oh the HoI3 STrategic Overview.... you killed all the people that have lived on this earth since the Neanderthal at least three times acording to those numbers
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The End of Germany Ep. 2
August, 1942
Condition of the Fronts
Arkhangelsk Front
- Transports received and organized as part of Baltic Transport Fleet - they will be escorted by the Baltic Sea Fleet under Admiral Kuznetsov - they have 5 infantry divisions at their disposal - some of these are battle hardened veterans from Leningrad Front which were made available for the operation.
- An overland invasion will coincide with the hour of the Naval invasion - we will shatter Finland.
Leningrad Front
- Race to the Atlantic!
Kiev Front
- Race to the Atlantic!
Odessa Front
- Occupy all the Balkans!
------------
9:00 AM, Khatukov's CAS flight in Leningrad begins bombarding Finnish positions in Viipuri
11:00, 1st, The fleet is in position the Arkhangelsk Front's offensive begins!
15:00, 1st, the Finnish Fleet engages the Baltic Sea Fleet!
21:00, the battle ends with us virtually destroying the Finnish cruisers - but one of our aged destroyers was sunk in a freak accident.
1:00, we win the battle for Petsamo (extreme North of Finland)
14:00, 3rd, General Tarasov's troops make landfall to the right flank of Helsinki and assaults the city!
17:00, 3rd, General Batiuna makes landfall in Hanko and will assist with the action to take Helsinki.
16:00, 4th, the Finns prove hearty defenders and turn much of the offensive's blows - they have had years to dig in of course.
10:00, 5th, tanks under General Pliev report they have occupied Viipuri.
4:00, 6th, the Fleet reports that General Kolshevoi has made landfall in Turku - an important Finnish port city.
6:00, 6th, General Tarasov occupies Helsinki.
12:00, 7th, General Rhylov moves on Kirkenes - a Norwegian Arctic port occupied by the Germans - there are presently no Germans to speak of here.
20:00, 9th, General Dratvin occupies the Finnish city of Vaasa - Finland should surrender as we now hold all of their political and economic centers and it will be weeks before their army could arrive to dislodge us - at which time even more Soviet soldiers would be present.
10th of August, Finland surrenders.
2:00, 13th, General Rhylov occupies Kirkenes - the Arkhangelsk Front will be relocated to Talinn - Finland should be capable of mopping up what remains of the Germans (2 garrison divisions - out of supply).
August 17th, Danzig Falls.
August 21st, General Berzarin reports that he is just outside of Berlin!
00:00, 22nd, Greece has been liberated, and has joined us in our fight against the Germans! -=not by my choice=-
12:00, 24 the Battle for Berlin begins! General Lazarev leads the attack.
1:00, 27th, General Fedorov's tanks begin the battle for Budapest.
9:00, 28th, troops from Arkhangelsk front engage in an invasion to capture Copenhagen!
6:00, 29th, Federov occupied Budapest
11:00, 29th, the Germans fought us ferociously, but General Lazarev's tanks have occupied the city. Berlin has fallen!
30th of August - Hungary surrenders.
Sept. 2nd, General Romaneko's tanks occupy Dresden.
5:00, Sept. 11th, General Timoshenko's Motorized troops occupy Bratislava - Slovakia should surrender.
14th of September, General Zaev occupied Hamburg
19th, General Sandalov occupied Vienna!
23rd of September, Croatia surrenders.
28th of September, General Golikov occupies Amsterdam.
October 16th Semenchenko occupied Brussels.
October 24th, the Wehrmacht finally sees reason... Only Italy remains, in Europe.
August, 1942
Condition of the Fronts
Arkhangelsk Front
- Transports received and organized as part of Baltic Transport Fleet - they will be escorted by the Baltic Sea Fleet under Admiral Kuznetsov - they have 5 infantry divisions at their disposal - some of these are battle hardened veterans from Leningrad Front which were made available for the operation.
- An overland invasion will coincide with the hour of the Naval invasion - we will shatter Finland.
Leningrad Front
- Race to the Atlantic!
Kiev Front
- Race to the Atlantic!
Odessa Front
- Occupy all the Balkans!
------------
9:00 AM, Khatukov's CAS flight in Leningrad begins bombarding Finnish positions in Viipuri
11:00, 1st, The fleet is in position the Arkhangelsk Front's offensive begins!
15:00, 1st, the Finnish Fleet engages the Baltic Sea Fleet!
21:00, the battle ends with us virtually destroying the Finnish cruisers - but one of our aged destroyers was sunk in a freak accident.
1:00, we win the battle for Petsamo (extreme North of Finland)
14:00, 3rd, General Tarasov's troops make landfall to the right flank of Helsinki and assaults the city!
17:00, 3rd, General Batiuna makes landfall in Hanko and will assist with the action to take Helsinki.
16:00, 4th, the Finns prove hearty defenders and turn much of the offensive's blows - they have had years to dig in of course.
10:00, 5th, tanks under General Pliev report they have occupied Viipuri.
4:00, 6th, the Fleet reports that General Kolshevoi has made landfall in Turku - an important Finnish port city.
6:00, 6th, General Tarasov occupies Helsinki.
12:00, 7th, General Rhylov moves on Kirkenes - a Norwegian Arctic port occupied by the Germans - there are presently no Germans to speak of here.
