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Destroyed the UK? Don't follow... the British Isles are still there - and worse, they are still colored pink. Grand Strategy is not afraid to question anything.
Invading the UK would cost much more manpower then building enough submarines to cripple its overseas ability, it would also have brought the USA into the war early.
 
Are submarines worthless?

Blue Emu received award for "Best AAR of 2008" for his "Are submarines worthless". But I think he had far more U-boats than you built.

You really only built one line subs (1.8 or 2.0 IC maximum)?

If so, you have done exceptionally well (possibly better than Blue Emu if adjusted for sub numbers) as regards Britain "out of rares". Of course, it affects everything for them. Why they lost in Africa (no supplies), Malta and Gibralter starved to death, they can't invade Norway or France, I don't see their bombers (only the Yanks), and maybe you not being bombed so much (but your Luftwaffe is definitely weakening by screen shots shown).

Anyway, all that for 1.8 - 2.0 ICs is a "fire sale bargain". Many players spend the same amount just on new airbases.

And it must be a great relief having your top, back and bottom doors secure. If you managed to let your subs mostly play themselves (so it did not detract you from the war with the REDS) then I am in complete agreement.

HOWEVER, Grand Strategy questions if you really could have conducted the U-boat campaign (and all of the many actions in the Atlantic) without negative effects on your attention to the Barabarossa Campaign. And if the honest answer is "NO", then Grand Strategy would say that "All the gains regarding UK being out of rares are not worth losing Barbarossa". Of course, you have not lost Barbarossa (at least not yet). While I personally have a preminition, the point is we are all dying waiting for your next screen shots. I have to agree with garonw, political map mood most appreciated.
 
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Invading the UK would cost much more manpower then building enough submarines to cripple its overseas ability, it would also have brought the USA into the war early.

I am not suggesting Sea Lion. In fact - the complete opposite (no detraction at all in the Atlantic) until the hardest part of this MOD - Barbarossa - is in the bag. However, even I don't agree with this comment of mine because it is too ahistorical to provide a decent game experience. I am only being the devil's advocate regarding the various things that can contribute to losing at Barbarossa, and suggesting that "distraction in other parts of the map" might be a valid reason.

Regarding the other issue, I was only clarifying that - if the British Isles are still colored pink - they are not destroyed. Damaged yes, but not destroyed. And the damage is confined to decreased unit production, decreased supplies and oil resulting in severely limited operations, and actual destruction of some units in outposts because of lack of supply. There might also be attrition in the home isle units.

But all that is not destruction of the isles. Forgetting about the historical for a moment, the end game result - if Germany cannot defeat SU because of a long stalemated situation - will be (given enough time) that the U-boats will eventually be destroyed as Allied technology improves and Germany - stretched to the limit - cannot afford replacing U-boat MP losses. At that point the British Isles quickly regain their “threat status” since not even air bases were destroyed, and it only needs the convoys (US convoys doing Lend-Lease will work if no UK convoys remain) to run again for the isles to support the units stationed there. Without demeaning the United Kingdom, the isles really only need to function as a temporary base for USA to organize D-Day. Once the troops land in France the US can take over supplying the units involved. So, I think it may be ironic to say the U-boat campaign has destroyed the UK.

On another note, as regards the UK-based bombing of Germany that is occurring, even with most UK convoys destroyed, I believe a sizeable portion of supplies, oil and rares can still get thru with USA using Open Negotiations. The transferring amount is subject to interdiction but a generous Lend Lease policy might be enough to keep the UK sufficient to support the bombers.
 
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I am not suggesting Sea Lion. In fact - the complete opposite (no detraction at all in the Atlantic) until the hardest part of this MOD - Barbarossa - is in the bag. However, even I don't agree with this comment of mine because it is too ahistorical to provide a decent game experience. I am only being the devil's advocate regarding the various things that can contribute to losing at Barbarossa, and suggesting that "distraction in other parts of the map" might be a valid reason.
My 'distractions' in the Atlantic have crippled the UK. It would be much more then a distraction if I had done nothing at all in the Atlantic. At first I built submarines for flavour but they turned out to be extremely useful.

Regarding the other issue, I was only clarifying that - if the British Isles are still colored pink - they are not destroyed. Damaged yes, but not destroyed. And the damage is confined to decreased unit production, decreased supplies and oil resulting in severely limited operations, and actual destruction of some units in outposts because of lack of supply. There might also be attrition in the home isle units.

