I'm not having fun

[LiberiusX]

Alright, I figure I will post an update.

I started an Italy campaign and it's been a lot of fun so far. I proceeded to invade Yugoslavia, then Bulgaria, and then Greece. I moved to attack Romania.

I thought I would leave Turkey be, and instead invade Republican Spain. But then, the United States joined the Allies in April 1940... I guess I was the cause of this?

Now I'm left with a problem. Germany called me in, so now I'm at War with the Allies. Germany didn't bother invading Norway, and the Soviets have a ton of divisions on the German border. TBH I think the Axis is screwed this go around.

Should I invade Spain? Strategically, it might stretch me out a bit too much and give the Allies a beachhead into Western Europe. Any tips on preparing for the Allied onslaught?

 

[ErwinRommel7Pzr]

Should I invade Spain?

Have you taken Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, and Egypt? I say do your best to keep the Allies out of the Mediterranean, keep your navy strong, and wait for the allies to try a premature landing.

 

[Kovax]

Spain is a lot of coast to defend for little benefit. If you don't urgently need them in the Axis for some sort of naval base reason, you're probably better off leaving them alone, since they're highly unlikely to join the Allies, and the Allies can't attack them to get an easy beachhead.

 

[pontifex_medius]

I started out with Italy too, it's an excellent choice for a first game IMO. You should focus on enclosing the Mediterranean when fighting the allies. Don't worry about Spain, Gibraltar is what you need to take on the Iberian peninsula. Also, you should push the allies out of Suez. One of the main threats for Italy is subs decimating your convoys, as well as the royal navy. Capturing Gibraltar and Suez helps tremendously, and makes it easier to take control of North Africa and the Middle East. Once you've sealed the Mediterranean you can protect Italy itself with just your fleet and your bombers, enabling you to use your armies on the offence rather than having to tie them up in Italy.

 

[nicky43]

The game can be a bit overwhelming as it is more of a WWII simulator than a game and it's actually a fairly good simulator considering it wants to be a game. One recommendation I would strongly make to the designers would be to provide the ability to turn on or off various aspects of the game to remove certain features and all the management and considerations required to use them effectively.

For Example:
Spies could be turned on or off
Politics could be given defaults if turned off.
Trade can be turned off and resources boosted for the smaller countries that can't survive without it.
Convoys could be turned off.

These are all very important and great features of the game but for some people looking for a lighter version turning some things on and off is a great solution.

I love the Unit Organization concept but it really takes a full time job to manage all that and a lot of paperwork to keep it straight.

When you think about it, an HOI player is actually having to consider and perform almost all of the functions of Division leaders, Chief of the Army, Chief of the Navy, Chief of the Air Corps, the overall battle commanding general, and the President, Prime Minister, or Furur of their country. It clearly is a simulator more than a game.

But there is no game more complete in providing a game of battle that considers just about every single possible aspect of countries at war. It's really an outstanding and an amazing piece of work.

 

[Paglia]

Alright, I figure I will post an update.

I started an Italy campaign and it's been a lot of fun so far. I proceeded to invade Yugoslavia, then Bulgaria, and then Greece. I moved to attack Romania.

I thought I would leave Turkey be, and instead invade Republican Spain. But then, the United States joined the Allies in April 1940... I guess I was the cause of this?

Now I'm left with a problem. Germany called me in, so now I'm at War with the Allies. Germany didn't bother invading Norway, and the Soviets have a ton of divisions on the German border. TBH I think the Axis is screwed this go around.

Should I invade Spain? Strategically, it might stretch me out a bit too much and give the Allies a beachhead into Western Europe. Any tips on preparing for the Allied onslaught?

Interesting update.
Keep on !

 

[Solfall]

You can start with a minor country just fine. You just need to have a goal, a burning desire. Defending ones homeland could be such a thing.

 

[SirArthur]

If you fear a spanish attack, then, by all means, attack Spain. If not, just leave them alone and go for Gi

The game can be a bit overwhelming as it is more of a WWII simulator than a game and it's actually a fairly good simulator considering it wants to be a game. One recommendation I would strongly make to the designers would be to provide the ability to turn on or off various aspects of the game to remove certain features and all the management and considerations required to use them effectively.

For Example:
Spies could be turned on or off
Politics could be given defaults if turned off.
Trade can be turned off and resources boosted for the smaller countries that can't survive without it.
Convoys could be turned off.

You can automate all of that. I guess you want to really deactivate it and not automate it. In most cases (e.g. spys) or politics you only have to invest very small amounts of your playtime to get a better result compared to AI.
Compared to other games of the same engine era (like EU3 or Victoria II), HoI3 is not so difficult in managing these things. If I think back to the Eu3-diplomacy things, you could manage half your gametime to get game-breaking diplomacy results or prevent an alliance-domino-effect resulting in a world war. HoI3 is very straight forward when it comes to diplomacy. You get all kinds of nice effects if you stay on a historic route, but of course, you can change it as a player.
Same goes for trade. I played Victoria II and the economy is really streamlined and simplified for this game. Else you could loose the war, because you run out of rare materials, you propaply never heard of, but you need for certain units.

It is already quite an arcade game (minus the combat, that is the complexity of HoI3), I feel anything more arcade in the field of trade or politics would damage the trademark.

I for instance play these games because I want complexity and not some Total War headbanging.

 

[LiberiusX]

So much for even considering an attack on Spain. I had to DoW Belgium since Germany wouldn't, and then turn my energies to the Medi/Africa Campaign. UK brought 3 carrier groups into the Medi, and my battleship fleet and 2 cruiser fleets are managing, but not by much.

