WW2-Global

[Adler17]

Week 44 part 1:
I sunk 3 US CL and ca. 5 DD. But my Stukas are too few. So I transferred the rest of the bombers my Luftwaffe to Gibraltar.
In the North Sea HMS Rodney is sunk by Scharnhorst.
In Arabia Ryad is mine. I have to stop here.

Adler

 

[Grizx]

USA SID Ver 1.5

1940 Week 20

Last update was 1940 Week 10

The last 10 weeks have been pretty much of a sitzkrieg for the US.

By turn 10 I had expanded in the Pacific about as much as I dared without getting over-extended and leaving Midway, Hawaii, Alsask, and the West Coast completely exposed. Did some harrassing bombardment of Japanese islands and was able to sink one IJN BB in port at Iwo Jima.

Of interest: In week 19, an Otsu 35.10.6 showed up off Marcus Island in the Pacific. Sunk it with air and a BB. Damn thing is really a submersible cruiser.

Peru threw in its lot with the Axis and declared war on the US. They had several subs between Hawaii and US West Coast which had to be cleaned up, and I have had to invade Peru to stop this nonsense.

Another note of interest: Chile declared war on Peru and showed up with a BB, a DD and a special transport to do an amphibiouss landing next to Peru's last city. This is the first time I have seen a South American country do an amphibios assault. This is sobering, since my cities up the coast in South America are still undefended. Chile must be watched closely and I need to move some naval units which I dont have down there. I am not ready to deal with Chile's 3 or 4 BB's yet (one is a modern BB).

US has done nothing in the Atlantic except watch the Battle of Britain from my airbase in Ireland. up to week 10 there had been continuous attacks by Germany on England with up to 10 DD flotillas attaking up through the Irish Sea to hit Birmingham and air attacks on Plymouth.

Germany succeeded in capturing and razing Birmingham, then all attacks on England stoppded and the DD flotillas disappeared. I have no idea where they wen tor if they were sunk. The royal navy seems to have been wiped out around England but is now making a comeback. Germany, however, is kicking butt in the Middle East.

I have been getting worried that I have not done anything to help Britain. Germany has rampaged through Turkey, the Middle East, the Arabian peninsula, and northern Egypt. It has captured Suez, seriuosly hurting Britain's abilty to move ships and troops, and has razed Alexandria. This is the only screen shot for this update.

However, the USSR just decalred war on Germany in Week 20, which is a big relief, should take some pressure off Britain, and give the US several more weeks, maybe a couple of months, to continue its economic build-up and to prioduce untis.

US now has 8 cities on line producing units (all improvments built except coastal fortresses, air defense, and mass transit which can all wait till later.)

Am producing 1939 US Marines (upgradable), Dauntless bombers, some US infantry, DD Flotillas for the Pacific. 1 DD flotilla with USMC embarked headed for Midway and a transport with 3 USMC headed for Hawaii and then Midway.

As soon as the DDF with the USMC arrives at Midway I will invade Marcus Island which I have bombarded and is now unoccupied.
US has built the Intelligence agency and in a couple of turns will start stealing techs from other civs to catch up on the research front. So far have had research set on zero so I could use the gold to ruch city improvements.

My main strategic objects now are:

1. To keep Germany and Russia balanced against each other so one does not dominate the Eurasian continent.

2. To steal techs and then get ahead on research

4. To complete US economic expansion. This may include occupying the rest of South America in order to stay competitive with the USSR, which is the main threat to the US unless it is defeated by Germany. However, I do not think the German AI can defeat the USSR.

4. To rapidly build up US forces

My main operational objectives are:

A. To try and keep Japan from invading Australia

B . To get control of the North Atlantic. This includes invading Iceland, and establishing airfields on Bermuda, Azores, Greenland, and Windward Carribean Islands. Closing off the entrances to the North Sea and English Channel to stop U-boats, and closing off the Straights of Gibraltar.

C. Capture Islands in the Pacific to put Japan within bombing range.

D. Establish strong defenses in Alaska and improve defenses of both US coasts and South America.

E. Capture Pacific islands to put Japan within range of US bombers

F. Establish beachheads in Spain, Kamtchatka peninsula, and Norway.

A lot to do before break ends.

Grizx

 

[Grizx]

USA SID Ver 1.5

Week 20, 1940

 

[Bob1475]

Japan ver 1.5 Emperor
1939 Report

With the excellent defensive units provided the Empire was able to draw significant infantry units for an attack upon Phillipines. With three transports of infantry and after a five week trip we attacked and conquered the four Phillipine cities by week 45. Manila was a little difficult and we did have insignificant casualties there but our strategy of attacking there first made the rest of the islands easy except for British naval units.

