France AAR -Demo - long post
Posted: May 18 2005
AAR France scenario, playing Portugal as single player on easiest setting.
My first 'actual' game so bear with some of the stupid things I do. Hopefully it will help to guide other new players.
Slightly overwhelmed, I decided to follow the starting advice and built a new industrial goods centre. I also added a timber centre and Consumer goods factory. I begin building land units but inadvertently build far too many supply trucks (watch out for that continuous build option).
The other countries were quietly building up too. The World Market offered me a few units for free, patrol helicopters and missiles which I eagerly grabbed. There were also 4 leopard tank units offered at an 80% markup but I bought them as I had no tank builing capability.
I managed to control my economy to generate a profit, mainly selling these extra industrial goods. I found a place to build an ore mine (in the north near the Madrid border). I also found a supply of oil in Barcelona waters near Gibraltar so I offered a mass of cash for the land (about 12 hexes) and they sold it to me. I'm sure I overpaid badly. I built an Oil Derrick there. It's not a great site but every bit helps.
November 2010 and Marseilles declares war on Paris. Their attack is mainly unsuccessful and I watch land changing hands, as Paris joins up with their western enclave and drive south to Lyon. Paris kill 2 units for every one they lose (losses 30-60 in favour of Paris).
I continue to watch from a distance. I discover many ships in my reserve and decide to sell about half at ~$54m apiece. My treasury is now $5000m where other countries are around $2500m. My DAR is 35% and overall score is 9000+ vs ~6000 for the others. Due to inaction elsewhere, I cut back on unit production. Marseilles hangs on and forms a shaky stalemate line but Paris continues to have the edge.
Probably Jan or Feb 2011, Barcelona declare war on Paris. This is my opportunity. I have a mass of units on the Barcelona border so I bring more reserves out and launch an attack on Barcelona 2-3 days later. Finding my units have a tendency to chase after the enemy, I reduce unit initiative to zero. (This might be an error - I shall have to see!). Despite some appalling unit management, I manage to push my way up through southern Spain. Unit losses are around 5-1 in my favour. In some months of fighting, I capture Barcelona (the capital) and net $390m. Cash has grown to $7000m despite doing nothing to 'help'. Some units have got a bit too far from supply and run out of fuel but my masses of supply trucks help recovery.
Date unknown, Barcelona is down to a small area in the north between Madrid and Paris. My depleted attack force is preparing to engage their last mass of units (via artillery battles) when I get an unpleasant surprise. Marseilles, still reeling from continued Paris pressure (Paris having gained around 200,000 land from their counter attack), decides to declare war on me! I can't understand why they would want to do this but I panic as I'm not prepared for this event. My final battle to eradicate Barcelona as an entity is put on hold as I move some of these units eastward to protect the city of Barcelona.
Worse follows as Madrid also hit me. This is a catastrophe. I have units to the north and east of Portugal (not entrenched though!) but hardly enough for the job. I have almost nothing between south Portugal and Barcelona city. Madrid have lots of units and LOTS of tanks. They continue to get WM unit offers while I get nothing. Madrid don't attack northern Portugal but push into my east and south borders with ease. I scramble to entrench what little I have and somehow hold. NW of Barcelona city I fall back (I'm pushed back in disarray actually) while in southern Spain the Madrid forces have free reign. Fortunately, the terrain is so hard going that only a few mobile units venture south.
A small Marseilles incursion down the coastal road is beaten back and the Barcelona army is so weak that they don't trouble me.
I eventually research a light tank (Axis 13 I think) and begin building lots of these. My entrenched positions with artillery support manage to beat back the Madrid attacks and they retreat to safe positions. This is lucky as they manage to get adjacent to a weakly defended airbase. NW of Barcelona city remained fluid but I eventually managed to form a relatively secure border. Bases captured from Barcelona began to come online and these began cranking out units.
In North Portugal, I realised there had been no attacks so I moved around 12 ships into Madrid waters, blew up the 3 or 4 ships there and engaged the base there via shore bombardment. After softening it up, my limited land force moved north and soon overran it. Having eliminated most of the defenders in this area I was able to continue north and east to capture the sea port on the north coast. I also managed to push out from my NE corner of Portugal to make inroads into Madrid territory.
I now discover Hornet technology and can finally build some aircraft. I immediately order 9. My treasury is around $10,000m despite all my military spending. I reduce research from $95m to around $20m as there is little I actually want for now.
I'm now in Sep 2011 (I think). I have 3 major Madrid centres to attack (they have land and air bases) but I've pushed up to the north Barcelona border. Barcelona itself has one centre with land and air bases but they have lots of artillery and aircraft. I need to replenish my forces before taking either of these on. Marseilles has a couple of bases near the Italian border. I have a cluster of units near there adopting a garrison stance. Nothing has happened around there for a while.
My intention is to isolate the SW Madrid base and capture it, then do the same to the north base and finally Madrid. Once that is out of the way, I can drive east to eliminate Barcelona. It will probably be better to attack Paris and let Paris and Marseilles remain fighting each other. Hopefully I shall get a chance to increase my mobile land force. Footsoldiers are chronically slow. I also plan to upgrade some small bases to allow more units to be bought. My kill ratio is around 10-1 which surprises me as some of my moves have been incompetent. It is my first proper game though!
My treasury is very healthy thanks to my ministers doing a good job. I have them hoarding military resources and buying as much petroleum as they can. I have managed to secure some oil centres...I must check on them. DAR has fallen to around 30 but I have captured around 200,000 land from my adventures and I still have around half of the Madrid territory to make mine. Overall score is over 10,000 (whatever that means).
Paris is going to be a major problem as their tech level is 104 (vs 98 for me) and I can only build light tanks. WM weapon offers are non-existant.
