1. On the Med being closed. Looks like my fleets in Italy, Sicily, and North Africa were exactly the right distance away from both Suez and Gibraltor to be able to get just to this side of the exit and not through it. I went back and checked some old saves and it appears if I hit "rebase" to outside the Med it would work. Just a huge coincidence that both fleets were always just the right distance away that they could get to the canal/strait but not through it.
2. Found the manual convoy controls (for ship composition I mean - x number of freighters, y number of escorts). This greatly simplified my life. I love how logistics is the very life blood of combat in this game; still oversimplified and has flaws, but better than I've ever seen elsewhere.
3. Couping - I successfully couped Mexico early in this game and the resulting government, while left wing, is definitely not aligned to Comintern, let alone joining. Frustrating, but a great outcome. Most revolutionaries don't automatically toe their foreign backers lines and have ideas of their own. I toss this out for those of you who may also be playing the Sovs a lot and wondering whether couping is worth the investment in time and leadership. I'd say: generally not.
4. Invading enemy held allied territory does not always result in it being immediately turned over to the "owner." The Netherlands is part of the comintern (they and Lux were admitted automatically without any input from me when we conquered Germany). I sent a fleet to the Dutch far east and invaded to kick the japs out and get rid of some of the strategic resources they were hogging. I was afraid that my Sov troops would be out of supply because the liberated territory would immediately revert to Dutch control and not be able to pass supply through it. Well, to my pleasant surprise, that was not the case. My troops are able to invade and conquer Dutch territory there without a problem, and it shows a small Sov flag over the Dutch one for those territories. Don't know if I can give it back to the Dutch or what (Liberate command???), but for now, I can invade and operate there without supply difficulties and without having to send them as an expeditionary force. If you were wondering that question too, well here is the answer.
BONUS - general weirdness
1. It appears that you can flip the US into the Comintern, regardless of where they are on the diplomatic triangle under certain circumstances (or rather they can flip themselves). In this game, while the Brits/allies were at war with Germany and Italy, they were not at war with Japan. Japan never attacked the US because it was bogged down in the Sov far east after I attacked Germany in 1940 after they had committed to attacking France. So, I bump off Germany and Italy, push Japan off the Asian continent, and take Nationalist China. As 1942 is coming to a close, suddenly the US declares War on Japan (I'm not sure exactly why this happened) BUT WHEN IT DID, it appears the game had the US join the COMINTERN because we were already at war with Japan and the Allies were not. (At least, that's the only way I can explain it - there was no announcement or anything, just US DOW Japan, Japan elects TORA TORA, and I look up and the US flag is in the COMINTERN.) Anyone else have a better explanation? There was no asking to join or anything that, just like with Lux and Holland, they were just suddenly in the Comintern.
2. I ran an experiment - drive by fleet landings - as my "rebase" fleets were passing through the Red Sea on the way the Far East I tried to have them stop/pause long enough near Ethiopia to land combat units and take out E. and the last of the Italian troops in that area. Won't work (this is not for the benefit of you old hands, just new guys like me). Even cancelling orders won't stop the fleet. It will keep going and the arrows for the landing troops will keep pointing to the landing province as long as they can. The fleet will go to its destination; I suppose if the unit could land fast enough, before the ships passed out of contact with the target hex the game would allow the troops to land as the fleet drives by. Might be better to disable the disembarkation of forces from moving fleets in my opinion. Rarely if ever in WWII were invasion fleets moving at transit speeds while disgorging troops.
As always, thanks to the entire community for the willingness to answer and generally share your knowledge.
LR
2. Found the manual convoy controls (for ship composition I mean - x number of freighters, y number of escorts). This greatly simplified my life. I love how logistics is the very life blood of combat in this game; still oversimplified and has flaws, but better than I've ever seen elsewhere.
3. Couping - I successfully couped Mexico early in this game and the resulting government, while left wing, is definitely not aligned to Comintern, let alone joining. Frustrating, but a great outcome. Most revolutionaries don't automatically toe their foreign backers lines and have ideas of their own. I toss this out for those of you who may also be playing the Sovs a lot and wondering whether couping is worth the investment in time and leadership. I'd say: generally not.
4. Invading enemy held allied territory does not always result in it being immediately turned over to the "owner." The Netherlands is part of the comintern (they and Lux were admitted automatically without any input from me when we conquered Germany). I sent a fleet to the Dutch far east and invaded to kick the japs out and get rid of some of the strategic resources they were hogging. I was afraid that my Sov troops would be out of supply because the liberated territory would immediately revert to Dutch control and not be able to pass supply through it. Well, to my pleasant surprise, that was not the case. My troops are able to invade and conquer Dutch territory there without a problem, and it shows a small Sov flag over the Dutch one for those territories. Don't know if I can give it back to the Dutch or what (Liberate command???), but for now, I can invade and operate there without supply difficulties and without having to send them as an expeditionary force. If you were wondering that question too, well here is the answer.
BONUS - general weirdness
1. It appears that you can flip the US into the Comintern, regardless of where they are on the diplomatic triangle under certain circumstances (or rather they can flip themselves). In this game, while the Brits/allies were at war with Germany and Italy, they were not at war with Japan. Japan never attacked the US because it was bogged down in the Sov far east after I attacked Germany in 1940 after they had committed to attacking France. So, I bump off Germany and Italy, push Japan off the Asian continent, and take Nationalist China. As 1942 is coming to a close, suddenly the US declares War on Japan (I'm not sure exactly why this happened) BUT WHEN IT DID, it appears the game had the US join the COMINTERN because we were already at war with Japan and the Allies were not. (At least, that's the only way I can explain it - there was no announcement or anything, just US DOW Japan, Japan elects TORA TORA, and I look up and the US flag is in the COMINTERN.) Anyone else have a better explanation? There was no asking to join or anything that, just like with Lux and Holland, they were just suddenly in the Comintern.
2. I ran an experiment - drive by fleet landings - as my "rebase" fleets were passing through the Red Sea on the way the Far East I tried to have them stop/pause long enough near Ethiopia to land combat units and take out E. and the last of the Italian troops in that area. Won't work (this is not for the benefit of you old hands, just new guys like me). Even cancelling orders won't stop the fleet. It will keep going and the arrows for the landing troops will keep pointing to the landing province as long as they can. The fleet will go to its destination; I suppose if the unit could land fast enough, before the ships passed out of contact with the target hex the game would allow the troops to land as the fleet drives by. Might be better to disable the disembarkation of forces from moving fleets in my opinion. Rarely if ever in WWII were invasion fleets moving at transit speeds while disgorging troops.
As always, thanks to the entire community for the willingness to answer and generally share your knowledge.
LR
