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I thought I knew how to use HQ's effectively and used 3 in Poland before I read this. But now I realise I was not using them to their full potential. Thanks! I have a few questions:

1) It has been mentioned further up but I guess there is absolutly no benefit leaving an HQ to defend the atlantic wall after you have conquered France. I guess it would be better to make use of it elsewhere and then strat redeploy it if D-Day happens?

2) Do you attach more units to an HQ? I generally add 1 infantry with AA is this necessary?

3) This has also been touched upon earlier but is it always better to leave the HQ unit 1 province behind the front lines or can you include them in your attacks? If you do not include them in your attacks do you still need a FM commanding another stack of units to get the 24 bonus or does the FM at HQ count as well?

Until now I have included my HQ's in the attacking force so I don't forget about them and leave them behind, but suspect this may not be the best thing to do?

Thanks again for a very informative post, put this in the FAQ section!
 
Giving an HQ an AA brigade has always seemed to make sense to me, whether that assumption is well founded or not is another matter. If anything it adds more flak though!
 
Evans said:
Giving an HQ an AA brigade has always seemed to make sense to me, whether that assumption is well founded or not is another matter. If anything it adds more flak though!

I agree, out of all the brigades it seems sensible to attach an AA to an HQ. I guess the only chance of it being attacked is from the air if it is always behind the front line...
 
epscilon said:
I agree, out of all the brigades it seems sensible to attach an AA to an HQ. I guess the only chance of it being attacked is from the air if it is always behind the front line...

I thought engineering brigades speeded things up? That's why I always attach them to my HQs...
 
Adding AA to HQ's is a good idea as they can take some brutal damage from air attack in my experience. This, however, boosts their xp, so kepping them alive but battered is sometimes a good thing.
 
The Wookiee said:
I thought engineering brigades speeded things up? That's why I always attach them to my HQs...

If I am playing Germany, I build 4HQ right away. With the one I start with and the one I get from Austria, that gives me 6HQ. I believe that is enough to serve Germany through the whole game. The pictures our buddy has shown us demonstrate that you can get by with only two HQ.

I like to attach engineering brigades to my HQ. That makes them move faster. It also adds to their already high defense and toughness. I also have them attached to several infantry/engineer divisions, usually 5 per HQ. I also have a set of three inf/art for added firepower to the assault. They move slower, so they are more useful for defense. At this time I also have 9 armor/eng divisions.

Yes, I am another one who loves engineer brigades. I really like that +1 speed and the defense/toughness bonus is just gravy.

I have discovered something, but I do not know how to attach a screenshot to a post. I may be an idiot and everybody else knows this already. Here is is:

You can plan your assault! DUH! You do not have to wait 24 hours to give your armor units a new territory to attack if you plan ahead! Just right-click the territory you want to attack and order the attack. Then shift-right-click the territory you want your unit to proceed to next, and so on. You can plan the annexation of Poland right from day one!

Bonus: You can get an ETA for your final destination. :cool: You can coordinate that you get your objectives at about the same time. I have a screenshot showing my plan for Barbarossa, but I do not know how to post it.

Also: If it is going badly and your units need to organize or wait up for others, you can cancel the orders.

I just thought you guys would be interested.
 
Bump:

1) It has been mentioned further up but I guess there is absolutly no benefit leaving an HQ to defend the atlantic wall after you have conquered France. I guess it would be better to make use of it elsewhere and then strat redeploy it if D-Day happens?

2) Do you attach more units to an HQ? I generally add 1 infantry with AA is this necessary?

3) This has also been touched upon earlier but is it always better to leave the HQ unit 1 province behind the front lines or can you include them in your attacks? If you do not include them in your attacks do you still need a FM commanding another stack of units to get the 24 bonus or does the FM at HQ count as well?

Until now I have included my HQ's in the attacking force so I don't forget about them and leave them behind, but suspect this may not be the best thing to do?
 
@Harv - I would love to see that Barbarossa planning screenshot, actually. There are stickies out there regarding posting pics (imageshack, I think - I've never bothered).

Edit: Here's the place: Imageshack . Upload your pics there and add image tags pointing to the URL of the image.
 
