RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21)

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/20/2017 10:38:23 PM

larryfulkerson

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And the next thing to move is this Security Unit, the 207th and as it happens they are already adjacent to an enemy unit
so they are assigned to the attack without remorse. I'm seeing all those unconverted hexes behind the Soviet lines and
they will need to be converted so I'm going to need a lot of spare units, MP's, security units, AA guns, AT guns, any
throu-away unit not doing anything. A warm body will do. Especially the roads and rails. There's 0% chance of
rail destruction upon capture so it would be a very good thing to go around converting rails while the getting is good.

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< Message edited by larryfulkerson -- 11/20/2017 10:42:00 PM >

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/20/2017 11:05:37 PM

larryfulkerson

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Two of my Axis units RBC'D two Soviet units backward and to the side to form a hole in the Soviet lines. Now to fill up
that hole with some of my troops.

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/20/2017 11:24:54 PM

larryfulkerson

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My units are so much stronger than the Soviet ones and the shock bonus is helping so much that most of the Soviet units
are going into RBC rather than stand and defend. I've been making some moves and have opened up the front in one place.
Now to race on and leave the Soviet remnants to follow on forces.

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 1:36:14 AM

marion61

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I'm not sure if the scenario designer had a special reason for creating most of those soviet units with the "unit size" as squads or not. Even some of the motorized and tank divisions have the "unit size" set to squads, but they are divisions, I checked their TOE's. The majority of those border units are battalion size or regiments, which uses the symbol "II", or "III" on the icons, but that soviet tank division shows it's a squad on it's icon also, and should be an "XX". Maybe an over-sight? It doesn't deter from the game play, but it's just strange to see squad symbols over a divisional sized unit or a battalion.

< Message edited by marion61 -- 11/21/2017 1:38:15 AM >

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Post #: 34

RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 3:45:55 AM

larryfulkerson

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Sometimes the scenario designer will deliberately assign the little-est unit designation to the unit so that it can't divide ever.
There's no three little pieces of it, what you have it what you've got. Like you, I find it mildly confusing.

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Post #: 35

RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 5:27:49 AM

larryfulkerson

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I've been moving units and the face of the war is changing. I've been using the fast movers to get into the Soviet
backfield and surround and isolate the units before I destroy them. There's a lot of BTS timestamps all over the
place. That's my fault. I'm in the mindset right now to have fun and not worry so much about calculating the best
attack ratio etc. I'm not so much rushing ahead as in the process of mopping up the remnants.

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Post #: 36

RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 5:34:53 AM

larryfulkerson

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I'm going to try to do a right hook and trap all that Soviet stuff before it gets away. I want to kill all of them.

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 6:09:30 AM

larryfulkerson

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Here's the game plan for the south. I'm going to try to drive the Panzers along the yellow brick road axis and see if
I can't trap some of those Soviet units before they can get away.

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Post #: 38

RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 6:20:12 AM

larryfulkerson

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And this is the face of war in the "middle" where we're fighting over river crossings.

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Post #: 39

RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 7:19:40 PM

larryfulkerson

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I thought I'd bring in the 14th Panzer Division and I think I may have made a hole in the Soviet lines. I'm going to
see how many troops I can pour through there to get into the Soviet backfield and destroy all kinds of things.

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 7:36:55 PM

larryfulkerson

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So I drove a Panzer division through that hole and with a little pushing and shoving the hole got a little bigger.
This is turning into a very good thing.

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 7:43:11 PM

larryfulkerson

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So I'm moving units and I come to the first of the Hungarian formations and it's in reserve, as is most of the Axis
minor allies. So since they can't shoot move or communicate the only thing to do with them is dig them in. That
way the trucks in the unit can be loaned to the Corps HQ and can be used to carry supplies and thereby enhance the
supply situation a tiny bit. Every little bit helps.

