New Version of 2194 Days Available for PBEMs!!! - Page 3

Case · March 28, 2002, 04:58

Well, you could argue that the He-177 was such a poor design that it could never be satisfactorally completed...

But point taken. It will be good for play balance and should be left in

The Apologist · March 31, 2002, 09:02

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris 62
Germany is hurting, no need to beef up North Africa, Britain has plenty of armor quite close.

Considering that, on the eve of Pearl Harbour, the 8th Army was busily attacking towards Benghazi, and would take the city before their offensive petered out, one might suggest that the Axis position in North Africa is "quite favourably" represented already. While it might be suggested that if the Axis is on the back foot, they'll never recover, some might say that Crusader never should have faltered in the first place.

Quote:

Originally posted by FMK
Tiger I Tank, nil, 0, 2.,0, 12a,9d, 4h,3f, 11,0, 0, Ldr, 000000000000000
IS-2 Heavy Tank,nil, 0, 2.,0, 13a,10d, 4h,3f, 11,0, 0, Med, 000000000000000

Does this accomplish what you are talking about? They cost the same, but the attack and defense are both +1 for the IS-2.

Main gun: 88mm / 122mm = +1 attack for the IS-2.
Armour: 25-100mm / 20-160mm = +1 defense for the IS-2.

Number-crunching has its disadvantages. As loath as I am to put in a good word for the Tiger, it's worth noting that Russian weapons, steel, and muntions sucked. That 122 gun has a ridiculously low velocity and very dubious quality ammunition. It's very bad at tank-killing (though that's not its role - the IS-2 generally carried HE ammo, being intended to create break-throughs). Likewise, the armour is built using (at best) poor-grade steel, with indifferent attention to hardening processes. I'd hate to stake my life on the WWII Soviet manufacturing techniques, unless I was only gambling on numbers produced!

By comparison, German production was painstakingly slow. In compensation, German equipment was finely (perhaps overly) engineered, and though this failed to give them concrete advantages against the Western Allies (who were able to mass produce high-quality equipment), it certainly contributed to their successes on the Eastern Front.

To sum up, the IS-2 shouldn't cost anywhere near what the Tiger does, but neither should it have the same combat performance.

Still, this sort of argument overlooks the scale of CivII - what, exactly, does this "Tiger I" represent, in a grand strategic sense? With all due respect to Nemo, the methodology for unit labelling in 2194 is deeply flawed - on the less crowded Red Front map, the different units had a chance to shine in their own way, and in Second Front's tactical battlefield it was worth the effort to represent individual pieces of hardware. I don't think the same can be said for a scenario representing the entire Second World War.

YMMV.

Edit: Left off in mid-thought.

Marko · March 31, 2002, 11:01

I disagree about the IS-2.

IS-2 has equal weight with Panther but exceeded Panther in armor penetration and protection abilities (IS-2 could penetrate the Panther's frontal armor from 1100-1200 metres, while the Panther could penetrate the IS-2's armor from only 600-700 metres).
Only drewback was that heavy armoring constrained by low weight let less internal space for the IS-2's crew and ammo - IS-2 had only 28 shells (the Panther had 81).

Compared with the Tiger, the IS-2 was slightly better protected even though it was ten tons lighter. Both tanks could penetrate each other's frontal armor from ~1000 metres. The IS-2 had thicker armor, thus it had a better chance at distances over 1500 metres. On the other hand, the Tiger had better optics and thus had a better chance of hitting the IS-2.

King Tiger was only German tank superior to IS-2. It had thicker armor and its 88 KwK gun has better AP ability. The IS-2 could only successfully fight against the King Tiger at short distances, where the difference in AP ability was not so big.

Also, when comparing armor penetration values of German and Soviet guns you must take account that they are calculated by different methods. By Soviet methodology the armor is counted to be penetrated if at least 75% of a projectile's fragments happened to be found behind the armor plate. Most of Soviet armor penetration tables are based on this value. By the German way of calculation the armor penetration was based on 50% penetration.

The Apologist · April 2, 2002, 06:50

Quote:

Originally posted by Marko
I disagree about the IS-2.

IS-2 has equal weight with Panther but exceeded Panther in armor penetration and protection abilities (IS-2 could penetrate the Panther's frontal armor from 1100-1200 metres, while the Panther could penetrate the IS-2's armor from only 600-700 metres).
Only drewback was that heavy armoring constrained by low weight let less internal space for the IS-2's crew and ammo - IS-2 had only 28 shells (the Panther had 81).

Granted, but we're looking at the Tiger as compared to the IS-2.
I'm not exactly sure why, though...

Quote:

Compared with the Tiger, the IS-2 was slightly better protected even though it was ten tons lighter. Both tanks could penetrate each other's frontal armor from ~1000 metres. The IS-2 had thicker armor, thus it had a better chance at distances over 1500 metres. On the other hand, the Tiger had better optics and thus had a better chance of hitting the IS-2.

