Advice for not losing as Germany by 1941 in SP

[Adamgerd]

For one, I almost always try to avoid having a war on both fronts. In a sense, you could try to take down the Soviet Union first and foremost, and then focus on the western front and engage the allies afterwards.

Now if you really wanted to be devious, I suppose you could align with the USSR and have them as potential allies.

Before the war begins however, I would have the following countries in the Axis:

• Austria (via Anschluss)
• Czechoslovakia
• Hungary
• Bulgaria
• Italy
  
• Japan
• Yugoslavia
• Romania
  
• Greece (as a puppet, then delegate myself control if need be)

I am supposed to take down the USSR? It's massive and has loads of divisions. I've only managed to defeat it once as Germany when I cheated to delete it's entire army. I am supposed to win against the AI when it has numerical superiority? Against the AI? Wow, You must be good if you can defeat the AI. Also some people say it's easier without the bat tleplan, but how do you manage to micro everything at speed 5 without a battle plan or should I pause in wars or reduce the speed, because so far, I rarely pause and stay on speed 5

 

[ikabon]

Easy
Invade England before you invade the USSR

 

[dave1233]

I am supposed to take down the USSR? It's massive and has loads of divisions. I've only managed to defeat it once as Germany when I cheated to delete it's entire army. I am supposed to win against the AI when it has numerical superiority? Against the AI? Wow, You must be good if you can defeat the AI. Also some people say it's easier without the bat tleplan, but how do you manage to micro everything at speed 5 without a battle plan or should I pause in wars or reduce the speed, because so far, I rarely pause and stay on speed 5

If you are playing on speed 5 that may well be your problem cause it's verging on impossible to play anything well at that speed, let alone germany

 

[Adamgerd]

Easy
Invade England before you invade the USSR

By air? Or by sea?
Probably the former, but making sure

 

[Adamgerd]

If you are playing on speed 5 that may well be your problem cause it's verging on impossible to play anything well at that speed, let alone germany

I see. Well I am used to it as I have more experience with Czechoslovakia for example, where you just build lots of forts and artillery and then for defense you don't need to move your army much, so it's easy to do that at speed 5

 

[Merc34]

Defeating the USSR is no easy task by any means, and it takes time, patience, and proper planning in order to develop an army capable of invading the Soviet Union, but it does certainly help when you have the combined efforts of your allies to help you on the East front (excluding expeditionary forces because the templates for those are awful imo, aside from using them to garrison areas).

During one playthrough of mine, Romania contributed quite well in gaining some ground. Not guaranteeing this will always be the case, but it's possible and it helps.

On another note, be wary of pushing through during the winter season, as there are penalties that affect your army's ability to push through.

And yeah, you may also want to tone the speed down at times where you may need to make some adjustments to your battleplan.

 

[Gerar_doorlock]

Is there any good guide on not losing as Germany by 1941 in SP. So far whenever I play it, I annex Netherlands by '37 and puppet the West Indies. Then I follow the focuses and through luck and save-gaming, I manage to get the focuses peacefully. I then attack France, I defeat them eventually after invading through Belgium. France is now capitulated, but the superior British navy defeats my navy and naval invades Hamburg. Now they immediately retake Belgium and with Belgium, they march to Germany. By the time I get my army there, they're at Berlin and to make it better the USSR jumps in invading me. Italy capitulates through a British Invasion and now I am fighting o 2 fronts, after much resistance, the allies reach Berlin and I capitulate and lose by 1941. Japan eventually capitulates after more years and it's the end of war. And Germany is supposed to be the easiest nation? So are there any tips or advice on winning as Germany?

NF:
1 Rheinland or autobahns
2 Industry
3 Armor innovations all the way down to research slot
4 air innovations all the way down to tactical effort
5 optional (if you want to start later and prepare better) armor innovations 2
5 Anschluss
6 all the down to Czechs
7 memel
8Molotov
9Danzig hold the event until you declare on Netherlands
10 around M
11 Denmark
12 national spirit
Research
Prioritise industry , electronics rest is usual
After you get guderian in government start going down doctrine path use bonuses from army innovations as well
After you get tank treaty research med tanks goal is Panthers before spring 40 hits
After you go down air innovations get cas2(in summer 38 or so) and go down air doctrine all the way down to 3 research points
Also get lvl1 mechs and lvl2 synthetic oil

Construction

Civs up to 1938, then refineries and infrastructure to lvl 8 in eastern not shore provinces then spam mils and refineries when needed
Also you need lvl 10 airfield in Rhineland and moseland

Production
Start with
10-15 INF
4 support
5-15 arty
3-4 moto
5 fighters
2 fighters
7 Cas
2 lt tanks (not needed in sp)
Go into the war with
3 x 15 on meds
15 on arty
2 INF
15+5 CAS 2
2 x 10 fighters
10 support
5-10 moto
What you are expected to have after French campaign
2 x 15 INF
3x 15 meds
2x 15 Cas 2
3 x 15 fighters 2
2x 15 arty
15 moto
2 x 10 support
add rocket arty and mechanised as you get new factories
( in mp you might want to produce some AA but in sp no need)