20:00, 9th, General Dratvin occupies the Finnish city of Vaasa - Finland should surrender as we now hold all of their political and economic centers and it will be weeks before their army could arrive to dislodge us - at which time even more Soviet soldiers would be present.
10th of August, Finland surrenders.
2:00, 13th, General Rhylov occupies Kirkenes - the Arkhangelsk Front will be relocated to Talinn - Finland should be capable of mopping up what remains of the Germans (2 garrison divisions - out of supply).
August 17th, Danzig Falls.
August 21st, General Berzarin reports that he is just outside of Berlin!
00:00, 22nd, Greece has been liberated, and has joined us in our fight against the Germans! -=not by my choice=-
12:00, 24 the Battle for Berlin begins! General Lazarev leads the attack.
1:00, 27th, General Fedorov's tanks begin the battle for Budapest.
9:00, 28th, troops from Arkhangelsk front engage in an invasion to capture Copenhagen!
6:00, 29th, Federov occupied Budapest
11:00, 29th, the Germans fought us ferociously, but General Lazarev's tanks have occupied the city. Berlin has fallen!
30th of August - Hungary surrenders.
Sept. 2nd, General Romaneko's tanks occupy Dresden.
5:00, Sept. 11th, General Timoshenko's Motorized troops occupy Bratislava - Slovakia should surrender.
14th of September, General Zaev occupied Hamburg
19th, General Sandalov occupied Vienna!
23rd of September, Croatia surrenders.
28th of September, General Golikov occupies Amsterdam.
October 16th Semenchenko occupied Brussels.
October 24th, the Wehrmacht finally sees reason... Only Italy remains, in Europe.
After the second encirclement I looked at how many divisions Germany still had - the entire European Axis had less than 100 infantry brigades, and around 10 total tank divisions - so there was basically nothing stopping me anywhere - which is why I didn't show too many pictures, mostly just random Axis formations hanging out in various VP provinces and lots of open ground.
There were a few Axis troops that tried to form some sort of cohesive line after I took Kronsadt, but they weren't nearly strong enough to even warrant too much thought lol. I wonder how many Italian divisions we'll find in Italy? lol.
There were a few Axis troops that tried to form some sort of cohesive line after I took Kronsadt, but they weren't nearly strong enough to even warrant too much thought lol. I wonder how many Italian divisions we'll find in Italy? lol.
October, 1942. The Invasion of Italy.
Troops from Odessa and Kiev Fronts are in position to immediately invade Italy.
By October 28th, we have met only two light tank divisions, badly disorganized at that, and have already taken Venice.
November 9th, General Panov takes Milan, uncontested.
November 12th, Kravchenko's tank division met actual resistance on his way to Rome - it was 2 militia brigades. They were smashed.
November 18th, there were defenders in Genoa however, but they did not stand a chance.
There were also defenders of Rome... such as they were.
Italy surrendered December 3rd.
Europe is Red!
Around the World
Japan has conquered Bhutan and continues its march into India. STAVKA had decided, that it would not do to have the Japanese approaching our Afghan and Persian friend's borders - something must be done.
Troops from Odessa and Kiev Fronts are in position to immediately invade Italy.
By October 28th, we have met only two light tank divisions, badly disorganized at that, and have already taken Venice.
November 9th, General Panov takes Milan, uncontested.
November 12th, Kravchenko's tank division met actual resistance on his way to Rome - it was 2 militia brigades. They were smashed.
November 18th, there were defenders in Genoa however, but they did not stand a chance.
There were also defenders of Rome... such as they were.
Italy surrendered December 3rd.
Europe is Red!
Around the World
Japan has conquered Bhutan and continues its march into India. STAVKA had decided, that it would not do to have the Japanese approaching our Afghan and Persian friend's borders - something must be done.
The Cold War isn't going to happen because there's no Europe to fight over... UK/IRE/POR/SWE are going to be the only free members of Europe!
I'm working on my own HoI3 AAR... a history book style; I've gotten through to 1938 (I'm trying to play the entire game first before writing the posts because I don't think I can get the right view without everything being "history"!) and your posts help me keep going!
I'm working on my own HoI3 AAR... a history book style; I've gotten through to 1938 (I'm trying to play the entire game first before writing the posts because I don't think I can get the right view without everything being "history"!) and your posts help me keep going!
Preparations for War with Japan!
The USSR is due to engage the Japanese in war now that the Germans have been soundly beaten. There are many challenges to carrying out this operation however, such as:
- Extreme distance from Moscow, poor supply situation,
- Poor infrastructure in the area of operations
- few air fields or naval bases in the area of operations
- lack of a navy
What steps has STAVKA taken to amend this situation?
1. Once it became clear the Germans were headed for defeat STAVKA ordered that the Trans-Siberian rail-way and other parallel infrastructure be improved with all haste.
2. STAVKA has ordered the creation of a transport fleet in the Pacific Ocean, based out of Vladivostok.
3. STAVKA also found several locations which would suit air fields for such an operation and those areas are already being prepared.
4. We have also begun training air-borne soldiers who could assist us in such an invasion.
5. Likewise Marine divisions are undergoing extensive training at the moment as well.
Disposition of the Fronts:
Far Eastern Theater:
- Troops already on the Far Eastern Theater have finally been brought up to combat strength and are receiving much needed new equipment. A Transport Fleet has already been partially raised.
Arkhangelsk Front:
- Arkhangelsk Front will remain in Europe as a policing force and to help reorganize civil-society there.
