Liam

you're right it was a Belgian Fort, this was some time ago they showed the bombed out fort and now I recall it was in Belgium not France but the Germans didn't seem to have much of a problem with it, some sort of sneak operation I thought by Paras

Again the subject of Russians betraying their own is brought up, I understand! Living under a Tyrant the Wermacht in the field may have been much less of a Tyrant. I wonder how many of these Russians were Russian Occuppied Nations and not Pure Blooded? You also have to take into consideration in "Losses" that 300 thousand Romanians or Russians dying is not the equivelant to 300 thousand Americans. You see we invested more into our Men, an American Soldat was worth likely 10 of their enemy. He was better trained, better equiped and more highly valued On the other hand so were Germans and British. As far as the rest of the World, Manpower was expendable in most cases Hitler was WW2, no other wise Commander and Chief would've done what he did, he could've negotiated to get back the land connecting Prussia and Germany instead of War with such a Massive Military. He could've had a SuperPower potential. He was the cause of WW2, his greed, no other Great Leader of Germany would have the audacity to believe he could defeat the entire World with Italy and Japan as Aides.. Maybe with the help of another Great Power

I heard mixed things about the Maginot, didn't German's Airdrop around the Flanks of the Maginot and do massive damage to it? I had heard something about this somewhere on the history channel, they destroyed the fortifications by some sort of explosives? Maybe Satchels thrown in This was likely just in a few areas as far as the size of the project I know that the French Military put a lot of her invest into it.. I doubt that German Armor could challenge it as well as German Artillery, and Germans had excellent Artillery. I wouldn't put my men up against a Wall bristling with Cannons would you? If someone told me for little or no political cost I could flank it, I'd attempt a flank, unless I thought the Bunkers were easily broken down by Longe Range Artillery

I think more so than most of you playing here I've experience with Paradox Titles, having Mastered EU and also Done very well in Victoria. I have tried HOI1 and sampled the Demo of HOI2 and this is what you must come to understand. What lacks in HOI is that it is modelled very much after it's predeccessors. It's weak in that you lack the feel of a Grand Strategic Wargame, you definitely have the feel of a neat tactical wargame, but you get lost in all the gory details. It does not run smooth in that you would never play a MultiPlayer unless those involved were Highly Patient and Very Devoted, and that I've never found in the HOI community, any sort of Devotion, guys in EU2 we'd sit there for 3 hours a night trying to iron out the bugs ourselves, hell we'd even create our own patches and mess with the programming along with the Programmer to get things to run smoother. The Cooperation and level of Play in the EU series was above and beyond the call of Duty, much like SC1 however with HOI it was like a brainchild that was dumped soon after it's completion. Much like Victoria. Very few talk of HOI in the boards on Paradox, few really have the same Hunger for it. There is just something missing from the game engine, and from the creation from Johann and I think that he know's this it however has sold likely more copies than SC1 and 2 combined due to nice glamy cover...it just doesn't appeal to me at all and I think that most share my sentiment One thing to be said, it's semi-interesting. It's a neat feel to play out a wargame of the era in something as detailed if you are really up to sacrificing a good 500 hours... To do it right and to understand every concept, get an Encyclopedia because Vicky or EU2 are not as detailed well Vicky might be... But you'll definitely need to study every aspect to ever get into the groove, I never bothered, I played Bulgaria and created a Balkan Empire, what I really wanted was a Grand Strategy game, maybe from 1900 to 1950.. or 1850-1945 would've made Hoi worth it, a combination of HOI and Vicky with not so much gory detail......because believe me SC2 is a cakewalk I already understand 80% of it's mechanics after 5 months with Vicky, I understood enough to make Transval as Large as the United States and as Powerful as say Austria Hungary but it felt more interested than HOI

