Major noob question: how to destroy units?

[unmerged(23282)]

Probably it would be wise to register a new account after asking this, as it is just, well, too embarrassing to ask...

Mind: I'm playing the demo...

To my knowledge men died in wars, and as far as I can tell the unit's strength is represented by the strength bar (next to morale) in the game (I even doubt this after my experiences so far ). I have only been successful in killing units by letting them pass my defences and surrounding them in my own territory and attacking it (which completely annihilates them).

After 2 months trying (in-game of course ) I hardly destroyed a few enemy units this way and my first unit still had to die. The only single time I thought to be killing someone was when attacking a single infantry unit behind the frontline with a few bombers. Also as Germany I lost airplanes somehow.

If it is normal: what's the best way to beat the ai then?

Thanks


ow another thing,
Is there a prize for the biggest HOI2 n00b question??? I'd like to participate

 

[unmerged(33990)]

The only way to completelly destroy an unit is to surround it and attack but the units do take damage. It just might be that your enemy is reinforcing his units really fast...

 

[bandkanon]

Also in real wars it is a rare thing to completely destroy a unit through battle. Usually they get pulled out of the line before vaporizing by a competent commander. At worst units get mauled and lose cohesion and organization and gets pulled out to refit and reorganize.

 

[unmerged(23282)]

When fighting I don't see the strength bar getting any lower, I'd assume this would happen...

It really feels strange to have all my units at 100% strength (and never been any weaker than that) after 2 months of intense fighting.

(as you might have guessed, I haven't played HOI1)

[edit]
with killing units I meant getting that strength bar lower (I can understand units aren't easly destroyed, but 1 unit does not represent 1 men with his bb gun )
[/edit]

 

[bandkanon]

When fighting I don't see the strength bar getting any lower, I'd assume this would happen...

It really feels strange to have all my units at 100% strength (and never been any weaker than that) after 2 months of intense fighting.

(as you might have guessed, I haven't played HOI1)

If you click on the unit you will see that their strength percentages have gone down a little bit. Usually you will lose alot more of org than anything else.

 

[unmerged(14683)]

The are not 100% - check the tooltip, they got usually 90-95% STR after the battle, sometimes even lower. It's general problem with small bars - the change is not big enough to be visible on them.

Nevertheless, it's more realistic this way. It was very rare occurance to see unit loosing more then 10% of it's assets in one battle. Notice, that for 10 000 strong division it means 2 000 men dead and wounded. And what if in your battle 5 divisions has lost 10% of their STR?

 

[unmerged(18027)]

The Ardennes battlescenario has (as do most) a certain automatic level of reinforcement, much like the off map production of supplies and oil. The rollover for manpower tells you exactly how much IC is committed to reinforcing units, which is quite alot for the demo scenario. Go for objectives over attrition in the demo and other battle scenarios, and save victory by exhaustion as a strategy of last resort for the grand campaign.

 

[unmerged(23282)]

The following happened to a few hours ago,
5 armor divisions rolling towards forrested area, supported by 16 infantry units and 3 other armor brigades, attacking just 2 german infantry units which are not recieving any support on their defence (I almost had them surrounded but I wanted to give this a try ). Their morale instantly dropped to 0 but their strengthbar seemed to stay at 100% ? (I haven't checked any tooltips though, trying that right now).

Feels a bit strange though to let the enemy pass your frontline in order to encircle them... Worked best for me while playing the allied (destroyed quite a few brigades and made a nice victory)

 

[Darkrenown]

Well, I prefer to use fast units to encircle the enemy, but it's the same idea. Perhaps the AI needs to be more careful about its line of retreat though.

 

[Darkrenown]

Their morale instantly dropped to 0 but their strengthbar seemed to stay at 100% ? (I haven't checked any tooltips though, trying that right now).

They ran away?

 

[unmerged(23282)]

They ran away?

Their province still had a connection with their frontline, which was really weak there (I attacked the province just before and their units fled, but cancelled the infantry to finish the attack just to test what the result would be of such an overhwhelming attack. Not much... Maybe this isn't strange at all, by the first signs of such an attack I'd ran too, as hard as I can

I have checked the tooltip and the previous posters are right, strength does drop but seldom lower than 92/93 in this scenario. Resuplying and refitting units goes faster than I had anticipated.

Can't wait to get the full game !

 

[unmerged(15723)]

Nevertheless, it's more realistic this way. It was very rare occurance to see unit loosing more then 10% of it's assets in one battle. Notice, that for 10 000 strong division it means 2 000 men dead and wounded. And what if in your battle 5 divisions has lost 10% of their STR?

10% of 10'000 is 2'000? Please elaborate.

 

[unmerged(28147)]

The are not 100% - check the tooltip, they got usually 90-95% STR after the battle, sometimes even lower. It's general problem with small bars - the change is not big enough to be visible on them.

Nevertheless, it's more realistic this way. It was very rare occurance to see unit loosing more then 10% of it's assets in one battle. Notice, that for 10 000 strong division it means 2 000 men dead and wounded. And what if in your battle 5 divisions has lost 10% of their STR?

One question? How is 10% of 10,000, 2000? I mean you're either dropping a zero or multiplying by .10 and either way you come out with 1000 casualties...

 

[unmerged(29126)]

10% of 10'000 is 2'000? Please elaborate.

10.000 fighting men and another 7000-8000 in supportive roles, perhaps ? Also approx. 700 horses etc.

I just know that the German army was particularly known for it's administrative/logistical overhead ... much good it did them

 

[unmerged(14683)]

10% of 10'000 is 2'000? Please elaborate.

Of course. I was very sleepy and 5 minutes later I hit the bed, without re-reading my post. :wacko:

 

[Darkrenown]

I have checked the tooltip and the previous posters are right, strength does drop but seldom lower than 92/93 in this scenario. Resuplying and refitting units goes faster than I had anticipated.

Hehe, it sure slows down when you invade Russia and run out of MP!