AshesFall

The war in the Mediterranean Ever since Italy entered the war, France and the UK have harassed the Regia Marina in port. Their concentrated efforts, mostly by the French, sank a cruiser in the port of Durasso, and severely damaged a Battleship. Ever since, Mussolini’s prize navy has been hiding as deep in their ports as possible, wisely taking Admiral Raeder’s advice to avoid battle with the French fleet. All the while, the Regia Aeronautica tried to harass the British (in particular), with only marginal success. However, as the fall of France drew close the Luftwaffe joined their beleaguered allies, and struck from the skies to severely damage both a British battleship and a Carrier. This Prompted the withdrawal of English naval forces from the vicinity, leaving only the dispirited French fleet to continue the attacks. Shortly, the French navy surrendered and were recalled to Vichy France, where the treacherous British swiftly struck their former allies at port and sank much of their already damaged navy. They say they do not “recognize the government”… semantics for base traitors and backstabbers! Our overall strategy in the Mediterranean theatre then. The first part was to preserve, as much as possible, the Regia Marina as a fleet in being. That has been mostly successful, the loss of a single Cruiser is not devastating. The second part involves the already present Tactical Bombers, and the German and Italian Strategic bombers. Operation Heraclion. We need to start reducing Malta to rubble, so that our close air support can eventually destroy the corps on Malta, and allow our second fallschirmsjaeger division to take the Island. That damned patch of sand hampers and bedevils any attempt at supplying our forces in North Africa, and the coming campaign there must be free from such difficulties. The third part then, is the war in North Africa. The Italians already stand around Tobruk in some strength, though reinforcements still trickle in. Unfortunately, the Italians stubbornly refuse to discover any sort of technological advances, despite having invested in Advanced Naval warfare back in 1939. As soon as possible, we will attempt to invest in better infantry weaponry for these backwards allies of ours. The Fourth part is the arrival of Rommel, an Elite panzer corps, and the leichte Africa corps. An offspring of Guderians Panzergrenadiers. With these forces, we hope to be able to overtake the Allies in Egypt, and threaten their precious oil in the east. With enough luck (and of course the application of fabolous skill from the desert fox), perhaps an invasion of Soviet from the south can be possible.

July and August, 1939 – Fall Rot Fall Rot, the development and amendment of Fall Gelb after its’ initial unexpected successes, aims at “der sichelschnitt”, a developed cut both North and south behind the enemy lines from our central breach. These cuts, one heading towards the coast towards Caen and Cherbourg, and one heading south to link with the Fallschirmsjaeger in Nancy, will envelop our already confused and demoralized enemies. Combined with the push across the largely abandoned Maginot line, we believe that this will be enough to end the war in france and perhaps even persuade the British to surrender. OKH is dismayed at the first true loss of the war. Under determined counterattacks from several French and British formations the newly formed brain child of Guderian, the Panzergrenadiers, shattered. Nevertheless, our answer was decisive, reaching the outskirts of Paris while enveloping the northern center line by smashing through the anchor and skirting around it on its’ north end, coming into direct contact with British headquarters. The Englishmen will not find it easy to escape France. The Luftwaffe redeployed to support the final assault on Paris, slated for August. The assault on Paris took two weeks, but elsewhere the encircled French and British forces have been decimated. We shattered Alexander and his staff, and though the man himself managed to escape, he was in dire straits and must rebuild his staff from the ground up (he was str 1 or so when I destroyed him, so low supply). The main B.E.F army has retreated to the coast, no doubt hoping for an emergency evacuation by sea. Goering promises that he can destroy them and that we need not waste our armor in finishing them off. The French fight on despite the loss of Paris. Early August, and Fall Rot draws to a close. Though the French stubbornly fought on for a while longer, Rundstedt managed to convince the Furher to send Panzers north to finish the British decisively. They were completely shattered and surrounded, and though a select few escaped by fishing skiff across the channel, most of the British are now in out custody. Elsewhere, the decimation of the French forces continued. Despite all efforts, the French continued to fight on until late August, when their will to go on as British abandoned them evaporated on the cusp of September. Our invasion of the west was a complete success. Though we have taken fairly high attritional losses on our participating formations, only one formation was completely shattered. Our extreme advantage in mobile armored forces (five “armor groups”), supported by several wings of ground attack aircraft, are believed to have been decisive. The French stubbornness and willingness to fight on until September is largely offset by the destruction of the B.E.F. It is believed that between one and three corps escaped, but one Corps, an Army and the British HQ were all surrounded and taken captive. A new government has been installed under the management of collaborators in southern France to pacify further resistance, "Vichy" france has been born. We are on a tight time table, and cannot afford to be bogged down in France any further. As of the fall of France, Fall Rot is concluded. However, our forces are already on the move to new goals set by the OKH, and the endless ambition of the Fuhrer.

