"Disciplina, Compostura, Vigilancia"...forming a disciplined People's Army

[Q-Ball]

Comrades!

The Republic in 1936 gets a flood of militia units rallying to the Republic. However, these columns when formed generally have Experience levels in the 25-30 range after taking replacements. (Seems like the Andalusians and Basques are a little higher). While the Nationalist priority in this stage has to be getting the Army of Africa to the mainland, for the Republic the priority is turning this militia rabble into an actual People's Army that can hold back the Nationalists.

So, how can we do that as quick as possible?

Some questions I have to help my understanding, and hopefully others can chime in:

1. REST/REFIT: Is this alot quicker to train than other modes? I know a unit can be in this mode while moving (it will move slower); is that recommended? I am unsure how much quicker it will train than when the unit is in other modes
2. LEADERSHIP: I know the unit will train up to 50, or the leader rating, whichever is greater; anything past that can only be gained in combat. Is that correct? And does changing the leader help a unit get to the 50-level quicker?
3. COMBAT: Seems like combat is the best teacher, but the problem is you might get alot of guys killed trying to train them.....probably helps to look for opportunities for "easy wins" if you can find them
Do units gain experience attacking an empty town?
4. REPLACEMENTS: Seems like there is a way to take experienced Disabled Squads, maybe from units that are going to be disbanded anyway, merge them with units that are NOT going to be disbanded. Is this valid? Can someone walk through this mechanic?

Many thanks in advance, I think many want to maximize getting the People's Army trained up as quick as possible

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[Dreamslayer]

Rest/Training – Movement speed and combat strength are reduced compared to other Operational Modes. The speed of recovery of Fatigue, Disruption and Morale is increased with this Operational Mode. To simplify player control units not seeing any action or combat will automatically use this mode no matter what the actual mode chosen.

[atheory]

Per the manual that answers #2

8.3 LCU Training

The highest experience rating a ground unit can gain from training
depends on the leader’s land skill. An experience rating of 50 can always be
achieved through training, but if the leaders land skill is higher, say 67, then
a 67 experience rating can be reached by training. The potential maximum
experience rating also has influence on how fast experience is gained from
training. A higher maximum also creates a faster increase in experience.

[Q-Ball]

It sounds like there isn't much you can do, besides appoint a better leader and wait

What about this:

1. For STATIC Infantry units on July 17, detach disabled units into a Depot
2. MERGE those devices with units that are NOT static

That's a way to move over 45-exp level Infantry 33 squads and whatnot

Valid?

[Dreamslayer]

For me, any actions with the static units looks gamey. All of them - detach disabled elements/merge/divide.

[Dali101]

And where would you like to move Infantry 33?

No new units (with a few exceptions) are coming to Infantry 33...
And on top of that, they will stop being produced and if you use the few remaining battalions intensively, you will rather miss them than live on them.

But in general, merging (large and substantial) fragments can slightly increase experience. But I don't have the nerve for such a big micromanagement...

[Q-Ball]

And where would you like to move Infantry 33?

No new units (with a few exceptions) are coming to Infantry 33...
And on top of that, they will stop being produced and if you use the few remaining battalions intensively, you will rather miss them than live on them.

But in general, merging (large and substantial) fragments can slightly increase experience. But I don't have the nerve for such a big micromanagement...

Fair arguments.....there are several Regular Army units on July 17 that are scheduled to disband. Most of them are too far away from the Nationalists to see any combat, and can be disbanded right away IMO.

There are a few that are NOT scheduled to disband....those would be the recipients

But yeah, I don't like that level of micromanagement either.....at most, I want to merge units in Columns, turn on Replacements, and let the engine do the rest

[atheory]

They are able to split pilots into different experience groups, maybe the devs can look into doing the same with devices.

Surely devices in the pool aren't just sitting on their arse, but doing drills over time.

But I suppose that is for a much larger conversation.

[CrusaderRex]

There are a few pre-war regular infantry regiments sprinkled around the Republic:

Granada - No.8
Cartagena - No.34
Alicante - No.11
Alcoy - No. 12
Valencia - No.9 & No.10
Lerida - No.16
Barcelona - No.13
Budajoz No.3
Mahon No.37

-Most of these have 2 regular battalions and 1 reserve battalion
-Most of these regiments will retain 1 regular battalion [i.e. will not disband and is not fixed] and is assigned to one of the various militia columns that form as the the early war gets rolling [exceptions: No.3 in Badajoz which will completely disband, No.8 in Grenada & No.9 and No.10 in Valencia - you'll get to keep both regular battalions]
-The reserve battalions have very low experience and are not much better than pulling replacements from the pool so I tend to leave these alone
-The other two battalions of these regiments have trained troops with experience levels between 40 and 50ish
-"Infantry 33" devices are the key infantry squad in these LCU and are as valuable as they are rare and irreplaceable until 1937 when other infantry devices begin to show up in the pool. The "Infantry 33" squad has a soft firepower of 21 compared to a militia squad at 14 or so
-The Republican pool only has 25 "Infantry 33" devices available and 0 monthly production [The North Republic pool does produce 5 per month]

I consolidate these early game, capable infantry into the non-disbanding battalions as a role play device where I assume the leaders of the government took the rumors of a military coup seriously and ensured key, loyal officers moved quickly in the early days of July to secure their locations and men. I mean, we play these games to explore the what-ifs of history, right? A self imposed limit is that I will not exceed the normal TOE of the battalion thus many of the troops in the remaining unit wind up disbanding anyway

Your results may vary - I am curious what the negotiations will be on this kind of thing for PBEM matches

[Q-Ball]

A reasonable House Rule all around is not expand the TOEs, but leave them alone.

But I think it's fair to disband the Reserve Bns early in order to drop those squads into the pool......my point is that for most of them, they will not see any action before the disband date

[Dali101]

Infantry battalions 33 will remain in the republic about 8 or 9.
In some way, this imitates the inclusion of this limited number of units into militia units (which actually happened).
All other battalions will be disbanded. 3rd reserve battalions represent only storage units.
In the case of total mobilization, they were to be filled, which is partly happening on the nationalists' side (where replenishment is taking place with the help of volunteers).