Wahhim
Posts: 17
Joined: 12/17/2018
From: Poland
Status: offline
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Sorry I wasn't able to reply to comments in a reasonable timeframe, but due to health issues I wasn't really capable of doing so.
quote:
ORIGINAL: PanzerCro
You can hardly defend France further than October 1940. Germans are simply too strong and they are outnumbering you big time, plus their air superiority is unquestionable. Holding Paris until october 1940. is solid. Plus France armies and corpses have low morale.
The series I've made, which is completed by now, was made to prove this argument invalid. It is even possible to defend France on higher difficulties than normal (excluding exp bonus), but it's a bit tougher. I've recorded this series on normal just to show how easily and reliably it can be done. France wasn't ever in real danger of collapse and it didn't lose a single hex of land to the Germans and only a single hex to the Italians, which was given willingly as I didn't want to leave Marseille open. To emphasize it France didn't lose a single unit in this campaign (excluding Netherland and Belgian losses, which counts as French). With 1.05. patch this strategy will have to be changed a bit due to a change in technology investments, but I doubt the outcome would be that different against AI.
quote:
ORIGINAL: wildwolf45
Any chance of a write up? I watched the videos but admit I skipped around since there are so many of them :D Maybe just the first few turns?
I've played through WaW and WiE a few times on both sides but am trying to get better before I tryout human opponents and your videos had a lot of concepts I had never thought of. Would love to be able to read them and have them handy for future play throughs. Like, your handling of France was amazing but I was legit in awe of what you did with China and had no idea you could be that aggressive with them.
I was intending to make a wrap up, so it's as good occassion as any. I'll start with the strategy for each major country and summarize it with general tips.
1. USA - as this major power does not really matter in this scenario, you can just follow typical US strategy. You can invest more into amphibious research and everything that comes with it to make bringing down Japan even quicker. One thing worth of noting is that GB won't get land lease till 1941, so you'll have more money in your hands.
2. Poland - I don't really know, if delay in the conquest of Poland has any impact on the timing of Fall Gelb, but seeing AI attack Low Countries with units below full strength and/or without upgrades means that it probably doesn't. From the games I've played against AI it seems that it DOWs Low Countries the moment the weather is clear for airforce usage. Sometimes they've attacked in February, sometimes even in June, if RNG was on my side. AI does not seem to care about the frozen ground though, which is good for you. But returning to Poland it's good to find damage where you can, while making sure to not leave Warsaw wide open. First of all, if your army north of Modlin was left untouched in the first Axis turn, swap it with garrison in Modlin and then swap it once more with garrison in Warsaw. You'll have an army with 5 points of strength and 4 points of entrenchment instead of a garrison defending capital. If your army in Poznań was not cut off, which is unlikely but possible, force march it/opearte it to protect Warsaw. Disband air units to get those precious MPPs for operating units/reinforcing them as they're just dead weight to give Axis units free experience and in doing so lowering your NM by a lot. Form a defensive ball around Warsaw with the units that can reach it and use those that cannot to attack critical Axis pieces like HQs or air units to deal as much damage as possible. Even if odds are not in your favor, like 1:3 or 1:4, take it, as your units will be destroyed anyway. In the next turn AI will definitely take out any stragglers away from Warsaw and most of the units surrounding Warsaw. First reinforce your army in Warsaw to full, then worry about the rest. Rinse and repeat until Warsaw is gone. If you're lucky and the weather RNG gods are with you you may even see 1940. If you're not, Poland still should survive for 3-4 Axis turns easily.
3. USSR - as defending France literally speaks "Germany first" force march most of your units from the border of Japan to the West. They'll have plenty of time to recuperate from readiness/morale loss. Refund chit, which is located in anti-tank weapons as it's pretty much useless tech, and also the one invested into air fighters as you'll not face real threat in that manner either. With the 1.05. there is no way to reach infantry weapons lvl 2 before the Barbarossa begins, but still invest into infenatry weapons first. If you're playing on 1.04. still put 2 chits in infantry weapons ASAP and another one after you've researched lvl 1. The tech choices you want to invest into are - infantry weapons, advanced tanks, infantry and armored warfare, C&C, and later on amphibious tech. That's it, no more tech. Don't invade Finland as it's in my opinion a bad move for for the SU in the current form. Move all your units near the border with Germany. Leave border you share with Axis minors empty as Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania won't join if France won't fall. The moment you reach 100% mobilization DOW on Germany and roll over them. In my recorded campaign I was too successful with Chinese front and I wasn't able to amphibiously assault Japan with USSR, as my S&I research showed that thay've accumulated all their units in Japan, because their presence on continent literally was reduced to 2-3 cities in Manchuria. There is also a bug and if your Chinese troops take the cities in Manchuria that Japan needs to guard in order to prevent USSR's mobilization growth, before USSR is at war, it will still procs. If you're not that fast, you may be able to catch the Japanese port north of Tokyo without any unit in it. If that is the case the war is literally over. Just make sure to send HQ in the first wave of transports, after the initial landing. You can also wait for Pearl Harbor and work with Americans. If China didn't advance fast enough you can help them with cleaning in Manchuria, but still make sure to DOW once you're ready to invade Japanese homeland at the same time.