May and June, 1939 – Fall Gelb With the Wehrmacht standing strong in the west, the blow fell on May 3rd. Mannsteins plan for France and the low countries, Fall Gelb, had begun. The Plan called for the swift destruction of the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as the conquest of Luxemburg. All of these countries, formidable obstacles in the time of the Great War, fell within days to fierce German attacks, and surrendered in early May. As the Low Countries fell, the thrust continued into the soft center of the French line, through the Ardennes and the Argonne. These heavily forested areas were believed impregnable, and the defense in place was weak, with the weight of French and British forces in the North and South. A fallschirmsjager division took Nancy, and with that threatened to cut the entire French southern front off from supplies. The Schwerpunkt created near Verdun prompted the total redeployment of British and French forces towards the center, forcing them to abandon their carefully dug positions and expose themselves to the deadly combination of our Airpower and Panzers. Panzer groups that paused to refit in Holland struck the front near Lille and Maubeuge, and the threat of a breakthrough and Chalons and Verdun is still very real. With a deep penetration into French lines the initial part of the Sichelschnitt was complete. Fall Gelb is a success. Fall Weserubung In late June, a corps sailed into the sound of Oslo. Believed to be easy prey, the Norweigan government, having received a German declaration of war days earlier, surrendered as paratroopers struck the capital from Aalborg, and an occupation force entered the streets of Olso. We believe that sympathizers within the government will let us take control over Norway with some ease, Quisling will make a fine collaborator. Our transports delivered well trained commandoes to the northern ports of Norway, and we now have complete control of the country.

September 1939 to April 1940 – The Phoney War After the fall of Poland, OKH has been intently occupied with the planning of the war in the west. Two more Panzer corps have been commissioned to arrive by early April, as well as another regular army and the 1st Panzergrenadies, an infantry formation built by Guderian according to the principles of the Panzerwwehr, designed to work in close support with our armored forces. Most of the Wehrmacht has spent the winter trudging across Germany from Poland. OKH has decided not to occupy a single train in transporting an army that has feet and vehicles of its’ own. We have adapted the Enigma techniques pioneered by Arthur Scherbius to our use (intelligence technology lvl 1) and Von Paulus has come up with several interesting logistical solutions (infrastructure lvl 2). The Allies have been ineffectual, sending polite letters and using their airplanes to drop pamphlets on our troops. We have responded politely, trying to find ground to make peace with the British. It has not been successful, and we now believe this war will be a long one. In the Mediterranean the allies have attempted blockades of the Italian North African ports. Unfortunately, allied movements (undoubtedly a feint to draw our weaker ally into the war) have enticed Mousillini to declare war in march. We did manage to bring troops into North Africa, the Allies could not stop the transports in time. But Italy is now dangerously weak at home. Denmark has been persuaded to become a protectorate, and we are moving forces there for operations in Scandinavia. The plan for the fall of France that Mannstein proposed has been cleared by the OKH, it is time to end this phoney farce. Final dispositions of the Wehrmacht in preparation for the invasion of the west.

Glad to have you following Bill, and thank you to you both for the links and the advice. However, that link doesnt really explain how the intelligence tech interacts with the "new" system of progression, could someone please explain how research works exactly, and in relation to the intelligence tech? with "exactly" I mean, how much chance of a breakthrough at the different stages below 100%? How many % does each chit give? And so on. With the new system, I am of the firm belief that US research maximum needs to be capped much lower, and possibly US production lowered until a while after they enter the war (the "the us ramps up production" event could be a multistage event over the first six months to a year, ramping up production slowly from a fairly low level).

