Muddling through as the UK in HOI2

[Riel Hamard]

UK Campaign 1936 - Starting Situation

Where I left off a few months ago, I was in the middle of a mulligan in an EU2 game. All I had to do was adjust my game and build some forts. Then I got distracted by some online games of Axis and Allies and here I am attempting another WW2 themed game.

This one seems to be quite a learning curve to adapt. We are, of course, playing the UK again. It might be somewhat more complicated than playing Germany, because of more parts, but we have done it before in HOI1. Since we are just starting out, settings are Normal Difficulty and Normal AI Aggressiveness. (It is also possible in the HOI1 game, AI set to Furious might have skewed the game.)

We will start this with a small map and then discuss the pieces we are managing and a brief general discussion of a plan. We will follow up in another post a more specific plan to get through 1936, which is as far a we have recently played. (I have very little knowledge of events leading up to 1939.)

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Part 1 - The Government
Our government is Market Liberal
0 Belligerence / Badboy
Here are the Government and Cabinet Ministers and their effects on the economy:

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Head of State - King George V - Stern Imperialist
Head of Government - Stanley Baldwin - Backroom Backstabber
Foreign Minister - Anthony Eden - Ideological Crusader
Armaments Minister - Neville Chamberlain - Laissez Faire Capitalist
Minister of Security - Sir John Simon - Crime Fighter
Head of Intelligence - Sir Hugh Sinclair - Logistics Specialist
Chief of Staff - Sir A. Montgomery Massingberd - School of Fire Support
Chief of the Army - Sir A. Montgomery Massingberd - Static Defense Doctrine
Chief of the Navy - Sir Ernle Chatfield - Decisive Battle Doctrine
Chief of the Air Force - Sir Owen Boyd - Air Superiority Doctrine

Government Description:
Full Democracy
Far Right (one from Extreme Right)
Full Open Society
3/5 Free Market
2/5 Standing Army
3/5 Dove Lobby
0/5 Intervention

Industrial and Research Bonuses:
-5 IC
+5 Armor and Artillery Research
+47 Consumer Goods Need (-5, -20, -10, +20, +12, +50)
+50 Money from Consumer Goods (+20, +30)
+35 Tech Team Salary (+20, +15)

Construction Bonuses
-10 Unit Build Cost
-10 Production Time and Cost
+25 Upgrade Time and Cost (-15, +40)
-5 Artillery, Rocket Artillery, and Self Propelled Artillery and Rocket Artillery
-5 Infantry and Anti-Tank Brigades
-10 Land Fortifications
-5 Fighters and Interceptors and AA Brigades
+10 Construction to Strategic Bombers and Naval Bombers
-4 Gearing Bonus

Combat Bonuses:
+5 to Infantry Defensive and Anti-Tank Defensive
+5 to Battleship, Battlecruiser, Heavy Cruiser, Light Cruiser Offensive
+5 to Fighters and Interceptors
-10 to Carrier Offensive

Other Bonuses:
-40 Dissent in National and Occupied Provinces
+36 Dissent Growth Rate (+20, +10, +6)
-30 Chance to Coup us
+40 Counter Intelligence Penalty
+30 Army Intelligence
-5 Partisan Activity
+14.4 DoW Dissent (+10, +4.4)
-6 Manpower Growth
+5 Manpower Experience
+4 Unit Organization

Diplomatic Action Costs
900/1000 Coup Nation
67/100 Influence Nation (It shows up on screen as 66 so it might be rounding)
8/30 Open Negotiation (If Democratic)

That's quite a mouthful, but I think we have all of it. I might do some experimentation to see if we can determine more of the exact effects. We plan to make two changes to the government above.

Part 2 - The Empire and Resources and Industry

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Looking at the Statistics, we start with a bunch of territories with a total of 160 IC and with foreign penalties, this translates into 147 IC. I have no idea how the foreign penalty works. I suppose we have a foreign IC penalty of 13 and we can reduce this to 11 with our Efficient Sociopath if we want. A model I can think of is we have 135 Domestic and 25 Foreign. 50% gets us 12.5 for a total of 147.5. 60% gets us 15.0 for a total of 160. The actual numbers are 147 and 149. We would only know for sure if we open up different games.

Out of 147 Base IC, our production starts off terrible and will get worse in the early part of the year. We collect 50% or 74.0 to start. We can improve this to 53% or 78 with a Minister change and 2% Dissent. We lose George V early and that takes us down to 42% or 62 and 3% Dissent. The Reoccupation of the Rhineland gets us back to 52% or 76 and 3% Dissent. This is the part of the year we will have to muddle through.

We have a wide range of Resources:
388 Energy - This starts us with a surplus of 240.
144 Metal - This starts us with a surplus of 70.
73.5 Rare - This starts us with a surplus of 36.5.
We have surprisingly little oil, but we can trade. Our vast resources will bring trade to our shores.
We should be able to build a bunch more industry with a resource surplus like this. However, I want to see how the game actually unfolds before making commitments like that.

Part 3 - Our Allies

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We will list our main allies and their IC, followed by Energy, Metal, Rare, Oil:
74 UK - 388, 144, 73.5
57 France - 151, 90, 31, 0
26 Australia - 60, 59, 10, 0
21 Canada - 67, 81, 20, 4
12 South Africa - 70, 18, 4, 0
7 New Zealand - 16, 6, 4, 0

Our puppets and their IC:
6 Nepal
5 Bhutan
6 Iraq
6 Yemen
5 Oman
We tend not to make much use of their forces.

Part 4 - Force Comparison

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Main Allies - Land, Sea, Air
UK - 57, 121, 11
France - 48, 54, 8
Australia - 11, 13, 1
Canada - 1, 7
South Africa - 3, 6
New Zealand - 7, 5

Main Rivals - Land, Sea, Air
USSR - 136, 33, 12
USA - 6, 112, 7
Japan - 65, 97, 11
Italy - 50, 59, 12
Germany - 40, 17, 11
We will use this to see what kind of forces are building up.

Part 5 - Force Roster

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Land Forces:
18 Infantry (1918) - 4 in UK, 2 in Middle East, 12 in India
29 Garrison (1918) - 24 in UK, 1 in Gibraltar, Malta, Ceylon, Singapore, and Hong Kong
9 Militia (1936) - These are in Africa
1 HQ (1936) in UK
57 Total - We will organize these divisions a bit and replace their commanders with accountants.

Naval Forces:
2 Carrier 1
4 Carrier 2 - 6 Carriers total
2 Battleship 2
10 Battleship 3 - 12 Battleships total
1 Battecruiser 3
2 Battlecruiser 2 - 3 Battlecruisers total
16 Heavy Cruiser 2 - 16 Heavy Cruisers total
21 Light Cruiser 1
2 Light Cruiser 2
7 Light Cruiser 3 - 30 Light Cruisers total
21 Destroyer 1
11 Destroyer 2 - 32 Destroyers total
5 Submarine 2
4 Submarine 3 - 9 Submarines total
13 Transports
121 Total - We will organize some battlegroups and move them around.

Air Forces:
3 Interceptor 1
5 Tactical Bomber 1
3 Strategic Bomber 1
11 Total

Part 6 - Obsolete Forces for Upgrade

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18 Infantry 1 to Infantry 2
1 HQ36 to HQ39
3 Interceptor 1 to Interceptor 2
5 Tactical Bomber 1 to Tactical Bomber 2
27 Divisions total

1 or 2 Artillery to Great War Heavy Artillery
1 CAG - I think I saw one on the Hong Kong Carrier
2 Obsolete Brigades - We will see these when they are finally upgraded.

