There is always an element that thef irst game one plays, with all the mistakes, is one of hte best
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I'm a little nervous modding--I've never done it before. I hope it's not too game-y to mod in Churchill as my HoG--it seems really, really silly to play GB and NOT have Churchill!
A monster has arisen in Europe. A cunning fiend has outflanked the Maginot Line. The French soldiers, though individually brave, have been committed to a foolish strategy of static defense. Unfortunately, no defense is impregnable, and as Sun Tzu teaches us, he who tries to defend everything defends nothing. I talk of course of that would-be Tyrant of Europe, Italy.
(Note that the AI shows no intention of trying to use its Maginot line soldiers to stop this. I have to imagine they could TRY pulling a few troops off of level 10 forts...)
MUSSOLINI (il Duce insists he appears in all caps, as he did in newspapers historically) has vowed to repeat Caesar's conquest of Gaul. Will he dare attempt a repeat of Caesar's war in Britain?
His submarines have attacked convoys going through the Mediterranean. Everyone knows the straits of Messina, between Italy and Sicily, are and ought to be international waters! We fight for freedom of the seas!
A daring and innovative raid by means of an aero-plane carrying-type boat attacked the Italian navy in port:
(I kept at this long enough to sink all their ships, and reduce the Port to 0. I was sort-of hoping to get it to come out and fight, but this works, too. In case anyone is worried naval airpower is too strong like in Hoi2, the two German bombers that found Home Fleet got completely wasted by AA fire.)
The situation in North Africa was briefly dire. However, transports were able to rush a BEF Corps to reinforce 8th Army. Round-the-clock bombing has disorganized and weakened the Italian army. We have begun Operation Old Hat.
This is such a classic desert warfare move I can't pass it up. The tanks are sweeping all the way to Tobruk, while the infantry are just participating in the first phase of the attack for some oomph. Incidentally, I was in the middle of building infrastructure to that forward airfield from Alexandria when the war began; I thought it might help my supplies in the future. Incidentally, France is doing well in North Africa, too, and I have a decent chance of capturing all North African ports.
East Africa's a mess. Predictably Dar es Salaam theatre HQ wants about a third of the British army to hold one port. I really wish I could delegate East Africa, because I always resent having to send units there--it takes sooo long to mop it up. I was sorta hoping South Africa would take care of it.
However, despite the terror of MUSSOLINI and his ally in Germany what's-his-name, there is hope for the Allied cause. All the wealth and power of the New World has arisen to save the old. I speak, of course, of the Canadian Colossus.
It makes me sad to think ~100 brigades are going to be lost in the Maginot Line...incidentally, France has its fleet much more spread out. I'm happy with how my superstacks have performed in battle so far, but I'm going to need to spread a bit to cover sea zones. Incidentally, the fact that the game uses "brigades" rather then divisions sometimes makes you feel deceptively strong. I have to say, building and re-arranging my own oob is pretty fun. But I'm not impressed with automation. I really wish I could give MOVE orders THROUGH formation HQs--move your troops into this area, more or less, I don't really care how you divide them. Setting objectives doesn't work; I was in trouble in North Africa because the AI sent only one division to Massa Mutrah, which was an objective. (So was Alexandria, and it kept most stuff parked there.) Incidentally, the India theatre orders I gave back in '36 I thought would form a defensive line, but they haven't moved much at all.
In honor of our new ally and savior:
A monster has arisen in Europe. A cunning fiend has outflanked the Maginot Line. The French soldiers, though individually brave, have been committed to a foolish strategy of static defense. Unfortunately, no defense is impregnable, and as Sun Tzu teaches us, he who tries to defend everything defends nothing. I talk of course of that would-be Tyrant of Europe, Italy.
(Note that the AI shows no intention of trying to use its Maginot line soldiers to stop this. I have to imagine they could TRY pulling a few troops off of level 10 forts...)
MUSSOLINI (il Duce insists he appears in all caps, as he did in newspapers historically) has vowed to repeat Caesar's conquest of Gaul. Will he dare attempt a repeat of Caesar's war in Britain?
His submarines have attacked convoys going through the Mediterranean. Everyone knows the straits of Messina, between Italy and Sicily, are and ought to be international waters! We fight for freedom of the seas!
A daring and innovative raid by means of an aero-plane carrying-type boat attacked the Italian navy in port:
(I kept at this long enough to sink all their ships, and reduce the Port to 0. I was sort-of hoping to get it to come out and fight, but this works, too. In case anyone is worried naval airpower is too strong like in Hoi2, the two German bombers that found Home Fleet got completely wasted by AA fire.)
The situation in North Africa was briefly dire. However, transports were able to rush a BEF Corps to reinforce 8th Army. Round-the-clock bombing has disorganized and weakened the Italian army. We have begun Operation Old Hat.