Well, last time my now regular opponent will took the reins of the megalomaniacal madman from the Reich. Now it’s my turn, and I’ll hear no more of that kind of vile slander! The Reich seeks peace and equality for all (the right kind of) men! I mean, look at him! How could this man mean anyone ill! Right. Anyway. I’ll attempt a historical approach to the war to explore how the game works in a closer historical sequence of events. I might deviate a bit, and hopefully I won’t develop sudden and unhealthy obsessions with places like Stalingrad (though I make no promises) and do a little better than the Reich did in history. I’ll also attempt a slightly different style with this AAR, summarizing longer stretches of time and strategic events in more condensed posts, with “highlights” in pictures and more detailed descriptions. Let’s get to it! September 1939 – Fall Weiss It has begun. Our invasion of Poland was swift and without hesitation. Our Panzers, supported by the Luftwaffe, swiftly encircled the Polish armies attempting to set up along the borders in an exemplary display of outdated military thinking. We have ignored these men, as they will soon be too demoralized and starved for supplies to present any credible threat. Instead, all of our forces drove hard at Warzaw from all directions, and smashed any resistance in it’s path, including the polish command structure. After our three Panzer corps ground the Polish corps at Warzawa beneath their treads, the enemy surrendered on the 6th of October, facing a Soviet invasion from the east. We have honored the pact with Stalin. For now, it will allow us to focus on the enemy in the west, Der Furher truly thought that the western allies would not dare to declare war on us, now it is up to the OKW to teach them the error of their ways. Our brightest new field commanders, men such as Rommel, Mannstein and Guderian, now theorize of new ways to use these magnificent machines (invest 1 chit in heavy armor tech). The Italians have gathered their troops for transport to Africa, the Comando Supremo prioritizes a presence in North Africa, and fears the perils of crossing should Italy enter into a war with the Allies.

That was certainly an odd game! We've covered a lot of points elsewhere, about sea-lion (and why it's probably mostly useless) and the USSR. There is another post up about research and the US, who did feel very odd to me when considering their historical situation. I think we both made a lot of mistakes, chief of them being the invasion of England and the effects that had on the timeline. As for the purely tactical aspect, I think both of us probably need to use both Garrisons and corps more for covering our rear and holding important resource points (paris, nancy, brest litovsk). Both of us probably need to get better at shielding our HQ's and keeping them away from combat. I tried to find ways to lower german readiness, hitting their minors, cutting supply and killing their HQ's seemed to be effective. Big props to my opponent Will for what has to be the best executed offensive of the game (the central front offensive in 42 that shattered it, only the arrival of the siberian troops saved me). Very nicely done!

