Slitherine

I would like to know what is the reason that rivers have -50% impact during fair weather and only -30% impact during winter.

For me it should be exactly the opposite.

Because of ice I think, but then again this shouldn't count everywhere. For example here in the Netherlands rivers seldom freeze.

neverwalkalone wrote:Because of ice I think, but then again this shouldn't count everywhere. For example here in the Netherlands rivers seldom freeze.

I think that the reason is ice, but was rivers really frozen even in Russia? Even if yes this should apply to Russia only.

I'm sure our historians are going to weigh in on this, but I can testify that here in the American Midwest (north-central USA) rivers and lakes often freeze hard enough to drive a truck over. I also remember from my history that the Russians kept a supply road going all winter long over Lake Lagoda (?) to keep Leningrad supplied during the siege.

OTOH, I would guess that rivers like the Rhine never froze over. I wonder if this is a rule that could be applied by weather zone? (e.g. only in the North/East Europe, or perhaps in the 'severe winter' zone does the reduced river effectiveness apply.)

Diplomaticus wrote:(...)
OTOH, I would guess that rivers like the Rhine never froze over. I wonder if this is a rule that could be applied by weather zone? (e.g. only in the North/East Europe, or perhaps in the 'severe winter' zone does the reduced river effectiveness apply.)

In fact, until the 60s the Rhine froze over quite often, though not every year and then usually later during the winter (i.e. in January or February). Same goes for the Elbe and Danube.

However, I doubt that the ice was ever thick enough to let armoured vehicles drive over it. So maybe in the Middle Europe weather zone, the reduced penalty during winter should only apply to infantry, not to mechanized or armoured units.

From my readings I have found that the war years were unusually cold. One of my pet peeves in the game is the mild weather often available over the 39/40 winter, when in fact, it was cold enough for the Thames to freeze over, which seldom happens. There was a reason why the Germans didn't attack that winter.
As everyone knows, what defeated the Germans in front of Moscow was the extremely cold winter, much colder than normal, that began in December.
In Northern climes, rivers, lakes, and even the ocean can freeze solidly enough to support armored vehicles. The Russians actually built a RR line over Lake Ladoga near Leningrad, which helped to supply the city during the winter.
I would love to see an historical weather option in the game to replace at least one of the two more ludicrous options at gamestart, either airborne corps or buying Russian Guards, neither of which ever actually happened.

But why river is taken into account during air attack on ground unit?

I would have thought that for Western Europe, including the Mediterranean theatre, the major rivers rarely froze over enough to carry vehicles, even in the colder 1940's. The effects in winter seem to be that the rivers were higher, with faster flow, and the river banks and valleys became soft and muddy, making crossing without bridges even more difficult. The 1943/44 winter campaign in Italy was particularly hard for the Allies, with fast flowing rivers and mud slowing movement.

This is why I would suggest that drop to -30% should be for Severe Winter zone only.

For example I didn't have accounts for Vistula river freezing during war even though winters were very tough in Poland in 1939 - 1945 period.