Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: jdsrae

I’m just paying more attention to this recently and trying to do the following:
1. defend in complex terrain especially Jungle Rough and Heavy Urban. Try to learn the terrain defensive bonuses. Don’t give up complex terrain lightly, make the enemy pay something for it.
2. Attack with coordinated air, artillery, armour and engineers supporting your infantry whenever possible. If on the coast, get the navy big guns involved
3. Fly as much recon as possible. Bombard to “recon” on a meeting engagement.
5. generally use deliberate attacks and pause a few days between them to let fatigue and disruption recover., not to zero but down in the teens. Use shock attacks sparingly, like a siege that you got a 1:1 previously and need to try and end it quickly. If a unit has mostly disabled squads either withdraw it out of hex or don’t let it attack until sufficient have recovered (a Bn is about 36 squads, so if it can put a Bn into the fight and you need it throw it in)
6. Keep supply lines / withdrawal paths open.
7. For cities with big enemy stacks, prepare for the target and get HQ units in hex and/or within range to prepare too to get the bonuses
8. Once you’ve got the above, try for manoeuvre in attack when you can instead of frontal assaults. Ie, try to go around then enemy in complex trrrain, cut off enemy supply line and keep yours open and you will get the advantage. “Hit em where they ain’t” where possible.
9. Unless you have some sort of advantage like sheer numbers or firepower stay on the defensive until you can build up strength.
10. Be clear on the mission for each part of the map, is it delay, defend at all costs, probing attack or all out assault? If it’s your main effort concentrate on it and only open a secondary effort if you have overwhelming superiority (ie allies 1944!)

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ORIGINAL: GetAssista

One of the things specific to land combat that beginners often miss is the rules wrt hex sides - hex side control and movement through hex sides.
0. Use "W" hotkey a lot
1. Each hex has 6 inner hesxides, and 6 outer hexsides, one from each adjacent hex (for which it is inner)
2. You cannot move LCU out of the hex through inner hexside controlled by the enemy. So one-hex encirclements are perfectly possible
3. Supply cannot cross enemy controlled hexsides no matter direction or inner/outer
4. All inner hexsides' control is awarded to you if there is no enemy in the hex. Any hexside control is awarded to you if you cross it with LCU.

quote:

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

Large sieges are all about monitoring your disruption and fatigue levels to determine how long you need to rest between attacks.

It's beneficial to have a controlled base nearby well stocked with supply and support that you can rotate battered units out to for recovery, especially combat engineer units that take heavy losses reducing forts.

If the siege is an isolated island base you need additional seaborne assets ready to come ashore and replace battered units that are moved into reserve for recovery.

I spent two years siegeing Hong Kong with the Chinese. It wasn't until the last six months when Allied combat engineers and supply finally arrived that progress was made and the base finally taken in September '45.

Heavily defended bases with level 9 forts require lots of comb at engineers.

In mid '45 the Americans start getting Corps Combat Engineer Groups that are brigade size. Prior to that only companies, battalions and regiments are available. Company sized combat engineers get eviscerated it large siege battles and battalions get heavily beat up. Regiments and larger hold up well.

I was using the Aussie company sized combat engineers at Hong Kong and had to rebuild them from dead several times over. I also had three American combat engineer battalions attacking at HK. They would get so beat up in each attack I had to pull them out to Canton to take replacements and recover before moving them back to HK for another round.

Combat engineers are absolutely vital in any large siege battle.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Trugrit


I think you have been around awhile Steve. I don’t consider you a rookie.
You were playing this game well before I was. I consider you a good (PBEM) player.
You must have been out of it for a long time.

It has not changed a whole lot since 2009. Ten years! Years go fast.

How much do you already remember and know?
Check off the parts below you already know about then ask about the rest.
Maybe you just need to refresh your memory on a few.

