OMG, that Prussian AAR is 1,000 years long.
That really is the 1,000 Year Reich!I need to get out of the HOI3 AAR section and read some of the other great AARs on this forum sometime!
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OMG, that Prussian AAR is 1,000 years long.
That really is the 1,000 Year Reich!I need to get out of the HOI3 AAR section and read some of the other great AARs on this forum sometime!
It's going to be awesome! The fact that the Heer is so huge and powerful in this game is why I'm erring on the side of caution and taking my time to build up the forces I feel will be required.
I totally agree. Selecting only one invasion spot and trying to take on Germany head to head won't be as effective as psyching out the AI and conducting operations from multiple directions. As predicted by others earlier on, the Germans appear to have gotten bogged down in the low infrastructure mess of Siberia. The Machiavelli in me urges an invasion NOW while significant portions of their forces are tied up in the East. The more patient Eisenhower in me will wait until I feel I have the right forces with which to go in strong.
Thanks very much Funnyman320. The graphics are fun to make...sometimes I wonder if I put too much emphasis on them rather than the game itself...lol
I completely agree on the incredible scale of Mr. Capiatlist's work. I also agree that it's time very well spent to check out the other AAR sections of the forum. There are so many ways to tell a story, describe a game experience and create an AAR. I find it very inspirational and interesting to go through AARs in other categories. One big difference you'll see outside the HOI section is span of time. A typical HOI AAR will span maybe 10-15 years of game time, whereas EU, CK and to some extent Vicky AARs can span hundreds and even sometimes thousands of years. The epicness of timescale can make for some really interesting reads. You don't need to own the game or even love the era to appreciate a good AAR when it's done well...and believe me, there are many great AARs going on outside of HOI. Definitely have a look.OMG, that Prussian AAR is 1,000 years long.
I need to get out of the HOI3 AAR section and read some of the other great AARs on this forum sometime!
To All:
I had hoped to have an update by now, but got myself into a some trouble when I tried upgrading from CS5 to CS6. I wasted a couple of days of production effort and in the end ended up reverting back to CS5 anyway. So, my apologies for anyone who's felt disappointed. I should be able to get the next update out by next weekend.
In truth Americans got themselves strangled in the Western Europe with a couple of things; bombing cities with strategical bombardments (damaging infrastructure and slowing down their own advance because of heavy equipment needed to move the rubble in order to progress), not enough supplies for an entire invasion forces. You need to remember that the Germans couldn't push the US Army out mostly because they lacked men to do so (both on the ground as well as in terms of air superiority) and in this scenario that won't be the case. Your biggest liability is the supply chain - it must be capable of feeding enough men to keep an organized and stable front, because the Axis will come once it realizes it has an enemy units on its shores and unless you can somehow cut off their own lines of supply you have to keep multiple smaller armies while facing the giant; a hard task.
Nitpick: Not quite. Bombing cities didn't slow the advance in France as that much, at least from what I read about. I know in Operation Cobra, they purposely used small 100 pound bombs so as not to create the problem you noted. Now the bombing of railroads in France did hinder the American advance in only that the supply lines had to rely on the trucks. But more seriously, the Americans were moving faster than any of their plans had predicted once they broke out of Normandy. I don't think any other army could move as fast across France as the Americans did.
That's mostly due to them owning an almost entirely mechanized force, and other than Germans also the fuel to support these trucks/tanks/halftracks.
If you got complete air superiority (and that's what real allies had since ~1942), combined with the industrial base of the US, you could supply an nearly unlimited amount of troops (in rl not ingame).
Heh, in-game you really need to get to absurd levels to strain the US fuel and supply capacity. I think the only time I noticed it was a late game ('45 or later) situation where I had 200+ planes, 200+ naval units not including TPs, and at the minimum a fully MOT/MECH/Armored Great Army. THEN you start to see strain, but its usually just a matter of not enough ports to ship the needed supplies/fuel as opposed to actual strain. However, invading the entire French coastline + the Lowlands simultaneously was worth it (I had enough TPs to load the entire American armed forces up and ship 'em over, oh yeah).
