After playing an entire game through with the UK I decided to try a smaller nation. I chose the Dutch.
The main issue for a Dutch player is
a) Your manpower is low
b) You lose the majority of your IC when you get blitzed in '40
In the old HoI I would normally research airforce techs and build a small but powerful airforce by '40. While that was never enought to save the homeland it was often enough to tip the balance significantly in the Allies favour.
However with the (imho good) nerfing of airpower I decided to take a different route and concentrate on naval techs.
My first move in 1936 was to disband my entire existing navy (with the exception of the transports) as it was woefully out of date and a infantry solitary division which was shipped to Paramaribo to put the province in supply. This boosted my available manpower pool to approximately 180.
My initial research focus was on industry and this was reflected by a frenzied period of Infrastructure and IC building in the Dutch East Indies.
There are a lot of resource rich provinces in the colonies and the Dutch government (me) thought it was nonsensical to ship all these resources back to the Netherlands when they could be used closer to source.
I concentrated initially on 3 provinces and as my IC went up expanded this slowly to neighbouring provinces. (I was boosting Infrastructure production - which triples the cost but signifcantly speeds up production) and - when I had enough spare IC I also sped up existing IC production in high infrastructure provinces (rather than starting new IC in low infrastructure provinces).
As my IC rose additional research teams were revealed allowing me to concentrate one team on the development of better ships and another on the development of better naval tactics and associated technologies such as radar (very useful for anyone focusing on naval technologies).
As time progressed I also started moving sliders and minister to both enhance my IC total and to grow manpower. By 1940 my manpower had reached 211 and (after ageing) was growing at a staggering 0.06 MP per day (enough to build a new infantry division every 166 days) :rofl:
Events elsewhere in the game unfolded as expected with a German attack on Poland in 1939 and then an attack on Denmark and Norway in February 1940. Little did the Dutch Government know that the Netherlands would be next *cough*
The war starts
Right on cue the Germans invaded. The Dutch were shockingly prepared with nothing but civil police in place to stop the Panzers (that did not work too well). As province after province fell the Dutch Government fled to the new paradise they had been creating in the East Indies and swore revenge on the dastardly Germans!
By mid-1940 the Dutch government had developed around 35 additional IC in the Dutech East Indies. This meant that while the loss of home territory was a significant blow they still had some capacity to fight back. The main issue was manpower which was now declining by 0.02 MP per day
Fortunately it was at this point that courageous Dutch women stepped forward and volunteered to assist in the war effort by working in industry - added an extra 100 to my Manpower pool.
(As an aside it is worth noting that I had the 'women volunteer' event a total of 5 times in the 1936 to 1953 game + I also had the 'refugees' event which provided + 30 MP occur once - These events contributed a total of 530 MP to the Dutch MP pool and they occured approximately every three years. There is no doubt that the overall Dutch contribution to the Allied war effort would have been significantly limited if not for these events - If this frequency is typical then small nations may not be as underpowered in AoD as some seem to think they are)
Through unswerving focus Dutch naval researchers had developed plans for an advanced classes of Heavy Cruisers, Light Cruisers and Destroyers which could be equipped with relatively advanced naval radar.
Up until this point I had completely ignored anything heavier due to IC cost and build times - although I did start researching the aircraft carrier tree in order to be able to equip/upgrade the 'spotting plane' attachment for my heavy cruisers. It was also interesting to note that Heavy Cruisers seem to be exceptional value in AoD - with a lower IC cost than similar class Light Cruisers....
With the war underway the Dutch goverment cut back on industrial development (not completely) and laid down the first warship production lines. Six month later Rear Admiral Dulm (the Dutch Navy has a very limited number of officers and only one is ranked above Rear Admiral) took charge of squadron including two Heavy Cruisers, two light cruisers and two destroyer flotillas. This shiney new squadron was immediately dispatched to Alexandria to assist the British in defending Egypt from the Italians.
