Slitherine

Ok, the developers were so kind to allow me to join the beta test team and KingHunter invited me to play against him. As Axis I will try a new tactic

Plan Z


Plan Z was the name given to the planned re-equipment and expansion of the Nazi German Navy (Kriegsmarine) ordered by Adolf Hitler on January 27, 1939.The plan called for a Kriegsmarine of 10 battleships, four aircraft carriers, three battlecruisers, eight heavy cruisers, 44 light cruisers, 68 destroyers and 249 U-boats by 1944 that was meant to challenge the naval power of the United Kingdom.

For more information on Plan Z: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Z

Of course I will not try to build a big surface Navy, but I will produce a lot of SUBs with Germany. My goal will be destroy as much of the RN before the US enters the war and then challenge the US Navy. To do this, I will also "open the Med" and invade Spain to free the Regia Marina for use in the Atlantic. The combined forces of the Kriegsmarine and Regia Marina could give me naval superiority.

In the first few turns I will try to lure the RN into combat and will most likely also go for Sealion, as I also intend to test the new game mechanics (conteste amphibious landings and paras), but this also depends on how KingHunter plays. If he does not commit any UK forces to France I will probably not go for Sealion.

But before I go for Spain and/or Britain there is a lot other things to do:



Turn 1 - Attack on Poland, Preparations for Operation Weserübung

To attack Norway in turn 3, I railed the 2 western INF to Willhelmshaven. They will board on turn 2 and land in Norway on turn 3 if the weather is fair (75%). However, this is a gamble. If I'm unlucky both October turns will be bad weather (unlikely but possible) and the November turn only has a 25 % of fair weather. If I do not get a fair weather turn on turn 3-5, the invasion of Norway will have to wait.

Because I intend to go for an early Norway, I will not be able to take Denmark on turn 2, because I will have to save naval invasion points. I railed one MECH to Kiel and next turn an INF will join to finish of Denmark.

Good luck, should be interesting game. Did a succesful Sealion against Kinghunter (who did commit a sizable BEF) and he threw away almost the entire RN in trying to stop it, so unless he learned some lessons then your chances should be good! Also he sent all of the USN when they entered the war in a do or die attempt to retake the UK. Anyway, will be cool to see how the new amph and para rules work out in practice.

BTW this early norway invasion must be a bit risky? Even the French navy can interfere, well at least you should be able to sink some Brits as well which seems to be on the agenda

trulster wrote: BTW this early norway invasion must be a bit risky? Even the French navy can interfere, well at least you should be able to sink some Brits as well which seems to be on the agenda

There are some risks involved with an early Operation Weserübung, but I think according to my plan they are worth it. The French navy is not so strong in the Atlantic at the beginning, because most units start in the Med. I hope to land both INF at turn 3 and finish Norway off in turn 5. The Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine will also be ready to interfere and attack the RN or French Navy.

Another point is that the Germans have 3 subs in the area and they can be used to block / attack any Allied naval ships going to the area. A landing in Norway is definitely not something the Allies should expect in 1939. That means they might send the French BB hoping to stop a sub, but they need the entire Royal Navy to actually stop an invasion. That means they don't send the navy towards Canada to escort the units there to Britain.

So Allies need to know from turn 1 what's going on and that's not very likely. 2 German fighters and 2 German tac bombers in Denmark can protect the surface ships giving supply to the Norway invaders. Subs can screen the German Kriegsmarine so the Allied ships bump into these subs instead. That means they will be easy targets for the Luftwaffe.

Doing Weserübüng in 1939 requires that the German subs help, but that shouldn't be hard to do.

Turn 2 - Operation Weserübung begins, Warsaw falls

As expected Warsaw falls:



Operation Weserübung begint, but my attack on Copenhague is not as succesful as hoped:



If the next turn is fair, both TAC will be moved in range to bombard Oslo, which means they will not help to finish of Denmark. The DD will also be needed to supply the landing force (note that I moved the BB to the Baltic and the DD to the Atlantic, so that the BB can longer help bombard Copenhague.). Nevetheless the MECH will move a hex and be in a position to attack with better odds and an INF will also help. First INF was railed into position for attacking the Netherlands as well.

Lab builds:


For the Plan Z strategy I will heavily invest in Navy and Air labs.

Soviet Union invades eastern Poland (new feature in GS 2.0):

Turn 3 - Operation Weserübung

This turn I got very lucky. Firstly, the weather is fair in Central Europe, which will allow me to attack Norway this turn:



Secondly, Denmarks surrenders because I got very lucky with attacks. The BB did 1 step of damage, I then attacked with my STR and FTR , which did no damge (but lowered effiency). My MECH moved forward and expected results are 4:0 which is the damge I inflict. Then the INF attacks and expected results are 2:0 and the GAR in Copenhague still had 4 steps, but the INF inflicts 4 steps of damage and Copenhague is occupied. German Luftwaffe moves in range to bombard Oslo next turn as Kriegsmarine SUBs are prepared for any interference:



Preparations for Fall Gelb are underway. I will propably attack the Netherlands on turn 5 or 6. However, should I get fair weather next turn I will see if I will not even attack next turn.



Preparations for Plan Z continues and Germany begins producing a BB:



Next turn I will build a SUB.

It looks like your font is not the usual one we're using. You need to install the Haettenschweiler font to avoid 3 line text boxed clipping the text etc. Usually Haettenschweiler is installed via Microsoft Office. Do you have Office installed?

