WW2-Global

[mircea74]

My four directions of advance will be:
1. Take the remaining Pacific islands (6 cities to go). A small group (ground+naval) will be taking care of that one at a time.
2. Take Alaska. We will set a trap for remaining US Battleships (if they show up...)
3. Begin campaign in British India. The main fleet will support after Alaska mission.
4. Deal with the soviets! They have really bugged me and i figured i should weaken them before they have the chance to build powerful tanks. I'll try to occupy the eastern side of the Soviet Russia. By the way they have switched to democracy - one more reason to attack now!

The economy is now strong. Almost all cities are producing at maximum capacity and because resourse is abundant we have invested in science. Trades with luxuries (we have 10) helps too. All citizens are happy.

I have now Intelligence Agency so here is what our spy reports:

Russia: (the advisor says we are strong compared to them)
167 Russian Infantry
2 T-34/76
26 Motorized Rifle Division
3 T-26
1 Heavy Artillery
10 I-16
15 RU I-15
16 DB-3B
15 SB-2
Fleet: 2 Battleships, 2 Heavy Cruisers,3 Light Cruisers, 4 Destroyers and 44 Submarines

US: (the advisor says we are average compared to them)
1 cavalry
3 artillery
22 US marines
41 US infantry
11 M1919A2
4 fighters
Fleet: 13 Battleships (unknown location), 10 Heavy Cruisers and 20 submarines. No destroyers left

Great Britain: (the advisor says we are strong compared to them)
1 marine
11 artillery
75 city police (!!!)
5 flak
1 piat anti-tank
19 vickers
2 british commando
1 cruiser missile
87 british infantry
3 british tank brigade
a dozen of fighters and bombers
They also have 11 transports and King George Battleship!

We have:
16 artillery
6 armies (5 of them with japanese infantry, one with tanks. Armies are made of recruits from pacific islands since this way they gain experience faster and are better protected)
92 japanese infantry
11 Type 97
1 Type 95 (made in a crisis situation when the soviets massed around northern border)
6 japanse marine SNLF
8 Type 99
Bombers:
16 Aichi D3A (great bomber, our main weapon along with armies)
9 KI-21 Sally
5 B5N Kate (on carriers, nice for reconnaisance too)
Our fleet:
Yamato
10 Battleships
6 Carriers (total)
14 Heavy Cruisers
10 Light Cruisers
12 Destroyers
10 Transports
1 submarine (retired in Tokyo)

Now i'll be producing heavy artillery, bombers and tanks for armies. No naval units yet since we have no immediate (and serious) adversary.

 

[psweetman1590]

Rocoteh,

i have install the files like it say in the instructions in Post 1...
the game starts ok but in the middel of the game it get stuck

Does it always get stuck, or only sometimes? My copy of the scenario is a little unstable myself. I had the game crash once or twice... save early and often.

On this note, I get an error when navigating the civilopedia and getting the tech for Democracy. The game then exits. I can do without looking at the entry for Democracy in the scenario, but is perhaps something to fix?

Now for my report...this is still v 1.0, btw

As Germany, I had, as of last report, taken Poland, Norway, the Low Countries, and France. Since then, I fought off the Russians after Japan declared war on them. I ended up taking two cities from them. After that, I took Spain, which only had two cities (France had razed the Northern most three), and Gibraltar. Gibraltar was a SWEET spot for planting my artillery, especially now that I had some of the heavier variety built. The Brittish convoys got hammered, and I even managed to sink a BB or two! I then proceeded to take Lisbon.

Having the all of continental Europe aside from my allies and the Soviets, I decided to build up my airforce and take Brittain. By this point, Stuttgart was building an army every 4 turns, to be filled by Panzer 3's from the Ruhr. Berlin was also pumping out SS Infantry, Stettin was building Bismarcks, and the rest of my cities were building ME-110s in an attempt to wear down the British RAF. Flatly put...it failed. I never did get air control over Britain, down to the taking of Wick....EVERY MEASLY PLANE WAS SHOT DOWN!! I know the Germans had a rough time over England, but in the beginning they were actually quite succesful. It was only when Britain started out producing the Nazis in planes that they started to really win. Mayby Brittain has too many fighters? Anyhow, I carried out operation Sealion without airsupport. I had to use quite a few German 88s to keep the RAF away . I took the city NW of London first, with two SS armies, then brought over two Panzer armies and took London and Portsmouth(?). then Marched north. I used paras to take Ireland.

I transport those four Armies to French North Africa in the spirit of Operation Torch. After three turns the coast was mine. I turned south, and ten or so SS and Panzer armies are rampaging through Africa.

