Railyards, rail capacity and rail lines

[Lukeb]

Loving learning this game as much as playing it.

I've searched the manual and the forum but still unsure and just want a bit of clarity.

What do the railyards do exactly? Are they only for depot use or is every railyard along the line subject for disruption of supply?

I can only see that "railyards add to the capacity of the network" but not sure what that means...

A.........B..........C

If A is the front depot for axis and C is further back, will bombing B disrupt what C sends? From what I read railyards add to capacity of the supply network, but not sure of meaning of this. Does it mean storage capacity - in which case if C is good in supply it can send it through B (and bombing B is inconsequential at that moment)?

I was hoping that it means that each railyard has a maximum capacity of sending freight through. So bombing a rail hub would reduce all freight coming out regardless of what is coming in?

Hope that makes sense.

[loki100]

basically rail yards do 2 things.

First the working size (ie net of any bombing damage) determines the capacity of any depot. Capacity is the ability to unload, send on and store freight (ie supplies/fuel/ammo/replacements).

Second, each contributes a stock of rail assets (trains etc) that then move freight around.

As the W Allies, the first matters (as the Axis can draw off rail yards in German for trains), hit them and you undermine their supply network.

For the axis both matters. A problem the Allies have is a lack of trains to move freight around (basically its only rail yards in Italy that give you trains in Italy and France/France) so even if the allies have plenty of depots and lots of rails repaired they can struggle to actually move stuff.

So yes, you are basically right but its not the rail yard as such, its more that by hitting that you degrade any depot in the hex

[Lukeb]

That's great.

Thanks for the quick and informative reply. Have been reading and bookmarked a lot of your posts. Don't know if you're part of the dev team, but you are a brilliant asset to the forum/team.

Thanks again

[loki100]

Not for WiTW

but I am writing most of the documentation for WiTE2 so have had to get into all this stuff - and think of creative ways to try and explain it.

thanks

[;)]

[Lukeb]

I have other questions about railyard damage, if I may.

I read in the manual that above 5% damage puts the depot (port or railyard) at 50% of its level. So a level 2 depot operates as a level 1, a level 4 etc.

1. Is there any other benefit to having higher damage % beyond it taking longer to repair to get below 5%? I've seen an old post on the forum that spoke of a patch possibly introducing - "Now, there is a percentage chance equal to the railyard damage that the amount shipped to a railyard depot will be divided by 10. (looking to make railyard bombing more productive"? Is this the case?

2. Does damaging a port depot work the same way?

3. Does damaging a port depot impact the naval interdiction it projects?

Thanks

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: Lukeb

I have other questions about railyard damage, if I may.

I read in the manual that above 5% damage puts the depot (port or railyard) at 50% of its level. So a level 2 depot operates as a level 1, a level 4 etc.

1. Is there any other benefit to having higher damage % beyond it taking longer to repair to get below 5%? I've seen an old post on the forum that spoke of a patch possibly introducing - "Now, there is a percentage chance equal to the railyard damage that the amount shipped to a railyard depot will be divided by 10. (looking to make railyard bombing more productive"? Is this the case?

2. Does damaging a port depot work the same way?

3. Does damaging a port depot impact the naval interdiction it projects?

Thanks

not sure this is right, the ratio is 1 pt of damage knocks off 2% of capacity, so 50 pt of damage more or less renders the rail yard and depot useless. Going over 50 is worth it as there is an auto-repair function (3 percentage pts per turn and this can be increased by using the priority repair) so basically pushing it up towards 100 will mean it won't slip back into use just because you didn't bomb this turn

ports - yes same concepts, so as the Allies make sure that ports in a region you plan to invade are all >50 (at least) damage

3 - I assume so but don't think its linear. Not sure on this one, ports like Cherbourg certainly add to axis interdiction off France even when well bombed.

[cfulbright]

Loki,

I only play against the AI (I did play a PBEM once, which was enjoyable).

What is the best strategy for the Allies for bombing prior to an invasion when playing against the AI? If I was playing a human, I'd bomb railroads, so the Axis couldn't move troops via them. But the AI doesn't always need railroads to move units up the front. Is bombing railroads a waste of effort?

Is just bombing depots/railyards and ports the best thing to do until the week before the invasion? Then the week of the invasion use Ground Attack/Interdiction on and behind the invasion hexes? Or are there other target types I should hit?

Also, when hitting railyards before an invasion, how deep do you recommend? I usually bomb from the Dutch depots in the north to the Normandy depots in the SW, and as deep as the Loire valley, Champagne, and Liege/Aachen. I do this whether I'm invading in Normandy, around Rouen, Calais, or Holland. Am I wasting bombs, planes, and aircrews?

Cary

[loki100]

Hi Cary

Railway (ie usage) bombing is useful vs the AI, its not so much that you hit unit moves as supply/freight moves, so its best done linked to railyard bombing. In MP I've never expected to respond by rail in the weeks after an invasion.

I do tend to put this at say #3 in my priorities but there is an important bit of double dipping. Railway bombing generates very targetted conventional interdiction (following the rail lines) & I find the Mosquito FBs ideal for this. You can set up some interesting linear interdiction patterns this way.

Every port in ruins has to be a core goal and then the railyards themselves. If I recall, freight can call on rail capacity up to 30 hexes away (I may be getting a wee bit mixed up with a WiTE2 rule here), so if you take out all of N France and Belgium, any German freight moves is trying to claim trains from the Reich - all adds up to making it prohibitive. So yes, I'd go with your pattern.

The place you see this most strongly is in replacements. For some reason supply/fuel/ammo as freight gets priority, so in a constrained system, you most obviously squeeze out replacements.

My main difference vs AI is how I use interdiction. In MP, this is usually designed to create a zone the axis can't enter - esp if you have landed somewhere a bit unusual. In the first turn, putting interdiction on the Pzrs directly (so they are pinned - in WiTE2 this gambit has gained the name 'Stalin's thumb') isn't too important. Vs the AI, the screen doesn't really work, interdiction hurts supply and reserve reactions. So I tend to work to those principles instead

Roger

[cfulbright]

Roger,

So alternating bombing Railyards/Depots and Railways turn by turn for about four turns before invasion is a good strategy against the Axis AI?

Cary

[loki100]

yes, its all about creating stress in the system and there is a nice synergy between wrecking the railyards and increasing transport costs.

in the end, the AI has to play by the same rules for its logistics and that combination puts their logistics under stress.

Other way to think about it is that my basic logic is I need to beat the Pzr divisions twice - in that the axis usually has the assets for one complete round of refit. The further back those divisions have to go in search of replacements, the more I can gain while they are refitting