Tea and crumpets supremacy - HPP coop AAR

[smetson]

UK, first half of 1936

The theme for beginning of the game will be strengthening the RN and RAF. All ships and planes will be pulled back to the British isles for reorganisation and reinforcement.

My first step was to get some sweet leadership and supply consumption bonuses from new Minister of Security and Chief of the Army.

Main research priorities are industry and the navy. Some of our naval technology is up to a decade out date and this needs to be corrected if I hope to maintain control in Europe as well as fight back against the Imperial Japanese Navy in the far east.

To make naval movements easier I have decided to build radar stations which will monitor the Mediterranean and the English channel.

Not much to say here except reorganise all the things!

Relations with Japan are slowly deteriorating. Our battleships must be ready for the coming conflict!

Reorganisation of the army is nearly finished. Yellow circle will be transported into the Mediterranean while the black circle will stay home for now. You can also see upgrading cavalry.

Next time I will look at state of the army in the far east and also at the newly reorganised navy which will slowly be deployed to the frontiers of the British empire.

 

[sebas379]

Did you send troops to the Spanish State, not the Republic? Doesn't that mean you are helping Franco and not the republican government?

 

[SKOTy]

Did you send troops to the Spanish State, not the Republic? Doesn't that mean you are helping Franco and not the republican government?

FAAAAAAIL I should be more aware of what I am clicking.

 

[SSmith]

FAAAAAAIL I should be more aware of what I am clicking.

Never mind, you can always conquer the Nationalists later.

 

[Ikarases]

Never mind, you can always conquer the Nationalists later.

I thought UK and France backed up Franco rather than the Republic...?!

 

[SSmith]

I thought UK and France backed up Franco rather than the Republic...?!

Yes, but I get the impression that wasn't SKOTy's intention.

 

[Ikarases]

Yes, but I get the impression that wasn't SKOTy's intention.

What he did would make sense IRL, but not in-game where Nationalists might actually join the Axis and backstab you

 

[smetson]

It seems that lot of my post are gonna be delayed, because they get put in the moderator queue. The first one popped up couple posts back.

 

[sebas379]

I thought UK and France backed up Franco rather than the Republic...?!

For what I read, France and Britain took a policy of non-intervention, blockking weapons sales to both the government and rebel forces.
But the republicans were a democratically elected government, it would make a lot more sense for the allies to support that side, rather than a nationalist military coup. Right?

 

[Ikarases]

For what I read, France and Britain took a policy of non-intervention, blockking weapons sales to both the government and rebel forces.
But the republicans were a democratically elected government, it would make a lot more sense for the allies to support that side, rather than a nationalist military coup. Right?

It would, but would you risk a communist menace? Allies had more fear from Stalin than Hitler pre-war anyway...

 

[red_KLG]

For what I read, France and Britain took a policy of non-intervention, blockking weapons sales to both the government and rebel forces.
But the republicans were a democratically elected government, it would make a lot more sense for the allies to support that side, rather than a nationalist military coup. Right?

Their obsession with neutrality hurt the Reps. very much, specially given that the Nats. were supported by Nazis and Fascists openly.

 

[Paglia]

So far my proposals for the modifiers are:

mp_boost_ai = {
  potential = {
    ai = yes
    not = {faction = allies}
    not = {tag = USA}
  }
  trigger = {
  }
  
  global_ic = 0.15
  global_resources = 0.15
  supply_consumption = -0.15
  supply_throughput = 0.15
  naval_base_efficiency = 0.15
  global_manpower_modifier = 0.15
}

mp_boost_axis = {
  potential = {
    faction = axis
  }

  trigger = {
  }
  
  global_ic = 0.25
  global_resources = 0.5
  global_manpower_modifier = 0.25
  industrial_efficiency = 0.25
}

mp_boost_commies = {
  potential = {
    faction = comintern
  }

  trigger = {
  }
  
  global_ic = 0.15
  global_resources = 0.35
  global_manpower_modifier = 0.15
  industrial_efficiency = 0.15
}

And I will nerf France with modifier that will give 5, 10 and 20% land_organization and org_regain penalty at 5%, 10% and 20% surrender score. Any thoughts on this?

Just discovered this today. Interesting challenge.

Are you sure about your modifiers ?

The 1st one (with shown trigger) would apply to Axis & Comintern & Neutral (except USA). It would be added to the following ones... They don't overlapp for most bonus but some do, like "global_manpower_modifier = 0.15" and "global_manpower_modifier = 0.25" (under the Axis only one). "global_IC" does too.

 

[SKOTy]

I know that e.g. IC modifiers do stack and this is my intention to give Axis huge boost, actually it's a bit higher than very hard AI gets (if you also take production efficiency in the account) however the game is on normal we won't encounter combat penalties so I think this will be doable.

