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Thread: [HoI3] Strategy for America?

  1. #1
    Maximus_96's Avatar Senator
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    Default [HoI3] Strategy for America?

    This is the first game of HoI3 that i've played, im part of the allies and its almost 1938. I have sent a couple of divisions over to France and will send more when i have them. But since this is my first game, i dont really understand how to use the sliders in the production screen or what units to have for each area

  2. #2
    Poach's Avatar Civitate
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    The sliders are simply how much of your Industrial Capacity you want to devote to each area. Keep consumer goods covered at all times (there are requirements listed under each slider) to keep dissent down, and I tend to keep supplies and reinforcement full too, juggling the rest between production and upgrades.

    Not that you need to bother as the US, you'll have too much IC to possibly use. As the US I tend to pump my excess into upgrades and reinforcements so they're sped up.


    Now, on to units: I'm no expert on this either but go for combined arms. Eg. Go for motorised/mechanised brigades combined with armour/self-propelled artillery all into one division (eg 2 Mot Inf., 1 L.Arm or Arm, 1 SP-Art or SP-Rocket Art). This combination will give you a hard hitting, fairly fast division (they tend to form the mainstay of my force, I'm a hit hard and fast sort of fighter). Having divisions entirely composed of a single type is still viable but much less advantageous.

    Your divisions will vary depending on what you want to do: You may have divisions along the lines of 2 Arm, 1 Mech.Inf, 1 SP-Art for heavy hitting line breakers, maybe even some H.Arm or SH.Arm thrown in if you want some giggles, as the US research and IC are of no consequence, you have so much of it! Or something like Arm, Arm, Tank Destroyer (TD), Mech.Inf to take on the massive German armoured forces. Customise to your heart's content. I'm hoping someone who is really good at Division building will show up, as I openly admit I'm no expert on the matter.


    To hold France you're going to need more than a few divisions, in my game I ended up with 3 Armies there (of 4 Corps each of 3 Divisions of 4 Brigades. Total 36 divisions), a further 2 in Scandanavia (24 Divisions), most of my Armies fought in the Pacific against a gargantuan Japan.

    Note my 36 divisions in France were ontop of British, French and Rep.Spanish armies present as well. The Germans have good starting laws and can build up a massive pre-war army.
    Last edited by Poach; May 04, 2010 at 12:05 PM.

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    Alkarin's Avatar Praepositus
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    win.
    You look great today.

  4. #4
    Maximus_96's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    Quote Originally Posted by Poach View Post
    The sliders are simply how much of your Industrial Capacity you want to devote to each area. Keep consumer goods covered at all times (there are requirements listed under each slider) to keep dissent down, and I tend to keep supplies and reinforcement full too, juggling the rest between production and upgrades.

    Not that you need to bother as the US, you'll have too much IC to possibly use. As the US I tend to pump my excess into upgrades and reinforcements so they're sped up.


    Now, on to units: I'm no expert on this either but go for combined arms. Eg. Go for motorised/mechanised brigades combined with armour/self-propelled artillery all into one division (eg 2 Mot Inf., 1 L.Arm or Arm, 1 SP-Art or SP-Rocket Art). This combination will give you a hard hitting, fairly fast division (they tend to form the mainstay of my force, I'm a hit hard and fast sort of fighter). Having divisions entirely composed of a single type is still viable but much less advantageous.

    Your divisions will vary depending on what you want to do: You may have divisions along the lines of 2 Arm, 1 Mech.Inf, 1 SP-Art for heavy hitting line breakers, maybe even some H.Arm or SH.Arm thrown in if you want some giggles, as the US research and IC are of no consequence, you have so much of it! Or something like Arm, Arm, Tank Destroyer (TD), Mech.Inf to take on the massive German armoured forces. Customise to your heart's content. I'm hoping someone who is really good at Division building will show up, as I openly admit I'm no expert on the matter.


    To hold France you're going to need more than a few divisions, in my game I ended up with 3 Armies there (of 4 Corps each of 3 Divisions of 4 Brigades. Total 36 divisions), a further 2 in Scandanavia (24 Divisions), most of my Armies fought in the Pacific against a gargantuan Japan.