We believe upgrade costs are 62.5% of the new unit cost and 31.25% of the time. So we get the upgrade at about 20% of the cost of the new unit. We might try to put this off to later in the year, or 1937, or 1939. We have not decided yet. Our current cost for upgrades is 117.53.

Part 7 - 1936 Technology Goals

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Early Field Artillery - Most likely we will make extensive use of artillery.
Basic Air Transport - We are not sure if we will build a Paratrooper Team.
Agrichemistry - We will let our allies develop this first to save us some money.
Agricultural Production - Same as above. It seems to be a target for our allies.
Rocket Test and Research Facility - We are not sure if we will build one, because it is very expensive.
Battlefield Destruction Doctrine - We can already obtain a blueprint from France.

Part 8 - Allies Initial Research

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Agrichemistry - France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand
Early Field Artillery - France
Rear Area Vehicle Repair Shop - France
Dive Bombing Doctrine - France
Improved Machine Tools - France
We will take advantage of this to obtain blueprints.

Rear Area Supply Dumps - Canada, South Africa, Australia
We can send them blueprints.

This seems to be a bit of a tour. I did not go into detail on the variety of commanders we have - or ministers. More become available later. We will build a more detailed plan in the next post.

 

[Wraith11B]

I am certainly here for this as well!

 

[VILenin]

Count me in as well. Really interested to see what you make of HOI2 compared to HOI1.

 

[TheExecuter]

What is the general plan?

I find England hard to play in single player because of manpower issues. Relying on AI allies can be pretty frustrating.

I usually focus on building more industry early on, and reducing dissent...and then at some point build the army.

It's also good to plan what you want your forces to look like, so you don't waste research on units and capabilities you won't use.

 

[Riel Hamard]

What is the general plan?

I find England hard to play in single player because of manpower issues. Relying on AI allies can be pretty frustrating.

I usually focus on building more industry early on, and reducing dissent...and then at some point build the army.

It's also good to plan what you want your forces to look like, so you don't waste research on units and capabilities you won't use.

For the general plan, see the title of the thread - Muddle through. In order to know how much industry to build, I will have to see some of the later years and events and resource balance. The current resource balance indicates we can build 70 industry or more and still be balanced. The highest profit potential is in 1936. If we build 8, then it costs 40 and I think it will take us 7 or 8 years to get it paid back. Most likely for this run, I will not bother with improving any industry or infrastructure, or land and naval fortifications.

Our initial builds are likely to be far from ideal, but with the difficulty being normal, we might be okay. We will have the fun of seeing how well we guessed.

Also, I added to my initial post. It goes up to Part 8 and is my description of the initial situation. It is mostly flavor and does not affect much gameplay. I have not yet gone into detail on who are initial commanders and initial ministers are.

 

[Riel Hamard]

January, 1936

Part 1 - Diplomatic Actions

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We made our diplomatic deals to acquire the Blueprints we need for our initial research plan and distribute Blueprints to help our Allies.
1. Battlefield Destruction Doctrine from France for Strategic Destruction Doctrine and 90 Supplies
2. Rear Area Supply Dumps... to Canada for 167 Supplies
3... to Australia for 148 Supplies
4... to South Africa for 171 Oil

This makes our initial stockpile of resources as follows:
1000 Energy
1000 Metal
500 Rare
670 Oil
722 Supplies
42 Money

Part 2 - Government and Cabinet Changes

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1. We make a push towards Free Market 30. The effects are as follows:
a. Money from Consumer Goods from 20 to 30. The total increases from 50 to 60. We will collect 0.32 for Consumer Goods spending, which is likely to be quite a bit given that we will be spending much of the year fighting dissent.
b. Production Time and Cost from -10 to -15. We do not have the full detail on this comparison.
c. Tech Team Salary rom +15 to +20, total from +35 to +40. Our tech teams charge 0.28 per skill level.
d. Unit Upgrade Time and Cost from -15 to -20. The total goes from +25 to +20. Upgrade cost should be 60% and time should be 30%.
e. Consumer Goods Demand from +12 to +16, increasing the total from domestic policy from +82 to +86. Consumer good demand should now read 74 x 0.2 x 0.65 x 1.86 = 17.8932. Sure enough, it reads 17.89.

2. We promoted SP James to the Head of Intelligence. He is Industrial Specialist. The effects are as follows:
The UK has 147 Base IC. We collect the following bonuses and penalties.
+5 for Technology (Basic Machine Tools)
-5 for Ministers, which will increase to 0
-50 for Peacetime
0 for Dissent, which will change to -2
50 net for 73.5, rounding to 74, which will change to
53 net for 77.91, rounding to 78

We will work on our Production Budget next.

Part 3 - Initial Production Budget

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Our Production is currently showing 1.5 for the 33rd Destroyer Flotilla, 1.5 for the 34th Destroyer Flotilla, and 1.5 for the 10th Submarine Flotilla. We will keep these, but put them at the bottom of the queue.

We would like to take advantage of the 10% production bonus from King George V, but navigate the lean time that follows when he is no longer with us. Production should go from 78 to 62. If we obtain our Supplies from outside, we can budget approximately 75% of 62 to get 46.5 and we have approximately 42.0 to spend.

1.50 Destroyer 2 - A Class
1.50 Destroyer 2 - A Class
1.50 Submarine 2 - Triton Class
4.50 Initial Production Budget

4.59 Carrier 3 Ark Royal x7
7.65 Battleship 4 King George V x7
4.59 Light Cruiser 4 Southampton x29
1.53 Destroyer 3 Tribal x47
1.53 Submarine 3 Triton x41
3.83 Troop Transport x74

8,67 Interceptor 2 Hawker Hurricane x46
4.55 Infantry 2 x74
41.44 Total Production Budget

We set all of our production runs to end just before the year 1946. Then we realized the game might actually run until 1948. Most likely we will be changing these runs out during the game as units become obsolete.

It looks like we left some room between 41.44 and the 46.50 we said we could spend. We will use this either for emergency supplies or for reducing Dissent.

Initial Budget:
34.68 Consumer / 17.89 Required -0.04 Dissent per day
39.32 Production / 41.44 Required - We believe we mathed it correctly.
74.00 Initial Budget

Part 4 - Initial Research Projects

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36-1 Battlefield Destruction Doctrine
Start: 36.01.01
Hugh Dowding, Skill 8, $2.24
3x Aeronautics - Small Bomb Bays
3x General Equipment - Tank Buster Bomb
3x Combined Arms Focus - Basic Forward Air Controllers
3 Aircraft Testing - Battlefield Air Support
3 Piloting - Fire Brigade Spirit
We have the blueprints. So this project should move faster.

36-2 Rocket Test and Research Facility
Start: 36.01.01
Frank Whittle, Skill 7, $1.96
7 Aeronautics - Wind Tunnels
7 Rocketry - Test Range
7 Rocketry - Telemetrics Station
7x Chemistry - Rocket Fuels
14x Management - Basic Rocket Flight Tests
This project will struggle towards the end with a skill mismatch, but there is not much we can do about it. We are not sure we will actually build a rocket test facility.

36-3 Basic Air Transport
Start: 36.01.01
Avro, Skill 6, $1.68
8 Aeronautics - Basic Long Range Bomber Engine
8 Aeronautics - Basic Heavy Bomber Airframe
6 Aeronautics - Small Cargo Capacity
8 Electronics - Advanced Radio Navigation
16 Technical Efficiency - Basic Heavy Bomber Prototype Tests
This appears to be a Heavy Bomber in disguise. We are not sure if we will ever build an Air Transport.

