Fighting off the raving Fascists, Monarchists, and Religious fanatics!

[RangerJoe]

You're really destroying the Nationalist all over the place. What would you say (if you want to share) are some of the key features of your succes? Would love to learn how you get such a dominant position.

I CHEATED! Actually, I took advantage of certain things that have now changed. At least some of them have changed but not all of them. Alessandro keeps trying to find ways to have me lose . . .

Really, things have changed. Now units will lose experience when they receive replacements so they need to train more. There are some things to minimize this but I didn't use those early in the game. The next time I will do those things. Now the AI will perform LR barrages, before the AI did not do those barrages so there will be more losses for the Republicans.

But the important thing is to capture as many enemy bases that produce resources and supplies, it may not help in the short term but it will help in the long term. I also cut Burgos off from Ferrol and Vigo so supplies from there weren't making it to Burgos. I also never let SW Spain link up with Burgos.

[jazzyblur]

But the important thing is to capture as many enemy bases that produce resources and supplies, it may not help in the short term but it will help in the long term. I also cut Burgos off from Ferrol and Vigo so supplies from there weren't making it to Burgos. I also never let SW Spain link up with Burgos.

Is there a good way to see which bases produce critical resources easily, or does this come more with game/map knowledge knowing which bases are most important to either side (like Burgos that you mentioned!).

[RangerJoe]

But the important thing is to capture as many enemy bases that produce resources and supplies, it may not help in the short term but it will help in the long term. I also cut Burgos off from Ferrol and Vigo so supplies from there weren't making it to Burgos. I also never let SW Spain link up with Burgos.

Is there a good way to see which bases produce critical resources easily, or does this come more with game/map knowledge knowing which bases are most important to either side (like Burgos that you mentioned!).

There are no "critical" resources in the game. There is Coal which is used as fuel for RR devices and ships. The other Resources are used by light industry to produce supplies. There is no Heavy Industry in this game (yet) nor are there vehicle factories, armament factories, aircraft factories, aircraft engine factories, and so on. So the other resources like Wolfram are not represented. Spain supplied Wolfram to Germany during World War Two.

[Tom_]

Hi RJ,

Your AAR is so useful so thanks!
I haven't had time to read all of it so apologies if its already covered -

I'm trying to understand land combat from a fairly layman's perspective.

I was playing the tutorial battles and sometimes I cant tell if my land battle is to my advantage or not (i.e. if I'm winning or not), and thus whether I should commit more units or not..
So, when you are looking at land combat reports how are you assessing the situation?

Thanks Tom

[RangerJoe]

Hi RJ,

Your AAR is so useful so thanks!
I haven't had time to read all of it so apologies if its already covered -

I'm trying to understand land combat from a fairly layman's perspective.

I was playing the tutorial battles and sometimes I cant tell if my land battle is to my advantage or not (i.e. if I'm winning or not), and thus whether I should commit more units or not..
So, when you are looking at land combat reports how are you assessing the situation?

Thanks Tom

I look at the losses. If the devices are disabled, they just need supplies. Also, check to see the disruption and fatigue of your units. If those keep going higher, you either need to quit attacking or if you are defending, you either need to bring in additional units and/or retreat. You can place units into Rest mode to help lower the disruption and fatigue.

[Tom_]

Thanks!

[RangerJoe]

Just to let people know, I will be starting a new campaign with a new .exe. The game may run differently (it probably will) due to some changes in how things work but feel free to ask questions here.

On the 7th of January, the Nationalists only hold 6 bases in Spain and one of them I can paradrop onto and liberate. Burgos has 460 units besides the ones showing on the mouseover. Most of those units have no devices! I was also starting to gather shipping to invade Afrika . . .

[Bonsai83]

Did you use the advanced or simple logistic for this campaign?

[RangerJoe]

Did you use the advanced or simple logistic for this campaign?

I used advanced logistics except for one turn so the fuel would move to where it was needed.

