West German considerations

[donscott]

I recently created a campaign using West German troops in the late 1960’s. I chose both the Spz 11-2 Scout and the Spz 12-3 LGS. Both vehicles had a carry capacity of 103. When I tried to load a scout section of 4 men on them, they weren’t big enough and only had a carry capacity of 3. What is the relationship between the carry capacity of 103 and 3? I also found that the H-21 is considered a heavy lift helicopter, the H-34 (S-58) is not. I worked around both helicopters and they were both powered by the same engine but the H-34 developed a hundred more horsepower than the H-21 and the H-21 weighed a thousand pounds more. There was increased efficiency with the twin rotors but there were also two more power robbing transmissions in the H-21. The H-34 was a powerful aircraft, even more than the UH-1D.

[DRG]

103 indicates a unit can carry men and guns/mortars up to a load limit of 3 so you cannot load 4 men into something that only has a 3 capacity. The Light support SPz 11-2 has a 104 capacity so can carry a 4 man scout team and that is what the SPz Recon Sec uses along with scout teams but the SPz 11-2 Scout has a capacity of 103 as it's just used by mech Recon and has a turret which restricts it's carry capacity

The SPz 12-3 LGS is used by the SPz RCL Sec and is not meant to carry scouts but the SPz 12-3 as an APC without the RCL CAN carry a scout team as it has a 6 carry capacity

[DRG]

As for "heavy lift helicopter" sometimes we have to use different unit classes and the main heading for that unit class may not quite fit the description of every unit and sometimes has more to do with carry capacity. The H21 carries more than a S58 so it was put into the hvy class. We needed a Hvy chopper for early part of that Hvy helo formation and the H-21 was it

[Mobhack]

The 1XX load capacity means it can carry a gun or mortar team up to XX crew in size. 103 would be a very small team - like a single 60mm mortar, say. Most Jeeps are 106, as the HQ team is 6, and allows an 81mm mortar team (usually) - maybe not a mortar section (8 crew + mortar = 108 load cost).

2XX is the load indicator for vehicles of weight up to XX, in load units (vehicle weight) or men. 2XX is usually seen in landing barges.

The variable is a byte. An unsigned byte is 0-255, so a transport (say a Hercules) which carries vehicles would be say 240 or so to allow a Sheridan to be kicked out the back door, but not M1s, but only would carry 40 paratroopers. So some OOBs have a "vehicle" Hercules with 2XX, and a "people dropper" version with 180 or so carry capacity, which will allow more (80) paras or mortars etc to be dropped than the 40 of the vehicle dropper. So if there are 2 versions offered, ensure you have the correct one for your use case.

A unit with 0XX (0 not shown) will only be able to pick up people, not what the game classes as guns, ie howitzers, mortars, ATG.

(On the purchase screen, a * is added to the name of guns which require a 1XX load factor. Heavier guns used to be ** but AFAIR, we rationalised on one * for all guns.)

The load cost calculation is non-intuitive, but once you have it in your head it makes sense.

[donscott]

Y'all are geniuses, keep it up.