Well, it's been a wild ride in the latest Newbie AAR. From the unstoppable axis juggernaut of 1939-1942, and then the faceplanting of the wall in 1943. I pondered something all during this game, I'll summarize my questions and musings below. 1. How does the research system work, exactly? Does it work like the manual says? In another AAR (SC:GC gold I think) I read about "changes to the research system in SC:WWI guaranteeing an advance shortly". What is that about? There's nothing about that in the manual. 2. How does the Intelligence tech work, exactly? I've been a bit concerned about it since our call to arms campaign. Let's use the US as an example here. Let's say the US invests fully into intelligence tech at the earliest opportunity. The US gets a hit. No other nation in the game has a lvl in intelligence. Does this mean that; a) The US will now get 1% better chance at achieving all other techs every turn, as long as they have at least one chit invested, or do they get 1% better chance -per chit- invested? Every axis nation will get 1% less chance at achieving a tech hit, in every one of their techs, as long as they have at least one chit invested, or is it 1% chance less for -each chit- invested? c) Does intelligence only affect the "extra" chance you get for your opponent (or an allied nation) having better tech, or does it affect everything regardless? With that I mean the difference between simply lowering the "others have better tech bonus" to 0 at the lowest, and lowering the chance of getting any/all techs regardless. 3. The US in the SoE campaign seems to be a bit odd. To whit, they are a completely isolated entity that can barely be affected by anything the axis do. Considering that vacuum, there are several thoughts I have regarding them. A) Depending on how intelligence tech actually works (see above) the US can easily be used to nearly game breaking effect. If they invest fully into intelligence, as I did, they soon get hits. With every hit, each Axis nations chance at research goes down while the allied nations remain the same (they are not, as I understand it, negatively affected by their allies int tech) or even goes up as you research the areas you want hits for USSR and UK with the US to give them extra chance at getting them. If US max out their int tech, or go to lvl 4, relatively quickly, all allied nations should swiftly gain a technological advantage and Germany (and even worse for italy) kept from making critical advances. The US seem to be a little too strong. Historically, the US entered the war in december 1941. In our game, they entered in early december/late november 1941. Not much of a difference. They invested every possible effort in getting an army as modern and strong as possible into the field, and made their first effort in 1942 (a very small one) with inferior technology in many areas. In our AAR, I was able to (without even trying very hard, being a total noob) field every single ground unit in the US arsenal, upgraded to nearly maximum tech in most relevant areas (Inf weapons 3, tank 3, anti sub 4, int 5, industry 5, production 3, fighter 4, ground attack 3, LR air 2, amphib 3...) by early 1943. That means that I didnt even have to choose anything, I could both get the super awesome anti sub tech, and upgrade all my other units to awesome levels, and buy them all. And did I mention, ship them all to Europe, no problem. Historically, that seems... extremely implausible. Any thoughts on this? One solution could be to lower the "maximum research" ceiling for the US, forcing choice and slower advancement. If you want the awesome lvl 3 inf tech by 1943/44, you wont have the best tank tech (shermans were awful at the start of overlord for example). If you want the best anti sub tech there is by 1943, then you will have to sacrifice something (by 43 the sub hunters were not -that- good, hitler didnt invest into "teching" them fully either, so that probably told). Thanks for your thoughts!

Turn 60-61, October, 1943 Not much to report. The northern front continued to crumble to nothing, the Americans overran spain completely and got into position for invading southern france and vichy, the english and US reached Rome and started taking it apart. In the south, any forward progress stalled, and we struck back damaging many of the german units and destroying the armor. Here are the final positions on the north front, not so very far from Berlin This is the Global position After this turn my earstwhile opponent sent me this picture to explain the situation; What an odd game! It's been a learning experience to be sure. More in a separate thread!

Yeah... I did have some thoughts during the buildup of the US that they seem to be way too strong. I'll go more into that in a post game thought thread. It's weird campaign, at least the one we played here, because it goes from germany feeling and being completely unstoppable to just... wham. Very odd.

Turn 57-59, August and September, 1943 I’ll try to do an update summarizing the latest developments! In north Soviet, the human wave that has broken the German front continues forward unhindered. From July and into September, Zukovs’ great offensive has pushed from Wilno into Poland. Warzaw has been taken, though probably only temporarily, there seems to be no significant German forces to stop us. Zukov will shortly break off southwards to cut the German southern front off from the Reich while the rest of the central and north fronts continue forwards. In the south, the first signs of German weakness have turned into visible cracks in the determination and performance of these once seemingly invincible soldiers. The front is holding, and with every attack the Germans bleed. A quick counter strike took down another HQ (list, I think) here in the south. The American invasion of Spain has gone swimmingly, the combined western allied navy has sunk around five submarines and a destroyer, we estimate that the kriegsmarine is for all intents and purposes defeated. The English are now taking the rest of North Africa, and forces are heading to topple Italy as well. It seems the plans made for 1942 and 1943 are coming along very well. The USSR have made great strides in research, reaching lvl 3 armor and lvl 4 fighters, as well as lvl 3 AA tech. The UK are finally starting to catch up, with lvl 2 infantry and lvl 1 heavy tanks. General Notice My opponent and I have been discussing the situation, and apparently he barely has any reserves (I really thought he had...) and think Germany will fall shortly. We will continue to play on a little, so see if this prediction turns out to be accurate, and then we'll see

Turn 56, July 23rd, 1943 The Germans tried to break out of the Masurian Lakes pocket, Destroying our AA unit and trying to escape westwards. The wave continued, destroying two armies and striving to trap the rest. A Panzer corps blocked the seizing of an empty Brest litovsk right in front of a corps, and we have moved AT assets to block any direct forward advance. Kowel seems to be Garrisoned, it will not be so easy to cut the southern German front off from the Reich. An answer was quickly forthcoming in the south, the Germans continue to press hard, destroying an exposed Tankovy army. We fall back from Odessa, and adjust the lines while striking at the Northernmost Panzer corps. The foremost German forces out of Romania seem to be in some disarray however, perhaps their offensive will stall. The US The first wave has arrived, and is taking up positions to shelter the first troops. Meanwhile, the third wave is ready to embark on the long Journey towards continental Europe.