My forces are about to slam through the Congo Rainforest, and then turn North to take British Egypt. Then turn south and take the rest of the continent. Then its going to get FUN! I still have some 12 Panzer armies in reserve in Germany's interior, along with a lot of Heavy Artillery, SS and a good portion of the German Infantry I started with. My troops in Africa will stike North through the Caucasus, while my huge force in Germany will take the traditional route. The Soviets won't know what hit them!

As to the rest of the world, not much is happening. The Japs have taken all the Chinese cities that aren't in the Himilayas (I gave them oil and rubber to make things interesting ). When I start the war against Russia, they should be in good shape to help; they have their own sources of oil and rubber now. Sadly, the Japs never took anything that was overseas from them, except one city of the Phillipennes. Russia has also taken Iraq/Persia. It took them three turns.

In the Atlantic, I have wolfpacks roaming near the US coast to sink whatever comes out of their cities. I also have some near the Panama canal, and they shall pay dearly if they ever decide to use it.

I hope to winn by domination soon. The taking of all Russia and Africa should be a BIG step in that direction!

Edit: War mobilization helps immensely! Also, you can still build all the improvements even while Mobilized.

However, bombers, German 88s, and ARMIES don't get the mobilization bonus... I don't know how you could fix that about the armies, but if you gave bombers and the German 88's an attack of one, that should get them the bonus.

 

[Bob1475]

Emperor level 1.2 adjusted Mechanized Rifle Divisions defense to 13.

I made decent progress in taking all of the British Isles and France. I had beaten back the Russians once early in 1939. I noted the Japanese had made good progress in China even taking Hong Kong with my early support (oil and rubber). The Italians had lost Africa but were holding Yugoslavia.

The British and French were attacking from Russian territory but my airforce was pushing them back each time.

Meanwhile the Russians had taken all of Turkey and Persia and I was concerned about what might happen next. My next move was Gibraltar and then near the end of 1940 the Russians attacked with about 150 armor units still heavily based in Mechanized Rifle Divisions. The deftly went around my strong cities in the East and went south to take out the Bulgarians and the Italians in Yugoslavia. The then struck into the heart of central Europe taking out key German cities (destroying any above pop 10 and occupying many of the others. They went around my armies (moved from England) to defend Berlin and took Milan as a gateway to France. They proceeded into Spain and I have had enough.

I am going to play Russia to get a better idea of what makes them so strong. I think simply put they have a much better strategic situation in that they can choose their own battles (no locked alliances). Therefore they can sign ROPs with either side to essentially weaken both. They also have an advantage over the allies in that their units are on one continous land area which overcomes the AI weakness in naval areas. Lastly I suspect that communism helps them in their expansion. I am not sure of all of this, perhaps it is simply that I don't usually play at the Emperor level and the weakness is all mine!

Therefore I will now play a game as Russia and see how I do. I will remain with the adjusted 1.2. Assuming I am right about Soviet power perhaps you should consider some adjustments to the tech tree to move Rifle Divisions back or perhaps raise the cost. Not sure about this, I will know more after playing.

By the way, are the units reflective of 1939 or 1941 situation?

 

[Rocoteh]

Mei,

Thank you for the report.

"Before doing anything on my first turn I used my British commercial might to bankrupt my allies in return for luxeries or resources and ended my first turn on 4000 gold. ;D" Mei

That is an interesting way to open the scenario.

You said earlier on that only the US could build marines now. Do other civs get amphibious units at all? Mei

Yes, in version 1.2 all infantry-type units have amphibious capacity.

Do you have any specific plan, or will you choose a waiting-strategy
to see what Axis-AI will do?

Rocoteh

 

[Rocoteh]

mircea74,

An interesting plan. It seems to be a good idea to deal
with the Soviets with regard to their strenght.

Thank you for the strenght stats. They indicate that AI for some
reason refuse to build armour so far. The same seems also be true
for air-units.
Instead AI give priority to HMG:s. As mentioned before I consider
to delete them from the next version. I appreciate feedback on that.

I am looking forward to follow the campaign in British India.
If you manage to conquer that, all British positions east of Suez
should be in trouble.

Rocoteh

 

[Rocoteh]

Bob1475,

"My next move was Gibraltar and then near the end of 1940 the Russians attacked with about 150 armor units." Bob1475

That is far to much armour for Soviet!
Its obvious that changes must be made in version 1.3.

I hope you will report from your new play-test as Soviet.
It will be of help when to determine which changes must be made.
I have already decided to replace auto-produced T-34/76 with T-26.

"By the way, are the units reflective of 1939 or 1941 situation?"Bob1475

The Order of Battle and unit-stats reflect the situation September 1939.

Here are stats for Soviet strenght June 22 1941:

Tank Divisions: 60
Motorized Rifle Divisions: 36
Cavalry Divisions: 13
Rifle (Infantry) Divisions 194
Airborne "Corps" = Divisions: 5

Rocoteh

 

[Rocoteh]

psweetman1590,

On this note, I get an error when navigating the civilopedia and getting the tech for Democracy. The game then exits. I can do without looking at the entry for Democracy in the scenario, but is perhaps something to fix?
psweetman1590

I will check it.