Part 5 - Feeding the Economy

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We never trust anything automatic. So we are also setting up our convoys. This also gives us a very good idea how many convoys we need to keep the entire system afloat.

Here is our list of Resource Convoys:
4 Belfast to Glasgow
10 Newfoundland (to Glasgow)
21 Cyprus to Plymouth
38 Bombay (to Plymouth)
26 Colombo
20 Port Said
29 Doha
29 Kuwait
28 Singapore
28 Kuching
14 Cuyuni
14 Tobago
16 Accra
17 Port Harcourt
14 Freetown
26 Nauru

Supply Convoys:
8 Glasgow to Belfast
20 Plymouth to Gibraltar
34 (Plymouth to) Malta
54 Bombay
52 Colombo
40 Port Said
56 Singapore
64 Hong Kong
22 Bermuda
28 Freetown

We have 288 more Transports and 150 Escorts available. That should be good for another 576 in resources and we might not need more until the war begins. We also have the option of limiting convoys.

Part 6 - Putting the Accountants in Charge of the Army

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29 Garrisons, grouped as follows:
8 to Plymouth
8 to Dover
6 to Edinburgh
2 in Belfast
5, 1 each in Gibraltar, Malta, Ceylon, Singapore, Hong Kong
We put 14 of them in transit, raising TC to 100/122 and Logistics in charge of all but a few.

9 Militia in Africa
We have not attempted to group these yet. It looks like we can easily put these into 2 groups.
3 Khartoum
6 Nairobi

4 Infantry in UK - Grouping at Liverpool
2 Infantry at Jerusalem

12 Infantry in India
3 Ahmadabad
3 Hyderabad
3 Madras
3, 1 each in Trincomalee, Dhaka, Rangoon

Eventually we will bring down our supply costs.

Part 7 - Navy Reorganization

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We don't really know a good way to organize our navy, so we did as follows. We started with the old ships and started to group them with the Heavy Cruisers. We also put the old Aircraft carriers with the old escorts, as follows:

2 (1AC1, 2LC1, 3DD1) - Egypt and Singapore
7 (2HC2, 2LC1, 2DD1) - Bermuda, Africa, Gibraltar, Malta, Egypt, Ceylon, Hong Kong
1 (2HC2, 3LC1, 2DD1) - Plymouth

We can make a BC / DD group in Liverpool, a CV group in Glasgow, and gang the rest in a big group of 30 in Scapa. Submarines will regroup and transfer and we will make a staging ground for new units.

We are almost ready to go!

 

[Riel Hamard]

January, 1936

Well moving so many troops and ships around sure puts a strain on the Transport Capacity. We are not sure we did any permanent damage, but please do not do this during war time. It looks like it affected our supply efficiency.

We built 7 Task Forces of 2CA2, 2CL1, 2DD1 and stationed them:
1. Bermuda Task Force
2. Africa Task Force
3. Gibraltar Task Force
4. Malta Task Force
5. Egypt Task Force
6. India Task Force
7. Hong Kong Task Force

There was enough left over for one more Task Force:
8. Cornwall Task Force (2CA2, 3CL2, 1DD1)

We also created two Carrier Task forces (1CV1, 2CL1, 3DD1) as follows:
1. Argus Task Force based in Egypt
2. Hermes Task Force en route to Singapore

Submarine 2 Swordfish got moved in a group of 5 to Egypt. We have 11 Transports based in Norwich and 2 in Bombay.

There are the older ships in the Royal Navy reorganized.

January 21, 1936 - The Death of King George V

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This takes our production down from 79 to 63 and we will adjust our slider appropriately.

February, 1936
February 21, 1936 - Project 36-1 complete
Battlefield Destruction Doctrine
Total Time: 50 days
Total Cost: $112

We reorganized our more modern ships as follows:
Carrier Task Force (4CV2, 2CL2, 3DD2) stationed in Liverpool
Home Fleet / Main Task Force has the rest of our ships
4 Submarine 3 Tritons in Southampton

We will build up our Submarines in Southampton, light ships in Liverpool, and capital ships in Scapa.

March, 1936
March 2, 1936 - Submarine 3.06 Complete - 10th Submarine Flotilla
March 2, 1936 - Destroyer 2.12 Complete - 33rd Destroyer Flotilla
March 10, 1936 - Infantry 19 - 4th Infantry Division
March 10, 1936 - Transport 14 - Queen Mary

March 7, 1936 - Reoccupation of the Rhineland

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April, 1936
April 2, 1936 - Destroyer 2.13 Complete - 34th Destroyer
April 19, 1936 - Interceptor 4 - RAF No 14

April 12, 1936 - 4/18 Infantry Upgraded to 1936
April 18, 1936 - 5/18 Infantry Upgraded to 1936

April 4, 1936 - Early Field Artillery from France for Basic Decimetric Warning Sites and 135 Oil
Project 36-4 Early Field Artillery
Royal Small Arms Factory, Skill 6, $1.68
3 Artillery - 75mm Field Artillery Gun
3 Mechanics - Early Gun Carriage
3 Chemistry - High Explosive Shells
3x Electronics - Rangefinder Radar
3 Training - Basic Crawling Fire Training

April 22, 1936 - Agrichemistry from Australia for Basic Decimetric Warning Devices, Basic Destroyer, Improved Light Cruiser, and 96 Metal
Project 36-5 Agrichemistry
George Paget Thompson, Skill 5, $1.40
7 Chemistry - Synthetic Fertilizers
7 Chemistry - Synthetic Insecticides
7 Chemistry - Synthetic Herbicides
7 Chemistry - Synthetic Fungicides
7 Management - Hybridization

April 17, 1936 - Italy annexed Ethiopia

May, 1936
May 3, 1936 - Submarine 3.06 - 11th Submarine Flotilla
May 16, 1936 - Infantry 20 - 6th Infantry Division
May 16, 1936 - Transport 15 - Dominion Monarch Flotilla


May 5, 1936 - 6/18 Infantry upgraded
May 9, 1936 - 9/18 Infantry upgraded
May 11, 1936 - 10/18 Infantry upgraded
May 22, 1936 - British Army HQ upgraded
May 28, 1936 - 11/18 Infantry upgraded
May 30, 1936 - 13/18 Infantry upgraded
May 30, 1936 - 2/4 Artillery upgraded

May 10, 1936 - Project 36-4 Early Field Artillery Complete
Time: 36 days
Cost: $60.48

June, 1936
June 19, 1936 - CL4.01 Penelope

June 10, 1936 - 14/18 Infantry upgraded
June 15, 1936 - 15/18 Infantry upgraded
June 16, 1936 - 16/18 Infantry upgraded
June 21, 1936 - 1718 Infantry upgraded
June 23, 1936 - 18/18 Infantry upgraded

June 1, 1936 - Project 36-3 Basic Air Transport Complete
Time: 150 days
Cost: $252

June 22, 1936 - It looks like we got an event which appears to be a non-event.

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It looks like this is as far as we get tonight. We leave it at July 1, 1936.

 

[Wraith11B]

Just a quibble: you are bouncing between what I imagine are heavy cruisers as CA and HC... Could I make a request that we keep them in the traditional 'CA' format? Other than that, good start!

 

[VILenin]

Interesting to see you manually manage trade and convoys - I always automated both and found the AI actually did a reasonable job with it as long as you keep pumping convoys into the pool. You certainly have a clearer idea of what your needs and capacity are for handling it yourself, however.

