[HOI2] My Walkthru as the Germans....help for n00bs, maybe?

[triggercut]

After seeing more than a couple of posts about "what do I do now?" I figured I'd walk through some hefty time as the Germans with what I do. I'm a n00b, too, but I don't necessarily feel too awfully lost. What follows may not be a definitive winning strategy (see CSL for those!), but might at least give you all some ideas of what you want to be looking for and doing during the pre-war buildup.

Ok. First thing you want to do with *any* country in the game is let one full day cycle through. You won't get an accurate count of your shortages and surpluses in raw materials and industry until you do that. So--first thing, let it cycle through to January 2nd.

Doing that, as Germany here's what you see: lots of potential IC, but it's still in the red. You have a surplus of Energy (must be that coal in the Ruhr, huh?), a small surplus of metal (but not as much as you might think) and a deficit of rare material. Put the mouse over your IC numbers in red to see where your bonuses (and because the numbers are red) where your penalties to your effective IC are. Huh. Looks like Germany still hasn't gone to a war footing on their industry yet, so the factories aren't at full capacity. We know how to fix that, because we've seen others post about it, and we read history books.

Before doing *anything* about our IC and production though, we need to get our research teams cracking. First up, in any game, check your industrial techs. Hmm. Seems Germany doesn't even have the basic understanding of machine tools, which is a 1936 tech, and offers a 5% bonus to your total IC. That's good to have. Luckily, the icons for that tech match up perfectly with the crack r&d folks at IG Farben, so let's put them to work on that posthaste. Next up, our land forces. Hmm. Seems as if our infantry is already 1936 level. Most of the other land force stuff here is current, and further research would involve techs from 1938 and beyond. It is *usually* a big mistake to try to research anything beyond one year in advance (so in 1936, let's not research anything further out than a 1937 tech.) Our overmatched Kriegsmarine could sure use some help though. Let's get the Bloehm & Voss fellas working on a more modern destroyer, and then lets get the Kriegsmarine working on a newer aircraft carrier. Checking the aircraft, you see that the Luftwaffe is rather primitive. An improved interceptor is a 1937 tech, but that shouldn't be too much trouble for the fine folks at Messerschmidt, so put them on that case. Alternately, if you didn't research advanced carriers, you could have Junkers work on an improved dive bomber (those are the CAS bombers on the tech tree). Finally, lets swing back to the industrial tech tab. Basic Computing machines give a 5% bonus to all research. That always comes in handy, so let's research it. There really isn't any total 1:1 matchup of icons for this in your R&D teams, but Mr. Porsche is close, and has a great research ability in general. Let's put him on it. That should set your research for the next few months at least.

Let's head to the diplomacy screen. We need to get our rares and metal supplies upped. We could use some oil too--we're gonna build a panzer army, and they'll need it. What we have to trade is pretty easy to figure, looking at the top row of icons: we can trade energy and supplies. We have one other thing going for us though: we know how to play the HOI2 commodities arbitrage game like a song. What we know, basically, is that there are certain countries that will happily overpay for energy and cash, and will happily offer up supplies in trade. That'll allow us to build up a HUGE supply surplus via trade...and then we can go shopping at the Stalin Mall. Seems as if ol' Joe and the Soviet Bear will overpay like crazy for supplies, and that they've got huge surpluses of all the raw materials. Also important in trades: you need to be trading with countries that don't deplore your very existence. So, here we go:

1. Trade as much energy as you can for as much of Switzerland's supplies as you can. Go nuts.

2. Trade with Romania, Finland, Bulgaria, and Italy for their supplies. Give only energy and maybe some $ up for it (never go more than 1.50 in cash in the hole in trades...)

3. Get some rares off Brazil for any energy you have left over, and make up the rest in supplies. Get all their rares.

4. Use your now-formidable surplus of supplies to make a hilariously lopsided trade with the supply-starved Russians. Get Rares, Metals, Energy, and even oil from them. Go crazy.

By the time you're done wheeling and dealing, your trades should have you still surplusing over 175 in energy every day, plus you should be able to get close to 50-80 in surplus rares, metals, and oil in the bargain. Never go for "100%" trades--usually 85 is enough. These trades will likely collapse when the shooting starts, but that's cool. You're trying to build up a stockpile until then.

Ok. Your raw materials are in place. Let's take care of the other impediment to our industrial growth. The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 mandated that no German army troops could be placed in the Rhineland. That's immensely unpopular in the Fatherland, especially among those agitating for throwing off the unfair constraints of that cursed Treaty. We *could* wait until we get a "Great War Demonstration" Event Card telling us that we'd gained 3% dissent because we haven't put troops in Cologne...or we could do it now and fahgeddabouddit. Hit the "view map tab, and move that infantry division from Dortmund to Cologne. That'll piss off the Brits and the French, who'll up their industrial output as a result...which means the superior German industrial might will also crank up like crazy.

