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+1
Superb job all the way through! The suspense; wondering not just what comes next, but the ultimate "ahistorical" outcome, makes the drudgery of RL at least a little more tolerable for some (like me).
I can only barely begin to imagine the amount of work you commit (and have already committed) to this project. Although, I do get the feeling that the "work" is mostly a labor of love; it shows in the quality.
Eagerly awaiting the next chapter, I will forever remain in your debt,
thank you both for those kind words.
not to blow my own horn (okay, maybe just a little :blush
, but, yeah it's a lot of work. most of the time, when you read an AAR (any AAR), the writer can safely assume that everyone knows the basics. I, on the other hand, have to constantly wonder "am I going to fast? am I taking things for granted by sheer force of habit?". it has given me a newfound respect for the depth of the game. especially concerning what will come next.
you can't believe the drafts I've thrown out because, even to me, they felt like senseless rambling.
but then, when the work is done, and the chapter has been posted, I re-read it for the gazillionth time, and as I leave, I take a look at the number of views since the last chapter. to know that so many people are tuning in to what you do, eagerly awaiting the next chapter, is both a triumphant thrill and a deeply humbling experience at the same time.
what it boils down to is that, at the end of the day, I'm doing it because so many people want it. so many people need it.
in the end, I'm doing it for you guys.
I'm starting to realise what it must feel like to be a rockstar or something. nervously tuning your speaker backstage and watching over 50.000 people start pouring in.
awesome!
not to blow my own horn (okay, maybe just a little :blush
, but, yeah it's a lot of work. most of the time, when you read an AAR (any AAR), the writer can safely assume that everyone knows the basics. I, on the other hand, have to constantly wonder "am I going to fast? am I taking things for granted by sheer force of habit?". it has given me a newfound respect for the depth of the game. especially concerning what will come next.you can't believe the drafts I've thrown out because, even to me, they felt like senseless rambling.
but then, when the work is done, and the chapter has been posted, I re-read it for the gazillionth time, and as I leave, I take a look at the number of views since the last chapter. to know that so many people are tuning in to what you do, eagerly awaiting the next chapter, is both a triumphant thrill and a deeply humbling experience at the same time.
what it boils down to is that, at the end of the day, I'm doing it because so many people want it. so many people need it.
in the end, I'm doing it for you guys.
I'm starting to realise what it must feel like to be a rockstar or something. nervously tuning your speaker backstage and watching over 50.000 people start pouring in.
awesome!
Hi Misterbean,
Wich Eastern Fracture zone do you mean where you send your Underseebootsflotille just before war? There are a lot of them and the name Eastern Fracture zone itself doesn't stands in the province finder.
Greets
Wich Eastern Fracture zone do you mean where you send your Underseebootsflotille just before war? There are a lot of them and the name Eastern Fracture zone itself doesn't stands in the province finder.
Greets
sorry about that. IV. Unterseebootflotte is in Eastern Faraday Fracture Zone, which is 5 sea zones west of Killarney, in the South West of Ireland. V. Unterseebootflotte is in Eastern Atlantic Fracture Zone, which is 6 sea zones west of Gibraltar.
I've edited the chapter.
Chapter 22: Conceiving a battleplan.
Usually, this level of thinking happens BEFORE you start moving your troops and not after (obviously), but I don’t want people to enter next chapter thinking “why the heck am I doing that?”
So, without further ado, here’s the basics on how you structure a battleplan.
What do I want to achieve?
This depends completely on circumstances. Sometimes you want to draw enemy forces away from your real target, sometimes, you’re just after a certain port or strategic resource, or you want to create a second line of defense. Keeping in mind what it is you’re after, makes everything else easier.
In this case, we want to conquer Poland. Any conquest of a nation requires control of a larger % of Victory Points than the target nation has National Unity.
Our target is Poland. Click the diplomacy screen and find Poland. The green surrender bar will turn red as the nation loses VPs to the invading army. In this case, we’re still at peace, so they are at 0% surrender. However, we can read that Poland has a National Unity of 70.1.
This means we have to control at least 70.2% of Poland’s Victory Point provinces. Let’s round it up to 71%, shall we?
On the first page of the statistics screen we can find the total amount of VPs every nation on Earth has. Poland has 14 VPS.
