Is this the fastest road to Narvik ?

[Tisifoni12]

I have invaded Norway several times now. I know the historical plan involved several landings. In HOI4 this requires protection of the invasion convoys through three sea zones. Historically the invasion of Norway proved quite costly to the German Navy and I'm not clear whether you need to protect the convoy routes throughout the preparation period or just through the operation. If the latter it makes sense that you can plan sea invasions that you can't do. If a naval invasion isn't practicable due to distance, lack of shipping, etc. you get alerted to this. It probably also helps to have done the right techs (decryption) and to be lucky (if the British Home fleet turns up . . . ).

So, my invasions have always started with a landing near Oslo, or maybe paratroops dropping on Kristiansand, then more divisions get landed and the army pushes North toward Bergen and Narvik, and West into Vestfold. The push North inevitably gets bogged down, even if I send say 4 or 5 mountain divisions that way.

This time I included two divisions of PzGren, teaming them with mountain troops. Okay it wasn't totally straightforward, there's a choke point just east of Bergen where Norwegians want to come south, while the Germans want to go North. Stop attacking, if there's more than one division, the 'excess' Norwegian divisions will go south. Then renew the attack, use the mountain troops to push the blocking division to the side and push through with the PzGren.

 

[Louella]

I'm not clear whether you need to protect the convoy routes throughout the preparation period or just through the operation

you need to get sea superiority at the point at which the operation is launched.

That is, if you plan to invade the Japanese islands from China, you can move the armies to the embarkation ports, and plan out the invasion, without having any of your navy in the area. Then, when it is ready, when it has finished planning, you need to have sea superiority before you can launch the invasion.

 

[Meglok]

I have invaded Norway several times now. I know the historical plan involved several landings. In HOI4 this requires protection of the invasion convoys through three sea zones. Historically the invasion of Norway proved quite costly to the German Navy and I'm not clear whether you need to protect the convoy routes throughout the preparation period or just through the operation. If the latter it makes sense that you can plan sea invasions that you can't do. If a naval invasion isn't practicable due to distance, lack of shipping, etc. you get alerted to this. It probably also helps to have done the right techs (decryption) and to be lucky (if the British Home fleet turns up . . . ).

So, my invasions have always started with a landing near Oslo, or maybe paratroops dropping on Kristiansand, then more divisions get landed and the army pushes North toward Bergen and Narvik, and West into Vestfold. The push North inevitably gets bogged down, even if I send say 4 or 5 mountain divisions that way.

This time I included two divisions of PzGren, teaming them with mountain troops. Okay it wasn't totally straightforward, there's a choke point just east of Bergen where Norwegians want to come south, while the Germans want to go North. Stop attacking, if there's more than one division, the 'excess' Norwegian divisions will go south. Then renew the attack, use the mountain troops to push the blocking division to the side and push through with the PzGren.

You only need naval parity/superiority for the one second you launch. You can even launch the orders without it, run ships in the zone, and hope the UK has it's fleet patrolling several zones so you launch the second when it rotates out of the region.

The ai will usually only cover the zone with one fleet covering at least 2 zones. In MP a player will have several smaller fleets so it is always covered.

I usually don't bother with invading Narvik, just land around Oslo and shove. If I am lucky the UK will fight up there so I can tie up all her spare divisions there rather than in NW Europe or invading Wilhelmshaven every 7 days.

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[Dalwin]

I am always a bit surprised that I do not see the UK try to defend at least the northern part of the country. The terrain is very favorable to defense and chance of getting cutoff is minimal. The resources are mostly in the extreme north as well.

 

[jamesd]

This may not be the fastest road to Narvik, but its safer.

After starting the war, take the Around Maginot Focus and after taking Poland force France to capitulate, taking out the majority of Allied divisions. Then take Denmark, preventing the RN from entering, or leaving, the Baltic Sea zone. Engage and defeat any RN & other Allied ships locked in the Baltic using Search & Destroy missions. Plan your landings in that part of Norway where the RN can't reach so that you only have to worry about Norwegian ships at Oslo, which are no threat to even the starting Kreigsmarine. After repairing any damage from operations to clear the Baltic, set your fleets to convoy escort in the Baltic. Declare war, land your troops, seize a port and push overland. Cross your fingers and hope Britain lands a few divisions to help so that you can kill them along with the Norwegians.

There is no strategic value to Norway and no hurry to take it - the Weserubung Focus gives 2 years to declare war, not that it should take more than a couple of months to clear any enemy ships trapped in the Baltic, or at least reduce them to an annoyance.