More to follow...
My first 'actual' game so bear with some of the stupid things I do. Hopefully it will help to guide other new players.
Slightly overwhelmed, I decided to follow the starting advice and built a new industrial goods centre. I also added a timber centre and Consumer goods factory. I begin building land units but inadvertently build far too many supply trucks (watch out for that continuous build option).
The other countries were quietly building up too. The World Market offered me a few units for free, patrol helicopters and missiles which I eagerly grabbed. There were also 4 leopard tank units offered at an 80% markup but I bought them as I had no tank builing capability.
I managed to control my economy to generate a profit, mainly selling these extra industrial goods. I found a place to build an ore mine (in the north near the Madrid border). I also found a supply of oil in Barcelona waters near Gibraltar so I offered a mass of cash for the land (about 12 hexes) and they sold it to me. I'm sure I overpaid badly. I built an Oil Derrick there. It's not a great site but every bit helps.
November 2010 and Marseilles declares war on Paris. Their attack is mainly unsuccessful and I watch land changing hands, as Paris joins up with their western enclave and drive south to Lyon. Paris kill 2 units for every one they lose (losses 30-60 in favour of Paris).
I continue to watch from a distance. I discover many ships in my reserve and decide to sell about half at ~$54m apiece. My treasury is now $5000m where other countries are around $2500m. My DAR is 35% and overall score is 9000+ vs ~6000 for the others. Due to inaction elsewhere, I cut back on unit production. Marseilles hangs on and forms a shaky stalemate line but Paris continues to have the edge.
Probably Jan or Feb 2011, Barcelona declare war on Paris. This is my opportunity. I have a mass of units on the Barcelona border so I bring more reserves out and launch an attack on Barcelona 2-3 days later. Finding my units have a tendency to chase after the enemy, I reduce unit initiative to zero. (This might be an error - I shall have to see!). Despite some appalling unit management, I manage to push my way up through southern Spain. Unit losses are around 5-1 in my favour. In some months of fighting, I capture Barcelona (the capital) and net $390m. Cash has grown to $7000m despite doing nothing to 'help'. Some units have got a bit too far from supply and run out of fuel but my masses of supply trucks help recovery.
Date unknown, Barcelona is down to a small area in the north between Madrid and Paris. My depleted attack force is preparing to engage their last mass of units (via artillery battles) when I get an unpleasant surprise. Marseilles, still reeling from continued Paris pressure (Paris having gained around 200,000 land from their counter attack), decides to declare war on me! I can't understand why they would want to do this but I panic as I'm not prepared for this event. My final battle to eradicate Barcelona as an entity is put on hold as I move some of these units eastward to protect the city of Barcelona.
Worse follows as Madrid also hit me. This is a catastrophe. I have units to the north and east of Portugal (not entrenched though!) but hardly enough for the job. I have almost nothing between south Portugal and Barcelona city. Madrid have lots of units and LOTS of tanks. They continue to get WM unit offers while I get nothing. Madrid don't attack northern Portugal but push into my east and south borders with ease. I scramble to entrench what little I have and somehow hold. NW of Barcelona city I fall back (I'm pushed back in disarray actually) while in southern Spain the Madrid forces have free reign. Fortunately, the terrain is so hard going that only a few mobile units venture south.
A small Marseilles incursion down the coastal road is beaten back and the Barcelona army is so weak that they don't trouble me.
I eventually research a light tank (Axis 13 I think) and begin building lots of these. My entrenched positions with artillery support manage to beat back the Madrid attacks and they retreat to safe positions. This is lucky as they manage to get adjacent to a weakly defended airbase. NW of Barcelona city remained fluid but I eventually managed to form a relatively secure border. Bases captured from Barcelona began to come online and these began cranking out units.
In North Portugal, I realised there had been no attacks so I moved around 12 ships into Madrid waters, blew up the 3 or 4 ships there and engaged the base there via shore bombardment. After softening it up, my limited land force moved north and soon overran it. Having eliminated most of the defenders in this area I was able to continue north and east to capture the sea port on the north coast. I also managed to push out from my NE corner of Portugal to make inroads into Madrid territory.
I now discover Hornet technology and can finally build some aircraft. I immediately order 9. My treasury is around $10,000m despite all my military spending. I reduce research from $95m to around $20m as there is little I actually want for now.
I'm now in Sep 2011 (I think). I have 3 major Madrid centres to attack (they have land and air bases) but I've pushed up to the north Barcelona border. Barcelona itself has one centre with land and air bases but they have lots of artillery and aircraft. I need to replenish my forces before taking either of these on. Marseilles has a couple of bases near the Italian border. I have a cluster of units near there adopting a garrison stance. Nothing has happened around there for a while.
My intention is to isolate the SW Madrid base and capture it, then do the same to the north base and finally Madrid. Once that is out of the way, I can drive east to eliminate Barcelona. It will probably be better to attack Paris and let Paris and Marseilles remain fighting each other. Hopefully I shall get a chance to increase my mobile land force. Footsoldiers are chronically slow. I also plan to upgrade some small bases to allow more units to be bought. My kill ratio is around 10-1 which surprises me as some of my moves have been incompetent. It is my first proper game though!
My treasury is very healthy thanks to my ministers doing a good job. I have them hoarding military resources and buying as much petroleum as they can. I have managed to secure some oil centres...I must check on them. DAR has fallen to around 30 but I have captured around 200,000 land from my adventures and I still have around half of the Madrid territory to make mine. Overall score is over 10,000 (whatever that means).
Paris is going to be a major problem as their tech level is 104 (vs 98 for me) and I can only build light tanks. WM weapon offers are non-existant.
More to follow...