TTP's for playing Allies
Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2023 4:57 am
I've been playing a number of games, both ranked and unranked, against some fairly decent players, however I've noticed some common issues with their play that seems to be fairly consistent across players. Feedback on this thread is encouraged, and I'm sure some of this has been said before, but it is worth posting as a lot of the challenges seem to be largely the same.
1. First and foremost is research. As Allies, people need to have a very clearly defined research order and keep up with it, otherwise they will continue to snowball towards defeat instead of turning the tide. Less tech means more casualties means less national morale means more casualties and so on. Keeping research as maxed as possible until at least 1941 for all countries is pretty important to being able to turn things around starting in 1942-43. This is the number one issue I see most Allied players having. Some recommendations in order of priority:
Russia: Infantry Weapons, Infantry Warfare, Tanks (or antitank, I usually research both), Tank Warfare, anti-air (to level 2), Artillery, Production (this is usually a nice to have tech for most countries, for the SU I'd say it is necessary as it reduces morale loss from casualties, and Russia will take a lot of casualties), industry (each level of which provides 15% increase instead of the standard 10% if memory serves), Command and control (those HQ's will be important to gaining on the Germans), fighters and airwarfare (oftentimes I don't get to these last two until the allies have turned the tide).
United States: Industry (kind of hard to be the Arsenal Democracy if you aren't producing massive amounts of MPP's, and the U.S. gets a 20% increase per level instead of the standard 10%), Air Attack, Fighters, Infantry Weapons, Tanks, Intel (need this with at least one allied power.... I normally choose the U.S. because you need to research nearly everything anyways and it speeds research if you're ahead), warfare techs, Heavy Bombers, anti-air (to level 2), anti-sub, artillery, command tech, production, amphibious warfare (this comes last in the essential techs because most amphibious attacks prior to 1942 are distractions more than truly dangerous anyways), logistics (the supply throughput is helpful
U.K.: Largely the same as the U.S. except higher priority on land warfare, and I usually don't touch the non-antisub naval techs or the industry/production techs (these only give 10% bonus for UK, and also don't apply to convoy MPP's, which means each level is much less than for other non-Japan nations). UK has less to go around, so needs to focus more on holding the line, however still needs to keep up with anti-sub, ground forces and airforce techs to stay competitive.
China: Infantry Weapons, Infantry Warfare, Anti-Air (gotta constrain the Japanese airforce or they will run away with things), Production (once again to help produce units and reduce NM loss from the many casualties), Industry (usually need this to stay in the game with minimal help from everyone else), Artillery (lots of positional warfare), and lastly fighters and airwarfare tech if you have time and resources (I rarely do unless Japan isn't bothering China much)
India: Like Italy, you need to pick what India is going to do for you early on and focus research on that. If it will be a main provider of air forces, focus your tech around air superiority and attack. If it will be a provider of land power, infantry weapons, infantry warfare, Command and control, anti-air and amphibious invasion will be your priorities.
2: As the Allies you need to answer from almost the beginning how you will survive the Soviet Union. The reason you need to answer this question quickly is because you need to focus your engineer fortification builds early on, as this will drive where you end up making your main fight. I've seen three common approaches, but I have an approach that I think is optimized against a strong player. If possible I like to try to turn out another engineer by the time Barbarossa comes around, but don't always manage it (generally speaking research is more important)
Common Approach 1: Build fortifications along the Dnieper and defend far forward. Against a weak Axis player this strategy is the best because you give up the least terrain. The downside is that you are meeting the Panzerwaffe at its strongest, and when its supply is still great and operating under concentrated air-cover. This is usually a recipe for imposing a limited delay on the Germans instead of stopping them, and often loses the units you should be using to make a counter-attack later on when they are all strung out with many turns of limited supply.
Common Approach 2: Fortifications in the marshlands and forests around Smolensk. While better than the first approach, and sometimes difficult to get past, I think the flaw here is that usually the war will be won or lost in the South. The terrain is more open there, and the sheer number of MPP's the Soviets lose by losing the oilfields (not to mention the southern lend lease) can hobble the Soviet war effort far more than the loss of Moscow. Generally speaking even without fortifications in the center you should be able to hold Moscow into at least mid-'42 if the Axis are making their main effort there, but even if you can't, you still have all the resources you need to keep fighting so long as you hold the south.
Common Approach 3: Fortifications on the approaches to Leningrad. The issue here is the same as with approach 2 except moreso. If the Germans go after Leningrad that is a distraction for them... so long as they don't cut Lend-Lease, you should welcome a "northern" approach, not discourage it.
