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

[zool]

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[Vaarna_Aarne]

Sadly, since you cannot truly influence tech teams via your own input in any real way, the only real choice (unless you're playing one of the usual suspects) is to allow Tech Team Takeover.

 

[zool]

I wonder if you can grab a bit of France before useless Vichy France is created, or if the event will just give the land to it anyway.

Spain will have some very limited claims in southwestern France, more details in the next update. If the armistice event gives the land back to Vichy, I'll just edit the savegame and mod them back to me.

Why not change the misc so that every nation gets 2 tech teams by default? That's what I did in FODD.

You mean every nation, regardless of its IC, get the same number (2) of techteams? Or that the base number for every nation is 2 techteams? Because if it's the latter, that's already how it's set up by default in misc.txt in my game.

If it's the former, I prefer techteams number to scale according to IC.

(I think Techteam takeover is gay as fuck tho)

I set it "on" just so I can benefit from Portugal's techteams once I conquer it (though I think they're mostly crap, it's just for flavor).

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well since you're not playing as one of the usual suspects, even the Portuguese can add a tiny bit of extra benefit.

As for Africa, all you only really need to defend Ceuta and the Southern end of the strait through creating the Land Forts and Coastal Forts needed to create an unassailable position. IIRC in DH Africa (particularly French Africa) is just as worthless as it is in HoI2 in general, and taking the fight there will only kill your TC and give you nothing useful. The only possible offensive action to take is to link up with Italy and try and take Egypt to close the Suez, but this again is kind of a longer term goal and would require a sizeable army with strong IC behind it to hold the wide front South. It might actually be advisable to abandon the African colonies in general and Ceuta, and instead focus entirely on the mainland since your ability to ship troops over will be limited by Allied naval superiority that'll last a good while.

 

[zool]

As for Africa, all you only really need to defend Ceuta and the Southern end of the strait through creating the Land Forts and Coastal Forts needed to create an unassailable position. IIRC in DH Africa (particularly French Africa) is just as worthless as it is in HoI2 in general, and taking the fight there will only kill your TC and give you nothing useful. The only possible offensive action to take is to link up with Italy and try and take Egypt to close the Suez, but this again is kind of a longer term goal and would require a sizeable army with strong IC behind it to hold the wide front South. It might actually be advisable to abandon the African colonies in general and Ceuta, and instead focus entirely on the mainland since your ability to ship troops over will be limited by Allied naval superiority that'll last a good while.

Sound advice all around. However, in the spirit of my first LP with Turkey, I'll endeavour to follow war goals that Spain would most likely have set itself had it entered the conflict. Unfortunately, that includes invading French Morocco and part of French Algeria, as well as defending the Canary Islands which, unlike colonies, were considered an integral part of Spanish territory.

PS: I can confirm that, from an economic standpoint, Morocco is nearly worthless, with very little IC and manpower and a few provinces producing insignificant amounts of raw materials.

 

[zool]

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[zool]

Ins't it more expedient to puppet Portugal instead? It exempts you from having to defend the Portuguese Colonies from the British. Portugal also adds five extra coastal provinces to defend. Then again, I never played Spain.

It would probably be more expedient but wouldn't be very realistic historically speaking since Franco's Spain was super-centralizing in its approach to regional identities (see how they treated the Basques and Catalonians). If they considered Portugal to be an integral part of Spain, much like Catalonia or the Basque Country, then there would be no reason to treat it any differently.

Defending Portugal's coast should not be too taxing since there are only two provinces with beaches. I'm planning on defending them with two regular infantry divisions w/ police brigades, so they also fight partisans at the same time.

I'm curious at which state the Spanish army is. I suspect its not much better than the drek that was the Turkish army.

It's more modern but starts smaller than the Turkish army, which is good since it means my TC is not already completely overloaded at the beginning of the game.

 

[zool]

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[nobre]

This is shaping up to be another interesting AAR, especially because of your reluctance to engage in ridiculous strategies that would work only in a game. I always throw all realism overboard, but it's nice to read about an entirely different approach.

I'm curious about your navy. You should be in an excellent position to hurt the British merchant marine, but I don't know what tools you're given for this. And without years of buildup, there's no opportunity to remedy any shortcomings.

 

[zool]

This is shaping up to be another interesting AAR, especially because of your reluctance to engage in ridiculous strategies that would work only in a game. I always throw all realism overboard, but it's nice to read about an entirely different approach.

