Superior firepower doctrine

[TheRomanRuler]

Not sure this is correct, tho.

How so? French had far more trucks than Germans, far more tanks than Germans and like i said 30 years of unrestricted time to prepare, while Germans only had few years openly, what Germans did in secret could never match what French could do openly.

 

[Bronterre]

As far as I can see the different doctrines can be summed up as:

Mobility: we shall move and react so fast that we can have overwhelming strength at any location quickly and thus take our enemy piecemeal.

Grand plan: we will crush them with well planned set piece battles where our side has prepared for any eventuality.

Superior firepower: we shall crush you with our industrial might, you might be better with your artillery or better at mobility then us but we have more then you.

Mass mobilisation: we will fight you wide and deep and use our numbers to offset our individual weakness, your strongest units might win every battle they fight but they cannot be everywhere, win the war not the battle.

 

[Oerdin]

I agree superior firepower would be a good choice for the UK as it has a lot of resources and industry but relatively less manpower compared to the other great powers. In the last HOI I mostly had the UK spam 2xInf with 2xArt just so it could pump out a lot of units before the war and man all parts of the empire effectively.

That worked surprisingly well for not a lot of cost especially if you kept your doctrines up, it meant your supply lines didn't get too stressed in low TC areas, plus it left IC ebough to spam convoys, to build up the royal navy, and even build up the RAF a bit.

Later in the war I switched to producing tanks, motorized, planes, marine units, and the odd screening ship. That seemed to be a good combo.

 

[Sleight of Hand]

I agree superior firepower would be a good choice for the UK as it has a lot of resources and industry but relatively less manpower compared to the other great powers.

The UK (which in this instance, includes the Empire/Commonwealth) was certainly not lacking in manpower, it was simply that there were no harsh conscription policies in place, and in general her manpower losses throughout the War were very light. Most of the casualties (both military and civilian) were obviously sustained by Russia and Germany on the Eastern Front.

The Indian Army mobilized something like 2.5 million men by 1945, so across the globe the British Empire's forces dwarfed those of any other Allied participant, it's just that they were not all deployed in the same part of the world at the same time. In terms of pure manpower, only the Soviets achieved a better result.

 

[Denkt]

It seems almost like a necessity to have combat artillery with large fat divisions with lots of special companies if you are going down the Firepower doctrine. For the US for example, it would be better to just continue production of old artillery equipment and equip more divisions instead of switching to the cutting edge and losing that (big) efficiency bonus which multiplies the US's industrial advantage.

You don't lose that much efficiency if you make a switch to a similar equipment such as from artillery I to artillery II. The main reason you would not build more advanced equipment is probably due to not researching more advanced equipment which is definitely a possibility but if you use superior firepower it is likely that you would want to research artillery techs but you maybe won't research infantry tech as infantry may play as smal role for superior firepower.

 

[Gort11]

I don't think you'll ever neglect infantry tech, they're just too damn numerous in the line-up for every combatant.

Paradox have to be careful not to overpower infantry tech for this reason - it just makes too much sense to research a tech that will improve 200 infantry divisions than one that will improve 10 tank divisions.

 

[Denkt]

I don't think you'll ever neglect infantry tech, they're just too damn numerous in the line-up for every combatant.

I would not be that sure. If you use infantry mostly to hold the line you don't need that great equipment or tech. Having good tanks, artillery and airforce may be more important.

For USA infantry equipment maybe use up less then 10-5% of their industry while medium tanks take up for example 20-25% and aircrafts even more.

 

[Gort11]

Looks like they showed off the whole tree in the World War Tuesday today. Someone go update the wiki.

 

[1337JiveTurkey]

To my understanding, superior firepower doctrine isn't just battering an opponent senselessly. It's really about what sort of firepower is available at various levels of the command structure, and with America the emphasis is on lightweight squads that can be reinforced with assets provided at the company and battalion level. This is in the direct form of LMGs, HMGs and antitank weapons and indirectly in 60 and 81 mm mortars. Ideally tank destroyers are attached at a low level to bulk up the relatively weak antitank assets otherwise available.

If those prove inadequate, American doctrine emphasizes quick communications to bring on the hurt faster than anybody else and logistical efficiency to ensure that commanders aren't shy in using it when necessary. Even if the terrain restricts your force's maneuverability, artillery shells go just as fast. They can assist a breakthrough or blunt an enemy's attack, buying time for reinforcements to arrive or covering a retreat.

The fact that it's different from the Germans doesn't make it "WWI era" because the best counter to Blitzkrieg isn't necessarily more Blitzkrieg. Outside of the relatively small number of armored and mechanized units, over 80% of Germany's forces were plain old infantry. They're equipped to defeat tanks but highly vulnerable to artillery when not dug in or holed up in buildings and even that can't resist concentrated fire for long. American artillery can force a gap at any point in the line and every mechanized, motorized or armored unit (pretty much everybody) can exploit it immediately, putting extra strain on the opponent to fill it quickly before American tank destroyers show up.