Burns vs. Flaviusx

[Flaviusx]

German army is in full winter quarters.

I funded the better part of a panzer corps by setting most of the front line to garrison mode.

You shouldn't have any attack opportunities here, not with the entire line more or less covered by infantry corps. Most of it is pretty well dug in now, too. Every German infantry corps is a 10+ unit. That's stronger than your best units right now.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx
You shouldn't have any attack opportunities here,

I disagree, Blizzard reduces effectiveness recovery for you by 40% and attacks by 50%. Soviets are winterized so no effects on me other than perhaps increased movement costs, though I'm not sure on that.

I'll be attacking at 1-1 odds or better over and over, to try and drive down your effectiveness. Over multiple turns your line should eventually crack as long as my replacements can keep up with the initially high loss rate. Either way, it will be interesting to see how it works out.

As a test case I went after a couple divisions this turn and earned +1% experience to my builds, so at a minimum this should improve new builds for me.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

19 December 1941

The Soviets make a total of 12 low odds land attacks this turn (snow weather), and gain 3% to new unit build experience. Hopefully blizzard will hit soon and I can go all in on attacks. For now I only attacked in areas where there is a low chance he'd risk counter attacks.

Even if this fails as far as the combats go, the earned experience is worth the high losses. Right now the Soviets sit at 45% and they were at just 41% two turns ago.

Here's a shot of this turns attacks, everything above this list was partisan stuff, so this is all I did to earn 3% (not sure if the air combat stuff helps or not). I assume as my experience goes up it'll be harder to earn it, the coming blizzard should prove it if that is the case, as I intend to go all in.

[Flaviusx]

Well, building up experience does matter.

You threw away 56 points last turn on these attacks according to my combat log with zero retreats. I took maybe 7 or 8 in return. Ourrah!

I have plenty of reserves on the way, and you are going to have problems supplying this push into the swamps in particular.

[Flaviusx]

In the meantime, the luftwaffe stubbornly refuse to either take replacements or upgrade, despite being parked near Berlin next to an HQ. I'm pumping 200 pts a turn into this and none of it is going their way.

Possibly it got diverted into infantry upgrades, I just got 42 tech. But if this keeps up I may simply have to disband some units stuck at 40 tech and rebuild them from scratch at present air tech which is at 42.

[Jim D Burns]

Blizzard hits in the north half of Russia and unfortunately the best odds I could get were 1-2. I made lots of attacks but not as many as I'd hoped due to high losses. If the weather doesn't help out by reducing effectiveness of the Germans over time, I may only be able to afford to do this for another turn.

I did gain another 3% to my build experience, so it now sits at 48%. If next turn is as tough as this one I'll just do enough attacks to reach 50% and call it for this winter and start focusing on new builds.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx
You threw away 56 points last turn on these attacks according to my combat log with zero retreats. I took maybe 7 or 8 in return. Ourrah!

I saved up 2k production for this attack and have almost 100% manpower so I can afford this. Hopefully the weather pulls down your effectiveness a bit so I can get better odds attacks. I probably should have waited for a turn or two of blizzard to go by before attacking, we shall see.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx
In the meantime, the luftwaffe stubbornly refuse to either take replacements or upgrade

There is a strict sequence for replacements in the manual, make sure only planes have their green plus sign highlighted and they "should" go first in the pecking order I think. Check the chart in the manual to be sure.

Jim

[Flaviusx]

Does the plus button even work for aircraft? But I will try this.

According to my combat log you lost 176 points in round two. Still no retreats. I took maybe a dozen in return. This is an expensive proposition, but if you can afford it, ok.

You've got me burning some trucks to keep up my efficiency on specific units that got a special hello from Ivan.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx
Does the plus button even work for aircraft? But I will try this.

I used it in Africa and it seemed to work, though I wasn't tracking things close enough to be sure.

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx
According to my combat log you lost 176 points in round two. Still no retreats. I took maybe a dozen in return. This is an expensive proposition, but if you can afford it, ok.

You've got me burning some trucks to keep up my efficiency on specific units that got a special hello from Ivan.

Yeah 1-2 attacks were brutal, but experience gain still went up, although much slower than the 1-1 attacks did.

I probably should have tested this theory vs. the AI, but it doesn't keep a cohesive dug in front, so I really needed a human to test my theory on. That said I think attacking early before giving blizzard a chance to have an effect on you over a couple turns was a bonehead move on my part. But I've been waiting so long to test this I just couldn't help it lol.

I think I'll pause for a turn or two to see if Blizzard helps.

Jim

[Flaviusx]

Btw, I think hold is just a little too good in this game.

I've basically got everyone in the front line on hold, and unless these units get severely run down, they will not retreat. You taught me this little trick.

Thing needs to be nerfed some imo. I'm not at all confident I can get anywhere in Russia in 42 since the entire front will more or less be one big battle of Kursk. I'll wait until clear weather and see if it's worth pushing or not.

At this point, I'm leaning towards just running out the clock and holding on to my gains and building a big central reserve to deal with the Western Allies. The Eastern Front can probably take care of itself defensively with what it's already got now.

[Jim D Burns]

Blizzard ends... Snow everywhere in Russia.

