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It appears that Soviet Navy is determined to engage in surface action early in the war. Recon reports CA-size ships moving to Koenigsberg. Pre-war intelligence places 2 7.1-inch CAs in Riga - one Kirov-class and one Maxim Gorkiy-class (see images from Black Sea fleet earlier). I'll let airforce take care of that.

On the ground, the main direction of attack is going to be along the railroad to Riga.

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Yeah well, a light blue ship isn't really possible for us...

How so?

Light blue ship on light blue background?

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Light blue ship on light blue background?

Well, that was the point of painting a ship light blue, no? And we can always use some other background colors...

The biggest problem for Axis forces is going to be oil. A mix of inexperience and overconfidence resulted in 458 oil rigs being bombed to dust the first turn (mental note: I should have enforced the "no Soviet units are to receive orders the first turn" note from the mod readme...), a blow which is going to cripple Axis economy.



I have to make a decision. Either I concentrate on going south-east, to take out Caucasian oil fields, 1400 units, or I bypass Moscow to head east - to Urals and Lend-Lease, where the majority of Soviet airforce is being built.

This is going to take some thinking.

The plan in Eastern Poland (or as some may call it, Western Byelorussia) is to cut off as many Soviet units as possible. Axis troops are planning to utilize railroads for movement and encirclement.

Airfield assaults on Bialystok and Vilna are considered as well. While Soviet airforce will no doubt attempt to pull back its remaining aircraft, there are damaged and reserve airframes to pick on.

There aren't that many forces in Ukraine, which is rather surprising. Most of the forces are going to have to hold; all the possible reserves are either heading south, to aid the Romanian offense onto Odessa and Kishinev, or lining up to plug the holes in the frontlines west of Cernauti. The only exception is Lvov; the city is going to be attacked from several directions with superior forces; its airfields are scheduled to be bombed as well.

On a side note, a large number of mobile AA units are rerouted to Koenigsberg or Bucharest oil fields.

After two turns have been processed, I noticed an immense drain on Axis pilot pool. I hope that I can keep my units staffed.

Of course, this is after all units have been brought up to full strength. Most of this was pre-game understaffing; only 33 planes have been lost on 6/22/41.

Several aircraft have exhaused their pool. First, Finnish airforce. I may either have to send Luftwaffe there or actually start producing Finnish airplanes. Second, some of the recon units have no backups left now.

On the left: pre-game status. On the right: after 6/23/1941 Axis turn has been completed.

This is an attempt to research airforce of Finland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Croatia, and Rumania as to establish future course of action. Either those forces can hold their own, or Luftwaffe may have to be stretched thinner than originally expected.

Finnish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Slovakian, Croatian, and Rumanian air groups can upgrade to each other's planes, but not to German ones.

Finland:

3 units of level bombers, currently in Helsinki: LeLv42, LeLv44, and LeLv46, all flying Blenheim MkI bombers. Le48, also tooled for Blenheims, is due in late 1943.

Replacement rate for Blenheim MkI is 2. It is not currently in production. There are none left in reserve, and currently fielded units are 21 plane short of full roster of 54.



Hungary:

5 'Bombazo' units of level bombers, 3 in Budapest and 2 in Satu Mare.

4 are flying Ju-86K. There are no replacement or production rates for Ju-86K. There are 12 in reserve. The 4 units have 96 planes in them.



1 is flying Ca-135bis. There are no replacement or production rates for Ca-135bis. There are 50 in reserve. The one unit flying them has 24 airplanes.



Bulgaria:

No airforce to speak of.

Slovakia:

No airforce to speak of.

Croatia:

There is a unit arriving in 81 days (September 1941). It will fly Do-17Z, a German plane. For the purpose of this research, that group is irrelevant.

Rumania:

3 units of level bombers in Piatra. One more is arriving in 6 days.

1. Grup Bomb is flying SM. 79B. The replacement rate for it is 3. There is no production in progress. There are 18 in reserve, and 1. Grup Bomb has 20 planes in it. When 2. Grup Bomb arrives, it will attempt to take 18 more SM. 79Bs to get formed.



4. Grup Bomb is flying PZL 37B. There are no replacement or production rates for it. There are 4 planes in reserve, and 4. Grup Bomb has 18 planes in it.



5. Grup Bomb is flying He-111H. The replacement rate for it is 1. There is no production in progress. There are 3 in reserve, and 5. Grup Bomb has 27 planes in it.



There is only one plane available in the future. It's Ju-88A, due in January 1943.

Thanks a bunch for all the screen shots!!! Good art as well as interesting looking game!!
[&o][:)]

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

Thanks a bunch for all the screen shots!!! Good art as well as interesting looking game!!
[&o][:)]

My pleasure Gives me something to do while waiting for the turn from my opponent...

I am just wondering if it's worth it to switch factories to the best aircraft in class (like in this case, He-111H, the Rumanian version) and take the reduction hit? Do aircraft factories reduced through production shift ever come back?

You can't grab a screenie of the Tashkent, by any chance? My favourite Red Fleet ship (mostly because she was an Italian design, and they knew how to make good-looking warships)...

CA Kirov class was also an Italian Design based in Raimondo Montecuccoli Class and Italian Navy waited longer to Eugenio Savoia engines because those were shipped to Soviet Union first...

Examples of Fascist/Communist military cooperation... men from both sides will be dying soon in Spanish Civil War and cooperation continued...so much that Soviet Battleships being build were based in an Ansaldo design itself an evolution of Vittorio Venetto Class.

This looks very promising

ORIGINAL: Dili
so much that Soviet Battleships being build were based in an Ansaldo design itself an evolution of Vittorio Venetto Class.

Speaking of which - the Sovetsky Soyuz-class BBs are in the game, and I am not looking forward to dealing with them

Could you give us some screenshots of german navy?

Great screenshots, nice work!

What, no torps for the Romanian SM-79s?[:D]

Speaking of which - the Sovetsky Soyuz-class BBs are in the game, and I am not looking forward to dealing with them

Yeah . But Soviets should pay dearly to get them in time/resources.

Rumanians decide to charge Soviet Black Sea fleet with PTs, thinking that all they are facing is just the BB and 3 CAs...



Luck is reversed in north, where German fleet runs into Soviet Baltic Sea ships.

Russians have a song - "What are you dreaming of, cruiser Aurora?"

I bet it wasn't dreaming about a dive bomber...

Several other Soviet fleets come under attack...