This is such a classic desert warfare move I can't pass it up. The tanks are sweeping all the way to Tobruk, while the infantry are just participating in the first phase of the attack for some oomph. Incidentally, I was in the middle of building infrastructure to that forward airfield from Alexandria when the war began; I thought it might help my supplies in the future. Incidentally, France is doing well in North Africa, too, and I have a decent chance of capturing all North African ports.
East Africa's a mess. Predictably Dar es Salaam theatre HQ wants about a third of the British army to hold one port. I really wish I could delegate East Africa, because I always resent having to send units there--it takes sooo long to mop it up. I was sorta hoping South Africa would take care of it.
However, despite the terror of MUSSOLINI and his ally in Germany what's-his-name, there is hope for the Allied cause. All the wealth and power of the New World has arisen to save the old. I speak, of course, of the Canadian Colossus.
It makes me sad to think ~100 brigades are going to be lost in the Maginot Line...incidentally, France has its fleet much more spread out. I'm happy with how my superstacks have performed in battle so far, but I'm going to need to spread a bit to cover sea zones. Incidentally, the fact that the game uses "brigades" rather then divisions sometimes makes you feel deceptively strong. I have to say, building and re-arranging my own oob is pretty fun. But I'm not impressed with automation. I really wish I could give MOVE orders THROUGH formation HQs--move your troops into this area, more or less, I don't really care how you divide them. Setting objectives doesn't work; I was in trouble in North Africa because the AI sent only one division to Massa Mutrah, which was an objective. (So was Alexandria, and it kept most stuff parked there.) Incidentally, the India theatre orders I gave back in '36 I thought would form a defensive line, but they haven't moved much at all.
In honor of our new ally and savior:
What?
Of landing and then realising he isn't going to win and leaving for someone else to try again later?
A fine plan!
I've seen this massive Italian outflanking in at least one other AAR now.
Oh Canada!
Oh Canada!
You might as well get used to seeing ITA AI conquering FRA AI
And when playing FRA, get prepared for an ITA invasion - sooner or later, GER AI is going to call them to arms, and they'll always join.
Say "thanks" to MUSSOLINI for the Practical experience
And when playing FRA, get prepared for an ITA invasion - sooner or later, GER AI is going to call them to arms, and they'll always join.
Say "thanks" to MUSSOLINI for the Practical experience
France is in trouble. MUSSOLINI continues northward.
However, even in such a dark hour, there is hope, as Italian forces have been driven from North Africa.
After the initial battle, it was mainly a matter of shift-clicking.
Note France has grabbed part of it. I have to wonder what happens when Vichy pops--I imagine Italy gets it back. Considering I even trashed their theatre HQ, it shouldn't be hard to get it back.
Italy's German allies continue to contribute ineffectually to the main war effort.
Incidentally, the transport got away. The stacking penalty is a pain, at ~40 percent with ~20 ships. I have a few more modern BBs coming off the line in 1940. I'm thinking putting my modern ships together, in one group, will maximize lethality. Incidentally, something has done a number on the Carrier CAGs, and I sent them back to the Home Islands to regroup. CAGs seem to dramatically decrease the efficiency of Naval Bombers, as they're often somewhat disorganized by the time they get through.
France continues to fight against MUSSOLINI, even as the situation worsens. (In Hoi2, they'd give up right about now.)
I notice a bunch of Italian port strikes going on in Portsmouth. No doubt MUSSOLINI is preparing air superiority, in the hopes of eventual invasion of Britain.
(ok, that battle took place over France...I'm really surprised they keep Port Striking Portsmouth with seemingly little damage; I've scrambled fighters, and there's a pile of AA guns there from the start of the game.)
British 8th Army, in North Africa, has emerged a strong force, with 11 divisions and 3 armoured divisions. (I can already hear the German/USSR players laughing at me...) Since I can't just let it sit there I'm moving to Benghazi to Invade Sicily. Who knows, I might even rescue France :rofl:. I'm going after Sicily because I can cross into Italy if I control the strait, and if things go horribly wrong, I can keep control of the strait and still hold Sicily.
I took a corps out of BEF to go help 8th Army. And it hasn't actually "expeditioned" anywhere. It's sitting on 5 infantry and 3 mountain divisions. I'm debating if I should expand it to another army and send it into the Italian operation, or deal with this nonsense:
I'm debating when to deal with this nonsense:
The East African theater is like flossing and eating your vegetables: It's probably good for you, but that doesn't mean you want to do it.
The longer I wait, the longer it'll take for me to deal with it. But there's NOTHING THERE worth defending. They're not even trying to move North, to Alexandria. In Hoi1 my colonials could take it out. It's probably doing better because Ethiopia is a puppet; I'd be surprised if Italy, on its own, would put many troops there.
Also--a SUBMARINE? Your orders are to hold one land province, and you need a SUBMARINE? (That's the lost joke I'm having at the theater HQ's expense. Honest.)
