Armoured Brigades in 4.02

[incognitus]

What is your take on tanks in brigades since Infantry is a hard requirement for the combined arms bonus?

At the moment in my Turkey game, I can only build light tanks and I wonder if it could possibly be worth it ruining my L Arms speed by attaching some Inf to them. I was thinking of building a L Arm, Cav, 2x AC division, or maybe 2x L Arm, Cav, AC... does that make any sense? At least they would be at Cav-speed... I guess MOT is the way to go? Nobody seems to like MEC these days...

Maybe the best reply would be a list of sensible Arm / L Arm division builds with a short description of each build's purpose? For instance, I read that L Arm / AC divisions are good for exploitation, but I don't understand how the ACs make the division any better than a pure 4xL Arm division.

 

[yamato2cz]

What is your take on tanks in brigades since Infantry is a hard requirement for the combined arms bonus?

At the moment in my Turkey game, I can only build light tanks and I wonder if it could possibly be worth it ruining my L Arms speed by attaching some Inf to them. I was thinking of building a L Arm, Cav, 2x AC division, or maybe 2x L Arm, Cav, AC... does that make any sense? At least they would be at Cav-speed... I guess MOT is the way to go? Nobody seems to like MEC these days...

Maybe the best reply would be a list of sensible Arm / L Arm division builds with a short description of each build's purpose? For instance, I read that L Arm / AC divisions are good for exploitation, but I don't understand how the ACs make the division any better than a pure 4xL Arm division.

use CAV or MOT. you dont need to use light tanks anyway as turkey.

 

[incognitus]

use CAV or MOT.

Okay, so basically I use CAV until I can have MOT...

you dont need to use light tanks anyway as turkey.

Could you elaborate on that? I beat my last enemy, Poland, before building my first tanks, but now that I am turning on Italy as the next target, I wanted to use my new tanks. Is there no point? I have 8 L Arm brigades now, 6 AC brigades and loads of Inf and a bit of Art.... should I mix the L Arm into the Inf or how do I get the most out of the L Arm that I already have - no point disbanding them now, right?

 

[marxianTJ]

I mean it depends on what you want the tanks for.

If you want them for their speed you *can* level LARMs a bit - in part because they also boost the stats of your mot (the engine and the other tech on the right there) so you're going to tech into them a bit anyways if you want good mots. However, if you're using them for their actual armor, they're likely useless, because chances are, especially if you're behind on the armor tech, there aren't that many things that won't be able to damage/pierce you. Well, besides the fact that they give you armor practical when you build them - and can upgrade them to ARM/HARM later

 

[Palmerdale]

You might try buying your MOT brigades. I think I had some luck buying a production license from Germany in a game as Turkey. You should be able to buy a license for TDs, too. That can make one of the fastest corps available (1xLARM, 1xMOT, 1xTD, 1xAC).

The problem is in Turkey, the mountains really chop down the movement of armor. In my current Italy game, I just took Turkey. A simple 2xCAV seems to move about as well as the LARM corps above. I may hold a race between the two before I start into more serious ventures.

Where are you planning to attack from Turkey? The best terrain for your fast units is definitely into Syria. Russia and Persia are both mountainous, and Belgim and Greece are equally bad. I'm afraid your armor might be rather useless to the South or East. I usually mob Greece and Yugoslavia with my Italian tank force. FYI, if you do attack Greece, there are 2 single provinces where your land-based supply will run through. Defend these, or a partisan revolt can cut your supply in an instant.

 

[yamato2cz]

Okay, so basically I use CAV until I can have MOT...
Could you elaborate on that? I beat my last enemy, Poland, before building my first tanks, but now that I am turning on Italy as the next target, I wanted to use my new tanks. Is there no point? I have 8 L Arm brigades now, 6 AC brigades and loads of Inf and a bit of Art.... should I mix the L Arm into the Inf or how do I get the most out of the L Arm that I already have - no point disbanding them now, right?

i mean that tanks are not needed for WC. you can just mix in TDs if you want. or you can invest in CAS. and yea, my point was, armor is practically useless without MOT. so wait until you can add MOT, because INF render whole hardness factor against you.

 

[incognitus]

If you want them for their speed you *can* level LARMs a bit - in part because they also boost the stats of your mot (the engine and the other tech on the right there) so you're going to tech into them a bit anyways if you want good mots. However, if you're using them for their actual armor, they're likely useless, because chances are, especially if you're behind on the armor tech, there aren't that many things that won't be able to damage/pierce you. Well, besides the fact that they give you armor practical when you build them - and can upgrade them to ARM/HARM later

How would I compose those divisions then? Just 4x LArm or would I mix in ACs? Or are MOT the only thing that makes sense? What about RP Art... How would a 4xLArm hold up against a division with 3xInf or 4xInf?

You might try buying your MOT brigades. I think I had some luck buying a production license from Germany in a game as Turkey. You should be able to buy a license for TDs, too. That can make one of the fastest corps available (1xLARM, 1xMOT, 1xTD, 1xAC).

How would that division hold up against 4xInf? That seems to be the most common opposition so far...