Meanwhile we had presssed ahead on the absolute necessity of taking oil and rubber from the Chinese. We took the Communist Chinese cities of Yenan and Sian by week 38 which was matched by our Germans friends elimination of Poland.

With the resources secured we split our mainland attack between two objectives -
1. Seize the city of Ansi in order to obtain Communist Chinese infantry wonder to use as MPs. This will free more of our excellent 11/11 infantry for the front and also assist in our long term strategy of getting the Russian infantry wonder.
2. Seize as much territory from the Chinese as possible in preparation for the elimination of Hong Kong.

Our infantry with support of significant air units took Ansi (after conquering cities on the way) on week 48.

Our other objective was met in that we took Foochow, Wuhan, Chungking, Chengtu and as the year ended Canton. Meanwhile our carrierbased planes have been reducing defense in HongKong recently supported by our returning armada from the Phillipines.

This all came at the cost of significant naval losses to the Americans. There were a number of naval battles near the Marcus islands leading us to conclude that our admirals were too optimistic and should have maintained defensive posture until our new carriers and Yamato battleships were available. We have not lost any territory but significant naval units and we now are rebuilding.

Our German allies are doing well in that they have taken Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam. Also they have taken Paris from the French. Our Italian allies have not lost any cities. We do not have details on any other actions because our Intelligence Agency was not built in order to maintain the offensive.

One loss for the Axis was that the Thai city of Nakhon Ratchasima fell to the Dutch! Very strange how the Dutch made it there.

Our war council has had heated debates about our next steps. The Navy wants to return to the field and sweep the Americans off all islands including Hawaii. The Army wants to take all remaining Chinese cities, raze HongKong and then attack the Russians. They belileve the Russians are our real threat and the Germans and Italians will keep the English busy.

It has been decided to primarily support the Army position with the proviso that the Navy be in a position to take the offensive by the beginning of 1941.

 

[vlad1917_a]

Fix suggestion.
Tank and light tank costs are the same...

 

[Grizx]

Bob 1475

Re: Your overly otimistic admirals.

Admiral Millne was the British commander-in chief in the Mediterranean at the start of World War I. He was partially resonsible for allowing the German cruiser Goeben to escape to Turkey.

In way of explaining this screw uip he said: "They pay me to be an admiral, they don't pay me to think"

Grizx

 

[Sasebo]

Not a lot to report actually.... I did finally manage to take Paris on week 51. I have seen AI do that by week 6, I am so ashamed! I also waltzed over to Iceland and took the city, which was undefended. Lack of shields no doubt; I am building workers there to start my reforestation project posthaste. I once had them build an infantry and draft also after I first saw they were defenseless like that, but that was back when they were part of Norway and had a bit of gold to spend, they were not big enough to draft this game.

I am completely mystified by the total lack of Allied naval presence in the Atlantic. I sailed about 15 ships, 10 of them U-boats under the Gneisenau around England and south to Gibralter. I have seen a total of 1 SS and 2 CL the whole trip. I am comparing my game to some of Adler17's and other's reports; I've yet to see one where Germany gave a war and no one showed. The UK has almost no capital ships, but what about the French/US??? Maybe the Italian navy is kicking butt this game? Whatever the cause, the Atlantic is virtually empty! All I've seen in the Med due to my new bases in Crete and Turkey is a half dozen UK SS. It's WEIRD I tell you!

Vlad1917_a: Since you notice you have the light tank, you should also not it should hide behind your infantry because it has defense of 6. I agree though, maybe the cost should go down 10-20 shields. Can you build regular artillery? Heavies are nice but having more regular ones was usually better. I also disagree with you on countries like China not being fun; With less cites/units to worry about, you can do turns a lot faster. I enjoyed playing China a whole bunch, and that was without being able to rush buy. If you survive the game you will really feel like you earned it!

Adler17: I just don't see what role the S boat has to play in a scenario of this scale. Especially since you have CL and DD units competing for light raider jobs. I would rather just drop all the MTB/PT/S and E boats from the scenario altogether. Basically just let the fact that most of the big countries had them cancel each other out. My build queue in Germany is cluttered up as it is.

