Fatherland - Deutschland über alles

[Kanitatlan]

04:00 May 27th 1940

Sufficent forces have arrived at the phase 3 start line to launch some initial attacks. Strictly speaking I am not expecting too much at this stage but I want to keep up the pressure on the enemy and will attempt to exploit as more forces arrive. For now the force west of the Dnepr are relatively weak but I will need a lot more for east of the Dnepr considering the highly visible force build up in that sector. The attack on Mogilev is rapidly successful.

The Russian defence in this area contains a lot of mobile troops. This is as a result of time sorting. If you cause the enemy to send troops into an empty area then given a bit of time they will tend to develop a separation between troops of different speeds. This means the leading edge of the defence around here is likely to contain disproportionately large numbers of mobile divisions.

The Russian leader, Budennij is especially rubbish and has already been seriously pasted once in this campaign.

 

[Kanitatlan]

10:00 May 27th 1940

Just for once we have an appearance by a major force of Soviet bombers. They aren’t in very good condition but are clearly old units as they already have losses. This may be the result of several days’ repairs but all their good work is undone in just one quick battle.

 

[Kanitatlan]

19:00 May 27th 1940

Eastward expansion continues against little opposition. Retreated Russian units now lie to the flanks but air units are bombing both south and north. The only real threat is the two armoured divisions to the north but they have a simple choice. Stay and die from encirclement or move and die from bombing.

 

[Kanitatlan]

00:00 May 28th 1940

The image says it all. The rocket base is beginning to reach a practical size.

 

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Neat. Intercontinental missiles are fun, I tell you.

 

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Especially when a-bombs are attatched to them.

 

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The pursuit in the south has been modified but still has a good chance of eliminating local forces. Total stay behind in the south is now planned at 12 mobile divisions out of 96.

Isn't the crossing to Novourossirk an amphibious one? In that case you'll need some infantry in the peninsula if there are Soviet divisions there.
How's the Soviet IC now? Must be lowering dramatically now.

 

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..19:00 May 27th 1940

Eastward expansion continues against little opposition. Retreated Russian units now lie to the flanks but air units are bombing both south and north. The only real threat is the two armoured divisions to the north but they have a simple choice. Stay and die from encirclement or move and die from bombing.

magnificent updates! !

 

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Well done as always! I tend to agree with your analysis. It is usually the case that you cannot help the AI (in almost any strategic simulation) by merely giving it more of something. Unless you are IMB and you give Deep Blue the ability to crunch more numbers (i.e. chess postitions) faster and with greater depth than your human opponant. Until we see that in a little ol' desktop PC we will have to watch the AI make basic mistakes that lead to its doom.

Maybe one way of making the game harder would be to follow your suggestion in the RISK Mod AAR by the rev: When you reach a certain mass then the world DOWs you. The "dog pile" gambit! No that would be something to see!

 

[Kanitatlan]

Kabraloth, DirtyCommiePuke I have no interest in ICBM and especially not nukes. The rocket base is purely for jet and rocket plane research. I will probably do some general rocket based research but have no intention of using any nukes even if they are developed.

GoforitPanzer the crossing to Novorossisk is indeed an amphibious "straits" crossing. I shouldn't need a defence as I remain on the offensive in the eastern theatre. In fact once the infantry garrison for Sevastopol arrives I will be sending the motorised division across.

GhostWriter is always there, encouraging us on.

WhisperingDeath the AI limit is not mere processing power it is a fundamental failure of rigorous algorithms (as used by chess programs) to address the more fluid and computational impractical analysis of games like HOI2. The AI has to use "rules of thumb" but likes the very human ability of developing large scale patterns called grand strategy. Grand strategy must be pre-programmed and is largely absent.

Back to the game

 

[Kanitatlan]

04:00 May 28th 1940

Air support over Slonim is starting to become ineffective due to dug in bonuses so I have launched an attack to get the Russian forces out of their dugouts. Once they are in full retreat I will break off and leave the air power to complete their work.