 

[Riel Hamard]

Just a quibble: you are bouncing between what I imagine are heavy cruisers as CA and HC... Could I make a request that we keep them in the traditional 'CA' format? Other than that, good start!

Should be done. I wonder how well CA3 do compared to BB4? I am told the UK starts with enough Capital Warships for the entire war, but we are also roleplaying.

Interesting to see you manually manage trade and convoys - I always automated both and found the AI actually did a reasonable job with it as long as you keep pumping convoys into the pool. You certainly have a clearer idea of what your needs and capacity are for handling it yourself, however.

One thing I did not like is all the oil that was safely overseas in our outposts was suddenly coming home. The next thing I was not so sure of is what happens when the war starts and we start losing transports. When we manually control, we can adjust some destinations and maybe have fewer convoys to assign escorts.

Notes I can think of so far:
1. Assuming we wanted to build a Transport Plane, we could have delayed Basic Transport to a little later in the year when we were in a better position to make a change of ministers. This might have saved us $28.
2. Assuming we are intervening in the Spanish Civil War, we might have done well to arrange for our $$$ to be a lot lower. So the idea in early July is to be close to $0 and increasing.
3. The question now is if there was a 1937 technology we could have snuck in our list.

Most likely, this is not a big deal.

If we decide to build a Rocket Test Facility, where is a good location for it?

 

[Riel Hamard]

July, 1936
July 18, 1936 - Infantry 21 - 9th Highland Division
July 18, 1936 - Transport 16 - Empress of Canada Flotilla
July 30, 1936 - Destroyer 3.02 - 10th Destroyer Flotilla

July 16, 1936 - 1/5 Tactical upgraded

July 9, 1936 - Project 36-2 Rocket Test and Research Facility
Time: 188 days
Cost: $368.48

July 12, 1936 - Project 36-5 Agrichemistry
Time: 80 days
Cost: $112


July 21, 1936 - The Spanish Civil War

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Of course, we intervened. -$200, -10MP, Supplies wiped to 0, Dissent is now 4.18%, the worst it has been so far in the game.
Intervention from 5 to 6, Political Left from 1 to 2. No resulting change in Cabinet.
Upgrades on hold. First issue to resolve in this crisis is to obtain a positive balance of Supplies. Then we can get back to managing Dissent.

August, 1936
August 2, 1936 - Interceptor 5 - RAF #10 Fighter Squadron
August 29, 1936 - Submarine 3.07 - 12th Submarine Flotilla

September, 1936
September 17, 1936 - Infantry 22 - 12th Eastern Division
September 17, 1936 - Transport 17 - Empire Chieftain Flotilla

September 24, 1936 - Rear Area Vehicle Repair Shop and Dive Bombing Doctrine from France for free.
September 28, 1936 - Agricultural Production from Australia for Basic Air Transport, Basic Strategic Bomber, Rocket Test and Research Facility and 9 Oil.

Project 36-6 Agricultural Production
English Electric Company, Skill 8, $2.24
Start: 36.09.28
Chemistry 8x - Industrial Pasteurization
Industrial Engineering 8 - Large Scale Refrigeration
Industrial Engineering 8 - Sterile Packaging
Industrial Engineering 8 - Dehydration Techniques
Management 18 - Agrimanagement Processes

October, 1936
With Dissent finally under control again, we can focus on upgrades. They are almost complete for the year.
October 9, 1936 - 1/3 Interceptor upgraded
October 9, 1936 - 2/5 Tactical Bomber upgraded
October 17, 1936 - 2/3 Interceptor upgraded

October 1, 1936 - Improved Machine Tools from France for Rocket Test and Research Facility and Basic Strategic Bomber

It looks like we have a 13.5% penalty for starting 1937 projects early, but it should be worthwhile if we already have blueprints. So here we go.

Project 37-1 Rear-Area Vehicle Repair Shop
Vauxhall, Skill 7, $1.96
Start: 36.10.01
5 Mechanics - Bulky Tools
5 Mechanics - Standardized Repair Capacity
5 Technical Efficiency - Basic Vehicle Repair
5 Technical Efficiency - Basic Gun Repair
5x Management - Work Task Requisition System

Project 37-2 - Dive Bombing Doctrine
Hugh Dowding, Skill 8, $2.24
3 Aircraft Testing - Early Precision Bomb Runs
3x Combined Arms Focus - Offensive Air Support
3x Aeronautics - Diving Ability
3 Aircraft Testing - Diving Training
3 Piloting - Close Air Support Spirit

Project 37-3 Improved Machine Tools
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, Skill 9, $2.52
6 Chemistry - Industrial Ceramic
6 Industrial Engineering - Sensor Techniques
6 Industrial Engineering - Improved Welding Techniques
7 Industrial Engineering - High Speed Performance
16 Industrial Engineering - Improved Machine Tools Development Process

November, 1936
November 6, 1936 - Destroyer 3.03 - 35th Destroyer Flotilla
November 9, 1936 - Interceptor 6 - No. 207 RAF Fighter Group
November 12, 1936 - Infantry 23 - Scottish Division
November 12, 1936 - Transport 18 - Stirling Castle Flotilla
November 29, 1936 - Light Cruiser 3.02 - HMS Aurora

November 9, 1936 - 3/3 Interceptor upgraded
November 25, 1936 - 4/5 Tactical Bombers upgraded

November 15, 1936 - Project 37-2 Dive Bombing Doctrine Complete
Time: 44 days
Cost: $98.56

November 27, 1936 - Project 37-1 Rear Area Vehicle Repair Shop Complete
Time: 56 days
Cost: $109.76

November 17, 1936 - Operational Destruction Doctrine from France
Project 37-4 Operational Destruction Doctrine
Charles Portal, Skill 6, $1.68
3x General Equipment - Armor Penetration Bombs
3 Bomber Tactics - Carpet Bombing
3 Aircraft Testing - Bombing Practice
3 Centralized Execution - Early Air Campaign Management
3x Aeronautics - Medium Bomber Bays

December, 1936
December 19, 1936 - Submarine 3.08 - 13th Submarine Flotilla

December 3, 1936 - 5/5 Tactical Bombers upgraded
December 7, 1936 - 4/4 Artillery upgraded
December 28, 1936 - CAG upgraded
All of our units are now up to date.

December 2, 1936 - Project 37-3 Complete - Improved Machine Tools
Time: 61 Days
Cost: $153.72


December 10, 1936 - Abdication of Edward VIII

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We have now have:
Head of State - King George VI - Benevolent Gentleman
Head of Government - Neville Chamberlain - Naive Optimist
Sir John Simon - Industrial Specialist

Just when we thought we were clear for the year...
December 20, 1936 - Major Worker Strike

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We made it to 1937. Next post we will take a look at how we did.

 

[Riel Hamard]

Start of 1937 Report

Here is a look at our situation:

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Here is a look at the situation in Spain:

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It is hard to tell who is winning the Spanish Civil War.

1937 Technology Goals:
Basic Close Air Support
Basic Interceptor
Basic Escort Fighter
Basic Encryption Device
We are showing 4 projects either complete or in progress. It feels like we are missing a couple.

It looks like the UK can run quite a few Air Projects at the same time. So it might be worth giving up 7IC to run them and save time.

