Having a REALLY hard time invading France..

[pokeravi]

Hi. Love the mod. Anyways I'm playing as Nazi Germany and it's nearly impossible for me to invade France. I've taken over Poland really easily but France is very hard to invade. I mean the entire border is covered with Maginot Forifications. And even after extensive bombing, the combat odds for fighting the fortifications are like 25 to 125! It's nearily impossible and my troops would get killed instantly. It's also historically innacurate as the Maginot Line wasn't really that effective in keeping the Germans at bay. Also, there's another problem. No matter how big I make my navy, the United Kingdom ALWAYS beats mine. They always have way more ships than me. I mean I can't even get to the English Channel without getting half of my fleet sunk. Any help would be appreciated. Also I think Austria and Switzerland definitely need to be added as seperate countries.

 

[Dale]

Hi welcome to the mod.

Firstly, it is VERY accurate that the Maginot Forts keep Germany at bay. That was purely their intention and the French spent 20 years building them stronger and stronger.

In reality the Germans waited till April 1940 and invaded France from the north after rolling through Luxemburg/Belgium. That's what you need to do here. When the Germans attack the Low Countries, roll some tank stacks through Luxemburg to Brussels, and then head straight to Calais. Then down the coast, picking up Paris as well. By the time Italy captures Nice the Vichy France event should trigger and bye-bye France.

Also the massive UK navy is highly accurate. The UK had the biggest/best navy at the start of the war. The Japanese had bigger/better ships, but not as many. Use air power to weaken the UK navy, and try to bombard their ships with artillery when they come down between Denmark/Sweden. Then use subs against cruisers-battleships and cruisers bombarding against destroyers.

Hope that helps.

BTW, have you downloaded beta 3 of the add-on?

 

[vidimce]

Pokeravi, you just need to play smarter

 

[pokeravi]

Oh I didn't even know Beta 3 was out thanks for letting me know : ).

 

[wotan321]

Well the good news is the Mod is historically accurate as far as pokeravi can tell.

Why did the Germans go AROUND the Maginot line....?
Why didn't Germany seriously consider an invasion of England?

pokeravi knows.....

... and btw, these are rhetorical questions... don't start up with your WW2 political theories on "who had the biggest battleship, the best tank, Stalin was meaner than Hitler", etc..... lets all quietly go back to playing the game....

 

[Ghandi Khan]

I had so many bombers and tanks playing as the Germans I was able to break through the Maginot line with ease, and I also had so many ships that I was able to obliterate the British navy and land additional units in northern France.

As far as the history goes, the other posters are right... the Germans never bothered going through the Maginot fortifications. They just went through the low countries instead and the French surrendered when the fortifications they had put all their resources into were bypassed completely.

I took France about 3 turns after I was at war with them... and I took over all of the UK maybe 3 or 4 turns after that. I conquered all of Poland in the same time.

 

[Dale]

I took France about 3 turns after I was at war with them... and I took over all of the UK maybe 3 or 4 turns after that. I conquered all of Poland in the same time.

How did you get the eastern cities?

 

[Ghandi Khan]

How did you get the eastern cities?

Which eastern cities?

In Poland, I just bombed them first (get their defenses down to 0% and then all their defenders down to 50% strength) and rolled my tanks in. Easy.

In France, I bombed them first and then attacked with my tanks. A little more difficult than Poland, because of the Maginot fortifications, but I had so many tanks I didn't mind losing a few. Eventually I weakened the fortifications enough that I was able to break through, then I moved my tanks in and airlifted infantry into the city I just captured for defense.

In England, I had leveled the entire country already with my bombers. I used two landing craft to land ten tanks and flew in a few paratroopers and that was more than enough to take the entire country after my airforce had softened them up.

The cities in east Africa that I am on my way to overtaking.. I airlifted tanks to the North African cities of Vichy France and are moving them through the Sahara now. I rebased some of my longest-ranged upgraded bombers to those cities too and they can just barely reach. I might have my navy take over Malta to give myself another base for my bombers.

So far my strategy for everywhere has mostly been brutal, overwhelming force. I built every kind of factory possible in every one of my cities before I did anything else, then built laboratories in most of them, then barracks, then I just started churning out unit after unit. By the time war rolled around my army was five times the size of my nearest competitor.

 

[Dale]

Sorry, it's just normally USSR beats me to the eastern Polish cities.

 

[Ghandi Khan]

Sorry, it's just normally USSR beats me to the eastern Polish cities.

oh. =) haha, well... in my game, the Soviets haven't even declared war on Poland yet, and I've already taken over all of Poland, England, Denmark, southern Norway, and northeastern France (the portion that did not become Vichy France). I think you just need to build more tanks and more bombers and play aggressively.

 

[Ghandi Khan]

Also, there's another problem. No matter how big I make my navy, the United Kingdom ALWAYS beats mine. They always have way more ships than me. I mean I can't even get to the English Channel without getting half of my fleet sunk. Any help would be appreciated.

