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Black Crusaders - HPP mod Germany 1936 AAR

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misterbean said:
can I just say I like your signature. excellent advertising.
gibraltar is always nice to have, but do you need another supply draw?
I'm reminded of my current (ICE) game. Completely messed up with the marshes. needed waaaaaaaay too long to clear them, so it is november '41. supplies have dried out and ICE has some nasty General Winter effects. like you, I find myself facing a sitzkrieg. rebuild your strenth. use the time for the most massive infrastructure works in human history.
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Supplies in themselves are not the problem. Supplies on the Eastern Front are the problem :) However, I'm not sure about Spain or Yugoslavia yet. I will have several months and spare troops, so maybe I can do it. However, the area will need to be garrisoned, so maybe it's best to wait until the Bear is taken care of.

I'm doing a lot of infra-building and I'm also building ships (screens, one BC and several CVs), aircraft, airfields and radars. I scrapped the old BBs, as they were antiques I won't need anymore.

Thanks for the compliment about my signature ;) I like to keep it simple and appealing.

BTW Soviet power levels in 1943:


Check previous years here: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?507918-Black-Crusaders-HPP-mod-Germany-1936-AAR&p=11994315&viewfull=1#post11994315
 
unless my math is way off base, that's still about 240 divisions :(
 
May be the focus should not be the destruction of the Red Army but it's continuous harassment. If you defeat their divisions, they'll have to resupply them completely. The more units they have, the more supplies they need to produce. Seeing that you already conquered most of Soviet Europe, their IC will be very low and too many units might be a bigger problem than too few.
 
What about making a small fleet of trans planes and just air dropping supplies on your troops at the tip of the spear?

In my most recent game I invaded England in the North and the South. I found my supply convoys to Edinburgh being sunk so frequently that air dropping supplies was far more effective and they held out til the spearhead linked up with them. That was effected with a single trans wing. Also I'm still new at this game so couldn't you just use a handful of trans planes to also create a forward supply concentration in the supply chain or is it so bad that even if the supplies are a couple provinces away you're stalled?
 
unless my math is way off base, that's still about 240 divisions
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More or less. However, about 50 brigades are about to be destroyed and thousands of troops are stationed in the Far East and in Persia.

May be the focus should not be the destruction of the Red Army but it's continuous harassment. If you defeat their divisions, they'll have to resupply them completely. The more units they have, the more supplies they need to produce. Seeing that you already conquered most of Soviet Europe, their IC will be very low and too many units might be a bigger problem than too few.
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It's much easier to supply your divisions in your core provinces. Also, the AI gets some supply bonuses I gate it.

You underestimate the amount of IC they have behind the Urals and supplies are quite cheap in HOI3. They have much more than 200 IC (195 IC without the AI bonus). Also, they have insane practicals (70-99), use Minimal Training and gain Operation Barbarossa modifier (reduced training time). Therefore, they are able to produce many units rather quickly (an armoured division takes ~50 days) and they seem to focus on Armoured divisions now, which are tougher to beat than Infantry divs.

As you can see, they are getting weaker because of encirclements. Their TOTAL number of brigades is now ~800, if we exlude the ones which will be destroyed in the pocket, while mine is ~950. This is the first time during this war when I have more brigades than the Soviets (although not all of them can be used on the Eastern Front and some of them are GARs and MPs, but more or less the same can be said about the Soviets). Also, their OffRatio is 109%, while mine is 141%. The experience levels of their units are near 0 or even negative, while my army consists of many veterans.

What about making a small fleet of trans planes and just air dropping supplies on your troops at the tip of the spear?
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I would have to research and build TRANs, which would take much time, especially with my low practicals. However, I might do it for Sea Lion purposes anyway.

I'm still new at this game so couldn't you just use a handful of trans planes to also create a forward supply concentration in the supply chain or is it so bad that even if the supplies are a couple provinces away you're stalled?
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A bottleneck can be created anywhere. If the supplies are even one province away, your units won't be able to use them.
 
HecNev said:
Wow, impressive Progress against the USSR!

