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Let's Play HOI3: Prepare for WAR!!!

Joined
Aug 6, 2008
Messages
7,269
Welcome to my second Hearts of Iron 3: Semper Fi Let's Play. The first one ended in ignoble defeat at the hands of the Nazis, and the French are set up to have the same happen to them. This one will be a bit more interactive (but not LARPy like BRO Garfunkel's).

So with out further ado, Let's Play:

hoi3game2011-06-2504-58-35-70.jpg


As mentioned earlier, we will be selecting the French.

hoi3game2011-06-2504-58-44-50.jpg


Here is our head of state:

hypnotoad.jpg


Here is there situation on January 1, 1936:

hoi3game2011-06-2504-59-16-18.jpg

hoi3game2011-06-2504-59-17-94.jpg

hoi3game2011-06-2504-59-20-99.jpg

hoi3game2011-06-2504-59-32-31.jpg


Along the Rhine we have the Maginot line, which are a series of level 10 forts along our border with Germany. As long as they are manned and supplied, they will be nearly invulnerable to the German advance. We have no fortresses bordering the Low Countries, which is where we are most likely to experience the brunt of the German attack.

In the South, bordering the now Fascist Italy, we have a series of level one Forts in the mountains, which, while not invulnerable, should be pretty tough to crack. As long as this front is kept supplied and manned, this area will likely be a stalemate against the Italians.

In Africa, we have a handful of troops in the port towns. This theatre could very well prove to be important in limiting Italian expansion, so some resources could/should be devoted down here.

And in French Indochina, we have a handful of troops, but not enough to handle an eventual Japanese invasion (assuming they handle Nationalist China and the other warlords). A concerted effort in this theatre will be hard to keep supplied and of limited short term strategic importance, although it could prove to severely weaken the Japanese.

Here is the overview of the other aspects of our nation:

hoi3game2011-06-2504-59-48-22.jpg

hoi3game2011-06-2505-00-08-77.jpg

hoi3game2011-06-2505-00-28-75.jpg

hoi3game2011-06-2505-02-31-40.jpg


Our base production isn't bad (108), but the laws we have enabled weaken that quite a bit. The best way to handle that will be to have internal spies set to lowering our Neutrality. Our Neutrality is quite high, but with 10 spies lowering it, and Germany being Germany, it will lower pretty quickly. Another problem is our low National Unity. We may also want to set our spies to increasing that after we get our neutrality down to a good level.

We have around 14 leadership, which isn't very good, but it should be enough. We'll probably focus mainly on land techs, specifically infantry and armor, but a small investment in interceptors may be worthwhile to keep the skies relatively clear of German bombers. Of course, we'll want to devote some leadership to improving industry and manpower. An investment in the Navy would be nothing but a colossal waste of resources. Beyond taking some islands from Italy and sending a handful of troops to Africa, our Navy will serve no real purpose. We could try to challenge Italy for dominance of the Mediterranean Sea, but that's a job that's better left to the UK.

We have some decent ministers, but sadly none that increase our leadership pool. We also have a pretty decent manpower pool, so unless we overbuild on infantry that shouldn't be a problem.

Here is what I'm going to need from you, the faithful reader(s):

We know what's coming in '39-40, so the question is how do we prepare?

Put your votes down as A1a, A2, etc.

1) Extend the Maginot to the Channel, making France nearly invulnerable. This would be primarily a defensive war. From that our strategy would be either:
a) Take Italy out of the war, forcing Germany to face another front
b) Turn a strong defense into a strong offense, and devote a large number of forces to attacking Germany while they are busy against Poland.

2) The best defense is a good offense! While Germany is occupied against Poland, we eliminate their Western army and turn their Blitz against them! When they finally turn west, we'll be knocking on the door of Berlin!

3) Ally early with the Low Countries, assisting in their defense, and stop the German advance before it even begins. This would be very resource intensive, and a more passive approach to the above strategies.



