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Regarding generals due you find that the skills of generals and their experience does make a significant difference to their units in battle and if so do you spend a lot of time changing them round to a more relevant command. I have found Von Runsted in command of a very ordinary Infantry division. Ok I suppose he might gain experience but it seems to me what a waste . since then and having a quick look round Ther would be a lot of time spent doing it
The skill of generals at Division level makes a small but significant difference in their performance. It's noticeable, especially if you play some country that has lower skill commanders (Italy, China, etc.), in which case the lack can be painful. At Corps level, it's VERY significant up until you can unlock the doctrine which gives a +5% boost to Reinforcement Chance, because up until then the odds of a unit advancing into an open slot in the frontage is almost entirely dependent on the skill and proximity of the Corps Commander (potentially improving it from 0.2% or 0.4% odds per hour up to something like 2%). Once your research that doctrine (1940 date), the Corps Commanders' skills are reduced to relatively minimal importance (increasing it from 5% to 7% isn't a game-changer). At Army Group level, it can significantly reduce supply usage. Army and Theater positions are less critical, so I normally put commanders with useful traits and less skill into those positions.

Note that putting one or more combat brigades (INF) directly into a Corps HQ division allows the HQ to participate in combat, and will rapidly increase the Corps Commander's experience level through direct combat, in addition to what he receives from any subordinate divisions in range.

It's a major pain in the posterior, but I generally take the time to rearrange ALL of my officers a couple of months before jumping into a war. That includes putting generals with river crossing and fort attack traits into divisions with ENG, prioritizing Offensive and Defensive generals for appropriately placed MOT and INF divisions, sticking Battlemaster traits into Armor divisions, and putting Logistics Wizards into either the most supply-intensive divisions or else higher up the chain to provide their benefits to as many units as possible. For GER, a lot of your best commanders are stuck in odd locations (almost all your Battlemasters are in regular INF divisions, many of them in East Prussia), and could be FAR better placed to not only have a greater impact on the pivotal battles, but to gain experience for even more serious situations down the road (versus the Soviets). The question comes down to whether it's better to promote them to a higher command for Reinforcement or Logistical bonuses, or to keep them at divisional command to use their combat bonus for critical tactical situations. With a reinforced HQ (such as HQ+2xINF+ART), they can do both.
 
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It depends on the level of command, and there is more than one strategy. For example, sending some of the higher skill levels to divisional command with the idea of growing their skill rank and getting them toward battle master traits can definitely be worthwhile. I don't spend a lot of time changing them around, but I certainly review my command structures from time to time. I certainly do my best to have Log Wizards command theatres, high skill levels command army groups, good skill and traits running armies, good traits commanding corps, and a variety of generals commanding divisions. Usually half of mine at a given time are gaining experience for higher authority, and half are low skill but strong trait generals I'd like to see grow.

It also depends on what country you're playing. Most of Japan's land generals will have skills top out below what Germany's will.
 
Thanks for that. I have trod a middle path there partly due to impatience and when I find a leader whom I recognise and had the skill levells I do try to place them in the best positions. One I did seem to make a mistake with was replacing Model with another general as I wanted him a little higher up and now I cant find him. He will Im sure turn up somewhere . Obviously on a date date with Lili Marlene.
 
If you look in your reports listing (where you can see all your units, economic stats, and so on), there's one for leaders. It's right after the ones for land/sea/air units. Sort it alpha by name and you should be able to find him.

My own outlook is that since all my main frontline divisions will be combined arms, and can thus take advantage of Battle Master, I want some BMs there and some higher up the food chain since they won't get BM progress above divisional command. As Germany you start with two skill 4 traitless generals, who once they become BMs can become very effective. It's always a question: should they be at the low levels gaining BM and skill levels, or should they be promoted and conferring their benefits on their entire subordinate chain of command?

I have also come to suspect, rather strongly, that generals progress at different rates with all other things being equal. Simply put, it seems to me that some of them are slow learners, and not because they're Old Guards but because the game has coded them as slower studies.
 
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A very interesting point. I think its going to be a situation best served by experimentation. Probably whatever the person playing the game feels most comfortable with. I have another question. When Germany has been given the parts of Czechoslovakia the rest has to be taken by force. each time Ive done this Russia has declared war what am I doing wrong playing earlier iterations of the game Ive not had this problem
 
Kovax thanks for a very detailed reply and it seems although impatient, I seem to be going your way, I must admit that the build and organisation of the arrmed forces seems to be the fun at the moment, the possibility of war is going to disturb all that, lol
 
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I have also come to suspect, rather strongly, that generals progress at different rates with all other things being equal. Simply put, it seems to me that some of them are slow learners, and not because they're Old Guards but because the game has coded them as slower studies.
Definitely the case. The closer a general is to his skill cap, the slower he learns. Some generals have really low skill caps, so a general with a higher cap will easily surpass them. Since each level puts them a step closer to their skill cap, generals tend to improve rapidly from 0 or 1 skill to something higher, and then their progress gets increasingly slower with each new level. Old Guard halves the experience gain, so those will tend to improve slowly regardless of their skill cap.
 
