Who will you play as first, and what will your strategy be?
- Thread starter Sleight of Hand
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Japan, if i win my bet! 
1st Strategic Focus: I'll focus on Indonesia and China first, to get all the ressources i need for bigger wars. The U.S. are kept out as long as possible from the war. If i have conquered my main goals, i'll unite with the Axis and turn against the USSR, to ensure a positive outcome of barbarossa
2nd Army Focus: I'll rely on few very good quality troops for my conquest and make sure, they have always the best equipment possible. On the other hand i'll massproduce weaker Garrisons, which enforce the peace in my Empire.
3rd Air Force: I'll strongly build up my Air Force in the Fighter, Dive Bomber, Torpedo Bomber branch and leave tactical bombers and strategic bombers aside, so that i can support my carriers and my troops on the front and can keep strategic bombing of my homeland on a minimum risk level.
4th Navy Focus: I'll stick to the carriers and build as many as i can, while i combine them with faster CA, CL and DDs. If a war against GB will become inevitable, i'll put more efforts in submarines, to inderdict their trade and supply routes. I'll strike their surface fleet with smaller Fleets of about 15 ships and keep them close together, so that i can ensure an advantage in numbers, if a sea battle occurs. If the U.S. join the war, i'll change that strategy to fewer, but bigger fleets.
5th Industry Focus: I'll strongly favor concentrated industry here, since strategic bombing will not be a big thread because of the geographic location of Japan and it's enemies and my Fighter focus. I'll make a war plan, where i build up civilian industry until mid 1937 and then convert in military factories and dockyards.
6th Diplomatic Focus: Japan stays out from the Axis, until China and Indonesia are well secured. When Germany attacks USSR, i'll join their fight and give the russkies a hard time from the east. Vietnam should be taken also, if my resources are sufficient and i stay in the defense against British Raj, to not overspan the coverage of my Navy. I'll try to pull a South American Country to the Axis, to have a good starting base, if the U.S.A. become a big threat and try to bind their forces in their homeland.
Oh yeah...that's gonna be great
1st Strategic Focus: I'll focus on Indonesia and China first, to get all the ressources i need for bigger wars. The U.S. are kept out as long as possible from the war. If i have conquered my main goals, i'll unite with the Axis and turn against the USSR, to ensure a positive outcome of barbarossa
2nd Army Focus: I'll rely on few very good quality troops for my conquest and make sure, they have always the best equipment possible. On the other hand i'll massproduce weaker Garrisons, which enforce the peace in my Empire.
3rd Air Force: I'll strongly build up my Air Force in the Fighter, Dive Bomber, Torpedo Bomber branch and leave tactical bombers and strategic bombers aside, so that i can support my carriers and my troops on the front and can keep strategic bombing of my homeland on a minimum risk level.
4th Navy Focus: I'll stick to the carriers and build as many as i can, while i combine them with faster CA, CL and DDs. If a war against GB will become inevitable, i'll put more efforts in submarines, to inderdict their trade and supply routes. I'll strike their surface fleet with smaller Fleets of about 15 ships and keep them close together, so that i can ensure an advantage in numbers, if a sea battle occurs. If the U.S. join the war, i'll change that strategy to fewer, but bigger fleets.
5th Industry Focus: I'll strongly favor concentrated industry here, since strategic bombing will not be a big thread because of the geographic location of Japan and it's enemies and my Fighter focus. I'll make a war plan, where i build up civilian industry until mid 1937 and then convert in military factories and dockyards.
6th Diplomatic Focus: Japan stays out from the Axis, until China and Indonesia are well secured. When Germany attacks USSR, i'll join their fight and give the russkies a hard time from the east. Vietnam should be taken also, if my resources are sufficient and i stay in the defense against British Raj, to not overspan the coverage of my Navy. I'll try to pull a South American Country to the Axis, to have a good starting base, if the U.S.A. become a big threat and try to bind their forces in their homeland.
Oh yeah...that's gonna be great
I’ll play France, just as I always did in 3. In my first game I’m going to answer a question I’ve been curious about for a long time – what disincentive the game offers to going for tiny divisions rather than big ones. In 3 the downside was compelling – you’d run out of generals very quickly, emulating the real-life advantage of having many men under one divisional command structure. In 4 there seems to be nothing but benefit in having micro-units that can move around as fluidly as water.
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I know what nation I'll be playing most often, Germany.
That said, I will definitely start with another more manageable one. Switzerland is always a good place to start (although not as much fun as in Vicky2).
I'll probably pick an Axis minor like Romania. Very manageable yet highly interesting and full of anticipation of Barbarossa.
Strategy: Fortify the hell out of my mountaineous borders. I will then use spare troops to defend key provinces that Germany has occupied in Russia. For instance Donetzk and its flank. In other words: learning the game while providing some assistance to my bigger partner. No naval, barely air warfare.
