Some questions regarding the General / Field Marshal system

[Number 7]

hey there, wanted to get a few things clear. So basically, land is split between Generals (max 12 divisions) and Field Marshals (unlimited divisions).

Field marshals give a lot less bonuses, and lose all their general traits and their skill when promoted to the position, and i assume gaining skill is done very very slowly (like a theatre or army group command in HOI3). While generals start more skilled, gain skill faster, and have a wider array of traits? (More like a corps commander in hoi3 terms?)

so correct me if i make a wrong assumption here, i want to make sure i understand properly

lets say i have two high skill generals, Rommel and Guderian to pick two classic well known generals. i have a single front against an enemy nation. i promote rommel to field marshal for fanboy reasons and he loses his skill and traits, but can command the entire front with no penalty.

i then give command of 12 motorised and panzer divisions to guderian, and assign him a much much smaller battle plan which is essentially a breakthrough order, drawing a straight line right through the enemy meant to break through and follow the plains with tanks and motorised and just punch a hole and encircle the enemy. because hes only a general, he has higher skill and is giving traits like "panzer leader" and such so me giving this order to him as a separate part of a plan is effectively much better than making rommel manage it all? (as he lost traits and skill previously)

assuming that is correct, i also have a question

1) why promote anyone to field marshal, as it seems sad to lose so many traits and skill, at least if you want to be a fan boy like me and reassign guderian or rommel to full field marshal. Or any of the great generals who dont start as field marshal

2) are there higher level traits that only field marshals can access?

 

[Denkt]

There are field marshal traits
http://www.hoi4wiki.com/Commander

Generals are mostly for special missions such as armored breakthrough, paradropping, fighting in the mountains and so on while field marshalls command the bulk of the forces. You may wan't to keep Rommel and Guderian as generals as they start with many traits which would be lost if you promote and you have better field marshals then Rommel and Guderian would start as if you promote them.

 

[gamedude]

Here is the basic difference of Field Marshall's and Generals.
Generals do the war while Field Marshall controls your army. A more explanation is that ONLY Generals have traits that give combat bonus or Old Guard trait. While Field Marshall gain traits that affects your whole army as a group. Read link for what the traits give.

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...evelopment-diary-22nd-of-january-2016.903595/

 

[kviiri]

Field Marshal traits are pretty awesome too, and a lot more generally (heh) useful than the more specialized General traits. They're probably better for large, diverse armies while generals tend to be better at more specific combat operations.

 

[potski]

why promote anyone to field marshal, as it seems sad to lose so many traits and skill

Your army gets bigger and bigger. Then you have to make some choices. If you have to generate some random dude General because you prefer to manage battle plans with lots of small armies (3-12 Divs) it costs PP and he will have low skills.

BTW you probably start as a major with some pretty good FMs, and they can have skill levels and traits higher than many of your Generals. It's not true that FMs are a poor option. So for a long time you can balance your armies using a mix of the starting Generals and FMs.

 

[Denkt]

Maybe generals improve their skill level way faster then field marshals. So then your general start reaching skill 10 or so you may wan't to promote some to replace your starting FMs who may yet be at skill 7.

 

[LordOfWar16]

It should also be noted that you start with limited amount of generals in the first place, where germany is one of the few nations with the luxury of having alot already availabel at the start. Promoting (creating) new generals costs political power, which will scale with the number of generals you have.

In my oppinion it is always the best idea to have one or two big battleplans with fieldmarshals and several small specialised task forces, like an armored spearhead for example, or mountaineers in mountainous areas etc. Generals get traits that are usefull in the area they fight in, obviously.

• Trickster: Divisions get +25% better recon.
• Winter Specialist: Divisions takes 50% less attrition during Winter.
• Engineer: Divisions have +10% Attack when crossing a river.
• Fortress Buster: Divisions have +20% Attack when attacking a fort.
• Panzer Leader: Armored Divisons move 5% faster, and have +10% in attack.
• Commando: Divisions Out of Supply is impact at 50%
• Desert Fox: Divisions move 5% faster in desert terrain, and fight 10% better.
• Swamp Fox: Divisions move 5% faster in marsh terrain, and fight 10% better.
• Mountaineer: Divisions move 5% faster in mountain terrain, and fight 10% better.
• Hill Fighter: Divisions move 5% faster in hill terrain, and fight 10% better.
• Jungle Rat: Divisions move 5% faster in jungle terrain, and fight 10% better.
• Ranger: Divisions move 5% faster in forest terrain, and fight 10% better.
• Urban Assault: Divisions move 5% faster in urban terrain, and fight 10% better.
• Naval Invader: Divisions prepare 30% faster for naval invasions, and perform them 30% faster

Field Marshals however, are specially usefull if you have alot of fronts at the same time, like germany for example in 1944 most likely has. Field marshals gain traits that are very usefull on the whole army scale, rather than situational ones that help with specific tasks, like reduced supply consumption or higher morale for example.

• Logistics Wizard: Divisions have 20% less supply consumption
• Offensive Doctrine: Divisions have 10% less Combat Width.
• Defensive Doctrine: Divisions can get 30% higher entrenchment.
• Fast Planner: Divisions Plan 10% faster.
• Throrough Planner: Divisions can get 50% higher maximum planning bonus.
• Organisational commander: Divisions have +2% Hourly Reinforce Chance
• Inspirational commander: Divisons have 10% Higher Morale

The only shared trait, both generals and marshals can get is the Old Guard trait, which you definatly dont want, since it reduces your experience gain by 25%, but it will stay if you promote those generals.