From: "von Schmidt" Subject: rules supplement to 'GG's War in Russia' Dear grognards, Here are some much needed notes on undocumented features and rules of the fine but ill-documented pc-game 'Gary Grigsby's War in Russia'. The original author of this document (Edward L. Morris) has given his assent to have it uploaded to Web-grognards. Sincerely, von Schmidt --== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==-- Share what you know. Learn what you don't.Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; name="wirnotes.txt" Content-Language: en Content-Length: 51421 War in Russia Rules Supplement October 2, 1999 By Edward L. Morris (emorris5@arn. net) Following are notes on undocumented features and rules for SSI's War in Russia. The treatment is not comprehensive, and matters which are unchanged from SF are not addressed. Some items that markedly affect gameplay, such as the new "operations points" rules, are not addressed, as they are either well documented, or easily observed and learned during play. I. Fun in the Snow (or, New Blizzard Surprises). Following are observations on the Blizzard of '41: German aircraft still do not suffer blizzard attrition, although they fly and fight in much reduced numbers. Blizzard attrition to stationary units is suffered only by infantry, not by tanks, artillery, AT guns, etc., although the infantry units in armored and motorized divisions suffer as much as those in straight leg divisions. Attrition is 10% per turn, of all infantry (not just of "ready" infantry). The blizzard attrition is suffered only in '41; although other effects of blizzard continue into '42, the infantry attrition does not. Also, it is suffered both in HQ and in other units; BUT it is not suffered in cities (large or small), whether in HQ or other units. Thus, any unit in a town or city is safe from the blizzard infantry attrition; any unit outside a town or city, is not! Major exceptions: Finnish units (and of course, Soviet units) do not suffer from blizzard attrition in '41. Also, German units stationed within Germany and Poland appear not to suffer it, and this possibly applies to Finland, Rumania, Bulgaria, etc. Certainly, the blizzard attrition hits all German infantry squads in Russia, not in cities. Elite German units suffer the infantry blizzard attrition just like any other unit, although it may sometimes seem as if they do not; this is because in WIR, elite German units always get priority of replacements, regardless of the supply % of the HQ to which they are attached. (This is true for vehicles, guns, infantry, etc.). This is a sensible rule, and allows you to use those units heavily, knowing they'll get back up to strength quickly, and that they'll do so at a fairly high experience level. These elite units won't get infantry replacements every turn, but when they're down thirty, they'll get thirty squads before nonelite units get any. In a measured test, Totenkopf declined gradually from blizzard attrition from 84 squads to 48 sqds over five turns; then jumped back to 78. When this series of moves began, their experience was 79; when it ended, it was 84! Basically, the SS trains its own, and quite quickly, thank you. Blizzard start date is usually Dec 7, '41; but don't count on it- in my game with Everitt, it began a week early; and in a face-to-face with Joe Boren, it began on Nov 16- boy, was he surprised!! The attrition effects last only through the end of December, although the readiness penalties continue to be suffered for the rest of the war in blizzard. Tactical movement penalties continue in Jan '42, but not during blizzards in late '42, or later in the game (see below). II. I'd Like to Go Home, but the Engine Won't Start (or, Disadvantages to Germans of Tactical Marches in Blizzard) This neat little rule is only vaguely documented in the rule book, but is a real doozy in practice. First, it applies only to the Germans; second, it applies only if they try a tactical march (ie, doesn't apply to a plot move, transfer, or rail move); third, the fun keeps on after December; it applies throughout the '41-'42 blizzard, even into January. It does not apply, however, in later winters. And here it is: when the German moves a unit by tactical march (Alt-V for you grongnards; mouse "move" for those who'd rather be playing Star Bores), the infantry moves out with alacrity, losing nary a warm body, but they cheerfully leave behind MOST of everything else: guns, tanks, etc. This is very devastating, and basically, you just cannot afford to do it. Really crimps old Rommel's style! There are two work-arounds: "transfer" works ok without loss of equipment, but the transferred unit must be over 50% readiness to transfer, which is