A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG

[AlbertN]

T79 - That battle...

Now one may think the German forces there went off nice and good right!

I do not know of the Soviet status but I can see their nice bright green supply tickers, while guess which German hex was attacked?

You're right.
Somehow the 2 divisions that just fought victorious barely got new supplies, being in red and yellow... after my logistic phase.

Thus now despite being supposedly pretty integer, and at decent ToE (IN fact they're 75% and 80% non damaged ToE), these two divisions have a lousy fighting power.

They're low on supply, low on ammunition and ... one of them is 150% Fuel?

I do not know what to say - I am happy for the fighting success here BUT at the same time I am not happy at the supply distribution.

I've supposedly a 'Super Depot' right there but it only received 500 freight this turn.

[AlbertN]

T79 - Local Counterattack

The single Guard Corps left behind may be a bait. But one I welcome.

First of all to attack that will leave still two closeby hexes in Soviet control. That is way more important that I thought when I started this match and believed til past Winter '41.

These two Soviet controlled hexes will allow my troops to dig up to Fort Level 3 there, without the need of a fortified zone.
Litterally a boon, considering the limit of 40 Fortified Zones.

With utmost chances that Guard corp was left with no MPs to move away past the combat.

The usual tradeoff, I attack, I weaken. BUT I had the whiff that the unit itself was not in a top notch shape after the nose bleed they took before in the larger attack.

For the first time I see the massed panzers achieve a meaningful result there. On a non fortified infantry unit in open plains and that is pratically licking wounds from a previous battle.

[AlbertN]

T79 - Of Soviet Victories

This is instead a Soviet victory - in the Don River Bend sector.

I am still posting the 'long' Hit Per Element business.

As you can see here as well the 50 mm Mortars are defensively useless for the Germans.

The Panzerjagers in defence do their dirty job but they also get destroyed in heaps and crops.

Now I think for the Soviet units used, it has gone decent enough for the Axis.
But at the same time I feel it wrong that the Russians can pretty much stack 3 corps per hex.

It's not a 'search for a weak spot' and attack the weak spot.
To the north of here the Hungarians received 1 attack only (Maybe Russians need to prepare there better but the Hungarians barely got molested!). I've an amount of frotline locations that are manned by regiments.

I assume these corps may have well suffered, maybe the extra HPE of the Axis are due to the sheer mass of Russians coming at them? That an artillery hit could have blindly hit a ground spot, and somehow some Russians of that 300k horde was bound to be there?

Observing the Russians - admittedly with less devotion to how I inspect my own side - there is that discomforting serie of 0.X HPE. Given I know it's the same when the Germans attack enemies in good positions (It was not the case of the 'stranded' Guard Corps above).

Anyhow it is to be seen how the Russians keep the momentum there.

Axis logistic situation still seems awful and I am again filled with red tickers of Supply... Next image will be the one of this sector.

[AlbertN]

T79 - Don River Bend Situation

As you can see Kalach to the north has been lost to the Soviets. That was the only attack they made in the Hungarian sector, where German assets are confluxing as I dreaded a collapse of the Hungarian front. It has not materialized ... yet at least ... as a situation.

The Soviets seem to favor a direct attack all along the railroad line.
A railroad line that hardly supplies and feeds my units ... I've established a Super Depot at Voroshivolgrad. The problem then is that many units try to resupply from it ... which means a massive destruction of trucks in turn. Not really what I want, I wanted a larger depot that stocks up there and then forwards it around to the smaller depots closer to the frontline.

I cannot just persistently move around the FBD unit and keep a supposed super depot by the front because the moment I need to move it, I do not have a super depot.

What is pretty much pushing me to do a mass retreat is the silly destruction the truck component of German forces is undergoing. The 'Attrition' specify for any Pz or Mot division there is 100+. So you can imagine the massive bleed of trucks just because.

