Hearts of Iron II Doomsday

[mercian billman]

I'm playing as Italy right now and It's Feb 1938, I decided to make Ethiopia and Albania into puppet states rather than annex them. I used my Ethiopian Army to bolster my defense in N. Africa and have 4 divisions in Tripoli (including a tactical bomber squadron) and I have 11 divisions in Tobruk with 1 HQ and a tactical bomber and fighter squadron, I addition to this Rhodes is garrisoned by an infantry division and a fighter squadron and naval bomber, plus I'm building a port there. I also have 5 CA between Tobruk and Tripoli, The rest of my forces are in Italy with 2 divisions deployed in Albania.

Besides that nothing else has happened, I haven't allied with Germany yet, and they haven't annexed Austria, my question is should I focus my main effort in Eastern Europe? Attacking Yugoslavia will probably incite greece and Turkey into DOW, but will probably prompt Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria into joining the Axis. I'm thinking about waiting until Germany does Anschluss before declaring war, and then dealing with the situation in the Balkans.

As far as long term options go I figure that I have 2 options,

1. Focus on N. Africa and the Central Med, by taking Malta I can ensure that my supplies reach N. Africa and probably seize the Suez without German help.

2. Focus on the Balkans and the Eastern Med, I can use Greece and Yugoslavia as bases to launch an attack into Turkey and from there I have the choice of helping the Germans by engaging the Soviets in the Caucasus or going after the Middle East and outflanking the UK.

Any advice or recomendations would be welcome.

[Avicenna]

Wait. If I base on a British Island and launch an attack I will get land for myself instead of the British? That's nice. Italian land sounds hard to get though, with the Italians having a more updated and numerous navy than me (I've focussed my 2 tech team slots on upgrading my land primarily, and getting a little CAS upgrading). I think I'll take Sicily. Will 2 infantry divisions with org in the 90s and an early artillery brigade take it and hold it do you think? It's 1942.

[screwtype]

Any advice or recomendations would be welcome.

I have very limited experience with this game, but I played Italy a few times and began to streamline my strategy somewhat, it went something like this:

First, take Ethiopia and Albania, they are obvious targets.

Then take Republican and Nationalist Spain after they begin their civil war, this is one of the few countries you can attack early in the game that does not have its independence guaranteed by someone.

I don't recall the exact sequence of things after that but I always attacked Vichy France on the French mainland after the Germans force the French surrender. That gives you a land bridge to your assets in Spain which is handy.

Then attack Yugoslavia and Greece as soon as all the independence guarantees run out. Then Bulgaria. Then, once Britain is at war with Germany, mount a simultaneous suprise attack on Gibraltar and Suez and you've essentially made the Mediterranean an Italian lake. Then clean out the remaining British and Vichy provinces around the Med.

That's about as far as I got in my last campaign before I got bored. At that stage, I had taken Syria, Iraq and Turkey, and the Brits were trying to take back Ethiopia and mount some attacks further north. It just seemed to me the game was going to degenerate into a struggle over Africa, and I couldn't get excited about the prospect. Perhaps I should have tried something dramatic like an invasion of Britain, but then, I had seriously neglected my navy up to that point.

[screwtype]

But since everyone is asking for advice, maybe I should too.

In the last game I started I was playing as Greece and finding it pretty hard going. The Greeks have only got a few IC's - currently only 17, which isn't even enough for a second research slot - and not very good armed forces. Because I only had about 9 IC's to put into the military, I put 5 into churning out 1936 infantry divisions as fast as possible, and the other 4 into upgrading the existing 1918 divisions. But even so, I only have a dozen good divisions and no airforce at all and I'd be struggling to conquer practically anyone (except maybe Portugal, whose independence is currently guaranteed by Great Britain). It's December 1938.

Anyone have any ideas on how to play one of these itty bitty little powers? Call me a romantic fool, but my secret desire is to conquer the whole of Europe

[Avicenna]

Grab Albania or something. So IC is the key to research teams? Better go and take Sicily then. I'm approaching 40 IC with Argentina... afterwards I might do a bit of independence guaranteeing and then cheat a bit and get Bolivia (the only country within reach that won't get me more coasts to guard) to DoW on all so that my interventionism pops up a bit.