Territorial Army I buffed up a bit, and it's sitting on three full corps for 15 infantry divisions. I'm going to resist the temptation to shrink it--I've done a good job catching transports, but I haven't actually sunk all that many.
My production has increased a lot:
You can see my radar stations are pretty cheap. I'm hopeful that they'll give me good intelligence gathering and help me out in air battles. (Also, they're thematic!)
Technology:
You can see I've backed off my "leadeship blitz", and in fact, I'm sitting on 103 percent leadership. There's not benefit for this, except if I grow too quickly I'll be able to know. I'm wondering how much I need to put into tech to "catch up" (and hopefully, maybe even out-tech). I'm researching Air Combat doctrines here, because with a pile of Air Combat experience (which is very easy to get) they research pretty quickly.
One area where I know I have no hope whatsoever is Armor Practical. Look at the screenshot closely. "But ComTrav," you say, "You have 10 Armor Practical. It's one of your higher values. Isn't that quite good?"
I have all of 7 armoured brigades in my army. Armor Practical is stupidly easy to build up; they're somewhat expensive, but they do seem to build very fast for amount of practical they give you. I can only imagine how much Armor Practical Germany is sitting on. (Or USSR, who in the '36 start starts with 20 armor practical. And they did Embargo me earlier. Also, "Winter War" came in July this year, just like Christmas.)
Also, I really want to focus on Espionage a little more, but it feels like the rate of spies for a leadership point is kinda low. I might ditch my diplomacy points once I get all the historical allies. Although espionage, to raise Germany's Threat, might do more good. Also, Ireland joined!
So:
France is in trouble. MUSSOLINI continues northward.
However, even in such a dark hour, there is hope, as Italian forces have been driven from North Africa.
After the initial battle, it was mainly a matter of shift-clicking.
Note France has grabbed part of it. I have to wonder what happens when Vichy pops--I imagine Italy gets it back. Considering I even trashed their theatre HQ, it shouldn't be hard to get it back.
Italy's German allies continue to contribute ineffectually to the main war effort.
Incidentally, the transport got away. The stacking penalty is a pain, at ~40 percent with ~20 ships. I have a few more modern BBs coming off the line in 1940. I'm thinking putting my modern ships together, in one group, will maximize lethality. Incidentally, something has done a number on the Carrier CAGs, and I sent them back to the Home Islands to regroup. CAGs seem to dramatically decrease the efficiency of Naval Bombers, as they're often somewhat disorganized by the time they get through.
France continues to fight against MUSSOLINI, even as the situation worsens. (In Hoi2, they'd give up right about now.)
I notice a bunch of Italian port strikes going on in Portsmouth. No doubt MUSSOLINI is preparing air superiority, in the hopes of eventual invasion of Britain.
(ok, that battle took place over France...I'm really surprised they keep Port Striking Portsmouth with seemingly little damage; I've scrambled fighters, and there's a pile of AA guns there from the start of the game.)
British 8th Army, in North Africa, has emerged a strong force, with 11 divisions and 3 armoured divisions. (I can already hear the German/USSR players laughing at me...) Since I can't just let it sit there I'm moving to Benghazi to Invade Sicily. Who knows, I might even rescue France :rofl:. I'm going after Sicily because I can cross into Italy if I control the strait, and if things go horribly wrong, I can keep control of the strait and still hold Sicily.
I took a corps out of BEF to go help 8th Army. And it hasn't actually "expeditioned" anywhere. It's sitting on 5 infantry and 3 mountain divisions. I'm debating if I should expand it to another army and send it into the Italian operation, or deal with this nonsense:
I'm debating when to deal with this nonsense:
The East African theater is like flossing and eating your vegetables: It's probably good for you, but that doesn't mean you want to do it.
The longer I wait, the longer it'll take for me to deal with it. But there's NOTHING THERE worth defending. They're not even trying to move North, to Alexandria. In Hoi1 my colonials could take it out. It's probably doing better because Ethiopia is a puppet; I'd be surprised if Italy, on its own, would put many troops there.
Also--a SUBMARINE? Your orders are to hold one land province, and you need a SUBMARINE? (That's the lost joke I'm having at the theater HQ's expense. Honest.)
Territorial Army I buffed up a bit, and it's sitting on three full corps for 15 infantry divisions. I'm going to resist the temptation to shrink it--I've done a good job catching transports, but I haven't actually sunk all that many.
My production has increased a lot:
You can see my radar stations are pretty cheap. I'm hopeful that they'll give me good intelligence gathering and help me out in air battles. (Also, they're thematic!)
Technology:
You can see I've backed off my "leadeship blitz", and in fact, I'm sitting on 103 percent leadership. There's not benefit for this, except if I grow too quickly I'll be able to know. I'm wondering how much I need to put into tech to "catch up" (and hopefully, maybe even out-tech). I'm researching Air Combat doctrines here, because with a pile of Air Combat experience (which is very easy to get) they research pretty quickly.
