Thought about infrastructure in USSR regarding Germany

[Riekopo]

The infrastructure/supply/logistics system in the game really hasn't changed since launch and is pretty simplistic currently. When in real life it was a really huge deal and maybe the main reason the Germans couldn't defeat the USSR. I hope the Devs look at games like Unity of Command 2, Decisive Campaigns series, Gary Grigsby series, etc for ideas on logistics.

But in the meantime I think there's something that should maybe be added. One of the main problems the Germans faced when invading the USSR was that they couldn't use their railways until they were converted to the German rail gauge. They literally had to alter every inch of rail before it could be used I think. It was a different width or something.

I think the Germans had a million+ people working on that rail conversion behind the frontlines. I'm guessing it really made supplying the frontline difficult and slowed things down a lot. Though I don't know the details.

But it seems to me like maybe the Germans should not get the full benefit of the Soviet infrastructure until they dedicate factories to 'convert' it. Like if the German player conquers an area, and the infrastructure level there is 8 then for the Germans maybe it should be level 4 until they dedicate factories and time to convert it. Not all the infrastructure is railway so that's why I say only 4 needs to be converted.

 

[billcorr]

One of the main problems the Germans faced when invading the USSR was that they couldn't use their railways until they were converted to the German rail gauge. They literally had to alter every inch of rail before it could be used I think. It was a different width or something.

Good point.

I believe it was @Alex_brunius who came up with the following idea to implement the effect of different rail gauges.

In his team's mod, the infrastructure in the Eastern Front takes extra damage when conquered.


The extra +1d4 damage (or something like that) represents the guage differences. The extra damage results in a longer time needed to repair that province's infrastructure.

Like if the German player conquers an area, and the infrastructure level there is 8 then for the Germans maybe it should be level 4 until they dedicate factories and time to convert it. Not all the infrastructure is railway so that's why I say only 4 needs to be converted.

This works, too.

Both are similar approaches.

 

[Zauberelefant]

It should be noted that the soviets then faced the same issue in the other direction, so this should be a terrain feature.
Also, spain has different rail gauge as well. So this would apply there, too.

 

[Harin]

The infrastructure/supply/logistics system in the game really hasn't changed since launch and is pretty simplistic currently. When in real life it was a really huge deal and maybe the main reason the Germans couldn't defeat the USSR. I hope the Devs look at games like Unity of Command 2, Decisive Campaigns series, Gary Grigsby series, etc for ideas on logistics.

But in the meantime I think there's something that should maybe be added. One of the main problems the Germans faced when invading the USSR was that they couldn't use their railways until they were converted to the German rail gauge. They literally had to alter every inch of rail before it could be used I think. It was a different width or something.

I think the Germans had a million+ people working on that rail conversion behind the frontlines. I'm guessing it really made supplying the frontline difficult and slowed things down a lot. Though I don't know the details.

But it seems to me like maybe the Germans should not get the full benefit of the Soviet infrastructure until they dedicate factories to 'convert' it. Like if the German player conquers an area, and the infrastructure level there is 8 then for the Germans maybe it should be level 4 until they dedicate factories and time to convert it. Not all the infrastructure is railway so that's why I say only 4 needs to be converted.

I like it. The first year of the invasion space, logistics, and weather most likely slowed down the Germans just as much, or more, than the Russian military.

 

[Fulmen]

It's worth mentioning here that Finland to this date uses predominantly 1,524mm, the same gauge the Russians used at the time.

A bit of trivia for you: Until the US standardised its rail gauge to 1,435mm in the 1880s, the Southern States used 1,524mm. Meanwhile back in 1842-1851 the Russians were building the St.Petersburg-Moscow railway, for which they needed Western expertise. Enter: American engineer George Whistler. He was from Dixie you see, and he brought the Russians the 1,524mm gauge.

In the 1950s the Russians standardised the measurements behind the gauge into metric, which resulted in their current gauge, 1,520mm, though I'm sure a lot of 1,524mm track remains in the ground. I'm no railway expert, but I imagine the 4mm difference leaves the two systems quite compatible.