    Note my 36 divisions in France were ontop of British, French and Rep.Spanish armies present as well. The Germans have good starting laws and can build up a massive pre-war army.
    alright, i've shipped over some light tank brigades and i am starting to move my New York HQ over there to support the fairly weak Italian line and to bolster the defence at the Belgian border. Should i recruit some infantry brigades or divisions and send them to my Pacific holdings, or just leave them as they are?

    Quote Originally Posted by Alkarin View Post
    win.
    Thats helpful

  5. #5

    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    Uhm ive never played HOI 3 but if the campaign goes like HOI 2 dont bother with the italian line.

    Italy never pushes into France

  6. #6
    Poach's Avatar Civitate
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    Italy will usually join in against France and will attack into the south.

    Your goal will be shoring up the parts of the French line that the French cannot hold themselves: The Italian and Belgian borders. The likelihood of the Germans breaching the Maginot Line is weak, you shouldn't have to reinforce that line at all. If they do break through, however, it'll be in a single province and they'll funnel troops through it and balloon into a pocket, come down hard on that gap and cut off the attackers and watch them be destroyed.

    Your Pacific holdings are fine for now: watch closely Japan's progress in China. It's likely they'll win and conquer the place but sometimes they don't, keep an eye on them. Your main objective is France, taking on the German war machine is far more difficult than the Japanese one, and once you have the French front stable you can simply begin retaking your Pacific islands: your navy will annihilate theirs through weight of numbers of you build plenty ships (especially carriers) and you'll have enough IC to spam Marine and Parachute divisions to take their islands off them one by one.

    My USA game, for some sort of guide, went like this:

    - Spies lowered neutrality since 36 so I joined the allies in 38, by then I had 2 field armies ready to go to France. One was stationed along the Italian border and the other held in reserve (Belgium wasn't in the allies yet, no need to garrison their border)
    - By the time war came I had another army ready to ship out, which I did. They landed in France and joined the 2nd Army as reserves.
    - Belgium and Holland accepted into allies, Germany steamrolls Holland and meets French and Belgian forces in Belgium.
    - Most of Belgium has fallen by the time my two reserve armies arrive on the front (they had been stationed south of Paris but infantry moves slowly)
    - Heavy engagement in Belgium, eventually I manage to liberate most of Belgium but cannot push into Holland for lack of numbers
    - By now, being at war, my IC superiority was beginning to show and I was pumping out divisions of [Mot Inf, Mot Inf, L.Arm, SP-Art] and [Arm, Arm, TD, SP-Art] and forming them into field armies around Washington
    - The first of my new armies went to the Belgian front where progess was made. A hole was punched in the line and using the Blitzkrieg method I was able to isolate large units of German soldiers on the Dutch coast, who were destroyed.
    - This was abandoned when the Maginot Line was breached. Newest army arriving in France, as well as one off the Belgian line, rushed in to contain the breach, which by now had expanded into a huge balloon covering most of eastern France. The rest of the Maginot Line was still held, but was in grave danger of being cut off by German forces swinging north from the bubble.
    - 2 armies arrived at bubble to contain it, succeed. The army on the Italian border risks losing France by moving off the border and attacking north, breaking through the extreme edge of the bubble and reaching the point in the Maginot Line where the breach was made.
    - Bubble closed using heavy air support and attacking the province constantly by rotating divisions in and out.
    - 3 Reserve armies bound for France are divered to Scandanavia to liberate those countries. Progress is slow due to crappy infastructure.
    - First Army returns to Italian border, other armies (now reinforced with more reserves landing at Calais) return to Belgium and attack. German line collapses here and proceeds to collapse front-wide as units are pulled from elsewhere to stop me, allowing French and British forces to break through German lines in the south.
    - They never re-form the line and we reach Berlin before the Soviets even get out of Poland. Link is made between Scandanavian and French fronts in mid-Denmark. Thanks to crappy scripted events we lose it all anyway in the peace and it goes to historical borders.