Fleet: ignore
Army:
Train 10 divisions until you get enough army for Molotov
Have 10-20 moto divisions
6 40 width tanks or so
After France falls you may recruit 2*60 40 width divs if feel you need to
Trade: you will need lots of tungsten and aluminum, sometimes oil
Government :
1 free trade (must for mp)
2 construction engineer
3 Borman
4 guderian or Krupp
5
6 Porsche
7 Mauser
8 funk
9 junkers
10 army guys
Doctrines
Mobile warfare left and right
Battle support left and 2 of 3 (the ones that give air supp and ground support)

Ask if you need anything else, I made it as detailed as I could. Good luck!

 

[Bernard95]

There's two approaches in my mind- the "gamey" way is to go after the English almost right out of the gate, basically sacrificing your entire navy to provide cover for a naval landing. It does require a bit of luck, but it should work more often than not. Alternatively, you can go for the more legit route and play defensively by creating a cheap garrison division (at least 4 INF + ENG support) to cover the entirety of your coastline and ports (which will prevent any surprise naval invasions). If opting for this strategy, you'll eventually have to muster enough air power in order to use paratroopers since it is unlikely you'll ever be able to beat the British at sea. In either case though, aim for either Scotland or at least north of Hull and make a race for a port asap.

 

[mabus81]

This is a pretty solid indictment of the political model. There is no plausible alternate timeline where Germany does all this stuff and THEN WW2 starts.

Correct. However, the OP wanted a blueprint for not losing the game on 1941. With this approach, having lost the war by '41 is not very likely.

 

[Adamgerd]

Correct. However, the OP wanted a blueprint for not losing the game on 1941. With this approach, having lost the war by '41 is not very likely.

Yeah, also well there isn't any plausible alternative timeline in which Germany could've actually won WW2 either irl. In real life, by killing prisoners and breaking treaties, they lost the world's trust and so they made sure that the allies would never surrender and would never sue for peace until they unconditionally surrendered. So, there isn't an plausible alternative timeline irl in which they could've ever actually won WW2,w which is why HOI series isn't completely historical as people want to win as Germany which irl was never possible

 

[Gerar_doorlock]

Yeah, also well there isn't any plausible alternative timeline in which Germany could've actually won WW2 either irl. In real life, by killing prisoners and breaking treaties, they lost the world's trust and so they made sure that the allies would never surrender and would never sue for peace until they unconditionally surrendered. So, there isn't an plausible alternative timeline irl in which they could've ever actually won WW2,w which is why HOI series isn't completely historical as people want to win as Germany which irl was never possible

UK would start negotiations of British expeditionary was imprisoned and Italy would rush Africa
US would start negotiations if UK and Africa and soviets were taken
USSR would start negotiations if Germany took Moscow and Leningrad
There are lots of timelines, which were impossible irl but not as impossible as for example UK becoming communist or USSR fascist

 

[Lord of Beer]

You need to spam fighters and then parachute into mainland Britain. Take a port and send your proper ground units in through that. Have you disposable navy on convoy escort to let the convoys sneak through.

 

[Adamgerd]

UK would start negotiations of British expeditionary was imprisoned and Italy would rush Africa
US would start negotiations if UK and Africa and soviets were taken
USSR would start negotiations if Germany took Moscow and Leningrad
There are lots of timelines, which were impossible irl but not as impossible as for example UK becoming communist or USSR fascist

Yeah, but irl these scenarios would be impossible. For them to defeat Britain in Africa, they would have to be much stronger. The USSR wouldn't have negotiated if they took Moscow and Leningrad as their whole mentality was to win or be executed by SS. However these scenarios are more possible, then the USSR becoming fascist. Yeah irl, though the minute they broke the munch agreement, they basically made it politically impossible for the UK to ever appease them again and ever surrender. Also for the USSR, if they lost, they would've been sent to concentration camps, so they knew that defeat and surrender meant death, and if your only alternative to fighting is being killed, you're going to fight no matter what. Anyway that's going off-topic

 

[afb]

I see. Well I am used to it as I have more experience with Czechoslovakia for example, where you just build lots of forts and artillery and then for defense you don't need to move your army much, so it's easy to do that at speed 5

This is a little exasperating to read. You are seriously confused by why you can't get Germany to work offensively when you don't adjust from how you played a minor with excellent defensive position and no aggressive agenda? Even if you pause all the time, speed 5 will be difficult to operate on as Germany. I get that the game is complicated, but guiding principle #1 has to be to analyze the country you're playing and adapting your playstyle to its situation. I would find that self-explanatory, but apparently it isn't.