[SwordsMaster]

Hi, I'm playing my first game as Germany (yes, yes, my first one as Germany, what? Don't look at me like that!) and I don't really know how to make the Anshluss (or whatever the unification with Austria is called) happen. Any suggestions?


I have now occupied Austria after a surprisingly bloody war, Hungary that DoWed me for no good reason, then had the PArtition of Chekoslovakia event with non-existant Hungary, but I was forgetting to research into my infantry, when in 1938 Italy DoWed me (wtf? we had a +130 relation), and then France, poland and the rest of the allies. I managed to get a white peace with Italy as a needed to free my troops, but by the time I managed to shift them to my new warzone, the french had broken through with 20 divisions, and despite heavy bombardment have made slow progress, but are now in a pocket with some 12 of my divisions surrounding them, and hoping the bombers wear them down before they manage a breakthrough. On the Eastern front, Poland is being pushed back steadily, and as soon as I manage to reinforce, I should reach Warsaw. Hopefully, after that I will be able to shift some divisions to the west.

It is 1939 now, how do you force polish surrender? apart from annexing them outright that is...

[Keba]

Hi, I'm playing my first game as Germany (yes, yes, my first one as Germany, what? Don't look at me like that!) and I don't really know how to make the Anshluss (or whatever the unification with Austria is called) happen. Any suggestions?


I have now occupied Austria after a surprisingly bloody war, Hungary that DoWed me for no good reason, then had the PArtition of Chekoslovakia event with non-existant Hungary, but I was forgetting to research into my infantry, when in 1938 Italy DoWed me (wtf? we had a +130 relation), and then France, poland and the rest of the allies. I managed to get a white peace with Italy as a needed to free my troops, but by the time I managed to shift them to my new warzone, the french had broken through with 20 divisions, and despite heavy bombardment have made slow progress, but are now in a pocket with some 12 of my divisions surrounding them, and hoping the bombers wear them down before they manage a breakthrough. On the Eastern front, Poland is being pushed back steadily, and as soon as I manage to reinforce, I should reach Warsaw. Hopefully, after that I will be able to shift some divisions to the west.

It is 1939 now, how do you force polish surrender? apart from annexing them outright that is...

Wow, sounds a lot like my first game with Germany.

First off, you have to wait. The Anschluss event fires in 1938 (somewhere), you get cores on all Austrian provinces, their industry and army, Hungary as an ally, and continue with an even that first gives you Sudetland, then the whole of Check piece of Checko-slovakia (you only get cores on Sudetland, though).

The final event in that sequence is Danzig or War which starts the whole mess.

So, when playing Germany, it pays to be patient, use the 3 years leading up to the war to prepare, build a navy, muster a massive army, and then wait until you can unleash the storm on an unsuspecting Europe.

Otherwise, weird things happen, the AI tends to go a bit crazy when you do something unexpected or totally random (such as, say, the Allies fighting the Comintern at the same tame as the Axis, Poland being a member of the Axis ).

[Avicenna]

Uhh.. isn't Newfoundland over in Canada or somewhere? How did the Spaniards get there?

By the way, when playing Italy, the Germans gave me plenty of free tech. Even the Bulgarians did. Does this only happen if you're important? As Argentina, apart from a bare basics package along with the Falklands from the UK, I got nothing. The Germans only sent an aerial army, of which only a few air divisions actually helped me against Brazil when I was allied. No tech to speak of.

Is this all scripted with certain countries getting lots of free tech?

[SwordsMaster]

Wow, sounds a lot like my first game with Germany.

First off, you have to wait. The Anschluss event fires in 1938 (somewhere), you get cores on all Austrian provinces, their industry and army, Hungary as an ally, and continue with an even that first gives you Sudetland, then the whole of Check piece of Checko-slovakia (you only get cores on Sudetland, though).

The final event in that sequence is Danzig or War which starts the whole mess.

So, when playing Germany, it pays to be patient, use the 3 years leading up to the war to prepare, build a navy, muster a massive army, and then wait until you can unleash the storm on an unsuspecting Europe.