Turn 55, July 9th, 1943 In the north, the wave just continues on. The Germans withdraw slowly, too slowly, and are now caught in the Masurian Lakes pocket. The Hun also shows the first sign of weakness, combined attacks from an army coming from Brest Litovsk and elite troops in the pocket failed to destroy a tankovy army, barely, but we’ll take it. Ground attack aircraft was fended off by static AA concentrations, and our investments into this area finally seems to be paying off. Perhaps the Germans are even now massing troops to counterattack and open the pocket to let their troops escape. In the south we decide to stand, redistributing troops slightly and waiting to see what the Germans will do. Will they continue to attack in strength? If not, then I might have an indication as to movements towards the North. Again, here, our static AA told against roving ground attack aircraft, destroying one wing as it swooped in. If we can hold the enemy here for a month, significant reinforcements are incoming during August. That might let us start to push again, or may save us and let us hold the line at Kiev depending on what happens next. The Mediterranean The British pause to refit, and our carriers find a U-boat in port, we surround it, hoping to sink it in time. The US The second wave is incoming, a wave of armor and rangers for the Bay of Biscay, and a smaller concentration for the north atlantic. General Staff The USSR develop their industry to lvl 2.

Well, speaking for myself, they have -awesome- power in destroying enemy surface fleets. And also, they are excellent for scouting at sea, with a large basic field of vision and the capability to send "scouts" (your planes) into the fog of war. Sea battles seem to be very decisive in SC, and knowledge about your opponents position absolutely key. Carriers = knowledge. Two carriers also wreck a battleship, and then sail home to merrily rearm fairly cheaply. With more naval warfare, they get way better (to the point where one carrier can wreck a battleship I think) unless the enemy invests in AA tech or carriers of his own.

Turn 54, June 18th, 1943 In the south, the organized withdrawal continues. One of the armies retreating from Romania was hit, but for once the German paid as dearly as they did for their aggression. The two fronts are now fully combined, and moving backwards as quickly as they can to reach the rivers and fortified line. In the north, the human wave continues forward. Overrunning an encircled army and washing around some of the axis troops to leave them perilously inside the Soviet lines. Bialystok, Memel and Kaunas were all taken. The Mediterranean With British and American troops pausing to reorganize after the capture of NA, the combined western allied fleet is reorganizing as well. Carriers and advanced U-boat hunters are converging. We will scout with the carriers in the ports around Italy, and try to eliminate any U-boats found there. We now have a choice of what to do with the British and American troops in NA. Unfortunately, the US are not strong here, lack HQ’s and the British hold the greater numbers. The Brits, then, are not very technologically advanced. At the end of this turn, they will gain inf weapons 2 and heavy tanks 1. However, that is not enough to fight the Germans head on. I’ll have to give this some more thought, I am hesitant to send Amphibious transports into the med until I know how many U-boats still lurk around. There are basically three alternatives; Italy, Vichy French north Africa, and Vichy France proper. Declaring war on the Vichy French may lure the Axis to think an invasion of Spain is coming from the south. I doubt it will take much to topple Italy, but how much will I need for mainland Vichy France from the south? That option is probably not viable anyway. The US The US sent the first wave to the Bay of Biscay this turn, consisting of two battleships, two destroyers and one cruiser. These ships will be ready to fend off U-boat attacks and surface ships and give the landing craft a chance to get ashore in northern Spain. I intend to send at least two waves, each with its’ own HQ and also a wave to the Northern Atlantic and England. 1943 is hopefully about to become very hectic for the Germans. General staff The UK developd inf warfare 2 and heavy tanks lvl 1, the USSR develops intelligence lvl 2.

