Flames and Steel (official thread)
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Britain's research phase
The result: one star towards the Churchill heavy tank, and Advanced 1 tech. Britain can now build an SPC, and has completed the advanced tech category. But that SPC would sit idle until it researches at least one advanced unit type. The Churchill heavy tank would be one example of an advanced unit. As an aside, the Churchill heavy tank is a little inferior to a normal heavy tank. But Britain can solve this problem by researching Centurion tech, which makes its heavy tanks superior to normal heavy tanks.
The British fleet in the west Mediterranean was not strong enough to challenge the Italian Navy. Therefore it has exited the Mediterranean and journeyed into the Atlantic. Note the German fleet to the north.
Here, the British and Italians are competing for North Africa. Britain has a bit of a tricky situation. It is only allowed to place new factories in the British Isles, Canada, India, Australia, or South Africa. This means its supply lines will often be longer than it might prefer.
Note that Britain is unable to reinforce China, because non-Chinese soldiers are not allowed onto China-owned soil. Britain will have to fight its own, separate war with Japan, starting in round 3. Also, Lend-Lease munitions can only be placed in the continental United States, Canada, or the British Isles. This means Britain cannot use its India factories to send Lend Lease munitions to China or the Soviet Union.
The British Navy couldn't reach the German subs in the North Atlantic, so Britain chose to neutral farm Iceland instead. During the air phase it had strafed Ireland, killing one of the two infantry defending it. If it kills the other infantry during the next air phase, it will be able to waltz into Ireland unopposed. The British dive bomber and torpedo bomber would prefer to strafe the Germans in France instead, but they cannot do so until Britain gets the Extended Range tech.
The British build. One factory for India, the other for South Africa. Destroyers for the North Atlantic. Land units for the factories in India and Africa Britain already has.
Place new units. Note that allowed locations for factories are colored somewhat differently than disallowed locations.
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Italian research phase. Italy has one research center. As a small nation, its main research objective is to get anything it can to produce free resources. That means innovation tech as its primary focus, and recruitment as its secondary focus.
A randomly chosen tech, towards being able to build strategic bombers. Not what Italy had wanted.
Italy's combat move. No actual attacks, but a buildup in North Africa.
Italy's build. It is one of three nations able to build conscripts. (The other two being the Soviet Union and China.) A conscript attacks on a 0, or a 1 if supported. Defends on a 1. Costs 0 PUs and 1 MP. Six conscripts for Italy, as well as four transports.
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China's build phase
11 conscripts, made possible by having 11 manpower points on hand. But China doesn't have many PUs, so its PU units consist of three heavy guns and an anti-tank gun.
Unit placement for China. China is allowed to place up to two conscripts in any Chinese territory, so long as it owned that territory at the beginning of its turn. Hankow was conquered this turn, which is why it's a different color than the rest of China's territories. Units which cost PUs can only be placed in China's factories. China is allowed to place up to two conscripts in a factory territory without having them count against the factory's unit placement.
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America's first turn. Research.
America gets good income bonuses from its USA tech. That's why USA is a primary focus of one of its research centers. The other research center's primary focus is on fleet carrier. The U.S. starts off with one star towards fleet carrier tech, so this would be a good opportunity to unlock an advanced unit for the U.S. to produce. The U.S. chose Advanced as a secondary focus, in hopes of being able to build Special Production Centers (SPCs) to produce advanced units. The U.S. is allowed to have up to four SPCs, tied with Germany for most in the game. The other secondary focus for the U.S. is Piston Aircraft. You need extended range to start with, but after that there are some good piston aircraft techs available.
One star towards Extended Range. The other research advance was shipyards. That's a 1 PU reduction in the cost of your transports and cruisers. Also that builds towards other good surface ship techs. This is very good news for a nation which will soon be in a naval war against Japan.
The U.S. build screen. The U.S. has limited building ability while at peace.
U.S. unit placement: 2 trenches for Manila. Trenches can be placed without a factory. But only 2 trenches max per territory per turn. The trenches won't stop Japan's invasion of the South Pacific, but they might slow it down. The rest of the U.S. units were placed in the Pacific or in San Francisco. The U.S. is unable to move units while at peace, so it went straight from unit purchase to unit placement.
