Help me beat Ethiopia (they refuse to surrender)

[pdstanbridge]

Just to add, I'm using the latest open beta. I've also got 9,800 hours in game, so I'm reasonably experienced, and have played Italy many times. But the last few runs have been problematic and I don't know why, or if anything has changed to cause it. I am not doing anything different as far as I am aware.

I have tried using the battle planner, and manually moving the units. I've even given myself extra PP and hired the infantry expert so I have a bonus early on. I have tried various Generals too. I've also sent extra Mountain units to the front line, all to no avail. I always beat Ethiopia, but not within the time allocated. It gets to May 36, and they refuse to surrender. I'm positive I have had them capitulate fully by the same time in earlier games.

Historical mode, normal difficulty.

Anybody else having problems?

 

[Bigvanvader]

I've always done the standard and not had an issue, last time I played Italy was a couple of weeks ago so I'm not sure if something changed since then but every soldier to Ethiopia, aggressive battleplan and zero micro always gets it done

 

[pdstanbridge]

Every soldier???? But surely attrition will kill you before the enemy

 

[Bigvanvader]

You'll loose a few thousand guns but who cares its 1936 and I'd rather have 4 or 5 leveled generals

 

[pdstanbridge]

But what I mean is surely if you use your whole army you will run out of supply quite quickly.

 

[Eruth]

But what I mean is surely if you use your whole army you will run out of supply quite quickly.

Attrition only affects equipment, not manpower, and 1936 equipment isn’t worth that much anyway.

 

[hannibal_pjv]

Also full air soften up the enemy.

 

[Limwris]

This month played with Italy several times and I always beat Ethiopia in mid-July/August 1936. Using 24 divisions in the North, 17 divisions in the South. Well, I have no problem having them in exile, so I've never speedrun.
By the end of 1939 I managed to create Italian East Africa to leave as a passive puppet before WW2.

By the way, each supply hub is set to “not motorized”. In the war against Ethiopia I let my generals use the first tier of motorization. Italy starts with sufficient truck production.

 

[twinxor]

24 infantry in the north, all your other guys in the South. Put everyone under your only decent field marshal and the northern line under the only good general. Send all your planes to Eritrea, except for 100 fighters and 100 bombers to Somaliland, and have them all providing air cover and CAS over Ethiopia. You have enough trucks to use two trucks on both a northern and southern supply hub.

In the north use micromanagement and Staff Office Plan to attack strong points with a lot of force. Ethiopia has almost no ability to replace infantry losses with more rifles so pretty soon all their units will be at low strength. You can get away with an aggressive battle plan in the South but check on it from time to time. You have 120 days to complete both progress in the north and the south, and if you're failing the missions you aren't attacking enough.

 

[Limwris]

In North I usually use the general Carlo Vecchiarelli.
The trait Mountaineer is put to good use in that direction.

The South is more about desert and hills.

 

[Vistulaneagle]

Send your 4 mainland mountaineers to the north, your tanks to the south. Put your entire air force to Ethiopia. Trust me, it makes a massive difference. Then just keep pushing, making sure you're in supply. Trust me, the airpower makes a huge difference. With that, you should be able to get them to capitulate by early April