But all that is not destruction of the isles. Forgetting about the historical for a moment, the end game result - if Germany cannot defeat SU because of a long stalemated situation - will be (given enough time) that the U-boats will eventually be destroyed as Allied technology improves and Germany - stretched to the limit - cannot afford replacing U-boat MP losses. At that point the British Isles quickly regain their “threat status” since not even air bases were destroyed, and it only needs the convoys (US convoys doing Lend-Lease will work if no UK convoys remain) to run again for the isles to support the units stationed there. Without demeaning the United Kingdom, the isles really only need to function as a temporary base for USA to organize D-Day. Once the troops land in France the US can take over supplying the units involved. So, I think it may be ironic to say the U-boat campaign has destroyed the UK.
Honestly I do not know if Gringo has edited the Lend-Lease events but none have triggered and its October 1942. I have been building major fortifications along the Atlantic wall in anticipation of a US attack.

On another note, as regards the UK-based bombing of Germany that is occurring, even with most UK convoys destroyed, I believe a sizeable portion of supplies, oil and rares can still get thru with USA using Open Negotiations. The transferring amount is subject to interdiction but a generous Lend Lease policy might be enough to keep the UK sufficient to support the bombers.
The AI is not that clever. And Open Negotiations is still effected by the amount of convoys a country has through trade efficiency.
 
Captivating analyses on strategy... I've got a question, though: when are we going to get our much-awaited update??? :p

(j/k - take your time. It's just that it's so interesting to know how will your war effort unfold, so...)
 
I have been building major fortifications along the Atlantic wall in anticipation of a US attack.

I don't get this part. If the U-boats are so great (and I too love historical flavour) why you worried about the Atlantic Wall? Don't you think defenses from Konigsberg thru Warsaw to Breslau might be more timely?

Titan, I suspect that we are not getting the news from the Russian Front because of disruptions in communications over there. The only news I am hearing is from the Atlantic. They finally admitted that instead of having "destroyed" the UK, they only crippled it. No argument with that.

But the real question on everyone's mind - I think - is not when will we get news from the East, but where will the East be... when the news finally escapes from there?

It's OK, you'll have your turn when I do my Third Reich AAR. :D

EDIT: The USA needs first to get beachhead with Naval Base that is within 3000KM of your nearest Altantic beach province, before their transports can amphib you (assuming UK so "crippled" it can not supply US troops even long to enough prepare OVERLORD). I think USA can do it eventually, but they must first get up Western Africa, however most liberated provinces there with Naval Base will revert to UK. Maybe they can reach from their puppet Liberia (?) in Africa, or prepare the invasion in Iceland. Lucky for the Russians, they don't have silly restrictions like that.

Should USA take Casablanca, who does that revert to? In fact, can we get a screen shot of Africa, please? Anyway, probably easier to send news from there. :cool:
 
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I don't get this part. If the U-boats are so great (and I too love historical flavour) why you worried about the Atlantic Wall? Don't you think defenses from Konigsberg thru Warsaw to Breslau might be more timely?
I go on the basis 'hope for the best but prepare for the worst' and I am building land forts on the eastern front as well. Germany has plenty of IC to spend with chronic manpower shortages, since forts cost (somehow) 0 manpower, IMO it is an easy choice to make. Due to the (ridiculous) amount of IC the US is given it can easily mass produce convoys way beyond my 37 submarines can destroy them, maybe if I had 100 submarines it would be different but that's just speculation. However the damage I have done to the US navy already is quite severe and I have now grouped together my submarines in large packs hoping for them to be spotted so I can inflict more crippling losses on the Allies.

Titan, I suspect that we are not getting the news from the Russian Front because of disruptions in communications over there. The only news I am hearing is from the Atlantic. They finally admitted that instead of having "destroyed" the UK, they only crippled it. No argument with that.
I could have planned to invade the UK in 1940 but I decided against it for historical flavour. And crippling a nation is still a significant achievement IMO (even if submarines are overpowered in this mod).

It's OK, you'll have your turn when I do my Third Reich AAR. :D
:p

EDIT: The USA needs first to get beachhead with Naval Base that is within 3000KM of your nearest Altantic beach province, before their transports can amphib you (assuming UK so "crippled" it can not supply US troops even long to enough prepare OVERLORD). I think USA can do it eventually, but they must first get up Western Africa, however most liberated provinces there with Naval Base will revert to UK. Maybe they can reach from their puppet Liberia (?) in Africa, or prepare the invasion in Iceland. Lucky for the Russians, they don't have silly restrictions like that.
The US can use the naval bases of its allies (i.e UK). The US can supply its troops in the UK, if it has any stationed there considering its failed invasion of Libya.