Leningrad Front:
- Leningrad Front will also remain behind in Europe as a policing force.
Kiev Front:
- Kiev Front has been recalled to the Moscow Military District and will be reorganized there to be transferred to the Far Eastern HQ area.
Odessa Front:
- The Troops of Odessa Front will be relocated to the Moscow Military District as well so that they can undergo reorganization and refitting in preparation for being sent to the Far East.
Trans-Caucus Front:
Troops here will remain in their defensive positions - several divisions will also be transferred in from Kiev and Odessa fronts, should the Japanese breach India and end up on our Southern Border.
This process is expected to take at least until May 1943.
--------------------------
Jan 1st, 1943.
Shaposhnikov is replaced by Vasilevsky as Chief of the Army (+supply throughput).
January 18th, Japan captures Nepal.
May 22nd, Japan annexes Communist China.
- Our troops are still moving to their jumping off points in East Asia, this is one very long train ride.
The War on Japan will utilize 4 Fronts.
Mongolia Front:
Field Marshal Vatutin, contains 3 armies.
2 Infantry armies (4 corps of 4 infantry divisions)
1 Tank Army (5 divisions of Tanks, 5 divisions of cavalry)
Khabarovsk Front:
Field Marshal S.I. Bogdonov with 1 army.
- 1 Tank army, 2 corps of Tanks, 2 corps of Motorized troops.
Vladivostok Front:
Field Marshal Vasilevsky with 1 army
- 4 corps of 4 infantry divisions each.
Japan Front:
Field Marshal Chuikov
- Contains most of old Odessa front, plus a marine corps, and an Air Borne Corps. Will be carried over seas by the newly created Pacific Transport Fleet lead by Admiral Dolinin.
War has now become essential because of the Japanese Conquests in Asia.
The Troops of the Trans-Caucus Front, and our Persian and Afghani allies are ready for this fight however - they should hold with little to no trouble.
The USSR is due to engage the Japanese in war now that the Germans have been soundly beaten. There are many challenges to carrying out this operation however, such as:
- Extreme distance from Moscow, poor supply situation,
- Poor infrastructure in the area of operations
- few air fields or naval bases in the area of operations
- lack of a navy
What steps has STAVKA taken to amend this situation?
1. Once it became clear the Germans were headed for defeat STAVKA ordered that the Trans-Siberian rail-way and other parallel infrastructure be improved with all haste.
2. STAVKA has ordered the creation of a transport fleet in the Pacific Ocean, based out of Vladivostok.
3. STAVKA also found several locations which would suit air fields for such an operation and those areas are already being prepared.
4. We have also begun training air-borne soldiers who could assist us in such an invasion.
5. Likewise Marine divisions are undergoing extensive training at the moment as well.
Disposition of the Fronts:
Far Eastern Theater:
- Troops already on the Far Eastern Theater have finally been brought up to combat strength and are receiving much needed new equipment. A Transport Fleet has already been partially raised.
Arkhangelsk Front:
- Arkhangelsk Front will remain in Europe as a policing force and to help reorganize civil-society there.
Leningrad Front:
- Leningrad Front will also remain behind in Europe as a policing force.
Kiev Front:
- Kiev Front has been recalled to the Moscow Military District and will be reorganized there to be transferred to the Far Eastern HQ area.
Odessa Front:
- The Troops of Odessa Front will be relocated to the Moscow Military District as well so that they can undergo reorganization and refitting in preparation for being sent to the Far East.
Trans-Caucus Front:
Troops here will remain in their defensive positions - several divisions will also be transferred in from Kiev and Odessa fronts, should the Japanese breach India and end up on our Southern Border.
This process is expected to take at least until May 1943.
--------------------------
Jan 1st, 1943.
Shaposhnikov is replaced by Vasilevsky as Chief of the Army (+supply throughput).
January 18th, Japan captures Nepal.
May 22nd, Japan annexes Communist China.
- Our troops are still moving to their jumping off points in East Asia, this is one very long train ride.
The War on Japan will utilize 4 Fronts.
Mongolia Front:
Field Marshal Vatutin, contains 3 armies.
2 Infantry armies (4 corps of 4 infantry divisions)
1 Tank Army (5 divisions of Tanks, 5 divisions of cavalry)
Khabarovsk Front:
Field Marshal S.I. Bogdonov with 1 army.
- 1 Tank army, 2 corps of Tanks, 2 corps of Motorized troops.
Vladivostok Front:
Field Marshal Vasilevsky with 1 army
- 4 corps of 4 infantry divisions each.
Japan Front:
Field Marshal Chuikov
- Contains most of old Odessa front, plus a marine corps, and an Air Borne Corps. Will be carried over seas by the newly created Pacific Transport Fleet lead by Admiral Dolinin.
War has now become essential because of the Japanese Conquests in Asia.
The Troops of the Trans-Caucus Front, and our Persian and Afghani allies are ready for this fight however - they should hold with little to no trouble.
Glad to hear it wraith! I'll be sure to stay on the look out for when you post yours 
Sounds like some fun.
Sounds like some fun.
War on Japan!
August 15th, 4:00 AM
Our troops were given the greenlight to invade!
10:00, 16th, our Air Borne corps captures Hokkaido without a fight
- The Transport fleet is away - STAVKA crosses its fingers that at least some of the men make it ashore. They will be going with no escort.
21:00 16th, Xibei San Ma joins the Axis - our allies in Sinkiang will deal with them!