4. India - Join the war. The Iraq coup DE will never happen, so you can send your troops to help out in West Africa. Invest in infantry tech only. You can refund chit placed into air and even tank tech. Buy 2 corps or an army and later an HQ. Don't send reinforcements to North Africa, as GB's forces in Egypt are plenty to deal with AI there. If the war against Japan isn't going as smoothly as it should, India can help out with taking NM objectives on the Pacific later on.
5. China - first of all remove chits from all of your technologies and invest into something that will actually help you survive which is infantry tech. If you're playing before 1.05. invest 2 chits into infantry weapons ASAP and into infantry warfare. Later on invest into C&C. That's all China needs. The problem with China is that they have 4 HQs and none of them is in the South. First of all set all of your HQs to auto-assist mode which allows you to manually reattach units. Send your HQ near Ichang on its way to Nanning via Chunngking. Move your HQ near Chengchow through mountains to Ichang. Set your air fighters to ground mode and use it to help this HQ move through the mountains by swap mechanic. If HQ will be placed directly in Ichang it will be able to attach units near Changsha. Move your HQ near Yenki to Chengchow and the HQ near Paotow to the city itself later on. While moving be weary of your attachments and make sure that your units are attatched to correct HQ. Leave air fighters and garrisons/engineers without attachment and check your attachments next turn.
The Japanese initially don't have enough units to cover every potential angle from which you can advance. Your job at this stage is to make sure that they do not have enough forces in a single place to overwhelm you. One of those places is near the city of Changsha, where the Japanese have most of their elite experienced troops with upgrades. Advance with your units near Yenki to cause a distraction in Pekin. Enjoy watching Axis AI opearte their units there, most likely from the Changsha sector. Continue your probing maneuvers without actually commiting to force AI to respond. After your HQs are located in good positions disband your air-fighter as it is literally bottomless well. From now on your main target is the city of Tsinan. Taking it means that you cut what I like to call in this game a "highway" (railway + road). Taking Tsinan means that the Japanese-controlled cities to the south are cut off from the primary source of supply which is Seul. Now their cities there are at 5 supply at max. Make sure that you have 2 units adjacent to Japanese-controlled cities to lower its supply by 1 point per turn. The only threat to you right now are Japanese HQ in the cut-off low-supply central part of China. If you have a shot at them, even if it is a long one - take it. Watch as the Japanese supply will drop and destroy their units one by one. As the number of their units will dwindle, it will be easier to encircle them or/either cut off from the supply. In the South move all of your available corps to form the line. Block Pakhoi and lower supply in Canton. When the time is right (1 supply in Canton) encircle Canton and take it next turn. Move through the coastal cities towards Shanghai, while helping out in center near Wuhan. Push towards the North and Pekin only after the tide has turned to your side in the center. As all of those citied are still in good supply encircle them one by one with overwhelming numbers. If the city is guarded by garrison make sure that if you destroy it you can actually take the city to prevent it from being defended by better unit. If you're fast enough the Japanese won't be able to reinforce the positions remaining in their hands with Pearl Harbor units. If done so, you should be able to clear out the Japanese presence in continental Asia on your own, without any other Major Power help.
6. England before Fall Gelb - if you're playing before 1.05. invest second chit into infantry weapons day 1. Refund some chits that won;t be that useful in this occurance to do so. By doing so you'll have infantry weapons ready before the German's attack. In the second turn buy 2 AA guns with upgrade. It's imperative as thay are key to future success. They'll be in their correct position for your second March turn in 1940. Other important tech choices include infantry and armored warfare, C&C, and later on anything that will help you fight Germans. When BEF appears in France put those units on the border with Belgium, from the Channel to Loos mine. Make sure to place your army in Lille. The sector from the Loos mine to Metz fortress will be covered by two French armies. Place your AA guns to cover all of those 5 units and make sure to attatch them to your British HQ. Reinforce your units slowly as you have time and save some MPPs by doing so. When your HQ is at full strength change its leader from Lord Gort to Monty, which will increase its rating by 3 points. Send your aircraft to France as otherwise you won't be able to attach your planes to HQ. Set Monty to auto-assist mode and make sure that your fighters (upgrade them), both AA guns and army in Lille is attatched. Send your garrison from Ireland to guard Paris, buy one additional garrison to guard another key cities to prevent French cities from falling to German paratroopers. Move Rhodesian garrison from its capital to port and transport it to Southern France to cover Lyon/Nancy/Dijon as well. Move Australian ships to India to be reinforced and upgraded and move them to Mediterrean. Move your sub form Red Sea to one of the French ports to be reinforced as well. You can upgrade your ship in Falkland to try catching Graf Spee and then move it to Mediterraean. Raid Norway convoy route with 3 ships and set trap with 2 ships for returning Deutschland, sub and Graf Spee. Germans most likely won't come out of Baltic to play with you so you don't need to upgrade your ships there just yet. Send all of your carriers to Mediterrean and make sure that all of your Mediterrean ships are upgraded before Italy will join the war. You can either send your South African troops to help out in West Africa or, if you're uncomfortable to France, but in that case be weary of Graf Spee.
