Tips on how to play

[Marcaccio]

Good morning, I'm doing an axis side campaign but apart from poland in 2 turns I can't win any battle.
In China I bombard with 4 aircraft carriers, the medium bomber the same corps and two artillery plus 3 attacks of 1 special force, 1 corps and 1 army and the maximum damage I can do is 5 or 7 if I'm lucky, I always attack only in good weather(I've also tried alternating bombing-attacking-bombing-attacking-bombing attacking all the time but it doesn't change much.).

My forces have at least 60% readiness and over 50% morale against 23% readiness and 2% morale, if I lead china I'm sure one garrison attack would be enough to destroy the exact same corps.

With Germany I can't take France despite having built rocket artillery, armored trains, rail guns and jointly attacks the same division by exchanging parachute tanks and infantry (not to mention bombing with the medium bomber and all the tactical I have). Minimum 4 attacks between tank and army and corps as well as artillery and tactical bombers to reduce a simple corps to 3 which returns stronger than before the next turn, again I always attack only in good weather.

My forces are always reinforced, I never send them into an attack with less than 9 strength, occasionally 8 only if it is the third attack.

I have read the manual and I manage my forces with each HQ, I try to always have supplies at the maximum but it helps little, for France I declared war on Belgium and Holland to try to cut off the army trying to reach Dunkirk but I was unable , going from holland i advance to belgium only because the dutch forces are very weak but every turn i manage to eliminate hopefully with all the tactical, armored and rail guns as well as artillery on the same target plus the joint attacks of all the forces of I can have to eliminate a single corps.

Seems a bit unrealistic to me. am I doing something wrong?

[atshii]

Destroying a unit in a turn does not always succeed, that is the war. Sometimes it is good to make some damage and plan for the next turn.

If you are already making the HQ attachments and taking your units supply situation in consideration, I would say you are doing a lot better than normal starting players.

In China, are you attacking the enemy unit in mountains inside fortifications? They matter a lot (check the manual for info) and reducing the enemy entrenchments is a big deal. Check your units info for who makes de-entrenchment and cause big morale reduction. But for initial turns, there are better things to hit than the fortified units.

But if you want to hit the fortifications in China, you would like to attack first with medium bombers, which cause de-entrenchment and make subsequent attacks easier. Attacks with carrier fighters are almost useless without ground attack tech, but they help a bit with morale reduction. Better to change them to bombers, but change of damage is pretty low.

If you with to learn, check out some multiplayer gameplay in youtube, like a playlist there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1cq8qcH9Us&list=PLsv6IgUEHAv_MEtVOz1-7wISHxd5jdOnL

Especially first turns tend to be pretty optimized from Axis side, so you might get ideas how to attack.

[Marcaccio]

I do not attack units with fortifications.
In china I can not advance a meter even after 1 year, the HQs to maximize supplies I tried to place them close to the units or in the cities and I saw that it changes little.
In a year of war in China I only held the positions and in the south despite having a superiority of 4 to 1 ( https://ibb.co/HPF1dTg ) I can't conquer a single hex where there is any enemy unit, even reducing it to 4 strength the next turn I find it immediately reinforced with my units worse than before, if I reinforce them I can't attack and in the meantime they reinforce themselves, in all this 4 months go by without doing anything.

Also I can't outflank any unit because off the roads the movement points halve and they are all ZOCs where the enemy does what he wants and I see my units reducing whatever can be reduced between morale strength points and readiness.


edit: I tried to load the game by changing sides, magically the Japanese units become efficient, the weather needless to say always clear and in France, Germany (using my composition) captured Belgium with 3 attacks. I tried reloading and doing the same axis moves and didn't do a tenth of what the pc does at all.

[Herr Wolf]

So conquering France with Germany shouldn't be a problem. You have to invade Belgium and Luxembourg with the first good weather in 1940. By August 1940 that should have been done.
And in China, it's best to focus on the south. That you then have the railway line to indochina.
Always pay attention to the supply points. you can show them with S.
Good luck

[Marcaccio]

I waited for the good weather for france passing through luxembourg and belgium to cut the troops but i can't break through despite the massive use of tactical bomber, rail gun, armored train and rocket artillery.

Surely I'm doing something wrong but the shifts pass and I find myself either the units with little strength or reinforced but doing no damage, I don't know if I'm wrong but the length of the shifts should be 7 days not 15 days.