My suggestion with this:

in all of your coastal cities, start the same way I suggested starting in every other city. Build every kind of factory available to you, as each one increases your production. Build a navy yard so you can build ships faster, then do nothing else with these cities except churn out naval units. If you need to build AA units, fighters, or infantry for defense... do this in other cities and move them up. Just focus all of your naval cities on producing more naval units. By the time war rolls around, you should have plenty of ships. One thing you need to watch out for is enemy aircraft attacks, which can soften up your battleships and then make you vulnerable to attack. For this reason, I would keep all of your ships stacked on the same tile, and have at least one, preferably two aircraft carriers in the stack each with five fighter planes set to intercept. Include 3-6 cruisers in the stack to also help intercept planes, 1-2 destroyers to spot enemy subs, 1-2 of your own submarines to attack stray enemy vessels, and as many battleships as you can build after that, preferably 3-4 or more. When you move your navy into the North Sea, keep them all together. Upgrade one of your cruisers or battleships with the medic upgrade so you heal faster. If your ships start to become damaged, stop somewhere and heal, preferably inside an ally's cultural borders. To attack enemy ships, soften them up first with a couple of hits from the fighters you should have on your two aircraft carriers, then attack with a cruiser or submarine, sink the enemy ship, and then move your own ship back to the safety of your stack where they can heal under the protection of your battleships and aircraft carriers. Your battleships can be great attackers, but try to save at least two at full health for defense. Use your long-range bombers on the land to further soften up any enemy naval units that you see. If you reduce all of their cruisers and battleships to 50% strength before they attack you, they won't stand much of a chance. You can use a couple of submarines to scout for enemy ships, since they are invisible to everything except other subs and destroyers, it is safer to send them out away from the your main stack.

 

[Dale]

oh. =) haha, well... in my game, the Soviets haven't even declared war on Poland yet, and I've already taken over all of Poland, England, Denmark, southern Norway, and northeastern France (the portion that did not become Vichy France). I think you just need to build more tanks and more bombers and play aggressively.

Are you playing the latest beta? USSR DoW's Poland the turn after Germany since beta 2.

 

[Ghandi Khan]

Are you playing the latest beta? USSR DoW's Poland the turn after Germany since beta 2.

I'm playing the retail version included in Beyond the Sword. I was wondering why it took so long for the USSR to declare war, though, since historically the two countries agreed to divide up the country between them. Have noticed several other historical inaccuracies/liberties in this version of the scenario, as well. but overall, cool mod.

Is the newest beta more difficult?

 

[Dale]

Is the newest beta more difficult?

Yes. And fixes a number of historical inaccuracies, like the FW190<>Me109 mixup and Chiang instead of Mao.

 

[Ghandi Khan]

Yes. And fixes a number of historical inaccuracies, like the FW190<>Me109 mixup and Chiang instead of Mao.

does it fix no Hitler, too?

 

[Dale]

Yes, Hitler and Hirohito make appearances in the add-on betas. They were the first things I added.

 

[Dazz_G]

Yes, Hitler and Hirohito make appearances in the add-on betas. They were the first things I added.

Hitler makes more than just an appearance when I play the Germans

 

[Ghandi Khan]

In my game (retail version of the mod, playing as the Germans), I just won a conquest victory in June of 1941. The Germans have completely destroyed the Polish, French, British, West Balkan, and Norwegian civilizations. I kept playing even after I was declared the winner just because I wanted to see how my campaign against the Russians would have fared (I declared war on them the same turn that I won). If I manage to kill Russia (and don't anticipate much difficulty doing so) the USA should be even easier with my foothold in Canada, since in this version of the world the USA is only the east coast. Much easier to concentrate my forces than in Russia.

 

[krokodil]

with new patch is not going to be easy for u Ghandi Khan, I used ur strategy playing as germans, but new patch make ai make lots fightes out of 5 bombers only 1 or 2 will reach tgt. Even poland was hard time for me to bomb.
I playing hardest mode i could destroy all countried before entering war vs USSR except Norway and Crete Island since i couldnt get my navy into mediterreneans, and all my landing crafts lost due to french invaded Koslin with 10 forces where i had only 3 infantry divisions to protect and 5 landing crafts parked. Later i cept distrupted making another Landing crafts because all my enemies destroy oil wells both of them right after i repair them with bombers and spies.
Nevertheless im in war with USSR now and already captured 5 cities meeting lots T-34's and KV's and strong Russian infantry on the way. BTW all my 25 bombers ded (except 2 i keep them only for reconaisanse only) even before i entered war with russia and i dont make them no more - just waste of time they useles now .

 

[vampy420]

Hi. Love the mod. Anyways I'm playing as Nazi Germany and it's nearly impossible for me to invade France. I've taken over Poland really easily but France is very hard to invade. I mean the entire border is covered with Maginot Forifications. And even after extensive bombing, the combat odds for fighting the fortifications are like 25 to 125! It's nearily impossible and my troops would get killed instantly. It's also historically innacurate as the Maginot Line wasn't really that effective in keeping the Germans at bay. Also, there's another problem. No matter how big I make my navy, the United Kingdom ALWAYS beats mine. They always have way more ships than me. I mean I can't even get to the English Channel without getting half of my fleet sunk. Any help would be appreciated. Also I think Austria and Switzerland definitely need to be added as seperate countries.

Gather enough artillery and maginot fortifications cease to be an issue