Division Question

[Morambar]

In my recent Soviet game I think I accidentally did something really stupid but I want to see what the advice is.

About 6 months into the German invasion I decided to switch all my divisions from 20 width to 40 width and didn't realize that I basically immediately doubled my need for equipment instantly instead of deploying divisions as they were trained, it took me about a year to figure this out and in the meantime I had force deployed about 30 infantry divisions to stop the panzer tide which I had done and we basically entered into WW1 along one of the rivers in Western Russia. It took me about two more years of ingame time to recover my equipment (didn't help that I started early a couple of times) sufficiently to go on the offensive and finally blow apart the German lines.

Was this actually a really stupid move to switch my width like that mid war? Is that ever an effective move or would I have been better off pumping out new 20 width divisions?

 

[basun]

Wait for equipment and apply when you have enough.

The division designer help you check it easily.

 

[a_sophist]

Switching every division to 40 width along a front like that is also going to kill supply in the area, leading to even more equipment loss. Twenty width pure infantry+engineers is more than enough to hold the Germans back, so save the 40 width for armor divisions that you want to attack with.

 

[Morambar]

Artillery & anti tank is not needed for defense?

 

[Reman]

Artillery & anti tank is not needed for defense?

Anti tank definitely isn't worth it. Your production is better spent elsewhere. The AI isn't good enough with its tank divisions to justify AT.

Artillery was recently nerfed. There's a bit of wiggle room on whether to include it or not, but from my experience its better to go without it now. Pure inf (with support companies as needed) is the best way to go.

 

[a_sophist]

Anti tank definitely isn't worth it. Your production is better spent elsewhere. The AI isn't good enough with its tank divisions to justify AT.

Artillery was recently nerfed. There's a bit of wiggle room on whether to include it or not, but from my experience its better to go without it now. Pure inf (with support companies as needed) is the best way to go.

Also, organization is just as if not more important than the defense stat, especially as Soviets, and artillery takes away from it.

 

[Morambar]

When I resume the offence would I want to mix anything else in? Or just use my tank divisions with pure infantry for filler?

 

[a_sophist]

When I resume the offence would I want to mix anything else in? Or just use my tank divisions with pure infantry for filler?

Use infantry to pin down the divisions you're trying to encircle.

 

[billcorr]

Was this actually a really stupid move to switch my width like that mid war? Is that ever an effective move or would I have been better off pumping out new 20 width divisions?

Hmmm...perhaps it would be useful to have an in-game feature that informs the players of the immediate consequences of their actions.

In this case, the consequence information bubble would report, "Your units will be at half strength if you hit confirm you wish to switch to 40 width"

This feature could be turned off.

 

[Morambar]

I'm sure I blew part some tooltips that would have been helpful, now I've learned my lesson but there isn't really any obvious warning that you are way below strength on your equipment. I've played enough to figure out what was going on, a newer player might not have figured out what was happening

 

[a_sophist]

IIRC if you're changing templates of currently fielded units you have to click ok on a popup telling you the equipment differences.

 

[dasaard200]

Painful lessons learned : if you want to go from 20W to 40W ;
1] Duplicate the current template ;
2] Spend the XP to get to 40W ;
3] DO NOT PUT THE NEW 40W TEMPLATE TO REPLACE the 20W template FOR WIDE EMPIRE USE (the all-at-once model) ;
4] As you get/have the equipment, do FIELD upgrades, as affordable (the one-at-a-time model) into the 40W .

If doing a mere 30 XXs is bad, don't wait until you have to do 150-200 XXs ((or how to turn Veteran units into green, WHOLESALE)) !!