On the subject again, it is not beyond belief to see Partisans in Egypt, that is not my first choice but we all recall the Partisans in WW1 that the British aided under Major Lawrence at the time? So it's as acceptable a place as Norway! Or Greece France for that matter abstract as mentioned previously could be Jordanian, Palestinian, Jewish, Syrian, Iraqi, Iranian, Arabian, all more or less Muslim or in some form fanatical about their homeland. Germans would've cooperated with Egypt the nation itself I think.. Egypt was dominated by Colonial Rule so Jordan, would be a more appropiate location for Revolts

SeaMonkey, indeed insightful. The natural order of things is that in the end we will find our place in this Universe as mostly wiped out extinct, finito(sp?, however humans like roaches are the most adaptive two creatures on Earth, oddly I think it a long time before we dissappear altogether. Extinction will be obsolete when man can thrive on other planets, perhaps in open space If there is no second big bang and unending energy. Perhaps small bands of individuals will decide their own fate, as did Pilgrims to the early New World, few hundred colonize a distant world, but then do we cease to be as we are? I think hope in our survival and seeing value in our existence beyond the Scientific is a Neccessity. Spirituality and some form of Peaceful Harmonious non-intrusive lifestyle will have to form, passive humans "The Meek will inherit the Earth," in order to save mankind as a species not so much from the ? but from "himself" Even our destructive power can be used to save lives and it has. Cooperation, an eye to a Creator an understanding of our place in this Universe, the esoteric the evolution of man

SeaMonkey, not the case, WW2 ended did it not? Equality was fought out in the USA to a level. There is Arabian exchange students in Western Schools. LOVE LOVE LOVE However, in Rwanda, Eastern Europe, inner city USA, former Yugoslavia, parts of Africa, and parts of Asia things are working like they have for thousands of years except now Man has weapons that can kill an entire civilization in a second instead of centuries, you disagree? What would have happened D-Day 1975-1986? USSR or USA presses their little red buttons? 1 Billion down, 3 or 4 billion starving to death from Nuclear Winter and Toxic Dust clouds Summize: We are less civilized in some ways on a personal level maybe more so in some ways but it didn't HAPPEN YET! Isreal has 203 Nukes 3 of which are former USSR Nukes, Iran is building them. What next... I know one thing, that isn't going to be pretty if they all go into a Regional Conflict few hundred million could die. "there is nothing you can sing that can't be sung, there is nothing you can do but learn how to be you inside! It's easy! ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!" That or a Nuclear Arsenal to protect your paranoid Butt

the Convoy Routes are outlined on the map some with different colored Tiles Increase USA and RR readiness and increase German MPP plunder, that way the big war starts early and cuts back on Teching and time waiting for a real war HotKeys? especially for chat and Save and Quit if they are not there already, chat most important possibilities? add yours

The biggest problem is that SC2 for some connection speeds lacks streamlining. If you've got a Cable/DSL you're fine. I purpose this alterations instead of AI alterations for slow modems and impatient people: Diplomacy be streamlined and reported in a popup if there are any changes, that cuts a load of time off if anyone is doing any work in the field Others add your streamlining ideas, mine is simple and very workable..

We're just a bunch of WW2 psychonuts, probably all reincarnated from that era.

