Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sentinel Six

How does the game represent the damage and dislocation of German production capacity caused by the combined bomber offensive or loss of capacity through the Western Allies overrunning German territory?

quote:

ORIGINAL: ComradeP

-Can the BBC (not the Brits)/VVS bomb German industrial zones/production areas?

Yes, but unlikely to be very effective.

-Do planes automatically get detached to the Reichsluftverteidigung, if so, is any part of the production flexible in that, although production totals are fixed in theory, detachment of more/better fighter aircraft+pilots means less impact of the Allied bomber offensive?

No

-In 1944, with the Soviets approaching the German border, do (by that time) Luftflotte Reich units appear in the German OOB, if so, at what strengths?

How to handle transfers between fronts of Luftwaffe units has yet to settled upon.

-If fighter units are withdrawn for the air war over Germany, at which strengths do they return if they did so historically? Can this be influenced in some way by the player (in other words: does the game always burn up a possibly elite Gruppe just because the rookies that were in the Gruppe in real life got smacked out of the air)? Same question for FlaK units and air command support units.

Same answer, they have not determined this yet.

quote:

ORIGINAL: paullus99

Another question -

The Germans were fairly good at determining where & when a major Soviet attack was going to take place - they would (sometimes) be able to pull back outside of the range of artillery & be better prepared to absorb the attack. Is that modeled in any way?

This was one important reason the Soviets used so much direct fire artillery (self-propelled), since there was no guarantee that the initial artillery barrages were going to do the job.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

depends

you can have held, retreat, route, surrendered

and again, depends on what happened during combat, you may have a battle, where you lost 40 men, and no weapons or tanks, other battles you may lose 4000 men, 200 weapons and 50 tanks, and still hold the ground, but you are not going to be too strong the next turn on the attack

which so saying, you have different unit stances, Ready, unready, refit, reserve, frozen, depleted

so again, depending on what happens, your Ready Div, could go to a unready state/stance or even worse a depleted stance, you not doing much of anything, other then maybe following behind the line if that happens (you want to go to refit and try to build up the unit first)

but for retreat, you may lose a little and retreat and still be okay, you may lose a lot and not be okay, or you may route if you take too much, were too weak, or just failed too many morale checks

oddly, if you are vastly outnumbered, you seem to run away and take light losses

quote:

ORIGINAL: Iñaki Harrizabalagatar

Ok, but if you get route result, is the unit routed? By that I mean it is out of the player control, retreating on their won, for instance.

No, routed units have a zero combat value and reduced movement rate but otherwise are player controlled like any other unit.

You say there are different unit stances, those stances limit what the player can do with the unit. I assume frozen prevents you from doing anything with that unit until released, but what about unready? can you move or attack with an unready unit?

The only user selectable statuses are Ready, Refit, & Reserve. Players can shift units back and forth between these statuses. Frozen units are fixed in placed for a given number of turns usually specified by scenario. Unready units can be thought of as units re-organizing. They are less combat effective than ready units.

quote:

ORIGINAL: PyleDriver

Well thats like a full novel Ron, Jim (Jaw) can better answer that. But I can say everything you have brought up has been considered and still being tweaked...

quote:

ORIGINAL: Ron

Forgive me if this has been asked and answered already, been searching the thread(s) but couldn't find any more info. I was rereading the developer's diary from February(!) this year and the last couple pages really caught my attention this time. I would like to hear/know more about the Leader Initiative/Administration and Supplies and resulting Movement points allocated to units - this seems like a great concept. How does this play out in the game on average and does it change over time, ie does the USSR get better Leaders as the war progresses to reflect their learning? Does one have to 'husband' supplies before launching an offensive? What about the Motor Pool described? Is it fixed or can it be built up? What are the variables besides distance from the railhead? Thanks.

quote:

ORIGINAL: jaw

quote:

ORIGINAL: Ron

Forgive me if this has been asked and answered already, been searching the thread(s) but couldn't find any more info. I was rereading the developer's diary from February(!) this year and the last couple pages really caught my attention this time. I would like to hear/know more about the Leader Initiative/Administration and Supplies and resulting Movement points allocated to units - this seems like a great concept. How does this play out in the game on average and does it change over time, ie does the USSR get better Leaders as the war progresses to reflect their learning? Does one have to 'husband' supplies before launching an offensive? What about the Motor Pool described? Is it fixed or can it be built up? What are the variables besides distance from the railhead? Thanks.

Let's start with the movement rate part of your question. I'll give you a condensed explanation of how a unit's movement rate is determined rather than the novel version which we'll save for the manual. As always, remember that this game is in alpha so rules may change.

