Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

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ORIGINAL: lomyrin
I have also seen a game where Germany went for Poland and immediately thereafter Russia, leaving France only lightly screened. In such a situation it could be to France's advantage to DoW Belgium sometime late 40 or early 41.

So, if Germany poses no threat to France, then the strategic defensive posture could be changed to something a bit more agressive. As part of that change in strategic thinking, declaring war on Belgium (to extend the frontline against Germany) could be made possible. I see this as a major change in the strategic plan due to 'circumstances'. Are there others? Spain?

The AIO is continuously monitoring the relative strengths of each frontline. If the USSR is in serious trouble, should France launch an all out offensive?

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ORIGINAL: lomyrin
I have also seen a game where Germany went for Poland and immediately thereafter Russia, leaving France only lightly screened. In such a situation it could be to France's advantage to DoW Belgium sometime late 40 or early 41.

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ORIGINAL: Froonp

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(5) Where are the expected areas of conflict, with whom, and what type of combat (land, naval, air, and/or convoys)?
(...)
Offense
German factories and oil resource(s) - land attacks and strategic bombing
Italian factories - land attacks and strategic bombing
Spain - land
Western Med, Italian Coast, and Eastern Med. - naval surface fleet combat with Italy, attack Italian convoys.
North Sea and Baltic Sea - naval surface fleet combat with Germany

Maybe this is covered by the "Tactical AI", but one of the targets in Offense, should be the enemy HQs.
This is true for any army at land war. Targeting enemy HQs is a very important thing to do.

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(6) What is the master production plan by unit type and gearing limits?
(...)
Land -

This depends on players.
Of note, building 1 or 2 armor capable units (ARM or MECH) is good to create an anti blitz stack. 1 may be enough, as there is already one on the spiral.

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1.3 Make initiative choices (going first, rerolling); s.6 (2 Re)
There are several items involved here. First the subordinates to the JCS need to determine the likely cost in CVs of going first versus going second in the current turn. In most cases, when given the opportunity to go first, France should take it. The decision about going first or second lies in the hands of the GS because of the importance of getting the initiative at certain times. The decision to reroll is identical in this regard.

France should not try to go first at every opportunity (The CW has more chances to ask for this, because of convoy defending). France should try to make the Intiative go toward the +2 Allied section as soon as possible.
The only turns when France should advocate to go first if possible are the turn when Germany will DoW, and the couple of turns thereafter.

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1.7 Make intelligence decisions (Re & In)
?

France should aim at gaining intell points, so France should most of the time choose to have multipliers, and not dices.
But France should also not forget about using the Intell before Germany Vichyfies it.
The CW should be choosing dices, as the CW has 2 dices for every Intell Point.
This said, France should never spend a BP on Intell Operations, France has to scarse BPs.
It France has a spare BP during a production phase, France should store it for next turn, and not buy an Intell point.

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1.8 Decide whether to destroy factories; s. 22.2 (1 In)
Destroy all blue enemy factories whenever possible. Orders are passed along to Field Marshals to move land units into blue factory hexes and destroy them.

Why ???
France should not destroy its own blue factories. The enemy can't use them, but France will be able to use them when France is liberated, so destroying them goes against France interests.

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1.9 Choose new home country (1 Re)
This is a hard coded decision, since there are few choices.

Should not be hardcoded.
Should be a choice amongst the available Free France countries. The one that will be chosen should be one with the most cities and the most ports and eventualy RPs. The one chosen should not be too far away from the UK and the USA, for future lend lease, and should be reasonably close to the future European field of battle.

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ORIGINAL: wfzimmerman

how about helping the British take out southern Norway in 39-40? I realize from what I read that this is rarely done by WIF players but just looking at the map it seems like a reasonable alternative.

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ORIGINAL: bredsjomagnus
I think there should always exist a chance for the different action alternetives that is at hand. For example to declare war against Belgium or what ever there is, even if that chance is very small. To implement "never", makes a nation all to predictable.

A "stiff" nation, might in my opinion, become an easier opponent than one that always keeps its alternatives open. But of course France should give priority to her defences and only in rare cases attack Belgium and so on.

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I think hard-coded is possible. Assume all the French territories go Free France, which should be the new home country? And if that one is not available, but all the others are? And so on.

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ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

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ORIGINAL: trees trees

you'll need completely different AI routines for good play using 1d10 vs 2d10. you could save a lot of time by writing AI for only one combat table. the cutting edge of WiF is 2d10.