    Note: Through all this I was slowly reinforcing my Pacific holdings, and by Berlin's fall each Island I owned had a Garrison division on it and the Phillippines had an Army of 6 divisions in 2 Corps stationed on it. Japan had, however, failed to make any progress in China else most of my efforts would have gone to forming an Army in French Indochina or British India to contain the Japanese advance there and tie up their resources. I'd still have reinforced my islands, but probably with cheaper infantry and only on the islands closest to the Japanese Home Islands as they'd take those first.

    Also note: Italy never joined the war. Had they joined the war though my reserve armies would have split between that border and the Belgian border. It would've prolonged the war as I wouldn't have been able to send armies to Scandanavia and would've been forced onto the defensive in Belgium rather than constantly attacking, but I'd have managed.
    Last edited by Poach; May 05, 2010 at 11:47 AM.

  7. #7
    Maximus_96's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    thanks Poach, very helpful. it's now about 1939, i havent really worked on my navy and i dont know what types of ships to build and how to group them together(i.e. battleships whith carriers) do you have knowledge on this front?

    P.S. Japan is doing horribly in China, lost almost all of Korea and Manchuko is now a vassal of Nationalist China

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    Maximus_96's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    i know this is a double post, but no one has been here in a while.

    Germany invaded France and Belgium, so i mobilized and enacted all of the new laws for my country which should increase my manpower and what not, my IC almost tripled, but my manpower dropped to zero in a day and i completely lost France, pulled all of my soldiers out. Do you guys know why my manpower completely dissapeared?

  9. #9
    Mangerman's Avatar Only the ladder is real
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    Your troops where probably at 25% strength before you mobilized, so after you mobilized you had to fill the remaining 75% strength with your manpower, thus using up most of your manpower (I think the US starts out with relatively low manpower).

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    Maximus_96's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    ok, thanks

  11. #11
    Poach's Avatar Civitate
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    You should split your fleets into two groups: Carrier Groups and Battleship groups.

    Carrier groups should consist of Carriers, Light and Heavy Cruisers, Destroyers and maybe a few Battlecruisers. Their job will be to provide air superiority, assist on landings etc and work in tandem with Battleship groups.
    Battleship groups should consist of Battleships, Battlecruisers, aided by a few Cruisers and Destroyers. Their job will be to get up close and personal with the Japanese battleships and sink them, so you want lots of hard hitting power with a few escorts for assistance.


    You deployed all your units as reserves, as such they were slaughtered by the advancing Germans. Concentrate on the defence of the British Isles, every so often Germany will actually invade them. When you have the required forces you can reinvade France.

  12. #12
    Maximus_96's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    alright, what ships should i put with my transport fleets?

  13. #13
    Poach's Avatar Civitate
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    Destroyers and Light Cruisers if you want to escort them. Personally I don't bother giving them organic defence, I just couple them up with one of my existing fleets. The idea being that my fleets are powerful enough to dissuade my enemy from trying to attack, as even heavily escorted transport fleets tend to lose a transport or two if engaged by even a few enemy warships, which just pisses me off.

    Eg. As the British I'd escort my transport fleet to Gibralter using one of my Atlantic Fleets and it'd be picked up at Gibraltar by my Med Sea Fleet which would escort it to North Africa or Italy etc.

  14. #14
    Maximus_96's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    alright, how do i take pictures and map screens, is it the same as EU3?

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    Poach's Avatar Civitate
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    Think so, not quite sure. Look it up on the web or something.

  16. #16
    Maximus_96's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    i figured it out. also, is 1.3 savegame compatible with 1.4?

  17. #17
    Poach's Avatar Civitate
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    Again, no idea, sorry. I'd hazard at yes, Paradox are usually quite good at keeping patches savegame compatible, but I'd check their forums and find the announcement of 1.4. If it doesn't say "non-savegame compatible" then it likely will be.

  18. #18
    Maximus_96's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: Strategy for America?

    alright, thanks for the help man

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