heavily motorised army question

[Number 7]

hey there,

i was considering a germany playthrough where i really really hammer out a lot of motorised and even some mechanised divisions as soon as physically possible. in hoi the vast majority of my armies have always been 3xINF 1xART divisions with very little variation so the idea of making as much of my army motorised sounds quite interesting

is this a good idea? how much infantry to motorised is a good idea?

 

[yamato2cz]

you need to adjust your strategy according to it, hope you realize that. fast pockets destroying less mobile enemy armies has to be your daily bread. sometimes you would have to leave some parts of front unprotected and you will have to use less units due to higher demand of supplies.

 

[Sloeberjong]

Well...it depends really.

How are your resources (specifically oil/fuel)? Do you have support units motorised (SPART, TD's etc.)?

Motorised units are nice, but the cost a LOT of supplies and fuel to maintain and use (especially mechanised). If you fight on mainland Europe than you probably have enough infra to support them, but Russia's gonna cause trouble.

My advice is to use them conservatively. Use a bunch of them for spearheads to force breakthroughs and exploitation (together with your tanks). Infantry should be your bread and butter really...

*edit, because I stupidly missed what country you were playing...

 

[Nick U]

Building Motorised/Mechanised Divisions as a direct alternative to regular Infantry Divisions is not a good idea. The cost in IC and Officers is just too high and you won't be able to knock them out fast enough. Even if you do, you will suffer horrendous supply difficulties if you try to use them to their full potential.

When I play as Germany (against the AI), I tend to knock out around 70 regular Infantry (3xINF, 1xART) and most of the time they tend to sit on a defensive line never moving. They just don't need to be fuel guzzlers. I then knock out a series of Panzer Corps consisting of two Panzer (2xARM, MOT, ENG) and two Motorised (3xMOT,TD) Divisions each. By the time I'm ready to invade Poland I usually have 4 of these corps on field, 6 in time for France and 7 or 8 in time for Russia. Anymore than that is just a waste, because you can't use them at the same time. Otherwise about two days into the battle, everything grinds to a halt with those pesky red triangles on the bottom right corner.

My mobile corps do most of the fighting, my regular infantry just cover the flanks and advance occassionally when the enemy abandon the province in front of them. To conquer a country like Russia, supply is the key, and the key to supply is to minimise the amount of units you have on field, especially fuel users.

 

[Pugmak]

Best way to find out is to give it a go and see what happens

I suggest some disciplined focus on the logistics techs. Port throughput in Naval in case you need log flow in that manner. The supply tax and throughput techs in theory should also be a must, I think.

Also, might want to trade hard for some additional oil. Oil would be better than fuel in trades, imo, but either or both might want to be somewhat prioritized early on. Build up that stockpile so that when war starts and markets shut down, you've got enough to get by to the end.

As Ger, you've got a fair good and deep general list. Prioritizing log wiz at theater, army and corps HQ might well be a considerable help. Of course, the usual suspects at army group.

Interested in finding out how it all worked out for you. Maybe you should AAR it?

 

[Secret Master]

There are consequences to a purely mechanized/motorized army: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...or-fun-and-profit.613700/page-4#post-14038859

Let's just say that in a normal game, I find there is a place for foot infantry and motorized/mechanized forces.

 

[Number 7]

Best way to find out is to give it a go and see what happens

I suggest some disciplined focus on the logistics techs. Port throughput in Naval in case you need log flow in that manner. The supply tax and throughput techs in theory should also be a must, I think.

Also, might want to trade hard for some additional oil. Oil would be better than fuel in trades, imo, but either or both might want to be somewhat prioritized early on. Build up that stockpile so that when war starts and markets shut down, you've got enough to get by to the end.

As Ger, you've got a fair good and deep general list. Prioritizing log wiz at theater, army and corps HQ might well be a considerable help. Of course, the usual suspects at army group.

Interested in finding out how it all worked out for you. Maybe you should AAR it?

sure thing! i'll write an AAR about my experience trying it. i'll get it started in not too long, couple days maybe, i'm actually stuck in the house for the next couple weeks since i had surgeries on my eye (but my other one is fine!)

 

[Pugmak]

sure thing! i'll write an AAR about my experience trying it. i'll get it started in not too long, couple days maybe, i'm actually stuck in the house for the next couple weeks since i had surgeries on my eye (but my other one is fine!)

Get well soon with that eye thing.
And enjoy your in-house lockdown while you're at it. Lounging is becoming a lost art.