I have 7 questions!

[therealevan]

Straight to business, exclusively an axis player:

1. Advantages to breaking down divisions into regiments?


2. Criteria for being able to move a transport AOG?
(My panzer groups are reaaaally far ahead of the rest of my armies, I have secured air strips and their respective HQ units are occupying the hexes with air strips)

3. How many construction units should I assign to a hex that has a railyard or air field to repair?
(Said air strips above need repairs)

4. If I have met the criteria to perform a deliberate attack, but assign support units to that HQ the same turn, will the support units still be able to take part in the attack? Or does it take another turn before they are available?


5. How can I set aircraft upgrades to automatic en masse?
(Saw this in passing while looking at air groups, not sure how critical this is)

6. Getting into the weeds on this question, but how much of a difference is there between good, average, and poor roads?
(I reviewed the rulebook for this but was unable to find any meaningful information around it, maybe I didn't look hard enough?)

7. If I am moving 3 stacks of 3 infantry divisions across adjacent hexes that have the same quality of roads, and I move them in the same direction, do I take any movement penalties for moving so many units so close to each other? I get that this would be the equivalent of 30 miles, but this would possibly be in the ball park of 100k troops plus all the support vehicles / wagons / etc.




I think I have some / most of the basics understood, but looking to advance my knowledge of the game in the hopes of being able to perform better against the AI. Thank you for answering any questions!

[G Felzien]

I can answer #6. I use Apendix i, pg 471 extensively. Page 485 is a table to address roads.

[therealevan]

I can answer #6. I use Apendix i, pg 471 extensively. Page 485 is a table to address roads.

Thank you very much - I will review!

[homer82]

1. They take up more real estate whether on the line or forming part of an encirclement.

2. I’m not quite sure what you mean by ‘move’. If you mean transfer the AOG to another base, transfer works the same as other AOGs. If you mean air transport of freight, the transporting units need only be in range of the target airbase.

3. I don’t assign construction units to repair ports or railyards. My logic is damage reduces the max amount of freight handled but since I don’t believe I’ve ever had a port or railyard reach their max freight (the exception being a deliberate freight build up over multiple turns in order to ‘pulse’ it forward.) I will assign a construction unit to an airbase if I want to expand it.

4. Support units will still be able to participate but there’s a penalty. If possible, it’s best to assign them the turn before. If possible.

5. You can do this and much more in the Commanders Report. I can’t tell you how much time you’ll save on ‘administrivia’ by using the CR. Play with it!

6. I don’t know.

7. No penalty at all. Moving them entrained along the same rail route however would be a completely different story.

[therealevan]

1. They take up more real estate whether on the line or forming part of an encirclement.

Ok - I thought there was more to that but maybe not.

2. I’m not quite sure what you mean by ‘move’. If you mean transfer the AOG to another base, transfer works the same as other AOGs. If you mean air transport of freight, the transporting units need only be in range of the target airbase.

By transport I meant to say "Transfer" the AOG that contains planes capable of transporting / air freight. My units have moved so far ahead of rail lines that I'm trying to replenish fuel, but the current air bases my transports are at have exceeded the distance. Basically I'm trying to figure out what constitutes a good hex to use for air freight.

3. I don’t assign construction units to repair ports or railyards. My logic is damage reduces the max amount of freight handled but since I don’t believe I’ve ever had a port or railyard reach their max freight (the exception being a deliberate freight build up over multiple turns in order to ‘pulse’ it forward.) I will assign a construction unit to an airbase if I want to expand it.

Well if you have a railyard on a hex that is 92% damaged, doesn't it make sense to attach construction units to repair it quicker?

4. Support units will still be able to participate but there’s a penalty. If possible, it’s best to assign them the turn before. If possible.

Noted

5. You can do this and much more in the Commanders Report. I can’t tell you how much time you’ll save on ‘administrivia’ by using the CR. Play with it!

I'll see if I can dig up some guides on that!

7. No penalty at all. Moving them entrained along the same rail route however would be a completely different story.

Noted

[homer82]

3. I don’t assign construction units to repair ports or railyards. My logic is damage reduces the max amount of freight handled but since I don’t believe I’ve ever had a port or railyard reach their max freight (the exception being a deliberate freight build up over multiple turns in order to ‘pulse’ it forward.) I will assign a construction unit to an airbase if I want to expand it.

Well if you have a railyard on a hex that is 92% damaged, doesn't it make sense to attach construction units to repair it quicker?

My observation has been that when a railyard's natural rate of repair per turn is combined with a construction unit often automatically assigned by a HQ either sitting on the railyard or nearby, the functional freight capacity of the railyard is more than adequate even if damaged. In other words, depots simply don't receive more freight than they can handle even with damage. By the time they require near maximum capacity, e.g, stocking freight in Minsk to pulse up the line, they've repaired without the need to spend APs assigning construction unit(s). They take care of themselves without any investment.

I'd rather put the APs into replacing leaders and building FZs near winter.

