loki100
Posts: 10920
Joined: 10/20/2012
From: Utlima Thule
Status: offline
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This post/thread emerges from one of the regular realism vs game rule exploitation threads that emerge.
With SigUp, I agreed a couple of PBEMs to test out what happens if you seriously lower the logistics value. We picked 75% as that was sufficiently extreme that the differences wouldn't be lost in the noise and normal randomness. We tested this using the Road to Smolensk and the revised Battle of Moscow (from Lost Battles) scenario (far better than the original).
SigUp played the Germans both time, I took the Soviets.
In the Road to Smolensk I opted for an aggressive forward defense - the result was a series of small (army sized) encirclements and a lot of combat. The effect was a normal German offensive over the first two turns, and then it became one of stop-start (seemed to be one turn of waiting, two of attacks and so on).
In the Moscow scenario as to be expected my front line was pretty much destroyed. I rebuilt a last defense in front of Moscow over the mud and this in turn was chopped up, the Germans reached the outskirts of Moscow, took Kalinin and Tula.
The impact for the blizzard (this was before the recent mild blizzard change) was stark. AGC was pushed back about 4 hexes from Moscow and then built a strong point on Kaluga. To the north, NW Front had more joy almost reaching Kholm. To the south, Bryansk Front fought a series of bitter battles but was stalled at Orel.
The main thing I noticed was the lower logistics meant it was very hard to move units any distance and retain an effective CV - it was very much move and wait. So the whole offensive became stop-start and I was constantly cursing a lack of MP/CV.
I think we proved what we set out to test. If you feel the logistics model is too permissive, clamp down on the values (and given my blizzard experience this will also hurt mid/late war Soviet offensives). Equally 75% was too much, and a more fluid game probably needs 85-90%. As a trade off, I'd suggest set Soviet morale to 95% - that has a surprisingly strong effect on CV/morale gain in 1941 and thus means a slower moving German doesn't hit a wall of 12-15 CV rifle divisions.
Of course, all this depends on player skill and attitudes. My goal is to enable no holds barred PBEM (after all the idea is to beat up your opponent and pull all sorts of surprises), but to ensure that this is constrained by a degree of realism.
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