Quick Force Comparison:
62 Land +5 Infantry
137 Naval +5TP +5DD +4SS +2CL
14 Air +3 Interceptors

USSR: 137 Land +1, 36 Navy +3, 12 Air

Germany: 47 Land +7, 33 Navy +16, 16 Air +5
Italy: 55 Land +5, 66 Navy +7, 14 Air +2
Japan: 95 Land +30, 98 Navy +1, 12 Air +1

It looks like we are getting outbuilt by the Axis. Japan is gearing for war, but it looks like they built a bunch of Garrison:
41 Infantry, 6 Cavalry, 35 Garrison, 3HQ, 10 Militia, 95 Total

Germany appears to have built a bunch of navy:
2BC 3CA 6CL 5DD 10SS 7TT, 33 Total

Italy has the following:
4BB 8CA 13CL 21DD 12SS 8TT, 66 Total

Japan has the following:
4CV 6BB 4BC 14CA 21CL 21DD 8SS 20TP, 98 Total

 

[VILenin]

The Republicans seem to be doing well in Spain. Hopefully they will both win the civil war and not go communist.

 

[Riel Hamard]

January, 1937
We started with a couple more changes in the government. All the way Free Market:
+40 Money from Consumer Goods. I think this is now $0.34.
-20 Production Time and Cost
+25 Tech Team Salary, now $0.29.
+20 Consumer Goods Demand

We also installed Sir Thomas Inskip as Armaments Minister, because we are planning a bunch of Aircraft projects.

January 4, 1937 - Infantry 24 - 18th Infantry Division
January 4, 1937 - Transport 19 - Fort Dunvegan Flotilla

January 5, 1937 - Project 37-4 Operational Destruction Doctrine Complete
Time: 48 days
Cost: $80.88

Project 37-5 Basic Close Air Support
Started: 37.01.01
Avro, Skill 6, $1.74
8 Aeronautics - Basic Short Range Bomber Engine
8 Aeronautics - Basic Light Bomber Airframe
8 Chemistry - Dive Drop Bomb Shells
8 Electronics - Advanced Radio Navigation
16 Technical Efficiency - Basic Light Bomber Prototype Tests

Project 37-6 Basic Interceptor
Started: 37.01.01
de Havilland, Skill 7, $2.03
8 Aeronautics - Basic Short Range Engine
8 Aeronautics - Basic Interceptor Airframe
6x Artillery - 7.62mm MG
8 Electronics - Basic dm Airborne Interceptor Radar
16 Technical Efficiency - Basic Interceptor Prototype Tests

Project 37-7 Basic Escort Fighter
Started: 37.01.01
Supermarine, Skill 9, $2.61
8 Aeronautics - Basic Long Range Engine
8 Aeronautics - Basic Escort Fighter Airframe
6 Artillery - 7.26mm MG - Didn't we just put that above?
8x Electronics - Basic dm Airborne Interceptor Radar - Didn't we just put that above?
16 Technical Efficiency - Basic Escort Fighter Prototype Tests

We count 25 projects for 1938. So we will start the early ones where we already have blueprints.

Project 38-1 Basic Light Tank
Started: 37.01.01
Vauxhall, Skill 7, $2.03
5 Mechanics - Lighted Welded Armor
5 Artillery - 20mm Tank Gun
5 Mechanics - Basic Light Tank Engine
5 Electronics - Basic Optical Sight
10 Technical Efficiency - Basic Light Tank Prototype Tests

Project 38-2 Improved Battlecruiser
Started: 37.01.05
John Brown and Company, Skill 6, $1.74
6 Naval Engineering - Improved Battlecruiser Hull
6 Naval Engineering - Improved Battlecruiser Propulsion
6 Naval Artillery - 250mm Battlecruiser Gun
6 Electronics - Basic dm Naval Artillery Radar
12 Technical Efficiency - Basic Battlecruiser Prototype Testing

February, 1937
February 7, 1937 - Destroyer 3.04 36th Destroyer Flotilla
February 11, 1937 - Interceptor 7 - No 211 RAF Fighter Group
February 22, 1937 - Infantry 25 Northumbrian Division
February 22, 1937 - Transport 27 Durham Flotilla

March, 1937
March 19, 1937 - RIP Sir Austen Chamberlain

Spoiler

April, 1937
April 3, 1937 - Submarine 3.09 14th Submarine Flotilla
April 10, 1937 - Infantry 26 Welsh Division
April 10, 1937 - Transport 21 Nieuw Amsterdam Flotilla
April 30, 1937 - Light Cruiser 4.03 HMS Southampton

April 13, 1937 - We made a minister change, Lord Jon Gort as Chief of the Army. We were looking for a result in our line of Light Tanks, but never found it, cancelled and restarted and lost 5 days production time.

16IC - 40 x Light Armor 2 Vickers

April 13, 1937 - Basic Encryption Device from France for Basic Air Carrier and 29 Oil.

April 13, 1937 - Project 38-1 Basic Light Tank complete.
Time: 102 days
Cost: $207.06

April 26, 1937 - Project 38-2 Improved Battlecruiser complete.
Time: 111 days
Cost: $193.14

Project 37-8 Basic Encryption Device
Start: 37.04.13
Alan Turing, Skill 9, $2.61
7 Mechanics - Keyboard
7 Electronics - Portable Battery
7 Mechanics - 3 Rotor System
7 Mechanics - Basic Reflector
7 Mathematics - Basic Code

Project 38-3 Logistical Strike Doctrine
Start: 37.04.26
Charles Portal, Skill 6, $1.74
3 Bomber Tactics - Logistical Hub Bombing
3 Centralized Execution - Line of Communication Interdiction
3 Aircraft Testing - Basic Precision Bombing Training
3x General Equipment - Early Air Dropped Mines
3x Piloting - Area Interdiction

May, 1937
May 3, 1937 - Destroyer 3.05 37th Destroyer Flotilla
May 7, 1937 - Interceptor 8 No 212 RAF Fighter Group
May 27, 1937 - Infantry 27 East Lancashire Division
May 27, 1937 - Transport 22 Strathenden Flotilla

May 7, 1937 - Project 37-7 Basic Escort Fighter
Time: 126 days
Cost: $328.86

May 19, 1937 - Project 37-6 Basic Close Air Support
Time: 138 days
Cost: $240.12

May 20, 1937 - Project 37-6 Basic Interceptor
Time: 139 days
Cost: $282.17

Project 38-4 Bomber Veteran Initiative
Start: 37.05.07
Hugh Dowding, Skill 8, $2.32
3 Piloting - Moral Superiority Spirit
3 Aeronautics - Bad Weather Adaptation
3 Aircraft Testing - Specialized Bombing Training
3 Aircraft Testing - Individual Aircraft Adaptation
3 Aircraft Testing - Ground Attack Tactics

Project 38-5 Basic Tactical Bomber
Start: 37.05.19
Avro, Skill 6 ,$1.74
8 Aeronautics - Basic Medium Range Bomber Engine
8 Aeronautics - Basic Medium Bomber Airframe
8 Chemistry - 1 ton Freefall Bombs
8 Electronics - Advanced Radio Navigation
16 Technical Efficiency - Basic Medium Bomber Prototype Testing

Project 38-6 Basic Fighter
Start: 37.05.20
Supermarine, Skill 9, $2.61
8 Aeronautics - Basic Medium Range Fighter Engine
8 Aeronautics - Basic Fighter Airframe
6x Artillery - 7.62mm MG
8 Electronics - Basic dm Airborne Interceptor Radar - Just how many times do we have to research this?
16 Technical Efficiency - Basic Fighter Prototype Tests

June, 1937
June 26, 1937 - 4/8 Interceptors upgraded to Mark 2

June 3, 1937 - Project 37-8 Basic Encryption Device
Time: 50 days
Cost: $130.50
This should complete our 1937 projects. We have a very long list of 1938 projects to work on!

