How to win with France 1933 ? (Darkest Hour : A Heart Of Iron Game)

[Simba]

Hey maybe you can help me !

I'm French, I'm Patriot : I WANT TO BEAT THE GERMANS DURING WWII !

Problem : socialists who f*** my factories number !

Whatever i do it's all the time the same... June 36 : Sudden change of government. Daladier... F****** DALADIER :'(. And the left policy.... KILL ME : So my question is : Can we make something to have a right policy ? (I think is the best problem with France in this game).

In July-October 39 I succeed to drill the frontline from the sarre but arrived to Fulda, Germans counter by attacking the Sarre and cut my supply line. I would attack Italia but I want to win my game in Vanilla, and I'm a Democracy so I can't declare war to the spagheti's soldiers. My question is : Is there a solution to declare war against Italia ?

PS : I change my doctrine from defensive to mobility to have the tank division.

I made maybe ten or fifteen games as this hour... I TRY HARD... But nothing to do... I will try again and again but your advices will be welcome.

[Inquerion]

Month later, but I hope that you still play DH!

Land fort strategy for France. Hard, but possible. It just works (:):

1. Start from the 1933 scenario. Select normal difficulty or lower. Save regularly. Immediately move all of your armies, navies and airforce from the mainland and colonies to the UK London area. (I'm not kidding, you will save a lot of precious IC for building forts this way). UK will pay for your units supplies now. In early 1939, move them back. Secure your border with Belgium. Most of your forces should be stationed there. Select defensive doctrine (normally that doctrine is weak, but not in this campaign). Select ministers, that are lowering land for construction time and cost and minsters that are increasing your country IC (Administrative genius). Do it after every "government change" event.

2. Lower your country dissent to around 10% (by investing in consumer goods) and create land forts along Belgian and Luxembourgian border (out default navy build-up at the bottom. Land forts are more important. If you do it correctly, you should have ~6 level fort in every province in 1940. Continue to build them, until you will reach lvl 10. Germans will probably stop attacking you, if you will reach lvl 8. Build some forts along ITA border too, but 7 lvl fort should be enough there (mountains). Holding the Alps should be easy.

3. Take manual control of units (in diplomacy tab) of all your allies and puppets (you need to have higher IC than them). Send them to the Belgian border.

4. Hold Belgian border at any cost. If you will lose some fort province; reload. Around 41/42 Germany should be at war with SOV. Wait until they will start losing the war, and then attack them with full strength around 1943/1944.

5. Eat some Baguettes in Berlin.

[Mr Nich]

retreat all armies into Brittany, dedicate all resources, tech and ministers into fortifications, you cannot now be defeated. In order to defeat Germany use the two provinces on the coast at Caen and Bayeux. Leave Bayeaux empty, Defend Caen. Evacuate Caen, allow it and Bayeux to be occupied. Attack and liberate Caen, which surrounds Bayeux. Destroy the armies in Bayeux. Then evacuate Caen and allow both to be occupied again, repeat this over and over and over again until you have weakened Germany enough to walk to Berlin.

[PaganFears]

Both these solutions sound to me more like ugly exploits than a reasonable strategy, especially the second one. Do you really need such tricks to withstand Germany's attack even if you have 7 years to prepare with a country the strength of France?

[Simba]

Originally posted by Inquerion:

Month later, but I hope that you still play DH!

Land fort strategy for France. Hard, but possible. It just works (:):

1. Start from the 1933 scenario. Select normal difficulty or lower. Save regularly. Immediately move all of your armies, navies and airforce from the mainland and colonies to the UK London area. (I'm not kidding, you will save a lot of precious IC for building forts this way). UK will pay for your units supplies now. In early 1939, move them back. Secure your border with Belgium. Most of your forces should be stationed there. Select defensive doctrine (normally that doctrine is weak, but not in this campaign). Select ministers, that are lowering land for construction time and cost and minsters that are increasing your country IC (Administrative genius). Do it after every "government change" event.

2. Lower your country dissent to around 10% (by investing in consumer goods) and create land forts along Belgian and Luxembourgian border (out default navy build-up at the bottom. Land forts are more important. If you do it correctly, you should have ~6 level fort in every province in 1940. Continue to build them, until you will reach lvl 10. Germans will probably stop attacking you, if you will reach lvl 8. Build some forts along ITA border too, but 7 lvl fort should be enough there (mountains). Holding the Alps should be easy.

3. Take manual control of units (in diplomacy tab) of all your allies and puppets (you need to have higher IC than them). Send them to the Belgian border.

4. Hold Belgian border at any cost. If you will lose some fort province; reload. Around 41/42 Germany should be at war with SOV. Wait until they will start losing the war, and then attack them with full strength around 1943/1944.

5. Eat some Baguettes in Berlin.

THANKS BROOO

[Mr Nich]

I know this has already been answered, but on the rare chance someone else is reading this and looking for answers...

France starts 1933 with quite a high IC and a massive army and navy, but it is scripted to lose in 1940. Firstly, there is the "peace time modifier" reducing your IC. Secondly there is a constant stream of events such as national scandals and government infighting that jump up your dissent and reduce IC even more, often to almost zero. thirdly, that massive army is a huge drain on your IC. Following the historical path will mean using all IC just to keep dissent in check leaving nothing else. To get round this you need some kind of exploit, such as mentioned above, putting all troops into ally provinces, so they do the maintenance (another is to use an ally such as Bhutan to declare war on someone, this increases your IC to max, but also almost always then leads to Germany beginning WWII in 1935-7)

the next issue is that your standard military doctrine is defensive, all generals, tech and ministers are for defence. If war breaks out, you will lose attacking Germany, furthermore if they attack you, your counterattacks will be weak. To get round this, just go all in on defence. The computer will almost never attack a province with 8+ forts. This tactic is widely used for many nations to form an indestructible redoubt somewhere, or as above, just extend the Maginot line.

Thirdly, it is not how good France is, it is about how Good France is compared to Germany. Germany starts with a higher IC, and gains more quickly. it has better tech teams and follows a better tactic path. Unless you declare war in 1933 Germany will always have a bigger and better army and It is impossible as France to keep up with them or be superior by 1940. The best you can hope for is to defend yourself, you need Germany to declare war on the USSR, only with a two-front war can you go on the offensive.

[Simba]

Thanks guys, it's cool to see how many players are investing in this game nowadays.

[Gnubbolo]

I have a working strategy for France ( furious AI, normal diff ):

1) reach 200 friendship with Abyssinia, leave the alliance with the British, ally with Abyssinia, return to the alliance with the British.
2) wait for the war with Italy, annex Italy (very easy)
3) bring all allied troops to FranchItaly. choose the two generals that boost Forts! build all forts to lvl 10. build 3x12 Militias. 3x2 transports.
4) turtle. slowly bring the troops of the Indian colonies to Italy. (+50 divisions). build anti-aircraft all along the line of the forts.
5) wait for the US to destroy Germany with atomic bombs.
6) break through on the whole front and annex Germany: D

I have all the save points.
however if things go wrong, Vichi's France with Italy attached is a fun thing to see.
this save can be a fun playable scenario to try.

[livefire]

Another tip I would give is that since you are playing as France(or any member of most of the Allies) you will not beat Germany 1v1. I go to my allies and "Assume military control" and use their units to complement my own. You should do the same with the British and the Commonwealth, since it will even the odds with Germany. At least until Japan gets involved...