On the other hand to retreat can be tragic. The soviets follow suit without coming close so that the fortification limit is 1 because of artificial limit. The Soviets may give 1 to 2 turns of respite max. Probably 0 as they've ample mobile assets. And the German forces will be out of forts and exposed in the plains.

But I could try to migrate the super depot to a smaller depot and closer to the front, like, Millerovo.

I've soon to get off the pc so will take time to think on what to do there.

[AlbertN]

T79 - of Allied Bombing

This is for the fellow Axis players.

Turn your Factory filter on, and check what's yellow.

In this case the Frankfurt Manpower Factory got hit by strategic bombing.
You know the deal, Priority Repair if needs and assign a Construction Unit or so to the City. Every bit of manpower can help!

I wish the Logistic Report would signal me the 'Factory Damage'...
It seems there is a dedicated field for these things BUT it tells nothing to me.

Each turn I need to have a quick glance (and I could miss something) in Germany.
If it is in the playable zone, I can manually try to repair it quicker.

Try to take the habit as I am sure as '43 comes also armament factories and the like will be bombed and to have Construction Units at hand for repairs will be handy.

[AlbertN]

T79 - Caucasus Supply Nightmare

Here you can see how severe Morale gets hammered when units are low on supply.

This is pretty much some extreme system that screws the Axis during Winter '41 and in general.

That Romanian division has been sitting here for turns holding a quiet front and fort. The enemy retreated away from contact with the units after the first instance of naval interdiction.

The Romanian unit do not resupply itself proper and I've to air supply it. You know it.
Air supply can push supply up to 70-90% without problems - and you know that too as I've shown it previously.

Yet each and every single turn it seems the supply that was received via air disappears. This I am noticing everywhere. I am not sure why or how. Is it used to dig forts? Or what? Does it just disappear? How the unit goes from 90% supply to 20% supply.

Then you can see the Unit Morale plummets. Some elements of this division have 50+ Experience. The division itself has 13 Victories and 2 losses. It is meant to be a decent 'veteran' Romanian division.

I've spent an amount of efforts and time to cultivate some Romanian divisions to good levels of morale and experience; and so I did for Germans.
But all of these efforts will be obliterated not by replacements or so - just by sitting there and be in a logistically strained situation.

I cannot pinpoint what but I feel there is something wrong here - but I do definitely know the morale is getting hammered too easily away from units due to fatigue / supply or else.
Morale should be more tied to victories and defeats or prolonged situation of starvation / isolated.

Leningrad situation in this game should be desperate by now, I assume. So it would be a Stalingrad in a normal game I think if it was isolated since ... 6 months? (I'd expect in both cases with mundane air interception that it would be a struggle to keep a strong air bridge but I may be wrong).

Anyhow time to unplug myself from the PC - will be back later.

[AlbertN]

T79 - Don Decisions

For now the line shall be held, but a new line is to be prepared in the rear for fall back.
Need better forts there first of all than tier 1 for some extent.
Need to establish a Super Depot and hope it works (They do not always work alas...).

In the while the proud Luftwaffe, helped by the Romanian, Hungarian and Italian transport fleets that are gradually fielded all over the map to somehow hotpatch the logistic system shortcomings are to try to keep the front aflot.

See the small labels / tickers difference here after 30-40 Air Supply missions were held all around; and 20+ were flown across Crimea Peninsula to supply the Caucasus (where the Freight pretty much arrives only at Tuapse due to the port gimmick).

Much to my dismay the 'main activity' of the turn is to perform air supply across a good chunk of the board.
I feel that awfully wrong but I cannot do anything about it with the present logistic system work-around.

I feel the system works somehow okayish when it is a simple Berlin to one line to the East business. But as soon as there are intersecations, forks, and things like that, the whole logistic system coding goes into the trash bin.

Players make examples of 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 or whatever -- these are linear things. Easy to grasp.
And it can be seen around the Moscow Zone. Supply starts from Berlin, and pretty much somehow flows eastward to the outskirts of Moscow. Easy concept right?