I managed to bring 2 divisions with some armor to Libya. I also managed to take Malta from the UK. My current goal is to seize the Suez. Until Germany eliminates France, I won't be able to deploy many naval units to the West Medi, due to Allied bombers. Once that is complete, I'll use my, currently resting, marines for an attack on Gibraltar.

How big of a threat are the Allied bases in the Levant and Cyprus?

 

[SirArthur]

How big of a threat are the Allied bases in the Levant and Cyprus?

Just get Suez Canal and Gibraltar. From this point onward, no enemy can move his ships or convoys into the mediterraine.

 

[markkur]

Just be cautious regarding the remaining bases.

I found the Brits still could have huge fleets present and on patrol, even with less than 1 lvl-10 port available for use. (5,2,2) To make things worse for me there was a lag with the French fleets before they appeared. All too soon I tired to land and had great difficulty avoiding contact with one or the other. Which was made worse by the smaller convoy hunters. i.e. I'd bump into them and before I knew it, the larger enemy fleets had a good chance to engage.

Hope you have better luck than I did.

 

[pontifex_medius]

How big of a threat are the Allied bases in the Levant and Cyprus?

Cyprus is fairly important because you may deploy aircraft there to bombard any fleet stationed in the Levant and Israel. However, if you can't land there safely, there's no need to risk it. As mentioned, Gibraltar and Suez is where it's at.

 

[LiberiusX]

I have 3 Naval Bomber wings, and none of them seem to be doing serious damage to British or French Fleets. My land based interceptors do well against their CAGs, but the naval war in the Medi has reached stalemate. The British are outgunned, but my slower ships can't catch their carriers. As I said, my naval bombers don't seem to be having much impact either. Am I doing something wrong?

The way I've been using them: When one of my interceptor patrols locates their fleet, I deploy my NAV on a Naval Strike mission. The damage tot heir fleet seems to be minimal. The only noticeable impact is my interceptors have drained most of the organization from their CAGs.

 

[pontifex_medius]

I have 3 Naval Bomber wings, and none of them seem to be doing serious damage to British or French Fleets. My land based interceptors do well against their CAGs, but the naval war in the Medi has reached stalemate. The British are outgunned, but my slower ships can't catch their carriers. As I said, my naval bombers don't seem to be having much impact either. Am I doing something wrong?

The way I've been using them: When one of my interceptor patrols locates their fleet, I deploy my NAV on a Naval Strike mission. The damage tot heir fleet seems to be minimal. The only noticeable impact is my interceptors have drained most of the organization from their CAGs.

I take it your technology isn't quite sufficient yet. Damage dealt is one thing, but your bombers need to be able to locate the ships - for which you need surface detection techs. Until your tech is better, naval bombers work better as support in naval battles, and for bombing fleets in ports.

 

[Paglia]

Try to engage their CVs with fleet and send NAV in at the same time
A suggested by Pontifex, upgrade your techs, notably spotting ones

 

[LiberiusX]

Thanks!

 

[LiberiusX]

Spain is a lot of coast to defend for little benefit. If you don't urgently need them in the Axis for some sort of naval base reason, you're probably better off leaving them alone, since they're highly unlikely to join the Allies, and the Allies can't attack them to get an easy beachhead.

Another update: I made a final push for the Suez and took it, only to be driven back by 3 Royal and US Marine divisions. My armor arrived and counter attacked. Just after this, Germany finished off France. I relocated 3 mountain divisions and an armored division to Vichy Syria. I used these to round up the British in Tel Aviv and deployed the armor to Baghdad with air support. After puppeting Iraq, I finished off Cyprus and used my marines to seize Gibraltar. About this time, I decided to blitz and puppet Turkey as I want to have a front in the Caucasus for easy access to the oil when the Germans launch Barbarossa.

Just after this, the British launched Operation Torch and took Casablanca. The reason I quoted Kovax is because Republican Spain is allowing the British and the US to have military access. I'm reconsidering an invasion of Spain to make her a puppet. I don't really see any downside now, as the UK and US are using Spain's ports anyway.

Thoughts?

 

[pontifex_medius]

Just after this, the British launched Operation Torch and took Casablanca. The reason I quoted Kovax is because Republican Spain is allowing the British and the US to have military access. I'm reconsidering an invasion of Spain to make her a puppet. I don't really see any downside now, as the UK and US are using Spain's ports anyway.

Thoughts?

It'll be easier to just push the allies out of North Africa than to invade Spain. Because of the low infrastructure there, the allies won't be able to keep that many forces in Morocco without suffering supply penalties. With enough forces, you would have a good chance to annihilate those troops. You should keep a fleet and some naval bombers at Gibraltar to intercept any further landing attempts. Remember that even if you conquer/occupy/puppet Spain, you would then be even more exposed to an allied invasion of the Iberian peninsula, and would have to disperse your forces more to contain the area.

 

[marxianTJ]

I'd still avoid Spain, because that's active fighting that could spill over into France, and also make Axis AI nations do wacky things.

As long as you control Gibraltar (they can't invade you through Spanish territory) and the Suez, they can't put any new units into the med, and the only way they could be transported is via whatever transports may be in the med already as of your capture of suez + gibraltar. Depending on the state of your fleet it may be possible to blockade them in. They also won't be able to convoy supplies from Spain to Africa - so their supply lines should still be awful.

Now, IRL of course, if they were using troop transports or supply transports out of Spain that would be an act of war lol so you'd have causi beli! lol.

 

[LiberiusX]

I'm having some trouble understanding logistics. I cant direct a convoy to Gibraltar for some reason. (I have convoys available). Also, I can't field an effective force in Vichy North Africa to stop the British because my forces run out of supplies so quickly.

I've tried using my transport planes to skip some supplies ahead, but it is inadequate. I don't see a way to send convoys to the Vichy ports. Any tips?