I decided it was time to try a campaign that was a bit more ambitious than usual – so I decided to take over the world from Ontario
Playing the Melting Point Campaign (Shattered World with increased tensions), I turned up the Military difficulty to maximum, and dove right in.
Ontario comes with very little in the way of land units, and even less in the way of reserve personnel. Since ruling the seas was not one of my short-term goals, I scrapped the majority of my Sea Piers and starting building some new Land Fabrication. It was also wise to inform my Minister to start working on a military buildup and increase my reserves, so I set the appropriate priorities.
I also did some early diplomacy – making alliances with many of the friendly Northern US states, but rejecting advances from other Canadian Provinces – since my plans included re-unifying Canada by force, I didn’t need to play nice. I also picked a few US states to bargain with for some key technologies – the M1A1 tank from Michigan, the F-14 Attack variant from New York, and a good towed artillery. Luckily Ontario has a few technology items that can sweeten up the deals.
While I started my buildup, I scanned the lay of the land and decided that Illinois offered some good hit-and-run battlefields for my units. I drove everyone down through my ally states and lined up on the Indiana/Illinois border. I had a little bit of casus belli against Illinois, so I decided I could handle the world disdain for declaring war. I launched a surprise attack and using some attack-retreat tactics was able to take much of the southern and south-eastern state. A key element of my success was the six squadrons of F/A-18 Multi-Role fighters that Ontario started with. When my ground forces encountered some trouble, the six squadrons would fly in to the rescue and send the enemy reeling in disarray. However I did end up losing some key units in a few ill-fated assaults on defended cities.
At about this point I needed to test some elements that required me to start a new game, so I decided to start my campaign again from the beginning. Unfortunately things did not unfold the same way – Indiana decided to declare war on their own against Illinois, and without air support they were soon being beaten back in a big way; all of Northern Indiana was soon lost. Apparently I had to come to their aid, and soon my air squadrons and land units were fighting to regain control of Indiana. Due to the Air Superiority I enjoyed, it was possible to beat back the incursion and soon have the Illinois forces on the defensive. However my Air units had become badly damaged due to overuse, and needed to be sent into reserves for repair. Indiana started making some moves on Illinois in the north, so I decided to take the south for myself. Things were going pretty well, using artillery support I was able to soften up the garrisoned towns and use my armored infantry to overrun the undefended towns. I was softening up the remaining outpost of East St Louis when my lack of diplomatic recon came in to play – one of the many states that had declared war on me after my attack on Illinois was Missouri – right next door. While I was working my siege on East St Louis, the Missouri forces launched an attack across the border, catching me by surprise. They encircled me and took out my unprotected artillery in the rear. I was soon cut off from supplies, surrounded, and with my air support in reserve. I pulled my 30%-strength squadrons out of reserve to help out, but it was too little too late – the Missouri forces mauled and destroyed my forces as I attempted to break the encirclement and retreat, and soon the majority of Ontario’s land forces were destroyed.
Time to start again
If things go well I may even remember to take screenshots
-- George.
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