 

[Kanitatlan]

07:00 May 28th 1940

Full efficiency of air attack has been restored. 32 squadrons are carrying out daily ground attack and slowly destroying Russian forces. Total Russian losses from this are not really very significant, I suspect they have lost 20-30 divisions in this sector since the start of the invasion but this is only 2-3% of their total forces. It will take a long time to destroy their entire army by this method but every bit helps.

 

[Kanitatlan]

12:00 May 28th 1940

Conflict with the Russian navy continues. Their submarine fleet is awfully difficult to sink and is probably now completely irrelevant to the campaign. I would like to eliminate them but I don’t know how without running a huge long stream of carrier battles. One flotilla lost per day will allow them to persist for a considerable time. They may have other surface units around as well so I can’t safely split of a large destroyer fleet and do it that way. Ultimately the objective needs to be based on depleting their forces without taking losses. It isn’t worth losing anything to get rid of them. They are also sufficiently irrelevant that I don’t want to redirect any air power to deal with them.

 

[Kanitatlan]

13:00 May 28th 1940

This is a nice overview with air superiority intruder missions over the Moscow region finally giving a view of what is going on there. This huge concentration – probably over 200 divisions including other unseen stacks – is very significantly larger than would have been there in normal HOI2 (can’t speak for DD). Despite the huge success in the south this image limited to the northern sectors doesn’t suggest a defeated nation. If a significant part of the forces currently moving south reaches my lines before completion of the phase 2 redeployment then I will be forced to carry out a retrograde advance southwards.

The image gives the appearance that their forces are in two discrete clumps ready to be surrounded and cut off. This should be assumed to be misleading since the supposed gaps are simply reconnaissance holes.

 

[Kanitatlan]

14:00 May 28th 1940

Down south air power is beginning to eliminate successfully retreated Russian troops. The only major forces they have are the stacks still retreating from Rostov and with my main force heading north I have to eliminate these with air power. Plenty of air power can be spared for the continuing advance as there are still serious limitations on the amount of air power that can be applied further north due to the geographical scale.

 

[Kanitatlan]

16:00 May 28th 1940

Air superiority intruder missions over Moscow have encountered little opposition and what there is has already been seriously harmed in earlier operations. Total air superiority is still available all across the Russian lines. This also gives a nice close up view of those giant stacks.

 

[Kanitatlan]

04:00 May 29th 1940

The Russian navy is retreating into the main body of the Baltic to escape from my navy and I am pursuing. They no longer have a naval base so they are going nowhere except into hiding but I would like to sink a few more.

Give a little thought that at 05:00 we are exactly three weeks into the campaign and in that time the Russian southern wing has completely shattered, overrun and destroyed along with the second line of troops moving forward. A mere three weeks. Whilst a more conventional strategy with pockets that need reducing could have been applied to a broader front we would not have reached this position by this time. I have traded a more localised offensive for greater local destruction and the ability to move on to defeat the Russians in detail.

 

[Kanitatlan]

07:00 May 29th 1940

All Russian forces in the Crimea have now surrendered. The only remaining Russian pocket is the force retreating from Dneproptrovsk and a single militia division retreating from Kharkov.

 

[Kanitatlan]

07:00 May 29th 1940 a

The early muddy conditions are starting to spread westwards. This is now genuinely interfering with the eastern limit of my operations. There are substantial forces heading north into the westernmost limits of the mud. If this spreads westwards we could be facing a complete halt on operations. Ten days muddy weather over my lines would suit the Russians perfectly and could result in serious difficulties at the front lines.

 

[Kanitatlan]

10:00 May 29th 1940

Mogilev has been taken and my panzer army moves on to Orsha against further limited opposition. I’m not entirely certain where this attack is going but this will leave a one province neck between Orsha and the Lithuanian border. If the rear areas are reasonably secure and no other phase 3 operations are ready then I will pursue that line. If significant further forces come up before it is safe to advance then I may strike northwards to cut off the whole Baltic borders area (or I may do both)

10:00 May 29th 1940 a

There is a simultaneous counter-attack from Roslavl (only) but this is no threat due to the awful Russian command modifiers. They are down at 38% even for the divisions within the command limit. If they supported this with all the other local troops available they would probably at least double the strength of the attack and give me a –20% penalty for 4 directions of attack. I don’t really understand AI thinking here except that those other units appear to already have orders.