I see no difference between the two CRTs from the AI's point of view. They both translate into probabilities of different outcomes. It is the probabilities of outcomes that the AI uses to decide whether to attack or if a defensive position needs strengthening, etc..

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ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

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ORIGINAL: trees trees

you'll need completely different AI routines for good play using 1d10 vs 2d10. you could save a lot of time by writing AI for only one combat table. the cutting edge of WiF is 2d10.

I see no difference between the two CRTs from the AI's point of view. They both translate into probabilities of different outcomes. It is the probabilities of outcomes that the AI uses to decide whether to attack or if a defensive position needs strengthening, etc..

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ORIGINAL: trees

Steve's AI outline mentioned the important cities for the French Army to consider, but I think they should think more about the line of the Dyle river than the cities in particular. And leave all coastal hexes to the BEF for starters.

It also posits never aligning a country to France. I would align Yugoslavia to France in the case of a 1939 or early 1940 Axis attack, as the French will be more likely to be able to pick a land impulse and give the Yugoslav pieces a chance to move some. I guess if Yugo wasn't conquered it could end up a Vichy minor but I don't think that would be a completely bad thing for the Allies. Once Free France is established they make a good controller of any minor countries the Axis might still attack as they will have more action limits to work with.

Someone mentioned that France can send four corps across the border with Germany and possibly aligning Yugo to the Allies. This could be a sucker move by the Germans to allow this _IF_ Russia has already demanded Bessarabia early.

Oh and as for picking a Free French home country, aside from the fun of a lucky roll on Indo-China, Senegal if available is the number one choice as the most Build Points can land there. Syria is good for those reasons too but this will be way expensive in Convoy Points. To save Convoy Points any Free French colony in the Americas, depending on how those look (cities? major ports?) on the new map. The priorities are simple ... how much Lend-Lease can land, and how far from the USA. I also wouldn't select their capital in anything except a port (so not Cameroons), again depending on how the new map of Africa works out for that.

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ORIGINAL: trees

Putting the Free French Home Country in Indo-China is great fun. An immediate thorn in the Japanese side ... a major port on the South China sea zone in Allied hands is something the Japanese AI (and human players) should never tolerate. Especially a major port that is a SUPPLY SOURCE for the US and CW. The Japanese are quickly on the horns of a dilemna ... if they move to take Free Vietnam the US jumps in the war right quick. If they don't the CW can easily send all Indian and Australian production (and maybe some Chinese, especially if the Russian bear has decided to come over and magnify the Japanese headaches) as Lend-Lease over that way and the Japanese are soon looking at new, beefy French INF and GARR units, and long-range FTR of cutting-edge American design parked right on their sensitive sea zone. Without the Oil option Indo-China is even more dangerous for the Japanese. Plus Hanoi is not simple to take, the Chinese probably still hold the northern flank and south of it is a mountain hex that only gains you a river hexside on Hanoi itself. Meanwhile Japan also needs to take Saigon but that too is a supply source and if you commit to attacking that there is less available for Hanoi. Add Saigon and Hanoi to the list of Manila, Singapore, and Batavia and the Japanese can be bogged down for a long time. Yes, I would take Indo-China as their Home Country whenever I can, the only exception is if things are looking really really bad for the CW and they won't be able to spare a few build points for the Free French.

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ORIGINAL: Froonp

So I agree that there is potential in putting the French Home Country in Indochina, in the short run, but in the long run I think this is a complete waste.
The new Home Country of Free France should be placed in a country where it won't be conquered a second time, and where it can "start back" in the offensive. Not simply to be a shard in the side.

French troops & planes are very important in Europe in 44-45, and doing this pretty much garantees that there won't be enough.

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ORIGINAL: CBoehm

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ORIGINAL: Froonp
So I agree that there is potential in putting the French Home Country in Indochina, in the short run, but in the long run I think this is a complete waste.
The new Home Country of Free France should be placed in a country where it won't be conquered a second time, and where it can "start back" in the offensive. Not simply to be a shard in the side.

French troops & planes are very important in Europe in 44-45, and doing this pretty much garantees that there won't be enough.

I couldnt agree more ! - the most aggressive I have ever been with choosing FF homenation was to set it up in Syria in one case, for the nice primary supplysource for the brits to use *g* ...and Marocco ....but in 19/20 games FF ends up in either Equatorial Afrika or Senegal ....

