Quick Questions Thread

[TheFerret]

Is there a way to do it if I am using automatic assignment of mission aircraft?

[MishaTX]

Quick question. I've read the manual regarding this particular issue thoroughly (at least I think so but I may have missed a mention somewhere. GREAT manual, by the way!), but what exactly are the rules regarding isolated enemy hexes behind your lines auto-flipping control if unoccupied and not adjacent to an isolated enemy unit?

I know that in the "old" game it was pretty easy to see which formerly enemy hexes behind your lines had units in them because they were the only ones that didn't flip (and a bit cheesy, in my opinion). Did this change? Do I have to send a Romanian out there to scout all of the Pripyat to clear out those hexes now? If so, fine. It's not like they're much good anyway. [;)]

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: neuromancer

ORIGINAL: loki100
aye, they boost fortification building if in HQs. You'll find that most infantry divisions can go from 0-1 fortification off their own construction values but if you want more (quickly) then you need SU capacity and decent supply

Ah, so forting up at the corps level, but at higher level are probably better off in a corps, or assigned someplace useful. Or will a CU work in the city/ depot/ airfield the HQ is sitting on as well?

ORIGINAL: loki100
ok mission height is only really important for the route in/out - remember that recon works along the mission route. In region the planes adjust to the best height for their camera (or lack) automatically.

Oh ho, okay that I didn't know. I'll have to look that up.

I tend to run 4/5 hex boxes 3 days a week - that tells me if a unit is in a hex or an airbase is being used - it doesn't tell me much more. So its a judgement with limited assets on one side of the equation and your desire for good levels of recon information on the other

So slightly smaller area. How many strikes and planes do you use?

Generally I mostly just want to know where the enemy is, I have done specific hex runs if I want detailed information. But as you say, with the limited assets, I don't want to lose a pile of them to operational losses in the first month of the war.

In another thread you talk about running too many air missions that causes the operational losses to pile up, problem is I have no idea how many is too many. 1 Plane = 1 mission per week? Per day? What?

Thanks for the replies Loki.

Construction support units can be at army or army grp level, they are then allocated to fortifying units in the wider command chain - so its not as restrictive as having to get your combat related SU into the corps so they are used

there are no ready rules, if you have relatively long range planes (LB/non bi-plane recon) and you get anywhere near 100% of their airmiles then (I think) you have over-used them. If you want a rule of thumb, keep this under 70%

Ops losses come from mileage/weather/poor morale/low exp and combat damage. So there is a huge amount of judgement at play.

Its a bit like learning to use the Allied strat and tactical airforces in WiTW. Its tempting to go in hard but it can burn out your formations, after a while you find a rythym that allows for sustained usage over multiple turns - and then you find that on balance you actually drop more bombs.

My recon missions are 3 days a week - I use the default settings for intensity etc - this seems to work, I get enough info for it to be useful and I can sustain it turn after turn.

Every now and then, I overcommit, say I am thinking of an attack in relatively poor terrain and I really want some idea if anything is hidden.

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: dudefan

ORIGINAL: loki100


...

yes - particularly good idea with recon missions as you note. They try to avoid combat so escorts aren't that valuable

I tend to manually assign so that removes escorts from the mission, in turn they are deep enough over enemy territory to avoid pulling down auto-intercept

QOL
Should be possible to enter zero (no escorts) imo

rather handily you can - I use a method that suits me, but its not the only way

ORIGINAL: TheFerret

Is there a way to do it if I am using automatic assignment of mission aircraft?

yes, you set just for that mission by using the req esc option (set to 0)



if you want that as a standard setting for all recon AD, then alter the air doctrine chart to show 0 for escorts:

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: MishaTX

Quick question. I've read the manual regarding this particular issue thoroughly (at least I think so but I may have missed a mention somewhere. GREAT manual, by the way!), but what exactly are the rules regarding isolated enemy hexes behind your lines auto-flipping control if unoccupied and not adjacent to an isolated enemy unit?