My approach: Build fortifications around Voronezh and Stalingrad. These are the two objectives that Germany must secure in order to make a successful drive to Baku, and Baku is what they need to tip the balance in their favor economically so denying them to Germany enables the Soviets to counterattack more effectively. More importantly, normally when the Germans get to either or both of these cities, they are operating at the end of their supply lines and with long flanks.... if you can inflict damage on their headquarters it is very common to see German supply drop below 5, which will help facilitate your counterattacks even more. Fortifications around these two cities will facilitate this entire strategy, and turn a drive on Baku into a drive further north instead. The longer you hold the oilfields the better off you are and the worse off the Germans are.... you buy more time for the Allies to get ashore.
3. Speaking of getting ashore, we now get to the third part of a successful allied game.... getting the western allies back onto the European continent. How this happens is largely dependent on how much effort the Germans put into North Africa, but I usually like to plan for some kind of limited landing around 1942 (in say Italy or Greece) to serve as a distraction, and focus all my builds and research to at least have the option to land in force on the continent in 1943. France is ideal, but Spain is an option if France is untenable. Preparing for that 1943 landing is critical because things can go bad in the USSR, and the war will be won or lost there.... therefore you need to be ready to help them out. Other than some limited builds to prevent the Japanese from going wild in the Pacific (Special Forces, naval bombers and escort carriers) I usually focus my builds first on a massive airforce, which is how you kill the Wehrmacht, followed by the Army I need to get ashore by summer of 1943.
4. That gets us to how to balance the European and Pacific Theaters.... short answer here is "Germany first" is always right. The war will be won or lost in whether or not the Soviet Union goes down... and only Germany can bring the Soviet Union down. Therefore if you intend to win, you have to make sure you beat Germany. Japan should be an economy of force until you are ashore in Europe in strength... once you are sure you won't be pushed back into the sea, you can go all in against Japan, but not before. I usually only build CVE's, naval air and occasionally some subs when I've got some free MPP's. Carriers and most of the rest are an MPP sink that should be going into an airforce and Army to destroy Germany before they knock out the Soviet Union
Anyways, these are my 2 cents on how to play as allies. Biggest issue I've seen with most players is not keeping up with research followed by not having a plan for 1. How the Soviet Union will remain viable until the Allies are able to come ashore in force and 2. how to get the Allies ashore in force in time to matter.
1. First and foremost is research. As Allies, people need to have a very clearly defined research order and keep up with it, otherwise they will continue to snowball towards defeat instead of turning the tide. Less tech means more casualties means less national morale means more casualties and so on. Keeping research as maxed as possible until at least 1941 for all countries is pretty important to being able to turn things around starting in 1942-43. This is the number one issue I see most Allied players having. Some recommendations in order of priority:
Russia: Infantry Weapons, Infantry Warfare, Tanks (or antitank, I usually research both), Tank Warfare, anti-air (to level 2), Artillery, Production (this is usually a nice to have tech for most countries, for the SU I'd say it is necessary as it reduces morale loss from casualties, and Russia will take a lot of casualties), industry (each level of which provides 15% increase instead of the standard 10% if memory serves), Command and control (those HQ's will be important to gaining on the Germans), fighters and airwarfare (oftentimes I don't get to these last two until the allies have turned the tide).
United States: Industry (kind of hard to be the Arsenal Democracy if you aren't producing massive amounts of MPP's, and the U.S. gets a 20% increase per level instead of the standard 10%), Air Attack, Fighters, Infantry Weapons, Tanks, Intel (need this with at least one allied power.... I normally choose the U.S. because you need to research nearly everything anyways and it speeds research if you're ahead), warfare techs, Heavy Bombers, anti-air (to level 2), anti-sub, artillery, command tech, production, amphibious warfare (this comes last in the essential techs because most amphibious attacks prior to 1942 are distractions more than truly dangerous anyways), logistics (the supply throughput is helpful
U.K.: Largely the same as the U.S. except higher priority on land warfare, and I usually don't touch the non-antisub naval techs or the industry/production techs (these only give 10% bonus for UK, and also don't apply to convoy MPP's, which means each level is much less than for other non-Japan nations). UK has less to go around, so needs to focus more on holding the line, however still needs to keep up with anti-sub, ground forces and airforce techs to stay competitive.
