Soviet Union 1944 - Kicking some AARse

[AlanT]

This is my first full AoD/HoI game and my firts AAR on this forum so expect some rough edges.

The game: 1944 campaign, ver 1.04, normal/normal, no mods (vanilla as it gets).

The opening screen says "Great Patriotic War" and that's what I intend to play. This is primarily a learning game jump in to provide suggestions, ask and answer questions, .

Hah, December 1963 - I think not. We'll see the end of the 3rd Reich and maybe V-J day, but not a campaign to take our the west or occupy America.

On with the pre-game setup. remember, I'm new and the manual doesn't explain much of this.

The economy:

Nothing is in production? Some heads will roll over that! It would be nice to have some suggestions or historical data. We have a deficit and NO money in the bank! Is that because the game hasn't started running? If so what are the real numbers? I logged on as UK and they had a large fleet of carriers already under construction.

Technology:

Nothing under development? More bodies hit the floor. I get the feeling we're behind the historical timetable and probably the AI as well. Hitlerite and Capitalist spies no doubt.

Diplomacy:

Germany has a nice surplus of oil from somewhere. Ploesti will have to get a visit from our strategic bombers.

Intelligence:

Better get a budget for intel - say $10 to start off.

Our Military Forces:

There are a couple of Inf 1918 up near Murmansk, the rest look good. A fair number (~25%) are brigaded. (Edit: I was way off on that, more like 10% brigaded.)

Yeah, it's old, it's small, and it only has two transports which are located in the Black Sea.

Not bad. Most of the fighters need upgrading (La-5 instead of La-7) and only a few of the interceptors are our latest model.

Checked the "Upgrade Slider" and it says there are 89 obsolete divisions & 16 brigades. I'm thinking those "divisions" include air units, but it would be nice to know.

Okay, now lets get this party started.

 

[AlanT]

Tooling around the map I find my opponents have mostly 100% infrastructure, but mother Russia does not.

What's up with THAT? I loaded as UK and it doesn't change based on which country has a human player.

Research Assignments:

Heavy Subs for the navy; Advanced Mech Division, early SP-Arty, Mechanized Wave Doctrine and Improved Static AA for the army; Improved Strat Bomber and Keypoint Bombing for the air force. Finally, Improved Computing, Turbojet Engine and Isotope Seperation from the industrial tab. Some, like isotope seperation, are for historical purposes. I don't expect to be A-bombing anyone in the next couple of years.

Hard not to notice our research teams never seem to match the requirements.

QUESTION: What is the meaning of the red and blue colors on the different research projects? Theer doesn't seem to be any reason.


Production List:

Just to get something started - 1x10 T-70 Lt Tank Bdes, 3x5 airbases and 1x8 naval transports.

QUESTION: How do you build infrastructure? I couldn't find it anywhere.

 

[AlanT]

AoD 1944 -USSR

also reserved

 

[unmerged(68158)]

reserved

 

[VanilleMuffin]

QUESTION: What is the meaning of the red and blue colors on the different research projects? Theer doesn't seem to be any reason.

Can't tell you the exactly correct names or terms, but afaik red were more somethink theoretical/philosophy/doctrine/idea, while the blue ones are actual technological somethings... but doesn't matter for the game anyway, you can treat them the same.

QUESTION: How do you build infrastructure? I couldn't find it anywhere.

Click on the province on the map, below the province's picture on the left menu you will find 2 rows of buttons which show you the province's IC, static AAs, naval/air bases etc and Infrastructure (lower row, on the far left if i ain't mistaken). Click on it to start/extend a serial for this province

 

[unmerged(115311)]

Tooling around the map I find my opponents have mostly 100% infrastructure, but mother Russia does not.

What's up with THAT? I loaded as UK and it doesn't change based on which country has a human player.

QUESTION: How do you build infrastructure? I couldn't find it anywhere.

Whahaha, this honestly made my day! :rofl:

Your opponents are A) Western Europe full of German motorways B) The States which have like New York with legendary Skyscrapers C) The Japs, who work so hard anyways that ofc they got 100% infra!

What does Mother Russija have? Well... um... we got some railroads. Ever heard of the brand new Moscow-Leningrad railway comrade?

Aaand you build infra by selecting the prov and clicking the infra symbol (the one with the roads, railroads & stuff). Dunno if there's a hotkey, I's for IC at least...


But a really nice start you got there. I'll be watching this like a bloody ninja.

 

[unmerged(189717)]

Why is Mikhail T. still alife? He should have been purged years ago.