One question, regardless of the number of supplies and if the units are attached to the HQ, if in a single zone I put all the units I have suffering from low supplies?

[Herr Wolf]

There are 14 days per move, you can also check that in the editor.
If you invade France/Belgium you don't need arty or armored trains. The 3 tank armies, corps and armies are enough. You must approach the attack in such a way that Belgium and Luxembourg capitulate after the first move.
After that you can crush the French from the north-east without any major problems.
As a tip: You can land well behind the lines with the paratroopers. Clear up and land in a town if there's an opportunity.
I don't understand your question

[Marcaccio]

I'm doing some test games and I can't invade france (in Luxembourg no problem but in Belgium my tanks are useless) with the army i start with, in this game i built armored train and rail gun to test the functioning, last game i had 1 heavy artillery and 2 rocket artillery but I still couldn't.

I'm new to this kind of games so I still have to learn many things, but it seems to me that at least in single player time is always in favor of the AI, when I can't attack I always reinforce my troops and wait for the moment right but it always seems like my troops are inferior despite manually attaching them to HQs and trying to use bomber or artillery.

Does having so many troops near an HQ decrease the supply capacity of the troops attached to the HQ?

[Herr Wolf]

no, the supply depends on the connection to an HQ and on the infrastructure. Cities Villages Roads Rails and Ports. As said, if you press the S key you will see the supply points. The 2nd time the points for the next round. This is essential.
Don't understand why you have problems against France????

[atshii]

You don't need to put MPPs to trains or rail guns. They have some uses later in the game, but you can do without, especially against France.

Hard to say what is wrong here without seeing gameplay, maybe you are doing something strangely but don't know it yet.

Are you aware about the prepared assault bonus? Eg unit gets bonus when it attacks before moving. It is a major help.

What bonuses the computer player has?

[Marcaccio]

Yes i try to use always assault bonus, i play in normal no bonus for ia and not for me, in France as well as in Japan probably need only practice :)

[JoeyJoeJoeJabadu]

Supply and readiness are key, as discussed, and look like you have that. For attacking Belgium, position your armies adjacent to Belgium and Luxembourg (not corps or armor... armies), with armor directly behind that. Make sure they are all upgraded to infantry weapons/tanks 1. Have your dive and medium bombers behind that. Attack with your medium bomber, followed by diver bombers, on Brussels after your armies have killed the Belgian unit in fortifications on the border (the first turn of an invasion when units spawn they have zero fortifications or supply. Then attack and take Brussels with your tanks. Belgium will surrender that turn.

Generally speaking it is important to remember that fortified units, especially in defensible terrain, take some wearing down. Use medium bombers in good weather or artillery to knock down fortifications (I usually buy artillery for Japan in China, although that isn't my first investment, tech usually is... for Germany I find that buying artillery can wait until early 1942), then rotate infantry units to destroy them. The "shift" rotation damages readiness more than physically moving units into and out of the line when they attack, so actually move them whenever possible. Use armor for exploitation, or for especially important points when you have to take them (or if you get a choice to put a dent in an enemy HQ or kill an enemy air unit). And always remember to keep your infantry weapons/tanks fully upgraded (use anti-air as necessary depending on enemy air strengths, and use mobility upgrades very sparingly).

[Ale is Yum!]

Originally posted by Marcaccio:

when I can't attack I always reinforce my troops and wait for the moment right but it always seems like my troops are inferior despite manually attaching them to HQs and trying to use bomber or artillery.

Are you reinforcing with elite replacements? If you just get normal recruits, it will weaken the unit, at least for a while. This is realistic. You just have to imagine a flood of raw replacements taking over for the dead comrades of the units they're moving into. The veterans hated the replacements, often, and they often didn't last long, being inexperienced and not well integrated. Sometimes, you would be better off not reinforcing, but giving them rest and resupply. It depends on the situation but I'd be cautious about replacements for line units.

[Avatar2312]

There are several aspects that work to your advantage, but they need some early investments.
First of all: There is a strategy on regular difficulty to knock Poland out of the war at turn one. It may require some restarts, because it depends on a very specific case, where a polish army loses its zone of control, to allow the tanks to advance to Warsaw and attack.

Second: Japan has some decent leaders, but they are not depolyed at the start. So don't hesitate to sack and replace them, even if it costs 105MPP. You will regain it in fewer replacements needed. And the difference between a level 4 and 7 leader is huge.

