German Grand strategy

[supermax]

Well, for my first thread i'll will try to share my view in the only thing that counts in any strategy game, Grand strategy.

Grand strategy is the combination of Economic, tactitcal and strategic planning...

The german start the game with few options. Poland has to be mopped up, and then France. The real game start after the conquest of France. Well, most player will think that way[>:].

But the Axis is operating under a very delicate balance, one that could be upset by bad planning. So the grand strategy for every game has to be decided before the first turn agaisnt Poland.

So here is my take on what i think is the safest and best course of action for Germany in a PBEM game, since everyone can win against the computer with any strategy. But against a good human player, you need to be a lot smarter.

Course of action: The downfall of Russia. If the Germans succeed in knowcking russia at the end of 1942, then the rest of the game will be a cakewalk.

Aspect 1- Economy

You have to think that the first thing to do would be to think the kind of army you will have for attacking Stalin. Since most good players will use the oil option, then you have to go for a balanced force, with infantry predominance, so you dont run out too soon of the precious liquid. With this kind of army and no significant attack everywhere on the map before Russia, you should be able to still have 200 oil at end of 1941, enough for the last 1942 offensive.

a) Research: 2 inf labs and 1 tank labs in the first 2 turns, then add at least 1 more in each and then if possible (with no focus if you are using random research) 2 in air with focus on the strategic.
b) Forces to build or to have at end of may 1941: 5 tanks, 5 mech inf., 20 infantry, 4 TAC (+ 1 Italian TAC), 3 Fighters, Manstein, Guderian, and 1 low-level HQ(Kluge a goopd option). The Italians will have to provide at least 5 corps, 1 tank, 1 TAC, and more if possible.
c) Note on Italian production: Those guys are only needed to fill the gaps, so only build corps, as many as you can. You will be rewarded when you need units everywhere on the map by NOT having to remove your forces deeply involved AND deepply needed in Russia.
d) Once the german barbarossa as started, only build infantry until you are sure that the campaign is going well. Adding another labs in infantry will also be helpful in the first winter. This will enable the german player to react to any allied landing on the map and if there is none, then all the better, they will be much-needed reinforcement for Russia.
e) DO NOT build any naval force or spend any on repairing the one you already have. The sub effect on convoy is minimal compared to the price you pay for them.

Aspetct 2: Strategy

After putting the production goals to destroy mother Russia, well you better give you the means (get the production points). This will be done by conquest !!! Ahhh good old NAZIS!

Poland in 1939, Denmark in 1939, Holland in 1939 or early 1940. France-Belgium in march-april 1940, Yougoslavia-Greece before mid 1941

1- Poland is destroyable in 2 turns even agasint human players, so make sure you do take only 2 turns with no losses of troops.
2- Denmark: On the turn after Poland's conquest, if the French player is not lauching an offensive, train 2 or 3 corps to Denmark, along with all your planes. Denmark is destroyable in 1 turn, provided you bombard with your battleship, use your 3 planes and at least 2 corps or 1 corps and a tank. This will block the british intervene
3- Also move your ground troops toward the west, using train for tank (since they consume oil). The infantry will get there on foot.
4- Holland: This country is ripe for the taking, so as soon as enough troops are in position, conquer it, this will give you much needed pp's. Also will put you in a better position against Belgium and France.
5- France: You will need 3 tanks (4 better), 2 (3 better) and as many infantry as you can to knock France out. Your main goal should be to limit losses to a minimum. A good advice would be not to go to close to the coast with your planes since the british CV will attack them, and the battleships will bombard your troops. Also, do not rush your tanks in the front like against the computer, the human player will just destroy them, and you cannot permit yourself to loose a tank. Also make sure your HQ are well protected at turn end, or the human ennemy will attack it in priority. Having a general hurt for 18 turns is not really cool.
6- Yougoslavia: Free PP ripe for the taking, you do so on the second turn of Rumania entering the war. GO ONLY FOR THE CAPITAL and attack with everything youve got on the air side. So with 3 hungarian troops (2 INF and 1 MOT) and 3 or 4 planes, you will be getting the capital and the country will surrender.
7- Greece (optional): Again, free PP's. Put 3 transport in position to land around Athens on the first turn you declare war, and make sure you move all your planes there to be positionned there on the attack turn. If you attack again with everything youve got, the capital should be taken and you will have anther conqueres country.
8- Mediterannean: The investments needed to really get something going in the mediterranean is prohibitive and unecessary, since if you knock Russia in 1942, you will have all the oil you will need, and beside, as we have discussed earlier, with this gameplan you will have enough oil to go by for 41 and 42. The loss of Africa is hardly a strategic disaster in this game, so you could even move the italian army there back to Europe for use against Russia or for italian defense.
9- Also, do not forget that as soon as France is done, start moving your forces toward the eastern border, making sure there is still a garrison in the west for the troublesome english.
10- A rule of thumb is ALWAYS try to save oil, so always ask yourself : " Can my infantry do the job?" Remember that moving tanks and attacking with them is prohibitive...


