Question: Newbie with some questions...

[dimovski]

Hi! I bought winSPWW2 and MBT just recently, enjoying the game a lot! However, I have some questions:

1)Is a batallion the biggest unit avaiable? I would like to create a Panzer-Brigade, and it would be perfect if the chain of command could go Brigade>Abteilung>Company>Platoon>Unit - I guess it's completely cosmetic and irrelevant, but I just had to ask if it's possible

2)Is Oberstleutnant the highest german rank available? I ask because I've put nearly 170 units onto the map, all core forces, and the commander was still Oberstleutnant. (Yes, I know there is a rank file and that it goes up to general, however, I haven't seen the higher ranks being used at all)

3)Is 1000 units the hardcap for a specific OOB, and does that mean it is impossible to have other units in the core forces? I sadly used up nearly all of the space available with T-28 and KV conversions for germany - especially nasty if every version (standard, with cupolas + L/43, and later + L/48, or even 8.8 L/56 in the KV-2s case) needs its own slot.

4)Not game related (Sorry!): Does anyone know what happened to the 3 Porsche Typ 180 VK 45.02 Tiger P2 hulls which Krupp sent to Nibelungenwerke? Are there any pictures of them available? Were they the frontal-turret, rear-engine configuration or was it the other way around? I'd like to add those to the german OOB, would add a lot of flavour for me to have those prototypes - especially as a Porsche tank fan

5)Is it normal that long campaigns are made exclusively out of Meeting Engagements? Forgive me for the "exclusively" part, but it's the 4th game of the campaign and the Poles still aren't "defending" (200 games campaign tho)

EDIT: 6) Is it possible to edit the save-game? I would like to later have my company commander be commander of the Stabskompanie of the Panzerabteilung, and have his exp, stats and kills carry over.

Thx for reading. I hope I didn't repeat any questions asked before, I tried searching and couldn't find any answers.

[scorpio_rocks]

1) Yes - there is no "higher" command. HQ (battalion) - Company - Platoon - Unit.
2) Your HQ unit may get promoted in a long campaign. Composition, or numbers, of force makes no difference.
3) Yes.
4) - (no idea sorry)
5) The game sets the AI forces relative to your own - If you have a high point total core force then it may be impossible for the AI to have a large enough force to attack or assault with. IIRC an Assaulting AI force is at a 2.5:1 ratio to your forces. For this reason it is best to keep your core force at less than 25,000 pts so that the AI doesnt hit the 64,000(ish) cap.

[Mobhack]

1) The HQ is the HQ. If you have bought a BN, it is a BN HQ, if you have 2+ BNs, its doing the job of a brigade HQ.

The HQ mainly represents you, and if you lose it then it tends to be curtains for the campaign, so its main job is to hide somewhere in the rear and act as a radio link to the off-map arty and possibly call for fires.

Its job is not to get into combat ever - so converting it into a little scout car and charging into a cat fight is inadvisable.

There is no real command structure above coy HQ - remember that the original SP had 24 core units max, 48 including supports. (So outdated SP1 guides will recommend you fight with the HQ, and convert it to something warry, since the additional unit did then make sense).

In this game - converting it from an HQ unit class to something else loses the semi-AOP bonus it has.

2) The rank is simply a link in the data. An HQ element ranked colonel will be no different from a general. Scenario designers can change the rank in the editor for flavour.

The HQ is the HQ - and it exists for the other side to "sack the quarterback" as the American version of Rugby has it. (VPs for him, bad consequences for morale, bad consequences for off-map arty availability while the game still lasts).

The HQ element might be able to rally units nearby, as the company and lower ones do. But do you really want to risk it in say a falling barrage?.

Don't worry about it, place it in cover in the rear away from stuff that attracts fire (ie on map arty and FLAK). Don't move it round in a jeep or other such that may attract an enemy plane to strafe it, or eat shells in an unexpected barrage. "Hide with pride" yours somewhere safe. Then go hunt his one...

3) Yes.

4) no idea.

5) Your first couple of battles in a LC will tend to be meeting engagements. But you will soon see the other types.

cheers
Andy

[dimovski]

Thx for the quick replies guys!
However, 6) is still unanswered... I tried looking into the save with notepad and it didn't work out... maybe because it's a save during a battle? Or would I need another program to edit it? If it's even possible.