Want to get into the Paradox games

[soopaman2]

Originally Posted by Safe-Keeper

I hope it gets anywhere and that it works out fine. I've never done an LP before (except from filming myself doing a single mission in Ground Control and then adding simple narrative subtitles), so talking into a mic will be... interesting. Don't slay me if it sounds like crap in the beginning, I'll do my best.

I aspire to , but I realize this is going to be a lot of work, so... to be honest, I can't promise anything, although it'd be really, really cool if something came of it. Maybe it'll just be subtitles and no spoken words at all. We'll see .

Oh, and it'll be in Norwegian, with subtitles. That's what I feel the most comfortable doing, it'll fit the Norwegian faction better, and my accent can be a bit tricky to understand anyhow.

Just a few words of advice. (mind you I am most experienced as Germany in this game)

Nukes stink, V-2s stink. don't waste IC on them.

Engineers in your units rule for river crossing.

Do not attack fortifications directly.

Planes suck at night, watch the time of day.

Put mech infantry with panzers for support while keeping speed.

Paratroopers are OP, ok severely OP. Exploit it or not.

Finally and most important.
Encircle. I cannot stress this enough. Pull a Stalingrad, encircle and destroy. Breakthroughs are king. Break the line, then funnel all you can into it.

If done right, they will pull units from other sections of the front, allowing you a chance at more breakthroughs. I folded up the Russian line like an accordion, with a breakthrough in the south, and a delayed attack in the north.

I have other advice for diplomacy, and spy usage, but do not want a tl;dr post.

[soopaman2]

Yay double post!

Diplomacy (as Norway), endear yourself to Germany. They will win in Europe. They slow up when they invade Russia. By then you should be cranking.

If not, they will eventually invade you, and you may not be aligned enough with the allies

Put your spies in country, rather than in others. Keeping 10 spies at home will reduce influence from Communist and Allied faction. As they can "influence" you whether you like it or not.

You can also endear to the Soviets if Germany is your primary target. But a fair warning, they (Germany) will invade you, if they are doing well in Russia. I do not advocate the allies, as America jumps in way too late, and can be repelled from Europe easily, especially if you yourself invade Britain before 1943.

That will not be easy as you will have little air cover available. But do-able with an overwelming force, they only seem to keep militia at home early on.


OK I am done! Not really. I could go on, but I won't.

[Safe-Keeper]

Diplomacy (as Norway), endear yourself to Germany.

**** no. I'm roleplaying all the way here, so I'm going to go with the Allies. But thanks for the warning/advice !

As of October 1940, I'm an Allies member, France has fallen, the English are advancing in north Africa, and my u-boats are making convoy shipping a nightmare for the Germans in and around the Kattegatt Strait. Wish they could carry weight, then I could launch commando raids against occupied Denmark or the German mainland .

Germans still haven't invaded Norway. I suppose they're too scared of my u-boats.



Edit: OK, so my IC situation is as follows:



.

Is it just me, or is my IC income being penaltized when it should be increased? Is this a bug, or can someone tell me where all my IC's are going?

Edit2: reading the manual, I see factories need resources to work. Given that some of my resource stockpiles are pretty much dry (I have next to no Rare Metals, for example), could this be the reason for my IC drought?

[Kremmen]

In reply to your heavy water question,you can't trade strategic resources.
From the wiki :

• Major nations receive the benefits of strategic resources from any other nation within their faction
• Faction leaders receive the benefits of strategic resources from any nation that is closely aligned to their faction so long as:
  • The aligned nation has their capital on the same continent as the faction leader
  • The aligned nation shares a coastline on the same ocean as the faction leader

so no $$$$$ there I'm afraid but you do get that warm fuzzy feeling from helping the cause


Those IC figures do seem to be a bit off,you should be getting a bonus (if I'm reading it right) could just be the lack of rares causing it.Try getting some trades going for rares and see if that fixes it.
Sry can't be more helpful than that.

[Safe-Keeper]

so no $$$$$ there I'm afraid but you do get that warm fuzzy feeling from helping the cause

Yay! We need all the warm and fuzzy feelings we can get, it's cold up here in Norway :3

Those IC figures do seem to be a bit off,you should be getting a bonus (if I'm reading it right) could just be the lack of rares causing it.Try getting some trades going for rares and see if that fixes it.
Sry can't be more helpful than that.

