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 Posted: Wed, 11th May 2011 06:51 Post subject: Let's Play: Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game |
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Another day, another Hearts of Iron game 
Today I'll be starting out as Imperial Japan in January 1, 1936. The game is a modified version of Hearts of Iron 2 known as "Darkest Hour Light", which is pretty much HOI with some balance/bugfixes and better AI.
Here is my initial position:
So, I pretty much control all of Japan (duh), Taiwan, a steady chain of Pacific Islands, and Northern China (Manchuria) as a puppet. My eventual plans for expansion are extremely ambitious:
As you can see, I plan on eventually fighting a 5 front war, and would like to include in my conquests:
-All of China
-East Russia
-The Central Asian Regions
-All of South East Asia
-Australia
-India
-All of the Pacific Islands
-The Western United States and bits of Canada
Nothing greedy or anything  Just a piece of every major Empire in existence  Never mind the fact that all of them have enough manpower and industrial capacity to bury me in a pile of bloody rubble. Those are just details.
I'll begin by setting national policy and shuffling my cabinet around:
For my Industry, Research, and Foreign policy I have elected leaders who specialize in maximizing industrial output and minimizing consumption of consumer goods and supplies amongst my civilians and troops. Japan will be punching many times above its weight in this war, and I need every last shred of industrial capacity that I can squeeze from it. Hence my choice in ministers.
For army leaders I have selected a secretary of Navy who believes in concentrating firepower against the enemy and annihilating him bit by bit, and a secretary of the Air Force who believes the air force must work in support of the Navy.
Ultimately, since Japan is an island nation that will be projecting its military might across vast oceans in distant lands thousands of miles away, Naval might will be imperative. Without naval supremacy my land troops will never reach their distant battlefields, and the resources that I plunder from my colonies will never reach my hungry factories. Japan will do or die by its Navy. Therefore, all my effort must be concentrated on Naval and Maritime warfare.
Now lets review the units I start out with. I was just speaking of the navy so we can start there:
I have mustered my entire fleet in Tokyo for inspection. In total I have 97 Ships/Squadrons, with the following breakdown (in order of strength for those unfamiliar with naval warfare):
8 Submarine Squadrons
20 Destroyer Squadrons
21 Light Cruisers
14 Heavy Cruisers
2 Escort Carriers
4 Battlecruisers
6 Battleships
2 Aircraft Carriers with modern Carrier Air Groups
and 20 Transport Flotillas, each capable of transporting a single division of ground troops.
Quantitatively, the Japanese Navy is a bit smaller than its British rival. Qualitatively, it's capital ships are a bit superior. Either way, I have 3 years to build it up before the outbreak of hostilities.
Naval ships cannot be upgraded, unlike ground forces. You can issue new guns to troops, upgun and add armor to tanks, and upgrade the engines and issue new bombs to airplanes. You cannot, however, change a ship once it's built. Therefore, in order for your Navy to stay competitive, you must constantly be building newer and better ships, and retiring older ships to more calm theaters of war.
I have reassigned the majority of the capital ships in the following manner:
1 Carrier Fleet of 2 Aircraft Carriers and a bunch of Destroyer Screens
1 Surface Action Group of all the Battleships and Destroyer Screens, with one Escort Carrier (for Recon).
1 Surface Action Group of all the Battlecruisers and an Escort Carrier.
2 Submarine Wolfpacks for eventual convoy raiding around the islands.
The rest of the ships I'll see what to do with. They're all extremely old and will be useless once the war comes around. I'll probably spread them out and use them for Naval Patrols to locate the enemy, or anti-submarines warfare operations. Also, some will obviously be needed to escort my troops.
So far, it's good that I have one Surface Action Group full of Battleships capable of annihilating even strong navies. Another Surface Action Group full of Battlecruisers should be more than enough to take care of any smaller enemy fleets.
I'm uncomfortable with the fact that my Aircraft carriers are almost obsolete, and are surrounded by obsolete escorts. Furthermore, I only have 2 aircraft carriers. If I want to become a naval superpower I'll need a lot more. Which is an extremely consuming task, as aircraft carriers takes years to build. Oh well, another thing to put on the todo list.
Now let's take a look at the air force:
Eh, not too good, not too bad. The air force tally is as follows:
5 Tactical Bomber squadrons
4 Interceptor squadrons
2 Naval Bomber squadrons
The fact that I have only 2 Naval Bomber squadrons is unacceptable. Naval Bombers are extremely effective against enemy ships, and there is very little the enemy can do to stop them. Over time this part of my air force should get more priority.
4 Interceptors is fine for the beginning years of the war. Usually that's a good enough number to establish air supremacy over any area of operations. Later in the war, once I expand to multiple theatres, I should think of including more.
5 Tactical Bomber Squadrons if very nice. My land forces will ALWAYS be either outgunned or outnumbered or both. I cannot face the enemy head-to-head on land, I must rely on superior maneuvering, troop quality, special forces, and air forces to strategically push the enemy back and/or repel his advances. Tactical bombers excel at this. They are not as effective as Close Air Support craft, but they have vastly larger range. Which is JUST what I need if I'll be fighting across the vast theatres of Asia. Furthermore, they serve a dual purpose role in that they can also strike against enemy navies in the sea. Very useful for a nation like Japan.
