Vapourware Let's play Darkest Hour - Franco grows some cojones, Spain enters WW2

[zool]

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[zool]

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[The Brazilian Slaughter]

Its showtime! Let us see the might of the Spanish!

Oi, won't the Vichy event take your new cores when it pops up?

The Ejercito de Africa (Army of Africa) will be under the command of whimsical general Queipo de Llano, nicnkamed the "Vice-Roy of Andalusia" during the Spanish Civil War where he distinguished himself with his foul and provocative radio speeches aimed at demoralizing Republican fighters.

More on this guy? Sounds like an amusing character.

 

[Bocian]

Oi, won't the Vichy event take your new cores when it pops up?

He said that in this case he'll edit the save to make it work.

 

[Commissar Draco]

Watching the thread; might be dangerous if Portugal decides to go with Allies and some British troops land there; also wondering what if America enters war was there a realistic change to assist in German invasion of US and retaking Spanish colonies in Americas and in Pacific?

 

[zool]

The Ejercito de Africa (Army of Africa) will be under the command of whimsical general Queipo de Llano, nicnkamed the "Vice-Roy of Andalusia" during the Spanish Civil War where he distinguished himself with his foul and provocative radio speeches aimed at demoralizing Republican fighters.

More on this guy? Sounds like an amusing character.

Queipo de Llano is one of those crazy officers you sometimes find in armies around the world - and you can't help but wonder how they possibly made it this far in such a morally rigid environment like the Army is.

Queipo de Llano joined the Nationalists at the beginning of the uprising even though he was suspected of being a free-mason and in favor of a Republican regime in Spain, since he had taken part in a failed coup to overthrow king Alfonso XIII in 1930. Beevor describes him as an irreverent, cynical, unpredictable man with a macabre sense of humour. During the Civil War, he managed to take control of Sevilla and stayed there for most of the war, where he acted semi-independantly from the other Nationalist forces, earning him the nickname "el Virrey de Andalucia".

He is famous for his use of radio as a tool of pyschological warfare: in his charlas - his radio speeches on Radio Sevilla - he frequently insulted the Rojos (the "Reds") and made allusions to the fact that Nationalist troops would rape their women.

Watching the thread; might be dangerous if Portugal decides to go with Allies and some British troops land there; also wondering what if America enters war was there a realistic change to assist in German invasion of US and retaking Spanish colonies in Americas and in Pacific?

We'll invade Portugal as soon as we're done with France to prevent that scenario from happening.

In case of victory, reconquering Spanish colonies in America would be fun indeed, even though I doubt we'll ever get there. Retaking Cuba and the Philippines would be quite an achievement - some of the older officers in the Spanish Army in 1940 had fought there as young lieutenants during the Spanish-American war of 1898.

 

[zool]

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[zool]

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[zool]

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[The Brazilian Slaughter]

Good going!

Things like things are going pretty well so far.

The French did better at resisting in this timeline, lulz.

That's weird, Heavy Sub seems really better.

Well, if you think Italy and Iraq are handling things alright, then going into Africa and getting rid of the Free French seems like the wise choice.
It also allows you to not only weaken the British by taking all their colonies, but also to annex South Africa and take out another Commonwealth ally, too.

Its a pity you get dissent for releasing colonial puppets (even through these lands aren't yours). You could have easily made a giant network of friendly African regimes using standard offmap IC to support little local armies and research teams. A South African puppet might be worth it?

Alternatively, you could simply prepare to deploy for Russia. But the perfect alternative for that would be to land on Crimea, and that would require the end of the British Med Fleet.

Seems like Africa >>> Middle East >>> Caucasus/Crimea is the way to go.

Do mind, this is WWII. Anything that's not the Eastern Front, in the end of the day, is just a side-show.

 

[zool]

That's weird, Heavy Sub seems really better.

Yes I really don't understand, it looks completely unbalanced, even more so with the option to add a floatplane to heavy subs.

