As already stated in this forum, the game is out in Russia (without the manual though) so I've had time to play a couple of games -without the patch- with the USSR (1936-1948) and Germany (1936-1940). Here's a few comments:
USSR
USSR should invest right away in building more industries
Resources are NOT a problem
Diplomacy is VERY effective. I had Finland, Sweden, Norway, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece, Persia and Turkey as Comintern Allies.
Allies are a problem: it seems that when terriroty is grabed it goes to whichever ally has territory closer (thus when I annexed Hungary it went to Yugoslavia.. All the Axis territories in Africa went to Turkey etc...)
It does not seem like allies can provide you with resources/ ICs or even research (although YOU can provide them with research)
Germany declared war on me only in 1943 when I declared war on Poland. They never got past the baltics (although they did annex Yugoslavia for a while)
USA stayed neutral until the end. There was a separate US-Japan war and USA took all of Japan. I declared war in 1944 on Japan and took those pieces of Korea and China which the US had not taken yet from Japan
You do NOT need a large army against the AI (I never needed more than 50 Divs). You can max out on research investment.
After Germany had surrendered in 1943, France (which I had liberated) suddenly reappered controlling old Vichy territories + Paris and all adjacent territories (which were previously mine).. The rest of France was still USSR territory. In the end I was getting bored so I declared war on the allies (which did NOT include the US) and took over France and Britain. By that time I had a large tech advantage so a group of 4 armor divisions was routing armies of up 50 brit divisions.. I was thus able to destroy some 160 divs in britain in about a month.
Even though I controlled all of Italy and the turks controlled most of former Italian Africa, I never had the option of annexing Italy (presumably Mussolini was holding out somewhere in the African Jungle)
In Asia, India revolted and gained independance from the brits. Whilst I was able to capture French Indochina, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapour from my Chinese holdings. The soviet pacific fleet conducted a few amphibious ops in Indonesia (which Japan had never taken).
It is not clear how consumer good demand works.. At times it is actually a negative number !!!!
Germany
Problems with resources make the production fluctuate from 0! (rare) to about 500.
I was minding my own business (I only Anshlussed Austria in 1936) and the allies declared war on me in 1938
By 1940 I still had not built a single unit (don't need them), max investment in research
The Czechs surrendered very quickly. France was undefended (they were all in the south fighting italians) so I was able to walk all over France with 6 divisions.. Then I brought up my 3 panzer divisions from czech and it was pretty much over. All of continental France was taken + italians were having a field day in Africa (took all of French north Africa, but did not go south of Algeria although there is no one there and much of UK's colonies)
I tried sealion, but I quickly understood that the Kriegsmarine is no match (yet) for the Royal Navy.
So I still max out with research , share it with my allies + Japan. I allied with Thailand, gave them max tec + send an exped corp. They are now creating a world of problems for the allies, having taken french indochina, malaysia
Also Allied with Poland just in case, now I am regretting it (will not be able to invade them)...
Then in sequence I took Luxembourg (for the industry), Yugoslavia, Hungary, Rumania (for the oil), bulgaria, Turkey (they are in the way) debouched in the Middle East and took Irak, Saudi, Syria and everything up to the Suez canal (the rest is already Italian)... Next I plan to take Persia and from there India.
So by mid 1940, my resource problem is solved and I am starting to build new units. My production is about 800 and about 600 goes to research
As a fun note: the RAF is strat bombing every day several times per day on the same territory. I have my 4 fighters doing intercept duty there and their leader is now level 9 txs to all the experience
The US are at 100% favorable to the war but still neutral. I spent diplomats and influenced them for the Axis to the max (FYI Germany can't ally with them, I tried).... The soviets are not moving
In conclusion HOI is a great game but it needs some tweaking to root out some of the inconsistencies and weaknesses of the AI. At present it is just too easy
Have fun guys
USSR
USSR should invest right away in building more industries
Resources are NOT a problem
Diplomacy is VERY effective. I had Finland, Sweden, Norway, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece, Persia and Turkey as Comintern Allies.
Allies are a problem: it seems that when terriroty is grabed it goes to whichever ally has territory closer (thus when I annexed Hungary it went to Yugoslavia.. All the Axis territories in Africa went to Turkey etc...)
It does not seem like allies can provide you with resources/ ICs or even research (although YOU can provide them with research)
Germany declared war on me only in 1943 when I declared war on Poland. They never got past the baltics (although they did annex Yugoslavia for a while)
USA stayed neutral until the end. There was a separate US-Japan war and USA took all of Japan. I declared war in 1944 on Japan and took those pieces of Korea and China which the US had not taken yet from Japan
You do NOT need a large army against the AI (I never needed more than 50 Divs). You can max out on research investment.
After Germany had surrendered in 1943, France (which I had liberated) suddenly reappered controlling old Vichy territories + Paris and all adjacent territories (which were previously mine).. The rest of France was still USSR territory. In the end I was getting bored so I declared war on the allies (which did NOT include the US) and took over France and Britain. By that time I had a large tech advantage so a group of 4 armor divisions was routing armies of up 50 brit divisions.. I was thus able to destroy some 160 divs in britain in about a month.
Even though I controlled all of Italy and the turks controlled most of former Italian Africa, I never had the option of annexing Italy (presumably Mussolini was holding out somewhere in the African Jungle)
In Asia, India revolted and gained independance from the brits. Whilst I was able to capture French Indochina, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapour from my Chinese holdings. The soviet pacific fleet conducted a few amphibious ops in Indonesia (which Japan had never taken).
It is not clear how consumer good demand works.. At times it is actually a negative number !!!!
Germany
Problems with resources make the production fluctuate from 0! (rare) to about 500.
I was minding my own business (I only Anshlussed Austria in 1936) and the allies declared war on me in 1938
By 1940 I still had not built a single unit (don't need them), max investment in research
The Czechs surrendered very quickly. France was undefended (they were all in the south fighting italians) so I was able to walk all over France with 6 divisions.. Then I brought up my 3 panzer divisions from czech and it was pretty much over. All of continental France was taken + italians were having a field day in Africa (took all of French north Africa, but did not go south of Algeria although there is no one there and much of UK's colonies)
I tried sealion, but I quickly understood that the Kriegsmarine is no match (yet) for the Royal Navy.
So I still max out with research , share it with my allies + Japan. I allied with Thailand, gave them max tec + send an exped corp. They are now creating a world of problems for the allies, having taken french indochina, malaysia
Also Allied with Poland just in case, now I am regretting it (will not be able to invade them)...
Then in sequence I took Luxembourg (for the industry), Yugoslavia, Hungary, Rumania (for the oil), bulgaria, Turkey (they are in the way) debouched in the Middle East and took Irak, Saudi, Syria and everything up to the Suez canal (the rest is already Italian)... Next I plan to take Persia and from there India.
So by mid 1940, my resource problem is solved and I am starting to build new units. My production is about 800 and about 600 goes to research
As a fun note: the RAF is strat bombing every day several times per day on the same territory. I have my 4 fighters doing intercept duty there and their leader is now level 9 txs to all the experience
The US are at 100% favorable to the war but still neutral. I spent diplomats and influenced them for the Axis to the max (FYI Germany can't ally with them, I tried).... The soviets are not moving
In conclusion HOI is a great game but it needs some tweaking to root out some of the inconsistencies and weaknesses of the AI. At present it is just too easy
Have fun guys
