European Theatres of Operations Game 2

[82ndtrooper]

ok we are off and running

the Germans have invaded Poland

[82ndtrooper]

and this is the southwestern polish border

[82ndtrooper]

My goal is to encircle, cut off and bypass as many units as I can, in the true style of Blitzkrieg.

here are the totals for the turn.

[82ndtrooper]

Grumpy
Did you increase the cost of ships ?

[GrumpyMel]

Yes, pretty significantly. It was part of the discussion I had with Bombur in regards the first test game. It means players are going to have to be a little bit more carefull about loosing thier starting navies...as they can take awhile to replace. Also means planning ahead with your builds a bit.

[82ndtrooper]

ahh ok sounds good to me I had mentioned in the other thread that it seemed there would be a lot of carriers so I think this is a good change. The only thing that concerns me is that Germany only has 1 production center on the coast above 1000 and its only 2000, where the allies have a lot. this may have a adverse effect. If it takes Germany say 10 turns to produce one carrier but the allies can produce 10 carriers in that time its going to make it difficult. Just a thought. I don't yet know how occupied production centers work so ill wait a bit and see how things look.

[krupp_88mm]

well historically it would take germany forever to make carriers, subs are another matter though

[82ndtrooper]

well England has 2 production centers of 4000 on the coast and numerous others. and at 100% war footing I think it will take Germany hmm 3 or 4 turns to make 1 sub from that sole production center. Grumpy can let us know for sure because I have already sent off the turn.

But if captured production centers will produce anything, then Germany will pick up some production once it takes France.

But ill know more in a few turns, this is just the first turn

[GrumpyMel]

Captured production centers don't produce units well...as they would be from a people group that would have large penalties fighting for Germany. Hamburg, would be you main production center. This would handicap Germany in the naval arms race (as was the case). If the balance looks too bad, I can always tweak some of the production numbers on German coastal cities. Although I'd like to see what happens when Italy gets into the game... They have ALOT of production on the coast. It could turn out that thier the main naval powerhouse for the Axis (If you bring thier War Footing up). Historicaly they had a decent sized navy...they just didn't perform very well.
 
Lets see how it plays out, and I can adjust from there.

[82ndtrooper]

ok sounds good.

I do have another question.

I captured one polish city and its production is at 30%, will it always stay at 30% or will it raise when i raise my war footing ?

also when can I invade western Europe ? is it whenever i want ?
and will i get any kind of card to play ?

[GrumpyMel]

ORIGINAL: 82ndtrooper

ok sounds good.

I do have another question.

I captured one polish city and its production is at 30%, will it always stay at 30% or will it raise when i raise my war footing ?

also when can I invade western Europe ? is it whenever i want ?
and will i get any kind of card to play ?

Captured cities always produce at 30%, represents the fact that it's difficult to get good production out of occupied territory. Also I think it's a bit of a game balancer, as Germany getting full production out of captured cities would just steam-roll. In a later varient I might try to put some cards in to squeeze more production out of captured cities (maybe raises partisan levels as you force the local population into laboring for you as a trade off). It's something I'm going to think about once I feel more confident about the basic play balance.

You can invade Western Europe any time you choose (Russia as well). You have action cards to DOW all the neutrals. Remember though, once you DOW a neutral, it becomes active for the Allies....so you may want to wait until you are in a good position for that. As the Krouts, having the neutrals frozen until you are ready to crush them can be a big advantage. Of course, you can attack through the Maginot at any time...as you are already at war with France.... though it's a pretty narrow front and well fortified.

In the test games I've played against myself.... I always waited till spring to attack France....as it took me that long to get my forces built up and in good position anyways...and I didn't want to deal with Winter penalties on offense...so I waited till Spring to invade the Low Countries.

Not sure if that works better then an early attack in the Winter or not.....that's something players are going to have to figure out through playing. Honestly I think it could go either way. There is no Blitz card....as in WAW.... you basicaly make your own Blitz through play.

I may end up putting a "Major Offensive" Action Card that each player could play by spending a hefty amount of PP's. Give the player a 20-30% combat bonus for a turn. That would represent a major commitment of supplies, ammunition, reserves, intel, etc. I think that would be a better way to simulate things like the Blitz on France, Barabarossa, Bulge and on the other side D-Day, Soviet Winter Offensive, etc. That way, you wouldn't neccesarly be tied to having to follow the historical course so closely with attacks. At the same time, it'd likely be expensive enough that you'd use it pretty sparingly. Anyways, I'm still debating the idea...it's not in this version, yet.

[82ndtrooper]

ok glad to know that about the captured cities, I was concerned that they stayed at what ever level they where at when they where captured which would have had a effect on how high I would have taken Frances war footing. (in the other game)

I like the way the DOW works, this will allow some flexibility in strategy and tactics.

[82ndtrooper]

turn 2
Playing the west in test game 1, has given me an advantage in that I know what Poland has to defend with and what their situation is. So I am able to apply pressure in the places needed to allow my Blitzkrieg to function. Rufus is playing it for the first time and doesn't have this knowledge so in poland he is at a disadvantage. fortunately test game one hasn't gotten to the invasion of France yet so in a few turns any advantage I have will lessen.

But in Poland I have a clear advantage that helps me.

on to the turn
The blitzkrieg is working to perfection, The Wehrmacht is ripping through the polish defenders and cutting them off and encircling them just as High Command planned, The Fuhrer is a brilliant leader ! The Third Reich will conquer the world !

The Prussian army is advancing quickly in the north and has cut off and bypassed several polish divisions. This is a key area strategically because the Prussians are all alone they have to do their job with no reinforcements.

[82ndtrooper]

In the center things are different, we have the 4th and 8th infantry armies led by the powerful 10th Panzer army. The 4th and 8th armies have Poznan surrounded and the 10th Panzer is advancing rapidly to encircle Lodz.
The 10th army HQ is having trouble keeping up with the main army and the Fuhrer has wondered if he shot a few of the officers if it would remove some of the dead weight and they would advance faster. 10th Army command assured the Fuhrer that they will keep up from now on.

In the south the 14th army will soon have Krakow cut off

[82ndtrooper]

The Luftwaffe launched its first bombing attack against Warsaw and half the city is in flames.

here are the totals for the turn.

Hitler is pleased.

[82ndtrooper]

Grumpy
if i am already at war with Poland why is it saying I can declare war on them ?

[82ndtrooper]

also what is the Waffen SS regime ?

[GrumpyMel]

Ahh, ok...I see what's going on. In order to give the nationalties individual unit colors and flags... you have to make a regime for them... then you tell the people group to use the colors for that regime in the editor (same for SS and Siberians). That's how you can get units on the same side with different color schemes.

The Polish units don't actualy belong to the "Polish Regime", they belong to the "Allied Regime". Same will hold true for each neutral when you invade them...they'll join the Allied Regime... there is probably some setting that I need to flip on the regime screen to not allow it to be listed in the strategic window. At the very least I can put a Diplomatic block on it, so that you can't DOW it.... I thought I did that for all Regimes already...but maybe I missed Poland.

[82ndtrooper]

ok another question. what if any bonuses do the SS get ?

[GrumpyMel]

You can look in the People's screen to see that. Neither they or the Siberians are effected by War Footing at all...and I think both of them fight at a combat efficiency of 120% (could be 110, I forget). The maximum for other units (assuming 100% war footing) is 100 %.

So they definately have a combat advantage. The SS are built from Munich and the Siberians get built from Omsk (if I remember right).