Detailed combat reporting

[Wild]

ORIGINAL: artcrusher

There haas been some issues concerning translations of certain German words into English i e Abteilung. I suggest that all German units use the original German units designations. Infantrie, Artillerie, Nebelwerfer, StuGIII, etc. Heeres Gruppe Mitte, Kampf Gruppe, Division, Regiment, Zug etc. What does everyone think?

My personal preferance would be english. However i would also be interested in hearing what everyone else thinks.

[Montbrun]

They stated along time ago that everything would be in English - sounds like a good Mod project, though.

[Veldmaarschalk]

Well I think keeping it in English is the better option, since if they do it wrong then it just irritates people. f.e. your post already contains 3 mistakes/typo's, it is Infanterie, Heeresgruppe Mitte and Kampfgruppe. [:)]

[Lützow]

Send me the OOB as *csv and I will deliver a flawless German translation. [:)]

[Hard Sarge]

ah, there is the rub, which one of the OOBs would you need, there going to me many (that why I said the issue will be with the guy who has to do it, and do it, and do it

[FM WarB]

While I wouldnt mind seeing German as I'm fluent in the language, Russian is "Greek" to me. Put in German names and a justifiable call for Russian will shortly follow.
Sticking with English for all names seems a wise compromise.

[Lützow]

Keep it at least easy modable, please, that we can change these files for ourselves. I don't consider it as much work, to swap like one or two dozens of English terms through appropriate German ones. And for spreadsheets one can even accomplish this by 'search&replace'.

[Hard Sarge]

not sure if I have seen anything on this stuff, will show how to reinforce a Combat unit during a battle, when you don't have time to rest

this is one of my SU Guard Corps, been fighting Hot and Heavy, trying to break though the German line

as you can see, good morale and Exp, but kind of low in CV and troops, now that I have cleared up a pocket behind the front, I am moving those troops forward

now the stack has over 31,000 men in it, right click on one of the Brigs, then click on the Merge line

and repeat with the next one

my Corps has gone from 23 to 31 K

[Hard Sarge]

now lets see what it looks like

[Hard Sarge]

as you see, my Morale and Exp has gone down, it will take a little while for it to return, or a couple of good battles will help (of course, a couple of bad battles will hurt)

under attached, I have added a Tank Reg, a Tank Bn, and a Sapper Bn

(those won't show on the ToE page as such, but will show in the icon to the right, you can also click on one of those to show what the Unit looks like)

much easier for the Russian side then the German Side, but still doable

[Zovs]

While that is certainly one valid way of refitting this unit there are other ways of doing so. What I have found a bit more beneficial during my playing of the Soviets from 1943-1944 is to set the Corps on Refit (in the line is fine, just takes longer, i.e. if you pull it out of the line and stick it on a rail it will get more units to fill out the TOE much faster and increase it's morale and experience faster as well. At the same time I'll pull out the two Rifle Brigades and place them on Refit, and add another Rifle Brigade (by either building a new one or finding another one from another Army) and when all 3 Rifle brigades are at about 100% TOE and their morale has increase a bit, then build those 3 rifle brigades into a rifle division. Rinse and repeat with three rifle divisions and you can then build up a decent corps.

Again, Hard Sgts method is one way, but I find my way useful, I like smashing the German lines with corps and it's fun to build up armies.

[ComradeP]

So "Guards" are not actually different from regular army units, except in TOE? It will take some getting used to that you can merge non-Guard units with Guards and that Guard Rifle Squads are the same as the others it seems.

Are SS units different from non-SS units, as in: are there SS Infantry Squads and the like?

[Hard Sarge]

and I also said this was a way of doing it on the front line during the battle (if I wanted to pull out of the line and wait, yes, I agree)

also, that is one of my spearhead Corps working to trap a Large part of AGN

but I think you are missing the main reason for doing this

C&C

[elmo3]

ORIGINAL: ComradeP

So "Guards" are not actually different from regular army units, except in TOE? ...

Guards, Elite Axis, and Elite SS units get a +15 morale boost too. That makes a big difference on many die rolls.