I know that in the "old" game it was pretty easy to see which formerly enemy hexes behind your lines had units in them because they were the only ones that didn't flip (and a bit cheesy, in my opinion). Did this change? Do I have to send a Romanian out there to scout all of the Pripyat to clear out those hexes now? If so, fine. It's not like they're much good anyway. [;)]

section 7.3.3 gives you the formal rules but pragmatically, hexes you can enter are shaded in light brown and those you can't in dark brown. The latter can be MP related but often its a strong hint that something lurks there.

given that air recon is a lot less available than in #1, I do find I have to do a certain amount of exploratory moves looking for enemy units both in pockets and in less contested sectors

[Harain1]

Does Soviet Rifle Corps limit increase with time? The 41 you can build in Jun 42 doesn't even allow to get 1 Rifle Corps per Army (57 active arm)

Also, shouldn't the limit of Rifle Divisions you can build decrease by 3 per built Corps? These 41 Rifle Corps allow the player to built 123 extra Rifle Divisions

[loki100]

you'll find at the end of 1942 that rifle divisions stop being buildable and you get Rifle Corps instead.

the game allows far more of both than you can possibly equip or supply

[Harain1]

ok thx, good to know

another question: is there any was for CR to filter air groups by withdrawal like it can do in units? Very hard to find air wings scheduled to withdraw (to remove it since I like to control all Theaters)

[loki100]

unfortunately not, there is a 'transfer' filter (usually hidden) but that seems to relate just to current manual transfer not future theatre changes

[Harain1]

ORIGINAL: loki100

unfortunately not, there is a 'transfer' filter (usually hidden) but that seems to relate just to current manual transfer not future theatre changes

yea, it's a shame

thx

[horza66]

As Soviets I was seeing issues with my divisions in the SR getting enough AT guns into new and rebuilding divisions toward the end of 42. Thankfully I had a number of Fort units I could disband, and quickly had 1800 45mm At guns in the pool. However 3 (!) turns later I'm still at 1400 guns in the pool and many divisions are at ~85% or worse on their TOE because of lack of AT guns.

Weirdly I ran into much the same issue in WITE1 with artillery in the same period when I was trying to get artillery divisions in the reserve make it to 100% TOE.

Is there some routine internally where the resource allocation "reserves" a minimum number of AT or artillery, against future possible losses? I can't think of any other reason that guns in the pool are not allocated to completing TOE requirements.

[Hardradi]

Big thanks to everyone answering questions.

And some more questions on Road the Leningrad scenario:

1) Playing as the Soviets, I tried to re-fill a depleted Mig-3 Polk by setting Replacements to High Priority for the individual Polk. Next turn newly built Mig’s went to another formation in Reserve or are still sitting in the Pool. How do I get them out of Production to my chosen Polk? Is this possible directly or indirectly?

2) Also I can’t seem to change to Air Group Asset Priority, it appears to be only capable of change at the Air Command Level. I can see the button but there is no interaction. Although the manual at 16.2.2 seems to indicate that you can do this.

3) In the RtL scenario is a Recon Polk called 15 MRAP-KBF. This unit cant fly recon missions on land because it is "Naval Only – YES". Also it can’t do Naval Patrol missions by itself, what do I do with this unit?

4) In the Reserves Theatre Box what does it mean in game terms when some of the units are pick/red in colour? Do they become active the next turn? (The tool tip says its restricted by game options)

[56ajax]

1) I think Replacements refers to Pilots and not Aircraft.

4) Usually means they have just arrived and therefore not available for 1 turn. There might be a couple of other minor rules that impact this as well.

[neuromancer]

Loki: Thanks for the info, some things for me to look at.

I will say I don't like the default settings for the recon, it sends out scads of planes and then I suffer scads of Ops losses just because of the sheer number. In my current Road to Leningrad game (take 3, from the top, this time with *feeling*!) I seem to have found a level that works pretty well, getting a decent report on where the enemy is without losing *too* many planes )still more than I like).

[James80]

You can assign a given AOG to support more than one
air mission. So using the example above if KG51 is now
allocated to a new mission, by default it will seek to split its
planes 50/50 between the two

I can't get it to work. If I try to assing another AOG to a mission the game tells me "Reassign air group to another air directive"? What do I do wrong? I want to use my (spare) fighters for multiple air missions to escort my bombers.

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: horza66

As Soviets I was seeing issues with my divisions in the SR getting enough AT guns into new and rebuilding divisions toward the end of 42. Thankfully I had a number of Fort units I could disband, and quickly had 1800 45mm At guns in the pool. However 3 (!) turns later I'm still at 1400 guns in the pool and many divisions are at ~85% or worse on their TOE because of lack of AT guns.

