[AI Improvement Pack + Map Patch Project] Simple Germany AAR

[imperator667]

Ahoi!

For my first and maybe last AAR i chose a simple German approach with the AI Improvement Pack and the Map Patch Mod, both mods i play for the first time in this mod. After being a bit frustrated about the game in vanilla 1.2 (mainly the lack of good construction AI) i chose to install both mods and them a try and share my experiences with the rest of you, with focus on the AI Improvement. Not having read the readme of anything we just dive in and see what were up against now.

The difficulty is a mere normal for everything (noob alert). I will try to control every aspect of the game except trade, which always annoys me with those blinking icons telling you to read some stupid offer.

Until 1938 i played quite historical, but lets see what happened:

As you can see, the Italians were quite willing to join the Axis early on, which is very excellent for our future plans, especially in the Mediterranean. Also the Nationalists in Spain have declared War on the Republic and now there is some carnage on the iberian peninsula. Soviets and England decided to intervene, as did Italy and Germany.

In the espionage business we first did some counterespionage to flush out the enemy spies and then lower some neutrality. Also the Germany decides to increase the threat of France and Great Britain to make it less likely for third nations to join the Allies. In the US, german spies try to support the local nazi party for maybe some future purpose. Later in 1937, germany decides to also increase the threat of Australia, which is poised to join the Allies in the near future.

The Axis in late 1937 with Japan and Hungary having joined the most powerful group of nations as of yet. Austria has just been annexed by Germany and now the Axis leaders turn their head to Expansion in Europe and Asia. The politically very close Nationalist Spain which has won the Spanish Civil war will be able to join soon but concern among Axis leaders may prevent this move from becoming reality. Also Poland wants to join the Axis but this is something to be considered very carefully, especially in regard to the big red menace growing on the eastern borders of europe. The german high command has some daring plans in case Poland is allowed to join the Axis, which are rumored to be more of a transatlantic expansionist form but nothing is decided yet.

The politics and production are quite regular with the usual Tank/Infantry buildup and some 20 IC already constructed in mainly Bavaria and the Ruhrgebiet where there is easy access to Coal and Iron and an abundant workforce already in place. This puts Germany in the position to take on larger opponents.

Some less good news awaited the Axis leaders in the Pacific where Japan faced a huge humiliation at the hands of some Chinese Divions, although poorly led and armed could overpower the totally incompetent Japanese Army and even theaten Japans most precious posession outside the mainland: Korea. What a disaster:

Even the Invasion of Shanghai failed miserably and all Japanese Forces went into captivity there a few weeks later.

This concludes the Events up to the beginning of 1938, hopefully more uplifting stories will follow.

Finally, I loaded up the game as USA to see what the build AI was doing, i was quite pleased with what is saw, also very scared
The UK was doing good as well, with 2 Infantry divisions, one tactical bomber group and just ONE transport flotilla in production

 

[imperator667]

First half of 1938

I played a bit further now, with nothing much happening besides Nationalist Spain joining the Axis, which puts France in a very dangerous position, now being threatened by three nations on three different fronts. Some good news came out of Manchuria where the Japanese managed to halt the Chinese Invaders and even push them back a bit:

In April the Major European Powers met to decide the fate of Czechoslovakia. The Führer was very pleased with the result, de facto getting rid of one dangerous opponent in central europe. Now the german high command could concentrate on a plan against Poland, which was to be set in motion in about a year. The arms race in europe is gearing up as armies grow larger again with Germany taking the lead.

Realizing that tanks will dominate the battlefield of the future, german researchers and planners came up with a new division design that hopefully would dominate the battlefields for the next three years. It is made up of strong Panzer foces with mobile infantry support and a new design, the tank destroyer, which is just built for hunting down enemy tanks on the battlefield.

We eagerly await battle results from these monstrous divisions, most likely they will crush those weak french tanks in a matter of minutes.

 

[Jrog]

ooo a very interesting start.. where are you getting the mods?

 

[Myth]

The AI seems to be a bit improved, maybe. Keep going, let's see how it does in more important places--like Europe!

 

[imperator667]

Jrog: yeah you have to register your game with the serial number on your handbook to get access to the Mod Forum!

Myth: Will keep going at least until Barbarossa, i am too curious about the mods

Report June 1938 - 1. January 1939

The war in the Chinese Area rages on as Shanxi surrenders to the Japanese ...