3- Tactical:

So, now after all this thinking, planning and careful stratetic decision, you are finally ready to end this game!

1941 --- BARBAROSSA
a) The main strategic aim of 1941 (operation barbarossa) should be the estalishment of the german army on the Moscow-Kharkov-Rostov line.
b) The secondary strategic aim (only try to achieve them if you feel you can achieve the main goals and do this at the same time), should be the conquest of the north (Talinn), establishing a line at least to Lake Ladoga.
c) Target of opportunity: Remember that you do have enough troop to do everything at the same time, so in order to acheieve the main goals you need 2 strong forces, one in the south (army group south) and one in the center (army group center). You can never be too strong at the most important spot of your campaign, so make sure that target of opportunity does not deplete your offensive momemtum by diverting units left and right, especially for the drive on moscou, where the Russian player will give you the most resistance. Not enough troops will ground your glorious wermarcht to a halt.
d) Crimea, Leningrad, northern Russia: These places are tought to conquer and will require too much offensive power diverted from the most important sector, so only leave enough of a screening force to block the Russian player to burst in your rear.
e) 1941 winter: No important offensive will achieve anything of mention because of movement restriction, so if the main and secondary goals are achieved, i would suggest you reduce leningrad to rubble with your whole airfleet , and then Sebastopol. Those offensive need limited movement, and you can move your planes around with trains. Also try to move your troops as close as possible to Gorki to be able to start the 1942 Perm offensive from closest as possible. Use the winter to refit your troops going to Perm, and also upgrading.
f) You NEED to take out the whole russian border force in the first turn, and this will mean you conquering Brest-Litovsk, Riga and Odessa on the first turn, and encircling all the troops aroud those cities with your tanks. It is very much doable, i have done it in the hardest setting against the AI and also against 2 human players.
g) Always goes for the encirclement, and then bypass the troops leaving bulgarians, rumanians and italians for mopping up encircled russians.

1942: --- Plan Blue or Siberian offensive?

a) The main strategic goals of 1942 should be the conquest of Perm, since if you do, Russia is done.
b) The secondary strategic aims should be the 2 easily attainable oilfields in the Caucasus (Maikop and oilfield) and Perm.
c) The third strategic aim should finally be to secure your western dominion, France and Italy. The allies will be very active if you acheived the goals of Barbarossa, so every contigency need to be planned to twart any landings in the Fortress Europa.
d) The Perm offensive should be undertaken by your whole aviation force (the west will hold without them since you have produced a ton of infantry), 3 or 4 tanks and then as many infantry as can be spared from other theatres. Plan blue (Caucasus) will be attainable with minimal force involment. And beside, if russia put lots of troops in the Caucasus, well, they wont be agaisnt you on your Perm drive will they?

1943 and onward:

Well, after conquering Russia, you will have more than enough troops to contain whatever they do in the west while building a decent navy and air fleet. If your war is going well agaisnt russia, research labs in air and naval wont hurt in 1941 and 1942. The rest of the game should then be a cakewalk.

[Shawkhan]

One of the great things about this game is that there are many ways to win. I have found the game to be more enjoyable personally when I use all three components of available military forces Air/Sea/land to win. A decent Russian player with unhindered access to those enormous(100-200+) Murmansk convoys should be able to build enough ground forces to bleed the German Army white, as happened historically. If you use so little research, especially industrial and air, the Soviet airforce will have little trouble reaching parity then superiority over the German Luftwaffe. Leaving the Leningrad front open leaves an awfully large empty space close to Riga and East Prussia. The Russians should be pouring through that gap all winter long, with Warsaw(and Berlin) too close for comfort.
Building lots of infantry is a  good plan, but it doesn't take that long to get down to 75%(and the quality hits), then 50% and scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Your strategy is basically what the Germans tried in WWII, and it didn't work out that well for them. I hope you have better luck.
You are certainly right about Russia, though. You can do everything else wrong, but if you defeat the USSR, you should be able to win the war. Myself, I prefer to take out England, a quicker and easier way to achieve the same thing. With England gone, the Murmansk convoys are toast and so are the Russians.