Consider: The ~3500 IS-2s produced during the Great Patriotic War were built between April 1944 and June 1945 (give or take). The ~1300 Tiger I's built during Zweiter Weltkrieg were manufactured between July 1942 and August 1943.

Quote:

King Tiger was only German tank superior to IS-2. It had thicker armor and its 88 KwK gun has better AP ability. The IS-2 could only successfully fight against the King Tiger at short distances, where the difference in AP ability was not so big.

The slightly less than 500 Tiger II's were built at about the same time as the IS-2. OTOH (as you might gather from their small numbers) they were never a considerable portion of German Panzer strength.

Quote:

Also, when comparing armor penetration values of German and Soviet guns you must take account that they are calculated by different methods. By Soviet methodology the armor is counted to be penetrated if at least 75% of a projectile's fragments happened to be found behind the armor plate. Most of Soviet armor penetration tables are based on this value. By the German way of calculation the armor penetration was based on 50% penetration.

I must apologise, I was dimly recalling reports of German field tests with captured Soviet equipment as compared with their own. Of course, I dispute the value of Soviet testing on the basis of their own poor quality control for munitions.

I still wonder why there's an IS-2 in this Scenario at all. Just to quote some more important numbers (to go with those I gave above):

PzKpfw IV's produced 'til the end of the war: ~8000
PzKpfw V (Panther)s produced Jan 1943 - end of the war: ~6000

In this rather limited pool, the Tiger can be considered to make up a significant number of combat vehicles - though it's phased out of production as the Panther enters the war. 2194 reverses this order, oddly enough.

I suspect the reasoning was that the Tiger I was a better tank because it had more armour and a bigger gun.

Maybe the combat performance of units equipped with the tank should be used as a bench-mark for their CivII stats?

T-34/76s produced 'til mid 1943: ~24000
T-34/85s produced 'til the end of the war: ~18000
KV-1s produced 'til 1942: ~3000

Lend-Lease to Russia:
Shermans: ~3600
Valentines: ~3500

Note that the Valentine is available in slightly greater numbers than the KV-1, and the Sherman bears a similar relation to the IS-2. Again, 2194 doesn't give the Soviets either vehicle - why?

I'll grant that the map would conspire to make the Sherman a bit of a waste of time, but OTOH, the Soviets surely wouldn't be building them with their own production...

Pavlov · April 5, 2002, 14:37

I tried the scenario in single-player today and found two mistakes, bugs whatever.

1. Paratroops still have a range of 8, not 3. This is true for both german and allied paras.

2. The blue torpedo bomber is buildable by the Japanese. I don't know if this is intended, but it has a small US star-marking on the wing.

All in all: looks damn good. Can't wait to take it for a ride in PBEM.

Henrik · April 5, 2002, 15:10

Quote:

Originally posted by Pavlov
1. Paratroops still have a range of 8, not 3. This is true for both german and allied paras.

2. The blue torpedo bomber is buildable by the Japanese. I don't know if this is intended, but it has a small US star-marking on the wing.

The range of the paratroopers should be a bug, but the torpedo bomber is supposed to be buildable by both the japanese and the americans (there is a version without that star in the latest version of the scen, I know 'cuz I was the one who removed it

)

Hej förrästen, och välkomen till "The Sleague"

Kul att se en till svensk här

Pavlov · April 5, 2002, 15:20

This was in version 5, downloaded it yesterday. Is there a version 6 now?

Tackar! Började kännas lite ensamt...

klesh · April 5, 2002, 15:39

Hej Pavlov!

Version 6 will most likely be the final. I have it ready to go but I am waiting to see how Pap and Magyar's PBEM turns out to see if there are more changes needed. Glad you liked it so far! And yes, Henrik covered your comments well enough. Error on the para's range, and the torpedo plane is now without the American star.

-FMK.

Pavlov · April 5, 2002, 15:57

Cheers for the quick replies from the both of you.

So.... When is stalingrad out?

(I can almost hear FMK screaming "Gaah! Shut up!" at the screen)

klesh · April 8, 2002, 14:15

Okay, I uploaded v6 today. Should be all thats neeed for awhile. I suggest we go ahead and start playing this version.

Added some AA to Germany and France to prevent early British raids.

Made AA immobile to prevent AA/Bomber stacking.

Changed the Tiger I to a Königstiger.

Fixed the para's range issue.

So everyone go and get Xin Yu's LazyCivII Utility and let's get a game on!

-FMK.

Case · April 11, 2002, 00:31

Are we going to start the 'offical' game soon?

Henrik · April 11, 2002, 03:03

The first turn is being played right now.

Chris 62 · April 11, 2002, 10:46

Who are the players again?

I have forgotten who is who.

Henrik is Japan, I'm Germany, FMK is Russia, but I don't remember who Case is, or the other guy.