Italy strategy?

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Anyone has any tips of playing Italy (besides the one in FAQ?) in CORE 0.9?

I plan to expand my empire only after Vichy is set up, so I don't have to face the allied too soon.

My IC is so low that I think I can hardly research anything. I plan to ignore armor altogether, relying on infantry and mech.

 

[Permanganate]

Anyone has any tips of playing Italy (besides the one in FAQ?) in CORE 0.9?

I plan to expand my empire only after Vichy is set up, so I don't have to face the allied too soon.

My IC is so low that I think I can hardly research anything. I plan to ignore armor altogether, relying on infantry and mech.

Generally if you wait for the war you've waited too long. A competent Italy player should have little problem taking out Greece and Albania in 1936, followed by a buildup on the French border (including forts!) and on both Libyan borders. When ENG DoWs you for going after some country in its sphere of influence, like either Spain, grab Gibraltar, grab Egypt & Sudan as quickly as possible (Egypt has a 95% chance of joining the Allies when you approach, no need to waste a DoW) and keep going for Ethiopia so your troops there aren't overwhelmed. You'll need several fast divisions, like tankettes, so you can capture low-infra provinces in Africa; send one in, then redeploy it out again. French Tunisia and Algeria isn't that urgent; the French don't like attacking so you can just mask them while you deal with the British in the Middle East.

Eventually, you'll have no opposition left inside the Med but half the French fleet and a perhaps a small collection of British ships; you can deal with it. Just make sure you keep an eye on the French land forces; if they ever attempt to attack, increase your garrisons there immediately.

Unfortunately this war will never end; CORE's England Sues Italy for Peace event has been commented out in recent versions. However, since you can give Portugal, Belgium, and the whole Middle East a series of DoWs for rubber and oil, you'll get enough rubber and oil for a decent economy. A few troops on the beaches and some level-4 coastal forts will deal with all problems. Eventually you might like to try taking out France with land forces, but they're probably quite string by this point; you might want to wait for Germany.

With time, you could even keep going through the Middle East and take India. It's a lot more beaches to defend, and if you ever end up in a war with the Soviets it'll get ugly fast, but it's doable. Your only problem is likely to be manpower; try to conserve it. Your troops cannot be used like sledgehammers, or you won't have any after a while. A useful event to get more manpower is the Fall of Libya one; if you left the Allies capture Tripoli, Tobruk, and Sirt, you get 400 manpower, 5 IC, and lose the low-infra Libyan provinces which were always useless anyway. Just get your tankettes to cap them back.

 

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isn't Greece is in SOI as well? Last time I try dow Bulgaria after Yugoslavia, and I get dowed so I assume they are. But how are you going to maintain the convoy to ethopia when the allied control the canal? I plan to take Egypt, Suez to create a land link to Ethopia.

Taking Grece early also means I wont get the event that make them my national province I think?

Of cuz I will have soem troops ready in Spain (has access) to take Gibraltar

 

[unmerged(30479)]

You don't need a land link to Ethiopia, you just need to control the Suez channel so your convoys can get trough. But after you take Suez, kicking the English out of the Med is easy business
Don't atack Greece before the start of the war, rather invade Yugoslavia and Albania, that should somewhat improve your IC. Just ignore those events about national provinces for Albania and Greece, they aren't worth trouble since the IC difference isn't that big.

 

[Permanganate]

isn't Greece is in SOI as well? Last time I try dow Bulgaria after Yugoslavia, and I get dowed so I assume they are.

Greece is not in the British SoI until Britain guarantees their independence in mid-1939. There's no need for it to survive that long.

But how are you going to maintain the convoy to ethopia when the allied control the canal? I plan to take Egypt, Suez to create a land link to Ethopia.

Yes, you should get a land link. I guess my previous message about this was unclear ("...keep going for Ethiopia so your troops there aren't overwhelmed. You'll need several fast divisions, like tankettes...").

Taking Grece early also means I wont get the event that make them my national province I think?

You must be in the Axis, not at war with the USA, and Germany must have taken Paris to have that event, and I generally like to see what I can do on my own. Anyway, the event's useful but not brilliant.

Of cuz I will have soem troops ready in Spain (has access) to take Gibraltar

AI Britain will usually strip Gibraltar of troops to put somewhere else, and it doesn't put any ships there until the British Isles are captured. Check before the DoW if they have a garrison there; if not, you can just drop off one infantry from a sea transport, with a small covering fleet to delay or destroy any attackers.