One area where I know I have no hope whatsoever is Armor Practical. Look at the screenshot closely. "But ComTrav," you say, "You have 10 Armor Practical. It's one of your higher values. Isn't that quite good?"
I have all of 7 armoured brigades in my army. Armor Practical is stupidly easy to build up; they're somewhat expensive, but they do seem to build very fast for amount of practical they give you. I can only imagine how much Armor Practical Germany is sitting on. (Or USSR, who in the '36 start starts with 20 armor practical. And they did Embargo me earlier. Also, "Winter War" came in July this year, just like Christmas.)
Also, I really want to focus on Espionage a little more, but it feels like the rate of spies for a leadership point is kinda low. I might ditch my diplomacy points once I get all the historical allies. Although espionage, to raise Germany's Threat, might do more good in terms of building the Alliance. The US neutrality is too high. Belgium/Netherlands are close to me; I considered inviting them in in a an attempt to save France, but they'll probably just get steamrolled by Germany and I this is a good way to deny the MUSSOLINI wannabee who runs that country some IC.
Also, Ireland joined the allies!
So:
With the luck of the Irish, we can't be beaten! (Really, I'm just hopeful that if some Axis bit player like Ethiopia lands in Northern Ireland with one div, I won't have to worry.)
Fun Fact: Carriers get kill credit for their associated CAG.
Also, since I promised a strong Mediterranean strategy in my initial post, I'm going to work on Greece to join the Allies next. There's two Italian provinces right next to them they can hopefully grab without trouble. (This will all go south if Yugoslavia or even Bulgaria intervenes, but what the hey.)
Also, since I promised a strong Mediterranean strategy in my initial post, I'm going to work on Greece to join the Allies next. There's two Italian provinces right next to them they can hopefully grab without trouble. (This will all go south if Yugoslavia or even Bulgaria intervenes, but what the hey.)
@ stynlyn-I've forgotten to mention how active MUSSOLINI has been in sinking convoys. he's sunk a couple, I've caught a couple of subs. (In fact, the Kriegsmarine hasn't sunk a single convoy.) I also forced a couple of ships out of harbor at Benghazi when I took it. (I thought I took an SS of that, but clearly I was wrong--I can't find it anywhere.) Vichy France just fired, and they were doing a lot of patrolling/sea presence type stuff, we'll see. (Though I've done must of the killing; I'll include a "ships sunk" ss in my next update.) My carrier strike on Sicily also totaled me 6 ships. I plan to force them out of hiding in my upcoming invasion of Italy.
Also, I want to know if anyone knows of a good way to load multiple units on a transport fleet, or if I need to click on each unit and "load transport" each time.
Anyway, I'm going to take a break now, but next update should have:
-Radar, and why it's cool and I'm glad I built it
-Italy for some unfathomable reason lets Germany have most of France. I'm still amazed it went so badly for France on that front, and it seems to happen a lot. It's mountains, and they had pile of Mountain divs, and Italy had a bunch of Mountain divs, usually in that kind of situation you just stare at each other.
-Also, the British Army, an old favorite, operating in new, Army Group flavor!
Also, I want to know if anyone knows of a good way to load multiple units on a transport fleet, or if I need to click on each unit and "load transport" each time.
Anyway, I'm going to take a break now, but next update should have:
-Radar, and why it's cool and I'm glad I built it
-Italy for some unfathomable reason lets Germany have most of France. I'm still amazed it went so badly for France on that front, and it seems to happen a lot. It's mountains, and they had pile of Mountain divs, and Italy had a bunch of Mountain divs, usually in that kind of situation you just stare at each other.
-Also, the British Army, an old favorite, operating in new, Army Group flavor!
Someone needs to make French surrender a decision that Germany / Italy / Spain / whoever can make once they hold a certain combination of provinces - enough to ensure they have put most of the spade work into the conquest - and French NU breaks. BEFORE the surrender is completed, however, this triggers secondary events with all Axis belligerents that allow them to make their own minor gains at France's expense. Only then does the process complete, giving an appropriate large area to the protagonist to occupy. Would this work?
Since this is a learning AAR, I figured I'd post some Lessons Learned:
(and some of this might well be obvious to someone who's already done their Tannu Tavu WC, but I think some of it is worth commenting on).
-I'M PLAYING A GAME, NOT A SCRIPT. I made a serious error by not sending 7-8 divisions, including several mountain divisions, to the Franco-Italian border. In the back of my mind, I was playing HoI2, and my smattering of Mountain Divs ALWAYS ALWAYS goes to Norway. I never did much ground commitment to France because, like clockwork, spring/summer of 1940 they go down the tubes. Norway, however, was easily defended and a potential good airbase. As a consequence of the weakly defended French border was overrun, and I'm facing a Germany in possession of all of Northern France and I've only been running at my full war economy capacity for a short time. I'm short on everything, especially fighters.
