Underpowered Paras?

[Case Blue]

I've just finished up a couple of Campaigns in the Nijmegen area witht he kick ass 81st Airborne...and then decided to try Arnhem. Imagine to my suprise, instead of my inf coys having a combat strength of 3-4 like the 81st, the Brits only have a combat value of 1[&:]. I mean, 2 is supposed to be twice as strong as 1 and 3 is supposed to be trwice as strong as 2, so does that mean the british companies are 4 times weaker than the americans...some clarification on this please! [&o]

[Grognard]

It was unfortunate that the Son bridge got blown in the 102nd Airborne sector also......[:D]

But seriously, there were more American Paras per Company and maybe a bigger difference was their loadout. IMHO the M1 Garand was one of the most important weapons of WWII. Too bad they couldn't have carried more BAR's.

[Rooster]

Interesting point Case Blue.

In comparing two coys (1 Brit, 1 US) the U.S. has a distinct edge in leadership, personnel and, as you can see below, weapons. All characteristics that constitute Combat Power in the game.

Staff Quality: British 55, American 76
Personnel: British 134, American 165

I don't know what the precise method of arriving at the Combat Power rating, but these factors all contribute to it. Does it explain the 4x edge? Probably not.

And, this is just one comparison - other British units, such as tht 7th KSOB, come closer to matching the U.S. units.

[Grognard]

Good work Rooster, the .30 cal LMG's make a difference also. The .303 wasn't a great round and the Sten's were the poorest SMG on the battlefield.

[Grouchy]

AFAIK the Garand has the same statistics in the game as the other rifles, 500 meters and you are done with them.
SMG's: done with them at 200 meters.

Difference is mainly comming from the LMG's and mortars. Brits get 10 Brens which has a ROF (normal) of 5 and your bassically done with it at ranges further then 600 meter. Then they get 1 Vickers MMG (ROF normal: 15 good up to 2000 meters)
Compare that with the 9 M1919A6 LMG's the americans are getting (ROF normal: 8 nice accuracy up to 1500 meters) and 3 M1919A4's (ROF normal: 10 good up to 1500-2000 meters)

Mortars: 3 for the brits, maximum range 320 meters. Americans 3, maximum range 1816 meters.

Close both coy's have comparable firepower but beyond 800 meters the brit para's have zip, nada, nothing.
Ok....well they have 1 weapon that can hurt the other side compared with the 15 weapons of the americans.
IIRC that is making the difference in firepower you noticed.

So what we do next time playing the germans against the brit para's [:D]? Keep 1000 meter distance, set up block positions and let your LMG's and mortars do the job.

Edit: That's why (when playing germans) KG von Allworden is one of my favourite units at Arnhem: It will arrive early, is mechanized has 22 LMG's and 4 2cm AA's. Set up camp, ROF to high and wait [;)]

[Grognard]

Garand shouldn't have same stats as Enfield, it's ROF was factors higher. Semi-auto vs bolt. HUGE difference.

[Case Blue]

Hey, all good arguments guys...thanks for your replies...maybe a CV of 2 would be more appropriate, but I trust the guys at Panther knew what they were about!

[Arjuna]

One thing to bear in mind here is the rounding effect when producing the Combat Power value. Eg. 1.9 will round down to 1. These values are only meant as a guide. The principle reason for the high values for the American units is their increased strength and the firepower of their weapons.

[Rooster]

i think grouchy's comments are illuminating - the effect of range on Combat Power.

The image below shows the difference - and it is dramatic, just like the difference in CP.

[Golf33]

ORIGINAL: Grognard

Garand shouldn't have same stats as Enfield, it's ROF was factors higher. Semi-auto vs bolt. HUGE difference.

At this game scale, not as big a difference as you might think. Our ROF values are not based solely on weapon cyclic rates, but on how they would be employed tactically. In that environment, the main factor is the availability of targets and riflemen in position to engage them. The bigger differences, and the ones that are significant on this game scale, are in things like the ROF between a rifle (even a semi-auto) and a machinegun.

Oh, and on the original topic - having 14 Bazookas against only 3 PIATs makes a big difference in the US para coy's anti-armour firepower, which is of course a factor. From memory the British air-landing units also have much more heavy firepower (like 6 pdr AT guns) available to them which increases their combat power compared to the very under-armed para coys.

Regards
33