Even infantry techs are not a no brainer

[Darkath]

Switching equipments also mean you're going to sit on a pile of unused old stuff, and even if you're not using them, that minor nation which has some manpower but no industry might be happy to get them. That applies for tanks and planes as well. Japan will be pissed if they see tanks popping up in china, no matter how bad they are it's better to have some tanks rather than no tanks.

I'm actually looking forward doing some clever tricks by going Lord Of War and giving a bunch of old equipment to minor nations in my faction.

 

[Denkt]

If spending research on infantry equipment results in you having a worse army than not bothering spending the research, then that's a pretty serious balance failure.

I think it's far more likely that good quality infantry equipment will be one of the first things everybody prioritises, as shown in every WWW video so far.

You only have a very limited amount of research capacity so yes researching infantry equipment can give you a worse army because of opportunity cost. I doubt what we see in WWW will be all that common, like not developing a naval or air doctrine. And while there is advantages of developing and producing more advanced infantry equipment there is costs to that and that cost may not be worth it for many nations and that is why it is not a no brainer.

you are probably right on small fronts where you can break through with a few tank on certain points... but on large fornts such as the eastern front (as germany) your infantry may needs some offensive skills too...

I don't think front size have much importance on this choice. A cheap equipment I will allow you to train more infantry battalions or invest more resources into other stuff like tanks both which are very useful in a large front.

This is exactly what i was thinking. In every WWW video Daniel researches infantry equipment as soon as he can, so that would lead me to believe that it is going to certainly be worthwhile to do in terms of cost and benefit.

I would not be so sure about that, atleast you should think about what else you could have gotten.

Daniel does pretty much just spam infantry though. Whether that's a calculated strategy or just force of habit, we'll have to wait and see.

Personally, I'm fearful that infantry divisions are too efficient - tank divisions should be the superstars of WW2 land warfare, and we really haven't seen them shine in any of the WWWs.

And from what I have seen the infantry spam have not really been an effective strategy lately.

 

[Darkath]

Daniel does pretty much just spam infantry though. Whether that's a calculated strategy or just force of habit, we'll have to wait and see.

Personally, I'm fearful that infantry divisions are too efficient - tank divisions should be the superstars of WW2 land warfare, and we really haven't seen them shine in any of the WWWs.

The issue is that tanks cost Oil upfront which pretty much kills tank making for any nation without oil.

 

[Denkt]

You can import oil or invest into synthetical plants who produce oil.

 

[jalapen0]

I agree that using older equipment for your line infantry is a sound strategy to save resources but situation applies here. What if you are Germany and using old equipment and you invest everything into your mobile forces while the Soviets upgrade the shite out of their line infantry? It's going to be much more difficult to encircle while your entire line is being pushed back into Poland.

 

[Denkt]

Infantry have rather low soft attack so while they may push your infantry, your mobile forces will quickly encircle and destroy parts of the Soviet army and the Soviet who lack mobile forces have little to no way to encircle your army.

Germany can just concentrate on massing artillery at few locations and massed artillery can put up maybe 500 soft attack which will destroy infantry org in a very short time and then the tanks role in and it is over for the Soviets.

 

[Sparrow]

Leg infantry is very economical for an unbroken front. It would be interesting to see how the mobility of a motorized division/army group pierce the line and cause havoc.

 

[Denkt]

Infantry may look good on paper but in reality they have a lot of trouble dealing with concentrated armor and artillery.

 

[jalapen0]

Infantry have rather low soft attack so while they may push your infantry, your mobile forces will quickly encircle and destroy parts of the Soviet army and the Soviet who lack mobile forces have little to no way to encircle your army.

Infantry and AT then.

Actually, I can't wait to try USSR. They were so big in previous HOIs that I was always too intimidated to try it. But with some AI help, I think I could pull it off in HOI4.

 

[Denkt]

Why not build an army that use all components?

 

[jalapen0]

Why not build an army that use all components?

Oh I will.

 

[rutger9]

This is exactly what i was thinking. In every WWW video Daniel researches infantry equipment as soon as he can, so that would lead me to believe that it is going to certainly be worthwhile to do in terms of cost and benefit.

What we should consider though is that that was in relation to infantry weapons 2
I'm more curious about if say the real late game infantry weapons are worth it as that would mean switching a production line over to a more expensive piece of equipment right in the middle of the war instead of just before you start (at which point you will probably already have a stockpile to lean on).

 

[Ariakus Fordring]

Infantry is workhorse/backbone of armies.In an example of self sufficient (enough production to cover equipment losses) nation,gaining land (thus new factories) allow more production capacity to modernize infantry's equipment. This nation can choose not to modernize but increase number of forces and still use older equipment.But what happens if manpower is scarce?For example Daniel's Hungary will benefit more from better equipment than pure quantity.

 

[z4uberelefant]

I don't think front size have much importance on this choice. A cheap equipment I will allow you to train more infantry battalions or invest more resources into other stuff like tanks both which are very useful in a large front.

You are right.
but i dont think the surplus of equipment and those few additional infanterie divisions can compensate the lack of good equipment. depending on your manpower you have to set a harsher conspription law, which deacreases your factory output.

 

[Sic Domine]

Question: Is it useful to use hindsight and do not produce any equipment I at all, fast-tech the techs to Infantry Equipment III or whatever, and as soon as you have Inf Equipment III(before 39 preferably) pump it out in masses? Since for Germany for example there will be no huge war until they start it, and until then their Division can be supplied with no inf equipment at all.

 

[z4uberelefant]

Question: Is it useful to use hindsight and do not produce any equipment I at all, fast-tech the techs to Infantry Equipment III or whatever, and as soon as you have Inf Equipment III(before 39 preferably) pump it out in masses? Since for Germany for example there will be no huge war until they start it, and until then their Division can be supplied with no inf equipment at all.

i think the ahead of time penalty would be huge. maybe one year ahead... ?

 

[Bridger15]

i wouldn't expect Inf 3 to be distributed to your entire army unless you are doing really well or have a massive industrial complex (US/USSR?). Most factions would use Inf 3 on special elite divisions only, assuming the increased factory cost from 2 to 3 is similar to the 1 to 2.

 

[KalZakath]

Going to have to wait and see just how much better the units equipped with the better equipment are.

I watched the Poland WWW and wondered if the ability for those surrounded German units in the east was due to equipment, doctrine, or some other reason why they held out so long while encircled. If it's doctrine, then ok. If it was equipment, that's another story all together. If it was equipment, then I certainly see the advantage in having a defensive line made of those units rather than the lower equipped ones, even if there is some price attached to it.

 

[Admiral Piett]

In HOI III, tanks were nice to have in Europe, but weren't all that useful in the Far East. Japan benefited from maybe a couple light tank divisions in HOI III, but anything beyond that and you started sacrificing a lot of capabilities on the air and naval power side. With the new division system that allows true integration between infantry and armour, a battalion of light tanks might be nice to have for the stronger island garrisons. I will have to experiment.

 

[amalric de g.]

Question: Is it useful to use hindsight and do not produce any equipment I at all, fast-tech the techs to Infantry Equipment III or whatever, and as soon as you have Inf Equipment III(before 39 preferably) pump it out in masses? Since for Germany for example there will be no huge war until they start it, and until then their Division can be supplied with no inf equipment at all.

If you have nearly no equipment, you can´t train your troops, starting the war with green or regular troops is not the smartest move.