The Mediteranean
The small Dutch fleet was tasked with patrolling the Eastern Mediterranean by the British Admiral Somerville - who did not want to see it go head to head with the main Reggia Marina fleet. With its up to date radar and spotting planes the Dutch fleet was soon in action sinking Italian transports and convoys (shipping supplies to its garrisons on Rhodes and Cyclades Islands). Indeed when the Italians attempted an abortive landing in Palestine it was the Dutch fleet that intercepted the Italian fleet - sinking several transports and escorting destroyers - wrecking the landing in the process.
This timely intervention prevented the Italians opening another front in the Middle East and prompted the intervention of the main Italian fleet which eventually caught the Dutch squadron in the Sea of Crete. Somewhat surprisingly (well it was to me anyway). The modern Dutch cruisers were able inflict significant damage on the lighter elements of the Italian fleet and more importantly were able to use their superior speed to slip away when the Italian battleships eventually found the range. None the less it had been a lucky escape and the Dutch squadron was forced back to Alexandria for repairs.
Victory in the Desert
By now Dutch shipbuilders in the East Indies were getting into the swing of things and a new squadron (once again comprising 2 HC, 2 LC and 2 Destroyer flotillas) had been commissioned. These were also rebased to Alexandria and continued where the Koninklijke Vloot had left off. The Dutch sea raiders were slaughtering Italian convoys and there was little the Italians could do about it with their main fleet remaining in Taranto for repairs due to the earlier clash.
With supplies running short the Italian forces in North Africa were weakening. This allowed the British to break out from El Alamein and they swiftly rampaged across the desert - capturing Tobruk, Benghazi and Tripoli in quick succession. With supplies reduced to a trickle the Italians simply couldn't resist and their last troops on the African continent surrendered at Zuara in October '41.
In addition to commissioning more ships the Dutch had also trained up 9 infantry divisions (my manpower
) which were deployed to protect the new industrial centres in the East Indies. With manpower running low researchers started putting more effort into the development of 'Panzer' technologies as standard infantry regiments were simply too manpower intensive.
While the German/Italian coalition may have been defeated in Africa the same could not be said of their continental European forces which launched a huge invasion of the Soviet Union in mid '41 - making swift progress into Soviet heartlands.
The war in the Pacific
The development of the East Indies as an industrial powerhouse had not gone unnoticed. The Japanese had successfully defeated the various Chinese warlords by early '41. They immediately released Nationalist China as a puppet) but they were still extremely resource poor and the Dutch East Indies seemed like the obvious next target for them.
Fortunately they delayed their war preparations after defeating the Chinese as they feared US intervention and were planning an elaborate strike on the American Pacific fleet to eliminate that threat. This delay was crucial as it allowed the British and their allies the time to defeat the Axis forces in North Africa.
Nevertheless the Japanses attack came as another surprise to the Dutch Goverment. Fortunately this time they could fight back as new ships continued to roll off the production line.
The first Japanese attack came on Banka Island (the location of significant metal deposits) where 3 Japanese ivisions forced a Dutch division to retreat. Fortunately the main Dutch naval base at Oosthaven was relatively close by and squadron succeeded in finding and disrupting the Japanese landings sinking before the troops could be properly establish ashore. Under cover of the Dutch fleet a fresh Dutch division based in Palembang was able to cross the straits and secure Bangka Island. The first Japanese invasion had been defeated.
Sea Wolves
Although small in number the Dutch surface fleet started raiding Japanese shipping in the vicinity of the Indochina Coast, Bight of Bangkok (Thailand had joined the war on Japan's side), and the Straits of Bangka and Singapore. With the main Japanese carrier fleets seemingly committed to home waters the Dutch were able to prey mercilessly on Japanese convoys simultaneously locating and sinking a number of lightly escorted transports (no idea if they were loaded with divisions or not).
Over the course of several months the frequency of intercepted convoys dropped substantially - and this decline in Japanese shipping seemed to be reflected in progress on land with Allied forces slowing the Japanese advance through Burma to a crawl. (In fact this is the first AoD game where I did not see the Japanese blitz through Burma and India - so I have to assume that the combination of my convoy sinking - and the fact that the Brits were able to redeploy troops from N. Africa - actually succeeded in slowing the Japanese down).