Weirdly I ran into much the same issue in WITE1 with artillery in the same period when I was trying to get artillery divisions in the reserve make it to 100% TOE.

Is there some routine internally where the resource allocation "reserves" a minimum number of AT or artillery, against future possible losses? I can't think of any other reason that guns in the pool are not allocated to completing TOE requirements.

the main issue for the Soviets is that there is a series of hard caps on production of certain items, esp AA/AT and artillery. You'll have a production problem for heavy artillery all game, AT and 75mm artillery eases in 1943.

check the pool and make sure you are looking at active (not transit), this can be a lot less.

to get the equipment into formations, the best is to have them in refit mode and on a large depot or in the reserve

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: Hardradi

Big thanks to everyone answering questions.

And some more questions on Road the Leningrad scenario:

1) Playing as the Soviets, I tried to re-fill a depleted Mig-3 Polk by setting Replacements to High Priority for the individual Polk. Next turn newly built Mig’s went to another formation in Reserve or are still sitting in the Pool. How do I get them out of Production to my chosen Polk? Is this possible directly or indirectly?

2) Also I can’t seem to change to Air Group Asset Priority, it appears to be only capable of change at the Air Command Level. I can see the button but there is no interaction. Although the manual at 16.2.2 seems to indicate that you can do this.

3) In the RtL scenario is a Recon Polk called 15 MRAP-KBF. This unit cant fly recon missions on land because it is "Naval Only – YES". Also it can’t do Naval Patrol missions by itself, what do I do with this unit?

4) In the Reserves Theatre Box what does it mean in game terms when some of the units are pick/red in colour? Do they become active the next turn? (The tool tip says its restricted by game options)

1 - as 56ajax says, you are setting pilots to priority. The way to get planes into certain formations is either set the others to 'restricted' that will stop them taking on both or simply swap out the better planes from the weaker formations - this is my choice with the Soviets. Use up the biplanes as training planes

2 - RTL is not really a good place to see this. You basically have 2 air commands and not enough planes to fill them out, so any balancing is going to be marginal. if you set say NW Air Command to 0 and Leningrad to 4 that should work - but is also pretty extreme

3 - not played the Soviets in the scenario so not utterly sure. In the campaign its a naval air asset and can be added to naval patrols. Its also something I would tend to disband so the recon assets are available for something more useful - such as looking for Pzrs

4 - again answered, could also be units that are locked for a period of time

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: neuromancer

Loki: Thanks for the info, some things for me to look at.

I will say I don't like the default settings for the recon, it sends out scads of planes and then I suffer scads of Ops losses just because of the sheer number. In my current Road to Leningrad game (take 3, from the top, this time with *feeling*!) I seem to have found a level that works pretty well, getting a decent report on where the enemy is without losing *too* many planes )still more than I like).

yeah I agree, I think the preset air directives are a bit too intense, I tend to reset them all to just 2 days and then add in a third day if I have a really good reason

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: James80

You can assign a given AOG to support more than one
air mission. So using the example above if KG51 is now
allocated to a new mission, by default it will seek to split its
planes 50/50 between the two

I can't get it to work. If I try to assing another AOG to a mission the game tells me "Reassign air group to another air directive"? What do I do wrong? I want to use my (spare) fighters for multiple air missions to escort my bombers.

hsve you used the steps on p. 206 of the manual?

This sort of technical step by step is as well explained there.

[James80]

I thought I did it this way. Don't know where I went wrong.

For me the manual (is great, by the way) but in this case a little misleading:

f you manually assign air groups or AOGs to a particular
Air Directive they are then not available for any other AD
in that turn

Could you assume what I have done wrong?

edit: I play the SW-Front Scenario and have two AD manually created. One ground attack for Odessa and nearby a naval patrol mission. I assigned I./KG27 to the naval patrol mission. If I assingn it then to the ground attack I get that message, if I want to assign it to the other AD. If I click yes, it is not assigned to the naval patrol anymore.

edit2: Perhaps (!) I get it now. It works if I assign an AOG but not for a single air group. Could this be the reason for it?