Spring 42 - restore German tank numbers.

[Champagne]

What's the best way to repair and replace all of those German tanks that get Damaged in the Winter? I'm playing vs the Soviet AI and on 1 Mar 42 the Germans have only 648 undamaged tanks on the whole Eastern Front.

When does this blasted bloody Winter 41-42 end?

Thanks.

[tm1]

What's the best way to repair and replace all of those German tanks that get Damaged in the Winter? I'm playing vs the Soviet AI and on 1 Mar 42 the Germans have only 648 undamaged tanks on the whole Eastern Front.

When does this blasted bloody Winter 41-42 end?

Thanks.

If your at March it should just about be coming to an end however I believe it officially finishes end of April I think, the last time I played a 1941 campaign I had the luck of things looking up first week of March possibly because last weeks of winter I got very few Blizzard weeks sometimes your just lucky.

I held back all my replacement Panzer battalions right till the last week of March then attached them to as many Panzer divisions as I could, now I cant remember if you have enough replacement Bat's for every Div so just withdraw the Pz Div's for rest and refit you may lose some ground but it should not be enough to cause a defeat.
They only have to be 5 hexes behind the line on functioning rail track, make it 6 or 7 to be safe.

regards

[HermanGraf]

Can't you send those really damaged units back to reserve? Or hide them in city hexes, urban, heavy urban, or forts greater than 2 and put them on refit.

But then again i am a WiTE noob, there is prob a better answer.

[Champagne]

The National Reserve. I didn't think of that.

I've never used the National Reserve.

[Champagne]

I hope more people will chime in on this topic. It will be very helpful to the Axis vs. the AI community.

[tm1]

I hope more people will chime in on this topic. It will be very helpful to the Axis vs. the AI community.

Just Checked my last 41 game on March 1st 1942 turn I had just under 2900 Panzers but only 980 were operational in that game I decided to attack when ever I could during the winter, it was risky and could have backfired, I managed to get Panzer Division placed in the reserve box, i don't play with theatre boxes open so I could not swap them out to other theatres. The Reinforcement / withdrawal roster is a killer from Nov to Jan ( Thanks dolf for thinking it was all over by Nov and redeploying units when most needed ) with no screen shot of the front line cant tell what the your situation is but you what 4 to 6 weeks before the penalties are finished, if you haven't been pushed back into Poland and the Balkans you sweep the Soviets all before you in the summer of 42.

[HermanGraf]

I been canceling the schedules a lot, its actually great to get into the Theatre Boxes. adds another element.

[Jango32]

City/urban/heavy urban hexes and forts above level 1 do not prevent attrition, they only very slightly reduce it. Send them to the reserve for instant teleportation and 0 rail usage, immediately bring them back to the map ASAP and park them in the Berlin hexes and around them with OKH sitting on top of Berlin (assign the Panzer divs to OKH), supply priority 4.

If you want to play the TB game, then the ideal move is to swap them starting with October for units that don't have AFVs and have them on the map starting with mid February or March 1942, sitting around Berlin assigned to OKH.

[Champagne]

Thanks, all.

I don't want to manage all Theater Boxes. I'll use the game design's control over that.

My front line is fine - I have Leningrad, Rzhev, Vyazma, Orel, Kursk, Kharkov, D-town, Z-town and Crimea except for Sevastopol. I was not able to take Stalino or even push adjacent to Stalino.

I have diligently worked to bring all "Level 2" and above Railyards connected to the rail net so that Freight carriage capacity is maximized. This is largely done now so that the FBD units that I control can sit on railheads to make Super Depots.

One factor I see is that any Mech unit sent to the National Reserve will return with Zero CPPs. That's a "trade off" to consider. If they Refit on the map, they build up CPP, not lose it.

Also, I read the Manual concerning the two Panzer Replacement Battalions that I have now. I still don't understand how to cause them to be "absorbed" by a Panzer Division. I sent one of the battalions as a Support Unit for a Panzer Division on the map, but, the Pan Repl Batt simply shows up as just another of the three SUs allowed for each Division. My question is, I guess that this "absorption" must happen in the National Reserve Theater Box? I'll have to run a test to see if this works. I have not yet used the National Reserve Theater Box. Time to try it out.

[Jango32]

Those are absorbed in the next logistics phase as long as they are still attached. You should not use them as soon as they're available though unless you have a serious tank deficit. If you can get your Panzer divs to max TOE without resorting to the replacement battalions, you can keep the replacement battalions as emergency injections during your 1942 campaign.