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ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

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ORIGINAL: CBoehm

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ORIGINAL: Froonp
So I agree that there is potential in putting the French Home Country in Indochina, in the short run, but in the long run I think this is a complete waste.
The new Home Country of Free France should be placed in a country where it won't be conquered a second time, and where it can "start back" in the offensive. Not simply to be a shard in the side.

French troops & planes are very important in Europe in 44-45, and doing this pretty much garantees that there won't be enough.

I couldnt agree more ! - the most aggressive I have ever been with choosing FF homenation was to set it up in Syria in one case, for the nice primary supplysource for the brits to use *g* ...and Marocco ....but in 19/20 games FF ends up in either Equatorial Afrika or Senegal ....

From this discussion I am thinking of making Syria and Indo-China a possible home country for France, but with very low probability ( < 5%).

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ORIGINAL: wfzimmerman

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ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

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ORIGINAL: CBoehm

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ORIGINAL: Froonp
So I agree that there is potential in putting the French Home Country in Indochina, in the short run, but in the long run I think this is a complete waste.
The new Home Country of Free France should be placed in a country where it won't be conquered a second time, and where it can "start back" in the offensive. Not simply to be a shard in the side.

French troops & planes are very important in Europe in 44-45, and doing this pretty much garantees that there won't be enough.

I couldnt agree more ! - the most aggressive I have ever been with choosing FF homenation was to set it up in Syria in one case, for the nice primary supplysource for the brits to use *g* ...and Marocco ....but in 19/20 games FF ends up in either Equatorial Afrika or Senegal ....

From this discussion I am thinking of making Syria and Indo-China a possible home country for France, but with very low probability ( < 5%).

Personally, I would like to see a slightly higher probability (say 8- 10%) that the AI will try gambits like the Indo-China one that could really throw an inexperienced opponent for a loop. It should be something that you encounter once every ten or twelve games, not every twenty.

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ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
How about 3% for IndoChina and 6% for Syria (assuming they are available).

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ORIGINAL: Froonp
Syria is really not a good option. It is quite unreachable for the Allies LL, and the Axis will conquer it easily. It is not worse that Indochina, but close to. Except the supply source for the CW units, it serves absolutely no goal. And if playing with Oil, the CW will also need oil for reorg, so this is even more useless.

Morocco is better, even if not a primary choice for me, by far.

The best choice is Senegal, but it has small chances of being Free France, so the next best choice is Gabon.

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ORIGINAL: CBoehm

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ORIGINAL: Froonp
Syria is really not a good option. It is quite unreachable for the Allies LL, and the Axis will conquer it easily. It is not worse that Indochina, but close to. Except the supply source for the CW units, it serves absolutely no goal. And if playing with Oil, the CW will also need oil for reorg, so this is even more useless.

Morocco is better, even if not a primary choice for me, by far.

The best choice is Senegal, but it has small chances of being Free France, so the next best choice is Gabon.

Syria is not bad if the allies dare to make a bet that Ge is going for USSR (based on builds etc.) ...Syria gives a nice supply source in the eastern end of the MED ...provided Suez is held oil can be traced unlimited through africa ...and assuming USSR has taken out Persia ...oil could also be traced through Persia and USSR or to Burma ...

Indochina is IMO impossible to hold ...could perhaps be attempted ONLY if coordinated with a US-CW JP first strategy but otherwise is a sure loss ...but AFAI recall it has been stated that no overall allied or axis AI will be implemented to ensure coordinated action between the allies ?? or am I mistaken ...If this is correct Im sorry to say so but I just cannot ever see the allies really have a good chance ...there just has to be a coordinated allied strategy on whether or not to go for Ge or JP first ...the allies just cannot fight effectively on the offence in both Europe and the Pacific in 42-43 they neither have the strength or the impulses to really be effective in both theaters until 44 when the US has adaquete strength and chits to do supercombineds...