Should USA take Casablanca, who does that revert to? In fact, can we get a screen shot of Africa, please? Anyway, probably easier to send news from there. :cool:
I can do when I start playing the save again. :)
 
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The US can use the naval bases of its allies (i.e UK). The US can supply its troops in the UK, if it has any stationed there considering its failed invasion of Libya.

Firstly, I wish to say - I hope both you and others enjoy my perverse sarcasm twisted into humor as evident from my better posts! So, I much appreciate Forum supplying the opportunity to play the devil’s advocate. I sincerely pray that my comments about your AAR are taken with the jest in which they were written.

OK. Now – seriously – to your quote above. Of course USA can use Allied bases. But they cannot use those bases at all for an invasion of you because USA-to-you is past the 3000KM transport Ampib mission range. So, while USA ships can base themselves where they wish, first they must land sufficient assault troops in some Allied base within 3000KM. Then they can conduct amphibious assault from there using ships based there.

The problem is – if UK cannot supply those American troops – the troops will hardly have any fighting capacity left when ready to go because, after landing, they first need to wait and regain ORG. By then the poor supply situation will have crippled them. That is why the u-boat crippled British Isles are no threat to you (currently).
But you claim differently. You wrote, “The US can supply its troops in the UK”. I don’t think so. Is this BASIC PRINCIPLE any different for the AI?

Certainly the human player can NOT supply his troops stationed in bases of other alliance members. Yes, you can send that alliance member supplies thru trading and diplomatic actions, but you cannot set up your supply convoys to your troops stationed in other country. They can only be supplied from that country – as part of total supply need for all troops in that country. If you have military control, you could prioritize your troops over other troops there (let your host starve to death while your troops fatten preparing for D-Day).
 
Firstly, I wish to say - I hope both you and others enjoy my perverse sarcasm twisted into humor as evident from my better posts! So, I much appreciate Forum supplying the opportunity to play the devil’s advocate. I sincerely pray that my comments about your AAR are taken with the jest in which they were written.
Haha, ok.

Certainly the human player can NOT supply his troops stationed in bases of other alliance members.
The auto convoy system set up a supply route for my units in North Africa (when Italy owns all of it) so my experience says otherwise.

Doesnt the AI have unlimited naval range?
Unfortunately I think it does after hearing accounts of AI Germany amphibiously invading Vladivostok from occupied-French naval bases. :wacko:
 
Seems I was wrong. Well, then the USA does not need the British Isles to amphib you. They can just do it using their transports based out of New York.

I was aware that AI fleets and aircraft roam all over the world with no rstrictions as to their range. But I thought the AI had some respect for rules when it came to doing amphibs. It is sad, and greatly diminishes both the game and the strategy of taking key enemy bases to restrict their range.

Why does the USA AI not simply bomb Japan with bombers based in California? What was the Pacific Campaign all about if it was not to get B-52s within striking range of Japan? This disregard of range restrictions by the AI is a serious flaw with HoI. The devs should find other ways to strengthen AI intelligence.

So, I guess, as Germany you better keep an INF in Berllin at all times or you may find a Limey or Yankee paratrooper landing there, even if you conquered the British Isles (unlimited ranging, right?).

Anyway, discussing the AI is pretty boring compared to following your ARR (except that is getting boring too - what with no news!).

Think we are all dying to know the situation on the Eastern Front. Is there still a situation? Is there still an Eastern Front? Go, Germany, go!
 
Seems I was wrong. Well, then the USA does not need the British Isles to amphib you. They can just do it using their transports based out of New York.
Well, as a matter of fact, as far as I know the AI now is limited by the nearest allied base to the target in order to make amph assaults or to use its aircraft.

E.g. if you, as Japan, conquer all of the American islands in the Pacific BUT leave Nauru alone, and its owner is allied with the USA, then the USA may attack i.e. land within 3000 km from that island.

I might be wrong but it should work this way. This is also the reason why Germany lands in Vladivostok - it takes Japan as an eligible base from which to "start", even if its transports are technically based in Germany or France and not in Japan.
 
Well, as a matter of fact, as far as I know the AI now is limited by the nearest allied base to the target in order to make amph assaults or to use its aircraft.

E.g. if you, as Japan, conquer all of the American islands in the Pacific BUT leave Nauru alone, and its owner is allied with the USA, then the USA may attack i.e. land within 3000 km from that island.
I think the AI has unlimited naval range but this does not apply to its aircraft. As you said it is limited by the nearest allied airfield when bombing.
 
Why is everyone so worried about the East? He is in much better shape than I would have thought possible a month ago.
 
