Codias said:
Hi guys, just wondering if any of you care to share your strategies for playing as France in Multiplayer? ('36 scenario Doomsday)
Any election choices that are better than others?
Go right. A market liberal set up allows you to shift towards a free market economy, reducing build times. With economic policy initiatives, you want to go
away from central planning. With luck, you can go hawk first, then get free moves to FM.
Use serial of interceptors for your airpower, starting early. Rely on Britain to back you up.
If you're going to build forts, rush the advanced construction tech. Don't build forts before you get it. LeHavre-Paris-Compeigne is a good line with better terrain (rivers) than the Belgian border.
Forget armour, go with infantry. Turn your entire manpower pool into troops. Rush 1939 infantry, and start a serial of 1936 troops.
A serial of artillery will boost your soft and hard attack stats, especially for troops you don't get around to upgrading.
Don't disband anything. Those 1918 forces upgrade to 1936 to give you a large firepower boost, and it really doesn't pay back all that well to disband and rebuild. Moreover, who's to say that Germany won't invade in spring 1939?
Hold off on some upgrades. You can finish 1939 infantry in early 1938, and your infantry upgrades will be way cheaper. Likewise, upgrade your artillery to 1936 spec after you get 1938 artillery.
Tech research preferences?
Infantry, land doctrines, INT-3's, artillery. Artillery's a decent boost for both your hard and soft attack, but its not worth rushing more than six months ahead.
Pros and Cons of trying to finish the Maginot line?
A fortress line is not impregnable, but it helps. If you plan carefully, you can use an interrupted line of forts to channel where the enemy will concentrate his forces, and use it to set up encirclements.
A strong northern line and a weak southern line can force Italy to enter the war early than intended. If the British strengthen the western part of the line (easiest to evacuate), you may be able to stall the Germans into frustration.
Two things that you can do here:
Let the Italians breach, weaken your line in the west too much ("to reinforce the south"), allowing the Germans to get through. Then flank the Germans through an amphibious landing in the netherlands, trying to encircle them and cut off the German force from supply.
Let the Italians breach, after they commit the bulk of their forces. Hold onto the north as hard as you can, while the British land in Italy. At the least, it'll cause confusion. You can probably clear the threat to the Suez in Libya and take out Sicily and/or the Italian navy. If you're cautious (or rather if Britain is cautious, you can restrict yourself to Maltese aircover.
But I've seen Italy abandon its southern beaches completely in some cases when Germany's panicking that France is winning in the north. If the beaches are empty, land troops!
Commonwealth garrison divisions work well if you're careful with them. By shifting garrisons to cover points such as El-Alamein, the middle east beaches, Gibraltar, and whatever homeland defence that Britain considers crucial, you can free up forces to reinforce France. With a well-planned line of retreat, the risk is minimal. A strategic redeployment to Britainny (northwest France) or Bordeaux with some delaying actions along the way allows for evacuation of even much of the French national forces.
My human ally is UK. Axis players will be Italy, Germany and Japan. USSR is a player nation as well.
If you can actually stop the Germans and mauling the Italians (eg by capturing Sicily and making landings in southern Italy), it would be a great time to get the SU to invade. Despite the SU's numerous disadvantages in an early war, if it has no opposition it can get rather far. Consider sending it three transports (if you're playing DD) a month before the war, and having him leave them undeployed until this opportunity arises. This will speed up his advance along the Baltic coast.
If this actually happens, try to hold a line in France. Redeploying to Britainy and trying to hold a 2 province wide line with everything you have might be a better move than simply holding onto the main northern line, even though Britainny won't have forts. Germany would have to advance further west through opposed terrain to meet your troops and would have an even longer trip east to meet Russia.
If/when I die I get to become the USA, which will be AI controlled up until then. That is to be considered as well I guess.
A France/USA player is likely to play the role of armsdealer rather than warrior for a couple years after France falls. Covering the supply needs of UK and SU should be a strong priority, and you can build up an army rather quickly when need be.