Thanks, why not try it out too? A few possibly interesting playthroughs:

- Portugal (Difficulty level: Very Hard. Start in 1936, join the Axis when it makes sense around 1940-1941, so you get a few years to build up your weak forces. Wargoals: Survive. Take your revenge fifty years after the 1890 British ultimatum and conquer British colonies in Eastern and Southern Africa, starting from Mozambique and Angola).

- Iran (Difficulty level: Super Hard. Early start in 1933 because you'll definitely need time to build up your economy and army. Join the Axis around 1940-1941. Wargoal: Survive and get ready to defend your homeland from the 1941 Anglo-Soviet invasion. Conquer British Iraq and Afghanistan if you can)

- Vichy France (Difficulty level: Hard. Start in 1940 with France, let yourself be defeated and continue with Vichy France. A few months later, switch sides, integrate De Gaulle into your government and join the Allies, for example after a fictional invasion of French Morocco by Spanish forces with German approval. The southern part of France is pretty much untenable but you can retreat to North Africa - with the French Fleet at your disposal, you can wreak havoc on the Italians. Wargoal: reconquer mainland France earlier than the historical schedule).

But Turkey and Spain were the two I really really wanted to do.

I'm curious about your navy. You should be in an excellent position to hurt the British merchant marine, but I don't know what tools you're given for this. And without years of buildup, there's no opportunity to remedy any shortcomings.

Will be presented in details after the next update but it's weak and in a bad shape. There are opportunities to put it to good use once it's repaired and buffed up a bit though.

 

[nobre]

Going to try the Vichy campaign someday. I can already see a complete evacuation of metropolitan France, followed by an invasion of Italy from either Corsica or North-Africa.

 

[Kalin]

Excellent stuff so far, eagerly awaiting carnage.

 

[Bocian]

The effort put in the research and descriptions is admirable.

 

[zool]

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[zool]

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[zool]

Will post an update soon on the Spanish economy and technology base in 1940 but in the meantime, I had to slighlty edit my post above as I had misread the class equivalent of my ships in-game (compared to those of the Royal Navy on which they are based).

Sadly so, I had to downgrade the Canarias from Heavy Cruiser 1930 to Heavy Cruiser 1916, my three Cervera-class light cruisers from Light Cruiser 1930 to Light Cruiser 1922, and the Mendez Nunez from Light Cruiser 1922 to Light Cruiser 1912. I also had to downgrade my Alsedo-class destroyer flotilla from Destroyer 1923 to Destroyer 1916.

Now my fleet is even crappier

 

[Storyfag]

Man, this is one of the most AARs/LPs I've seen. The amount of attention to detail you are willing to spare is astonishing, and I salute you, sir

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

I'm just waiting for that update.

Let's hope your luck fares better this time.

 

[zool]

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[The Brazilian Slaughter]

Honestly, I'm not good at naval affairs.

Your front of war will probably be Africa for most of the game, so I think your priority here is to be able to supply and ferry your troops on the other side of the strait and on. Then you can go on the rampage through the 40s, taking French North Africa and helping Italy take out English Egypt and threaten the Middle East.

End-game would probably be helping the Germans fight the Soviets through Crimea or the Caucasus, while keeping the Allies out of Axis Western Europe.

Re: Africa - why not simply liberate African nations? Can African territory be released as puppets? Or do you get the colonial puppet penalty even through those are not your colonies?

 

[nobre]

Navy: Go for submarines and naval bombers, with subs having priority over the bombers. As for your surface navy, forget about upgrading it with attachments. Not worth the IC, since even fully upgraded you won't stand a chance against the big British fleets. Use them to repel an invasion, or better yet, use them to escort your transports further and further south along the African coast. Enemy naval presence is probably light around there, allowing you to eliminate the Belgian and Free French holdouts in the Congo. Who knows, maybe you can get to South-Africa. Awful terrain and infrastructure though.

Air Force: Very expensive to build interceptors and CAS. Should be low priority given that their use is situational. Really, Air Force in these games is a toy for the big boys. Lesser powers shouldn't even try.

Army: while converting your manpower into infantry, (or MTN) is often the best strategy for any country, in this case it is not so clear-cut. Your main challenge could well be to actually engage your enemy, since a Spanish invasion of Britain is out of the question for several years at least. Building more INF with your limited industry would then be unwise. One trick you could do is to build militia to guard your beaches, freeing up INF for offensive duties. You can always upgrade the MIL to INF.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

Air Force: Very expensive to build interceptors and CAS. Should be low priority given that their use is situational. Really, Air Force in these games is a toy for the big boys. Lesser powers shouldn't even try.

