I’ve learned a lot about this game through the various threads on this forum, and have begun my first “in earnest” attempt at playing through the game. I began in the game in 1936, and went straight to work on technological advances. Most technologies were in good shape, particularly industry, but a heavy emphasis was placed on Infantry Doctrine, infantry weaponry, medium and heavy tanks, and naval armor and weaponry. Technology sliders were adjusted so that Diplomatic influence increased by .5 per day, Spy’s .5 per day, and officers increasing by 20 per day. This left me with the ability to research 22 technologies simultaneously. Production began immediately with the building of additional fighter and bomber squadrons. When war comes, these will give me an immediate impact on some part of the war. Well, that’s the plan. Most divisions of infantry are National Guard divisions in reserve status. They formed the core of the second and third army groups, to be deployed when fully mobilized. The first Army group was formed with the completion of each new division. While still small, this army group consisted of 3 divisions of Airborne, with a fleet of two transport planes, 1 mountain division, 1 armored division, and 4 infantry divisions, each with an attached artillery brigade, 3 fighter squadrons and 4 bombing squadrons. The majority of production however went to outlaying Pacific posts. Hawaii, Wake, Guam, and Midway Islands had significant improvements in Coastal fortifications, AA, Airfields and ports. The Navy was restructured to fit my own personality. No “Task force” was built, as yet, with more than twelve ships. As of January 1939 there was in operation 5 carrier Task Forces, centered around a single Carrier, with a screen of 3 battleships, 4 cruisers (usually Heavy cruisers, but a couple are split 2-2 with Light cruisers) and 4 destroyers. I placed two in the Atlantic and three in the Pacific. My plans for the Pacific did not go well. After increasing everything on many Pacific Islands, only Hawaii, and Wake received any garrisons of Marines or aircraft until January 39. In that same month an offer was presented, and accepted for the US to join the Allies. Only a couple months later, Germany invaded Poland (who was not a member of the “Allies”) and in response, war was declared. The Axis powers are fairly large, and include many countries not traditionally involved in the war. Portugal and Spain being just two examples. This is where things got screwed up. It is more my fault than anything. After war was declared I immediately began to adjust production sliders to reflect the wartime conditions now upon me. I began building the ships for another carrier task force, and numerous divisions of infantry, armor, and marines. It took me a minute, but I was having difficulty building new units when I realized I had depleted my manpower to 0. A quick check showed that with my current needs, it will take about 6-8 months just to build up the National Guard divisions, let alone, begin building new units again. Oh well, wars are fought with what you have, not what you want. The situation in Europe, after just one week of war was already bad and getting worse. Germany had quickly taken about a third of Poland, Italy was advancing through undefended N. Africa towards Egypt, and Spain was advancing unopposed through both France, and French N.Africa. I chose to enter combat immediately with whatever I had. All three airborne divisions were sent to France, near the Spanish boarder, and the remainder of my 1st army loaded onto transports. The destination? Portugal. With the hopes of taking land from Portugal, Spain would then need to pull troops of the lines against the French, to keep my forces at bay. The landing was made in the province closest to Lisbon, with all three airborne divisions landing unopposed in the remainder of the surrounding provinces. Within a day, Lisbon was surrounded, surrendering less than a week later, decimating the bulk of the Portuguese army. Its fleet sorties with a Spanish force to meet my invasion fleet consisting of both of my carrier task forces allotted to the Atlantic. The resulting Battle culminated in the sinking of 3 Portuguese destroyers, and 4 transports, and a Spanish Battleship, with no losses of my own. In the Pacific, there is not much I can do at the moment. Just waiting for more Marine divisions to be built to send across the ocean. Wake has become the forward base of operations for one carrier task force, and numerous air fleets. I wanted to use Guam, but Japan took control before I ever had a chance to place units there. It’s a shame considering I did a lot of work on the sea defenses, AA, and airfields. More to come….
