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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> The Operational Art of War IV >> After Action Reports >> RE: Another Barbarossa AAR

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RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/11/2022 6:53:48 PM

larryfulkerson

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Hey Ben: did we ever figure out if it helps the rail repair effort to split the RR engineer units into pieces? I don't remember how that argument came out ( about two years ago now ). Didn't somebody do some tests?

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Post #: 151

RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/12/2022 2:12:17 PM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Hey Ben: did we ever figure out if it helps the rail repair effort to split the RR engineer units into pieces? I don't remember how that argument came out ( about two years ago now ). Didn't somebody do some tests?

In this scenario, all rail repair is automatic. So no matter how you split your RR repair units you will still repair the same number of hexes each turn (currently 12) across the whole map. The auto-repair is biased towards hexes close to rail repair units.

The question I have is whether more rail repair occurs if there are multiple RR repair units in the hex, or if what matters is how many individual hexes there are on the map; i.e. if I cut each sector down to just 1 RR repair unit and concentrated all the others in one place, would it speed that one up and slow the others down?

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Post #: 152

RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/12/2022 10:26:35 PM

sPzAbt653

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quote:

if I cut each sector down to just 1 RR repair unit and concentrated all the others in one place, would it speed that one up and slow the others down?

If each one has an 80% chance to make a repair, then ten 80% chances is more than one 80% chance. If I can attempt to explain it that way.

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Post #: 153

RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/12/2022 10:41:40 PM

sPzAbt653

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Hey Larry, you probably knew this and maybe forgot it, but you can check on the effect of splitting units on their capabilities in the Unit Report. For D21, splitting a Bautrupp into two results in both pieces still having a 100% chance, but in the screen shot you can see the result of splitting one into three. The chance drops to 69%.

Therefore, splitting might help in some scenarios, but as Ben said, in D21 you get twelve auto repairs and splitting won't get you any more.

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< Message edited by sPzAbt653 -- 2/12/2022 10:42:18 PM >

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Post #: 154

RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/13/2022 1:38:16 PM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

If each one has an 80% chance to make a repair, then ten 80% chances is more than one 80% chance. If I can attempt to explain it that way.

OK- is that how it works, though- that auto repair runs through the on-map RR repair units and does this kind of test for each of them unless it runs out of the # hexes per turn?

Or does it just use hexes which contain or are near to a RR repair unit as part of the way it favours certain hexes?

I note that if it's the former, then splitting the RR repair units won't give you more repaired hexes- but it will ensure that as many as possible of those repaired hexes are actually on your desired routes of advance. Of course, this quite quickly means your main routes wind up with significant numbers of units filling up the railhead hexes, which are usually quite busy anyway with units arriving from reserve or coming back to resupply.

< Message edited by golden delicious -- 2/13/2022 1:41:07 PM >

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Post #: 155

RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/14/2022 9:29:50 PM

sPzAbt653

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We don't know for sure, but I assume that the repairs 'tend to be near' rail repair units, so the more the merrier at one location. So spreading them out one per location will have little effect.

For D21 and RGW, I feel it is better to divide them into three mini-stacks, one for one line for each AG. Later in the scenario when some of them are removed its probably best to reduce that to two lines, or maybe even one if you need to get serious somewhere.

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Post #: 156

RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/15/2022 7:40:47 AM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

We don't know for sure, but I assume that the repairs 'tend to be near' rail repair units, so the more the merrier at one location. So spreading them out one per location will have little effect.

For D21 and RGW, I feel it is better to divide them into three mini-stacks, one for one line for each AG. Later in the scenario when some of them are removed its probably best to reduce that to two lines, or maybe even one if you need to get serious somewhere.

OK. As suggested above I have four stacks of three which gives me roughly two hexes a turn in each direction, plus a single unit in Karelia which seems to also do two hexes per turn...

Honestly it sounds like it could do with some testing. Anyway when AGC and AGB's objectives (Kazan, Kuybyshev and Saratov) are cleared they'll be handing over some but not all of their RR engineer units to AGA and at that point either I'll see an improvement for AGA or I won't. If not then I can probably forget about capturing Baku in the Summer campaigning season

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Post #: 157

RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/15/2022 1:18:53 PM

sPzAbt653

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Another factor is repairs occurring 'closest to Supply Points'. I think this affects the Rail Repair in Karelia, because I think that scenario has a Supply Point at Helsinki, and the further the main Axis force moves east the further they get from their Supply Points, which probably makes the Auto-Repair give a little priority to Karelia. Plus there are fewer rail lines up north.

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Post #: 158

RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/15/2022 3:45:36 PM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

Another factor is repairs occurring 'closest to Supply Points'. I think this affects the Rail Repair in Karelia, because I think that scenario has a Supply Point at Helsinki, and the further the main Axis force moves east the further they get from their Supply Points, which probably makes the Auto-Repair give a little priority to Karelia. Plus there are fewer rail lines up north.