-ALLIANCES SNOWBALL. I have a fair number of Allies now, and I see them influencing others to join. It's nice to see the Polish Government-in-Exile plead its case to the US. I suspect that this is the game reason why I don't get the whole Commonwealth as a 'freebie'. (Though it would be nice if they had a higher chance to "align with Allies".)
-PRACTICAL AND THEORY ARE BOTH BIG FEEDBACK LOOPS. My capital ship building demonstrates this most dramatically; when my first KGV finished, it reduced the cost per BB by almost 2 IC and 100 days. Similarly, when those BBs pop in 1940, they'll give me enough practical to surge BB research for the next wave of BBs. Incidentally, this is a good example of using high theory/practical to maintain a lead with little investment. In IC cost, it takes relatively little for me to keep a couple of BBs going. (On the off-chance the German AI has spammed cruisers or something--since they're at war with me, maybe it's smart enough to do so...). You can, of course, also use your high practicals and go crazy and drown your enemy in in something specific. (I have the sneaky suspicion I'm going to see some AARs with very high Armor Practical :rofl
--Corollary: the Initial Entry cost is a pain. It's almost better to do it in 36-39, if you can, when you have plenty of time. Things that give practical in big chunks (Carriers, Capital Ships, Armor divs) SEEM to be easier to break into. (I can't believe I can barely get my infantry practical above 5 or so, even with an infantry toothpaste minister, but my armor practical shot up after just 3 big divs.)
I mentioned this earlier, but your pure theory techs are good as a "placeholder" if there's no good project available, or if you want to build up a particular theoretical area extra-quick. I can't imagine having room for them now that I'm at war, though.
Doctrinal Research-In the interwar years, it's possible to get a decent amount of (land) Combat Experience from techs alone. You can get a good tech stream going in a particular doctrine group if you research several techs in it.
Air Doctrine is a waste during the interwar years, it's so easy to pick up a lot of Air Combat Experience in such huge amounts during the war it's probably only worth it to pick up a few points here and there to keep your "foci" from completely disappearing.
I'm not sure about Naval Doctrine. I feel like researching the top tech in your chosen tree is sorta a minimum. Incidentally, it seems like you only have room to focus on one (MAYBE as Japan I'll focus on two, I dunno how much leadership I'll have though) which leads to focusing on 2-3 ship types (and Sealane interdiction doesn't get any screens.)
Diplomacy slider I could keep at 1.01 or 2.01 for most of the interwar years, and I managed to assemble the historical Commonwealth plus Ireland. It would be not hard for me to grab Greece, Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands for the allies. I pick 2.01 because influencing someone costs 2, and I want to make sure I'm getting a slight gain during the whole interwar years; conceptually, I like to think of this as building goodwill towards Great Britain. (Soft Power, and all that.) This means when I need to cut some diplomacy for more officers/research, I can "call in a marker" and have a pool of diplomatic actions to delve into.
OFFICERS ARE A NEW UNIT TAX, BUT IT IS DISTRIBUTED ACROSS YOUR FORCE. This means the percentage is deceptive. If I have 100 bdes at 100 percent leadership, and I add another 100 bdes, I have only 50 percent leadership. However, if I have a thousand bdes, and I add a hundred bdes, I only lose about ten percent leadership. Building lots of units relative to your existing force size will cause leadership to go down. In the context of my AAR, I expect the next year or so to be rough, but then I'll have a large enough force in the field that the addition of a few divisions won't stretch my officer corps to the limit. As the war goes on, I will actually need to invest less in leadership, because my existing officers (hopefully) aren't going anywhere. Incidentally, this is another game design factor to make the rapidly-expanding armies of the allies less-effective early in the war, as opposed to the larger (at the start of the war) and more gradually built Axis forces. (In other words, as an Axis country, you shall run wild for six months or a year.)
I still am working on espionage; I'm sure in a few weeks it'll be common knowledge about how much espionage value you need to consistently maintain a set number of spies on a major.
NATIONAL UNITY WARFARE is all-or-nothing. I actually got my NU to go UP as a result of convoy attacks, because they were so effectively opposed. Unfortunately, this means if I execute my hoped-for strategic bombing offensive badly, I could actually be doing the enemy a favor.
Air Combat seems to be a war of attrition. (With the Battle of Britain coming up, we'll see.) It seems really easy to fly them until their ORG damage is gone, and then rebase them before they take serious STR damage. I haven't seen many air fights where wings have been wiped out yet. (But I strongly suspect my understanding of air combat is about to get a big boost...)