Those top three are the choices for military strategy. I'll also consider any other alternatives. Since how those votes go down will also directly affect production strategy, I'll put a couple of options on how to handle those below, but it will be dependent on how the above vote turns out.

1) Focus on industrial production. More industry in the beginning will give us more to use later!

2) Infantry for the Infantry God! Infantry will be the backbone of our defense, so the more we have (within manpower restraints)

3) Armor will make the backbone of our attack against the Nazis, so creating a large number of armored corps will be necessary

4) We must focus on the air force, to keep the skies clear of the Luftwaffe!

I'll leave the vote on for about 24 hours. The production questions are hardly all inclusive, as no matter what we'll have to build some infantry and some armor. The question is how much of our industry we devote, so vote on what the focus should be.

hypnotoad.jpg
 

Nex

Cipher
Joined
Apr 26, 2009
Messages
1,343
Location
Tenebrae
Go for A1a but instead of attacking Italy, take out the UK.

Focus on a balance of air and infantry to start with.
 

Nex

Cipher
Joined
Apr 26, 2009
Messages
1,343
Location
Tenebrae
I have not played any HOI games, but cannot you un-ally with them?
 
Joined
Aug 6, 2008
Messages
7,269
Not if you're a member of a faction. If you're unaligned, you can go to whatever side you want, or make alliances between countries, but France, UK, and a few minors start the game as Allies, and barring surrender, will end the game as Allies.
 

Drakron

Arcane
Joined
May 19, 2005
Messages
6,326
Well my advice its to turtle until you can close the technology gap, go light tank brigades to deal with any possible breaking of your lines until you can go into the offensive.

Indochina should be abandoned in case of a Japanese attack until you secure the homeland.
 

TripJack

Hedonist
Joined
Aug 9, 2008
Messages
5,132
I say A2 because it's the most EXTREME. Although A1a is what I've always done, or tried to do.

B3.
 

Cassidy

Arcane
Joined
Sep 9, 2007
Messages
7,922
Location
Vault City
In Hearts of Iron 2 with DAIM + SMEP, starting a game in the 1939 Blitzkrieg scenario as France, I used Denmark to springboard a full offensive against Germany's backdoor before they could successfully invade it, while having kept most forces near Belgium to rapidly defend it. Everything led to mixed results, where Belgium still stands but the offensive from Denmark is encountering some difficulties as it approaches Berlin, but it was far more interesting than waiting the Nazis only.

I suggest going on the offensive because being too French does not make a fun LP.

Therefore

A2

B3 - France is another example of a country that has more IC than manpower thus more expensive DIVs are worth.

But keep the already existing air force up to date if possible.
 

GarfunkeL

Racism Expert
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
15,463
Location
Insert clever insult here
Yeah, AI Germany will probably invade Belgium and Netherlands at the same time, so you can do the historical route and move troops there. Abandon Indochina, it's completely useless. Keep only few units in Tunis as Italy should not be very aggressive there - if the war starts out due the Danzig-event, they won't even participate immediately. Keep two divisions in each province of the Maginot-line, that's enough to ensure that Germans will never crack it and put the rest into an offensive army group that'll roll into Belgium at the first sight of trouble.

I'm not sure if you can get Low Countries into Allies early but it would be worth the shot. And you are going to be fucked MP wise, so investing into armor and interceptors would be good.
 
Joined
Aug 6, 2008
Messages
7,269
Update 1: Preparations for War

Funny, I google French Battle Flag and the first hit is this:

180px-White_Flag.jpg


The votes ended on the side of extension of the Maginot Line, so we're going to build a series of level 10 forts from Metz to the Channel. This will use up a decent portion of our IC... They go about 4 a pop, but their advantage will be to make France impenetrable from the German offensive. We won't be much help to the Polish, Beligians, or Dutch, but we'll give them a nice place to hide once the Nazis are through with them.

hoi3game2011-06-2716-42-51-99.jpg


This may end up being a mistake, but to finish the forts, we won't be able to devote many resources to troop building, so an offensive will have to wait awhile. The benefit is that we'll avoid a manpower crunch that a heavy soldier production run would leave us with.

