Building fortifications?

[Cheesehead]

I'm playing Single player as Allies against Axis AI.

France has an Engineer. I moved him to Paris and I'm trying to build a fort in Paris. When I right-click on the Engineer and try to select fortify, fortify is subdued. How do I build a fort in Paris?

Thanks

John

[xwormwood]

You can't fortify Paris itself.
You need to fortificate the hexes around paris.
General rule: towns, cities, ressources, etc. can't be fortified.

[The Land]

I was also wondering about this. What's the rationale for not being able to fortify resources?

And what actually is the benefit of fortification? (Are engineers worth the cost vs spending the money on other specialist units?)

Also NB the engineer needs supply 5 or more (the unit, not the hex being fortified).

[gchristie]

ORIGINAL: The Land

Also NB the engineer needs supply 5 or more (the unit, not the hex being fortified).

Learned this the hard way. My Brits purchased an engineer and they shipped out to Egypt but they can not build any fortifications as the only hexes in Egypt with supply level 5 or higher are cities or resources. Is it possible to increase supply level to 5 in Egypt outside of the cities in order build fortifications?

[sPzAbt653]

Is it possible to increase supply level to 5 in Egypt outside of the cities in order build fortifications?

You need an HQ there !

[The Land]

If the engineer starts on the resource, moves 1 hex, then they can fortify the destination as they will still have supply 5. At least, some of the time! I don't entirely understand how supply is used up.

[gchristie]

You need an HQ there !

There is an HQ in Egypt, it is the HQ originally placed in Egypt for the 1939 Storm Over Europe scenario. But it is only level 5. Maybe that is the problem. Perhaps I need a higher level HQ in Egypt?

[Goodmongo]

Yep has to be level 8 HQ or level 10.

[BillRunacre]

The rating of the HQ doesn't affect its supply giving ability, but its position and strength will.

If the HQ is low strength then reinforce it to its maximum (this might take more than one turn) and position it on or near a resource. If the Engineers are nearby then they should have a sufficiently high supply level to enable them to get digging.

[gchristie]

ORIGINAL: Bill Runacre

The rating of the HQ doesn't affect its supply giving ability, but its position and strength will.

Thank you Bill, that explains it as I had not reinforced the HQ from its initial strength of 5.

Cheers.

[Malor]

Yes. Absolutely reinforce that HQ first turn. It allows you to also reinforce other units to max levels. Once the engineer arrives, plan where you want the forts and let it build them, keeping in mind the delay and the expected time you think the enemy will appear. Having the engineer killed while building forts is not going to help the defense of Egypt. When happy with the front line forts, allow the engineer to start building a second line of forts east and west of the Suez Canal just in case. There is not much use for the Engineer elsewhere so you might as well make it work while you wait.

Once the front-line forts are built, man them and leave the troops alone to let the entrenchments build up. I've found that under these conditions and with a close HQ, it is very expensive and time consuming for the Axis to break the lines if they are not built to far forward. While the Axis batters on the forts, reinforce or rotate units and build up with others from UK (if no Sealion). The NZ and Coups will arrive via a DE and other units will auto deploy based on conditions. Reinforce and update all units so you are ready to move West when you sense weakness. Keep the RN ships busy by bombarding units along the shore. The effort may see wasteful, but if you cause some damage every few attempts, it adds up fast. Reinforce the ships as required to level 8 (maximum in East Med because of ports) and keep the carrier fully stocked with planes. Use it to either strike exposed units or better, to recon hexes to find units to strike with tactical bombers (and fighters) that were moved to Egypt. The air units are not needed in the UK for a while unless Sealion is done and if it is, your focus is probably not going to be Egypt anyway.

[Goodmongo]

I guess I'm the only player that doesn't get an engineer and goes on the offensive instead of waiting for an attack. I build up the HQ, army and corps in Egypt and then move to the Libyan border. When war starts I attack Tobruk. I even move the bomber and fighter to Egypt ASAP. After France falls I move the BEF army to Egypt and along with the tank unit and other reinforcements I can either hold at the narrow pass or defeat the AK shortly after they spawn. Once that German tank unit is destroyed it's pretty easy to win NA.

[Malor]

I have not had a chance to try that method yet. In my latest game, the AI send the Africa Corp east, but with little Italian support (I found them all in Russia when Barbarossa started). With additional troops to protect the tank unit, once it attacked my fortified line, it was easy to hit it with air and hit it twice with a front-line army and than swap with the UK 7th armored. Boom! No more tank unit. I took two turns to reinforce my units and make sure nothing was following the first unit. I am now pushing west as fast as I can and have only encountered the German antitank and artillery units. The Air unit took a beating during the battles around my line and I suspect was pulled way back to reinforce since it was probably close to death. I'm using my air to recon in hopes of finding it and attacking it directly.

I'm looking forward to a few fun turns coming up as I push west in Africa, which will offset the hard defense of Russia so far (just finished first Russia winter so I'm hoping it will be a little easier in 42 with more units to defend with). The US just declared war so will see if a North Africa invasion will be required before 1942 ends. If not, than either Sicily/Italy in 43 or possibly a France invasion (possibly southern France) depending on how I see things going. I've played a 1944 scenario already so I've seen how d-day goes. Looking for some variety. [:)]

Malor

[Hartmann]

ORIGINAL: Goodmongo

I guess I'm the only player that doesn't get an engineer and goes on the offensive instead of waiting for an attack. I build up the HQ, army and corps in Egypt and then move to the Libyan border. When war starts I attack Tobruk. I even move the bomber and fighter to Egypt ASAP. After France falls I move the BEF army to Egypt and along with the tank unit and other reinforcements I can either hold at the narrow pass or defeat the AK shortly after they spawn. Once that German tank unit is destroyed it's pretty easy to win NA.

I do not get an engineer down to Egypt either - it is not really needed. But I only went towards the Libyan border in my first game - where I was whacked at Tobruk by the Italians and DAK and could just flee in time back to El Alamein and the Quatara depression without major losses. In later games I directly dug in there and waited until I got infantry 2 before counterattacking.

[Goodmongo]

The DAK doesn't arrive right away so you must have waited before moving forward. Most times I can get to that 1-2 hex wide spot before DAK arrives but sometimes it arrives in eastern Libya if I had trouble taking Tobruk. When that second bomber arrives in Egypt things get easy.

[Hartmann]

Yeah, I was undecided and waited a bit at first, and then waited again at Tobruk ...

[Elessar2]

If I were Hubert I would consider allowing cities/resources to be fortified. But it should take 2x, maybe 3x as long, as a normal open space would.