sometimes hard to arrange in a blizzard. Secondly, the units which tactical march lose ONLY the unready equipment, so effects can be ameliorated by increasing unit readiness before the march. Again, hard to do in a blizzard! Another bad weather surprise: the long rail loop through Yugoslavia/Bulgaria appears to be inoperative in snow and blizzard weather. This can result in partisans being able to cut supply to Bucherest, Ploesti, etc., simply by cutting the rail between Belgrade and Bucharest, if the Germans aren't resupplied by the rail going north out of Ploesti. This has happened to me in a game; the best solution is to keep lots of anti-partisan units on the rail lines for about 250 or 300 miles east of Belgrade. Not directly related to weather, but adding insult to injury for the hapless German, is the fact that Soviet troops finally learn to follow orders beginning with the Dec 7 turn. They do gradually improve until that point, but coordinated attacks aren't guaranteed to come off until Dec 7. III. The Perils of Living Alone (or, Bad Things that Happen to Isolated Units) These new isolation rules apply in all weather- rain, sun, snow or blizzard. It works like this: The first turn you notice one of your units is isolated (SL of Zero), the readiness is of course low, but the strengths are unchanged. But be forwarned. The second turn, and all succeeding turns during which your unit begins your turn at zero SL, you will lose 25% of your infantry, artillery, AT guns, flak, and recon vehicles; and 50%!!! of your tanks! And it gets better: if it's blizzard, you take these isolation losses first, and then the infantry that's left takes blizzard attrition! Any airlift into the hex prevents the isolation losses, and is a good reason to always be prepared to mount an airlift. Plotting your isolated units neither lessens nor increases the isolation losses, so by all means, try to break out! Also, the losses are the same whether the isolated unit is in a town, city, or open country. IV. Get a Clue, Sherlock (or, How to Plot) Several things can interfere with unit plots (ie, move orders to be carried out during the combat phase): Units whose HQ has NO operations points remaining will only move one hex, no matter how many you have plotted; and isolated units may move a maximum of two hexes. To alleviate the former, assign the moving unit to a different HQ, with more opns points, before the combat phase. To alleviate the latter, use "airlift" to fly some supplies (any amount will do) into the isolated unit; this will change the supply level (SL) of the isolated unit to one or more, after which you can immediately plot more than two hexes (assuming the opns points are available in the HQ). Extra tidbit: Multiple attacks (as per the "Attack Continuation" rule documented on pg 18 of the Rulebook- yes, Virginia, they did document a few of the rules!) can occur and continue even after phase 5! V. Keep Those Crates Flying! (or, How Aircraft are Replaced and Repaired) In SF, replacement aircraft (if available in the pool) would fly into a squadron at the rate of 20 per week; then, one-half of all "unready" aircraft would become "ready". Not so in WIR! First, before any replacement aircraft are flown in, a VARIABLE number of unready aircraft become ready. This number will be one-half of unready aircraft, plus one to five additional aircraft; however, where there is a very large number of unready aircraft, there is another limiting factor, based on a maximum percentage of unready aircraft- effectively, the maximum number that will become ready is usually 30, but sometimes 40. Example: if 15 are unready, the number becoming ready will be 8, plus a variable from 1 to 5; but if 100 are unready, the number becoming ready will be 30 or 40. Then, only AFTER unready aircraft become ready, replacement aircraft arrive: but only 10, not 20 as in SF. And these new arrivals won't have a chance to become ready until the following week. This is more realistic, and has several consequences: unready aircraft do not become ready as quickly, and it takes longer to build a squadron up to a greater strength, even if replacement aircraft are available in the pool. Last but not least: your aircraft can fly E, C, and G missions during the ground combat phase, even if you used them in the interdiction phase, or "transferred" them into the HQ that turn; just make sure the fighters are set on "E" or "C" (it doesn't matter which; both settings will fly both missions during ground combat phase); and that the bombers and fighter-bombers are set on "G". Pilot experience was dealt with in the SF notes; there is still opportunity for great experience gain in WIR: I saw my Hurricanes knock down 11 110's