Field Marshal von Fogger vs Comrade Marshal Fulkerson

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Lobster
Larry, where are all of your artillery formations?

They are on their way to get to the struggle area. Good catch. Nice to know somebody is paying attention.
I appreciate you and your interest. Keep those good questions coming.

[larryfulkerson]

I just pulled the trigger and ran combat round one and I did about 30 airfield strikes and there's a change in the air war numbers.
Here's the numbers now:

[larryfulkerson]

T63 and we're still locked in a fantastic struggle. I'm doing three-dot attacks to try to dominate but it's not working. My guys just
get tired faster. It's not looking good.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's how the air war is going in T63:

[Petey]

Great fight so far at lake P! Be interesting to see what happens when the heavy guards are fully committed.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Petey
Great fight so far at lake P! Be interesting to see what happens when the heavy guards are fully committed.

I agree. I've gotten some of them into the fight already. I'm hoping they will open a hole somewhere.

Here's the air war now:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the front lines in T65. Nothing has changed since turn 10 I think. It's gotten boring and tedious.

[Lobster]

Yes, it would appear he decided on a war of attrition early on. You will have massive amounts of artillery and air. Begin now by pounding him with every piece of artillery you have each and every turn. Don't even bother with an offensive until winter 1942/1943. When your artillery divisions pile up pound even more. Mass your 203mm and higher where you want a break through so they can dig him out of his fortifications. Gain air dominance.

Be the bulldozer. [:D]

Of course if you are using 3.4 with all of it's flaws then forget about doing anything except watching the turns pass. [>:]

[larryfulkerson]

Hey there Lobster dude: You have some really good advice there. Thanks. Unfortunately we're using 3.4
and it's got flaws I guess. I've been attacking without let up for about 10 turns in a row now and I'm
losing a lot of people and equipment and not much is changing. I'm going to have to give my boys a rest
soon. They are getting worn down and tired.

[Lobster]

Using 3.4 without the patches? Ouch. You guys need to bail on this one and start one with the AA and RFC fixes. You'll both fall asleep if you keep with the generic 3.4 version. Only so much time in a life, right? [;)]

[larryfulkerson]

Oh, I'm sorry did I give you the impression that we're using generic 3.4? Sorry about that. We're using the second version of the AA
patched exe. I've given it a place on my start button:

[Ruppich]

Hm then why u cannot break his line with your attacks?
can u post an example of your attack planner.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Ruppich
Hm then why u cannot break his line with your attacks?
can u post an example of your attack planner.

Even using my strongest units, the Guards units, the AR is so low that my attack(s) can't gain any traction.
When I attack we both lose a few squads and he doesn't even back up. D'oh.

[Lobster]

You need to bombard with heavy guns for a couple of rounds, 203mm and above, to reduce the fortified status. Just the heavy artillery. Then, the same turn, attack with guards and lots of artillery and air support. Since you said you are using a patch with the modified RFC you should get some results.

On the plus side, with each attack your units might gain some proficiency.

It is getting kinda late. Maybe have some NKVD regiments ready to act as rear guard to stack with your divisions. When you have to pull your big guys back they don't get hit when leaving enemy zoc.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Lobster
You need to bombard with heavy guns for a couple of rounds, 203mm and above, to reduce the fortified status. Just the heavy artillery. Then, the same turn, attack with guards and lots of artillery and air support. Since you said you are using a patch with the modified RFC you should get some results.

On the plus side, with each attack your units might gain some proficiency.

I had forgotten that you need to use the bigger guns to unentrench the target. Good catch thanks.

ORIGINAL: Lobster
It is getting kinda late. Maybe have some NKVD regiments ready to act as rear guard to stack with your divisions. When you have to pull your big guys back they don't get hit when leaving enemy zoc.

The ice will stay frozen through most of the winter and it's only T65 or so. But that's a good idea to use when pulling back.

[Petey]

I'm really stunned looking at that attack planner. It's hard to believe that three heavy divisions have a very low probability of success against one albeit fortified inf regiment. I'm sure that inf reg is not in the best condition also. What gives?

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Petey
I'm really stunned looking at that attack planner. It's hard to believe that three heavy divisions have a very low probability of success against one albeit fortified inf regiment. I'm sure that inf reg is not in the best condition also. What gives?

Hey there Petey dude. And that's not the worst part. The worst part, if my memory serves me, is that the attack results from that
particular attack.........the German dude didn't even move. He lost some squads but he didn't vacate the hex for me. D'oh. I
guess it's going to take more than one attack to budge that dude. And I've laid on lots of CS too. It's spookey.

[Ruppich]

my personal opinion on this attack is dont use the air support.
if they do not cooperate very well (dont know the scenario very well) then u get more disadvantages (-20 % combat reduction for the whole attack) than u get advantages (i bit more firepower) .
btw the attack power of the air unit is very weak, so not using it makes more sense too.

might be complete nonsense what i wrote
clarification from the TOAW supernerds needed here!

[larryfulkerson]

Hey there Ruppich dude: keep those good ideas flowing in. And thank you.

[Telumar]

ORIGINAL: Ruppich

my personal opinion on this attack is dont use the air support.
if they do not cooperate very well (dont know the scenario very well) then u get more disadvantages (-20 % combat reduction for the whole attack) than u get advantages (i bit more firepower) .
btw the attack power of the air unit is very weak, so not using it makes more sense too.

might be complete nonsense what i wrote
clarification from the TOAW supernerds needed here!

Not entirely nonsense..[:D]

As you mentioned you do not know the scenario very well - the Soviet Air Force is set to Free Cooperation, so no penalties there. The mentioned attack suffers imho from almost* complete absence of artillery support, combined with excellent defender proficiency, deployment and "unit health" (guessibg from the counter stengths compared to others). Also the Soviet Air Force is very low proficient at this stage of the scenario. And don't forget possible cloud cover.

*i write 'almost' as the air units technically act as artillery. But the question is wether they get through possible enemy air superiority screens.
Thus a 'real' artillery unit as support is to be preferred.

'Getting through' also applies to the ground attackers. Maybe they or part of them break off already in the defender fire phase.

Assault Ratio: It doesn't matter if it's at 161 or at 400 or at 101. As long as it's over 100 it will be a normal attack. And if above 100 this will not influence the actual combat at all.


EDIT:One doesn't need to know this in its entirety to play good. Just act as you would in the real world. Here the defenders are superior in training, experience and weaponry. They are well dug in. Barb wire, possibly mine-fields, pre-arranged fields of fire for MGs, artillery fire plans etc pp... Your attack doesn't come as a surprise to them. The weather is bad and your only support is the crappy Soviet air force.