Lifting blockade as Russia

[renetschultz]

How do I engage the enemy fleet, if they are blockading from northern europe?

[xlq0625]

Currently, if you were at war with Germany, nothing. Just wait until you surrender. If it was other nation, send your ship to the Northern Europe and the game would automatically generate battle.

[ulzgoroth]

Technically, it's possible for Russia to maintain a large fleet outside the Baltic that they could use to try to lift a North Sea blockade.

Unlikely to be achieved, but possible.

[renetschultz]

I feared that. Must get my raiders ready then.

[ulzgoroth]

Hmm. Can submarines get past the German seal?

Originally posted by renetschultz:

I feared that. Must get my raiders ready then.

I wouldn't think raiders piled up in the Baltic would do much either...

[renetschultz]

So after a big battle in the baltic, I now have a blockade strength of 176 compared to 92, and in northern europe germany has 10 to 0. Does the 10 strength there really mean I cant move out and is still blockaded?

[Silamon]

Originally posted by renetschultz:

So after a big battle in the baltic, I now have a blockade strength of 176 compared to 92, and in northern europe germany has 10 to 0. Does the 10 strength there really mean I cant move out and is still blockaded?

There should be a minimum force required to count as a blockade in an area, iirc the default was 80. Are you still counted as being blockaded?

[ulzgoroth]

Originally posted by Silamon:

Originally posted by renetschultz:

So after a big battle in the baltic, I now have a blockade strength of 176 compared to 92, and in northern europe germany has 10 to 0. Does the 10 strength there really mean I cant move out and is still blockaded?

There should be a minimum force required to count as a blockade in an area, iirc the default was 80. Are you still counted as being blockaded?

You seem to be conflating the blockade with your fleet being trapped in the Baltic. This is wrong.

From the manual: Movement between the Baltic and the Northern Europe zone will be blocked for enemies of Germany in wartime after Germany researches active mine warfare."

It doesn't matter if they have no ships in Northern Europe at all, you still can't get through the passage there.

However, you should no longer be suffering blockade effects as long as you hold dominance in the sea zone. In fact, Germany should be!

[Kan]

Russia have: Undeveloped shipbuilding industry, Poor education, no research advantages and two fronts, divided by three naval zones. It would be fair if Russia had the unique feature "Too big to be under blockade". Want to win against Russia? Destroy fleet and let Army (or Air Forces, if devs add something like "Air campain" event) do their job.

[ThatZenoGuy]

...Go to Northern Europe and unblockade yourself?

[Rum]

I found the best way to deal with Germany as Russia was to keep a token Baltic fleet and then either get enough colonies or build ships with the range to allow the redeployment of ships in Northeast Asia (a home zone) to Northern Europe. Its very dumb and requires you go get the colonies but it beats having to try preempt a war with Germany.

[rodriguezCIA]

Originally posted by Kan:

Russia have: Undeveloped shipbuilding industry, Poor education, no research advantages and two fronts, divided by three naval zones. It would be fair if Russia had the unique feature "Too big to be under blockade". Want to win against Russia? Destroy fleet and let Army (or Air Forces, if devs add something like "Air campain" event) do their job.

in fact it's worse than you think. it's not "too big to be blockaded" but "too big to NOT be blockaded". according to the manual (p 70), russian blockade strength is multiplied by 0.7 :/

Originally posted by ThatZenoGuy:

...Go to Northern Europe and unblockade yourself?

if at war against germany you just can't as soon as germany researched active mine warfare (whatever minesweeping strength you have). that's kind of dumb

[Shad]

Originally posted by rodriguezCIA:

in fact it's worse than you think. it's not "too big to be blockaded" but "too big to NOT be blockaded". according to the manual (p 70), russian blockade strength is multiplied by 0.7 :/

I have never figured out why this rule exists, it's so counter-intuitive.
And it runs against the historical wars in the 20th century. i.e WW2. The allies ran supply routes through the pacific, through Iran (indian ocean in game terms) and through the north.