7. France before Fall Gelb - as Germans do not attack Maginot line move at all move all of your valuable armies from there and replace them with corps. Do not reinforce units on the Maginot as you do not have MPPs to spare. Make sure that you'll place an army from Strasbourg and another next to the BEF units on the border with Belgium early to get maximum possible entrenchment. Place 2 other armies behind the frontline armies, leaving space for AA gun, to cover French armies later on. Make sure to attach those 4 armies and your air fighter to your French HQ. You'll have to hoard some MPPs for research, but with what you've got to spare reinforce slowly your army on the border, HQ and air fighter in that order. You should be able to have them at full strength before the attack and don't forget to upgrade your fighters. Though you have to guard some locations in the Africa from incresing Italian mobilization and suffering NM penalty, you do not have to keep your corps there. Sail garrison from Cyprus to guard Damascus, freeing your 8-strength corp there. Transport your corp from Algiers to France as well as you don't need an unit in there anyway. Move your garrison in Madagascar to port and sail it later on (you might not have enough MPPs to move it before Dec/January) to replace corp in Tunis. On the border with Italy create a straight line North from Marseille to Swiss border made by 4 French corps. Reinforce them later on. This is a good defensive positions (high mountains). When your other French HQ will arrive, move it South and attach those corp to them. If you want it is possible to lure Italian units into France and catch them out of supply there, but whether you want to roll a dice is your call. If you'll playing before before 1.05. you'll have to find 350 MPPs to invest 2 chits into infantry weapons within first 4-5 turns, so make sure that you do not use all of your MPPs in every turn. You need to save around 50 to make sure that you'll have enough MPPs to put into research next turn. After 1.05. invest 1 chit into infantry weapons and one into infantry warfare. Say yes to both DE regarding Spanish engineers and Polish corps. Place your engineer between French armies, in a position where you'll deploy British AA gun later on. Build fortifications with him continuously behind your main line (with 2 segments). He'll end his first fortification just when your AA gun will be ready. Use your remaining corps to garrison all of those 4 cities (Chalons, Nancy, Lyon, Dijon) that are not yet garrisoned by British garrisons. Move all your ships to Mediterrean and await Italian entrance patiently.
8. France and England after DOW on Low Countries - first of all do not move into Belgium as you would lose all your entrenchment and by doing so became an easy pray for Germans. Do not invest French money into defense of Low Countries as it's a bad investment. If you can move their units out of harm's way (like ships of air fighters), do it as their loss impacts on French fragile morale. Speaking of NM when Italy joins the war move on with the British Fleet to lure Italians out. What you want to do is deal damage with British Fleet, but strike the final blow with French ships. You don't want to lose French ships, British though can take some losses. You can recover around 20% or French NM just from destroying Italian ships. It's a huge boost. In West Africa, Indian, South African and Sudanese forces should have no trouble dismantling Italian forces systematically. In North Africa block Italian ports with ships and attack Tobruk with your massive reinforcements. You can switch HQ to have a better rating. You should be well on your way to Tobruk when the Africa Korps arrive. You should only encounter German air fighter, tactical bomber and an artillery piece by that point which is easy to deal with. Africa should be Axis-free in early 1941. In the Southern France Italians should not create much problems, if you've prepared a cohesive line beforehand. In the North Axis can create some troubles. Your AA guns with upgrades and Monty will be able to deal damage to enemy bombers, which means they'll not be able to attack your positions every single turn. AI has a tendency to reinforce their units on the frontline instead of moving them away to make room for other forces, which on this compact frontline helps defending player a lot. As Lille is a bit exposed it is usually the main target of German attacks, which is great, because they focus on British forces. British forces can replace their losses and French can't with the economy they have going. Holding to Lille as long as you can is great, as this city protects Loos mine which is a major source of French income. With Lille in Axis hands this mine would lose 1 strength point per turn due to 2 enemy units being adjacent to it. Even if Lille falls it's not a tragedy as defensive line becomes shorter. You can suffer some losses and even be pushed back close to Paris. If your French armies will take a beating, switch them with fresh combat-ready armies behind. With GB's DE regarding deployment of tanks either to Africa or England choose latter option. With French heavy tanks they'll actually pack a punch in potential counteroffensive. Do not be too eager to attack tough, as it's not worth to open yourself just to kill a single unit, if you'll suffer the same fate. At the end you don't need to beat the Germans, only hold them long enough for Commies to come to your aid, which takes a bit longer than a year. It's not actually that long if you take a look at the length of turns in the game.
A couple of general advices:
- make an use of HQ attachments - it's a way too common mistake being made,
- do not be too eager to counter Germans and focus on defense,
- be mindful of state of your units,
- invest in tech that you actually need,
- choose your fights wisely.
< Message edited by Wahhim -- 10/8/2019 2:57:13 PM >
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How to defend France? For French Freedom video playthrough - 
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