October 1942

Sorry for the long delay, I have been enjoying the first half of my second year at university. :)
Anyway, here goes:

Situation on the eastern front
The encirclement of Rostov was successful, but it turned into an encirclement of German forces. This dramatic turn around caused extreme German casualties and ultimately led to an Axis retreat after its capture. Wehrmacht generals were able to take one positive from the situation: the destruction of Rostov's fortifications. The attack on the Crimea failed as well.

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Situation with the UK
British forced continued to occupy Murmansk and its surrounding territories. Narvik's occupation has led to Sweden cancelling all its trade with Germany, with little concern by the German industrialists as Germany still has a surplus of metal. Several attacks on Narvik were repulsed, so the Heer is just waiting for the British invasion force to starve due to its lack of convoys. The rare materials shortage is hoped to be addressed by synthetic material plants.

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Situation in North Africa
After the capture of Gibraltar, it was only a matter of time for Axis forces to destroy any Allied forces in the Mediterranean. the Vichy navy spotted a British sub and was able to sink it. A skirmish between Vichy destroyers and a French light cruiser also ensued with little damage to both sides.

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Situation with the air war
As with the previous month, the Allied airforces appear to be gaining the initiative over France and parts of western Germany. However the Luftwaffe is still putting up stiff resistance, with US fighter and bomber squadrons suffering high losses. The US airforce has also been bombing southern-Norway, arousing little concern amongst the German leadership due to the strategic irrelevance of the area.

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Industrial and general plans
The German government's continued improvement of infrastructure in Metz, Hannover and Essen is well on its way, with completion expected by mid-1943. The construction of airfields in Antwerp and Essen was also furthered, to the benefit of the Luftwaffe. The Atlantik wall now has 2 major coastal fortifications in every province from the Netherlands to Dax in south-western occupied-France. Coastal fortifications are now being placed in Kiel and the Danish coast. Research had been completed for the advanced interceptor and 1943 agriculture.

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November 1942

Situation in the air war
The Luftwaffe is experiencing continued pressure from the US air force. There were some particularly large battles between US fighter squadrons and German interceptors, with German forces winning due to its numerical superiority. Although some of the battles were particularly costly, with several Luftwaffe squadrons being estimated to be out of action for a least a month.

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However, even with this pressure, Germany decided to send support to its eastern front; 2 wings totalling 7 interceptor squadrons were sent to Kiev to help counter Soviet dive bombing forces in the area.

The remaining bomber squadrons of the Luftwaffe were initially used to bomb UK forces in Corsica, but were then rebased to help bomb the UK invasion force of 3 divisions in Narvik.

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Situation on the eastern front
As German forces withdrew from Rostov there was a lull for several weeks, until Soviet forces started attacking Stalino. The first attack was successfully repulsed. However a second attack looked worrying for the Heer as two Axis divisions were completely destroyed in the ensuing battle that will continue into December.

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Even before the attack on Stalino, the German army had decided to gradually withdraw behind the Dnieper, with Field Marshall von Falkenhorst leading the way.

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Several attempts were made to bomb Leningrad into submission, with the Red Airforce upsetting attempts to completely destroy the city.

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Situation in Northern and Central Africa
The situation has not changed much since 1941, with Italian forces still not able to push back British and French forces in the region. Remaining US forces in Libya were destroyed by German forces, with little help from its Italian allies. Hopefully now Libya is back in Italian hands, Mussolini will now focus his efforts on repulsing Allied forces from Africa completely.

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German upgrades and technological advancements
Germany's industrial plans on Smolensk completed, with the city now being used a front-line base for units to rest and recuperate. Germany's command units are being continually upgraded, alongside technological improvements with logistics to cope with supplying forces in the vast expanse of the east.

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December 1942

Situation on the eastern front
The German defence of Stalino was defeated after several days of battle, after the loss of a disorganised and demoralised Romanian division. The Wehrmacht has managed to create a defence behind the Dnieper after Melitopol had been lost to Soviet forces, with high casualties suffered particularly by Hungarian and Romanian forces.

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The German bombing of Leningrad continued with success, with the Luftwaffe organising sporadic attacks in order to avoid the Red Air Force, with some success and some failure too.

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Air war in the east
The presence of the Luftwaffe and the Hungarian air force had a great effect on morale as Axis troops could just about see the Focke-Wulf 190s and Messerschmitt 109s alongside the mist and snow that was prevalent all across the front.

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Air war in the west
The German air force decided to focus its defence on western Germany, except Aachen as US fighter squadrons could reach there. Many Allied bombing attempts were defeated by the Luftwaffe. However, German industry had taken significant damage over the month, with an estimated 20IC being lost due to Allied bombing. The US air force was really intensifying its strategic bombing campaign.

