The UK beast

The new SM rule is your only hope. This might allow Germany to crush UK landing forces in Picardy/Belgium and/or Karelia before they become established and reinforced.

A reasonable restriction on India builds (I think 4 units per turn) is unlikely to become official.

Maybe an Austrian swing south via Sevastopol to help the Turks take India?

How much does the UK spend on navy in your games?  What do the Ottomons typically do?

@Frontovik:

@Texas:

How much does the UK spend on navy in your games?�  What do the Ottomons typically do?

the ottomans try to draw time: try to contest territories, claim bulgaria and perhaps sevastopol/romania lightly. best O1 i did was neutralising the russians in mesopotamia strong enough so british forces couldn’t counterattack, and forcing Brits on Tranjs-jordan to retreat. the UK spends nothing on navy, unless a transport or 2. the french battleships are sufficient for guarding the navy.

Perhaps focus the Ottomons on just the British rather then splitting between them and the Russians.  How much are the Germans spending on navy?

@Frontovik:

the french or the russians are already pushing quite hard on the german frontline. you can hardly spend anything on fleet. should you spend on fleet, the brits can match more easily. or use American ships to reinforce that navy. ottomans fended the brits off quite some time actually, but they can’t stop 'em. certainly when the first tanks come rolling in, then it’s GO for the ottoman empire and their 19 IPC’s go straight to UK.

I didn’t say you had to out spend the Brits, but you stated your solution to keeping the Ottomans from getting ran over.  If the Brits are buying navy to match the Germans, they aren’t spending as much in India.

The Germans + Austrians should be keeping Russia on the defensive.  I never see Ottoman screwed the way you say unless the allies are doing much worse on other fronts.

We are seeing very similar games. The UK spends all India for the first 3+ turns, and steamrolls the Turks (then on to a depleted Austria). We are trying to develop a strat to take Paris, with very limited results. We have found that as the CP it is better to have the Germans go full tilt after the French (with maybe small 15 units Austrian force that hits Venice on the way), and see if the Austrians can hold off the Russians/Italians (with very little German help). Having the CP go in with just one (but much larger) force seems to be better then trying to march side by side at this point.

The French can muster up a pretty good defense all on their own w/heavy inf buys, so the Germans need to keep a steady flow of units coming for a continued siege of Paris until it falls (you have to contest Paris ASAP to drop the French income). Might even try to bring some more Austrian units if they can be spared through Switzerland to deal with the other allies making landings on French coast. The French fleet is defiantly over sized (2 BB’s?), and this allows the UK to spend all India, and still get some units to France w/min effort. If the Germans keep their fleet together and sink the UK home fleet (forgo the Canadian attack) they can get control of the Atlantic, and force a show down (maybe get the UK to buy fleet), but it is hard to build German navy, and keep units flowing towards Paris.

Anyway, I’m right in the same boat and think that maybe we should start a topic on the UK going all India on Larry’s site to see if we can spark a slight set-up change, or limit on builds in India.

Some stuff we were thinking are:

1. India has a build limit of 8 units (2x its IPC level). May not help much, but we are seeing 10+ unit builds there as their income rises.
2. Change to the French Atlantic fleet in sz 15. Swap French BB to cruiser, and remove the transport (leaving only a cruiser). This will do a couple things. First make it at least the same size as the German stating fleet (it was much smaller). This will be more inline to what they had, and would force the UK to build fleet in the Atlantic. The French fleet was merely supplemental in the Atlantic, not dominate (they always bring over the Med BB at some point, because it isn’t needed in the Med).

Historically, the French should definitely not have more battleships than the Germans.  If you are only counting Dreadnaught class battleships and battlecruisers, the Germans had about 5 times as many as the French in 1914.  If you are lumping pre-Dreadnaught types in with them, the Germans should still have about twice as many.  Of course, if you are doing that, the British would get even more.  The Germans also had about twice as many cruisers as the French, although the French had about twice as many as anyone else (except the British and Americans - but half the US cruisers would have been in the Pacific).

I’ve been playing with fleets that are closer to historic proportions.  After much discussion on another thread, and a small amount of playtesting (I plan to do more), this is what I’ve come up with:

British:
SZ 2:  1 cruiser, 1 transport
SZ 9:  3 battleships, 4 cruisers, 1 sub, 1 transport
SZ 14:  1 cruiser
SZ 19:  2 cruisers, 1 transport
SZ 29:  1 cruiser, 1 transport
(Note:  The British should actually have more subs, but historically they used most of them defensively, since they were afraid of a German invasion.  So most of the subs are abstracted into the “minefield,” which I consider to actually represent coastal artillery, monitors, torpedo boats, and obsolete ships, as well as mines).

Germans:
SZ 5:  2 subs
SZ 7:  2 subs
SZ 22:  1 cruiser
SZ 10:  2 battleships, 3 cruisers, 1 transport

French:
SZ 15:  1 cruiser, 1 transport
SZ 16:  1 battleship, 1 cruiser, 1 transport

Russians:
SZ 12:  1 battleship
SZ 21:  1 cruiser

Ottomans:
SZ 20:  1 cruiser

Austrians, Italians, and Americans (half the US fleet is assumed to be in the Pacific) are the same as OOB.

