Night

It is true that the most German Troops were lost in Russia, and Russia might have also lost more people then the Western Allies, but you have to consider that the Soviet's didn't care about the lives of thier men very much, and were notorious for just charging thier troops into meat grinders basicly, not to mention that the was was fought on thier soil and hence more of thier people would die as side losses in cities being bombed/shelled, fought in and around, etc. A good example of the lack of regard for Russin lives is the Movie "Enemy at the Gates" if anyone has ever seen it, the Soviet's in the movie at the beginning would just charge German position's with only half of thier men even wielding weapons! and told if they retreated they would be shot! Also, they didn't allow anyone to leave the city until the battle was nearly over. I stick by my thought that without any of the "Big Three" the war could not have been won.

June 22, 1941, Germany Surrender's to the combined Might of England and France after losing all land and cities west of Berlin, and finally Berlin itself. I did it without the USSR even entering the war Italy is REALLY screwed now, and as if thing's wern't bad enough, Russia is a turn away from entering itself LOL

The way I see it, If any of them hadn't have fought with Germany, Germany might have beaten the others. However, If Britain was not at war with Germany at the time it invaded the Soviet Union, and the US not entered shortly after, Germany would have beaten Russia Hands down. Everyone talks about how Russia made a glorious comeback and defeated the German's decisivly, and this is true, but consider just how close the German's were to winning... they were after all basicly at the gates of Moscow, Nearly caused Stalingrad to fall, conquered all but the last cities in western Russia, and decimated the Russin's for about 2 years straight. Had Germany not been locked in a struggle in the skies over Britian and later France/Germany, not to mention didn't need it's large force in France, Italy, etc. to try and fend off the Western Allies, Most of those forces would have been fighting in Russia, and def. would have made a difference. On the same token, if Hitler had never invaded the Soviet Union, His force's very well could have overwhelmed Britian and possibly invaded in some time. The one thing that stick's out in my mind as a deciding factor is the large Royal Navy that would have protected the Home Isle to the death. Draw your own conculsion's, but all of them were needed to defeat Germany if you ask me.

88, FOW should be on, I always play with it on just because it makes the game more fun, i'm not exactly sure if 1.06 makes a difference but I DO have 1.07 beta. Attacking on turn 3 might be to late IMO because you have to push hard and fast into Germany and cut off/capture as many resources as possible, often the German's will bring back an army and tank group, but since they are isolated they can be easily destroyed, or even severely damaged costing the already struggling German MPP production to take a real hit. If you follow my plan loosly, like Edwin P. did, and use the very powerful allied fleet to destroy the German fleet and distract the air units, which are IMO Germany's most powerful element this early in the game. Edwin, I very much like your idea about oper. the Polish air fleet out and i'm going to run another test using this plan. Seawolf, Thanks very much Honestly it's nice to know I got noticed.

Edwin, I had very very similar result's in my game, I held onto France until the Soviet's really laid a hurt on the Germans, then started my own push and systimaticly crushed them. The only difference I had, Which I think worked out to my advantage, is that Poland did surrender and the AI declared war on Belgium right after! Belgium never fell and it was key in my forces driving deep into Germany. I really do like this strat. a lot vs the AI atleast ;0) glad you all seem to like it as well.

This is the first time I have tried an Early sea lion, mostly because I could never understand how so early in the game one could challenge the Royal Navy and be able to land without lossing half your transport's to battleships and such. Well I pulled a brilliant plan in which I drew the Royal Navy out to many different spots and succeded in landing all of my transports. Everything was going fine, and in fact Spain even joined the Axis 3 turns into my invasion. I captured London and the goverenment fled to Manchester, so I proceeded to attack there. Then all of a sudden I realized that not only had the US's war readiness spiked like I had figured, but the USSR did as well. The US I could have handled fairly easily, but the USSR was a huge problem, and top it all off, only 1 axis minor in the blakins joined my alliance. I had to pull 2 armies and ALOT of MPPs from England to get a defence up, which held fine. Then at the gates of Manchester, I finally broke and destroyed the UK corps, only to find I had nothing to move into the city... they replaced the corps and AGAIN I destroyed it with nothing to move in... so frustrating. By now the US had landed all behind me and drove my plans back to france and taken London, my 2 tank groups, 1 army and 1 italian army left in the UK were pretty much toast. I managed to surprisingly drive the soviet's back and if the US and UK wern't still around *chuckle* I could beat them even without my veteran forces. Does anyone have a plan for an early sea lion right after the fall of france?

ROFL

When I wrote my original reply, I was thinking something along the lines of the Unit needing to be or automaticly reduced to 5 str. I agree with your Idea about the mulbury harbor's using HQ's.