That said, I will definitely start with another more manageable one. Switzerland is always a good place to start (although not as much fun as in Vicky2).
I'll probably pick an Axis minor like Romania. Very manageable yet highly interesting and full of anticipation of Barbarossa.
Strategy: Fortify the hell out of my mountaineous borders. I will then use spare troops to defend key provinces that Germany has occupied in Russia. For instance Donetzk and its flank. In other words: learning the game while providing some assistance to my bigger partner. No naval, barely air warfare.
My heart tells me Italy will be the most fun, but I may have to dial it back a bit and go straight for Argentina. I love playing minor nations once in a while and seeing that the majors get up to while I take my time learning all the mechanics...maybe I can build a great confederation of South American States?
Better yet, work to build up regional allies (France, Yugoslavia, Turkey, etc.) in the Med rather than expanding and alienating them as Mussolini did historically, then oppose the Anschluss and go to war with Germany over it. Once France gets pulled into a war with Germany, the British will eventually follow suit.
You can focus on fortifying your Alpine provinces in the run-up to war, rather than wasting crucial resources on expanding the navy. France should be able to tackle the Kriegsmarine by herself, although you could provide assistance by moving some ships to Brest.
Yes, you can do it!
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Probably an axis country such as Germany, the allies seems to be all about fixing all problems the axis make which is not as fun as causing the problems
Don't really know what strategy I would use as Germany, I would probably start with building more military factories instead of civilian factories and build an large army early on based around foot infantry and fast armored divisions. Probably take over Spain if they don't ally me because I could need their factories, resources and strategic location.
Don't know how the naval strategy will be, probably just commerce raiding.
Don't really know what strategy I would use as Germany, I would probably start with building more military factories instead of civilian factories and build an large army early on based around foot infantry and fast armored divisions. Probably take over Spain if they don't ally me because I could need their factories, resources and strategic location.
Don't know how the naval strategy will be, probably just commerce raiding.
Better yet, work to build up regional allies (France, Yugoslavia, Turkey, etc.) in the Med rather than expanding and alienating them as Mussolini did historically, then oppose the Anschluss and go to war with Germany over it. Once France gets pulled into a war with Germany, the British will eventually follow suit.
You can focus on fortifying your Alpine provinces in the run-up to war, rather than wasting crucial resources on expanding the navy. France should be able to tackle the Kriegsmarine by herself, although you could provide assistance by moving some ships to Brest.
Yes, you can do it!
I think that would actually be a super fun game. Don't forget that supporting France also means that I would gain some valuable naval combat experience...
In this Scenario Germany gets knocked out early and the game is more of an East Vs West game about western Europe fighting the communists for control of Eastern Europe...If Italy puppets Turkey (or conquers) we could try to backdoor Stalingrad while the French and British fight on the front lines of Poland
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Yes, that would be a fascinating AAR, actually.
Remember that Mussolini was initially opposed to Hitler, and he supported the Austrians over the Anschluss as he feared Hitler might demand Tirol later down the line. Besides, they were Catholic fascists rather than Nazis -- much more in line with Mussolini & Franco than Hitler.
I think that if you started a game as Italy with the intent of trying to stop Germany very early on, it wouldn't be too difficult. As a dictatorship you are able to declare war whenever you like, whereas it seems the democracies won't be able to. If you threw all of your diplomatic efforts behind allying with France rather than Germany (which, I think, seemed quite likely in early 1936) and attacking on two fronts in 1938 then the Wehrmacht would be under a huge amount of pressure. Presumably if you declare war on Germany whilst allied with France then they would automatically be dragged into the war with you -- and if you're able to add any Balkan nations to the list then that's three fronts. Bad news for Herr Hitler!
Also, in this scenario, not being at war with the Allies means you really have no need to waste the immense resources on battleships that Mussolini did, and really couldn't afford to. All that oil would be better spent on tanks and motorized infantry divisions.
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Yes, that would be a fascinating AAR, actually.
Remember that Mussolini was initially opposed to Hitler, and he supported the Austrians over the Anschluss as he feared Hitler might demand Tirol later down the line. Besides, they were Catholic fascists rather than Nazis -- much more in line with Mussolini & Franco than Hitler.
I think that if you started a game as Italy with the intent of trying to stop Germany very early on, it wouldn't be too difficult. As a dictatorship you are able to declare war whenever you like, whereas it seems the democracies won't be able to. If you threw all of your diplomatic efforts behind allying with France rather than Germany (which, I think, seemed quite likely in early 1936) and attacking on two fronts in 1938 then the Wehrmacht would be under a huge amount of pressure. Presumably if you declare war on Germany whilst allied with France then they would automatically be dragged into the war with you -- and if you're able to add any Balkan nations to the list then that's three fronts. Bad news for Herr Hitler!