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: ComradeP

So "Guards" are not actually different from regular army units, except in TOE? It will take some getting used to that you can merge non-Guard units with Guards and that Guard Rifle Squads are the same as the others it seems.

Are SS units different from non-SS units, as in: are there SS Infantry Squads and the like?

stop and think about it, a Guard unit was still basicly a normal unit, where do you think there replacements came from ? there wasn't a Guard Bootcamp, they are better units and have different ToE

for the SS, there are different Grades of SS

for that Guard Corps, it is not as good now as it was, it will take time, to train up the replacements, but, they got a much better chance of getting the training as a Guard

[ComradeP]

A number of wargames, especially the more tactical ones like SPWWII do have different Guards sections/squads to model the better equipment they would be using. Drawing replacements from some random collection of Rifle Brigades, essentially instantly making them Guards units could be gamey.

If the Guards Rifle Corps is broken down, it will presumably form Guards Rifle Divisions or Guards Rifle Brigades, so by pulling regular units into Guards units and forming those in to Corps before breaking them up again, units could become Guards without the usual required experience and other things that make a unit a Guard unit, you could essentially create as many Guards units as you have troops, unless I'm missing something. I don't see any special requirement in the process you're describing, so I'm wondering what keeps the Soviets from forming Guards only armies?

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: ComradeP

A number of wargames, especially the more tactical ones like SPWWII do have different Guards sections/squads to model the better equipment they would be using. Drawing replacements from some random collection of Rifle Brigades, essentially instantly making them Guards units could be gamey.

Yes, but you are not, you are joining a unit to another unit, those from the Brig, are being split up and filling in the ranks, it is not becoming a "added" Brig with in the Corps, don't forget, the squads, plts, companies and so on, are at 50% or so, full strength, the "merged" unit is filling in the gaps (just the same as troops from some training center, being added to the Corps would be)

If the Guards Rifle Corps is broken down, it will presumably form Guards Rifle Divisions or Guards Rifle Brigades, so by pulling regular units into Guards units and forming those in to Corps before breaking them up again, units could become Guards without the usual required experience and other things that make a unit a Guard unit, you could essentially create as many Guards units as you have troops, unless I'm missing something. I don't see any special requirement in the process you're describing, so I'm wondering what keeps the Soviets from forming Guards only armies?

once you get going, you don't have to do anything "fancy" to make Guard Armies (other then stay alive !), you will have them (Guards Breed like rabbits with out doing anything to help them !

[elmo3]

ORIGINAL: ComradeP

...you could essentially create as many Guards units as you have troops, unless I'm missing something. ...

There is a limit on how many Guards units the Soviets can have.

Edit - From the manual (and subject to change of course):

The Soviet player may never have more than 25% of a non-motorized type be guards units, and no more than 35% of a motorized type be guards units. There is no limit on the number of cavalry or airborne units that may become guards.

[ComradeP]

Would "type" be a unit type like Brigade, Division or Corps? I guess there is a way to get around that system too, by creating a large number of, say, Rifle Brigades and not filling them up. Statistically, there'll be a lot of that unit type then, even though many units are basically empty shells.

It's probably too late now, but perhaps it could be worth considering to tie the limit to actual number of troops and AFV's, rather than the unit number.

I know I'm trying to find problems with your solutions, but I'd rather make sure that this issue has been covered now that this forum has two dozen regular contributors rather than after the game is released and, hopefully, this forum will be swamped by hundreds of players.

[jaw]

Here is the exact wording from the latest version of the manual:

"Under certain conditions, soviet on map combat, support, and Corps and Army HQ units may become Guards units. There is a limit to the number of each type of unit (infantry, armor, mountain, artillery, etc.) that may become guard. The Soviet player may never have more than 25% of a non-motorized type be guards units, and no more than 35% of a motorized type be guards units. There is no limit on the number of cavalry or airborne units that may become guards. For determining these percentages, the following weighting is used for different sized units: Corps=15, Division=9, Brigade=5, Regiment=3, Battalion=1."

Based on the above I am assuming the limitation also does not apply the headquarters but I don't know. Perhaps Pavel can answer that.