HOI3 TFH: How to set up Germany for beginners...

[21oliver]

I was wondering why not just go INFx2 ARTx1 ATx1

The only real point where this even will be an issue is Barbarossa. Its generally considered you do not need that many AT brigades. Plus I would have as many or close to as Armor Divisions as the Soviets by the time I launch it, so with the AT units, I would be fine. Generally my Divisions have 3 INF/ART and 2 INF/AT, most players now would only use 1 AT per Corps, so actually I have more. Also although not in this tutorial I have lately begun swapping TD for Spart in my Armor units.

 

[cdub8d]

The only real point where this even will be an issue is Barbarossa. Its generally considered you do not need that many AT brigades. Plus I would have as many or close to as Armor Divisions as the Soviets by the time I launch it, so with the AT units, I would be fine. Generally my Divisions have 3 INF/ART and 2 INF/AT, most players now would only use 1 AT per Corps, so actually I have more. Also although not in this tutorial I have lately begun swapping TD for Spart in my Armor units.

That makes sense. I guess if you think about it, no countries really have much in the way of armor besides SOV and Germany. Would it be better to go INFx2, ARTx2 s your divisions have a bit more firepower and add INF with SF later?

 

[21oliver]

I dont typically go with SF (neither do most players it seems), I prefer the extra divisions, you can get more done. I for a short time went with 2 INF brigades per division, but went back to the standard 3 INF per as I like the staying power of them better.

 

[Hawke0]

90% of the time, your infantry will be fighting other infantry. Giving every infantry division an AT regiment is a waste of IC.

 

[gobl1in]

I am not sure what I may have done wrong but war came quite a few months for than August 1939. I think it may have been a decision I took, not certain. Anyway as a result (fortunately had the required amount of Inf Divisions in place and ready to go. I captured Denmark and Poland quite quickly and then focussed on Low Countries and France. By the 6th October all the invaded countries are under German occupatin. Apart from shipping the other 25 Inf Divisins back to the East I am not sure where to go next.

I messed up my Navy battles against GB and am currently rebuilding that, how many ports or cities in Low Countrie and France should I place Gar in ? Do I now focus on Norway and perhaps build some Marine Divisions ready for an assault on GB or do I focus on Soviets ? I really don't know which direction to go.

Oh one last question, the countries I have overrun are not grey but striped and info says that said countries still own those provinces, is this just because I am occupying those countries only ? Thanks again for your assistance...

 

[Gormytorysh]

When playing Germany I usually have my Corps set up like this:

3x - 3 INF / 1 ART
1x - 3 INF / 1 AT
1x - 3 INF / 1 ENG

Obviously everyone should decide for themselves how they do their army composition and this is my basic setup that seems to be working quite well . More AT per corps is not needed. It is sufficient to battle against French and, later on, Soviet tanks. I like the engineers for any river crossings and fortresses I come across. For me I have maximum diversity when it comes to the infantry part.

I am not sure what I may have done wrong but war came quite a few months for than August 1939. I think it may have been a decision I took, not certain. Anyway as a result (fortunately had the required amount of Inf Divisions in place and ready to go. I captured Denmark and Poland quite quickly and then focussed on Low Countries and France. By the 6th October all the invaded countries are under German occupatin. Apart from shipping the other 25 Inf Divisins back to the East I am not sure where to go next.

I can't be sure with what you did to cause an early war, but a question for you. Did you declare war on Poland and Denmark? Or any other 2 nations? Normally, as Germany, you can declare war on 1 nation "for free", meaning the Allies will not declare war on you, but if you DOW another nation, they will DOW you.

I messed up my Navy battles against GB and am currently rebuilding that, how many ports or cities in Low Countrie and France should I place Gar in ? Do I now focus on Norway and perhaps build some Marine Divisions ready for an assault on GB or do I focus on Soviets ? I really don't know which direction to go.

That all depends on how you like to play. Some say placing one in every port, but I never tend to do so. I just take over GB and be done with it .

Oh one last question, the countries I have overrun are not grey but striped and info says that said countries still own those provinces, is this just because I am occupying those countries only ? Thanks again for your assistance...

These nations will turn grey once the faction they are in is defeated.

 

[gobl1in]

When playing Germany I usually have my Corps set up like this:

3x - 3 INF / 1 ART
1x - 3 INF / 1 AT
1x - 3 INF / 1 ENG

Obviously everyone should decide for themselves how they do their army composition and this is my basic setup that seems to be working quite well . More AT per corps is not needed. It is sufficient to battle against French and, later on, Soviet tanks. I like the engineers for any river crossings and fortresses I come across. For me I have maximum diversity when it comes to the infantry part.



I can't be sure with what you did to cause an early war, but a question for you. Did you declare war on Poland and Denmark? Or any other 2 nations? Normally, as Germany, you can declare war on 1 nation "for free", meaning the Allies will not declare war on you, but if you DOW another nation, they will DOW you.



That all depends on how you like to play. Some say placing one in every port, but I never tend to do so. I just take over GB and be done with it .



These nations will turn grey once the faction they are in is defeated.

Thanks for the reply, I clicked on some decision regarding Poland and the allies went to war with me so I had to rush my invasion of Poland and then declared on Denmark. France actually started pushing accross the Maginot line but were quickly repelled. Once Denmark and Poland were defeated I declared upon Low Countries and swept down into France that way.

I need to rebuild to my navy a bit as stated above but might try and invade GB,should 2 marine divs be enough and is it viable trying to do this before Barbarossa comes ? Cheers.

