Matrix Games Forums

Playing Russia in 1941, I see supply running along the Astrakhan railway that didn't yet exist. Which brings me to a broader point I raised back in WitE1 and which has been partly addressed, the ahistorical use of construction units.

We now have a greatly diminished number of units available to repair rail, which is great. But the Axis still has a load of road building units it can use for anything but road building, since we can't build them and neither do they require maintenance which was a constant issue. Back in the day when I was arguing for a road net, single and dual rail differentiation and a review of construction units, I mentioned the Astrakhan railway as an example of Russian construction projects within the time frame of the game. Also it came to light around then IIRC that some Nazi war criminal was identified from a photo of his labour unit building a road in Ukraine. The point is, that the map wasn't static for the war's duration, rather, the demands of war necessitated that it was changed.

Road construction units were used for just that, and road maintenance, they should arguably be deleted from current OOBs. Much better, though, would be to require maintenance of the existing net and allow new infrastructure to be built. Those road construction units and their Russian equivalents could reside in an infrastructure maintenance TB and also be used for fresh on map construction. The Astrakhan railway shouldn't be there in 1941, but engineers should be able to construct it.

Very interesting post.
I agree. It could be difficult to implement this in the game but it would also be a tremendous add.

How about if roads decay like forts and construction units in the TB maintain them? If I've understood right, road/rail building should be possible on this map where it wan't on the old one. No idea how much work's involved but it looks feasible.

ORIGINAL: Mehring

How about if roads decay like forts and construction units in the TB maintain them? If I've understood right, road/rail building should be possible on this map where it wan't on the old one. No idea how much work's involved but it looks feasible.

I think you could use the events system but not sure.

One issue is the map is set when you start a scenario so if its changed in a later patch that change doesn't appear till you start a fresh game

Bridge repair, roads with holes blown in them or washed away, removal of wrecks and general maintenance etc. all need manpower.

If anything the road units shouldn't be able to be freely used to repair depots etc. Maybe the Garrison TB should need a minimum number of construction units.