Support level pool

[coolts]

I have been following the excellent ”operational boot camp” pdf by Don Lazov, and have used his rather efficient and less hassle way of assigning support level number based on how many divisions / corps are attached to a HQ. Whilst I realise that to really maximise my usage of support units I should be attaching them manually I feel that for me, right now, as a war gaming fresher, that’s just over the top as far as micromanagement goes.

Now my question is, how do I know that I have enough of these units to go around and how do I know if I am drinking from an empty bottle? I do not want to over commit resources unless necessary nor do i want to be too conservative when i can exploit my enemies weaknesses.

I feel that the info might be tucked away somewhere in the arcane production or commanders report screens, (my next mission to understand).

[cookie monster]

su pool is shown in cr by selecting off map instead of show all

then only su's are shown

you could then click none

and turn on each type in turn, to see what you have

[coolts]

What do you mean "click none" BTW? I can see them all now, cheers, but how can i tell which ones are working and which ones are sitting on their lederhosen arses? Some have "xx corps" for their HHQ for instance. I assume they are working and some have "C:Berlin". Are they "spares"?

**EDIT** oh, yeah, "click none" filters everything then you can de-filter?!? the list so see only what you want.

But which ones are surplus and which are deployed?

[Mike Parker]

Coolts,

When you look at what they are attached to you know how they are working. For Example the ones listed as C:Berlin are AA Rgt's attached to the City, look that up in the manual as their are special rules allowing you to detach those regiments. The other attached to xx corps means exactly that, it is attached to the xx corp HQ, and within the parameters of the rules it may assist in fights that combat units attacked to xx corps participate in. Some SU could for example be directly attached to a combat unit like the 81st inf Division.

Each Support unit type has rules for what types of units it can be attached to. You should read the rules carefully on this. For the Germans though you can pretty much go with the simplification that you can attach any SU except Artillery (and gun based AA units) directly to divisions. Arty and those AA formations attach no lower than Corp level.

[coolts]

Cheers mike. I think that my misunderstanding is at a more grass roots level as I’ve read and re-read the relevant Manual sections a few times. I can now see all the relevant data thanks to cookie and yourself, however I still can’t seem to grasp when “enough is enough”, if you see what I mean. Every resource in this game is finite and the concept of "robbing peter to pay paul" has to be carefully weighed.

What if I increased the support levels on all my HQ’s to 9 for instance? That would give all my corps huge additional force but at what cost? Where can I see how much spare support capacity I have?

This from 7.6.3 suggests that over committing support units has detrimental effects due to higher leader initiative checks being required

There is no limit to the number of support units that can be attached to a single headquarters unit, though a large number of non-construction support units can impact the commitment of support units during combat (15.4).

This from 7.6.3.2 describes the process whereupon support units are attached upon demand but give no indication about capacity

This process occurs automatically during the phasing player’s logistic phase and consists of two cycles during which support units are moved first up the chain of command (excess) and then down the chain of command (demand).