Fatherland - Deutschland über alles

[unmerged(24320)]

flak 88: Nofog sounds interesting, but seems better if the savegame was kept to do it after the war is over. It's more interesting to not fully know what one is up against.

i also concur with flak 88.

brad1: ...and an immediate DOW against the US.

i do not have any objection for an event that puts the USA into the Allies.

OH, any idea what the US manpower/(max land units) would be/is? ?

Kanitatlan: ...I have no protection from TC overload and the modifications are all rather TC unfriendly...

any way to improve TC besides building more IC? ?

excellent updates! !

 

[Mahrabal]

any way to improve TC besides building more IC? ?

Capture more IC
And there are some infantry techs which improve IC also. I assume we are up to date in that respect though.
Anyways, I have always smashed my TC as Germany every time I have played as them. Is it even possible to win as Germany without having unhappy TC?

 

[unmerged(58886)]

nofog - later

 

[Kanitatlan]

WhisperingDeath Nice to see someone trying to be in character.

All seems like a save an later post of a nofog stats is the favoured idea. I will keep a save for July 20th and post the nofog lists from it no earlier than 6 months from now but will leave it until war with SU if later.

All I've given the US situation some thought. I am going to change the difficulty modifers so that they apply to all AI nations and not just the Allied and Comintern. This will give the US (and all American nations) a significant boost.

Also, when the USA joins the war I will DOW every other nation in the Americas so that this turns it into a true world war. This is to simulate the US building up a proper alliance of its own to fight against my world conquest. They won't build a separate alliance because that stops them joining the Allies so I will build it for them. This should make the USA joining in even more exciting.

 

[VILenin]

I have no problem with you using nofog for information and AAR purposes. After all, accurate knowledge is all the better for making you shrink in fear from the Red Behemoth! Muwahaha!

What's Profane's minister traits? Stalin would have been my first change since he does nothing for the country. Shapshonikov will probably be next since I'm guessing with your AI boosts the SU already has plenty of mp.

 

[Kanitatlan]

I have no problem with you using nofog for information and AAR purposes. After all, accurate knowledge is all the better for making you shrink in fear from the Red Behemoth! Muwahaha!

What's Profane's minister traits? Stalin would have been my first change since he does nothing for the country. Shapshonikov will probably be next since I'm guessing with your AI boosts the SU already has plenty of mp.

Profane - silent workhorse - +5% IC - not like Stalin at all
VILenin is a stern imperialist - -10% cost and time for unit builds

I suspect Shaposhnikov remains a good choice since IC is boosted slightly more than manpower - combined with cheaper units. This makes manpower a critical resource for the Soviet Union.

I would even consider changing Uritskij to a man of the people and Proskurov to a technical specialist (is that right for +5% tecnology?)

Up to you.

 

[unmerged(55467)]

Profane - silent workhorse - +5% IC - not like Stalin at all
VILenin is a stern imperialist - -10% cost and time for unit builds

I suspect Shaposhnikov remains a good choice since IC is boosted slightly more than manpower - combined with cheaper units. This makes manpower a critical resource for the Soviet Union.

I would even consider changing Uritskij to a man of the people and Proskurov to a technical specialist (is that right for +5% tecnology?)

Up to you.

I was under the impression that the tech ministers had no effect.

 

[Kanitatlan]

I was under the impression that the tech ministers had no effect.

Its been fixed

 

[unmerged(55467)]

Its been fixed

Ah, good. Have you ever tested this yourself?

 

[Kanitatlan]

Ah, good. Have you ever tested this yourself?

I don't think I ever tested this myself but I am fairly confident it is fixed.

 

[Kanitatlan]

Jul21-US

I have now modified the difficulty file so that all neutrals gain the same bonuses as the Allies and the Comintern. Also I have triggered the last US gearing up event. This gives a slightly modified US position with a huge leap in industrial capacity and resource production. The first 2 gearing up events where relatively recent (April 16, 1939 and June 6, 1939) so this represents a massive leap in industrial output. Combined with good free market sliders their production should now take off in a big way.

 

[Kanitatlan]

Science Report

 

[Kanitatlan]

Science Report Part 2

 

[Kanitatlan]

Science Report 3

That completes the science report. There is little to be said about the current position but future plans need to focus around some key technologies.

. 1941 Infantry
. Armour IV
. Small Arms assembly
. Ship assembly
. Deep Logistics
. Kampfgruppe
. Basic Hospital

These all have a direct input into Barbarossa or long term production plans. Unfortunately I may not have the luxury of delaying any of this to the “proper” time as the risk of war with Russia is very high (or soon will be).

These technologies are also needed as they fill gaps but they are less critical

. Improved Mountain
. Improved Naval Bombers
. Improved Refining

The current energy to oil conversion (10 energy to 1 oil) is a bit too profligate and a single current date tech with blueprint brings it down to 4:1 giving something like 250 energy surplus. This will guarantee 50 oil per day from conversion (very useful in itself) and lots of energy to trade for even more.