Taking out a calculator, 71% (needed for their surrender) of 14 (VPs)=9.94, rounded up to 10.
So we have now established that, in order to make Poland surrender, we need 10 of their VPs.
As it turns out, Poland’s 4 westernmost VP provinces total 10: Danzig (2VPs, A), Lodz (2 VPs, B), Warsawa (4 VPs, D) and Krakow (2 VPs, C): 2+2+2+4=10.
Those 4 provinces will be our strategic targets. Everything else that may happen is on a tactical level.
How can I achieve my aim? (or going from the strategic level to the tactical level)
We have our 4 targets, but before we continue, I should let you know that I’m a firm believer in using the German Wehrmacht as it was intended in RL. Since Germany lacked the resources to fight any kind of extended campaign, they had to be fast and brutal.
Their traditional tactics involved misdirection (as evidenced by our stealthy troop deployments, thereby achieving tactical surprise), disruption of enemy troop movements (to prevent having to face a single, united frontline), cutting enemy supply lines (preventing them from reestablishing (sp?) a frontline later on), and speedy execution of battle orders.
Let’s look at each of our 4 targets.
Danzig: a single port province only connected by a thin two-province bottleneck. This one is easily cut off and conquered.
Lodz is between us and Warsaw. We can grab it on the way to Warsaw, while cutting off enemy forces along the red line. Warsaw is only 2 provinces away from East Prussia. We can use infantry in East prussia to strike from the north and mobile troops from the west.
We can cut the city off from the rest of Poland along the red lines, striking a killing blow from Slovakia.
Before I forget to mention this later on:
Attacking an enemy from allied terrain (f.e. South france from Italian soil) will GIVE THE CONTROLLER OF THE PROVINCE CONTROL OF NEW CONQUESTS!! (in my example, Italy will control southern France).
Attacking from a puppet’s terrain (e.g. Poland from Slovakia) will GIVE THE OVERLORD CONTROL OF NEW CONQUESTS!! (which, in this case, turns out to be little old us).
It’s all about the details.
Yeah, I know. It’s a busy map. Don’t panic. Let me talk you through it all.
Pocket 1: Danzig. Infantry from Germany and East Prussia will each attack a single province while a thrid infantry division will assault Danzig under cover of shore bombardment by the baltische Flotte. (P1)
Pocket 2: mobile troops from I. Panzerkorps in the north and II. Panzerkorps in the center will move to cut the western defenders of Poland off from the rest of their nation. They can then be destroyed at our leisure, or left to starve. The remainder of the 2 panzerkorps discussed can then attack Lodz and Warsawa with minimal interference along the way. (P2)
Pocket 3: The Polish forces watching East Prussia can be cut off by the mobile troops from I. Panzerkorps moving East towards Warsawa, with support from German infantry in East Prussia. (P3)
Pocket 4: similarly, mobile divisions from III. and IV. Panzerkorps will encircle the Poles in the South West, while moving on Krakow from Slovakia.(P4)
Screen1: infantry from East Prussia will move south, threatening any Polish forces trying to relieve their besieged capital.
Screen 2: mountaineers striking from Slovakia will similarly take up positions to prevent reinforcements from reaching krakow.
Black Arrows: once our infantry arrives to defend Lodz and Krakow from Polish counterattacks, our mobile troops can strike out from both provinces to assist in the capture of Warsaw.
Plan B: in case we meet heavier resistance in the Polish interior than expected, 4 more potential pockets (dotted circles labeled A through D) could be created, while the divisions of IV. Panzerkorps moving north could be set up instead as a third screen against eastern Polish forces moving west.(S3)
Expected timetable: between 6 days and 3 weeks, depending on resistance encountered. Every battle will result in Attack Delay, slowing our invasion down by a few days each.
Once you know how you will go about getting things done, you can calculate how many and what kind of divisions you will need to do it. depending on the time you have, and the amount of IC, sometimes you may have to go back to the drawing table, but this is what the game is all about. I love a good shooter as much as the next guy (still have very fond memories of Medal of Honour’s Arnhem battle), but you cannot win this game only on the basis of having more bullets and quicker reflexes than the opposition. This is a thinking man’s game. Fight your way out of trouble (or into it) by using your brains, not your brawn, and you will eventually dominate the planet.