The moment it arrives from '41 starting zone to Stalino somehow had to digress something to supply Crimea. How much ... dunno... must have a lvl 4 depot in Crimea though to be sure it gets something at least.
Then ... Stalino ... hmm there is a railroad north that runs parallel to the front to the Voronhez sector ... and oh lvl 4 depots there. But wait ... level 4 depots ahead too ... because the front spans toward Stalingrad as well and ... oh fuck me all the days and twice in sunday ... why there is a non level 4 depot eastward at Rostov and beyond ... and then ... uhm ... another fork, and further fork south and east ... and ... and ... *Logistic system AI feints and collapses*

Now sarcasm aside I think that is where the issue resiedes.
But truly, right now my 'Battle' show manifests more Air Supply 'battle markers' than anything else!

Ps: Tip for the other players. You can air supply into a just seized hex (see Kalach north . where a counterattack took place). Grabbed the airfield back, brought in there supplies that the units adjacent instantly grabbed. No depot made (temporary one auto creates) and never send too many air supply mission to leave freight there - since I am not occupying the hex!

[AlbertN]

T79 - Caucasus

There, Caucasus with supply ticker, after air supply. An amount of greens, and some yellows.

Since the air supply only distributes on hexes around the airfields, either one spams airfield on the map like a chessboard (Silly thing to do - I hope the system whole will be fixed so that no need for these ordeals and gimmicks), or since the freight does not go to the units, you must bring the units to the freight...

As per your unit moves adjacent to the airfield, you get the air supply and then your unit returns to previous position (or you send the unit that was sitting there previously). That's how for instance the 2 german mountain divisions have to work, move 1 out toward the airfield, air supply, move the other to where the other was on the 'rough' pointe eastward.
Another needless routine if freight was arriving as one would hope.

[AlbertN]

T79 - Phyrric Victory

I was looking on the map for the ever thinning opportunities to pound on the Soviets.
I thought to have spotted one but in truth the combat outcome has been a very disappointing victory.

2 pratically 'naked' Soviet Rifle divisions retreated in good order after an attack by overwhelming German forces.

This is the turn where it's the Germans to have the grand list of 0.X in the HPE, barring the big guns.

As curiosity this is one of the last actions of the obsolescent sIG33, they belong to the SS Cavalry Division that preserved these vestige of the past once it got migrated into the Soviet Garrison Box.

But Cavalry Units are excellent for mobility. And in general you can tuck in there some non motorized regiment (not the case here but for instance the Moscow Jaeger LW Regiment) and suddenly the infantry units gains equine-alike mobility.
Or better I never see a CAV unit with such attachment gain more than 16 MPs. BUT it seems to me that the Cavalry unit pays somehow cheaper cost per hex to move around in bad weather.
Do your own tests if you'd like though as this is something I am learning and tinkering with, after I saw during Winter'41 the Soviet cavalries outrunning the German motorized divisions.

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: AlbertN
I've supposedly a 'Super Depot' right there but it only received 500 freight this turn.

Where is "there" exactly?
What size is the railyard?
Is that railyard 0% damaged?
What is the indicated capacity of the depot?
Do you have more than one functioning super depot? You mentioned Voroshilovgrad elsewhere. When you have multiple super depots working, in certain situations they will work against one another in obtaining freight.

[AlbertN]

It is at the 'nenburg' place - where the 0-46 HQ is.
Railyard is lvl 1 - if I remember well, integer. Capacity 20k (2 Corps HQ in there - right now plus the 10k of basic Railyard)

Yes I've more Superdepots on at once, no grand use of the FBDs as rearline rails can be repaired by the RAD battallions.

Cannot have a 'Super Depot' too far or trucks destroy themselves as the Freight spreads from the Super Depot. I'd wish it was potentially a 'gather freight there and push it to the frontline smaller depots'. If the front gets closer to let's say Tula I can put one in Tula ... but if Tula is many hexes away it's just counterproductive.