Will it even be very useful in N. Africa? Africa has huge provinces and one thing I notice when fighting outside Europe, is that using short-ranged CAS is kind of worthless because you will never have enough range and airfields to actually sustain a proper bombing campaign against enemy forces.

Might as well simply make his forces as air-proof as possible and just deal with the bombing like it is.

Army: while converting your manpower into infantry, (or MTN) is often the best strategy for any country, in this case it is not so clear-cut. Your main challenge could well be to actually engage your enemy, since a Spanish invasion of Britain is out of the question for several years at least. Building more INF with your limited industry would then be unwise. One trick you could do is to build militia to guard your beaches, freeing up INF for offensive duties. You can always upgrade the MIL to INF.

I think that would depend where he will go.
North Africa seems like a given (get the damn English off the Med!), but what's next?
- Help the Nazis through Crimea or the Caucasus?
- Middle East and India?
- Invade Turkey and other neutralfag minor country if they remain neutral?
- Grand Armada II, The Revenge?

 

[zool]

Navy: Go for submarines and naval bombers, with subs having priority over the bombers. As for your surface navy, forget about upgrading it with attachments. Not worth the IC, since even fully upgraded you won't stand a chance against the big British fleets. Use them to repel an invasion, or better yet, use them to escort your transports further and further south along the African coast. Enemy naval presence is probably light around there, allowing you to eliminate the Belgian and Free French holdouts in the Congo. Who knows, maybe you can get to South-Africa. Awful terrain and infrastructure though.

Air Force: Very expensive to build interceptors and CAS. Should be low priority given that their use is situational. Really, Air Force in these games is a toy for the big boys. Lesser powers shouldn't even try.

Army: while converting your manpower into infantry, (or MTN) is often the best strategy for any country, in this case it is not so clear-cut. Your main challenge could well be to actually engage your enemy, since a Spanish invasion of Britain is out of the question for several years at least. Building more INF with your limited industry would then be unwise. One trick you could do is to build militia to guard your beaches, freeing up INF for offensive duties. You can always upgrade the MIL to INF.

Re: Navy, sounds reasonable enough. While I have techteams with the Submarine Design specialty, I don't have any techteam with the Submarine Tactics component, so doctrinal research will be slow unfortunately. I'll benefit from German and Italian blueprints though.

I think you and The Brazilian Slaughter are right regarding CAS. On the other hand, the reason why I want to research interceptors technology is that I'm afraid British strategic bombers will further reduce my IC since I'm in range of their bases. The good news is that Spain is far enough from Britain and other British-held territories so that they won't be able to provide fighter cover for their bombers. As a result, even a small-size relatively modern interceptor fleet protecting northwest Spain should be able to intercept incoming unescorted bombers, inflicting serious losses and helping mitigate the IC cost of potential British strategic bombings.
Also, once I've researched Interceptor 1937 and Interceptor 1940 technologies, I'll be able to upgrade my starting 121 Fiat CR.32 (Interceptor 1930) to newer models - if I can't afford the IC cost, at least they will get some automatic upgrade when reinforcing. In the end, I could find myself with three wings of modern interceptors, which should be enough to cover the northwestern approaches to Spain.

Good idea with the Militia but I think I'm actually going to use mostly Garrison units to guard beaches since I will also be in need of their high suppression capabilities - I also benefit from a -15% Garrison build time and cost bonus (see 1st post). I actually need to post something about that since I've decided to slightly revise my land forces OOB to include some regiment-sized guarrison units, both for better historicity and for game-balance reason.

I think that would depend where he will go.
North Africa seems like a given (get the damn English off the Med!), but what's next?
- Help the Nazis through Crimea or the Caucasus?
- Middle East and India?
- Invade Turkey and other neutralfag minor country if they remain neutral?
- Grand Armada II, The Revenge?

So far, my goals are limited to conquering my claimed territories. Then, we'll see if I can maybe go beyond that and give a hand to the Italians in the Eastern Mediterranean and/or expand further into Africa.

But the most likely outcome is that, with my limited forces, I'll have to switch to a mostly defensive position to protect the territories I've conquered. In that situation, my role would simply be to keep the Gibraltar strait closed, harass British naval units with my submarines and naval bombers, and generally attract as many Allied units as possible so the big boys (Germany and Italy) find less opposition on their way to conquer the UK and Egypt.

 

[nobre]

Well in that case some interceptors make sense. Also beware of supporting the Italians directly, it can be very frustrating to see an Allied AI who is unwilling to attack. But who knows, maybe they march straight to Suez and then to India

 

[zool]

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