China: Infantry Weapons, Infantry Warfare, Anti-Air (gotta constrain the Japanese airforce or they will run away with things), Production (once again to help produce units and reduce NM loss from the many casualties), Industry (usually need this to stay in the game with minimal help from everyone else), Artillery (lots of positional warfare), and lastly fighters and airwarfare tech if you have time and resources (I rarely do unless Japan isn't bothering China much)
India: Like Italy, you need to pick what India is going to do for you early on and focus research on that. If it will be a main provider of air forces, focus your tech around air superiority and attack. If it will be a provider of land power, infantry weapons, infantry warfare, Command and control, anti-air and amphibious invasion will be your priorities.
2: As the Allies you need to answer from almost the beginning how you will survive the Soviet Union. The reason you need to answer this question quickly is because you need to focus your engineer fortification builds early on, as this will drive where you end up making your main fight. I've seen three common approaches, but I have an approach that I think is optimized against a strong player. If possible I like to try to turn out another engineer by the time Barbarossa comes around, but don't always manage it (generally speaking research is more important)
Common Approach 1: Build fortifications along the Dnieper and defend far forward. Against a weak Axis player this strategy is the best because you give up the least terrain. The downside is that you are meeting the Panzerwaffe at its strongest, and when its supply is still great and operating under concentrated air-cover. This is usually a recipe for imposing a limited delay on the Germans instead of stopping them, and often loses the units you should be using to make a counter-attack later on when they are all strung out with many turns of limited supply.
Common Approach 2: Fortifications in the marshlands and forests around Smolensk. While better than the first approach, and sometimes difficult to get past, I think the flaw here is that usually the war will be won or lost in the South. The terrain is more open there, and the sheer number of MPP's the Soviets lose by losing the oilfields (not to mention the southern lend lease) can hobble the Soviet war effort far more than the loss of Moscow. Generally speaking even without fortifications in the center you should be able to hold Moscow into at least mid-'42 if the Axis are making their main effort there, but even if you can't, you still have all the resources you need to keep fighting so long as you hold the south.
Common Approach 3: Fortifications on the approaches to Leningrad. The issue here is the same as with approach 2 except moreso. If the Germans go after Leningrad that is a distraction for them... so long as they don't cut Lend-Lease, you should welcome a "northern" approach, not discourage it.
My approach: Build fortifications around Voronezh and Stalingrad. These are the two objectives that Germany must secure in order to make a successful drive to Baku, and Baku is what they need to tip the balance in their favor economically so denying them to Germany enables the Soviets to counterattack more effectively. More importantly, normally when the Germans get to either or both of these cities, they are operating at the end of their supply lines and with long flanks.... if you can inflict damage on their headquarters it is very common to see German supply drop below 5, which will help facilitate your counterattacks even more. Fortifications around these two cities will facilitate this entire strategy, and turn a drive on Baku into a drive further north instead. The longer you hold the oilfields the better off you are and the worse off the Germans are.... you buy more time for the Allies to get ashore.
3. Speaking of getting ashore, we now get to the third part of a successful allied game.... getting the western allies back onto the European continent. How this happens is largely dependent on how much effort the Germans put into North Africa, but I usually like to plan for some kind of limited landing around 1942 (in say Italy or Greece) to serve as a distraction, and focus all my builds and research to at least have the option to land in force on the continent in 1943. France is ideal, but Spain is an option if France is untenable. Preparing for that 1943 landing is critical because things can go bad in the USSR, and the war will be won or lost there.... therefore you need to be ready to help them out. Other than some limited builds to prevent the Japanese from going wild in the Pacific (Special Forces, naval bombers and escort carriers) I usually focus my builds first on a massive airforce, which is how you kill the Wehrmacht, followed by the Army I need to get ashore by summer of 1943.
4. That gets us to how to balance the European and Pacific Theaters.... short answer here is "Germany first" is always right. The war will be won or lost in whether or not the Soviet Union goes down... and only Germany can bring the Soviet Union down. Therefore if you intend to win, you have to make sure you beat Germany. Japan should be an economy of force until you are ashore in Europe in strength... once you are sure you won't be pushed back into the sea, you can go all in against Japan, but not before. I usually only build CVE's, naval air and occasionally some subs when I've got some free MPP's. Carriers and most of the rest are an MPP sink that should be going into an airforce and Army to destroy Germany before they knock out the Soviet Union
Anyways, these are my 2 cents on how to play as allies. Biggest issue I've seen with most players is not keeping up with research followed by not having a plan for 1. How the Soviet Union will remain viable until the Allies are able to come ashore in force and 2. how to get the Allies ashore in force in time to matter.