You don't need a land link to Ethiopia, you just need to control the Suez channel so your convoys can get trough.

Not recommended. Convoys are dead meat in 1.06c and the ENG/AST/NZL navies will have ships floating around in the Red Sea trying to get through the Canal for months after you capture it. If you run sea convoys through there you'll probably lose them. Use land units to get a land connection down there - it's only one province after you annex Egypt.

Don't atack Greece before the start of the war, rather invade Yugoslavia and Albania, that should somewhat improve your IC.

Greece is unprotected and its three VPs are all coastal provinces with beaches. It's a five day annex for a nice chunk of IC. When I'm Italy it never survives into 1937.

 

[Pro_Consul]

To clarify, when they say "get a land connection to Ethiopia" for supplies, they don't mean a land connection all the way from Italy. They mean convoy supplies to the African coast and get a land connection from there through Egypt to Ethiopia. That way you don't have to run a convoy through the Red Sea, which, as was mentioned, will be a bottleneck for Allied fleets for a long time after you close the Suez canal to them.

Also, grab Valetta (Malta) if you see it ungarrisoned. It makes a great base for tac and naval bombers to dominate the passage between Italy and N. Africa, and to support your troops in Cyrenaica. For example, you can run your convoys through the seazones it borders and on to N. Africa; then when you see the convoy take losses you can scramble your naval bombers on Valetta to whichever seazone is being raided and hammer the enemy fleet there. That makes for a great tripwire system by which to whittle down the Allied fleet without risking your own ships. Taking Valetta also denies the Allies a port to retreat to once you close the Med to them and start mopping up their trapped ships. And of course it is a VP prov, so is worth taking in and of itself.

 

[Marcus]

Handy tip: since about 60% of Italy's budget is being eaten up due to Supply, try to research as many supply-reducing techs as possible, you might scrape out that extra 25 IC that always comes in handy. Don't forget Industrial techs and appoint the Industrial guy in Ethiopia and build more IC there, voila another 15 IC. I'm in 1941 right now with 250 IC (and I'm running my economy into the ground, but that's another issue).

 

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First thing to do is DOW Yugoslavia. If you're Lucky and use your navy, you can win in few month.
After Yugo (and its oil), you can try for Bulgaria or Hungary. If you are very fast, you can annex the country and no one will DOW you. Now you have a better IC...........

If you wait the war, you can stay alll alone and try other little conutries: Greece or Romania (oil) and even new colonial war (Portugal has a little rubber down in Mozambique).
If you go with Germany, French oil will be very useful and Malta and Corse are important for you........
If you go aganist Germany, you can become big and powerful. German AI is not very good defending its contry from the South.

During these holidays, I played Italy. I dowed Yugo and after Hungary. I wasn't enough fast and so Germany DOWed me. I got military acces from Swiss and Austria and occupied soutther Germany. I DOWed Austria and annexed. German AI was very bad (tried a naval landing in Split and loose there some 25 divs and I'm winning the war ) and I'm winning the war.......

 

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I just DOW Vichy France and get really no opposition other than militia in Africa. I annex the 2 Vichy puppet too and I create a land connection to Africa. I am about to DOW Soviet to help Germany from 2 sides (From Romania and Turkey)

Germany manage to capture the English Isle too with my help. My supply convoy dont get attacked. (I put 600 transport in convoy, supply 1000s of supply, then cancel it)

 

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My personal favourite is to withdraw from Ethiopia and make peace with them. If they choose not to then withdraw anyway and als o withdraw from North Africa.

Then focus your great armies in Europe. Why? Simple really, Africa has none or little IC high provinces. That and stretching yourself is imo not a good strategy. Better to focus your forces nearer to home and take out high IC nations to begin with.

Start as early as you can gather your colonial forces in country. Then if war waits till 39 attack the Eastern European countries. Greece is good, but you must use OAS's - optimal annexing strategies. That get your troops to the VP provs ASAP, to avoid SOIs. If you trigger one, make sure that your home provs are defended well and hope!

Otherwise, good luck and may the craftiest player win.

ORDER of CONQUEST (OoC): Albania, Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Hungary, France, Spain, then see how the situ develops.

