1938 in review
Finally, my long-promised
actual update!!
Jan 1, 1938 (and every year) I go into the tech screen and see what is now within my 1 year time window. There's some good stuff there, notably the Engineering techs (which are much beefier under 1.4) and aircraft techs. They are added to the bottom of the research que.
Also on the first, the kindly people of Czechloslovakia donate their border fortress provinces to me. This gives a nice bump in materials, IC, and a bit of leadership at a cost of 5% dissent. Well, we know how to take care of that:
I continue to add more trades with the USA. They're about halfway down the triangle now....
By June I've completed Education research, giving me a nice bump in leadership. Since my officer percentage is dropping, it's a good time to reprioritize:
Note that I've dropped my spy production to just enough to replace losses. I'm researching 18 techs, and I'm putting just enough into diplomacy to pay for my influencing of the USA. By these measures, I'm now creating 75 new officers per day for my war machine. Since the officer percentage directly effects combat
and combat delay, I want this at or close to 200% if possible. I could easily ensure this by dropping my tech research numbers, but having 200% officers commanding troops with obsolete equipment isn't a great choice, either, so I'm striking what I hope seems a good balance.
Japan has been very successful in China. They annex Xibei San Ma in March and Nationalist China (!!) in September.
Also in September Portugal joins the Axis, and my first batch of 5 Medium Panzer divisions roll out.
NOTE: September 1938 and I've only completed 25% of my initially intended medium tanks! I badly miscalculated somewhere, because at this rate (one batch of 5 about every 6-7 months) it will be Spring 1940 before they are completed. The fellows in the black trenchcoats will be... interviewing the person who drew up this production schedule! Oh, wait... that would be
me. :wacko:
I've played several games as Germany where I didn't activate the "Danzig or War" event, and every time, the Allies declare war on Germany no later than Jan 1940. Whoops! More on that in my next post. Back to the update stuff:
October 1938 and Czechloslovkia is fully absorbed into the Reich... again with the 5% dissent hit.
To compare:..... Jan1936.......Jan1937.......Jan1938.......Jan1939
Heer:
Infantry Divisions: 36................58...............86...............90
Light Tank Divisions.3.................5...............8.................10
Motorized Divisions..1.................5...............16...............20
Jaeger Divisions......0.................0...............10...............30
Medium Tank Divs...0.................0................0.................5
Luftwaffe:
Interceptor Sqds.....3.................8...............14................19
Tac Bomber Sqds....8.................9...............11................12
Kriegsmarine:
Battlecruisers........2..................2.... .No change
Heavy Cruisers......2..................3
Light Cruisers........6.................6
Destroyer Sqdns....4.................5
Submarine Sqdns...2.................3
Transport Flotillas..0.................3
The infantry, Light Panzer, Motorized, and Jaeger divisions are completed, the Mediums are at 25% as mentioned before. My Tac squadrons are completed (4 Luftflottes of 3Tac each), while I've completed 9.5 of my planned 20 JaegStaffel of 2Int each. Poor old Admiral Raeder is still looking at the same inventory he saw in 1937.