[Bonsai83]

Did you use the advanced or simple logistic for this campaign?

I used advanced logistics except for one turn so the fuel would move to where it was needed.

Thanks for your answer. May I also ask if you are using the default replace and production modes? I think its supply for replacement and From Pool for production? Any chance you can take a screenshot of your preference screen?

[RangerJoe]

As far as HQ units and rebuilding units are concerned, here are questions and comments from elsewhere.

Someone else: Question regarding the Republican start. Would there be a reason to not rebuild the regiments? Keep some separated? At the moment I try to rebuild the regiments as soon as the regiment column is on the map.

Me: If you need parts of the regiments elsewhere, then don't build them right away. You can build the regiments with only part of the units. The regiments fight better and your Command And Control works better when the units are formed up. With any logistical units with the built up regiments or higher level commands then the entire unit will carry more supplies.

Same person: Thanks. I'm forming op partly filled regiments and put them under the incoming Theatres operacion hq's.

I find it somewhat difficult to see how to organise the whole army under just a few hq's early on. Is this possible or should I leave some units without an hq?

Me: The higher level HQs will give orders to units that are independent but since they have fewer signal devices/squads then those lower level units won't be as effective. Just position your higher level HQs close to where they are needed, spread them around using one higher level HQ per major offensive/defensive operations. Once the divisional HQs come in the game, they will give orders to their lower echelons if they are attached or otherwise close enough to receive instructions from the divisional HQs.

Same person: Thanks!

Me: That is why you see the reported lack of HQ to give orders in the operations report. Once the lower level HQs come into the game and are within HQ range of their units, those should disappear. The performance should also improve.

Note: The computer does not form the units up but does get some compensation for that anyway.

[RangerJoe]

Here are some more comments and a developer commenting:

Same person: Very inishtfull (insightful.) Do you also take a serious look at the leiders of the hq's and also of the regiments? Does a few extra land points make a significant difference in combat?

Me: I do look at the leaders. Some are very bad but their statistics can change during the game due to combat.

Developer: Sometimes. The skill check is a die roll for "passing" or "failing" in a variety of tasks. The most dangerous leader is one with high aggression and high land skill ( can negate extra losses from high aggression and make your devices do extra shots in combat ).
The worst leader is an aggressive one with low land skill. He will do pyrrhic victories or even waste the troops for not gaining the additional shots while exposing own troops to serious risk.

Me: Some of the leaders have great inspiration and admin capabilities, I like to use them in units that are training and/or rebuilding.

Me: I like to use the high land skill and high aggression leaders in the attacks, I like to use the high land skills with moderate aggression in defensive battles.

[RangerJoe]

Some more:

Same person: Another question regarding HQ's. Does the hex range impact the bonus from being attached to a hq? For example. Does a unit that's only two hexes away recieve more bonus then a unit that's 50 hexes away.

The manual states that a HQ that's planning for the same objective as the unit gives a bonus, but the HQ must be nearby. Does nearby mean the range indicator?

Developer: There is no difference as long as the HQ is in range. For high level HQ the HQ unit does tell the radius on the unit card. For unit level HQ it must be with the subordinate units, whether the unit is formed up or broken down to individual LCU does not matter.

It is also to note that any unit will use any high level HQ that is in range and available. So you do not need to micro manage the "attached to" data of every unit.

Same Person: If two or more higher HQ's are in range does the unit use the one it's attached to? For if there's a gap in leader skill for example

Developer: Yes, the units will prefer the HQ they are attached to. Those are checked 1st. On failure all others are checked. This also applies if the HQ is in range, yet has no more command points left due to previous ground combat it already did support this turn.
Among all others the best HQ with command ability left for this turn is used.

One thing to point out about the range not affecting the HQ and unit interactions, this is what the various signal and communication devices in the units are used for. So the more of those devices the better the interaction can be between the HQ and the unit.