without loss, and my squadron's experience jumped from 27 to 45! VI. Over the Reich (Some Strategic Bombing considerations). Strategic bombing of Germany & Italy by the USAAF is handled by the computer; but the German/Italian defense is not! It's necessary to carefully position full-strength fighter units to fend off these attacks. I suggest three squadrons in Germany, and two in Italy. These will defend with much greater strength if they are placed in the West Front and Italian Front HQ's, respectively. Numbers exceeding the "ready" aircraft may actually fly up to meet the bombers and their escorts. Beware, though: if other nearby HQ's have fighters, they may intercept IN LIEU OF the West Front/Italian Front squadrons. They will intercept in smaller numbers, resulting in disaster to both themselves, and your cities and industry. Example: a fighter squadron in Danzig will intercept raids on Berlin, if it's closer to Berlin than is West Front HQ. Solution: move the Danzig HQ a few hexes eastward- it can still protect Danzig, and will no longer think Berlin is in it's area of operations. OKH, 0KW, West Front and Italian Front all fly fighter interceptions more efficiently than an ordinary HQ; just make sure they are placed so that the ones with the stronger squadrons will intercept the American raids on Berlin and other important industrial cities. Weaker squadrons can handle unescorted Russian raids on eastern oil and industry. This applies in principle to the Russians as well- with one twist: if STAVKA is nearest Moscow, and contains fighter units, NOONE will attack bombers over Moscow! Another thing everyone wants to know is, "Which interceptors do best against USAAF fighters & bombers?" First, some principles of air combat in WIR: fighter vs. fighter combat is decided primarily on the basis of the respective maneuverability ratings; thus, FW190D's will do well against US P-47's , P-51's and P-38's; but fighter vs. bomber combat is decided on a completely different basis. The fighter's cannon rating is matched up against the bomber's durability! (This is also true of the Russian front as well, which is why He-177's do so well against Russian fighters). Another factor is also at work: the fighters really only have a material chance of hurting the bombers, and turning them back, if they equal or exceed the bomber formation in actual number of machines. Sometimes a smaller fighter squadron intercepting a larger fighter squadron can severely damage the larger squadron; but that seldom happens against a larger bomber squadron, and NEVER happens against a larger squadron of B-17's, regardless of maneuverability, cannon, or durability ratings. Also, to cause bombers to turn back, a particular attack (as viewed during the combat phase at the bottom of the screen, where combat results are displayed) must cause more than 25% losses to the bomber formation. Put that all together, and here's what you come up with: the defending German, to hold up against the US air attacks, must have very large fighter squadrons. Also, the interception percentage seems to depend in part on experience, so they must be as experienced as possible. Do NOT station fighters in the west to rest them up; station them in Russia to rest them up! The FW-190A is excellent for this duty, as it is good against the US fighter escorts, and also has enough punch to knock down the bombers. The 190D's are ok, but the much lower cannon rating renders them not ideal for this job. Surprisingly, 110's can be pretty effective against bombers, especially in Italy early on, when no fighter escorts are present. Even later, if mixed in with FW's, there's some chance the 110's will be able to slip through the fighters, and attack the bombers. They're not ideal, but if you have large numbers in reserve, try them in this role. They're also good for defending the eastern Reich and Rumania from unescorted bomber attacks. What happens when all has failed, and the bombers get through? They turn your cities and industry to mulch! But even here, there is a ray of hope: in WIR, the oil industry can recover from bombing, like other industries. Ploesti starts the game at 40, but can build slowly to 45. If it is bombed back (say, to 18, as happened to me!) it can eventually build back to 45. Other oil centers can build back as well, but only to the number they started the game with. Likewise, heavy industry and artillery: in SF they could only build back to 5; in WIR they can build back to the number they began the game with. Heavy industry, though, takes a LONG TIME to build back. It's important to protect the Heavy Industry factories in Berlin as long as possible; eventually, however, the USAAF will pound them. How far will