What now?

[TheMoe]

I invaded Poland a little over a month late, then took France as quickly as I could, though the US joined the war just as I was about to move my navy into the English Channel. I sent all my airforce to the channel and started sinking as many ships / subs as I could while I waited for the invasion forces to be ready. As soon as they were, I send my entire navy in search mode into the Channel. There were a couple of navy battles, but mostly death from air.

I'm still quite inexperienced in the game, and I didn't realize that as soon as my ships arrived in the Channel, England would throw every air asset they had into the Channel also. My ships took a bit of a beating, and I lost 10 or so of the tier I subs. The sea tile for the Channel only showed green, indicating 50% dominance for a very brief time, and not enough for me to get my troop transports across.

Here's the current situation:

Air over the Channel


You can also see they are strat bombing me.


I'm not doing too badly with my air doctrines


Should have the rubber issues solved within a couple months


I'm also justifying on Denmark and Yugoslovia, and I have a very nice army, with a relatively healthy economy.


Have to wait a while for my ships to repair.


Royal Navy looks pretty healthy. I think I killed all their subs with my planes.


I really wanted to help Japan on this run, and not invite anyone to my faction, so I could conquer England and puppet them, but I can't do that now because the US has joined.

Should I invite Italy to my faction now?

My plan is to research better planes and continue the areal assault on the Channel while my ships repair. Maybe I can get across after I wear down their airforce and navy a bit more?

If I can't make much headway in the Channel, then I'll keep building up my navy and take out Denmark and Yugoslovia, though the Russians will come knocking sometime soon, and I can't move my airforce out of the channel, or I'll be strat bombed to death from the West. I can usually grab England before the US joins, but no luck this time, and it seems things have changed a bit after the new DLC and updates.

Japan is doing well. I'm proud of my contribution.


I haven't lost much during the war so far



I'm still in a pickle, though. Thoughts? If I had to say there's something lacking, I would say my army is far stronger than my AF at this time, and I probably put too much into the tanks. It's not too late to correct that, especially with all the factories I have. Just my two cents.

 

[Lord Antony]

You should do naval invasions to the northern parts of England: from northern Germany/Denmark to Scotland, avoiding the English Channel. It barely secured and if you will be fast - you can do it.

 

[Synicus]

Ahh, failed Sea Lion! That is a pickle. worse yet the Japan Faction has you tied as well.
If you invite Italy, they may call each other to war, and Italy will be invaded by the Allies and Japan will start to decline.
It would be better the let Japan finish China but it looks like that could be a wile.

Secure Europe and get ready for 41' or when ever you plan the Soviet war.
Maybe set up trap near Normandy to let the Allies in a little at a time, take the port back and destroy the divisions.
UK AI is great at losing armies when they little else to do.
More planes!
Great job on not loosing a ton of manpower.
Build province AA.
Heavy fighters are nice vs bombers.

North Sea Lion could work. It's your best hope You won't have enough for the Soviets tied up like that.

 

[kevinsteve1979]

I would deal with the Britsh.. at least for now... just with your Luftwaffe to secure your airspace and maybe some planes to deal with their Navy. I didn't bother to build up a navy like theirs because mine got decimated in no time especially with the USA jumping into the war. The only ships that always survived the longest were my U boats....so I built quite a few of them and just send them out to sink lots of convoys.
Then starting to build up and organize for the invasion of the Soviet Union and you could try to get more Nations on board to attack the Soviets from the South and East so they are forced to split their armies.
But before invading the Soviet Union... I took one more action against the British to keep them busy. I threw most of my Navy just in the waters east of the UK to lure their ships and planes out and distracting them. In the meantime I already prepped my invasion in Ireland and Denmark took both with ease. Then also stationed a few divisions in Iceland (if you're quick enough then drop a few troops off in Greenland) and just building up my defense on both islands. The allies will throw and waste an insane amount of troops in the effort to take those territories while you can focus more on the Soviets and finish them off.

 

[Simon_9732495]

I'd take a more historical approach:

• Give up the Air war with the UK for now.
• Build a DD-day defense (e.g 69 4width inf on all coast tiles and 38 10width inf on the 19 port tiles)
• Distribute your fighters and set them on interception (prefer more valuable tiles with refineries and many CIVs)
• Produce A LOT Fighters and Tanks
• Secure Denmark, Yugo and Greece
• Align Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria
• In mid 1941 attack the Soviets with ~100 Infantry Divisions and more than 20 Tank Divisions
• Leave 4 tanks behind in France as DDay defense
• If Italy cant take Africa you need also a Coastal defense in the Med. Dont rely on Italy...
• Win in Russia (thats the point where you want to divert from historical )
• Build a ridiculous amount of Fighters, Airfields and Radar
• Win the air war
• Now you have a choice: Build up a navy to win the naval war or sea lion

 

[TheMoe]

So many good ideas! I think I'm going to take Denmark while I build up my ridiculously powerful army (more powerful than I've ever had in the past anyways) and see if I can get the invasion going in the North of England. If that fails, then it's historical and take on the Soviets. Let's see what happens. Of course, I'm assuming I'll have some time to play in the next few days. Thanks everyone!

Edit: One more thought. If I have to take on the Soviets, and I have to leave a good portion of my airforce in the East to defend against the strat bombers, and I have to use more of my airforce to defend against the strat bombers from the Soviets, what are my chances against the Soviets if I put AA tanks in my tank divisions, and AA in my infantry and just go for it?

 

[demon72]

btw. it's (to) easy to keep SU out of WWII or initiate a war between Allies and Comintern.

 

[TheMoe]

btw. it's (to) easy to keep SU out of WWII or initiate a war between Allies and Comintern.

Haha! Easy is for the pros. J Besides, haven't you heard about how many people Stallin killed in the Purge? I can't allow that to go unpunished.

 

[TheMoe]

I went back and played a little bit, experimenting to see "What if?", and it became pretty clear that what many of you feared would happen (consequences of inviting Italy, slow progression on Japan's side, etc.). Things just didn't look good, though I felt I could overcome the odds and end up victorious if I had the time. I did wear down GB's AF, and I think I might have been able to sneak an invasion in as suggested in the north, but again too much time on my end, and I just lost some scheduled play time to work needs.

Lessons learned:
1. It's good to have a strong army, though balance with a mighty AF is a must.
2. Attack GB sooner than later. The new DLC and patches have shaken things up a little.
3. It was better for me to wait a little bit before going whole hog on the spy network. Two rounds of Prepare Collaboration Government is sufficient. No need to sacrifice so much industrial growth early on while trying to sneak in three rounds and get 100% collaboration.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. Great people here!