The amount of IC send as LL should increase as the total IC of the US increases, when they get better laws.
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I always find the post-North Africa victory the hardest (and a bit 'stressful') as the British, by that time you've pretty much destroyed the Kriegsmarine and the Regina Marina, confined the axis (minus Japan) to mainland Europe but you're also pretty much powerless to actually beat them at that stage and you have the constant threat of the Japanese who you have to fight quite a long way away from home
Great work as always. I read to Japan. I'm there in my own UK game and will wait to read what I did wrong after. Btw, glad I did read since I thought the partisan plants did there own bit and it is time to spawn.
For me, it's the opposite. As you say, both the major European Axis members have been confined, almost 3 years ahead of RL Husky, which means that I can build up without worrying too much, and I can prepare ahead of time to contain the Japanese.
Great work as always. I read to Japan. I'm there in my own UK game and will wait to read what I did wrong after. Btw, glad I did read since I thought the partisan plants did there own bit and it is time to spawn.
I like to maintain control of the underground cells. There's little to no point in spawning partisans right now, because they'd just end up being a speed bump for the Germans.
The Kriegsmarine is now outclassed (or at least out-tonned) by Siam...
Wonderful job crushing the Italians. Almost a pity that the Germans didn't throw in an oversized Afrika Korps for you to take prisoner as well, but you can't have everything. Are you planning to do anything in Italy, or will you solely focus on building up for Overlord?
Wonderful job crushing the Italians. Almost a pity that the Germans didn't throw in an oversized Afrika Korps for you to take prisoner as well, but you can't have everything. Are you planning to do anything in Italy, or will you solely focus on building up for Overlord?
I'm going to wait for Germany to start Barby, before launching Husky and the invasion of Italy proper. This will (hopefully) draw any mobile defenders from France to Italy, after which I will activate the partisans and launch Overlord. The combination of these factors will give me the time I need to grab enough ports to support landing the entire army, except port defenders.
So I took my time before starting my own operation Sealion, which I achieved without a hitch starting in september of 43. Before all of that I had to take care of the British and Americans that were slowly marching eastwards through north Africa. I sent a Korps of infantry to make a blocking force while I took care of Gibraltar and the Allied fleet in the Mediterranean. To take care of Gibraltar, I decided to fix Republican Spain and bring them back into fascism. Invasion went of without a hitch during 42, but had to contain Allied forces spewing out of Gibraltar when I enforced my victory over Spain.
I then systematically "liberated" the parts of north Afrtica and the Middle East (mainly belonging to Vichy France) that were being oppressed by the democratic forces. This led to a series of fleet actions against un-supplied British fleets. This let me use my small u-boat fleet (with more being built from old and Japanese designs) to start tearing through convoys. I liberated Iraq, Oman, and Yemen and started on the east African coast for the Italians. By 43 I realized that some British and American forces had landed in Japan, though New Zealand and Australia were being conquered, so I sent 2 corps, 1 mountain and 1 panzer, to help. I was able to take out of action 250k men from the allied forces.
I now had control of the sea, 4 fleets with 7 carriers and 8 battleships/battlecruisers shared between them (4 more battleship a SH battleship in production), so I launched Sealion in September of 43. It started with an airborne assault on an empty port that allowed me to pour in overwhelming forces into Britain. By the end of the year, I had taken the island, but the British still will not capitulate. I am now puppeting all that is within my power in preparation for an invasion of India and North America.
The english channel bonus is great as it has sent my consumer goods to 0. I am finally starting to upgrade some forces to mechanized and heavy tanks.
I then systematically "liberated" the parts of north Afrtica and the Middle East (mainly belonging to Vichy France) that were being oppressed by the democratic forces. This led to a series of fleet actions against un-supplied British fleets. This let me use my small u-boat fleet (with more being built from old and Japanese designs) to start tearing through convoys. I liberated Iraq, Oman, and Yemen and started on the east African coast for the Italians. By 43 I realized that some British and American forces had landed in Japan, though New Zealand and Australia were being conquered, so I sent 2 corps, 1 mountain and 1 panzer, to help. I was able to take out of action 250k men from the allied forces.
I now had control of the sea, 4 fleets with 7 carriers and 8 battleships/battlecruisers shared between them (4 more battleship a SH battleship in production), so I launched Sealion in September of 43. It started with an airborne assault on an empty port that allowed me to pour in overwhelming forces into Britain. By the end of the year, I had taken the island, but the British still will not capitulate. I am now puppeting all that is within my power in preparation for an invasion of India and North America.
The english channel bonus is great as it has sent my consumer goods to 0. I am finally starting to upgrade some forces to mechanized and heavy tanks.
To be fair, you are using to make their lives utterly miserable.