Also they're quite far from each other - that I do not think they truly affect each other?

btw going by memory - turn in Opponent hand.

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: AlbertN

It is at the 'nenburg' place - where the 0-46 HQ is.
Railyard is lvl 1 - if I remember well, integer. Capacity 20k (2 Corps HQ in there - right now plus the 10k of basic Railyard)

ok, that depot is not making the most effective super depot being connected to single track rail. Remember that single track only has a carry capacity per turn of 12,000 tons vs/ 30,000 tons for a double track. In the case of Ranenburg you do have the possible benefit of two single track lines coming into the depot from different directions. That would give you a 24,000 ton carry capacity if you have both these lines functional. If only one is, you're back to 12,000 tons. Since 12,000 tons is less than the 20,000 ton capacity of the depot, you can get that depot full, but only over multiple turns. In other words, track capacity is the true determining factor of the weekly depot capacity.

ORIGINAL: AlbertN
Cannot have a 'Super Depot' too far or trucks destroy themselves as the Freight spreads from the Super Depot. I'd wish it was potentially a 'gather freight there and push it to the frontline smaller depots'. If the front gets closer to let's say Tula I can put one in Tula ... but if Tula is many hexes away it's just counterproductive.

You have to live with the fact that the game is going to force you to make a choice. Either lose some trucks and get some unit freight, or lose more trucks to gain more unit freight. If you put the super depot in Tula, you could be drawing over 50,000 tons of supplies if all the stars are aligned. One thing you can do, is to set Tula to priority 3 and the forward depots to priority 4 as you do now. That will not prevent Tula from sending out freight because as you know, multiple attempts are often made to draw unit freight from depots. But this is about as efficient a system you can establish. One positive note, in 1943 the Axis vehicle repair rate will go from 5% to 10% so in theory you will be seeing more trucks returning to the pool then.

ORIGINAL: AlbertN
Also they're quite far from each other - that I do not think they truly affect each other?

In my experience, they can. But for that to happen, one of those super depots would need to be pulling in about 20-40,000 tons of freight.

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: AlbertN


A railroad line that hardly supplies and feeds my units ... I've established a Super Depot at Voroshivolgrad. The problem then is that many units try to resupply from it ... which means a massive destruction of trucks in turn. Not really what I want, I wanted a larger depot that stocks up there and then forwards it around to the smaller depots closer to the frontline.

I cannot just persistently move around the FBD unit and keep a supposed super depot by the front because the moment I need to move it, I do not have a super depot.

What is pretty much pushing me to do a mass retreat is the silly destruction the truck component of German forces is undergoing. The 'Attrition' specify for any Pz or Mot division there is 100+. So you can imagine the massive bleed of trucks just because.

On the other hand to retreat can be tragic. The soviets follow suit without coming close so that the fortification limit is 1 because of artificial limit. The Soviets may give 1 to 2 turns of respite max. Probably 0 as they've ample mobile assets. And the German forces will be out of forts and exposed in the plains.

But I could try to migrate the super depot to a smaller depot and closer to the front, like, Millerovo.

I've soon to get off the pc so will take time to think on what to do there.

Compared to the previous example of Ranenburg, Voroshilovgrad is worse. Here you don't have two single tracks going into the city, only one from the west so rail capacity is 12,000 tons. Feeding an army group with that is a tall order.

Similar to Tula in the center, your better super depot location in the south is Rostov. Again, if you want to set Rostov depot at a priority of 3 and forward depots at 4 in order to try and conserve trucks, give that a try.

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: AlbertN
The moment it arrives from '41 starting zone to Stalino somehow had to digress something to supply Crimea. How much ... dunno... must have a lvl 4 depot in Crimea though to be sure it gets something at least.

Try Constanta as export port depot priority 2 and Sevastopol or one of the other Crimean ports as import port depot priority 3. Make sure any depots close to Constanta and along the Black Sea Coast leading to the Crimea are set at zero so the AI doesn't try to ship freight there.

