French research?

[gchristie]

Is investing in infantry weapons for the French army ever worth it? Anyone gotten a breakthrough in time to utilize it? The earliest the French can invest in infantry weapons is turn two, but in my games I have yet to have a breakthrough before the Germans overrun the country. I'm thinking those 200 MMP would best be utilized elsewhere.

[Boonierat1972]

Nope, never managed to get it in time :/

[The Land]

Haven't played France at all but surely you need every MPP for armies and reinforcements to try to delay the fall of Paris?

I'd also speculate that Pioneers are a good buy to for some field fortifications, and that since the French fleet is a use-it-or-lose-it asset you should send it on some kind of death mission to damage the German or Italian navy as much as possible...

[ILCK]

I try and suicide the French navy sadly the Germans and Italians rarely come out to play. I usually line the French up along the Norway line to raid it to nothing at least.

It is almost certainly not worth the risk of a breakthrough to lose the MPPs you need to dig in and delay the Germans. Given a slight bit of UK help you can delay the Germans pretty well assuming you abandon the Maginot soon enough.

[gchristie]

The French got the infantry weaponry breakthrough July 7, 1940 in my current game, which is nice. But before the Paris defenders could receive their new guns they fell to the Hun and France surrendered.[:D]

So it is possible with "luck."

I'm a rookie at these kinds of games and I only had a corps instead of an army in Paris. Need to rethink that.

My next game I think I'll opt for an engineering unit instead to create fortifications to the east and north of Paris.

[mavraamides]

I made that mistake in first game. Never again. I use every MPP to build or reinforce. Even sell off the units in Africa and ME once Italy joins. I use the navy to hammer ports in North Africa and Germany as long as I can. If Germans ever send any units out there I always hit them with the French navy first to protect the UK.

[Goodmongo]

I found playing as France made the game WAY WAY WAY too easy to win as the Allies. It is a much more even game giving Germany a small XP and MPP bonus and not playing Poland or France. And it gets even better if you leave the SU to AI as then there is a risk of you losing and forcing you to a very early D-Day.

[Hartmann]

ORIGINAL: Goodmongo

I found playing as France made the game WAY WAY WAY too easy to win as the Allies. It is a much more even game giving Germany a small XP and MPP bonus and not playing Poland or France. And it gets even better if you leave the SU to AI as then there is a risk of you losing and forcing you to a very early D-Day.

Agree 100%. With the tricks people mentioned (engineers, sacrificing navy, selling the African/Syrian corps) you can hold off the Germans for so long that they are too handicapped to present a challenge for the rest of the game. I also leave the SU AI controlled (or UK and US if I want to play the Russians instead) and only then I feel it's an interesting challenge.

[CapitaineHaddock]

Infantry weapons are not Worth it. If you want to risk Research With the French, I believe infantry tactics (or whatever it is called) is a much better option.

I think it COSTs 100 and you get an immediate bonus (+10 % morale) without having to Upgrade any units.

[Jim D Burns]

I played one game where I got it and even upgraded a few units, but the loss of 200 MPP meant I wasn't fully repaired when the invasion came and I never got fully repaired.

Italy was able to break through in the south because I never seemed to have enough MPP to repair all the vital stuff and the corps down south suffered for it.

I doubt the added weapon tech even added one turn to Paris' survival. I would never spend any money on French tech again. It's better to save up and build the extra army ASAP (so it can arrive before France falls) than to spend that kind of money on tech.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Hartmann

ORIGINAL: Goodmongo

I found playing as France made the game WAY WAY WAY too easy to win as the Allies. It is a much more even game giving Germany a small XP and MPP bonus and not playing Poland or France. And it gets even better if you leave the SU to AI as then there is a risk of you losing and forcing you to a very early D-Day.

Agree 100%. With the tricks people mentioned (engineers, sacrificing navy, selling the African/Syrian corps) you can hold off the Germans for so long that they are too handicapped to present a challenge for the rest of the game. I also leave the SU AI controlled (or UK and US if I want to play the Russians instead) and only then I feel it's an interesting challenge.

I agree, vs. the axis I always give the AI 20% MPP and +1 experience. Makes for a far more enjoyable allied game even if I do play every nation. In my current game Germany has jets and tech 4 armor by 43, definitely makes me feel like I'm playing major catch up as the allies.

Jim

[Mountaineer]

I found it disconcerting that I kept the French Chaussers from Norway, upgraded them (with British research), and then after the liberation of Paris they reverted to level 0 French unit again. Seems the French should have some level of advancement upon liberation given the Allied help. Perhaps half of whatever the Americans level is for all tech--given the power of US Armaments.

[Hartmann]

ORIGINAL: Mountaineer

I found it disconcerting that I kept the French Chaussers from Norway, upgraded them (with British research), and then after the liberation of Paris they reverted to level 0 French unit again. Seems the French should have some level of advancement upon liberation given the Allied help. Perhaps half of whatever the Americans level is for all tech--given the power of US Armaments.

Hmm ... I remember I got the Syrian corps (which had travelled down to Egypt when France was still kicking) as a "Free French" unit once, and as such they were a minor of the UK. Later they became French again when I liberated France. I THINK they were downgraded then too. This is probably a limitation of the engine - maybe units cannot have higher upgrade levels than the research levels of their associated major country would allow.

[Numdydar]

ORIGINAL: Hartmann

ORIGINAL: Goodmongo

I found playing as France made the game WAY WAY WAY too easy to win as the Allies. It is a much more even game giving Germany a small XP and MPP bonus and not playing Poland or France. And it gets even better if you leave the SU to AI as then there is a risk of you losing and forcing you to a very early D-Day.

Agree 100%. With the tricks people mentioned (engineers, sacrificing navy, selling the African/Syrian corps) you can hold off the Germans for so long that they are too handicapped to present a challenge for the rest of the game. I also leave the SU AI controlled (or UK and US if I want to play the Russians instead) and only then I feel it's an interesting challenge.

From reading Warspite's AAR, somehow I think he would disagree with your assessment [:D]

[Hartmann]

ORIGINAL: Numdydar

ORIGINAL: Hartmann

ORIGINAL: Goodmongo

I found playing as France made the game WAY WAY WAY too easy to win as the Allies. It is a much more even game giving Germany a small XP and MPP bonus and not playing Poland or France. And it gets even better if you leave the SU to AI as then there is a risk of you losing and forcing you to a very early D-Day.

Agree 100%. With the tricks people mentioned (engineers, sacrificing navy, selling the African/Syrian corps) you can hold off the Germans for so long that they are too handicapped to present a challenge for the rest of the game. I also leave the SU AI controlled (or UK and US if I want to play the Russians instead) and only then I feel it's an interesting challenge.

From reading Warspite's AAR, somehow I think he would disagree with your assessment [:D]

His was a very honest "first game" AAR - where he did not know the most effective strategies yet. [:)] Once you know what to do, you learn how to delay the Germans in France for so long that they won't recover from that. Even with the house rule not to sell those African corps, good results can be achieved through employing the engineer and aggressive navy tactics.