Well, there is a limit to the number of troops they could support. Partly why there was only about 90 divisions(Though, considering the amount of inorganic units attached, it could be considered more like 120). The Port Supply limit does have a real life basis after all. That said, trucks was a major thing in the US Army favor as it help made them independent of the rail system.
One major constraint on US supply capacity in Europe was the damaged or blocked condition of the ports they captured. Despite improvisations, it took time to open up the ports and restore handling capacity. The destruction of the French railroads was a calculated risk. It kept the Germans from using them - a major concern before D-Day when no-one knew if the invasion could be sustained against counter-attacks - and later kept the Allies from using them. As noted by HolySeraph, the Allies didn't anticipate that Cobra would break the entire front open and cause the Germans to retreat all the way to the Rhine. They also did not predict how long it would take to open Antwerp to shipping.
The Allies were able to use truck-borne supply (Red Ball Express - comin' through!) but then had to balance a finite (but large) amount of trucks against the gas the trucks used (a lot), the loss of mobility for truck-mobile units (slowing the advance) and the need to build up massive forward supply dumps. The Rhine was probably farther than the Allies could really go, at least on a broad front, and that's why they had to pause there and give the German armies in the West time to recover.
From the Wikipedia article: "The system lasted only three months, from August 25 to November 16, 1944, when the port facilities at Antwerp, Belgium were opened, some French rail lines were repaired, and portable gasoline pipelines were deployed."
And, "After the breakout and the race to the Seine River, there were 28 Allied divisions in the field. For offensive operations, each division would consume about 750 tons of supplies per day, a total of about 20,000 tons. At its peak the Red Ball Express operated 5,958 vehicles and carried about 12,500 tons of supplies per day."
I think you are going to need more than 28 divisions.
The Allies were able to use truck-borne supply (Red Ball Express - comin' through!) but then had to balance a finite (but large) amount of trucks against the gas the trucks used (a lot), the loss of mobility for truck-mobile units (slowing the advance) and the need to build up massive forward supply dumps. The Rhine was probably farther than the Allies could really go, at least on a broad front, and that's why they had to pause there and give the German armies in the West time to recover.
From the Wikipedia article: "The system lasted only three months, from August 25 to November 16, 1944, when the port facilities at Antwerp, Belgium were opened, some French rail lines were repaired, and portable gasoline pipelines were deployed."
And, "After the breakout and the race to the Seine River, there were 28 Allied divisions in the field. For offensive operations, each division would consume about 750 tons of supplies per day, a total of about 20,000 tons. At its peak the Red Ball Express operated 5,958 vehicles and carried about 12,500 tons of supplies per day."
I think you are going to need more than 28 divisions.
Building, building, building
Even Disney is getting into the action
SUCKED INTO A GIANT MACHINE:
Nearly 16 million men and women served in the US military in one capacity or another over the course of World War 2. Private Wesley Slaymaker was one of these Americans serving as an infantryman in the US Army. For the families there was often a great deal of mystery surrounding the location and welfare of their loved ones. The limitation of communication technology coupled with a strict need for security resulted in mostly vague information regarding the location of any given service person. In Wesley's case, once his training was complete and he was assigned to an infantry regiment, he was sent to San Francisco for deployment "somewhere" in the Pacific theater. From then on, Wesley's mailing "address" would be San Francisco despite the fact that he would end up being deployed in places thousands of miles away from San Francisco. Any attempt on Wesley's part to reveal his actual location would be removed by Army censors who combed every piece of correspondence for inappropriate information. Occasionally, a family might receive a clue like: "somewhere in the South Pacific" or "in Europe" or perhaps "in Italy", but rarely anything more revealing than that.
