Much Help

[ILCK]

100% new to wargaming and since SP:WaW was free a friend recommended it. Good game despite my flaws at it: [:)]

Questions:

1. The map is awfully dark. Hard to see my units, is there anyway, short of messing with the actual monior that you can adjust the brightness of the map in game?

2. Point Buy System. I just fendned off my second Polish attack in a German camapign. They had swarms of tanks and infantry. Is this normal? The amount of armor is what shocked me, I think I beat back about 5 platoons of tanks when my force has about 2 platoons of tanks. Can I adjust the point buy values at all?

3. Use of AT guns. My AT gun screen (37mm) was real good unless they missed. I set them up to fire at 2 hexes to make sure I was in a kill range. They did nicely if they smoked the tanks but if not- the return fire from the tanks suppressed the snot out of the crews or just plain flat out drove them off.

4. Does the opposing force break? It was a 35 turn game and it seemed like the Poles never ran off. Individual units broke but the force as a whole never did break despite taking what looked like among their armor 100% losses and their infantry had to take a 50%+ beating at least but they kept on coming right to the end. I guess morale losses in one unit don't affect other units? Didn't look that way for me but checking.

5. The AI stinks right? I've never done this and I won my first two battles and the AI payed dumb both times- sends in the armor to get mauled THEN the infantry much later.

I also learned a nasty lesson about deploying armor w/o infantry support when a platoon of polish engineers toasted 3 of my 5 PZII's in the woods. [:@]

[Klinkenhoffen]

Hello ILCK, welcome to wargamming. You to may get hooked like the rest of us. Good to see that you like the German panzers[:)]

Points 1 and 2 can be adjusted in the preferances screen.
Point 5 can be adjusted in the preferance screen but it still is not as good as a live opponent.
Point 3. Anti tank guns will get clobbered at a range of two hexes if they miss.

Point 4. The opponent force will break. If you capture all of the victory hexes and have destroyed the A0 unit then it will take a moral check. If it fails it will break the force. It may be a little more complicated than this but that's the general way it works.

enjoy
Klink

[Yamashita]

Force morale can break even if the A0 unit isn't destroyed. Not sure what sort of formula is used to determine this tho.

[Jim1954]

Regarding point # 4, this is what the manual has to say:

• The “Force Broken” status has been revised. IF 2/3 of your units are dead, routed, or
reduced to 50% strength or less, their force morale can be “broken”. This also requires
the AO to fail a morale check (Die(120> morale). Any turn in which theses conditions
apply and the AO fails this check, and one side has the preponderance of victory hexes,
the game can end before the allotted. Scenario designers can mitigate this by giving the
A0 120 morale and the player protecting it. In addition to the possible early end of the
game, he effect of Force Morale breaking is to add suppression to every unit in the force
at the end of each turn.

[ILCK]

I finally saw the AI break in my third fight vs the Poles. Didn't seem like I did more or less than before but maybe the A0 had a higher morale in those fights.

Thanks for the help everyone, a few more queries:

1. AT guns, still not using these well. I asked about range 1 becuase when I used them at longer ranges they seemed to miss and then get suppressed by the counter fire from the AI tanks. Since one blast from the ememy tanks seems to ruin to morale and degrade the effectiveness I'm wondering what the best way to deploy these AT guns are and if they are something I should have in my core or should I just buy them as assets becuase their survivability is poor.

2. Recon units. This I know I'm lousy at. The AI doesn't use recon so I get no hints there. My usual approach is to buy a platoon of the German AC's. I can't afford more than one set of recon units becuase of the cost vs my point allowances. This doesn't give me a lot of recon coverage so I use them in front of my main thrust. I usually try and place them 1 turn ahead of my units so I can adjust my appraoch depdning on what I find. Problem is I don't find much becuase those units die horribly and usually from fire from units I can't see although I get the basic idea of what's out there and where. Maybe I'm just expecting too much thinking these units should survive or maybe becuase the AI just has a MLR and no outposts/recon units I'm fighting with recon vs main body and should not expect to live. Also, are infantry recon unit better than armor becuase of the better visibility?

3. Dealing w/ Infantry. Infantry is much tougher than one would think, or at least more than I thought. I know they're tough in cities but even in the open I have issues. Mostly becuase of the visibility problem. Example, vs the French I'm on a delay. I set up my MLR behind the forward most V hexes but in front of the farthest V hexes. Works well, I blunt the french armor and launch the counter attack. French INF, in open hexes, over company strength on the move is completely invisible (this BTW makes no sense to me)to my tanks. I can send out tanks but they get assaulted to death as they move through each hex. I pull back and try an send out the INF to spot but they draw such a wall of fire that all the platoons I send out get suppressed on OP fire. I wish I had arty to deal with his but an unentrenched infantry company in open ground should not, i would think, cause that much trouble for an armored force.

[Belisarius]

Hi ILCK,

A few more quick answers:

1) Depends on what ATGs you're using. Non-mechanized AT guns usually have a high survivability, and they're EXTREMELY difficult to spot, especially the 37mm-50mm ones. Use them for ambush and/or covering enemy lines of advance. I'm a bit unsure about your range statement, that is not my experience using them. ATGs are about my only units I let fire even with only slim chances to hit. Important: Never forget to Rally your ATG after each enemy opfire! If you can keep their suppression down to about 12 or less, they are fit for fight. Some suppression is actually good, then they are less likely to take casualties from the first shot.

There's lots to say about this...ofcourse, keep in mind to use the terrain to your favor. An ATG will get increasingly better chances to hit if he can keep his sights trained in the same spot. Don't use them for a 90 degree covering arc, they're not machineguns! Then it's better to employ two of them, with covering fields of fire. A "gamey" approach but one that works well vs. the AI is to pair the ATG up with a medium MG. Let the MG take the first shots, that'll suppress the enemy and drain his opfire.

2) The first rule in the Book of SP:WaW; Recon recon recon.

Cars are good if you want a fast approach and expect limited resistance. Otherwise, use foot troops. They have MUCH better spotting ability, and are much more stealthy. An AC won't stay hidden for anyone except maybe Ray Charles. [8D] If you need transport for them, buy a Jeep/Kubelwagen/Utility car. Load the scouts in, drive them off and drop them close to where you want them to start. Let them lay LOW. Range 1 is important here! You don't want them opfiring on enemies from 100 yards away! If you're fighting a defensive battle, think of your recon as islands in a stream - let the enemy flow past and behind them. I think my response to your last question about this is in there too; yes, infantry recon is much better than armored. Use snipers!

3) Tanks have poor vision! You don't see a lot if you ride out with the hatches closed! This is realistic; an armor charge into infantry positions without support from friendly infantry will cause high casualties. Staying hidden from a tank is not that difficult if you're a ground pounder. Even less so if you have a shovel.

Here we have it again - recon recon recon.

If you charge into open ground, make sure you have at least some scouts/snipers looking over the area. Let them look FIRST, tanks go second. And always have your infantry tag along! Their job is to free your tanks of enemy infantry. Your tanks deal with enemy tanks and ATGs. Defeating infantry is not their job. (although the PzIII excels at it)

Hope it helps! Ask more if there's something you want to know!