Cheesy way of defending USSR from Barbarrosa

[I had a bad name 99]

I followed Dustin's guide after failing multiple times.

Note that I am playing on regular difficulty.

 

[Bki]

I personally prefer having something like a million infantry divisions between the border and the river (Dustin's video has this to some extend, but I am talking about like 150-200 20-width infantry (with AA if you can build enough)), though with the main defensive line planned along the Dnieper and Daugava. Have some troops behind every rivers, in every wood, mountain, marsh and city except for those that can easily be bypassed and encircled. And if you get a bit creative with fallback line (there's a good (if a bit of an extreme exemple) thread about it on the hoi4 reddit, search "defense in depth"), you can reduce the micro to avoid too much of your division getting encircled by taking more time to set up the defensive line (if you have a fallback line perpendicular to the front, then the defeated troops will move back and defend the province further in the back, and it prevent the fallback line being "broken" and the sudden reassignment of division to each side of it that ensue).

Since this force the Axis to fight for every bit of land, this slow down their advance immensely, cost them equipment from attrition in fighting in bad terrain, and cause massive infrastructure damages.

 

[Eh up me duck]

You don't need to cheese anything. Just set up a line of infantry and wait for the germans to meat grind themselves to death and then walk into Berlin.

 

[Adolf - Finite War]

You don't need to cheese anything. Just set up a line of infantry and wait for the germans to meat grind themselves to death and then walk into Berlin.

This. Something like 150-180 20 width Infantry divisions with line AT and Art + support AA were perfectly capable of holding the line when I played before LaR. The only part of the front that you should consider to pull back from ist the part on the Hungarian border that is in danger of being cut-off.

Btw - what happened to the field marshal front line where you delete the individual general's frontlines giving the Army Group more flexibility? I couldn't seem to get it to work in LaR.

 

[I had a bad name 99]

You don't need to cheese anything. Just set up a line of infantry and wait for the germans to meat grind themselves to death and then walk into Berlin.

Is it possible to play difficult nations without cheesing to a certain extent? So far in Youtube walkthroughs, I have not seen anyone cheesing to win. Even in reddits and other forums with players claiming to have a good gameplay strategy, I have seen no evidence (video, picture) that they succeeded (Key word: success). I find the game mechanic to be a bit too arcadey for a more serious gameplay. If I want a more armchair general's chess game, I would have chosen Gary Grigsby's War in the East, instead of HOI4.

Things like managing economy to produce the necessary arms, proper scotch-earth strategy and defense in depth are, in my opinion, hard to implement due to dumbed down mechanics. You can do that, of course, but not to the extent of being too much that it kills joy and defeats the purpose of playing HOI4 (a fast-paced grand strategy, not chess). And doing that, you might not be able to succeed and you have to try over again, which can be tedious.

That's why I used Dustin's method, because it works.

Disclaimer: No offense to Paradox and other experienced players, I thoroughly enjoy HOI4 a lot and can respect the valuable tips.

 

[I had a bad name 99]

Germany getting crushed by two sides. The Western AI might get more credit, but don't worry, I can crush them when the war ends.

 

[Eh up me duck]

You can't on the one hand criticise hoi 4 for not being complex enough for you whilst also taking until 1944 to beat the germans as soviet union.

 

[I had a bad name 99]

You can't on the one hand criticise hoi 4 for not being complex enough for you whilst also taking until 1944 to beat the germans as soviet union.

Well, the strategy works at least. I am sure there are several guides out there on youtube (which you can follow) that shows you how to beat the world conquest before 1940s, but I am not that interested because I want to try a more historical approach (wait for Germans to come in 1941).

If there is an alternative guide that allows me to follow conveniently and win, sure I am happy to learn.

 

[I had a bad name 99]

Alright, end of war in Europe. Pathetic gain but I don't want to fight all the way to Washington.

 

[I had a bad name 99]

My old Soviet campaign on veteran. I think I can conquer the world from there. But I am a bit sick of the grind.

 

[I had a bad name 99]

In response to some helpful tips given here and also at reddit, maybe I will try a more defense-in-depth strategy next time. I am a believer in "theory is useless unless I can see it work". So next time...

 

[I had a bad name 99]

Just set up a line of infantry and wait for the germans to meat grind themselves to death and then walk into Berlin.

I have done that before. Nearly 6 million troops at the border.

 

[Simon_9732495]

Btw - what happened to the field marshal front line where you delete the individual general's frontlines giving the Army Group more flexibility? I couldn't seem to get it to work in LaR.

Select Field Marshal -> Shift + Draw Frontline?
Pictures here:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/unable-to-execute-battle-plans.1394942/post-26621182

 

[I had a bad name 99]

Okay, i just read the Soviet war preparations for Barbarossa and this has caused my imagination to run a bit wild. I am going to try to explain a new strategic plan based on historical and ahistorical elements. So I will replay my Soviet campaign in another interesting manner.
There are three steps to this plan:

1. There will be 200 divisions + 15 armoured divisions divided into four military districts along the Soviet-Axis border. This will be the first echelon. The divisions would be tasked with holding off the Germans while slowly retreating to the Dvina and Dnieper River (Think of Cannae where the center is deliberately weak).
2. There will be another 50 divisions + 10 armoured divisions along the Dvina and Dnieper River. This will be the second echelon. Its task is to hold this river while counterattacking with the remaining forces of the first echelon (hopefully not less than 80% if not the retreat strategy is not executed properly).
3. Meanwhile, there will be another 250 divisions + 25 armoured divisions mobilising in Moscow. Their job is to hold the final defensive perimeter along the Moscow-Leningrad-Stalingrad axis (I believe it is the Volkhov-Don-Volgo River line). They will perform the final counterattack once the second + first echelon failed to hold the river line at Dnieper + Dvina (as let's say 50% of it is breached and i had to retreat them).

All in all, i hope to get 500 divisions + 50 armoured divisions in Berlin, as based on historical records.

 

[I had a bad name 99]

Lol for some reason, my built is good enough that they dare not attack me. I am playing on normal difficulty though without buffing. Looks like i need to use console cheat to make them attack.

Edit: Okay, they attack. Sorry about it!

 

[Harin]

Lol for some reason, my built is good enough that they dare not attack me. I am playing on normal difficulty though without buffing. Looks like i need to use console cheat to make them attack.

View attachment 586855

One thing you might try and do is to put about 60% or so of those front line troops and put them in the cities, forests, marshes, ect... behind the line, to simulate how the Russians did not have much front line strength on June 22nd, 1941. I believe much of its army was in barracks and spread about in peace time routines. This might make the German front line bold enough to attack.

Another suggestion, you may want to tag to the Germans and be sure they have all the divisions they had for Barbarossa. If not, maybe you can console command them in.

 

[I had a bad name 99]

Wall of steel. They attacked me anyway. I think there will be a pop-up event that says the effect of Molotov-Ribbentrop pact is no longer valid, then they DOW me (happened twice in my previous campaign). My hypothesis is that they are still bringing all their units to the East to meet the criteria of 150% of Soviet units (to break the damn pact).

 

[I had a bad name 99]

Love the production "miracle". I have 29 T-34 and 40 KV fighting to defend the key city of Brzesc Litewski.

 

[I had a bad name 99]

Casualties wise

2:1 in favor of USSR

 

[I had a bad name 99]

Still holding! Romanian front has retreated behind another river. Hopefully, this could slow them down further.