Should I upgrade my HQ unit?

Hans · Post by **Hans** » Tue Aug 22, 2000 4:08 pm

Does anyone know, if the HQ unit (six men, costs 100 points - NOT the tent) has any special abilities, that it looses, if I upgrade them to, let's say, engineers or a tank? In other words: are there abilities tied to the actual type of unit instead of just being A0? In SP 1 to 3 I used to upgrade my A0 units to tanks whenever possible, but now I got second thoughts about this - especially regarding the cost of the HQ unit: there must be something special about them.

Thanks,
Hans

Larry Holt · Post by **Larry Holt** » Tue Aug 22, 2000 4:34 pm

The first thing I upgrade is my A0. I make it a tank for survivability purposes and so that it is mobile enough to get to where I want to be.

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An old soldier but not yet a faded one.
OK, maybe just a bit faded.

Hans · Post by **Hans** » Tue Aug 22, 2000 4:50 pm

Thanks Larry,

You take away the bad feelings I had about doing what I wanted to do. Now it's Tanktime.

Hans

McGib · Post by **McGib** » Tue Aug 22, 2000 9:00 pm

I leave my A0 as infantry for survivabilty reasons. One shot can kill a tank, usually not with infantry, also harder to spot. I do however assign a h/t to my A0 for transport.

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McGib
Ready Aye Ready

Larry Holt · Post by **Larry Holt** » Tue Aug 22, 2000 9:38 pm

Originally posted by McGib:
I leave my A0 as infantry for survivabilty reasons. One shot can kill a tank, usually not with infantry, also harder to spot. I do however assign a h/t to my A0 for transport.

That's true, but if you are careful with your A0, you can keep any enemy from getting close enough for a high probability first shot kill. Still nothing is certain in combat or SPWAW. In ten long campaign games, I've had one tank killed by enemy arty, guess which one it was.

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An old soldier but not yet a faded one.
OK, maybe just a bit faded.

victorhauser · Post by **victorhauser** » Wed Aug 23, 2000 2:14 am

The only real downside to changing the A0 from infantry to AFV is that the A0's Armor Rating is usually poor while his Infantry Rating is high. The type of campaign I'm fighting is the primary criterion I use when deciding when or if to change my A0. Timing is also important. Remember that each time you change your A0, he loses experience points. I try to make as few changes to the A0 as possible. While this sounds obvious and self-evident, it can sometimes be tricky to peer into the crystal ball to predict. If you're not reasonably confident that your A0 will fight at least 3 battles using his current unit-type before another attractive change possibility arises, then I recommend not making the change.

Hauptmann6 · Post by **Hauptmann6** » Wed Aug 23, 2000 3:36 am

I always leave it as infantry, Tanks are aircraft magnents, I do give them a halftrack or truck to haul them though. I normaly keep him way to the rear and out of the fight.

Haupt

Rhone · Post by **Rhone** » Wed Aug 23, 2000 7:24 am

How much affect will losing your HQ unit early in a campaign? For instance, I have recently started a U.S. Army long campaign and lost my HQ unit on the Morrocco beach assault (the first battle). I feel like it isn't a big deal since it happened so early, is that feeling correct in reality?

Fredde · Post by **Fredde** » Wed Aug 23, 2000 2:22 pm

I'd say losing the HQ in the very first scenario of the campaign isn't a big loss. The replacement will be about as experienced. It's worse to lose an experienced unit further into the campaign, or even worse, experienced platoon commanders. Sometimes (quite cruel of me) i will give a bad leader a suicide mission to get him replaced with a better one.

I leave my A0 as infantry, but usually give it an APC for mobility and protection. Fairly often my A0 tends to stick around on the most critical positions to supply with extra orders and rallying so it happens that i lose it

Larry Holt · Post by **Larry Holt** » Wed Aug 23, 2000 7:45 pm

Originally posted by Hauptmann6:
[B... I normaly keep him way to the rear and out of the fight.
Haupt[/B]

An A0 can provide two benefits, rallying and calling arty (as any 0 unit can). If you keep your A0 too far out of harm's way, it won't be close enough to affect the battle. You can't lead from the rear and an A0 can't either.

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An old soldier but not yet a faded one.
OK, maybe just a bit faded.

Hauptmann6 · Post by **Hauptmann6** » Wed Aug 23, 2000 8:37 pm

I usualy don't have a need for it up front, I have company commanders to do that. and I normaly have a couple FOs. and if I need to call it in with him I do blind fire, usualy against supprt targets, I leave observing to the FOs.

Haupt

Dave R · Post by **Dave R** » Thu Aug 24, 2000 3:02 am

I'm I right in saying, that if your A0 unit gets destroyed in a campaigne, then it ends, because you are dead! I seem to remember reading that somewhere

Rhone · Post by **Rhone** » Thu Aug 24, 2000 5:16 am

In West and East Front games there are campaigns like that, not in the SP series.

Jackk · Post by **Jackk** » Thu Aug 24, 2000 5:33 am

Didn't the SP series used to do that? I mean, lose yer HQ, end the campaign?
It's been awhile but I could swear I lost a couple campaigns way back (SP1, SP2) due to terminal stupidity...exposing my AO to fire

I haven't had the pleasure of losing one in this game, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that Matrix "fixed" that part of the game.
I could also be back-asswards on this, but I thought I'd chime in anyway

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Jackk
"Smile today cuz tomorrow may really suck"

Fredde · Post by **Fredde** » Thu Aug 24, 2000 9:23 am

Originally posted by Dave R:
I'm I right in saying, that if your A0 unit gets destroyed in a campaigne, then it ends, because you are dead! I seem to remember reading that somewhere

Nope! I lost my A0 several times without the campaign ending.. so you must have read it somewhere else

victorhauser · Post by **victorhauser** » Thu Aug 24, 2000 1:42 pm

Yes, it used to be in earlier versions of SP that if you lost your A0 then the campaign ended. However, losing your A0 in SPWaW does not cause you to lose the campaign.

Your A0 will gain experience faster if he fights in combat and gets credit for kills. This will make him a more effective A0. Thus, judicious upgrading and combat employment of the A0 during campaigns is recommended. I always try to get my A0 a kill or two every battle during the "mop-up" stages. That way, if he starts out at experience 80 or so, he will be elite (over experience 100) by around the 6th battle of the campaign. Having an elite A0 is a good thing.

Gary Norman · Post by **Gary Norman** » Sat Aug 26, 2000 12:11 am

I make mine an Engineer. Use him to clear mines and assault the stray vehicle. Why not use all your units?