 

[Adamgerd]

This is a little exasperating to read. You are seriously confused by why you can't get Germany to work offensively when you don't adjust from how you played a minor with excellent defensive position and no aggressive agenda? Even if you pause all the time, speed 5 will be difficult to operate on as Germany. I get that the game is complicated, but guiding principle #1 has to be to analyze the country you're playing and adapting your playstyle to its situation. I would find that self-explanatory, but apparently it isn't.

I see. So I should be flexible and not use the same tactics with every country

 

[Gerar_doorlock]

Yeah, but irl these scenarios would be impossible. For them to defeat Britain in Africa, they would have to be much stronger. The USSR wouldn't have negotiated if they took Moscow and Leningrad as their whole mentality was to win or be executed by SS. However these scenarios are more possible, then the USSR becoming fascist. Yeah irl, though the minute they broke the munch agreement, they basically made it politically impossible for the UK to ever appease them again and ever surrender. Also for the USSR, if they lost, they would've been sent to concentration camps, so they knew that defeat and surrender meant death, and if your only alternative to fighting is being killed, you're going to fight no matter what. Anyway that's going off-topic

Did you see plan "Ost" though , even in it's most harsh quotes ( which I never actually found even though I've seen (not fully read(only the most suspicious sections)) the original ) mentioned deportation of the majority of the population behind the Urals. And I say again it's some red propaganda calculations that said that 15-20% should be executed (together with Jews which ,considering east Poland being part of ussr may be like 1-5% ). Another fact is that back then nobody knew about plan "Ost" (even Wehrmacht soldiers ) and civilians only saw SS being to harsh ( Wehrmacht was an army just as RKKA was ) and collaboratinal forces of ussr were up to 3 millions at one point . In 1941 autumn army was completely disorganised and commanders were still afraid to do anything without an order from glorious Stalin . So ussr would start negotiating and I believe that unconditional peace may have taken place ( Germany was starting to tire and needed an armistice even more than soviets did ) .
Britain could be defeated in Africa if Italy used its fleet but Italian troops/commanders/supply was rubbish

 

[Gerar_doorlock]

I see. So I should be flexible and not use the same tactics with every country

That's for majors, minors have default strategies like sup firepower and 40/44 width infantry

 

[Adamgerd]

Did you see plan "Ost" though , even in it's most harsh quotes ( which I never actually found even though I've seen (not fully read(only the most suspicious sections)) the original ) mentioned deportation of the majority of the population behind the Urals. And I say again it's some red propaganda calculations that said that 15-20% should be executed (together with Jews which ,considering east Poland being part of ussr may be like 1-5% ). Another fact is that back then nobody knew about plan "Ost" (even Wehrmacht soldiers ) and civilians only saw SS being to harsh ( Wehrmacht was an army just as RKKA was ) and collaboratinal forces of ussr were up to 3 millions at one point . In 1941 autumn army was completely disorganised and commanders were still afraid to do anything without an order from glorious Stalin . So ussr would start negotiating and I believe that unconditional peace may have taken place ( Germany was starting to tire and needed an armistice even more than soviets did ) .
Britain could be defeated in Africa if Italy used its fleet but Italian troops/commanders/supply was rubbish

However, although it was easily embellished for propaganda by the reds, the important thing is that the USSR people, mostly believed Stalin's world and so hoped for him to win. Yeah Britain could've been defeated if Italy wasn't such a useless ally with rubbish troops, but that's definitely going into alternate history. That's about as likely as the USSR not purging it's troops and being ready for Germany's Barbarossa

 

[Adamgerd]

That's for majors, minors have default strategies like sup firepower and 40/44 width infantry

Well yeah, but also this is about Germany, which is a major and not all minors follow the same strategy. For example playing china or pro, I would choose mass assault instead of firepower and just build infantry heavy divisions

 

[Gerar_doorlock]

However, although it was easily embellished for propaganda by the reds, the important thing is that the USSR people, mostly believed Stalin's world and so hoped for him to win. Yeah Britain could've been defeated if Italy wasn't such a useless ally with rubbish troops, but that's definitely going into alternate history. That's about as likely as the USSR not purging it's troops and being ready for Germany's Barbarossa

Yes I agree , but again people believed in Stalin until they met Germans , Katyn for example .I'm talking about those who were up to critical thinking not the majority that was brainwashed and was only suitable was cannon meat or labour force for both germans and soviets (only difference is that soviets were slightly more friendly ) . All ethnicities that met Germans were collaborating with for the most part except bellorussia (not surprisingly Belorussians suffered the most ) . Germany didn't go far into Russia ,but look how many collaborating armies were created , all of them wanted to kill communists and majority was planning to kick german ass after communism was thrown away from Russia . All of this was impossible but the line is so thin between those alternative universes that it can be called "what if " in PDX language. And I want them to emphasise on those thin universes and make events for them not NF that allow Canada go communist (that's just some whine )