Turns 53, May 21st, 1943 Things are certainly heating up in the east as summer comes around. In the south, disappointment abounds. Not only did the incredibly strong German south army smash through our prepared positions behind the river (protected by artillery) with disturbing ease, a wealth of Panzer groups immediately threw a counterpunch to our counterattack, and destroyed both the forward Tankovy Armies. Both times, advanced ground attack aircraft were instrumental, smashing both the army that became the weak link in Romania, and the stronger of the Tankovy armies. We’re becoming pretty tired of this particular song and dance, let me tell you. Something Stalin no doubt must have felt in history. Two steps AA tech is obviously not enough. It has made a small difference, instead of the 4 steps per attack that were lost before we now lose 2-3 or so. However, the Germans barely took any casualties, it is disturbing how easily they still crush our forces even with their commanders gone. I see no option but to withdraw, trying to keep the formerly separate fronts together until we can reach the fortified lines by Kiev. I am hoping the Rivers and plentiful patriots (partisans) in the German path will slow them down. According to established military thinking, one should retreat where the enemy is strong and strike where he is weak. So this is what we did. As I have identified no less than five German Panzer Corps in the south, and don’t think the Germans possibly have more than seven, Zhukov called an offensive in the north. It began, as per Soviet doctrine, with a great surge of infantry across the fields. A wave of human flesh coming to drown the enemy. The main thrust attempted to destroy a central corps to smash a hole in the German lines, the corps stood fast however, backed up by artillery. The second target was an army on the extreme southern edge of the German line, struck and flanked. This is when the German HQ was spotted behind the lines, and after conferring with the Siberian Tankovy armies, we realized they could reach them. We struck, and Rundstedt was brought down! We now wonder how many effective headquarters the Germans have left… I would think five or so originally, and now no more than three? Two of them are in the south… perhaps Zhukov will now be free to slaughter this northern front, or will his true nemesis, Mannstein appear? Ventspils and Siuliai were recaptured, and the wave will continue. Everything now depends on whether the Germans have significant reserves to send, or if the northern front is a lot stronger than I think it is (aerial recon shows the latter to be unlikely). The germans will then have a choice, chase the retreating Southern front deeper into Russia and allow the north to be overrun, or redirect forces from that thrust to stabilize the front. Of course, if the enemy has good reserves to both continue that thrust and stop us in the north, we are in very grave trouble… The Mediterranean Tripoli has fallen, and the British stand as masters of North Africa. US Due to logistic mixups I could not begin sending forces this turn, next turn will have to do. General Staff Soviet morale is on the rise as we have held the hun on the doormat for a long time. The allied nations stubbornly refuse to make any significant technological advances however. Anything for the fans StrategicLayabout! Here is the unit comparison chart, as we can see, the Soviets are two units behind the Germans, the US has about 38, and the British a lot less. All in all, our forces greatly outnumber the axis.

So, if I understand this right, the axis win with the capture of Cairo in the victory scenario above even if the UK transfered their capital to Canada? And the rapid USSR mobilization on a successful sea-lion is to put pressure on the Germans. Should Turkey have joined as well with Sea lion? I mean, it never did in our game, would spain and Turkey join (given successful sea-lion) even if Germany hadnt spent diplomacy on them as well?

Holy crap... until 1947? I mean. Hm. I would think that germany would win a minor victory if it held on longer than historical. I'd think that, in a patch, the conditions should be amended if possible to check for victory every month after the historical surrender date. I.e. if no nation holds a victory then the game continues, if either side fulfills their victory conditions, that side wins. To be honest, the US would likely never have gotten involved if the Soviet Union had fallen and England was about to loose, it would simply be a loosing proposition.

Turns 51 & 52, March and April March was very quiet, and nothing much went on anywhere except for the slog through the desert in North Africa and positioning in Southern Russia. Shoring up defense lines in Romania, and inching forward with the new army group from Kiev. April was a month of action, at least in the south. In the north scouting aircraft reveals thin German lines around Baranowicze, perhaps I can make a limited offensive there, and push the Germans a little to see if there is more strength in reserve or not. In the South, the new army group sprang into action. Again, scouting aircraft at the very limits of their range had revealed a critical weakness in the German spearhead, as it advanced closer to Romania. I wonder if my opponent was aware of the army group at all… or of how strong it was. The T34’s struck a corps guarding the line to the German HQ, and it stumbled back in confusion (no doubt thinking that it had a cushy posting with not much danger). A second Tankovy army hit the HQ, Rommel… the Steppe Fox, and smashed his staff utterly. Now everything depends on the German reserves, does my opponent have more troops waiting behind the lines to counter attack? If not, this could be a difficult situation for him. The Mediterranean We have reached Tripoli, and the army there was as dispirited and under strength as the first. It is nearly shattered, soon north Africa will be ours. Continued US mobilization General Staff These past months have been disappointing in their lack of innovation, despite both the British and the Soviet being fully invested into their research programs.