 

[AlanT]

My initial plan is to let the Germans wear themselves out attacking my superior numbers and they oblige, at least in a few spots. None of their attacks take any ground and I conduct counter-offensive taking several provinces.

Here I was counter-offensing the Germans attacking Zhlobin from Mogilev. They gave up their attack and my forces will now take Mogilev.

Meanwhile, the Western Allies have been touring the streets of Paris.

Losses have been heavy and the Allies have done their share of killing Hitlerites.

Have to remember to sort these by manpower losses next time.

Hope I'm not being too timid with my hordes.

 

[AlanT]

It would greatly increase my understanding and enjoyment if someone could explain how research works. Here are a coulple of screenies:

What does the RED color of some items signify? Usually RED means something is wrong.

I notice that research is only proceeding from top to bottom, not on all the skills that the design team has.

What about the skills a design team lacks, how fast (or not at all) is progress on those?

Is there a place to check for an estimate on how long a project should take?

Can you switch teams without losing any progress? For example on the static AA above after the chemistry is done can I switch to a team that has the lightbulb thingy?

Current speed is 7.8 - okay 7.8 what, perceont progress? In what amount of time does that 7.8 whatever accrue?

 

[DvD-IT]

RED is not bad. It's just there to differentiate 'Blue' tech specialities, which are related to industry (production, chemistry, etc.) from 'red' subjects which are related to doctrines (Individual Courage, etc.)

You still make progress when your design team lacks a certain skill, but it's half as slow (in fact you can read in the tooltip: Has Special: +100%).

There's not an in-game place to check for an estimate, although I remember someone made a third-party software to calculate that.

No, you can't switch teams without losing progress. As soon as you click Cancel Project, your team frees up, but any progress on that tech your team was doing research upon will be irreversibly lost (i.e. you have to start all over again).

As for 7.8, I don't know what scale it is in, surely not percent. More is better, though.

 

[quaazi]

It is permille. That is, if your research speed shows 4.0, for example, you're going to have 0.4 percent of progress each day. And of course more is better.

 

[unmerged(68158)]

They are red because Mikhail's head is too unnaturally big with the cement mixer inside so he can't figure them out.

 

[unmerged(166917)]

Interesting, first time I see a Soviet 1944 AAR. Subscribed.

 

[Deus Eversor]

Interesting, first time I see a Soviet 1944 AAR. Subscribed.

exactyl, exactly my words as well

 

[Psychedelic Sou]

:rofl:

Nice AAR. Normally it shouldn't be too hard to get to Berlin before October/November. Then you can annex Germany by Christmas

 

[unmerged(166917)]

I just hope that the Red Army will get there first, and not the corrupt capitalist powers of the west...I mean our Western Friends.

 

[AlanT]

My Soviet Steam Roller needs some grease, or maybe a jump start. Being new at AoD I'm probably playing too much like Monty instead of Zhukov.

Some good news, the front door to Finland has been kicked in.

How unfortunate, and he is such a popular fellow!

Finally noticing my oil is running out. Couldn't figure out what was going on so . . .

I grounded my air force, docked my fleet and that made a tiny difference. Looked at trade, made a couple of offers to buy small quantities, but it wasn't going to cover it. And then I found I was making synthetic rares (look way up near the begining of this thread at my economic sliders. Shut that bleeding ulcer off just in time. Sheesh, they should warn a fella.

Some attacks.

Intel - wish I knew how this worked, anyone? I'll +1 Germany and see what happens.

Losses, sorted correctly I hope. Haven't run into any German fighters so that must be ground fire. Note to self - stop flying fighters & interceptors on Ground Attack and Interdiction.

Losses inflicted. Someone's killing more Germans than the Red Army.

The Western Imperialists have been making progress.

Bucharest falls!

 

[AlanT]

This battle has been raging for a couple of weeks.

Movement in the Balkans is slower than molassas.

Got a message Belgium DoWed Germany. Way to use Switzerland to create a pocket! Unflrtunately the convoy system will probably keep them supplied.

Now it's Finland's turn to come over the fence.

Finally - 36 days later, a victory. Sorta like grinding sausage.

Everyone like a winner.

Is this what a Soviet offensive should look like?

Army Group Center has some trouble.

Europe - the big picture

Japan is holding in the Pacific. Yeah, it's hard to see.

 

[AlanT]

I haven't made a change to the political settings for 1944 - any suggestion? One toward standing army?

 

[unmerged(213756)]

One to standing army is a good choice. You wouldn't won't your army lying down on the job.