Slitherine

I still have a SE infantry by 44 East. I am thinking about disbanding him, but feel kind of odd about disbanding an unit that's been with me since Poland.

Are SE infantry pretty much useless by this point? In some scenarios I don't even deploy infantry now.

I have found infantry useful in all scenarios up to the end, though decreasingly so. I will keep two SE infantry units until the end, but no more. By this time, they should be pretty experienced and powerful.

Another thing is that any SE unit you get as a bonus at this time will be green, and take a while to build up into a useful unit. Even green Tigers and Panthers require delicate use in '44. Not impossible to manage, but not ideal.

You will most definitely need this infantry in the last few '45 scenarios. Enemy infantry (well, any unit) will become very overpowered and you'll be fighting in city hexes most of the time.

They will be quite useful, if you are worried about prestige replacement costs, change it to 43 wehr, overstrength to 14-15 and remove transports.

Is transport factored into the replacement cost? I didn't know it has any effect.

dumbttt wrote:Is transport factored into the replacement cost? I didn't know it has any effect.

Yes, transport increases the total cost of a unit, and this affects replacements too.

So if you follow this strategy, you need to alter the order: change the unit to a 43 Wehr, then remove the transport, and only THEN overstrength it. That way you are not paying to overstrength the transports.

I don't know about some players, but SE units are PURE GOLD, especially when they get over-strength. I always upgrade SE infantry to SE Grenadiers right off the bat. Additionally, since they do not count toward your core force, they are bonus units. My game is based heavily on grenadiers, pionere units, and para units. I can't imagine not having them--especially in the heavy city fighting in 44 and 45.

I don't know about some players, but SE units are PURE GOLD, especially when they get over-strength. I always upgrade SE infantry to SE Grenadiers right off the bat. Additionally, since they do not count toward your core force, they are bonus units. My game is based heavily on grenadiers, pionere units, and para units. I can't imagine not having them--especially in the heavy city fighting in 44 and 45.

The thing is, if you cannot contain soviet artillery,allied strat bombers infantry gets suppresed and crushed no matter if they were 5 star vets or new recruits.

When I played Manstein diff, or without air superiority infantry was useless also. But if you can limit enemy suppression infantry is king of close terrain.

Infantries aren't that necessary even in urban siege, if you know what you are doing. Having infantries would be nice in case of attacking cities or other infantries in close terrain, but not necessary, especially in late game, where Tiger IIs have awesome close defense and can knock out even entrenched infantries in cities, with the help of some artillery.

If you are concerned about infantry utility/survivability in 1943+, you might want to check out the Unit Revisions mod:

viewtopic.php?f=147&t=40391

This mod addresses the issue of infantry survivability, increases the effects of experience on infantry perform, and in particular, SE infantry truly deserves their elite designation.

dumbttt wrote:Infantries aren't that necessary even in urban siege, if you know what you are doing. Having infantries would be nice in case of attacking cities or other infantries in close terrain, but not necessary, especially in late game, where Tiger IIs have awesome close defense and can knock out even entrenched infantries in cities, with the help of some artillery.

I could not disagree more. Infantry are especially needed (with supporting arty) for city fighting. Tiger II's attacking entrenched infantry in city hexes (even with some suppression) leads to unnecessary casualties for the Tiger II, or other attacking armor. It is far more cost-effective to repair damaged infantry units than heavy armor like the Tiger II, etc. SE Grenadiers, Pionere units, and paras--supported by mobile arty like the stugs and brumbars (and strategic bombers) are the best way to take on entrenched enemy troops in urban or forest hexes. I guess it also depends on what difficulty level you are playing. I play Field Marshall, so if you are able to be successful at the game without infantry, perhaps you need to play on a higher difficulty setting?

Zhivago wrote:

dumbttt wrote:Infantries aren't that necessary even in urban siege, if you know what you are doing. Having infantries would be nice in case of attacking cities or other infantries in close terrain, but not necessary, especially in late game, where Tiger IIs have awesome close defense and can knock out even entrenched infantries in cities, with the help of some artillery.

I could not disagree more. Infantry are especially needed (with supporting arty) for city fighting. Tiger II's attacking entrenched infantry in city hexes (even with some suppression) leads to unnecessary casualties for the Tiger II, or other attacking armor. It is far more cost-effective to repair damaged infantry units than heavy armor like the Tiger II, etc. SE Grenadiers, Pionere units, and paras--supported by mobile arty like the stugs and brumbars (and strategic bombers) are the best way to take on entrenched enemy troops in urban or forest hexes. I guess it also depends on what difficulty level you are playing. I play Field Marshall, so if you are able to be successful at the game without infantry, perhaps you need to play on a higher difficulty setting?

I also play on FM and have little use of infantry even when taking on other infantries in cities or forest, except in the case of huge urban battle.

Well, if it works for you, go for it.

Rudankort wrote:

dumbttt wrote:Is transport factored into the replacement cost? I didn't know it has any effect.

Yes, transport increases the total cost of a unit, and this affects replacements too.

This just brings up a question. In old PG games the AI when had multiple good targets to choose from it factored in the unit value. So it paid off when buying fresh infantry to avoid buying transports to reduce the target priority. Same in PzC?

Yes, the AI does consider unit cost in its calculations, and it also places additional priority on certain units (like artillery).