88mm, Sounds like you did one over me again though, I made some mistakes which I contribute to the fact that I was working many things out and never had tried such an idea before, In a little while i'm going to start a new game and run it more smoothly, however even with my unexspected losses, I was able to absolutly decimate the German's and the USSR is 85% readiness! Of course after the USSR enters, the war is pretty much over since nethier France nor the Low Countries have fallen, Poland should never have fallen but like a idiot, I forgot to reenforce warsaw 1 turn *smacks head* LoL. Sorry I forgot to mention Canada but yes I brought them over ASAP. I'm glad you approve of the strat, I figured it was worth a try and noteworthy.

Reading Edwin P.'s Allied Polish Strats. Gave me this plan. The first time I ever played as the Allies in a 1939 campaign I saw 4 French Armies bordering Germany and really nothing in the way but a corps in each city, and prehaps some in range airfleets. I thought to Myself "Why don't I just invade Germany while it's busy with Poland.." Of course as I got more familer with the game, I realized this is Not such a good idea since the Germany Armies will soon be done with Poland and on you in a heartbeat. However, With some tinker using the idea's about prolonging Poland's surrender, I came up with a crude but seemingly effective plan. I recently tested this Vs. the AI on expert level. The goal is to be ready to attack INTO Germany on turn 2. Otherwise it is too late. Using the Polish prolonging action, I quickly began my buildup. First, the French Corps in Beruit is Sold for money, then the french fleets in Toulon in the south, as well as Arcachon, then the French Airfleet. The overall goal of these sales are to buy a French HQ, obviously a must for ANY invasion of anything. Next, the British and Remaining French Fleets must be sent toward the Baltic, in hopes of engaging the Weak German Fleet, and Distracting the German Airfleets, as well as taking advantage of any German unit's that brush the water. This of course will cost your Fleet dearly, but if all goes to plan, you will not need them. The French Corps in Algeirs must be transported to Southern France and the British Airfleet in Malta Sent to Mainland England. The British Corps in London, sent to northern france via Transport. The British Airfleet and Bomber in England, also sent to france. Now you are in position for the attack. You must remember, the goal of this strike is not to take over Germany so Early, but rather destroy it's industrial base while it is still very small and weak, and prehaps more importantly, to destroy the Germany Luwftwaffe, Also, you must take advantage of any isolated German unit's other then those in cities, and destroy/badly hurt them. REMEBER Germany this early in the game doesn't make enough MPPs to deal with massive losses in any respect. What I found was that by driving into Germany, I drew back a German Army, and a turn later a German Tank group, both of which i was able to destroy by simply overwhelming them. Keeping my goals in mind, I did NOT attack Munich, Essen, and Cologne, but cut them off from the rest of germany so that thier Efficency goes to 50% as many of you know happens when a city/resource is totally cut off from it's capital. Also, I drove for and took the mines above Cologne, further reducing the dwindling Germany MPPs. My fleets pushing into the Baltic obviously Smashed the Germany Navy with basic Ease, but more importantly were able to draw a little fire from the Airfleets to keep them from attacking my ground forces. Next, came the real hard blow. Since the German's had no choice but to use thier Airfleets every turn, I was able to throw a single Army or corps ahead after drawing that airfleet out to intercept with the RAF and smash 5 points off of it. Then, another German Airfleet came under a similar fate. Many more Turn's into the fight, the plan had taken it's effect, unable to replace the losses in it's expensive Airfleets and even it's damaged ground forces so early in the game and with over half over it's MPPs gone, two German Airfleets were destroyed on the ground. Something I hadn't expected, although I should have, happened. Insted of finishing off Poland on the brink, the German's withdrew all but 1 unit from Poland to Defend Berlin which now had 2 French unit's on it's Border. On this same turn, Italy Declared war on the Allies, which had little effect at first since I had expected this and had my Algiers corps in Souther France for them to bounce off of. The Next turn I passed my British Corps by the hex that control's the port of Kiel in Northern Germany, capturing it. Sadly, in the next two turns I made a mistake which left a French Army surronded but of course I have learned from this mistake. I currently have my game saved so I can come here and write this, But I believe that If I were to start all over again, without the learning mistakes, I would be able to strike a near death blow to the German's early in the war. France and Britian, Added by the captured German Port and Mine, Gain MPPs much faster then the badly wounded German's and it is obvious that I will be able to wear them down over time. The only wild card right now is what to do with Italy, but I think I might bring the British Fleet's in the Med up to engage the Italian Fleet, not to destroy it, but damge as many ships as possible to eat up thier MPPs in repairs while I gain steam attacking Germany, this will buy me much time. Obviously, this strat would need a lot of agjustments against a veteran human player, but it was Damn fun to figure out vs. the AI and surprisingly effective. On the defensive so early, the German's never could recover, and I believe if they ever do drive me out of Germany, it will have cost so much time and MPPs that later event's in the war. I.E. Russin and US entry, Will spell certain doom for the German's who will barley have enough time to regain the airfleets and unit's lost eariler, not to mention build up enough to handle the Soviets and Americans. Let me know what you guys think, It might seem crazy at first but trust me, atleast against the A.I., It WORKS.

