Horrendous losses in vehicles and ships

Gary Grigsby’s War in the West 1943-45 is the most ambitious and detailed computer wargame on the Western Front of World War II ever made. Starting with the Summer 1943 invasions of Sicily and Italy and proceeding through the invasions of France and the drive into Germany, War in the West brings you all the Allied campaigns in Western Europe and the capability to re-fight the Western Front according to your plan.

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MrBlizzard
Posts: 636
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:34 pm
Location: Italy

Horrendous losses in vehicles and ships

Post by MrBlizzard »

Playing battleground Italy as Allies. Each turn I open losses screen to discover they are horrendous;
the detail shows that the majority of losses seems due to vehicle losses;
take a look at this example please.
Only some 40 squads are lost but 1520 vehicles.
So questions are :
1) why I lose so many vehicles? depots are veryu close to front line
2) in which way vehicles are accounted as losses? it seems 1 vehicle = 1 man
3) I lost also 22 "cargo equivalent" ships (379 from the beginning); are they accounted in losses too?
4) How can i reduce cargo losses?

thanks



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cfulbright
Posts: 2782
Joined: Tue May 06, 2003 11:12 pm

RE: Horrendous losses in vehicles and ships

Post by cfulbright »

Mr. Blizzard,

Vehicles are trucks. And you'll lose cargo ships just having supplies travel across the Med to supply your forces in Sicily and Italy.

Cary
fab168
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2018 3:54 am

RE: Horrendous losses in vehicles and ships

Post by fab168 »

isn't your opponent flying interdiction mission next to your main depot ?

May be you can check your supply detail to see the area where you lose them most, that could give a clue.

I'm not sure either why i lose so many trucks in my games.
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loki100
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RE: Horrendous losses in vehicles and ships

Post by loki100 »

ORIGINAL: MrBlizzard

Playing battleground Italy as Allies. Each turn I open losses screen to discover they are horrendous;
the detail shows that the majority of losses seems due to vehicle losses;
take a look at this example please.
Only some 40 squads are lost but 1520 vehicles.
So questions are :
1) why I lose so many vehicles? depots are veryu close to front line
2) in which way vehicles are accounted as losses? it seems 1 vehicle = 1 man
3) I lost also 22 "cargo equivalent" ships (379 from the beginning); are they accounted in losses too?
4) How can i reduce cargo losses?

thanks
...

Some ideas:

1+2 - a lot of your vehicle losses are going to be related to logistics not combat. Are your front line depots enough to supply your army? Where are your main ports, especially in Italy I find that rail capacity (derived from liberated and repaired rail yards for the Allies) is never enough so even if you have the rails converted you may need to use trucks to add extra capacity to your supply net

3 + 4 - you'll lose cargo shipt in part by random attrition (supply phase again) and in part by moving units/TFs into contested sea areas (when you see a TF building up losses that is also reflected in lost ships etc). Solutions - well in part keep your naval air spread out and not allocated, this will create a safe zone along the N African coast. Second make sure you impose naval interdiction of your own either outside ports you are using for supply or anywhere you are going to move units - either in the transport mode or for invasions. Sort of related, keep things back in N Africa as long as you can (HQs, long range bombers etc), this means you are not shipping the supply they need - and in turn risking attrition
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MrBlizzard
Posts: 636
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:34 pm
Location: Italy

RE: Horrendous losses in vehicles and ships

Post by MrBlizzard »

ORIGINAL: cfulbright

Mr. Blizzard,

Vehicles are trucks. And you'll lose cargo ships just having supplies travel across the Med to supply your forces in Sicily and Italy.

Cary
I mean I lost 1902 men in current turn, as you can see in the right part of the screen.
If you look in detail losses on the left side, I just lost only 40 squads,some 400 men, and the other 1500 men lost (1902-400=1502)? Where do they come from?
I suspect they come from vehicles losses (I know vehicles are trucks of course [;)] ) , as vehicles could be accounted as one truck + his driver.
Just would like to be sure if it works this way and know how to prevent or reduce.
losing this high number of men each turn is annoying [:)]
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MrBlizzard
Posts: 636
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:34 pm
Location: Italy

RE: Horrendous losses in vehicles and ships

Post by MrBlizzard »

ORIGINAL: loki100

ORIGINAL: MrBlizzard

Playing battleground Italy as Allies. Each turn I open losses screen to discover they are horrendous;
the detail shows that the majority of losses seems due to vehicle losses;
take a look at this example please.
Only some 40 squads are lost but 1520 vehicles.
So questions are :
1) why I lose so many vehicles? depots are veryu close to front line
2) in which way vehicles are accounted as losses? it seems 1 vehicle = 1 man
3) I lost also 22 "cargo equivalent" ships (379 from the beginning); are they accounted in losses too?
4) How can i reduce cargo losses?

thanks
...

Some ideas:

1+2 - a lot of your vehicle losses are going to be related to logistics not combat. Are your front line depots enough to supply your army? Where are your main ports, especially in Italy I find that rail capacity (derived from liberated and repaired rail yards for the Allies) is never enough so even if you have the rails converted you may need to use trucks to add extra capacity to your supply net

3 + 4 - you'll lose cargo shipt in part by random attrition (supply phase again) and in part by moving units/TFs into contested sea areas (when you see a TF building up losses that is also reflected in lost ships etc). Solutions - well in part keep your naval air spread out and not allocated, this will create a safe zone along the N African coast. Second make sure you impose naval interdiction of your own either outside ports you are using for supply or anywhere you are going to move units - either in the transport mode or for invasions. Sort of related, keep things back in N Africa as long as you can (HQs, long range bombers etc), this means you are not shipping the supply they need - and in turn risking attrition

Hi, thanks!
yes sure, my vehicle losses come from logistics, this picture is at the beginning of a turn without any combat.
My front line is the Gustav line, front line depots are in Caserta, Campobasso and Termoli.
Main ports are Napoli, Bari Brindisi, Taranto, all connected with repaired rail to front line depots.
Rail doesn't seem stretched, it's all green.
there's light mud in Gustav line sector and I also have three landings in Anzio, Ancona and Piombino.

Just one more question: is there a way to associate for which depot, unit or AF, vehicles were destroyed ?

regarding ships losses: Ah ok, I have some TF at sea with relevant damage to maintain temporary port, so losses should come from there and from attrition in resupplying
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