I'll be playing through the actual invasion myself tonight, writing and editing screenshots tomorrow and (hopefully) have the start of the war ready for you by friday, saturday at the latest.
see you then!
Usually, this level of thinking happens BEFORE you start moving your troops and not after (obviously), but I don’t want people to enter next chapter thinking “why the heck am I doing that?”
So, without further ado, here’s the basics on how you structure a battleplan.
What do I want to achieve?
This depends completely on circumstances. Sometimes you want to draw enemy forces away from your real target, sometimes, you’re just after a certain port or strategic resource, or you want to create a second line of defense. Keeping in mind what it is you’re after, makes everything else easier.
In this case, we want to conquer Poland. Any conquest of a nation requires control of a larger % of Victory Points than the target nation has National Unity.
Our target is Poland. Click the diplomacy screen and find Poland. The green surrender bar will turn red as the nation loses VPs to the invading army. In this case, we’re still at peace, so they are at 0% surrender. However, we can read that Poland has a National Unity of 70.1.
This means we have to control at least 70.2% of Poland’s Victory Point provinces. Let’s round it up to 71%, shall we?
On the first page of the statistics screen we can find the total amount of VPs every nation on Earth has. Poland has 14 VPS.
Taking out a calculator, 71% (needed for their surrender) of 14 (VPs)=9.94, rounded up to 10.
So we have now established that, in order to make Poland surrender, we need 10 of their VPs.
As it turns out, Poland’s 4 westernmost VP provinces total 10: Danzig (2VPs, A), Lodz (2 VPs, B), Warsawa (4 VPs, D) and Krakow (2 VPs, C): 2+2+2+4=10.
Those 4 provinces will be our strategic targets. Everything else that may happen is on a tactical level.
How can I achieve my aim? (or going from the strategic level to the tactical level)
We have our 4 targets, but before we continue, I should let you know that I’m a firm believer in using the German Wehrmacht as it was intended in RL. Since Germany lacked the resources to fight any kind of extended campaign, they had to be fast and brutal.
Their traditional tactics involved misdirection (as evidenced by our stealthy troop deployments, thereby achieving tactical surprise), disruption of enemy troop movements (to prevent having to face a single, united frontline), cutting enemy supply lines (preventing them from reestablishing (sp?) a frontline later on), and speedy execution of battle orders.
Let’s look at each of our 4 targets.
Danzig: a single port province only connected by a thin two-province bottleneck. This one is easily cut off and conquered.
Lodz is between us and Warsaw. We can grab it on the way to Warsaw, while cutting off enemy forces along the red line. Warsaw is only 2 provinces away from East Prussia. We can use infantry in East prussia to strike from the north and mobile troops from the west.
We can cut the city off from the rest of Poland along the red lines, striking a killing blow from Slovakia.
Before I forget to mention this later on:
Attacking an enemy from allied terrain (f.e. South france from Italian soil) will GIVE THE CONTROLLER OF THE PROVINCE CONTROL OF NEW CONQUESTS!! (in my example, Italy will control southern France).
Attacking from a puppet’s terrain (e.g. Poland from Slovakia) will GIVE THE OVERLORD CONTROL OF NEW CONQUESTS!! (which, in this case, turns out to be little old us).
It’s all about the details.
Yeah, I know. It’s a busy map. Don’t panic. Let me talk you through it all.
Pocket 1: Danzig. Infantry from Germany and East Prussia will each attack a single province while a thrid infantry division will assault Danzig under cover of shore bombardment by the baltische Flotte. (P1)
Pocket 2: mobile troops from I. Panzerkorps in the north and II. Panzerkorps in the center will move to cut the western defenders of Poland off from the rest of their nation. They can then be destroyed at our leisure, or left to starve. The remainder of the 2 panzerkorps discussed can then attack Lodz and Warsawa with minimal interference along the way. (P2)
Pocket 3: The Polish forces watching East Prussia can be cut off by the mobile troops from I. Panzerkorps moving East towards Warsawa, with support from German infantry in East Prussia. (P3)
Pocket 4: similarly, mobile divisions from III. and IV. Panzerkorps will encircle the Poles in the South West, while moving on Krakow from Slovakia.(P4)
Screen1: infantry from East Prussia will move south, threatening any Polish forces trying to relieve their besieged capital.