Sadly, without a port you cannot embark troops into transports, I wish this was overcome somehow but You can obviously see how this is realistic. The only way you would be able to get them out is to get a port, or Operate them out, however unless you have Sweden under your control, there is no where you can go. Norway can be invaded sucessfully easily, but you have to understand how the game works. Did you land an HQ with your troops? If not, Your troops will have no way of getting Supply without having captured a port and/or city in that area. With no supply, you will notice your troops are basicly useless. HQ's provide battlefield supply depots basicly which allows your troops to fight in Forgien area, without the aid of a freindly city. Without HQs, Invasion such as into Norway, Or North Africa, Are basicly impossible. Always keep an Eye on your troops Supply Level and keep it as high as possible. If you start using HQ's to support your invasion you will find thing's go smoother and easier. Norway is worth invading in some cases and some not, it all depends on your overall strat. for the game. It is a good way to start reducing Axis MPPs so thier war machine will begin to grind to a halt, and add to your own. However, this obviously will cost you MPPs in terms of the troops and reenforcements used in the attack. Also, If your tied up invading somewhere, you may find it much harder to get the resources to attack or defend in other area's of the map.

You have to check the entrenchment level, often no damage will even be done to a unit with above 2 entrenchment. Places like Sevastapol for example or the Maginot Line are heavy forts and unit's can get up around 8 entrenchment level. Every attack from air or ground takes 1 point from the level, but every turn they also regain 1. So it will often take 1-2 turns just to remove thier entrenchment to the point where you can start doing real damage, then you will see them come down quickly and easily.

If for no other real life reason, because it would really dumb and crazy if you could just take them out that fast. Whole wars could turn around because you drive 1 tank group far around the enemy and destroy his HQ in a single turn.

Isn't it great when you play as the Axis, or even the Allies, and Take over or ally with Every single country in the game? including Switz.! LoL

Usally I just suicide attack the German Tank unit's, esp. if one damaged itself slightly attacking one of my own unit's. But I will have to try out your Idea to delay the fall of poland, The only strat that I can think of off hand without going in-game is to force the British/French Fleet into the Baltic to harras and distract German unit's In Poland, while hiding some polish unit's like you have stated. Of course, you will trade ship strengths, and possibly whole ships, for time, However, if these are mostly french ships taking the damage, it doesn't matter all that much since many will be gone, unused, after france Surrenders.

The chance of that happening in real life are really remote so I don't see a reason to add that to the game, If you did that, you would have to add capturing Airfleet's when attacked on the ground, etc. etc.

I agree with Edwind. If you really think about it, the AI's predictablity make's it very vunerable. Like I stated eariler, the allied AI usally just open's up an "air front" againt me until later in the war with Russia, then finally invades France, and even that is predictable and thus, defeatable. Since I pretty much know England isn't going to attack me much anywhere else but some bombing and limited navel bombardment in France, I can consintrate my force on just about anything I want, including building a huge force to attack Russia with.

If it was the third, what was the second?

..? I have never seen a serious invasion of Norway, and DEF not an attack on port. I wish I did though! My games seem to get pretty repetative. Usally the Allied AI just does Air assults on mainland Europe while I fight and beat Russia, and when Moscow is in my sights is about the time they are ready and launch an invasion into france, which usally takes brest easily using battleships and airattack, but is soon stoped since they barley land HQ's early enough to stop me from smashing many units. It actually get's kinda borin Another thing, I haven't seen the Axis AI invade Norway ethier, just poland, denmark, france, sometimes greece, yugo, then russia.

Well that's just the SS, I still think the idea could work.

That's an interesting thought indeed.

What about forces such as the SS? or Republicin Guard? These unit's might not have been up to par with spec. ops. like Seals or Spentaz but I believe they were atleast slightly better then the basic army unit.

I just checked it out real quick, very nice. Gotta make it real hard for the axis.

Oh i'm sorry never tried it, i'll download it later tonight. I'll rename mine.

What if you could do additional training of troops in SC? with a max gain of 1 full bar of exp. Many more elite unit's undergo more extensive training and this reflects on thier preformance. Maybe you could gain 1/4 or 1/3 a bar for every month you train, so you have to decide if you need that unit right away at the front, or have some time to get it up a little stronger.