6:00, 18th, STAVKA was correct in its assessment that the Japanese Navy was mostly resting at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean somewhere - the transport fleet was not harassed by air of sea!
13:00, 19th Romanovsky's Marines capture Osaka - it was undefended.
12:00, 20th, we capture Kyoto after a short skirmish.
16:00, 23, the entirety of the Japan Home Islands invasion force landed ashore without so much as even hearing rumors about a Japanese Fleet.
15 days into the war this is the state of Japan's posessions.
Our goal is for Mongolia Front's troops to cut off all of the armies in Manchukuo and Korea, so as to prevent them from hunkering down in China.
It is very slow going - but our faster cavalry and motorized forces have been able to maneuver somewhat.
3:00, September 11, we take Susaki and several other ports throughout Japan as we make our push for Toyko
16, General Zhadov reports he's just outside of Tokyo, but needs far more reinforcements before assaulting the city.
The Japanese resistance at Nagoya has been notably fierce.
14:00, General Ivanov takes Harbin.
8:00, 17th Nagoya finally falls.
September 19th, Sinkiang begins its own offensive into Xibei San Ma.
At the end of October we have secured every major urban area of the Japanese home islands except Tokyo itself - we have also secured most of Manchuria.
October 3rd, General Kreizer begins the final assault on Tokyo.
.... Shockingly the Japanese resistance is too strong we have to call off the attack on October 7th - but will begin again in a few short hours as our reserves have been pulled up.
on October 8th Fediunksi reports victory in the battle for Tokyo.
On October 15th, Japan surrenders.
The Soviet Union is now likely the largest empire to have ever existed, and all because Hitler thought he could "Kick in the door."
August 15th, 4:00 AM
Our troops were given the greenlight to invade!
10:00, 16th, our Air Borne corps captures Hokkaido without a fight
- The Transport fleet is away - STAVKA crosses its fingers that at least some of the men make it ashore. They will be going with no escort.
21:00 16th, Xibei San Ma joins the Axis - our allies in Sinkiang will deal with them!
6:00, 18th, STAVKA was correct in its assessment that the Japanese Navy was mostly resting at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean somewhere - the transport fleet was not harassed by air of sea!
13:00, 19th Romanovsky's Marines capture Osaka - it was undefended.
12:00, 20th, we capture Kyoto after a short skirmish.
16:00, 23, the entirety of the Japan Home Islands invasion force landed ashore without so much as even hearing rumors about a Japanese Fleet.
15 days into the war this is the state of Japan's posessions.
Our goal is for Mongolia Front's troops to cut off all of the armies in Manchukuo and Korea, so as to prevent them from hunkering down in China.
It is very slow going - but our faster cavalry and motorized forces have been able to maneuver somewhat.
3:00, September 11, we take Susaki and several other ports throughout Japan as we make our push for Toyko
16, General Zhadov reports he's just outside of Tokyo, but needs far more reinforcements before assaulting the city.
The Japanese resistance at Nagoya has been notably fierce.
14:00, General Ivanov takes Harbin.
8:00, 17th Nagoya finally falls.
September 19th, Sinkiang begins its own offensive into Xibei San Ma.
At the end of October we have secured every major urban area of the Japanese home islands except Tokyo itself - we have also secured most of Manchuria.
October 3rd, General Kreizer begins the final assault on Tokyo.
.... Shockingly the Japanese resistance is too strong we have to call off the attack on October 7th - but will begin again in a few short hours as our reserves have been pulled up.
on October 8th Fediunksi reports victory in the battle for Tokyo.
On October 15th, Japan surrenders.
The Soviet Union is now likely the largest empire to have ever existed, and all because Hitler thought he could "Kick in the door."
First of all, thanks to everybody who followed along and provided commentary and input throughout this AAR. It made the whole thing even more fun Especial shoutouts go to Markkur for teaching me how to use paint! lol.
But down to brass tacks.
The Ultimate Problem
What ultimately caused this game to go from *really* hard + fun, to a complete walk-over was Germany's response to partisan uprisings. Mostly, partisan uprisings in Poland. I was scared that if they broke out in Norway the AI would start the Sweden death train anybody who has played this game a lot knows so well - but surprisingly the AI responded quite reasonably in this particular game - I think in part because I outright annexed Norway rather than waiting for it to join the Allies first - and my threat increase on the UK had caused Norway to drift a bit. It did *not* respond reasonably in the case of Poland.
The winter offensive started (because Germany had exhausted itself attacking), and then just as I started counter-pushing several partisan revolts broke out in Poland, and rather than save the 4-5 division I was going to encircle, the AI sent its reserves (which it was using quite well I might add) to Poland to fight partisans, and so I was able to push ahead and hold ground to boot, once the weather got so bad nobody could do anything offensive-minded.
Then I decided to make a desperation push on Kiev Front in April of 1942, because I was *sure* Leningrad Front was going to collapse completely, My purpose was only to drag those reserves South so that I could get a good defensive going in the forests North of Minsk, but instead, again, several partisan revolts broke out just as I began attacking (I think the UK AI that was triggering them must time them for when there are provinces changing hands just to make it extra bad for the Germany AI - it did it twice and I don't want to think it was coincidence), and again the Germany AI chose to send all of its forces, first South to address me, and then into Poland to address the partisans, so not only did they have a massive redeployment delay once they arrived in Poland, and thus took forever to clean up the partisans, but by the time they finished and redeployed back, 51 divisions were trapped in the marshes and there was nothing they could do about it.
