My, Odin has been busy! How time has flown since I last checked only a few days ago, before my current 'diplomatic trip'. The great test against the forces of fascism is getting closer now.
The great test against the forces of fascism is getting closer now.
Looking good overall and Infra is a smooth-move. Too bad you can't get the Officer-ratio up a bit more. Do you plan on a little boost at the start of the war?
<imvho> That looks the greatest challenge in playing the SU; in order to get Officers up to a decent level, Research has to be sacrificed and who wants to do that when already behind the looming menace to the West? Not this general anyway.
Good luck and looking forward to a SU with a CV-twist.
my own guess is that too few and less well equipped troops with marginally better leadership isn't going to be enough to stop the Fascist onslaught when it comes. Having to cover such a large front solidly in a series of lines just takes a lot of troops, especially when heavy losses and the need to rehabilitate burned-out units is factored in. Plus reliance on autonomous army groups to conduct the defence.
I'm actually slightly worried about the safety of my CVL's as they have a low speed (18), and the Germans have faster BC's, and CA's, this means that I would need more and/or faster Destroyers than the Germans to keep the Cruisers away from the CVL's. Alternatively I could use a combined fleet with 2xCVL, 2xBB, 8-10xDD in the Baltic, this would safeguard my CVL's, even against a faster fleet, unless it has more firepower than 2 CAG's and two WW1 BB's combined, of course. Who knows,maybe the Germans build the Graf Zeppelin, and you might get what you wanted... I'd like to see that too...I'd like to see a carrier battle in the Baltic between the Moskva and the Graf Zeppelin!
As I'm going to use mostly AG level AI command for Barbarossa, that might be an interesting proposition. I hadn't thought of doing that, but overlapping AG's for Attack, and for second line defence, I'll think about it, just wondering how the AI would handle those, because if it just throws it's units at the front, putting single divisions on the defence objectives (and in the process screwing up the command range), I think it wouldn't really be woth it... I was actually thinking of putting some Infantry corps into strategic locations in depth, putting them under two AG's with no orders at all (STAY PUT), and then progressively adding these corps to the AI AG's once the front gets close to each strategic location. The committee still has time to decide, so we'll see...autonomous army groups to conduct the defence.
BTW, thanks for that very comprehensive response to my earlier questionI'm sure you are right about the need for overwhelming quantity, I was just proposing a smaller, more armoured army as a hypothetical. As soon as the army gets more up to date, and massively building IC stops making sense, a lot of infantry will be produced. Right now only 2% of my IC is going on actual Armoured Units (upgrading L Arm to Arm in the Tank Divisions, one unit at a time). And until I am content with the amount of infantry, I will not really increase that expenditure. Of course, a lot of TD's are being built, as each infantry corps gets a TD Regiment, so in the end a Western Front Infantry Corps (SK) should have 5 times Infx3, AT, (Art/Eng) and it's HQ will be HQ, Infx2, TD. My whole setup, is thus built on giving the Infantry the means to do a maximum of damage to enemy Armour, and TD's are really a lot cheaper than building more armour to counter small threats along the front. Wait until the start of the Winter War, or around that time, and you will be seeing massive parallel Infantry builds gradually replacing most of my current IC builds. (we will have to see about the officers then...)
I'm actually slightly worried about the safety of my CVL's as they have a low speed (18), and the Germans have faster BC's, and CA's, this means that I would need more and/or faster Destroyers than the Germans to keep the Cruisers away from the CVL's. Alternatively I could use a combined fleet with 2xCVL, 2xBB, 8-10xDD in the Baltic, this would safeguard my CVL's, even against a faster fleet, unless it has more firepower than 2 CAG's and two WW1 BB's combined, of course. Who knows,maybe the Germans build the Graf Zeppelin, and you might get what you wanted... I'd like to see that too...
Another strategic issue I will talk about in a future update, is access to the ocean. If Germany captures Denmark (very likely), I will have no way to get my ships out of the Baltic (It's ok, until the Germans have no navy left (combined hammering from RN, and Soviet Navy), and then they are just useless pieces of metal for a while), if Turkey joins the Axis, my ships are stuck in the Black Sea (even worse), and basing my primitive Carrier fleets out of Vladivostok seems like suicide in case the Japs go to war with me early on. I'm actually considering a pre-emptive strike on Turkey (they are not leaning towards the Comintern, unlike your Turkey) just after, or during the Finnish Winter War, just for this reason. I had planned not to go on a full on rampage during 1939-1940 (Sweden, Norway, Balkans, Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan,...), because that would be too gamey, as in real life that would have dragged the Allies and/or the axis into the war, but I think I could Justify Turkey, or maybe Persia to gain direct sea access.
As I'm going to use mostly AG level AI command for Barbarossa, that might be an interesting proposition. I hadn't thought of doing that, but overlapping AG's for Attack, and for second line defence, I'll think about it, just wondering how the AI would handle those, because if it just throws it's units at the front, putting single divisions on the defence objectives (and in the process screwing up the command range), I think it wouldn't really be woth it... I was actually thinking of putting some Infantry corps into strategic locations in depth, putting them under two AG's with no orders at all (STAY PUT), and then progressively adding these corps to the AI AG's once the front gets close to each strategic location. The committee still has time to decide, so we'll see...