Even if you don't serve, there are plenty of
other career opportunities for the fool-hearted
Arguably the best infantry weapon of the war
THE NAVY FINDS TRACTION:
Improvements in naval/air technology and doctrines continue to accumulate and we're finally beginning to see advantages in our naval encounters with the Japanese navy. The naval battle at Minto Reef on November 6, 1942 is a good example. Armed with 4 Level-5 aircraft carriers, Nimitz nearly annihilates a poorly screened Japanese task force forcing it to seek refuge in the Japanese held port at Satawan Atoll where Nimitz manages to finish off the ill-fated Japanese carriers. While this is promising, the VH difficulty level is preventing us from being able to finish if Japanese forces at sea, so we'll need to continue improving our positioning technologies to attempt to gain a better advantage.
RESOURCE / PRODUCTION STATUS REPORT: 2nd HALF OF 1942
We last reviewed our Resource and Production status back in mid-1942. You may recall that Energy resources reached dangerously low levels which threatened to disrupt production. Since then, we have taken steps (specifically by idling more Industrial Capacity and improving Energy technology) to resolve this problem. The result is a slight surplus in Energy production and a reasonably manageable deficit in Rare Materials production (sustainable for nearly 3 years). However, we'll need to keep a careful eye on supply levels especially as we continue to expand our Army.
We can currently maintain actual production at around 750 IC comfortably and still meet our other miscellaneous needs (upgrades, reinforcement, supplies, etc). Approximately 300 IC is being "idled" to control resource expenditures.
We'll wait to expand the leg infantry component of the Army until we've researched the next round of Infantry techs and instead focus on upgrading motorized divisions to Armored Infantry which consumes a great deal of IC and also takes significantly longer than regular infantry builds. Completing a large batch of 30+ CAGs at the end of December frees up significant amounts of IC. We've preserved a good hunk of manpower so that when we complete the next round of infantry related research, we can churn out a large batch of well-teched Infantry divisions.
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
On December 9, 1942 we complete a key stage in our Atomic Energy program allowing us to construct a nuclear reactor in Chicago. At the rate we're currently progressing, we may be able to see some meaningful, applicable weapon results by 1944 (totally guessing here...haha).
Even Disney is getting into the action
SUCKED INTO A GIANT MACHINE:
Nearly 16 million men and women served in the US military in one capacity or another over the course of World War 2. Private Wesley Slaymaker was one of these Americans serving as an infantryman in the US Army. For the families there was often a great deal of mystery surrounding the location and welfare of their loved ones. The limitation of communication technology coupled with a strict need for security resulted in mostly vague information regarding the location of any given service person. In Wesley's case, once his training was complete and he was assigned to an infantry regiment, he was sent to San Francisco for deployment "somewhere" in the Pacific theater. From then on, Wesley's mailing "address" would be San Francisco despite the fact that he would end up being deployed in places thousands of miles away from San Francisco. Any attempt on Wesley's part to reveal his actual location would be removed by Army censors who combed every piece of correspondence for inappropriate information. Occasionally, a family might receive a clue like: "somewhere in the South Pacific" or "in Europe" or perhaps "in Italy", but rarely anything more revealing than that.
Even if you don't serve, there are plenty of
other career opportunities for the fool-hearted
Arguably the best infantry weapon of the war
THE NAVY FINDS TRACTION:
Improvements in naval/air technology and doctrines continue to accumulate and we're finally beginning to see advantages in our naval encounters with the Japanese navy. The naval battle at Minto Reef on November 6, 1942 is a good example. Armed with 4 Level-5 aircraft carriers, Nimitz nearly annihilates a poorly screened Japanese task force forcing it to seek refuge in the Japanese held port at Satawan Atoll where Nimitz manages to finish off the ill-fated Japanese carriers. While this is promising, the VH difficulty level is preventing us from being able to finish if Japanese forces at sea, so we'll need to continue improving our positioning technologies to attempt to gain a better advantage.
