What to Do After Sicily (Full Version)

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sfbaytf -> What to Do After Sicily (5/16/2018 1:34:05 AM)

I started a new 43-45 Campaign game as the allied using the latest update. I was able to invade Sicily and take it with little combat or losses. Seems like the German AI was content to form a solid defense line near the Northeast of Sicily, then retreat across the Straights of Messina.

Now I'll have to decide on the next move. I'm considering invading Corsica and Sardina. I see both as a nice jumping off point to invade Italy further up the boot. Has anyone tried this?

Reading through some of the threads I'm also wondering how the AI will react and handle this sort of move.



LiquidSky -> RE: What to Do After Sicily (5/16/2018 3:26:39 AM)

Sardinia and Corsica will default to being Allied when Italy falls. The Germans would have to go to extraordinary measures to keep them otherwise.

Unless you have some immediate need to gaining them...like airbases for quick action around Rome.. I would leave them alone. If the Germans put units on the islands, you can easily prevent them from leaving, thus turning them into POW's

The best way to deal with Italy is quick close invasions up the coast. Plan invasions around Reggio....part way up the boot...and so on. As long as you have a line fairly near the invasion..and your airfields are not too far away. Invading on the other side of your line will force the line back without too much fighting. And fighting causes victory point loss....so maneuver is better.

If you invade too far from your line, then the invasion will just get hemmed in from the Germans. And they have more divisions to use then you do. You are better served by a long active front line then a smaller one due to an invasion.

Also...even though you may have thousands of aircraft more then the Germans..that doesnt do to much good if you havent got the airfields to put them on. Taking the Foggia airfields will give you the air superiority you will need to fight your way to Rome.

So try to think short range. If the Germans are in Messina..then an invasion around Reggio will turn them into POW's. If the Germans are in Reggio, then an invasion part way up the boot will turn them into POW's. And so on. Invasions are not the means to an end. They should supplement your front line.



sfbaytf -> RE: What to Do After Sicily (5/17/2018 12:30:24 AM)

Thanks!

I was thinking of doing something more creative, but maybe just going up the boot is the way to go.

Another question-my understanding of the rules is when an Amphib HQ is located at a larger port it acquires Prep points faster and may get other advantages.

Should I move them back to the larger ports in North Africa after subduing Sicily and perhaps move some combat units back and then start preparing to invade the Italian mainland or can I just stage from Sicily?



cfulbright -> RE: What to Do After Sicily (5/17/2018 3:16:16 AM)

Palermo is a size 5 port. Messina and Catania are size 4. What you gain by going back to the size 6 ports in Oran, Algiers, and Tunis, you lose because the naval attrition is higher when invading from more distant ports.

Someone pointed out in another thread here is that if you invade with regiment/brigade size units, they prep much faster for invasions. You just have to have 1-2 division size units ready to land right behind them, because they get a free pass from counterattack during the invasion turn. I'm starting to experiment with this approach, and so far it's two for two.

Cary



Chuske -> RE: What to Do After Sicily (5/17/2018 3:33:07 PM)

Only thing with using the Sicily ports or any captured port is the port is often damaged. The manual doesn't state if the damage to the port affects the prep rate, I would guess it does but have never tested it. If it does then you have to add in extra time either for port repair or slower prep or both.

That said you can prep in one port and then move the TF with units to another ports and as long as you end the turn in any port the prep points are not lost, so you could prep in N.Africa and move via naval transport forward to Sicily once ports there are repaired



cfulbright -> RE: What to Do After Sicily (5/17/2018 3:37:00 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Chuske

Only thing with using the Sicily ports or any captured port is the port is often damaged. The manual doesn't state if the damage to the port affects the prep rate, I would guess it does but have never tested it. If it does then you have to add in extra time either for port repair or slower prep or both.

For size 1-2 ports, putting a TF in them repairs them by the next turn. For larger ports, putting a TF in them still hastens repairs.

Cary



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