.

Rulesormer's got you covered on most of your questions, but you'll find that 'decision' play adds an important new dimension for old HoI2 players like us. It does lend itself to some exploits - e.g. building lots of low manpower divisions and not bothering to reinforce them at all until you're on the brink of your DoW, then charging them up overnight - but it does throw some extra balls in the air that can take some juggling.

As a small correction, I don't think your division mp gets automatically filled to 80% on partial mobilisation. Instead, I believe, there's a random variable in play that will give you between 50% and (I think) 90% refill with 80% looking most likely.

Greetings Epaminondas! Long time no speak! I thought or guessed you had not joined the HOI 3 revolution...but I see there you have the game registered. Yeah I accept your sympathy, I'm not sure my RSI will ever heal...boy what a click-fest that was! To be fair I have been playing the Napoleon Total War and Empire Total War series for some of that time!!!

Its great fun re-learning HOI2....brings back some good memories of CORE and HSR....Ah the good old days!

Enough reminiscing...there is much fighting to be done!

Thanks for the advice...more is and will be required!

[alekseevic]

IMO MOT are no so useful at the beginning; they act basically as INF but they cost much more. I prefer to have more INF and ARM, but it's a matter of tastes. When playing as Germany I prefer to have more divs instead of better ones at least until in war with SOV. Another suggestion (always IMHO): build a lot of fighters. You don't need so many bombers, but you need fighters for offensive air superiority and a few INT for your homeland defence. But this is up to you.

Regarding UK, unfortunately SUBs are a little OP, if you're able to build 30 subs and group them in a massive fleet you can land in UK with ease.

[Epaminondas]

Essentally the game's HoI2 with all the bells and whistles added, so you're basic HoI2 game plan should still serve you pretty well in DH while your picking up the nuances of the added capabilities.

The big ticket changes are Manpower and the Decisions. I find I need to constantly monitor my manpower 'expenditure' to prevent over-committing, and I'm still working out how best to swing with the decisions. When you hover over the top left corner of a decision notice you'll get info telling you the conditions that have to be fulfilled in order for it to become available. I've found that it's well worth manipulating your play to have as many available as possible, even if you don't fire them straight away.

Since you mentioned CORE, did you know they have a version for AoD? Together they make a hell of a game.

[prince_blucher]

Yeah I noticed the AoD mod was available on Steam, i'll probably get to that later this year!