[M60A3TTS]

Two things.

First, I would not assign any panzer replacement battalions to panzer divisions. I rehab all my panzer divisions off-map while assigning the replacement battalions to motorized or mechanized divisions where they are not absorbed. They simply remain as attached units. This is extremely useful to help keep certain units strong. In my latest AI game, it is the end of 1942 and I still have all but one of those original twenty battalions.

Second, if you play with open TBs and do nothing, the AI is still going to conduct all the scripted moves for you and essentially behave exactly as if the option was not enabled. It only begins to matter if you start making cancelling scripted moves to the reinforcement schedule. I find it very useful to cancel all movement of the SS divisions to off-map locations so that they are always available. There are also some hand-picked units I really like to have available. You don't have to go to great lengths with changes like jango describes sending divisions to WE TB for winter unless you really want to.

[HermanGraf]

Did my brain just go blank? How do i send my divs to RESERVE? I do not see the option anymore

[M60A3TTS]

You must be on a functional rail line with SMP Available and like 8-10 hexes from an enemy unit.

[Champagne]

Thanks very much.

[Champagne]

I have placed a few Pz Divs in the Axis Reserves, but I want them back ASAP. I assume that doing so through the Commander's Report is the only way?

I don't think that it is clearly explained in the Manual.


Thanks.

[tm1]

Two things.

First, I would not assign any panzer replacement battalions to panzer divisions. I rehab all my panzer divisions off-map while assigning the replacement battalions to motorized or mechanized divisions where they are not absorbed. They simply remain as attached units. This is extremely useful to help keep certain units strong. In my latest AI game, it is the end of 1942 and I still have all but one of those original twenty battalions.

Second, if you play with open TBs and do nothing, the AI is still going to conduct all the scripted moves for you and essentially behave exactly as if the option was not enabled. It only begins to matter if you start making cancelling scripted moves to the reinforcement schedule. I find it very useful to cancel all movement of the SS divisions to off-map locations so that they are always available. There are also some hand-picked units I really like to have available. You don't have to go to great lengths with changes like jango describes sending divisions to WE TB for winter unless you really want to.

Thanks this is very important Info that i never really new ( teach me for not reading up on it better ) will definitely be attaching those Replace Bat's to Pz Gren's in future also the 78th Sturm Div looks an inviting choice to.

cheers

[Champagne]

M60, thanks for the picture in your post.

The text of your post confused me on only one issue: You first said that re-hab the Pz Divs off-map. I assume that is in the "Axis Reserve" theater box. Later in that post, did you say that there's no need to re-hab the Pz Divs off-map?

The rest of your post is clear.

Too late for me in this game to control my Theater Box. I don't think I can switch now in 1942. Next game, for sure.

Thanks again.

[M60A3TTS]

The text of your post confused me on only one issue: You first said that re-hab the Pz Divs off-map. I assume that is in the "Axis Reserve" theater box. Later in that post, did you say that there's no need to re-hab the Pz Divs off-map?

What I said was it is not necessary to move panzer divisions in winter to the Western European Theater Box. Some people do this so the panzer divisions can rehabilitate as though they were in the Axis Reserve with the additional benefit that with the increased CV, you can then withdraw infantry divisions from Western Europe and bring them on the map where they can provide effective reinforcement. You then reverse the process at winters end.

Others think that approach is gamey. So fine, play the game how you like. You can just send the same panzer division to the reserve, rehab it, then bring it back onto the map without crossing the original Soviet border and you're fine. You can even rail the divisions to the front and so long as you don't de-train the unit, it won't suffer any AFV winter penalties.

The slowest approach is just keep the panzers inside Russia, and rehab them the old fashion way. Just understand that AFVs get replaced at a much slower rate than infantry/rifle divisions. The latter can be brought up to near full strength in a week with the necessary manpower. AFV replacements come in at a much lower rate. But if you augment that with panzer replacement battalions, which again, I don't do, but you can, then the division will be back at full strength a lot faster.

[Champagne]

I see my problem. I missed the entire part of your post concerning moving Pz Divs to the West Europe Theater Box for re-hab. Somehow, that just didn't register at all in my mind as an option. Swap them out for Infantry Divisions? Clever! Probably a move that I will save for games against people, rather than the AI.

Sure did help me get the whole picture when you answered my question. Thank you so much.