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Sounds great, can't wait to read about it! War can only be impending for so longRensslaer said:
You've made some smart preparations, but always conscientious, "what will the neighbors think?" It'll be interesting to see how that type of PR-mindfulness handicapped you when the bullets start flying.
ahhhhh the build up to this war is killing me! DX< Uncle Joe get off your commie butt and invade poland! o Great AAR Btw, i tried doing this but i always get to 39', lose patience, and invade Poland with my PANZERS!!!
The HPP mod has a number of recurring events that happen to you or your worldly neighbors. I’m pretty sure this is an HPP event, but I can’t be sure it’s not SF since I haven’t played a lot of SF by itself. The assassination attempt against an opposition leader either causes Dissent, or it causes a loss of Money (to handle the uproar quietly), and turmoil that hurts your party. I’m pretty settled in, as a Party, right now – there’s no sense in removing the party in power, and so this isn’t something I like. But I can afford to lose a little money right now, so I don’t worry about it so much.
On the other hand, if I had chosen to take the Dissent, it wouldn’t have been as bad is it would be in Vanilla HOI 3 or in SF, because in HPP Dissent is an increased chance of revolt, not something that hurts your IC. A revolt is easily put down during peacetime, so I’d rather have the risk of revolt than anything that might hurt my IC.
Another thing I want to note, before we go on, is that I’ve reached a unique position. I’ve been “IC whoring” so extensively that my economy is now almost “too strong,” if you can believe it. I’m starting to have resource issues – my industry uses more from my stockpiles than is coming in from my trades and production. In the past I could make up for this shortage by finding another trading partner – I have plenty of Money – but the World Market seems to be getting tighter and tighter. No one will trade with me, perhaps because as Threat rises worldwide, countries start looking to their own needs for reserves.
So I’m showing you something I never expected. You know about my “Production Reserve” – the construction projects which are almost done, but which I’m not finishing because I don’t want to increase Threat. Here’s an odd “Research Reserve” – a tech I don’t want yet! I’ve moved Industrial Production to the end of the line so that I don’t complete research. As soon as it comes up in the list, I’ll have increased IC, which is what I want, right? No. Too much stress on my Resource Stockpiles. It’s there when I need/want it, but I don’t want it sapping my Stockpiles right now. It’s probably only 3-5 more IC I’d gain, but that’s enough to cost a drain of 20 more Energy, and I’m already way out of balance in that resource.
As you can imagine, with things this tense with the Soviets, I’m still courting possible allies, such as Romania and Yugoslavia. I’m fairly confident of drawing Yugoslavia in, eventually, but not as certain of Romania. Romania would be the most useful, because they provide a second front against the Soviets – a distraction, and an opportunity.
There continues to be a gaggle of Soviet divisions milling around the territory formerly called Lithuania. The continued activity worries us, but no “sudden moves” seem to be evident, and the tensions settle down slightly as the time since the takeover of the Baltic States increases.
Much of our planned air war will concentrate on use of close air support bombers. An advance in techniques used by forward air controllers improves our ability to coordinate such attacks where they’re most needed.
Also helpful for our airwar, as well as for our intelligence gathering activities, will be our radar/intel stations. We continue to expand our network. Our stations in East Prussia and Oppeln are already strong enough to get the information we need, and the one at Wilhelmshaven covers the North Sea approaches to our coast as well as the Baltic Sea exits. We have no need to expand them further. But Radar/Intel is useful for much more than just watching enemy units. Because we’ve been researching the Radio Intercept techs, we get bonuses for interception of air missions as well (in reality, this is the more obvious use of radar – HOI 3 expands it into a full Intel game). We place a Radar Station at Marienburg (next to Danzig) as a fallback station if the forward station falls to the Soviets. It’s going to be pretty good strength too. But we also begin placing radars at strategic industry centers – level 1’s if there’s an isolated industrial city (not a lot of those), and level 2 or 3 (eventually) centrally located between clusters of industrial cities. A level 2 station in Chemnitz, for instance, also covers Dresden and Leipzig and other nearby potential targets.
