Order of Victory Dodo98(G) vs HLYA(S)

[DeletedUser1769703214]

Turn 1

Air Losses

Very nice air losses done by Dodo89.

[DeletedUser1769703214]

Turn 1

Air Phase

I do have a few patriotic Soviet Pilots over half way to Ace (if the Soviets considered 5 kills as an ace in WW2, I don't know myself).

[DeletedUser1769703214]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

Ten Pearls of Wisdom for Soviet Players



#1. Soviet Fighters

During the portion of the campaign that takes place in 1941, most players speak of the three modern Soviet fighter aircraft. This includes the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3, Yakovlev Yak-1 and Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3. The other assorted Soviet fighter planes at the time were largely a product of the Polikarpov Design Bureau that saw action during the Spanish Civil War. These included the I-15, I-153 bi-plane and I-16 “Rata” monoplane. Let’s have a look at the older Polikarpov’s first.

Once these aircraft encountered German opposition, particularly the Bf-109, it was fairly obvious that newer and more effective Soviet models would be required. Unfortunately, the Spanish Civil War was also taking place at the same time as the terror of the purges in the USSR took hold. This included, as many know, a large number of senior Soviet officers, but also included aircraft designers and those in their design bureaus. As a result, a fair number ended up imprisoned, yet were still tasked with continuing their work on the design of future fighter aircraft.

The Polikarpov Design Bureau would see it’s last research culminate in the I-200 prototype, that would be the future basis of MiG-1. The engineers themselves would soon be absorbed into the Mikoyan-Gurevich design team. Ultimately, this would be something of a short-term arrangement as production aircraft would terminate at the end of 1941 with the cessation of further production of MiG-3. This would leave two remaining design bureaus to continue development of fighter aircraft for the remainder of the war led by Alexander Yakovlev and Vladimir Lavochkin.

These aircraft are what most Soviet fighter pilots were familiar with flying at the start of Barbarossa. A combination of marginal weather in the border districts in the Spring of 1941 and the risk of being labeled as an enemy agent should the loss of an aircraft take place in training missions meant that many of the newer replacement aircraft literally sat on the various tarmacs, logging zero training hours.

If you want to play “historical”, go ahead and fly these planes. If your opponent is a little less inclined to do the same, you can always play “competitively” and avoid using them except in extreme circumstances. Save the pilots for better planes in the future is the rule to go by IMO.

In the game, MiG-3 is easily the most effective 1941 fighter of the three that is produced in quantity. Interestingly, it would be the only Soviet fighter designed to fly at high altitude, what for them was over 20,000 feet. Below that altitude, the performance of MiG-3 became less than impressive. Given that this aircraft was really suited for the fighter-interceptor role against aircraft at altitude, it was really not what the Red Army needed. They were looking for ground support, and optimal fighter performance needed to be at altitudes of at most 15,000 feet. It would be no coincidence that later versions of fighter aircraft by Lavochkin reached peak performance at lower and lower altitudes (under 10,000 feet) to compensate for overall strong German performance, while Yakovlev’s aircraft would remain tethered to the performance altitudes of between 12-15,000 feet. It would not be until 1944 when American imports P-47 Thunderbolt and P-63 King Cobra would once again see Soviet pilots able to operate effectively at altitudes above 20,000 feet.

Yak-1 is the best of the three fighters at mid-altitude but in-game has problems of its own. Aircraft production is directly tied to airframe production, and only one of the two plants at Saratov is active in 1941. As a result, rather than producing the 62 fighters weekly that the production screen indicates, weekly production is closer to an average of 35. Also, these weekly numbers are not consistent as a rather “unusual” formula will sometimes see none produced and other times the expected 62.

A good role for these aircraft is filling in within Air Commands where air opposition is light to moderate. Let the MiGs do the heavy lifting where enemy fighter presence is more pronounced since their numbers are more easily replaced, relatively speaking.

LaGG-3 is easily the worst of the big three. Its performance is little better than a Polikarpov I-16 and should be relegated to escort duties where Axis fighter activity is marginal. The Soviet pilots ridiculed the plane with the moniker “guaranteed varnished coffin” and along with similar aircraft of the day, individual quality varied wildly, particularly as wood was used in certain elements of aircraft construction, such as wings. Use it accordingly, i.e. cautiously and sparingly. Ironically, the longer range of the LaGG3 makes it easier for them to extend themselves and consequently, are able to lose even more aircraft.

Your trained pilots of 1941 are best left to replace MiG-3 losses. They are largely wasted on anything else in the fighter category, except for Yak-1, but the number of Yaks again are fairly small compared to MiG output. You also may want to save some trained pilots for the IL-2 regiments coming on line, lessening the # available for the fighter arm in ’41.

Awesome writeup M60!!!! Really great information I am sure everyone can use. Again, "Thank you much"!!!!

[Dodo98]

Very nice AAR so far, I'm looking forward to read more entries as our game progresses [:)]
Btw you are probably right regarding the double rail track leading to Daugavpils, it may have been better to capture it. But I was aiming to pocket as much troops as possible without routing them out of the area, so that was not really possible. We'll see in the future which option is the better one [;)]

[DeletedUser1769703214]

ORIGINAL: Dodo98

Very nice AAR so far, I'm looking forward to read more entries as our game progresses [:)]
Btw you are probably right regarding the double rail track leading to Daugavpils, it may have been better to capture it. But I was aiming to pocket as much troops as possible without routing them out of the area, so that was not really possible. We'll see in the future which option is the better one [;)]

Yup, understood. That is the thing to do is play round up on Soviet units.

