Newbs in the East: Psych0 (Axis) vs Drakken (Sov) - SOVIET RETURNED - NO AXIS

[M60A3TTS]

Here is how I defended hex x83 y16 in a current game. It is using better math CV so my values are higher than yours, but you'll get the idea.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

ORIGINAL: Drakken

Okey, so let's say the absolute worst happens here next turn and psych0 seals all the way up to Sviritsa. Then what? North's done, game over?

My calculus was that he will have no choice but to push at least some troops further back if he aims for the Lagoda Lake, and my troops will retreat back toward Novaya Ladoga, some of them spilling away East of the Volhkov river because I have already hexes with 3 counters in the way. The wood and the swamps, plus the ZOCs, would eat up some more of his motorized MPs if pushes northeast.

Your underlying assumption is that there is some value to the Axis in attacking west of the Volkhov and that is false. The value in this area to your opponent is all in the port of Sviritsa with an unbroken line of communication to it. He can achieve that by simply staying east of the Volkhov and your deployment facilitates his movement. If you had shifted more eastwards with some troops, you would have a better chance keeping Leningrad in supply. Them getting cut off is inevitable in most cases, so you have to plan on dragging out that battle which consists of two parts.

The first is the defense of hex x86 Y16. That needs some of your best units under a solid general, even Zhukov. Other good units need to be sitting at Osinovets in a reserve state so when he tries crossing the Neva, you have a better chance of winning by getting reserve activations.

The second is the defense of the Ladoga ports, in this case Sviritsa. Here is where you need to have another solid army deployed east of the Volkhov to delay his advance for as long as you can.

Your worst case scenario isn't a done deal just yet. You haven't talked much about his fuel situation in your AAR. That's important to know as it helps you to understand how far he can get with the fuel he has. A number of vets who post AARs talk about the enemy's fuel state. You also don't say who is commanding your armies. That is important too. Hopefully you have good ones in place.

Very valid points. The game has no HQ BU's. Thus the first thing you want to do is check the fuel state of those PZ/Moto units. If they are RED hug them with units and make him work for the hexes.(I like checking supply status too) You really don't have anything to lose besides the units themselves. You want to tie up these units as long as you can to not be available somewhere else on the map. Just my 2 cents.

[WingedIncubus]

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

Thank you.

Now, knowing that there is no HQ BU what was your line of thinking on what you wanted to accomplish in the Leningrad area knowing this is the only prize the Germans need in this area? I take away from the picture you are in unit preservation mode?

I concede that Leningrad will fall sooner or later, so my aim is to make him as hard and costly to brake as possible, while I evacuate everything I can and save my Northwestern front East to bottle AGN in the area.

[WingedIncubus]

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain
Very valid points. The game has no HQ BU's. Thus the first thing you want to do is check the fuel state of those PZ/Moto units. If they are RED hug them with units and make him work for the hexes.(I like checking supply status too) You really don't have anything to lose besides the units themselves. You want to tie up these units as long as you can to not be available somewhere else on the map. Just my 2 cents.

I use Jison's mod. There is no Red fuel state.

[M60A3TTS]

The S key toggles your soft factors. The number of bars to the left of the unit symbol tells you at a level of 0-4 how much of what the unit has. Depending on your game version/interface when you hit the S key you will see a change in the particular soft factor you are looking at. For fuel it looks like a drop of fuel I think, and the other is three fuel barrels. That happens at the menu/top of your game screen.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

Here is how I defended hex x83 y16 in a current game. It is using better math CV so my values are higher than yours, but you'll get the idea.

"Off topic Alert"

German player needs more "ENGINEERS" for their attack on that hex first off. Plus units in Reserve movement for helping the attack(if not done already) But this is another discussion in and of itself ;-P

[WingedIncubus]

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

Here is how I defended hex x83 y16 in a current game. It is using better math CV so my values are higher than yours, but you'll get the idea.

"Off topic Alert"

German player needs more "ENGINEERS" for their attack on that hex first off. Plus units in Reserve movement for helping the attack(if not done already) But this is another discussion in and of itself ;-P

ALL my troops behind the first line are set in Reserve Mode, too. Does the fact they are all in the same Front and all within HQ range help triggering Reserves?

[WingedIncubus]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

The S key toggles your soft factors. The number of bars to the left of the unit symbol tells you at a level of 0-4 how much of what the unit has. Depending on your game version/interface when you hit the S key you will see a change in the particular soft factor you are looking at. For fuel it looks like a drop of fuel I think, and the other is three fuel barrels. That happens at the menu/top of your game screen.

It's a drop of fuel

Every single turn, I note they are empty on his Motorized and Armoured divisions when it is set to Fuel. Hence my confusion.

[M60A3TTS]

You may want to take another look at the manual. You're going to struggle particularly in PvP if you don't have a good understanding of some of the basics, like the game interface.

