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Misc questions from new player - 1/9/2015 2:19:54 AM

RealChuckB

Posts: 284
Joined: 9/29/2003
Status: offline

Hi,

I�m still learning WitE (and WitW) and have a couple of questions that hopefully people can help me with. I have recently played the Velikiye Luki tutorial scenario (as the Soviets) again and again to try different things and (at least) I�m now consistently able to get decent results (although my focus is not so much on �winning� as it is on �learning�).

A couple of questions that came up (this has become a longer posting than expected but I tried to make my points clear):

1. How to rate/asses the strength of units
I think I understand what CV is (and what it isn�t). In most cases, it doesn�t seem to be more than a quick and broad guidance on the strength of a unit but it doesn�t seem to be sufficient (with the exception of a large spread between offensive and defensive CV) to make a sound decision on, for example, if to attack or not (or how). What I would be interested in is how the pros on these boards do make such a decision, meaning, what values they are looking at to come to a decision (assuming FOW is on)? I started to look into a couple of data points I have, such as size (men/guns/AFV), fatigue, morale, TOE (to see in what general shape a unit is compare to nominal strength), supply level etc. but maybe I�m missing something and I would be generally interested in the thinking process.

2. Combining (and breaking up) units
I unterstand the value of combining units (overcoming stacking limits) and breaking up units (covering more ground i.e. spreading out) units and I combined units in the tutorial scenario to create soviet infantry corps. The question that came to mind is, are there additional advantages and disadvantages to combining units apart from the ones above (such as increased or decreased efficiency, morale, C2 or the like)? The disadvantage that I see when combing units is that I could rotate out (non-combined) stacks of divisions and putting one on refit while keeping the other two in the front line, while I have less flexibility to do so if I have created a corps.

3. Support units
Still working on fully understanding this concept. For the tutorial, there are only SUs attached to the shock army HQ and I understand that these attached units will participate in battles only if (a) the HQ is close enough to the battlesite and (b) has not moved (yet) in this turn, correct?

(1) If the foregoing conditions are correct, shouldn�t that mean that (a) if I do a fast attack with a lot of movement (such as with the axis in the summer of �41), I should attach as many SUs as possible directly to the CUs to make sure they even have a chance to support the CUs (as the HQs will often be out of range when I move the CUs forward AND the HQs will likely be moved) and (b) if I am on the defensive it probably makes the most sense to attach SUs to the HQ (and keeping it close to the frontlines) to try to bring as many CUs under the �umbrella� of these SUs (yes, I understand that, depending on the initiative of the leader they may not participate at all)?

(2) What is the limit on this participation of the SUs? Example: if artillery SUs are attached to the HQ and I initiate multiple attacks (all eligible for SU participation) with CUs attached to the HQ, I would assume that the SUs would not participate in ALL such attacks but how would that work (or be decided)? Since the HQ never �knows� upfront how many attacks I will initiate, it cannot arrange such participation upfront. Should I order attacks in a certain order to make sure the most important ones are properly supported? Similar question with participation of SUs on defense - how does the AI select SUs for supporting units on the defense? Should I line up attacks in a specific order to make the AI spend SUs on the less important battles?

4. CUs on reserve
How does participation of CUs work when defending? I had the feeling(!) that I had success in the tutorial with spoiling attacks, meaning that if I saw the axis massing for an attack on my stack in a victory location, I tried to blunt their stacks by attacking them from other locations. The idea was to take away the combat power of these units by lowering their supply level, readiness and increase their fatigue but the question is, if I can also force the enemy to �use up� the power of it�s SUs (and, maybe even more important, of any CUs in reserve) by choosing the correct order of attack? (this is similar to the last SU question above.

Thanks a lot!

Chuck

Post #: 1

RE: Misc questions from new player - 1/9/2015 7:21:00 AM

loki100

Posts: 10920
Joined: 10/20/2012
From: Utlima Thule
Status: offline

I'll try

1 - yeah, well ... its by feel and practice. I did a lot of taking a scenario and do left hand-right hand turns (ie so I could see the impact on both sides) and run the same attack a lot. I was trying to understand where the variation was and what seemed to be critical. The bit that is missing from the printed cv is the impact of 'elements' (look at the detailed TOE to see this) and 'disruption'.

In effect every element can do something, this is why the late 42 Soviet TOEs are more effective as for the same manpower you have more elements. Using that knowledge, in 1941/2, if, as the Soviets, I can match the shown cvs I reckon I can win the battle (in effect mass gives you an important bonus). As the Germans, I'm probably too cautious but from the same viewpoint, I like to start at over 2-1 (if the combat is between notionally equal numbers of men), lower if I know I'll outnumber the Soviets. So raw numbers as well as the cv are important/

Second 'disruption' really matters. Disrupted elements don't participate in closer combat. So the more you disrupt, the weaker the enemy actually is. One trick is to bomb a unit before initiating an attack .. so even if shown losses are low, the disruptions are going to help. Second is to have lots of artillery in the attack, these will inflict disruptions before the combat range closes - run a few attacks using the 5 speed and you'll see how this works out.

2 - to me reflects the different phases of the war. I convert cav divs to corps asap, they are your main tool in the 1941 winter offensive as you can obtain stacks of 8-10 cv with some mobility. In June 1942 don't rush to convert infantry divisions. First, you will need every counter you have to slow the Germans, while the Corps may look stronger in truth they are likely to be bypassed (you'll need a few, just don't go for too many). Second in 1943 the conversion cost drops from 20 APs to 10, that is a huge saving, it also comes at the stage when the Germans start to lose their offensive capacity.

3 - SUs don't commit from HQ to unit for a hasty attack, so that is an important criteria. As to the merits of using your SUs in units/leave in the HQ it sort of depends (as so much else). With the Germans you don't have enough so its more efficient to leave some in the HQ. With the Soviets you probably do, certainly make sure your best corps have a full compliment and think about where they will be fighting. I'm becoming a bit of a fan of the heavy AT SU that appears in the Summer of 1942, it really boosts the tank killing properties. But Sappers are a good default choice as you will be facing a lot of fortifications.

I think the AI routine is to allocate a balanced set to each combat. But you can have too many SUs in an army, which never get called on (esp if you have SUs in the combat units as well), so its a balancing act

4 - Secondary attacks aren't really rewarded in WiTE as the loss/gain of morale is so important. Setting up an attack to fail means you lose 1 morale for all participants and your opponent gains. Having said that, you may want to make reserves react. If so attack with enough power so it looks like a real attack, chucking a single brigade at a 3 division stack will not provoke any reaction. In 1943, you do need to do this, the Germans will have lots of reserves and you just need to burn them off before the real attack.

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(in reply to RealChuckB)