So far, I’ve only played one partial game using the new movement of 5 sea zones for ships.  The German cruiser in SZ 22 plus one more cruiser from SZ 10 teamed up with the subs to trash the Canadian fleet in SZ 2 and the French fleet in SZ 15.  They kept everything else in SZ 10 and built 1 sub.  I’m still waiting to see if the British will brave the minefields to attack SZ 10 or go after the raiders.

@almashir:

Historically, the French should definitely not have more battleships than the Germans.  If you are only counting Dreadnaught class battleships and battlecruisers, the Germans had about 5 times as many as the French in 1914.  If you are lumping pre-Dreadnaught types in with them, the Germans should still have about twice as many.  Of course, if you are doing that, the British would get even more.  The Germans also had about twice as many cruisers as the French, although the French had about twice as many as anyone else (except the British and Americans - but half the US cruisers would have been in the Pacific).

I’ve been playing with fleets that are closer to historic proportions.  After much discussion on another thread, and a small amount of playtesting (I plan to do more), this is what I’ve come up with:

British:
SZ 2:  1 cruiser, 1 transport
SZ 9:  3 battleships, 4 cruisers, 1 sub, 1 transport
SZ 14:  1 cruiser
SZ 19:  2 cruisers, 1 transport
SZ 29:  1 cruiser, 1 transport
(Note:  The British should actually have more subs, but historically they used most of them defensively, since they were afraid of a German invasion.  So most of the subs are abstracted into the “minefield,” which I consider to actually represent coastal artillery, monitors, torpedo boats, and obsolete ships, as well as mines).

Germans:
SZ 5:  2 subs
SZ 7:  2 subs
SZ 22:  1 cruiser
SZ 10:  2 battleships, 3 cruisers, 1 transport

French:
SZ 15:  1 cruiser, 1 transport
SZ 16:  1 battleship, 1 cruiser, 1 transport

Russians:
SZ 12:  1 battleship
SZ 21:  1 cruiser

Ottomans:
SZ 20:  1 cruiser

Austrians, Italians, and Americans (half the US fleet is assumed to be in the Pacific) are the same as OOB.

So far, I’ve only played one partial game using the new movement of 5 sea zones for ships.  The German cruiser in SZ 22 plus one more cruiser from SZ 10 teamed up with the subs to trash the Canadian fleet in SZ 2 and the French fleet in SZ 15.  They kept everything else in SZ 10 and built 1 sub.  I’m still waiting to see if the British will brave the minefields to attack SZ 10 or go after the raiders.

I like this. The French fleet is WAY too strong compared to the Germans.

Kim

I wondered if there is a real chance for Germany to invade Scotland at turn 2 with 6 units offloaded from 3 transports, that have been freshly purchased in Round 1 without combat in the same turn or naval mine roling.

Its possible if the German Navy (2 Subs from SZ5, 1 Cruiser and 1 Battleship from SZ 10) crushes the British Fleet (1 Battleship, 2 Cruiser) in SZ 9. The other Cruiser from SZ 10 moves via SZ 5-4 to SZ 8 and awaits the new British Ships to block their movement. One other Sub attacks the cruiser on SZ 2, the other one attacks the french Battleship at SZ 15. If all these Battles end succsesful (haha), the earlier purchased 3 Transports can land 6 Units in Scotland in Round 2 without fighting or the danger of beeing blown away by mines.

By the way, does anyone have a strategy for capturing London instead of Atlantis, I mean Paris.

By the way, does anyone have a strategy for capturing London instead of Atlantis, I mean Paris.

Building a large transport fleet for the Germans while fighting a two front war is cost prohibative. In Global 1940 the Germans can pull off Sea Lion since when France falls, she is only at war with the UK and can build up the transport fleet while still at peace with Russia. In 1914, France and Russia cannot be crushed in a single turn, so the only way to get London is wait until one of these is completly conquered and the other just about to be.

In this game London has little more chance of being captured as Washington in A&A WWII games

Kim

@KimRYoung:

By the way, does anyone have a strategy for capturing London instead of Atlantis, I mean Paris.

Building a large transport fleet for the Germans while fighting a two front war is cost prohibative. In Global 1940 the Germans can pull off Sea Lion since when France falls, she is only at war with the UK and can build up the transport fleet while still at peace with Russia. In 1914, France and Russia cannot be crushed in a single turn, so the only way to get London is wait until one of these is completly conquered and the other just about to be.

In this game London has little more chance of being captured as Washington in A&A WWII games

Kim

This isn’t exactly accurate.  You wouldn’t have to worry about the Russians if you are assaulting the British Isles.  If you are attacking the Brits, they wouldn’t be dumping all their forces in India.  The Ottomans would then be unchecked for the most part.  They would be able to put pressure on the Russians in addition to what the Austrians can provide.  Another thing to keep in mind is you can assault London earlier than any other capital (G2).  Comparing the difficulty to Washington in WWII is a gross exaggeration.  Comparing strats from WWII to this game are pointless as well do to different mechanics in both land and sea battles.  I’m not saying that taking London is easy, but Paris isn’t a walk in the park either.  Just do to the fact that it is specifically mentioned as an alternative of Paris in the victory conditions, it should at least be entertained rather than dismissed entirely.

Let us know when you successfully pull this off Tex, we’re all interested if you can do it.

Kim