Observations:
The AI has real trouble with garrisoning rivers. It would always keep far more troops than were necessary to hold the river-line on the river line, which would make sense if it meant to attack, but when it did, it would (except for one time) chronically use far too few troops, almost as if it didn't even realize the river was there to begin with.
Having switched to an AI controlled USSR, there were some "ghosts" in the machine as it were - in that occasionally my theaters would get their names changed to whatever is there under the AI's pre-set scheme, and there was also a Moskva HQ that spawned and I could never get rid of - it didn't mess anything up, but it was spooky.
Another ghost in the machine is that if you use the *old* theaters that the AI has pre-existing, when you set up your new OOB, whenever you reload the game,the general of that HQ will be removed. So, if you want to try this for yourself use all new theater HQ's and delete all previously existing HQs. It may have just been a bug in my save, but it was pretty annoying coming back the first 2-3 times I wanted to play and finding the Trans-Caucus HQ renamed and with no general lol.
A human built Germany is harder than a VH Germany IMO, because the divisions are built much better, its practical is manipulated better, and it has a far better OOB (that it can occasionally make use of). In this style of game I would also argue it's harder than VH because at least with all the penalties of VH, you can control how your troops are made and how much of xyz you have - but not in this case lol. I was handed an army that was mostly INF divisions with AA and armored cars attached lol.
In a normal game it isn't unusual to see AI Germany's divisions running low on supply, but at least because I had great army group commanders its supply situation was *much* better - or at least it seemed that way to me lol.
That's one last thing I should note. Yes, the AI will abolish your theater commands and make whatever it's scripted to do, but it will then attach your old OOB directly to it and any generals that you marked up or down, will be available for those levels of the OOB's structure, so you can really give the AI a nice advantage by at least pointing it in the right direction lol.
The AI really wigged out about the landing crafts I built, it put all of its screens on those landing crafts and had the poor Bismarck sail around solo.
When you switch to the other nation, do not have any brigade attachments in the queue, the AI will not attach them to anything, and will instead treat them as a normal division, which could have caused major problems for Germany because it was garrisoning its ports with SPART brigades lol. Luckily the UK AI didn't notice.
One other thing I should point out is that the AI will not alter your production queue selections once you leave. So you could theoretically use tag-switching to optimize builds for a whole slew of countries.
What I would do differently:
A. Get Yugoslavia in the Axis
B. Disable Partisans
C. Because it's the UK and exile Poland building the UR stuff, I would also recommend modding the save to remove Poland's exile status or simply have Germany claim those lands outright post-pact enforcement.
D. Build fewer landing-crafts because it makes AI Germany do wacky stuff with its navy (wackier than normal!).
E. Germany had a real penchant for assigning its divisions as expeditionary forces to its allies - this is a stupid thing for it to do because it's Axis friends can't upgrade those units. My theory is on normal, if Germany finds it has more than x divisions it just starts pawning them off on its friends, and then taking its friend's units as expeditionary forces. It would actually be really clever (because Germany could upgrade the minor's troops) if the AI managed it well, but it doesn't. Slovakia had 4-5 of my German tank divisions and they were never upgraded. So, I would look into modding away Germany's penchant for expeditionary forces (AI improvement pack I think claimed to do that).
But in the end, I hope you all have had at least as much fun as I've had making these updates and playing through the game here Now I have to figure out what to do with the rest of my vacation lol.
Especial shoutouts go to Markkur for teaching me how to use paint! lol.But down to brass tacks.
The Ultimate Problem
What ultimately caused this game to go from *really* hard + fun, to a complete walk-over was Germany's response to partisan uprisings. Mostly, partisan uprisings in Poland. I was scared that if they broke out in Norway the AI would start the Sweden death train anybody who has played this game a lot knows so well - but surprisingly the AI responded quite reasonably in this particular game - I think in part because I outright annexed Norway rather than waiting for it to join the Allies first - and my threat increase on the UK had caused Norway to drift a bit. It did *not* respond reasonably in the case of Poland.
The winter offensive started (because Germany had exhausted itself attacking), and then just as I started counter-pushing several partisan revolts broke out in Poland, and rather than save the 4-5 division I was going to encircle, the AI sent its reserves (which it was using quite well I might add) to Poland to fight partisans, and so I was able to push ahead and hold ground to boot, once the weather got so bad nobody could do anything offensive-minded.
Then I decided to make a desperation push on Kiev Front in April of 1942, because I was *sure* Leningrad Front was going to collapse completely, My purpose was only to drag those reserves South so that I could get a good defensive going in the forests North of Minsk, but instead, again, several partisan revolts broke out just as I began attacking (I think the UK AI that was triggering them must time them for when there are provinces changing hands just to make it extra bad for the Germany AI - it did it twice and I don't want to think it was coincidence), and again the Germany AI chose to send all of its forces, first South to address me, and then into Poland to address the partisans, so not only did they have a massive redeployment delay once they arrived in Poland, and thus took forever to clean up the partisans, but by the time they finished and redeployed back, 51 divisions were trapped in the marshes and there was nothing they could do about it.
Observations:
The AI has real trouble with garrisoning rivers. It would always keep far more troops than were necessary to hold the river-line on the river line, which would make sense if it meant to attack, but when it did, it would (except for one time) chronically use far too few troops, almost as if it didn't even realize the river was there to begin with.
