Let us reform the Red Army of Workers and Peasants! (Advice needed)

[M60A3TTS]

Thanks Q-Ball, M60 and Wiedrock.

The Axis 1942 offensive took out about 1 Army of my forces. The front line runs roughly from Leningrad to Taganrog with a Eastward bulge South of Tula. I hold kerch.

Most of this line appears rock solid with Axis defensive CV typically > 30. I am not quite certain who to attack, or with what. I try not to move around SUs as it chews up CPP. I am ok at managing trucks.

Perhaps it is just a matter of concentrating my best units with my best commanders.

Does anyone create SUs simply because there is plenty of equipment in the pool?

Exactly what turn are you on?

No, you can't afford to just build units because you have equipment. If you did that, you would drive your vehicle pool into the ground.

[56ajax]

Thanks Q-Ball, M60 and Wiedrock.

The Axis 1942 offensive took out about 1 Army of my forces. The front line runs roughly from Leningrad to Taganrog with a Eastward bulge South of Tula. I hold kerch.

Most of this line appears rock solid with Axis defensive CV typically > 30. I am not quite certain who to attack, or with what. I try not to move around SUs as it chews up CPP. I am ok at managing trucks.

Perhaps it is just a matter of concentrating my best units with my best commanders.

Does anyone create SUs simply because there is plenty of equipment in the pool?

Exactly what turn are you on?

No, you can't afford to just build units because you have equipment. If you did that, you would drive your vehicle pool into the ground.

Next turn is T55, first week of July 1942. The Red Army is large.

I keep an eye on trucks every turn. I can only build 2 more Tank Brigades so I build regiments. I am slowly building Tank Corps. I am 'converting' motorised AA into non motorised. Cav divs and Corps are at max, and so are Rifle Brigades. I can build another 80 RDs up to a max of 460? Art Brigades are at max.

Are AT Rifle Batts or Flame Tank Batts any good?

[M60A3TTS]

Thanks Q-Ball, M60 and Wiedrock.

The Axis 1942 offensive took out about 1 Army of my forces. The front line runs roughly from Leningrad to Taganrog with a Eastward bulge South of Tula. I hold kerch.

Most of this line appears rock solid with Axis defensive CV typically > 30. I am not quite certain who to attack, or with what. I try not to move around SUs as it chews up CPP. I am ok at managing trucks.

Perhaps it is just a matter of concentrating my best units with my best commanders.

Does anyone create SUs simply because there is plenty of equipment in the pool?

Exactly what turn are you on?

No, you can't afford to just build units because you have equipment. If you did that, you would drive your vehicle pool into the ground.

Next turn is T55, first week of July 1942. The Red Army is large.

I keep an eye on trucks every turn. I can only build 2 more Tank Brigades so I build regiments. I am slowly building Tank Corps. I am 'converting' motorised AA into non motorised. Cav divs and Corps are at max, and so are Rifle Brigades. I can build another 80 RDs up to a max of 460? Art Brigades are at max.

Are AT Rifle Batts or Flame Tank Batts any good?

If it's only the start of July 1942, and you're ready to go on the offensive, that's pretty amazing. If you have 119 tank brigades and don't have too many tank corps and are not heavily invested in motorized artillery, you can be ok there with regards to vehicles. Normally there aren't potential vehicle shortages until towards 1943.

The trick here is that to break Level 3 forts you could use the assault engineers, but they aren't buildable for another 9 months or so. That leaves heavy artillery to do the main work. Army Artillery Regiments do the job rather well and so focusing those support units where you want to crack a fort line is a must.

AT rifle bns I don't really use, so can't comment on their value. Flame tanks aren't engineering units, so they have no great value over normal tank units. You can build one flame tank brigade which is a decent enough size if you want it in the game, along with 3 heavy tank brigades once buildable.

[Q-Ball]

TANK SUs in 1942 are a good topic; IMO, Tank Brigades are the way to go, so you are doing fine there. The reason I prefer those is that once they are Guards, you can combine those in December to Guards Tank Corps. (Once they are Guards, just be careful not to leave them open to counterattack; they can be overrun and destroyed by a strong Axis attack. I tend to park them at STAVKA mostly)

If you built SUs up to the equipment limits in the pool, you could theoretically build 100s of Tank Regts, but that's not a good idea; as M60 indicates, that would chew-up alot of trucks. And the way I use TANK SUs (almost always on attack, ,and not attached to Army HQ), you really don't need that many if you have alot of Tank Brigades

I do find the Guards Heavy Tank SUs handy; they only need like 200 men and 25 trucks, so are very efficient units, and have good morale. They can be used very liberally, since you'll have WAY more KV Tanks than you could ever really use. The downside is that the KVs Tanks (the 1942 upgrade) isn't that great; the Soviets removed armor to make it more mobile, to the point that it becomes a slow T-34

[Wiedrock]

That's an overview on which Soviet Corps become Armies early on I thought I may share here.
Hint: If a Corps is in transfer to MAP and is scheduled to change TOE during the transfer period to an Army TOE, you will still have the turn of its arrival to change the Leader for cheap AP costs since the TOE will only be changed one turn later, after its arrival.

[Denniss]

its possible some corps are disbanded before they are reformed as the auto-disband function does not seem to look at renames or TB changes like turn-based disbands

[Wiedrock]

These renames seem to block the auto-disbands of Corps from what I can tell.