The intent for the landing and subsequent takeover of mainland Portugal, the pulling of Spanish forces off the French boarder, was a complete success. With Portugal under control my forces were able to take up defensive positions. For about two months though I was forced too place HQ’s on the front line, including the theatre HQ. I wasn’t at all pleased with that. France reclaimed all the land taken by the Spanish and even began an assault into Spain. That’s when things got worse. Italian Forces began pouring over the boarder behind the French forces, pushing north. The French abandoned their campaign into Spain to meet this new threat, but it was too late. With Germany attacking the through Belgium it was only a matter of time before France fell. An attempt to provide gunfire support through My Yorktown Task Force, I proceeded to assist the defenders of Marseilles. An Italian naval force decimated me, sinking two battleships and all four of the cruisers. Except for the Yorktown, all remaining ships were left at less than 10% “health”. My forces simply sat and waited. While all this was going on, the South African forces were conquering the remainder of Portuguese Africa, when finally, Portugal surrendered. As the USA I wanted to create a puppet government, but was unsure what would occur with the lands taken by S. Africa and the Netherlands in Africa. I annexed Portugal outright, then immediately set up a puppet government. Portugal was now an ally. In August 1939, Paris fell to the forces of Fascism. In an ultimate WTF moment, it was Italian forces that took the city and triggered the Vichy France event. Italy went back to pre-war Italian-French boarders, Spain kept all conquered land in Africa, and Germany received its historical territory in France. Germany had waited to long before attacking, and Italy did all the work. Something to be fixed in later patches? At only half strength I transported my 2nd army over to Portugal to act as a defensive barrier. Not strong enough for attack, but they are perfect for filling in some of my holes. Spanish air attack is a constant problem. With my manpower completely depleted, I do not have the reinforcement to replace losses in my fighter wings. With Portugal turning to the Allies as a puppet, I lost my supply link at Lisbon. Now I am in even deeper water. Only units along the coast seam to have enough supplies to keep going. I attacked to the south and liberated Gibraltar for the British, gaining another port along the way. Still not enough supplies being brought in! Against Japan, Not much has occurred. A couple of small naval battles resulted in the sinking of a couple Japanese cruisers. A British Fleet operating out of Honk Kong was spotted by my subs, and shortly after a notice popped up informing me that my subs spotted a Carrier fleet. The Asiatic fleet was dispatched with my Enterprise Task Force following. Only the cruisers got there in time to participate, but not in any big way. The USS Houston was sunk. The Japanese carrier now identified as the Akagi tried to retreat back to Japan but only met the Enterprise. Both the Akagi and Battleship Yamashiro were sunk. Five marine divisions are waiting for their organization to increase before an assault on the Solomon Islands planned for January 1940. Screenshots to come….
I have noticed in the game, that the computer easily goes through his manpower in the first few years. Perhaps it is a glitch. Anyway, your Game sounds good, what are you plans with the Germans?
OK, here are the screenshots I promised. This Pic is showing my 2nd Army in the South of Spain. You can see that the supplies are not getting very far north. Since creating a puppet for Portugal, no troops inside Portuguese Boarders have recieved any supplies. Here is my 1st Army in the North. As you can see, I dropped my three Para Divisions to try to capture the port. With no recon, or knowedge of how many troops might be in the port, I dropped around it and tried to push in with two of the divisions. They ran out of supplies and are currently immobile in this pic. The second armored division is trying to breakthrough to the 101st in this pic. In the Pacific I encountered my first major Japanese Fleet. I sank 1 Fleet and 1 light carrier and numberous cruisers and destroyers to no loss of my own. Unfortunatly what you cant see in the pic is that despite patroling submarines, three carrier groups, and a patroling cruiser group, the Japanese successfuly oppossed my landings in the Solomons. They destroyed three marine divisions and sank all my transports save for one. Strong Japanese fleets have been a constant since taking Kwajalein. This is a shot of the screwing partitioning of France. Again, it was Italy who triggered the Vichy France event. Germany had only just begun invading France at the time I'm not to sure what to do next. Denmark was just annexed, so I guess I will wait and see where they go next before deciding. Though I may wait for Spain to capitulate before moving to Germany's next ally, Italy.