Should have checked back way earlier ;)
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It's good to have you back :)

BTW I decided that I will end this AAR after it reaches its outer boundaries of plausibility, i.e. after I achieve enough Victory Conditions and domination of the Axis part of Eurasia is secured. There will be no invasion of the USA or other nonsense. I will, however, attack the UK and I will fight the Americans if they dare to interfere in European affairs, but that's it (the HOI3 engine is too limited to represent the Cold War between the USA and the Greater German Reich). Then, I will start another AAR ;) Still, it's a long road ahead!
 
Epic AAR, I'll follow this closly. Makes me wanna play HPP, which I can't because I only have FTM (or is there a way to load SF only on Steam?). I hope its ready for FTM soon.
In the meantime, I'll just enjoy this AAR :D
 
Just spent several enjoyable days reading your wonderful AAR. Kudos to you sir! I am curious to see how you continue this to your self proclaimed conclusion - the establishment of a Greater Axis Eurasia. I also wonder if during your reorganization if you have considered producing Mountain and Paratroops (along with supporting transports)? I recall seeing way back in this AAR that you had none of these elite units and I can't help but think that they would be very useful in the Caucasus region.

Anyway, KUTGW & subscribed!
 
Here comes the unexpected!





Worrying news arrived to German High Command on 5th of September. In a surprising move, Romania formally joined the Comintern. Therefore, Germany and its allies were now at war with this nation.

While leftist inclinations of the Romanian government were well-known, it was thought that German successes in the East greatly decreased the prospects of Romania joining the Comintern. In fact, German diplomats were engaged with Romanian leadership in discussion about future of Romania in the post-Soviet era. It seems that they never treated these talks seriously.






Neither Hungary or Germany had any big troop formations in the region. They had to be transferred from the East. Since we planned to redeploy many troops from the East to Germany, all that had to be done was a change of destination in our railway timetables. While already strained logistical staff complained, everybody knew that such transfers were perfectly feasible.

Our Bulgarian friends were in a much better situation. Their geographic isolation meant that they did not participate in the attack on the Soviet Union, so all their divisions were stationed in their homeland. The Bulgarians started their first offensives shortly after proper diplomatic notes were received.

The Eastern Front






Meanwhile, progress was being made on the Eastern Front. The Voronez pocket has been cleared and our soldiers began creating entrenchments in the region. They received their orders - no further advances are to be made until Spring 1944.





The Novopskov pocket has been greatly reduced in size. Although plagued by supply problems, our infantry and armoured divisions were pushing the Soviets harder and harder. Most of their soldiers are now totally disorganised, but some armoured formations are still posing problems. It it expected that the enemy will not last much longer here.


Dealing with supply problems







Several steps have been made in order to reduce our logistical strain in the East. The whole logistical department was reorganised and thousands of civilian trucks were confiscated by the military. Moreover, convoys from Marseilles were now sailing to several ports located near the Sea of Azov. Naturally, it was not enough, but at least it was a start.


The Balkan Front






The Bulgarian soldiers managed to capture the port of Constanta and were nearing Bucharest. It is not yet determined whether they will be able to capture the Romanian capital, but at least it was certain that they did not need our assistance in the region.

Several of our divisions were now stationed in Hungary and the Romanian advance was stopped. It is doubtful that they will be able to create a breakthrough in our lines. We expect that the Romanians will soon find themselves overstretched and undermanned on all fronts. When that happens, we will strike.
 
You know, I'm starting to see through your propaganda machine! It might seem like Romania joining the Comintern is only a mild annoyance to the Wehrmacht, but it distracts forces from the Soviet Front. You have logistical problems. Then there are those sneaky counterattacks you are cleverly hiding behind your back! Your manpower situation seems to be alright, but I'm pretty sure the Soviets have ten soldiers waiting to replace the ones you take care of. And you just said yourself that you will stop advancing again for another six months or so. You are already defeated, aren't you? :rofl:
 
Silly, silly Romanians! While it doesn't appear that you have an 'oil problem' a little extra couldn't hurt. This also will help to secure the 'Axis Eurasian' continent. We will all be watching the reorganization with great interest.
 