RESOURCE / PRODUCTION STATUS REPORT: 2nd HALF OF 1942
We last reviewed our Resource and Production status back in mid-1942. You may recall that Energy resources reached dangerously low levels which threatened to disrupt production. Since then, we have taken steps (specifically by idling more Industrial Capacity and improving Energy technology) to resolve this problem. The result is a slight surplus in Energy production and a reasonably manageable deficit in Rare Materials production (sustainable for nearly 3 years). However, we'll need to keep a careful eye on supply levels especially as we continue to expand our Army.
We can currently maintain actual production at around 750 IC comfortably and still meet our other miscellaneous needs (upgrades, reinforcement, supplies, etc). Approximately 300 IC is being "idled" to control resource expenditures.
We'll wait to expand the leg infantry component of the Army until we've researched the next round of Infantry techs and instead focus on upgrading motorized divisions to Armored Infantry which consumes a great deal of IC and also takes significantly longer than regular infantry builds. Completing a large batch of 30+ CAGs at the end of December frees up significant amounts of IC. We've preserved a good hunk of manpower so that when we complete the next round of infantry related research, we can churn out a large batch of well-teched Infantry divisions.
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
On December 9, 1942 we complete a key stage in our Atomic Energy program allowing us to construct a nuclear reactor in Chicago. At the rate we're currently progressing, we may be able to see some meaningful, applicable weapon results by 1944 (totally guessing here...haha).
Fantastic update !!!
Its the little details such as the aviation careers poster (it looks like something from the fallout universe) that elevate this AAR from great to awesome !
Its the little details such as the aviation careers poster (it looks like something from the fallout universe) that elevate this AAR from great to awesome !
Another great update, robw. The 4-CV strategy in the Pacific seems to be working, even though some more battles will be needed to prove that. At the very least, the upgraded CAGs will hammer the Japs.
You might want to reconsider Gen. Groves' appointment to the Manhattan Project. "Silence means security", but the General seems to be unaware of this, saying "atom bomb" in public and all...
You might want to reconsider Gen. Groves' appointment to the Manhattan Project. "Silence means security", but the General seems to be unaware of this, saying "atom bomb" in public and all...
All excellent points Holy.Death. Considering all the complaining I see in the main HOI3 game forum regarding supply, I might argue that the game is STILL not strict enough at modeling the incredible logistical obstacle of supplying and feeding giant modern armies. You might be interested in an article recently shared by Dewirix (post #2137) in Director's A Special Providence AAR that goes into excruciating detail regarding the logistical effort of the US military in World War 2. In some cases, these guys were figuring it out as they went...and frequently were unsuccessful. A very interesting read if you have the spare time.
And then they found themselves over-extended right at the onset of winter...and they suffered pretty severely for it. The ubiquity of motorization in all American formations was a double edged sword. On the one hand, they could move LOTS of men very far and very fast, but on the other hand, the further they traveled from their supply sources the more effort was generated to keep them supplied (increasing almost exponentially as they traveled further eastwards). Naturally this was further exacerbated by the fact that they relied almost exclusively on all supplies being trucked forward which, of course, expended even MORE fuel (certainly more than rail transport would have used). And beyond just the day-to-day supply needs of food, fuel and ammunition, there was the problem of manpower losses and their replacement. During the Battle of the Bulge, this weakness was painfully exposed.
and yet they couldn't supply themselves efficiently...or at least were BARELY able to do so. I really wonder if they could have possibly supplied any more units in Europe than they fielded....I'm inclined to say no they couldn't have.
And there it is in black and white...THE fear I have as I prepare for my Overlord. I have yet to do this with the Americans in HOI3 and quite honestly I'm expecting the worst (in terms of keeping all my units reliably supplied). I'm anticipating throwing somewhere between 75 and 100 divisions into Europe, nearly half of which will be supply/fuel gobbling Mech/Armor formations. For this reason alone I'm shying off of taking a heavy/numerous support brigade approach to try and conserve supply bandwidth. I'm curious to understand, Lord Curlyton, at what difficulty you're normally playing and how difficulty does (or does not) influence supply issues.
From my viewpoint, exactly right.
