Several Moscow 42 Questions

[Strela]

Thanks.

I forgot about the organic AT guns. I had sort of expected those to be horsedrawn.

In WitE, 1941 Katyusha battalions (in the Western sense) have 12 Katyusha's, 3 batteries of 4 launchers each. Maybe that's their mid-late war TOE, however. I guess their low rate of fire/long reload time is abstracted by them having to setup after moving and perhaps in modified soft attack values. Unless I'm missing it, there doesn't seem to be a directly ROF-related value.

Aside from that, the only other peculiar things I noticed were that the German 86th ID is supposed to release on the 7th whilst it's actually active from turn 1 (a good thing, in my opinion) and that 2nd GCC is fixed on the same turn that 16th Army is released. I'm not entirely sure, but I'm guessing that could theoretically mean the 16th Army release overwrites the fix order (the release of the entirety of 16th Army is listed after the fix order for 2nd GCC in the Releases list), so maybe the fixing of 2nd GCC could happen 1 turn later.

There are also some "release through being spotted" units around Tula and northeast of there, which now activate 2 turns early (for the Germans) to 7 turns early (for the Soviets). The same applies to units of 16 Army, all of which are spotted by AT companies or other units that can't move out of their spotting range on turn 1 due to lack of MP's or being Fixed, which means they're spotted when the visibility increases to 2km.

The units:

-the Panzerjaeger company in 387, 104 (the elevation covers it in part, but it might be spotted by 1/26 GRR).
-the Panzerjaeger company in 392, 102 (pretty much doomed by default and even though it could normally move northeast along the road to avoid spotting the Guards, if the 28th SMG company moves up, it can't).
-the Panzerjaeger company in 356, 133.
-the Panzerjaeger company in 347, 137.
-9./III/Schuetzen GD in 438, 301.
-3.Krad Btl 3 in 439, 292 and the units in 437, 291 that are spotted by the Soviet unit in 437, 292, which could be moved south or southwest 1 hex to prevent it (not entirely sure if the Soviet unit south of the unit in 439, 292 can spot it, the elevation might prevent it).
-the units in 434, 290.
-the units in 427, 286.
-the units in 425, 284.
-1./Krad BtL 34 in 427, 282.
-the units in 429, 281.
-the units in 501, 272.
-the units in 504, 272.

The other units within 2 hex range can either be moved back or can't be spotted due to terrain. If you feel units activating early is a problem, you could consider increasing the distance between fixed units (in the south) or moving the units that can't move out of their hex on turn 1 back a bit.

Hi ComradeP,

Think I needed you on the play test team

Firstly the 8 vehicle strength for the katuysha battalions is taken directly from Glantz's Colossus Reborn :

The NKO disbanded nine of the 14 rocket regiments in November and December 1941 and formed 28 separate Guards-Mortar battalions with two batteries (4 launchers each) each in their stead, further reducing their combat effectiveness. Page 308.

The release of 86 Infanterie Division is an artiface from the original test scenario (#1206_03 Klin-Solnechnogorsk Front Offensive), where half the division is locked down. I will correct this.

For 2nd Guards Cav Corp, this is a shortcut. Essentially the script releases all 16th Army & then locks 2nd Guards Cav Corp (which is a subordinate unit of 16th Army) to be released later on Dec 11th. It was easier to do the above than release each of 16th Army's formations individually.

As far as units in visual range when the visibility lifts to 2, I am not too concerned about it. There is a possibility of visibility going to 3 that would cause even more unlocks. I view this as local skirmishes/actions rather than full fledged offensive actions. If people feel it is an issue, I suggest they can adjust in the editor. If the concern is that AT guns etc are left in precarious positions then my response is that the Germans had been advancing up to this point and were blissfuly unaware of the coming Soviet offensive. It was only in the south that the Germans were preparing to retreat, in the north they were still trying to push forward and hence had a lot of equipment forward.

---

Strange. In my DF85 OOB Editor it is possible to declare a minimum range for an artillery unit by using "/" (thus "9/3" means a maximum range of 9 and a minimum of 3). Or is the minimum range for a nebelwerfer less than a kilometer?

Well you just taught me something. I can confirm this works as advertised in Panzer Campaigns. I will check with Ed on what the implications are if we adjust the values accordingly.

More to follow.

PS. I do appreciate all the feedback!

David