Also forget artillery as Japan - at least in the beginning, focus on infantry tech and upgrades (Also amphibious for more transports and range). Furthermore "good" weather is not necessarily "good" weather. Japan shoots better (or China defends worse) during rain and mud. Also your immediate supply also affects your combat abilities (attacking from an 8 supply hex produces better results than from a 3 supply hex).
Focus on the south first. Taking Nanning is quite easy if you move enough corps and the special forces from Japan there to surround the city on 4 sides. Changsha should fall a few turns later at worst.

Set your leaders to Auto-Assist or Manual and at each turn, before(!!) you move any unit, see what you need to detach and attach for the current turn. Leaders can move and attach and detach units. If a combat unit has moved it you can't detach or attach it for the turn.

Germany has tanks. Ignore reinforcements along the Maginot. With Poland done in turn one you have more time and money to place them for the attack on the lowlands. Invade in turn two of 1940. Focus on the capitals. Soften units up with medium bombers first, then Stukas. When they are done and Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg surrender the BEF and especially France get a decent morale debuff. Use your paratroopers to land on or near Amiens and Nancy then. This causes the French to abandon their positions near Lille and Sedan and open northern France. Use your bombers to attack and recon, then your tanks to surround. If you do enough damage to units and leaders before taking Paris, France will surrender outright. And you don't have to continue the fight unneccesary.

Italy is special. They suck (like in real WW2), but can be turned into a decent force. I normally use something I call the "Africa Gambit". Germany doesn't need Italy to do anything in Europe. If you want to have Italy get Yugoslavia and/or Greece, just have a garrison take Belgrade and Athens once german troops have emptied them.
You take two corps and your leader unit and load them on transports and set sail for the atlantic at maximum warp. Also your destroyer, your submarine (once reinforced to 10), 2 battleships (or even 3) and your light cruiser. Mind, that you can only get 2 ships through the Gibraltar strait at once. Circle around Africa at flank speed to Mogadishu. When the second sub is deployed also move it there later. DIsembark your troops there and replenish your leaders on the cities. You should have just enough time to have all your units at 10 there, and operate the bomber there. Leader 1 at Addis Ababa and 2 at Dire Dawa. The 4 corps you have are near Dakar and Berbera. A garrison at Gondar, Kismayo and next to sudanese Kassalar. Your sub blocks the entrance to the the gulf of Aden at the horn, one BB is in the harbor at Massawa, the rest of the fleet near the Socora island in ambush.
Also research amphibious tech as soon as possible. And move almost all your other units to Tobruk. Have a single corps stay there and man a landing craft, to take crete the moment you declare war on Greece (board the turn before)
When the UK mobilizes its African forces, they spawn a fleet in the gulf of Aden. Try to find the carrier with your sub. There are three possibilities likely. Carrier in the front, the rear or in one of the two harbors. In the harbor it can be attacked with troops, otherwise use your BBs to kill or heavily damage it. The UK doesn't have the ressources to replace or repair it. Don't waste your fleet. Use your subs to find potential targets, hit and run.
Dakar should be taken immediately using two or three corps and the bomber. Then move one corps back to Addis Ababa ASAP and non-AI maneuvering and the garrison in Gondar to cut the corps attacking from Sudan off. Take Berbera the same (with lucky rng) or next turn the same way. Then move to Massawa and deal with the South African units.
Use a leader and three corps to march southwards. Namibia produces some decent MPP, as well as South Africa. Most likely the 7th Tank Brigade from Egypt will reroute when the sudanese colonial forces are defeated and try to take Massawa. Use your leader, corps and the garrisons, to block and then cut it off.
With amphibious tech researched you can then mount an assault on Palestine (one army, one corps, leader) to outflank the units in Egypt (use your heavy cruisers - even at strength 5 - to cover them, while they are on their way and a fighter unit in Rhodes to scout ahead. Give your second leader in Abyssinia the long range version to pop in from the south and have some supply. Often either Jerusalem, Suez or Aqaba is undefended. From there you can put the allied African forces in disarray and retake Iraq and Iran, getting access to much oil.

This is a screenshot from my current game, where I only play Japan and have Germany and Italy be controlled by the AI.
https://www.amazon.de/photos/share/4heOHoIOXaqUsdCPfBCwKRH4sWcKv8xctYamXwwHXKm

[Deez_Noots]

>rocket artillery, armoured trains, and rail guns

you should not have brought any of those by the time of the invasion of France and you definitely don't need them to beat France.