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Thund91

I'm probably drunk
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Sep 12, 2010
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Hello community!

I've played the HoI series for a long time, but I'm a more casual gamer which means that I don't know all the complexities and extra details of the game, and that probably holds me back but whatever.

I like playing as France or the UK, but especially France. Problem is, I ALWAYS lose to the germans! The only time I don't lose is because I extend the Maginot...and we all know how boring that makes the game!

So I was hoping maybe some vets to the game or maybe some France players can give me some tips??? I play the 36 scenario mostly but I wouldn't mind starting in 33 either. I just never know what to build and how much! It's like if I make a lot of ground units their air force stomps me, but if I make too many interceptors I don't have enough ground units to survive!

Anyone care to help a newbie out? :)
 
How comfortable are you with cheating. You could give yourself supplies to free up some IC, money to kill down dissent. This is good cheating for if you can't keep up your pace of building, that is that you fall behind during the prewar.
Or you can turn on acceptall and steal supplies and money from germany in trades. (if you take their units in an acceptall trade, it will arrive with no manpower in it, which doesn't help you that much) (trades cannot be done during war time with enemies, to my knowledge)

The step further is to save and then load up as Germany and disband their units (and have them build transport planes instead (and cancel their research and have them research stuff way ahead of time with tech team skills mismatch (have goring research mass produced pennicillin))). This works best if you suddenly realize you are about to get overrun and want a good long chance to recover.

Cheating can be done separately or in conjunction with strategies.
Gamey ways:
As UK, have a transport fleet of 13 atleast sitting ready to go in Dover or Norwich, with a 12 infantry army and your HQ ready. The moment that Germany declares war on Denmark, move your troops into denmark. land as far south on denmark as possible, but make sure you land. Your goal with this is to get to Flensburg, as you can defend across the river. If you succeed Germany cannot defeat Denmark and the Baltic will remain open to you. (watch out for their planes, they can destroy fleets mighty fast (even Carrier fleets)).

Non cheating ways:
I'm assuming you are not bothering with your navy at all. Not in research or in building or in upgrading. Disbanding it all might be worthwhile. (I don't know if trading the ships to the British would be worth it at all.)
For airforce, are you running out of airfield? Because from what I've seen, allies will quickly move all their planes to warzones when the war starts, so some more airfields (lvl 1s) could bring more allied planes to you instead of england. Or you could take military control and bring them in.

For land, I like Inf + Art or Inf + Ac or even if you can afford it Inf + Art + Ac. Though it is slow, you are defending, so strategic redeploy should speed things up.
Also, getting Republican Spain into the Allies can help, alot. If you get them early and are bored, Portugal can sometimes be eatten up for the fun of it (brits will take the island VPs)

Thats all I know, hope its of some help. If you do last into your game, and can achieve air superiority with allied help, Strategic bombing can do a lot of damage.
 
Build infantry, that's all the advise you need. Get 120 divisions on the German front, and you win.
Beat me to it. Build as many infantry as you can.
The real "skill" as France is balancing extending terms of service vs dissent reduction vs Gearing up for war IC bonuses.
No idea what the '33 scenario is like though, I assume it'd just be another couple of years building IC.
 
Attacking Germany while they're busy with Poland can be a pretty good move. Once you've broken through, you can take over their industry in the Ruhr and cripple their efforts, even temporarily.
 
Infantry with artillery and engineers gets nice defensive bonuses. If you manage to stop the Jerries, try to strike through Italy. That can make things interesting.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys!

So the trick really is just to build tons of Infantry? Wouldn't I eventually lose seeing as how the Germans are able to build more than me? They always seem to outnumber me thanks to more IC.

And should I build at least one more group of Interceptors? Or are they not needed? The Germans seem to love bombing Paris and their CAS can be a pain.
 
Mil Control the Commonwealth countries (canada/australia) for an extra 20 or so divisions.
The Germans will outnumber you but there's a limit to how much of that force they can put on any one place. It'll probably become a lot like WW1, you'll spend the summer desperately trying to hold back the mobs of Germans, then when winter comes check your MP tooltip and see how many you've lost...
By '42 (IIRC) the soviets will declare war, but with any luck you should be winning by then anyway.
 
In addition to infantry, make sure to contest the Germans in the air. Build a few interceptors.
 
