Sea Lion 42? Need help.

[Fritz]

Usually i have lesser problems on land fights.

But this scenario at the campain is real hard. The enemy has superior air power and also more ships.

When i try to make a quick landing. The enemy kills 20 of the 30 units before they can land. Also trying to sink ships with tactical bombers only works at the beginning, then they got shot down.
Also the german air fighters are much weaker then the british.

So how to do this?

[xriz]

I finally won this one by buying lots of extra fighters and inadvertently losing most of my paras. The paras ended up soaking up a bunch of the air attacks and I kept hammering the fighters with mine. I just barley took the last two victory hexes with only a hand full of my original units left. I ended up buying a bunch of cavalry once I landed because they could cover distance and have a decent attack in cities while not being vulnerable in trucks.

As for the ships, I kept at them with my own ships and subs and the bombers when I had cover for them. That forced the AI to ignore my warships to sink transports but I focused on sinking ships and finally wiped them out after losing about 1/2 my ground troops in transports. I saved 3 units by sending them back to France and restoring their strength and sending them back across the channel once I had control of the sea.

[deadtorius]

Never tried seal lion 42 in PZC , just in PG but I do recall the USAirforce was there in strength. I have done sealion 40 and I found it best to keep the transports where they are for 2 turns, get your bombers out to deal with the RN capital ships, (over strength JU88 is a blessing here at 13 points it sinks most ships in one shot) Keep your fighters with the bombers and pray for lucky air combats. I try to get the paras to Britain to capture that lonely airfield off to the left side of the map, makes it easier to refuel etc than always flying to France every turn. Once you feel the RN is weak enough move the transports in and hope you can at least find some empty beaches to hit.
Hope some of those suggestions help out a bit.

[Locarnus]

I m interested in your total force composition in sealion 42 when reaching it in the campaign.
Can anyone share please?

(best with stating your difficulty level)

[AgentX]

I m interested in your total force composition in sealion 42 when reaching it in the campaign.
Can anyone share please?

(best with stating your difficulty level)

I always avoid it since I prefer to go with Sealion '40; a much easier map. My best advice for everyone playing is to get the Decisive Victories in Low Countries and France so you don't have to suffer through it. If I was ever so unfortunate that I had to play it, then my suggestion would be to follow Deadtorious's advice. Deal with the Royal Navy and Air Force as best you can for a couple of turns while trying to keep your transports out of spotting range (beware of those Radar Towers; they have 4 spotting range). Better have plenty of fighters and level bombers for the task (at least 3 bombers; you also have 2 Aux bombers as well, I believe). The He 177a is available and the best all-around bomber (it has 14 ship attack value as well).

[Fritz]

As for difficulty i play it on Level 3 (Colonel).

Also i started with the "Nach Osten" the "Operation Barbaroassa Campain".
After decisive Barbarossa and Rush to Moscow you go to Sea Lion 42. So Sea Lion 40 is not an option for me.

[Kerensky]

There's no easy or painless way to do Sea Lion 42. You have to be prepared to take enormous losses because your invasion fleet practically starts on top of the British Fleet. I recommend lots of heavy bombers (3 minimum) to clear the British Fleet ASAP. Once ashore, you're going to suffer many more casualties too.

My own experience with this scenario:

SeaLion42: 1 Artillery, 1 Tactical Bomber, 1 Anti-tank, 2 Armor... as of turn 7
I haven't finish this scenario yet, but those core losses speak volumes. There are way too many British ships, too few AUX escorts, and your transports start practically on top of the British fleet, resulting in massive losses of 3-4 star 13-14 strength units sunk while still in transport.
I received 3 AUX fighters and 2 AUX Strategic bombers to fight 9 Fighters and 3 Tactical bombers (Ouch)
I received 6 submarines, 2 destroyers, 1 cruiser, 1 battleship to fight 9 Destroyers, 5 Cruisers, 3 battleships (OUCH?!?)

Absolute bloodbath. Final losses of core units stands at
SeaLion42: 2 Artillery, 1 Tactical Bomber, 1 Anti-tank, 2 Armor, 1 Infantry
Except the 2 artillery guns all of those core units were 3, 4, or 5 star units. This was the first scenario that was actually costly and forced me to spend a little bit of prestige to replenish my losses. It was also the most entertaining scenario I've played so far. I adore costly bloody combat, although I do wish I lost less of those elite forces to the navy and more of them were lost assaulting fortress London. I would rather play SeaLion42 100 times rather than suffer through the travesty that is the weather of Moscow. Finished on turn 12 of 19 for a decisive victory, and it's off to America.

