My First Campaign

[David Hansen]

First time player starting as Axis in the 1939 campaign. Need advice...help in understanding with the following research options as I prepare to play this campaign:
*spying and intelligence
*logistics
*production technology
*industrial technology
I have read the mouse-over descriptions for each...but with limited resources I am trying to understand if these are critical at the start of my campaign vs the tactical research options.
Also, when do the Allies typically invade Europe...what timeframe...1944 or sooner?
Appreciate any insights...txs

[Jorgito78]

I am also a beginner on SC but something that could help on your first campaign is reading the included Strategy Guide. It is available from the launcher on in-game, on the top right corner in the campaign screen there is a submenu from where you can access the manual or the strategy guide.

[Elessar2]

S&I gives you a +1% bonus to all your research IF it is higher than all active enemy countries. It also gives you a 1% chance per level of spotting enemy units hidden in the shroud.

Logistics is vital in low-supply situations, giving you a +1 bonus per level if a resource or HQ is below 5, maxes out at 5 tho not 10. Also gives you 1 extra HQ build per level.

Production tech gives you a discount on all unit purchases AND reinforcements of damaged units (5% in vanilla).

Industrial tech gives you a flat bonus to a given country's base industrial modifier. Caveats:

* This bonus varies from country to country
* If the base IM is 60% and you get a new level, say +10%, that simply adds on, making your new IM 70% (NOT 66.6% rounded to 67%, as in 110% of (x) 60%)
* It ONLY applies to resources within a given country's borders, NOT to convoyed resources, and not (I believe) to non-native resources which have simply been conquered (and not convoyed), tho if a script annexes the target country and makes it part of the conqueror's native territory, it WILL apply (such as after Germany conquers Poland). Thus the USSR will get a LOT bigger bonus in MPPs than the UK will all things being equal (since the latter convoys the majority of its income).

As a modder I've tried to put all of this info into the tech descriptions whenever I have room to do so since by default it otherwise isn't visible in the game, only in the editor.

[Platoonist]

Also, when do the Allies typically invade Europe...what timeframe...1944 or sooner?

I've seen the Allied AI attempt it in 1943 if Russia is in dire straits. But it's usually not well-resourced at that point and easily beaten back if you keep a cool head and transfer in just what you need. You often see it coming anyway.