Home Trending Latest threads New posts Developer diaries

HOI3 TFH: How to set up Germany for beginners...

Jump to latest Follow Reply
  • We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
THE PLAN

I build my Armies on a 5 corps / 5 division set-up. For Germany each corps consist of 3 x (INFx3 / ARTx1) & 2 x (INFx3 / ATx1). My Armor divisions are ARM /MOT or WSS x2 / SPART. My the time war starts I plan on 25 INF Divisions + 2 ARMOR Divisions for Poland, 25 INF Divisions on the border with France and another 25 INF Divisions on the border of the Netherlands. I will have 3 Divisions of MTNx4 (along with MILx4) ready to take Denmark, then be part of a force to take and hold Norway. The plan is to take Denmark (thus sealing off the Baltic) and Poland simultaneously. Keep the 25 INF Divisions in Poland as an initial Garrison force and SR the Armor back to join up with the forces on the Dutch border. I will have 5 sets of TACx2 for Poland which will likewise get shipped back to the Dutch border (where my CAS and MR's are). I will have 2 x MIL x 4 in the 4 ports in North West Germany (where the UK can land) and MIL x 4 in any other port. I use 10 sets of INT x 2 on air intercept missions over Germany. Now plenty of vets can pick this apart but the bottom line is if im playing historically i have nothing else to do with my units. It is simple and effective. Once all the units are on the Dutch border that are coming, I invade the Netherlands and like a hinge swing down through Belgium into France. Meanwhile the 25 INF Divisions on the French border join the fray once France begins to fall apart. When France is done I take that entire Army (25 INF Divisions) that was on the French border and ship them to the East thereby doubling my initial forces there (now 50 INF Divisions).

At this point in the game my Artillery brigades are coming off production so Im filling out Divisions and re-positioning them for their eventual destination. I send 6 INF x 3 / ART x 1 to East Prussia (I like to have 2 full corps there for my invasion), I send 15 INF x 3 / ART x 1 to the French border and the rest near the Netherlands. When the opportunity opens up I begin building INF x3 / AT x1 to complete the above corps.
 
MORE INFO

I start putting Naval units in the queue as I can. I generally like to build 1 capital and 2 escort types for each level of "tech" I achieve (ie. 1936, 1938 etc...). As I want 10 Armor Divisions to start the war I toss another 4 into production.

In March Japan fired seize the coast, so all is well there. Spart become available in May, I immediately put 10 into production (for my Armor Divisions). In August I ordered 3 more PL / LC's from Japan (I want 6 to start the war). By September I have AT Divisions (INF x3 / AT x1) finishing and begin completing my Corps.

October 1st I fire the First Vienna Award;

HoI3_197_zpshp79xidh.png
 
Last edited:
ROUNDING OUT 1938

In October the last of my 10 Armor divisions complete. In Mid October Hungary seems to be diplomatically stalled so I influence them, takes two weeks and then they are in the Axis!

I form my first Theater;

HoI3_225_zpsxepqes7d.png


My typical build...5 corps containing 15 INF x 3 / ART x 1 and 10 INF x 3 / AT x1.
 
1939

1939_zpsiewwf6gy.png


Here is the saved game file from January 1st, 1939;

http://www.gamefront.com/files/24997922/Germany___Jan_1_1939_rar

I fire the M-R Pact and Memel Decisions.

Lets check on the USA;

HoI3_236_zpscmxki4dr.png


I am a bit concerned about Romania and want to make sure they join when they are supposed to, so I begin influencing them (even though raising threat on the Soviet Union is working well...). I spend the rest of the year getting my Theaters ready. I mobilize on August 1st, 1939.
 
CONCLUSION

What I think would be helpful is for new players to open up the saved game files and look around and check out the various aspects of the game and get a grasp for what ive done. Then decide if any of this is helpful to you and apply it to your own style of play. Remember there is no right or wrong way to play. Your goals are to have fun and be successful, so don't worry about the haters. You used 10 Divisions? well I did it with 5! So What? You conquered them in 1942, I did it in 1941! Again, so what? I attempted to make this tutorial easy first, then effective. As I mentioned at the beginning I have used this basic set up for Germany no matter how I decide to play them, it is adaptable and pretty much always successful. You can easily play a-historically as well as have games with heavy diplomacy or espionage and still use the basic frame work of this set-up.

I hope you new players find this of some use. ;)
 
Thank you very much Oliver. Even though I am not a beginner (far from it), I did learn 1 or 2 things which I either did not know or never realized to do it that way!
 
Always fun to watch another person's methods at work. I just might have to download those saves and give them a spin. See how they feel with me at the wheel.
 
Yeah we have so many new players and reading the posts alot of them seem lost (I remember!) so I just wanted some solid all purpose builds that would be successful. Not the most efficient or powerful but ones that could be counted on continuously.
 
In that sense you certainly succeeded imho. As mentioned KyrionMyrthar, I have a totally different playing style and most of the time I go for the early war (Fall of France in 1936) and in that case my building queue would be totally different. Having said that, I did try a couple of things you mentioned last night and from what I can see so far, this is a very good way to play if you are (fairly) new to HOI3. One thing I would like to ask is, how you set up your generals (for Germany in this case)?

What I do now is:

HQ's -> Dollmann and Köstring, both have skill 3 (for reducing stacking penalty) and old guard. As theatre leaders they will not gain a lot of experience, so the 50% xp penalty will not hurt that much.
Army Group -> Busch, Hoth, Ulex, von Stülpnagel C.H., von dem Bach-Zelewski, Christiansen and optionally von Weichs and Heissmeyer. The first 6 have skill 3 or 4 and have the Logistics Wizard Trait. The last 2 have no traits but skill 4. All reduce supply consumption.
Army -> All skill 5 leaders and the remaining skill 4 leaders for the badly needed organization (usually I need that for my Blitzkrieg). No organization means no possibility to attack and there is no fun in that.
Corps -> All remaining skill 3 that have at least 1 trait (no old guards) and optionally a skill 2 general, but only if really needed.
Division -> Any remaining leader and preferably no old guards, I leave those for defensive units like occupied harbors and provinces the have victory points.

One note: every January 1st I review newly added generals and promote them to fit the big picture. E.g. it would be a waste of Erwin Rommel to lead a division with his amount of traits.
 
When I find myself starting bottom up (assigning level 1 or 2 Commanders to Divisions) I always end up with some very good (level 3-4) Generals sitting around. So what I do is I let the AI set up my Commanders and when War is upon me I then do each Theater at a time. TBH I worry less about their traits (other then defensive or fortress buster for around the Maginot line) although I do typically put Army Wizards in Army Groups. I simply work top down (5's for Theater and Army, 4's for Army or Corps and so on). I play the game often without even bothering with Commanders so truthfully I can say it has little impact on the game, but if I do set them up, thats how I do it.
 
I learned how to play Germany initially from misterbean's staggeringly great AAR. He distilled in me the need to put logistics wizards at the corps level as much as possible - I use level 2s as much as possible, many who reach level 4 or higher by the time the Soviets are defeated.

The only generals I usually force increases on by giving them early divisions are folks like Guderian, Rommel, etc. I want them higher for historical purposes. I then switch them to Heeresgruppe command or Armee-level a week or two before Barbarossa, unless I've quickly consolidated my conquests.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back