TopEverest vs Admiral Kamikaze - the rematch

[topeverest]

German defenses stiffened this turn. Aside - I saw the same thing the first turn of January. I confabulate that there is a gradual reduction
in the defensive penalty to the Germans. In any event, the attack progress ground to a sliver except on the Dneper.

Germany completes its withdrawal of W Moscow. The entire city is now in Russian hands, but the offensive probably has shot its bolt, when
considering the increased defensive values of German units. To be sure, Germany will be within a few hexes of Moscow and could restart the
offensive for the city if desired once the weather breaks.

on the Dneper, most of the enemy for forces are now safely across the river, but some fighting continues, including at Zaphorozhye when Russian
attacks barely missed taking the city.

[topeverest]

will this become a Stalingrad or will he withdrawl

[topeverest]

This looks excellent - T34's fully deployed in existing units. Heavy Tanks 90% filled.

note - I specifically avoided using tanks during the offensive

[topeverest]

Some good news here too.

Pool amounts building in manpower and armaments

46 Heavy Industry still damaged
75 Armaments still damaged

All factories from Moscow to Voronezh to Rostov to Kerch (and west) are moved

[sillyflower]

You already have far more tk x than you will ever need. Just a waste of precious trucks to make more, as you will probably disband quite a few of your existing ones later on. Also don't go wild on new air units. The units go up to 32 planes at some point and many R players build too many then have to put them into reserve because they use too many trucks.Build the SUs you will need for the corps you will get.
Expect a manpower crunch too so be careful about the number of new inf units you build. Brigades are more use than divs as you will need 1 for each inf xxx you build. With free returns, you won't need very many.In the medium term you will find yourself with a truck shortage. It's the only shortage you should have if you saved enough arms and HI factories

[topeverest]

Thanks Sillyflower,

I do have a truck problem for sure.

Just one more part of the game I failed to learn until now. The question is what to do about it.

By my records, the ruskies build about 1000 trucks per turn via lend lease, but I don't know
how to predict the non-lend lease amount built. This problem don't look like it will resolve.

Is there any way to determine how much I gain if I disband some air units?

[Stelteck]

The requirement in trucks of an airfield is displayed on the unit detailed display when you open it.

An airfield with 9 air squad of level bombers car easily use 1000 trucks. But the truck requirements will be a lot lower if the airfield is empty.

You truck production is according to your amount of vehicule factory. You will see how many trucks you produced in the turn report.

[sillyflower]

most trucks come from LL. Sure the amount p/w is in amended manual. 4500 pw in '43.

air units in reserve don't use trucks as far as I know

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: topeverest

Thanks Sillyflower,

I do have a truck problem for sure.

Just one more part of the game I failed to learn until now. The question is what to do about it.

By my records, the ruskies build about 1000 trucks per turn via lend lease, but I don't know
how to predict the non-lend lease amount built. This problem don't look like it will resolve.

I'm not sure that silly said you had a truck problem or was cautioning you against making build decisions that create a problem. From my standpoint, you may or may not have a problem.

On trucks, overall you should be reading the manual more. All the details are there and you'll find a certain satisfaction in figuring out some things for yourself. That said, I'll point out a couple things contained there.

21.1.6. Vehicle Production and Repair

Each vehicle factory point will produce 10 vehicles per turn at the cost of 50 tons of supplies. Vehicle production will be modified by the following percentages:

Soviet
1941- 100
1942-1945 - 55

That means 140 vehicle factories create 770 trucks per week.

21.5.2. Lend Lease Supplies and Generic Vehicles
Commencing in August 1941, the Soviet player will receive a fixed amount of supplies and generic vehicles every turn that varies by year as follows:

v1.04.28 - June 8, 2011
Changed per turn Lend Lease vehicle imports to the following:
1941 - 300
1942 - 800
1943 - 4500
1944 - 6000
1945 - 1500

So in 1942 with all 140 vehicle factories intact @ 100% production, your total weekly vehicle add is
800+770= 1,570. (Actually my log says I get 774 vehicles per week at full prod, so may need to add 4 more)

If you look at the event log under VEHICLES there are two important line items.

229 vehicles were lost this turn due to unit movement
1488 vehicles were lost this turn due to resupply operations

That is where you actually lose trucks, and this does not include repairing vehicles. So in the above example, there is a slight loss of vehicles. The loss rate will increase as the armies move and engage in more combat.