As a consequence, CAGs are good at screening your ships from heavy damage from enemy NAVs but they will get beaten down on a long deployment. They do reduce enemy organization. (I'm totally looking forward to my carrier-based Pacific game...I'm really tempted to reserve the name BANZAAR!, if someone didn't already take it, and assuming this AAR gets a good reception of course =). And I know CG bug makes a Japan '36 start impossible, but I always preferred a '38 start anyway with Japan so I don't need to muck about in China all that much.)
Naval Superstacks will win battles, but they don't seem particularly lethal because of the huge attack penalty (I've also had at least one friendly fire incident. You know who you are....your name begins in 'H' and ends in 'is Majesty's Ship Hood.') . Although this, and my comments on air combat, may be more of a function of the relatively low tech and doctrines of the combatants. I'll need more comparison.
It's sometimes difficult to get an assessment of the enemy's, or even your own, strength. The basic strength unit of land combat is the brigade, but they fight as divisions. With the right doctrine, you could send 5 divs against 2, and they would be equal strength, but from the combat screen it's kind of hard to tell. (There's width, but different brigades have different width.)
(and some of this might well be obvious to someone who's already done their Tannu Tavu WC, but I think some of it is worth commenting on).
-I'M PLAYING A GAME, NOT A SCRIPT. I made a serious error by not sending 7-8 divisions, including several mountain divisions, to the Franco-Italian border. In the back of my mind, I was playing HoI2, and my smattering of Mountain Divs ALWAYS ALWAYS goes to Norway. I never did much ground commitment to France because, like clockwork, spring/summer of 1940 they go down the tubes. Norway, however, was easily defended and a potential good airbase. As a consequence of the weakly defended French border was overrun, and I'm facing a Germany in possession of all of Northern France and I've only been running at my full war economy capacity for a short time. I'm short on everything, especially fighters.
-ALLIANCES SNOWBALL. I have a fair number of Allies now, and I see them influencing others to join. It's nice to see the Polish Government-in-Exile plead its case to the US. I suspect that this is the game reason why I don't get the whole Commonwealth as a 'freebie'. (Though it would be nice if they had a higher chance to "align with Allies".)
-PRACTICAL AND THEORY ARE BOTH BIG FEEDBACK LOOPS. My capital ship building demonstrates this most dramatically; when my first KGV finished, it reduced the cost per BB by almost 2 IC and 100 days. Similarly, when those BBs pop in 1940, they'll give me enough practical to surge BB research for the next wave of BBs. Incidentally, this is a good example of using high theory/practical to maintain a lead with little investment. In IC cost, it takes relatively little for me to keep a couple of BBs going. (On the off-chance the German AI has spammed cruisers or something--since they're at war with me, maybe it's smart enough to do so...). You can, of course, also use your high practicals and go crazy and drown your enemy in in something specific. (I have the sneaky suspicion I'm going to see some AARs with very high Armor Practical :rofl
--Corollary: the Initial Entry cost is a pain. It's almost better to do it in 36-39, if you can, when you have plenty of time. Things that give practical in big chunks (Carriers, Capital Ships, Armor divs) SEEM to be easier to break into. (I can't believe I can barely get my infantry practical above 5 or so, even with an infantry toothpaste minister, but my armor practical shot up after just 3 big divs.)
I mentioned this earlier, but your pure theory techs are good as a "placeholder" if there's no good project available, or if you want to build up a particular theoretical area extra-quick. I can't imagine having room for them now that I'm at war, though.
Doctrinal Research-In the interwar years, it's possible to get a decent amount of (land) Combat Experience from techs alone. You can get a good tech stream going in a particular doctrine group if you research several techs in it.
Air Doctrine is a waste during the interwar years, it's so easy to pick up a lot of Air Combat Experience in such huge amounts during the war it's probably only worth it to pick up a few points here and there to keep your "foci" from completely disappearing.
I'm not sure about Naval Doctrine. I feel like researching the top tech in your chosen tree is sorta a minimum. Incidentally, it seems like you only have room to focus on one (MAYBE as Japan I'll focus on two, I dunno how much leadership I'll have though) which leads to focusing on 2-3 ship types (and Sealane interdiction doesn't get any screens.)
Diplomacy slider I could keep at 1.01 or 2.01 for most of the interwar years, and I managed to assemble the historical Commonwealth plus Ireland. It would be not hard for me to grab Greece, Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands for the allies. I pick 2.01 because influencing someone costs 2, and I want to make sure I'm getting a slight gain during the whole interwar years; conceptually, I like to think of this as building goodwill towards Great Britain. (Soft Power, and all that.) This means when I need to cut some diplomacy for more officers/research, I can "call in a marker" and have a pool of diplomatic actions to delve into.
