Mobile Infantry Question

[Dreams of Glory]

I'm wondering if MOT or MEC is better, generally speaking. There seem to be differing opinions on which you should use; some people say MEC is better because it is harder and packs more punch per brigade than MOT, others say MOT is better because it has lower upgrade cost and is less IC intense.

MOT is good because it is cheap and fast, while MEC upgrades speed faster and hits harder, while taking less damage. Is MEC a reasonable alternative for MOT if you have a glut of IC and officers to spare? As far as where you use them, I kind of guessed that MOT is better for exploitation divisions, like LARM-MOT-MOT-SPART, while MEC is better for breakthrough tasks in divisions such as ARM-ARM-MEC-SPART. Am I correct in these assumptions, or have I been building my armies all wrong?

 

[IronMurg]

MEC are very expensive, about twice as expensive as MOT. But if you have a glut of ICs then they may be the better choice.

 

[Less]

I'd only recommend using MEC for LARM/MEC/AC divisions, where its faster movement than MOT can be put to use, or if you are the USA and really have a ton of IC that you don't know what to do with. Stat-wise the minor difference in defense or attack that a MEC has over a MOT is not nearly worth the cost. Build it primarily for its speed.

 

[Dreams of Glory]

Okay, thanks for the responses! Any particular reason you add AC to the divisions? I don't really like them, as even with limited IC, LARM is all-around better, while TD is useful for adding hardness to INF (doesn't apply here though, cause they're too slow).

 

[Opanashc]

AC gives a boost to speed in most terrain - very important for exploitation divisions.

 

[Dreams of Glory]

As far as I know, divisions only move as fast as the slowest unit. You mean AC increases the speed of the units it is attached to? Or just that AC is not as slow as the others, so the unit's speed increases compared to alternatives?

 

[Less]

As far as I know, divisions only move as fast as the slowest unit. You mean AC increases the speed of the units it is attached to? Or just that AC is not as slow as the others, so the unit's speed increases compared to alternatives?

There's two parts to speed, base speed and terrain modifiers.

Base speed of a division is the speed of the slowest unit in a division. Terrain modifiers are averaged across a division. The final speed is the base speed * terrain modifiers.

e.g. LARM/MEC/AC/AC in marsh has a base speed of 9 KPH and a terrain modifier of -40%, for a final speed of 5.4 KPH. An ARM/MOT/SPART/SPART has a base speed of 7 KPH and a terrain modifier of -75%, for a final speed of 1.75 KPH. If they were on plains the terrain modifiers would be +20% vs. +0%, for a final speed of 10.8 KPH vs. 7 KPH.

Okay, thanks for the responses! Any particular reason you add AC to the divisions? I don't really like them, as even with limited IC, LARM is all-around better, while TD is useful for adding hardness to INF (doesn't apply here though, cause they're too slow).

AC is much, much cheaper and only slightly worse than LARM except in terms of hard attack (which you don't really care about running through infantry). But most importantly, it doesn't take up frontage. More than 2-3 frontage in a division is generally a bad thing. The only other option for a no-frontage brigade is SPART, and even that slows you down (by the base division speed and terrain modifiers).

 

[Secret Master]

MECH verus MOT: The Eternal Question

As I literally always say, decide the mission of a division first, then decide what goes in it. MECH and MOT have various advantages and disadvantages.

But there are a few other considerations that are temporal in character that go beyond unit stats and terrain modifiers.

1) MECH is a later tech than MOT. In some cases, the war may be effectively over before significant MECH can even be put in the field. And even if you work hard to get MECH ahead of time, you are still burning tons of leadership to do it. For any country getting into the war in 1939, you have to make some tough choices about what you can actually afford to get in the field by the time Germany attacks Poland.

2) It takes significant time to upgrade MOT to MECH, especially if your mobile practicals aren't super high. This means that even if you have researched MECH ahead of time, upgrading the relevant brigades you already have in the field may take some time. And while those MOT and getting upgraded to MECH, they aren't fighting. Either you need to take those divisions out of the fighting, or they spend time fighting without their infantry component.

3) MECH also costs around 2.5 times as much IC as MOT. It also consumes twice as much fuel as MOT. These factors may have a huge impact on what direction you choose.

4) MECH takes 60 additional days to build (varying in division production based on other brigades present and training laws). Even without worrying about costs, time is a factor when trying to get new units to the front. You have to consider whether the added time is worth the unit stats.

There are a lot of things to consider when choosing brigades. It's not clear cut when looking at MOT and MECH in several situations.