Hearts of Iron 3 Their Finest Hour Olde RPM Mod coop AAR

[darthkommandant]

I have some good news. I have got the decision based naval from the previous expansion working in my current game. This changes a few things mainly that we have to tech up to build just about anything.

[Lictuel]

Does HoI III with RPM allow runway cratering missions to damage planes sitting on the airfield? Some Mods in HoI 2 did so and I can't remember if it worked in HoI III as well.
Could you give a rough starting OOB (esp. Air and Navy i guess) on which decisions for a buildup can be made?

[darthkommandant]

No rpm doesn't allow runway cratering to destroy planes but it is far from useless. In fact it will effectively prevent the enemy air force from leaving the runway to challenge your air force. I do believe it damages plane organization on the ground though which helps a lot.

As for oob I will post them in the first update tommorow when my laptop gets Internet ( I'm using
my phone to type this). However our build que is empty so we can build pretty much anything we want. (Graf Spee is already completed)

[darthkommandant]

I am starting the game now to start with I am adding the following to the build que
7 industries in parallel to be repeated 3 times
4 infantry divisions to be repeated 8 times
And brigades to create 3 waffen ss panzer divisions of 1 pz rgt 2 wss brigades and 1 armored car brigades.
Also added is one rocket test site.

We currently have I full strength army of 9 divisions deploying to Saarland. Another army with 4 divs in 2 corps in Stettin and pommern, a third with 5 divs in 2 corps in Silesia. A single corps army in east Prussia and a 5 div 2 corps army in Bavaria. We have scattered over Germany 5 interceptors 5 tactical bombers 1 naval bomber and one cas wing.

Navy wise we have 3 panzerschiffe various cruisers and destroyers and 2 BC 1s. We also have 5 sub 2s.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Hmm...the three Deutschland's, various cruisers and destroyers...two BC 1's (which I'm going to assume are the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau ) and five subs.

Well then...the question becomes, what do we want our priority build-wise to be? Personally, I would go for the lighter ships (plus subs) first. While it would be nice to have a bunch of Battleships/Battlecruisers, I doubt we can match the Brits in that regard. Lighter ships can be used in support of a Russian invasion (bombardment) better, and it will avoid problems later on (like Bismarck being caught alone because it only had the Prinz Eugen with it, until that cruiser retreated). And the subs are self-explanatory, though we should probably research the Type VII first (if needed)

That's just my first thoughts though...any other opinions?


EDIT: Of course, when I talk about Russian bombardment, I mean in the Black Sea...Sevastopol for instance.

[darthkommandant]

Well those BC I are pre dreadnought s not Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. We have to research and build those before the war begins thanks to the house rules as well as bismarcks. I do agree with your plan for upgrading and building our small ships and uboots as with a small but modern but powerful and concentrated surface fleet we should be able to secure victory on the seas. I always use complete fleets for much the same reasons you presented. I also rarely leave the protective cover of the Luftwaffe but with this you'll have to ask Goring for that.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Pre-dreds eh? Then yeah...we need at least the Scharnhorst class

[xthetenth]

Do not neglect the air force. If we build the air force properly we could have a legion of planes which could enforce our will with the grace of condors and without needing to worry about troop transports. Plus, if one of the delightful powderkegs on the periphery goes up, we could move our air force in and bring our allies' armies modernity relatively easily.

[darthkommandant]

Are 11 interceptor wings, 11 tactical bomber wings and 11 Close air support wings to be built enough for now?

[xthetenth]

That sounds most excellent for building a good cadre of men and the engineering expertise to keep providing the most modern fighters.

[DarkArk]

What about fighters instead of interceptors? They've got longer range and more firepower.

Also, not sure we can go through the Bosporus to the Black Sea. Turkey doesn't let warships through unless they are in a war.

[Skywalker_T-65]

True. Depends on if we can convince the Turks to let our ships through. That's a job for the diplomats though

[DarkArk]

If HoI3 lets us (you can't move through in HoI2 unless you are an ally of Turkey and you're both at war), then sending through some transports to attack the Caucasus and seize Baku immediately would be a good start.

[darthkommandant]

Both the med and Bosporus are closed to us I think especially if we are at war so landing troops in the Caucasus is a no go.

[darthkommandant]

Our current research projects
Light tank engine
Light tank gun
Light tank armor
Light tank reliability
Large warship armament
Large warship aa
Cap ship armor
Twin Engine fighter development
Fast battleship technology
Transport plane development
Strategic bomber
Airframe
Offensive armament
Defensive armament
Large fuel tank
Small fuel tank
Sea lane defense
Fleet aux carrier doctrine
Schwerpunkt
Operational level organization
At rocket

[Lictuel]

I also think we should go for fighters instead of interceptors, if we plan to fight a battle of britain. If that is not the case ints would be better with their anti bomber bonuses.
We should also try to trigger the reoccupation of the rheinland asap, no idea if that mod has influence on when we can do that.

[DarkArk]

I don't know the HoI3 tech tree that well. Is it as it appears and we're getting a bit of everything? Is there a particular focus that you're going for?

The real thing with fighters is the increased range. In Western Europe that isn't going to mean much, but once we're deep in Russia that extra 150 km range makes a difference.

[darthkommandant]

The interceptors will be for the west while the fighters we will build will be for the eastern front. The twin engined fighters will be for Africa and he eastern front as well.

[darthkommandant]

As of June 7 1936 we have completed most of the component of the 3 SS divisions. I have ordered 4 infantry divisions to be repeated 8 times. Support brigades will be added later. Ther are simPle 3 infantry brigades bundled together.

[darthkommandant]

I am now up to feb 1937 I will post my research when I get home from work as well as my production. Keep in mind that the twin engined fighters are ready for production and the multirole fighters will be researched ASAP. Also we are almost ready to start building Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.

[darthkommandant]

Due to some now fixed problems with the naval models we have to restart. I will try to play as closely as possible to the last game and will report on any changes.

[wautd]

Some pics would be nice

[darthkommandant]

I will add pics in the jan first 1938 update. Which will come on Friday which is when my gaming pc will have wifi access.

On a good note I added sprite pack compatibility for the panzer regiment and our navy. I also took francescos models mod and adapted it for the ships of RPM.

In game we are in aug 1937 and among other things our first new light cruisers are completed, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are laid down with a completion date of oct 1939, Austria has been absorbed into greater Germany, and our first twin engined fighters are being built ( 2 groups of 8 )
Also we completed work on peenemunde and are placing garrisons on the north German ports along with costal forts to deter invasions.

[darthkommandant]

Accidental double post please delete.

[darthkommandant]

Could a mod delete these sorry