Slan said:
You know, I'm starting to see through your propaganda machine! It might seem like Romania joining the Comintern is only a mild annoyance to the Wehrmacht, but it distracts forces from the Soviet Front. You have logistical problems. Then there are those sneaky counterattacks you are cleverly hiding behind your back! Your manpower situation seems to be alright, but I'm pretty sure the Soviets have ten soldiers waiting to replace the ones you take care of. And you just said yourself that you will stop advancing again for another six months or so. You are already defeated, aren't you? :rofl:
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lol!
 
This has to be one of the worst diplomatic blunders I've seen the AI make! A minor inconvenience for the mighty Wehrmacht
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At first I was like "Oh, shit". However, after the initial shock I approached the issue in a rational way. I came to a conclusion that they only posed a threat to Hungary, because most of Hungarian troops were fighting in the East. Still, because of aggressive and already mobilised Bulgarians they couldn't exploit the situation fully, as my Axis friends threatened their most important VP provinces. Now I have troops in Hungary and I'm massing divisions in northern Romania, so I don't think that they will get much further.

And yeah, the AI should really check who their neighbours are and how powerful various factions are before joining. BTW I can invite Spain, Portugal and Turkey to my alliance, but none of them want to join. Can you believe that? Turkey I can understand, but Iberian countries should definitely be more keen on joining the Axis, especially that I'm not at war with the Allies and that the war in the East is going in my favour (I already control Leningrad and Moscow). If they won't join after the Soviets are done, I will have to invade them and it will be rather implausible, since it's almost natural that those countries would join.

You know, I'm starting to see through your propaganda machine! It might seem like Romania joining the Comintern is only a mild annoyance to the Wehrmacht, but it distracts forces from the Soviet Front. You have logistical problems. Then there are those sneaky counterattacks you are cleverly hiding behind your back! Your manpower situation seems to be alright, but I'm pretty sure the Soviets have ten soldiers waiting to replace the ones you take care of. And you just said yourself that you will stop advancing again for another six months or so. You are already defeated, aren't you?
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:p

Yeah, this AAR is filled with my propaganda. It became part of its style with the whole Crusade thing. However, I'm not altering events or changing facts - I just present them in a specific way ;)

You are right in regard to logistics. My supply lines are heavily strained and most of my offensives moves are blocked not by the enemy, but by lack of supplies. This actually feels quite realistic at this point, so I like it :)

However, it is not true that the Romanians will distract troops from the Eastern Front. Why do I say that? I'm forced to transfer some of my divisions from the East to other regions for logistical reasons - I might as well transfer them to Romania. Most of those divs have low ORG, but they are regenerating it fast when the supply situation is good.

Yes, I have to stop my offensives in the East. There is an established cycle there - in the beginning I strike fast and hard and form many encirclements, then I begin to clear the pockets and finally the lack of supplies and low ORG levels stop my advance.

The Soviets don't lack troops even now, but their IC situation is now much worse than it used to be. Moreover, after I took Moscow they lost their resource, supply and fuel stockpiles. I won't even mention the fact that they are still at war with the Allies, so they have to face the Italians AND the Allies in Persia.

I'm not dead yet - far from it ;). I haven't advanced much further in the game, so my posts are up-to-date.

Silly, silly Romanians! While it doesn't appear that you have an 'oil problem' a little extra couldn't hurt. This also will help to secure the 'Axis Eurasian' continent. We will all be watching the reorganization with great interest.
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Yeah, the Romanians would have to be taken care of one way or another. Initially I planned to get them into my alliance, but their leftist government spoiled my efforts. Still, I've been supporting friendly parties in Romania for months now, so if they get puppeted, it should help with revolts etc.

In HOI3 you don't really have to worry about the future, but realistically the Axis would definitely want to secure every source of oil within their reach, so excluding Romania would be strange. If I ever start a new AAR, I will probably create custom VCs for everyone. I always felt that this part of the game was poorly designed and the HPP mod didn't improve the situation IMO. In many cases victory conditions should be there to encourage things which are plausible but not necessarily beneficial gameplay-wise. They should also make gamey strategies less viable. Yeah, there is a chance that I will look at them ;)

This is really awesome. I love all the options HPP has in the surrender events compared to vanilla HOI3 or SF.
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I couldn't get back to vanilla now :)
 
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