Ai Italy Naval invaded

[Ian919]

Recently stated playing hoi4 and have really loved playing Axis Romania due to being able to early invade the Balkans and focus on army and air due to lack of a navy. However I run into a problem in almost every game I play where Italy gets completely crushed in minutes due to leaving its territory undefended from naval invasions. It happens when the us joins the war usually during the heart of the attack on the soviets where things are going smoothly until I look over and Italy is having 7 separate Us/British invasions and gets steam rolled before reinforcements arrive. From there the soviet front stalls and all momentum is lost on both fronts now. I understand historically Italy was the soft underbelly of Europe, but how do I prevent the ai from naval invasions if im a minor and have to garrison my own territory.

tdlr: The soft underbelly of europe is causing me to lose games via naval invaded and I would like to know how to counter this.

 

[sekelsenmat]

You have to garrison Italy yourself. I usually Garrison Sardinia with 3 infantry (they stay there the whole game) and Sicily with 3 inf, it is enough to counter AI UK invasions. Strat-redeploy when the allies land somewhere. If they make a stronger landing you will need to put even more units... I don't think you need those 6 inf yourself, since AI germany should have tons of infantry. Your main contribution to the war effort should be armored divisions to encircle the soviets, the AI seems to under-produce armored divisions big time in 1.9.x

Also, you should aim for capitulating the soviets before the USA comes.

The USA has so many airplanes that often it is impossible to wipe their landings if they take a port. I usually just isolate the areas where they land and give up on retaking those, unless it is somewhere critical like Germany.

I don't usually play after 1942, so I'm not sure what people would advice in the case of a strong USA force for example in Britanny with 5k fighters & CAS above it. IMHO it is impossible to take the land back as a minor, but you surround it and they can't advance too.

 

[Marques from Brazil]

Recently stated playing hoi4 and have really loved playing Axis Romania due to being able to early invade the Balkans and focus on army and air due to lack of a navy. However I run into a problem in almost every game I play where Italy gets completely crushed in minutes due to leaving its territory undefended from naval invasions. It happens when the us joins the war usually during the heart of the attack on the soviets where things are going smoothly until I look over and Italy is having 7 separate Us/British invasions and gets steam rolled before reinforcements arrive. From there the soviet front stalls and all momentum is lost on both fronts now. I understand historically Italy was the soft underbelly of Europe, but how do I prevent the ai from naval invasions if im a minor and have to garrison my own territory.

tdlr: The soft underbelly of europe is causing me to lose games via naval invaded and I would like to know how to counter this.

The expansion of a navy in HOI 4 is a very complex task unless you focus on a massive production of subs, light cruisers and destroyers very early.

Usually I create several production lines of destroyers, from 150 medium and small ships it is already possible to intercept naval invasions. And don't forget the air force, I usually form large wings of 100 dive bombers and naval bombers. This consumes an absurdity of oil, so it is good to have a nice oil production. Finally I maintain some divisions in northern Italy.