vahauser -> RE: Sample "Infantry and Support Troops" ratings (11/3/2007 9:29:15 AM)
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bstarr, I've been drawing heavily on the organizational data from Steel Panthers regarding the wide variety of WW2 infantry squads. I would not rate the Americans as the most heavily armed infantry squads in WW2. The Americans got most of their firepower from their supporting artillery (and airpower). In terms of infantry squads, I would rate the Germans as #1 in terms of overall squad firepower. Their MG42 light machineguns were the best overall squad weapons in the war. Also, some infantry squads contained light mortar teams, which is some serious firepower at the squad level. But, as others have pointed out, the quality of the squad is usually more important than its weapons. We can debate round and round regarding squad firepower and get nowhere. Yet, the fact is that highly skilled veteran squads will outperform less skilled and less experienced squads most of the time, even if the veteran squad has less intrinsic firepower than the inexperienced squad. The Germans themselves found this out to be true. The Germans kept adding more and more firepower to their Volksgrenadier squads (panzerfausts, SMGs, MG42s, etc.), but the extra firepower was not enough to make up for their lack of skill and experience. The bottom line is this: during WW2 the infantry did most of the dying and the artillery did most of the killing. The USA had the most proficient and effective artillery in WW2. That is where the real firepower was. American artillery fire-control techniques and response times were second to none. The Germans never feared the American infantry, but they feared the American artillery (and airpower even more). As far as the sample "Infantry and Support Troops" ratings I've posted are concerned, my intent was to provide scenario designers with as comprehensive a set of WW2 squad types as possible without using too many equipment slots. But even with all the choices I've provided, I've still found it impossible to recreate many historical formations on the platoon, and sometimes even the company level. The good news is that at the battalion/regiment/division levels, though, the choices I've provided can be creatively combined to achieve fairly realistic approximations of historical WW2 formations at those levels. And since TOAW seems to work best at the battalion/regiment/divisional scale, then that is the goal I'm striving to achieve. The bad news is that I'm behind schedule. I wanted to have my database ready by Christmas, but some friends of mine have asked me to play in a tournament. And so for the next 60 days or so, my database development time is going on hold. And since something else will probably come up between now and then (sigh), I'm now hoping, hoping, to have the database ready by late spring or early summer of 2008.
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