Anyways, that said, here it is in the manual, from 5.1.3, translated from color to bars with Jison's mod:

4 bars= >85%
3 bars= 71-85%
2 bars= 56-70%
1 bar= 41-55%
0 bars= <41%

So a unit with zero bars can still have 40 % of fuel remaining, so it will have some limited movement and may be able to even participate in combat, and is not necessarily out of gas.

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: Drakken

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

Here is how I defended hex x83 y16 in a current game. It is using better math CV so my values are higher than yours, but you'll get the idea.

"Off topic Alert"

German player needs more "ENGINEERS" for their attack on that hex first off. Plus units in Reserve movement for helping the attack(if not done already) But this is another discussion in and of itself ;-P

ALL my troops behind the first line are set in Reserve Mode, too. Does the fact they are all in the same Front and all within HQ range help triggering Reserves?

Yes, but being part of the same army helps far more than same front, and a leader with a higher initiative rating helps also. If the reserve unit is fatigued, that works against its activation chance.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

ORIGINAL: Drakken

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain




"Off topic Alert"

German player needs more "ENGINEERS" for their attack on that hex first off. Plus units in Reserve movement for helping the attack(if not done already) But this is another discussion in and of itself ;-P

ALL my troops behind the first line are set in Reserve Mode, too. Does the fact they are all in the same Front and all within HQ range help triggering Reserves?

Yes, but being part of the same army helps far more than same front, and a leader with a higher initiative rating helps also. If the reserve unit is fatigued, that works against its activation chance.

Best reserve activation is having fatigue below 20%. The lower the better. Plus the size of the unit is yet another factor with smaller size units easier to be activated. Thus a brigade/regiment has a better chance than a division and a division a better chance than a corps of being activated. Just remember that the negative side effect is not digging in as well when in reserve mode, so plan accordingly.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

You are getting a good crash course in the game Drakken but will make you a better player. To be honest there are probably 10+ people in the shadows that are loving this exchange of information since they never post & are learning a ton. So for them I'm thanking you for bringing this out & not being afraid to ask questions or hear ideas on how to improve. 5 stars imho

[Nix77]

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

Best reserve activation is having fatigue below 20%. The lower the better. Plus the size of the unit is yet another factor with smaller size units easier to be activated. Thus a brigade/regiment has a better chance than a division and a division a better chance than a corps of being activated. Just remember that the negative side effect is not digging in as well when in reserve mode, so plan accordingly.

I'm not sure if fatigue actually affects reserve activation, there's no mention about that in the manual I think? At first thought it'd naturally make sense, but fatigue affects so many other things, like unit's available MPs (which are an important factor for reserve activation), that it might have too multiplicative effect if it had a specific extra influence on reserve activation.

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

You are getting a good crash course in the game Drakken but will make you a better player. To be honest there are probably 10+ people in the shadows that are loving this exchange of information since they never post & are learning a ton. So for them I'm thanking you for bringing this out & not being afraid to ask questions or hear ideas on how to improve. 5 stars imho

The problem is .. I have to deal with a much tougher opponent in the multiplayer game.

[SparkleyTits]

I thought Drakken was my opponent in the centre in our game Crackaces and Doctorking was facing AGN

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: SparkleyTits

I thought Drakken was my opponent in the centre in our game Crackaces and Doctorking was facing AGN

Maybe you are all going to turn inwards and gang up on Drakken? [;)]

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: Nix77

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

Best reserve activation is having fatigue below 20%. The lower the better. Plus the size of the unit is yet another factor with smaller size units easier to be activated. Thus a brigade/regiment has a better chance than a division and a division a better chance than a corps of being activated. Just remember that the negative side effect is not digging in as well when in reserve mode, so plan accordingly.

I'm not sure if fatigue actually affects reserve activation, there's no mention about that in the manual I think? At first thought it'd naturally make sense, but fatigue affects so many other things, like unit's available MPs (which are an important factor for reserve activation), that it might have too multiplicative effect if it had a specific extra influence on reserve activation.

The manual doesn't mention a great many things It may or may not be in the calculation performed for reserve movement (probably not) but I couldnt tell you for sure But I have used the fatigue stat myself to successfully predict such an execution a great many more times than a unit that is fatigued from my games. I will continue to use this calculation in the future until something else points elsewhere

[WingedIncubus]

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

ORIGINAL: SparkleyTits

I thought Drakken was my opponent in the centre in our game Crackaces and Doctorking was facing AGN

Maybe you are all going to turn inwards and gang up on Drakken? [;)]

That would be an interesting game - what if all 4 panzer groups went for Moscow? [X(]

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: SparkleyTits

I thought Drakken was my opponent in the centre in our game Crackaces and Doctorking was facing AGN

Ahhh OK ...

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: Drakken

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

ORIGINAL: SparkleyTits

I thought Drakken was my opponent in the centre in our game Crackaces and Doctorking was facing AGN

Maybe you are all going to turn inwards and gang up on Drakken? [;)]

That would be an interesting game - what if all 4 panzer groups went for Moscow? [X(]

Been done