Once the rocket bases are complete I will jump into the Rocket Engine sequence in a really big way as these can then be rattled off quickly. It is essential to get Germany into a solid position for researching jet fighters by 1942 at the latest.

Once spare science resources are available I need to get some more Naval Doctrines and Air Doctrines but these are less urgent than other things.

 

[Kanitatlan]

Intelligence Again

July 21st Allies

This is a more general intelligence report on the Allied alliance. I lack spies in many of the minor countries and hence do not even have poor reports of their strength. This makes it all but impossible to appraise overall current allied strength in armed forces but we can add up those ICs. If the silly little allied countries have a significant contributions to make

IC UK: 235
IC Dominions: 359
IC Europeans: 77
IC UK Puppets: 85
IC Poland: 49

Even discounting Poland we are looking at a current total of 756 IC which remains a little be ahead of me. The allies only having a little more IC than Germany would normally be considered a real success but in this case, considering that we are talking about a defeated alliance, this is more than a little worrying. The total is going to decline by another 80 or so when I take Scotland and Northern Ireland but the remaining IC is all well away from any active theatre of operations so we can expect significant forces to be generated over the long-term.

I’m not going to do a full analysis of the additional forces that will be brought to bear when the Americas join the war but there is a total of 685 effective IC outside the USA and Canada. I will definitely declare war on the whole continent as soon as the USA joins the war. This will create an interesting industrial Juggernaut.

 

[seboden]

I have been following this AAR for a while and I like it.
So I wanted to say thank you.

I see you used the new abandon doctrine-feature for naval doctrines.
Unfortunately there exists a bug with that:
I fyou abandon a doctrine the positioning values which this doctrine added are not subtracted (like they should) but are added again! :wacko:
So that means if you had a sub positioning value of say 40 <> 70 before abandoning a doctrine which gives 20 <> 20 you don't have 20 <> 50, but 60 <> 90 ! o
That also explains your why you currently have, 80 <> 110 for your subs, without even having researched Trade Interdiction Submarine doctrine.

Or is that intentional considering the odds you are facing?

 

[Kanitatlan]

seboden I was aware of this error but sadly I haven't corrected it because I'm too lazy. The fact is that my naval warfare strategy is dominated by surface ships which are relatively little effected. I realise this is all quite careless of me but its really just a fun AAR rather than anything too serious.

 

[unmerged(55467)]

Have you even got subs?

 

[Kanitatlan]

Strategic Analysis

My strategic policy is now down to two choices. I have definitely decided to take out at least a couple more nations.

I am going to take out Portugal since despite being very difficult to annex they are easy to neutralise by taking their European provinces. This will also open up the possible use of the Azores as a naval base. I will gain a few ICs plus some additional air and naval bases well positioned to support the Atlantic naval war.

I am also going to take out Greece. This will bring the Italians into a parallel war with the Allies which should completely neutralise all allied action in the eastern Mediterranean and leave my southern flank very well protected. Since I have seriously damaged the ability of the allies to resist I suspect the Italians may do reasonably well. Unfortunately for them the British are still very viable and may cause them considerable difficulties but that is not my problem.

The big question is how to follow up from this position. The issue is all about how to treat Russia. I have thought about it somewhat and there does not seem to be any point in considering any middle ground options. The issue is whether to be nice to the Russians or be nasty. If I am nice and leave alone the rest of Eastern Europe and comply with the MR pact then the Russians will probably remain quite till next spring when I will invade. This leaves time to complete my build up and, if I wish, indulge in some other conquests.

Alternatively I can follow the previously discussed policy of taking Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltics. If I take all this then the SU will get a lot of interventionist moves and it will be impossible to leave the eastern border in a weak state. If I piss of the Russians then I have to behave as if they are going to DOW me at any moment. This means that as soon as I have done this I need to suspend other activities and concentrate on the eastern frontier. There is of course the option of doing this a bit later rather than immediately but the effect is similar. Obviously following this course is reasonable once I have reached a point where I don’t want to pursue other activities prior to fighting the Russians.

If I am going to really piss the Russians off then it may be worth reneging on the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and take all of eastern Poland for myself. This has a 30% chance of an immediate Russian DOW, followed by a “we hate you” effect. The combination of all moves gives a start line somewhat further east than normal but a likelihood that the war will start during the winter.

One option is to wait until mid-November before annexing Poland and going for the Baltics. If there is no immediate DOW the winter war will start putting Russia into a slightly disadvantageous position. I cannot just wait for the winter war since it will not start unless Poland has been annexed.

I feel drawn to both options. There is a strong attraction for a predictable pause since my force build up is quite significant but there is also a strong attraction for the more easterly start line, giving more tactical manoeuvring space and reduced occupation costs (partisans and occupied territory). Currently I am unsure of which option to go for.

This post completes the review of the current position. If you want to see any further information that would be available to me then please ask.

 

[Kanitatlan]

Reserved for full force details from save. Will be replaced with accurate unit statistics when play has moved significantly further forward.