Newbie questions (longish)

[Griffin]

Hello,

Actually, I had this game from the "20 Wargame Classics" but I have never really tried hard enough to climb the learning curve. I have recently come back again and this time, I am serious.

Okay, I am playing with version 3.2 and I have only tried the scenario "Bagration" ( the destruction of Army Group Centre in 1944 ) as my "tutorial". I played Soviet side and I am using as the basis for this discussion.

Pardon if they are already answered here or somewhere I am not aware of. Here are my questions:

1. Is there any organised FAQ or tips somewhere? I have been to Web-Grognards, I only find some dated information.

2. WRT the above, the manual is less than helpful. It gives you some basic and confuses you with the rest. Not to mention it is terribly outdated in
version 3.2 now. Any better document I could use, about "readme.txt"?

3. Is "Bagration" the best place to start learning "blitzkreig" in WiR style? Any other suggestions?

4. Can I "relieve" Stalin from Soviet High Command (or Hitler in German counterpart)? This guy keeps ruining my day from time-to-time.

5. How is SL determined? What is the relations between SL and HQ unit?

6. How is replacement level get distributed? I am saying cause there is a chain of command among HQ units and I am not sure yes, in reality, there is a need of architectural HQs but in the game, is there such a need? Is the replacment level get "distrbuted" down the hierarchy or is it okay I just bump up individual "front"?

7. Can I make a Panzer Krop/Tank Crop out of the blue sky? How? Say, I find in "Bargartion", I don't have seem enough armor spearhead as there are only 2 Tank Crops at my disposal. I find my darling armour mixed with Shock armies or just embedded inside rifle divisions? If I could make a Tank Crop "shell" and transfer from exsisting formation, it would be better. Ot should I just "convert" an exsisting unit by moving divisions in and out of it?

8. How actually "blitzkreig" in WiR are done? I know in principle I just punched a hole in the line by whatever means and drive my armour though the hole in an attempt to cut of the SL and seal off as many formations as possilbe and then force them to surrender but not shatter. Okay, telling me something other than "a PBEM will teach you more than you ever had".

9. In view of rounding up enemy formation, is it a must to "kill off" enemy HQ units or just capture key railroad line?

10. How could I know which enemy HQ units have combat aircrafts in them? It is crucial for I don't want to wast my airfield bombing units. Most of the time I wasted my bombs upon an empty piece of flat land. ( possibly with a big cross and a banner "bomb me" on it )

11. What is enemy unit "cv" rating? How is it rated? I know cv:0 is the weakest form and is "cv:8" strongest?

12. About the "Supply" value in the status box. Is it for the current unit occupying? So a unit has been cut off with the supply rating of "0", so does that only affect the unit in that "hex"? If my move my unit into that hex, will it have another supply rating by then?

13. Should I switch factory production to full human control? Is it hard to allocate factory production and equipment upgrade?

14. What is the use of "move" command for a non-HQ unit? It lowers the readiness to much for long distance travels. Should I just "plot" them or it is better to use rail?

15. How is rail point calculated?

16. If I play German and I read from places the Italian/Western front will "shatter" one "day", how is the date got determined? The manual does not mention the calculations involved.

17. Is there any 3rd parties scenario available for this game?

18. Is there any plan to convert this into a "modern day" graphics and GUI? The GUI are very servicable and I have no problem with it, really. I am just curious for PacWar is getting an update afaik.

19. Does entanchment level go up automatically if I don't move the unit for a turn?

20. Is the "USAAF" option under Utility menu of any use?

21. Is the railroad get "converted" from German back to Russian in the game when the Soviets counterattacked? Anyway, what is the conversion rate of the railroad?

22. From the unit information window during combat phase, there are number under each icon. Is it strength of the unit? Is this value based on
readiness? What unit are the values? I know infranty formation are counted in squads and a squad contains roughly 500 men in version 3.2. Are there any difference between German and Russina units? What about artillery and AFV units?

23. Is there any ZoC system intac? If not, would there be any readiness loss or side-effects if one unit move along the adjacent to "hex" of an enemy
unit?

I think I still have some "more" but I cannot think of them right now. ( Thank goodness! ) If I come across more, I will post them here. Thank you for your patience of my poor English and long winderness. TIA.

Have a nice day.

Regards.

[Ranger-75]

#23. There is NO ZOC in this game. If you leave a gap in your lines, you better hope there is no Panzer Korps (or Tank Army) nearby.

#22. The amounts that show up are the "final numbers" that is unit strength x readiness (as a percentage) x experience (as a percentage). If a 100 squad 100 tank, 100 artillery unit attacked with 50 experience and 50 readiness then 25 of each would show up at the battle and be counted.

There is a leader readiness check that can raise or lower the effective readiness fot that combat only. I don't know the details.

The difference between the two sides is in esperience levels and the stata on the tanks & other AFVs.