I will do some investigation about other modifiers as I've checked only IC ones.

 

[Paglia]

I know that e.g. IC modifiers do stack and this is my intention to give Axis huge boost, actually it's a bit higher than very hard AI gets (if you also take production efficiency in the account) however the game is on normal we won't encounter combat penalties so I think this will be doable.

I will do some investigation about other modifiers as I've checked only IC ones.

Ok, as long as you know they stack, everything is going to be fine. I subscribed and will follow your game. Setup is interesting.

 

[SKOTy]

France, Road to war

Somewhere in the 1936 Italy proposed Rome-Berlin axis which was supposed to bring two fascist countries closer to each one. As the World in 1936 was a calm place (apart from Italy annexing Ethiopia and Spanish civil war) this was neglected. No one cared about alliance of two fascist countries.

As Kingdom of Italy and Empire of Japan declined 2nd London naval treaty we've invoked escalator clause and thus allowed United Kingdom to expand its carrier fleets.

Franco's nationalists won SCW and peace prevailed in Europe.

Worrying development in far East, however this is not part of French business as we are trying to be as neutral as possible.

Unifying two German speaking countries? We have some objections to this but we are staying neutral as we don't want to start another Great war by some diplomatic incident.

I've established a lot of supply imports to save as much IC on supply production as possible. However I am still worried whether I will be able to upgrade all obsolete divisions, provide them new equipment and reinforce them before war starts.

Upgrades, some support brigades, few heavy armour brigades and fort constructions to help with defense of the weakest points.
All available IC is devoted either to consumer goods or to production.

Empire of Japan gets accepted into the Axis and thus gains bonuses from being in Axis, at this point their industry is on the steroids and they should roflstomp China in a year or two.

Looks like Anschluss of Austria wasn't enough for Hitler as he demanded another piece of land. Sometimes sacrifaces has to be made in the name of the peace as we can't afford another great war.

I wonder who is plotting in the Czechoslovakia? Had the coup German support? Or did Soviets secret services interfere there as Czechs are surely disturbed by the Munich treaty?

Looks like Japanese rampage in the China has started.

Last few upgrades and support brigades. Rest of IC is already devoted to upgrades. Hopefully French army will be prepared (fully upgraded and mobilized) before Germans strike on low countries.

Republic China is about to fall. Also notice how good are communists doing, they hold 3 of 4 Xibei victory points.

I was finishing preparation of defenses, minding my own business and partly wondering why Germany hasn't fired 1st Vienna award yet and we got this! Germany literally catched us with our pants down (at least myself, upgrades are not yet ready and I planned to mobilize after 1st Vienna award).

What now? Should we let Germany eat the Poland and then let them encounter the Soviets? Who knows they will go after Soviets when they finish with Poland, maybe they will strike at defenseless Czechoslovakia or another country.
Should we try to save Poland? However French army is woefully unprepared and needs about a month to get into a combat shape.

 

[SSmith]

I was just thinking how your game was following a nice historical path... and then that happens! I think if you intervene soon you should be able to get the Germans back on the "proper" path - if you want to do that. Of course you could wait for them to finish with the USSR (as I'm guessing they will win with the extra bonuses you gave the Axis) and then you might have an even tougher challenge. Choices, choices!

 

[Maggix]

Wait and face a Germany with lots of Lebensraum

 

[smetson]

UK, Race for the carriers

The Great War is fresh in people's memories. Peace must be maintained!

Let me tell you a secret: Biggest ship I built prior to starting this game was a heavy cruiser and oh dear carriers take quiet a bit of time to build.

With that being said let's look at the production queue.

Constructing carriers will be deployed to the North Sea and the land forces will be most likely transported to the Mediterranean.

These ships were designated to fight in the Mediterranean and only reinforcements they will receive will likely be in form of light cruisers or additional destroyer groups.

Garrisons in Singapore and Hong Kong were supplemented with support brigades and several more divisions and interceptors.

Finally a look at the RAF. CAS were deployed to France due to range limitations. All other aircraft will operate from Britain unless we decide to move from our defensive position.

Note: Since I'm AAR beginner I would appreciate any feedback on the focus of these reports.

 

[SKOTy]

smetson: Your updates are way better than mine. Now noone will read my other AARs

Everyone else, mainly modding guys and guys with historical insight. It's possible to create a decision that will put France and United Kingdom into a limited war against Germany and probably Italy as well. Because as far as I know Japs weren't interested in defense of Germany in the beginning of their alliance and if we would declare full scale war against Axis this will also mean a DoW against Japan.
Also was Italy bound by Berlin-Rome axis to help Germany if it would ever be invaded? - I am asking to better understand who to put into war against us in order to create historically accurate and plausible scenario.

 

[red_KLG]

Excellent updates and a very interesting game to watch !