OKW and some oddities and ideas...

[Clark]

What should I do with OKW(Oberkommando Wehrmacht?)? I mean, should I use the corps it has to make new armies or just leave it in Germany(I've done that so far and always gotten badly beaten up during the blizzards in December 1941)? And well, I think the blizzards affect the German too much, the weather isn't the same everywhere so it shouldn't affect all areas at the same time but it should be local(shouldn't be that hard to do).

I hope the shattering probability of the Italian Front will be changed too, it once shattered in September 1941 and that's just ridiculous! I had kept it as it was and even raised the replacement level. I don't think the Afrika Korps and Italian army were that bad...(and well, the Italian Front could also win in Africa if you reinforced it a lot, don't you think? some additional resources and oil wouldn't hurt, you know...)

Another oddity was when I saw there was partisan activity in Finland once or actually the southern part of Karelia and that never happened during the war, the locals actually joined the Finnish army and things like that rather than started resistance...And shouldn't the Gestapo and local SS take care of the resistance anyway, not the real army groups?

And is it really impossibly to cut the Murmansk rail connection so the Russia wouldn't get any Allied equipment or supplies from Western Allies? I mean, the Finnish army could do this and could really have done it during the war(but it never happened because of political reasons).

And where's the Northern part of the map? I mean, Murmansk wasn't safe either, there were German groups in the Finnish Lapland and their objective was to capture Murmansk(which would have probably had a significant effect to the outcome of the war too).

Well, I'd have a lot of other ideas too but maybe they'd need a new game, WIR is still too limited.

-Clark

[Ed Cogburn]

Originally posted by Clark:
What should I do with OKW(Oberkommando Wehrmacht?)? I mean, should I use the corps it has to make new armies or just leave it in Germany(I've done that so far and always gotten badly beaten up during the blizzards in December 1941)?

Are you talking about OKH? Use the 'Alt-H' command to assign that army and corps that starts out assigned to OKH to one of the army groups and move it east. OKW has only the major fronts and individual divisions assigned to it. Rail out the divisions to make new corps or reinforce existing ones to the east.

And well, I think the blizzards affect the German too much

Blizzard effects have been moderated somewhat in the next version, but its still tough for the Germans, as it was historically.

the weather isn't the same everywhere so it shouldn't affect all areas at the same time but it should be local(shouldn't be that hard to do).

Varied weather effects on the map simultaneously is a *major* addition to the game that would take a lot of work to implement, so that is not being considered for this WiR update.

I hope the shattering probability of the Italian Front will be changed too, it once shattered in September 1941 and that's just ridiculous! I had kept it as it was and even raised the replacement level. I don't think the Afrika Korps and Italian army were that bad...

In the current version there is something like a 5% chance to shatter in '41 unless you immediatly reinforce it or increase replacement level. You will also be able to see the Allied strength facing the fronts, so you at least will know how close things are. A 5% chance was considered acceptable, it adds a bit of uncertainty to the game.

(and well, the Italian Front could also win in Africa if you reinforced it a lot, don't you think?

No, you can't "win", you can only delay the inevitable.

Another oddity was when I saw there was partisan activity in Finland

This will be fixed in the next version, I believe. It has been noticed.

And is it really impossibly to cut the Murmansk rail connection so the Russia wouldn't get any Allied equipment or supplies from Western Allies? I mean, the Finnish army could do this and could really have done it during the war(but it never happened because of political reasons).

And where's the Northern part of the map? I mean, Murmansk wasn't safe either, there were German groups in the Finnish Lapland and their objective was to capture Murmansk(which would have probably had a significant effect to the outcome of the war too).

Those political reasons are why these strategies are not available in WiR. WiR is not a grand strategy game of the European war where you can pursue different strategies. Its an operational scale simulation of the Germany's Operation Barbarossa against the USSR, thus limited in scope, and using the "politics" that historically happened.

[Clark]

Originally posted by Ed Cogburn:
Those political reasons are why these strategies are not available in WiR. WiR is not a grand strategy game of the European war where you can pursue different strategies. Its an operational scale simulation of the Germany's Operation Barbarossa against the USSR, thus limited in scope, and using the "politics" that historically happened.

Well, if you really want to be accurate with the real politics of the war, then you should probably remove the whole Finnish army because the fact is, that Mannerheim wanted to make it Finland's own war against the Soviet Union and not a part of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa and this is why the Finnish Army never advanced near Leningrad(they didn't help the Germans there at all but just stopped advancing although they had a lot of resources left in the winter 1941) and in the game, I think the Finnish army is a big help.

They also didn't advance near the Murmansk rail connection(could have cut the supply lines of the Soviet Union) because they were afraid that it'll make the Western allies of the Soviet Union "angry" and make it harder to end the war when there's no sympathy for Finland coming from the allies of the Soviet Union. I think some leaders of the Western allies even contacted Finland when they noticed Finland is advancing there and told that Finland should stop or it'll be treated the same way as Nazi-Germany, if the Allies win. (well this doesn't actually have much to do with the game, it's just if you want it to be historically accurate and make all little things like they were.)

I'd actually like the game better if you could also affect the politics and so on but I guess it'd need a new game because it's a major thing to do. Like if the player is actually the supreme commander of everything, why not send winter gear to the German troops? It'll not take that much of resources but it's a huge help in the winter...

And another thing, the troops should have some properties that determine if they're used to fighting in winter(like different experience level for blizzard and snow and different one for warm weather).(I know the readiness change but it's only different between Finnish, German and Russian troops) I mean, obviously soldiers from Finland and Northern Russia(especially Ural) are used to fighting in those circumstances but Italians aren't at all...And I guess most Germans aren't either but there are still alpine troops and SS Viking(which consists of Scandinavian soldiers).

[Ed Cogburn]

Originally posted by Clark:
Well, if you really want to be accurate with the real politics of the war, then you should probably remove the whole Finnish army

I agree, it is an oversight by Gary Grigsby apparently. I argued for restrictions on the Finns to represent the historical realities, but unfortunately it was deemed to complicated to implement as part of the upgrade. Its a gross mistake, but the ability to attack Leningrad from one more hex (using Finnish troops) is going to remain sadly.

And another thing, the troops should have some properties that determine if they're used to fighting in winter(like different experience level for blizzard and snow and different one for warm weather).(I know the readiness change but it's only different between Finnish, German and Russian troops) I mean, obviously soldiers from Finland and Northern Russia(especially Ural) are used to fighting in those circumstances but Italians aren't at all...And I guess most Germans aren't either but there are still alpine troops and SS Viking(which consists of Scandinavian soldiers).

The readiness losses imposed during the first year of winter represent not an "inexperience" at fighting in winter, but a total lack of logistical preparation for the winter, as Hitler believed the USSR could be defeated in one summer campaign. While the USSR had people more accustomed to the Russian winter, the logistical problems had a much greater impact on the Germans then their lack of experience with Russia's Old Man Winter.