France '40 4.00 Map Errors

[Mike Prucha]

[quote pid="451129" dateline="1663256670"]
Mike. I know how much work you have put into this game and playing the campaign right now I know it's a great game. My only worry is that by making the French tank divisions "D" instead of "C" the Allied players just don't have any good units and when that happens the game just isn't any fun. The Dutch Army is all D and E rated except for a few C's. The Belgian Army is pretty much all D and E except for the Ardennes cyclists. Now all (and practically the only) good units in the French Army will be rated D. The German armor is all A. French armor rated D can't stand up to slugging it out with A rated panzers; they are gonna lose and quickly be disordered and decimated. The only thing the French have is artillery and if you play standard arty rules that allow the German player to stack a mile high with infantry and armor with no density penalty, the French have no chance, and I mean zero. The campaign is 259 turns and it's gonna take at least 100-150 turns to figure that out and won't won't be any fun at all for the French player. I hope it all works out because the map and oob are really outstanding. jonny
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Hi Johnny,

Thanks again for your feedback. I am glad you enjoy the OOB and the map (I think these will be even better in the coming update!) and I do appreciate your concerns and critiques.

A few thoughts:

1. The German Panzers are not and never have been "all A." This has not been the case in any iteration of the F40 Gold OOB  and will not be with the update. 7 out of 32 Panzer battalions are Quality A - just those of 1st & 7th Panzer. Furthermore, French tanks still have very high (relative to the era) defense values and German Panzers still have very low HA values, so it is not as though the German tanks have a total advantage - there's an awful lot of fire pulses that provide "No effect."

2. As mentioned in the preview a few months ago, there are many alterations in morale ratings beyond changing tank ratings. In total, the French will have more than 100 battalions rated Quality B. There are other changes that favor the allies as well - fortification bonuses are higher (and consistent with other west front titles), infantry units (especially French and Belgian) are much larger and able to absorb more casualties, etc. So there are advantages the French can leverage, at least locally. Yes, when spread thinly, the French will tend to collapse. When fighting on favorable terrain and densely packed according to French doctrine, the French infantry can be very difficult to displace, even at lower morale values. 

3. French armor did in fact suffer catastrophic losses in Fall Gelb. By the end of May the entirety of the GA 1's armor had been reduced the strength of less than 1 battalion. Getting precise figures for any point in the middle of campaign is difficult as war diaries are incomplete, etc., but at 150 turns in (roughly May 24th) GA 1's armor force would have been would have been well under 50% strength. 9th Army's tank battalions were entirely eliminated between May 13th-17th (with most being destroyed between the 14th & 15th), 1st DCR lost nearly 100% of its tank strength in just a few hours on May 15th, and the remaining dozen or so tanks were destroyed or abandoned in within a few days after. 2nd DCR was likewise almost entirely destroyed between May 15th-18th (though it was rebuilt with new units), etc., etc.. If the French tank force is not holding up well in the campaign, to me that seem to be within the realm of realism. 

4. I do not like the Alternative Indirect Fire resolution. Losses (especially German) already tend to be inflated relative to history and this rule would inflate them further.

5. The OOB editor is provided for your use. The morale ratings, etc. are my take but do not need to be considered definitive or binding. You are always welcome to change the values and morale ratings however you see fit and can make the French army as powerful as you would like. 

-Mike Prucha