Surviving as Italy in 1942

[Crispin]

Anyone tried it? I send all my troops down to africa to combat the american and british, but they just keep shuffling in troops and planes quicker than I can possible get my troops down there. Besides it's very risky transporting units down there because of their dominating carriers which my fleet can never get close enough to damage so naval supremacy is out of the question. MY convoys eventually gets sunk and destroyed too so I have no resources, especially oil after a few months. Love the scenario, but I find myself at a total loss.

[Hat8]

Originally posted by Crispin:

Anyone tried it? I send all my troops down to africa to combat the american and british, but they just keep shuffling in troops and planes quicker than I can possible get my troops down there. Besides it's very risky transporting units down there because of their dominating carriers which my fleet can never get close enough to damage so naval supremacy is out of the question. MY convoys eventually gets sunk and destroyed too so I have no resources, especially oil after a few months. Love the scenario, but I find myself at a total loss.

Wouldn't holding Italy itself be optimal? Italy is mountainous and you can block their landings.

[Lazydesmond]

Oh yeah. That one's actually really hard. I've beaten it by building a force of naval bombers that were extremely effective, but it's been so long I can't remember how I managed to hold Africa. You know, before the Allies killed me there anyways. I'd try an air force but you'd have to have a specific mission in mind. Other than that mountain infantry in Italy would be the way to stop any invasion. I might play a bit and see what i can come up with.

Oh, and I usually do take Spain too. It's just that I like Turkey as a naval base for operations into the black sea as well as a potential front in both the Middle East and Africa.

[Gnubbolo]

play with this scenario is hard. today as soon as i finish with canada i do a test. even before I start I already know that I will be a zerg fleet of destroyers. at 30x3 moving in a block.
I would say that it is the basis for rebalancing the issue in the Mediterranean.

[Gnubbolo]

we have 3 naval bombers and 2 tactical bombers, make group of 5 with Lt. Ricci.
i defended very well with the current float the sardinia and corsica and killed in 1 year 20 tp and others.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1821470865

then i start building 9x3 militia ( are good in def. mountain and hill ). the next step is destroyers.

but the real problem is not the Italy but the Germany with only 385 IC. is garbage, we need 500 IC to win in the east and 700 IC for the total conquest of the world.
for now with italy is unplayable ( the next attempt will attack baku with 50 divisions and risk italy with 1 div per region while building militias. )

[Hat8]

Originally posted by gnubbolo 🐉:

we have 3 naval bombers and 2 tactical bombers, make group of 5 with Lt. Ricci.
i defended very well with the current float the sardinia and corsica and killed in 1 year 20 tp and others.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1821470865

then i start building 9x3 militia ( are good in def. mountain and hill ). the next step is destroyers.

but the real problem is not the Italy but the Germany with only 385 IC. is garbage, we need 500 IC to win in the east and 700 IC for the total conquest of the world.
for now with italy is unplayable ( the next attempt will attack baku with 50 divisions and risk italy with 1 div per region while building militias. )

Try raising the difficulty to very hard.

[Gnubbolo]

Originally posted by 786543:

Try raising the difficulty to very hard.

the game is not developed for playing scenarios in very hard.

[Crispin]

I had another go. I pulled out of africa, gathered my troops and puppeted spain. They have a lot of airplanes for some reason so very helpful and closing gibraltar. Then i invaded the alexandria area agai. And put up a defense while going towards the oil. Seems to work ok so far. But i dont understand how supply works, its dreadful in egypt and im constantly out of oil, even though i have some. It seems I need almost 1000 transporta to supply myself in africa, is that right?

[Lazydesmond]

Originally posted by Crispin:

I had another go. I pulled out of africa, gathered my troops and puppeted spain. They have a lot of airplanes for some reason so very helpful and closing gibraltar. Then i invaded the alexandria area agai. And put up a defense while going towards the oil. Seems to work ok so far. But i dont understand how supply works, its dreadful in egypt and im constantly out of oil, even though i have some. It seems I need almost 1000 transporta to supply myself in africa, is that right?

By transporta you mean convoys, right? Supply is pretty simple- have enough convoys for your troops. So, depending on how many troops you have you may need 1000. Check to see if the stockpile your troops are supplied from in Africa has oil. If it does then that means your supply efficiency is below a critical amount, which is a calculation done based on things like how far away you are from your stockpile and infrastructure, which is the bigger problem. You will have supply issues in Africa and that is an unavoidable fact. The deeper you go the more of a slog it will become...

[Crispin]

Yeah I mean convoys. I have about 60 divisions and it's a damn nightmare. The enemy doesn't seem to have this problem, but I can't know for sure. So my convoys transports supplies to my stockpile, which in turn sends the supply to my troops? Is there anything I can do realistically? Or is that just africa for you(me)?

[Lazydesmond]

That's just how Africa is (You expect to get concrete roads in the Third World? In 1942? Most Americans didn't even have good roads back then). The low infrastructure hampers supply efficiency. I think there's an option to move your stockpile, but I forget how to do it. Even then it really doesn't matter, unless you're still in Italian East Africa. And trust me, the Allies probably have problems but I'm pretty sure the AI cheats and ignores the penalty anyway. Every game where I conquer Africa (yes, the whole thing) I have enormous supply issues that slows my advance to a crawl. The middle of Africa is jungle, which just compounds the problem. It's a ♥♥♥♥♥.

[Crispin]

Hehe no I don't expect great roads, it seems pretty realistic in that regard. I'm just trying to figure out how everything works in more detail. I doubt I can do much, but if there is anything I can do to get things moving slightly faster I want to do it. Probably not worth investing in infrastructure afaik( I can't really afford it either) but does increasing the infrastructure help with resource output like in hoi4? Oil could potentially be interesting in that regard then.

[Lazydesmond]

The only thing I can suggest is cavalry, but stop research of the technology before they require oil. I usually use cavalry/mechanized+air support if I want to 'blitz'- the CAS does almost all the damage but cavalry are generally faster than infantry (and less costly). A few divisions of mechanized or motorized infantry can be used to stop any retreat while you encircle their troops. It's a good strategy for North Africa, but there aren't many air bases or good places for planes or motorized to operate once you push past a certain distance, and I know oil is an issue so do literally anything to keep your planes airborne because CAV are pretty worthless without support. Otherwise do the same thing, but instead of CAS get infantry and make small pincer maneuvers to encircle enemy troops. This will save oil for your fleet or Air Force. You will not win a prolonged war in Africa unless you master encircling pockets of colonial divisions. The actual British Army poses a much greater challenge because they'll have faster units like tanks.

Also upgrading infrastructure is worthless in base HOI2. But I'm not sure if they changed that for DH. I'd check the paradox forums.

[Scipio Manbini]

America still has inferior infrastructure and its for the simple reason the place is just too damn big and what is in it ended up spread out all over the place. No doubt government corruption has only served to make things worse as always.

[Lazydesmond]

Originally posted by Lazar:

America still has inferior infrastructure and its for the simple reason the place is just too damn big and what is in it ended up spread out all over the place. No doubt government corruption has only served to make things worse as always.

Inferior to Africa? Please. Also, keep the discussion on track. This is a discussion about a strategy game and its mechanics, not about politics. Post your opinions on another thread or use Twitter or something.