 

[Meglok]

This may not be the fastest road to Narvik, but its safer.

After starting the war, take the Around Maginot Focus and after taking Poland force France to capitulate, taking out the majority of Allied divisions. Then take Denmark, preventing the RN from entering, or leaving, the Baltic Sea zone. Engage and defeat any RN & other Allied ships locked in the Baltic using Search & Destroy missions. Plan your landings in that part of Norway where the RN can't reach so that you only have to worry about Norwegian ships at Oslo, which are no threat to even the starting Kreigsmarine. After repairing any damage from operations to clear the Baltic, set your fleets to convoy escort in the Baltic. Declare war, land your troops, seize a port and push overland. Cross your fingers and hope Britain lands a few divisions to help so that you can kill them along with the Norwegians.

There is no strategic value to Norway and no hurry to take it - the Weserubung Focus gives 2 years to declare war, not that it should take more than a couple of months to clear any enemy ships trapped in the Baltic, or at least reduce them to an annoyance.

I now am fabricating on Denmark immediately after Danzig. That way I can close the Baltic asap. The ai is ridiculous with it's constant suicidal invasions, best to limit them to Wilhelmshaven so the UK and France don't bleed off their entire armies before the Battle of France. You can literally entice the ai to land, advance, and then surround them as any times as you wish until the AI runs out of troops.

I really really really hope @SteelVolt is able to get the ai to do a force check or something to prevent these landings in 1.4. You can have every port covered and the ai will still attempt to invade. The ai is just pissing away it's divisions in forlorn hopes.


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[Aodhan_]

I now am fabricating on Denmark immediately after Danzig. That way I can close the Baltic asap. The ai is ridiculous with it's constant suicidal invasions, best to limit them to Wilhelmshaven so the UK and France don't bleed off their entire armies before the Battle of France. You can literally entice the ai to land, advance, and then surround them as any times as you wish until the AI runs out of troops.

I really really really hope @SteelVolt is able to get the ai to do a force check or something to prevent these landings in 1.4. You can have every port covered and the ai will still attempt to invade. The ai is just pissing away it's divisions in forlorn hopes.


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I would love to see landing craft back in game that way if the AI hasn't it researched it can only land at ports, limiting the amount of places it can naval invade.

As for the invasion of Norway I don't unless I have too, I don't consider it worth the trouble. I hope they add heavy water in game making places like Norway more worth invading.

 

[Tisifoni12]

I would love to see landing craft back in game that way if the AI hasn't it researched it can only land at ports, limiting the amount of places it can naval invade.

I've posted elsewhere about re-working the naval invasion capability, suggesting:

Level 1 invasion only at undefended coastline; vehicles and artillery only at ports, e.g. WW1 type landing capability.
Level 2 invasion by up to 10 divisions using landing craft, but limited supply capability unless/until a port is secured, e.g. Japanese Daihatsu landing craft, Higgins boats, etc.
Level 3 invasion by up to 10 divisions using landing craft with increased/improved supply capability and for landing additional troops once the beachhead is secured (for example the British 'Mulberry' ports).

 

[jamesd]

I now am fabricating on Denmark immediately after Danzig. That way I can close the Baltic asap. The ai is ridiculous with it's constant suicidal invasions, best to limit them to Wilhelmshaven so the UK and France don't bleed off their entire armies before the Battle of France. You can literally entice the ai to land, advance, and then surround them as any times as you wish until the AI runs out of troops.

I really really really hope @SteelVolt is able to get the ai to do a force check or something to prevent these landings in 1.4. You can have every port covered and the ai will still attempt to invade. The ai is just pissing away it's divisions in forlorn hopes.


Add Aluminum in Asia

Playing as Germany I found the 28 days for Around Maginot allows enough time to conquer Poland and move troops over to the Low Countries border. Then its only 2-3 weeks to take France. I'm going to take the Weserubung Focus anyway for the 50% transport research bonus so I don't waste time & PP fabricating a separate claim on Denmark - I'll start fabricating against Lithuania on the day I'm at war with the Allies and once that's over pick another country. Taking France so quickly means they usually only have time for 1 invasion which isn't hard to beat back, and while annoying the British invasions prior to taking Denmark aren't difficult to defeat. In my experience the AI picks 1 region and keeps trying to invade there, so it doesn't make much difference if the Brits are coming from the North or Baltic Seas.

Agreed on the need to improve the landing AI - limiting the landing techs to say +5 divisions at each level would make them more realistic in size, but I don't know if that will stop the AI making bad decisions.