Please strengthen the Soviet Union, and it is not interesting to play. The USSR must be strong.
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I noticed a couple other issues.
1. You can keep firing the decision to raise schutztruppen in Congo.
2. the Schutztruppen for Kapstadt South Africa spawns in Dar es Salam. So it should spawn in province #880 instead of province #851
3. I've never gotten an event for the fate of Botswana and North/South Rhodesia
4. You can conquer Finland and it joins Reichskomissarat Scandinavia if you decide to create it but there are apparently no integration decisions for it.
I think you need options for events like the fate of Sudan and the fate of Mauritanea/Mali for Germany to take everything.
I think you need events for integrating the Italian province of Switzerland if you get it because you decided to stab the Italians in the back or they get knocked out naturally by the allies.
Thanks for the great mod.
1. You can keep firing the decision to raise schutztruppen in Congo.
2. the Schutztruppen for Kapstadt South Africa spawns in Dar es Salam. So it should spawn in province #880 instead of province #851
3. I've never gotten an event for the fate of Botswana and North/South Rhodesia
4. You can conquer Finland and it joins Reichskomissarat Scandinavia if you decide to create it but there are apparently no integration decisions for it.
I think you need options for events like the fate of Sudan and the fate of Mauritanea/Mali for Germany to take everything.
I think you need events for integrating the Italian province of Switzerland if you get it because you decided to stab the Italians in the back or they get knocked out naturally by the allies.
Thanks for the great mod.
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I found another minor issue. The text doesn't display for the Death of Jean Moulin event.
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What Technology Gives:
Improved Oil Refining (1940)
Advanced Synthetic Oil Production Plant (1940)
I have an acute shortage of rare materials right now.
Improved Oil Refining (1940)
Advanced Synthetic Oil Production Plant (1940)
I have an acute shortage of rare materials right now.
I suggest to balance it via possibiltes about creating collaborationist units like real Estonian and Lativian Waffen-SS divisions, Schutzmannschaft, RONA, volunteers from Central Asia and Caucasus. And, maybe, options to establish of sattelite states from Baltic Countries, Ukraine, Caucasus, Central Asia, Russia and Belorussia (of course with possibility of converting them into Reichskommissariats)
@ohiobavaria @dannyboy2016 thanks for feedback. I'll take a look at these issues and prepare another patch for that, though this will happen in June at the earliest, unfortunately. I really don't have time for modding right now
Neither Germany nor Italy had any plans for creation of Slovenia. Both countries intended to annex it (and that's exactly what they did) and italianize/germanize this area.
@Revanchist You may not have noticed, but I wrote that the GER-SOV war (and everything related to it) hasn't been touched at all so far. I wrote many times I create mod part-by-part, adding subsequent periods in each version (first pre-war and 1939, then Scandinavia, France and Benelux, then the Balkans, UK, Africa and Middle East). So you don't need to write another post about how easy Barbarossa is or how little content for Eastern Europe is, because, surprise, surprise, it's meant to be changed in the next version as I've been planning for a few months. Moreover, you can keep provocative comments like this to yourself:
Quick YUG -> SER transformation is WAD, as it represents end of Yugoslav 'federation'. It would be great if you could send me your save from YCW to analize it.
Neither Germany nor Italy had any plans for creation of Slovenia. Both countries intended to annex it (and that's exactly what they did) and italianize/germanize this area.
@Revanchist You may not have noticed, but I wrote that the GER-SOV war (and everything related to it) hasn't been touched at all so far. I wrote many times I create mod part-by-part, adding subsequent periods in each version (first pre-war and 1939, then Scandinavia, France and Benelux, then the Balkans, UK, Africa and Middle East). So you don't need to write another post about how easy Barbarossa is or how little content for Eastern Europe is, because, surprise, surprise, it's meant to be changed in the next version as I've been planning for a few months. Moreover, you can keep provocative comments like this to yourself:
Full explanation is here: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/reichs-expansion-pack.1292006/page-13#post-27387108
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It's high time for new dev diary about REP 1.03 Today I'm going to talk about new changes in infrastructure, strategic resources and Lend Lease.
In the next DDs I'm going to write about oil in Caucasus and Middle East, logistics during Barbarossa and two Soviet generals, who helped to stop Wehrmacht in 1941.
Today I'm going to talk about new changes in infrastructure, strategic resources and Lend Lease.In HoI, building infrastructure in every corner of your country is not very profitable. Many players don't do it at all (which isn't surprising to me). However, the domestic infrastructure was of enormous importance for pre-war Germany.
While in the early 1930s the German railways managed to work (better or worse), they didn't keep up with the simultaneous development of the economy and the army in the following years. Problems started to appear even before the war - even then the German railways weren't able to meet the needs of industry, the army and the civil sector at the same time. The start of the war, the necessity to transfer units from one front to the other, supplying the Wehrmacht deep in Russia, and finally the Allied air raids, brought the German railways to its knees.
How can this be prevented? Just by building infrastructure Once a year the game will calculate the average level of infrastructure in Germany and if it is too low for the number of your factories you will receive a few maluses. Simple as that. Of course, the condition of the infrastructure also matters - you'll have to protect it from Allied air raids!
While in the early 1930s the German railways managed to work (better or worse), they didn't keep up with the simultaneous development of the economy and the army in the following years. Problems started to appear even before the war - even then the German railways weren't able to meet the needs of industry, the army and the civil sector at the same time. The start of the war, the necessity to transfer units from one front to the other, supplying the Wehrmacht deep in Russia, and finally the Allied air raids, brought the German railways to its knees.
