Depleted OOBs

[Marek_Tucan]

Yup, it'd be nice if game egine was able to make say random downgrades of no. of men in infantry units (say 100-50% scale)...

As for understrength units, I recall reading commentary of some German officer whose battalion shrank to ca. 50 men and 15 MG-34's - he said that retainin the machineguns was critical as they were main firepower - even more important as the no. of riflemen did shring down - and that they were able to conduct defense in this numbers on Bn-sized frontline, but it was almost impossible to gather enough force for even local counterattacks in case of breakthrough.

[narwan]

Yes, you could make a depleted company either by reducing the number of units in it (down to two platoons for example) or by keeping the full structure but reducing the number of men in each squad (and maybe eliminating some specialist teams). You could combine that with a reduction in the available weapons within a unit.
There is off course the editor to tweak stuff, but for PBEM games it would be a nice addition to have something like 'depleted companies' in the OB's. Who knows, someday....

[PatG]

Gentlemen,
thank you for the input. My next task is to investigate the radio rarity codes to get some real variation. My plan is start by copying the German OOB into an alternate Blue OOB. From here I will make the changes. PBEM or other players can then copy in the custom Blue and buy from it using the "captured" setting. This will allow for a "core" of full strength Wehrmacht, SS or other backed up by depleted units.

Another question. Should the depleted OOB formations tab be left completely intact allowing for good compatibility with AI pick lists or should some formations be stripped out allowing for more variations of depleted units but breaking AI picklist compatibility? For example in the German OOB I can see stripping out Brandenburgers, Maus and other "chrome" units to free up both unit and formation slots.

[PanzerBob]

Sounds interesting Pat, keeping an eye out for how it goes.

Prosit!