Amen brother. I would get squashed like a bug if I only went in with 28 divisions...at least that's my take. I'm actually really enjoying not knowing what to expect here. In some perverse way it's adding a layer of realism to the experience. In many of my other HOI experiences I've played, played again and re-played to the point where i know exactly what to expect...here I don't have the benefit of that....and neither did Eisenhower in RL. Also, I love these expert testimony kinds of comments and am frequently frustrated I can't find the time I'd like to go and read more about it. So thank you for those...your comments are more than welcome here.One major constraint on US supply capacity in Europe was the damaged or blocked condition of the ports they captured. Despite improvisations, it took time to open up the ports and restore handling capacity. The destruction of the French railroads was a calculated risk. It kept the Germans from using them - a major concern before D-Day when no-one knew if the invasion could be sustained against counter-attacks - and later kept the Allies from using them. As noted by HolySeraph, the Allies didn't anticipate that Cobra would break the entire front open and cause the Germans to retreat all the way to the Rhine. They also did not predict how long it would take to open Antwerp to shipping.
The Allies were able to use truck-borne supply (Red Ball Express - comin' through!) but then had to balance a finite (but large) amount of trucks against the gas the trucks used (a lot), the loss of mobility for truck-mobile units (slowing the advance) and the need to build up massive forward supply dumps. The Rhine was probably farther than the Allies could really go, at least on a broad front, and that's why they had to pause there and give the German armies in the West time to recover.
From the Wikipedia article: "The system lasted only three months, from August 25 to November 16, 1944, when the port facilities at Antwerp, Belgium were opened, some French rail lines were repaired, and portable gasoline pipelines were deployed."
And, "After the breakout and the race to the Seine River, there were 28 Allied divisions in the field. For offensive operations, each division would consume about 750 tons of supplies per day, a total of about 20,000 tons. At its peak the Red Ball Express operated 5,958 vehicles and carried about 12,500 tons of supplies per day."
I think you are going to need more than 28 divisions.
haha! I'm glad you noticed that! Sometimes those little things slip through (or at least I think they slip through because nobody comments on them). Thanks red_KLG
There actually was another recent major CV vs CV battle which yielded almost identical results (and why I didn't bother showing it). That's why FDR reported sinking 4 Japanese carriers at the end of the last update. I'll burn myself out if I attempt to depict every single battle...haha (not to mention that might get a little tedious for readers). I'm still not clobbering with my CVs the way I'd like to...so I'll just trudge forward and continue to improve techs.
But yeah, General Groves and his big mouth huh? Interestingly, I found that image in a blog. The comic never overtly uses Groves' name, although it seemed very clear to me that's who they were trying to depict. Finding it created an opportunity I couldn't pass up. Had he been that brash IRL, I doubt he would have lasted long in his role. Can you imagine bearing the burden of such a HUGE secret for so long? I'd be the worst person for such a job. Apparently there were only 10 people who had enough actual overall knowledge to understand the magnitude of what was being undertaken...everyone else only had limited, compartmental knowledge....and STILL the Russians found out about it.
Do you like what you see in AARLand? Are you being entertained? Are you learning? Are you enjoying the camaraderie and exchange? We arguably have the the BEST collection of AARs on the web and to keep it going we all need to come together and support this proud tradition (at least 10 years and counting). How can you contribute you may ask? Well that's easy! Here are a few ways:
• Read AARs. Views are one way a writAAR measures success, so even just opening an AAR and reading it offers basic support with minimal effort on your own part. Even if you don't own a specific game, you might be surprised at what you might find in ALL of the sub-game AAR forums.
• Comment! Nothing will inspire an author more than physical proof that you read and enjoyed their efforts. It's pure gold when thoughtful, meaningful comments show up in the threads, but even a simple pat on the back is fuel to keep up the motivation.
• Create your own AAR. As we all collectively create more content, healthy competition is generated which in turn elevates the overall quality of AARLand. You could even argue this helps promote the sales of Paradox games and I think we all understand how a healthy and prosperous Paradox benefits all of us.
