Soviet Rifle Corps

[Flaviusx]

1.07 with the rifle corps bug is better than 1.06 but I would flatly refuse to play it as the allies, because I'd be forced to use goofy builds with the bug. Rifle corps aren't worth building with the bug. I consider this a deal killer. Mileage may vary. If you can find an allied player willing to live with the bug, or play solo, then I suppose you could roll with 1.07 as is.

I'd suggest downloading the updated scenarios and then extracting them into your campaign folder. This takes all of about 2 minutes.

[ncc1701e]

ORIGINAL: stormbringer3

I'm not going to use the google link to fix 100.07. Which is the better choice to play, 100.06 or 100.07 with the rifle corps bug?
Thanks for any opinions.

1.00.07 without a doubt. There are so many things fixed (oil consumption, operating points, ...).
And yes this is very easy to patch the two scenarios.

Instructions are here:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4735812

[sveint]

Personally I think this is very minor. I don't mind playing the Allies in 1.07 at all.

[AlvaroSousa]

just get the scenarios I uploaded.

I realized the 1941 I forgot to change the unit. I'll do it this weekend

[stormbringer3]

The Allies are always mentioned. If I play the Axis does that affect the game less?
Thanks.

[ncc1701e]

ORIGINAL: Alvaro Sousa

I realized the 1941 I forgot to change the unit. I'll do it this weekend

[&o]

[ncc1701e]

ORIGINAL: stormbringer3

The Allies are always mentioned. If I play the Axis does that affect the game less?
Thanks.

This is a game balance quest, nothing more. The purpose of the modification, we hope, is to allow the Russians to be better prepared and to better resist to Barbarossa. If you are playing against the AI, I am not sure you will see any difference.

I don't know if the AI is smart enough to buy more rifle corps now.

Anyway, for the Axis, you will have perhaps less problem with Barbarossa.

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: Alvaro Sousa

Scenario game files are here
C:\Users\"your user name"\Documents\My Games\WarPlan\Campaigns

This is where I found the game files except there was "OneDrive" between my user name and "Documents". Not sure why, but I am sure I can blame Microsoft.

[Flaviusx]

Been playtesting this solo hot seat. Very pleased with the new rifle corps. Now it is possible for the Soviets to fight it out on the frontier for 2-3 turns. You end up losing about thirty of these suckers in the process (including all the garbage 20% ones) but the Sovs can pick up some experience in the process and slow down the German war machine.

The 35% new construction ones in the rear can be brought up to 4 CV after they are upgraded to 41 assault tech and are excellent in swamps, freeing up rifle armies for duty elsewhere.

I spammed a bunch of these things. The only thing I am disbanding now are the initial mech corps (not the armor corps,) and I end up with a much smaller mobile force of about 12 units prewar, but they are all 30%+ experience and fairly tough.

The Soviets can approach 2k strength in total ground forces prewar, depending on when the Germans invade. And I hope this build and defense will discourage mud offensives and get the Germans to wait until at least May and some clear weather. Attacking the new rifle corps in inclement weather very difficult.

[ncc1701e]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

Been playtesting this solo hot seat. Very pleased with the new rifle corps. Now it is possible for the Soviets to fight it out on the frontier for 2-3 turns. You end up losing about thirty of these suckers in the process (including all the garbage 20% ones) but the Sovs can pick up some experience in the process and slow down the German war machine.

The 35% new construction ones in the rear can be brought up to 4 CV after they are upgraded to 41 assault tech and are excellent in swamps, freeing up rifle armies for duty elsewhere.

I spammed a bunch of these things. The only thing I am disbanding now are the initial mech corps (not the armor corps,) and I end up with a much smaller mobile force of about 12 units prewar, but they are all 30%+ experience and fairly tough.

The Soviets can approach 2k strength in total ground forces prewar, depending on when the Germans invade. And I hope this build and defense will discourage mud offensives and get the Germans to wait until at least May and some clear weather. Attacking the new rifle corps in inclement weather very difficult.

Good news, you should play this against sveint.

[AlvaroSousa]

You realize the mech corps improve over time? By 1943 soviet mech corps are better than all other mech corps in the game.

So you have to make strategic decisions on units.

Firearms-Guns-Art-Tanks

Soviet 1941 mech 4-2-2-2
Soviet late 1942 mech 4-3-3-3

everyone else mech 4-3-2-2

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

Been playtesting this solo hot seat. Very pleased with the new rifle corps. Now it is possible for the Soviets to fight it out on the frontier for 2-3 turns. You end up losing about thirty of these suckers in the process (including all the garbage 20% ones) but the Sovs can pick up some experience in the process and slow down the German war machine.

The 35% new construction ones in the rear can be brought up to 4 CV after they are upgraded to 41 assault tech and are excellent in swamps, freeing up rifle armies for duty elsewhere.

I spammed a bunch of these things. The only thing I am disbanding now are the initial mech corps (not the armor corps,) and I end up with a much smaller mobile force of about 12 units prewar, but they are all 30%+ experience and fairly tough.

The Soviets can approach 2k strength in total ground forces prewar, depending on when the Germans invade. And I hope this build and defense will discourage mud offensives and get the Germans to wait until at least May and some clear weather. Attacking the new rifle corps in inclement weather very difficult.

