The Western Front
Speaking of invasions. France is a Sheeeeiiiit sandwich. I mean, just look at them! How on earth do you get caught so unprepared by a crazy warmonger who have been openly declaring his intentions of conquest for the past six years? It’s disgraceful. What do you mean stones and glass houses? “Peace in our time?” Oh, that. Well, we’re sending the B.E.F (Best Effing Fekkers) so we’re not -totally- unprepared. We do have the stiffest upper lips you know, it’ll all be fine. The Germans will get stuck in Belgium just like the last war, you’ll see. You just leave the defense of Northern France to us, like last time.
Unfortunately Will likes to play silly buggers, invading stuff in the middle of the winter way before schedule and all sorts of ungentlemanly conduct. It’s really quite vexing.
I really like that part of these games, where you havent yet learned all the “Must do” tactics, you dont know exactly how many turns to X or Y, dont know all the events etc. It’s an exciting time full of unintentional comedy and facepalm moments. It’s also a bit stressful. The allied research tabs are abysmal. What the heck have the French been doing all these years, they havent even invested in infantry weapons yet. “You were busy building a wall? Did you get the Germans to pay for it?”
The question then is, is it worth investing in research for France? Checking the manual it would seem I would get 2-7% per turn base (avg 5%), and +1% per turn since the germans have an advantage. Soooo… 3-8% per turn, unless GB gets a lucky S&I hit early, then 4-9%.
Going by my completely anecdotal and distant memory of the old SoE I’d say I have about ten turns until I get invaded, if Will plays by the book. There are some reasons to do so, weather and the timing of invading denmark/Norway and then toppling Luxemburg/netherlands, and then belgium on a two to three turn schedule. That boosts German morale to record heights and make their troops nearly superhuman. Morale is, looking at the readiness calculation, a big part of it. And readiness decides how much str. you actually fight with.
On the other hand attacking early could mean I get caught completely off base. Wouldn’t be the first time. So, ten turns. Let’s go with that for now. Still a pretty lousy chance of getting infantry weapons in time with France. It would require getting a breakthrough. Will did spend 400mpp on research on his last turn, no prizes for figuring out on what (its tanks and infantry weapons
).
If he hits a lucky break and gets IW lvl 2 before the invasion of France that would be exceptionally bad. Pretty low risk though, with a 1-6% per turn (for lvl 2) and what, eight more turns to do it. Even if he hits 6% every turn he won’t even have the possibility of a breakthrough.
Nah, not worth it. Unless he tries to go for full conquest of course, in which case it will be necessary for putting up any resistance in Algeria and prolonging the conquest of France. Damnit.
So what are the options? Given a total pool of around 1000 to 1200ish MPP for the defense of France.
I could more or less abandon it and let it fall easily. I could then use their MPP together with UK to invest in diplomacy on the USSR at 150/chit. I could spend 450 there and forego infantry weapons without impacting things fatally. If things work like in the old game, the French diplo chits remain active after their surrender.
MPP Collection = Total Resource Value*Industrial Modifier * Mobilization Value
So, given the current value of industrial readiness in the USSR, 1% of mobilization would be… 2.6mpp (20% = 52). Manual says USSR start mobilizing industry Jan 1940. Let’s hazard a guess at 100mpp extra base or so over 10 turns (resources growing by 1 per turn, probably to str 10). Current base production 260, later base production 360.
Let’s say we spend 750mpp off the UK and France combined. 5 chits, 25% chance to hit. Best “Bomb” it in that case, so Will has less chance to respond. Each hit 8-15%, if damned lucky 16-30%. Could net us 2 hits before 41. 25% or so extra mobilization sometime during 1940 could be pretty swell, and net us 80-90mpp per turn getting ready for barbarossa, not counting industry improvements. That would give us room for crucial research investments above and beyond what we could otherwise get.
I’m warming a little to the idea. What else could we get for the defense of France for our money?
Armies are strong defenders, but expensive. Better to invest in Special forces early, cheaper and the same defensive stats. AA is equivalent to corps sans infantry weapons, and 50mpp cheaper, and will double as putting the hurt on the Luftwaffe.
There is the option of a heavy tank, a bargain at 300mpp. Or normal tanks, if there is one thing France surprisingly has it’s advanced tank tech.
Armies cost 12 to 13 mpp per step to reinforce, corps 7 to 8. At a glance we have 37 steps of armies and 38 steps of corps, 19 of which I’d say are essential, to reinforce on the map. 462mpp of armies (definitely want these) and 285mpp (142) of corps. The earlier reinforced the better, as their readiness and morale depends on how long they can recoup them at full str. So with the abysmal production of the French you’ve got a pretty limited window of flexibility to the tune of 400 to 500mpp total. That’s my diplo investment right there. I might be able to drop an AA unit, that’s pretty much it.
Right. I think I’ll go with the Soviet strat, see how that turns out. So that means investing in some spread around reinforcements and then stockpiling.
For now, I switch out the armies stuck on the maginot line, aiming to put them in defensive positions inland. I also move up the strat bomber and relocate the british fighter while upgrading the french one, aiming to hit the saar mine once it starts rebuilding. Occupying it might cost the germans a bunch of MPPs, depending on if it “destructs” on recapture or not.
So what can the UK do to help, aside from dropping their own 300mpp into my “Cozy up to the other crazy dictator” strat. Let’s not call it that, that wont sound right for the history books later. Uh … the “Pan eurasian mutual appeasement and resistance initiative?” Codename: Puma. Yeah, that sounds right.
I want at least five British units in France to make sure they can fight for as long as possible given their shitty circumstances. Some tanks would be great. but the UK still has their rusty tin cans from the great war sitting around and havent figured out how to make them go “whee” yet. I am getting another fighter, and could perhaps use my carriers to hit land targets…
I think I ought to buy an anti tank unit, give me some ability to hurt exposed panzers, and a special forces unit that is flexible and easy to evacuate from anywhere. I think that’s about that.
The UK is also in desperate need of a huge amount of research. More about the UK next post.
