Divisions & Brigades

[shall59]

A couple of questions about brigades and divisions I'd like to know before I need to know the answer.

Besides being able to put a brigade into reserve mode, is there any advantage or disadvantage of attacking with three brigades rather than a division (all else being equal)? Any difference when landing on an island?

Does the game track brigades even when combined in their division? As example, if I have a brigade get shot up and is at say, 70% strength, and then I combine it back into it's division with its' two brother brigades which are at 100% strength, I assume the division will be at about 90% strength. If I break up the division a turn or two later, do I have three brigades at about 90% strength, or do I still have one shot up brigade and two full strength brigades?

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: shall59

A couple of questions about brigades and divisions I'd like to know before I need to know the answer.

Besides being able to put a brigade into reserve mode, is there any advantage or disadvantage of attacking with three brigades rather than a division (all else being equal)? Any difference when landing on an island?

I think a division has more staying power compared to it's component brigades. If I'm attacking, I'll keep the division together and split it up later if I need to.

Now, early in the game when you have units split into battalions etc., I like to keep them that way. It is much more versatile. I did find that it was great for garrison duty but the small units sometimes got chewed up pretty easily. As the Japanese player, I had a few battalion sized units almost destroyed in the Philippines. I ended up combining just about all the small detachments there.

ORIGINAL: shall59
Does the game track brigades even when combined in their division? As example, if I have a brigade get shot up and is at say, 70% strength, and then I combine it back into it's division with its' two brother brigades which are at 100% strength, I assume the division will be at about 90% strength. If I break up the division a turn or two later, do I have three brigades at about 90% strength, or do I still have one shot up brigade and two full strength brigades?

According to your circumstances, if you recombine, everything is averaged. If the average is 90%, then when you split it back out, each brigade is 90%.

[ChickenOfTheSea]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: shall59

A couple of questions about brigades and divisions I'd like to know before I need to know the answer.

Besides being able to put a brigade into reserve mode, is there any advantage or disadvantage of attacking with three brigades rather than a division (all else being equal)? Any difference when landing on an island?

I think a division has more staying power compared to it's component brigades. If I'm attacking, I'll keep the division together and split it up later if I need to.

Now, early in the game when you have units split into battalions etc., I like to keep them that way. It is much more versatile. I did find that it was great for garrison duty but the small units sometimes got chewed up pretty easily. As the Japanese player, I had a few battalion sized units almost destroyed in the Philippines. I ended up combining just about all the small detachments there.

ORIGINAL: shall59
Does the game track brigades even when combined in their division? As example, if I have a brigade get shot up and is at say, 70% strength, and then I combine it back into it's division with its' two brother brigades which are at 100% strength, I assume the division will be at about 90% strength. If I break up the division a turn or two later, do I have three brigades at about 90% strength, or do I still have one shot up brigade and two full strength brigades?

According to your circumstances, if you recombine, everything is averaged. If the average is 90%, then when you split it back out, each brigade is 90%.

When brigades are combined into divisions you will sometimes get new division level assets in the TOE. Once formed into divisions a unit cannot be broken down into brigades. Instead you will get, for example, and A B and C component which are simply 1/3 of a division, not the brigades, regiments, or battalions you combined.

[topeverest]

Also, as a division you have one commander to deal with.

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: topeverest

Also, as a division you have one commander to deal with.

So you only have 1 idiot in charge instead of 3. [:D]

Some of the officers have stats that are...lacking...to say the least. [:(]

[Stvitus2002]

On a related subject...What are the criteria for reforming an "A,B,C," unit into
a division? I broke the 41'st INF into it's A,B,C components to ship them
individually to PM. Of course, when i thought that the last part of "C" was
delivered ,what do i find?.... 14 motorized support squads were somehow left
behind in townsville. I formed up a mini-tf of 2 AKL's with an AM as escort &
sent the loafers to PM. One of the AKL's was sunk by air attack, the other arrived
& unloaded the loafers. Now i cannot recombine the A,B,C units into the division.
Clicking the "unit organization" shows no other fragments. Suggestions?



WO 0/0

[anarchyintheuk]

Make sure the ToE's match up exactly. For example if A has 2lber at guns and B has 6lbers at guns, you can't recombine the division.

[jrcar]

In our game against Nik and Joe as Allies we have kept the units generaly as they arrived, in the Regt/Bde elements. The main reason is flexibility. It allows more tailored assaults to take place, and areas like Burma to create operational manouvre groups to flank the enemy, rather than a bigger hammer.

Many times in the CENTPAC/SOPAC area 1 regiment isn't enough, but a Div is two much. Doing two Regt assualts, with a third in reserve allows for the "subsequent objective" and to seize opportunities that arrise.

It also provides a bit of deception, is that 6 Bdes in a stack, 3 Div 3 Bde or 6 Div... all are posible and therefore need to be considered.

For the Japanese, regiments dug in will generally hold an "average" Allied div (esp UK/Ind) ones long enough for reinforcements to move in... and many of the islands a Regiment is the max they can hold anyway.

Cheers

Rob

[Amoral]

I think it is unfortunate that an LCU always breaks into three equal parts. A very nice feature would be to be able to define in the editor what a unit breaks down into. The fact that combining a division means you lose the ability field your Engineers, Arty and Recon as separate regiments is too bad.

Something for the next version, I hope!

[jomni]

Well you can employ real life tactics when you split the division.
Two regiments on assault and one regiment on reserve.
Then you keep rotating a day or two.  But It's too much micromanagement.
But if we stack several divisions then this might not be necessary.

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: jomni

Well you can employ real life tactics when you split the division.
Two regiments on assault and one regiment on reserve.
Then you keep rotating a day or two.  But It's too much micromanagement.
But if we stack several divisions then this might not be necessary.

Most battles end up with huge stacks anyway, particularly in the Burma-China area. PBEM is much worse than AI about this, because most players are smart enough to pick a line to hold and fall back to it, rather than get taken apart piecemeal.

[topeverest]

Shark,

Agree, this is mainly an air and naval simulation.