Replacements: do I understand?

[MarkShot]

Okay, I can send freight via air to an armor unit that has outrun its rail line. But this is just food, fuel, and ammo.

To have destroyed tanks replaced I must be able to trace a path to the Supply Grid going all the way back via Road+Rail+(Ship) to an NSS?

I just need to worry about the NSS and the grid, even though the game tells where those tanks are being produced my source is the NSS and not Dresden or Konigsberg, correct? The only way the cities will impact me is if the factories get captured or damaged, then that element will disappear from the pool ... supply trace or not, no more Panthers for me, correct?

Thanks.

[loki100]

basically yes.

I'm never sure if this an accident or hard-wired but in general replacements (of all sorts) seem to be the last element of 'freight' sent out, so get squeezed in a stressed system.

There is an extra quirk with armour replacements that any existing stuff also demands freight as its removed from the host formation - so the general advice of use a rear area depot with lots of freight capacity or the reserve for refitting armoured formations.

In theory, a replacement tank can arrive anywhere, in practice this only happens when in good supply.

I've never really understood the production system, but basically yes, factories produce chassis, then the element is built with the other equipment and manpower, then placed in the active pool. Its then released via the NSS

[Zemke]

Mark,
You allude to one of the great frustrations of the game for me, getting tanks from German to a Pz Div in the field. Takes forever it seems, and I can understand this. I just wish you could prioritize certain things like tanks or whatever for a division, and the game would show you the cost of that decision. In other words, you need 25 Tanks in Div X, I would like to be able to choose to get those tanks and instead of X tons of freight or maybe 10 tanks if this makes sense.

I know some don't do this, but once a Pz Div is "burned out", I usually send it back to the Reserves to get rebuilt or Italy or the West and exchange it for a better Division. The problem with this is you use a lot of railroad capacity moving Pz Div from Germany back East, which then exasperates the supply situation even more. There is also the time factor to consider, this process takes a few turns.

I have tried putting a Pz Div in say Minsk, with say 90% supply stored, and it still seems to take forever, as in many turns. Now you will get men, guns, and other stuff, but tanks take a long time. HLYA prefers doing it this way if I remember from one of his posts.

if you figure out the best way, let me know!!

[Karri]

Refit, stacked with HQ, on a depot with freight. Otherwise units are just going to slowly attrition away.

[AlbertN]

I posted about this quite some time ago when a Panzer Division took like 4 turns to get a trickle of Panzers in Poland, or Romania, in the first decade of turns of the game (having been mauled by Soviets on T3-T4).
Panzers were just not getting there or very slowly. It is non relevant if you park the unit in a massive depot that is well supplied or already has a bucket of freight stocked in.

[Stamb]

ORIGINAL: Karri

Refit, stacked with HQ, on a depot with freight. Otherwise units are just going to slowly attrition away.

it should be HQ that unit belongs to?
why would you even need a HQ on top of a depot to be able to refit in the first place, can't it stay in 4-5 hexes?

[Zemke]

ORIGINAL: Karri

Refit, stacked with HQ, on a depot with freight. Otherwise units are just going to slowly attrition away.

This works with Infantry units and as I said Pz Divs will get other things, but "armored vehicles" take FOREVER. I have had Pz Divisions sitting for over 6 turns waiting on tanks and maybe a handful arrive. It seems quicker to send them back to Germany. Or another weird thing, said Pz Div may not get additional tanks, but all of a sudden has different tanks. I noticed this in my latest PvP game when I started producing Panther Ds. Some of my Divisions at the front got Panther Ds replacing their older Pz IIIs. So beats the hell out of me how it works.

[GibsonPete]

Zemke I like the tactic of swapping out a panzer division with one from the west. Does the Division in need of refit sent to France fill up quicker? What is the impact on Garrison status? Seems like it you would be missing a panzer Division for almost a month doing that.

[Zemke]

ORIGINAL: GibsonPete

Zemke I like the tactic of swapping out a panzer division with one from the west. Does the Division in need of refit sent to France fill up quicker? What is the impact on Garrison status? Seems like it you would be missing a panzer Division for almost a month doing that.

It seems to fill up at least as fast as being in the Reserve Box, but I have not measured it, so not really sure. But yes it is a month. In my current game, in the build-up for my 42 offensive, I had Pz Divisions going in and out of Reserve/West/Italy every turn. I paid for all those heavy units moving by receiving is less supply at the front, but where I was attacking I only used Divisions that were in good shape and had plenty of supplies anyway.

It is a technique or method, like I said before I have no idea how the dark art of tank replacement works.