... which blinded by their swift success turn away from the new front with Communist and Nationalist China. Now the Communists push forward once again, the Führer is outraged at the complete incompetence of his allies!

In a steady process, german researchers and engineers ahve mastered the art of tankbuilding to a point where the result is just awe-inspriring: Massive Tanks, albeit slow can soon be used against our poor enemies. These are basically rolling fortresses only vulnerable to aircraft and similarily massive enemy tanks, which none have been reported yet by our spies. This could be our trump card in any conflict now.

Below is a screenshot of the impressive technological advances of the Germans in the field of Tankbuilding and Artillery.

With the dawning of 1939 Hitler asked his most able generals to devise a plan in case the Polish people refused his most generous offer of german protection over the port of Danzig. It could be said that the main work of the planned offensive solely relied on fast and powerful tank assaults at very concentrated areas to split Poland in two where one thrust would come out of east prussia and another one from silesia. The Tank forces set aside for this operation were around 10 Tank Divisions with 2 Reserve Divisions. 5 Tank Divisions would be given the Task of a frontal assault in the area south of Danzig to confuse the enemy and maybe form another pocket more to the west. With these masterful plans the Führer could sleep well.

 

[imperator667]

Report: January - May 1939

In late April the Japanese faced another disaster in Korea, as the Communists were zeroing in on Seoul and all the juicy IC in the region.

Now the Führer received a bad and a good message:
the bad one first - Czechoslovakia joined the Allies before they could be "persuaded" to completely get protected by Germany and its vast armies.
the good one was not really good since they have a really weak army:

In the light of this new development in central europe time was running out for the Germans, the window of german superiority was closing rapidly, it could be estimated that by next summer no offensive war against the allies could be waged anymore. the plans for war were hastily adjusted, flanks exposed to get the needed troops to the suspected fronts. The attack on the unsuspecting allies would take place on June 1st 1939. The world would soon tremble before the german warmachine. With the new resources and manpower gained by quick eastern conquest of Poland and Czechoslovakia an assault on France and Britain would be possible once again. The plan was to crush the eastern enemies in 2 months or less, then turning against France if it has not fallen to Spain and Italy yet. The russians would have to be observed carefully, german strategists assumed Stalin would not take kindly to a powerful Germany next to the Soviet Unions borders.
But crippled by the officer purge the Red Army was not really perceived to be a threat in german military circles, at least not in this year.
With this masterplan in his pocket, Hitler gave the order to attack Poland and Czechoslovakia on June 1st 0:00:

 

[imperator667]

Two weeks of war

1. June 1939 - 14. June 1939

The Attack commenced and the german forces were ordered as planned:

Even Gibraltar was not spared:

After two days of fighting against totally unprepared enemies the germans had cut off eastern Czechoslovakia from the capital.

Good news!

After one week of intense fighting:

South Africa sought protection from the Axis aggression, who were making good progress in central europe:

shortly thereafter Czechoslovakia surrendered under the weight of the assault

Things looked equally grim for Poland after two weeks and Warsaw fallen to the german spearhead of tanks:

The western front was completely quiet beside some air skirmish over France. Spain crossed the Pyrenées into France and Italy assaulted southern France with all its troops but made no progress yet. Japan is just barely able to hold the line in northern Korea after having many of its troops encircled and captured. The Kriegsmarine in the meantime is still hungry for first blood ... with its newls constructed Flagship: the Bismarck cruising in the baltic , waiting for some foolish Polish warships to enter the sea ...

 

[imperator667]

Battle of France

Report 15. June - 20. September 1939

Poland was beaten quickly and surrendered in late June, this puts Germany in a dangerous situation: common border with the Soviet Union. the new border is immedeatly garrisoned by 2 complete Armies. the panzer army is ordered to the west where a decision must be achieved before winter. Shortly after the polish surrender Germany gains an unlikely ally: Brazil! We now have access to the american continent and the regional power in our alliance, this could keep the US busy for a while in case they enter the war. Brazilian forces go to the offensive quickly and a first success can be reported:

While the german forces were waiting for an opportunity to penetrate the mighty maginot line, the french beat themselves by letting the center of the line undefended for a while, they needed to reinforce their southern fronts against Spain and Italy ... This was the moment the OKH was waiting for. Immedeatly 10 Panzer Divisions were ordered to fill the gap.

