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Cal
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Hermosa Beach, California, USA
Aug 2000 time: 05:14
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Post your Second Front strategies here!
Here's an incomplete one I've been using to get through D-day.
1st Turn
I still don't have a good strategy on what to do with your elite paradrop units that are between Cherbourg and Carentan, but it seems the less you move them initially, the longer you're likely to keep them. It may be tempting to throw one at a costal battery when it's at full strength, but save before you do this, as you win maybe 1 out of 4 times, and remember that the unit that destroys the battery is a sitting duck for all nearby enemies.
Move your gliders into France, don't worry about keeping them safe, they're meant to be disposible, move the commandoes into the hedgerows to attack any enemies that appear in the open, you will not have as hard a time as the elite paradrop units are having in the western part of France. And don't just move the gliders next to a city and start throwing commandoes at it, even if you take the city, it'll be recaptured when the turn is over.
2nd Turn
I like to leave all my planes in the airports and move all the landing ships into position, don't try to land yet, you'll either be unable to do it because you can't find a free spot of land, you'll run into a beach mine, or you'll be a sitting duck for the costal cannons. Do not move any of your battleships or LVT's within 6 squares of any place that could be housing 16 mm shells, you will lose your ships and Germany will get a bonus. Use your destroyers and Cruisers to clear away any beach mines
Start moving your planes out into attacking position for the airstrike on the third turn.
Here are some tips regarding planes.
1. Do not attack anything on very defensive terrain, unless it is VERY weak, and before you do, try to find another unit to attack first.
2. Save before attacking cities, there may be a bunker or costal cannon inside.
3. If you see any Luftwaffe planes, go after those over all other targets, you get more planes for destroying them!
To clear away a bunker or costal cannon you will need either:
A. A combat engineer (flamethrower infantryman)
B. Two "Croccidile" units
They move as all as roads, so don't be afraid to attack with 2/3rd's power.
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The strategically impaired,
-Cal
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Captain Nemo
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Red Front
Jan 1970 time: 05:14
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Xin Yu:
You already figured out how and where to get at those German Planes! My testplayers didn't until I told them... Yes the fighters (Spitfires and P51s) can easily earn their keep by downing Luftwaffe planes... that is until the Germans give up even getting close to the coast. And eventually they won't have any planes left to do it.
However my scorecard had approx. 30 downed Me109s and 15 Fw190s on it by August. Watch your planes carefully. I was much more stingy with Air Force reinforcements than with the landunits. Once they are wasted you might be fighting a pure ground war against Tiger and Panther tanks brrr...
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Cal
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Hermosa Beach, California, USA
Aug 2000 time: 05:14
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One thing about Second Front that's strange... is how cities could be easily destroyed if you're caught without Anti-tank defenses, then the only way to get the population back is to bring in supply trucks. This happened once to me and I had to start over.
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The strategically impaired,
-Cal
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Cal
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Hermosa Beach, California, USA
Aug 2000 time: 05:14
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Hmm... no one seems to ever come to this forum...
...But I won't let that stop me!
On the very first turn, only move your Mustangs to clear away those pesky beach mines, don't bring out any other planes until the second turn.
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The strategically impaired,
-Cal
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Sten Sture
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SF, CA don't call it frisco... Striker!!
Mar 1999 time: 21:14
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Thanks for mentioning this forum Cal... I forgot to look over here.
Beach mines: they are visible to all units so just click off of the unit you are moving and check your route - Air units can see two spaces so screen the area after every 2nd space. (Xin my rules.txt says only 1 move for mines, they are zone 2)
Terrain: Grass is a 1 not a 2!!! It took a third look to catch this one. Grass, marsh, beach, wire all are 50% defensive terrain. I found that I could take out most armor (even 2x air) and Widerstandsnest's with P-51s. Kill stacks on weak terrain. Setting up kill zones along roads through the hedgerows worked like a charm: I found I could block a road with a plane infront of a grass/road square and pick off armor - especially if the grass was surrounded by high move terrain.
Alpine move German units: Fallschirmjäger units are two move alpines that ignore ZOCs and walls - don't have your Airbornes hang out in the marshes trying to pick off stuck units - I got very lucky and caught them for the first time at the end of their movement and had to use air power to make sure I didn't lose my best troops. They are the most dangerous German units in the early game - take them out with fighters on weak terrain or P47s and Typhoons on fields, dunes, or woods. 352nd Inf units are also somewhat dangerous, but can be hearded into easy kill zones by ZOCs and aircraft. 709th, 716th, and Wehrmacht are no offensive threat - save them for stack kills or go around them.
Airbornes: I generally move them back toward the beach hedgerows to pick off some 709th Inf and keep the Fallschirmjäger away from Utah and St. Mere Eglise. Anywhere that they can create a ZOC that stops armor coming up the road in weak terrain is a good spot.
Croc tanks are great to move inland and set up kill zones on the eastern edge of the hedgerows - alpine and iZOC - don't waste them clearing non-threatening units at the beaches.
Beach landings - there are several fortified landing sites that will allow you to stand off from shore guns and get multiple units into them - controling the local shore guns will allow you to pull LSTs right up to shore if you want to - though I found chaining Higgins boats to be quicker and allowed the LSTs to head back for reinforcements/fuel. I avoided a broad assault and instead went with a pincher manuever around the famous Easy Red landing area on Omaha infront of Colleville. Controling the roads and tough defensive terrain early seemed more important than taking out all of the shore positions. Remember the old adage of mobile combat vs fixed positions - Choose the battlefield.
