50 replies to this topic

[Flop]

The recent discussions on the shoutbox have tempted me to reinstall this game, so I thought I'd start a topic for it, so we can discuss this glorious game in one place.

Anyway, with regards to the research penalty:

If you want a tech that was historically researched in say, 1940, and you start researching it before then, you will get a penalty. How large the penalty is depends on how far from the historical year you are, and this is calculated in days. So in the above example it makes a difference whether you start the march 27, 1939 or october 15, 1939. The penalty will get smaller for every day that goes by, so your research speed will go faster and faster, untill eventually the penalty dissappers on january 1, 1940 (assuming you didn't finish the research before then). There's a limit to how large the penalty can get, and I think it's about 2-3 years before the historical date, however imo it's never worth it to start researching anything that early, no matter how much you need it (often the penalty is so great that you would probably finish around the same time if you started later). A rule of thumb is to not research anything earlier than a year before the historical date.

Btw, there's no bonus for researching later than the historical date, so I usually research all of the techs that have no penalty (that I want), before starting to research ahead of time, unless there's something I really, really want.

Edit: Here is a link to a research faq.

Quote

You get a cumulative 0,15% penalty per day for researching ahead of time. The cap for this penalty is at 90%. The relevant time for a tech is always 01.01. of the corresponding year. So a 1938 technology started at 01.01.37 would get a 360*0,15% = 54% penalty for the first day, a 53,85% penalty for the second day and so on until you reach 01.01.38 when you don?t get any penalty for the remaining research of this tech anymore.

[DakaSha]

since i just started out and the games not the easiest to grasp right away i got a couple noob questions:

1. How are points calculated? i just want to know because obviously Russia is going to be able to do more then say, yemen. If i would start with yemen can i still win by being more succesfull in historical terms?

2. Is it worth starting as one of the not so strong nations (like australia)? What i mean is is it even possible to make them strong enough so that you can even do anything (kinda boring without actually being able to go to war )

3. Is it possible to really change history? lets say i want the usa to team up with the axis

[Flop]

1) Some territories give victory points to whoever controls them. This is the only source of victory points. If you click the victory points overlay, in the bottom left corner of the screen, you can see which territories. When you click on a territory that gives victory points, you can see a star on the picture of the territory, with the victory point value in it. Btw, in order to annex a country you need to control of that countrys victory point provinces. In order to make it a puppet nation you need 2/3.

2) Not really. It can be fun, but don't expect to win the war. You can improve things like IC and so on, but only within a certain limit of your starting point, so the nations that start out strong have a great advantage. Also, the tech teams of the smaller nations are usually pretty crappy, which means you'll always be behind the great powers technologically.

3) I've only played a couple of games with USA, but I believe it's possible to become fascist if you want to. You're gonna get to make some historical choices during the game, not to mention change your policy sliders. At the beginning, though, I don't think the USA is even able to declare war (if I remember correctly). In HOI 1 I routinely attacked and crushed Italy, when playing as Germany, but I usually don't in HOI 2, because of the transportation drain. I often decide not to ally myself with Japan, in order or avoid a war with the USA, when playing Germany...

[Juni Ori]

I just love this game! But looks like I have to practice a little more, as I stood no chance. *goes back playing*

[DakaSha]

yeah it is cool huh?
sadly it runs at least as slow as on my old PC no reason why... its the only game that does.

[Flop]

This "bitter peace" event just keeps screwing with me, by not happening. My tanks have been occupying all the key provinces of USSR for two years now and it still hasn't happened. I think I'll start over...

[Juni Ori]

I'm now in '39 June and I've been taking my time and considering deeply what to do. I was sure that I grow bored very fast this way, but no, it's great. I have Czechoslovakia divided, Slovakia as puppet, and my forces are gathering to east... Waiting to see how much can poor little Poland to my huge war machine. One question ('cause I'm lazy and never read manuals ): What good is that "Reserve" order? Or do I need to read that damn manual? Whatever good it is, I'm not going to need it, as I have managed to gather much larger army than historically would be accurate. Haven't even counted how many divisions I have there. Overall at least 60 Infanterie Divisions, 20 Kavallerie Divisions, 20 Infantiere Divisions (mot) and 10 Panzer Divisions (PzKpfw-III). Going to crush them.

