War in the East Q&A

[Nix77]

I have a couple of questions about the event log and the production system. I'm noticing some weird stuff happening in the event log, would be great to get some info on how things actually work. Lets take two examples, GAZ-AAMG (produced in a factory) and 152mm Howitzer (produced directly from Armaments).

GAZ-AAMG factories are intact, so I should be producing 30 of them every turn, and I think I have been doing that since after 10 turns BUILT is 300.

OK, I think GAZ case is easy (I just figured it out while writing this): Factory production is done BEFORE replacements, so pool after production is 75, as seen in the event log Refit SegA. First segment clears the whole pool, no questions asked, 401 wanted, 75 added. It's going to take a while to get the units filled, but we're ok with that. I'm guessing because GAZ-AAMG comes straight from the factory, the "BUILT" column in the event log will always be "0" for that one?

But then, 152mm Howitzer is built from armaments directly. When does this production take place? Is it before replacements? If so, how many will be produced and why? I don't however think it is, since I see many elements being built in the replacement segments.

Lets see,
Refit SegA: 88 in the pool, 19 wanted, 0 built, 19 added, no problemo.
Refit SegB: 69 in the pool as expected, 0 built, 69 added, oops that was all we had.
Normal Replacements: 0 in the pool, 0 built, 0 added. Oh noes.

On to the questions:
How do the GAZ-AAMG pool figures correlate (36+30=76 from the production screen, however pool is 75 (-2?) in the event log)?

Why wasn't there any 152mm Howitzers built in any of the segments? Normally I see several elements being built if their pool is listed as 0 in the Normal Replacements phase. My armaments pool was 700k+ and usage around 120k, that shouldn't be a problem.

[morvael]

I think this 152mm Howitzer is out of production (check it's end date on element details screen), hence none are built. They will be slowly replaced by some other gun deemed similar enough.
Generally speaking, in case of auto-produced items some are built before replacement phase (according to initial build settings and some other routine which tries to build items it sees in great demand), and some are build directly during replacement phase, based on requests. There are also build limits per turn for some of them (especially of the heavier types like artillery), so production will be generally lower than demand.

[Nix77]

All the Soviet artillery pieces except the 107mm gun have end date in September 1945, that's why I was wondering the zero built figures. The 152mm howitzers were plentiful before, I guess that's why they haven't been produced, but now we're hitting the bottom of the pool, and I was expecting to get at least some built.

It would be useful to know at least some kind of "build capacity" for the elements built from armaments directly. Rifle squads and 122mm guns are built in huge numbers, 203mm are built a lot slowly. This kind of info could be good guide for deciding what kind of support units to build as the Soviets etc.


EDIT: seems like the 152mm Howitzer is really out of production. I tested this in a test game, the 41b Artillery Regiment uses 122mm Howitzers after the 152mm are finished, and no more 152mm will be produced. Where can I actually see and confirm that a ground element will not be produced anymore?

EDIT2: Digged in deeper, with editor. There's a hidden flag "NO AUTO-BUILD" on some elements that prevents them to be produced: 152mm Howitzer, 152mm Field Gun, 280mm Siege Mortar at least. Should these elements have their production end date be marked as pre-1941?

[Denniss]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/152_mm_ho ... %28M-10%29

End date is intentional, otherwise they would be flooded out of units and replaced with inferior in-production guns.

[Nix77]

ORIGINAL: Denniss

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/152_mm_ho ... %28M-10%29

End date is intentional, otherwise they would be flooded out of units and replaced with inferior in-production guns.

Yes, I somehow guessed the dates were there to prevent any weird gun-shuffling in the heat of the battle

However, I noticed something weird. 152mm Field Gun has the NO AUTO-BUILD tag, and Auto-Build limit/percentage is 0/0%. Still I noticed there were some of them built. 152mm Howitzer and the Siege Mortars don't seem to get build even if I ramp up the demand. What's up with that?

[morvael]

I think none are built, maybe you just see returns from damaged to pool (repair in workshops).

Some heavier guns won't be built as well.

[Nix77]

Do repaired elements show up in Production Screen "BUILT" column? That's where the 152mm Field Gun numbers appeared too after I noticed them being built in the event log.

In the editor's "Auto-build limit" row, I'm guessing the percentage indicates approximately how many percent of the current need the production system is willing to produce that certain item?

[Nix77]

How do aircraft "Endurance", "Durability and "Armor" affect combat? I expect armor reduces damage received, and durability increases the lifespan of the aircraft under fire, but endurance is a bit unclear to me?