How can this be prevented? Just by building infrastructure
Once a year the game will calculate the average level of infrastructure in Germany and if it is too low for the number of your factories you will receive a few maluses. Simple as that. Of course, the condition of the infrastructure also matters - you'll have to protect it from Allied air raids!
During the war, a number of raw materials were necessary for the proper functioning of the economy. However, the extraction of some of them was so small that either they did not appear on the game map, or they mixed with other resources so that they became "one of many". The new version of REP changes this approach. From now on, your alliance's control over certain provinces gives the Reich quite significant bonuses. It is also possible to use the resources of neutral countries, as long as you have good relations with them. An example of this is the trade in tungsten between Germany and Portugal / Spain or the delivery of chromium from Turkey to the Reich.
The four resources work a bit differently. Uranium gives a bonus to the production of nuclear reactors, but only for the allies of the province owner with this resource. Heavy water and nuclear graphite work in a similar way - except that blueprints for nuclear technologies are a bonus. In turn, gold gives a bonus to money production, but only to the owner of the province with mines of this precious metal.
The four resources work a bit differently. Uranium gives a bonus to the production of nuclear reactors, but only for the allies of the province owner with this resource. Heavy water and nuclear graphite work in a similar way - except that blueprints for nuclear technologies are a bonus. In turn, gold gives a bonus to money production, but only to the owner of the province with mines of this precious metal.
Sooo... Lend-Lease. For most countries it would have simplified mechanism - as long as they're in alliance with the USA or at war with Germany or Japan (and not at war with the USA), they get bonuses to transport capacity, industrial modifiers, units' build time and tech research, as well as some blueprints (if they aren't in alliance with the USA). I decided to take this step because the amount of tonnage sent by the US to its allies was relatively small as in-game unit of supply (or oil or other raw materials) per day. However, there are three exceptions from that:
- China. Since Japan was able to block or conquer all major Chinese ports, the only viable route between Allies and China was the Burma Road from Rangoon to Kunming and on to Chongqing. But when Japan conquered most of Burma, the Allies was able to transport supply only from Calcutta to Ledo (in-game province of Imphal) and then by air to China. So if Japan (or any other Allies' enemy) would be able to cut all of Burmese or Chinese roads (respectively in blue and red on map below), China wouldn't get any support from Allies.
In blue:
Rangoon - La Hri: basic Burma Road
Calcutta - Imphal - La Hri: alternative route, the so-called Ledo Road historically available since 1945
Calcuttra - Imphal - dashed line: route from Calcutta to Ledo and then by air to China
In red:
Luxi - Chongqing: Chinese part of Burma Road
- United Kingdom. This case is slightly different. In addition to the aforementioned bonuses, the US will also ship supplies and oil to the UK via a trade deal. Germany can reduce this by deploying ships in the Atlantic (iirc on convoy raiding duty), which reduces delivery efficiency. Nevertheless, the UK will always receive industry and technology bonuses.
- Soviet Union. Here comes the fun. In general, the Allies used all possible means (ships, planes, trains, and trucks) to transport supplies to the USSR. However, the Soviets relied mostly on rail and river transport because they had a much less developed road network (many of which were only dirt roads). Lend-Lease reached the USSR via three routes - the Pacific, the Arctic and the Persian Corridor. It will be good to discuss them separately, although they have parts in common - first of all, their end. According to the mechanics of the game, supplies and resources first reach the capital, and then they go to individual provinces. Using this, each of the three LL routes must reach the capital of the USSR - first Moscow, then Kuybyshev (if Moscow was occupied by the Axis), and ultimately Omsk (if the Soviets let themselves be pushed behind the Volga). They're marked as red stard on the map below.
The Pacific Route was responsible for about 50% of deliveries, while Arctic Route and Persian Corridor were responsible for about 25% respectively. These proportions are reflected in trade deals and bonuses received by Soviet Union. To clarify on example of Arctic Route: it gives 25% of value of all LL deliveries from Allies AND 25% of LL bonuses. You can hamper deliveries by sending ships on route of deliveries, but you have to cut Arctic Route completely to deprive Soviet Union of 25% of bonuses.
The simplest case is Pacific Route. The US shipments went from West Coast to Soviet Pacific ports and then through Trans Siberian Railway to Omsk, Kuybyshev and finally Moscow (there was also air variant of this route - part of supply went through Alaska and Siberia). So Germany could do very little to stop this route - cutting off Moscow would move Soviet capital to Kuybyshev, crossing Volga would move capital to Omsk, so Wehrmacht would have to go to Siberia - and at that point Soviet Union would be on its knees anyway. The only viable way to hamper this route is sending Kriegsmarine to Pacific.
The Arctic Route is a little bit more complicated, though it's the easiest route to hamper or cut. Firstly, there is a trade deal between the USA and UK, then there is another trade deal between UK and Soviet Union. So LL shipments go from East Coast to UK and then to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. So you could hamper trade deals already on Atlantic (but even better near Norway). Then deliveries go from Murmansk/Arkhangelsk directly to Moscow, or using by-pass from Arkhangelsk to Kuybyshev and Omsk - and you have to cut all these routes (red color on map below) to block Arctic Route completely. But you have to conquer only, for example, Petrozavodsk and Velsk or Totma to do that. Of course seizing Murmansk and Arkhangelsk would work too.
The Persian Corridor is the most complicated case. The first step is deliveries from the US to the UK and then to Iran. So - as above - you can hamper deliveries on sea. LL gets to ports in Iraq, Iran and Pakistan (green circles and lines), and then it is deliverd to transit points in Soviet Union (grey-green circles). From there it is transported to Soviet capitals. As you can see, there are many routes from Black Sea to Central Asia. Seizing Caucasus or Astrakhan doesn't do much in that case - the best way is conquering Iran. If you want to cut the tree, you cut the trunk close to the ground, not the branches.