During the month of January, these were our research achievements. The Heavy AA is a big deal for us, because to shield our industry from strategic bombing from either the Allies or Soviets (who do have strat bombers, we've confirmed -- even from startup I think), or both, we've relied heavily on massed AA barrages at our industrial centers. Slan, or someone has done a study on this it seems, and I'll allow him to chime in on it, though I didn't see it until after this game. The agriculture, of course, boosts our manpower, which is also a big deal. We've been "researching" ahead of time on Agriculture, as with other critical industrial techs. Germany, of course, can afford to do this, even if it is somewhat wasteful in points.
We've been continuously researching aircraft techs, and so the single-engine airframe is part of this series. Durability for our fighters and light bombers is welcome. And, of course, the battlecruiser techs. I'm not focusing alot on naval power, but if Germany is going to have the ability to commerce raid, aside from submarines, I'd like to have some ability. It's also expected of a great power to have some navy. This is my concession to that.
At the end of January, 1941, these are my Production priorities. The battlecruiser, of course, seemed a logical choice. They take so long to build, so I figured I'd commit that 13 IC to naval uses now, because I might not have another chance later and we could always throw it back into Production Reserve if our need for immediate builds becomes more acute and immediate. We've just finished our garrison divisions, and I'm deploying them to protect Germany's eastern border (one in East Prussia, I think, and the rest on my border with Poland, which is my fallback defense line).
The two panzer divisions... Two medium panzers brigades, one mechanized, and one self-propelled artillery. This is a more-or-less ideal setup, in my personal opinion, as it provides a combined arms bonus, keeps the speed of the division up, and provides huge firepower and mutual internal protection (tanks for punch, mech for staying power). It's an expensive division, of course, even as reserves, and takes alot of manpower. It should be worth it if I need it one day. If the Soviets invade, I will.
Diplomatically, it seemed a good idea to enact the Anti-Comintern Pact decision. This brings "allies" into our fold without any kind of binding agreement. I get to associate with the Japanese, and let them antagonize the Soviets, without having to agree to back up their aggression. It also highlights to the Allies who WE think our enemies are. A win-win. Gamewise, there's precious little effect -- nothing that harms our strategy, anyway.
The French are stubborn. We all knew that. But Soviet threat is increasing, and the UK is within 10 points of their Threat-to-Neutrality converging. That is very promising! If the Soviets invade Poland, even without an Allied guarantee, that might tip the Threat over the threshold and allow war with the Allies (I know experts are skeptical on this, gamewise -- this is from a role-playing perspective).
Our Engineer brigades are done! We deploy these into East Prussia, where we hope they will aid in slowing the Soviet juggernaut as it crosses the border. They go into our frontline border provinces, where we've also begun building forts. This is a strategy that could backfire, of course -- the Soviets could outflank us through Poland, take the forts, and then we'd have to fight through them ourselves. But my feeling is this...
My main goal is to hold the Soviet line in East Prussia while they sweep through Poland. Unless they turn their flank properly, this may/will expose parts of the Soviet advance to being outflanked by ourselves with our panzers in East Prussia and eastern Germany. We couldn't do this if our line in East Prussia didn't hold for long enough to allow this imbalance (bulging) along the front, so... It could all play into our hands. It is my belief that holding East Prussia as long as possible is a good plan, no matter what happens in the south.
I'm a Major Power. To be honest, I don't understand the whole "regional power" "major power" thing, so if Slan or TheBromgrev want to explain in more detail, they can be my guests. Obviously, it's helpful in some areas. The Supply Production advance is also helpful, as I need lots of supplies, and even use them to sell, and thereby keep up my Money balance.