Also, in this scenario, not being at war with the Allies means you really have no need to waste the immense resources on battleships that Mussolini did, and really couldn't afford to. All that oil would be better spent on tanks and motorized infantry divisions.
I hadn't considered the Ramifications of joining the allies and not having to worry about any African issues. You could focus 100% of your efforts on the Balkans and Turkey to prepare for the Red Storm.
Do you think the Allies would stand by and let their new Friend Italy go nuts in Eastern Europe? It seems that the allies could use their Italian friends warmongering to increase world tension to the point that they can resume their Imperialistic ambitions...
I wonder if you could simply non-align as Italy and, instead, rebuild an empire in the Balkans. Greece is aligned with the Allies at game start, but I don't believe any of the other nations are.
Either way, it definitely comes down to how valid minor powers are this time around. Romania could be another fun game - I'm no historian, but didn't they have a dispute with Hungary around WWII?
Either way, it definitely comes down to how valid minor powers are this time around. Romania could be another fun game - I'm no historian, but didn't they have a dispute with Hungary around WWII?
That might be fun though I'd be tempted to go after Turkey instead, do a whole Empire Strikes Back sorta thing and return Istanbul to it's proper name, Byzantium.
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Romania didn't so much have a dispute with Hungary at the start of WW2 so much as Romania's neighbours had disputes with it arising from land acquisitions at the end of WW1. Romania in 1939 contained all the land the Romanians considered to be part of Romania, but it also included land that Hungary, Bulgaria & the USSR considered belonged to them. Romania was aligned with France but not allied with them, and with France's fall the neighbouring countries demanded land. The USSR grabbed Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, southern Dobruja went to Bulgaria and Hungary was awarded half of Transylvania. Romania's participation in WW2 was all about recovering Bessarabia and Transylvania and their switch of sides in August 44 meant they were able to recover Transylvania, although Bessarabia stayed with the USSR.
You mean like creating your own "EU: Rome 2"? Sold!
I would ramp up world tension so that Hitler gets dow'ed over Sudetenland. Let the Allies and Germany slug it out while expanding the Roman Empire 2.0 with new vassals. When the Axis-Allies war is decided, dow the losing side and grab some goodies. Then the Cold War against the winner starts.
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Whenever I get this game, play as the USA and the different avenues it can go... First historical, then go plausible historic avenues. Not one for fantasy land so prob wont go as far as DW on Allies. BUT USSR and Germany/Japan were great enemies during that time.
Probably Germany, or Soviets.
Never liked countries where I have to play around with navies and overseas operations.
As for strategies, the usual mobile Blitzkrieg for Germany and defence in depth for Soviets. I'm boring.
Never liked countries where I have to play around with navies and overseas operations.
As for strategies, the usual mobile Blitzkrieg for Germany and defence in depth for Soviets. I'm boring.
Going to start as italy, because it is a nice compromice between "not to large" but still "powerfull" enough to have much influence.
I am going to build up a marine and try to hold the brittish armada out of the mediterranean Sea. My goal will be to conquer the mediterranean Sea and whole Africa and as the little cherry on top maybe Great Britain if possible.
Then i am going to defend the Atlantic against the USA so they will never get to set foot on West Europe or Africa.
(maybe doing it in MP with a friend who plays Germany)
I am going to build up a marine and try to hold the brittish armada out of the mediterranean Sea. My goal will be to conquer the mediterranean Sea and whole Africa and as the little cherry on top maybe Great Britain if possible.
Then i am going to defend the Atlantic against the USA so they will never get to set foot on West Europe or Africa.
(maybe doing it in MP with a friend who plays Germany)
Hmm. Guess I will end up playing Nazigermany anyway, but I will most likely go for an ahistorical path. Most likely I will grab more land before Barbarossa, but I have to little knowledge to say what exactly. I will try Sealion, oversea invasion (for oil), early Balkan or mare nostrum like game.
My concern is a source of oil right now.
Perhaps I will try Japan. Others than Axis has always been to boring for me.
My concern is a source of oil right now.
Perhaps I will try Japan. Others than Axis has always been to boring for me.
My first game is going to be as the soviet union, definitely. I'll probably try to take out the japanese when they're busy fighting china, and afterwards maybe take on china itself. Probably try to conquer sinkiang and manchuria, and create puppets in korea and china (possibly also japan). I have no idea how much of that is possible without skyrocketing world tension, though. If possible I'll try to stay semihistorical in europe... The eventual goal is to annex and puppet as much as possible...
HoI4 seems to go further into ahistorical stuff, so I'll try Japan and ally USA (almost sure there is national focus for that). If it plays out - world conquest, here I come. Japan China, puppet India. meeting Ady in Moscow and all that fun stuff while USA conquers South America and UK.