MP Conquest of Paris

[Morten Kay]

I have now been playing 3 MP games and never seen Paris fall. How do you achive this in a MP game? (It is no problem vs. the AI).

First time my opponent did conquerede Poland in the third turn and turned all his attention from then on to France. I usede the Standard defense of France a held it till Russian entry.

Second time I triede to Rush Lowland the second turn and that didnt work either.

Third time i held the front vs. France and conquered Denmark and Yuguslavia. France Conquerede: The Lowlands and the Libyan oil fields :-(

SO how do you break through the defense of France????

/Morten Kay

[ August 15, 2002, 07:32 AM: Message edited by: Morten Kay ]

[Gunslingr3]

Breaking the line in France (or basically anywhere) requires combined arms. Your most important asset as the Germans at the start of the game are your Air Fleets. I never attack units within the Maginot, I just shadow them on the Ruhr with a corps across the river to keep them from rampaging East. Declare war on the Low Countries and move an infantry army against their capitol. After hitting it once you should have your planes in position for three follow up strikes. If necessary you can move in another army and mop up so that a tank unit can sieze the city. Hit the northeastern Belgian corps if you want to get a little experience, or just let him surrender. Hit the French wherever you can along their northeastern line to soften them up, but don't put any tank units in the area just southwest of the Low Countries capitol. That place is a meat grinder if he wants it to be (he can hit it with three armies, two air fleets, a bomber, and even naval bombardment - you have been warned).

The next turn you should now be able to employ two of your moderately experienced (after the Polish campaign) infantry to hit one French Army on the northeastern line. Follow up these two infantry attacks with all of your airpower. Five (six if you bought another Air Fleet after Poland/Denmark/Norway) attacks should annihilate the green French army, and provide a path for your armored sickle. Make sure you keep a solid line with any initial breakthroughs or encirclements. Let units lose contact and your opponent can easily cut them off and reduce or destroy them. The price in repair (and lost experience!) isn't worth taking one more turn. Once you've initially broken the French line the battle is large scale mop up. The French simply lack the resources to reassemble a line in the face of more experienced troops. If he's lucky, he'll hold out three or four turns after you've crashed through the gates.

The most important thing to keep in mind during the battle for France is the French inability to replace lost units. He earns enough to repair two or three damaged units, but if you concentrate your attacks each turn you can eliminate armies he can't replace.

Gunslinger

[Norse]

HQ's and Airforce is key! You don't need land-units everywhere, just on the very front so the French doesn't go behind you and hit your juicy units (HQ's and airfleets).

Just make sure you got 2 or 3 HQ's that keep your front-line units prepared for combat.

Then hurl down mad-stukas on the french key units, if they got HQ's, then kill them off before you launch your attack, otherwise it will be very bloody.

You can get the job done with 6 airfleets, research chits on jet technology, 2 or 3 HQ's, 2 panzer armies and infantery armies and corps to fill the ranks up.

That should hold the enemy fleet at bay too, just don't place your juicy units near the coast.

Don't worry about taking Paris ASAP, take your time, and defeat the French in detail. Defeating the French units is equally as important as taking Paris, so do whatever is possible for you, and march on.

Luck

~Norse~

[blackbellamy]

by the time you go against france you should have built the fourth air fleet

no french army unit can resist 4 air strikes and 2 ground assaults

no matter how skilled or fierce the french defender is, he cannot replace the dead units fast enough

don't worry so much about achieving penetration - simply destroy at least one french army per turn and put a small hurt on one or two others

[Morten Kay]

Well that has been most helpful.

The thing about xp I hadn’t realised at all. Does this mean that you do not reinforce units after Poland?

The timing of the attack is essential. France should fall at least 1 turn before USSR enters the war, so you can build an eastern front.

It seems to me that to have 6 airfleets and 3 HQ’s before I start to attack France I would have to wait until after USSR enters the war? I mean that’s 1000+ mpps and then you still have to reinforce and buy some other units plus operations and transports etc.

Which countries do you attack before starting the assault on France? I have tried with Poland (!!), Denmark and Yugoslavia but that was too much. And France had conquerede the lowlands.

/morten kay

[Norse]

Originally posted by Morten Kay:

It seems to me that to have 6 airfleets and 3 HQ’s before I start to attack France I would have to wait until after USSR enters the war? I mean that’s 1000+ mpps and then you still have to reinforce and buy some other units plus operations and transports etc.

Which countries do you attack before starting the assault on France? I have tried with Poland (!!), Denmark and Yugoslavia but that was too much. And France had conquerede the lowlands.

/morten kay

Morten, I hit Denmark when Poland is about to surrender, and once Poland have fallen then I launch an invasion of both Sweeden and Norway (use the 3 airfleet's, a HQ, the panzers and some armies/corps). When thoose nations fall, then you'll have the resources to get what you want. That's when I get 3 more airfleets and put some tech on that. I am never in a big hurry to take France, just go in and get it right, try to avoid loosing any units at all. It doesn't matter if you take some time (which you will because of the time you spend in Sweeden, so expect it to be early '41 when they surrender).

I have the settings on Random, not Historical.

Try to look at each unit's experience and readiness factor, and check if your enemy is entrenched. Thoose factors are vital if you want your battles to be successful.

~Norse~

[ August 15, 2002, 06:03 PM: Message edited by: Norse ]

[von Lucke]

Just be careful yr opponent doesn't get playful and declare war on the Low Countries himself while yr rampaging through Scandanavia. An extra 175 pts or so from pillaging Holland can bolster the French defense quite nicely.

[Morten Kay]

That is the problem. It is a MP game. Don't expect the other player to lack initiativ. If germany move against norway/sweden France will most probably be able to take the Lowlands and build a much better defense.

England would not just let Germany take Norway/Sweden without a big Naval battle. And he would try to block germanys units going home.

And as France I think i would take the Libyan oilfields (let germany sit with a singel corps and try to defend Baghdad)

/Morten Kay

P.S. I will be on vacation the next week.