Alright, thanks everyone! I'll pop another game as France in '33 and try my best to win! :D

Anyone have any last advice when I decide to try playing as the UK again?? I find I suck at using the RN effectively. :(
 
Alright, thanks everyone! I'll pop another game as France in '33 and try my best to win! :D

Anyone have any last advice when I decide to try playing as the UK again?? I find I suck at using the RN effectively. :(

I tend to focus hugely on the naval side of the game (and focus on naval history), so you're welcome to PM me if you have any ideas about it you feel you'd like to discuss.
 
Something helping France too is to have some INF and transports ready along the Channel. When Germany starts invading Belgium and Netherlands, load them and rush them to hold the line behind the Rhine river. If you succeed to save Belgium, they will provide you with a fair number of additional units.
And as said, survival is the key. Hold the front and the sky. INF and INT, almost nothing else. (meaning except ART+ENG brigades for some units)
 
there are some things that you need to do.

1: build infantry with artillery only. if you can afford it, couple them with maybe AC or something else like engineers.

2: extend the marginot line north, and also fortify the south. as soon as germany declares war on the low countries and belgium move your divs to the north and keep them alive as long as possible. you want to avoid offensives because your manpower is really low.

3: change your ministers. get the static defense one (he gives a bonus to land fort building) as well as artillery bonus and infantry bonus for defense.

4: after the front settles, go for air superiority with fighters/interceptors and strategic bombers.

5: disband your fleet and any infantry too far away to do anything. dont keep forces in africa, save for maybe 3 divs guarding french tunisia. the italians will get destroyed by the UK so dont worry.



the strategy is the following:

as soon as war begins, keep 12 divs in each province bordering germany. investing in anti air and radar if possible all along your border is also great. keep at least 6 divs per province in the border with italy. i assume you built the lvl 10 forts or are building them. your objective is to have 12 divs per province that borders belgium, lux and germany. remember to build arty for them for bonuses. have your airforce guard the german border. you should damage some of their bombers at least. the hardest period of time to survive will be during the '40. as soon as germany goes fall geib, move your forces onto belgium to buy time. capture the cities and the marshlands to get some good defensive terrain. i like to let the belgians fall for purely comedic purposes but thats just me. besides, if they arent annexed and you capture german land there it goes to them, and there is no purpose in that. if the germans exert themselves too heavily in belgium fall back to your borders. if all of them are properly manned germany wont even dare to attack you, but if they do, begin to send your reserves. your reserves are of course your tanks and cavalry. send them to whatever place is getting attacked. dont think about weakening your other frontline sectors to achieve that.

by '41 things cool down. germany wont attack the SOVs with you alive, but then again they wont get far against you. as you keep building infantry, begin to build a strat bomber fleet with fighters. it wont take a short time and it will cost a lot of IC, but it will help you take the fight to germany. once you have a sizeable air fleet, 12 strat bombers, begin to strategic bombard german provinces. bomb by sectors, first destroy the infrastructure with half your bombers while the rest focus on destroying the german industry. the Sarre is right next to you so you can provide close range air support from your bases in france. the UK should be focusing on the task quite well, and when the US joins in, germany will get bombed to smithereens.

this wont win the war on its own, but if you can lower germany's IC enough you can begin to consider launching offensives.
 
That is a way, but I answered to the OT.

The only time I don't lose is because I extend the Maginot...and we all know how boring that makes the game!

So I was hoping maybe some vets to the game or maybe some France players can give me some tips???
 
well dont extend the line and die.
 
I just played a game on '36 and I had good (but slow) results from mass militia and artillery. Instead of using the spring (March, April, May, important times to attack) to attack I bled the Germans dry of troops as they failed and tried to try take the unexposed "Belgian Border". The first time Germany failed, I got the small arms assembly line (most important tech to help mass militia). I turned my 120 man army into a 200 man army in 6 months and then it was a total turn around, but I couldn't attack them without taking casualties. In the end, I was beginning to turn the tide totally but the soviets decided to grab everything witch hastened the war, but was uneeded, and it pissed me off. All in all I think mass militia seems to be helpful, especially after the onslaught of Germany fails. I just built 4 interceptors and even with Germany bombing my troops from here to there, I survived every battle (losing 2k manpower in the end). Your colonies shouldn't be a problem, Britain will retake them in 2 months.
ScreenSave2-1.jpg

Picture of the French Empire. I have the 2nd biggest army in the world, behind the Soviets.
 
well dont extend the line and die.

Were you answering to me, like this?
In which case I don't appreciate the underlying tone at all.
If you are not able to hold France without extending the Maginot line, don't assume that noboby is able to do so.