Yeah, my rare metals are nearly fully depleted and no one seems to want to sell them to me (I suppose they wouldn't be rare otherwise).

Question, though: I find it tiring to go through countries one by one to ask them if they want to sell a given resource, like RM. Is there a way to just ask everyone, "I want to buy rare metals! Are anyone selling?", for then to just await a response from some nation? I tried to automate trade, but I'm not 100% happy about how the AI handles it.

Thanks for all answers, they really help a lot.


It's late 1941 and I had the bright idea of deploying my fighter squadron to North Africa to help the British rout the Italians. Seeing they're armed with pea shooters with 1.00 soft attack and 0.00 hard attack, though, they're not doing much good (they average one or two kills each sortie -- infantry kills). I suppose I'll have to research proper armament for them when Leadership points next time I complete a research project and Leadership is freed up.

The Axis powers have declared war on Yugoslavia and Greece. Good news is, the British are being fairly successful in general against the Italians. The Germans haven't yet invaded the USSR. The USA is still neutral, the ****ers.

[Kremmen]

Don't think there's a way to yell 'buying rares' and wait for offers unfortunately,come to think of it that would save sooo much time.
Usually the Soviet Union,USA or UK are good sources of rares.
If you have an excess of anything energy,metal,supplies etc it's always a good idea to try and set up a trade with a country before trying to buy from them,makes them think more favourably of you and I think if I recall it actually makes it cheaper to buy from them too.The Soviets always seem to want supplies.
In the diplomacy tab if you click on a resources icon it will sort by who has the most of that resource,that can help to speed things up a bit.
I can't remember who is responsible for the convoy for overseas trade,the buyer or the seller so always make sure you have enough convoys.

[Safe-Keeper]

Don't think there's a way to yell 'buying rares' and wait for offers unfortunately,come to think of it that would save sooo much time.

Am I mistaken, or is there another x-pack for HOI3 coming up? If this isn't in, it's definitely should be something to consider to the devs, imo.

That, and the trade proposal window somehow letting you know in advance which deals the country will accept so that you don't have to try the sliders for each.

[Safe-Keeper]

In other news, I got my resource shortage sorted out (even though it involved trading with the Russkies, them bastards) and my IC is up to 24 now.

I'm considering taking my Viking destroyers sub hunting in the Western Approaches. The Allies are losing convoys left and right, and either way, combat experience is only good for my boys. Norwegians belong on the high seas!

[Kremmen]

Yea there's a new expansion coming out on Sept 26 'Their finest Hour',I see it's up for pre-order on gamersgate.
It would be nice if in the diplomacy tab there was an option where you could select what you want to buy and a list of countries who would trade with you came up,it can get tedious going through the list one at a time trying to set up a deal.
Good to see you got your IC sorted though

[soopaman2]

I of course neglected to say threat by neighbors increases alignment to other factions, so my advice on kissing Germany backside is flawed. My fear was allied alignment issues, but I forgot about threat modifiers.

May I ask how you are doing your research?

Are you going a naval route, or a land route, are you playing turtle, or do you plan on striking?

Germany can be defeated at sea, especially as an allied member. Battlecruiser research. BCs seem to be king in this game.

At the same time, America will eventually show up. (Whether you are still around for it or not, depends on Russia)

When they do land on Europe, which will happen, would be the best time to push into Belgium and France.

Being Norway, you almost have a natural bottleneck to keep the Bosch out.
Fortify it with bunkers, and you can keep them off your butt, until the true allied assault comes. Alone you will fall, Britain is of no help, as they are reeling on the defensive most the time, and too worried about Colonial possessions in Africa, and the Pacific. (Not sure if this is intentional, or a game flaw)

I even seen an AI Germany conquer GB in 1942, in an American game in which I joined the Commintern.

[Safe-Keeper]

May I ask how you are doing your research?