However there is a silver lining to this dark cloud. A decisive victory in Sealion 42 rewards a whopping 12500 prestige, which you should be able to use to rebuild and refit your core for USA East Coast and beyond.

[Locarnus]

@Kerensky:
In which turn did you start disembarking your units?

In a quick scenario (non campaign) try I was able save all land (and air, even the paratrooper) units from the british fleet (lost strength, but not the unit itself), but could only start disembarking on turn 6 (reaching the coast in turn 5...

I had to move the eastern units of the main landing effort to the south to avoid being shelled to death by the uk units north to it...

I ve not the time to play through now, but I wonder how long it takes you from landing to reach the objectives for decisive.

btw that was colonel, but i didnt invest anything from the 3000 prestige to overstrength and even did not upgrade the puny bf109e to the bf109g what the fighters would be in the campaign...

[Fritz]

Ok guys i've done it! Hurray!

In short my tactic based on the good tips here.

1) I started moving my units on round 3. The first two rounds i weakend battleships, cruiser and destroyer. I left most of them at 1-3 strenght, so they cant sink my transports.

2.) I used airborne units to draw the AI fighters attention to them. This is most important on round 1 since it soaks up much damage.

With this tactic i could save 90% of my units. The destroyed I replaced with fighters.


The scenario is even on Colonel ultra hard. Its nearly impossible to achive decisive victory. Especially if you move your units from Round 3.
I needed 14 rounds to achive victory.

Here are some screenshots as proof:

http://www.bilder-space.de/show_img.php ... e=original
This is the full map. As you can see i have full units.

http://www.bilder-space.de/show_img.php ... e=original
Here a close look at London and the endfight. I still used one Panzer 1B. Look at the left city.

http://www.bilder-space.de/show_img.php ... e=original
Reward is over 12000. Makes total over 16000 prestige, since i never use elite replacement and i hadnt used up all i had at Sea Lion.


Thanks again for the good strategics!

[Kaiser]

This is pretty much how I won Sealion. If you look at the original plans for the operation by Jürgen Reinicke, it called for the elimination of the Royal Navy and Air Force before sending troops across the channel. If you put your troops in the water on turn 1 they will be obliterated.

I can get them in the water by turn 3 but once you hit land, you need to move quickly to your objectives.

I use the paratroops as a decoy but try to keep a fighter beside them so i can inflict some damage to the enemy. The original plan called for paratroops to land at Dover and Brighton but I prefer to drop whats left behind Southhampton to take the airfield.

Ok guys i've done it! Hurray!

In short my tactic based on the good tips here.

1) I started moving my units on round 3. The first two rounds i weakend battleships, cruiser and destroyer. I left most of them at 1-3 strenght, so they cant sink my transports.

2.) I used airborne units to draw the AI fighters attention to them. This is most important on round 1 since it soaks up much damage.

With this tactic i could save 90% of my units. The destroyed I replaced with fighters.


The scenario is even on Colonel ultra hard. Its nearly impossible to achive decisive victory. Especially if you move your units from Round 3.
I needed 14 rounds to achive victory.

Here are some screenshots as proof:

http://www.bilder-space.de/show_img.php ... e=original
This is the full map. As you can see i have full units.

http://www.bilder-space.de/show_img.php ... e=original
Here a close look at London and the endfight. I still used one Panzer 1B. Look at the left city.

http://www.bilder-space.de/show_img.php ... e=original
Reward is over 12000. Makes total over 16000 prestige, since i never use elite replacement and i hadnt used up all i had at Sea Lion.


Thanks again for the good strategics!

[Locarnus]

Tried a new strategy for the first few turns (scenario, no upgrades, just starting forces).

Strategy: Maximum use of stone scissor paper principle & what you can not see, you can not engage

all surface ships out of visibility range of the enemy (but use big ships for long range fire)
engage only with subs and strat bombers

first engage enemy destroyers (also damage closest by enemy capital ships)
shield your subs and strat bombers (best to have them close together at the end of the turn) with your fighters

withstand the enemy counterattack
engage with some of your fighters the enemy fighters, use the rest for shielding as before, preferably combine the roles

repeat and move forward, the enemy capital ships will retreat, waiting to be teared apart by your subs and strat bombers
-> I didnt lose a single unit in the first 4 turns

will continue some other time