Command Posts: they must be non-vet 'cause Vet Crusiers pummel the ones on the shore.
Shore Guns: these should be priority target #1. Use turn #1 to get your Combat Engineers in position to take out the ones that flank your landing zones. Don't waste shells on them and stay back away from the coast so that your Higgins boats are just outside their range. Note their locations by air so your ground pounders know where to go - or not to go. Don't stack anything inside their range until they are gone.
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Xin Yu
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Emeryville, CA, USA
Jan 1970 time: 21:14
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OK, Here's a complete plan for the D-day 
First turn, land the gliders near Langrune on different places (so they don't get stack-killed), then move the commandos to the hedgerow square south of Lagrune and fortify them. The German will waste its shells to attack the gliders, but they will use other troops to attack the commandos (and lose). On turn 2 use the commandos to attack and occupy the city. As far as the gliders are not in the same city as the commandos, shells will not fall upon them.
Your aircrafts should be able to clear the shore mines within turn 2 and turn 3. There are 38 shore mines in total. Check the casualty screen to make sure you get 35 killed. Three of them will be disbanded when you capture Langrune.
Mean while, put your assault crafts (which do not have armors on them!) together to form circles to protect other ships (as I mentioned in one of my previous posts). Groups your ships to form 4 such 'fleets' and land them in the following locations:
1. North to Vierville s/Mer. This city has only infantry units so use your bombers to clear the defense and land rangers to occupy it. Your armors can reach the city in two turns from the shore.
2. North-East to Port-en-Bessin. There is one command post on the beach. Use your cruisers to destroy it, then land your heavy artillaries/Crocodiles to attack. Since the command post's terrain is 'field' (1 move point) you can attack the same turn as you landed. Then use rangers to occupy the city. The whole procedure should be finished in the same turn. Afterwards you can land some infantry units to form a circle (along with the assault crafts) to protect the cruisers and other landing vihecles.
3. North-East to Le Hamel. There is a fortress square next to the city and accessable from the sea. Land a lot of infantry units and some artillaries. The infantries will be cannon folders for your artillary units. The second turn use the artillaries to attack then occupy the city.
4. North to Lagrune. Your commandos have already occupied the city for you, so just send reinforcement there.
After the 4 targets are occupied, expand to nearby cities. Attack by using your artillaries.
Use engineers to clear the beach batteries along the shore (use rangers to do amphibious assault to prevent counter-attacks). This includes the American beach. After the batteries are gone, cruisers, DD-tanks and destroyes can do coastal bombardment. I prefer not using engineers for cities, since I may encounter other types of units and waste the precious units.
After other beach head positions are secure, use assault crafts to move some troops (chain-transportation) to the American beach. Supported by air force they should be able to occupy La Madeleine easily. DD-tanks may be able to do so by themselves.
On even turns (Turn 2, 4, ...), send your fighters to the upper-right corner, the ocean squares in the middle-east part of the map, and the upper-left corner, to search for German fighters. You may want to go half way on odd turns in case the German fighters are out of range.
Don't waste money. You may need to rush-build some anti-tank defenses. I prefer to hire a lot of taxmen in my home cities. When you reach your targets, you will be rewarded some infantry units. Disband them to build armors.
Do not kill enemy fortified positions unless it is absolutely necessary. The German have 3 civs so some of the positions may block their own units' movements.
Edit: if you capture a German city on turn 1 you get all of its treasury. If you really want that money ($1000 plus) you can try to attack Lagrune on turn 1.
[This message has been edited by Xin Yu (edited October 16, 2000).]
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Cal
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Hermosa Beach, California, USA
Aug 2000 time: 05:14
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How does everyone deal with the Fallschrimagers? They always manage to practically erradicate my elite paradrop units before part 1 is over.
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The strategically impaired,
-Cal
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Cal
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Hermosa Beach, California, USA
Aug 2000 time: 05:14
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It is *very* wise to take Bayeux. You get a wonder, and a very large city. Dump your ammo supply trucks in there and then support as many tanks and other fuel supporting units as possible in there.
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The strategically impaired,
-Cal
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Xin Yu
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Emeryville, CA, USA
Jan 1970 time: 21:14
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Shasdowstrike: theoretically you shouldn't lose since the german attacking units (M42 machine gun) have 9a 2h 2f vs your commandos 6d 2h 2f on defensex2.5 terrain (both sides are veterans). You have to take some chance or you'll not be able to gain advantage.
There is another way to take a chance. You can land your gliders on the barbware square northeast of Lion-sur-Mer and use commandos to attack the city. You'll lose two commandos to the two Widerstandsnests but you'll have a chance to win all of the rest 6 battles. This way you still have two commandos left to take the city (that is, you can afford to lose 1 more battle). After taking the city, the 15cm battery next to it will be disbanded and you can use the commando(s) (with 2/3 move point left) to attack the shells and destroy them. If this is successful you can safely land the gliders inside the city for later use. Besides you'll get all of the German marine's money (600 golds).
If you cannot take the city on turn 1, then you should move the gliders to sea squares so that your commandos don't get bombed by shells. You may get a chance to take the city on turn 2 (since the city belongs to German marine there will not be any reinforcement, however the city may produce a unit during the turn, plus your commandos are on barbwire so they may get killed first).
Reinforcement (bombers, several commandos and crocodiles) will arrive on turn 3 so there is a decent chance for you to hold on against German armors. Then, if you still have gliders left, you can paradrop engineers and heavy artillaries to other cities and take them. Surround the occupied cities with bombers and infantry units so that shells will not fall upon them for the sake of the gliders.
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