[Flop]

The reserve order means that the unit will do support defense in all adjacent provinces (although not as fast a regular support defense, I believe. I never use it myself.

[Juni Ori]

Ok, 10 PzIII Divisions vs. 9 '39 infantry divisions on open plains is quite unfair... Not to mention massive Stuka support. 48 hours and whole Polish army is running.

[Flop]

hehe, yeah Poland is always in a pretty bad situation.

I never actually use motorised divisions myself, although I probably should. I tend to push for mechanised and rely on regular infantry untill then.

Remember to not build too many motorised/mechanised/panzer divisions, though. They can be a serious drain on your oil supply. Even with a stockpile of 100.000+ you can run dry in 44 or 45 if you have built too many oildraining divisions.

[Juni Ori]

Thanks for the tip, but I have to say that I'm that much historian and know WW2 quite well, so my worst fear from the beginning has been lack of oil. I've bought it from the beginning and not sure how much I have at the moment, but quite much. I also noticed some nice features which I stupidly hadn't paid any attention earlier and I threw that game to thrash can. Now I've restarted and I'm not going to repeat my mistakes. This time (quite soon) I'm going to use two panzer armies and drive through Polish line continuing the attack to following provinces!!! Guess how stupid I felt when I realized that reason why Poles did have a chance was simply because I didn't know that I can command my forces to continue attack, so they don't have to waste so much time reorganizing.

If you compare motorized and regular infantry you noticed quite huge difference in their speed (and use of oil, admitted). I keep most of my infantry regular, because they have solely defencive duties, but I'm not going to halt any of my panzer charges because my infantry can't keep up. Ok, mechanized would be nice, but it's quite some years until I'll have them, so I use what I have.

Panzer, marsch marsch!!! Schnell du schweinhund!!!

Btw, quite stupid that this otherwise excellent game with quite good variety of different units lacks totally elite formations, like Waffen-SS (okay, nominally they are in), Rangers, etc.

[PrejudiceSucks]

The Waffen-SS probably aren't in there because of German laws banning any references to the SS in games.

That's why in the European version of the Combat Mission series, they're called "Waffen Grenadiers". If, on the other hand, you play the American version, they're listed as Waffen SS troops.

Also, the Rangers weren't that important in World War two, although they did help out a bit.

[Juni Ori]

Ouch... I always forget those German laws, luckily I don't live there... Anyways, my point was why there's only one type of reg, mot and mec infantries? Well, doesn't matter much.

[Flop]

Actually, there are several types of infantry. Besides the normal kind, you can get mountain divisions, marines and paratroopers. These units benefit from having a leader with the commando trait. When I play Germany I usually scratch marines and paratroopers (paratroopers can be really nice, but the amount of research and IC you have to pour into them is way too much to make ot worthwhile), but mountain divisions are very good to have. Their penalties in mountain regions and in freezing weather are much less than all other units.

Also, be careful with your motorised divisions. Don't take them into mountain and swamp regions (it's probably a good idea to stay clear of forests too), and stay clear of muddy weather.

[Havell]

Reading this thread reminded me of how good this game is so I dug up the CD and installed it again.  I'm playing as Poland.  I've taken over the three north-eastern european nations (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia).  I'm now moving my offensive forces down to the Czech border, I have the German border well defended, I hope to be able to successfully challenge the invasion when it comes,  though I might invade Czechoslovakia before the Germans get a chance   I decided to leave the USSR border undefended, as even if I had my entire army there the Russians would still wipe the floor with me so I opted not to weaken my army by posting defence units there (I'm just praying they don't try anything).