Well, if you think Italy and Iraq are handling things alright, then going into Africa and getting rid of the Free French seems like the wise choice.
It also allows you to not only weaken the British by taking all their colonies, but also to annex South Africa and take out another Commonwealth ally, too.

African provinces are really worthless in-game: low infra, huge distances, and very little ressources, IC and manpower. So it's mostly for roleplay ("pursuing the colonial dreams") and because we have nowhere else to go anyway - that's our only direct point of contact with Allied territory.

There should be very little combat since there are next to no Allied soldiers deployed there. Besides expanding in Africa, I'll make sure to develop my navy and to continue upgrading my air force to newer models, so I can defend against future British and American strategic bombings.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

African provinces are really worthless in-game: low infra, huge distances, and very little ressources, IC and manpower. So it's mostly for roleplay ("pursuing the colonial dreams") and because we have nowhere else to go anyway - that's our only direct point of contact with Allied territory.

How about making a puppet to take all that worthless land off your hand? I don't remember if you can just straight-out give land to puppets.

South Africa could be a good puppet because it has decent-ish core territory. If owning most of Africa as your puppet can give it, say, 30-50 IC, its massively worth it. If you can beat it without destroying all of its armed forces, even better.

I would suggest the Free French but I'm afraid it might have some funky events that screw things up.

Btw, how much IC/Resource income you have after your conquests?

Then you can go help Italy in the Middle East or something.

Any plans for getting rid of the British Mediterranean Fleet with?

 

[Kalin]

Man, excellent work so far!

I know next to nothing of the game so I fully expected Gibraltar to hold. Was pleasantly surprised to say the least!

Doing nice in the air as well. Horrible loss at sea, but something had to give. Hopefully Kem0sabe will hold down the isles.

And yeah what Brozil said, fully snazzed out heavy subs seems like a no-brainer. God willing they'll sink plenty of British convoys!

 

[Luka-boy]

Early on, heavy subs are usually superior. Especially if you don't face enemies deploying 1941 model destroyers/light cruisers and/or carriers.

Standard subs are sneakier and when you get 1940 tech you should decide if you want to use them and be sneaky, raiding convoys and trying to remain undetected except when you want to hit-and-run a fleet with a wolfpack.

Otherwise use heavy subs in small groups to try to smash smaller fleets, but their bigger size, meaning higher chance to get detected, can become an issue considering you're facing the Royal Navy (and maybe the USA later). Get detected by an ASW-heavy fleet, you can easily lose a bigger investment. You might prefer you churn out a bigger fleet of standard subs that are easier to replace considering your IC isn't that amazing.

Deploy heavy subs to begin with, but as soon as 1940 standard subs are available (blueprint will probably help) reconsider the value of standard subs and your tactics depending on how the war is going.

I'm following this LP with great interest, by the way

 

[zool]

How about making a puppet to take all that worthless land off your hand? I don't remember if you can just straight-out give land to puppets.

South Africa could be a good puppet because it has decent-ish core territory. If owning most of Africa as your puppet can give it, say, 30-50 IC, its massively worth it. If you can beat it without destroying all of its armed forces, even better.

I would suggest the Free French but I'm afraid it might have some funky events that screw things up.

Btw, how much IC/Resource income you have after your conquests?

Then you can go help Italy in the Middle East or something.

Any plans for getting rid of the British Mediterranean Fleet with?

I'm not very familiar with the puppet mechanics, so I'll see as I go along what puppets I can create. But they might be worth the dissent increase if it can spare me the cost of having to suppress partisans in dozens of economically-worthless provinces.

With the partial re-growth of Portugal's industry, I'm nearing a base IC of 40 but only 34 available IC. I now have a confortable income and stockpile of Energy, Metals and Rare Materials. I'm not producing much oil (about 3 oil/day) but I'm trading some of my surplus raw materials in exchange for oil with several countries, so I now have a stockpile of 1300 oil, though that can get used up pretty fast. Here's the situation on 2 January 1941:

Re: the British Mediterranean fleet, I have very little knowledge about its current state since I've avoiding patrolling the Mediterranean with my own weak fleet so far. The only thing I'm sure of is that my convoys to the Baleares never seem to take losses. I'm hoping the Italians can reach Suez, so the Mediterranean gets closed up on both ends.