Project 38-7 Basic Field Artillery
Start: 37.06.03
Royal Small Arms Factory, Skill 6, $1.74
3 Artillery - 105mm Field Artillery Gun
3 Mechanics - Basic Gun Carriage
3 Chemistry - Fragmentation Shells
3x Electronics - Basic Fire Control
3 Training - Rapid Crawling Fire Training

June 7, 1937 - Marco Polo Bridge Incident - Japan DoW on Nationalist China

Spoiler

The USA responded with the Pitman Act. The USSR sent aid. We are watching with interest.

June 14, 1937 - Leading Italian Scientist defects to the UK, bringing the blueprints for:
Basic Naval Bomber - And we were planning to develop it very soon!

Spoiler

June 30, 1937 - Japan annexed Nationalist China. Well. That was over pretty quickly.
JK. Nationalist China annexed Shanxi.

We have a short break, but should be back to playing in a few hours.

 

[Riel Hamard]

July, 1937
July 10, 1937 - Submarine 3.10 15th Submarine Flotilla
July 15, 1937 - Infantry 28 Wessex Division
July 15, 1937 - Transport 23 Fort Edmonton Flotilla
July 19, 1937 - Battleship 4.01 King George V
July 19, 1937 - Carrier 3.01 Ark Royal
July 23, 1937 - Destroyer 3.06 38th Destroyer Flotilla
July 28, 1937 - Interceptor 9 No 218 RAF Fighter Group - We will build one more of these and transition to Spitfires.

July 2, 1937 - 5/8 Interceptors upgraded
July 29, 1937 - 8/9 Interceptors upgraded

July 6, 1937 - We finally sent the Blueprints for Basic Interceptor to France and Australia. We would do well to check up on our Allies about once per month.

August, 1937
August 22, 1937 - Light Armor 1 Royal Hussars

August 9, 1937 - Project 38-4 Bomber Veteran Initiative
Time: 92 days
Cost: $213.44

August 29, 1937 - Logistical Strike Doctrine
Time: 123 days
Cost: $214.02

Project 38-8 Basic Naval Bomber
Start: 39.08.09
de Haviland, Skill 7, $2.03
8 Aeronautics - Basic Medium Range Bomber Engine
8 Aeronautics - Basic Medium Bomber Airframe
8 Chemistry - Naval Bomb Shells
8 Electronics - Advanced Radio Navigation
16 Technical Efficiency - Basic Medium Range Bomber Prototype Tests

Project 38-9 Direct Ground Support Doctrine
Start: 37.08.29
Enfield Arsenal, Skill 7, $2.03
3x Combined Arms Focus - Early Front Line Air Controllers
3x Bomber Tactics - Combat Support Patrols
3x Piloting - Emergency Service Spirit
3 Mechanics - Early Specialized Bombsights
3 General Equipment - Basic Ground Attack Ordinance

September, 1937
September 2, 1937 - Infantry 29 Home Counties
September 2, 1937 - Transport 24 Lars Bay Flotilla
September 23, 1937 - Light Cruiser 4.04 HMS Newcastle

September 1, 1937 - 9/9 Interceptor upgraded

September 4, 1937 - Advanced Construction Engineering from France - We will try to get a bunch of their Industrial Technology in one go, once we finish with our Air Tech.

September 8, 1937 - Project 38-7 Basic Field Artillery
Time: 93 days
Cost: $161.82
It looks like we have completed 4/25 of the 1938 projects. We will see how well we do in 1938.

Project 38-10 Basic Static Anti-Air Artillery
Start: 37.09.08
Royal Small Arms Factory, Skill 6, $1.74
4 Artillery - 88mm AA Gun
4 Mechanics - Basic Gun Carriage
4 Chemistry - Fragmentation Shells
4 Electronics - Improved dm AAA Radar
4 Training - Rapid Readiness Training

October, 1937
October 8, 1937 - Destroyer 3.07 39th Destroyer Flotilla
October 12, 1937 - Submarine 3.11 16th Submarine Flotilla
October 14, 1937 - Interceptor 10 No 214 RAF Fighter Group - We stopped production here in anticipation of the new Spitfires.
October 20, 1937 - Infantry 30 45th Infantry Division - We might have built too many Divisions if we are running out of names.
October 20, 1937 - Transport 25 Fort Langley Flotilla - This is not the case for Transports

October 23, 1937 - 3/3 Artillery upgraded

October 8, 1937 - We also started a line of Artillery Brigades. 3.80 IC

October 26, 1937 - Project 38-8 Basic Naval Bomber
Time: 77 days
Cost: $156.31

October 28, 1937 - Project 38-6 Basic Fighter
Time: 158 days
Cost: $412.38

October 28, 1937 - Basic Decryption Devices and Advanced Machine Tools from France
We also installed Sir John Simon as our Armaments Minister and that seemed to stir up a storm the very next day...

October 29, 1937 - Our Economic Policy is under attack by the Opposition! We ride out the storm, but this is a big ouch. 10 Dissent.

Spoiler

This might delay our Spitfire production indefinitely. 12% Dissent delays us for about a year.

November, 1937
November 24, 1937 - Basic Artillery 4

November 13, 1937 - Project 38-5 Basic Tactical Bomber
Time: 173 days
Cost: $301.02

Project 38-13 Basic Decryption Devices
Start: 37.11.13
Alan Turing, Skill 9, $2.61
8 Mathematics - Identification of Message Keys
8 Mathematics - Identification of Cribs
8 Mathematics - Basic Cryptographical Mathematical Theory
8 Training - Special Decryption Teams
8 Mechanics - Basic Computing Machine Support

December, 1937
December 8, 1937 - Infantry 31 North Midlands Division
December 8, 1937 - Transport 26 King Ethelred Flotilla
December 20, 1937 - Light Armor 2 2nd Armored Division
December 22, 1937 - Destroyer 3.08 40th Destroyer Division
January, 1938 - CAG 7

December 14, 1937 - Project 38-10 Basic Static AAA
Time: 96 days
Cost: $167.04

December 14, 1937 - Project 38-9 Direct Ground Support Doctrine
Time: 105 days
Cost: $213.15

December 26, 1937 - Project 38-12 Advanced Machine Tools
Time: 58 days
Cost: $151.38

December 29, 1937 - Project 38-11 Advanced Construction Engineering
Time: 63 days
Cost: $146.16

December 18, 1937 - Improved Computing Machine from France for Direct Ground Support Doctrine

Project 38-14 Improved Computing Machine
Start: 37.12.14
Robert Watson-Watt, Skill 7, $2.03
8 Mathematics - Machine Code
8 Electronics - Control and Arithmetic Unit
8 Electronics - Data Storage Relays
16 Management - Improved Computing Machine Prototype Tests

Project 38-15 Battlefield Interdiction Doctrine
Start: 37.12.14
Charles Portal, Skill 6, $1.74
3x Decentralized Execution - Opportunity Strike Coordination
3 Aircraft Testing - Interdiction Patrols
3 Aircraft Testing - Airborne Assault Tactics
3x Combined Arms Focus - Airborne Landing Techniques
3 Bomber Tactics - Logistical Strafe Tactics

Project 38-16 Improved Destroyer
Start: 37.12.26
John Brown and Company, Skill 6, $1.74
5 Naval Engineering - Improved Destroyer Hull
5 Naval Engineering - Improved Destroyer Propulsion
5 Naval Artillery - 120mm Naval Gun
5 Electronics - Improved ASW Equipment
10 Technical Efficiency - Improved Destroyer Prototype Tests

Project 38-17 Long Range Submarine
Start: 37.12.29
Cammel Laird and Company, Skill 8, $2.32
5 Naval Engineering - Advanced Pressure Hull
5 Naval Engineering - Basic Schnorkel
5 General Equipment - Large Fuel Tank Design
5 Electronics - Advanced Torpedo Chambers
10 Technical Efficiency - Long Range Submarine Prototype Tests

Based on this, it looks like we got 12/25 of our 1938 projects done. I do not believe there are quite so many 1939 projects

That takes us to the end of 1937. We will post up a quick 1938 summary next. At 9.07% Dissent, we have plenty of haters, but we are muddling through.

