Gattamelata,
Thank you for the report.
"Week 13, 1940:
The Japanese have razed Yenan. After much debate, we have decided to lend our support to our Communist brothers by securing their cities in the name of international peace. Chairman Mao may not appreciate this, but it is certain that our socialist brothers who labor under his rule will. We send our mobile units to Ulan Bator in order to prepare for a crossing of the Soviet/Chinese border near Lanchow. Estimated arrival: 6 weeks. We hope only that Lanchow can hold against the Imperial Japanese forces."
Gattamelata
It sounds like a very good idea.
"We send some Motor Rifle divisions to clog the road between Lanchow and Ansi so that the Japanese tank divisions will be slowed down. The Japanese will soon learn that a Right of Passage Agreement can be a mixed blessing."
Gattamelata
That is right!
On the campaign in China.
Very strong strategy and tactics from you, with a minimum of losses.
"Our motorized forces are in place near Damascus. We declare war on Turkey, and our army rolls across Turkey's southern border, stopping outside the gates of Adana. 17 T-34 divisions, 6 Cavalry divisions, and one Motor Rifle division are at Adana, with another 9 T-34 divisions, 14 Soviet Tank Divisions, and 9 Motor Rifle divisions on the road behind them."
Gattamelata
For sure an impressing force.
"We taka Adana with no losses. Our mobile forces then roll northward to take the heavily fortified city of Ankara, where we lose 3 T-34 divisions and 2 Soviet Tank divisions. Once Ankara falls, the unstoppable Soviet tide moves northward to take Samsun, at the loss of 2 T-34 divisions. A cavalry division scouts Istanbul, where we see an elite Fortress in place, no doubt the result of Turkey's war with Greece. We begin moving our eight Heavy Artillery divisions south from Kharkov. Istanbul will not be an easy mark. We move our remaining undamaged divisions into the mountains between Erzurum and Trabzon."
Gattamelata
Turkey with all its fortress-units should not be easy to conquer.
"We stop our 8 Heavy Artillery divisions in the Caucasus - rather than run our artillery all the way around the Turkish fortifications, we will blow a hole in the Caucasian defenses and take our artillery through that hole, saving perhaps two weeks of marching time. We mercilessly pound the Turks, who no longer receive reinforcement and resupply from Erzurum and Trabzon. Miraculously, we manage to punch a hole in the battered Turkish line at the cost of only one T-34 division. Our artillery will be at the walls of Istanbul in a week."
Gattamelata
Artillery should be crucial in a campaign like this.
"The British India Infantry divisions near Kandahar seem to have been given new orders, and begin marching back east to India."
Gattamelata
That can mean trouble.
"We prepare for our assault on Istanbul. A sixth wing of Pe-2 bombers arrives in Ankara. Our troops arrive at Istanbul: Eight Heavy Artillery divisions, 16 T-34 divisions, 7 Soviet Tank Divisions, 10 Motor Rifle divisions, and 5 Cavalry divisions"
Gattamelata
That should mean the end for Istanbul.
"Our railroad network connects Vitebsk to Moscow to Kharkov to Stalingrad. We have two railroad crews working: one will continue east from Stalingrad, building a "Trans-Siberian Railroad." However, it will stay to the south of the great forests, taking advantage of the sub-Siberian plains for faster construction. The planned route will connect Stalingrad, Astrachan, Aralsk, Semipalatinsk, Kondo, Ulan Bator and Bulgan. Where it will go from Bulgan is currently an open question. The second railroad crew will keep working west from Vitebsk to the German border at Vilnius, and then will move southward connecting the cities along the border."
Gattamelata
This railroad network will be of heavy importance.
"The Allies don't present much threat: Germany has eliminated European France, and the resource-starved Free French in Africa can produce only infantry and cavalry. Britain is essentially paralyzed: their shipping from the British Isles is subject to German harrassment, their Mediterranean operations are hampered by the weak but not insignificant Italian naval operations, and their African territories are severed from their Indian land. Their rich Indian territories are productive, but they are sending all their units west to battle Italy's Ethiopian defenders. When the Japanese finish off China, British India will be in grave trouble - the single most damaging thing I could do to Britain aside from declaring war would be to allow their 42 Indian Infantry to pass through my land, because it would mean that they'd be caught flat-footed when Japan breaks through China and Southeast Asia. The U.S. has been a non-presence, no doubt engaged in Pacific struggles with Japan.
The Axis is a greater threat, but not much. Germany is powerful, but they don't yet have the more powerful tanks. At this point I could wipe them out of Europe in 20-26 turns. Japan has largely ignored the Pacific in favor of subduing the Chinese (which I consider to be a remarkably good strategy for the AI. The Pacific Islands are useful and strategically important, but the AI rarely uses them effectively. Right now Japan has taken all but four major Chinese cities: Chengdu, Chungking, Kunming and Nanning), but their units simply can't contend with T-34s. Italy, Finland, and the minor axis powers aren't worth mentioning; their units are totally inferior to T-34s, and Soviet Russia's industrial capacity dwarfs theirs."
Gattamelata
I think your analyse of the situation is correct.
"In the worst case scenario, Germany would wait until it had researched an 8-hp armor unit, and then declare war on me. Germany and Japan would both ignore their other adversaries to attack Soviet Russia without mercy. This would be a challenge, but I think Russia's raw industrial might could prevail - in that case I would fight a delaying action against Germany with my 30 western T-34 divisions while I sent every other available unit to the east to smash Manchukuo, Korea, and Japanese China. The second worst case scenario would be a sustained, all-out attack from the U.S. and Britain. Since Britain has nearly no Pacific presence, and since Japan is a very effective naval screen in the Pacific, the Allied attacks would have to be via the Arctic Sea or the Mediterranean. In both cases they would be subject to German and Italian naval harrassment."
Gattamelata
One can note that Germany-AI always have severe problems with the
war in Russia in this scenario.
"Some observations: Russia starts rather strong, considering that it's not at war with any major powers. The Soviet Tank Divisions it starts with are more than powerful enough to conquer Poland, Persia and Communist China (which I could and should have taken earlier). By the time Barbarossa rolls around, Russia should be very industrialized and have a very powerful military, which I'm not sure is historically accurate. On the other hand, I don't know a good way to keep such a massive civ from becoming very powerful in Civ. More cities = more power."
Gattamelata
However it is historically accurate.
In June 1941 Soviet had 60 Tank Divisions and 36 Motorized Rifle Divisions.
The Soviet Tank force: 22 700 Tanks was larger then
all other Tank forces in the world combined!
Its also worth to remember that German army was very close
to total collapse at Moscow, December 1941.
"The T-34s cost only 180 shields. Is that different from 2.3? I had thought that armor costs were going to increase, but 180 shields still seems very cheap. I can easily afford to treat my T-34 divisions as disposable units and still outnumber my enemies (this is not unrealistic, but it's very powerful). I could also very successfully produce only T-34s and sweep across Europe, Asia and Africa. Then again, the Russian infantry is quite weak, so they wouldn't have the same options as the Allies or Japan/Germany to create a vast infantry army."
Gattamelata
Most armoured units (including T-34) had a 10%-15% cost increase
in version 2.3. That was not changed in version 2.4.
Its possible that they still are to cheap to build though.
Thank you for a very interesting report and welcome back.
Rocoteh
