Q: AA and infrastructure?

[unmerged(31641)]

I couldn't find this in the faq anywhere. Apologize for my newness.

*1* How do AA-guns work? Not brigades, but the ones you build in provinces. Is flak power simply equivalent of an attack value and the number of guns equivalent to #brigades? Are AA batteries the same against fighters and bombers? Does AA work if there are no units? Can AA attack aircraft passing over the province?

what I really want to know is: do X AA-batteries give better protection than Y AA-infantery (does anyone have the formula)?

*2* Infrastructure: Troops move faster - how much? Proportional, or is infrastruct just a 'max cap' for speed? Too low infrastructure drains unit strength - how much and after how long? Description of motorized inf hints that it depends on high infrastruct for max efficiency - is this just speed or something more?

what I really want to know is: is it ever worth it to spend a year to improve infrastructure? (since I can strategically redeploy instead of moving armies across Siberia)

*3* General combat: anyone know the algorithms? Relative importance of number advantage vs organization vs stats vs bonuses... (is +2 defence better than +5% org; should I attack in one wave or multiple?)

any insight is appreciated.

 

[Friedericus Rex]

1. Provincial AA only attacks planes that fly over, there is no actual combat. The AA level and your tech level determine how many strenght points these planes will lose.

2. Troops move faster in higher infra provinces, but I don't know by what factor. Mot Inf depends on high infra provinces because its purpose is to get places fast, however its no factor in actual combat. In provinces with infra lower than 34 and with no direct link to your capital your units will suffer attrition and slowly wither away.

The only reason improving infra could be useful IMO, is if you want to put troops in a province with less than 34 infra, after all upgrading always costs the same whether its IC, forts or infra.

3. Organisation actually presents the moral of your troops, if the average org level of your troops drops below 10 they will retreat, other than that it has no effect.

 

[unmerged(8319)]

In fact it is a bit more complicated than that, but that's how this game is: it has depth.

@1) the tech level of your enemys planes also matters (ground defense value). How damage is actually calculated is a long and very abstract explanation. Math Guy once dug into it so you may be able to find that long explanation if you really want to (or perhaps just look at it this way: the more AA you build, the more damage the nemey planes get. Great).

@2) a second reason to increase infrastructure level is to be able to move your troops faster around. Eg. to be able to hurry a mobile reserve to a critical point in your lines.

@3) organisation also expresses how long time your units can fight. Putting it simply, it will be of little use to you if your armies have topdrawer weapons if they will only hang around to fire them for 2 minutes. Therefore, high organisation matters.

 

[Mediator]

I couldn't find this in the faq anywhere. Apologize for my newness.

*1* How do AA-guns work? Not brigades, but the ones you build in provinces. Is flak power simply equivalent of an attack value and the number of guns equivalent to #brigades? Are AA batteries the same against fighters and bombers? Does AA work if there are no units? Can AA attack aircraft passing over the province?

what I really want to know is: do X AA-batteries give better protection than Y AA-infantery (does anyone have the formula)?

*2* Infrastructure: Troops move faster - how much? Proportional, or is infrastruct just a 'max cap' for speed? Too low infrastructure drains unit strength - how much and after how long? Description of motorized inf hints that it depends on high infrastruct for max efficiency - is this just speed or something more?

what I really want to know is: is it ever worth it to spend a year to improve infrastructure? (since I can strategically redeploy instead of moving armies across Siberia)

*3* General combat: anyone know the algorithms? Relative importance of number advantage vs organization vs stats vs bonuses... (is +2 defence better than +5% org; should I attack in one wave or multiple?)

any insight is appreciated.

@1
Have a look in this thread, it should answer your questions. The thing which has changed in the most recent patches is, that you can't reach the 1,75 efficiency for provincial AA anymore.

Unit AA will only attack aircrafts that attack the unit. Province AA attack all enemy aircraft passing over it and attacking into it (and also your own aircraft giving defensive air support which is a bug, at least I hope it is a bug).

I strongly believe, that provincial AA is more effective than unit AA (even though it has been nerfed in the latest patch), however a stack of light tanks with AA brigade might make a good tactical AA defense now that it is a bit tricky to get air superiority due to air unit stacking rules in 1.06c patch.

@2
Infrastructure is one of the factors determining unit speed (the other being terrain, weather, ownership of the province you enter, crossing a river, the base speed of the unit, minister effects, etc.).
There are some cases when you want to have a higher infrastructure:
- Infra is below 33 and you don't have a direct connection with your capital; meaning your units will suffer strength loss in such a province.
- For Germany in the defense of France (mostly a MP issue though), you can't cover all beaches with sufficient troops, so have have a mobile Firebrigade which needs to reach the attacked beaches as quick as possible to throw the Allies back into the Atlantic.

@3
You can find the answers in the following threads:

here

here

and here

 

[unmerged(31641)]

Great. Thanks, guys. the statistical discussions were actually what I wanted.
(yup, a nerd).

sum up my impressions:
Province AA is good,
infrastructure is really only needed if you want a mobile defense,
defense value higher than opponent's attack value is wasted (but attack value higher than opponents defense is super efficient). Org is always good, but affects how often and how long you can fight, not the chances of killing your opponent [?] (in victoria terms, HoI org = Vic morale, Vic org = 100%).

 

[Mediator]

Province AA is good,

Even more so when you can build it in occupied or annexed territory since it will cost 1/5 or 1/3 of what it costs in your core provinces (due to IC reduction for those provinces 0,20/0,33).

 

[unmerged(31641)]

follow-up question after reading the MathGuy-threads:

is the "ground defence efficiency" corrected in the latest version (platinium/CORE/latest patch), or should I go in and change the sign manually (as decribed somewhere in the last thread)?

[I sincerely believe that a good signalling corps and coordinated movements should make defense harder for the enemy, not for your own troops].

 

[Mediator]

The ground defense efficiency bug has been resolved. The 3 techs now give you +5% each for a total of 80%+15%=95%.