I've mentioned river transport above. It's true that Volga was important for transporting supply to central and northern Russia. Nevertheless, it is a very wide river and the Germans were not able to block it by controlling only the west bank. In turn, crossing the Volga will result in the withdrawal of the Soviet capital to Omsk, and then the LL will follow Asian railways anyway. Also, it does not make much sense to implement the Volga as another supply route.
An additional bonus for the Soviets is the ability to use strategic resources from the USA, UK and Canada as long as at least one route is open for LL.
- China. Since Japan was able to block or conquer all major Chinese ports, the only viable route between Allies and China was the Burma Road from Rangoon to Kunming and on to Chongqing. But when Japan conquered most of Burma, the Allies was able to transport supply only from Calcutta to Ledo (in-game province of Imphal) and then by air to China. So if Japan (or any other Allies' enemy) would be able to cut all of Burmese or Chinese roads (respectively in blue and red on map below), China wouldn't get any support from Allies.
In blue:
Rangoon - La Hri: basic Burma Road
Calcutta - Imphal - La Hri: alternative route, the so-called Ledo Road historically available since 1945
Calcuttra - Imphal - dashed line: route from Calcutta to Ledo and then by air to China
In red:
Luxi - Chongqing: Chinese part of Burma Road
- United Kingdom. This case is slightly different. In addition to the aforementioned bonuses, the US will also ship supplies and oil to the UK via a trade deal. Germany can reduce this by deploying ships in the Atlantic (iirc on convoy raiding duty), which reduces delivery efficiency. Nevertheless, the UK will always receive industry and technology bonuses.
- Soviet Union. Here comes the fun. In general, the Allies used all possible means (ships, planes, trains, and trucks) to transport supplies to the USSR. However, the Soviets relied mostly on rail and river transport because they had a much less developed road network (many of which were only dirt roads). Lend-Lease reached the USSR via three routes - the Pacific, the Arctic and the Persian Corridor. It will be good to discuss them separately, although they have parts in common - first of all, their end. According to the mechanics of the game, supplies and resources first reach the capital, and then they go to individual provinces. Using this, each of the three LL routes must reach the capital of the USSR - first Moscow, then Kuybyshev (if Moscow was occupied by the Axis), and ultimately Omsk (if the Soviets let themselves be pushed behind the Volga). They're marked as red stard on the map below.
The Pacific Route was responsible for about 50% of deliveries, while Arctic Route and Persian Corridor were responsible for about 25% respectively. These proportions are reflected in trade deals and bonuses received by Soviet Union. To clarify on example of Arctic Route: it gives 25% of value of all LL deliveries from Allies AND 25% of LL bonuses. You can hamper deliveries by sending ships on route of deliveries, but you have to cut Arctic Route completely to deprive Soviet Union of 25% of bonuses.
The simplest case is Pacific Route. The US shipments went from West Coast to Soviet Pacific ports and then through Trans Siberian Railway to Omsk, Kuybyshev and finally Moscow (there was also air variant of this route - part of supply went through Alaska and Siberia). So Germany could do very little to stop this route - cutting off Moscow would move Soviet capital to Kuybyshev, crossing Volga would move capital to Omsk, so Wehrmacht would have to go to Siberia - and at that point Soviet Union would be on its knees anyway. The only viable way to hamper this route is sending Kriegsmarine to Pacific.
The Arctic Route is a little bit more complicated, though it's the easiest route to hamper or cut. Firstly, there is a trade deal between the USA and UK, then there is another trade deal between UK and Soviet Union. So LL shipments go from East Coast to UK and then to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. So you could hamper trade deals already on Atlantic (but even better near Norway). Then deliveries go from Murmansk/Arkhangelsk directly to Moscow, or using by-pass from Arkhangelsk to Kuybyshev and Omsk - and you have to cut all these routes (red color on map below) to block Arctic Route completely. But you have to conquer only, for example, Petrozavodsk and Velsk or Totma to do that. Of course seizing Murmansk and Arkhangelsk would work too.
The Persian Corridor is the most complicated case. The first step is deliveries from the US to the UK and then to Iran. So - as above - you can hamper deliveries on sea. LL gets to ports in Iraq, Iran and Pakistan (green circles and lines), and then it is deliverd to transit points in Soviet Union (grey-green circles). From there it is transported to Soviet capitals. As you can see, there are many routes from Black Sea to Central Asia. Seizing Caucasus or Astrakhan doesn't do much in that case - the best way is conquering Iran. If you want to cut the tree, you cut the trunk close to the ground, not the branches.
I've mentioned river transport above. It's true that Volga was important for transporting supply to central and northern Russia. Nevertheless, it is a very wide river and the Germans were not able to block it by controlling only the west bank. In turn, crossing the Volga will result in the withdrawal of the Soviet capital to Omsk, and then the LL will follow Asian railways anyway. Also, it does not make much sense to implement the Volga as another supply route.
An additional bonus for the Soviets is the ability to use strategic resources from the USA, UK and Canada as long as at least one route is open for LL.
I've reviewed your feedback from last months and I've managed (I think - I need to do more tests) to solve most of problems. Some things need a further explanation:
It's WAD, the same issue is with radar techs from 1930s - one tech gives new models of radar brigades, second tech improve radar performance, so they should be unlocked simultaneously.