Grizx: Get a spy in Japan, and find out if you are being too cautious. There may not be much of a Japanese fleet left to threaten you. I've yet to see a Japan AI actually land on Hawaii, much less the West Coast! I was against your idea of a Japan or Germany early raid, but as a diversion.... possibly that has merit. It depends on how fast the AI responds to said raid. Panama is a bad idea to me, since the US has almost guaranteed a ROP with Mexico, and they can run down there double quick. The Island raids though sound good. I don't think you would get far though; the AI for sure loves to draft Infantry units. I am not sure whether you were considering that when you said the mainland is 'undefended'; they can conscript a bunch pretty fast, and US Infantry is top notch!

I also like the idea of considering US invasion of S.America to be more of gaining the use of their industry there. That makes quite a bit more sense; I am not so against the idea of taking them out when you put it that way. I'm still going to play a US game without going that route after I am done with Germany,just to see how it plays out.

Overlag: What Adler17 & Grizx said. Artillery/bombard for cities, Air units for everything else. Also it pays to know your enemy air units and their operational ranges. While I do break the 'rules' quite often if I see interceptors or flak in a city I usually avoid it if possible.

Rocoteh: I just want to put in my two cents on the DDF. I LIKE them! Anything that gets the AI to build solid navy and well protected transports with high speed to make them a more interesting opponent is a big plus by me. Wait for more playtests to see if the AI will attack them but I know the AI tends not to attack my ships either if I stack them with a BB or two, there is not a whole lot of difference. The fact that they only transport 1 unit is fine, I've seen the AI send a full size transport with only one Marine in it too many times. I also hate seeing the Italians unload a full boatload of it's starting armor on Cyprus and leave them there to rot. Having these in makes the AI much more dangerous, since they are fast and if you want to stop them before they hit your shores you have to push your naval patrols way out further, making CV units even more important. The main thing is these help the AI build both navy and actually get their tiny invasions to actually land, since we all know the AI does not protect it's CV or transport units for beans. Anything that makes the AI better at sea is a good thing IMO. As a side benefit, you will most likely lose some units taking them out; they are just not easy to go down, even with their weak defense. Also note, that I think their bombard is much more balanced, then say the S boats. 8 DDs with actual 5" guns should have some bombard ability.

So I vote the DDF should stay.

I would also suggest you add a tiny garrison force to reykjavik, unless it was your intent all along to have it just be occupied by whoever got to it first. I know that no troops there is accurate; whether you want it to be that easy to take I don't know.

BTW, did anyone else notice the lower defense bonuses for terrain? I am sure that is making it quite a bit harder for say China, who really needs to use that advantage to the fullest.

 

[psweetman1590]

America 1.3 playtest. 1941

As of now, My forces have taken all of Japan's home islands, and I am preparing to assualt the Japs in Asia and Germany in Europe. First order of business is to neutralize the Uboat threat.

week 19) My carrier groups on the way to French Indo-China sink a CAC2.
the Soviets destroy Yugoslavia (who had foolishly declared war on the USSR the previous turn).

22) I finally get Air 1942, giving me two very imortant weapons: The B-24 and the P-38.
Germans land yet another convoy of PzIIIg (two of them this time!) in England. They are quickly wiped out.

27) I'm sure the Uboats are not using the Channel to get their uboats into the Atlantic. I need to block the passage between England and Iceland. For this, a new convoy, very heavily defended, departs NY for Reykjavik, the last Danish city. I hope to base some dauntless dbs there to do a little sub hunting with destroyers. That should bottle up the Uboats in the North Sea where they won't do any harm.

I have given up on the plan to take Hamburg via airborne attack. It seems that Hamburg has built the AAbattery , and all my P-38s were shot down. I'll have to bottle up the Uboats by killing them after they've been produced, and hope to capture Hamburg as soon as is possible.

Oh, and I spotted a bug, not sure if you've already fixed this: The F4U Corsair has a Rof of 0. This makes it impossible to ever damage an enemy unit by bombing.

28) An amphibious force bound for Hamburg with Very heavy escort leaves NY harbor.

29) I declare war on Brazil again. My taskforce I sent to French Indo-China finally gets there. Hue and Hanoi are razed (they had been bombed to size one), and most of the marines are landed in southern China.
Germany makes an amphibious assualt on Plymouth this turn with an SS inf and damn near kills the matilda defending. If only they would put more than one unit in a boat at a time!
Brittain Takes Tripoli.

30) I captur Nanning, and raze Kunming in China. I capture Rio de Janiero and Sao Paulo in Brazil. Japan counter-attacks Kunming to no avail, all of his units are killed.

