German strategy 1942

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German strategy 1942 - 2/22/2018 12:19:03 PM

pbcrnk

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Is it a necessity to go south in '42 for gameplay? What's everyone's strategy? Got Moscow and hope to get Leningrad by spring '42...close to Stalino. Does the game reward historic achievements or can you freestyle?

< Message edited by pbcrnk -- 2/22/2018 12:20:43 PM >

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RE: German strategy 1942 - 2/22/2018 12:26:00 PM

Crackaces

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One strategy toward victory is reducing manpower. The South has multiple critical manpower centers. I would propose that the new changes to supply makes Baku a suicide mission, but many manpower centers makes a nice objective.

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RE: German strategy 1942 - 2/22/2018 12:36:57 PM

pbcrnk

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Ok. I understand the historical significance to the southern thrust just didn't know if game scoring depended on that action. I always assumed that to beat the Russians you must continuously surround/capture...territory second thought. Assume capturing manpower center would aid in that en devour.

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RE: German strategy 1942 - 2/22/2018 12:43:35 PM

Stelteck

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1942 is a good year to try to strongly reduce the soviet army size by having as a primary objective to capture soviet soldiers.
(Assuming you already took major cities such as Leningrad and Moscow in 1941, else you can try again).

The south is very useful for this strategy as there are large plain where panzer will roam free.

< Message edited by Stelteck -- 2/22/2018 12:44:49 PM >

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RE: German strategy 1942 - 2/22/2018 2:43:23 PM

Telemecus

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The rail supply modifier is also better for the Axis in the south (see manual). This is a big hard coded bias from the developers for the south.

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RE: German strategy 1942 - 2/22/2018 7:45:30 PM

tyronec

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quote:

The rail supply modifier is also better for the Axis in the south (see manual). This is a big hard coded bias from the developers for the south.

I thought this had been changed. Below is a section from the Condensed rules, which have been modified by the latest patch. My reading of this is that the 'y' coordinate is not used.

(20.4.3.2) Axis Rail Supply Modifier
There is a modifier that is applied to the delivery of supply to Axis HQ units and combat units based on the date and the location of the unit that is tracing supply. The modifier, once calculated, is multiplied times the supplies and fuel being delivered to the unit. The modifier is equal to ((165 + (5 times the number of months from December 1941, but not to be a negative number)/weather adjustment) - x coordinate of unit)) + ((y coordinate of unit - 69)/2))/100. This modifier can never be less than .33 or greater than 1.0. The weather adjustment is equal to 1 in clear weather, 2 in mud or snow, and 3 in blizzard.
V1.08.09
Reworked Axis rail supply modifier. Base value is equal to logistics difficulty level (usually 100). It is reduced by 1 (0.5 after 3/42) for each hex east of x=50, except if y is less than 12. It is decreased by 10 before November 1941. It is increased by 10 in 1943, and by 20 in 1944 or later. Resulting value may not be lower than 25 nor higher than 100. Finally, blizzard effect is applied by multiplying that value by 0.9 (this is changed during First Winter to 0.5 in 1941, and 0.75 in 1942) if necessary. In return First Winter effect is no longer applied at an earlier stage of resupply. For Finnish units only the regular blizzard multiplier can affect base value.
V1.08.09
Added Soviet rail supply modifier. Base value is equal to logistics difficulty level (usually 100). It is reduced by 0.5 for each hex west of x=64. It is increased by 5 in 1945. Resulting value may not be lower than 25 nor higher than 100. Finally, blizzard effect is applied by multiplying that value by 0.9 if necessary.

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RE: German strategy 1942 - 2/22/2018 8:06:19 PM

Telemecus

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quote:

ORIGINAL: tyronec

quote:

The rail supply modifier is also better for the Axis in the south (see manual). This is a big hard coded bias from the developers for the south.

I thought this had been changed. Below is a section from the Condensed rules, which have been modified by the latest patch. My reading of this is that the 'y' coordinate is not used.

Thanks for that - it completely passed me by. It would mean there is no intended bias by the developers for the south now. Although there may still be coincidental advantages such as terrain.

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RE: German strategy 1942 - 2/22/2018 8:49:31 PM

pbcrnk

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So basically kill em all? No real big geographical areas to get after Moscow and Leningrad? Seems it'd be very difficult to head south anyway with the unit density as thin as it is even before it opens up at Rostov. I have no problem playing an encircle/kill strategy just trying to not overlook an important objective that veterans hone in on.

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RE: German strategy 1942 - 2/22/2018 8:58:01 PM

Telemecus

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quote:

ORIGINAL: pbcrnk

So basically kill em all? No real big geographical areas to get after Moscow and Leningrad? Seems it'd be very difficult to head south anyway with the unit density as thin as it is even before it opens up at Rostov. I have no problem playing an encircle/kill strategy just trying to not overlook an important objective that veterans hone in on.

Well you can make a comparison of manpower. You can see how many you kill in units - and that is usually a good enough strategy. But each manpower point produces 55 recruits every turn. So whether units or manpower centre whichever maximises Soviet manpower loss is good. Usually you can do both.

If capturing was all that mattered the Soviets could win just by running away. They also have to trade off losing units for manpower.

< Message edited by Telemecus -- 2/22/2018 9:15:46 PM >

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RE: German strategy 1942 - 2/23/2018 12:34:39 AM

thedoctorking

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And also note that USSR manpower points run away to the east as you approach and capture their cities. I'm not exactly sure what triggers this; certainly surrounding the city first does not stop them from running away. So as the USSR player, running at a certain speed during the summer months of 1942 looks like a good strategy.

I'm thinking about three hexes a turn is about right, at least in areas where the German armor is massed. That way, the German infantry can't march up to you and make a deliberate attack, so they are forced to make the initial breakthrough with armor. Their armor will run out of movement points before it can surround too many of your infantry. Maybe you can leave a screen of brigades to force advancing infantry to make hasty attacks to drive them off even as they advance to the MLR, further limiting the possibility of breaking your line with infantry. Thoughts?

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RE: German strategy 1942 - 2/23/2018 10:01:43 AM

timmyab

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It depends to some extent on which campaign version you are playing.
If 260 version then look to see where you can gain the required VPs from.
If sudden death then the same with the added April 43 victory check (or defeat if you're under the kosh).
Bitter end favors a Southern strategy with VPs at Rostov, Stalingrad and Baku.
Normal 290 campaign is tough because Soviet players will normally back off and wont let themselves get surrounded so it's really just a case of pushing them as far East as possible before the tide turns.

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RE: German strategy 1942 - 2/23/2018 11:14:12 AM

Searry

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'42 is very good in the south as you can probably encircle a good chunck of the enemy multiple times. As the soviets, I would just leave token forces at the front while keeping most of my forces at the Volga so if you do get encircled you don't lose tens of divisions.

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RE: German strategy 1942 - 2/23/2018 11:34:44 AM

pbcrnk

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So do you send all armor south or leave one panzer army in each north and central? 6 Div each army?

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RE: German strategy 1942 - 2/23/2018 11:42:01 AM

Searry

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It depends how well you did in '41. If the Soviets have not recovered I would send everything to the south except for 1 tank near Leningrad and another 1 tank near Smolensk if you did not elect to get Moscow.

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