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Are militia worth building as the Soviet Union? Or any other nation?

I'm in a pbem game and its now Winter of 41. I'm expecting a German invasion next turn. So, I'm thinking the facotries on my western border should build either research points or militia, but will the militia really have any impact on the advancing Germans? With militia's low attack and evasion ratings, it doesn't seem to me that they'll kill or damage any of the attcking Germans - or will they? If not, research point production is the way to go - right? Any other thoughts? Thanks.

I used to think you had build milita in order to maximize the huge manpower you get for the one turn as the russians. But in after thought since everything costs 2 manpower your better off just building a pile of stuff over the turns and as it gets to the current turn put it on hold. It doesn't use any resources/factories to let the stuff sit so....

Don't know if that would be considered an exploit or not.. something I'm planning on testing next time I play russia.

That's a great idea, but I don't think it will work because aren't all items in the factories destroyed when the Germans take the territory? I think that is what the manual says.

Yes, production queued in a factory will be lost if the factory is taken. As for militia, the Russians could use them since they have so much manpower, but they really don't stop anything. The Germans will just bomb them away. It looks good though, having 50 militia in a territory! [:)]

ORIGINAL: Badbonez

Yes, production queued in a factory will be lost if the factory is taken. As for militia, the Russians could use them since they have so much manpower, but they really don't stop anything. The Germans will just bomb them away. It looks good though, having 50 militia in a territory! [:)]

That's why airpower is all wrong. No way should you be able to completely destroy a ground unit, like in SC. Just my look at it. Airpower ruined SC for me.

Depending on how you define militia you could argue that a militia unit will disperse due to lost moral after having been bombed for weeks.

They could be counted as ceasing to exist as a fighting unit, but surely not as physically destroyed.

Due to this I have no problem with airpower taking out militia, airpower taking out regular infantry units, well, I agree, this does sound wrong to me, too.

CharonJr

i think militia are only rarely worth building, and not in the case of russia...better to use those forward factories for research and build proper units a little further back. the only place i think militia are useful are on islands/coasts to defend against invasion(one extra militia means the attacker needs two more transports and an extra unit), as a last ditch defence against a small scale attack(india, lets say), or as china when your factories aren't active every turn(because it takes too long to produce anything else).

Back to russia, whatever you build close to the border is going to get hit. Militia are going to die and thats wasted pp that could have gone to research...

As Geramn I use milita for anti-partisan garrisons, and send my infantry up to the front line. Seems way cheaper that way as factories spend less time producing units to keep the peace, and more time producing units to crush the Ruskies.

yes, that too...but only from factories that can't produce regular units (romania, etc). Otherwise, you should save your population for more robust units...

Militia make great anti-partisan garrisons, and are good troops to add to an attack when you are projected to win thr combat, but not to take the territory.

Prussian Tom

In my mind, militia have only one role in the game: to hold territories threatened by partisan activity.. freeing up combat troops to engage in real combat. The only exception to this may be to attack territories held by only militia.

They are most usefull for Japan holding territory when you are conquering China and need men fast to prevent partisans from destroying your infrastructure. This frees up your real troops to continue the advance.

I suspect militia can also be thought of as canon fodder...Note how a full strength enemy unit expends its shooting ability for that turn on a measly militia that wont do any damage to the enemy anyway. As such, one could consider them as "decoys" .

The other use is garrison duty...where i think they work just fine.

Also, the japs can use them for island hopping where there is NO opposition.

Militia has 2 uses for russia (except garrison duty, that is):

1. Escort artillery. Militia + artillery is a pretty effective defensive combo. The militia takes hits and holds ground, while artillery deal more than twice the damage of infantry anyway.
2. Keep the number of inf low until your infantry tech is sufficient. (Russia starts out with 4-6 inf, which is pretty useless. Researching these to 5-7 is easier if you dont build more of them, and untill you do, militia is a good alternative.)

Militia should always try to stack with artillery and anti air in one big stack in the middle. If you have enough of both of thes unit types, germany will not want to attack that stack (or such is the idea), buying you plenty of time. You can defend flanks with infantry and armor, which dont suffer such horrible losses to enemy air.