According to your note, you're close to 100% trucks in units but about 66% in the pool. For blizzard where you are advancing farther from your railhead that's not unexpected. You should check your own event log and see what your current truck burn rate is. If you are losing 1,500-2,000 net, that definitely can turn into a problem. But keep in mind the truck constraints start slowly disappearing as soon as 1943 arrives and LL kicks truck deliveries into high gear.

[topeverest]

M60A3TTS

Point well taken. I don't know the rules well enough in places despite playing into my second game. Your well founded comment takes me back to my
high school days when I had a teacher named Janssen, whose engineering calculus class I was enrolled. When a few months
into the school year she felt I wasn't living up to my potential, she had me report to her home with a handful of other
students, and we work on calculus, DQ, linear programming, and god knows what else. For most of the school year, I
spent as many as 10 hours a week there, including every Saturday. If I got out of line, she
whacked me with a ruler. No joke.

Those lessons stayed with me over many decades of professional service, including private equity, my own firm, and
executive support for Fortune 100 firms.

You remind me that those lessons apply here as much as they apply in business.

[&o]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

ORIGINAL: topeverest

Thanks Sillyflower,

I do have a truck problem for sure.

Just one more part of the game I failed to learn until now. The question is what to do about it.

By my records, the ruskies build about 1000 trucks per turn via lend lease, but I don't know
how to predict the non-lend lease amount built. This problem don't look like it will resolve.

I'm not sure that silly said you had a truck problem or was cautioning you against making build decisions that create a problem. From my standpoint, you may or may not have a problem.

On trucks, overall you should be reading the manual more. All the details are there and you'll find a certain satisfaction in figuring out some things for yourself. That said, I'll point out a couple things contained there.

21.1.6. Vehicle Production and Repair

Each vehicle factory point will produce 10 vehicles per turn at the cost of 50 tons of supplies. Vehicle production will be modified by the following percentages:

Soviet
1941- 100
1942-1945 - 55

That means 140 vehicle factories create 770 trucks per week.

21.5.2. Lend Lease Supplies and Generic Vehicles
Commencing in August 1941, the Soviet player will receive a fixed amount of supplies and generic vehicles every turn that varies by year as follows:

v1.04.28 - June 8, 2011
Changed per turn Lend Lease vehicle imports to the following:
1941 - 300
1942 - 800
1943 - 4500
1944 - 6000
1945 - 1500

So in 1942 with all 140 vehicle factories intact @ 100% production, your total weekly vehicle add is
800+770= 1,570. (Actually my log says I get 774 vehicles per week at full prod, so may need to add 4 more)

If you look at the event log under VEHICLES there are two important line items.

229 vehicles were lost this turn due to unit movement
1488 vehicles were lost this turn due to resupply operations

That is where you actually lose trucks, and this does not include repairing vehicles. So in the above example, there is a slight loss of vehicles. The loss rate will increase as the armies move and engage in more combat.

According to your note, you're close to 100% trucks in units but about 66% in the pool. For blizzard where you are advancing farther from your railhead that's not unexpected. You should check your own event log and see what your current truck burn rate is. If you are losing 1,500-2,000 net, that definitely can turn into a problem. But keep in mind the truck constraints start slowly disappearing as soon as 1943 arrives and LL kicks truck deliveries into high gear.

[shermanny]

I had a game of WITE that arrived at a situation not too terribly different from where you are now. I came within a hair of losing before rallying and pulling out a win. The thing that took me by surprise was how bad Soviet supply and morale get in early 1942. Defenses that would have been perfectly adequate in earlier iterations of the game just crumbled.

And where did my opponent go to come so close to winning? North and East, through Ivanov and Yaroslavl, Moscow, and to the gates of Gorki. I actually had to evacuate Gorki's industry. I knew I could hold the town, but I couldn't prevent it from being attacked and that can destroy industry.

In the end, I made it to the October 1942 reboot of Soviet morale, and stacks of guards rifle corps in Tambov held. One more city and it would have been over.

If you find yourself surviving 1942 with a frontage that is further West in the South than it is in the North, the natural line of counterattack is from the South, heading NW. You will be running parallel to the rivers and every advance tends to lengthen his frontage or, if he wants to avoid that, it makes him withdraw without a fight from the NE population centers you want to recover. Going straight west would be nice, but then you face good river lines and it's too obvious and you don't make him defend on a wide front.

