Delaying Overlord

[AttilaTheHungry]

Just keep bombing the English ports or something? Is that about all you can do?

[Hyazinth von Strachwitz]

There is a lot more to do.. are you playing HvH or against the AI?

[AttilaTheHungry]

AI

[Hyazinth von Strachwitz]

Okay... before the AI launches D-Day, it builds up forces. What you simply need to do is to interrupt these preparations. In history the Allies hat total sea and air supremacy, and this is the point where you can act. You won`t be able to kill all his planes, but it makes sense to send all your U-Boats and mabye even a cruiser to the Atlantic from 1940 on... and raid the convoy lanes west and nortwest of Portugal. Group all your subs and maybe the cruiser there. Usually 1-3 destroyers come, and should be able to sink them one by one. So you can substantially shrink the RN and partially the US Navy. If the RN lost all its DDs, the AI sends Cruisers and sometimes even one Carrier, but with 3 subs and a cruiser you can sink that easily. The best area to do so is nortwest of Spain so that you can reach the french ports in one turn. So without the naval supremacy your U-Boats can lurk in the Biscaya as soon as you expect the D-Day. When it comes, you use your U-Boats to scout around southeastern Ireland, and you will be able to kill most of the Amphibs. Allies Air is busy bombing Brest and Caen.. this is usually done by the RN, but if you kill a big part of the RN, the scripts don`t work in a proper way. I would suggest to have Advanced subs Lvl 3 and at least two exp bars until early 43.. and of course it depends what happens in the Med. If you control the Med, D-Day will come in Spring 43, and you should be prepared for that.

Let me know if you need more info.

[Lars]

Don't forget to throw in a Bomber at the tip of France for spotting.

[Hyazinth von Strachwitz]

Yeah, that`s right.. Bomber and a bit of LR tech.

[AttilaTheHungry]

Okay, are you saying the subs and cruiser should be grouped off the convoy lanes (in the Atlantic), and then disperse onto them?

[Liam]

That is one strategy, another is to a build an Atlantic Wall or two and send the invasion into the sea. I have done this quite a few times successfully and it has also failed. WAW has some unique options, that is more ways to get France, but it still is Wall Material and as far as an aggressive Sea Campaign for the Axis, that's all up to the Player's Preferences. Advanced Subs and BB-CV screens help protect them from Capitol ships and Destroyers... But Airpower is Supreme... LR especially. Not only that but the RN is larger so a determined Allied player will win the Atlantic but you can risk a SeaLion against him to keep him honest or be aggressive in other Theatres that require a Fleet...

Or even Join up the Italians with the Kriegsmarine to create the RegiaKriegnautica

Originally posted by AttilaTheHungry:

Okay, are you saying the subs and cruiser should be grouped off the convoy lanes (in the Atlantic), and then disperse onto them?

[Lars]

Originally posted by AttilaTheHungry:

Okay, are you saying the subs and cruiser should be grouped off the convoy lanes (in the Atlantic), and then disperse onto them?

Put one or two subs out for bait on the Egypt route, keep everything else (and I mean everything, all German cruisers and BB's and extra subs) by the French ports.

When the RN shows up, play whack a mole, then go repair everything. Rinse and repeat till they're finished. Then go happily raiding with the subs.

Overlord is much easier to deal with when the Allies can't hit you with their seapower.

Note: This won't work against a human. He won't send the fleet in piecemeal.

[Hyazinth von Strachwitz]

@ Lars: right. I didn`t write "the whole Kriegsmarine", because I don`t know Attila`s plans for the eastern front. Basically we should say that for the above strategy the axis player needs all available ships he doesn`t need in the Baltic to sink the russian cruiser and sub.. that sub can raid the convoys from Sweden which makes it nasty. Once the russian Navy is sunk, all availabe ships should go France. Every RN ship sunk takes pressure from France.

@ Liam: what you say is basically right and would have been my answer aa well... but there is a little detail: Attila asked how to DELAY a D-Day and not how to REPEL it.. of course fortifications help a lot. Although I need to admit that the AI is brilliant in spotting weak points end exploiting it.