I've change Scramble for Africa a bit - now the series of events activate when all colonial nations (Italy, France, Spain and Portugal) are in Axis. So some hidden options should be available now (of course there are still cases of e.g. Netherlands in Axis seizing South Africa - but treat it more like easter egg). Sudan, Mali and some other areas were out of even the most ambitious German plans, so they would stay as they are.
Well, Finland is problematic. Initially Germany didn't plan to annex it area - Finland didn't fit in any way in Nazi-Aryan-Nordic-Superhuman bulls**t, nor in Nazi-Slavs-Subhuman bulls**t, so Finland got the role of the "northern guardian of the Reich" that could be fed to some wastelands of northern Russia. Some loose plans to colonize Finland did not emerge until the Finns changed sides in 1944. On the other hand, Finnish nationalist organizations also didn't believe in this Nazi-Aryan-Nordic-Superhuman bulls**t, they wanted at most the creation of Greater Finland. Finland is also a bit problematic here, but some integration events will appear in the upcoming version. Events about the annexation of northern Italy, Hungary or Romania will also appear in one of the next versions - I posted a map with the proposed borders some times ago.
In the next DDs I'm going to write about oil in Caucasus and Middle East, logistics during Barbarossa and two Soviet generals, who helped to stop Wehrmacht in 1941.
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Impressive ideas.
And with probably lots of work, it looks like a completly logical and natural way how to implement them (which is usually the most damned difficult thing).
And with probably lots of work, it looks like a completly logical and natural way how to implement them (which is usually the most damned difficult thing).
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Hello,
Noticed the above comments about strategic resources and am curious to see how such events will be implemented! Intriguing.
Admittedly, the strategic resources generic decisions shared in different thread lack a uranium region and am quite curious to connect such a strategic region to the development of nuclear weapons in order to input a control mechanism on the development of nuclear weapons. Perhaps a future release of the strategic regions generic decisions will add a uranium-type region. Anyways, neat developer diary entry!
Also, noticed the comments about the Burma road in the "Lend Lease" section of the mod's developer diary. Very curious to see how this mod will input the Burma Road in a scenario. If recalling correctly, there were a few vicious battles within the Burma/China border region as the British attempted to send supplies through a land corridor to the Nationalist Chinese faction yet encountered Japanese opposition. Unfortunately Darkest Hour does not seem to have a mechanism in place to demonstrate how vital this region was historically, since there is often little-to-no action within the Southeast Asian geographic region, let-alone the India (Burma) and China borders.
Also, if recalling correctly there was a British army contingent comprised of Burmese, Indian, and other soldiers who performed Guerrilla type tactics. Thinking here about the "Chindit" operations around Mandalay, however can be mistaken.
Anyways, neat work!
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@Altruist
Well, I have to admit that there is pretty complex event writing behind this simple-looking events. Vanilla DH Lend-Lease file has around 30 events which cover about 1200 lines. My implementation of Lend-Lease has only 13 events, which cover more than 1800 lines
@Rohi
I had two short runs (up to 1934) and strategic resources looks fine. I was able to get access to Turkish chromium and Chinese tungsten. Besides, it is an additional variety to peacetime diplomacy. Until now, in the REP it was profitable to improve relations mainly with China and Japan, while diplomacy with Great Britain, Italy and the USSR was more like pushing through various decisions. Now it will pay off to improve relations with more countries.
I think that in the heat of the fight, I will rather not pay special attention to the situation in Burma. Especially since Japan is pretty lame in HoI
Well, I have to admit that there is pretty complex event writing behind this simple-looking events. Vanilla DH Lend-Lease file has around 30 events which cover about 1200 lines. My implementation of Lend-Lease has only 13 events, which cover more than 1800 lines
@Rohi
I had two short runs (up to 1934) and strategic resources looks fine. I was able to get access to Turkish chromium and Chinese tungsten. Besides, it is an additional variety to peacetime diplomacy. Until now, in the REP it was profitable to improve relations mainly with China and Japan, while diplomacy with Great Britain, Italy and the USSR was more like pushing through various decisions. Now it will pay off to improve relations with more countries.
I think that in the heat of the fight, I will rather not pay special attention to the situation in Burma. Especially since Japan is pretty lame in HoI
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Apologies if this has been covered but I can't find it
I have the blueprint for CV 1937 but the tech is greyed out - I also cannot research DD or Submarines
It's 1944 and I have been at war since Sept 1939
What am I missing ?
I have the blueprint for CV 1937 but the tech is greyed out - I also cannot research DD or Submarines
It's 1944 and I have been at war since Sept 1939
What am I missing ?
These techs are available from the beginning, so you messed with files or you don't play as Germany. See this pic:
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Am playing as Germany and I haven't touched any files
I'll try and restart and see what happens
D'oh - my fault
Just realised I was running 1.1 not 1.2 REP
What a mod this - excellent work Sir o7
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Another long DD below
Oil - or the shortage of it - was another factor that contributed to Germany's defeat in the war. Germany had to import crude oil and produce synthetic fuels before the war, the Allied blockade cut off the Germans from overseas importers, after the invasion of the USSR, the Reich and its allies could rely only on Romanian sources (and smaller sources scattered around occupied Europe), which, however, were insufficient to cover the needs of not only the entire German sphere of influence, but even Germany itself. As a result, the Axis countries throughout the war struggled with an oil shortage that limited the capabilities of industry and the army. The largest oil deposits within the reach of the Reich were in the Middle East and the Caucasus. The former is a bit less interesting as the Germans were not even close to capturing the oil fields in the Persian Gulf countries, so we will mainly focus on the latter.