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ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
Does anyone have some detailed suggestions on builds for France? If I can fill in that missing piece, I'll look into pseudo-encoding France's strategic plan to see how it will be used by the other AIO decision makers (e.g., Foreign Liaison and Manufaturing Council). What I want to do is get one of these fleshed out a little and then look into doing the same for China. Notice that I am starting with the easiest first. The shallow end of the pool, to get my feet wet with how all this will hang together.[/color]

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ORIGINAL: trees
I'll expand a little bit on what I meant about Sep/Oct 39 production...the French only have 5 BP to work with, maximum, they can't receive any loans that turn because they are not an active Major Power in the Lending phase. Whatever decision they make here will about fix their gearing limits for the rest of their short time in the game. [I am assuming the use of the 2d10 table with blitz bonuses, I doubt I'll ever play any other way].This also somewhat depends on what guns they draw. If there is still an AT to build, I like to build it and a MIL in S/O, and then a MECH and 2 MIL in N/D with a 4 BP loan from the CW. Or add a pilot with a 6 BP loan. Then in J/F build the new INF, GARR, and another MIL (four now with the new Senegal MIL)and (hopefully) one of the brand new FTR-2's (I'd put it in on the board rather than the FTR-3 from the spiral, or use it to put a shot-down pilot in). This sets everything up to rebuild all the MIL in Mar/Apr if the weather was good that turn and the MIL were used to take losses. CBoehm's suggestion of having the French send out their BPs to the CW is excellent play, I would start doing this in May/Jun. Except for MIL they shouldn't build anything that can't arrive by Jul/Aug at the latest, it will most likely become a Vichy unit if appearing later. Germany gets the biggest decision as to when Vichy might appear when they decide whether or not to use Offensive Chits to achieve this, although weather rolls in Mar/Apr and May/Jun play a big part in this. If there are no Anti-Tank guns to build my decision process gets more complicated but still revolves around the Infantry gearing. An AA gun or ART is good but then you can't build anything else on the first turn...so maybe a Pilot and a MIL and save a BP in that case.

If facing a France first German strategy I'd probably build all MIL in Sep/Oct in case Nov/Dec has good weather. If Sep/Oct ended with bad weather pluses (likely) maybe I'd stick with my regular build schedule.

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ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

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ORIGINAL: trees
I'll expand a little bit on what I meant about Sep/Oct 39 production...the French only have 5 BP to work with, maximum, they can't receive any loans that turn because they are not an active Major Power in the Lending phase. Whatever decision they make here will about fix their gearing limits for the rest of their short time in the game. [I am assuming the use of the 2d10 table with blitz bonuses, I doubt I'll ever play any other way].This also somewhat depends on what guns they draw. If there is still an AT to build, I like to build it and a MIL in S/O, and then a MECH and 2 MIL in N/D with a 4 BP loan from the CW. Or add a pilot with a 6 BP loan. Then in J/F build the new INF, GARR, and another MIL (four now with the new Senegal MIL)and (hopefully) one of the brand new FTR-2's (I'd put it in on the board rather than the FTR-3 from the spiral, or use it to put a shot-down pilot in). This sets everything up to rebuild all the MIL in Mar/Apr if the weather was good that turn and the MIL were used to take losses. CBoehm's suggestion of having the French send out their BPs to the CW is excellent play, I would start doing this in May/Jun. Except for MIL they shouldn't build anything that can't arrive by Jul/Aug at the latest, it will most likely become a Vichy unit if appearing later. Germany gets the biggest decision as to when Vichy might appear when they decide whether or not to use Offensive Chits to achieve this, although weather rolls in Mar/Apr and May/Jun play a big part in this. If there are no Anti-Tank guns to build my decision process gets more complicated but still revolves around the Infantry gearing. An AA gun or ART is good but then you can't build anything else on the first turn...so maybe a Pilot and a MIL and save a BP in that case.

If facing a France first German strategy I'd probably build all MIL in Sep/Oct in case Nov/Dec has good weather. If Sep/Oct ended with bad weather pluses (likely) maybe I'd stick with my regular build schedule.

Ok. But I do not see how France gets 5 BP in Sep/Oct. Is the CW convoying the French Indo-China resource to Marseilles?

There are 6 resources in Metropolitan France and the 1 Algerian resource can be brought in by rail (through Spain). 3 convoys can bring the 1 Senegal resource up to Brest. With 8 resources delivered, that only leaves 4 French convoys remaining to bring in the 2 remaining Pacific resources.

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Ok. But I do not see how France gets 5 BP in Sep/Oct. Is the CW convoying the French Indo-China resource to Marseilles?

There are 6 resources in Metropolitan France and the 1 Algerian resource can be brought in by rail (through Spain). 3 convoys can bring the 1 Senegal resource up to Brest. With 8 resources delivered, that only leaves 4 French convoys remaining to bring in the 2 remaining Pacific resources.