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The Italian airforce thankfully has been helping Germany fight for the skies.

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Luxembourg's infrastructure had been reduced by 50% and Metz's by 120% due to Allied bombing, but that has not deterred German industrialists from improving the resource rich territory, in the hope the Luftwaffe will regain control of the skies in the months to come.

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A surprisingly successful attack on Germany's supply line to Norway alerted the German air force, which was able to prevent another such attack. The Kriegsmarine managed to respond in kind by sinking US and British convoys off the west African coast.

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German industry has been increasingly stretched, coping with demands for improvement in infrastructure, military production, reinforcing and upgrading units, now had to accommodate another serial of interceptors. A couple of months ago the German leadership forced the Heer to de-motorise most of the army in order to free up more oil for converting to rare materials.

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WOW! What a battle!

Back on October 15/42 in the Battle of Rostov: 14,900 Wehrmacht KIA and 1,900 dead Ruskies was a German win (?) But right after that Germany losses 3 battles in a row with over 15,000 KIA in each. Those 4 battles equals an MP drop of -6 without any reinforcements - just lost MP. But seems your MP keeps bouncing up regularly because of disbanding.

One thing I notice a lot is your often frequent stack of 3 air wings. Wouldn't it be better to never fly less than 4 together all the time? If there are two stacks of 3 each in Europe, just rest 2 counters but only fly a full four so - when the battle starts - it is the best possible (until those parked two can get involved).

There is a great way to swap aircraft counters from other bases to join your wing of three without having to rebase the 4th unit that might be resting in other airbase so there is no ORG loss for the unit transfering from other base and so get the 4th counter into that stack. Also works great to pull one unit away from the patrolling stack (with no ORG loss) if at least two other counters with leader are on other base possibly repairing (as may be preferable so no base is overloaded). I find Germany simply can not lose ORG transferring aircraft, but needs to move aircraft to other bases for repair time, so this method achieves that without any ORG loss. I'm wondering if your stack of 3's is because the 4th for that stack is resting on same base? If so, I recommend "pulling it" to other base and "pulling back" best unit from other base (all without ORG loss) so the active stack can fly with 4. There is some risk to this, but so is flying only a 3/4 stack.

The other really important thing I see in last screen shot is that you need 300 reinforcements but are only reinforcing at 1/6 that. I imagine that is not because of total IC as you doing 100% research, but only because the rate of red MP is already too fast. But your province repair looks great. See, there is an advantage in retreating!
 
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WOW! What a battle!
Yeah the campaign is getting intense, I do hope to fight until the end though.

Back on October 15/42 in the Battle of Rostov: 14,900 Wehrmacht KIA and 1,900 dead Ruskies was a German win (?) But right after that Germany losses 3 battles in a row with over 15,000 KIA in each. Those 4 battles equals an MP drop of -6 without any reinforcements - just lost MP. But seems your MP keeps bouncing up regularly because of disbanding.
It was because Rostov had 3 land forts, plus attacking in the winter. It was worth it as it destroyed several Red Army divisions; those losses weren't included in the statistics. I haven't disbanded that many units :blush:

One thing I notice a lot is your often frequent stack of 3 air wings. Wouldn't it be better to never fly less than 4 together all the time? If there are two stacks of 3 each in Europe, just rest 2 counters but only fly a full four so - when the battle starts - it is the best possible (until those parked two can get involved).
There is a great way to swap aircraft counters from other bases to join your wing of three without having to rebase the 4th unit that might be resting in other airbase so there is no ORG loss for the unit transfering from other base and so get the 4th counter into that stack. Also works great to pull one unit away from the patrolling stack (with no ORG loss) if at least two other counters with leader are on other base possibly repairing (as may be preferable so no base is overloaded). I find Germany simply can not lose ORG transferring aircraft, but needs to move aircraft to other bases for repair time, so this method achieves that without any ORG loss. I'm wondering if your stack of 3's is because the 4th for that stack is resting on same base? If so, I recommend "pulling it" to other base and "pulling back" best unit from other base (all without ORG loss) so the active stack can fly with 4. There is some risk to this, but so is flying only a 3/4 stack.
Many are stacks of 3 because the 4th wing had so much damage it was sent to Berlin for repairs. But yeah, I'll take your advise on board thanks. :)

The other really important thing I see in last screen shot is that you need 300 reinforcements but are only reinforcing at 1/6 that. I imagine that is not because of total IC as you doing 100% research, but only because the rate of red MP is already too fast. But your province repair looks great. See, there is an advantage in retreating!
Yeah partly to save manpower, partly to allow IC to be used for upgrades and production too.