Most of the thinking of the German command just before the invasion of the USSR and later was concerned with the question of "how to get to and how to seize oil fields in the Caucasus region". However, the Germans thought little about the question of "how to deliver it to Germany". The entire issue can be broken down into three points:
1. Capturing intact oil fields and - if possible - also refineries.
2. In case of destruction of oil fields and refineries organizing the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure as soon as possible.
3. Organizing the transport of extracted crude oil or fuels processed in a refinery.
Let's consider this issue on the example of the Maykop oil fields and the Krasnodar refinery, which were captured by German troops in 1942.
1. Well, the Germans failed miserably. The Krasnodar refinery was partially destroyed by the Luftwaffe and partially by the retreating Soviet troops. Its capacity dropped from the pre-war 1 million tons per year to big fat zero. However, the Krasnodar refinery processed only half of the oil extracted in Maykop - the rest, along with oil from other fields, was processed at the much larger refinery in Grozny (capacity: ~13 million tons per year). The Maykop oil fields were practically destroyed by the retreating Soviet troops to just 1% of pre-war production (which equals ~1,750 tons monthly - less than 0.6 game oil units daily!). In August 1942, the Brandenburgers unit was sent to Maykop to secure the oil fields. They managed to throw some chaos in the Soviet troops, but failed to prevent the destruction of infrastructure.
2. The Germans expected the Soviets to want to destroy the abandoned oil fields and refineries (although they did not expect such a scale of damage). In 1941, Technische Brigade Mineralöl (TBM) was established, equipped with heavy equipment and numbering almost 11,000 men. The purpose of this unit was to restore refineries and oil fields to service as soon as possible.
The Germans seized Krasnodar in August 1942, but TBM had to wait for the delivery of its equipment - more serious work on the reconstruction of the refinery began at the end of October. According to TBM command estimates, the refinery was to obtain capacity of 300 tons per day in January 1943 (108,000 tons per year) and 600 tons per day in March 1943 (216,000 tons per year). Assuming a constant pace of work, the refinery would achieve its pre-war capacity (1 million tons per year) after almost two years! The Maykop oil fields were in just as bad shape. Due to the proximity of the front lines, the Germans were not even able to carry out a complete inventory of the oil fields. TBM in the Maykop region had more than 7,000 men, however, the commander of the TBM General Homburg demanded another 3,400 prisoners before the winter of 1942/43 to be able to put only one oil field into operation. The Soviet counteroffensive solved all these problems - in January 1943 the Red Army recovered Maykop, and in February Krasnodar.
The Soviets began rebuilding Maykop after its recapture. However, in July 1944, the oil fields in this region reached only 20% of pre-war production - remember also that the Soviets were rebuilding oil fields far behind the front lines, not threatened by partisans! Even under such conditions, the full recovery of the oil fields would certainly take more than 5 years.
3. The Germans did not necessarily have to rebuild the refineries in Krasnodar (although it was undoubtedly a good idea) - Romanian refineries had excess capacity in relation to the amount of crude oil produced by Romanian oil fields. The problem that was not on the Führer's mind was the transport of oil and fuels from the Caucasus and southern Russia to anywhere else. In March 1941, Major von Hanneken of the War Economy and Armaments Office prepared a report on this very issue. The Germans were able to transport only small amounts of oil overland - around 10,000 tons per month (in game it's only 3.3 oil units daily!). The only alternative was sea transport - this required the capture of the Black Sea ports to which the pipelines were connected and which had the appropriate infrastructure: Novorossiysk, Tuapse and Batumi. The next problem was the destruction of the Soviet Black Sea fleet and the provision of a sufficient number of tankers to transport oil to Romania and further the Danube to Germany. The Germans were unable to meet any of these conditions.
To sum up all this argument - Caucasian oil was anyway beyond the reach of the Germans. It would take about 2 years to rebuild the refinery, and more than 5 years to restore the full capacity of the oil fields. Even if the Germans had managed to get the infrastructure intact, they would still have nothing to transport the huge amount of oil obtained.
All these problems were also present in the case of Middle Eastern oil. The Allies could destroy oil fields, refineries and pipelines. If Germany and Italy had managed to get the infrastructure intact, the question of transporting oil would still arise. Only the Iraqi fields around Kirkuk were connected by pipelines to the Mediterranean ports of Haifa and Tripoli. The oil fields and refineries of Iran or Saudi Arabia had their "mouths" in the Persian Gulf. Finally, it would be necessary to provide enough tankers to get the oil to Europe.
How it all works in DH? Well, this whole process is simplified. Crude oil from map is automatically processed into various kinds of fuel in your reserves. Refineries and pipelines are invisible, tankers are needed only if you transport oil from overseas provinces. I stick to that, as some sort of simplification is needed, although certain conditions will have to be met. If Axis troops are close to the oil field, the Soviets and the Allies has the (random) chance to destroy field and its invisible refinery. So you can try to grab oil province and pray for enemy's indolence, use paratroopers to get oil field intact or use Brandenburgers (though it would be only one-time decision). However, if you are unlucky, you will have to rebuild the oil field. I assumed that its invisible refineries and pipelines would be rebuilt at the same time - this is obviously a simplification, but I don't see any point in complicating this issue even more. Each year of reconstruction will restore 20% of the oil field's capacity.
The second thing is oil transportation. Let's break it down into several stages:
1. Pipelines. The Soviets had two important pipelines in the Caucasus: Grozny-Tuapse and Baku-Batumi. They were built at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s, and their construction took 1.5-2 years. In this case, it is enough to control provinces with pipelines (directly or by ally/puppet).
