Non-standard units ...that are a must for the game

[jju_57]

Super-heavy artillery.

WW1 railway guns, Anzio Annie, 600mm mortars, Schwerer Gustav...

I really want those fortress-busting monsters in the game. Moreover, I think they would actually be quite simple to implement. Make a batallion that costs large quantities of Artillery resource to form, is very supply-consuming and slow-moving, but that excels at canceling the enemy's fortification and entrenchment bonuses.

As long as they use up huge MP, move slowly, lose all org on movement and take over a month after movement before you can even use them in a battle. And the only benefit is to reduce the fortification number.

In other words include them but no one will ever make them or use them because in real life they were 99.99% useless.

 

[Le_Carabinier]

Excessive exagerations weakens your point more than it reinforces it, but I have to agree with you : these weapon were obsolete.

However, several nations had them at the start of the hostilities, and Germany even built quite a number over the course of the war. France for example had almost a hundred railway guns mobilized in 1940, including 320, 340 and 400mm monsters. It would be a shame if a player attempting to resist the German Blitzkrieg and trying to break through the Siegfried Line found himself without the heavy artillery the nation he's playing actually had.

 

[jju_57]

Excessive exagerations weakens your point more than it reinforces it

The only exaggeration was that I applied my penalty to all railway guns. But for the Gustav and Dora it would be spot on. It would take 4-6 weeks to assemble and lay the track necessary for firing the things.

I also left out that these guns were very susceptible to air attack. Often they needed dedicated fighter protection which could better be used in other missions.

However, several nations had them at the start of the hostilities, and Germany even built quite a number over the course of the war. France for example had almost a hundred railway guns mobilized in 1940, including 320, 340 and 400mm monsters. It would be a shame if a player attempting to resist the German Blitzkrieg and trying to break through the Siegfried Line found himself without the heavy artillery the nation he's playing actually had.

As for the rest should we also include costal guns as units? I think everything from around 204mm (8in) and down are already covered as part of artillery. After all the Brits had 8 in artillery pieces not on railways. So that means very few weapons would even qualify for their own unit. While it might not take a full month before they could fire it did take at least several days from the time of arrival till operational. Even the K5 (the best of all railway guns) required a special track to be laid before it could be used effectively. So these railway guns were extremely limited in their use and application.

EDIT: What about actual armored trains?

 

[Klausewitz]

Attention!
German words can be formed without Umlaute.
Totentanz, not Tötentänz.
Bratwurst, not Bratwürst.

 

[varsovie]

Attention!
German words can be formed without Umlaute.
Totentanz, not Tötentänz.
Bratwurst, not Bratwürst.

Are they rationing umlaute too? Didn't know the paint and ink was that valuable.

 

[Klausewitz]

Are they rationing umlaute too? Didn't know the paint and ink was that valuable.

Move along citizen, and nobody will have to be made aware of your defeatist talk.

 

[Big Nev]

Attention!
German words can be formed without Umlaute.
Totentanz, not Tötentänz.
Bratwurst, not Bratwürst.

This may be the case for those who know, but for those who don’t, it can be extremely perilous to remove this kind of accentuation.

For example, if in the Spanish ordenador (computer) you change the “n” to “ñ” it becomes a milking machine.

A better example though is the first year my father sent a new-year greeting card to my Spanish father-in-law.

Feliz Ano Nuevo, as opposed to Feliz Año Nuevo, means . . .






Happy new arsehole.


(be careful what you wish for)

 

[Big Nev]

How about . . .

Auxiliary cruisers?

And, of course, Q-Ships.

EDIT: I'd like to take this discussion over to the Non-standard units thread.

 

[Klausewitz]

I imagine Q-ships can be muddled in with escorts and become pointless once all merchants are assumed to be armed anyways.
As for Auxiliary cruisers, sure would be nice, but the model at the moment seems unsuited to model them.

 

[George Parr]

Yes for WW1 but this is a WW2 game and while there were plans no one built one because they are 99.99% useless.