Yeah. I wonder though, about the victory conditions. Is there an "insta win" condition with the surrender of two of the major allies (UK/France/USSR) or is it just "hold objectives until a certain date". If so, which date? 45, or 47?

You mean that the axis dont auto win if both england and france has surrendered? I thought that was the case... when do you check victory conditions?

I kinda agree with Will. Sealion is probably worth it if every single move you make from turn one is part of the grand master plan, building to strike both and either of Canada and Egypt immediately when they shift their capital, focusing on the fleet to combat the British, and then have a good bit of luck. On the other hand, pull it off, and it's an instant win isnt it? Do you guys have different thoughts on it?

When you have your carriers selected, there are two kinds of "circles with lines" (movement indicators) that you can see from them. One is the green one (usually within the highlighted movement area) and another is a red one, usually appearing when you hold your cursor over the enemy, or an area in the fog of war after you have moved. The red one is "sending your airplanes". Use "properties - set mode" to choose a "mode" for your carrier, CAP (defend against incoming aircraft), "naval tactical" (strike against enemy ships) and so on. Do this before you move!

Turns 49 & 50, December and January 1942/1943 In the north, our positions have been stable for the past two months. Our troops have taken up position in the forests, and behind rivers. They are in good order, and a small reserve of Tankovy armies await in the rear protected by AA assets and fighters. The Germans have tried no attacks, keeping their distance. The weight of their efforts have instead been directed at the south, where our forces have taken up positions in Romania behind rivers and in mountains. We will not give this up easily. The undefended stretches of the south have been rapidly overtaken by the German advance. We do not yet know how strong the forces that barrel down the endless fields are, but we must stop them. A new army group has been deployed in Kiev, and will soon be joined by Timoshenko (returned from the fields of the north where he wandered for months, seeking shelter with peasants and evading Germans. He caught Stalin in a rare good mood, and managed to blame his failures on others to be reinstated) and fighters. The Mediterranean American ships upgrade in port, and British carriers refit as well. Submarines sink the battleship Rodney en route to port to repair. It will take time for the American destroyers to clear the Med of U-boats, but it must be done if we are to approach Italy. The British and American forces have almost reached Tripoli. A view of the American mobilization General staff The US now sport advanced aircraft lvl 4, and production technology 2. The UK has developed naval Warfare 1.

Turns 47 & 48, October and November 1942 As the weather turns foul the axis advance stalls. During these two months we proceed with the planned withdrawal in both the north and the south and strengthen our lines with reinforcements. In the north we withdraw to shorten our lines and make sure that there are no gaps the enemy can slip through. Zhukov is grateful that the enemy did not press the advance when all he had to stem the tide was a handful of corps and his Siberian armies, now our numbers grow with each month. In the south we plan to withdraw as far as Bucharest, so that we can easily move into southern Russia to defend it if the enemy push there. It is, aside from a couple of corps defending the very front, absolutely empty, so a determined attack there before our December reinforcements arrive would be very hard to stop. The Mediterranean The brawl in the pond does not stop, and these past few months the british have come out worse for wear. Prowling U-boats have sunk both the remaining English destroyer groups in the Med, as well as the British submarine, a cruiser and a battleship. Much of the fleet now hides in the red sea, protected by the Suez channel, while the Americans hunt submarines. So far they have sunk two packs. In Egypt, the advance proceeds unhindered. The British move through empty fortifications, have the enemy simply abandoned this land? General Staff The americans have developed ground attack aircraft on par with the germans, no doubt impressed by reports of their performance in the east. The USSR develops AA-tech lvl 2, and Heavy artillery 1. The UK, finally, develops Anti-submarine warfare lvl 2, much too late...