Otherwise, weird things happen, the AI tends to go a bit crazy when you do something unexpected or totally random (such as, say, the Allies fighting the Comintern at the same tame as the Axis, Poland being a member of the Axis ).

Hmm... I see. Thanks! Will restart and try again.

[GoreBag]

Anyone have any ideas on how to play one of these itty bitty little powers? Call me a romantic fool, but my secret desire is to conquer the whole of Europe

I had a fairly successful campaign as Greece, but my warmongering would eventually put me in a position I couldn't win. First to go was Albania, and then, I interfered in the Spanish civil war. The Nationalists are far more likely to accept an alliance when they're at war, so I went for it and traded back the crap provinces I took for technological blueprints I desperately needed. Bulgaria, if memory serves, agreed to let me have the territory I wanted, but the Yugos wouldn't have it, so I took some time to prepare for war with them. They joined the Allies, which, of course, guaranteed their destruction at Germany's hands. I got the territory I wanted, but it hurled my tiny, little alliance of two minors against the combined might of the Allies. I was about ready to throw in the towel when Spain invaded Newfoundland (!!!!). I and my ally captured Gibraltar and sealed off the Western entrance to the Med, but since the Italians are notoriously inept, the Suez was not taken and very, very larg enemy fleets had little problem entering and making my life a misery.

Still, not a bad haul. A few things could have been differently to hopefully avoid war with the Allies and all that. Feel free to mimick the parts that you like.

[screwtype]

I had a fairly successful campaign as Greece, but my warmongering would eventually put me in a position I couldn't win. First to go was Albania, and then, I interfered in the Spanish civil war. The Nationalists are far more likely to accept an alliance when they're at war, so I went for it and traded back the crap provinces I took for technological blueprints I desperately needed.

Yeah, I already took Albania but you only get 1 IC from there. I didn't bother to either annex or puppet because you still get the IC and you can keep them quiet with just a division in each province.

I then attacked Republican Spain but just as I got there and grabbed a couple of provinces, the Nationalists defeated the Repubs and I found myself with only two Spanish provinces and a Nat. Spanish army much larger than mine, so little hope of further expansion in that direction.

I'm now eyeing Bulgaria and Yugo, but they're both still somewhat stronger than me militarily and have guarantees so not ready for an attack on them yet. Bulgaria is always a juicy target, because they only have a few provinces and quite good IC, but I'm always torn between outright annexation or puppeting because when you puppet you get the use of all their IC's, albeit you don't have control over what they research or build. Which do you think is better?

[Samurai Waki]

Always Puppet Where Available... this will lower your TC, making it easier to supply your units that are off fighting distantly from your Capital. As Italy, the first thing I always do after conquering Egypt is to Puppet them. It takes a lot of Stress off of your back when you start pushing into Southern Africa.

[Avicenna]

As Italy, you probably want to annex Bulgaria since you want enough IC to have research team #5. It's only the less Industrially developed places you want to puppet, such as Ethiopia.

Yugo is more your choice. Definitely take the coastal provinces that are your national ones, though, since they won't have partisans or 'occupied province' TC penalty I think.

Gore: Air Cavalry is somewhere late on the Mech Inf line. Something branches off saying 'may lead to Air Cav Division'.

By the way, what's the point of Cav divisions? They're slower than Mot/Mech infantry and fight worse. As Argentina, I have plenty of oil for those divisions anyway so it makes no difference really, and Semi-Mot Cav probably requires oil as well.

[screwtype]

Always Puppet Where Available... this will lower your TC, making it easier to supply your units that are off fighting distantly from your Capital. As Italy, the first thing I always do after conquering Egypt is to Puppet them. It takes a lot of Stress off of your back when you start pushing into Southern Africa.

Bah. Just got totally pwned by Bulgaria. Dammit, I knew I needed more troops! I'm probably going to have to wait another twelve months - what a bore! Except that by that time Bulgaria will probably have more troops too...

Greece is starting to look just a little too tough - maybe it's time I tried one of the majors.

BTW - I think you really need the IC from annexation until you get your five research slots, don't you?