Changes to the A0 unit

[OV-10Bronco]

I am developing a small campaign. I would like the A0 unit to be armor instead of infantry on the initial purchase of the core units. Is it possible to do this? How?

[rbrunsman]

Have you tried just clicking on ("deselecting") the A0 HQ unit in the buy screen? That may do it, but you may want to test it first to see if the next unit you buy gets A0 status.

Other than that, and probably safer, is to just "upgrade" the unit after the first battle. However, I would strongly discourage you from doing this. (I notice you are new to the Forum so I will assume you are new(ish) to SPWAW and I welcome you.) If your A0 dies, a whole lot of bad things start to happen to the morale of your men. If you change your A0 into that really cool Tiger, are your honestly going to be able to keep him out of the fighting? Or, will you cast him into the fray and risk getting him killed? If you are playing me and I see your HQ unit, I will go after him with a vengence. Your A0 is better off sitting near your On Board arty and an FO unit to help keep the arty in contact and dropping shells on the enemy.

[Jim1954]

IIRC you cannot de-select the A0 in the initial buy screen. At least I think I remember trying and it won't do it. I would not use that method in any case because when your A0 is built, it is an infantry unit, usually with higher infantry values and lower armored ones. If you upgrade that unit to armor, you are still stuck with the lowered armor values that do not translate to longevity on the battle field. As rbrunsman said, losing the A0 starts causing a lot of things to happen that you don want to have going on.

Have you tried the editor? That may be the best way since I believe you can jiggle the command values also. I'm a newbie at design so I might be off base on this. If so, I'm sure someone will point out the error in my thinking.

[Sturmpionier]

I gotta disagree here. I give my top guy a vehicle so he can drive around. You can always park him in a spot if you need him there, but if you need to move him to a critical sector, a vehicle is the way to go. So, if you use that line of thought, you might as well give him some protection like a light tank or whatever. I don't send my A0 into the fray willy-nilly, but sometimes exceptional moments require exceptional valour. Look at it this way, Murat went in with his cavalry. But, IIRC, he did get killed eventually. Hey, no guts, no glory.

The way I make my little sturmer into something different is by upgrading after the first battle. Actually, if I were posed with this same dilemma, I would just cheat and change his unit type in the editor. That also allows you to fiddle his numbers so they come out right. (I'd just do an even swap of Inf to Armour values) But I'm a low-down cheater, so don't expect much else from me.

[Jim1954]

I agree with the mobility point, but I usually just buy a 1/2 track and let him use that. Quick enough to get around and safe enough for some of the smaller oopses but not heavy enough to tempt me to have him lead the charge.

To each his own.

[Major Destruction]

Originally posted by OV-10Bronco
I am developing a small campaign. I would like the A0 unit to be armor instead of infantry on the initial purchase of the core units. Is it possible to do this?

No.
The player will always receive an A0 that is the HQ class unit

[rbrunsman]

If you kill an HT that is carrying the A0 unit, you won't lose the A0 unit. So, if you want mobility for the A0, that is the way to go. But, if you make the A0 unit a vehicle, then when it gets popped, you are really screwed. I really do not recommend making your A0 a vehicle class unit when playing against a human. Against the AI you can pretty much do as you please but don't fool yourself that you are being clever when in fact the AI is just stupid.

[Sturmpionier]

Originally posted by rbrunsman
the AI is just stupid.

I guess that is what makes it a fair fight.

I usually make my A0 a tank, and oh the best tank I can afford. This is especially useful for advance scens (keep up with the boys), but the value on the defense is sometimes greater than you might think. How many times has a rear area been attacked/raided. Mine has plenty. I few dudes standing around the maps and arty charts make for a 'soft' target to the enemy. A tank you have to close assault.

Don't mistake, my A0 never hits the 'knife's edge' except in emergencies. In over 6 years of SP play, I have fired my A0 at the enemy maybe 20 times. I keep him safe and he gets his own compliment of SPAA. Sometimes having that extra rally opportunity is what makes the difference in a sector.

Part of it is the fact that I usually play the Germans. Rommel fought through parts of '40 in a tank in the drive to the channel. He was cut off at one point and his men had to rescue him, but the morale effect was huge. On the Eastern Front, Gen von Strachwitz often fought in a tank on the front lines w/ his men. At Normandy an SS general and colonel (names escape me) set out on a motorcycle to recon the front. Heck, Alexander always rode in w/ his cavalry. This was the German way: lead by example. It did lead to horrendous leader losses but it also had its rewards. I just try to recreate that in SP to get the "feel" of it. I'm just not quite as bold as maybe I should be, if anything, given historical perspective. My guy hardly ever shoots or gets shot at. Besides I think I'm to the point where I don't care if I win anymore.

[rbrunsman]

Sturmpionier: You have much better self control than I do, that's for sure! If my A0 is in a Tiger or Panther, then he's just going to have to pop up and start sniping at the enemy. If I keep him "soft," then I don't have to worry about valor getting too great a hold on my senses.

