Matrix Games Forums

Has anyone ever put together a turn checklist, i.e. things they do in the order they do them each turn? Here's what I do as a new player that I've picked up from you vets on the forums. Please feel free to add/subtract. My assumption is after a turn (not the very first turn of the scenario where you have to set ADs)

1. Go to Commander's Report (CR) and set all air groups (AG) to day/night (DN). Set unneeded transport AC to rest.
2. In the CR, filter AG by morale to 54%, rest those under that.
3. Check to see if any AG need to transfer closer to the front and do so as needed.
4. Review/change Air Directives (AD) and then run them.
5. Check supply depots and links, adjust as needed.
6. Repair rail with my rail repair units as needed.
7. Check for new units appearing/withdrawing, check units ready to disembark transports.
8. Check units to make sure support units are included in units ready to attack.
9. Check status of any amphib or air assault preparations.
10. Go back to CR and check TOE levels for ground units, rest/refit as needed.
11. Launch ground attacks.
12. Go back to CR and add pilots so I'm ready for enemy AD.

Anyway, I'm sure I'm missing stuff, but this is what I'm checking every turn at present. Thoughts?

That's a good start. Here are some things I would add. This might scare some/a lot of people away, but you'll find after a while that you just do this out of habit without thinking about it.

1: Set ALL Transport air groups to rest at this point. None can or will fly during the Air phase and therefore they can take advantage of the Rest during the friendly air phase
1A: At the start of the game: Go to Air Doctrine screen "d", click on the Pilots tab, set Train Exp for your Transport commands to 0, because if a single plane in a TR air group does training in a turn, then that TR air group can't do a paratroop air drop in the ground phase (which can throw off your carefully calculated airborne invasion plans); I actually do this for ALL Air HQ's, because my experience is that a low Exp pilot is just as likely to die and lose his plane in training as he is in Combat

2A: In CR, filter for Nat. Reserve, set those groups to Rest and set Replace to your preference (I prefer "Trained Pilots")
2B: Assign Nat. Reserve groups to bases OR if the new groups have crappy airplanes, upgrade them now and then assign them to bases the next turn
2C: Check the loadouts on new Nat. Reserve air groups and make sure they're what you normally want

3A: Remove air groups with Morale lower than 55 from AD's, and if they're FB's or medium bombers, assign them to Ground Support AD's
3B: Remove air groups with Morale greater than 54 from Ground Support AD's and assign them to other AD's
3C: Rest all air groups assigned to Ground Support, BUT don't forget to change them back to Day/Night immediately after the end of the Air Phase

4A: After air phase, rest ALL air groups, then set air groups assigned to Ground Support and enemy phase Naval Patrol and Air Superiority to Day/Night
4B: I add Pilots at this point

5A: As part of your "Check supply depots and links, adjust as needed", find depots that are both empty and 0 priority, and Disband Depot there; this is true particularly in North Africa and UK
5B: Find air bases you no longer use and don't expect to use in the future, set TOE to 0, set priority to 0, and assign to an air HQ like RAF HQ, Mediterranean HQ, or USSTAF; for example air bases in northern UK, Sardinia, Sicily (as you move up the boot), etc.

7A: Transfer FA units assigned to armies or Army groups to corps where you want/need them
7B: Transfer new Field Artillery SU's to an Army HQ in the theater or area you want/need them (then next turn move them to corps HQ's)

9A: Set Transport air groups to Day/Night, use them for Airborne opps and/or Supply Transport

10A: Filter to Support units in CR, transfer low TOE units back to an HC HQ that's on a level 4 depot, replace with high-TOE support units - use low-Exp SU's unless the likely battle is high-importance, in order to train those low-Exp units

10A: If you're attacking on coastal hexes, move up naval TF's so they're next to enemy units and can lend their fire support to the attacks

12A: Check Production Pool for available "better planes", and consider upgrading Resting air groups with 0 travel to better equipment (I say "consider" because if the air group has crappy Exp, then I don't upgrade it), BUT only upgrade if the number of planes in Pool minus the number missing in groups is greater than the number needed to upgrade the air group(s), because I like to have my existing air groups restock during the enemy turn
12B: Set Transport air groups to Rest, Add Pilots
12C: Identify places you might attack or be attacked next turn and add the appropriate SU's (armor for CV, engineer if attacking fortifications, SP artillery if not much corps HQ available). BUT: if you can get divisions on three hexsides of an enemy unit, AND if you have armored, tank, or infantry regiments/brigades available as SU's, assign at least one of these multi-purpose units to the middle hex division(s) so you can attack from the left and right hexsides the next turn, advance the divisions in the middle hexside, have them attack, convert the MP units, and advance them into the second empty hex
12D: After ground combat, again filter to Support units in CR, transfer units that participated in combat AND which now have low TOW back to an HC HQ that's on a level 4 depot, replace with high-TOE support units
12E: If you have naval TF's off invasion hexes that are maintaining the temporary ports and that have damage of ~15 or higher, AND if you have other available naval TF's within reach, send the damaged ones back to the largest port available for repair, and replace them with the less damaged ones
12F: If you have a unit that is on the coast and you think it's going to get attacked next turn, move the naval TF with the strongest Naval Support group (based on number and size of guns) off shore to support that land unit. NOTE: that if you have a port or temporary port (e.g., Anzio, Normandy beachheads), you can put the TF into that port so it can provide naval support to friendly units in the neighboring hexes
12G: If an on-map unit is withdrawing, a) make sure there's another ground unit in that hex to hold the line; and b) if it has SU's assigned, transfer those SU's to an army or Army group HQ now so they're available to more ground units the next turn; otherwise they will be transferred to the withdrawing unit's corps HQ's, which limits their availability

I hope this doesn't scare you off!

Cary

Thanks again. Picked up a few nuggets to use.

I can't emphasize enough the parts about resting demoralized air groups during your own air phase. It can give them enough rest to get them above 55% morale for the ground phase, so if you assign the low-morale FB's and medium LB's to ground support AD's, some of them will recover enough to use in the ground phase.

Cary

Very nice guys ! That will help for sure.
Thanks [&o]

One more thing I forgot to add, probably 2C: check the loadouts on new Nat. Reserve air groups and make sure they're what you normally want.

Cary