2. Seizure of ports in Novorossiysk (operates the Maykop oil fields), Tuapse (Grozny) and Batumi (Baku and Tbilisi).
3. Destruction of the Black Sea Fleet. No enemy ship can exist in any area of the Black Sea.
4. Build a sufficient number of tankers. This can be started after Romania has been admitted to the Axis. The average oil tanker sailing on the Danube has a carrying capacity of about 2,000 tons, which is 20 oil units. Assuming that all Caucasian oil fields are fully operational and the Germans have the 1940 oil extraction technology, they are able to extract about 1700 oil units - make it 10 convoy units to take into account future increases.
In the case of the Middle East oil fields, the situation is a bit more complicated: only part of the Middle East oil fields were connected to Mediterranean ports. The rest were served by the ports of the Persian Gulf. The common part will be the need to build tankers (this time 20 convoy units in total) and to control the pipelines. The case of fields in northern and central Iraq (Kirkuk, Arbil, Kut, Mosul) is simpler - just build tankers, control pipelines, rebuild oil fields and voila - oil can be transported. Oil fields in southern Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar require also control (or just neutrality) of the entire coast of the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Peninsula, the Red Sea, Levant, southern Turkey and Greece.
No screens from game this time as I haven't test it yet, but I've made small map illustrating the whole concept. Blue outlines indicate provinces with oil, black lines are pipelines and black circles are ports.
Most of the thinking of the German command just before the invasion of the USSR and later was concerned with the question of "how to get to and how to seize oil fields in the Caucasus region". However, the Germans thought little about the question of "how to deliver it to Germany". The entire issue can be broken down into three points:
1. Capturing intact oil fields and - if possible - also refineries.
2. In case of destruction of oil fields and refineries organizing the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure as soon as possible.
3. Organizing the transport of extracted crude oil or fuels processed in a refinery.
Let's consider this issue on the example of the Maykop oil fields and the Krasnodar refinery, which were captured by German troops in 1942.
1. Well, the Germans failed miserably. The Krasnodar refinery was partially destroyed by the Luftwaffe and partially by the retreating Soviet troops. Its capacity dropped from the pre-war 1 million tons per year to big fat zero. However, the Krasnodar refinery processed only half of the oil extracted in Maykop - the rest, along with oil from other fields, was processed at the much larger refinery in Grozny (capacity: ~13 million tons per year). The Maykop oil fields were practically destroyed by the retreating Soviet troops to just 1% of pre-war production (which equals ~1,750 tons monthly - less than 0.6 game oil units daily!). In August 1942, the Brandenburgers unit was sent to Maykop to secure the oil fields. They managed to throw some chaos in the Soviet troops, but failed to prevent the destruction of infrastructure.
2. The Germans expected the Soviets to want to destroy the abandoned oil fields and refineries (although they did not expect such a scale of damage). In 1941, Technische Brigade Mineralöl (TBM) was established, equipped with heavy equipment and numbering almost 11,000 men. The purpose of this unit was to restore refineries and oil fields to service as soon as possible.
The Germans seized Krasnodar in August 1942, but TBM had to wait for the delivery of its equipment - more serious work on the reconstruction of the refinery began at the end of October. According to TBM command estimates, the refinery was to obtain capacity of 300 tons per day in January 1943 (108,000 tons per year) and 600 tons per day in March 1943 (216,000 tons per year). Assuming a constant pace of work, the refinery would achieve its pre-war capacity (1 million tons per year) after almost two years! The Maykop oil fields were in just as bad shape. Due to the proximity of the front lines, the Germans were not even able to carry out a complete inventory of the oil fields. TBM in the Maykop region had more than 7,000 men, however, the commander of the TBM General Homburg demanded another 3,400 prisoners before the winter of 1942/43 to be able to put only one oil field into operation. The Soviet counteroffensive solved all these problems - in January 1943 the Red Army recovered Maykop, and in February Krasnodar.
The Soviets began rebuilding Maykop after its recapture. However, in July 1944, the oil fields in this region reached only 20% of pre-war production - remember also that the Soviets were rebuilding oil fields far behind the front lines, not threatened by partisans! Even under such conditions, the full recovery of the oil fields would certainly take more than 5 years.
3. The Germans did not necessarily have to rebuild the refineries in Krasnodar (although it was undoubtedly a good idea) - Romanian refineries had excess capacity in relation to the amount of crude oil produced by Romanian oil fields. The problem that was not on the Führer's mind was the transport of oil and fuels from the Caucasus and southern Russia to anywhere else. In March 1941, Major von Hanneken of the War Economy and Armaments Office prepared a report on this very issue. The Germans were able to transport only small amounts of oil overland - around 10,000 tons per month (in game it's only 3.3 oil units daily!). The only alternative was sea transport - this required the capture of the Black Sea ports to which the pipelines were connected and which had the appropriate infrastructure: Novorossiysk, Tuapse and Batumi. The next problem was the destruction of the Soviet Black Sea fleet and the provision of a sufficient number of tankers to transport oil to Romania and further the Danube to Germany. The Germans were unable to meet any of these conditions.
To sum up all this argument - Caucasian oil was anyway beyond the reach of the Germans. It would take about 2 years to rebuild the refinery, and more than 5 years to restore the full capacity of the oil fields. Even if the Germans had managed to get the infrastructure intact, they would still have nothing to transport the huge amount of oil obtained.
All these problems were also present in the case of Middle Eastern oil. The Allies could destroy oil fields, refineries and pipelines. If Germany and Italy had managed to get the infrastructure intact, the question of transporting oil would still arise. Only the Iraqi fields around Kirkuk were connected by pipelines to the Mediterranean ports of Haifa and Tripoli. The oil fields and refineries of Iran or Saudi Arabia had their "mouths" in the Persian Gulf. Finally, it would be necessary to provide enough tankers to get the oil to Europe.