Having switched to an AI controlled USSR, there were some "ghosts" in the machine as it were - in that occasionally my theaters would get their names changed to whatever is there under the AI's pre-set scheme, and there was also a Moskva HQ that spawned and I could never get rid of - it didn't mess anything up, but it was spooky.
Another ghost in the machine is that if you use the *old* theaters that the AI has pre-existing, when you set up your new OOB, whenever you reload the game,the general of that HQ will be removed. So, if you want to try this for yourself use all new theater HQ's and delete all previously existing HQs. It may have just been a bug in my save, but it was pretty annoying coming back the first 2-3 times I wanted to play and finding the Trans-Caucus HQ renamed and with no general lol.
A human built Germany is harder than a VH Germany IMO, because the divisions are built much better, its practical is manipulated better, and it has a far better OOB (that it can occasionally make use of). In this style of game I would also argue it's harder than VH because at least with all the penalties of VH, you can control how your troops are made and how much of xyz you have - but not in this case lol. I was handed an army that was mostly INF divisions with AA and armored cars attached lol.
In a normal game it isn't unusual to see AI Germany's divisions running low on supply, but at least because I had great army group commanders its supply situation was *much* better - or at least it seemed that way to me lol.
That's one last thing I should note. Yes, the AI will abolish your theater commands and make whatever it's scripted to do, but it will then attach your old OOB directly to it and any generals that you marked up or down, will be available for those levels of the OOB's structure, so you can really give the AI a nice advantage by at least pointing it in the right direction lol.
The AI really wigged out about the landing crafts I built, it put all of its screens on those landing crafts and had the poor Bismarck sail around solo.
When you switch to the other nation, do not have any brigade attachments in the queue, the AI will not attach them to anything, and will instead treat them as a normal division, which could have caused major problems for Germany because it was garrisoning its ports with SPART brigades lol. Luckily the UK AI didn't notice.
One other thing I should point out is that the AI will not alter your production queue selections once you leave. So you could theoretically use tag-switching to optimize builds for a whole slew of countries.
What I would do differently:
A. Get Yugoslavia in the Axis
B. Disable Partisans
C. Because it's the UK and exile Poland building the UR stuff, I would also recommend modding the save to remove Poland's exile status or simply have Germany claim those lands outright post-pact enforcement.
D. Build fewer landing-crafts because it makes AI Germany do wacky stuff with its navy (wackier than normal!).
E. Germany had a real penchant for assigning its divisions as expeditionary forces to its allies - this is a stupid thing for it to do because it's Axis friends can't upgrade those units. My theory is on normal, if Germany finds it has more than x divisions it just starts pawning them off on its friends, and then taking its friend's units as expeditionary forces. It would actually be really clever (because Germany could upgrade the minor's troops) if the AI managed it well, but it doesn't. Slovakia had 4-5 of my German tank divisions and they were never upgraded. So, I would look into modding away Germany's penchant for expeditionary forces (AI improvement pack I think claimed to do that).
But in the end, I hope you all have had at least as much fun as I've had making these updates and playing through the game here
Now I have to figure out what to do with the rest of my vacation lol.
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So, in my experience the way France and Belgium work is if no Soviet troops are or have been deep in their territory they will auto-liberate and also their exile governments will be back in place (non-comintern). But if the Comintern is occupying at least some of their land, they'll auto-liberate comintern.
But to answer your question yes they were auto-liberated. The only nation I willingly liberated was Norway because it had several "black" style partisans (since Norway had ceased to exist and never joined the allies) and I didn't want to have to send anything up there to deal with it lol.
But to answer your question yes they were auto-liberated. The only nation I willingly liberated was Norway because it had several "black" style partisans (since Norway had ceased to exist and never joined the allies) and I didn't want to have to send anything up there to deal with it lol.
Thanks and congratulations on a great AAR. It was a sham that the tension feel away so suddenly at the end there but that is also a testament to your initial efforts. Also interesting to see your style mature over such a short period of time. I hope you continue the writing.
About that Theater snafu, I had the same thing happen 2 or 3 times in my Japan AAR, where the next time I loaded a save and began play I noticed some Theaters HQs were now hosed, in the exact fashion you described - I would still have the Generals (back in the list again) but no one in the newly created and old-ly named HQ but in my case minus every Garrison unit I had with the dismissed Theater-commanders. In my example I was tagging at times to get enemy flavor-info for the AAR. So, I "think" that if you Tag once or many times - this glitch may happen. i.e. When tagging I can sometimes still see my own Nation + the Nation I tagged "at the same time in the OOB". As merely as guess, the glitch may happen at that very time but ofc idk for certain.
Anyway...AWESOME AAR and I hope the first (HoI3?) of more to follow. And...here's your 3-Medals.
but in my case minus every Garrison unit I had with the dismissed Theater-commanders. In my example I was tagging at times to get enemy flavor-info for the AAR. So, I "think" that if you Tag once or many times - this glitch may happen. i.e. When tagging I can sometimes still see my own Nation + the Nation I tagged "at the same time in the OOB". As merely as guess, the glitch may happen at that very time but ofc idk for certain.Anyway...AWESOME AAR and I hope the first (HoI3?) of more to follow. And...here's your 3-Medals.
