Scenario: Alternate History Scenarios (FEB 2021 - FUSAGIR in Russia)

[MarkSheppard]

So this is something I've been working on and off; to use some of the prototype American vehicles added in the last patch.

It goes in scenario slot #902 and is basically best played as the USA due to AI issues.

EDIT: V2 is attached to this post; it increases the experience levels of US troops in the scenario to more accurately represent the fact that the US Army has been fighting hard for the last two years (1942-1943) and has learned a lot of lessons in blood, lessons that weren't learned Historically in Our Time Line until about Fall-Winter 1944.

Also, the scenario name is changed from:

FUSAGIR in Russia
to
FUSAGIR - Ukraine '44

In order to allow me to build more FUSAGIR scenarios in the future.

Finally, I added a difficulty disclaimer in the scenario briefing file.

FUSAGIR - Ukraine '44
(An Alternate History Scenario)
(Best played as AMERICAN)

Date: March, 1944
Location: Near Cherkassy, Ukraine
Type: US advance vs. German delay

WARNING: This is a moderately difficult scenario which will require careful tactics to obtain a desirable outcome!

With the fall of the United Kingdom in 1941 followed by the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1942, both the United States and Soviet Union were forced into an uneasy alliance. If the Soviet Union were allowed to fall, nothing would be able to check total Nazi domination of Europe.

Accordingly, in late 1942, the first US troops arrived in the Soviet Union through Vladivostok and were ferried across the Trans-Siberian Railroad to the battlefronts in Western Russia.

That was two years ago. Casualties in FUSAGIR (First US Army Group in Russia) have passed nearly 1.5 million, of which nearly a quarter million are fatal. But still, Russia remains in the war, offering a glimmer of hope that one day, Nazi domination of Europe shall end.

FUSAGIR has had a long, hard road to where it is now in March 1944; having learned how to fight and defeat the German Army at tremendous cost in blood. It is hoped that the new M23 Sheridan tanks will help tilt the balance in 1944, enabling the Germans to be pushed out of the Ukraine and denying them the oil fields of Maikop.

The new M23s have been sent to units near Cherkassy, Ukraine; and first combat is only moments away...

NOTES: I used ScenHack and UnitData to change things around a bit (further data is in the actual scenario description TXT since I don't want to spoil this)

[RetLT]

Fun and tough. Thought I was going to lose for several turns.

I would move the reaction time a few turns later. The Germans would have been very tough to dig out of the woods if they stayed there.

Minor issue: The A-36 uses an MG sound for its cannon. Probably due to your modifications.

[Karagin]

So first run-through, the US tankers couldn't hit the broad side of the barn even staying in one place.

The German captured tanks mainly the T34s torn apart the US forces. I did take the lower hills but after that, it was a full rout. The game ended with a draw.

[DRG]

Originally Posted by Karagin

So first run-through, the US tankers couldn't hit the broad side of the barn even staying in one place.

There does seem to be a "couldn't hit the broad side of the barn" theme in your various posts.

When you target an enemy tank do you pick a target then left click on it to fire or do you Press T then use N to find the one you want then press F to fire?

[RetLT]

I had the same problem with the US tanks not hitting anything. The SU-85 took out 5 of my tanks before I finally silenced it.

I smoked in the T-34s and had my infantry sneak up and close assault them after an A-36 immobilized one of them.

It looked pretty grim until the SU-85 was destroyed. After that things went pretty smoothly.

I kept my infantry out in front so I didn't lose tanks to unspotted enemy tanks or AT guns. I had to smoke in or suppress the MG-34/42s to do this.

[RetLT]

Originally Posted by DRG

When you target an enemy tank do you pick a target then left click on it to fire or do you Press T then use N to find the one you want then press F to fire?

I left click on the target to assign and fire on it as a target and then use "F" for follow up shots.

I concur with the lack of accuracy of the US tanks. Also only the 90mm guns routinely got kills at range.

[DRG]

I have not looked at the scenario yet but it may be an experience issue with the US crews being somewhat on the low side and the SU-85 being somewhat on the high side

EDIT..... Just checked the US armor tends to be mid 60's experience and that SU-85 is 71 which is NOT a big difference but the German armour in general is mid-low 70's experience but even that is roughly 10% higher than the US armour and it's the US side that has to advance, shoot and move

[MarkSheppard]

Originally Posted by DRG

I have not looked at the scenario yet but it may be an experience issue with the US crews being somewhat on the low side and the SU-85 being somewhat on the high side

Looking at it in ScenHack:

US Tanks are in the 60s, with a few in the 50s (one M23/T23 is 59 exp), while the SU-85 of DOOM
has 71 exp.

I didn't set out to do this; I just let the game assign ratings in a spectrum for that time period; so this is something that I'll have to make note of for future alt-hist scenarios; especially since the US Army would not just give the first combat-ready T23/M23s to random units for combat test; they'd form something similar to the ZEBRA MISSION (Our Timeline's M-26 Pershing Unit) to make sure that the rare new vehicles would be given to semi-competent crews.

From looking at the base ratings used by SPCAMO:

Countries With Manpower Surpluses: Starting experience and morale can be raised by 5 for every year of intense frontline combat. (The USSR is the prime example, rising from 55 base XP in May 1941 to 70 base XP by May 1945).

Countries With Manpower Deficits: While the country can maintain it's starting base rating for several years, eventually the piper must be paid, and quality starts to slide. (Germany is the prime example here, starting out with 70 base XP in the 1930s, and rising to 75 base XP from 1939 to 1942, before starting to decline to 70 in 1943 and 65 in 1945.)

Boosting Your Average Stats: You can increase your base ratings (up to the maximum of 75) well above "normal" experience progression, but that comes at a price. In order to keep your average unit ratings above normal, you have to keep your "tank aces" and "infantry aces" in the front line and not rotate them back to training "back home", where they can pass on their experience to the "new guys". This can work for a year or two, but then a ratings crash occurs as the "aces" get killed through the law of combat statistics, and they haven't passed on their knowledge to the new guys, starting a destructive feedback loop.

[DRG]

The variables in the game, and I'm not just referring to the random number generator but just different players doing things in different ways can make a big difference.

I will admit knowing where the SU-85 was as I had to look it up for that last post but I tried to not do anything special but on the first turn I set up airstrikes on all three German held hills with V hexes and that JPz-85(r) only survived long enough to take out the McClellan before being torn to pieces by an A-20

[DRG]

Originally Posted by MarkSheppard

Looking at it in ScenHack:

US Tanks are in the 60s, with a few in the 50s (one M23/T23 is 59 exp), while the SU-85 of DOOM
has 71 exp.

I didn't set out to do this; I just let the game assign ratings in a spectrum for that time period;

I wasn't suggesting that it had been tweaked just that it was a bit higher but certainly within the range the game would normally set for the Germans in that time period but certainly not to uber tank ace levels so I would not suggest changing anything you did because it did well in someone's game. It only lasted 4 turns in mine