Shortly after that the situation for the french deteriorated rapidly

The Maginot line was encircled in 10 days by powerful Panzer Korps, the only thing delaying them was the attack delay (refueling and reorganizing after attacks)

In general, the french were almost beaten with 3 enemies to fight at once

a few weeks later the situation became critical as the whole western front of the french army was cut off and Paris became threatened, however the tired german troops needed a rest before advancing further, this gave the French some breathing time. Hitler was so convinced of his panzers that he didnt order regular troops to pour into France. This was now a huge problem for the German army as advances were only made by Spain and Italy now...

But after a few more days even the French had to admit defeat. It can also be noted that the resource situation has improved drastically, although we are very low on manpower now.

The future planning now is to establish a firm grip on western europe and to turn the attention to the balkans where the Italians are already claiming large portions of territory for themselves. The fuhrer doesnt like his allies being too powerful and so he decides to let the armies rest for the winter, to make a new offensive with rested and reinforced troops.

In the Pacific, the Japanese are slowly recovering in Korea and are slowly pushing back the Chinese offensive:

some statistics of the armies of the axis: noteworthy is the large hungarian army and the strong italian navy.

Finally a picture of the northern german - russian border, something that gives hitler nightmares:

 

[peterhoi3]

I like it, I will be following it. The way the text lines and pictures are laid out..

I like it, I will be following it. The way the text lines and pictures are laid out
make it for a very difficult reading. The text lines are way too long, and the
pictures too big. Even in my 1680 x 1050 screen I have to move from left to
right all the time. I would suggest you to cut the text lines and resize the
pictures to at most 900 wide and not more than 600 wide, more or less.

 

[Gankenstein]

A good read. Was there no Vichy event? Did France simply surrender?

 

[imperator667]

1939

21. September 1939 - 31. December 1939

peterhoi3: Thank you, i tried to follow your advice, it should look better now

Gankenstein: Thanks. There was no event that i could choose to have Vichy, it was just created with the surrender of France.

Shortly after the fall of France and the Incorporation of Vichy France as a
neutral country in southern France and its colonial posessions the Portugese
decide to join the Axis, meanwhile the last British soldiers are kicked out of
continental europe:

The British decide to sink the remaining French fleet, so that it doesnt fall in
our hands, while still being kicked out of europe:

In the mediterranean the Italians managed to conquer a completely
undefended Egypt and some strategic islands:

In Asia, Japan managed to persuade the Menchuko government to return to
the country and reinstate a legitimate government on its own territory, the
front was coming to a stalemate with neither side being able to advance
significantly.

In southern China, a huge Japanese force was halted by an eqally enourmous
Yunnan force, the Führer was outraged by the lack of confidence in the
Japanese leadership to bring this front to a moving state and to remove
Yunnan forces from this area. He himself had shown what decisive military
leadership could achieve.

What even more enraged the Führer was the fact that British bomber fleets
could operate over the heart of the german industry with no strong
resistance. The defense against air raids was increased and those raids soon
stopped due to heavy losses.

In northern France the British once again invaded a port but this time they
faced the new mechanized forces which dealt with the enemy quickly and
efficiently, dealing losses 10 times their own.

Impressed by this, the Führer quickly ordered more of these units to be
drafted and incorporated into the Heer, they should prove even more useful
in the vast plains of russia, where speed was an invaluable advantage. With
more of these forces a war against the Soviets could be won in a matter of
months, so the delighted Führer tried to convince his generals.

Shortly after starting a commerce raid in the Atlantic, some german uboats
were found and sunk.

In response to this, the Führer ordered the by no means large Kriegsmarine
to leave the port of Bordeaux to intercept the fleet that did this to his
precious submarines. The largest seabattle of this war took place off the
spanish coast and it was a fairly even battle, the British marine was surprised
to see the Kriegsmarine this far off its main ports but accepted the challenge.

In the first minutes of the engagement it became clear that superior
equipment of the german surface fleet would turn this battle to the favour of
the germans.

The result was a decisive victory of a once belittled fleet against the world
superpower of the seas. the german losses were mild and by no means
comparable against those of the British. Especially the massive firepower of
the Bismarck shocked the British Admirals. Hitler was already contemplating
to send a mock telegramm to Churchill making fun about his "Toy Boats". The
champaign was running out quickly in the germany navy high command.

On the diplomatic field, the Axis could score another victory as Lithuania
decided to join the Axis.