At this point I will take a break from writing and put up a few screenies from May 1942...
The main issue for a Dutch player is
a) Your manpower is low
b) You lose the majority of your IC when you get blitzed in '40
In the old HoI I would normally research airforce techs and build a small but powerful airforce by '40. While that was never enought to save the homeland it was often enough to tip the balance significantly in the Allies favour.
However with the (imho good) nerfing of airpower I decided to take a different route and concentrate on naval techs.
My first move in 1936 was to disband my entire existing navy (with the exception of the transports) as it was woefully out of date and a infantry solitary division which was shipped to Paramaribo to put the province in supply. This boosted my available manpower pool to approximately 180.
My initial research focus was on industry and this was reflected by a frenzied period of Infrastructure and IC building in the Dutch East Indies.
There are a lot of resource rich provinces in the colonies and the Dutch government (me) thought it was nonsensical to ship all these resources back to the Netherlands when they could be used closer to source.
I concentrated initially on 3 provinces and as my IC went up expanded this slowly to neighbouring provinces. (I was boosting Infrastructure production - which triples the cost but signifcantly speeds up production) and - when I had enough spare IC I also sped up existing IC production in high infrastructure provinces (rather than starting new IC in low infrastructure provinces).
As my IC rose additional research teams were revealed allowing me to concentrate one team on the development of better ships and another on the development of better naval tactics and associated technologies such as radar (very useful for anyone focusing on naval technologies).
As time progressed I also started moving sliders and minister to both enhance my IC total and to grow manpower. By 1940 my manpower had reached 211 and (after ageing) was growing at a staggering 0.06 MP per day (enough to build a new infantry division every 166 days) :rofl:
Events elsewhere in the game unfolded as expected with a German attack on Poland in 1939 and then an attack on Denmark and Norway in February 1940. Little did the Dutch Government know that the Netherlands would be next *cough*
The war starts
Right on cue the Germans invaded. The Dutch were shockingly prepared with nothing but civil police in place to stop the Panzers (that did not work too well). As province after province fell the Dutch Government fled to the new paradise they had been creating in the East Indies and swore revenge on the dastardly Germans!
By mid-1940 the Dutch government had developed around 35 additional IC in the Dutech East Indies. This meant that while the loss of home territory was a significant blow they still had some capacity to fight back. The main issue was manpower which was now declining by 0.02 MP per day
Fortunately it was at this point that courageous Dutch women stepped forward and volunteered to assist in the war effort by working in industry - added an extra 100 to my Manpower pool.
(As an aside it is worth noting that I had the 'women volunteer' event a total of 5 times in the 1936 to 1953 game + I also had the 'refugees' event which provided + 30 MP occur once - These events contributed a total of 530 MP to the Dutch MP pool and they occured approximately every three years. There is no doubt that the overall Dutch contribution to the Allied war effort would have been significantly limited if not for these events - If this frequency is typical then small nations may not be as underpowered in AoD as some seem to think they are)
Through unswerving focus Dutch naval researchers had developed plans for an advanced classes of Heavy Cruisers, Light Cruisers and Destroyers which could be equipped with relatively advanced naval radar.
Up until this point I had completely ignored anything heavier due to IC cost and build times - although I did start researching the aircraft carrier tree in order to be able to equip/upgrade the 'spotting plane' attachment for my heavy cruisers. It was also interesting to note that Heavy Cruisers seem to be exceptional value in AoD - with a lower IC cost than similar class Light Cruisers....
With the war underway the Dutch goverment cut back on industrial development (not completely) and laid down the first warship production lines. Six month later Rear Admiral Dulm (the Dutch Navy has a very limited number of officers and only one is ranked above Rear Admiral) took charge of squadron including two Heavy Cruisers, two light cruisers and two destroyer flotillas. This shiney new squadron was immediately dispatched to Alexandria to assist the British in defending Egypt from the Italians.