I think RR repair moves toward supply points rather than occurring near them? Certainly the rail started leaping ahead when I approached Stalino (one supply point) and then jumped from there to Rostov (another supply point) in about four turns. Going south from Rostov was then at a much more measured pace. I was hoping for a supply point at Maykop to accelerate things further but alas it was not to be.

I also note that the rail has extended- quite unbidden- halfway towards Kharkov from both of AGS rail routes. So the reaching towards supply points seems to be independent of whether any RR units are involved. At the time that I was planning these routes, I deliberately skirted either side of Kharkov knowing there was a 75% supply point there which I could fall back on for the Winter, but in hindsight going via Kharkov would have accelerated the development of the rail, then a quick cut down south to the supply points at Stalino and Rostov would have been possible.

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Post #: 159

RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/16/2022 6:38:37 PM

golden delicious

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Turn 95 and Soviet resistance against Army Group B (the northern part of Army Group South) remains strong. Although I'm able to put each enemy unit into a pocket as it appears, this screenshot really illustrates why Stalingrad is not on my list of 1942 objectives: besides the forces I've already encountered, there's a major reserve here, and the whole thing is backed by two supply points and ringed with fortress hexes. I think it would be no exaggeration to say that I'm facing more Soviet troops in this one sector than across the entire front north of here.

It's my intention to move up to roughly the line of the river which joins the Don near Ilovlya Station and then settle onto the defensive in this sector until most or all of my 1942 objectives have been achieved and AGB's forces are themselves well rested and supported (the current front is 17 hexes from where I intend to build my rail line which will anyway go to Saratov first). Then I can consider tackling this force, probably beginning by moving into the rear of the city to cut it off from reinforcement.

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< Message edited by golden delicious -- 2/16/2022 6:40:04 PM >

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Post #: 160

RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/16/2022 8:34:31 PM

larryfulkerson

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The green ones in the image above: are they Hungarians or Bulgarians or ???

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Post #: 161

RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/17/2022 7:20:12 AM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

The green ones in the image above: are they Hungarians or Bulgarians or ???

Hungarians. I think in this version it's not possible to receive a Bulgarian contingent.

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Post #: 162

RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/17/2022 6:06:53 PM

golden delicious

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Turn 96 and Army Group A is reaching the limits of its logistical net: with the aid of a supply unit I can just about get supply up above the Overextended threshold along the main axis of advance, but with more than token resistance from the Soviets this isn't enough for a full-blooded offensive. I'm going to continue to work on isolating these units with a reduced force, but will have to pull back the majority of what I currently have up at the front all the way to the railhead, at least two turns' march away for my infantry. I do have some fresh troops coming up to the line here, but as long as the supply situation is so bad I can only make gradual progress, and the PO still has significant reserves at Grozny (four divisions in the city itself plus some other units nearby and who knows what that hasn't been spotted)

Elsewhere, Army Group B has lunged forward and 23. Panzer is now two hexes from Saratov, the Army Group's primary objective for 1942 (and incidentally the last rail crossing of the Volga above Astrakhan and therefore key if I want to push beyond it in 1943). This event will be the trigger to start winding down AGB's operations, resting as many units as possible and, crucially, withdrawing some of the logistical support to assist AGA.

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< Message edited by golden delicious -- 2/17/2022 6:36:39 PM >

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"War? Huh. What is it good for?"
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Post #: 163

RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/19/2022 9:38:49 AM

golden delicious

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Turn 97 and the Karelian army occupies Onega. This is the last milestone before the final objective and Archangel is now tantalisingly close, but the geography here makes this still a challenge, even with the railhead advancing close behind. AGN's spearhead is 14 hexes off the south edge of this screenshot, and although Soviet resistance is light I simply cannot project enough power forward to advance without the risk of being cut off by Russian troops in the taiga either side of the road: I need to bring up supplied reinforcements and the rail to clear the flanks- otherwise AGN risks becoming irrelevant as the Karelian Army is so far ahead.

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"What did you read at university?"
"War Studies"
"War? Huh. What is it good for?"
"Absolutely nothing."

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Post #: 164

RE: Another Barbarossa AAR - 2/22/2022 6:36:49 PM

golden delicious

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Turn 98 and in the absence of any opposition 10th and 29th Motorised divisions lunge to the east, far outstripping their supply lines. This puts me across the Volga just about, but the Soviet capital of Kuybyshev, so close as the crow flies, may be out of reach for now. My strength is so attenuated this far forward that the reserve visible here north of the city may be more than enough to stop me securing it. The railhead is an eye-watering 42 hexes back, having barely crossed my start line for the Spring offensive that I surged over eight turns ago.

Most of AGC is by now either on the rail line resupplying or on its way there, while light forces hold the remaining Soviet forces forward of the Volga between Saratov (which falls to AGB this turn) and Kazan. Once it starts to come back into action I should be able to finish clearing the west bank of the Volga and make a better-supported attempt on AGC's objectives just beyond it, but this will take some time: just marching from the railhead to the front uses up a significant chunk of a unit's supplies.