The problem is in Turkey, the mountains really chop down the movement of armor. In my current Italy game, I just took Turkey. A simple 2xCAV seems to move about as well as the LARM corps above. I may hold a race between the two before I start into more serious ventures.

I haven't had to fight IN Turkey yet, the game has been going quite well so far.

Where are you planning to attack from Turkey?

I have been playing this game for a little while now, so far I have conquered following countries (more or less in this order):
- Greece
- Albania
- Yugoslavia
- Austria
- Hungary
- Czechoslovakia
- Bulgaria
- Romania
- Portugal
- Ireland
- Norway
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Finland
- Sweden
- Cuba
- Haiti
- Dom. Rep.
- Ecuador
- Poland (tough one!!!)

Now it's July/August 1938 and I am preparing to attack Italy before they join the Axis. So far I haven't had any tanks at all, but shortly after the war with Poland concluded I finished the first 4 LArm brigades. At the moment the Axis is only Germany and Japan, the Allies include UK, France, USA and Mexico.

Edit: Forgot the American conquests...

 

[yamato2cz]

NEVER have just 4-5 units of same type. utilize combined arms to the max-supply wise and IC wise decision. one random armor+one infantry support+3 spaces for various kind of support brigades (ENG ART AA...) whatever you want to specialise your division in. i personally use LARM MOT AC AC/ENG for encilrclement unit and havoc breking unit. if you manage to get few of these thru the lines you can practically destroy while supply chain, and if you know how to use it you can wipeout whole theathers. for your situation you can strap one LARM to regular INF division (i suppose you use 2 INF 1 ART) and roll along until you get better stuffs.

 

[incognitus]

Thanks guys so far, your advice really helped me!

I can now finally build Arm brigades (i.e. Medium Armour), how do you usually combine medium tanks in divisions? I guess SP Art is pretty good, Mot for the CA bonus... and the fourth slot? TDs? Or do you use two of any kind?

 

[yamato2cz]

Thanks guys so far, your advice really helped me!

I can now finally build Arm brigades (i.e. Medium Armour), how do you usually combine medium tanks in divisions? I guess SP Art is pretty good, Mot for the CA bonus... and the fourth slot? TDs? Or do you use two of any kind?

for turkey medium tanks are yout MBT. just ARM MOT ENG SP ART and if you want some really big hard attack i'd consider TD and for speed AC. you can then spam these. upgrade cycle is not that big as with MEC and HARM.

 

[incognitus]

And will I upgrade all my LArm to Arm? I guess I'll keep a few as scouts / exploitation units, how should I compose those divisions? Everything other than LARM and AC is quite slow by comparison...

And will I upgrade my Cav too?

 

[yamato2cz]

And will I upgrade all my LArm to Arm? I guess I'll keep a few as scouts / exploitation units, how should I compose those divisions? Everything other than LARM and AC is quite slow by comparison...

And will I upgrade my Cav too?

i personally dont bother with CAV after i have MOT since MOT is better in every aspect. have like 1 to 4 ratio of LARM to ARM as units for harsher terrain and as you said exploitation units. and be sure to add AC to LARM. speed n stuff.

 

[Pugmak]

I just usually go with Arm, 2xMot, SpArt.

It's a good all-rounder for an armor div. The 2x Mot makes it more durable since damage gets spread around better than if it was just 2 line brigs of 1 Arm, 1 Mot. Arm gives good enough penetration and hardness for the div and the SpArt gives more soft attack, since most of what you'll be fighting with the Arm Div is infantry divisions.

 

[incognitus]

i personally dont bother with CAV after i have MOT since MOT is better in every aspect. have like 1 to 4 ratio of LARM to ARM as units for harsher terrain and as you said exploitation units. and be sure to add AC to LARM. speed n stuff.

No, I didn't mean teching Cav, I mean will I upgrade my Cav to tanks, because I no longer need the Cav...

 

[21oliver]

I just usually go with Arm, 2xMot, SpArt.

I do that as well or Td instead of Spart if Im going up against someone with some Armor...

 

[yamato2cz]

No, I didn't mean teching Cav, I mean will I upgrade my Cav to tanks, because I no longer need the Cav...

yea, do that. its exploit actually. building CAV and then upgrading them to LARM is cheaper than building LARM.

 

[incognitus]

yea, do that. its exploit actually. building CAV and then upgrading them to LARM is cheaper than building LARM.

Cheaper AND faster, too? Doesn't work for Arm though, does it? Building Cav and then upgrading to Arm?

 

[yamato2cz]

Cheaper AND faster, too? Doesn't work for Arm though, does it? Building Cav and then upgrading to Arm?

i think yes, its faster if you have big enough practicals. but its definitely cheaper IC wise. and you can max out two practicals at once. and yea, rest of upgrades cost more than building brand new units.

 

[incognitus]

Okay, but if I have the Cav already anyway, I might as well upgrade it to Arm, I guess it's cheaper than building from scratch?

 

[thexmassteam]

If you do not need your Cav to hunt partisans yes, upgrade it in what you need.