If I can, I'll try to squeeze out 3 more squads of Tactical Bombers by the beginning of the war. This'll let me achieve epic air pwnage.
Right, time to look at the Japanese Army:
*sigh*
71 divisions, ALL outdated, of which over around half are island garrisons or Chinese peasants from Manchuria who are worth about as much as the food the consume. Not a single division has either tanks or trucks. NOT an Army you want to conquer the world with.
Time to put my thinking cap on.
I happen to have 7 Cavalry divisions. They're about as good as a regular infantry division, but they move a lot faster irrespective of the terrain. Given the rough terrain I'll be fighting in, this is pretty useful, given that tanks will do little good for you in the mountains of China. Besides, I don't have the industrial capacity to manufacture tank or mechanized divisions; that honor is reserved for the US or Nazi Germany.
No, seems like I'll be relying on an infantry backbone. The good news is my infantry will be a lot more *ahem* enthusiastic than any of my counterparts, so at least I don't have to worry about quality... too much. Sadly their equipment is hopelessly out of date, so I'll have to devote precious Industrial Capacity towards fixing that problem. Also, I don't have nearly enough men to occupy China with. Time to break out the draft laws. Sorry kids, but college is for pussies
And that concludes my review of the armed forces. Common themes include:
-Navy Uber Alles. Keep it that way. Research better aircraft carriers, build a couple, and commission newer screens. Also keep a healthy reserve of screens to replace the eventual casualties of naval warfare.
-Airforce is good, needs a bit of work to bring it up to pwnage quality. Low priority.
-Land force fails miserably. Needs serious and urgent work to invade China in 1937. Going to have to devote all my factories towards fixing this problem ASAP.
-My industrial capacity sucks. I don't have enough raw materials. I don't have enough men for world conquest. I don't even have enough men to police China. When I invade enemy nations I'll have to set up puppet governments that can more effectively rape their own people. Because I simply don't have the manpower for that.
-At least my officers and researchers are on par with whatever the enemy has. God bless the open-handed ways of the Americans
Time to set my research teams to work:
MOAR INDUSTRIAL CAPACITY
BETTER AIRCRAFT CARRIERS
DO OR DIE
That is all.
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| Posted: Wed, 11th May 2011 07:33 Post subject: |
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| Posted: Wed, 11th May 2011 08:04 Post subject: |
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| Posted: Wed, 11th May 2011 08:31 Post subject: |
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| Posted: Wed, 11th May 2011 09:47 Post subject: |
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Woot! Thanks Tainted. Feel free to delete this thread to make it pretty again, but i just wanted to say thank you!
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| Posted: Wed, 11th May 2011 10:12 Post subject: |
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Hehe, I love this thread. Destroy them !!!
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| Posted: Thu, 12th May 2011 00:45 Post subject: |
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January 1st, 1938. Overall map of China:
In Northern China, I have completely overrun all pockets of resistance and established the puppet government of Mengukuo (Inner Mongolia). I have set up a hostile border with Xibei San Ma, but don't want to advance any further since the jungles are even more unhospitable than Vietnam. I'll get around to it eventually. Note that the Communist Chinese are neutral; probably happy to let me finish off the Nationalists for them.
In the central front:
I have completely overrun the main Nationalist Army at Anqing, and captured it. My tired troops are advancing, but I'll probably give them a month's rest afterwards. The only thing preventing me from taking over all of Nationalist China outright is their shitty weather, shitty terrain, and shitty infrastructure.
In the South there is still a stalemate due to the fact that I am outnumbered and the terrain is all mountains:
Not much I can do except start training mountain divisions and special forces to dig the enemy out =/
On the home front, industry has ceased pumping out infantry, and has gone on to augment my navy and airforce with the newest goodies:
6 aircraft carriers! *drools*. With a fleet like that I'll dominate my corner of the world for years... provided I don't run into bad weather and a shipload of angry scotsmen at the same time (Carriers don't work at all in bad weather).
I'm also building up all my air fleets to full strength. Seems I will have 2 fleets of Tactical bombers, 1 fleet of interceptors, and 1 fleet of navy bombers. Not impressive, but more than enough to do some serious damage and turn any battle around.
My transportation capacity is overloaded since it seems every Chinese peasant in between Shanghai and Chongqing has beef with me. Can't blame them really. Well, I better speed up my conquest of China before things get out of hand and I can't deliver ammunition or food to my troops at the frontlines due to harassment from Partisans.
Sense Amid Madness, Wit Amidst Folly
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| Posted: Thu, 12th May 2011 01:43 Post subject: |
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| Posted: Thu, 12th May 2011 08:15 Post subject: |
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January 30, 1939,
I've redeployed my troops on the borders of Communist China in Northern China. Their base area is even more heavily fortified than Switzerland, so it'll take a lot of digging to get em out. Sill, I outnumber them 10 to 1 and have superior technology, tactics, and fierce morale. I expect many casualties, not many problems.