those suckers fly to intercept? Ha, it depends! The ground rules are as follows: intercept distance varies depending on the type of HQ from which your interceptors fly, where it's located, and where the target's located; and in some cases, on whether the bombers you're going after are US or Russian! MAPREADING 101: Know and remember that longitude 21 is the border of the Reich Air Defense command; note that Koenigsberg, Budapest, Helsinki, Ploesti, and Bucharest are outside this border! (Of course, lots of other places are also outside this border, but they have little or no production capacity of strategic importance to the Reich). Note also that four HQ's work differently from the others, and will hereinafter be referred to as "Reich HQ's": West Front, Italian Front, OKH, and 0KW. All other HQ's will be referred to as "other" or "regular" HQ's. OK, I'll try to make this simple : Intercept range for all fighters flying from a Reich HQ, to make an intercept within Reich Air Defense Territory (RADT, or "Reichsluftverteidigungsgebiet", for those of you who are challenged by the english language's illogical and unpredictable spelling rules!) is 17 hexes. Intercept range for all fighters flying from a regular HQ, to make an intercept anywhere, is 7 hexes. Those are the basic rules; the rest is frosting. The Reich HQ's intercept Russian as well as US bombers, and the 17 hex range applies to both types; BUT fighters from a Reich HQ will NOT intercept Russians if another German HQ exists closer to the target, whether or not that closer HQ contains fighters. This is not true of Ami bombers, and a Reich HQ within range will send up interceptors, even if a regular HQ is closer; however, only the closest Reich HQ will intercept. Next goodie: cities outside RADT are NOT protected by ANY HQ (Reich or Regular) located within RADT!!! This is presumably to prevent the German from using his "Super-HQ's" to fly intercepts east of RADT, to stymie the Russian air game. Reich HQ's stationed on longitude 21, or farther east, will protect cities to the east, but only 7 hexes out; BUT they will continue to send fighters up to 17 hexes to intercept to protect targets within RADT! Thus, they have a dual capability. Intercepting aircraft include all fighter and fighter-bomber types, regardless of setting (ie, "E","G", "C", etc- all intercept). Fighters set on "T" appear to intercept in reduced numbers. No opns points are required for an HQ to intercept. Regular HQ's will function within the RADT; but only to their usual intercept range of 7 hexes. They will not convert to Reich HQ's, simply because they are located within RADT. Minor Axis Ally HQ's sometimes perform sporadically, either not intercepting at all, or sending up few fighters. This may be a cultural thing, or it may have to do with the rating of the HQ's leader. I have especially noticed the problem with a Hungarian HQ (Ldr, Busse). Note finally: All the above (this Art. VI) applies only to interception of raids on cities & industry; rules for intercepting interdiction attacks are different, and simpler: an HQ will fly intercept against interdiction, or combat phase ground attack, for any units attached to that HQ, as long as the unit is within the aircraft's range. How does one feel about all this? I think it's a brilliant system, and it's just too bad it was undocumented. It gives the German some flexibility in developing his defense strategy, without tilting the game his way. Higher intercept numbers and ranges within RADT represent more efficient communications, radar, fighter control, better base facilities, etc., than available to the primitive airfields on the Eastern Front. VII. The Italians are a Peaceloving People (or, What Happens when Italy surrenders?) First of all, Italy always surrenders as soon as the "virtual" US/British troops set foot on the boot of Italy. At that point, southern Italy reverts to allied control, and all northern Italian factories (except heavy industry and artillery) convert to armored car production. All Italian ground units, wherever located, disappear from play. This is so, even if they were in a German unit shell. German units within an Italian shell also disappear, but then will reappear next turn in 0KW, for reassignment. German (and minor ally) units using Italian equipment (tanks or aircraft) get to keep their equipment, and the replacement pools stay as-are, but since there is no more production of that equipment in Italy, they will eventually have to switch over to German equipment, when pools are exhausted. If Italian units were using German equipment when they surrender, the German equipment is lost. Bugs related to Italian surrender: 8th Italian Army HQ, although it disappears