Just a list of questions from a new player (under 2 weeks) 1) Is there any way to rename your ministers, armies, or fleets? 2) Can you strategically deploy any unit? Or just Garrisons? 3) What are garrisons good for? 4) Is there any way to speed up factory, or fort production? 5) CAGs allow my carriers to attack ports, but when I do, they dont damage anything in the port and the attack disorganizes my carriers to uselessness, what do I do? 6) Am I right when I state only planes, and land units can be upgraded, not ships? If Im wrong, how do you upgrade ships? 7) How much IC do you need for each tech slot to be gained? 8) How do I get supply to islands, I traded tech for an Island close to Japan to set a port up at...but I cant because its not in supply. 9) Is motorized Infantry worth it, or should I go for mech? 10) Does bombing a unit with ground attack do anything? I dont see any effect on them. 11) Do units gain experiance, or just generals? 12) How come with some countries I can declare war on anyone immediately and others its greyed out. 13) How do I destroy an enemy division? They only seem to retreat and re-attack me. and last 14) Whats your favorite country? (Commie China is mine at the moment - instant war) Lots of questions, if I get even one answer it will help, thanks. (The naming one is what I want to know most, im tired or trading for US ships and not seeing a good name)
To elaborate on some points: You can not rename Ministers. To Strategically redeploy a unit, hold down CTRL and click on the province. This province must be land-connected (through a chain of provinces) to the Army you wish to redeploy. Check the time frame too - something Strat. Redeployment takes longer then just moving to a closer province. Garrisons are good for lowering the Partisan risk in surrounding territories to the ones they are deployed in. They are low-cast, so using them to guard beaches in areas less likely to be attacked, and also at Airfields near the front (to give you time to redeploy airforce in case of breakthrough attack). For instance, I use Garrisons as Italy in Sicily, and mainland Italy, along with coastal Africa to prevent invading units a freebie in taking a large port. Also, mainland Italy/Sicily isn't likely to get attacked, so why waste a good Inf. Unit in babysitter duty? Ground Attack destroys individual soldiers, requiring more reinforcements form your enemies reinforcement pool. Good way to deplete a small countries military. I prefer Interdiction attacks, as this lowers the Organization of a unit, and makes them (aka the British) closer to my Italian Troops level.
Also, if you have Doomsday - Armageddon mods, the latter (armageddon) allows you to turn on the DEMOCRACY CAN DECLARE WAR feature. Researching certain technology will also speed up Land Fort Production and bonuses.
So WHEN do yall decide is the "right" time to go to war? and what are yalls suggestions for new player? like a certain scenario? (I keep starting at 1936, gives me a lot of peace time to build if I want.)
Depends what your plans are. And who are you playing as. Base research on your plans so you don't waste slots, and strike when you think you can win. As Italy, i start at war with Ethipia. I take it (rather easily) then ship most of those troops (apart from the Militia units) back to Italy. I then move a lot of troops from Yugoslavia Border and half from French Border to ship off an attack Spain once their civil war breaks out. As such, I focus on Infantry and Tank research, with Carriers thrown in and some airforce. All in prepartion, of course, for war with the British in the Mid-East Africa. The fighting in Spain gives my Airforce and Infantry good experiance, plus extra Tech-Teams to help my research. All goes to plan, I have about 3 years before conflict with the powerful UK erupts.
Ah the blasted motorised infantry.... A bit of a bugger. It is good for mobile warfare in the sence that it is faster than regular infantry. You do get a combined arms bonus if the force is at least 1/3 hard forces (mech or armour) However if you have to slug it out you will be better off with mech infantry. They have a better hard ratio in defence, so they tend to loose org slower. BUT ! If you decide to go to war early (before 1941-42) motorised units is vital to drive the spearheds deeper into enemy territory. If you decide to play with a nation that is in the position to strike early in the game the motorised option works well. Resources counts aswell. The mech units guzzle oil. An ineffective way of playing HOI is to just start without a master plan. However by making bad decisions early, you won't try them again. AND Avoid to use cheats. As a beginner use the "nofog" to see what is happening but leave it at that. If you start fiddeling wiht base IC and resources the game is over before it has started. Take the challenge of playing with the nations handicap. I like to play with UK. Little manpower and little peacetime IC, coupled with a poor land doctrine and an immense frontline makes it a massive challenge. If I cheat my way around it the charm of playing UK is gone.
So far I'm likeing the communist china...I took over a bunch of land while spending a ton trying to get Japan to be influenced to join an alliance...didnt work...ended up all the chinese going to war, me being forced to by an event...so I begged for peace and gave all the land but like my original 3 and one neighboring prov with some factories...now im chewing through the weak nat chinas provs with inf 39s and a 2 mech units and a random light tank...the L.Arm + 2 Mech division is kicking ass and not even stopping to take names, all while Japan just chills...I think i'll go kick them next...or maybe russia, wonder if i could join the nazis...so many possibilities...love this game already. Another question...whats the best way to get the exp stars on units? and whats the diff between unit exp and general exp?
I think General experience improves the effectiveness of all your units under that General as well as the probability of events occuring (wich really, really help!). Unit experience influences only the the unit itself giving it effecytiveness bonuses. The best way to get stars is attacking and defending without suffering much losses (replacements lower general experience!). It's quite easy to get planes tro win experience! Just send bombers and fighters to do their jobs and you'll see them raking up stars in a flash! By the way how do you feel about engeneers? I have a couple of mountain units with a General who is an engeneer and each with an engeneer brigade attached. They are killers in river crossings and taking out land forts! Cheers...
I prefer Commando Generals with Mountain units myself. Gives them bonus's in the Hills/Mtns which is where I try to use them primarily. I try to stick an engineer brigade into each army, for the sole reason of the added Defensive Bonus, and the River Crossing, but in Africa there are very few Rivers to cross. In the early years, I use Panzer Generals on my Cavalry Divisions to give them experiance, then promote them (most start off as Mjr. Generals) once they gain some experiance and give them a Tank command. Defensive/Old Guard Generals get to sit at home with the Home Guard or Militia units. Sadly, most of my High Ranking Generals (Italia) are Old Guard. Superior Tacticians get control of my large fleets, while Sea Wolves control the Subs and Blockade Runner controls my Transport Fleet.
I just give a Maj. General a supporting role (Von Rundstedt is the guy I use to command my main infantry force, with 7th Panzer attached.) Once i have 4 Panzerarmees of 3 tank divisions with SP artillery, I can really kick ass.
