Appropriate Military Creation

[VOP2288]

After finally getting around to properly learning how to play HoI3 I've found that I understand a majority of the mechanics and such but I do wonder about the proper creation of land, sea, and air forces.

For land troops what I've been doing is making Divisions of 4 units typically with 3 brigades being infantry and 1 being something else like artillery, armor, engineers, etc. My armored divisions are usually comprised of 3 brigades of armor and 1 of anti-tank.

For naval units it's sort of been a mix of things - what I named my "Battle Fleets" are composed of 4 battleships, 2 carriers with 4 CAGs, 4 Light Cruisers, and 2 Heavy Cruisers. My "Battle Groups" are 2 battleships, 2 carriers with 4 CAGs, and 2 Light Cruisers, and what I call my "Recon Fleet"s (used for patrolling and the like) is made up of 2 Destroyers, 2 Heavy Cruisers, and 2 Submarines.

Finally for air units I haven't experimented much with them but I would probably create a Bomber Group with 3 Bombers and an Interceptor, etc

So I'm just wondering...am I doing this right or are there other better ways to organize my forces?

[Veliky Kaiser Theos]

I'm not sure if I'm right in doing so, but I always create divisions made up of 2 infantry/mechanised brigades, 1 artillery, and one armour. That gives a good combined arms bonus (if you can afford it). A division made up of 2x mech + medium or heavy armour + SP rockets can tear through several infantry divisions. With air warfare, I prefer specialised groups made up entirely of either bombers or fighters. 1 fighter is inadequate for protection. Instead, you should have fighter groups patrolling atop their airports, and then crater-bomb them. That will leave your enemies unable to attack your bombers. I can't really advise on naval warfare, as I tend to neglect it in favour of extra air groups and tech.

[HissingNewt]

^The issue with those divisions being the mainstay of your force is that rough terrain and rivers will hurt them badly. They're great for open plains areas like Russia, but if you try to cross the Rhine/Siegfried Line with that they'll get torn up, and the Ardenne forest will also give them issues unless the Germans are in full rout mode and just constantly melting away in front of your forces.

Infantry divisions (backed up by some kind of support unit) are what I use for most of my divisions, and I have divisions composed entirely of Mechanized and Armor (usually with Self Propelled Artillery too) to exploit any breakthrough or create a breakthrough. If you have spare IC to use, Infantry can be replaced by special forces like Marines or Airborne troops.

[Poach]

You're mixing your units badly, consider the speed.

3 Armour and 1 AT means it moves at the speed of AT, which is slow. Use Tank Destroyers instead. Also, throw some Motorised/Mechanised Inf in there. Your Infantry set up is fine, 3xInf 1xArt is the best for anti-infantry as Art has a high soft attack.

Your naval set up is, however, all wrong. Never mix Battleships and Carriers. The best mixes are:

Battleships and Destroyers for Surface Action Groups: BBs rip enemy ships apart and the DDs scoot about catching enemy ships that attempt escape.

Carriers and Cruisers (and maybe Battlecruisers): CVs never go anywhere near the enemy ships, and LCs have the range to stay further back. For Carrier Groups this makes them an ideal escort as they won't close with the enemy then find they back the big guns of a Battleship to cover them. BCs can be thrown into this mix because they're fast enough, stick with the LCs, and have the firepower to deal out some damage while the CAGs do their work. You don't really want BCs in the SAG above because SAGs get up close and personal, something a BC isn't much suited for.

[TheBromgrev]

Poach's advice on ground units is good.

For air units, don't mix interceptors with bombers. Interceptors will cut the range of your bombers in half at best. If you really want to have escorts, use multi-role instead. Due to how air stacking penalties work, wings of 2 or 3 units give you the best bang for your buck when it comes to air combat.

For naval combat it mostly comes down to what you want to do. The common advice is to only build fleets of destroyers+battleships or carriers+light cruisers, because of how doctrines work. Early on it's fine to mix carriers in with other ships, because the CAGs aren't powerful yet. In fact, a mixed carrier and battleship fleet is quite powerful, because the planes will weaken the enemy fleet while your big ships close in for the kill, and carriers will stay out of combat. As Germany I sunk the entire RN with two fleets composed of 2xBB+1xCV+3xDD, rotating out damaged CAGs with reserves I had built. Later in the game fleets of carriers and screens are the best fleet type because of how quickly CAG firepower scales up. So, in the end just do what you want in regards to main battle fleets. BB+DD or CV+CL are the best fleets if you consider leadership cost, but if you're playing as Japan or the UK and have tons of battleships sitting around, mixing them with carriers is fine.

[SLN445]

How about smaller nations with low production capabilities? should infantry groups be enough or is it worth having less infantry for a small amount of artillery peices?

[hellheaven1987]

How about smaller nations with low production capabilities? should infantry groups be enough or is it worth having less infantry for a small amount of artillery peices?

In that case you probably want to do a militia + artillery combo, with some pure cavalry division (means only cavalry, no support) to explore the breakthrough.

[Veliky Kaiser Theos]

In that case you probably want to do a militia + artillery combo, with some pure cavalry division (means only cavalry, no support) to explore the breakthrough.

I disagree. Militias is are waste of supplies. Infantry is far more usefull for it's price.

[I WUB PUGS]

Never mix mobile and non-mobile troops, this has been an unbreakable rule ever since they started adding the whole "brigade augmentation" to HOI.

You have to watch your gas guzzlers too, always go for less gas consumption if you can. Don't ever stick a unit that requires gas with infantry, because if they get cut off then the whole unit is stuck.

Simple army build is infantry with artillery and AT with the occasional AA to hold the line, use the fastest possible and hardest hitting troops to exploit gaps or add in extra punch.

As a smaller nation you are better off building smaller but ultra potent forces, after all, you shouldn't be going off on big campaigns, you should be supporting. Militia have always been a waste of time in all of the titles, Paradox just puts them in to give the Chinese something to use against the Japanese while being little more than a speed bump.

Infantry with artillery and AT will win most battles.

[HMS Empire Broadsword]

I usually make armies with 3 Corps of 3 Infantry divisions each, and then an Amroured Corps of 2-3 armoured Divisions and 2-3 Mecchanised divisions. Usually backed up with one fighter group (5-6 interceptors/multi-roles) and one tactical/bomber group (2 multi-roles, 4 tactical bombers. I wouldnt reccomend using Close Air Support as they have a tiny range.)

As for navies, Cruiser squadrons with Heavy and Light Cruisers plus Destroyers work well as scouts, or for taking out convoys/transports. Im not too bothered with Subs. I have 3 Carrier Fleets of 5-6 Carriers, one Battlecruiser and screens. These work great for supporting amphibious attacks and landings, also for taking out enemy capital ships. Also, 4 Battle Squadrons comprised of 3 battlehips, 1-2 escort carriers and screens.

[TheBromgrev]

Your air wings are too big and you're being hit with nasty stacking penalties. The cost-benefit of the stacking ratio versus the firepower of more units caps out at 3 air units per wing, so anything more than 3 is actually hurting you.

[HMS Empire Broadsword]

Your air wings are too big and you're being hit with nasty stacking penalties. The cost-benefit of the stacking ratio versus the firepower of more units caps out at 3 air units per wing, so anything more than 3 is actually hurting you.

Thanks awfully for the tip. I'm gonna have to do a massive re-orginisation now...