If not you can get a free Haettenschweiler font here:
ftp://ftp.carrier.kiev.ua/pub/windows/f ... hatten.zip

This is the Haettenschweiler version with support for all languages.

Here is an english Haettenschweiler font version:
http://www.font-zone.com/download.php?fid=846

Maybe you can try this font and see if the text in the game looks better afterwards? What I see is the substitute fon't and that's not optimized for the amount of text we put in the boxes and on the map.

Stauffenberg wrote:It looks like your font is not the usual one we're using. You need to install the Haettenschweiler font to avoid 3 line text boxed clipping the text etc. Usually Haettenschweiler is installed via Microsoft Office. Do you have Office installed?

If not you can get a free Haettenschweiler font here:
ftp://ftp.carrier.kiev.ua/pub/windows/f ... hatten.zip

This is the Haettenschweiler version with support for all languages.

Here is an english Haettenschweiler font version:
http://www.font-zone.com/download.php?fid=846

Maybe you can try this font and see if the text in the game looks better afterwards? What I see is the substitute fon't and that's not optimized for the amount of text we put in the boxes and on the map.

Thank you, it worked. I always thought the font problem resulted because I have a German version of the game.

Turn 4 - Mud stops offensive

Unfortunately I forgot to take screenshots this turn. Nevertheless, nothing really interesting happened. However, the luck of the last turn was balanced through bad luck this turn. Weather turned to Mud (25 % chance) and my attack on Oslo was not very effective. I only did three steps of damage. Hopefully my luck will return next turn and weather will be fair (only 25 % chance that this will happen).

I railed more units to the western frontier.

Turn 5 - Mud continues

No luck for me, Mud continues in November. Furthermore, Stalin attacks Finnland:



First polish partisan unit spawned:



Nevertheless, Operation Weserübung continues and Oslo defenders are brought down to 3 steps. Hopefully it will fall next turn.



I also launch the first part of Fall Gelb and attack the Netherlands, but with limited succes (one ARM did no damage at all and the GAR survives):



I wonder what KingHunter is planning. Until now there was no interference at all. I didn't see any RN or French Navy ship at all.

Turn 6 - Oslo falls

It is winter in central Europe and Oslo finally falls:



I wonder why KingHunter didn't interfere. I expected at least the French navy.

My attack on the Netherlands continues:



RAF FTR and Armée de l'Air spotted. Hopefully The Hague will fall next turn. I also produced a TAC. Next will be a FTR, then SUBs again.

Can you remind me what the colour of the dots signify on the unit icons.

Here you go-

We have entrenchment levels show up on the map by this color code -

1 - Black
2 - Orange
3 - Yellow
4 - Green
5 - Light Blue
6 - Dark Blue
7 - Purple
8 - Dark Red

Thanks, how do experience levels get shown? If they do?

Turn 7 - The Hague falls

Mud again! But I'm lucky and after two FTR and BB attack to remove entrenchment/effectiveness, my ARM and two MECH destroy the INF in The Hague and the Netherlands surrender (New feature: look at the damaged port):



I buy my fourth lab and put it in Infantry. I also buy my first Italian Lab and put it in navy with focus on surface ships. Next turn I will buy a FTR, which will hopefully be ready for my spring offensive against Belgium and France.

massina_nz wrote:Thanks, how do experience levels get shown? If they do?

Look closely at the MECH which conquered The Hague and the TACs, they have experience level 1 and you will notice a small orange dot (but its not so easy to see, especially on the MECH).

zechi wrote:

massina_nz wrote:Thanks, how do experience levels get shown? If they do?

Look closely at the MECH which conquered The Hague and the TACs, they have experience level 1 and you will notice a small orange dot (but its not so easy to see, especially on the MECH).

You can also see an orange dot on the two tactical bombers (# orange dots = XP level). By the way, any steps added to a ground corps when it's at 8- or 9-steps will not lose any experience. Below 8 steps it loses 5 XP points per step repaired. Air and naval units lose 5 XP points per step regardless.

rkr1958 wrote:

zechi wrote:

massina_nz wrote:Thanks, how do experience levels get shown? If they do?

Look closely at the MECH which conquered The Hague and the TACs, they have experience level 1 and you will notice a small orange dot (but its not so easy to see, especially on the MECH).

You can also see an orange dot on the two tactical bombers (# orange dots = XP level). By the way, any steps added to a ground corps when it's at 8- or 9-steps will not lose any experience. Below 8 steps it loses 5 XP points per step repaired. Air and naval units lose 5 XP points per step regardless.

Thanks guys, I see it.

Well done on polishing the chrome even more.

Turn 8 - Preparations for Fall Gelb (part 2) continue

This turn nothing really interesting happened and its Sitzkrieg. Nevetheless the year changed to 1940 and I got the following message:



Fallschirmjäger will be ready soon.

My build queue so far:



I place the new SUB and two SUBs try a channel breakthrough:



I also repair the ground units which took 1 or 2 steps damage because they do not lose experience, but I did not repair the Luftwaffe. A new feature is the command range of commanders as you see on this screenshot:



Everthing is ready for Fall Gelb part 2.

Turn 9 - Sitzkrieg continues, convoy spotted

First February turn and it is muddy again. So no offensive on the western front. I placed a new TAC and build another SUB.

My SUBs succesfully break through the channel and the first convoy is spotted:



Because of the new convoy movement system the convoy does not run into my SUB, look how the convoy moves: