HoI3: Romania

[Klinktastic]

I'm playing as Romania, it's been pretty fun so far. My goal was to secure much of the Bulkians and turn Turkey into a Puppet as a buffer. I'm currently at War with Hungry by myself, as I didn't realize I could declare war without dragging my friends in as the Italians took Athens from me as I beat on the Greek armies (punks). I'm assuming that going up again the Russians is a bad idea until the Germans kick it off. Any other advice? I'm currently just developing IC, adding air bases, and hopefully upgrading my infrastructure soon.

[TheBromgrev]

Sounds like everything's going fine for you so far. Just be careful when you fight the Soviets, as they're much more advanced than you'll be and are much tougher than the countries you've been fighting. Also, like I mentioned in the "Is the AI conspiring against me?" thread, don't put too much effort into taking out the Russians, because you'll lose all of your progress to Germany. Just do enough to distract them and let Germany do the heavy lifting, since they're scripted to get all of the rewards.

[Klinktastic]

Yeah, in my current game, Germany is fighting on two fronts...trying to finish off France and then also started working on Russia. Per your advice, I saved the game before taking on the Russkies...man that was a good idea. I pushed to Oddessa, but I'm just trading territories everywhere else. I'm unsure of what to do. Maybe just declare war, let the Russkies beat on me as I defend the rivers along the north of my countryside and then pop in to attack when the Germans beat them back a bit more.

[TheBromgrev]

Something you could do is fight a defensive war. If you still have Bessarbia and have the IC and time to spare, build a bunch of forts behind the river there. Any level between 3 and 6 will do, as the river will help a lot. Then, park 4 division in each province. Now, as long as Hungary is neutral or not involved in the war (they normally will sit Barbarossa out) you can lure the Soviets to you and let them throw themselves against the wall you made. As long as you garrison your ports and Hungary stays out of the conflict, it's possible to out-attrition the USSR, especially if Germany attacks as well.

If you're willing to risk it, a viable strategy is to move 1 or 2 units out of a border province and provoke the AI to attack. Then, you rotate units out and with the combined fort and river you can inflict massive casualties on the AI with little of your own. If you want to try that, it's important to pick a trap province that can only be attacked from one direction.

The above two strategies work well with France, Belgium, Poland, and the Netherlands, so if you ever want to give them a try, the best strategy is to pick a main defensive line, preferably a river, then build lots of forts behind it and park 12-frontage worth of units in each province with a reserve behind the front lines. All other IC spent that isn't on infantry or forts before the war is IC wasted for those countries.

[Klinktastic]

Yeah, I started with some forts, but only level 1...I think I'll need to get up to 3's. The problem I'm having is that Germany is already started Barbarossa while they still hadn't finished off the French...though they did so. Also, Turkey (my puppet) seems to get punished by the Russians when I declare war. Should I try a limited war since Germany is already at war with them?

[TheBromgrev]

Well, your puppet will always join whatever wars you're in, so you'll either just have to defend Turkey as well or wait until Germany draws the Soviet troops away from the Turkish border. However, the Soviet's may keep manning that border until Germany gets to Moscow; it depends on whether or not the AI thinks it can afford to keep troops there. In this situation what you do is up to you. The smart move would be to sit out Barbarossa for a while, but that's boring. What I would do is wait until you get level 2 forts done, move some troops to Turkey away from the front (so you have time to dig in), grab a few beers then start the attack In the end it comes down to how long you want to wait until you feel you're ready and how desperate AI Germany seems to be.

[Klinktastic]

Good point, Germany is making head way...just slowly. I could just tech and build, which is probably the smart thing to do. It's only like June 1941, so I still have time to make an impact. Definitely having more fun with Romania than I thought I would. My first attempts with Spain and Greece were fun, but more from a learning process.

As of now, Turkey is a puppet, I own all of Bulgaria and half of Greece, Hungry, and Yugoslavia (freaking Italians stole my thunder). I'd like to add Odessa and part of the Ukrain that borders the Black Sea. I might have to station some troops in Turkey to defend it, but honestly, I'm not all that concerned, because I can hold at Constantinople if I really, really need to.

Thanks for the banter about the game, I appreciate the insights.