[homer82]

2. I’m not quite sure what you mean by ‘move’. If you mean transfer the AOG to another base, transfer works the same as other AOGs. If you mean air transport of freight, the transporting units need only be in range of the target airbase.

By transport I meant to say "Transfer" the AOG that contains planes capable of transporting / air freight. My units have moved so far ahead of rail lines that I'm trying to replenish fuel, but the current air bases my transports are at have exceeded the distance. Basically I'm trying to figure out what constitutes a good hex to use for air freight.

Oh, I see. To establish range, I like to use range circles. The best bases on which to base transport units are those which accumulate lots of freight either naturally or by design. Some of these are likely to be Warsaw, Riga, Talinn, Pskov, Minsk, Kiev, Constanta, etc. I would put my transports go where lots of freight is within range of an airbase near the line or advanced units.

[malyhin1517]

3. I don’t assign construction units to repair ports or railyards. My logic is damage reduces the max amount of freight handled but since I don’t believe I’ve ever had a port or railyard reach their max freight (the exception being a deliberate freight build up over multiple turns in order to ‘pulse’ it forward.) I will assign a construction unit to an airbase if I want to expand it.

Well if you have a railyard on a hex that is 92% damaged, doesn't it make sense to attach construction units to repair it quicker?

My observation has been that when a railyard's natural rate of repair per turn is combined with a construction unit often automatically assigned by a HQ either sitting on the railyard or nearby, the functional freight capacity of the railyard is more than adequate even if damaged. In other words, depots simply don't receive more freight than they can handle even with damage. By the time they require near maximum capacity, e.g, stocking freight in Minsk to pulse up the line, they've repaired without the need to spend APs assigning construction unit(s). They take care of themselves without any investment.

I'd rather put the APs into replacing leaders and building FZs near winter.

Lately, I've started manually assigning building units to repair level 2 and above railway stations, as they are badly needed as quickly as possible, and auto-assigning building units doesn't always work quickly! Otherwise, I also do not interfere with the automatic restoration and repair of cities.

[exalted]

1. Advantages to breaking down divisions into regiments

Sometimes when you have a very powerful division it can be advantagous to break it down into regiments because CPP will be lost by each regiment at 50% per attack instead of by the whole division. Turn 1 axis it is a must to gain optimal results but can be frustrating when you get hold results. After early 41 this is really risky as reserve activations against such attacks are very effective.

Breaking down mot / pz divisions during early encirclements and breakthroughs are basically also ways to get more work done by these divisions.

Generally using regiments to hold the line is an act of desperation or gambling, it will very rarely work (at least against the AI) as they have horrible results against divisions and even worse against corps.

[loki100]

just to add to some bits

3 - I've mostly stopped assigning construction units to repair railyards, I will do so for a port. The reason is the latter is often only really useful for a relatively short period. You can offset most damage by careful deployment of HQs, this is a key part of gameplay so should become second nature.

Don't forget when constructing/repairing the limit/turn comes from the lower of the construction value or the available freight, so bear in mind you can allocate a lot of construction assets to no gain if the supply is not there

Malyhin is only partly right about railyards of 2+. You only need these working by the time they send freight as depot-depot not depot-unit. Or in other words long after the front has moved on - hence my relative disinterest in speeding up repairs on a regular basis.

6 - roads look at the tables in 38.5.4 and 38.7, they make a huge difference to mobility and combat power but this interacts with terrain type and current weather

[homer82]

Generally using regiments to hold the line is an act of desperation or gambling, it will very rarely work (at least against the AI) as they have horrible results against divisions and even worse against corps.

Two infantry regiments with decent CPP in a level 3 fort in favorable terrain with support units and a mech or Pz division in reserve punch above their weight pretty darn well. If the skies aren't so awful, turn on GS too if needed. Shift units as needed and keep saved full infantry divisions spaced strategically behind your line to use as needed either to plug holes or to give your opponent an occasional local bloody nose. Relatively inexpensive defense.

[exalted]

Two infantry regiments with decent CPP in a level 3 fort in favorable terrain with support units and a mech or Pz division in reserve punch above their weight pretty darn well. If the skies aren't so awful, turn on GS too if needed. Shift units as needed and keep saved full infantry divisions spaced strategically behind your line to use as needed either to plug holes or to give your opponent an occasional local bloody nose. Relatively inexpensive defense.

I agree double regiments work under the right circumstances with support, but no single regiments unless they are in a hex which can only be attacked from a single enemy hex, good fort level and terrain. Even so I'd say your giving the soviets a free victory if they choose to take it.

[Zovs]

1. Advantages to breaking down divisions into regiments?

I thought most people would have figured this out by now for turn 1 as the Axis (works well for the first 2-3 turns).

So we all know that when you do either a HA or a DA it cost a unit 50% of its CPP.

Therefore if you select for example a German Infantry division that is alone in its hex and break it down into its three regiments each regiment will have 100 CPP. If you then take one of the regiments and use it to do a HA on say a FR or a NKVD regiment that one regiment will now have 50 CPP and the other two regiments will still have 100 CP. If you then recombined that division it will now have 83 CPP.

Here is a few examples.