On December 23. disaster struck in Asia: the Manchuko government was
forced to surrender to the Chinese, leaving the whole Japanese front trapped
deep in enemy territory. The Führer was outraged to a point where he
considered kicking Japan out of the alliance forever. Unfortunately there was
no such option, as he needed a strong ally in the Pacific even if totally
incompetent.

In late 1939 the British invaded Lisboa. Quickly the Gibraltar invasion force
was dispatched to deal with the problem. But the problem was larger than
could be handled. Reinforcements of armor were called in from France. This
all strained the Fürhers nerves ... a breakdown was imminent.

Because of these disasters the Führer needed some easy target to release
his frustration. A cunning plan was devised to invade the Low Countries and
getting rid of those Outposts of Democracy as quickly as possible.

Another map shows the current situation of the eastern border with russia
and the current deployment plans, red armies are not yet in place due to
engagement in western europe. It can be argued if these forces are enough
to even stop a russian invasion ...

 

[imperator667]

1940

1. January 1940 - 31. June 1940

The fronts became quiet and not much was to report, except for fierce fighting in Lisboa, where the British forced a beachhead, but were kicked out by german mountain troops on 11. January:

With more and more countries realizing that the Axis provide the answers to a world where nothing is certain anymore more countries seek protection from the Communist and Capitalist menace. Yunnan decides to join the Axis, which puts British India in a very dangerous situation since it is not defended at all.

On March, 24th 1940, the Führer gives the order to attack the Belgium and the Netherlands, the attack will sweep those countries from the map and hopefully provide germany with rare materials, they have run out in the winter of 1940.

The attack begins!

7 days into the campaign

10 days

the final battle for Brussels

In the light of this scary development for the free countries around the world, the Canadian fools join the allies.

Meanwhile the Yunnan forces make steady progress in India, the Führer is delighted.

More Axis power!

In summer 1940 it became clear that a conflict with the soviet union becomes inevitable, the flanks had to be secured for such a massive operation, this Yugoslavia was invaded, the Führer hoped that his allies gained some experience, since he only commited 5 divisions to this battle.

Hungary, Italy and Romania immedeatly took the chance to gain some territory

Luckily for the Romanians, Yugoslavia surrendered to them

Impressed by the conquests of "minor" Axis nations the Tibetians seek to join the Axis, the Führer is puzzled as to how they can contribute to the war effort but after the soviet union is crushed he might be able to make some vacation in the Himalaya there.

In the baltic another country is convinced that the Soviets are evil warmongers and try to conquer europe:

The british AI is producing Infantry and Marine divisons, but will ship them all to the Channel islands, where they are trapped (level 1 port -> massive lack of supply). The Führer gives several orders to dislodge the British from these islands but fails miserably. Marine Divisons are trained for this purpose, but will become available in early 1941. More next time. The high command is convinced that if those troops were in Egypt and India the situation would look quite different. By conquering the channel islands, they have to place them somewhere else.

 

[imperator667]

1. July 1940 - 31. December 1940

The allies were joined by another nation fearing to stand alone.

The diplomatic situation was looking good still for the Axis powers, although the red behemoth to the east concerned not only the german high command. Especially the baltic states were voicing concerns over soviet aggression more public now. The german high command was already working on a plan to put an end to the soviets once and for all. An attack on the soviet union would have to take place in early 1941. It was uncertain how strong the soviets really were, although the military strength on the german - russian border was quite equal on both sides. The possible reserves of the soviet union would make an attack a leap into the uncertain. But risks would have to be taken if one was to dominate the world.

In the meantime Bulgaria was declared war on:

The Romanians quickly dealt with the new problem, the Führer was very pleased to see a strong ally on the southern soviet border. Bulgaria caputulated a few days later.

In Greece, the Italians were making steady progress...

... and finally captured Athens in late November. Greece surrendered days later.

In Asia the Japanese managed to recover for the third time, they truly showed fighting spirit:

For Germany there was a minor nuisance off the French coast which had to be dealt with:

This led to another victorious sea battle in which two British battlecruisers were sunk.

To deal with Great Britain in the future a new construcion plan was worked out, which saw the construction of 4 H-Class battleships, even larger than the already legendary Bismarck.