In some places some of you are right, and some of you are wrong. In truth there were many different minds in the Axis Powers. Who had many different strategic ideas. Not all of them indorsed by their Fuhrer but God knows what he'd of done had you presented to him an appealing enough idea, Hitler was flexible as well as a bit whacko. He was often given to grand ideas and unrealistic movements from the more brilliant minded men in the Nazi Political Machine. AND there were some brilliant men there, spies, politicians, tacticians. Germany even had Grand Plans to meet up with an Axis Globe through Eurasia, getting Japan involved touching hands in India and cutting off England from all of her vital resources. Had that happened, that would have been the death stroke, for the USSR would've been isolated, you cannot rely on Murmansk/Archangel to feed USSR and alone with the Japanese on her flanks things could've become very sticky. However, defeat followed defeat. If you really look at it honestly Germany and the USSR in 1939 were almost allied by splitting up Eastern Europe. Neither were better than one another, ultimately the only difference is History is written by the Winner. Stalin won. Though he was likely poisoned so his history was rewritten and the city in his name, renamed! Hitler meanwhile, wasn't unlike many antisemites in Europe and America. Many people hate jews, many people hate all sorts of Minorities and would indorse their removal. I'd say in America today 50-75% of the caucasion(and why are we called that) indorse the removal of all minorities and were are a relatively tolerant nation. Difference is aside fromt he KKK, the USA hasn't had a very militant anti-minority movement of any size or value worth mentioning. Today more than ever rises hatred again amongst races as they intermingle As off the topic as this is, the Arabs indeed hate us, look what they do if we travel their soil, ironically, before we brought tanks and airplanes look how tolerant they were of us? Of course they knew most of us didn't want to park our RVs on their realestate either. Any Nationality without Homeland will always find difficulties in this day and age and in any age really. There has been many cases of the joining and merging of civilizations, the Romans could teach us a lesson or two. Perhaps the modern era has more bias and hatred than any other. We have it too easy?

Algeria was a French Colony during WW2 still. It later fought with the French Government to gain independance. It is clearly difficult to represent the Germans overrunning all of France's foreign interests just because they conquor Paris. They could likely only get France's foreign possessions to remain neutral that is why it's represented in the Petain Government... Vichy Algiers

Finns do get an HQ, the only nation that does that is a minor besides Spain. Franco was a well known military Commander and I think Mannerheim was also. Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria had leaders, Greece had them. I think the difference is that both Finland and Spain have enough units to warrant an HQ, Finland can field 4 units? Sweden, Turkey and perhaps Greece should also have an HQ, generic.

Just one last thing to say, you all remeber Computer Gaming World when they had a decent Wargaming section at the end it was because one fo the Writers for the magazine was devotee Wargamer. That was back some time ago, these pathetic kids today pop in Civ4 or AOEIII and think it's an instant hit. They're already a passay genre Civ4 has limited playability, the AI can only be tweaked to be stronger by terms of Building more and faster it isn't smarter AOE3 is a waste, I was expecting what SC2 provided..a better SC AOE3 is like 20 other RTS games that turned out really bad and there are no honest write-ups. that is 50 bucks really thrown down the drain so far I've played SC2 more than any other game since Europa Unversalis II and WW2online Blitzkrieg. There is crap in Wargames and PC games today and the writers are probably 22 years old. Bunch of kids expecting Doom XXI Sorry if I'm strong opinionated but I am and I'm so bored with what I crack open at the local best buy, I am afraid to buy any games. I'm afraid to spend. I have bought 10 wargames in the past 2 years, all are sold P.S. If I want a glittery game with graphics I'll get an Xbox

What a dimwit, writing up game reviews. I happened to have read the reviews on games like World At War, they raved about it. Meanwhile I actually played the game out, I sold it and give the game 1 thumb down and half thumb up..maybe 1 thumb up if they had anything to offer. These are the same fools that voted Ages of Empires III the 2nd or 3rd best game of last year. Why is that AOEII is still for sale? Because it's better

I've lived in Germany/England/USA Germans as far as I know do not serve warm beer? In Merry Ole England, we do not drink unrefined Beer! How foolish, we can however LOL goto the supermarket and buy American brand beers, in cuter bottles and put em in the cold cellar! English drink warm Ale, and Warm Beer and give you 1 icecube in your Cola. However, more and more they are serving it from a freezer I noticed, whilst 20-30 years ago that would've been unheard of. Then again it's chilly in England and there is 2 months of Summer so maybe tha this shy? In Germany I was too young to remeber but I'm certian my Father who was stationed there for 5 years and lived on the economy would know about the skippy on German Beer, I do know one thing my Dad told me he went to a German spa, and they were all nude and unshaven? I do HOPE that has changed since the 60s In America, you will always get a refill in any sort of chain restuarant. However the same bloody chains are now in Germany and England and before we know the Germans will own the American Chains so what's truly pure anymore? I do hear that German Culture now adays Rocks, they've a kickarse goth and punk culture, new age culture that us Americanos and Englishers lag behind in. Which is of course sorta goes along with my tastes So there is no more uniqueness amongst us youngins' were all kinda the same P.S. Americans like everything cold including Tea.. If there is more liquid than ice it's UnAmerican "Scowls with this look of distrust from folk who drink a beverage with just 1 cube!"