The Mediteranean
The small Dutch fleet was tasked with patrolling the Eastern Mediterranean by the British Admiral Somerville - who did not want to see it go head to head with the main Reggia Marina fleet. With its up to date radar and spotting planes the Dutch fleet was soon in action sinking Italian transports and convoys (shipping supplies to its garrisons on Rhodes and Cyclades Islands). Indeed when the Italians attempted an abortive landing in Palestine it was the Dutch fleet that intercepted the Italian fleet - sinking several transports and escorting destroyers - wrecking the landing in the process.
This timely intervention prevented the Italians opening another front in the Middle East and prompted the intervention of the main Italian fleet which eventually caught the Dutch squadron in the Sea of Crete. Somewhat surprisingly (well it was to me anyway). The modern Dutch cruisers were able inflict significant damage on the lighter elements of the Italian fleet and more importantly were able to use their superior speed to slip away when the Italian battleships eventually found the range. None the less it had been a lucky escape and the Dutch squadron was forced back to Alexandria for repairs.
Victory in the Desert
By now Dutch shipbuilders in the East Indies were getting into the swing of things and a new squadron (once again comprising 2 HC, 2 LC and 2 Destroyer flotillas) had been commissioned. These were also rebased to Alexandria and continued where the Koninklijke Vloot had left off. The Dutch sea raiders were slaughtering Italian convoys and there was little the Italians could do about it with their main fleet remaining in Taranto for repairs due to the earlier clash.
With supplies running short the Italian forces in North Africa were weakening. This allowed the British to break out from El Alamein and they swiftly rampaged across the desert - capturing Tobruk, Benghazi and Tripoli in quick succession. With supplies reduced to a trickle the Italians simply couldn't resist and their last troops on the African continent surrendered at Zuara in October '41.
In addition to commissioning more ships the Dutch had also trained up 9 infantry divisions (my manpower
While the German/Italian coalition may have been defeated in Africa the same could not be said of their continental European forces which launched a huge invasion of the Soviet Union in mid '41 - making swift progress into Soviet heartlands.
The war in the Pacific
The development of the East Indies as an industrial powerhouse had not gone unnoticed. The Japanese had successfully defeated the various Chinese warlords by early '41. They immediately released Nationalist China as a puppet) but they were still extremely resource poor and the Dutch East Indies seemed like the obvious next target for them.
Fortunately they delayed their war preparations after defeating the Chinese as they feared US intervention and were planning an elaborate strike on the American Pacific fleet to eliminate that threat. This delay was crucial as it allowed the British and their allies the time to defeat the Axis forces in North Africa.
Nevertheless the Japanses attack came as another surprise to the Dutch Goverment. Fortunately this time they could fight back as new ships continued to roll off the production line.
The first Japanese attack came on Banka Island (the location of significant metal deposits) where 3 Japanese ivisions forced a Dutch division to retreat. Fortunately the main Dutch naval base at Oosthaven was relatively close by and squadron succeeded in finding and disrupting the Japanese landings sinking before the troops could be properly establish ashore. Under cover of the Dutch fleet a fresh Dutch division based in Palembang was able to cross the straits and secure Bangka Island. The first Japanese invasion had been defeated.
Sea Wolves
Although small in number the Dutch surface fleet started raiding Japanese shipping in the vicinity of the Indochina Coast, Bight of Bangkok (Thailand had joined the war on Japan's side), and the Straits of Bangka and Singapore. With the main Japanese carrier fleets seemingly committed to home waters the Dutch were able to prey mercilessly on Japanese convoys simultaneously locating and sinking a number of lightly escorted transports (no idea if they were loaded with divisions or not).
Over the course of several months the frequency of intercepted convoys dropped substantially - and this decline in Japanese shipping seemed to be reflected in progress on land with Allied forces slowing the Japanese advance through Burma to a crawl. (In fact this is the first AoD game where I did not see the Japanese blitz through Burma and India - so I have to assume that the combination of my convoy sinking - and the fact that the Brits were able to redeploy troops from N. Africa - actually succeeded in slowing the Japanese down).
At this point I will take a break from writing and put up a few screenies from May 1942...
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