Europa 1947 v5.8 for TOAW IV

[cathar1244]

It needs a little tweaking I'm guessing.

The AA values used by ground units in TOAW would make a great topic for an 'under the hood' discussion.

Cheers

[VHauser]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

I'm still having issues with AAA, but I think that won't be finally resolved until my final review before release, so no worries there for now.

Have you ever been the Allied player and one of your B-52's get's shot down by VC armed with bows and arrows. It needs a little tweaking I'm guessing.

Heh. The list of TOAW "anomalies" is nearly endless.

But speaking of AAA, I think I've resolved most of my issues with AAA. Basically, AAA guns were proving not very useful in the jet age depicted in C47. My TO/Es have evolved over the months to reflect that reality. Also, the British and Americans used different AA weapons with one exception--the Bofors 40mm AAA gun. Turns out that for low altitude, the twin mount was reasonably useful. So, I've adopted the twin 40mm mount as my "standard" (the Soviets use twin 37mm) for combat units. Dedicated AAA units still have a variety of AAA weapons, but the Allies don't have a lot of those (the Germans will, though).

[VHauser]

North African Railroads.
A little research has revealed why the North African rails are a mess.
1) The British never intended to extend the coastal rail much past Tobruk in Libya. I've extended it as far as Benghazi, even though the Benghazi port wasn't considered very good. Players will still have the option to extend it still further, though.
2) The situation in Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco is very different. There, there are lots of small railroads, but they use all sorts of different rail gauges and they are in all sorts of disrepair. I've given the Allies a connection between Tunis and Oran, and a connection between Casablanca and Fez, to represent modernization as well as conversion to standard gauge. They really need that connection between Tunis and Oran because Axis anti-shipping aircraft are very dangerous.

Which brings me to another nagging issue with C47--Supply Points.
Europa 1947 gives Gibralter a supply rating of 100. I have a problem with this because once Spain joins the Axis can the Allies even hold Gibralter, much less use it as a 100 supply point? I've answered yes to holding Gibralter (although I imagine the air and naval fighting in the area to be intense). Regarding the 100 supply rating, I don't have a clear solution. As long as the Axis pose an immediate threat, the 100 rating is unjustifiable. But if/when the Allies secure the region around Gibralter, then a 100 rating might be justified. But that begs the question, should a big rock at the southern tip of Spain EVER be a 100 supply point? I'm seriously considering reducing Gibralter to a 50 or even 25. This forces the Allies to hold Portugal and/or somehow knock Spain out of the war.

[cathar1244]

Victor, one bit that may interest you is that the improved L70 Bofors gun came out in 1947. That might be an equipment option for some of your Allied forces.

Cheers

[VHauser]

ORIGINAL: cathar1244

Victor, one bit that may interest you is that the improved L70 Bofors gun came out in 1947. That might be an equipment option for some of your Allied forces.

Cheers

Cathar,
In the interests of simplicity (and precious equipment slots), I only have one 40mm AA equipment instead of both a 40L60 and 40L70 version. But I've weighted the AA rating in favor of the L70 version. Given the scale of C47, I've done this with most all equipments. For example, the Soviets only have 3 medium tanks: T-44 (late), T-54, and T-54 (late). The Germans will have only 3 medium tanks: Panther (late), Leopard, and Leopard (late). And so on. This scenario is simply too big to have a plethora of equipment types that require endless unit upgrades during the game.

[VHauser]

An example of unit re-organization.

Below is what an American corps HQ looked like a week ago, before re-organization:

Based on TOAW's (irrational) transportation values, that unit has a TV of 1865. But based on my rationalized TVs, that unit has a TV of 2756, which is way too heavy. And that's why I'm doing this re-organization. [See next post below.]

[VHauser]

Here is the re-organized American corps HQ:

This streamlined unit now has a rationalized TV of only 1263 (instead of 2756), which is much more transportation friendly. It retains all of the essential equipments and strips out all of the heavy (and non-essential) equipments.

It's interesting that once you have a rationalized TV system, you pay a LOT more attention to keeping units lean and focused on maximum utility for the minimum transportation value. Kind of like real life, eh?