[AlbertN]

@M60: Thanks for the notions on the railroads coming in - I have valued more accessibility to the troops more than the railyard due to my previous rearline, big railyard experience. I've also tried a Prioritt 3 Superdepot. It simply had not worked as super depot at all and drew 0 freight.

T80 - Soviet new offensive zone!

I feel history kind of repeats here where Soviets attack somewhere first to lure reserve and then another bigger swing happens elsewhere.

Here the Model Corp and its neighbours have been hammered hard, the Soviets pratically breezed through the defences and 4 German divisions are at risk of encirclement.

From one side I am content this is -not- the location I've drawn reserves from and there are a few of panzer divisions in the closeby surroundings...
On the other hand the Soviets truly breezed through the German divisions.

The level 3 forts have been levelled down by thousands of artillerties that seem the Soviets can already field on multiple sectors.
German 'mauled' formations seem pretty much smashed to a non combat capability after a single defeat.

Combat specifics soon.

[AlbertN]

T80 - Moscow Zone Combat

This is one of the combats there, that roughly all have gone in this way. Except in others Soviets lost more AFV, and in one the German division that got hit a 2nd time (after a first retreat) got it worse.

50mm Mortars keep somehow being useless. I am not sure why other artilleries too have not shot once either. Stielgrenade ATs also seem pretty much useless. (But maybe they were?)

Nonetheless each retreat is a bleeding of 105s and 150s; and I am getting even worse signals.

If supposedly Germany are well off with a strong army and whatnot, I surely do not feel it here.
I can reshuffle my counters around; without forts, and the enemy has no CCPs? These things will wash one the other away I suspect.

One of the attacks was also a 1 hex to one.

The loss ratio itself seems good - that is true.
Alas any German division that got hammered is now worthy 6 (That was a 80+ experience Division though with almost 80 morale still at this stage...) to 2 (This very division here in the screenshot, that seemingly got away relatively integer, has now a CV of 2)

[AlbertN]

T80 - Don River Bend battles

There at the Don River Bend the Soviet fortunes are swinging.

A German infantry division is dislodged after 2 attacks.

A regiment buckles in to the attack of 3 Russian Rifle Divisions.

A 2 Pz.Div + 1 Inf.Div stalls a massive Russian attack.

The fortunes of war are definitely more 'manageable' it seems. I assume the Russians begin to be somehow worn too while in the Moscow sector they're fresh and rested and naturally overly supplied. But even here in front of Stalingrad that single track keeps fuelling aplenty of Soviet forces without problems!

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: AlbertN

@M60: Thanks for the notions on the railroads coming in - I have valued more accessibility to the troops more than the railyard due to my previous rearline, big railyard experience. I've also tried a Prioritt 3 Superdepot. It simply had not worked as super depot at all and drew 0 freight.

Interesting. Can't understand how you would get nothing at all as long as it was connected to the railnet. I got over 17k into Pskov at priority 3 so it seemed to work for me.

[Stamb]

North seems to be the region which has the less troubles getting a supplies, then center, and then south which is a disaster. At least in my experience.

Can't imagine how 62 50mm mortars barely hits anything against 150k. Maybe worth reporting to a devs?

[AlbertN]

T80 - (Misfortunate) Counterattack

As per usual I shoot my own knee there.

I thought the best way to stabilize the situation is to counterattack here and there and inflict casualties to the Soviets.

As long as it is some screening weak formation, they may take a beating for a cheap loss.
Here the enemy forces instead got invested by large amount of Germans but the loss ratio is totally non favorable to the Germans.

I admit in my exploring the game I am not sure how much Blizzard is affecting the sides here in terms of combat capability.

Supposedly the situation is half patched for now and the Air Supply incoming will help a bit the more depleted units.

I expect ulterior attacks by the Infantry Corps of the Soviets though, investing other frontal locations. Some of the 'almost surrounded' divisions exhausted themselves in the counterattacks and I know they'll get hammered during the Soviet turn.