31) I capture Hong Kong and Canton. my offensive will have to slow down and wait for more reinforcements from the continental US.
Germany land another PzIII in England.

32) I raze Foochow in China, and capture Puerto Acre and Asuncion in Brazil.

There I am. I'm advancing in three fronts (well, will be after the landing in Europe). So far, the only things holding me back are the huge distances of the Pacific that makes it so hard to reinforce my offensive, and the Uboat threat in the atlantic which will hamper my abilities to ferry troops and warshipt to the ETO. All looks bright at the moment, but if the SU enters the conflict, there could be trouble. Or there could be a WWIII after the Axis die.

 

[clearbeard]

BTW, did anyone else notice the lower defense bonuses for terrain? I am sure that is making it quite a bit harder for say China, who really needs to use that advantage to the fullest.

Actually, I noticed that the terrain defense values were higher than normal (in version 1.5). Or do you mean over earlier versions, which I didn't play?

 

[clearbeard]

Here is an edited Civilopedia.txt file I wrote, giving the basic missing information for all the units. Because of the structure of the mod's pediaicons.txt, some of the entries are a bit overcrowded, particularly the fighter, bomber, and tank ones, but everything should be there and legible. All this gives are the HP bonuses, resource requirements, special abilities, and nationalities of the units, which are the bits I found most difficult to figure out in-game. Hope you all find it useful.


--File removed after 15 downloads: new version available in post 2099 (page 105) in this thread.

 

[Tantor]

So how do you think S- boats could be simulated WITHOUT bombardment ability? I mean they had to attack and return as fast as they could. This hit and run ability can only be simulated by bombardment in civ III. Tell me another way if you can.

Adler

I see your point. Making S-boots both historically accurate and functionable in a game perspective is hard. The limits are, as I see it, is in the editor. But here`s another suggestion, but I`m not so sure myself if this suggestion makes it any better. But somebody else might make another judgement than me. Give the S-boots a low offensive value, but give them a carrying capacity of one "torpedo salvo". The "torpedoe salvo" could be a cruisemissile unit with a range of one. This way the S-boots may make a hit and run attack, but must return to port to resupply torpedoes. But if the torpedo unit are being used to attack shoretiles then it`ll seem stupid.

-Tantor-

 

[Adler17]

Well I saw a US comedy where Cary Grant "sank" with a pink submarine a Truck by torpedo...
Your suggestion is good but not practicable since AI is so dumb to use them proper.

Adler

 

[clearbeard]

1940: A new year dawns, and the war goes well for King and Country.

The opening weeks of the war have gone poorly for the Axis in the Western Hemisphere. Both the German and Italian navies succumbed to hit-and-run tactics by units of His Majesty's navy. Our infiltrators report Musselini has not kept a single ship or submarine afloat. Furthermore, the last bastion of Italian power in Africa fell just before Christmas, securing one front and freeing up valuable assets to secure our Indian and Southeast Asian holdings.

The Fuhrer has done little better at sea, though he does manage to put afloat the occasional U-Boat or destroyer flotilla. None have passed the gauntlet of the North Sea or British Channel alive, as our battleships led by the newly commissioned King George V ply those waters unchallenged. When opportunities present, heavy naval bombardment has been working to clear the minefields protecting Hamburg, and the way will soon be clear to a northern route invasion of Germany.

Meanwhile, the Mediterranean fleet has passed the Suez Canal and is steaming towards the East Indes to aid our stalwart U.S. allies in subduing the marauding Japanese fleet. Hit and run tactics by the combined Hong Kong and Australian naval detachments have accounted for many of the Rising Sun's lighter units, but four BB's, and a single CV continue to pose a serious threat until the reinforcements can arrive from the Med.

The RAF has kept the Luftwaffe largely grounded, and slowed the German advance on the ground on the continent by effective bombardment of transportation infrastructure. Berlin, Hamburg, Brussels, Ruhr, and Amsterdam have been completely isolated, and must air- or sea-lift in supplies to maintain the war effort. High Command expects resource shortages will continue to have a significant effect on the German advance in the new year.

Indeed, the Panzer brigades, so successful in overrunning Poland in the opening days of the war, have completely stalled in their push towards Paris. Forced to initially abandon our airbase in western France to the inrushing armor, we have re-secured this beachhead, extending the RAF's CAP umbrella even further inland.