MCLV is another matter entirely. Your A0 in that one is often in the thick of it, but the AI doesn't seem to pay undue (any) attention to him.

If you play me in PBEM and you present that nice A0 unit to me... well let's just say it would be a good piece of bait to use against me, because I'm going to try to kill him if I can, **** the losses.

[Redleg]

because I'm going to try to kill him if I can, **** the losses.

Me, too.

[Sturmpionier]

I understand computer dumbness, but how would a human opp know? Unless I change his name on the unit screen, it will still just pop up on the message screen "Tiger I firing" or whatever.

Let me give you a practical example. Right now I am fighting a battle in France 1940. My A0 is a 38t. My inf is a clearing a city on a river. My inf is advancing w/ panzer support right behind. My A0 is parked in a sqaure about a block behind the main line, w/ a platoon of 3.7 AA around him. He is in good shape. Like I said, close enough to the front to understand the situation, but not necessarily on the firing line. I know SP doesn't model the morale effect of having the top guy nearby. I just like it for realism.

Maybe a real-world example would help. A pal o mine just finished officer's armor school at Ft. Knox. His big beef with comp commanders was that they were too far to the rear and had to be on the "G******ed radio all the time" (his words not mine) to find out the situation. And these are company commanders, not bataillon commanders.

Lastly, so what if he gets whacked and you lose because of it? Guderian always preached being at the front for his subordinates and he was no exception himself. For me it is sometimes just as much fun to come back on your shield as with it.

Also, I don't know if it is self-control to not get him involved. Sometimes I forget he is there. Part of it, going waaaay back to the original post on this thread, depends on what kind of campaign you want to try to emulate. I am usually playing large, mixed force types of campaigns. If you have a core of say, a reinforced inf company, then a tank is out of the question.

[robot]

Here is how i set my ao up. I give him a ht to ride around in. Also i assign him a sec of armored cars and sec of light tanks for protection. He is then able to get closer to the action. Also when the enemy is in rout, he can maybe get some exp kills. I really like him riding in the command car but this affords him hardly any protection.

[rbrunsman]

I think Redleg and I are just trying to convey that you better be careful with the A0 when you play a human.

In general however, I think he serves better trying to keep those sissy arty boys paying attention and "in contact" so that you can get suppression when you need it.

[Jim1954]

Sturmpioneer, A lot of us that have responded have megacampaign experience. If you haven't tried one, then you might not understand how we carefully guard our A0, given the HUGE amount of time one can sink into one of these things. (Granted it's fun time but having your future capabilities restricted by losing Hauptmann Vebber is too much to even contemplate.)

If I'm just doing a single battle I don't sweat it so much.

[Sturmpionier]

I had wondered if this was an apples and oranges kind of conversation!!

Have not played the MC's so I can't comment on that. I would guess from earlier posts that a focus of some of the battles would be to expose the problems that come with losing your leader in battle. "Force morale broken" et al...

Can't speak from experience here. The only question I have with relation to how to 'go about it' in SP still relates to survivability. In the game you get no penalty for having your arty tables and typewriters in your Tiger rather than on a table at your tent. Wouldn't that lead us to conclude that a tank might be more survivable parked near the arty park when the unexpected breaks through the treeline? I'm not trying to suggest, it just seems more logical that way to me. I am still remember one of WBW's scens from Arras where Rommel's staff is represented as tooling around in one of their staff behemoths.

To each his own. My set up is much closer to Robot's. I am very much used to the user-generated camps where leader loss isn't permanent (or at least OKH sends me a new one.) Maybe OKH should send me a new user (preferably with better numbers.) :p

[Jim1954]

I highly recommend that you get MCLV while it is still (barely) available. Like you, I like to play the German side (sorry Jess) and this one is an absolute hoot to play.

[rbrunsman]

Originally posted by Jim1954
I highly recommend that you get MCLV while it is still (barely) available. Like you, I like to play the German side (sorry Jess) and this one is an absolute hoot to play.

Absolutely!

If I lose Vebber, I think I'll cry. He's already been injured once and I got a royal ***-chewing for it by Command.

[Irinami]

If you change your A0 unit's type, do you lose any of his abilities that are uniquely A0? Also, is there a chance you'll lose his radio if you change him to something that normally doesn't have a radio? What about one with a random check, will you lose it then?

I'd love to change him to a Cavalry unit or a Spec Ops unit for the mobility in both cases and to a lesser extent why I want to change him to an SNLF squad: More men=not only more firepower when fired at, but more bullet sponges. (It's an extension of the 'Look out sir--AUGH!!' rule. )

[rbrunsman]

If you upgrade your A0 in a campaign I don't think you lose any of the inherent traits of the A0 unit. I've done it alot in Computer Generated Campaigns and there were no ill effects. Keep in mind, IIRC, you get his skills as they are (e.g. usually a low armor command skill) so if you change him to an armored unit, he won't be very good at it. That rule applies to all units where you switch their class (i.e. inf, AT, or armor).

[robot]

Sorry bronco made mistake. Thought i was posting to your thred. Did not want to start a new thred on same topic. Hit wrong button.