I don’t think you can get it all in one single help guide.
This is the main stuff you need to know about:

LCU Movement
Roads, Railroads
How to read and use the unit screen
Move mode reset to combat
Assault strength
Terrain types and effects
Rivers how they cause shock attack and disruption
Disruption in general
Forts how to build them and attack them
The difference between deliberate and shock attack
Replacements, reinforcements, upgrades
LCU Withdrawal
How supply works on the ground.
How to use the 5 hotkey to see supply paths
Hexside control
How headquarters work
morale, combat checks
Fatigue
Unit experience
How to split and recombine units
How Combat engineering units work
Para Drop
Retreats
Pursuits
Prep points
Cold Zones
Malaria Zones
Control Zones
Monsoon
Detection
Recon and spotting
Atolls
Stacking and what it does to combat supply
Attack odds
Artillery and bombardment
Reserves
Surrender
Banzi charge
Partisans
Milita activation

Here is 0ne (post #5)
Replacements and Supply:
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/fb.asp?m=2714439

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and ASW is my forte.

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ORIGINAL: rustysi

Keep in mind that this is from the Japanese side.

Agree with what's been said above, just like to add a few things.

In China you need to defend in 3x terrain, with few exceptions. One of which is Changsha(sp?). You don't have enough supply to build lots of forts, but your units will do it willingly (and freely too) in rough terrain. In addition to that those forts are not reduced in combat!!!

BTW, one key to assist China a lot is to get massive supplies there in the early game. Did you do that? That means all the supply you can shove into Rangoon and then some. You also need to get it to move into China, by 'priming the pump', IOW play with the supply demand switches to get it into the interior.

Not sure if its better, but I prefer to put some HQ's directly in the combat hex to help units recover, rather than move them in and out. Remember one of the things needed to recover disabled devices is support. HQ's also tend to draw more supply into a hex.

OK, the rest of this has probably been said above, but I'd like to reinforce a few things.

Keep your opponent isolated where possible, big help if he can't get supplies. Bombard with arty and air as much as possible. Once he's unsupplied this will keep him disabled and fatigued. Units that need rest and you don't wish to move out of the hex should be put in reserve (no pursuit) mode to help recover quicker. In this mode they won't be subject to any arty bombardments (not sure about air) by your opponent.

Don't use shock attacks against well fortified targets, unless he's out of supply. Even then its better to reduce the forts before you do so. Lot's of times at a base he'll be forced to retreat before all the forts are gone.

Pick a number for an AV at which a unit won't attack. I like to do this because the more disablement's a unit incurs the longer it'll take to recover for future ops.

Hope some of this helps.

quote:

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve
So China is basically a massive supply sink. Here's a question about a crazy theory of mine: If supplying the Chinese army is so hard , would it make sense to MOVE as much of the army as possible closer to it's source of supply? Stillwell did great things with the 5th Corps of Chinese troops that he was given. Say if select units of the Chinese forces were moved to the Indo Burma border , couldn't they be trained and built up, as well as trying to aid in resisting an attempt to take India? And if the Chinese Air Force were evacuated to ,say Calcutta , to receive supplies and use the few junk air frames they have as trainers , rather than expended as a "forlorn hope". Training aircrews to the day when they received decent US aircraft...and aid in the retaking of China? Just a thought. Do you think that might work?

quote:

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve
So China is basically a massive supply sink. Here's a question about a crazy theory of mine: If supplying the Chinese army is so hard , would it make sense to MOVE as much of the army as possible closer to it's source of supply? Stillwell did great things with the 5th Corps of Chinese troops that he was given. Say if select units of the Chinese forces were moved to the Indo Burma border , couldn't they be trained and built up, as well as trying to aid in resisting an attempt to take India? And if the Chinese Air Force were evacuated to ,say Calcutta , to receive supplies and use the few junk air frames they have as trainers , rather than expended as a "forlorn hope". Training aircrews to the day when they received decent US aircraft...and aid in the retaking of China? Just a thought. Do you think that might work?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve
So China is basically a massive supply sink. Here's a question about a crazy theory of mine: If supplying the Chinese army is so hard , would it make sense to MOVE as much of the army as possible closer to it's source of supply? Stillwell did great things with the 5th Corps of Chinese troops that he was given. Say if select units of the Chinese forces were moved to the Indo Burma border , couldn't they be trained and built up, as well as trying to aid in resisting an attempt to take India? And if the Chinese Air Force were evacuated to ,say Calcutta , to receive supplies and use the few junk air frames they have as trainers , rather than expended as a "forlorn hope". Training aircrews to the day when they received decent US aircraft...and aid in the retaking of China? Just a thought. Do you think that might work?