Once you get force superiority you have the possibility of major operations, pockets, etc. But to cash in on that you need maybe 30 mobile corps, many of them should be guards tank corps, and you need enough guards rifle corps to be able to break the German lines before sending the tanks through. Enough would mean say 40 of them. But 50 or 60 would be better.

[topeverest]

Thanks for the ideas.

I hadn't really thought of changing the axis of attack. That is a very good idea

I agree that the enemy soon will have the initiative. The question is what type of 42 offensive he will choose.

ORIGINAL: Shermanny

I had a game of WITE that arrived at a situation not too terribly different from where you are now. I came within a hair of losing before rallying and pulling out a win. The thing that took me by surprise was how bad Soviet supply and morale get in early 1942. Defenses that would have been perfectly adequate in earlier iterations of the game just crumbled.

And where did my opponent go to come so close to winning? North and East, through Ivanov and Yaroslavl, Moscow, and to the gates of Gorki. I actually had to evacuate Gorki's industry. I knew I could hold the town, but I couldn't prevent it from being attacked and that can destroy industry.

In the end, I made it to the October 1942 reboot of Soviet morale, and stacks of guards rifle corps in Tambov held. One more city and it would have been over.

If you find yourself surviving 1942 with a frontage that is further West in the South than it is in the North, the natural line of counterattack is from the South, heading NW. You will be running parallel to the rivers and every advance tends to lengthen his frontage or, if he wants to avoid that, it makes him withdraw without a fight from the NE population centers you want to recover. Going straight west would be nice, but then you face good river lines and it's too obvious and you don't make him defend on a wide front.

Once you get force superiority you have the possibility of major operations, pockets, etc. But to cash in on that you need maybe 30 mobile corps, many of them should be guards tank corps, and you need enough guards rifle corps to be able to break the German lines before sending the tanks through. Enough would mean say 40 of them. But 50 or 60 would be better.

[topeverest]

Russian attacks continue and take most of ground east of Dneper.
Further north City fighting at Zaporozyhe, Kaluga, and Kalinin - Germans hold all three hexes in heavy fighting.

Russians begin to address trucks issues by disbanding some HQ and units of minimal value. Also moved many units onto rails where feasible. Will track progress to determine how much more I need.

Tank production is now in full swing. They probably wont be a problem going forward.

[topeverest]

Here are the specifics on what I disbanded for trucks

[topeverest]

getting close to ejecting the axis across Dneper

[topeverest]

Not so successful here - enemy still one hex from Moscow.

[topeverest]

Grindy attacking continues with minimal gains. Attached is a picture of the MLR as of this turn compared to the beginning of the winter offensive and the major objectives I set

Also am working the LAG3 out of the fighter rotation, as it is the worst fighter. Aside - don't think I have shot down an enemy
fighter in months.

SO a successful campaign all in all so far. Planning to grind it out for the rest of the winter.

Axis VP - Pre 228 Current 205

[topeverest]

Working on a better understanding of vehicles, and I still seem to be falling short.

Tried to calculate the number of vehicles built and couldn't match the number in the command report
I took my factories, reduced damaged factors, applied 10 and .55 - and came nowhere close to the
number built by subtracting this turn from last turn vehicles built.

What am I doing wrong?

[topeverest]

Germans over 1M casualties

4500 AFV, and trending less than 2 to 1 AFV losses

I like those ratios so far.

[M60A3TTS]

Put the vehicle calculation aside for a moment. What does your event log say for vehicle production?


Example:
PRODUCTION

Scenario production usage: German 100%, Axis Allies 100%, Soviet 100%

150000 tons of RESOURCES produced in 175 resource centers

64000 tons of OIL produced in 128 oil centers

35760 tons of FUEL produced in 149 fuel refineries (35760 available)
44700 tons of OIL consumed by FUEL production

106700 tons of SUPPLIES produced in 202 heavy industry centers (106700 available)
106700 tons of RESOURCES consumed by SUPPLY production

104325 ARMAMENTS produced in 335 armaments factories (100% production level, 104325 available)
20865 tons of SUPPLIES consumed by ARMAMENTS production

774 VEHICLES produced in 140 vehicle factories (100% production level, 774 available)
3870 tons of SUPPLIES consumed by VEHICLE production

It should be something like 660 produced. 120 factories *5.5 vehicles. Add 800 for LL, total 1,460-ish trucks added this week.