In mid-February, I begin looking more in earnest at my OOB and overall command setup. Who's in command where, who SHOULD be in command, etc. Gen. Hoth has 3 skill but his specialties may not be what I need. I begin looking to see if there's someone else who might fit better there. I have two corps commands watching the direct border with the USSR in East Prussia. North and south. The southern command includes the counterattack forces. The northern one is just a holding force with artillery, engineers, garrisons, infantry, etc.
I think I ended up replacing Hoth with this Brand guy. Same skill, overall, but far more useful specialties for what I need. Defense, entrenchment. That's where 1st Korps is at! I also replaced von Witzleben, in the immediate superior command, with Gen. Dollman, who also has defensive and entrenchment specialties, not offensive skills.
You'll recall that in one of my recent updates -- probably December 1940 or so -- I achieved Infantry Doctrine 1943 (and I think I hit Tank Doctrine 1943 months before that). The Soviets are not far behind. They achieve these two (plus the operational one, which I think I've also hit) around the first of March. Combined Arms makes sense for them, rather than Blitzkrieg. Firepower Focus is a little bit of a surprise for me, as it is more in the direction of "quality over quantity" but the USSR can certainly do it, and Mechanized Wave certainly makes sense operationally -- they have the ability to mechanize, but they have huge numbers of troops. The USSR can afford both quality AND quantity. For now.
Here I add two paratroop divisions to our Production Queue. I already have JU-52 transports sitting in Munchen. Paratroopers will help us, once we go on the offense, or even during a counter attack. One last thing to note. I have horse-drawn Artillery Brigades in some units. For Infantry, that's fine -- they'll keep pace. But if I need artillery for mobile units, I either need to build Self-Propelled Artillery, or the HPP mod allows me to upgrade my Brigades to Artillery Battalions of truck-towed artillery, with much higher mobility. I begin upgrading some of my brigades.
Our medium tanks are being upgraded. So much the better for any advance in that area. And our radar! We've been hitting the radar hot and heavy. We will rely on radar, this Germany will, almost as much as I've been relying upon tanks and artillery. We've hit level 3, which means we can actually start researching radar guided missiles (air to ground, but air to air and surface to air are not far behind). This shows you how far we've advanced this tech, because we've been concentrating on it. By 1942 we should have these deployed, and perhaps SAMs by 1943.
A curious thing in comparing March's UK Threat-Neutrality to their February stance. My spies have been somewhat reduced in the USSR, and so my increase of their Threat is not as effective as it was previously. But their Threat doesn't seem to have gone up at all. Only the UK's Neutrality has gone down, and I'm not sure exactly why that is. They haven't done anything to prompt it, and neither have I. I suppose the UK may be intentionally lowering her own Neutrality, which is a good thing -- I hope -- for me. This would also explain why the UK's Neutrality is so much lower than France's, which remains high.
Those spies. The NKVD finally got into gear, it seems. I've had 10 or 8 spies in the USSR for a long time, increasing Threat. Now it's much reduced. This may also be a result of my own change in priorities -- not sending as many spies, preferring Research.
As we go into late spring, 1941, I begin to wonder if we're seeing the tide recede -- the Soviets losing interest in expansion -- or if this is simply the calm before the storm. Will the Soviets use this lull in tensions to prepare a massive invasion of Poland? Or even of Romania? What's their next step? What will the Allies do? Germany's future hinges upon all these considerations. Everything remains uncertain.
On the other hand, if I had chosen to take the Dissent, it wouldn’t have been as bad is it would be in Vanilla HOI 3 or in SF, because in HPP Dissent is an increased chance of revolt, not something that hurts your IC. A revolt is easily put down during peacetime, so I’d rather have the risk of revolt than anything that might hurt my IC.