 

[Gormytorysh]

Thanks for the reply

I need to rebuild to my navy a bit as stated above but might try and invade GB,should 2 marine divs be enough and is it viable trying to do this before Barbarossa comes ? Cheers.

You're welcome . I am thinking of doing a short game play AAR of Germany where I try to conquer the world before January 1st, 1942 (date may shift to earlier time, not sure yet) and set my personal best. I've been doing a start up run where I only used the ships that were initially assigned to Germany by the developers (including the ones in queue). I only bought a production license from Japan (landing ships). When defeating France, I moved my invading army to Brest and did a landing west of Plymouth. This works for me about 90% of the time, but it may be different when you invade in 1939/ 1940. My landings in GB are usually in 1937-ish.

 

[gobl1in]

I have really enjoyed following your advice for my first real attempt with Germany. I felt most things went well but after France fell I decided not to wait for UK to continuously harass me. I went on the offensive and landed a force in Penzance before spreading across southern England creating a major bridgehead. UK fell and this is where I think I went wrong, I annexed them and wonder if I should have just made them puppet. I now have South Africa eating away at my African provinces and Canada taking provinces neighbouring their country. My nave cannot currently get to Canada as they do not have the range even though I have forces spare. I am also losing provinces in India due to partisans and have no troops as yet protecting these territories. Have I moved too fast and made poor decisions or should I have just taken my time. I felt I could get UK out of the way before Barbarossa which I did but I am not sure this has really helped me.

I am also currently losing large amounts of rare materials and metal on a dily basis and am not sure how to rectify this.

BTW, nice to see you back with us

 

[21oliver]

Ty! I used to take out the UK first, if you go that route Japan and Italy are set up nicely. Not sure how your trades were set up or what your stockpile was in regards to the rares, hard to help with that.

 

[Gormytorysh]

I have really enjoyed following your advice for my first real attempt with Germany. I felt most things went well but after France fell I decided not to wait for UK to continuously harass me. I went on the offensive and landed a force in Penzance before spreading across southern England creating a major bridgehead. UK fell and this is where I think I went wrong, I annexed them and wonder if I should have just made them puppet. I now have South Africa eating away at my African provinces and Canada taking provinces neighbouring their country. My nave cannot currently get to Canada as they do not have the range even though I have forces spare. I am also losing provinces in India due to partisans and have no troops as yet protecting these territories. Have I moved too fast and made poor decisions or should I have just taken my time. I felt I could get UK out of the way before Barbarossa which I did but I am not sure this has really helped me.

I always annex them and I have the same problems as you. Or better yet, I face the same things yet I don't see them as problems. To be honest, I do not really care that much about Africa nor India for that matter. Having said that, if you can spare a corps or 2, you can send one to Africa and one to India. The one in Africa can easily (assuming you keep up your infantry techs and doctrines) annihilate South Africa and certainly knock down any uprising in India.

Have you moved too fast? Nah, probably not unless your production is non existent. FYI, I've been playing a Germany game multiple times in which I knock out France and the UK in 1936/1937, so too soon is not really the question. If you made the right decision is totally up to you and how you like to play. I do not like to puppet other nations, but sometimes it is in my best interest to do so.

For reaching Canada you can also move your ships and troops to Iceland, then Greenland and you can probably reach Canada from there. Or, if you still have Newfoundland under your control (and especially it's port), you can ship your troops there and invade Canada/ regain control of "your" regions in North America. Question you have to ask yourself is, do you want to?

I am also currently losing large amounts of rare materials and metal on a dily basis and am not sure how to rectify this.

Could you check your deficit per day and how many you import? Are there any nations that you can buy it from (do you have the money) and last but not least, do you have enough convoys?

 

[gobl1in]

Thanks for the reply guys. I will check my in goings and out goings of rares next time I load up. I think I may be using more than I should due to a large number of ships and planes currently under construction. At least now I am not panicking too much about colonial holdings (thanks) and will deal with them at my leisure. I may however create an Afrika Corps from the remnants of my UK invasion force and stomp South Africa. I think I need to now concentrate on the Soviets and deal with the rest after they are (hopefully) defeated.

 

[mosin_nagant]

Impressive!

 

[Waddy74]

Are any of the saved files still around by chance? I went to the site for them and none are there anymore. Have really enjoyed trying out HoI 3 with this AAR and other videos.

 

[21oliver]

Nah sorry I dont have any of that stuff. I may get back to playing again i'll try and cook up something.

 

[21oliver]

I actually found some saved game files, didnt know i had. What are you looking for?

 

[Waddy74]

Any of the files would be fine just to compare. One of my questions is how much convoy do I first put into production. I have no idea how much I would need.

 

[21oliver]

How many convoys typically depend on which nation. For Germany it depends on how much trade you have going when the war starts. Remember you still need convoys just to supply your own troops in cases where you conquer something across the sea / ocean. I typically as Germany stockpile everything prior to war so i can cancel all trades, and i still like to have 2-300 convoys because the UK will sink them quickly once war starts. I started a new thread with all the saved games i have still...

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/saved-games.911745/

 

[Waddy74]

Thank you so much for the files. I was needing the jan 1st 1938 file to compare with. I was almost similar just didn't know much convoys and militia. I have not fought past french/polish wars to have any use of militia. Eager to get back at it. Thanks again.

 

[21oliver]

I typically use Militia instead of Garrison troops, as Garrison troops. They are cheaper and more mobile.