Screen 2: mountaineers striking from Slovakia will similarly take up positions to prevent reinforcements from reaching krakow.
Black Arrows: once our infantry arrives to defend Lodz and Krakow from Polish counterattacks, our mobile troops can strike out from both provinces to assist in the capture of Warsaw.
Plan B: in case we meet heavier resistance in the Polish interior than expected, 4 more potential pockets (dotted circles labeled A through D) could be created, while the divisions of IV. Panzerkorps moving north could be set up instead as a third screen against eastern Polish forces moving west.(S3)
Expected timetable: between 6 days and 3 weeks, depending on resistance encountered. Every battle will result in Attack Delay, slowing our invasion down by a few days each.
Once you know how you will go about getting things done, you can calculate how many and what kind of divisions you will need to do it. depending on the time you have, and the amount of IC, sometimes you may have to go back to the drawing table, but this is what the game is all about. I love a good shooter as much as the next guy (still have very fond memories of Medal of Honour’s Arnhem battle), but you cannot win this game only on the basis of having more bullets and quicker reflexes than the opposition. This is a thinking man’s game. Fight your way out of trouble (or into it) by using your brains, not your brawn, and you will eventually dominate the planet.
I'll be playing through the actual invasion myself tonight, writing and editing screenshots tomorrow and (hopefully) have the start of the war ready for you by friday, saturday at the latest.
see you then!
Another option is to extend the war an extra week or two so you can add the Retake our Cores wargoal on Oct. 1st. This will give you a number of provinces with German cores so there is no revolt risk so you get full IC, manpower, leadership, and resources from them. IMO, that should be part of the wardec as Germany's goals in the attack were to reclaim territory lost in WWI and subjugate Poland. But, that's another thread...
that would be an alternative plan indeed. but, unlike other Paradox games using wargoals, in HOI3, they are kind of buggy. I tried to use them a couple of times, but I ended up with very weird results.
however, I'll make a point of mentioning them in the next chapter.
The number of Victory Points per nation is on the first page of the statistics tab??
No more counting manually I guess...
No more counting manually I guess...
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Hi Misterbean,
just a little one but in the list of commanders for the Wehrmacht / Panzerkorps I miss Rommel. He is available for me and with his skills I thought him a rather must have commander...
just a little one but in the list of commanders for the Wehrmacht / Panzerkorps I miss Rommel. He is available for me and with his skills I thought him a rather must have commander...
Rommel is commander in the 3. Panzer-division
You can find this division back in the 1. Panzerarmee - III. Panzerkorps
I would never pass up the opportunity to enlist a brilliant field commander like Rommel. You can find him commanding the 3. Panzer-Division, part of III. Panzerkorps.
edit: Emu'd
edit: Emu'd
question for any real experts on the following who might be tuning in.
last night, when playing through next chapter, I accidentally annexed Poland. since this does not fit what I had in mind, I'm going to have to replay the invasion **sigh**, but it raised an interesting question.
Am I correct in the numbers department for an annexation of non-core provinces?
Mp=25%
LS=20%
IC=50%
resources=50%
revolt risk=6%
last night, when playing through next chapter, I accidentally annexed Poland. since this does not fit what I had in mind, I'm going to have to replay the invasion **sigh**, but it raised an interesting question.
Am I correct in the numbers department for an annexation of non-core provinces?
Mp=25%
LS=20%
IC=50%
resources=50%
revolt risk=6%
I think there's a 50/50 chance a country will go GIE or be annexed when that country is in a faction.
Edited to add: To answer your question, you are correct. A non-core province gives -75% Manpower, -80% Leadership, -50% IC, and -50% resources. If I'm reading the file correctly, Nationalism gives +30% revolt risk.
From static modifiers.txt:
Edited to add: To answer your question, you are correct. A non-core province gives -75% Manpower, -80% Leadership, -50% IC, and -50% resources. If I'm reading the file correctly, Nationalism gives +30% revolt risk.
From static modifiers.txt:
Code:
non_core = {
local_manpower_modifier = -0.75
local_leadership_modifier = -0.80
local_ic = -0.50
local_resources = -0.5
}
nationalism = {
local_revolt_risk = 0.3 #0.3% for each year revolt risk!
minimum_revolt_risk = 0.3 #0.3% for each year revolt risk!
