I've been very impressed with the new combat AI and mechanic's so I thought I'd set out a micro-AAR focusing on the naval warfare experience in AoD.
This is a record of my first game with AoD, playing as France on Normal/Normal during 1940. This will be picture heavy and a mixture of gameplay and narration to detail the new combat game mechanics which appear to be the biggest and best change for AOD. I've played HoI2 Arma quite a bit and even won on occasion with France but to be honest I've not used the usual vanilla infantry build and instead built lots of historically accurate battleships and as a result I'm going to lose but it will be glorious.
Battleship vs. Battleship
Following the invasion of Poland, quickly dispatched by mid September, Germany's eye's fell upon Denmark and securing access and passage rights to the Baltic. The French Battleship squadron charged with patrolling the English Channel was diverted to the Kattegat in an attempt to slow down the German advance but met an unexpected Kreigsmarine presense.
In the twilight at 18:00 hrs on the 13 March 1940 the French and German fleets met, the French destroyers of 3 Flottile and the lead French battleship, the Paris, rapidly closed on the enemy fleet and at a range of 6.1 km in the failing light engaged the battleship Tirpitz with torpedo's and 305 mm canon.
Regrettably the old guns of the venerable Paris were unable to inflict any hits on the Tirpitz but the more modern fire control systems of the German battleships concentrated their fire upon the Courbet which recieved several 380 mm shell penatrating her armour and setting off fires and flooding throughout the ship which the crew were unable to contain; unevenly matched and running low on fuel at 23:00 hrs Rear Adm. Richard had ordered a withdrawl but pursued by the German fleet the Courbet bowed to the inevitable, capsized and sank in the early hours of 14 March.
Game note - all of this action took place at night, the German and French destroyers and battleships closed so that they could all have the opportunity to engage the enemy but the whole fleet rarely if ever fired at the same time. Battleships targetted screens and capitals as they were spotted, this again is a major divertion form standard HoI2 practice and will make SAG's much more effective.
As an aside, the follwoing two screens show the disposition of the RN in March 1940, note that each fleet has sufficient screens and capitals and that they are split into logical and effective battleship and carrier groups. This would be unheard of in HoI2.
Battlecrusier vs. (Light) Crusier
The two French Battlecruiser's specifically designed to deal with the threat of the German Panzerschiffe are on patrol in the Western Approaches of the Atlantic and contact a light cruiser/destoyer convoy raiding party.
Stood off at 18 km distance the combined firepower of the French fleet send the enemy rapidly to the bottom. It should be noted that I deliberately removed one of the existing attachments (the AAA) to the BC's so that I could research, build and add the radar improvement in addition to the spotter plane. This is a welcome new feature and means that you can tailor your existing ships to different tasks.
Destroyer vs. Submarine
With Italy joining the Axis in May a large Royal Navy taskforce is sent from GB to the North Africa. At 03:00 hrs on the 25 May the RN along with my Bordeaux based ASW equipped destroyers spots German U-boats.
During the night the destroyers can find no trace of the submarines but at dawn Vice Adm. Donitz can't resist the tempting target of HMS Renown and closes to 4.9 km to fire a salvo of torpedoes which narrowly miss the battleship but by 07:00 hrs the attack is driven off by 6e flottila with the U-boats taking on water and demoralised are no longer in a fit state to fight. During the day the submarines are ruthlessly hunted while Donitz tries to stretch out the distance between the two fleets to escape. The U-boats make 11.9 km and then 14.4 km distance but are finally sunk by depth charges at 18:00 hrs before they can reach the safety.
Note that the u-boats did not sink the Renown but that it has sufferred considerable organisation loss following the surprise attack.
Part 2 of 2 to follow shortly
This is a record of my first game with AoD, playing as France on Normal/Normal during 1940. This will be picture heavy and a mixture of gameplay and narration to detail the new combat game mechanics which appear to be the biggest and best change for AOD. I've played HoI2 Arma quite a bit and even won on occasion with France but to be honest I've not used the usual vanilla infantry build and instead built lots of historically accurate battleships and as a result I'm going to lose but it will be glorious.
Battleship vs. Battleship
Following the invasion of Poland, quickly dispatched by mid September, Germany's eye's fell upon Denmark and securing access and passage rights to the Baltic. The French Battleship squadron charged with patrolling the English Channel was diverted to the Kattegat in an attempt to slow down the German advance but met an unexpected Kreigsmarine presense.
In the twilight at 18:00 hrs on the 13 March 1940 the French and German fleets met, the French destroyers of 3 Flottile and the lead French battleship, the Paris, rapidly closed on the enemy fleet and at a range of 6.1 km in the failing light engaged the battleship Tirpitz with torpedo's and 305 mm canon.
Regrettably the old guns of the venerable Paris were unable to inflict any hits on the Tirpitz but the more modern fire control systems of the German battleships concentrated their fire upon the Courbet which recieved several 380 mm shell penatrating her armour and setting off fires and flooding throughout the ship which the crew were unable to contain; unevenly matched and running low on fuel at 23:00 hrs Rear Adm. Richard had ordered a withdrawl but pursued by the German fleet the Courbet bowed to the inevitable, capsized and sank in the early hours of 14 March.
Game note - all of this action took place at night, the German and French destroyers and battleships closed so that they could all have the opportunity to engage the enemy but the whole fleet rarely if ever fired at the same time. Battleships targetted screens and capitals as they were spotted, this again is a major divertion form standard HoI2 practice and will make SAG's much more effective.
As an aside, the follwoing two screens show the disposition of the RN in March 1940, note that each fleet has sufficient screens and capitals and that they are split into logical and effective battleship and carrier groups. This would be unheard of in HoI2.
Battlecrusier vs. (Light) Crusier
The two French Battlecruiser's specifically designed to deal with the threat of the German Panzerschiffe are on patrol in the Western Approaches of the Atlantic and contact a light cruiser/destoyer convoy raiding party.
Stood off at 18 km distance the combined firepower of the French fleet send the enemy rapidly to the bottom. It should be noted that I deliberately removed one of the existing attachments (the AAA) to the BC's so that I could research, build and add the radar improvement in addition to the spotter plane. This is a welcome new feature and means that you can tailor your existing ships to different tasks.
Destroyer vs. Submarine
With Italy joining the Axis in May a large Royal Navy taskforce is sent from GB to the North Africa. At 03:00 hrs on the 25 May the RN along with my Bordeaux based ASW equipped destroyers spots German U-boats.
During the night the destroyers can find no trace of the submarines but at dawn Vice Adm. Donitz can't resist the tempting target of HMS Renown and closes to 4.9 km to fire a salvo of torpedoes which narrowly miss the battleship but by 07:00 hrs the attack is driven off by 6e flottila with the U-boats taking on water and demoralised are no longer in a fit state to fight. During the day the submarines are ruthlessly hunted while Donitz tries to stretch out the distance between the two fleets to escape. The U-boats make 11.9 km and then 14.4 km distance but are finally sunk by depth charges at 18:00 hrs before they can reach the safety.
Note that the u-boats did not sink the Renown but that it has sufferred considerable organisation loss following the surprise attack.
Part 2 of 2 to follow shortly