I've got to say, I'm simultaneously playing Italy and Germany (because reasons mentioned above... I don't want AI silliness to derail my grand hopes for the AAR) and only getting my flavor by reloading a save game and tag switching.
I also did significant modifications to the OOBs so that I wouldn't wind up with ghosts.
I also did significant modifications to the OOBs so that I wouldn't wind up with ghosts.
I have some serious catching up to do as I've only just reached the swapping to the SU point. So here is a spam of comments covering your updates from there to the end of page 4 Sorry about the lenght but I just love comparing your game to my current AAR game to see the differences and similarities.
That Wehrmacht is fearsome and will, even in the hands of the AI, be a force to reckon with.
Soviet resources are problematic, hopefully there is still enough available on the market to fix that.
The SU production queue looks....reasonable. I expected it to be worse. Its just the pile of AC, that is indeed interesting. Also the horde of AA brigades is, well, a shame.
Tech is decent apart from doctrines, pretty much as I expected. The fleet is as expected and thats actually a half decent airforce. Nothing that will swat the Luftwaffe out of the skies, but its something. Though if I think about my own Red Airforce's performance against the Luftwaffe, its pointless........
300k to hold the Far East is not enough, trust me on that. Might as well entrench around the Baikal Lake right away if you commit that amount. (That is assuming Japan attacks, it might be enough to scare them off, not sure). Why do I say this? Well, if Japan attacks,they will flank behind you from the shared SU-Japanese island, cross the strait, link up with their Manchurian force and encircle everything between there and Vladiwostok. Thats bad.
With Persia and Afghanistan already in the Axis, beware of Turkey. They may join, and if they do it opens a land route for half the Wehrmacht to pour into your southern flank.
Italy is kicking ass in Africa, thats not good.
The initial fighting is heavy, but it looks promising. The battle of Kaunas was a real bloodbath, but its fall is troublesome. You are making the Germans pay a heavy price for every inch, a price they cannot pay indefinetly, we hope. Perhaps they can be stopped in the forests of Lithuania and Latvia.
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Ok I made it to the end of page 4. You are putting up an impressive fight, I feel the same tension I have when dealing with the masses of German troops and new enemy fronts popping up, like with Persia. Your manpower is doing very well thus far, any clue on how Germany does (ignore that if you covered it later, then I'll find out later this week
Sorry about the lenght but I just love comparing your game to my current AAR game to see the differences and similarities.That Wehrmacht is fearsome and will, even in the hands of the AI, be a force to reckon with.
Soviet resources are problematic, hopefully there is still enough available on the market to fix that.
The SU production queue looks....reasonable. I expected it to be worse. Its just the pile of AC, that is indeed interesting. Also the horde of AA brigades is, well, a shame.
Tech is decent apart from doctrines, pretty much as I expected. The fleet is as expected and thats actually a half decent airforce. Nothing that will swat the Luftwaffe out of the skies, but its something. Though if I think about my own Red Airforce's performance against the Luftwaffe, its pointless........
300k to hold the Far East is not enough, trust me on that. Might as well entrench around the Baikal Lake right away if you commit that amount. (That is assuming Japan attacks, it might be enough to scare them off, not sure). Why do I say this? Well, if Japan attacks,they will flank behind you from the shared SU-Japanese island, cross the strait, link up with their Manchurian force and encircle everything between there and Vladiwostok. Thats bad.
With Persia and Afghanistan already in the Axis, beware of Turkey. They may join, and if they do it opens a land route for half the Wehrmacht to pour into your southern flank.
Italy is kicking ass in Africa, thats not good.
The initial fighting is heavy, but it looks promising. The battle of Kaunas was a real bloodbath, but its fall is troublesome. You are making the Germans pay a heavy price for every inch, a price they cannot pay indefinetly, we hope. Perhaps they can be stopped in the forests of Lithuania and Latvia.
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Ok I made it to the end of page 4. You are putting up an impressive fight, I feel the same tension I have when dealing with the masses of German troops and new enemy fronts popping up, like with Persia. Your manpower is doing very well thus far, any clue on how Germany does (ignore that if you covered it later, then I'll find out later this week
Davout I've thought about what I might write next actually, but the only catch would be I wouldn't be as able to upgrade it so rapidly in the future.
me too guillec, me too lol.
lol thanks for the medals Markkur
Yeah the games behavior with tagging is pretty strange - I would tag switch and check on Germany and her allies periodically, but I'd always close up shop after that and reload from the main menu because I'm superstitious about tag switching lol.
Sebas:
The freaky thing about the Soviet economy is they were buying *so* many supplies somewhere in the neighborhood of 250+ supplies a day. Far more than it could ever need, and it was absolutely bankrupting itself to accomplish that feat - very strange behavior lol. I still got to go through my whole pre-war build up with 0 IC invested in supply, whilst gaining supplies, even after I cancelled a bunch of their supply deals. (I knocked it down to buying like 160 some per day - which is still more than enough).
I was actually pretty happy with the air force and how it performed - the BIG issue was the AI didn't build a single air field the whole game - unless it built them somewhere further East than I ever cared to look. So my big problem was that I'd have 4-8 wings based out of a level 2-3 air field, and so once they got beat up, they stayed beat up for ages and I'd have to rebase them much further East and then bring them back, and then wait for them to reorg. Kiev Front was a particular challenge because the only air field in that area is in Kiev itself - so shorter range air craft couldn't reach much of the front.