Thanks Dustin. I'm glad you are all enjoying it. To Continue……….. December 1939 brought about equality of my manpower situation. For the first time my manpower was capable of keeping up with battlefield attrition. The US Third Army, still sitting stateside, was loaded into transports and set sail for Gibraltar. On the week of Christmas, I began my winter offensive. The First Army, along the coast of Northern Spain, and the Second Army, along the south coast of Spain, began a strong push east. At first only along the coast’s due to my supply shortages in the center of my lines. The Third Army, reloaded into transports, made a landing to the east of the Spanish lines. About 80,000 men began pushing north, west, and northeast. Within a month elements of the second and third armies linked up and began the push towards Madrid. By March Spain was captured, but with large territories in Africa, they did not surrender. With the coming of the New Year, 1940 came a long awaited building period. Emphasis was placed on both armored divisions and cruisers, both heavy and light. Throughout the first six months of the year, production was increased slowly as manpower increased. The US First and Second armies both set up a strong defensive boarder against German held France. With Vichy France still neutral, no troops were placed along their boarder. Possibly a mistake, but there simply isn’t enough units to protect both. In the two boarder provinces along the Atlantic coast, Germany deployed upwards of 200,000 troops, necessitating an equal number of US troops to protect against attack. The US Third Army was given the task of assaulting Germany’s next largest ally, Italy. It was deemed that the third armies’ three corps should be sufficient in taking Italy. They landed in Sicily in mid-May, and by June had secured the island. Strong Italian counter-attacks proved that Italy was in a better position militarily than the Spanish, and the front quickly became a stalemate. In June, Germany began attacking the first and Second Armies in Spain probing the front for weaknesses. Halfheartedly at first, then with some force. It was found that one corps from Sicily would be needed to reinforce the first Army. After the transports dropped of the troops the Germans made a full assault. The battle was going in the way of the defenders, but only barley, so I did the only logical thing to do. Retreating would disorganize my troops and thin out the line, so I counter-attacked. The battle raged on for almost four months. In the end, more than 50,000 American troops would be left dead or wounded, but the battle had been won. Casualties ranged from 25-50% depending on the division. What was even more important than the victory was the lack of organization within the German units. The Second Army quickly moved north along the coast cutting off and surrounding more than 50000 German troops engaged against the First Army’s 100,000 men. In all, Germany would lose about 100,000 troops, 50,000 KIA/WIA and 50,000 POW’s, and about 100 km of territory. In September Three Armored and two infantry division were completed and sent to land in N. Africa. The British had made a landing across the straight of Gibraltar, so the units landed there, beginning the push to force Spain into surrender. Little progress has yet to be made. In the Pacific, nothing to report except that naval battles has to be forcing the Japanese into a tight spot. The Saratoga Task Force alone has sunk more than 50 enemy ships to no losses of their own. No land has changed hands. The overall picture is still very much in doubt. The Chinese Sect Yunnan has become allied with the Axis and has made significant progress. India will fall to the Chinese. Singapore, under siege from Japan, got needed reinforcements from my Philippines forces. Japanese progress was reversed here, but not enough to make much difference. In South America, Brazil entered the Axis and has begun attacks on South American Allies. Venezuela has been occupied, though they continued the fight. No forces are present to counter this threat.
I would be making an effort to liberate Venezuela if I were you, it produces quite a lot of oil, which the Germans now have access to.
More Screenshots. Here you can see the desperate situation in India. While I'm not zoomed in so you can see the units, India has a large presence of troops from both Yunnan and Tibet. British forces have been largly useless. For some reason they keep funneling troops into the Channel Islands instead. In this picture you can see my progress against German forces in France. Highlighted is the US Second Army , minus one corps, on the coast along the boarder with Germany. The view of Sicily. Italian Counter attacks have been sporadic and light. Thoughts have been put forth to pull out the Corps in reserve to bolster forces in creating a Fourth Army Group.