Another thing I want to note, before we go on, is that I’ve reached a unique position. I’ve been “IC whoring” so extensively that my economy is now almost “too strong,” if you can believe it. I’m starting to have resource issues – my industry uses more from my stockpiles than is coming in from my trades and production. In the past I could make up for this shortage by finding another trading partner – I have plenty of Money – but the World Market seems to be getting tighter and tighter. No one will trade with me, perhaps because as Threat rises worldwide, countries start looking to their own needs for reserves.
So I’m showing you something I never expected. You know about my “Production Reserve” – the construction projects which are almost done, but which I’m not finishing because I don’t want to increase Threat. Here’s an odd “Research Reserve” – a tech I don’t want yet! I’ve moved Industrial Production to the end of the line so that I don’t complete research. As soon as it comes up in the list, I’ll have increased IC, which is what I want, right? No. Too much stress on my Resource Stockpiles. It’s there when I need/want it, but I don’t want it sapping my Stockpiles right now. It’s probably only 3-5 more IC I’d gain, but that’s enough to cost a drain of 20 more Energy, and I’m already way out of balance in that resource.
As you can imagine, with things this tense with the Soviets, I’m still courting possible allies, such as Romania and Yugoslavia. I’m fairly confident of drawing Yugoslavia in, eventually, but not as certain of Romania. Romania would be the most useful, because they provide a second front against the Soviets – a distraction, and an opportunity.
There continues to be a gaggle of Soviet divisions milling around the territory formerly called Lithuania. The continued activity worries us, but no “sudden moves” seem to be evident, and the tensions settle down slightly as the time since the takeover of the Baltic States increases.
Much of our planned air war will concentrate on use of close air support bombers. An advance in techniques used by forward air controllers improves our ability to coordinate such attacks where they’re most needed.
Also helpful for our airwar, as well as for our intelligence gathering activities, will be our radar/intel stations. We continue to expand our network. Our stations in East Prussia and Oppeln are already strong enough to get the information we need, and the one at Wilhelmshaven covers the North Sea approaches to our coast as well as the Baltic Sea exits. We have no need to expand them further. But Radar/Intel is useful for much more than just watching enemy units. Because we’ve been researching the Radio Intercept techs, we get bonuses for interception of air missions as well (in reality, this is the more obvious use of radar – HOI 3 expands it into a full Intel game). We place a Radar Station at Marienburg (next to Danzig) as a fallback station if the forward station falls to the Soviets. It’s going to be pretty good strength too. But we also begin placing radars at strategic industry centers – level 1’s if there’s an isolated industrial city (not a lot of those), and level 2 or 3 (eventually) centrally located between clusters of industrial cities. A level 2 station in Chemnitz, for instance, also covers Dresden and Leipzig and other nearby potential targets.
During the month of January, these were our research achievements. The Heavy AA is a big deal for us, because to shield our industry from strategic bombing from either the Allies or Soviets (who do have strat bombers, we've confirmed -- even from startup I think), or both, we've relied heavily on massed AA barrages at our industrial centers. Slan, or someone has done a study on this it seems, and I'll allow him to chime in on it, though I didn't see it until after this game. The agriculture, of course, boosts our manpower, which is also a big deal. We've been "researching" ahead of time on Agriculture, as with other critical industrial techs. Germany, of course, can afford to do this, even if it is somewhat wasteful in points.
We've been continuously researching aircraft techs, and so the single-engine airframe is part of this series. Durability for our fighters and light bombers is welcome. And, of course, the battlecruiser techs. I'm not focusing alot on naval power, but if Germany is going to have the ability to commerce raid, aside from submarines, I'd like to have some ability. It's also expected of a great power to have some navy. This is my concession to that.
At the end of January, 1941, these are my Production priorities. The battlecruiser, of course, seemed a logical choice. They take so long to build, so I figured I'd commit that 13 IC to naval uses now, because I might not have another chance later and we could always throw it back into Production Reserve if our need for immediate builds becomes more acute and immediate. We've just finished our garrison divisions, and I'm deploying them to protect Germany's eastern border (one in East Prussia, I think, and the rest on my border with Poland, which is my fallback defense line).