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Post #: 42

RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 7:52:15 PM

larryfulkerson

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The proficiency of this German aircraft unit might have something to do with the fact that
many of Germany's fighter pilots started out as glider pilots in the 1920's and had been
flying all that time gaining experience and growing in skill. They did some TDY's to the
Spanish Civil war and flew in combat for the first time and came away as a force to be
reconed with. The Soviets are finding that out as the Soviet losses are growing at an
alarming rate. It's still turn one and I haven't done any dedicated airfield attacks yet
and the Soviet losses are already over considerable. The air lossss meter says 1.3K+ but
that's just a fog of war number. It's probably closer to half that.

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 8:11:01 PM

elmo3

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The Luftwaffe destroyed about 2000 Soviet aircraft on the first day of Barbarossa, and somewhere around 4000 in the first three days. Is that possible in D21? Thanks.

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Post #: 44

RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 8:29:00 PM

larryfulkerson

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Here's the first customer for the aircraft repair hangers at the airfield near Berlin because it's
a bit tired. I like to rest the planes when they drop below about 50% until they reach about 70%
and then put them back on-line. I like to fly them out of the combat area to an airfield in the
rear that has an HQ adjacent so that they can hear the stiring words of their squadron commander
and be inspired once more. It actually worked in the early war years but after the second year
of war the men became enured to misery and hardship and constant danger and the stiring words
didn't work anymore. The repair / re-committ numbers can vary of course depending on the military
circumstances and wishes of the commander. Usually those pilots that have to fly their aircraft
to Berlin usually lounge in the in-transit personnel barracks until the early evening when they
are given leave for the evening so they usually go downtown and "find something to do".

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 8:35:25 PM

larryfulkerson

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Here's a Stuka that is in fine shape so far and I'm in the habit of assigning individual targets for the Ju-87's and
that's mostly because it's slightly higher values for AP and AT. I like to find mechanized units for attack by the
Stuka. Either that or the BB's near Leningrad. This plane has a fairly substantial anti-ship value. It needs to
be escorted however.

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Post #: 46

RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 8:39:47 PM

marion61

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I've scored over 3k soviet aircraft destroyed in the first turn, just letting the Air Assistant do it's job. It systemically attacked the soviet airfields and wracked up a huge score. Remember that this was with Fog of War on, so the number isn't completely accurate. If I remember correctly I lost about 200 planes doing this, but the soviet air force was gone.

I ran a test with the air assist on, and these were the results, and they can vary a bit. The other consideration is that if you let Elmer off the chain, you will have a lot of planes in reorganization. The airfields that have AA units on them do some damage, but the planes evaporate. I'd rather destroy the Soviet AF, then let my boys have a rest a turn or two since you have such high shock values to start with. You won't have much in the way of combat support on that turn either.

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< Message edited by marion61 -- 11/21/2017 9:02:32 PM >

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 8:44:11 PM

larryfulkerson

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So I'm moving units, well, in this case, assigning missions to aircraft and I've come to the Do-17's and they are a
special case because I'm not making any of those any longer. So I need to base them in a quiet area where there's not
a lot of aerial warfare going on. The idea is to limit the losses of the Do-17's. I've seen players use this model
in combat where they get chewed up and useless for combat and they get parked near Berlin for the duration.

EDIT: I found two units that flew the Do-17 and I flew both of them to Budapest put them on INT missions and set them
at one-dot's for a loss tolerance.

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< Message edited by larryfulkerson -- 11/21/2017 8:47:39 PM >

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Post #: 48

RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 8:56:25 PM

larryfulkerson

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I found one bomber unit that I couldn't find a good airfield attack situation for, so I started looking at maybe a
bridge attack yes? And I found a situation where there's a fairly good chance to drop the bridge. About double what
I can usually find so I'm going for it. There's only a 20%+ chance but that's good enough for a mission.

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/21/2017 9:35:50 PM

elmo3

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OK Larry, thanks for the comments on Soviet air losses.

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Post #: 50

RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/22/2017 11:43:30 AM

larryfulkerson

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quote:

ORIGINAL: marion61
I've scored over 3k soviet aircraft destroyed in the first turn, just letting the Air
Assistant do it's job. It systemically attacked the soviet airfields and wracked up a huge
score. Remember that this was with Fog of War on, so the number isn't completely accurate.
If I remember correctly I lost about 200 planes doing this, but the soviet air force was gone.