"Gibraltar was a SWEET spot for planting my artillery, especially now that I had some of the heavier variety built. The Brittish convoys got hammered, and I even managed to sink a BB or two!" psweetman1590

It sounds like a very good idea!

On the battle for air-superiority over Britain:
Was a majority of the planes shot down by RAF or AA?
It seems like Britain-AI avoid to build air-units, so I think its
to early to say that the British airforce is to large.
Interesting that you managed to occupy Britain and Ireland
without air-superiority.

The Japs have taken all the Chinese cities that aren't in the Himilayas (I gave them oil and rubber to make things interesting ). psweetman1590

Good move!

"However, bombers, German 88s, and ARMIES don't get the mobilization bonus... I don't know how you could fix that about the armies, but if you gave bombers and the German 88's an attack of one, that should get them the bonus."psweetman1590

Yes, that sounds good. Change for German 88 have already
been implemented.

Overall your strategic situation looks very good.

Thank you for the report and welcome back.

Rocoteh

 

[Sasebo]

I'm glad you mentioned all Infantry now being amphibious because I was about to start having a fit... No transports and no marines? How am I supposed to take malta and those other 1 square islands? Without marines I think it is going to be rough anyway.

I hope you reconsider taking away the tanks from China. They were really offensively challenged, and those tanks were not THAT great anyway, I lost quite a few of them, including an army. They were expensive for what you got too. Without tanks and marines what is China going to use for offense? Flamethrowers? That is even sillier then Chinese tanks. Realism is fine but give them something to play with!

If you want to eliminate anything, get rid of the armies. I see in my Italy position that Germany starts with an empty one,that is probably the one I saw in the China game. AI does not use them right and nowhere near enough. They make it too easy to take cities.

You were wondering if AI can do amphibious attacks? I forgot to mention Japan took two cities in the Phillipines also. I am pretty sure that Italian attack on the west coast of India was amphibious from East Africa also. So the AI does do it at times.

I would like you to keep the MG units, I don't think the AI builds many of them. Look at Mircea's post above. After playing China and now Italy I really am looking forward to getting some better defenders when I can research them. If you think they destroy the flavor though, then I guess they should go.

I will be busy a bit, I plan to play it some more later tonight, and I want to take a better look at the naval units. I am thinking some of the stats need to be changed. Specifically, I think some of the low end units are too low in defense; it seems way too slanted towards getting in the first attack. This really hurts the AI since it does not work for that first strike like a human does. Also I think that is somewhat unrealistic. I have some ideas but I will save them for the next post,I want to look at all of the units first. I will get back to you on that though.

 

[Rocoteh]

Sasebo,

"How am I supposed to take malta and those other 1 square islands?"
Sasebo

OK, maybe other Civs than US should have Marines after all.
The price-tag will be high though, since I do not want for
example China-AI to produce Marines instead of infantry.

I hope you reconsider taking away the tanks from China. Sasebo

I will not take them away. Just make them available later.
Realism shall not kill flavour. Here I agree with you.

"If you want to eliminate anything, get rid of the armies" Sasebo

I will consider it, but I want more feedback first.
Its a big change!

"I would like you to keep the MG units, I don't think the AI builds many of them. Look at Mircea's post above" Sasebo

Yes I did and I think AI-production of HMG:s is to high. However
if feedback shows that there is strong opinion HMG:s shall stay
in the scenario they will stay in the scenario.

"I want to take a better look at the naval units. I am thinking some of the stats need to be changed." Sasebo

Its important to remember that in WW2-Global one naval unit =
one ship, unlike other scenarios I have worked with.


Rocoteh

 

[DrNick]

DrNick,

Thank you for a very interesting report.

I am really looking forward to follow how the invasion of Australia results.
After reading you report I have made a note that Chinese armour
shall not be available until late in the war.
This will no doubt increase realism!

It will be interesting to follow if Allied-AI will continue to abstain
from allocating major naval forces to save Australia.

Do you know anything about the strenght of the US navy?

I hope you will continue this playtest even if version 1.2 have
been released.

Rocoteh

Sure Rocoteh I will continute this playtest till I whip the Allies!

