Half Traks vs Lorries/Favourite Infantry

[PanzerTax]

I was inspired by a previous thread to learn what peoples opinions are about the use of the above. In my Panzer divisions i usually keep a grenadier unit in a halftrack alongside an engineer unit in a lorry. The engineers are my favourite for smashing well defended hexes and they use the lorry to make a speedy journey by road to the next objective. I like to have my grenadiers in a more multipurpose role, and enjoy the cross country mobility of the half track, especially the 250. However I don't much rate its protective ability and it is VERY expensive. I'm thinking of going with wehrmacht inf instead because they have the advantage of walking quicker and are cheap to reinforce.

What do you all think?

Thanks!

[shawkhan]

I believe the cost of the transport is factored into the replacement cost. This is why I use Gebirgsjagers w/o transport extensively in the early campaigns. It is much cheaper.
Once Grenadiers become available in 1940 I give them trucks(lorrys) as transport to keep costs down.
When Barbarossa is imminent I finally switch to halftracks for their cross-country ability. It is expensive but for the extra mobility I like to use the faster halftracks for grenadiers and artillery. I generally stop artillery upgrades at the 150mm so they can use the fastest halftracks.
Since I refuse to use the completely ahistorical Sturmpanzer, it is important that my artillery be as mobile as possible.
I like to restrict the infantry conversion to Grenadiers to the movement hero units, which is one of the reasons I use so much infantry in the early years. Each movement hero is quite valuable and I like to maximize my chances of getting one.

[sn0wball]

I never buy armored transports, only trucks. While I like to get them for free, I don´t see them as cost effective. I use transports only behind a panzer screen, so they are vulnerable to enemy planes only, which is seldom dangerous, since I always aim for air superiority against the AI and usually get it.

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Mostly I use the Wehr Inf and the Pionere types, with Opel trucks. The attack and defend bonus a halftrack gives is too weak to be worth the cost that is almost the same as the Infantry itself.

I only use infantry to defend cities though, as it gets stomped by anything else. Everything else is MAXIMUM PANZER!!!
(and Fighters)

- BNC

[Razz1]

I only use halftracks for winter conditions and maybe one unit that I can use for attack where it can finish off units.

[PanzerTax]

Thanks for that! I think the used-halftrack salesman was having me on when he said it would solve all my problems! Obviously you all get through with very different preferences. I'll probably keep a couple of halftracks for fun, but I think my sense of economy will still keep them as a fairly rare choice. Now that I think of it, I should probably make more use of the free replacements between scenarios...

[Egge]

I don't use anything but standard Wehrmacht Infantry. Grenadiers are too slow IMHO. The reduced movement isn't worth the slightly increased combat stats. I hardly ever attack anything that is not completely surpressed anyway. Engineers are too expensive I think. Moreover, they tend to get attacked a lot and are not really worth the hassle to protect them.
Transport-wise I am undecided. Sure half-tracks are very expensive, but then again, my infantry hardly ever suffers losses. The three movement points allow me to leave them further behind where it is safer so they don't get attacked a lot. And completely surpressed enemies tend to cause not too many casualties.

[Victor_K]

I like the Wehrmacht infantry. Throw in a couple of Pioneers and/or grenadiers. I prefer the half-tracks. (Nothing like rolling across country behind a screen of Panzers.) Depends on where I am with Prestige. Also SE infantry units usually come with half-tracks.

[DocHerb]

I really like almost all kind of infantry. The Wehr Inf is fast (this third movement point often allows me to block cities or chase and kill off wounded troops), and the Grenadiers pack a punch and are relatively cheap (compared to the Pioneers, which have identical stats). Normally I put one of each in each of my divisions, the Wehr Inf with lorries (or SdKfz 250 later on) and the Grenadiers with SdKfz 251. Pioneers I mostly only use for storming cities or structures, where they shine, but for battle in the open, they're too expensive.
Also, I have found Fallschirmjäger to be enormously useful. Using a bit of stealth (and some luck ), I like to have them dropped behind enemy lines and wreak havoc with them. And cavalry can be an interesting substitute for recon units (although they are really fragile, so I have to be careful with them). Gebirgsjäger… I really don't know. I like their attack abilities, but without transport they're too slow for most operations, and with transport they lose their mountaineering. I think I'll use them very selectively.

There are two reasons for me using the half-tracks: First, I like (and often need) their off-road ability. And the second thing (which I only recently saw being useful) is their ability to attack on their own. So, an enemy infantry with only 1 or 2 hits left kann be killed off by my infantry even while mounted.
The lorries I use for smaller divisions or - plain and simple - if there's no "money".

That said, I may be completely wrong… not sooo experienced with the game yet, played the vanilla campaign up to (and incl.) Sealion 1940 until now.

Since I refuse to use the completely ahistorical Sturmpanzer, […]

I don't want to bother you, but what's ahistorical about it…? Seems to me that it really existed and was used in France as well as in Russia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_cm_sIG_ ... n_I_Ausf_B
Admittedly, there were not many of them.

[shawkhan]

The Sturmpanzer was an Assault gun built on the chassis of the obsolete Panzer I.
They made only 36(!) of them.
Its weapon was actually a Low velocity infantry gun(Not artillery) with a maximum range of only 4000 meters, although its Effective range was much less due to extreme inaccuracy beyond 1000 meters . It should be like a Stug IIIb in effect, not ranged artillery.
To be marginally realistic, there should even then never be more than one of them available. This is the single most severely flawed unit in the game in the German OOB.
The SiG33 was even worse, using he same Low velocity gun, but they made only 18 of these.
Basically, the Germans used towed artillery in their panzer divisions until the Wespe became available. The Stuka was their mobile artillery.
This is why I use only towed artillery with the StuG IIIb until something better that is historically accurate becomes available.

[DocHerb]

Ah, I see. So it's about its statistics and value in the game, not about the piece per se. Then I just misunderstood you, sorry.

But thanks for sharing the knowledge about it. Maybe I'll imagine my Sturmpanzers as "experimental prototypes" or something… or I'll try without.