 

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My personal favourite is to withdraw from Ethiopia and make peace with them. If they choose not to then withdraw anyway and als o withdraw from North Africa.

Why on earth would you do that?

Ethopia can be taken and then held from the British with the available 9 Colonial Militia and 2 Regular Infantry divisions. They cant possibly make much of a difference in Europe, why not leave them in Ethopia where you can at least get a few years of decent Iron and Coal from them before the British close the tap at the Suez. Usually I can even expand into Sudan and Kenya with those troops.

Meanwhile for a pretty meager investment of manpower in Libya, a couple of AT Armoured Divisions and some brigaded Motorized Divisions, you can easily sweep into and take Egypt. thereby turning the tap back on for the Iron and Coal in Ethopia as well as garnering the resources from the Middle East and Egypt. Then you can just return your units back to Europe if you really want to, though there is little point.

You've already taken Yugoslavia and Greece. Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary are German, Germany conquers France quickly and without effort. Again, why on earth do you need your units in Europe? No its time to finish up the conquest of Africa, easy enough, literally more the time involved in walking divisions over provinces then any combat, and then push on into Iraq (for oil). Now is where you finally make your decision. How much help is Germany going to need to hold off Russia? If you can spare it id recommand pushing through Persia. Again the time involved in moving across all those mountains being more a barrier then any opposition. Finally you are ready to push into India. But dont forget Russia all this time. If Russia cracks Germany (and they will without your help), youll lose all your balkan possessions before you can economically hold them off of the boot of Italy. Id recommend Miltary Access through Turkey and then snagging Baku and pushing up that way rather then trusting the computer to make use of Expeditionary Forces.

Anywas back on topic, again, why on earth would you abandon Africa?

 

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Etiopia has some Iron and Coal Italy needs.You must take Ethiopia!

If you annex Yugoslavia or Greece, you can choose to not defend Etiopia when the war breaks on against UK.

Perhaps tha major question with Italy is:
should I join Germany? If yes, when?

 

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Why on earth would you do that?

Ethopia can be taken and then held from the British with the available 9 Colonial Militia and 2 Regular Infantry divisions. They cant possibly make much of a difference in Europe, why not leave them in Ethopia where you can at least get a few years of decent Iron and Coal from them before the British close the tap at the Suez. Usually I can even expand into Sudan and Kenya with those troops.

Meanwhile for a pretty meager investment of manpower in Libya, a couple of AT Armoured Divisions and some brigaded Motorized Divisions, you can easily sweep into and take Egypt. thereby turning the tap back on for the Iron and Coal in Ethopia as well as garnering the resources from the Middle East and Egypt. Then you can just return your units back to Europe if you really want to, though there is little point.

You've already taken Yugoslavia and Greece. Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary are German, Germany conquers France quickly and without effort. Again, why on earth do you need your units in Europe? No its time to finish up the conquest of Africa, easy enough, literally more the time involved in walking divisions over provinces then any combat, and then push on into Iraq (for oil). Now is where you finally make your decision. How much help is Germany going to need to hold off Russia? If you can spare it id recommand pushing through Persia. Again the time involved in moving across all those mountains being more a barrier then any opposition. Finally you are ready to push into India. But dont forget Russia all this time. If Russia cracks Germany (and they will without your help), youll lose all your balkan possessions before you can economically hold them off of the boot of Italy. Id recommend Miltary Access through Turkey and then snagging Baku and pushing up that way rather then trusting the computer to make use of Expeditionary Forces.

Anywas back on topic, again, why on earth would you abandon Africa?

Well thats all well and good, but if you happen to trigger a SoI and the allies suddenly DOW you, those troops are as good a screwed. You cant get them back and you cant you cant break through the allies in Eygpt. At least thats what Ive found. What version do you play and on what difficulty?

 

[Permanganate]

Well thats all well and good, but if you happen to trigger a SoI and the allies suddenly DOW you, those troops are as good a screwed. You cant get them back and you cant you cant break through the allies in Eygpt. At least thats what Ive found. What version do you play and on what difficulty?

CORE Very Hard/Furious. Egypt is a pushover as long as you don't let the AI build up; take as much infantry as possible (at least 12-18 divisions) and just crush everything between you and the Suez Canal. The Brits generally don't have much in your way and the Egyptian Army's much worse than yours. You only need to take three provinces to annex, and then it's a short march to Ethiopia.