The two panzer divisions... Two medium panzers brigades, one mechanized, and one self-propelled artillery. This is a more-or-less ideal setup, in my personal opinion, as it provides a combined arms bonus, keeps the speed of the division up, and provides huge firepower and mutual internal protection (tanks for punch, mech for staying power). It's an expensive division, of course, even as reserves, and takes alot of manpower. It should be worth it if I need it one day. If the Soviets invade, I will.
Diplomatically, it seemed a good idea to enact the Anti-Comintern Pact decision. This brings "allies" into our fold without any kind of binding agreement. I get to associate with the Japanese, and let them antagonize the Soviets, without having to agree to back up their aggression. It also highlights to the Allies who WE think our enemies are. A win-win. Gamewise, there's precious little effect -- nothing that harms our strategy, anyway.
The French are stubborn. We all knew that. But Soviet threat is increasing, and the UK is within 10 points of their Threat-to-Neutrality converging. That is very promising! If the Soviets invade Poland, even without an Allied guarantee, that might tip the Threat over the threshold and allow war with the Allies (I know experts are skeptical on this, gamewise -- this is from a role-playing perspective).
Our Engineer brigades are done! We deploy these into East Prussia, where we hope they will aid in slowing the Soviet juggernaut as it crosses the border. They go into our frontline border provinces, where we've also begun building forts. This is a strategy that could backfire, of course -- the Soviets could outflank us through Poland, take the forts, and then we'd have to fight through them ourselves. But my feeling is this...
My main goal is to hold the Soviet line in East Prussia while they sweep through Poland. Unless they turn their flank properly, this may/will expose parts of the Soviet advance to being outflanked by ourselves with our panzers in East Prussia and eastern Germany. We couldn't do this if our line in East Prussia didn't hold for long enough to allow this imbalance (bulging) along the front, so... It could all play into our hands. It is my belief that holding East Prussia as long as possible is a good plan, no matter what happens in the south.
I'm a Major Power.
To be honest, I don't understand the whole "regional power" "major power" thing, so if Slan or TheBromgrev want to explain in more detail, they can be my guests. Obviously, it's helpful in some areas. The Supply Production advance is also helpful, as I need lots of supplies, and even use them to sell, and thereby keep up my Money balance.
In mid-February, I begin looking more in earnest at my OOB and overall command setup. Who's in command where, who SHOULD be in command, etc. Gen. Hoth has 3 skill but his specialties may not be what I need. I begin looking to see if there's someone else who might fit better there. I have two corps commands watching the direct border with the USSR in East Prussia. North and south. The southern command includes the counterattack forces. The northern one is just a holding force with artillery, engineers, garrisons, infantry, etc.
I think I ended up replacing Hoth with this Brand guy. Same skill, overall, but far more useful specialties for what I need. Defense, entrenchment. That's where 1st Korps is at! I also replaced von Witzleben, in the immediate superior command, with Gen. Dollman, who also has defensive and entrenchment specialties, not offensive skills.
You'll recall that in one of my recent updates -- probably December 1940 or so -- I achieved Infantry Doctrine 1943 (and I think I hit Tank Doctrine 1943 months before that). The Soviets are not far behind. They achieve these two (plus the operational one, which I think I've also hit) around the first of March. Combined Arms makes sense for them, rather than Blitzkrieg. Firepower Focus is a little bit of a surprise for me, as it is more in the direction of "quality over quantity" but the USSR can certainly do it, and Mechanized Wave certainly makes sense operationally -- they have the ability to mechanize, but they have huge numbers of troops. The USSR can afford both quality AND quantity. For now.