on surrender of Italy, will reappear in the HQ's pool for later use. I suggest you not use it, for historicity of play. Also, on Italian surrender, Rumanian, but not Italian, air squadrons disappear. This is probably minor, but if it bothers you enough, can be fixed after-the-fact with the scenario editor; but if you do that, don't run the editor from the game menu; it will reset all pools on both sides to 200 Instead, run it from DOS, outside the game. Only problem there is that all aircraft on both sides may be set to "E" missions, but they can be manually changed back when you're back in the game, and no harm is done. One thing that's worked successfully in a human v. human game is to simply keep an Italian air unit, corresponding to each Rumanian unit that disappeared, but shouldn't have. Try to match the fighter and bomber types as closely as possible. Then "deactivate" the remaining Italian units; just park the bombers, and use the scenario editor to reduce the fighter squadron strengths to zero, so the fighters can be parked somewhere, and won't intercept. (Units at zero don't ever receive replacements- comes in handy here!). The moral of all this: don't allow Italy to fall prematurely; and be ready when it finally falls! VIII. Air Magic (no, that's not a new line of basketball shoes). After an air squadron is used to fly a mission, the "M" button disappears, and you may think the squadron's mission cannot be changed at that point; WRONG! It can be, by simply hitting the "m" key. Thus, if used to interdict, mission can be changed back to "G", allowing the squadron to fly in ground support during the combat phase. I consider this a useful feature, not a bug; it doesn't allow the aircraft to be flown for multiple missions during the human-control phase (unless it's a fighter, which you could do anyway); but it does allow proper defining of missions for the upcoming combat phases. (Yours and the opponent's). Also, multiple use is not "free", as each use lowers the squadron's readiness. IX. Beastmaster (or, Care and Feeding of Tigers and Elephants). Just about everyone knows that in WIR, tank units can switch out their equipment, but only to a similar type- ie, medium tank to medium tank, light tank destroyer to light tank destroyer, heavy td to heavy td, Stug to Stug, etc. This is easy to remember, as the computer polices it. But here are some nuances: The only German units that can use Tigers are the "500-series" special tank battalions, of which eleven appear from Nov '42 through July, '43; and the 101st, 102d and 103d SS tank battalions, appearing from May '43 through March '44. These are great units, as they train up to over 90% experience without being in combat, and you need to keep them supplied with Tigers; but they are the ONLY units that can use Tigers, so don't overproduce Tigers- all other tank units can take Panthers, so that's where most of your production should be. A similar caution applies to Elephants: Elephant production is available only for a short time, and you can even convert other factories to Elephants during this window; try this when the first Elephant unit appears in 0KW. But don't over-produce Elephants, because there are only three units in the game which can use them: the 681st, 682d and 683d AT Battalions. Again, as with Tigers, the trick is to keep those units fully supplied, without overdoing it. But build up a small pool, for unlike Tigers, once Elephants go out of production, you can't make any more! 150 should be enough for the pool, once your Elephant units are fully equipped, as these suckers are quite durable. Tiger units max out at 80+ vehicles; Elephant units at 50+ vehicles. Both gain experience ("train up") at 5 points per week (if not adding new vehicles), until they're in the 90's. Management of these elite units is critical to German success. X. Personality Changes (Equipment Switching). A lot of equipment switching is allowed in WIR. The trick is guessing what the computer will or will not do, as when you switch manually, you suffer an experience hit; and in the case of aircraft, you also start with "zero" ready, and it takes time for the squadron to be ready for combat. When the computer switches the equipment, those disadvantages are not suffered. So, you want to trick the computer into doing the right thing. And that's not easy. Here are just a few tips, to give you the general idea: The computer will switch old Me 109's for newer models; and will switch any 109's to FW-190A's; but will NOT switch any older type (Me or FW) to FW 190-D's!! Possibly because the 190-D is an airsuperiority fighter, with fewer cannon, which might not do as well against massed bomber formations. Likewise, when Nashorns come