Repairing RR Lines as Soviet player in 1941

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Repairing RR Lines as Soviet player in 1941

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Repairing RR Lines as Soviet player in 1941 - 12/16/2016 1:29:19 AM

BlueAndGray

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I'm playing vs AI as the Soviets in the 1941 campaign (currently turn 15 in September '41) and there are a few spots where I have torn up tracks that I need repaired. The Soviets don't get NKPS units until September of 1942 so I need to figure out which support units I need to create to allow the computer to repair these lines. I tried creating '41 RR Construction Brigades', but it seems like they were not the answer since none of my rail lines are getting repaired. (It might be possible that they are only supposed to be attached to NKPS units?) At this point I have over a dozen RR Construction brigades attached to HQs that are starving due to cut railroad lines, but none of them are fixing rail lines. At this point there are no Axis units anywhere in the area so it's not a too close to enemy units issue. I can do some emergency resupply via bombers, but I need something to get moving on the rail repair or I'll need to retreat a long way (the computer can be sloppy with flank protection and they ended up losing Bucharest and I now have units stranded in Western Rumania that are starting to starve).

I've played the 1944 scenarios and looked for the computer controlled units that were repairing my rail lines and they were '43 Engineer-Sapper Brigade' type which aren't available yet. I loaded up the 1942 scenario to see what was available then and it looks like there is a '41 Engineer-Sapper Brigade' there, but that doesn't seem to be available in September of '41 which where I'm at in my 1941 campaign.

So my question is: Which support unit do I have to create to get my railroads repaired? Or do I just need to wait until the '41 Engineer Sapper Brigades' become available?

Thanks in advance!

Post #: 1

RE: Repairing RR Lines as Soviet player in 1941 - 12/16/2016 6:02:27 AM

morvael

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From: Poland
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I guess those units are not allowed outside Soviet Union in 1941. Otherwise they should be fine repairing rail away from enemy. Are they in the stranded HQs or in some other HQs on the right side of the broken tracks?

(in reply to BlueAndGray)

Post #: 2

RE: Repairing RR Lines as Soviet player in 1941 - 12/16/2016 7:19:47 AM

BlueAndGray

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quote:

ORIGINAL: morvael

I guess those units are not allowed outside Soviet Union in 1941. Otherwise they should be fine repairing rail away from enemy. Are they in the stranded HQs or in some other HQs on the right side of the broken tracks?

Multiple scenarios - I'll try to be brief:
1) In the marshes south of Minsk. 1 of the 2 main East/West rail lines has a 1 hex snip. If I lose any hex in the other rail line holding the marshes becomes very problematic. Snip is currently 3 hexes away from nearest enemy. HQ is on unbroken rail 2 hexes away from break.

2) Northeast Rumania (city of Chernovtsy environs) - a couple of Soviet rail hexes and all of the NE/E Rumanian hexes. Supplied enemy units are 5-10 hexes away. My HQs are in good supply but a few hexes off the railhead.

3) Western Rumannia - Bucharest taken 3 turns prior. Rumanian units that now fight for me as the Soviet player are splattered all over Rumania. Some are active and some are still frozen. Spent 2 turns using them to capture Axis units stranded in country and hoped for the best as far as supply, but now I have 15+ Rumanian divisions at <10% supply and 40-50 hexes off the railhead (Western railroad is intact, but the rail from the USSR to Bucharest is 100% damaged). All of the HQs are far from the railhead and 1/2 the units are nowhere near their HQs. Would love to drive in force on undefended Budapest, but not before I get some resupply. So now I'm in the awkward position of having the Rumanian armies starving while still on Rumanian soil. None of the HQs are behind enemy lines - Axis troops are non-existent in Rumania. I'm hoping I don't have to just give Rumania back to the Axis after capturing it. Rumanian construction battalions also sitting idle - although some were shipped off to Stalingrad during a supply segment.

Let me know if you want screenshots.

Thanks

(in reply to morvael)

Post #: 3

RE: Repairing RR Lines as Soviet player in 1941 - 12/16/2016 8:09:35 AM

821Bobo

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quote:

Supplied enemy units are 5-10 hexes away.

If I recall prior to Dec 41(?) enemy units must be more 10 hexes away.

(in reply to BlueAndGray)

Post #: 4

RE: Repairing RR Lines as Soviet player in 1941 - 12/16/2016 9:02:25 AM

morvael

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I have checked the code and it looks like before December 1941 Soviet units may only repair rail that's at least 5 hexes from supplied enemy unit. However, the rail repair code is unable to select a construction unit to repair, because there exists a restriction preventing movement of Soviet units during the logistics phase only to hexes with x<70 and y>74 before 1942.

Remember that after Rumanian surrender all their units are converted to Soviet nationality, only retaining "Rum." in name.

(in reply to 821Bobo)

Post #: 5

RE: Repairing RR Lines as Soviet player in 1941 - 12/16/2016 9:03:52 AM

morvael

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I think it's a good dampener preventing you from exploiting the AI weakness further :) You'll have to wait until 1942 to drive into Hungary.