Here I add two paratroop divisions to our Production Queue. I already have JU-52 transports sitting in Munchen. Paratroopers will help us, once we go on the offense, or even during a counter attack. One last thing to note. I have horse-drawn Artillery Brigades in some units. For Infantry, that's fine -- they'll keep pace. But if I need artillery for mobile units, I either need to build Self-Propelled Artillery, or the HPP mod allows me to upgrade my Brigades to Artillery Battalions of truck-towed artillery, with much higher mobility. I begin upgrading some of my brigades.
Our medium tanks are being upgraded. So much the better for any advance in that area. And our radar! We've been hitting the radar hot and heavy. We will rely on radar, this Germany will, almost as much as I've been relying upon tanks and artillery. We've hit level 3, which means we can actually start researching radar guided missiles (air to ground, but air to air and surface to air are not far behind). This shows you how far we've advanced this tech, because we've been concentrating on it. By 1942 we should have these deployed, and perhaps SAMs by 1943.
A curious thing in comparing March's UK Threat-Neutrality to their February stance. My spies have been somewhat reduced in the USSR, and so my increase of their Threat is not as effective as it was previously. But their Threat doesn't seem to have gone up at all. Only the UK's Neutrality has gone down, and I'm not sure exactly why that is. They haven't done anything to prompt it, and neither have I. I suppose the UK may be intentionally lowering her own Neutrality, which is a good thing -- I hope -- for me. This would also explain why the UK's Neutrality is so much lower than France's, which remains high.
Those spies. The NKVD finally got into gear, it seems. I've had 10 or 8 spies in the USSR for a long time, increasing Threat. Now it's much reduced. This may also be a result of my own change in priorities -- not sending as many spies, preferring Research.
As we go into late spring, 1941, I begin to wonder if we're seeing the tide recede -- the Soviets losing interest in expansion -- or if this is simply the calm before the storm. Will the Soviets use this lull in tensions to prepare a massive invasion of Poland? Or even of Romania? What's their next step? What will the Allies do? Germany's future hinges upon all these considerations. Everything remains uncertain.
You are a gambler. If the Soviets attack now, then you are f*****. However, your diplomatic achievements are impressive, as you are keeping your threat on very low levels. The tension is now palpable
I'm really impressed you've managed a German AAR in the HOI timeframe and managed to generate this much tension as to what will happen next.
Given the Soviets unassailable quantitative lead and their fairly advanced technological development, do you actually have enough of a technological edge to best them? Wait and see, wait and see...
Some impressive tech gains, nonetheless. And your radar network is a thing of beauty.
Some impressive tech gains, nonetheless. And your radar network is a thing of beauty.
Indeed, very impressive.
Play the "prime mover" and manage to maneuver yourself into a position where you still *could* be whenever you wanted, but everyone's waiting for someone else to do it.
for what it's worth, this is how Göring would have wanted it had he been in charge (before getting hooked on painkillers).
Rensslaer, the event is not specific to the HPP, though they may have edited it to fit in with their law system.
Rensslaer, the event is not specific to the HPP, though they may have edited it to fit in with their law system.
I just caught up on this, hence why I haven't commented earlier. This is great Renss! Got to be my favourite HOI AAR so far. I keep reading HOI AARs and they keep making me want to love the game, but I just can't get my head around it! Each time I try I just fail miserably... and I mean in every way. I get walloped so badly it's pathetic. I don't know why! All of Paradoxes' other games I get, and I can excel at, but not HOI! My last attempt was to play Republican Spain... I raged and uninstalled the game after my 3rd failed attempt to win the civil war. I think the most frustrating thing about the game for me is that you spend SOOOO much time preparing... yet it takes so little time for all my careful preparation to be utterly destroyed! Hehe
I really like what you've achieved so far. It's such a shame about the hardcoded attitude towards Germany as the primary threat. Rather silly I think (though I do understand the conceptual decision behind it for the HPP team). I understand you've already played ahead, but if I were you I would've loaded as UK and guaranteed Poland, or had them DoW the Soviets once they invaded. Things like that I don't see as cheating, rather overcoming engine limitations. And so long as you're upfront about what you're doing, noone should complain!