I did manage to find 2 different 1-1 odds hexes to attack and this earned me another 1% experience for builds. One more turn and a few more attacks to get that last 1% and I think I'll call off the offensive as I expected the blizzard to last longer than two turns.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx
Btw, I think hold is just a little too good in this game.

It all comes down to manpower. If you can afford to pay the manpower hold is golden. But go below 50% of your max manpower and you begin to lose experience. I think it also effects leaders somehow though I'm not sure.

Jim

[Flaviusx]

I've got over 80% manpower and maybe 1000 logistics left, the latter right now is more likely to be the constraining factor. There is a hard limit to how much I can put on the map and I'm not quite there, but can see getting there by the end of 42.

The well runs dry fast with the French, granted.

Russia, I have found, starts having manpower issues by 1943 or so when it hits 50%. They have enough manpower to win the war, but after 1943 or so they will be taking an experience hit. I expect you will hit your own ceiling around 50% experience and it will be hard to raise it much further than that. You are pretty close to getting there already.

In your shoes, I'd start disbanding some of your lower experience units and replace them with fresh builds, assuming you have such units at this point.

[Jim D Burns]

At this point, I'm leaning towards just running out the clock and holding on to my gains and building a big central reserve to deal with the Western Allies. The Eastern Front can probably take care of itself defensively with what it's already got now.

I think Germany's ultimate weakness is logistic points, you can only build so much. It takes the allies a looong time to build up due to very low income for Britain and the US, but once they get close to their logistic limits along with the soviets, Germany will be far outnumbered.

After that its all about good play and how costly Germany can make it for the allies on attack. Push back a few invasions and destroy enough stuff and the allies may run out of time for a win.

You can probably make some headway in Russia in 1942 if you are slow and methodical (your units are still far superior), but it will be far more costly than 1941 was. So you have to weigh the cost of the fighting vs. the cost of not building up to your logistic limit.

The sooner you reach your limit, the more time you can plan a defense with what you have. You can still reach a few more production sites in Russia in 1942, but I think the oil is out of reach unless I blow it somehow. 1941 is Germany's only real chance to break out and over-stretch the Soviets. Once the Soviets can start pumping out endless armies like I can now, the mobile warfare ends in Russia.

Russia can build 24 armies a year now (1 per turn) and still have money left for replacements and other builds. I'm convinced the early mech is what kept you from destroying enough of my starting units to breach my lines and breakout towards the oil. They almost never shatter like infantry do, thus my lines were never really breached.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx
In your shoes, I'd start disbanding some of your lower experience units and replace them with fresh builds, assuming you have such units at this point.

I'll keep them through 42 while I build their replacements. Next winter I'll turn off replacements for them and banzai them into your line to try and earn as much experience for new builds as I can until they die.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx
Russia, I have found, starts having manpower issues by 1943 or so when it hits 50%.

I think you are misunderstanding how manpower works. It's not the 50% or 80% you need to look at, it's the number on the left. That's your per turn income that fills the stockpile on the right. So if you are nearing 50% as the Soviets in 43, back off attacking until it refills a bit.

So when I say hold at all costs is golden unless you can't afford the manpower, what I mean is if the extra casualties per turn you take for that toggled on choice puts you at a per turn loss that exceeds your per turn income.

In France it doesn't matter, you won't live long enough to care. But every other major needs to weigh the cost of the toggled setting against their per turn income. I guarantee if I go over to the attack in Russia you won't be able to afford that setting for long.

[Jim D Burns]

I'm thinking I may have reached a hard cap or something on the experience gain number for new builds. I got transfixed in doing just one more horribly bad odds battle to try and earn that last 1% and went way overboard. In the end I earned nothing and took massive casualties, by the time I snapped out of it, it turned out to probably be my most expensive turn yet lol.

So I'm done, I'll just have to be satisfied with 49%... but damn if it doesn't still bother me lol.

Jim

[Flaviusx]

50% may well be a hardcap I don't recall seeing it go up further than that on ground units. I have some vague recollection of air being able to go over that, but don't hold me to it.

I'm not unhappy with the way this winter has gone. My lines didn't budge and I did almost as much damage to you as during the main campaign, at least in raw factors if not actual unit losses.

My manpower hasn't budged at all. A most economical defense after a very spendthrift offense in 41, which is what the doctor ordered.

If I had some clear weather right about now I could really smack your tired out units here, but mud will give you time to recover.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx
I'm not unhappy with the way this winter has gone. My lines didn't budge and I did almost as much damage to you as during the main campaign, at least in raw factors if not actual unit losses.

Well I learned a lot this winter. Russia can easily afford the manpower lost, and I spent the full 2k replacing losses, so the question is, is it worth 2k to gain 8% experience for 1942's builds.

This I can only guess at. I assume a 41% experienced infantry army would be around 7 strength maybe, and a 49% I'm guessing 12 or so. If that's the case then yeah 2k is a good price to pay, because units can't really grow experience in the game any other way.

If I had to do it over again, I'd stick to only 1-1 odds attacks. Losses for those really low odds attacks were too high and consumed most of the 2k spent. Had I stuck to 1--1 only I'd have probably reached 45% which would give a strength of about 10 I think, so not bad for the first big batch of armies after 1941. And who knows I'd probably still have half that 2k left to spend on units right now.