OFFICERS ARE A NEW UNIT TAX, BUT IT IS DISTRIBUTED ACROSS YOUR FORCE. This means the percentage is deceptive. If I have 100 bdes at 100 percent leadership, and I add another 100 bdes, I have only 50 percent leadership. However, if I have a thousand bdes, and I add a hundred bdes, I only lose about ten percent leadership. Building lots of units relative to your existing force size will cause leadership to go down. In the context of my AAR, I expect the next year or so to be rough, but then I'll have a large enough force in the field that the addition of a few divisions won't stretch my officer corps to the limit. As the war goes on, I will actually need to invest less in leadership, because my existing officers (hopefully) aren't going anywhere. Incidentally, this is another game design factor to make the rapidly-expanding armies of the allies less-effective early in the war, as opposed to the larger (at the start of the war) and more gradually built Axis forces. (In other words, as an Axis country, you shall run wild for six months or a year.)
I still am working on espionage; I'm sure in a few weeks it'll be common knowledge about how much espionage value you need to consistently maintain a set number of spies on a major.
NATIONAL UNITY WARFARE is all-or-nothing. I actually got my NU to go UP as a result of convoy attacks, because they were so effectively opposed. Unfortunately, this means if I execute my hoped-for strategic bombing offensive badly, I could actually be doing the enemy a favor.
Air Combat seems to be a war of attrition. (With the Battle of Britain coming up, we'll see.) It seems really easy to fly them until their ORG damage is gone, and then rebase them before they take serious STR damage. I haven't seen many air fights where wings have been wiped out yet. (But I strongly suspect my understanding of air combat is about to get a big boost...)
As a consequence, CAGs are good at screening your ships from heavy damage from enemy NAVs but they will get beaten down on a long deployment. They do reduce enemy organization. (I'm totally looking forward to my carrier-based Pacific game...I'm really tempted to reserve the name BANZAAR!, if someone didn't already take it, and assuming this AAR gets a good reception of course =). And I know CG bug makes a Japan '36 start impossible, but I always preferred a '38 start anyway with Japan so I don't need to muck about in China all that much.)
Naval Superstacks will win battles, but they don't seem particularly lethal because of the huge attack penalty (I've also had at least one friendly fire incident. You know who you are....your name begins in 'H' and ends in 'is Majesty's Ship Hood.') . Although this, and my comments on air combat, may be more of a function of the relatively low tech and doctrines of the combatants. I'll need more comparison.
It's sometimes difficult to get an assessment of the enemy's, or even your own, strength. The basic strength unit of land combat is the brigade, but they fight as divisions. With the right doctrine, you could send 5 divs against 2, and they would be equal strength, but from the combat screen it's kind of hard to tell. (There's width, but different brigades have different width.)
A veyr interesting breakdown of your impressions thus far. My own experimentations are much more placid - traditionally I have always mucked around with the USA first in HoI, but even with the AI alone I can see the Alliance starting to snowball as you say, and the officer thing.
I'm deriving similar lessons to yours from a couple of test runs. It's good to read them written by somebody else
Also, I took a peak at what the AI builds in one of the runs. In Sept. 38, GER AI had already built Bismarck and Tirpitz, and was about to complete Friedrich der Große. It was also building a 4th BB, a number of destroyers to protect them... and an insane amount of Marine and Armored (practical at 36.2!) brigades. It had also built 30+ air squadrons. All of them were built as reserves.
It was busily researching '40 techs in its selected areas. However, not a single doctrine had been researched.
Also, I took a peak at what the AI builds in one of the runs. In Sept. 38, GER AI had already built Bismarck and Tirpitz, and was about to complete Friedrich der Große. It was also building a 4th BB, a number of destroyers to protect them... and an insane amount of Marine and Armored (practical at 36.2!) brigades. It had also built 30+ air squadrons. All of them were built as reserves.
It was busily researching '40 techs in its selected areas. However, not a single doctrine had been researched.
Thanks everyone--I appreciate hearing all the positive comments. This has been more work then I thought, and I'm glad to know people are reading it and finding it useful.
And Lordban, I appreciate the intelligence. It seems my naval investment will be quite worthwhile after all. The number of armor brigades is daunting--I'm tempted to build some AT/TD brigades. (The consensus in Hoi2 was that these were trash, so I hadn't built up many of them.) I'm really not surprised they have such high Armor Practical; with each Medium Tank brigade giving you 2, it's very easy to get. It would take a huge investment to rival their tank forces...which is why that's not how I'm going to beat them. In my next update I hope to talk a little bit about my Grand Battle Plans (the name alone should be on obvious hint ). Unfortunately, I've decided that since Vichy France fired, the invasion of Italy is off, but I'm going to eat my veggies and clear out East Africa.
Before I load up and fight the Battle of Britain, I want to talk a little bit about the consumer goods bug. I did notice my CG going crazy from time to time, especially after I deployed new units. However, since my interwar construction wasn't huge, and I had a small standing army, and I aggressively lowered my neutrality and pursued better mobilization laws, I was able to mitigate its effects somewhat. The biggest problem is that my Practicals almost all went to poo; it would've been really nice to have enough spare IC to build some aircraft. That said, although my position is probably weaker then it "should" be, it's far from unplayable.