To continue…….. Sicily: The Sicilian front had stalled and remained fairly stable for some time. Italian counter-attacks had been sporadic and did not require the commitment of my reserves. The decision was made to pull the reserves to begin building the US Fourth Army. Comprised of one corps from Sicily, one corps from N. Africa, and one corps from the US ready for action in August 41. In total the US Fourth Army comprised about 175,000 troops. The army group was created and sent to Spain. In June, after the pullout of the aforementioned corps, Italy attacked again, this time with a total of 150,000 troops. While the battle began showing promise that I could defeat the attack, it quickly became evident that I could not hold back the storm. Sicily had now transformed from a stalemate to a lost cause. Rather than divert more troops towards a campaign that showed no promise, I preformed a tactical withdrawal. All 80,000 troops remaining in the US Third Army were safely evacuated and transferred to Spain to await orders. Malaysia: Japanese forces have been pushed back from Singapore almost to the Siamese boarder. Japanese troops are no match for the better equipped Americans, but at the moment, numerically superior forces have caused the campaign to digress into a stalemate until more troops can arrive. North Africa: Following my cross-straight landing into Africa, Five Divisions quickly routed the remaining Spanish Forces. After surrounding and destroying another three Spanish divisions, I found out that Spain had no combat forces remaining anywhere in the world. The Surrender progress reached 100% and I was sure they would soon capitulate. Instead they opted to continue the fight as a government in exile. It was decided to pull four of the five divisions in Africa, previously un-attributed to any army, to build the US Fourth Army. Europe and the Atlantic: Following my short push forward it was decided to reconsolidate my lines. Keep in mind the territory I did take by force was during a defensive action, not offensive. Both the First and Second armies needed time to build up their organization while I decided what to do next. Germany refortified the line with fresh troops, so I used my dive bombers as an intelligence recon. Sending them on a ground attack mission I counted the number of battalions and came up with an estimated 400,000 German troops. By June, Germany was pushing hard to retake the land they had lost. The Newly created Fourth Army was in transit across the Atlantic when the attack began. My bombers were immediately sent out to bomb infrastructure and supply dumps in the hopes of destroying the supplies needed by the Germans on the front. This tactic could not have achieved any greater results. After a month long bombing campaign Germany pulled out more than 300,000 of its troops along the boarder. I couldn’t believe they just left them undefended. One province, landlocked along the boarder with Vichy France, still contained a significant number of troops. The First Army moved north into the middle province, while my Paratroopers dropped in right next to them. A landing by the new Fourth Army completed the encirclement of another 100,000 German troops. The battle they fought was ferocious, and more than 30,000 US troops were lost, but with the number of troops no longer available to Germany, the cost was worth it. The US First and Fourth Armies pushed north along undefended territory for about 100km before meeting a German defense. Included in the captured territory was another port, shortening my line of supply for the next offensive. Some time in March I received notice that my Ranger Task Force, (now combined with the remnants of my Yorktown Task Force) comprising two carriers and four battleships plus escorts, had spotted a fleet belonging to the Soviet Union. Since I was not at war with the SU I thought nothing of it. I realized later that the task force shadowed this fleet all the way to Sweden before losing sight of it. Since the fleet was now outside of its supply range it is now stuck at sea off the coast Finland. A glitch that can be fixed later I hope? Anyway To cope I transferred my Lexington Task Force from the Pacific. While covering the landings by the Fourth Army mentioned above, a German fleet sortied against mine. The battle was won with ease. The USS Arizona sank two German battle cruisers. Combined with one Japanese battleship and three heavy cruisers she is fast becoming my favorite in the game. The US First Second and Fourth Armies are all prepared and ready to make the next move against Germany. The plan is to use the Second Army in an amphibious operation behind the main concentration of German forces, while the First and Fourth Armies push north from the main line. If all goes well, the attacks from the front should give my amphibious operation sufficient time to close off any escape, effectively cutting off another large number of German troops. It is hoped another quarter of a million troops can be cut off and destroyed. South America: Wanting to meet the enemy where ever they present themselves, deciding which and how many units to fight Brazil was a difficult decision. In the end it became all too easy. None. In May the British landed 6 divisions in Brazil and quickly captured its capital. Large amounts of territory fell quickly to the British onslaught. Unfortunately, Brazil countered, cut off and destroyed all British forces. Soon after the US Third Army performed its tactical withdrawal, and the troops were available to toss into the maelstrom. They landed unopposed in Venezuela and began their push towards Brazil, liberating parts of Venezuela along the way. Pacific: Nothing new to report. The Navy is on constant patrol for the IJN, but for the most part island hopping is on hold.
launching 2 invasions at the same time is tricky business. Probably would have been best to choose between the invasion of Italy or the invasion of Germany earlier, rather than launch them both. Still, interesting AAR.