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epscilon said:
...
1) ... no benefit leaving an HQ to defend the atlantic wall after you have conquered France. ...strat redeploy it if D-Day happens?
2) Do you attach more units to an HQ? I generally add 1 infantry with AA is this necessary?
3) ...is it always better to leave the HQ unit 1 province behind the front lines or can you include them in your attacks? If you do not include them in your attacks do you still need a FM commanding another stack of units to get the 24 bonus or does the FM at HQ count as well?

Well, as I work on my AAR I am trying many things...
1/ I like it. Might include that in AAR. Thanks for the idea. :cool: :D
2/ Slows the HQ down but adds protection.
3/ Depends on the way the provinces are arranged. In some cases, as with "Red Command" in my pics a stationary HQ behind the lines is good for many provinces. In some cases you will need to be constantly advancing to keep 'supporting' the attack with ESE bonuses.
The FM with HQ only allows you to command 24 units in the same province as the HQ. So, advancing the HQ on the front line can save you on need for lots of commanders...
 
This is a great load of information.

My question is though: How do you know how far the HQ's influence reaches? Is there something in the game that can tell you this?

Also, my HQ's don't seem to be boosting the effect of my leaders. When I start my SU game, my field marshal in the same province as the HQ can still only command 12 divisons with the HQ36 present. Why is this?
 
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ddiplock said:
... Also, my HQ's don't seem to be boosting the effect of my leaders. When I start my SU game, my field marshal in the same province as the HQ can still only command 12 divisons with the HQ36 present. Why is this?

Command capacity is looked at two different ways.

The HQ doubles the amount of divisions that can be used offensively from any one province. This is what Fiendix calls Command Penalty Capacity in his draft FAQ:

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=178138

1.9 There is a limit to the number of ATTACKERS in one stack - 24 per territory (under an FM with a HQ present - 18 if the highest is a general with HQ and so on). If there is no HQ in the area then the CPC will be max 12/FM, 9/G, 3LT & 1MJ.

The normal command capacity is the amount of divisions stacked under one leader in a formation. The presence of HQ has no effect on this. Create formations only up to the listed capacity (1 3 9 12). If you exceed the command capacity you get the red listing for the number of divisions in the corps. The penalty for this is that you lose both the skill and the traits of the leader of that formation.

4. Skill bonuses
----------------
4.1 These may be granted by a leader to, and ONLY TO, the unitS in HIS formation.
4.2 For skill purposes the capacity of a leader is NOT doubled by the presence
of FMs, whether the FM is himself the leader, in the same stack, in the same
province, or adjacent.
4.3 If the number of unitS in a formation is <= capacity (undoubled) of the formation leader, then all the unitS in that formation receive the skill bonus.
4.4 If the number of unitS in a formation > capacity (undoubled) of the formation leader, NO unitS in that formation receive the skill bonus.
4.5 Where granted, the bonus is 5% for each skill level


6. Traits
---------
6.1 These are granted by each leader to, and ONLY TO, the units in HIS formation.
6.2 If that leader has multiple traits, then all these traits are applied.
6.3 All the units in the formation receive the leader trait unless the formation
goes over the leaders UNDOUBLED CPC.
 
a nice trick with HQ units is putting one in a provine witha harbour or airport.
The naval and air units will also get the ESE bonus
 
Phil K said:
Not sure but I think if you look at the 'Overview' screen on the tech folder you'll see the HQ command value.

I see only two things for HQ on the tech Overview Screen:

Combat Events - HQ bonus chance
HQ ESE Bonus

This is from a Feb 1939 screenshot with HQ model 1939.

I didn't see anything in the land_doctrines_tech file about HQ except for speed, ESE, new models, etc. Nothing about command value.
 
After playing one of the scenario's at the weekend i noticed the HQ units are used differently to how i normally use them. The HQ unit was commanded by a general and had 8 other inf units attached to it. I assume this is because the HQ unit is going to participate directly in attacks. Normally I only attach 1 inf and leave them behind the lines.

As Paradox have set these scenarios up does this mean that this is how they intended HQ's to be used all along?