262 ID (IV Corps. AGS) break the division down and use one regiment to HA the Light Woods (183,183) with the 141st/6th FR MG-Artillery Battalion.

That one regiment will have 50 CPP. Recombine and the 262 now has 83 CPP.

57 ID (LV Corps. AGS) break the division down and use one regiment to HA the Light Woods (186,183) with the 44th/4th FR MG-Artillery Battalion and then select a second (fresh) regiment to HA the Light Woods (187,182) with the 42nd/4th FR MG-Artillery Battalion. Now recombined the 57 ID and the division will have 66 CPP.

You could then if you wanted to, break the 57 ID down again and all three regiments will now have 66 CPP and take one of the regiments and HA the Clear hex (185,183) with the 21st/6th FR MG-Artillery. That regiment then has 33 CPP and if you then recombined the division it now has 55 CPP.

Its all about CPP management for the Germans.

[Zovs]

2. Criteria for being able to move a transport AOG?
(My panzer groups are reaaaally far ahead of the rest of my armies, I have secured air strips and their respective HQ units are occupying the hexes with air strips)

Transports need to be based near freight to transfer that freight to forward airbases. Having forward airbases with HQ units on them does nothing if there is no freight at those bases to transport.

[Zovs]

3. How many construction units should I assign to a hex that has a railyard or air field to repair?
(Said air strips above need repairs)

I personally don't assign any, its a waste of AP. I let the auto system work here, I do manage all my depots and Supply Priority however. The auto system in this case seems smart enough to allocate construction units with out my spending AP.

[malyhin1517]

Malyhin is only partly right about railyards of 2+. You only need these working by the time they send freight as depot-depot not depot-unit. Or in other words long after the front has moved on - hence my relative disinterest in speeding up repairs on a regular basis.

This is not about warehouses! You may not even have them there! Talk in transit! If you don't have enough level 2 train stations, you won't be able to fully use your train station. They are constantly green, and during normal production of railway stations, the waiting should be yellow. Therefore, you need to carefully study the map and connect all available stations of level 2 or more to the railway! Many of them are on the sidelines (for example, Zhytomyr, Cherkassy, ​​Kirovograd, Krivoy Rog, Nikopol, Poltava, Chernihiv) and inexperienced players do not connect them to the railway, which is why they then receive insufficient supplies in the south.

[Zovs]

4. If I have met the criteria to perform a deliberate attack, but assign support units to that HQ the same turn, will the support units still be able to take part in the attack? Or does it take another turn before they are available?

There is a penalty.

5. How can I set aircraft upgrades to automatic en masse?
(Saw this in passing while looking at air groups, not sure how critical this is)

Use the CR.

6. Getting into the weeds on this question, but how much of a difference is there between good, average, and poor roads?
(I reviewed the rulebook for this but was unable to find any meaningful information around it, maybe I didn't look hard enough?)

There is a difference, but its subtle. Generally you'll get better/worse truck usage for supply or shredding of trucks.

7. If I am moving 3 stacks of 3 infantry divisions across adjacent hexes that have the same quality of roads, and I move them in the same direction, do I take any movement penalties for moving so many units so close to each other? I get that this would be the equivalent of 30 miles, but this would possibly be in the ball park of 100k troops plus all the support vehicles / wagons / etc.

I don't believe this has any bearing on the game, as far as I know only when using rail does this come into play.

[Stamb]

My 2c about air freight movement - make sure you use fuel loadout for a ju52m. It will increase their range significantly.

[loki100]

Malyhin is only partly right about railyards of 2+. You only need these working by the time they send freight as depot-depot not depot-unit. Or in other words long after the front has moved on - hence my relative disinterest in speeding up repairs on a regular basis.

This is not about warehouses! You may not even have them there! Talk in transit! If you don't have enough level 2 train stations, you won't be able to fully use your train station. They are constantly green, and during normal production of railway stations, the waiting should be yellow. Therefore, you need to carefully study the map and connect all available stations of level 2 or more to the railway! Many of them are on the sidelines (for example, Zhytomyr, Cherkassy, ​​Kirovograd, Krivoy Rog, Nikopol, Poltava, Chernihiv) and inexperienced players do not connect them to the railway, which is why they then receive insufficient supplies in the south.

I'm sorry but this is wrong.

When units or freight entrains it takes its 'trains' from up to 30 hexes. In the early game as you advance, most freight moves are NSS-depot so the only railyards that matter are within 30 hexes of a NSS (for the Axis most places west of Warsaw).

Now later on you get depot-depot rail moves and then, yes, you need more spread out railyard 2 to sustain this (but actually not many as the moves are limited, even if you use the trick of letting say Minsk build up at level 4 and then empty it).

So by the time a railyard is needed for depot-depot freight moves, the front will have moved on (I'm talking the early stages of 1941 here) and it will have repaired by itself. So yes, connect them but no need to waste construction units or Admin pts on priority repairs

[therealevan]

My 2c about air freight movement - make sure you use fuel loadout for a ju52m. It will increase their range significantly.

That's a little interesting bit of information, thanks for sharing that!