[VHauser]

Here is a Soviet heavy artillery unit (note that Allied units have significantly different TO/Es than Soviet units).
This unit has 16x 122mm howitzers, 16x 122mm guns, 16x 12mm ER guns, 16x 122mm LR guns, 16x 130mm guns, 16x 130mm ER guns, 16x 152mm howitzers, 16x 152mm guns, 16x 152mm ER guns, 16x 152mm LR guns, 8x 8 inch guns, 8x 8 inch ER guns, 16x quad AAMG, 8x twin 37mm AA, 48x prime movers, 64x hvy trucks, and 32x trucks. It has a rationalized TV of 2401.

[VHauser]

Here is my TV spreadsheet with the above Soviet unit using the base (irrational) TOAW TVs. Based on TOAW's irrational TV system, the above unit has a TV of 832.

[VHauser]

Here is my spreadsheet with the rationalized TV for the above Soviet heavy artillery unit.
[Note that I always try to produce a unit TV within the "sweet spot" of the 2 values in green (the second number is always evenly divisible by 3)] The above Soviet unit has a TV of 2401, which is in the sweet spot.

[rhinobones]

Just curious, but what is the difference between the values of Anti Personnel 9, and Artillery 10? What does Artillery 10 do that Anti Personnel 9 does not.

Regards, RhinoBones

ORIGINAL: VHauser

Here is a Soviet heavy artillery unit (note that Allied units have significantly different TO/Es than Soviet units).
This unit has 16x 122mm howitzers, 16x 122mm guns, 16x 12mm ER guns, 16x 122mm LR guns, 16x 130mm guns, 16x 130mm ER guns, 16x 152mm howitzers, 16x 152mm guns, 16x 152mm ER guns, 16x 152mm LR guns, 8x 8 inch guns, 8x 8 inch ER guns, 16x quad AAMG, 8x twin 37mm AA, 48x prime movers, 64x hvy trucks, and 32x trucks. It has a rationalized TV of 2401.

[VHauser]

RhinoBones,

I'm not certain, but my guess is that the artillery rating has to do with the ability to neutralize fortifications.

[VHauser]

Brief Announcement.

My dad died. He was 90 and a good man and he generally lived a happy life.
My mom is very sick.

I have to deal with a lot right now and I don't know when I'll be back. But I WILL be back.

[Zovs]

VHauser, condolences and family first.

[StuccoFresco]

Sorry for your loss, VHauser. [:(]

[VHauser]

Just a brief update. My mom is dying from a condition called PAH (pulmonary arterial hypertension). There is nothing that can be done, and all we can do is comfort her as much as possible. At some point she will simply stop breathing...

I haven't forgotten you, but I have other concerns right now. I appreciate your thoughts and condolences. Thank you.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm sending healing vibrations your way.

[VHauser]

I just got back. There is no delicate way to put this, it's just a matter of time for my mom. That said, she just had her 85th birthday and it was as happy a birthday as we could make it. She is getting in-home care and she realizes that as much as we love her we have things in our lives that have to be attended to. I might be called away at any time, but for now here I am.

I have to deal with some issues here that can't wait any longer. It should take me a day or two, but I intend to get back to my "normal" routine by Wednesday or Thursday. And that includes C47.

[VHauser]

Okay, I've reviewed my notes and have made a quick scan of the scenario to get a sense of where I am. Looks like I've already done a lot with the re-organization of the USA-equipped OOB. Being away for 6 weeks has had one benefit--I am looking at this thing with fresh eyes, and I'm liking what I'm seeing. I think I can finish up with the USA-equipped OOB in 7-10 days.

However, looking over the map in N. Africa, I'm less happy about giving the Allies the completed connection between Oran and Tunis. While I believe that the Allies certainly had the capability to complete that connection, it's also true that that whole region is within Axis air range. So, now I'm considering leaving that connection as broken and let the Allied player try to repair it in the face of Axis interdiction.

[VHauser]

I should be done with the re-organization of the USA-equipped OOB by the end of the week.

After further thought, I've decided to not rail-connect Tunis to Oran after all. The player will have to repair that rail line after the game starts. Turns out that due to the way the game handles ports/anchorages, this will not be a major handicap. However, I'm close to the 400-supply-point limit which is a big problem for me. I'm going to have to remove some supply points and right now every single supply point on the map is important.