Need help with command limits. They don't often make sense

[Handsome_Jack]

Hey!

Playing as UK and fighting the Italians in N.Africa. There's some large battles going on but one hindrance is that I'm ALWAYS over the command limit no matter how skilled my generals are. I even brought in two HQ units but even that doesn't seem to increase my command limit at all. What do I do? I've had field marshals with only a command limit of 15 yet I've seen Italy have LT generals with a command limit of double that. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Epaminondas]

Without seeing the actual situation it's difficult to give you a detailed answer, Jack, but there are a number of things that you might want to check out. The first is that command limits are province specific in that they apply to each province separately. So, for example, three 9 division forces each commanded by a G and attacking in unison from three separate provinces won't violate the command limits, whereas the same three forces commanded by the same three G all attacking together from a single province will.

A second is that simply having a HQ unit isn't enough to expand your command limits - to do that your HQ unit has to be positioned appropriately and be itself commanded by a general of sufficient rank. A HQ unit if commanded by a G or FM will double the command limit affecting forces in its own province and in each adjoining province - if commanded by a lesser rank it will have no effect at all. So if you have your appropriately commanded HQ adjacent to a province containing an FM, that FM will have his command limit increased from 12 to 24.

And a third is that command limits apply differently to attacking and defending units. For attacking units the command limit applied is that of the highest ranking commander in the province from which the attack is mounted, but for defending units the command limits of all generals in the province are aggregated.

The manual is very good on this stuff and you can check it out here:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/darkest-hour-manual.542573/