To answer this specific question-yes. Unencumbered access to supply will help flesh out the Chinese AF and LCUs. Moving the relevant units to India, for example, where they could soak up the surfeit of supplies on the excellent Indian rail network would help them become much more effective fighting units in time.

Against the AI, I would encourage you to try this. You may even be successful in building up a massive force in Chinese LCUs.

Against a PBEM opponent, this approach is fraught with peril. Most games that I am familiar with have a basic 'pay PP' HR to move restricted LCUs out of their national boundaries. That would include those Chinese units you mention above. Their HQ (in yellow) may be changed by paying a modest PP cost. The vast majority of the Chinese units are restricted and cannot have their HQ changed. So ahistorically moving them out of China to India would open up a Pandora's box of problems:

1. If all rules are off for movement of LCUs out of restricted national boundaries (i.e., no PP cost for new HQ / theater), then the Allied player should expect a massive flush of *all* Manchuko garrison forces (minus those needed to keep the Soviets from auto activating) into mainland China. This includes all base, artillery and engineer units that do not necessarily impact the assault value calculations for garrisoning Manchuko. These are sizable forces that will be brought into theater on existing rail networks-probably in the first week of the war.

2. If the Allied player bugs out most of the Chinese LCUs to India to get at excess supply, what will they leave behind garrisoning China? By running towards Indian supply, you may be hastening the downfall of China. My vague recollection is that this has been done in some AARs and is usually an Allied disaster.

It will take months to get the Chinese out of China to a suitable Indian supply center. Months away from defending critical Chinese cities. It will take months to get them fleshed out and allow them training as an offensive force. Then months to get them back into the relevant fight and re-liberate ground that they fled en masse. What will become of the theater in the interim? Will there be anything left?

What will happen to Chinese LCU squad replenishment when all Chinese national HQs are captured by the enemy?

Where will the Manchuko forces go to next on the continental Asian landmass after they capture the Chinese national HQ cities?

I haven't played a game like this before, so will yield to those that have experienced a really-o truly-o "no HRs" sort of game with this outcome. But it seems to me that this is 'opening up a whole 'nuther can of worms'. Unintended consequences and all that.

quote:

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve
move a few select Chinese units (like Stillwell's 5th corps) across the border to build up faster. I was suggesting moving some of the others to move near the Chinese/Burma border as to be closer to possible supply lines.

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ORIGINAL: Trugrit

You need to be careful how you move.

Units given long march orders may follow the supply path and not go the route you want.

They can spend a long week or more going in a direction you don't want.

Just watch the direction they are marching.

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ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Trugrit

You need to be careful how you move.

Units given long march orders may follow the supply path and not go the route you want.

They can spend a long week or more going in a direction you don't want.

Just watch the direction they are marching.

And if the enemy takes control of a hex along the route of march, your unit will march right up to the point it is to cross into the enemy hex and then abort in the hex it is in and wait for orders! It will not enter the enemy controlled hex unless that is the destination hex.

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ORIGINAL: witpqs

quote:

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

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ORIGINAL: Trugrit

You need to be careful how you move.

Units given long march orders may follow the supply path and not go the route you want.

They can spend a long week or more going in a direction you don't want.

Just watch the direction they are marching.

And if the enemy takes control of a hex along the route of march, your unit will march right up to the point it is to cross into the enemy hex and then abort in the hex it is in and wait for orders! It will not enter the enemy controlled hex unless that is the destination hex.

I just had a case where I wanted that to happen, but instead the units marched to an adjacent hex and continued movement around the blocked hex.

quote:

ORIGINAL: witpqs

quote:

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Trugrit

You need to be careful how you move.

Units given long march orders may follow the supply path and not go the route you want.

They can spend a long week or more going in a direction you don't want.

Just watch the direction they are marching.

And if the enemy takes control of a hex along the route of march, your unit will march right up to the point it is to cross into the enemy hex and then abort in the hex it is in and wait for orders! It will not enter the enemy controlled hex unless that is the destination hex.

I just had a case where I wanted that to happen, but instead the units marched to an adjacent hex and continued movement around the blocked hex.

quote:

Most games that I am familiar with have a basic 'pay PP' HR to move restricted LCUs out of their national boundaries. That would include those Chinese units you mention above.

quote:

was to move a few select Chinese units (like Stillwell's 5th corps) across the border to build up faster.