How it all works in DH? Well, this whole process is simplified. Crude oil from map is automatically processed into various kinds of fuel in your reserves. Refineries and pipelines are invisible, tankers are needed only if you transport oil from overseas provinces. I stick to that, as some sort of simplification is needed, although certain conditions will have to be met. If Axis troops are close to the oil field, the Soviets and the Allies has the (random) chance to destroy field and its invisible refinery. So you can try to grab oil province and pray for enemy's indolence, use paratroopers to get oil field intact or use Brandenburgers (though it would be only one-time decision). However, if you are unlucky, you will have to rebuild the oil field. I assumed that its invisible refineries and pipelines would be rebuilt at the same time - this is obviously a simplification, but I don't see any point in complicating this issue even more. Each year of reconstruction will restore 20% of the oil field's capacity.
The second thing is oil transportation. Let's break it down into several stages:
1. Pipelines. The Soviets had two important pipelines in the Caucasus: Grozny-Tuapse and Baku-Batumi. They were built at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s, and their construction took 1.5-2 years. In this case, it is enough to control provinces with pipelines (directly or by ally/puppet).
2. Seizure of ports in Novorossiysk (operates the Maykop oil fields), Tuapse (Grozny) and Batumi (Baku and Tbilisi).
3. Destruction of the Black Sea Fleet. No enemy ship can exist in any area of the Black Sea.
4. Build a sufficient number of tankers. This can be started after Romania has been admitted to the Axis. The average oil tanker sailing on the Danube has a carrying capacity of about 2,000 tons, which is 20 oil units. Assuming that all Caucasian oil fields are fully operational and the Germans have the 1940 oil extraction technology, they are able to extract about 1700 oil units - make it 10 convoy units to take into account future increases.
In the case of the Middle East oil fields, the situation is a bit more complicated: only part of the Middle East oil fields were connected to Mediterranean ports. The rest were served by the ports of the Persian Gulf. The common part will be the need to build tankers (this time 20 convoy units in total) and to control the pipelines. The case of fields in northern and central Iraq (Kirkuk, Arbil, Kut, Mosul) is simpler - just build tankers, control pipelines, rebuild oil fields and voila - oil can be transported. Oil fields in southern Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar require also control (or just neutrality) of the entire coast of the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Peninsula, the Red Sea, Levant, southern Turkey and Greece.
No screens from game this time as I haven't test it yet, but I've made small map illustrating the whole concept. Blue outlines indicate provinces with oil, black lines are pipelines and black circles are ports.
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I love that you'll show that merely capturing oil fields won't be enough to access the oil. After all, this is one of the reasons for why German plans of winning in 1942 were hilariously unrealistic.
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Another long DD below
Oil - or the shortage of it - was another factor that contributed to Germany's defeat in the war. Germany had to import crude oil and produce synthetic fuels before the war, the Allied blockade cut off the Germans from overseas importers, after the invasion of the USSR, the Reich and its allies could rely only on Romanian sources (and smaller sources scattered around occupied Europe), which, however, were insufficient to cover the needs of not only the entire German sphere of influence, but even Germany itself. As a result, the Axis countries throughout the war struggled with an oil shortage that limited the capabilities of industry and the army. The largest oil deposits within the reach of the Reich were in the Middle East and the Caucasus. The former is a bit less interesting as the Germans were not even close to capturing the oil fields in the Persian Gulf countries, so we will mainly focus on the latter.
Most of the thinking of the German command just before the invasion of the USSR and later was concerned with the question of "how to get to and how to seize oil fields in the Caucasus region". However, the Germans thought little about the question of "how to deliver it to Germany". The entire issue can be broken down into three points:
1. Capturing intact oil fields and - if possible - also refineries.
2. In case of destruction of oil fields and refineries organizing the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure as soon as possible.
3. Organizing the transport of extracted crude oil or fuels processed in a refinery.
Let's consider this issue on the example of the Maykop oil fields and the Krasnodar refinery, which were captured by German troops in 1942.
1. Well, the Germans failed miserably. The Krasnodar refinery was partially destroyed by the Luftwaffe and partially by the retreating Soviet troops. Its capacity dropped from the pre-war 1 million tons per year to big fat zero. However, the Krasnodar refinery processed only half of the oil extracted in Maykop - the rest, along with oil from other fields, was processed at the much larger refinery in Grozny (capacity: ~13 million tons per year). The Maykop oil fields were practically destroyed by the retreating Soviet troops to just 1% of pre-war production (which equals ~1,750 tons monthly - less than 0.6 game oil units daily!). In August 1942, the Brandenburgers unit was sent to Maykop to secure the oil fields. They managed to throw some chaos in the Soviet troops, but failed to prevent the destruction of infrastructure.
2. The Germans expected the Soviets to want to destroy the abandoned oil fields and refineries (although they did not expect such a scale of damage). In 1941, Technische Brigade Mineralöl (TBM) was established, equipped with heavy equipment and numbering almost 11,000 men. The purpose of this unit was to restore refineries and oil fields to service as soon as possible.
The Germans seized Krasnodar in August 1942, but TBM had to wait for the delivery of its equipment - more serious work on the reconstruction of the refinery began at the end of October. According to TBM command estimates, the refinery was to obtain capacity of 300 tons per day in January 1943 (108,000 tons per year) and 600 tons per day in March 1943 (216,000 tons per year). Assuming a constant pace of work, the refinery would achieve its pre-war capacity (1 million tons per year) after almost two years! The Maykop oil fields were in just as bad shape. Due to the proximity of the front lines, the Germans were not even able to carry out a complete inventory of the oil fields. TBM in the Maykop region had more than 7,000 men, however, the commander of the TBM General Homburg demanded another 3,400 prisoners before the winter of 1942/43 to be able to put only one oil field into operation. The Soviet counteroffensive solved all these problems - in January 1943 the Red Army recovered Maykop, and in February Krasnodar.