 

[Riel Hamard]

1938 Summary

UK Forces Summary:
72 Land +13 Infantry, +2 Light Armor
157 Navy +1 Carrier, +1 Battleship, +4 Light Cruisers, +10 Destroyers, +7 Submarines, +13 Transports
18 Air +7 Interceptors

Japan Forces Summary:
167 Land - 73 Infantry, 7 Cavalry, 49 Garrison, 35 Militia, 3 HQ
98 Navy - 4 Carriers, 6 Battleships, 4 Battlecruisers, 14 Heavy Cruisers, 21 Light Cruisers, 21 Destroyers, 8 Submarines, 20 Transports
17 Air - 9 Interceptors, 6 Tactical, 2 Naval

Italian Forces Summary:
65 Land - 38 Infantry, 3 Cavalry, 5 Mountain, 8 Garrison, 10 Militia, 1 HQ
70 Naval - 4 Battleships, 8 Heavy Cruisers, 13 Light Cruisers, 23 Destroyers, 12 Submarines, 10 Transports
16 Air - 9 Interceptors, 3 Tactical, 3 Naval, 1 Transport

German Forces Summary:
63 Land - 44 Infantry, 4 Light Armor, 13 Garrison, 2 HQ
35 Naval - 2 Battlecruisers, 4 Heavy Cruisers, 6 Light Cruisers, 5 Destroyers, 10 Submarines, 8 Transports
19 Air - 7 Interceptors, 2 CAS, 10 Tactical

Soviet Forces Summary:
148 Land - 110 Infantry, 5 Cavalry, 17 Motor, 4 Light Armor, 11 Mountain, 1 HQ
38 Naval - 3 Battleships, 1 Heavy Cruiser, 3 Light Cruisers, 5 Destroyers, 25 Submarines, 1 Transport
15 Air - 8 Interceptors, 7 Tactical

Technology Report:
We have 8 technologies left to research in 1938.
3 Artillery, 3 Naval, 2 Air Doctrine
So far I am counting 25 technologies in 1939.
3 Infantry, 3 Artillery, 6 Industry, 2 Naval Doctrine, 11 Air Doctrine

It looks like the French are already researching the 1939 Divisions.

Here is a look at the Spanish Civil War, which is still raging:

Spoiler

It is hard for me to tell who is winning. It looked better a year ago. It looks like the Nationalists are making a cut.

Here is a look at the war in China:

Spoiler

Here is a picture of our home island and the forces we are quietly building:

Spoiler

Since we took that picture of the King George V, are we going to have a pool on how long it lives?

We are at 9% Dissent and managing that will keep us busy for the first half of next year. 10% is an amazing hit. We probably should have halted all production to address it. We are due for a policy shift and need some ideas of what to do. Minister changes are right out and we gave up trying to change to our Naval Minister while developing new ships.

The 10% hit protected our Free Market. We also have full Open Society and have no idea what good that does for us. I should look up how much Intervention we gain from events. That leaves Standing Army and Dove Lobby. I'm open for ideas.

 

[VILenin]

That's a huge dissent hit from that Economic Policy event, and a very painful loss in IC cost to pay it down! Do you remember what the other options did? There are some events in 1938 and '39 that should give you some beneficial slider moves to partially make up for it.

The Nationalists seem to have pushed back in Spain, and Japan is advancing apace in China, although the situation there doesn't look dire yet.

 

[Riel Hamard]

That's a huge dissent hit from that Economic Policy event, and a very painful loss in IC cost to pay it down! Do you remember what the other options did? There are some events in 1938 and '39 that should give you some beneficial slider moves to partially make up for it.

The Nationalists seem to have pushed back in Spain, and Japan is advancing apace in China, although the situation there doesn't look dire yet.

Options were:
1. Ride the storm, which we did. Dissent hit: 10. +1 towards Open Society. I will have to check, but I believe we start at full Open Society. I did not see a resultant change in tech team cost.
2. Work with the Right. Dissent hit: 5. +1 towards Central Planning. +1 towards Right.
3. Work with the Left. Dissent hit: 4. +1 towards Central Planning. +1 towards Left.
4. Fold. +2 towards Central Planning.

If we chose 3, work with the Left, then we would be sitting on 3% Dissent or less. Basically, I paid 6% Dissent for a slider shift and for a long time, I had no idea what this shift was going to be. Most likely, it will be +1 towards Interventionism.

When reading some of the Wiki, it appears production misses mess with the gearing bonus. We have not had any yet, just a 5 day blunder with the Light Armor that is already forgotten. Based on the information, we should have the long lead time items like our Battleships and Carriers at the bottom of the list. I am told some people have a production sink for exactly this, such as the rocket test site or a factory.

Are there any other bad effects from running high dissent for so long? Until the next bad thing happens, we will be clearing dissent for about 4 more months, for a grand total of 7 months clearing dissent. In my experience playing EU2, running Stability 0 or less for an extended period of time results in a Civil War check and rolling one meant a mulligan and a change in the way I play.

Upcoming sessions will be shorter and I will try to report more on major world events as they happen. I did not go through 6 pages of event autopause options and found out later major world events are being shown in the game log.

This is my first playthrough in memory, particularly with the UK. There is a bit of xxFO finding out going on. There will be a second playthrough following this one as we apply our lessons from the first game. One of them will be technology. We do not need all the technology from every year and that means we can prioritize. As specific examples, in 1936 we do not need the Rocket Test Lab and Transport Plane immediately and we are unlikely to ever build a Battlecruiser. We would also do well to choose whether we are building Interceptors or Fighters. In the next game, we will do a better job prioritizing.

Spanish Civil War - Nationalists have an advantage and more help. I think the historical outcome is the Germans and Italians invested in the war on one side and the Soviets on the other. So the help is Germany and Italy v USSR and UK.

China War - If this is at all like HoI 1, then the Japanese will get stuck in the mountains. There is only so much they can do against an infinite manpower pool. This is a stark contrast to my Axis and Allies games, where Japan runs over China in 2 rounds and then either steamrolls India or pushes the USSR.

HoI 2 v 1 so far - Figuring out how to start was a 2 or 3 month process for me. Most of this was being distracted by my Axis and Allies games. Production and Research are different. The gearing bonus provided an incentive to start some long chains of Infantry, Interceptors, Light Cruisers, Destroyers, and Submarines. Then there were the events:
1. Rogue Politician - Did nothing, unless we wanted to move towards an Authoritarian government.
2. Major Worker Strike - 3 Point hit and about 936 Supplies or 2 days production.
3. Leading Italian Scientist Defected and brought the Blueprints for a Naval Bomber.
4. Opposition Attack on Economic Policy - That was our 10 point hit to our Approval Rating.

 

[Riel Hamard]

January, 1938 - The Resignation of Foreign Affairs Minister Anthony Eden
We took a minor mulligan we will not count, because we forgot to do our policy shift to start the year and found out a few days into the game. We start with a shift towards Interventionism. It will help in our quest to stem dissent and it looks like we need two more such shifts.