While we wait for our division to arrive, let's tend to some social engineering. As discussed in another thread, Germany benefits greatly from moving their economy towards "Central Planning", while the US benefits greatly from moving towards "free market". Let's move it one click toward "central planning" now. Next year we'll really see our IC jump when we move it another click. Cool enough.

Ok. To the production screen. You should have around 18 "wasted" IC at this point. You should also see that you have a squadron of obsolete destroyers almost built, a squadron of obsolete U-Boats nearly complete, and also are nearly finished building the KMS Graf Spee. First off, forget that nonsense about the Graf Spee being a "Pocket Battleship"; it's a heavy cruiser, period. It's a small capital ship. At this point we face some real tough decisions that are going to effect how the entire game plays out. Do we build a navy? If so, how do we go about it? Do we build Bismarck-class Battleships and Scharnhorst-class Battlecruisers? Or do we go the CV route with aircraft carriers? Or do we say "screw it", and concentrate on air and land forces? The time to decide is now--big capital ships take over a year to build, and if you have visions of building a navy to rival the Royal Navy, dream on. I'd say this: if you want, try going the aircraft-carrier route, or just bag the navy except for U-boats and concentrate on land forces. Let's just say that instead of researching aircraft carriers, you did Close Assault Squadron aircraft, the famous Junkers Dive bombers. Let's make sure we researched that, and bag the naval stuff for now.

Still, we're going to be conquering lots of territory, and we need to plan accordingly, but on the cheap for now. Before anything, let's let that infantry division get into Cologne, and the resulting "Germany Reoccupies the Rhineland" event card. Sweet. Then, let's start like this: you'll need garrison troops to keep Poland in line after your successful invasion there--might as well build them now, since they're inexpensive. Go to the division screen, and select "garrison '18" and build 12 of them in a serial production queue. That should still leave you with about 15-18 leftover IC points. Let's build some industry too, huh? First off, we'll maximize our production potential. Take the consumer goods slider down to about 48 or so, depending on how much cash you traded away earlier. Lock it. Take your supply slider down to about 20-23 or so. Lock it. Take your Reinforcements slider to zero and lock it. Take your Upgrades slider way down for now, if not to zero. That should give you around 65 "wasted" IC. A quick check of your production queue reveals that in a couple of days, the Graf Spee will complete construction, and free up another 5.6 IC. 70+ IC free to build with. That's 14 factories, if we want. Or... Interceptors cost 9 IC each. So, let's do this. Let's build 11 factories in central and eastern Germany right now. Pick pretty much any province in Central-eastern Germany to build a factory in, and then pick 10 more provinces to do so as well. Germany has one huge advantage that not even the US can touch--pretty much every German province has a 100% rating in their infrastructure, which speeds up factory production and maximizes raw material output. Let's finish our builds by spending 10.8 IC on interceptors (you may have to do some slider tweaking to get 11 IC freed up...take it out of supplies and upgrades...) Let's do a serial run of 9 interceptor wings, BF-1090's. In so doing, I had to set my own Upgrades slider to zero....there'll be time for that later.

Ok. Let the game run! I always like to check my tech screen to make sure I set everything up right with everyone researching stuff. Another thing you'll see: when your factory capacity jumped up after you put troops in the Rhineland, you may be at a very low surplus, or even a deficit, in energy or another raw material. No worries, trust me. By January 8th or 9th, you'll be able to swing another deal with the Russkies. I was still putting up 28.3 supplies as a surplus in this example game, so I swung a deal with me giving up 18 supplies for 78 energy, 15 metal, and another 12 oil. Sweeet.

On January 7th, the Graf Spee finishes production, freeing up 5.6 IC. A final tweak of the slider should get you the 6.7 IC it takes to build infantry, so let's get cracking on em! A serial build of 12 seems about right.

There you have it. You're up and running your own European dictatorship. The boys at Farben will probably finish their tech research first. Have them jump right into Improved Machine tools, since that's a '37 tech. You also can research into Agrichemistry, basic decimetric Radar, Basic Encryption, Rear Area Repair, and perhaps even Marines (to splash ashore on the beaches of Merrie Olde?) In December, when your factories come online, you can continue to build at that rate, or start your panzer production. In 1937, you'll want to improve your Panzer tech, get that last Advanced Machine Tools Tech, get Advanced construction going, and get all the 1938 aircraft techs done with Heinkel, Messerschmitt, and Junkers. You'll also definitely want to get your Panzer building underway in '37, so you'll have at least 6 divisions ready for Poland. In addition, since airfields are so cheap, build one in Oppeln, to make it easier to knock the allied air forces from the sky in September, '39. In the winter of 38, you'll annex Austria automatically, and late that summer you'll probably get the Sudetenland. Both will give you a huge IC bonus, but the troops you'll build with it probably won't be ready for Poland--they'll be the ones you take on Scandinavia, the Low Countries, and France with. Throughout '38 and '39 you'll also want to build some brigade attachments: artillery, antitank, and some police attachments for your garrisons. Garrisons are especially effective at putting down local unrest inside occupied provinces, but they get an even bigger bonus with a police brigade attached to them (and those police brigades are cheap.)