Who, me? Perish the thought
It's no surprise that you crushed them, but I just love how the Italian AI's been playing this game. They committed in force to North Africa, to push for the Suez, and when all was lost in Libya they actually attacked Alexandria while your in-theater troops were tied down to try and salvage the situation, after helping to tie down a few dozen divisions in Ethiopia for a significant period of time, while not shying away from attacking the relatively weakly guarded Malta at the same time. They've been active with the Regia Maria, if that was mostly a fool's errand, while taking Greece, Crete and all. If you had been on the US instead of Britain, the Mediterranean would be an Italian lake by now. Good show on their part, they haven't been passive in the slightest.
I agree completely. It is very easy for new players to underestimate the amount of pressure Italy can bring to bear. AI vs AI, they have at least a 50% chance of achieving the Mare Nostrum, depending on the alertness of the UK AI. If UK loses a significant land army in France, it is almost a foregone conclusion.
It's easy to underestimate Italy because their divisions are so fragile. They're the only major that uses two-brigade divisions. Throw in the fact that players usually have four or five brigade divisions, including artillery, and the average player division is a match for three Italian ones (two if Italy's having a good day.)
On the other hand, they can also focus the entirety of their military on the Mediterranean, while their only real opposition tends to be rather busy all over the place. It can also lead to overconfidence. I've had my African troops overrun on one occasion because Italy seemed completely inept and I was using a pathetically small force (15,000 men) to hold the line while I was busy in France. I wasn't paying attention while they steadily reinforced their troops until mine were outnumbered by about five-to-one.
On the other hand, they can also focus the entirety of their military on the Mediterranean, while their only real opposition tends to be rather busy all over the place. It can also lead to overconfidence. I've had my African troops overrun on one occasion because Italy seemed completely inept and I was using a pathetically small force (15,000 men) to hold the line while I was busy in France. I wasn't paying attention while they steadily reinforced their troops until mine were outnumbered by about five-to-one.
Just wanted to tell you that I have just finished writing next chapter. I'm hoping to post it in a couple of hours, or tomorrow at the latest.
Chapter 45: Taking Stock.
It is mid-September 1940. After our last string of successes against Italy, both on land and at sea, there is little to do but wait. I could retake Cyprus and/or Crete, but I am going to wait until spring next year. The reason is simple: I have 4 marine divisions in the queu, who will be finished in February. I would like to use the islands in the mediteranean to give them some actual combat experience, before they have to face their Japanese counterparts in the jungles of the far east.
So I sit and wait, while Finland and Bulgaria join the Axis. Nothing strange there.
You have to give them credit: they don’t give up, even when they hardly have a navy left worth speaking of. They do get away this time, however.
The Luftwaffe continues to give the commanders in charge of my fighter and interceptor squadrons experience as well. They are still trying to sink the Polish ships in Dover. They are also trying to hit my destroyer squadron in Hull.
But let me first give you a little overview of the state of our land forces.
I have 3 infantry divisions sitting in Karachi, in case Persia or Afghanistan get any silly notions about joining the Axis and attacking me from the west.
15 more divisions are on the border with Siam, waiting for the inevitable confrontation with the Japanese.
Singapore is heavily protected as well. The reason I am keeping the infantry here, as opposed to guarding the other 2 ports in Birma, is because I want to be able to respond to a Japanese landing in force. Plus there's a chance that they might be encircled by landings on either side of them, and I don't feel like losing entire divisions for no good reason.
I have 2 militia sitting in East Africa. A case could be made for releasing Ethiopia as a puppet, which would allow me to place them somewhere more useful. I haven’t done this because the imperialist in me likes the better connection with my holding in the south.
I have 14 divisions in North Africa and the garrison in Malta. Not included in this number is the Gibralter garrison. In case you're wondering why some of them have no Org, that is because they came from a province with lousy infrastructure and were out of supplies.
The British isles themselves are protected by 23 divisions, mostly infantry. Building a bunch of militia to take over port guarding duties would free up a lot of manpower, but there are other, more important things to build right now.
These lads are waiting for the rest of the marines before shipping off to Africa. I have another motorised division guarding Portsmouth right now. An infantry division is on its way south to take over this duty, so that the motorised division can join this group.
This is my complete production queu. As you can see, I am building up my bomber fleet and my army. The light cruisers and destroyers are there merely to keep the practicals from degrading too much. I will add 5 M/R to the queu later on.
The situation in the Atlantic is such that I can afford to keep my destroyer squadrons in port while they upgrade, which is long overdue. It's a shame that there is no better way of checking to see if their upgrades are done, but you can see that they are working on improving the AA right now, which is 12% done.
The underground resistance cells, including the one in Poland, have expanded again. The one in Kortrijk (which is hidden from view by the German HQ) will, unfortunately, be discovered shortly.