This is the planned landing mentioned above The landings were made successfully, with only one German division opposing. As you can see, I also landed my three Para divisions behind the Germans as well, who then attacked south. The stack that made the initial landing pushed east to cut off any hope of retreat for the Germans on the front lines. To ensure that Germany wouldn't move troops north from the lines, I made the attacks north with the Fourth and First Armies. Once the Second wave landed (viewable in the bottom left corner) they attacked immediately south. Germany brought more troops south against my new front quicker than I expected. Trapped in the pocket are 180,000 German troops. The battle is so far going slower than hoped for, with a possible German breakthrough from the north still possible to relieve their lines.
To Continue... Europe: The invasion behind the Germans proved to be much more difficult than hoped. By February 42 the Second Army was close to collapse. The Germans had brought south nearly 300,000 more troops to attempt a breakthrough to there isolated troops. They attacked directly into the center of my lines, where at the time I had only 25,000 men. A much larger number of Luftwaffe planes made air supply and bombing difficult. Almost all air operations came to a standstill while I waited for reinforcements. A good deal of shuffling my troops around was needed to keep the the battle from becoming a total loss. In the end the pocket collapsed, capturing or killing more than 200,000 German troops to the loss of an astounding 96,000 American lives. The Operation depleted my manpower back to zero and I must wait to reinforce before planning the next move. South America: American troops met little resistance while liberating Venezuela, British, and Dutch possessions. Once crossed into Brazil more and more troops were encountered. The Brazilians are no match for my troops, even with superior numbers. They did make a landing back in Venezuela and began taking back the country I had just liberated. Continental United States: In late March I was notified of a Brazilian landing and capturing of Miami. I was shocked and immediately recalled a couple divisions bound for Europe to meet this new threat. Malaysian Peninsula: After a long campaign, Singapore is safe, and all British possessions up to the boarder with Siam have been reclaimed. Caught before getting out were more then 100,000 Japanese troops. Another landing was attempted latter, but was met on the beaches by all four of my divisions on the peninsula. Before Japan retreated from this endeavor, their invasion fleet was engaged by my newly formed Wasp Task Force (1 Carrier, 2 Battleships, 6 cruisers, plus destroyers). The Japanese fleet was destroyed and the invasion repelled. India: Opening a new theater when you already have troops spread across the globe is never an easy decision. India was in a terrible state. Three British divisions were up against an unknown number a Yunnan and Tibetan Divisions and were quickly losing more and more ground. Four Marine and one Infantry division was scrounged from Pacific Area and sent to aid British efforts in India. The impact was immediate as my troops moved to isolate and destroy individual Divisions in a series of fast, successive, encirclements. Yunnan troops are the easiest troops I've encountered in battle. Allies: Despite significant gains by American troops on the Iberian peninsula, the allies cause gets more and more desperate everyday. Czechoslovakia was exepted into the allies just long enough to be invaded and conquered by Austria and Hungry. Greece and Yugoslavia both fell to Hungarian forces as well, the latter retaining half its territory as a puppet. Finland is under attack by Germany as well. Finally, in Asia, China, Communist China and two Chinese sects (not including Yunnan, already in the Axis) have all surrendered to Japan. After four years of war, no end is near.......
if this seems like its going to run to the games default end date you can always edit the game files to extend the game date, its incredibly easy to do, as it only requires editing one line in one file.