hoi3game2011-06-2716-44-06-99.jpg


Our research is devoted to improving our industrial capacity and improving our soldiers.

hoi3game2011-06-2716-48-14-76.jpg


The building of forts in action.

hoi3game2011-06-2716-51-10-36.jpg


The only resources we're short on is crude, so we make a trade agreement with Kwa to make up for our deficit.

hoi3game2011-06-2716-51-56-03.jpg


We move our entire fleet to the Mediterranean. It will be very outdated by the time the war starts, but it may be able to do a bit of damage to the Italians and buy us some time while we try for an amphibious assault on the Italians.

hoi3game2011-06-2716-52-04-25.jpg

hoi3game2011-06-2716-53-34-36.jpg


Here are our exposed borders. The North will be protected by the aforementioned forts, while the south, with the level 3 to 5 forts already there, will have to stand as they are.

hoi3game2011-06-2716-54-19-69.jpg


A lot of foreign intelligence going on within our borders.

hoi3game2011-06-2716-56-14-52.jpg


Crappy event, which will divert some IC toward consumer goods for a short time.

hoi3game2011-06-2716-59-40-46.jpg


The negroids couldn't stand against the might of the Italians, and folded quickly.

hoi3game2011-06-2717-08-26-87.jpg


With our spies set to lowering neutrality, we'll get down below 70 fairly soon. The lack of National Unity, though, will still cause us trouble when trying to enact changes.

hoi3game2011-06-2717-09-33-91.jpg


And like clockwork, the Spanish Civil War begins.

hoi3game2011-06-2717-13-22-32.jpg


Construction begins on the second round of forts for our extended Maginot line.

The first three years of the game pass with little going on, just fort building and a few random events, so I'll give the highlights.

hoi3game2011-06-2717-30-23-72.jpg


Nationalist Spain quickly ends the Civil War. This could pose a problem, as they tend to lean toward the Axis. If they get close, we'll have to use some of our leadership to keep them neutral.

hoi3game2011-06-2717-41-49-69.jpg


Japan joins the Axis. I'm guessing this is pretty much automatic after the Marco Polo Bridge incident.

hoi3game2011-06-2717-47-20-53.jpg


We also invest in marines, with once again the intention of using them against the Italians.

hoi3game2011-06-2717-47-47-75.jpg


Shanxi falls pretty quickly... hopefully the rest of China performs better against the yellow scourge.

hoi3game2011-06-2717-57-18-63.jpg


Germany annexes Austria, and is well on their way to being a giant pain in the ass.

hoi3game2011-06-2718-01-07-59.jpg


We join into a military alliance with Belgium. Our plan is not to immediately attack Germany, but should something strange happen, we can invade them through the low countries just as easily as they could us.

hoi3game2011-06-2808-40-24-91.jpg


Odd that the Nazis are trying to turn our government into National Socialists... we're locked in the Allies.

hoi3game2011-06-2808-44-51-48.jpg


The line is extending as planned, and should be completed well before a German invasion.

hoi3game2011-06-2808-46-01-42.jpg


The greatly improved practical allows us to start building our infantry forces to increase the defense on the borders.

hoi3game2011-06-2808-46-33-58.jpg


And radar will go a long way into letting us see what the Germans are planning before they do it.

hoi3game2011-06-2808-51-45-51.jpg


For now, I'm going with three infantry with a Tank Destroyer. I'll definitely take a little poll at the end of this as to what the most efficient division composition is.

hoi3game2011-06-2809-10-00-29.jpg


We also put a bit of research into improving our interceptors, and we may extend this to build multi-roles a little later on.

hoi3game2011-06-2809-14-47-71.jpg


Germany annexes Czechoslovakia, so the war is just a matter of time.

hoi3game2011-06-2809-14-49-85.jpg


This sets off a chain reaction of mobilizations, which we'll follow soon.