• Vote in the ACAs. Each quarter, The AARLand Choice Awards (ACAs) are held offering everyone the opportunity to recognize their favorite AARs and their AuthAARs. Here again, healthy competition elevates the quality of everything and everyone. We're currently in a voting cycle NOW, so get on over to the voting thread by clicking the graphic below and offer your support to AARLand.
• Read AARs. Views are one way a writAAR measures success, so even just opening an AAR and reading it offers basic support with minimal effort on your own part. Even if you don't own a specific game, you might be surprised at what you might find in ALL of the sub-game AAR forums.
• Comment! Nothing will inspire an author more than physical proof that you read and enjoyed their efforts. It's pure gold when thoughtful, meaningful comments show up in the threads, but even a simple pat on the back is fuel to keep up the motivation.
• Create your own AAR. As we all collectively create more content, healthy competition is generated which in turn elevates the overall quality of AARLand. You could even argue this helps promote the sales of Paradox games and I think we all understand how a healthy and prosperous Paradox benefits all of us.
• Vote in the ACAs. Each quarter, The AARLand Choice Awards (ACAs) are held offering everyone the opportunity to recognize their favorite AARs and their AuthAARs. Here again, healthy competition elevates the quality of everything and everyone. We're currently in a voting cycle NOW, so get on over to the voting thread by clicking the graphic below and offer your support to AARLand.
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Good job with Japan, at this rate their navy will be doomed after a few more engagements. Take Japan out first or at least destroying any offensive capalities is a good choice because you have more time to build up in Europe.
You face a huge problem in Europe, caught between a rock and a hard place. Your going to need a larger force to fight the whle Wehrmacht but raising one puts a huge strain for supplies. Its going to be very difficult. Not to mention your going to be outnumbered. IMO in 43(if things go at the same rate in the Pacific) you should slowly switch from naval/cag tech and production to stuff that benefits the army/air corp and industry/supplies,supply techs in particular are on of the few that worth researching two years ahead IMO,many choices for you to build as well, maybe some extra CAS + FTRS cause your light aircraft practical is going to be insane by the time your done with those CAGs.
I still think waiting till 45 could be very beneficial, more time to build up, hopefully enough time to finish off Japan, ensure total air supremacy. Combined that with multiple landings,better techs and over extending and overwhelming the initial Wehrmacht defense plus maybe even a few atom bombs to shake them up, could bring things to be a bit more even.
You face a huge problem in Europe, caught between a rock and a hard place. Your going to need a larger force to fight the whle Wehrmacht but raising one puts a huge strain for supplies. Its going to be very difficult. Not to mention your going to be outnumbered. IMO in 43(if things go at the same rate in the Pacific) you should slowly switch from naval/cag tech and production to stuff that benefits the army/air corp and industry/supplies,supply techs in particular are on of the few that worth researching two years ahead IMO,many choices for you to build as well, maybe some extra CAS + FTRS cause your light aircraft practical is going to be insane by the time your done with those CAGs.
I still think waiting till 45 could be very beneficial, more time to build up, hopefully enough time to finish off Japan, ensure total air supremacy. Combined that with multiple landings,better techs and over extending and overwhelming the initial Wehrmacht defense plus maybe even a few atom bombs to shake them up, could bring things to be a bit more even.
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I only play on normal. Never been a fan of AI buffing. As far as I know the higher difficulties don't affect supply, at least on the human side. Also, I still had supply problems but enough of my army was continually in supply to win (something like 2/3). In fact, now I factor that into my planning and try to build 50% more than I think I will need and allow for that 1/3 OOS. For example, as GER I like to have 150 or so 4-brigade divisions for Barbarossa, so I try and build 225 so I can generally count on 150 effective divisions at any time.
Its obviously not a hard and fast rule, as the higher the infra and the more clustered the ports (if its a naval invasion), the more you can get away with. One thing I thought of trying: pre-build a bunch of free placed naval bases and then invade every province in a stretch of coast, placing those naval bases as soon as provincial control is obtained. Yes they are only L1, but at least it lets you ferry in supplies and can increasse the overall amount of units you can keep functional for an Overlord.