I really like what you've achieved so far. It's such a shame about the hardcoded attitude towards Germany as the primary threat. Rather silly I think (though I do understand the conceptual decision behind it for the HPP team). I understand you've already played ahead, but if I were you I would've loaded as UK and guaranteed Poland, or had them DoW the Soviets once they invaded. Things like that I don't see as cheating, rather overcoming engine limitations. And so long as you're upfront about what you're doing, noone should complain!
I apologize for my updating and feedback schedule falling somewhat behind! Next update is for Imperio Novo, and this one will follow not long after.
But before I go I wanted to put in a plug for the AARLand Choice AwAARds, underway now for 1st Qtr 2011. This is to promote the awards, not to promote my AAR or to encourage votes, but I do appreciate any votes cast. What's most important is that we all do what we can to support a Forum institution that helps encourage new writers and encourage MORE reading of AARs (which, in turn, encourages the writers)! Thanks to anybody who participates this month (I think voting goes on all month, so you have plenty of time to read, then VOTE!).
Thanks!
Rensslaer
But before I go I wanted to put in a plug for the AARLand Choice AwAARds, underway now for 1st Qtr 2011. This is to promote the awards, not to promote my AAR or to encourage votes, but I do appreciate any votes cast. What's most important is that we all do what we can to support a Forum institution that helps encourage new writers and encourage MORE reading of AARs (which, in turn, encourages the writers)! Thanks to anybody who participates this month (I think voting goes on all month, so you have plenty of time to read, then VOTE!).
Thanks!
Rensslaer
awesome AAR Rens, I'll be following this
I wonder when the fight will start, and who will be involved in it, it could go many different ways.
I wonder when the fight will start, and who will be involved in it, it could go many different ways.
I have to break down and confess, i'm trying to do the same thing as you in one of my HoI3 games... Buuuut, i've made the Allies Guarantee Poland, so i'm looking forward to seeing what happens Maybe the USSR won't attack Poland with both me and the Allies Guaranteing them... Only the future will tell So i'm really looking forward to seeing if it works for you or not
Maybe the USSR won't attack Poland with both me and the Allies Guaranteing them... Only the future will tell So i'm really looking forward to seeing if it works for you or not
Yey update incoming
Well, here's your early warning of yet another update incoming... Not quite right away, but relatively soon I hope. Thanks for your enthusiasm! Thanks! It's quite challenging to find just the right balance. I'm always in fear of angering someone, and at the same time always at risk of not building enough! If/when something happens, I'm sure I'll have a much better idea of whether I balanced it right... But, by then it's too late!
Welcome, Avindian! Thanks -- glad you're enjoying and anticipating!
Thanks, MikeB! Welcome! Yeah, I need him to stay back, but if he took action at least we'd know, right? Yeah -- this is an exercise in patience, all right. You'll see me slip at one point down the road, here... I think I probably skipped past the little skirmish with the Japanese -- unimportant in the grand scheme of things. But it's always possible, unless the AI is trained not to consider such things.
Thanks! I appreciate that.
You are a gambler. If the Soviets attack now, then you are f*****. However, your diplomatic achievements are impressive, as you are keeping your threat on very low levels. The tension is now palpable
Thanks! I am a gambler, indeed. And partly that comes from my assumption that I'll be able to get myself out of whatever fix I get myself into!
But there are limits to that logic, yes?Ha!
I'm amazed myself. Frankly, I thought this would be a simple exercise for my own benefit, and perhaps for the benefit of those who like seeing what odd strategies bring, but I'm impressed by the number of people who have been following this! And also by the number of votes it's gotten in the AARLand Choice AwAARds! Interestingly, most of those who have voted for it have never posted in the AAR. lolGiven the Soviets unassailable quantitative lead and their fairly advanced technological development, do you actually have enough of a technological edge to best them? Wait and see, wait and see...
