As Germany:
After following the excellant and very detailed guide "how the heck do you play this game" I forced the "bitter peace" event and so defeated the SU in the summer of 1942. However 90% of my armoured & motorised divisions were beyond the final armstice line and promptly disappeared after I pressed accept. Is this normal, I thought the "bitter" referred to the Soviets rather than the Germans.
As said above: They are strategically redeployed to Berlin. They will appear within a few months at max.
Also the Poles gave me Danzig first time around, that foxed me didn't know what to do after that!
DOW (declaration of war) em, of course!
I secured Norway before the Germans could get to it. Beat numerous landings both from sea and air into Kristiansand. Eventually left Trondheim unguarded for a day or two only to see masses of Ger divisions pour in, stalmate ensued. Therafter about 100 UK & CAN divisions faced off against about 75 Ger for the next two years. They didn't attack and everytime I did, I lost. The strange thing was that the Germans refused to attack the SU whilst we were in the Norwegian stand off. Is the German AI scripted to attack countries in sequence?
Not totally, but the strat AI must have sensed that the norwegian front was too dangerous to DOW the SOV. I have seen GER several times not DOWing the SOV because they had other things to do.
Amusingly I managed to lose my own El Alamein and had to reteat across the Suez. Instead of being finished off by the Italian hordes they went south for a cruise down the Nile to invade British E. Africa. Is a lack of a killer instinct a common feature of the AI or just the Italian AI?
Normal for the AI. However: Crossing Suez counts as amphibiuos assault, so the Italian army would have to use 6 divisions at max on this attack or suffer horrendous penalties. Guess the TacAI was smart enough to just block you there... Dunno how strong your army was, but even 6 divs can easily hold Suez against attacks from the west. The Italians would have needed several marine or mountain divs to have a chance.
Pop up madness with airforce engagements - any setting suggestions that allow knowledge of what is happening but reduce the annoyance.
I set all air msg to "show in game log" except for losing an air battle.
Is it just a fact of life as UK that you have to miltary control Can, Aust, SA and NZ, because you can't trust the AI?
Nah, not necessary. They can do quite well, esp. with planes and ships. If you need their land divs desperatly, yes, control them, otherwise: build your own army!!
Very embarrassing to admit - invaded Rep Spain after the SCW with insufficient forces and had my arse whipped.
Don't feel bad. The first two times I played the HoI series (HoI 1), Poland crushed my army. Twice.
Relations are +200 with Ger but the join alliance is shaded out. Ger has invaded SU with their allies (Rom, Hun and Slo), Fin has switched sides. My Italians and our Bulgarian allies have declared war on the SU too. What can I do to get into the Axis?
No real idea here... Interventionism high enough? Not in another alliance?
Really need to as I've lost everything in Africa and my fleet sits on the bottom of the Med thanks to Brits who attacked me very early on in 1940.
Try building some CV I (carrier tier 1) - they are amazing! 6 CV I + 6 DD/CL will deal with the allied navy - and aren't
too costly: They cost 5 IC for 547 days, thats about 2700 ICD (IC days), thats the cost of less than 4 INF divisions or 1,5 CA. Okay, you still have to build the CAG - but really, even Spain can afford em!