(in reply to morvael)

Post #: 6

RE: Repairing RR Lines as Soviet player in 1941 - 12/16/2016 6:09:07 PM

BlueAndGray

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quote:

ORIGINAL: morvael

I think it's a good dampener preventing you from exploiting the AI weakness further :) You'll have to wait until 1942 to drive into Hungary.

quote:

ORIGINAL: morvael

I have checked the code and it looks like before December 1941 Soviet units may only repair rail that's at least 5 hexes from supplied enemy unit. However, the rail repair code is unable to select a construction unit to repair, because there exists a restriction preventing movement of Soviet units during the logistics phase only to hexes with x<70 and y>74 before 1942.

Remember that after Rumanian surrender all their units are converted to Soviet nationality, only retaining "Rum." in name.

Ah, I was figuring that the biggest issue was that you just really aren't supposed to be counterattacking as the Soviet player in '41, but the AI just seems to have so many problems dealing with mountainous terrain and marsh that those tend to be the areas where I get aggressive just because there are so many opportunities to turn the tables. Whenever you sortie out of the marshes south of Minsk the Axis AI tends to respond with panzer divisions which as we all know is not a great move by the AI, but it's great for the player since that bleeds off pressure in more vulnerable sectors.

A couple of trivial points/quibbles:
- I believe that the Rumanian divisions had their high command swapped out for Soviet generals, but the grunts were still Rumanian even if they start using Soviet equipment.
- Your mention of the coordinates seems to make sense since I believe at one point I had a construction unit repair ONE hex at X/Y 71,117 and then disappeared never to be seen again. I was scratching my head over that one, but if there is a coordinate based exclusion zone in effect then that makes sense even if it is frustrating. It might also explain why hex 69, 110 was not being repaired even though it is in Soviet territory and 14 hexes away from any Axis units. Hopefully hex 68,69 can be repaired if I can manage to push the Axis back for a turn or two.

Thanks for your help! I can now stop trying to build RR repair units and go back to splurging on corps artillery with my admin points.

< Message edited by BlueAndGray -- 12/16/2016 6:26:14 PM >

(in reply to morvael)

Post #: 7

RE: Repairing RR Lines as Soviet player in 1941 - 1/2/2017 4:02:05 PM

BlueAndGray

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Bumping my old thread here with a few follow-up questions - is there an optimal way to build units that will repair railroads for the least cost in admin points and/or manpower used?

Playing the same campaign ('41 USSR) and it looks like I can create Engineer-Sapper brigades for 3 admin points/2200 men, RR Construction brigades for 3 points/3000 men, or Construction battalions for 1 point/600 men. Is there any difference to how many hexes they can repair per turn or do they all work the same? Is it tied to their construction value?

I'm at the point where I'd like to build another 50 of these construction units to repair my rail and if I can do it on the cheap with construction battalions that would save a huge amount of manpower/admin points. It's too early in the campaign for NKPS units so I was planning on just flooding my damaged rail with these absurdly inefficient repair units and hope for the best.

Along these same lines is there any way to prevent these units from going to inactive fronts? Specifically I have 5 construction units and 4 sapper regiments in the Volga Military District even though the support level is 0. I read that the support level doesn't really apply for non-combat support units which would explain the construction units, but not the sappers (41b Sapper Regiment type which is a combat unit I believe). I can't disband the Volga MD and I don't really want to attach an army to it since it is locked 700 miles from the front lines. I also don't want to create more construction units and have them set idle. Any suggestions?
** Edit - just figured out you can select the MD HQ and as long as it is inactive you can transfer any construction/engineer units to another front for free and then Lock the support level. Keeping my fingers crossed these inactive Military Districts stay empty. **

< Message edited by BlueAndGray -- 1/2/2017 10:33:18 PM >

(in reply to BlueAndGray)

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RE: Repairing RR Lines as Soviet player in 1941 - 1/3/2017 10:25:38 PM

BlueAndGray

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Does anybody have any info on what the difference in effectiveness of the various Soviet construction units for repairing railroads?

Also, is there any reason why air resupply drops are so lethal to the bomber/transport crews? I'm looking at my resupply runs and I will regularly lose 5% of my aircraft even though I'm dropping supplies to an HQ that is 80 miles away from any Axis units and there is no defensive AA fire, but I lost 7 out of 157 aircraft which is a typical result. I don't lose that many aircraft when attacking dug in troops with heavy AA support. Are these pilots so angry that they are stuck doing resupply runs instead of fighting that they are deliberately crashing their planes?

I'm doing these resupply missions on a blizzard turn, but I'm also doing bombing missions at the same distances and for the bombing runs from the same Level Bomber units my losses are closer to 1%.

(in reply to BlueAndGray)

Post #: 9

RE: Repairing RR Lines as Soviet player in 1941 - 1/5/2017 7:38:59 PM

BlueAndGray

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Air Resupply Casualties

Hoping that a screenshot might help? Anybody have any insight as to why air resupply is so deadly or how to make it less deadly?

Also still hoping that somebody has some tips on which construction units work best. The manual is pretty barren on details and I'm still 30-40 turns away from getting my first NKPS unit so any advice on which construction units work best would be greatly appreciated. (Effectiveness of Construction battalion vs RR Construction Brigade vs Engineer-Sapper Brigade)

Thanks

(in reply to BlueAndGray)

Post #: 10