That's why my thought that a fortification should be able to fire back, but Navarone were some MASSIVE guns no? If you have weather effects perhaps crossing unfriendly territory with a certian supply should have a random Salvo hit? just as kewl and just as historical That would be strategically tied into Crete

This idea was brought up by myself before. It seems an attacking Ship if hitting a Port or a City may take damage, representing Shore Batteries and antiair, it however doesn't ty in with just any unit sitting on the coast. Should this be improved with Say a Tech, Heavy Guns, Anti-Air, Defense Tech, etc... Perhaps... AntiAir is there and that equals Heavier Gun better, better coordination, perhaps even radar driven air defense. A defense never the less

Jolly Guy would be correct, we fought our Kursk. This time however the Russians were not dug in and the line was not so strong defensively. My Superior technology was able to outflank and outmanuever the Russians, though running thin on supply and trading my armor for his armor, he didn't have the reserves that Russians had at Kursk, and after the slaughter the previous year, he didn't have the soldiers either that the Wermacht fielded. All Red Guard Tanks except 1 that I'm aware of North of Stalingrad are destroyed. Meanwhile German reinforcements were brought in from other fronts where they'd enjoyed success and the Luftwaffe has turned the tide. The entire front is collapsing, only Winter can save the Reds now, they're but a barebone fighting force of say a Million men and if but a thousand tanks. Meanwhile the Wermacht possesses a strong 2 Million Man Army several thousand tanks, all superior technologically, more experienced along with total air supremacy

Looks like John has an MPP slowplay Axis style going? I like the sounds of it, I'd like to see if it plays out as possible strategy for Axis? In my game vs JollyGuy, finally right on top of Stalingrad, there is no real western threat, German 5 Armor is Kick ass

More Red Tanks appear out of seemingly nowhere, Stalin sends them into a dashing effort, a couple of German Armies and corps are destroyed in the effort even some Panzers however we counter attack again! Even With our own Tigers out of Range we manage to kill of plenty of Red equipment, our Fighters now operated from the West aiding in the effort. Rostov is now firmly Axis. The Caucasus are now going to be left open for another good 2 or 3 Months of Weather and the weather is better Down South so things are not looking good for the Allies. Stalingrad is soon directly threatened, only supply is our problem. North and South USSR is seperated, North has only corp defense, South is being slowly eaten away at... Game expected not to last another Summer with any real hopes for the Allies

Agreed, unless this guy has got 6 or 7 more of those Red tanks, 5-10 more corps he will not have a second chance. This is late in the game, Summer of '43.. Been a slow and steady advance.. very difficult terrain to navigate, and I've been worried about being smacked by 10 Red Tanks

Massive Red Counteroffensive, 4 level 4 Red tanks appear. Perhaps more behind the lines. All stemming from behind Stalingrad. 3 out of 4 seen are destroyed by superior German armor. Rostov, HeadQuarters destroyed by Wermacht. German Tigers smash holes throughout the Red Lines, now is the back broken of the Soviet Armed Forces? 4 partisans operating at once, appearing all over in July ! We crush them under the boots of our superior technology and tank tracks... No remaining Allies on Western Soil aside fron Norway and Bergen, Oslo firmly Axis

PanzerKiel, rofl he is the best for the job in Africa...low supply but didn't all High Ranking German Officers have a taste for good music?

you're right, I have tried, Frog fleet is here to stay, you can however operate 2 French corps from the med to the Battle