Hey all, I'm playing the USSR (in a somewhat unconventional manner) in an upcoming 12-person LAN game with friends&acquaintances and wanted some advice.
I plan to play the USSR in a more orthodox Marxist manner (no purge, no M-R), as I usually do in single player. I have practiced it plenty and dissent isn't a problem. I know that the purge and M-R are widely recommended, but I don't plan to annex the territory cored by M-R, partly because of the most peculiar thing about this game: Poland will probably join my alliance; partly because of the other funny thing, I plan to surprise-attack Germany at least 2 years ahead of time. Refusing the purge is more of a personal thing, but "No Deals with the Enemies of the Workers" is part of my psy-war campaign against the guy playing Germany (he is good but I plan to terrorize him from Jan '36 with constant bomber/ftr patrol flights, aggressive espionage, economic warfare [trying to steal all his resource sources] and massive Red Army presence on the Polish-German Border).
Here are the main things I want advice on:
1) Allying (or forcing an alliance out of) Poland?
I'm good friends with the guy playing as Poland, and he's very left-leaning politically. Assuming the other players don't demand that he pick a different country, him and I are going to be allied for sure. The only question is whether we ally from the start, or pretend not to be allies but secretly join up when I refuse M-R or Poland gets attacked (preferably before that). Does anyone have any particular advice for a USSR/Polish allied war effort? I tested in SP and the acceptall-enslaved Poles and I annexed Germany on December 24, 1940 VH/furious without any Allied help (aside from a few Baltic States puppet reserves).
2) Switching from Human Wave to Spearhead doctrine?
I've heard this recommended, and my great results against the Wehrmacht in SP were accomplished with a Red Army fighting with German doctrines ^_^.. the org bonus is incredible for offensives but it seems like my men can't defend as well without the old Soviet doctrines I'm so used to.. any suggestions on this point?
3) Sending Tukhachevsky to Spain?
I like doing this (and making lots of airborne divisions to ensure some encirclements when I invade Germany) because it's what Comrade General Tukhachevsky himself would have done. I practiced, and the invasion of Nationalist Spain is only a guaranteed success if A) Danzig is available to the Red Navy and B) 24+ transports are available to the Red Army. Both Spains will be AI so there is no hope of getting the Republicans into the Comintern before 1937.. my problem is that the 1937 Stalinist coup event never fires! The Popular Front never shed their Social Liberal colors, even if I finish the fascists in '36... it makes the whole invasion useless since the chance they will go Left-Wing Radical and I can get them into the Comintern is so very very slim and a Social Liberal Spain is nearly as useless to the USSR as a Nationalist one..
4) Early Surprise Attack on Germany?
This is a plan I've been toying with: going for an early (1936) invasion of Nazi Germany. Basically I will spam militia, then inf, and upgrades from the start. This has some pluses, it will prevent Germany from getting all their good events, it will catch Germany before it can properly build up its army, and, of course, there is the surprise element.. a massive Soviet invasion through Poland at the start of the game is the last thing the enemy will expect. Might delay to '37 so I can get some airborne divs and TRA to drop in on them. It's not that ahistorical (Stalin asked the Allies to do a joint invasion of Germany in 37). The bad side is that the Allied players might treat me as an "aggressor" (pfft!). The other bad side is the guy playing Germany may never talk to me again. I have yet to test my early elimination strategy but interested to hear if anyone has experience doing this and/or relevant suggestions.
5) Soviet naval buildup?
Since I basically abandoned the Spanish intervention strategy after I lost all faith in the event to fire, I considered making transports to instead invade Germany from the north with motorized divisions. Obviously this would mean a later date for the attack on Germany. To ensure the success of this operation, a small number of new battleships and maybe even carriers could be constructed from the very start, then the navy could be massed into a single horde to buy the landing forces time. I know from experience that the Red Navy as it begins the game is not strong enough for this mission, so is there any hope of sufficiently enlarging the Soviet navy to beat (or at least buy time from) the Germans? Or am I better off leaving the seas to the enemy and concentrating on making land divs and/or safe industry behind the urals?
