Infantry Technology
One thing that bugged me about Artillery, and bugs me about Infantry in vanilla HoI, is that it assumes either...
#1. Equipment is never obsolete and is used in the same amount even though better stuff is used as well (since you still get the Basic SMG bonus of +1 Soft Attack and +2 Ground Defense as well as the Improved SMG bonus).
#2. New equipment is twice as good as it is really stated (i.e., improved SMG is really +2 Soft Attack and +4 Ground Defense, simulating that when you get Imp SMG, you replace all Basic SMG, but still get the point value of the Basic SMG).
Neither option is really good, in my opinion.
When you look at most improved weaponry in historic documents and accounts, from rifles, submachine guns and GPMG, you will find that an improved weapon (i.e, MP40) was not twice as powerful as a basic weapon (i.e., MP34). Generally, you get a very similar rate of fire, generally similar bullet strength, etc. The differences are generally that the new guns were lighter, more reliable, easier to mass produce, etc. The US Grease Gun was developed for mass production, and was not really any better than the Tommy Gun, even though it was its replacement.
Also, should a SMG be just as effective as a General Service rifle when it comes to firepower? They both give the same bonus', but:
General Service Rifles were much more efficient at longer and medium ranges, very good for defense, and ok for attacking, but were issued in large numbers (a squad used about 10 of them).
Submachine guns were very ineffective at long and medium ranges, and are less effective for defensive operations. They were spectacular offensive weapons, however, they were issued in very small numbers (usually a squad used about 1 of them).
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I tried to work around this problem in the Artillery tech tree by having most of the big bonus' for Ground Defense, Hard Attack, Soft Attack, etc. to be at the beginning of the tech tree (i.e., with the basic weapon). Improvements would offer increases in speed, less supplies used, plus instead of adding Soft and Hard attack or Defense values, I added +% (i.e., desert attack, jungle attack, urban movement, etc.) which doesn't increase the weapon to the same amount as +1, but will be good for certian circumstances (i.e., good for nations that fight in jungle territory, desert territory, urban territory, etc...).
An example of what I think would work is (i.e. Submachine guns)
Basic Submachine Gun: Thompson SMG, Bergman SMG, etc..
+1 Soft Attack (simulating small numbers used but good attack ability, but also poor defense ability and small numbers results in a +0 defense value)
+0.02 Supplies used (crude design, used a lot of equipment and replacement parts due to unreliability and bulk)
*Plus add the following which combat was generally very close where SMG performed the best.
+5% Jungle Attack&Defense
+5% Forest Attack&Defense
+5% Swamp Attack&Defense
+5% Urban Attack&Defense
Improved Submachine Gun: MP40, Sten, Grease Gun, Owen, etc...
-0.01 Supplies used (improved design, less replacement parts needed)
-10 Days for producing a unit (simulating a weapon suited for mass production)
This would simulate the improved small arms replacing the Basic small arms (which had virtually the same battlefield firepower), but is much more efficient, and faster to produce. Sure, it doesn't boost your Infantry by anything, other than it costs less to supply them and it takes less to build them, which is what I think improved small arms actually did. I think this can apply to Service Rifles, Machine Guns, etc (but not anti-tank rockets, mortors or mines since they actually did increase in warhead load and would affect attack and defense values).
What do you think?
); in that solution we can safely balance model stats, as those will be less dependant on the upgrades.
