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[veneficus]

Hello all,

I finally got some time over the holiday to get in a few battles of this great game.
I have been through the search engine of previous posts, could not find an answer to a recent observation. I have played this great game from the original SPI to the current. But leaders used to get promoted. Do they still get promoted? If so what do they have to do? (apart from survive)

Thanks again for many fun hours.

[PanzerBob]

Yes,Veneficus they do, in campaigns anyway. Experiance seems to be the primary reason besides survival.

Prosit!

[Mobhack]

veneficus said:
Hello all,

I finally got some time over the holiday to get in a few battles of this great game.
I have been through the search engine of previous posts, could not find an answer to a recent observation. I have played this great game from the original SPI to the current. But leaders used to get promoted. Do they still get promoted? If so what do they have to do? (apart from survive)

Thanks again for many fun hours.

1) Survive several battles, without taking much damage (or getting killed!). Getting damaged reduces chance to progress, getting killed (total kill, not crew survived if a vehicle or gun etc) usually results in a replacement with the current base level experience.

2) If a leader dies, and there are other units in the formation, leadership will pass to another candidate - so the "0" unit in a formation is not necessarily the leader, once the formation has been butchered a few times.

3) It's easier to gain experience at lower levels, higher experience levels are more difficult to reach. So take care of any elites!.

4) Shooting at an enemy is good for experience gain, ditto kills - the first 5 kills are the most significant. Some folks will pick up units who do not generally fight (FOO teams, the A0 etc) in say APCS, and pick off routed crews etc in the end-game to help them along to the 5 initial kills - but this can backfire if you trip over enemy with some fight left in them!.

5) Using a skill helps to progress it - an arty FOO or the HQ that calls more arty missions will tend to get better faster than one which does not, or a platoon HQ who only called once. A formation leader whose formation has fought a lot will have had more opportunities to "coach" nearby subordinates, and so his inf, etc command will tend to go up.

Happy New Year!
Andy

[veneficus]

Thanks for the fast response. I was wondering more about the AO unit, basically is it stuck at lt colonel for life?

Also with company commanders, I do like to see some majors, but one was killed and replaced with a captain. especially in the armor group where in many years I very rarely see a major. Granted I usually play as the germans, whih I understand give more responsibility to lower ranking officers than in the US.

in unrelated topic as well, does anyone else have to have ammo carriers trail around their armor in jan of 42?

(can't just get him killed)

[Mobhack]

The A0 represents you, and if it gets killed, the campaign is over.

I am not sure if it ever goes up in "grade" (it can be promoted in the scenario editor, but there is no real reason to do so, other than "chrome").

The A0 is a headquarters unit class - which is a sort-of artillery observer, better than a normal HQ, but less than a proper FOO.

Although it can provide another source of rallying or coaching of units firing than the platoon and company HQs, to do so puts it up front and in danger. I simply leave mine as the rear HQ link at the rear.

In SP1 you only had 24 core units, and 48 units maximum as I recall. Therefore there was some justification for changing A0 to a combat type and getting stuck into action, accepting the risk. But since we allow 200 or so core units and 1000 max now, not so any longer.

The WW2 Germans have AFV with deep enough pockets (E.G panzer 3 have 15 sabot each), that ammo units are not really needed in the front line - I only ever use them to supply the mortars and SiGs (esp the latter). However - I usually use a company of mediums, either whole or split with 1 platoon to support each marching rifle coy of the 3 I usually buy as a batallion. If you use a tiny core of 2-4 mediums, then there just may be need to have an ammo truck nearby?.

Cheers
Andy

[evan]

Ammo carriers are also real good for getting added value out of rocket batteries as well; at least until some woe begotten enemy FOO realises where they are and gets the ammo carrier and a couple of launchers in one almighty explosion. (artillery hitting ammo carriers is always ... messy).

Oh well it worked nicely for a while.

[veneficus]

the holiday is over, but i am still trying to get some play time.

I have found placing on board arty units at max incontact range from the unit leader and using a mobile ammo vehicle will solve the problem of the almighty counterbattery landing on the ammo problem. Since the new ammo carriers no longer refil all units simultaneously, it doesn't really slow down loading but adds safety.I am a much bigger fan of mobile arty.

[Cameronius]

veneficus said:
Thanks for the fast response. I was wondering more about the AO unit, basically is it stuck at lt colonel for life?

Also with company commanders, I do like to see some majors, but one was killed and replaced with a captain. especially in the armor group where in many years I very rarely see a major. Granted I usually play as the germans, whih I understand give more responsibility to lower ranking officers than in the US.

This may be of some interest to you. I have had a long Campaign as the Germans going for a few years now. My force started as a Panzer heavy, regiment sized force starting in Sept '39. The game date is currently Dec '43 and scenario count is around 120. The current rank of my AO is General, he was promoted twice. My Company Commanders are all Majors with the exception of the Panzer Company Commander who is still only a Hauptman(I find this very odd bc this is the original commander of this company and at 200+ kills has the highest kill total of any unit in my force.) Also a great number of the Platoon commanders have been promoted to the ranks of Hauptman and even Major. So my Panzer Company has some Majors as platoon commanders with a Hauptman as their superior. Needless to say a great number of my units are elite. I have a a lot of fun inventing scenarios that put may force at a disadvantage then fighting my way out of it.

[PanzerBob]

Viva the Long Campaign

Interesting Regiment you have there.