Erm... I don't have much of a research plan, really, but I've upgraded the guns of my fighters, upgraded my infantry in various ways (including unlocking mountain infantry), and done an IC-boostnig tech or two. Dunno if they're any good given they give such a tiny bonus and my IC is so low, but it felt like a good idea at the time :P . I also have the tech that allows me to build new factories, though I haven't actually got any built.

[soopaman2]

Originally Posted by Safe-Keeper

Erm... I don't have much of a research plan, really, but I've upgraded the guns of my fighters, upgraded my infantry in various ways (including unlocking mountain infantry), and done an IC-boostnig tech or two. Dunno if they're any good given they give such a tiny bonus and my IC is so low, but it felt like a good idea at the time :P . I also have the tech that allows me to build new factories, though I haven't actually got any built.

One thing you could never be is an absolute powerhouse. The game tries to be accurate with IC points. Russia (just an example)despite its size sucks until you improve infrastructure if you play as them.

The best bet would be to choose a research specialization. Land or sea.

Assess what you choose to accomplish in your game. Running interference on naval blockading operations against Britain until America shows up. Or giving it to the hun!

Norway is a fun location to play, due to your ability to turtle, and strike when ready.

Once France has split into 2 (Vichy/Nazi) and the Germans begin playing with the Russian, you can then push into Belgium and the other low countries, you will get minimal militia defense if you wait for Russia to start pushing back.

In other words 1942-43 is the earliest to wage war, the rest of the time you will be playing diplomat, and using spies to avoid influence from the Commies. America is too pivotal, unless the Russians really start kicking butt, which is rare. They always hold thier own but never push back, until America comes in 43 or so.

If you strike at the right time, before America wakes the heck up, and as the Russians get thier act together, you could maybe "hypothetically" cause a pincer movement.

The key in all this is America. Germany as a consolidated force is unstoppable, but split on 2 fronts with you creating the third, regardless of your inferior IC, it can work. We all know Operation Market Garden failed, but you could make it happen!

My advice overall? Use the others as fodder, America has alot to spare, but they are so slow into the war that it can become dangerous for you. Games will tend to surprise you, I turned America to Commintern before as the SU. so strangeness happens.

[Safe-Keeper]

I'm strongly considering invading and annexing Sweden. They're not doing anything good for the war effort while neutral and the IC and resources from their lands would help fuel the Norwegian war effort. Plus, hey, it's Sweden.

Then again, their neutrality is down to 27, and they are aligned fairly close to the Allies, so maybe I should just wait for them to join the war on their own accord? Also, as Germany has pretty much steamrolled Finland, taking Sweden would give me a direct land border to their armies, which I have a feeling I don't want (then again, if the US would only get their asses in gear and invade France, it would give me that third front you spoke of :p ).

[soopaman2]

Good luck, Safe-Keeper.

When I play this game, I like to pre-plan, but things always change, there is always the proverbial monkey wrench in the gears.
Just be ready to improvise and adapt.

Invading the Swedes would be good for a boost in trade goods and IC etc.
Like you said alignment issues will make that hard.
The threat produced by Germany, and Russia (Faction leaders in close proximity, with massive armies) tends to keep them firmly in allied hands, but I am sure spies can be used to reduce neutrality, but doing so costs IC, and leaves your own country open to be being subverted by other factions.

A friend of mine, pointed out to me that Americas arrival in Europe depends on how well Japan does in China in the early game.

Pearl Harbor and all. He has seen it come as late as 1944, and another thing to note is, America is really democratic, and pre war they have really oppressive laws that hamper troop recruiting. (they also have the most IC, so when they do piss them off...Oh boy..)

They are also far from any real countries that provide threat modifiers, it seems they are not scripted to jump in unless provoked, just as the Japanese are scripted to eventually provoke them. (Barring any drastic alignment things, like a crafty player converting them to axis or commintern)


Even playing as America, it is really difficult to jump in the war.
I really love this game. Can't you tell?

[Safe-Keeper]

The threat produced by Germany, and Russia (Faction leaders in close proximity, with massive armies) tends to keep them firmly in allied hands, but I am sure spies can be used to reduce neutrality, but doing so costs IC, and leaves your own country open to be being subverted by other factions.

Do you mean Leadership, or is there something I haven't caught onto here? Not being a smartass, I just want to make 100% sure.