Another thing that should not be forgotten is to check your commanding officers once in a while, especially after a long series of battles. For instance, I have 7 generals with skill 5 and a whole bunch with skill 4, some of whom are still commanding divisions. You can either keep them there, or reassign them to Army or Army Group command. Montgomery, for instance, has, I believe, a maximum skill of 8. If I keep him in command of his division, he will gain more experience and skill levels faster, even though a man of his calibre should not be in command of a lowly division any longer. I keep them in place for now, but it should not be forgotten.
I am fairly certain that I have the best admirals in the world. Tovey, who has seen a ton of action in the Atlantic and the Med, has grown to be the modern-day equivalent of lord Nelson.
But the war waits for no man, and Italians keep dying in droves in the deep waters of the Mediteranean.
This German squadron has tried bombing Dover, but Leigh-Mallory is hot on his heels, determined to end them right there. I’m not sure if he has succeeded. AI planes have a tendency to survive battles with just 1% strength left. At any rate, I think it will be a while before we see Lörzer again.
A desperate attempt by the Regia Marina or their resurgence?
We initially sink none of them, but they are caught again later that day with disastrous results for them, losing the pride of the fleet (for the third time!). If my calculations are correct, they should have less than 10 ships right now, and at least some of them are in Crete and Cyprus.
I had completely forgotten the elections, but the British public proves that they know who is winning this war for them. Installing lord Beaverbrook means that our IC will go from 277 to 293. 16 IC extra just by changing ministers.
I try sinking the RM Fiume, one of Italy's last heavy cruisers, but Syracuse is too heavily protected by Italian fighters and I have to break off the attempt.
When I come back, I will show you how to assign supply convoys manually, and I will also give you a look at the state of my research. See you then!
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Excellent stuff! A particular highlight is to see most of the remainder of the Regia Marina at the bottom of the Med, but the overall tenor of this update is a strong, safe, and secure Britain.
One tiny niggle: you duplicated the screenshot of the Burmese border, thereby depriving us of lovely visuals of the situation in Singapore.
One tiny niggle: you duplicated the screenshot of the Burmese border, thereby depriving us of lovely visuals of the situation in Singapore.
Interesting you keep your Minster of Security, I've always preferred the extra leadership to use for research to any Counter-espionage. As the UK your NU & Party org is too high for anyone to make a meaningful impact, and if the axis nick some techs so what? just means they last longer against the Soviets.
True enough, I suppose. On the other hand, it's not like we really NEED the extra LS, while Germany does have a minister that makes their spies extra strong, and I don't like losing NU. Then again, if I do switch them, I could get some extra officers (115% ratio if I remember correctly).
hmmm...
hmmm...
ok, need some advice in my UK game. I've just enforced conquer on Italy, but I'm not ready to launch Overlord yet. Its January '43 and I was looking to invade in May or June. using my radar I can see only Garrisons in France at every other port. its ripe for the taking but I've only got one army ready in Britain.
What do I do?
I've spread out my forces in Italy to hold on the South border of Germany in the mountains but I don't think i can hold for long. Barbarossa has been a disaster for Germany. they declared on September 1st '41 and they're still fighting on the eastern polish border where they haven't moved for 15 months. I have to keep checking to make sure they are actually at war because very little is happening.
1. Do I release Italy? will that help or hinder my defence?
2. Should I launch Overlord now with only 20 or so divisions and hope to liberate France before reinforcements turn up?
3. If I invade will Vichy declare on me?
4. I have two corps of Indian troops in Greece aiding the militia uprising there, is that safe or foolhardy?
5. Japan declared on the US but not the allies, if I invite the US to join i'll be at war with Japan too yes? Only have 2 Divisions in whole of India.
6. Why has Barbarossa failed so spectacularly?
This is the same game as my earlier question about Norway, the war started early. No Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Germany annexed all Poland. the Baltic states still exist. Romania is neutral, so the eastern front is very narrow and constricted. no breakthrough's anywhere.
Any and all advice appreciated.
What do I do?
I've spread out my forces in Italy to hold on the South border of Germany in the mountains but I don't think i can hold for long. Barbarossa has been a disaster for Germany. they declared on September 1st '41 and they're still fighting on the eastern polish border where they haven't moved for 15 months. I have to keep checking to make sure they are actually at war because very little is happening.
1. Do I release Italy? will that help or hinder my defence?
2. Should I launch Overlord now with only 20 or so divisions and hope to liberate France before reinforcements turn up?
3. If I invade will Vichy declare on me?
4. I have two corps of Indian troops in Greece aiding the militia uprising there, is that safe or foolhardy?
5. Japan declared on the US but not the allies, if I invite the US to join i'll be at war with Japan too yes? Only have 2 Divisions in whole of India.
6. Why has Barbarossa failed so spectacularly?
This is the same game as my earlier question about Norway, the war started early. No Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Germany annexed all Poland. the Baltic states still exist. Romania is neutral, so the eastern front is very narrow and constricted. no breakthrough's anywhere.
Any and all advice appreciated.