into the pool, the computer will not automatically switch them for the older Marders. Soviet T-34's will replace BT-7's; Soviet heavy tanks won't! In January '43, T-26's, T-60's and BT-7's begin to convert to SU-76's, so it pays to keep some of these light tank units around. Soviet "500" series tank brigades and AT units convert to SPG regiments. KV regiments convert to SU-152's. Soviet Aircraft Upgrades: From the beginning of the war in June '41, through Sep to late '41, the following is occuring: Mig 1's convert to Mig 3's; I-15's to Hurricanes; I-16's to Yak 1's; and Pe2's and SB2's to Sturmoviks. Later in the game, Hurricanes convert to Spitfires, LaGG3's, Mig 1's, and Mig 3's to La-5's, I-16's to P-40's, Yak-1's to Yak-9's, Yak-9's to Yak-3's, and Pe2's and IL4's to Tu-2's. Since I-16's convert to Yak-1's, and since new Yak-1 squadrons arrive in Jan/Feb '42, and since no new Yak factories come on line then, there will be a shortage of Yaks. So, Mig 3 factories should probably be converted to produce Yak-1's sometime in '41, no later than Sep. Of course, it's silly to switch any factories which are about to be captured. Note also that since I-15's convert to Hurricanes, and since Hurricanes are always in short supply, you may want to manually convert some I-15 squadrons to Mig 1's; but beware, for Mig-1's convert to Mig-3's, and you may have switched your Mig-3 factories to Yak-1's! It's safe to convert I-15's to Mig-1's, once the Mig 3 pools have dropped low enough to ensure there'll be no automatic conversions of Mig-1's to Mig-3's. These are not major problems, and in spite of this, it is still better to continually upgrade your equipment. Just be aware that you'll have to do some manual switching. XI. Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall... (or, How to Keep West and Italian Fronts from Shattering...) Can it be done? The answer is an unmitigated and definite "Usually!". The formulas in the manual for determing Axis strength in these two fronts aren't the ones the game uses. When you access one of those fronts, and first put the cursor on it, you see a "strength estimate"- if you haven't transferred units in or out that turn, or unless you've been playing face-to-face and haven't rebooted lately, the estimate shows only 1/2 the actual amount. So, double that number, then multiply by ten, and you have your "front strength", which you can then apply to the shatter formulas in the manual. If you're not sure which number you're seeing there (the 1/2, or the actual), just save the position, and run the game ahead, through the Russian turn and to the next German turn, and check the number- that one will be the actual "strength estimate", so you can return to your saved position, knowing what's going on! If you suspect a front's about to shatter, go ahead and pull out the troops- but don't overdo it, or you'll lose the war! Be especially careful about allowing Italy to fall too early, as you lose the Italian tank and aircraft production, as well as some population points. There are a number of shatter events for each front. In Germany, start to worry when the Amis are at the West Wall; after that there'll be fighting in AAchen; then, the last warning is that you're east of the Rhine, allied forces are breaking out, and must be stopped. Next event, Hitler is dead, and the game's over! There are also a series of events in Italy; you can prevent them by stationing enough forces in Italian Front after the allies have landed in Italy; don't do it too soon, as a shatter can occur until you're fighting on the Italian peninsula. In the last months of the game, you may need to draw reinforcements out of Italy and use them in Russia; you can stand several events there, if you have a chance to knock Russia out of the war. Things to watch out for: the shatter formulas change with the onset of good weather, and if you're playing a wiley human, you'll often get caught with your pants down. Get your strength up to "good weather" standards a couple of months early! And now here's the biggie (your reward for hangin' in there!): events will occur on certain, predetermined dates, regardless of the strength in your Fronts; but if you are understrength, they may occur SOONER. Example: There will always be a West Front event in June, '44, to represent Normandy; and one in July, '44 to represent the breakout (Falaise, etc.). Ain't no way to stop it, don't matter how hard you try. So, is it brilliant to jerk the troops out a year early, and let the event happen, to get it over with, with minimum losses? NO NO NO!!! What happens then is that Normandy gets invaded in '43 ('cause you flunk the event formula with your pull-out); and another event's gonna happen anyway