The Soviets began rebuilding Maykop after its recapture. However, in July 1944, the oil fields in this region reached only 20% of pre-war production - remember also that the Soviets were rebuilding oil fields far behind the front lines, not threatened by partisans! Even under such conditions, the full recovery of the oil fields would certainly take more than 5 years.
3. The Germans did not necessarily have to rebuild the refineries in Krasnodar (although it was undoubtedly a good idea) - Romanian refineries had excess capacity in relation to the amount of crude oil produced by Romanian oil fields. The problem that was not on the Führer's mind was the transport of oil and fuels from the Caucasus and southern Russia to anywhere else. In March 1941, Major von Hanneken of the War Economy and Armaments Office prepared a report on this very issue. The Germans were able to transport only small amounts of oil overland - around 10,000 tons per month (in game it's only 3.3 oil units daily!). The only alternative was sea transport - this required the capture of the Black Sea ports to which the pipelines were connected and which had the appropriate infrastructure: Novorossiysk, Tuapse and Batumi. The next problem was the destruction of the Soviet Black Sea fleet and the provision of a sufficient number of tankers to transport oil to Romania and further the Danube to Germany. The Germans were unable to meet any of these conditions.
To sum up all this argument - Caucasian oil was anyway beyond the reach of the Germans. It would take about 2 years to rebuild the refinery, and more than 5 years to restore the full capacity of the oil fields. Even if the Germans had managed to get the infrastructure intact, they would still have nothing to transport the huge amount of oil obtained.
All these problems were also present in the case of Middle Eastern oil. The Allies could destroy oil fields, refineries and pipelines. If Germany and Italy had managed to get the infrastructure intact, the question of transporting oil would still arise. Only the Iraqi fields around Kirkuk were connected by pipelines to the Mediterranean ports of Haifa and Tripoli. The oil fields and refineries of Iran or Saudi Arabia had their "mouths" in the Persian Gulf. Finally, it would be necessary to provide enough tankers to get the oil to Europe.
How it all works in DH? Well, this whole process is simplified. Crude oil from map is automatically processed into various kinds of fuel in your reserves. Refineries and pipelines are invisible, tankers are needed only if you transport oil from overseas provinces. I stick to that, as some sort of simplification is needed, although certain conditions will have to be met. If Axis troops are close to the oil field, the Soviets and the Allies has the (random) chance to destroy field and its invisible refinery. So you can try to grab oil province and pray for enemy's indolence, use paratroopers to get oil field intact or use Brandenburgers (though it would be only one-time decision). However, if you are unlucky, you will have to rebuild the oil field. I assumed that its invisible refineries and pipelines would be rebuilt at the same time - this is obviously a simplification, but I don't see any point in complicating this issue even more. Each year of reconstruction will restore 20% of the oil field's capacity.
The second thing is oil transportation. Let's break it down into several stages:
1. Pipelines. The Soviets had two important pipelines in the Caucasus: Grozny-Tuapse and Baku-Batumi. They were built at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s, and their construction took 1.5-2 years. In this case, it is enough to control provinces with pipelines (directly or by ally/puppet).
2. Seizure of ports in Novorossiysk (operates the Maykop oil fields), Tuapse (Grozny) and Batumi (Baku and Tbilisi).
3. Destruction of the Black Sea Fleet. No enemy ship can exist in any area of the Black Sea.
4. Build a sufficient number of tankers. This can be started after Romania has been admitted to the Axis. The average oil tanker sailing on the Danube has a carrying capacity of about 2,000 tons, which is 20 oil units. Assuming that all Caucasian oil fields are fully operational and the Germans have the 1940 oil extraction technology, they are able to extract about 1700 oil units - make it 10 convoy units to take into account future increases.
In the case of the Middle East oil fields, the situation is a bit more complicated: only part of the Middle East oil fields were connected to Mediterranean ports. The rest were served by the ports of the Persian Gulf. The common part will be the need to build tankers (this time 20 convoy units in total) and to control the pipelines. The case of fields in northern and central Iraq (Kirkuk, Arbil, Kut, Mosul) is simpler - just build tankers, control pipelines, rebuild oil fields and voila - oil can be transported. Oil fields in southern Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar require also control (or just neutrality) of the entire coast of the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Peninsula, the Red Sea, Levant, southern Turkey and Greece.
No screens from game this time as I haven't test it yet, but I've made small map illustrating the whole concept. Blue outlines indicate provinces with oil, black lines are pipelines and black circles are ports.
You must follow the WW2 Channel on YouTube. Indy Neidell just covered this topic a couple of weeks ago
@Maciej-Kamil
The more I read about the war, the more I became convinced that it was unwinnable by Germany
@Pasha
Actually most of events about oil are based on Anand Toprani's works. For DD above I've also used Too Little, Too Late: An Analysis of Hitler's Failure in August 1942 to Damage Soviet Oil Production by Joel Hayward.
The more I read about the war, the more I became convinced that it was unwinnable by Germany
@Pasha
Actually most of events about oil are based on Anand Toprani's works. For DD above I've also used Too Little, Too Late: An Analysis of Hitler's Failure in August 1942 to Damage Soviet Oil Production by Joel Hayward.
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Another question: what if I take over great Britain in 1940? Will it close the Atlantic land lease route?