loki100
Posts: 10920
Joined: 10/20/2012 From: Utlima Thule Status: offline
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first part to the answer - there are no 'stupid' questions around this game. Its deceptively deep and even long standing players don't always agree. The key in combat is you want a final odds of 2-1 or more. That means you win and the defender abandons the hex (as a retreat, rout or surrender depending on the situation). The problem is the published cv on the counters is not the end of the story as: a) fog of war, if you have low recon on the defender the real cv maybe higher or lower than it appears ... you end up developing a feel for this; b) allocation of support units .. this come from higher HQ (corps for the Germans, armies for the Soviets) and help in the combat. So for eg, artillery will help disrupt the enemy, engineers help reduce fortifications c) command matters, not only do good commanders help in the allocation of off-map support units but they directly affect the combat values in the battle d) disruption matters, disrupted elements don't fight and you can disrupt before combat (a ground attack by aircraft) or in the early phases of a combat (heavier artillery) which can change the odds even as the combat goes ahead e) the number of elements matter. Thus individually Soviet elements are lower value than the Germans but there are more of them. So a weaker Soviet unit can be quite effective. f) some terrain has a secondary effect, so armour is particularly weak in swamps g) all this is subject to luck. You can use the alt-cv game mode as a help as that factors in command and likely support units into the shown cvs, this makes estimating combat odds a bit less of an exercise in examining chicken livers. over time you develop a very rough set of rules. With the Soviets (accepting the fow issue), I reckon that at start odds of <1.4-1, I have only limited chance to win (chances are in the realm of pure luck), if I get between 1.5/1.8-1 I reckon to win around 70-80% of my attacks, much over 1.9-1 and I'd only expect to lose due to the luck aspect. there is an additional complication which is reserve reaction by either side. This may bring in new units than just those you selected, clearly it can completely change the expected odds. Crudely, if you really have to be sure you can win, go in mob handed and backed by masses of airpower and artillery ... and hope your recon was accurate.
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