In a surprise move, a large contingent of Panzer III's took advantage of a brief cease-fire and right of passage agreement with the Soviets to rush east and south, attempting to flank our Asian contingent. In a Herculean effort, the Asian, Indian, and African engineer corps were able to connect up the rail artery across the entire continent, allowing swift re-deployment of assets to successfully drive off the German offensive. They have since turned their attentions back northward, and are razing a swath across Russia on their way home.

Japanese troops on the mainland have proven the greatest nuisance, slowly rolling up the outmatched forces of our Chinese allies and making a few forays across the Himalayas. Fortress construction is underway now that the trans-continental rail line is complete to hold off any advances in case the Chinese line folds completely. Our greatest losses have come in the islands of the South Pacific, with Labuan and Port Moresby falling to the Japanese advance. Mobilization of Australia is underway to reclaim our lost territory, with a core of evacuees from the Islands eager to return and liberate their homes.

End report: State of the Empire, January 1940 AD


Germany seems to be having real problems even making inroads into France. Has anyone else seen them flop so mightily, or is this part and parcel of the anti-road tactic I've been following?

Edit: Oh, and Copenhagen hasn't fallen yet either!

 

[Adler17]

Week 44:

Bushire is mine. Also I sunk a British and two further Norwegian DDs.
In Africa Khartoum, Bushire and Tekro are mine. Further I regrouped my forces.

PC:
The US lose 5 DD by breaking through the Italian lines in the Med while sinking 3 Italian subs. I lost a Uboat in the Biscaya to a British DD. A US plane is shot down over Spain and the US BB don´t protect their CV! A bad decision .

Adler

 

[oljb007]

Clearbeard:

I am playing a Japan 1.5 on Diety. Germany took Poland and amsterdam but took nothing in France and its January 1940! Italy, hasn't done anything either. But I can only imagine they are having large naval battles. (Hopefully)

 

[Adler17]

Week 45:
My Luftwaffe at Gibraltar was very successful sinking CV USS Ranger, 2 CL and some dozen DDs for the price of 1 Stuka.
In the Biscaya U 40 sank HMS Hereward, a UK DD that sunk U 34 last turn.
Unternehmen Weserübung: Trondheim and Narvik are mine. Also 5 Norwegian subs are sunk. CDS Tordenskjöld is torpedoed by U 2540. Type IX boat U 67 sinks CDS Haarfrage. No further Norwegian ships spotted, also no British.
Mascat, Oman is mine. Port Sudan is taken by infantry. Nyala is also captured. Meshra was no problem and indeed Waw was a bigger, but this was solved by 3 Elite Panzer IIIes. A new leader appeared there and with the new corps I take Mongala.
I just recognized the Brits have one German soldier unit. These traitors are a bug, or?
I have to stop here.

Adler

 

[LBPB]

Japan 1.3 - D-Day buildup !

Just a quick word to let you know that conquests of Australia and New Zealand are completed !!!

My naval forces in this area are now on their way to the final 'rendez-vous' in Hawaii (8 weeks remaining) !
The build up of my forces is practicaly complete... I'm now close of launching the DDay on USA


----

Just a question :
Wasn't the Yamato the most powerful ship ever built in WW2 ???

 

[Snorken]

Yamato and its sister ship Musashi were the biggest and most powerful battleships ever built...

 

[clearbeard]

Clearbeard:

I am playing a Japan 1.5 on Diety. Germany took Poland and amsterdam but took nothing in France and its January 1940! Italy, hasn't done anything either. But I can only imagine they are having large naval battles. (Hopefully)

Italy hasn't done anything in my game either, but that's because I sank their fleet.

Since I wrote that last update, I noticed that Germany has made significant inroads into Russia, and are at the gates of Leningrad, Stalingrad, and Moscow, so I suppose they haven't been as quiescent as I thought, but they're still falling well short of par in Western Europe, it seems.

Oh, and the way to Hamburg is now open! Time to build up the invasion force! Too bad marines are sooooo expensive (650 shields!). More than twice as expensive as Japan's SNLF marines, and significantly less effective, too (one movement/no blitz, 2 lower attack). Is this intentional? Britain doesn't get any effective offensive units until 1944 with the Comet, and even then it's inferior to everyone else's armor. Feels like we're still fighting WWI, but against WWII troops! We're reliant on artillery mainly, and that doesn't get the mobilization bonus with an attack of zero!

 

[soldierblue2]

I have to say after only a few game turns that this scenario is the best one I've ever played. The scope of the game is huge and I have to admit it is difficult enough to keep the attention (despite the long time between turns) and simple enough to make it fun.

Congratulations to the designer, and thanks for providing me with this opportunity to play the game.