in Jun '44, Jul '44, etc- so what you've done, you clever fellow, is accelerate the end of the war, and if you're Hitler, that's not good. If you KNOW an event's going to happen the next week or so, it's probably safe to do the pull-out, but I'm not even sure about that. The German's best bet is probably to keep strength above formula levels at all times, and just take the losses on the chin. It's necessary to keep at least one unit or HQ assigned to each Front HQ at all times; otherwise, the Front HQ replacement level will drop to zero, and no more replacements will be received. It is not sufficient to have units inside the Front HQ shell; one or more units or HQ's OUTSIDE the shell must be assigned to it. This little trick, altho critical with respect to Front HQ's, also happens to apply to STAVKA, RVGK, and ALL OTHER HQ's as well! Thus, an HQ can't be used near the front as a roving supply dump, unless some units or HQ's are always assigned to it. Note: even a higher HQ may be the one assigned; thus, West Front could have OKW assigned to it; Italian Front could have OKH assigned to it; etc. XII. Mousing Around I don't use the mouse in this game- it's too slow, will shatter your wrist, and there are keyboard commands for everything- but rarely, it's necessary to use it. If you find you can't transfer a unit using the keyboard, don't give up- use the mouse. Usually this will work; if it won't, something else is going on, such as too few operations points, inadequate readiness, etc. When you can't get the keys to do it, try the mouse- and this applies to both air and ground units. XIII. Miscellaneous Minor Bugs Sometimes, Russian tank army shells, and German SS shells, do not appear when "F5" is hit, even though they should be available to create. There are a couple of work-arounds; you can reboot, and they should be available, so create them then, before you get to pounding other keys. If that doesn't work, try this: save your game; run your combat, and the other side's combat; hit Alt-X and reload your saved move. Now you should find those suckers at F5! XIV. Ivan's Been Drafted (or, Where in the World did those Mongol Hordes Come From?) Cities in WIR have populations points, which cannot be destroyed by air bombardment, but which are reduced to zero if the city is occupied by the opposing army, and remain at zero even if the friendly army later reoccupies the city. Russia starts the game with 447 population points, Germany with 282; but these numbers in no way reflect the actual manpower superiority of Russia in the game. During the early weeks of the war, each Russian population point generates about 15 replacement squads each week, representing the callup of trained reserves. By 1943, this number has declined to 8; and in January, 1944 declines to 2. I haven't checked '42, but would guess it's around 12. The Axis population points, by contrast, start the war producing only 2 squads per week; they, too, don't remain static, and in 1943, produce 4 squads per week. I believe they decline to 2 squads per week again in '44, and probably stay there for the rest of the war. The only good news here for the German is that neither side can accumulate more that 30,000 squads in the strategic manpower pool, so the Russian needs to burn men like kindling to get maximum use of his vast resources; also, if the German has occupied some major Russian population centers (like Moscow and Leningrad), and can hold out until Jan, '44, he'll get some major relief, as the Russians drop to a much lower replacement rate at that time. XV. More on Production Production has been addressed in detail in my SF Rules Notes; there are, however, a few changes in WIR. For one thing, the number of items produced by certain factories is no longer constant. I have confirmed this with artillery factories, and they may be the only ones affected. German artillery factories appear to produce between three and four guns per turn; ie, a minimum of three, plus a variable number of additional guns, between one and nine. Each turn they also produce between .75 and 1.5 AA guns, and (I assume) AT guns, although I haven't checked. Incidentally, AT guns are one of the best kept secrets in this game, as they increase in attack power each Jan 1, throughout the game! Russian production is slightly different: For example, the AA production seems to be exactly two per week, per artillery factory point. This may have been done for some sort of play-balance; or, it may be a hidden function of the total heavy industry rating, as when I checked the German and Russian AA production, Russian heavy industry was quite a bit higher than German. One big improvement from SF is that you can no longer increase production