Yes all base forces now have a company sized garrison (12 Squads) rather than 40 and British Forces use either ISF forces or later in the war RAF Regt Rifle Sections for this garrison.
Line by line TOE was considered but is deemed out of scope and probably not even on the list for the patch
Japan is hamstrung by a much more realistic carrying capacity, non neutered allied subs and other new economy stuff but I agree its not perfect but this aspect shold be better.
Remember TOE changes during the war forcing Japanese units to change will suck in more production as well.
OK let me explain the British Sections in detail how I have modelled them because it is an important distinction
There are 4 types of squads that appear in British Formations
British 1941 12 per month
British 1943 20 per month
Chindit 5 per month (Ghurka and British but not WA)
Commando/Para 5 per month (shared with other CW nations)
RAF Regt 3 per month
In addition the British get one off injections of the following
54 1941 Sections in Feb 41
328 1941 Sections in October 41 (this is from 70th Div conversion to Chindit only some of these should be allowed which is why the 1941 rate is only 12 not 20)
300 1943 Section in June 44 (Converted AA Gunners)
In addition almost all British Division or Bdes that arrive in theatre arrive at 100% (or for the few that don't 90%)
Indian Divisions from the Middle East typically have 3 Brit Bns but these also arrive at full strenght
Now the place where British Sections are needed is in bringing Indian Divs up to strength about 2/3 of at start Indian Army formations need British troops typically they have 2/3 of the British sections they need.
(p.s. British replacements were short in the far east from 42 onwards not just 44 there was a reason for the Indianisation of the Indian Army and it was that shipping didnt exist to keep two fronts operational until the Med opened and after that they didnt exist the manpower shoretage was not just a timing issue it was a real issue as prime infantrymen ran short (partly because of the siphoning effect of special forces that I try to show above)
The Indian replacement rate is not great in 42 either as they are also keeping 2 fronts going but enough replacements are available to allow a limited late 42 offensive or a build up i.e. what actually occured in Arakan.
2nd British Div arrives with 43 Sections so will not need to upgrade
5th British Withdraws
70th British Disbands
36th British arrives from the ME over time and excess thrwon off by the Indianisation of the Indian Army will allow replacements for it
18th British is destroyed.
56th British only appears if India north of Madras is incaded
44th British only appears if Australia south of Brisbane is invaded
In 43 all Indian TOE forces get an upgrade reducing by 1 Bn the British component of the Divs i.e. 1 Bde goes totally Indian Army
In 44 all Indian Divs (bar 1 I think) go to a full Indian TOE.
British Sections thrown off by this process RETURN to the pool and may be used to keep other forces up to strength they are not lost.
My worry isnt that I have to few British Sections its that I may have allowed to many. BUT the fact is Jim if you lose a large chunk of British Div at sea the replacement do not and did not exist to replace them easily so don't do it.
The fixed static Infantry squads only apply to Canada - depending on where we get to on invasion coding (probably in the patch) India will have static Peshawar, Punjab and Waziristan Divs in the North if the invasion coding goes in two of these will move to invasion only forces.
ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns
Hi Andy,
Have you taken the 40 squads out of the baseforce units so they don't suck up all the replacements? Your whole minimalist approach goes out the window if all the squads get sucked into baseforce units that are merely trying to keep air support squads at close to maximum.
A better solution would be to give the player the ability to shut off individual lines in the TO&E. So if I want no squads to go to a baseforce unit, I simply toggle that line off, the rest of the equipment will still be drawn.
Also how is Japan being hamstrung? With such limited replacements, a non-historical strategy by Japan will be devastating to the allies since they are now hamstrung with historical limits for almost the entire game. Can Japan still build unlimited equipment items of all types?
Don’t get me wrong, I want and enjoy historical accuracy and appreciate all your efforts. But it has to be a two sided coin or Japan can simply exploit the weakness.
In the current system, Japan can build 10,000 tanks if he needs them. Granted he probably won’t need them and won’t build 10,000 tanks, but he can if he needs to, the system places no limits on anything other than raw production power. There is absolutely no historical basis for this and it is pure fantasy, but there it is.
So while Japan has a completely flexible and responsive production system, you are hog tying the allies into some pretty restrictive and non-responsive corners, with little or no ability to make up for non-historic outcomes in the game.
That’s the biggest weakness to this approach. Let’s say you’re transporting a division to India and a big chunk gets sunk. Since the replacement rates have been tailored to specifically allow x number of units to flesh out, you now can never replenish that division. Or if you do some other unit will never flesh out, because there are a finite number of squads in the replacement stream and there is no potential to make up for your battle losses.
The British didn’t run out of men and stop building new divisions when they did, but your replacement system seems to go off that premise. The British replaced losses just like anyone else, and when replacements ran low they cannibalized their AAA battalions. The US did this as well, but it was in Europe that this happened, not in the Pacific. Or if it did happen in the Pacific it was to a much lesser degree.
Losses after D-Day were far higher than planned and there were not enough replacements in the pipeline to refill depleted units, so cannibalization occurred. But eventually the replacement pipelines adjusted and caught up with the shortfalls.
By using the replacement system to try and recreate the British reluctance to launch an offensive in Burma, you’ve taken away the system that is supposed to allow players to make up their battle losses.
I like the idea of fixed militia squads used to hold units in place with timely reinforcements used to change over equipment items to release them. The problem is you chose to use infantry squads to fix them instead of some other non-essential equipment item that is less needed by the replacement engine.
Make it a special AAA gun that is immobile and upgrades to a mobile one rather than infantry squads. Then you can give the British enough troop replacements to make up for unexpected losses like they should be able to do without breaking your timed releases.
I’d say Britain should get at least a brigades worth of extra squads a year to make up for unexpected battle losses, probably closer to a division if baseforces still use infantry.
Jim