}
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this is getting to be funny. I've attacked Poland three times now. all 3 times they got annexed! How's that for coincidence?
I'm going to have to cheat a bit here, because I wanted to start the lesson after the invasion discussing the various occupation policies through an example. I just hope "changeowner" will get me what I want.
Or I'll just roll with it. don't know yet.
I'm going to have to cheat a bit here, because I wanted to start the lesson after the invasion discussing the various occupation policies through an example. I just hope "changeowner" will get me what I want.
Or I'll just roll with it. don't know yet.
Are they joining the Allies when you pull "Danzig or War"? I've seen times where they don't so I don't know if its automatic or not. And if they don't join the Allies then that explains why they get annexed.
I just found out in order for someone to help me I'd had to put my game resisterd on the forum, lol.
Anyway now that I did that, I have a couple of questions for you Misterbean:
1. What should I use for airmission to protect my county? Do I use Air intercept or Air superiority to protect the Ruhr? (and what does 'reserve' mean?)
2. Is there a list that I can look up, ingame, of all the strategic resources every nation posesses?
3. I played allong with your tutorial but went a slightly different way (I felt comfortable enough with some HOI2 skills), and got Brasil in the Axis a couple of weeks before the war (1 september 1939). Is it possible to get a country like Argentina in the Axis when war has started? Or will it be impossible? Thanks in advance.
4. Did you make KMS Bismarck the Pride of your fleet? Is it better not to do it since the British have a stronger fleet and it might easily get sunk? (In which case I'll do it anyway for Roleplay reasons)
Anyway now that I did that, I have a couple of questions for you Misterbean:
1. What should I use for airmission to protect my county? Do I use Air intercept or Air superiority to protect the Ruhr? (and what does 'reserve' mean?)
2. Is there a list that I can look up, ingame, of all the strategic resources every nation posesses?
3. I played allong with your tutorial but went a slightly different way (I felt comfortable enough with some HOI2 skills), and got Brasil in the Axis a couple of weeks before the war (1 september 1939). Is it possible to get a country like Argentina in the Axis when war has started? Or will it be impossible? Thanks in advance.
4. Did you make KMS Bismarck the Pride of your fleet? Is it better not to do it since the British have a stronger fleet and it might easily get sunk? (In which case I'll do it anyway for Roleplay reasons
)
I'm not misterbean, but I can answer your questions. Air Intercept really comes into it's own as a mission once you have established a decent radar network. I would use Air superiority until you can establish at least a Lvl 1 radar in Wuppertal, but lvl 3 - 5 would be best.
Yes, there is a list. Go to the ledger, ppg 10 and 11. To get to the ledger, click the Statistics button at the far right of the top button bar.
Argentina already has a fascist-leaning government and is already drifting toward the Axis on the 1.1.36 start. So, all you should need to do is raise threat on a neighbor (Brazil, for example) enough to lower their neutrality, which starts at 80. As far as I know there are no special restrictions on them joining a faction.
I don't recall misterbean setting a Pride of the Fleet, but it can't hurt. At most, you'll get 2 dissent if it gets sunk, and that's trivial to eliminate.4. Did you make KMS Bismarck the Pride of your fleet? Is it better not to do it since the British have a stronger fleet and it might easily get sunk? (In which case I'll do it anyway for Roleplay reasons
questions answered. and no, I didn't make a Pride of the Fleet for two reasons. first, let's be honest; it's not much of a fleet. It hasn't even entered into a single fight, yet. Personally, I prefer for a Pride to have an impressive sunk list.
secondly, because I was too busy explaining everything up to and including the kitchen sink, I forgot.
re: Poland. When we annex what's left of Czechoslovakia, the UK guarantees Polish independence. When the Poles accept, they join the Allies. personally, I've never known them to refuse in vanilla HOI3.
secondly, because I was too busy explaining everything up to and including the kitchen sink, I forgot.
re: Poland. When we annex what's left of Czechoslovakia, the UK guarantees Polish independence. When the Poles accept, they join the Allies. personally, I've never known them to refuse in vanilla HOI3.