January 7, 1938 - Submarine 3.12 17th Submarine Flotilla - We decided at this point 12 submarines would be enough and we stop building.
January 8, 1938 - Artillery 5 - 5 Artillery is not enough and it will be a while before we obsolete these. So we will build a lot more.
January 25, 1938 - Infantry 32 London Division
January 25, 1938 - Henry VIII Flotilla

January 12, 1938 - Project 38-13 Basic Encryption Devices
Time: 59 days
Cost: $153.99

Project 38-18 Basic Heavy Tank
Start: 38.01.12
Leyland, Skill 8, $2.32
6 Mechanics - Armor Skirts
6 Artillery - 75mm Tank Gun
6 Mechanics - Basic Heavy Engine
6x Electronics - Basic Optical Sights
12 Technical Efficiency - Basic Heavy Tank Prototype Tests

January 30, 1938 - Anthony Eden and Neville Chamberlain

Spoiler

We decided to roleplay this. Most likely there are even fewer bad effects for making Anthony Eden stay on. That makes it pretty horrible. We get an Apologetic Clerk in Lord Halifax. It will now cost twice as much if we want to influence a nation and it will cost us more if we are negotiating deals with another nation. We did say we were roleplaying this part.

I just checked and it looks like we can have him back for 2.0 Dissent. We finished the month with 6.64% Dissent.

February, 1938
February 7, 1938 - Light Cruiser 4.05 HMS Sheffield
February 20, 1938 - Artillery 6

February 6, 1938 - Werner von Fritsch forced into retirement by the German Regime
We got through this month with 4.12% Dissent.

March, 1938
March 6, 1938 - Destroyer 3.09 41st Destroyer Flotilla
March 13, 1938 - Infantry 33 13th Indian Division
March 13, 1938 - Transport 28 The Bishop Flotilla
March 29, 1938 - Artillery 7

March 1, 1938 - Project 38-14 Improved Computing Machine
Time: 77 days
Cost: $156.31

Project 38-19 Improved Air Carrier
Start: 38.03.01
Harland and Wolff, Skill 8, $2.32
7 Naval Engineering - Improved Air Carrier Hull
7 Naval Engineering - Improved Air Carrier Propulsion
7 Aeronautics - Armored Straight Flight Deck
7 Electronics - Improved Carrier Aircraft Group
14 Technical Efficiency - Improved Air Carrier Prototype Testing

March 13, 1938 - Project 13-15 Battlefield Interdiction Doctrine
Time: 89 days
Cost: $154.86

Project 38-20 Escort Box System Doctrine
Start: 38.03.13
Hugh Dowding, Skill 8, $2.32
3x Bomber Tactics - Bomber Escort Tactics
3 Fighter Tactics - Escort Tactics Training
3x Aeronautics - External Fuel Tanks
3 Piloting - Early Fighter Suppression Spirit
3x Centralized Execution - Bomber Escort Coordination

April 1, 1938 Project 38-17 Long Range Submarine
Time: 92 days
Cost: $213.44

Project 38.21 Basic Anti Tank Artillery
Start: 38.04.01
Royal Small Arms Factory, Skill 6, $1.74
3 Artillery - 75mm AT Gun
3 Mechanics - Basic Gun Carriage
3 Chemistry - Shaped Charge Shell HEAT Ammo
3x Electronics - Basic Optical Sights
3 Training - Moving Target Training

The world is falling apart before our eyes, just as Anthony Eden warned us when he resigned from office.
March 2, 1938 - Purge the Traitors! The USSR begins the Great Officer Purge.
March 8, 1938 - Anschluss of Austria

Spoiler

Our Dissent situation is looking better. We are down to 1.21. We can soon start getting back into this race. We will post up a save here because the world saw a major event, but the session is still going.

 

[Riel Hamard]

April, 1938
April 12, 1938 - Light Armor 3 7th Armored Division

We set up some new production lines:
2.40 Destroyer 4 Battle Class
2.40 Submarine 4 A Class

April 16, 1938 - 10/10 Interceptors upgraded

April 12, 1938 - Project 18-16 Improved Destroyer
Time: 116 days
Cost: $201.84

Project 38-22 Improved Heavy Cruiser
John Brown and Company, Skill 6, $1.74
5 Naval Engineering - Improved Heavy Cruiser Hull
5 Naval Engineering - Improved Heavy Cruiser Propulsion
5 Naval Artillery - 200mm Naval Cruiser Gun
5 Electronics - Basic Surface Ship Homing Torpedo
10 Technical Efficiency - Improved Heavy Cruiser Prototype Testing



April 4, 1938 - Leading American Scientist defects to the UK, bringing Improved Air Transport

Spoiler

We did not know the game considered the USA to be our enemies. If I remember Winston Churchill correctly, he said in the next major world conflict, whichever side the USA is on will win. Maybe we should sic our Apologetic Clerk on the USA.

May, 1938
May 1, 1938 - Infantry 34 14th Indian Infantry Division
May 1, 1938 - Transport 29 Empire of India Flotilla
May 5, 1938 - Artillery 8
May 20, 1938 - Destroyer 3.10 42nd Destroyer Flotilla - And this is the end of the Tribal Class Destroyer Series

10.64 IC - We set up a line of Spitfires. Can we play the UK without them?

May 21, 1938 - 1/5 Tactical Bombers upgraded
May 24, 1938 - 5/5 Tactical Bombers upgraded

May 7, 1938 - Project 38-18 Basic Heavy Tank
Time: 115 days
Cost: $266.80

Project 38-23 Early Tank Destroyer
Start: 38.05.07
Vauxhall, Skill 7, $2.08
3 Artillery - 50mm AT Gun
3 Mechanics - Early Tank Chassis
3 Chemistry - Solid Shell AP Ammo
3 Electronics - Early Optical Sights
3 Technical Efficiency - Early Tank Destroyer Prototype Testing

May 28, 1938 - Gimme back Anthony Eden! For 2.0 Dissent, we bring him back into our Cabinet.
Basic Infantry Division from France for Logistical Strike Doctrine

June, 1938
June 10, 1938 - Artillery 9
June 13, 1938 - Light Cruiser 4.06 HMS Glasgow
June 18, 1938 - Infantry 35 South Midlands
June 18, 1938 - Transport 30, Empire of Africa Flotilla

June 5, 1938 - Basic Motorized Division and Strafing Doctrine from France for Basic Field Artillery and Basic Fighter

June 8, 1938 - Project 38-20 Escort Box System
Time: 85 days
Cost: $147.20

Project 38-24 Strafing Doctrine
Start: 38.06.08
Hugh Dowding, Skill 8, $2.32
3 General Supplies - Armor Penetration Ammunition
3 Aeronautics - Large Ammunition Storage
3 Aircraft Testing - Strafing Testing
3 Aeronautics - Armored Fuselage
3 Piloting - Multiple Bomb Runs

June 12, 1938 - Project 38-21 Basic AT Artillery
Time: 71 days
Cost: $123.54
The blueprints went straight to France

Project 38-25 Super Heavy Battleship
Start: 38.06.12
Cammell Laird and Company, Skill 8, $2.32
7 Naval Engineering - SHBB Hull
7 Naval Engineering - SHBB Propulsion
7 Naval Artillery - 460mm Naval BB Gun
7 Electronics - Basic dm Naval Artillery Radar
7 Technical Efficiency - SHBB Prototype Testing
Such a massive ship - and we arm it with a big BB gun.

We are going to stop here and post a mid-year summary.