My goal with the East Defense would be to run what convoys I had to Vladivostok to keep the Japanese concentrated on the East - so basically my plan involves purposefully losing most of those divisions - so that the road from the West will remain relatively Japanese free - so the 2-3 Corps I'd send to establish a defensive line in Siberia could do it without being harassed lol. It would be smarter to look to fall back to the West instead of to the East, but everything turned out ok
Yeah I watched Turkey pretty closely, strangely enough it was still doing it's "hang out in center of triangle" behavior for much of 1940. That's partially why I was totally committed to the idea of invading Persia and Afghanistan from day 1 lol.
The Italy in Africa campaign marks the FIRST TIME I've ever witnessed this behavior so I'll point it out - I don't think it'll be a spoiler. Italy had a German tank division down there - it's the first time I've ever seen Germany grant Italy an expeditionary tank force, which it then sent to North Africa and used against the British. The UK's troops were hopeless to stop that division with the infantry and motorized they usually have hanging out there. The AI actually did the smartest possible thing given the situation lol.
As for Kaunas. I'm a big believer in turning urban areas into "hedgehogs" so that - sure - the Germans can take some of the early cities like Brest and Lwow without too much trouble, but I want them to pay a heavy tax for doing so lol. You'll see the strategy used to great effect later on If I had had more divisions to spare I'd have made Lwow and Brest better - but the 2 Southern fronts had *so* many divisions that were simply 2xINF divisions in those days I needed every possible division to maintain its strength lol.
As for Germany's MP - for most of 1941 it was over 1,000 in MP, it only dipped to 600-700 around April/May of 42', and the only reason for that, is that they were building 2 sets of infantry in a 4x run (so calling for 8 divisions) and that ate up a ton of their MP. But my plan was, if Germany started to run out before 44' I was going to cheat and give them more MP (since the AI was still building some infantry divisions despite its completely not needing them).
I am sad it didn't research at least a little bit of naval tech - I could've done a lot of fun stuff with just 2-3 decent CAs or a few modern DDs. Or at least I could've had fun with the historical fleets (since the Black and Baltic Sea fleets both had 2 Kirov type CAs).
me too guillec, me too lol.
lol thanks for the medals Markkur
Yeah the games behavior with tagging is pretty strange - I would tag switch and check on Germany and her allies periodically, but I'd always close up shop after that and reload from the main menu because I'm superstitious about tag switching lol.
Sebas:
The freaky thing about the Soviet economy is they were buying *so* many supplies somewhere in the neighborhood of 250+ supplies a day. Far more than it could ever need, and it was absolutely bankrupting itself to accomplish that feat - very strange behavior lol. I still got to go through my whole pre-war build up with 0 IC invested in supply, whilst gaining supplies, even after I cancelled a bunch of their supply deals. (I knocked it down to buying like 160 some per day - which is still more than enough).
I was actually pretty happy with the air force and how it performed - the BIG issue was the AI didn't build a single air field the whole game - unless it built them somewhere further East than I ever cared to look. So my big problem was that I'd have 4-8 wings based out of a level 2-3 air field, and so once they got beat up, they stayed beat up for ages and I'd have to rebase them much further East and then bring them back, and then wait for them to reorg. Kiev Front was a particular challenge because the only air field in that area is in Kiev itself - so shorter range air craft couldn't reach much of the front.
My goal with the East Defense would be to run what convoys I had to Vladivostok to keep the Japanese concentrated on the East - so basically my plan involves purposefully losing most of those divisions - so that the road from the West will remain relatively Japanese free - so the 2-3 Corps I'd send to establish a defensive line in Siberia could do it without being harassed lol. It would be smarter to look to fall back to the West instead of to the East, but everything turned out ok
Yeah I watched Turkey pretty closely, strangely enough it was still doing it's "hang out in center of triangle" behavior for much of 1940. That's partially why I was totally committed to the idea of invading Persia and Afghanistan from day 1 lol.
The Italy in Africa campaign marks the FIRST TIME I've ever witnessed this behavior so I'll point it out - I don't think it'll be a spoiler. Italy had a German tank division down there - it's the first time I've ever seen Germany grant Italy an expeditionary tank force, which it then sent to North Africa and used against the British. The UK's troops were hopeless to stop that division with the infantry and motorized they usually have hanging out there. The AI actually did the smartest possible thing given the situation lol.
As for Kaunas. I'm a big believer in turning urban areas into "hedgehogs" so that - sure - the Germans can take some of the early cities like Brest and Lwow without too much trouble, but I want them to pay a heavy tax for doing so lol. You'll see the strategy used to great effect later on
If I had had more divisions to spare I'd have made Lwow and Brest better - but the 2 Southern fronts had *so* many divisions that were simply 2xINF divisions in those days I needed every possible division to maintain its strength lol.As for Germany's MP - for most of 1941 it was over 1,000 in MP, it only dipped to 600-700 around April/May of 42', and the only reason for that, is that they were building 2 sets of infantry in a 4x run (so calling for 8 divisions) and that ate up a ton of their MP. But my plan was, if Germany started to run out before 44' I was going to cheat and give them more MP (since the AI was still building some infantry divisions despite its completely not needing them).
I am sad it didn't research at least a little bit of naval tech - I could've done a lot of fun stuff with just 2-3 decent CAs or a few modern DDs.
Or at least I could've had fun with the historical fleets (since the Black and Baltic Sea fleets both had 2 Kirov type CAs).
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