Also sent a small task force of Chinese peasants up to the wasteland the Muslims inhabit:
Ought to be a quick little campaign that will open up new borders with the Soviets and British India. It's really a remote shithole so I don't want to send any Japanese troops there. Let the peasants do the dying over land no one cares about.
In the meantime, my new ultra-modern Carrier Task Force is done:
Commanded by no less than Yamamoto. One hard bald motherfucker with an attitude and a Samurai Sword. White people beware.
Modernization of my land forces is progressing slowly, and I am slowly building up a new mass of modern Destroyer screens for my Navy:
Aside from that, all is well. Peaceful times.
Contemplating about how I'm going to go after the Europeans around my area...
Sense Amid Madness, Wit Amidst Folly
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| Posted: Thu, 12th May 2011 10:01 Post subject: |
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I only wonder , when will the Americans drop the A-bomb on you
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| Posted: Thu, 12th May 2011 10:14 Post subject: |
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| Hfric wrote: | | I only wonder , when will the Americans drop the A-bomb on you |
Plenty of time till then !
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Przepraszam
VIP Member
Posts: 14439
Location: Poland. New York.
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| Posted: Fri, 13th May 2011 04:44 Post subject: |
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Nice tainted! Very good read with screens.
I am trying to get into the game slowly but it seems really complicated to me  . I played few rounds but I was clueless
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| Posted: Fri, 13th May 2011 05:29 Post subject: |
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August 26, 1939,
I have annexed the Muslim "republic" of Sinkiang to the far west with my roving band of dispensable Chinese peasants. I am now redeploying them along the border with British Pakistan:
My new Destroyer screens have been redistributed across my Navy. My Navy is now more or less adequately modern to take on any major seafaring empire head-to head.
My navy can be broken down in the following way:
2 Carrier Task Forces. One is Ultra-Modern with 6 modern aircraft carriers and heavy cruiser escorts, as well as a modern destroyer screen. The other carrier task force only has 3 aircraft carriers, are all of which are aging, as well as very very old escort ships. It does, however, have a modern Destroyer screen and Carrier Air Group. So it is fit for mainstream Naval Battle.
2 Surface Action Groups. One is filled with 6 old Battleships, and a VERY old Escort Carrier that houses recon planes. It does however have a modern Destroyer screen to protect it from planes and submarines. While the Battleships in this group are old, there is still 6 of them, more than enough to do some SERIOUS damage in any surface action they engage in. They're only useful if I group them all together. Hence, I did 
The other Surface Action Group is the gimp of the fleet. It's main firepower comes from 4 very old Battlecruisers. It has a WW1 vintage Escort Carrier for recon purposes, and a screen of very very old light cruisers that probably couldn't help vs an army of kites flown by children, let alone a modern Navy. I'm debating on just allocating all my aging ships into this Surface Action Group and hope that their numbers make up for their hopeless outdatedness. This Surface Action Group is NOT fit for frontline combat, but it's too powerful for just patrolling either. So I better put my thinking cap on and make a decision.
The rest of the fleet are just patrols, submarines for harassing enemy convoys, and transports for moving my troops around.
My airforce has been modernized in the meantime:
I have met my goal of 2 Tactical Bomber air fleets, 1 Interceptor air fleet, and 1 Naval Bomber air fleet. My Naval Bombers are a bit outdated tho, and I'd like another air fleet if possible. We'll see if I get to allocate the resources.
My ground army has finished kicking Communist ass in Northern China (bye bye Mao Zedong) and is getting redeployed to my major Naval base at Hainan:
From Hainan I'll probably be deploying my transport fleets for any conquests in the Islands of Southeast Asia:
In the meantime, I'm redeploying my new Army of Chinese peasants to the border with British Burma:
When war breaks out they'll be slogging through months of malaria and jungle on their way to Bangladesh. Again, I can't be bothered to waste Japanese lives on worthless pieces of land like that, but hey, that's what God gave me a billion Chinamen for
Also, I'm allocating a small taskforce of cavalry and mountain troops to storm through Tibet real fast. This will give me a huge border with Northern India, a great platform to harass the British with:
Sadly this is Tibet we're talking about, with the highest mountain peaks known to man. It's going to take months to complete that conquest.
Meanwhile, it's August 26, which means war is brewing in Europe:
As I mentioned before, I want to seize all the European colonies around me. Nazi Germany would make erstwhile Allies in this endeavor. I will not, however, join the war right away on their side. Let them weaken the Europeans a bit, and then, a couple of months later, when the time is right....
I STRIKE!
Sense Amid Madness, Wit Amidst Folly
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| Posted: Fri, 13th May 2011 05:33 Post subject: |
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| Posted: Sat, 14th May 2011 09:45 Post subject: |
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| Posted: Sat, 14th May 2011 10:05 Post subject: |
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