I always secure that Railway if you look at my other 2 AAR's as Germany. Saves almost a turn or more if they all flip good for Germany.

[DeletedUser1769703214]

Turn 1 End of Soviet Turn

The turn was just sent to Dodo89. So I am sure it will be a day before seeing the turn back.

Turned out that the first turn for the Soviets was pretty easy. I am pretty much doing what I did in WITE1 here with minor changes for supply & Air.

All the pockets held except for the one below which I was able to daisy chain the 2 other pockets off of. Also re-flipped the dual rail line. Other than that awesome job on the pockets

[DeletedUser1769703214]

Turn 1 End of Soviet Turn


Does the defense of the Soviet Union begin at Pskov?

[DeletedUser1769703214]

Turn 1 End of Soviet Turn

Began the turn with 644,761 Men in the pool.

[DeletedUser1769703214]

Turn 1 End of Soviet Turn

Ended the turn with 784,726. Could end up being bad or good on what I got rid of but I know that I start building the new Soviet Army turn 1. If replacement is like the German side it takes awhile to fill up to full & I see that as a situation that I need to address by setting up correctly.

[DeletedUser1769703214]

T1 End of Soviet Turn

I set ToE of Corps HQ's to 50. The few that I do keep I set to 100. I believe I kept a whopping total of 4 Corps HQs. This is my preference on how I do things and the administrative nightmare that are Corps HQ's dictate me to get rid of them as quickly as possible. So I do so since it is easy to do.

[DeletedUser1769703214]

Turn 1 End of Soviet Turn

All other HQ's are set to 100% TOE. I would never set below that for any active HQ.

[DeletedUser1769703214]

Turn 1 End of Soviet Turn

I know probably everyone does the same thing, or maybe they don't. But I set all the forts to the lowest TOE possible, 20% here. I want as much manpower coming to me as possible. I know this is worthless for many of these forts since they will be gone in turn 2 but this way I know they aren't going to get more men. New fort areas I build I will max out TOE for entrenching.

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

Turn 1 End of Soviet Turn

Ended the turn with 784,726. Could end up being bad or good on what I got rid of but I know that I start building the new Soviet Army turn 1. If replacement is like the German side it takes awhile to fill up to full & I see that as a situation that I need to address by setting up correctly.

Depends on the context. When you say it takes a while, what do you mean?

[DeletedUser1769703214]

Turn 1 End of Soviet Turn

I set armor and mech to 50% ToE. Now I do set some Armor and Mech to higher ToEs but you have to have a base TOE already at 85 or better. I am basing this on how I handled armor and mech division in WITE1 and will adjust accordingly once I get turn 2 back. But lets just say these divisions seem to be equipment hogs. Thus many I disbanded.

[DeletedUser1769703214]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

Turn 1 End of Soviet Turn

Ended the turn with 784,726. Could end up being bad or good on what I got rid of but I know that I start building the new Soviet Army turn 1. If replacement is like the German side it takes awhile to fill up to full & I see that as a situation that I need to address by setting up correctly.

Depends on the context. When you say it takes a while, what do you mean?

Not setting on a depot, setting on a depot without a HQ. All things that can add more men to fill up but when defending don't always have the luxury of setting on a depot on the front line. Thus it will take longer for a unit not on a dept with an HQ.

[DeletedUser1769703214]

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

Turn 1 End of Soviet Turn

Ended the turn with 784,726. Could end up being bad or good on what I got rid of but I know that I start building the new Soviet Army turn 1. If replacement is like the German side it takes awhile to fill up to full & I see that as a situation that I need to address by setting up correctly.

Depends on the context. When you say it takes a while, what do you mean?

Not setting on a depot, setting on a depot without a HQ. All things that can add more men to fill up but when defending don't always have the luxury of setting on a depot on the front line. Thus it will take longer for a unit not on a dept with an HQ.

Could also send to reserve but takes time for that. Rather keep on map digging in.

[DeletedUser1769703214]

Turn 1 End of Soviet Turn

I set all artillery to 50% TOE. Artillery I deal with on Turn 2 after they all have travelled up to Stavka. In WITE1 I would disband many tubes. I haven't looked at what I have but I had a set template of what I wanted in each Army HQ. Anything beyond that I got rid of. I will do that next turn.

[DeletedUser1769703214]

Turn 1 End of Soviet Turn

Here is the big one. I set the infantry TOE at 65% for the 1st turn. Yup, 65%. I do have key infantry divisions in key places at 100% and in refit mode so that is covered.

[DeletedUser1769703214]

Turn 1 End of Soviet Turn

I set the infantry on the Southern Front border to 50% TOE along with the Mountain divisions on that border, along with the Cav since they were frozen. Yes you can change the TOE. (normal Mountain Divisions I set at 100%)

[carlkay58]

A few things:

1. HQs that are below 100% TOE have negative modifiers. I know you said you were keeping your active HQs at 100% but this is for other people's information that this can be a dangerous setting.

2. Forts can be disbanded as long as they are not isolated. So I disband them when I have another unit in the hex to maintain the fort level.

3. Almost all of your refitting that will do anything for the first five or six turns will have to be in the Reserve Theater Box. All of the other Theater Boxes are understrength and will have priority on refitting back up to strength before your on-map units will get anything.

Of course, the above have been my experiences and may not reflect reality.