The 500 men / squad is only a mechanism for accounting for all the support and LOC troops that get lost. A real German squad contained about 11 soldiers. Supporting the 243 or so squads (about 2,600 infantry men) in a German Infantry division of say 15,000 men were the other 12,400 men feeding, repairing, supplying, arming, fueling, paying, etc., the fighting troops. This does not include corps troops which can number in the additional thousands.

The US actually had 23 men in non combat roles for every squad infantryman or tank crewman at the front during WWII. It's probably larger today.

[Griffin]

Originally posted by Ranger-75
#22. The amounts that show up are the "final numbers" that is unit strength x readiness (as a percentage) x experience (as a percentage). If a 100 squad 100 tank, 100 artillery unit attacked with 50 experience and 50 readiness then 25 of each would show up at the battle and be counted.

Thanks. Sorry I still don't quite understand: when I see the number 100 under the "Tiger" icon does it means a 100-strong PzVI in the unit or 100 PzVIs or is it just a 100-strong "tank"? The reason I am asking is say if I see a number 10 under a unit, say recon vechicle, turns out that the report tells me that I have lost more than 10 such vechicles in combat!

[Possum]

Hello Griffin
Some Answers to your Questions.

#4) No, You are stuck with the pre-set El-supremo
However, sometimes they decide to take a holiday/get sick, and appoint some else to command Stavka/ OKH. Once that happens, then you can change that leader to somone you like better.

#5) SL is determinde by how close you are to a working railway.
HQ do not affect supply level! What HQ does is affect the Replacement rate of personel/equipment. Note the unit must be within 5 hexes of it's parent HQ to get replacements.

#6) For the Soviets there is only 2 levels of HQ, Stavka, and all the rest subordinate to Stavka. Stavka distributes Operations points to it's suborinates, that then use them to do things like activate combat, do Airstrikes, and add replacements to units.
The Germans have a 3 tier system, which allows them to concentrate Airpower and Operations points a little better.

#7) You can make "New" Panzer korps/Tank armies by pressing the F5 key with the mouse pointer over an empty square. You will then need to transfer units into it. Note that newly created formations can't move.

#8) Tricky, What I sometimes do is to either.
a) Plot 2 seperate attacks with two Tank armies 4 to 5 hexes apart, drive foward several hexes, then swing them into each other, so that they join up, thus creating a pocket. Also plot follow up infantry armies to move into the gap created by the attacking tank armies, by using the 0 plot command to wait an impulse before moving. Next Turn smash everythnig in the pocket with massed attacks by everything adjacent.
b) Park 4 to 5 Tank armies hubcap to hubcap, and just plot them to move straight foward for 5 hexes, this will create a massive hole in the enemies front line, allowing you to next turn to move sideways and start rolling up the front with a series of attacks on the now vunerable flanks.
Remember, that getting your plots correct is a skill you will have to learn, Also remember to concentrat your airpower to support your Tank Armies, and the application of Interdiction missions too.

#9) Both, either, priority depends on the situation and your goals.

#10) Hmm, Unfortuately you need to pay carefull attention to the combat reports to see where aircraft originate from, otherwize it's a matter of guesswork.

#11) CV is an abtiary rating system that gives you some indication of a formations combat power. It is Not an Accurate assesment of a units combat ability.

#12) Supply value is for that hex only, so every unit in the formation occupying that hex will have access to that much supply. If the formation moves, then it will get a new supply value equal to the hex it moved to.

#13) Maybe, It depends on your preferences, When you have more experience you will probably always opt for full human control as you will have by then a defite idea as to what you want produced. It is again somethig you need to experiment with to learn.

#14) March Move is very usefull! The readyness loss is half that of plotting. You can move up to 250% further, and it is immediate, as you perform moves during your orders phase. You can also still transfer units into or out of a moved formation. Where as any transfers into a formation will automatically prohibit the use of plot movement.

#15) Full strength in a working connected rail hex, less 1 level per clear/forrest hex distance, or less 2 per swamp/mountain hex distance. Note that a rail hex is always a clear hex, so a mountain hex adjacent to a connected, working rail hex will be supply level 5, (assuming the rail hex was supply level 6), the next distant hex from the mountain hex woul have supply level 3 ( 6-1-2).

#16) When the allies combat strength exceeds the Axis combat strenth in theater. When you open West/Italian fron it will display a summary of the current Allied and Axis combat strengths. It is a good idea to keep double the Allied strength in these fronts, as there are random events that will reduce the axis combat strenght from time to time.

#17) Yes, mine for starters!!!

#18) No.

#19) Yes, although the higher the current entrenchment level, the less likely it is to increase.

#20) It allows you to see how badly the USAAF is getting mauled!
It's there for information only, there is nothing you can do to influence USAFF.

#21) Yes, converson rate is approximately 2 hexes a turn?

Hope this helps

[RickyB]

Regarding #16, the event timing for the West & Italian fronts, the Allied strength for the check is a random number selected between 0 and the current Allied combat value. Also, the only random event is the leadership check, which is based on the assigned commanders rating versus a selection from 1-10, with a 30% chance Hitler will take over and be used for the check.

Thanks for answering all the questions Possum. I started yesterday and the forum died when I finished.