Heading East into the Soviet Union

[Beethoven1]

ORIGINAL: carlkay58

T01 Files:

I suggest if you have any questions about my game, if you think I should have done x instead of y, or you want to play the Soviets with a human opening rather than the canned one, or any other thing under the sun, download these files and play around with them. Later turns will also have Air Directives set up that are pre-defined and I will just move them each turn to do what I need them to do.

Thanks Erik!

I downloaded the turn 1 save and am probably now going to use it for the start of a Soviet campaign, because I could not get the AI to close the Minsk pocket on turn 1 no matter how large the bonuses I gave it were. Thanks! I am also following your AAR with interest.

[carlkay58]

There were some changes after the script was created that changed enough that it does not always work. A new script is in the making.

[carlkay58]

T05 Supply Net North:

The supply net continues to march eastward. Note the AOG labels that show where I have been moving them closer to the front.

[carlkay58]

T05 Supply Net South:

Still waiting for the supply net to really move eastward.

[carlkay58]

T05 Air Phase:

I move the Recon directives to where I want them. I set up a Naval Patrol by Odessa to try and isolate the city from the sea. I also start to assign bombers and such to the Ground Support directives as I have moved them closer to the front.

[carlkay58]

T05 Freight:

The Air Command supplies received is over twice what was needed while you can also see the effect of Supply Priority 4 for the Panzer Groups versus the Supply Priority 2 for the infantry armies.

[carlkay58]

T05 AGN:

18th Army continues its march north towards the Gulf of Finland and the Narva River. 16th Army is now holding the right flank of the front. 4 PG breaks through to pocket a Soviet army.

[carlkay58]

T05 AGC:

2nd Army completes the destruction of the Bialystok Pocket and starts to march eastward. 4th Army has reached the Dnepr and crossed it helping by blowing a hole in the Soviet defenses near Gomel. 9th Army is working on forming the northern flank for the front. 3rd PG helps form another Soviet pocket in front of Velikie Luki while also capturing Vitebsk. 2nd PG captures Gomel in the south while also expanding the bridge head over the Dnepr River beyond Mogilev.

[carlkay58]

T05 AGS:

6th Army continues to advance on the northern flank. 17th Army continues its advance in the center of the line. The 11th Army and Rumanians isolates Odessa. 1st PG pushes the front up to the latest Soviet defensive line and reaches the outskirts of Kiev. The Hungarians are able to destroy the last of the pocket north of Hungary.

I continue to push AOGs further east on all fronts. The bombers are advancing too.

[carlkay58]

T05 OOB:

I am disappointed to see the Soviet manpower at 3.1M. I have been trying to keep them below 3M for this part of the war. But I take some solace in having more German manpower than the Soviets.

[carlkay58]

T05 Ground Losses:

1.37M Soviets lost compared to 92.7K for the Axis. A loss ratio of 14.8 in favor of the Axis. A good ratio.

[carlkay58]

T05 Air Losses:

The Axis currently have a loss ratio of 4.7:1 in their favor. Not the greatest but you can see the effects of having the bombers in the Ground Support directive this turn.

[carlkay58]

T05 VPs:

I am currently at 427 VPs. I need to hit a minimum of 525 by the end of the year or it will be a sudden Axis loss. I should be able to hit that. If I can hit 700 VPs by the end of the year it will be a sudden Axis victory. I doubt if I can hit that.

[carlkay58]

T05 Files:

[Jajusha]

Interesting. Thank you for this AAR.

Couple of questions:
1) What rail repair route did you take in AGN?
2) Any reason not to create the Riga Depot on turn 1 and activate the port to import supply?
3) Could you please show your truck data? (On the (P) production screen, right side)

[carlkay58]

A few answers:

1. I repair the double line up through Daugavplis and then on to Pskov (not quite there yet though). After that, it will depend on whether I decide to bother with Leningrad or not. It is a long and risky attempt to capture Leningrad with 36 VPs as a long shot payout. However my AGN supply net does not necessarily depend on that. Note the rail repair bns that have been showing up in the Courland Peninsula and other Baltic locations. Up to Turn 5 the Axis will convert about 70% (so it claims - it always seems like the critical hexes fail the check) of captured non-enemy occupied hexes. Any occupied hex that is the scene of an attack will automatically require repair. So I use the RR bns to repair the broken hexes and benefit from the captured ones.

2. Whenever you capture a port, there is automatically a level 3 Depot created in the hex. The ports default to import supply when captured. So this automatically down for the player.

3. I will do so at the end of turn 6 (or at least I will try to remember to do so). One of the major influences on the Axis truck pool is the supply requirements for the Rumanian and Hungarian garrison units. I have slowly been building depots on those locations with extra APs because this will free up between 1K and 2.5K trucks to the pool depending on the weather.

[carlkay58]

T06 Supply Net North:

The entire front is now receiving their supply from new depots.

[carlkay58]

T06 Supply Net South:

Almost all of the supplies are now coming from new depots. Just a few units are still relying on the pre-war depots.

[carlkay58]

T06 Air Phase:

Moving around the Recon directives. The Naval Patrol is doing a great job with Odessa.

[carlkay58]

T06 Freight:

The Air Commands do not get everything they needed this turn. This comes from the use of bombers in the Ground Support role and their increased supply use.