by "switching over" to cheaper items- i.e., from expensive, heavy bombers to fighters- the number of cheaper items produced, at least initially, will be no greater than the number of expensive items previously produced by the same factory. Growth is probably still faster for the cheaper items. XVI. Nothing Stays the Same In early April '42 Soviet tank divisions all change to either tank corps (each with 3 tank brigades, and small, brigade-size infantry, arty, and other support units); or mechanized corps (each with 1 tank brigade, 3 tank regiments, and infantry and other support elements equivalent to an infantry corps!) This causes a major draw-down of all tank pools, light, medium and heavy. This also immediately precedes the availability of five tank army shells in early June, '42. The Soviet therefore needs to have substantial tank pools built up before this occurs, to get the most out of his armored formations. XVII. Are These Guys Good, or What? (Elite Troops) Soviet Guards units (which start to become available as automatic upgrades in Feb '42) now train up to 85; ie, a unit must be over 80 experience to convert to Guards; but once converted, if experience falls to less than 81 (through replacements), then the unit will gain 5 experience per turn (without combat!), up to a max of 85. SS trainup rules are silimar, except that everything is 10 points higher: ie, if experience is less than 91, the unit will gain 5 experience, up to a max of 95. For comparison purposes, regular Soviet infantry in early '42 trains up only to 55! The Soviet and German troop training levels change at various times during the war, with the Soviets training better in the later years, and with the Germans training better in the early years. XVIII. Agreed Rules It's recommended for pbem play that the players agree to certain limitations on the use of the "F3" key; specifically, that any unit upgraded from regular infantry corps or army to panzer or tank, or shock, not plot (either an attack, or movement plot) the same turn as the upgrade. Otherwise, "flying wedges" can be used defensively to attack a stronger force's HQ's and rail lines, grinding a strong attack to a quick halt. Consideration might be given to prohibiting any use of the F3 key, except to change the number of a unit, to allow combat phase movement to occure in proper sequence; that is, agree to not use the F3 key to change the "type" of unit, but only the designation. But using it to change unit types probably adds some excitement to the game, and is not a game- buster, as long as the above covention is observed. XIX. Victory Conditions If you've had to jicky with the scenario editor during a game, to remove surrendered Italian units or whatever, you've probably unwittingly disabled the victory announcement, when either side occupies the needed victory hexes. No problem, just agree with your opponent that the game's over when it's supposed to be! Germans must have five points, Russians only four. Cities are worth: Moscow=3 Gorki, Leningrad, Saratov, Stalingrad, Groznyy & Baku: 1 each. Berlin--3 Hamburg--2 Nuernberg, Vienna, and Prague: 1 each. The winner must still hold all necessary victory cities at the end of the opponent's turn; ie, if you take a victory city, and he takes it right back, game's not over yet. XX. Beware the "X" Files- Trust Noone!! Some possible bugs to the "official" version 1.1 have been documented on various forums, and some "unofficial" patches have been forthcoming to address the various bugs. Generally the patches have been an improvement, but the latest, 1.13x, which is in other respects the best overall patch, did something which can radically alter game balance: it causes German blitzkrieg supply to continue through August of '41, rather than just through July, even when not set to "even", rather than "help Axis" or "max-help Axis". I can tell you that the German will definitely roll over Moscow in '41, if he wants it; after that, it may still be a good game; sort of drawish, but the German has winning chances. Just be forewarned! Not as radical a departure, but also strongly affecting gameplay, several of the "unofficial" patches cause surrounded armor to fight with full strength (ie, even "unready" tanks fire); this is probably good, and makes it harder to completely eliminate a pocket, although the surrounded force continues to suffer normal isolation attrition (see III, above). "Readiness bugs" were also addressed, where high readiness units were taking unacceptable losses, while low readiness units were coming through relatively unscathed, simply because they didn't have as many tanks/squads taking hits. All in all, the "unofficial" patches have improved the game. Ed Morris ??