Well, I've been AWOL for a while, eh? Some 20 new pages of replies which I will not bother reading through just yet. I have been playing while I was away, and I have my report handy....*clears throat*
Background: As Germany in Version 1.00 (Once I win by house rules, I'll dl the latest version, promise!) I have conquered France, Poland, Norway, the Brittish Isles, and all of Africa. I was last preparing the Invasion of Turkey, then a two pronged invasion of the USSR. Here's how its going...
I take Cyprus on wk1, 1942 as the preclude to invasion. I wanted the base for the Ju87s and 109s. It was taken without loss. On wk8, I finally declare war on Turkey ( I had to wait for the ROP to expire). The southern front, consisting of the 10 or son Inf, SS, and Panzer armies that had taken Africa swept the Southern coast all in one week. I take Adana and Antalya on the coast, and also take Dmascus, which I had up til then left alone. In the north, three Panzer armies, the 29th, 30th and 31st, took Istanbul and Izmir. My battle fleet in the Med, of 8 Bismarcks and accompanying destroyers goes through the bosporus and dardanelles to reach the Black Sea.
Next turn, Ankara was assualted and captured. Worth noting was that there were three armies in the capital, two of them wholly filled. Seems the AI does build Armies after all. It used it too. The counter-attack nearly spelled doom for the 30th Pz army, but it hung on by one hp and saved the day.
Wk10, I take Erzurum, Trabzon, and Samsun; Turkey is destroyed after three weeks of fighting.
After a period of re-deployment, I declared war on Russia. My inf and SS armies had been deployed in the south (Iran; The Soviets had taken Iran earlier, so my conquest started there for the southeren wing), while my Panzer armies were up at the immensely broad Main Front. I held my new Panther army and my individual Panther units in reserve in case the Soviets broke through my other Pz units on the front.
Wk13, I declare war on the USSR, and my sole offensive action was the capture of Basra. I didn't wan't to expose myself in the north. I had a defensive line prepared with forts and machine gunners and even a few 88's manning the front, and I didn't want to wear down my army in a frontal assualt that would be countered next turn, while I could just sit back and let the Soviets kill themselves on my defensive line.
Russia Takes the offensive! But not in the way I had planned. They kill off Romania almost immediatly and took the city of Vilnius, but here's the kicker: They moved their truly massive armour force into Turkey, and proceeded to raze every city in the South by the sea. The Russians also take much of Southern Finland, but for some odd reason, I noticed that Japanese Manchuria hadn't been touched...perhaps they had a secret non-aggression pact or something...
On my turn, my large force of artillery went to work on the Russian units that were sort of scattered along the front, and large armored forces were destroyed, though the huge bulk of it was still in Turkey. The fact that it was in Turkey worried me. My battle fleet was still in the Black sea, and if the soviets occupied, or worse razed, the city of Istanbul, the fleet would never get out of it. I sent all of my SS Infantry (around 30) down to Istanbul to defend it from the Russians.
Once that all important city was secured, I re-took Vilnius, and used 3 Pz Armies to reduce the stacks of armor that wer giving me such a fright in Turkey. They still had plenty left though.
Russia's turn again. They take Sofia (Bulgaria dead), Erzurum, Belgrade, Vaasa, Budapest (Hungary dead), Samsun, Hammerest (mine, up in Norway), Tirana, and Kemi (Finns dead). The Soviets do not even assualt Istanbul.
wk15, I captured Budapest, Sofia, and Lwow. My force in the Middle East are trying to deal with the Soviets in Turkey. Because the damn Russkies throw most of their power to the south where my offensive forces were weak, it looks like this will have to be a single-front war after all. Maybe later the damage can be repaired. Most of my armies are still in reserve, for it is plain the Soviets still have a great deal of offensive power, and I do not wish to attack until I feel safe from attack in my homelands.
Soviets then proceed to raze Budapest, and capture Narvik, Basra and Lwow.
wk16. This turn the Soviets have seemed quiet enough, so I make some cautious offensives. I re-take Lwow, capture Oradea, Riga, and Odessa. My Mobile Rockets are proving to be most valuable.
The Soviets in Turkey decide that the remaining three cities there are too tough to crack, and they head south and Raze Riyadh, Mecca, and Sakakah. Up north, they re-take Odessa and Riga ( I lost an army in defense of this city
)
wk17, another turn of limited offensive action; I take Riga, Odessa, Kiev, Minsk, Tallinn. By now, the only reserve I have is the Panther army and three Panther divisions stationed in Germany. The rest of my armies are either resting or on the front line.
The Soviets re-take Tallinn, but nothing else.
wk18. I capture Smolensk, Tallinn, Basra. In the MidEast, my infantry armies are having a hard time pushing back the tides of steel, but they are making small gains. At the very least they are drawing lots of soviet troops away from the much more important Northern Front.
Throughout the reast of the world:
America has taken Honto and the Kurile Is.
In wk3, Italy finally captures Batang, finishing China.
Wk5, Japan Razes the city of Rangoon and captures Hue.
Wk8, Japan Razes the city North of Rangoon.
Japan has also by now razed the S most Vietnamese city (Saigon?) and captured the city of Chiangmai. I think Japan is doing quite well!
now if only they would help out against the Russians...None of the border cities have changed hands at all. :/
Oh, and a general note, whether it is intentional or not, type IX Uboats don't seem to be invisible. I know many people think that the AI sees everything, and it does, generally, but it seems to ignore subs (as we can tell from how they keep getting themselves into odd wars
). But the AI seemed to almost be hunting for my TIXs because of their low defense. They don't seem to hunt for my normal uboat TVIIs, though, which leads me to ask, are type IX uboats invisible?