IT is now wk35, 1940 and I have taken over most of western Australia and took two additional Chinese cities, Batang and Lanchow. Took the Chinese cities to force the Chinese Army to have to move through mountains, otherwise I am happy with the stalemate with China. I have been actively building up the industrial capacity of captured Chinese and SEAsia cities. I figure eventually I will have a knock-down fight with the Soviets and will need the capacity. Meanwhile Allied resistance to Australia invasion is little and ineffective. The US BB/CA battle group has pulled away from the Kuriles, perhaps they are going to come south and give battle. My intelligence agents say the US has;
1Cav, 1Inf, 3Arty, 1transport, 12subs, 2DD, 14BB, 10fighter, 2bomber, 15Marines!, 48US Inf, 6 SBD Dauntless, 1M1917A1, 9M1919A2, 2City Police and 10 Heavy CA
The Brits have;
5Marine, 8Arty, 8transport, 8DD, 9BB, 4 Tanks, 102 Brit Inf, 2Swordfish, 1CL, 8Spitfire, 5Hurricane, 1KGV BB, 13 Vickers, 1 PIAT, 1Gladiator, 63City Police, 3 Heavy CA, 3Flak and 1 BC

I have;
2paras, 9transports, 4Carrier, 20DD, 10BB, 4Army (all via Heros), 2CLVs, 134 Jap Inf, 2Zeroes, 10CL, 4Type 97, 6Aichi DB, 7 Sally, 17Nate, 10Kate, 1George, 3Marine, 2Type99 MG, 2Heavy Arty, 17 Heavy CA, 5Flak

BTW I understand getting rid of All other Marines, but the SNLF was an important, if small force, no?

More soon,

Nick

 

[mircea74]

I don't think HMG's should be removed. AI doesn't build too many in my opinion. We are talking about Heavy MachineGuns , right?

 

[Rocoteh]

I don't think HMG's should be removed. AI doesn't build too many in my opinion. We are talking about Heavy MachineGuns , right?

mircea74,

Yes we are.

OK, then it will stay. After all flavour-units have their role
in the scenario.

Rocoteh

 

[Rocoteh]

DrNick,

Thank you for the stats.

It seems like AI give priority to marines and infantry.
Based on earlier experience I think AI will build infantry to
a certain level and then proceed to split its production.

Once there was a thread by ozymandias on AI and production.
Analyses and discussions there showed that AI seldom build more
than 3 unit-types at a given time. Most of the time it only build
2 unit-types at a given time.

I think AI will be unable to stop you from taking control over Australia.
(The Japanese SNLF is still in the scenario. I forget to mention that.)

Do you have a plan where to attack after Australia?

Rocoteh

 

[Zeekater]

I'm confused why people are so fond of HMG's
They cost 2.5 times as much as regular infantry and only have two more defense points
Tanks cost less and have as much defense points as infantry.
Why HMG's cost more then tanks is beyond me.

There never were any such things as seperate units of HMG's btw. (well, there were some HMG battalions (1000 men max)).

The AI probably doesn't build ANY of them actually, the numbers they have are most likely left from what they started with (it's obvious they mostly build infantry)

 

[Rocoteh]

I'm confused why people are so fond of HMG's
They cost 2.5 times as much as regular infantry and only have two more defense points
Tanks cost less and have as much defense points as infantry.
Why HMG's cost more then tanks is beyond me.

There never were any such things as seperate units of HMG's btw. (well, there were some HMG battalions (1000 men max)).

The AI probably doesn't build ANY of them actually, the numbers they have are most likely left from what they started with (it's obvious they mostly build infantry)

Zeekater,

The current high price-tag is due the fact that AI mass-produced them
when they were cheap to build.

As you say HMG never existed as separate unit above battalion-level.

I think AI sometimes make initial production of HMG, then breaks
production and shifts to infantry.

Rocoteh

 

[Adler17]

Well in ww2 nearly every armed force had marines or equivalents. However landing operations did not totally take part only with Marines, like Norway.

Adler

 

[Rocoteh]

Well in ww2 nearly every armed force had marines or equivalents. However landing operations did not totally take part only with Marines, like Norway.

Adler

Adler,

Yes, in fact the largest amphibious operation of all: Normandy
was a Army-operation. No US Marines took part in it.

Rocoteh

 

[Rocoteh]

Work with WW2-Global Multiplayer 1.0 proceeds and
I think it will be completed within 2-3 days.

Since only 8 Civs are allowed in multiplayer, Germany and Italy
will be one Civ. Poland will be controlled by France.
Then Civ number 8 will be Neutrals.

Neutrals will include: Latin-America, Mexico, Spain, Portugal,
Scandinavia,Turkey,Belgium,Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Greece,
Iraq, Persia, Saudi-Arabia and Thailand.

Germany-Italy will control: Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria
and Finland.

The 8 Civ limit is absolute and thus there are no way to
have more Civs in multiplayer. Still I think this version will be
interesting for those who like multiplayer scenarios.

Rocoteh

 

[Dazz_G]

Great news ... I for one am looking forward to getting a PBEM of this going.

 

[Rocoteh]

Great news ... I for one am looking forward to getting a PBEM of this going.

Dazz_G,

Thank you.

Multiplayer PBEM-games has very high value with regard
to playtesting.

Rocoteh