However, I think the AI countries get hit by it much harder. This is most obvious in the case of Japan--Shanxi has invaded Taiwan. I think France was also much weaker then it should have been; its stiffening resistance later in the war is evidence that it was doing better once the war was on. I remember that my army was larger then theirs at the start of the war (160 bdes to 150 bdes), but those are both rather small armies when you get right down to it. I again strongly regret not helping them fight MUSSOLINI on the border so they would've had more time to build up. It will likewise take my far-flung Commonwealth allies time to build up forces and contribute (I did see Australia moving a smattering of divs towards a port). I'm a little worried that the CG bug might make the USSR collapse like a wet noodle if Germany invades (and for all the talk of the AI Germany launching Sea Lion, it's still not certain if the AI Germany will launch Barbarossa).
But, then again, the bloody song doesn't say a British Tar "He never should bow down, to a domineering frown, unless his allies are bugged and ahistorically weak!"
No less a figure then CAPTAIN PICARD would remind me so!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61AAwNDwU4U
So even though my situation looks pretty bleak, the fact is I've only really been at war with full access to my IC for less then six months. My military is is going to suffer growing pains with officer issues, and my industry will have to get is Practical up. After all, things are SUPPOSED to look really bleak for Britain after the Fall of France, and I'm supposed to be caught a little off guard by the manner and rapidity of their collapse.
And Lordban, I appreciate the intelligence. It seems my naval investment will be quite worthwhile after all
. The number of armor brigades is daunting--I'm tempted to build some AT/TD brigades. (The consensus in Hoi2 was that these were trash, so I hadn't built up many of them.) I'm really not surprised they have such high Armor Practical; with each Medium Tank brigade giving you 2, it's very easy to get. It would take a huge investment to rival their tank forces...which is why that's not how I'm going to beat them. In my next update I hope to talk a little bit about my Grand Battle Plans (the name alone should be on obvious hint ). Unfortunately, I've decided that since Vichy France fired, the invasion of Italy is off, but I'm going to eat my veggies and clear out East Africa.Before I load up and fight the Battle of Britain, I want to talk a little bit about the consumer goods bug. I did notice my CG going crazy from time to time, especially after I deployed new units. However, since my interwar construction wasn't huge, and I had a small standing army, and I aggressively lowered my neutrality and pursued better mobilization laws, I was able to mitigate its effects somewhat. The biggest problem is that my Practicals almost all went to poo; it would've been really nice to have enough spare IC to build some aircraft. That said, although my position is probably weaker then it "should" be, it's far from unplayable.
However, I think the AI countries get hit by it much harder. This is most obvious in the case of Japan--Shanxi has invaded Taiwan. I think France was also much weaker then it should have been; its stiffening resistance later in the war is evidence that it was doing better once the war was on. I remember that my army was larger then theirs at the start of the war (160 bdes to 150 bdes), but those are both rather small armies when you get right down to it. I again strongly regret not helping them fight MUSSOLINI on the border so they would've had more time to build up. It will likewise take my far-flung Commonwealth allies time to build up forces and contribute (I did see Australia moving a smattering of divs towards a port). I'm a little worried that the CG bug might make the USSR collapse like a wet noodle if Germany invades (and for all the talk of the AI Germany launching Sea Lion, it's still not certain if the AI Germany will launch Barbarossa).
But, then again, the bloody song doesn't say a British Tar "He never should bow down, to a domineering frown, unless his allies are bugged and ahistorically weak!"
No less a figure then CAPTAIN PICARD would remind me so!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61AAwNDwU4U
So even though my situation looks pretty bleak, the fact is I've only really been at war with full access to my IC for less then six months. My military is is going to suffer growing pains with officer issues, and my industry will have to get is Practical up. After all, things are SUPPOSED to look really bleak for Britain after the Fall of France, and I'm supposed to be caught a little off guard by the manner and rapidity of their collapse.
I'm really enjoying this AAR. One of my favorites thus far. The analysis and strategy examination is excellent!
Keep it up.
One question: What factors are determining how you structure your divisions? It seems like 3inf/1art is an excellent blueprint (and I base this on no statistical analysis) but I've heard that 3bde divisions are good for getting more divs on the board. Opinions?
Keep it up.
One question: What factors are determining how you structure your divisions? It seems like 3inf/1art is an excellent blueprint (and I base this on no statistical analysis) but I've heard that 3bde divisions are good for getting more divs on the board. Opinions?
Your experiences correlate fairly close with my own observations as well, which is encouraging. Plus, Italy seems like quite a powerhouse in 1.1. Quite a dangerous powerhouse.