There were plans and a WW1 gun that had 100km+ range but nothing in WW2 was ever built. And let's look at some typical provinces in HOI3. Luxembourg is a pretty small province compared to many others. Yet even this tiny province is 81Km/51 miles long and 57km/35 miles wide. So no WW2 gun even built could fire over this province and hit the next one. Contrary to what you posted, the vast majority of provinces in HOI3 were much bigger than 30km in width and length.

That's actually not quite correct. The 21cm K 12 (E) had a maximum firing range of 115km and did hit Chatham, which is 88km from the nearest point in France.

Though yes, it took ages to prepare and was pretty much useless in the grand scheme of things, with only 3 being build, firing only 83 shots during the war. So even if it did manage to fire over a province into another one, the damage would be insignificant every single time.

 

[Big Nev]

I imagine Q-ships can be muddled in with escorts and become pointless once all merchants are assumed to be armed anyways.
As for Auxiliary cruisers, sure would be nice, but the model at the moment seems unsuited to model them.

From a submarine point of view, yes, I suppose Q-ships would be a waste of space once unrestricted sub’ warfare is initiated and, it seems, weren’t that much use in real life either, but against aux’ cruisers, maybe not so much.

So much depends upon what the actual model for merchant shipping is & how it works. If, as I believe, merchant ships are actually going to be on the map now, then an aux’ cruiser would be able to engage individual, unescorted merchants. This would force a convoy system for important routes in much the same way as large numbers of individual sub’s spread all over the place did. But the less important, less frequent or lower bulk routes may not all be able to be convoyed-up & escorted in this way.

Once sub’s are operating in packs and stalking large, escorted convoys, the Q-ships become the natural adversaries for the aux’ cruisers. Even carrying some cargo.

How to implement them? (aux’ cruisers & Q-ships)

Give them a very low visibility. They would be difficult to “detect” (read – identify as an enemy) even with radar. You have to get close to spot them. Fairly high convoy attack and about the same sea attack values as a cheap light cruiser but, the important difference, is that they can stay at sea for many months.

 

[Klausewitz]

My point is that the British had outfitted most every ship with a gun by early 1942 and around that time the auxiliary cruiser programm stopped.
Five were sunk or decommisioned by late 1941 (Atlantis, Cormoran and Penguin sunk, Widder and Orion decommissioned), 3 more bought it in 1942 (Comet, Stier and Thor) Michel was sunk in 1943 by a US submarine and neither Coronel nor Hanas even made it out to see.

 

[Dark Jakkaru]

we cant make equipment that is both a ship and a tank at the same time now sadly. but the above sounds so epic we'll see what we can do for future DLCs or whatever. you can mod submarine-carrier-battleships atm, but not landgoing ones (actually land going carrier might work. havent tested it)

Well there goes my dream of having the Cybran Salem walking Destroyer in the game. At least the T3 Command Class can be put in though as well as the Experimental Atlantis!

 

[Centurion1973]

Well there goes my dream of having the Cybran Salem walking Destroyer in the game. At least the T3 Command Class can be put in though as well as the Experimental Atlantis!

SupComFA FTW!

 

[Dinglehoff]

Everybody knows railway guns are for n00bs unless you build it on top of or into a carrier hull.

 

[takedown47]

My WishList:

1. SkillHawk

Precision guided bomb..oh yeah baby, TAKE THAT SWEDEN! Love Murica.

2. Otomatic (because using your anti-air gun as a tank destroyer is so cool)

Nearly 3km range! With Otomatic, your AA defence is also your anti-tank and light tank unit

3. Kongo Drums

90 defensive missiles! Holy cow!

 

[Sacer]

Couple of more suggestions

VTOL aircraft

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Achgelis_Fa_269

Mobile V2

 

[varsovie]

My WishList:

You are aware that the timeframe is 1936 to 1948, not the 90s?

 

[Le_Carabinier]

You are aware that the timeframe is 1936 to 1948, not the 90s?

I think he is very aware of that, and simple shitposting.

 

[f1nalstand17]

Everybody knows railway guns are for n00bs unless you build it on top of or into a carrier hull.

Yes, the real pros mount theirs on proper Landcruiser's