Some impressive tech gains, nonetheless. And your radar network is a thing of beauty.
Well, that's the question....
I have no real idea! Just guesses. The game of pre-war. I do like the radar systems -- helps me to anticipate problems and potentialities, plus if we do get into a shooting war it will come in handy because of the coord techs I've researched.ForzaA! Welcome, Dear Sir. Glad to have you along -- thanks! Yes, it's a game of triggers, all right. And potentialities. I could jump in certain directions, depending what directions others jump....
Yeah, that's the interesting thing. And I don't know a whole lot about Goring, but I've seen it credibly argued that Hitler didn't mean to get involved in war either -- that he had a limit within which he would have been satisfied, that war wasn't inevitable, that he stumbled toward war, and the other players stumbled toward war, and it was the combination of double-blind actions that developed into war, kind of like WW I. I've also heard from two sources recently something I was previously unaware of -- that Napoleon could have remained at peace and in control of France after the Russian defeat. An interesting what-if, that, though I don't think his personality would have allowed it. Perhaps the same could be said of Hitler.
Thanks, Xanthippus! And Welcome! I've been slowly working my way through your Korean AAR, but haven't commented for similar reasons -- I'll get there soon, I promise!
Have you read the Strategy Guides (there are 3 of them - linked in the FAQ section - and they each remain mostly valid)? I go into great detail about the "practice" of war in HOI 3, not just the game quirks and factors. One piece of advice I might offer is to either use the HQ/AI system to avoid overload, or else if it's the HQ/AI system that is holding you back from understanding, then just ignore it and move everything on manual. Different people have different things which make HOI 3 difficult to grasp. But it's really my favorite game, out of all of them, and because of the AI control system you can actually start by just controlling a few things and work your way up to controlling more as you gain understanding of what's going on. The upcoming For the Motherland expansion is going to change the way neutrality and warmaking powers work, so that may open new possibilities. Great to have you along! Thanks! I appreciate it! I think I'm up to 7 votes now, which completely blows me away. That means I may well come in a respectable second, or even possibly could pull it out! Lots of serious competition, though, and some great AARs out there.
awesome AAR Rens, I'll be following this
I wonder when the fight will start, and who will be involved in it, it could go many different ways.
Krogzar, Welcome to this AAR!
Glad you're enjoying my others, also. I'm wondering too! Or... Well, I WAS wondering when I was at this point. I know now, but I shall keep the suspense going. I have to break down and confess, i'm trying to do the same thing as you in one of my HoI3 games... Buuuut, i've made the Allies Guarantee Poland, so i'm looking forward to seeing what happens
That's interesting, Tallfellow! Will you do an AAR for it? Even a brief one? I'm curious how your experience might be different. Are you using HPP, I assume not? I played up to about 1943 in standard SF, but I prefer HPP, even though HPP might not be particularly suited for this scenario.
Thanks, everybody, for your comments! I'll be producing an update this week. Just not sure if it'll be tomorrow or the weekend. Sorry everything has slowed down. Taxes are almost done. Just updated Imperio Novo. Siam comes next, and then Kriegsgefahr.
Be Seeing You!
Rensslaer
My info about Göring comes from the book "the Devil's disciples" by Anthony Read. it goes more in depth about the people around Hitler, their powergames to curry favor and so forth. I now know why Hitler called him his "Iron Man" (please, no remarks about Tony Stark or Ozzy). he brought most of the industrial movers to the table, while being more involved in what we call "influence nation" than anyone else: Austria, Italy, Poland, Sweden. he was still trying trough his Swedish contacts to get through to the UK, so he could convince Hitler to calm down by november 1939...until Von Ribbentrop's big mouth closed Uk's diplomatic doors to anything the German's tried to sell.
edit: this in no way implies that the war was anyone else's fault than germany's. just relating what I read.
edit: this in no way implies that the war was anyone else's fault than germany's. just relating what I read.