Also, congrats on the Jap butt-kicking. 'Bout time, I say.
Its obviously not a hard and fast rule, as the higher the infra and the more clustered the ports (if its a naval invasion), the more you can get away with. One thing I thought of trying: pre-build a bunch of free placed naval bases and then invade every province in a stretch of coast, placing those naval bases as soon as provincial control is obtained. Yes they are only L1, but at least it lets you ferry in supplies and can increasse the overall amount of units you can keep functional for an Overlord.
Also, congrats on the Jap butt-kicking. 'Bout time, I say.
Fantastic update... as usual.
What I don't get is that "IC being idled"...??!
How do you manage that ?
I understand you can redirect some IC into upgrades, supply production, a.s.o... but still, non-used IC is wasted... or did I miss something ?
Fantastic update... as usual.
What I don't get is that "IC being idled"...??!
How do you manage that ?
I understand you can redirect some IC into upgrades, supply production, a.s.o... but still, non-used IC is wasted... or did I miss something ?
Idled IC is created by over-allocating IC on the production slider (as shown below). Yes that IC is wasted, however the idled IC does not consume any resources which is critical for me because I simply do not have enough Energy to supply my Total IC. I'm also short on Rare Materials, so this approach saves there as well. Back in the old HOI2 days, Transport Capacity was a direct product of Total IC so an effective strategy was to overbuild IC in the early stages of the game and then idle IC to conserve resources but you still derived a higher Transport Capacity from all the "extra" IC. In HOI3, Transport Capacity has been replaced by a more detailed supply model so that figuring doesn't apply any longer, but idling is still a valid approach to conserving resources.
Had I started from scratch in 1936, I likely would not have built this much IC, but this is what I've inherited so It's what I need to work with.
I'm not entirely sure how many more carriers the Japanese have...but I'm going to guess somewhere between 8 and 12 remain with a further undetermined number of escort carriers. Now that I can operate 3 Carrier Task Forces at once, it's just a matter of hunting them down and destroying them.
I'm not going to wait until '45 for Overlord...at least that's not my plan now. If I'm wrong and I get crushed, then so be it. But I'm well on my way to assembling the forces I need for a '44 Overlord. I may expand the Army Air Corps further than I previously described but right now I'm inclined to go in lean to conserve supplies and fuel. What I may do is expand the Air Corps and base my surplus in the US and cycle fresh units into the European theater to allow beat up units to rest on US soil where they will re-org and re-supply faster and more efficiently.
I like the idea of pre-building ports a lot and I'm likely to do that for Overlord. Arguably it's kind of a hack...but then again the Allies did use Mulberries IRL, so I'm rationalizing it that way. I'm going to strive to build a force and a convoy system, and capture the ports necessary to keep the whole Army as close to completely supplied as possible. Whether I can pull that off or not is a big question. I may end up seeing the 50% rule of thumb you mentioned become my reality...but I'm going to push hard to improve that efficiency.
Rob, also keep in mind that I generally use AI control of my armies, so I'm sure that some of the OOS is due to AI "waste" as it were. Also, I don't really see the ports as a hack, since its only L1 and by the time its improved beyond that, the invasion will be decided. It does, however, open up a lot of areas that lack a good port to invasion by small/medium forces, which could then be used to capture the big ports necessary for big invasions.
another brilliant update, you make this so compelling and so realistic.
I was taken by the production usage poster, I guess I am more used to Soviet images and propaganda posters but hadn't realised how much the Americans also made use of implausibly muscled individuals. I do hope that the maker of the poster won't get into trouble with Senator Joe post war for alledged Communist sympathies ..
I was taken by the production usage poster, I guess I am more used to Soviet images and propaganda posters but hadn't realised how much the Americans also made use of implausibly muscled individuals. I do hope that the maker of the poster won't get into trouble with Senator Joe post war for alledged Communist sympathies ..