That sounds great to me. Good job.

quote:

ORIGINAL: marion61
I ran a test with the air assist on, and these were the results, and they can vary a bit. The other consideration is that if you let Elmer off the chain, you will have a lot of planes in reorganization.

Elmer likes to drive his aircraft as if they were land untis. Attacks every turn by every plane.
Almost. The units turn cherry red after a while.

quote:

ORIGINAL: marion61
The airfields that have AA units on them do some damage, but the planes evaporate.

I like to hit those airfields that don't have AA first of all and come back to the AA protected
ones after everybody else is covered. The high altitude bombers are more immune to AA fire but
not absolutely.

quote:

ORIGINAL: marion61
I'd rather destroy the Soviet AF, then let my boys have a rest a turn or two since you have such high shock values to start with.

Yeah, you have to make use of the high shock values whey they last because you wont' have this chance
to do so much damage so easily very long and only this one time for the entire war.

quote:

ORIGINAL: marion61
You won't have much in the way of combat support on that turn either.

I like to do it that way too. I like to run CS missions during the meat of the turn and then as
part of my post-turn cleanup I like to put some of the aircraft on INT missions so they can fly
during the opponents turn.

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Post #: 51

RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/22/2017 12:00:09 PM

larryfulkerson

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I've been moving units and the front lines have changed. The Soviet units are falling back, being destroyed, or pushed
aside. The are able to delay the advance however and I guess that's their point. I like to flow like water to the
path of least resistance so as to make the most progress as possible. I like to find the weak spots and press hard.
Make a hole and flow through it. Get into the backfield and surround and isolate.

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/22/2017 12:12:02 PM

larryfulkerson

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The whole idea is to use two pincer probes to surround and isolate the entire Soviet front lines in the middle and
then destroy all of them at your leisure.

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/22/2017 12:32:49 PM

larryfulkerson

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Okie dokie....I'm through moving everybody, I'm ready to pull the trigger. This is the planned battles and as you can
see there's a lot of airfield strikes and sometimes the odds can't be calculated but for the most part all of them are
a single dot in duration except one. And I can live with that.

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/22/2017 12:51:24 PM

larryfulkerson

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There have already been several airfield strikes and they all seem to be like this one. This one is typical of them.
Relatively high losses for the Soviets and light losses for the Axis. Some shock bonus, huh. I'll take it.

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/22/2017 12:58:10 PM

larryfulkerson

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In this attack the Axis suffered more losses than the Soviets in terms of numbers but I'm calling the attack successful.

EDIT: See the next post below for the Combat Chart

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< Message edited by larryfulkerson -- 11/22/2017 1:00:25 PM >

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RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/22/2017 12:59:40 PM

larryfulkerson

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Here's the combat chart for the above attack

The Chart verbage says the attack was delayed by 1 round and I'm not sure why that happened. One of my units was
late getting to the party I suppose.

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< Message edited by larryfulkerson -- 11/22/2017 1:01:25 PM >

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Post #: 57

RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/22/2017 1:10:02 PM

larryfulkerson

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Here's the results of some Stuka's taking on a Soviet tank division. The eight Stuka's that were damaged go back to the
pools to be fixed and the Soviet side lost several AFV's. I'd probably do the strike again because in the long run it
didn't cost me anything, yet.

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Post #: 58

RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/22/2017 1:15:32 PM

larryfulkerson

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Here's the results of the strikes and I see where there were about 7 especially successful airstrikes in that the Soviet
air unit evaporated. I'm going to do another set of airstrikes to get those Soviet air units that didn't yet.

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Post #: 59

RE: Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21) - 11/22/2017 1:39:07 PM

larryfulkerson

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So the first thing I do after the attack phase is to check the condition and deployment of the aircraft to make sure they
have the proper situation. Some of them, like these two units, are tired and need a rest and some are missing a couple
of planes and some are low on supply like these two. I like to have a readiness value of about 50% before I let them
fly a mission.

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