The U.S. collected income of 36 PUs and 4 MPs. Okay, that's not much. Granted. This is the U.S.'s peacetime income. At the end of its third turn it will collect 50% of its true income. At the end of its fourth turn it will collect 60%, then 70%, and so on, until it has fully ramped up. How much will America's income be once it's fully ramped up? 227 PUs, 13 MPs. Plus whatever income it is able to add to that through neutral farming or technological research.
Currently Germany's income is 142 PUs and 15 MPs. Japan's is 94 PUs and 8 MPs. Germany hopes to expand its income at the expense of the Soviet Union. Japan hopes to grow its income through conquest in the South Pacific, China, and southeast Asia. Japan isn't looking to invade the Soviet Union any time soon. Japan would be content with a stalemate between the Soviet army in Vladivostok and its own army in Manchuria.
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Germany's second turn:
Air phase: strafed Soviet land units adjacent to the Germans. Damaged the Red Army. The Soviet Air Force is not strong enough to challenge the Luftwaffe at this time.
Research phase: gained Extended Range. In future turns German dive bombers will be able to reach further in to Soviet territory. Gained Advanced tech 2. Now Germany can build up to two SPCs. That wouldn't do it any good right this instant however, because Germany hasn't yet unlocked the tech for any advanced units. Germany's third tech advance was chosen at random, and is the V1 rocket. The V1 has no game effect. But there are other techs further down that tree which do.
Germany's build was all land. It was going for quantity, so lots of anti-tank guns. Its income has risen to 163.
Soviet second turn. Research phase. A tech chosen at random, going towards strategic bomber tech. Ouch. But, an advance towards unlocking KV-2 tech (heavy tanks). Only one star left to go on that one. However, the Soviet Union has not unlocked any Advanced tech, which means that it cannot yet build any Special Production Centers (SPCs). The KV-2 heavy tank is useless until the Soviet player has at least one SPC with which to build KV-2s. Not that the Soviets have fully unlocked KV-2 tech just yet.
Soviet build phase. It had a lot of leftover MPs at the end of round 1, giving it 46 MPs to spend for round 2. 46 conscripts. Also it collected full income at the end of round 1, giving it 192 PUs to spend for round 2. It has plenty of cannon fodder (conscripts), so it needs firepower to go along with that. Field guns, heavy guns, and tanks are good options for firepower.
Place new units. One unplaced conscript. The Soviet Union could have placed it well to the rear. Instead it will save the conscript for next turn, when it can be placed a lot closer to the front. The Soviet Union has large unit placement capacity, even after the loss of Leningrad.
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Japan's second turn. One star towards late war production (Japan tech category). That was the final star needed, unlocking that tech. Bonus income for Japan! The other tech advance was shipyards. Less costly transports and cruisers. Japan is very pleased with this research phase.
Japan is invading Cochinchina, a territory in southeast Asia which would make a decent spot for a factory. It is building a factory for Bangkok. It also invaded Tonkin, another decent spot in southeast Asia for a factory.
Its build was largely land units, plus a transport and three destroyers. Also a medium bomber to send to China.
Britain's second turn. It researched "Canada" tech, which provides a free infantry each turn in Canada. Also one star towards industry tech. One more star, and it will add +2 to the unit placement capacity of its factories. Very useful for a nation with a far-flung empire.
British build: Italy's constant strafing of Britain's North Africa force is getting annoying. To solve the problem Britain is building four fighters. Also more land units and transports for Africa, India, and the Indian Ocean. Some destroyers for the North Atlantic.
Italy's second turn. Tech chosen randomly. One star towards Mechanized Infantry. Not what Italy had wanted.
Italy is growing its force in North Africa. But it is not yet time to attack the British. One problem: Italy's unit placement capacity is mostly in northern Italy. But it would wish to exert offensive pressure to the south, in north Africa. This is creating a situation where units are being placed in North Italy, then plodding their way south for a bit before they can be shipped.
U.S. turn. One star towards fleet carrier, with only 1 star left to go! One star towards Wartime Production, with only one star needed. A good American research phase, even though there is no instant gratification.
Still limited peacetime income. Its spending all went to the Pacific.
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