[Denniss]

I have seen some airborne corps disbanded early on and some other Corps with renames. This was with a slightly older version though so it may have been improved.

[56ajax]

On a similar theme there are 2 NKVD Border Regiments and a naval Inf Brigade that rename to Rifle Divisions. It is best to keep these out of harms way, though against a good Axis player, one of the NKVD will be pocketed on T1.

[Q-Ball]

On a similar theme there are 2 NKVD Border Regiments and a naval Inf Brigade that rename to Rifle Divisions. It is best to keep these out of harms way, though against a good Axis player, one of the NKVD will be pocketed on T1.

I would keep the NKVD Regiment out of harms way, because it will convert to a high-morale Rifle unit (that unit starts with morale around 55, IIRC)

The 6th Naval Infantry Brigade.....use it as an SU, and rack up wins. Then, when it becomes a Rifle Division, it will convert to guards within a turn or two

[56ajax]

Playing the Soviets and it is Oct 1942. Apart from taking leningrad the Axis is below historical achievements. APs and manpower are very high. Most units have been built to the max nos except for those that require a massive amount of trucks. There are currently 8k of trucks in the pool.

1. What units should I build?

2. What parameters should be at there highest/max before I commit them to the offensive. eg PPP, morale?

3. How do I reduce level 3 forts?

thx

[Q-Ball]

Playing the Soviets and it is Oct 1942. Apart from taking leningrad the Axis is below historical achievements. APs and manpower are very high. Most units have been built to the max nos except for those that require a massive amount of trucks. There are currently 8k of trucks in the pool.

1. What units should I build?

2. What parameters should be at there highest/max before I commit them to the offensive. eg PPP, morale?

3. How do I reduce level 3 forts?

thx

If you only have 8K trucks in the pool, you can't really build much Motorized at this point, which is a problem. If you have tons of Manpower but so few trucks, that maybe means you overbuilt Motorized units....how many Tank and Mech Corps do you have?

As far as the other questions:

1. BUILDS: I think this thread has alot of the best units, hard to say without looking at your Red Army. Heavy Tank Regts, Guards Airborne Div (in Dec '42), and Rifle units are probably all good bets if you're short on trucks. Look carefully at Rocket Brigade/Divisions; they are motorized, but you need On-Map Artillery, and the advantage with Rockets is that they are plentiful (and also they are Auto-Guards)
2. OFFENSIVE: Depends on condition of Germans, but if your opponent is good at digging-in and defense, you'll need to be prepared. Bring good leaders, lots and lots of artillery/rockets, Cav Units, and Guards Rifle Corps. Always max out your attachments on Corps units......Rifle Brigades, Tank Units, whatever
3. LEVEL-3 FORT: Tough one, I can't say I've cracked the code; but generally, lots and lots of men, and tons of Artillery, particularly the heavy stuff. In May '43 you get Assault Engineers; build those to the max immediately

The VEHICLE situation will start to correct in 1943 when Lend-Lease numbers increase to 2500/turn, but you'll have to be careful until your units are filling up

One way to economize VEHICLES is think about disbanding some units that may not be worth the VEHICLE expense. Thinking:
1. Motorcycle Regt: Disband all of them
2. Motorized Construction Batt: Disband all
3. Disband inefficient Artillery units that use alot of trucks per gun; CORPS artillery, GUN Regts, BM Howitzer, and most HOWITZER regt. Your artillery should consist primarily of Army Artillery Regt, Cannnon Regt, Howitzer Brigades.
4. Disband many AA units.....you really don't need that many. I think they are not a great use of resources
5. Disband AT units: I don't think they are that amazing either; take up slots you can use with Tank units or something better.

Alot of these types use TRUCKS, so think about mass disbands of these units

[56ajax]

I have 10 Tank Corps, 1 Mech Corp and 1 Art Div. Also 4 Mot RDs that have been kicking around since 1941. (Note I am playing with closed TBs so some vehicle hungry units are out of reach.)

I disbanded Mot Const bats from T1. I am currently disbanding Mot AA and replacing with non mot naval. I will disband some motorcycle but there arnt many of them. As for artillery regiments there is much work for at time a saving of 1 vehicle per gun. I will not disband BM How as these seem to be the main units with the 203mm How.

Good news is that the pool has crept up to 9.4K

Thanks

[Q-Ball]

I have 10 Tank Corps, 1 Mech Corp and 1 Art Div. Also 4 Mot RDs that have been kicking around since 1941. (Note I am playing with closed TBs so some vehicle hungry units are out of reach.)

I disbanded Mot Const bats from T1. I am currently disbanding Mot AA and replacing with non mot naval. I will disband some motorcycle but there arnt many of them. As for artillery regiments there is much work for at time a saving of 1 vehicle per gun. I will not disband BM How as these seem to be the main units with the 203mm How.

Good news is that the pool has crept up to 9.4K

Thanks

That is not a ton of Tank or Mech Corps; if you think you can, build some Mech Brigades, and start farming wins with them (by using as attached SU). Once they are guards, you can use them to build a Guards Mech Corps

On the 203mm Howitzer.....if you build enough Army Artillery, it will start to draw 203mm into Army Artillery units as it is "Heavy Artillery"....that's preferable to having BM Howitzer units on the map, which only have 12 tubes

I ended up disbanding the Motorized Rifle Divisions I could reach; I think other units are a better use of the Vehicles, and the NKVD ones can't become Guards. You might consider this move as well.