[Stelteck]

Endurance is probably used to calculate max range of the aircraft. Not sûre.

I have a question too.

Did Soviet Air Bataillon convert to regiment at one point of the campaign ? I prefer to have regiments it is easier to manage, so i'am thinking of disbanding them.

[HMSWarspite]

ORIGINAL: Jagdfluger

Thanks for your response. But does it make sense for the game to lower the damage done to factory by the mere fact of moving it? For example, if a 99% damaged T-34 factory is moved from Kharkov to the east, it would immediately be a 50% damaged factory.

You have to remember what factory damage is. It is not the % of machines out, or the size of the hole in the roof or anything like that. The game mechanic is that it is the net effect of damage on output. IIRC 50%+ damage cuts output to zero, less than that and it is pro-rata output. A 99% damage factory is one that produces nothing and won't until it has had many turns of repair. Thus a 50% damage factory can be one with no electricity supply, or one where all the machines are a little damaged, or a few key machines are damaged... A 99% damaged factory could be largely undamaged except for a few key machines (say cranes in a tank factory - you cant exactly lift those things by hand!) When a factory is moved, they would not rebuild/recommission it in its damaged state. It will be in a new building, with working electricity, and some of the more damaged machines will be replaced. Some of the lighter damaged machines would be fixed by the mere act of disassembling/rebuilding them to move...

Not saying the current system is right but it isn't as illogical as you might think.

[charlie0311]

Stelteck, your air bns will auto upgrade to regts, these will later upgrade to 40 each.

[Stelteck]

ORIGINAL: charlie0311

Stelteck, your air bns will auto upgrade to regts, these will later upgrade to 40 each.

Thanks, i keep them then.

[Stelteck]

Small question :

As a soviet, one of my motorized regiment just got equiped with Pz38 (4 units). I was very interested by this event. I did not know i had the possibility to capture german equipments as soviet. (I know it is possible for german to use soviet equipment).

My question is the following :

Where to look at captured equipments ? I tried to tweak as possible the production screen but never saw any Pz38 or others german tanks in the pool.

[morvael]

Click "Soviet Union" on production screen and scroll down to the bottom of the aircraft/ground element/resources/captured equipment list.

[EwaldvonKleist]

What is the ususal number of partisan units in a human vs. human game in 1941, say Turn 10-14?
By turn 10 I had 3 units and in Turn 14 I have 6, which seems to be a bit low to me. Is this the standard number if the Axis guards cities well?

I have all bombers/transports set to night missions during the enemy turn, many of them on VVS airbases.
Do high % of miles flown prevent bombers from supplying partisans?

By the way: My first partisan unit spawned on the shore of the baltic sea. Recon flights show them enjoying the summer weather on the beach as there are no rail lines to blow up

[Searry]

What are partisans useful for?

[EwaldvonKleist]

They can blow up rail lines, cutting off supply.

[Aufklaerungs]

In June 41, why are population nationalities in occupied Soviet cities in Baltic States, Poland, Bukovina and Bessarabia considered Soviet? I do not believe cohesive anti-Axis partisan groups formed in these areas since the native populations were fiercely anti-Soviet. Certainly, there was an active resistance to Soviet occupation in the Baltic Republics, eastern Poland, as well as an organized nationalistic opposition in Ukraine which formed security formations not just to oppose the Soviets, but often to supplement SS Einsatzgruppen to liquidate Jews, Communists under specious charges of partisanship and supporters to same. Ukrainian nationalist groups considered the Soviet Union enemy number one throughout the war and supported the Axis until the the scorch and burn retreats to the Dneper began in Ukraine during the first months of 1943. Except for small numbers of communists, Polish resistance was a significant problem for the Soviets from Summer 44 till the end of the war (well into the early 50s). Late war forced conscripts from the Baltics, Poland, Ukraine, Bukovina and Bessarabia formed a significant threat to Soviet operational security. Time to limit partisan generating localities to within pre-war (1939) Soviet borders.

[RforRush]

You do not believe, but there definitely were partisans in those ares. Google partizan_dvizh_v_vov.jpg (map for example).

[Aufklaerungs]

I do believe, but pro-Soviet groups from these areas were smaller Red Army/GRU infiltrations and less disruptive to communications and supply than partisans in the Belarus forests, Pripyat marshes, Smolensk land bridge, and approaches to Leningrad. German Army groups north and center faced partisan problems vastly larger than Army Group South. Would have been even worse for the Soviet Union had NKVD not forcibly "resettled" such huge numbers of "politically unreliable" Polish, Rumanian and Ukrainian families in the *stans and eastern SU oblasts.