I plan to run the game to the end date regardless. I tried to edit the file at one point but it would not allow me to save as the document is in a format my computer will not exept for editing. I'm not sure why. To continue….. South America: The Brazilian landing behind my lines proved to be a disaster for American troops in the region. Venezuela was conquered for the third time by a foreign military, only rather than a government in exile; they became a Brazilian puppet and joined the axis. Pressure was placed on my troops in Brazil to the point that I could ill afford sending troops back to help deal with the new threat in Venezuela. In the end a retreat was the only possibility to save my forces. Just before the transports were needed to pull out these troops they were sent to the Falklands with six divisions of Mechanized and Motorized infantry. They landed in the plains regions on the southern portion of Brazil and moved to the jungle regions before terrain prevented useful operations. I am now waiting for infantry to become available to send to the region. A major naval battle was fought between one of my Carrier Task Forces (IIRC Saratoga’s TF), which resulted in the loss of a single American destroyer to two Brazilian battleships and four cruisers. The USS Arizona has become the first US ship to sink ships from five separate nations (Japan, Italy, Germany, Yugoslavia, and Brazil). India: Progress in India has slowed to little or nothing. My troops are still attempting to isolate and destroy Yunnanian troops but supplies have become the issue. Since I am on British territory my troops receive British supplies, and their troops are fully supplied while my advancing forces receive next to nothing. I am beginning to get angry with the profound lack of attacks by any of my Allies. British troops remain in defensive positions with no will to attack. Malaysian Peninsula: My Divisions in Malaysia are waiting for my transports to no longer be needed in the Atlantic for diversion to India. Because of the supply problems in India I am rethinking this strategy. Transport ships have been a problem for the entirety of the war as more than 20 of them have been sunk. I currently have only six to cover Europe, S. America, and the Pacific. Continental United States: The Brazilian Invasion of Miami was defeated, and the troops were sent to Brazil as mentioned above. Brazil tried again and again to retake Miami, being successful twice more. Feeling safe in the US I failed to build garrisons to protect my port areas. The Divisions retreating from South America, were sent back to protect the homeland. Europe: I have been very careful so far in fighting Germany. Historically Germany fielded a huge army, and at most I have only come across about a million troops. Operation Barbarossa never occurred, so I have been awaiting large numbers of German reinforcements to counter-attack. Finally Russia joined the war with an invasion of Germany, and quickly made progress. I stepped up operations in view of this fact. It is highly likely war with Russia will occur sooner or later. I began my offensive against Germany with heavy bombing of Infrastructure and supplies. With no supplies or an ability to receive supplies, German troops evacuated the front. My forces began a push north, with incredible speed, encountering minimal resistance. It got me wondering were the half a million troops who evacuated the front had gone. In less than a month I had cut off and destroyed another 50,000 German troops and was sitting just outside of Cherbourg. The battle for the Channel Islands was being fought by Germany from Cherbourg, so I sent a single division to attack, more as a reconnaissance effort than anything. The Germans stopped the attack and the British forces there are now safe for the time being. That single division attacking would be the end of my offensive, and the beginning of a long retreat back to my defensive positions before the offensive. I found in Cherbourg more than 2.8 million German troops who, after stopping their attack on the Channel Islands, spread across the front and counter-attacked in force. Up and down the line my forces were overwhelmed and forced into retreat. My troops are still currently retreating, but it is hoped they will be able to hold the line once finished. I am happy to say that in the expectation of German counter-attacks the last line I had held I built fortresses, which should allow me to keep from being pushed off the continent. Russia has already taken Berlin, and is pushing faster than I ever expected towards Paris.
Hmm, I know the file is a LUA file, which you should be able to just edit with notepad, .:: NOTEPAD++ ::. <--- this is the program i used to edit the file though.
I was going to update my AAR over the next few days but an astroid devestated the planet and forced the human race into extinction. That means someone accidently saved over my game.
I was reading your now non-existent AAR. Back in the early stages you had supply problems in Portugal. I hate that. If Belgium and the Netherlands don't surrender, often, on the reconquest journey as American or the UK, I bog down in the recently liberated Low Countries, because they can't supply my troops. The best I can do is hold troops there for defense, and instead try to ram my way through the Siegfried Line. It's that or heavy amounts of Air Supply. In HoI2, at least you could offer them free trade. But, even with debt allowed, both Belgium and the Netherlands are unwilling to take supplies from me! GAH! Supply so far has been my biggest gripe about this otherwise excellent game.
