bulding factories

[sushidog]

I'm mostly playing the plain Total War scen so far.

Do you ever/often build factories? IF so, with which power? Where do you put them?

[Lucky1]

I sometimes build an extra as Russia, depending on whether I think Germany will attack early and depending on whether I think Japan will also attack. If Germany has a lot of armour, there is a good chance she will take Belarus, Kiev and Kharkov in the opening turn. If Japan attacks, Vlad is also gone - this is a lot of productive capacity. Once at war, Russia's production is more limited by her available factories than by her resources. However, there is no use building too many factories as the Axis can usually put a dent in resources as well after a couple of turns. Of course, there are tradeoffs in terms of early lost production that might be used for a couple extra units or supply etc.
 
I only build factories with Japan if she is really running amok (which means AV can't be far away). Early on it is not worth it because Japan doesn't have the resources.
 
With Germany, I have built a factory in Global glory early on - but usually only if I plan to delay an attack vs. Russia and the US and focus on the British. This is advantageous because the multiplier does not kick in so Germany needs more factories to take advantage of surplus resources. I am not sure that it would be effective in Total war because the US and Russia are more likely to join the war fairly soon and the multiplier would then kick in.
 
I haven't built factories in the US in Total War. In Global Glory, of course I generally build the available factories (at least most of them) in the build queues, as they generally payoff in the mid and late game. But, this involves a tradeoff in terms of having more to hit the Axis with early on etc....
 
Choices!

[jermanie]

I am new to the game. I notice that I can build units (such as planes, soliders, boats) when the factories are in Germany or Italy (Czech too), but only supplies and research elsewhere. I am frustrated by the need to build from Germany and then transporting the units over a long distance. Is there any way that I can have a factory further away (like middle of Russia) that has the same capabilities as Germany and Italy?

[rjh1971]

As Germany you can produce in captured russian industries but only supplies and research, no military units can be produced.

When playing russia make sure there are population points when moving a factory or you won't be able to produce military units, just the supplies and research. When moving a factory it get damaged, you need to spend supplies to repair it.