Not to even mention that the only port in the Northern Sea (Murmansk/Archangelsk) is for some reason considered a foreign station, instead of a home region.

Instead the game basically says you need to snag Norway or Iceland ASAP to have a chance of preventing a blockade.

[Andrew Cree]

Originally posted by Shad:

I have never figured out why this rule exists, it's so counter-intuitive.

Not at all, it's completely sensible.

And it runs against the historical wars in the 20th century. i.e WW2. The allies ran supply routes through the pacific, through Iran (indian ocean in game terms) and through the north.

Not to even mention that the only port in the Northern Sea (Murmansk/Archangelsk) is for some reason considered a foreign station, instead of a home region.

1. During WW2 the Baltics were deemed unusable by the Allies for the delivery of aid - not unreasonably as it would involve sailing right through German controlled waters.

2. 23% of all aid to Russia was delivered by the 'short' route, direct to Murmansk/Archangelsk. This could be taken to the front more rapidly than goods arriving by other routes, but at the cost of being more dangerous, resulting in the loss of 7% of the aid sent by that route.

27% of the aid came through the Persian Corridor. This was the longest route, and not fully operational until mid-1942, but benefited from being the only 'all-weather' route.

50% of the goods came via the Pacific Route - but they had to be transported in Soviet hulls (USSR and Japan were neutral to each other through much of WW2) - but because of neutrality rules (inspection by Japanese vessels), war materiel could not safely be transported by this route. Once off-loaded, they then had to be transported to the West, and that was a relatively slow process.

Instead the game basically says you need to snag Norway or Iceland ASAP to have a chance of preventing a blockade.

And this fits in with historically observed facts.

Russia, despite it's size, is incredibly vulnerable to blockade. The eastern coastal ports - e.g. Vladivostok and Port Arthur (when in Russian hands) - are too far from the main population centres to the west of Russia to be suitable for mass transit.

The Baltic Ports, being the easiest - in normal circumstances - to access are easily disrupted by controlling the North Sea. Access to the Black Sea is controlled by Turkey, and would be even more difficult to ship military equipment through than the eastern ports.

Thus, Russia is vulnerable to blockade and suffers a 0.7 multiplier to their blockade strength.

[Shad]

Originally posted by Andrew Cree:

Originally posted by Shad:

I have never figured out why this rule exists, it's so counter-intuitive.

Not at all, it's completely sensible.

Except it isn't at all.

Your numbers above show that 77% of shipping bypassed the North Sea completely, either through India or the Pacific. How is it "sensible" that in-game the North Sea is so critical that it can be blockaded with 0.7 strength?

Also re-iterating the odd design choice to make Murmansk and therefore the whole of the North Sea a "Foreign Station".

And this fits in with historically observed facts.

Historically observed facts are that Russia has always been incredibly difficult to blockade due to large land border, multiple land and river trade routes, and relative abundance of many raw materials.

The eastern coastal ports - e.g. Vladivostok and Port Arthur (when in Russian hands) - are too far from the main population centres to the west of Russia to be suitable for mass transit.

Of course they were suitable for mass transit. How else did 50% of allied shipping come through the Pacific Route then?

That's literally why the Transsiberian Railway was built: to be a stable supply link to the East. It's not built in the 1890 start yet, but other than that, it should be a factor.

Access to the Black Sea is controlled by Turkey, and would be even more difficult to ship military equipment through than the eastern ports.

The lack of the Black Sea in-game is a whole separate can of worms, with its own problems.

[Lucky]

Game wise, you just have to choose your allies. For the most part it will be UK or Germany. Latter is obviuos - clears the whole Baltic problem. Former creates the swing system for a war against Germany: it will be shifting its fleet between North Sea and Baltic while being permanently blockaded in at least one of those theaters. You, on the other hand, will be blockaded about half the time or even less making long war pretty one-sided.

Real world wise its a some kind of joke I guess. Baltic was cut off in both world wars. Yet war materiel was delivered through other routes. Honestly, the more I play Russia the more eerie its in-game representation feels like.