Thank you for sharing your Russian build strategy Flaviusx. Are you willing to share a little more? The Russians start with 3 armor corps, so if you disband all your mech I assume that means you try to build a mix of 9 additional armor and mech before Barbarossa. I further assume you don't build any additional HQS. But do you build any additional air units, especially Ground Attack? Do you build any AA? Do you build any supply trucks? How much production do you try and save to build armies for after Barbarossa?

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: Alvaro Sousa

You realize the mech corps improve over time? By 1943 soviet mech corps are better than all other mech corps in the game.

So you have to make strategic decisions on units.

Firearms-Guns-Art-Tanks

Soviet 1941 mech 4-2-2-2
Soviet late 1942 mech 4-3-3-3

everyone else mech 4-3-2-2

I don't think Flavius has anything against Mech units in general. He just thinks the Russians are better off if they disband the 20% experience mech corps they start with and use the cashed in production and manpower to build more Infantry corps, Mech corps and Armor corps all with 35% experience. I don't know if he is right or not, I guess time will tell.

[Flaviusx]

I beef up the mech forces over the winter of 1941. I think during Barbarossa it is more cost effective to have lots and lots and lots of infantry.

My pre Barbarossa build order does allow for about a dozen tank/mech corps. The disbanded mech corps are reformed as 35% experience units. This results in fewer of them, but they are twice as strong. With 2 tech advances, they end up being 8 point units and can hold the line. The Soviets start with 3 armor corps at 30% and these I judge to be reasonably effective and don't disband those.

In 1941 given the low mobility of these units, they can do very little more than hold the line and perhaps occasionally counterattack. I like to put them in places like the Smolensk corridor to cover the clear terrain. That's a good choke point for them.

20% experience mech corps are junk and as a German player I make it a point to chase those down and kill them outright if they appear on the front line -- they are not going to survive to get the experience. This is much harder to do when they are at 35%.

I'd much rather harvest the production from those trash mech corps and reform them into more effective units, even if there are fewer of them.

You really don't need more than about 15 mobile corps as the Soviets anyways. More than that is nice, but not essential. What *is* essential is infantry and lots of it. A huge mass of pre war rifle corps can cover the front and buy time for the rifle armies to show up, and also make use of Soviet manpower and helps avoid manpower problems down the line. Manpower constraints will cripple the Red Army, and the game mechanics are such that either you use this prewar manpower or lose it, it doesn't stack past the cap. So the rifle corps hold extra manpower as buckets.

I've put a lot of thought into this, believe me. Getting the Red Army right is the hardest thing to do in this game. The other powers are much simpler to manage. I have satisfactory build orders for the rest of them, but Red Army has always given me problems until these rifle corps got fixed up.

[Flaviusx]

Also, I do buy 3 more HQs. 2 of those help provide command on the front line, the third is held in reserve by Moscow for contingencies. Eventually you get another HQ when Zhukov arrives. That should be enough to see you through the war.

[Richard III]

Sounds like one of your considered posts way back on WITE (sincere complement meant [;)])

On the other side, can you get to Moscow as the Axis VS the AI ? In my games the AI seems pretty decent, starting to make intelligent counter attacks, I am always screwed by the weather tho.

You VS a decent PBEM opponent ?

Thanks & Regards
Rich

[Flaviusx]

The AI is child's play for either side. The real challenge is PBEM. Or, for testing purposes, I hotseat both sides. It's been a few months since I did PBEM I've been waiting for the game to improve to a point where I was ready to get back into PBEM and that point is probably now. I think the game is just about balanced now, before in PBEM I think it was biased in favor of the Axis for various reasons. Frankly, I still think naval invasions are a bit too freewheeling in this game, but it's been toned down some. For a while there it was basically impossible to stop Sea Lion and that's when I stopped doing PBEM until a series of changes to both the naval and air systems were made. In the old versions of the game airpower was basically an I win button, and that's been considerably reduced, thank goodness.

[ncc1701e]

It's time to bring Michael T. back... [;)]

[LiquidSky]

Rather then disband and rebuild the Mech, I used it against the Finns. It is very good as a garrison, as the Finns can't really attack them even when they are crappy...and I could build up experience with them by attacking the finns with them (the 20%-ers die, and are replaced by better recruits).

And in an emergency I could rail a few of them out...and their were a few emergencies. Now, at the end of '42, they are all on the front line.

[Flaviusx]

Last time I played the Germans my opponent tried to do this mech thing in Finland.

I just sent a panzer corps there to assist the Finns and trashed the trash mech corps. They quit Finland real fast after that. Not impressed with this strat. Once that was done, the panzer corps transferred by sea to join forces attacking Leningrad.

What I do with the Soviets in Finland is ignore it. They can't take Leningrad. There's two choke points on the Svir river that can be held with ease even with rifle corps, and a couple of more rifle corps can prevent easy access to the Murmansk rail line. Set it and forget it. The logistics up here aren't great for the Axis once you get into Karelia proper.

Very late in the war when you are serious about knocking out the Finns you'll need to reinforce it, but until then it is a backwater.