Regarding generals due you find that the skills of generals and their experience does make a significant difference to their units in battle and if so do you spend a lot of time changing them round to a more relevant command. I have found Von Runsted in command of a very ordinary Infantry division. Ok I suppose he might gain experience but it seems to me what a waste . since then and having a quick look round Ther would be a lot of time spent doing it


You can manually reassign all of them (I always do)
You can remove the auto-assign function (I always do)

This avoid weird situations like the one you reported. It's time consuming in the 1st year... then every January, you need to revise your OOB since you get new leaders at the start of the year
 
You can manually reassign all of them (I always do)
You can remove the auto-assign function (I always do)

This avoid weird situations like the one you reported. It's time consuming in the 1st year... then every January, you need to revise your OOB since you get new leaders at the start of the year

This is how I also do it. I also review leadership when major campaigns conclude. Who has underperformed and evidently isn't going anywhere? Who has shown great promise? Who has achieved new levels or traits? I always have some experienced leaders currently unassigned, usually waiting for new units or HQs to form.
 
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Other than assigning a few Logistics Wizards to cut supply needs, I don't touch the commanders for the first couple of years, generally until I'm one or two months from a probable war. If I'm going to mobilize, that's when I do the mass reassignments, which leaves plenty of time for their new units to recover the ORG loss from having an officer change. Rather than revise the OOB every year, I only need to do a major overhaul once, then make occasional adjustments as they promote or gain traits, and as new commanders become available each year. Leaving a couple of decent quality officers unassigned allows them to easily be placed in newly formed units.

I ALWAYS uncheck the "auto assign" button at the bottom of the commander list, because it WILL put your 4-skill Battlemaster into an obscure garrison division, and then put one of your 1-skill Old Guard generals into an armor division.
 
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I'm future AARs in order to be more fair to the AI (even on Very Hard), I might resolve to go by roughly historical promotion cycles, if only to make sure that I have a reasonable involvement and don't wind up with that sort of predetermined outcome.
 
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Other than assigning a few Logistics Wizards to cut supply needs, I don't touch the commanders for the first couple of years, generally until I'm one or two months from a probable war. If I'm going to mobilize, that's when I do the mass reassignments, which leaves plenty of time for their new units to recover the ORG loss from having an officer change. Rather than revise the OOB every year, I only need to do a major overhaul once, then make occasional adjustments as they promote or gain traits, and as new commanders become available each year. Leaving a couple of decent quality officers unassigned allows them to easily be placed in newly formed units.

I ALWAYS uncheck the "auto assign" button at the bottom of the commander list, because it WILL put your 4-skill Battlemaster into an obscure garrison division, and then put one of your 1-skill Old Guard generals into an armor division.
I definitely agree and follow this rule. AI is really poor at assigning leaders. Cutting supply needs in the run up to war is very important in maximizing overall effectiveness of your military.
 
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With regard to the formation of Korps in the German army has anyone paid as much attention as to the Divisions. Im thinking of Armd Korps being as an example, 1 Amd Div and 2 mot Inf Divs. Then only massing Armd divs in breakthrough Korps.
 
With regard to the formation of Korps in the German army has anyone paid as much attention as to the Divisions. Im thinking of Armd Korps being as an example, 1 Amd Div and 2 mot Inf Divs. Then only massing Armd divs in breakthrough Korps.
For organizational purposes, I generally put any armored divisions into their own corps separate from the regular infantry, but often mixed with motorized divisions. Sometimes I put the MOT divisions into their own corps instead. With INF divisions, I usually put 4 or 5 divisions per corps, often with 1 division containing ENG, and temporarily mass the ENG divisions from several corps for urban or fortress assaults or contested river crossings. One or two divisions per corps may have AT, depending on how much opposing armor I expect, but never all of them, because AT performs so poorly against soft targets, which is the vast majority of what you will fight against.

For me, the OOB is as much about finding the units I need when I need them as it is a way of distributing trait and command chain bonuses.
 
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With regard to the formation of Korps in the German army has anyone paid as much attention as to the Divisions. Im thinking of Armd Korps being as an example, 1 Amd Div and 2 mot Inf Divs. Then only massing Armd divs in breakthrough Korps.

I think that's what most people do, keeping mobile units in their own corps and even armies. It would make minimal sense to tie an armored division to a rifle corps, whereas it makes excellent sense to combine armored and motorized infantry divisions so that when they exploit a breakthrough, they can go far and fast.
 
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j_k_kI think you misunderstood me would never mix mobile troops with the footsloggers, but there is a tendency to put armour in one korps and mot in another and inf in another.
It seems that tanks need motinf and putting mot into a korps eithr 2x arm + 1x mot inf in a korps or reverse the quantity, may be beneficial.
 
I also usually form mobile corps of 4 or 5 divisions most commonly 2 armored and 2 motorized plus some ad hoc formations of artillery, at/aa and at least 1 infantry (mot) and never add regular infantry (foot).
 
regular infantry can work well with HARM (or SHARM, if you make those for some reason). Not a lot of speed loss, a lot of hardness added to your INF.
 
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Its now May 1938 and I was expecting The Anschluss to take place in March, am I doing not not doing something that is preventing it. I also know that sometimes events are not totally date perfect but Think it should have happened by now. The NSDAP is commanding 1 seat in parliament with 11% of the vote. The VF party has 26% of the vote and 2 seats in parliament. Do I have to have the NSDAP up to 40% and probably 3/4 seats.
If it is something I have done/not done has anybody invaded the country and what happened