Q about armored recon in France '40

Turner · 03-28-2009, 02:04 AM,

In the dash through the Ardennes the armored recon units have a strikingly low mobility. They are outpaced by everything but heavy arty. Is there some logic reasoning why these relatively small lightly armored units are slower than motorized infantry batallions?

Volcano Man · (This post was last modified: 03-28-2009, 04:42 AM by Volcano Man.)

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that you are talking about F40_Alt (for future reference, it is very helpful to state that whether are talking about a particular modded scenario or whether or not you are talking about the stock game -- because I could indeed be wrong and you might be talking about the stock game, or some other mod really). :eek1:

If you are indeed talking about F40_Alt, then yes, the SdKfz 231 (6 rad - six wheeled), (which I will refer to as "231/6"), comprised the bulk of the Aufk recon armored car units and was severely lacking when it came to mobility. It was designed around a modified 6x4 truck chassis and was somewhat underpowered. It was replaced by the SdKfz 231 (8 rad) as early as 1937 but, despite this, a large number of 231/6s were present during the invasion of Poland and France as they were not yet formally retired. These AC units represent a mix of vehicles, but the 231/6 composed the majority of the AC units AFAIK, so it is the one represented which restricts the mobility.

It is just something to keep in mind as you are racing across France in Travel Mode, the 231/6 cannot keep up with the trucks. You should simply slow down your advance to the pace of the 231/6... but who wants to do that? The dilemma is trading speed for recon. The German Opel Blitz trucks (motorized infantry) have a speed of 15 and the armored cars have a speed of 12. So, to make a long story short, it has nothing to do with slowing down the recon unit's movement rate to represent them moving more cautiously.