Thanks for the advice I know that was rambling.. eager to hear anyone's input/strategies/experience with these plans.
I plan to play the USSR in a more orthodox Marxist manner (no purge, no M-R), as I usually do in single player. I have practiced it plenty and dissent isn't a problem. I know that the purge and M-R are widely recommended, but I don't plan to annex the territory cored by M-R, partly because of the most peculiar thing about this game: Poland will probably join my alliance; partly because of the other funny thing, I plan to surprise-attack Germany at least 2 years ahead of time. Refusing the purge is more of a personal thing, but "No Deals with the Enemies of the Workers" is part of my psy-war campaign against the guy playing Germany (he is good but I plan to terrorize him from Jan '36 with constant bomber/ftr patrol flights, aggressive espionage, economic warfare [trying to steal all his resource sources] and massive Red Army presence on the Polish-German Border).
Here are the main things I want advice on:
1) Allying (or forcing an alliance out of) Poland?
I'm good friends with the guy playing as Poland, and he's very left-leaning politically. Assuming the other players don't demand that he pick a different country, him and I are going to be allied for sure. The only question is whether we ally from the start, or pretend not to be allies but secretly join up when I refuse M-R or Poland gets attacked (preferably before that). Does anyone have any particular advice for a USSR/Polish allied war effort? I tested in SP and the acceptall-enslaved Poles and I annexed Germany on December 24, 1940 VH/furious without any Allied help (aside from a few Baltic States puppet reserves).
2) Switching from Human Wave to Spearhead doctrine?
I've heard this recommended, and my great results against the Wehrmacht in SP were accomplished with a Red Army fighting with German doctrines ^_^.. the org bonus is incredible for offensives but it seems like my men can't defend as well without the old Soviet doctrines I'm so used to.. any suggestions on this point?
3) Sending Tukhachevsky to Spain?
I like doing this (and making lots of airborne divisions to ensure some encirclements when I invade Germany) because it's what Comrade General Tukhachevsky himself would have done. I practiced, and the invasion of Nationalist Spain is only a guaranteed success if A) Danzig is available to the Red Navy and B) 24+ transports are available to the Red Army. Both Spains will be AI so there is no hope of getting the Republicans into the Comintern before 1937.. my problem is that the 1937 Stalinist coup event never fires! The Popular Front never shed their Social Liberal colors, even if I finish the fascists in '36... it makes the whole invasion useless since the chance they will go Left-Wing Radical and I can get them into the Comintern is so very very slim and a Social Liberal Spain is nearly as useless to the USSR as a Nationalist one..
4) Early Surprise Attack on Germany?
This is a plan I've been toying with: going for an early (1936) invasion of Nazi Germany. Basically I will spam militia, then inf, and upgrades from the start. This has some pluses, it will prevent Germany from getting all their good events, it will catch Germany before it can properly build up its army, and, of course, there is the surprise element.. a massive Soviet invasion through Poland at the start of the game is the last thing the enemy will expect. Might delay to '37 so I can get some airborne divs and TRA to drop in on them. It's not that ahistorical (Stalin asked the Allies to do a joint invasion of Germany in 37). The bad side is that the Allied players might treat me as an "aggressor" (pfft!). The other bad side is the guy playing Germany may never talk to me again. I have yet to test my early elimination strategy but interested to hear if anyone has experience doing this and/or relevant suggestions.
5) Soviet naval buildup?
Since I basically abandoned the Spanish intervention strategy after I lost all faith in the event to fire, I considered making transports to instead invade Germany from the north with motorized divisions. Obviously this would mean a later date for the attack on Germany. To ensure the success of this operation, a small number of new battleships and maybe even carriers could be constructed from the very start, then the navy could be massed into a single horde to buy the landing forces time. I know from experience that the Red Navy as it begins the game is not strong enough for this mission, so is there any hope of sufficiently enlarging the Soviet navy to beat (or at least buy time from) the Germans? Or am I better off leaving the seas to the enemy and concentrating on making land divs and/or safe industry behind the urals?
Thanks for the advice I know that was rambling.. eager to hear anyone's input/strategies/experience with these plans.