How to beat France? And other Axis queries.

[MPHopcroft1]

I seem to be playing the Axis wrong somehow, because I've had several problems:

1. Conquering minor countries is slower than the norm for me. It took until July 1940 before Denmark fell. Denmark! Then another month for Holland, another month for Belgium, and finally France fell in December 1940. In each case I literally had to besiege the capital and throw forces against them before they wore down and fell -- a process that takes longer than I think it really should.

2. I have no clue how to make my Uboats an effective weapon. Do I have to go out and intercept convoys to attack them? I find that if I put them in the North Atlantic they tend to get hunted down and destroyed.

3. I never have decent amounts of Production and find myself having to choose between building new units or repairing the ones in the field. I have yet to be able to buy a commander in two partial games.

The thing that REALLY throws me off, though, is that the movement and combat are in the same phase, unit by unit. I'm used to move-fight for the entire side at once. It really trips me up because my units on the front line are battered and exhausted, but I have no way to get the fresh units into the fray. How do I adjust my tactics to this reality?

[IainMcNeil]

Are you using air support? To take out cities, especially capitals you want to use Tac Bombers and even fighters. Naval bombardment can also help with Denmark.

Uboats need to be used in packs really or quick hit and runs well away from enemy naval power.
 
The only way to rest units is take them out of the front line. This works well but is tough if you dont have enough troops. Once your men are weakened they'll take higher casulaties makign it more expensive to repair and harder toget more troops, so you have nobody to rotate with so its a vicious circle. If you can get it right early on you'll find the rest drops in to place later.

[firepowerjohan]

The attack sequences are important. You need to use the support units (high shock attack) first to weaken enemy morale, so tactical bombers should strike before ground attacks. Try also to check battle odds before combat, might not be best to attack along whole front line but pick some spots where you focus all attacks. Maginot fortresses for example, are seldom worth the effort to attack.

If you do all this right for example, Poland should be conquered in 3-4 turns.

[joerock22]

1. For a great discussion on this topic, see the thread entitled "Help with PBEM balance issues."

2. This is just me, but I usually keep the u-boats close to home instead of going after convoys. They aren't worth very much earlier in the game, plus it saves me oil. If the British player is careless I can sometimes pick off a CV or BB.

3. Don't buy new units until Paris falls. You don't need them. I purchase a general, usually List, and sometimes a TAC if I have extra PP.

As for the frontline-units problem, there are several tactics you can use, or a combination of all of these:

a. Concentrate your fire on 2-3 units per turn. Soften them up with air attacks, then hit them with armour. If you do it right, this should free up some hexes so you can "leapfrog" fresh units over the ones that just fought. It's not always a good thing to advance into conquered hexes with that explotation move. Consider the ramifacations carefully before you do.

b. Try to give the French units a friendly hex to retreat to. Units always fight harder and cause more damage to you when they can't retreat. If you get a unit to withdraw, you can once again "leapfrog" a fresh unit over the one that just fought and hit the damaged French unit again.

c. Don't be afraid to withdraw a battered unit to the rear and repair it in safety. It's always better to attack with a full-strength unit. However, if you play your cards right it is usually possible to continue your attacks "around" the damaged unit, and just repair it where it is sitting.

[Ras Tshubai]

2. I have no clue how to make my Uboats an effective weapon. Do I have to go out and intercept convoys to attack them? I find that if I put them in the North Atlantic they tend to get hunted down and destroyed.

At the beginning resist to use your two subs and wait until you can build more. For me I start attacking convoys only with four or more boats.
The only thing with two subs is to go far away from the UK where the majority of the british fleet is based, and attack the convoys far down in the south. There is lttle Allied activity and the risk is low to loose sub. Actually that's pretty realistic if you consider that the germans went further and further out to find areas less defended.