Early on, heavy subs are usually superior. Especially if you don't face enemies deploying 1941 model destroyers/light cruisers and/or carriers.

Standard subs are sneakier and when you get 1940 tech you should decide if you want to use them and be sneaky, raiding convoys and trying to remain undetected except when you want to hit-and-run a fleet with a wolfpack.

Otherwise use heavy subs in small groups to try to smash smaller fleets, but their bigger size, meaning higher chance to get detected, can become an issue considering you're facing the Royal Navy (and maybe the USA later). Get detected by an ASW-heavy fleet, you can easily lose a bigger investment. You might prefer you churn out a bigger fleet of standard subs that are easier to replace considering your IC isn't that amazing.

Deploy heavy subs to begin with, but as soon as 1940 standard subs are available (blueprint will probably help) reconsider the value of standard subs and your tactics depending on how the war is going.

I'm following this LP with great interest, by the way

One of my research projects is about to finish, so I'll research the Submarine 1940 tech (for which I have a blueprint) next. In the meantime, I'll follow your advice and start producing some heavy subs w/seaplanes as soon as I've finished researching the Seaplanes 1932 tech.

 

[zool]

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[zool]

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[zool]

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[baud]

(1) invest in national infrastructure?
(2) invest in national research?
(3) save up money for later?

I'd guess the national infrastructure seems more important, since your TC was overburdened. But I haven't played Darkest Hour (or any Paradox game), so I don't know if 600 ₧ is a lot for this.

Also by how much do the blueprint speeds up your research?

In the next update, we'll hopefully see some action in Egypt where Spaniards and Italians will fight side by side to try and take control of Alexandria, Cairo and the Suez Canal.

 

[Storyfag]

Invest in infrastructure.

 

[Andnjord]

Damn, you started this and didn't notify me? Well, now I'm gonna have some catching up to do now :D

 

[Luka-boy]

(1) invest in national infrastructure?
(2) invest in national research?
(3) save up money for later?

The research improvement is negligible, especially for Spain and Portugal's mediocre tech teams. Infrastructure will have at least some impact. What other choices do you have for the future?

Also by how much do the blueprint speeds up your research?

If you have a blueprint, researching that tech takes exactly half as much time.

 

[zool]

I'd guess the national infrastructure seems more important, since your TC was overburdened. But I haven't played Darkest Hour (or any Paradox game), so I don't know if 600 ₧ is a lot for this.

Invest in infrastructure.

The research improvement is negligible, especially for Spain and Portugal's mediocre tech teams. Infrastructure will have at least some impact. What other choices do you have for the future?

Infrastructure it is then, thanks all for your input.

What other choices do you have for the future?

Not sure, I'm still very much a newcomer to the game and, as you know, most decisions only appear when you reach a certain money treshold. However, from the wording of the decision ("Limited investment"), I'm guessing that if I wait and save up more money, I'll have the option to make a bigger investment.

 

[Andnjord]

I have a somewhat hard time believing that 50+ divisions would be able to stare at each other across the desert at El'alamein without starving, but hey, that's the engine

Godspeed commander, may the Soviets crush ze Germans so we can all enjoy watching you holding back the red hordes at the Pyrenees

Not sure, I'm still very much a newcomer to the game and, as you know, most decisions only appear when you reach a certain money treshold. However, from the wording of the decision ("Limited investment"), I'm guessing that if I wait and save up more money, I'll have the option to make a bigger investment.

From my hazy memory of Darkest Hour you are correct, this is only the first tier of investment you can do. And yes, go for Infrastructure, you've got Germany showering you in blueprints, so that takes care of research already.

 

[zool]

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