hoi3game2011-06-2809-17-36-30.jpg


And the Maginot Line completes in early April, 1939. We start building one armored brigade. I decided not to devote more than one due to our very low practical, which gives it a 30% increase in time and IC. As time passes, we'll add more.

hoi3game2011-06-2809-19-04-46.jpg


Italy shortly follows suit and joins the Axis. This kind of sucks, as it would have been nice to have a bit of peace along the South before they joined.

hoi3game2011-06-2809-25-42-14.jpg


Our radar units are almost done.

hoi3game2011-06-2809-33-55-98.jpg


Germany is mobilizing, so the war is inevitable. We began mobilizing about a month in advance.

hoi3game2011-06-2809-36-10-54.jpg


The Italians are loading up the Southern border...

hoi3game2011-06-2809-40-49-85.jpg


The 1940 election comes, and in an amusing switch, the National Socialist Party wins the election. The French Nazis will be fighting the German Nazis.

hoi3game2011-06-2809-42-27-55.jpg


That does allow us to enact some stringent laws, but they would have gone into effect shortly anyway, because...

hoi3game2011-06-2809-43-06-03.jpg


WAR!!!

French_Military_Tactics_Poster_by_T.jpg


For the second straight game, the UK is the aggressor of the war.


Anyway, a little question for the reader(s) of the LP. How to construct the divisions?

For Infantry: 3 inf + ?
2 inf + ?

Armor: 3 armor + 1 (2 when available) engineers?
2 armor + ?

Remember, the Combined Arms bonus rules, so mixing hard and soft is pretty necessary.
 

Sulimo

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jun 22, 2009
Messages
3,230
Wasteland 2
When I'm feeling lazy I generally do either 4xinf or 3xinf+1xArt.

And you won't get combined arms with 3xArmor if I remember correctly, so you should go for 2xArm+2xMot.Inf or something. Will drain your oil and fuel reserves though, so don't build too many.

:salute:
 

Vaarna_Aarne

Notorious Internet Vandal
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
Messages
34,585
Location
Cell S-004
MCA Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2
3xINF 1xART 1xAT is the best standardized infantry division. Tank Destroyers only consume fuel and provide no benefit, as they don't trigged Combined Arms bonus.

I argue that 2xARM 1xMOT 2xENG or 3xARM 1xMOT 1xENG is the superior choice for tank divisions. The engineers considerably improve the utility of the divisions in harder terrain, which is invaluable.
 

torpid

Liturgist
Joined
Aug 2, 2010
Messages
1,099
Location
Isma's Grove
Was building all those extra forts a good idea? When I play as France, I form alliances with Belgium and the Netherlands after the war has started but before Germany has invaded them, so I can form a line between Metz and the province just east of Amsterdam, which is the best defensive line to save the Low Countries (you have woods, rivers and a marsh province) and keep the Germans away from your weaker Northern border. I would've focused on infantry and thrown in some fighters, otherwise German air superiority and bombings can really sap your defenses.
 

Grunker

RPG Codex Ghost
Patron
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Messages
27,385
Location
Copenhagen
Good LP!

Man, I really gotta get started on the Paradox games. Would HoI3 be a good place to start? Or should I begin with another of their games?

Also, FSM (or someone else), could you explain some basics of how combat results are determined as well as a brief intro to the core basics of the game? I pretty much understand most of what's happening in the LP from your explanations, but I'm not sure I get why it's happening ;)
 

Renegen

Arcane
Joined
Jun 5, 2011
Messages
4,062
France, excellent. I played with them a lot.

My Strategy is to build the Maginot line ASAP all along the Belgian border. It works really well. Besides that, you don't have too a big enough economy to compete against Germany on all fronts, so Italy should instead be the priority.

The biggest problem with a France playthrough is that the SU doesn't get involved in the war, and that makes it very difficult. You could cheat a little to make it more realistic and have a war delcared in 1942+

edit : Also I recommend Victoria 2. Not only do they have actual tutorials but the interface is greatly improved.
 

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