All units have a base movement rate which can only be reduced by modifiers. The effects are cumulative in the following order:
Fatigue - a direct subtraction based on average fatigue divided by 10;
Leader Initiative - a check against leader's initiative rating failure of which reduces movement rate 20%;
Leader Administration - a check against leader's admin rating failure of which reduces movement rate 20%;
% of fuel (motorized) or supply (non-motorized) a unit has compared to its full requirement, a unit's final movement rate (as determined above) cannot exceed this percentage of the base movement rate.

Leaders - Yes, they can improve (be promoted) with experience;

Except by scenario, units can only be supplied to 100% of their requirements;

The motor pool expands and contracts based on combat results and the distance units are from their railheads (you need more trucks to supply units far from their railheads). Vehicles (trucks, etc.) are needed by almost all units not just for supply.

quote:

ORIGINAL: jaw


Except by scenario, units can only be supplied to 100% of their requirements;

The motor pool expands and contracts based on combat results and the distance units are from their railheads (you need more trucks to supply units far from their railheads). Vehicles (trucks, etc.) are needed by almost all units not just for supply.

quote:

ORIGINAL: IronDuke

quote:

ORIGINAL: jaw


Except by scenario, units can only be supplied to 100% of their requirements;

The motor pool expands and contracts based on combat results and the distance units are from their railheads (you need more trucks to supply units far from their railheads). Vehicles (trucks, etc.) are needed by almost all units not just for supply.

Couple of quick questions. My apologies if already answered. Does the supply system model supply build ups which might allow for a stockpiling at a local level leading to more frequent re-supply?

In other words, a stockpile would allow for better re-supply, as opposed to say instances in 41 and 42 where the Germans were resupplying straight from the trains arriving from the Reich.

Secondly, the Wehrmacht was a largely horse drawn force. For the vast majority of German units, the truck was a luxury, and what mattered was the state of the horse park. Are horses within the game as equipment and does their availability or otherwise impact resupply or the movement rate?

regards,
IronDuke

quote:

ORIGINAL: ComradeP

How is German acquisition of "native" pack horses and other kinds of horses such as the Russian Don modelled? Do German horse stocks decrease and do they have to capture Ukrainian soil/parts of the SFSR to keep a steady supply of horses coming in?

quote:

ORIGINAL: jaw



Player controlled build ups are not possible but build ups do occur because the supply system is not 100% efficient.

The Germans begin 1941 over-supplied by scenario design. The 1942 scenario is not yet complete so I can't comment on whether they are over-supplied in that one but in a 1941 campaign game any supply build ups would require a prolonged period of inactivity to allow the front line units to reach full supply before any supply started accumulating at higher headquarters.

quote:

ORIGINAL: jaw

quote:

ORIGINAL: jaw



Player controlled build ups are not possible but build ups do occur because the supply system is not 100% efficient.

The Germans begin 1941 over-supplied by scenario design. The 1942 scenario is not yet complete so I can't comment on whether they are over-supplied in that one but in a 1941 campaign game any supply build ups would require a prolonged period of inactivity to allow the front line units to reach full supply before any supply started accumulating at higher headquarters.

I wanted to clarify my answer somewhat. If units are inactive and close to a supply source (usually a rail line), then supply will build up over time to exceed 100%. When such units become active being over-supplied will allow them to sustain operations longer as it will take a few turns to consume the extra supply and drop below 100% again.

Therefore if you want to build up supply for an offensive you have to remain inactive (not attacking or being attacked) long enough for the supply to build up. The closer you are to a supply source the faster you can build up supplies.

An interesting aside to this process is the role the air game plays. Whether you are on the strategic offensive or strategic defensive you want to conduct air recon frequently so you can spot enemy forces concentrating in quiet sectors of the front. Such concentrations are an indication that enemy units are being rested and bulked up on supply in preparation for an offensive.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Capt Cliff


Will there be supply depots that units can drawn from. Can the player create them?

quote:

ORIGINAL: jaw

quote:

ORIGINAL: paullus99

Another question -

The Germans were fairly good at determining where & when a major Soviet attack was going to take place - they would (sometimes) be able to pull back outside of the range of artillery & be better prepared to absorb the attack. Is that modeled in any way?

This was one important reason the Soviets used so much direct fire artillery (self-propelled), since there was no guarantee that the initial artillery barrages were going to do the job.

At a 10 mile to the hex/one week per turn scale that manuever is too tactical to be simulated. Personally, I think the tactic was not nearly as successful as the German commanders would like us to think given the history of the War. I can't think of a single major Russian offensive it actually stopped.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

on which zoom level ?