 

[imperator667]

1. January 1941 - 20. April 1941

The decisive year has dawned and the Führer was both anxious and happy. He managed to conquer or vasallize the whole of central and western europe, except those annoying british and their stupid bombers. This was an accomplishment only paralleled by Napoleon or the Roman empire. But now he had a plan to shadow even those eras. An attack on the vast soviet empire was the last step to achieving total domination of the eurasian continent. It would be a clash of titans, the two largest armies of the world would be engaged in a battle for survival, the loser could expect no mercy from the enemy.

But first some good news reached the headquarters: the asian allies managed to completely conquer India, thus putting the former british empire in a very difficult position. Almost every British colony has been occupied by allies of Germany, the Brazilians conquered the Carribean, the Spanish central africa and the Italians western africa, only southern africa remained. and some totally unimportant islands all over the world. it was a difficult position for the empire. luckily the germans had other plans than invading the british homeland, and so could hope for the us to enter the war on the allied side.

In a fierce battle lasting for about a month the german marines were assaulting the channel islands to get rid of the british here.

On February 7th , the last defenders surrendered the totally destroyed islands.

With this accomplished the OKH turned the eyes eastwards and worked out a battle plan. Especially for the baltic allies the situation was not good: huge soviet forces were facing almost no opposition. german troops would probably have to intervene soon after the first attack in the center.

The grand battle plan of the german high command, the main battle would be waged by no less than 30 panzer divisions deployed in 4 areas on the front, with the 6. Armee consisting of 17 armored and mechanized divisions leading the central assault. To the south 5 armored / mechanized divisions were deployed which had to attack from romanian territory and to form the first pocket in the south.

But the most cunning part of the plan was the utilization of the swampy areas in the center of the front. The panzer spearheads would drive around those areas, while the german infantry in the center would just hold the line until the pocket was closed. The trapped soviet troops would be too slow to escape ...

From the statistics department the latest army figures were reported:

And so on April 20th 0:00 - war were declared on the communists:

 

[unmerged(75409)]

Truly an interesting war. I like how Yunnan conquered all of India.

 

[imperator667]

20. April 1941 - 10. May 1941

Now it was only the Panzers and the enemy hordes... And a superior plan! The completely surprised russians were offering no restistance during the first days of the attack, it was like a walk in the park for the panzers. The losses were light and the delays were almost nonexistent. It was uncertain however how the resistance would develop in the next weeks. The first week however belonged to the german tanks!

The initial attack of the sixth army consisting of three spearheads with 5 tank divisions each. Way too many tanks for such weak enemies...

Progress was good in the first days, and after 4 days the panzers were 100 km deep in enemy territory in the south.

To the north things looked equally fine:

The resistance was negligible due to the surprise the germans had achieved.

After 6 days the romanian front reported the partial encirclement of an entire russian army. Celebrations were not started yet but it became clear that many russians would be trapped here.

To the north a small pocket was created with the tanks already hundreds of kilometres ahead. This operation was conducted by the following infantrykorps.

On day 10 of the offensive the southern pocket is finally closed and the mop up begins with infantry divisions launching attacks on the western border of the pocket while the panzerkorps already plan the advancement towards Kiev.

The front as seen from space on day 11. The giant pocket in the center is closing at an incredible rate. The panzer commanders never rest.

Of the planned attack the middle thrust of panzers was the least successful one, but the northernmost one performed far exceeding expectations and thus became the northern wing of the encirclement. Infantry was rushed behind the panzers to keep the supply lines open.

To the south, the Romanians made good progress, while the first pocked was shrinking quickly.

On day 18 the center pocket was almost closed leaving estimated 70 divisions trapped in western russia.

After 20 days the encirclement was complete and infantry divisions commenced their attacks in the west while the huge pocket was split in two by the minsk area panzerkorps.

The southern pocket after 20 days. No hope there.

The fighting continues ...

 

[imperator667]

Truly an interesting war. I like how Yunnan conquered all of India.

yes i was surprised too that the british had no forces in india. i guess they all were station at the channel islands, which were now occupied.

now the communist forces threaten tibet and yunnan from the north which is fun too, a communist india is possible

 

[Xendance]

AI improvement pack? I don't see how it improves it

 

[imperator667]

AI improvement pack? I don't see how it improves it

why do you say that? i do find that at least the production ai has improved a lot, britain now producing land units and the usa is now producing a balanced mix of units. japan has managed to stay alive against all odds in china by producing quite a lot land units and shipping them to korea.
i am looking forward to 1.3 though, where i hope there are no more issues of that kind, especially the strategic ai needs much attention.

 

[Xendance]

Because of the Yunnan advance in India