Now that is bold and IIRC a tactic from HOI2. So you halt production of all but Panzerchiff + Submarines AND demobilize all but Panzerchiff + Submarines?
What about converting the Light Cruisers to Panzerchiff? 3944 cost with Industry II researched...
Do you notice a return of manpower to the pool?
Your plan would also require researching Advance Catapult (39d). Researching Sub tech, Damage Control, Fire Control, Shells & Torpedoes over time would be prudent.
You like the Cruiser Subs? How do you configure them? Long range?
Speaking of subs... are you a snorkel or a radar guy?
Start w 10 Dockyards; NR, NE & U-Boot gives you 7 more. EDF gives 4 more, but Trade Interdiction would be the priority I think.
Exercising just the existing submarines will give around 50 NE in just the first year plus 50 for NE & U-Boots while using minimal Oil.
Prowl the Iberian Coast to the Denmark Strait to avoid Naval Air? Maintain Air Supremacy over the Bay of Biscay?
Set for Convoy Raiding with Engage at Low Risk to put the Brits on a tea free diet?
Key is getting Landing Craft before conducting Sealion.
Do you start building a naval invasion fleet for Sealion - and when?
Of course I'm going to try it.
edit: Small corrections, lights went off yesterday. (lighting strikes ^^).
sorry for the delay. First the forum failed to warn me of your post
.
But this kind helped because im coming back to the game and had to run a few more runs to refine the strategy.
What im doing right now after a few runs to perfect the research order, etc.
Below is 1936 start order. The Subs and DD´s go straight for training.
After that i go for.
-> The "naked" panzerchiff i told you. 5 dockyards.
-> Sub II. Classic engine 2 + torpedos II. 5 dockyards. ANd you keep this until 1939.
Should give you around 40 subs to play around and 4 Naked PAnzerchiffs.
The only research you need to actually do before 1939 is The Double Purpose Secondary gun (around 100-150days on 1939), Radar III (90 days), Catapult II (20-60 days) and Firecontrol II 1939 (70 days). Everything very easy techs that you can squeeze in 1939 so you can start the upgrades around mid-end of 1939.
Sub III and Cruiser Subs can also wait mid/end of 1939. No need to rush.
You do need 1 slot for doctrine for all 1940. You should have XP + Discounts to get everything you need, but still gonna take until early 41 to take them all if you avoided doing them before the war.
I realized i don´t need the full 7500km. So i changed my aim for 1940 surface fleets to this composition.
4 Panzerchiffs. (Planes to scout and plenty of light double purpose guns for high AA and Light attack, plus the heavy gun).
2 CL´s (Some anti-sub charges plus tons of light attack and AA)
4 Submarines (With luck 1940 sub III with radar´s).
PS: You can add +1 or 2 CL´s if you get the +10% Naval Range Military Staff.
You can make 1 of those teams every 15 months with 29 Dockyards! (3 on subs, 6 on CL´s, 5(x4) on each CA) Yeah, its expensive, it takes time but its something that actually gives a headache.
And you don´t need much more than 10-15 dockyards to spam Cruiser subs (5 dockyards) and/or Sub´s III´s (10 dockyards). With acess to torpedo III + 3 slots you can one shot convoys (66dmg, convoys have 60hp). So no need for groups of 10+.
smaller teams of 5 subs is more than enough.
After taking france, Belgium + Holland + Polland its not hard to have 40-50 dockyards, also not expensive. So not really advocating to forget your main objective, the USSR.
Aim is just to keep US and Canada away from Europe and delay UK from preparing the D-Day by taking Resources from them.
And later stopping any land lease to the USSR.
This combination is very deadly to Surface vessels and their escorts.
They will die if they find a good Strike force so you do need to keep an eye and keep this on the move, strike a region for some weeks and back to port. The idea is to actually hunt DD`s and sink them. Submarines alone can deal with convoys that have 0 escorts.
With espionage now its kind easy to do this.
But this surface fleet also open a new path for conquest and a way to break the normal naval game.
As you can see on the photo. I added my real 3 objectives.
-> Ascension Island -> South Atlantic is now free for DD´s and CL´s to hunt. South Africa is vulnerable.
And if you're VERY CRAZY and have a very god naval co-op you can pull Falklands -> Pitcairn islands -> New Zeland and make history in a MP game with germany really having a grudge against New Zeland. Make history in a MP game with a asiatic german aproach haha.
-> Trinidad -> You can´t use that for much oil but you can at least stop britain from using it.
-> South AMerica -> Aluminum the Allies actually need. If they lose it its gonna hurt a lot.
-> Bermuda -> From there you can take
Iceland, NEwfound Land and the Artic. Also USA, Canada and Panama become Vulnerable for Attacks forcing them to put garrisons there.
Bermuda, Artic and ICeland can have Airfields. If you manage to take one of them. Radar + TAc´s is gonna make passing convoys in the atlantic a nightmare.
Light fighters are useless on those atlantic regions. A Fighter II without range upgrades have -81% efficiency on labrador sea for example. (Newfound island airfield)
TAC I have only -10%. Also you don´t need a absurd amount of MIC here. Just 10 should be more than enough to replenish losses and distract hundreds of fighters and make them waste XP on range to do something.
You also have a focus that can easily get you 1940 Heavy Fighters in 1940-41. 5 factorys should be more than enough to keep a small team that you can replenish any losses and still give escort for the tac´s. (Take those 5 from the 10 MIC you use for tac´s, i don´t think its worth going crazy here ^^).
Also if you're bold. You can try to take a province or two from the US/Canada. Don´t try to take the country. Invade, take a province like New York that have multiple factorys and dig-in. With occupation this kind lost some strenght but removing factorys from a enemy for months is still a very good strategy.
Basically by having extra range and something with teeth i have options and actually can force the Allies to spread a little more or ignore me and hope i don´t get ideas.
You will be quite surprised by the amount of players that don´t bother to defend those places because no one ever tried it before.
PS: IF a Naval Invasion is impossible from france (because of Western Aproach). You can NAval Invade any dock on the coast of africa and start operations from there.
if all docks are defended a city north of daakar have 1VP. You can easily take it and build a dock there.
Players and sometimes even the AI never bother to defend them. Should just take 1 single unit.
Even if they run to remove you, the distance is so great you will have months to launch your real invasion.