On Merging BattleGroups

[WarBonnet]

The system whereby tank battalions end up in the support section if merged with a bigger infantry battalion seems less than optimal - mainly because then you get this very long support company section (whereby units are classed individually instead of by company), that's you'll have to scroll for a long time. But that's fine, since it's mentioned in the manual and I can prevent that just by not merging a tank battalion to a bigger infantry battalion.

However I just recently tried merging a mechanized scout battalion (SS-Pz.Aufk-Abt. 12 - 3 coy size) with a heavy tank battalion (Schwere SS-Pz-Abt. 101 - 5 coy size), and the whole scout battalion ended up in the support section. Why?!? I didn't break the rule that was mentioned in the manual. A mechanized scouting battalion is the perfect compliment to a heavy tank battalion. Except now instead of getting the benefits of the ideal 8 coy sized KampfGruppe - I not only lose that, but also all those scouts are only available by scrolling through the ridiculously long support section list. And if I want to bring a company's worth of Panzeraufklarer to a battle, no actual support units for me... Absolutely maddening.

Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this - like a way to circumvent the non-sensical system? Maybe a mod, or some trick to get it to work how it should?

P.S. Also is there a way to look at the BattleGroup components on the strategic map? That would seem like the most natural thing, to have info on what would be the most ideal compositions to merge together. Expecting players to remember BattleGroup composition from when they saw them briefly during the battle resolution impulse, with probably many consecutive battles in a row, the winning of which is obviously the main focus of a person's attention - is pretty unrealistic.

The forum's not that active (to put it mildly), but hopefully I'll get a reply anyways. Fingers crossed.

[SteveMcClaire]

Hi WarBonnet -- as stated in the game manual, if two battle groups are the same size then the one with the best commander will be the new 'parent' battle group and the other will merge into that one. It is possible to change the commander ratings by modding the game files if desired -- you would be changing the commander ratings in data\base\bgroups.txt. To understand the format of this file you can check the workbook for the previous game, Panthers in the Fog, found here: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... ?p=3095466

You can see the active units of a battlegroup on the strategic map but not the entire contents of the force pool. The best place to examine force pools is in the scenario editor -- you can click on a unit in the scenario editor and use 'battlegroup info' to see a list of all the units in the default force pool. This obviously doesn't help on the strategic screen but if you want to see this level of detail you could save your game and go check.

[WarBonnet]

Hey Steve, thx for the useful info - that's definitely nice that there's at least a roundabout way to check the BattleGroup compositions. And being able to change the commander ratings is also crafty.

However you seem to have missed the main point of my post - and I would really appreciate a solution for it. Specifically; "Why would a BattleGroup merging with another BG - have all it's platoons end up flooding the support section of the merged Battlegroup - instead of appearing normally under the coy org?" E.g. merging SS-Pz.Aufk-Abt. 12 with Schwere SS-Pz-Abt. 101.

[SteveMcClaire]

However you seem to have missed the main point of my post - and I would really appreciate a solution for it. Specifically; "Why would a BattleGroup merging with another BG - have all it's platoons end up flooding the support section of the merged Battlegroup - instead of appearing normally under the coy org?" E.g. merging SS-Pz.Aufk-Abt. 12 with Schwere SS-Pz-Abt. 101.

Each BG is divided into 'main combat units' and 'support units' depending on the BG type. If the BG is an infantry type, its main combat units are its infantry companies. If you merge an armored BG into this infantry BG the tanks from the armored BG will all go into the support units.

If you merge s.SS-Pz-Abt.101 into SS-Pz>Aufk.Abt.12 the BG type is 'recon' and recon companies are considered 'main combat units' for that BG. Thus the tanks will go into the support units. If you reverse the merge (recon BG merge into armored BG) your recon units will end up in the support units pool.

[Kanov]

Hi,
I agree with WarBonnet. I too would expect both BG main units to be available as a whole to fill the battlegroup's first two platoons. And also his second suggestion on a visual aid on the actual BG composition would be nice.

In my opinion, I think all front line units should stay front line units, regardless of type of BG. I think the unit place in the Battlegroup screen (main or support) should be decided by the 'type' of the actual squad/platoon itself:

-Frontline: main infantry platoons/medium Tanks/some types of Armored cars
-Support: Mortars/recon/snipers/HMG/Engineers/AT guns&infantry/ad-hoc infantry/Heavy tanks/Half-tracks/TD's/SP guns/Company command(vehicles or infantry)

Pros: you get what you expect in the unit composition.
Cons: super BG's? (but then this is countered by having less BG's on the map because of the merger)

It would be interesting for me to read what was the reasoning behind having the merger of units behave like it is right now. Maybe I don't get it, I don't know.

Thanks!