[ December 13, 2007, 03:56 AM: Message edited by: Hyazinth von Strachwitz ]

[Lars]

Actually, you can ignore that Russian sub till the German DD shows up. Just make sure you take Leningrad though!

[Hyazinth von Strachwitz]

@ Lars: it might be strange to other people, but I usually play another strategy against the AI. I play on 100%/+2 Exp, and on this level one cannot fight on all fronts. I like fighting in the Med, so I usually fortify the east german border with engineers (I need the italian engineer as well in WaW), and then take out all allied forces in the Med.. then kill Turkey, occupy the Caucasus which cripples the Russians and repel the first D-Day. The unemployed Italians garrison France until the Med task force has taken the Caucasus.. and then I switch them. It`s always funny to see the D-Day troops run into german front line troops.. of course this just works when playing against the AI.. but that`s why I play on 100%/+2.

[ December 13, 2007, 07:30 AM: Message edited by: Hyazinth von Strachwitz ]

[Lars]

I play several, depends on my mood.

Was just pointing out that the Russian sub is a pain, but you can live with it. Once Leningrad is gone, it runs out of supply and is a easy kill for the DD. Very expensive to knock it out with the other German naval units.

The cruiser you can really ignore for the same reason. Kinda fun to watch it restlessly roam the Baltic, looking for a home.

[Hyazinth von Strachwitz]

Yeah, you`re right..

I think I´ve tried almost every possible strategy in the past years, but this one makes the most fun for me. Sometimes I try to integrate wrong or useless parts into my strategy as well just to see how they work out... and it makes the game somewhat challenging.

In one of my first games in Waw I tried an a massive Axis Air Supremacy.. put almost everything in reasearching Anti-Tank Weapons, Long Range and Advanced Fighters.. then bought all Air Fleets and Tac Bombers. I started a Barbarossa in late 41, and in the beginning I was a bit frightened because I had very few ground troops... but I was able to take Leningrad and Smolensk until Spring 42, because all the fresh build StuKas arrived. From 1943 on the StuKas were so powerfull that they crushed almost every resistance in the east, but the Allies at a LOT of troops in the west (they controlled all North Africa and Middle East, but I killed their surface fleet in the Med), and then the AI tried to simultaneously attack Sicily and France.. ran into a well fortified Fortress Sicily and lost all units quickly. So I could shift troops to France and send them all back quickly. After researching all the Aircraft tech, I had enough MPP left for Heavy Tanks, Artillery and AA.. but Russia was a bloody mess. I took me til 1946 to conquer Sverdlowsk. Was a good game, and the AI suprised me sometimes. Fortunately I was able to repel the invasions on Sicily and France quickly, otherwise I might have lost the game... and I think it was good luck, because all the Allied Amphibs ran into my subs.

[AttilaTheHungry]

One thing I should have mentioned, I've been playing the campaign that begins with Barbarossa. At this point in the game there seems to be a lot more than 3 allied Destroyers. I just can't get the upper hand in the area of the Atlantic you guys are talking about. My subs are dying like flies. ):

[Scook]

Well, Attila, that makes a big difference....

If you start in '41, you will need your surafce fleet with your subs, as the Brits do have the supierior tech at that time. Probably need to drop 2 (or more) chits into your sub tech. If you can a) whittle away the destroyers, get some sub tech increases, and c) have the money to do a and b, then you will be ok....

Bleda says "Hi"

[AttilaTheHungry]

Okay, I didn't think it would make that much difference seeing the U-boats were still kicking butt in most of 42 and even up till March of 43. Thanks for the tips.

Bleda is still talking?? Guess I'll have to knock him off a second time.

[SeaMonkey]

AtH, think of your subs as being in a revolving door...or some kind of pattern. Get 4 going at sea and one in the Q, keeping them evenly spaced(or not) in the Atlantic, dipping into the convoy routes from time to time.

Now examine their rotation, adjust as needed, and how your opponent reacts to their raidings and set your traps with the Luftwaffe and KM surface forces.