Hope that helps some?

[rrmorton]

Awesome! Now I'm gonna read it.

EDIT:

Brunnen erfolgter Triggerschnitt!
("Well done, Triggercut"")

Seems very helpful but WTF do I know? I think I'll print this up and refer to it while playing.

[map]

thanks! this has made things more clear to me than anything else i've read.

[dbt1949]

In my latest game I'm researching computers and got to the "secret projects" portion of it.Now I'm researching Apple computers or something!

My point being,that if you want to speed up research on everything and you want to use one of your research spots up,research census and follow it on up.Each completion gives a 5% increase in reseach speed.I'm at like 25-30% faster rate now.Man that is great!

You hate to use up those precious research spots early in the game but later on you'll be glad you did!

[The Preacher]

"Triggerschnitt". Teehee, you schnitt!

Great read btw. Very interesting. HOI2 or FPG, it's gonna be a close one.

[triggercut]

A couple of other Germany tips from Fieldmarschall Triggerschnitt:

There are three provinces Germany has that border France. You need at least 2, perhaps 3 divisions in each one to keep the French at bay during your invasion of Poland. They *will* attack you if you strip your western front defenses too bare. You also want to make sure you've got at least 6 wings of interceptors available to defend your brave boys on the Siegfried line. Great fun to watch your interceptors knock the French and RAF from the skies in Fall, 1939.

At some point in early 1938, build 3 sea transports. Your isolated German provinces across the Polish corridor, Elbing and Konigsberg, cannot be held without more troops, and the only way to get them there is by sea transport. Another tip: you can't attach brigades to infantry divisions that are isolated like that. I usually wait until late July/early August before moving three infantry divisions into Elbing by transport, and before transporting them, I give 2 divisions artillery brigades, and one division a brigade of anti-tank artillery. You just need them to hold their ground while your main invasion force from Germany proper drives back the Polish defense.

Edan had some great tips in the impressions thread as well. Every day:

1. Make sure your raw materials are in the green.
2. Make sure you're not "wasting" any IC. Your IC meter in the top right corner should always read 0/number/number.
3. Make sure all your tech slots are engaged in tech research, and that research is proceeding with some amount of speed. If you're only gaining .20% per day, you're wasting a tech slot.

[$iljanus]

"Triggerschnitt". Teehee, you schnitt!

Great read btw. Very interesting. HOI2 or FPG, it's gonna be a close one.

So I'm wooing you with my impressions of Flashpoint Germany then Triggercut flashes his HOI2 walkthrough like some cheap trollop and you come a running. Hmmph!


By the way, thanks for the walkthrough Trig! I also have HoI2. Have gone through the tutorials but have yet to start a campaign.

[The Preacher]

"Triggerschnitt". Teehee, you schnitt!

Great read btw. Very interesting. HOI2 or FPG, it's gonna be a close one.

So I'm wooing you with my impressions of Flashpoint Germany then Triggercut flashes his HOI2 walkthrough like some cheap trollop and you come a running. Hmmph!

I'm a floozy. What can I say?

[Defiant]

1. Make sure your raw materials are in the green.
2. Make sure you're not "wasting" any IC. Your IC meter in the top right corner should always read 0/number/number.
3. Make sure all your tech slots are engaged in tech research, and that research is proceeding with some amount of speed. If you're only gaining .20% per day, you're wasting a tech slot.

For smaller, less developed countries, you probably do want to "waste" IC and tech lots, though, since you probably can't afford them all. Eg, as Brazil, while I was able to get many resources through trade (by exchanging supplies) I couldn't get them all without some fluctuations, so I wasted some IC so that I could keep my resources from becoming red. I also avoided using both tech slots if I didn't need it so I could spend more IC on production rather than on making money. I figure that once I ally with someone, I'll get lots of blueprints, making techs quicker to discover.

And, of course, if you're at war, it becomes a guns vs. butter issue with regards to reinforcements and supplies vs production and money (and upgrades)

[triggercut]

Silj, if it makes you feel any better, as soon as I have some disposable income (damn those insurance/car/rent/401k payments) I'm picking up FPG based on your impressions. If it sucks, I'm hunting you down....

One more thing: my strategy of using various trades to manipulate German raw material income to higher levels came from the HOI2 Wiki. Their German strategy guide has been greatly expanded in the last 24 hours, and is definitely worth taking a look at. Hell, the whole site is good.

Here's the German Strategy guide/walkthru

Here's the main page. The "Assorted Guides" section is where you'd look for clearly-written explanations and strategies. Any "guide" there in red is still under construction, but those in blue offer some great ideas and tips for us n00bs.