nice start i will follow this AAR
Thanks! Hope you enjoy it.
nice start i will follow this AAR
That's alot of german troops, But you should be able to hold them.
Yeah, funny about HOI3, even if the enemy outnumbers you 100:1, if you are on the other side of a strait, you are godly.
Also, the initial charge of Marines is the hardest part and you should have let them continue(but if not success, invade the 2 provinces around the port).
The reported strength on your Marine counters seems a bit low. How many brigades are in each division?
You will easily be able to hold off the enemy in Messina, 3 div's is a good defence and you have backups. Keep rotating them so that no one's org gets too low, but always keep 2 entrenched. And the other post about attacking Sardinia on the sides of the port is also good. Land on opposite sides and hit in a 2-prong land attack, that'll drive em out. Good job so far, those 2 islands should be yours for good, the AI most likely will not be able to get them back, and you're now occupying a good deal of his troops which he can't use elsewhere.
If you want one last piece of advice from a Canadian player, just hold for now, build up that army for a much larger assault somewhere else in like 2 years. At least 4-5 full corps worth, Canada can manage that by 1942/3. Africa should be your only other realistic goal in the mean time.
Playing the waiting game until Germany invades the USSR or Yugoslavia, then invading Italy from a secondary position might be a good idea, too.
Maybe I should let them across the straits now and then?
Long term, the trouble is that, like that loss in Catania, even if my own reinforcements would theoretically let me hold the province, I might have the same problem I had in Catania and the Axis had in Messina, losing even though you have the men to win. Possessing reserves doesn't get them into the fight. I mean, the Axis had days to get their mountain divisions into that fight. Do I really want a German Mountain Corps sitting in Sicily? I think not. Nonetheless, between the 26,000 I killed or captured taking the island, the 3682 I killed in this battle, plus others I'm counting 30,000 Axis troops killed or captured by Canada so far in the war.
You can see from the piles of Axis stacks across the straits that Sicily is acting as a real force multiplier for you. As pointed out already, it can be sound advice to let the enemy attack you and wear down their manpower, but to do that safely you need to have a reserve of men in an adjacent province you can use to rotate through the battle if it goes on long enough. But doing that might also require a level or two in the tech that increases your `defend reinforcement chance` if you don't want to end up like the Germans just did, having plenty of divisions just sitting in a queue trying to get into the battle.
You might also benefit from having some Engineer brigades over there to stiffen the defense a little if you think you need it. If you feel your manpower is low, this could be a good time to invest in support brigades.
Why didn't the AI get a massive stacking penalty? I didn't see it in the screenshot with the modifiers (although I did see the icon for it; strange!)
Good job holding them, and if you look at the number of troops on the other side of the straight, that's alot of troops that aren't helping Germany or Italy in Russia or somewhere else.
Well done Canadians.
Good advice on the research! As to support brigades, I think I make some more, and I'll get manpower someday, but not for an update or two I'm afraid.
EDIT - I loaded up my current save to just add the research and I cannot find it! I see in a Google search that a commander can increase the chance, is there a research item that I can do? I looked over all the Infantry ones, even Land Theory. Cannot find it.
Is far as i know, there isn't a defend reinforcement chance, but there is a combat reinforcement chance Land tech, but can't remember the name right now, but i think it's in the tree that's third from the top. One of the "special" ones.
Otherwise looking forward to the next update on Sunday!!!
Is far as i know, there isn't a defend reinforcement chance, but there is a combat reinforcement chance Land tech, but can't remember the name right now, but i think it's in the tree that's third from the top. One of the "special" ones.
It's a bonus that applies to both sides of the battle and helps improve the chances of units in reserve moving to the front line.
Take Sardina ASAP.
Why? Well, Sicily gives you about 2 IC, but Allies occupation policies reduces that to almost nothing.
Sardina gives you Leadership, and the occupation policies barely reduce it. Therefore Sardina is more valuable (and easier to defend).