Some Ostheer Concepts

[Rahvenich]

This isn't a complete concept. I'm not familiar with all the vehicles the Wehrmacht had to do it justice, so I'm not going to bother. A good Ostheer concept should be a pool of different ideas that end up working well together anyway. Also, I'm going to suggest alternative interpretations for some of the concepts, in case something ends up being OP or UP and needs to be amended to work properly.

Here's a couple ideas I've had that I feel would make the Ostheer an interesting faction:

- No German building unit. The only builders available are POWs and foreign laborers as every German is needed for the front. Call it a Hilfswilliger, POW, or Forced Laborer. This unit would have about 5 or 6 men and perform poorly in combat. Additionally, the unit will retreat automatically if it looses a set number of squad members, unless they're in the home base of the ostheer player.

- Give the Ostheer a POW recruitment center, or truck. This would pick up wounded soldiers much like American, British, and Wehrmacht medics. However, out would pick up only enemy soldiers. The drawback is that it churns out the POW builder unit mentioned above, forcing the Ostheer player to decide whether to sacrifice the population space to deny the enemy his zombies.

- I've seen the idea mentioned that the Ostheer should have a building that allows the recruitment of foreign troops. I would suggest having them in a forward barracks (if this is possible from a coding point of view). The Ostheer should be mobile similar to the PE, though not as vehicle based. This means no trucks as with the British, as a mobile force that can make camp before your base is murder. This would allow for a forward base, though. The twist would be that you can recruit foreign versions of what you can recruit in your home base that have poorer performance than German units. This way the player has to decide between using resources for better units that have to make it to the front or worse units that can be built on the spot. Tougher foreign units such as the Spanish or Finns would be call ins.

- Lord Rommel put forth the idea that stationing units in a sector would secure it. I like that idea, if its possible to implement it. Setting a certain threshold of either men or squads required in a sector would make the player make decisions on where and whether to concentrate their forces.


Most concepts I've read so far include the Heeresgruppen as the different Commander trees. I feel this is an interesting means to explore historical doctrinal powers.

Doctrine Concepts:

- Heeresgruppe Nord (Army Group North)

Heeresgruppe Nord was responsible for the Siege of Leningrad and saw the deployment of the Blue Division of Spanish Civil War veterans. This would make the HGr N doctrines focus on siege (artillery and defensive structures) and foreign troops (call ins). So here are some concepts for those:

Blockade - Spend manpower to cut the enemy's resource income to a trickle for a short amount of time and to prevent call in units from entering the battlefield.

Finnish Code Breakers - Gain information on the enemies resources from your allies. Could either be a passive ability, or a triggered ability with a cooldown and cost.

Spanish Veterans - Call in veterans of the Spanish Civil War from the Blue Division.

- Heeresgruppe Mitte (Army Group Center)

HGr M participated in the battle of Kursk, meaning it should be able to field powerful tanks and have some air support to reflect that. This would require some serious balancing, but as the Breakthrough Assault Strategy shows, air and tank doctrines can work together. Heavy tank call ins and Stuka support would probably work best here. What I suggest avoiding is a power that allows for air superiority fighters to shoot down enemy planes. This would be entirely worthless against anyone not playing as Airborne, Commando, or Breakthrough, and powers intended primarily to counter other doctrines should be avoided.

- Heeresgruppe Süd (Army Group South)

Stalingrad is the most important battle HGr S was involved in. Two things that define the battle are German air superiority in the beginning and brutal street fighting. If having powerful tanks and planes is too much for HGr M, consider relocating airforce powers to this.

Thoughts?

[Panzer4life]

Not bad, but I don't like the idea for Army group North. I can understand the Finnish involvement, but having the Spanish involved? They didn't do much, so it be like giving the Germans White Russians (Russians that were loyal to the Tsars). i would suggest a even better Finnish unit, or a siege unit, because the battle of Leningrad was actually called the siege of Leningrad, the Germans never captured it, they just surrounded the place.

[Rahvenich]

The Spanish Blue division was originally deployed with Army Group Center before they got redeployed to Leningrad under Army Group North. Technically, they actually did more in the siege than the Finns, as these advanced only so far as the pre-Winter War borders and did little attacking.

I'm not dead set on having them, but unlike the Finns, they weren't independent of the German Wehrmacht and hence it would make more sense to have Spanish instead of Finnish call-in units.

As for a siege unit, as I've pointed out, I'm unfamiliar with vehicles used at the time. The idea of having rail-transported artillery lob one massive shell from an off-map position has been tossed around. It would fit, if the Germans used those guns during the siege.

[Saavedra]

- No German building unit. The only builders available are POWs and foreign laborers as every German is needed for the front. Call it a Hilfswilliger, POW, or Forced Laborer. This unit would have about 5 or 6 men and perform poorly in combat. Additionally, the unit will retreat automatically if it looses a set number of squad members, unless they're in the home base of the ostheer player.

I am reminded of Command and Conquer Generals.

"We need shoes!"

- Lord Rommel put forth the idea that stationing units in a sector would secure it. I like that idea, if its possible to implement it. Setting a certain threshold of either men or squads required in a sector would make the player make decisions on where and whether to concentrate their forces.

If the Scorched Earth PE can plant boobytraps on sectors, and destroy them, why not have an infantry unit that can "lock" itself to the sector flag?




Also, after reading up on Finnish participation on WWII, I am starting to think that they are way over-hyped, and that people are confusing the Winter War with the Continuation War. I say this because some users keep insisting that the Finnish should appear in the mod, although they were doing their own thing the whole time, to the exclusion of all other nations like the Spaniards.

[Rahvenich]

I am reminded of Command and Conquer Generals.

"We need shoes!"

=P

If the Scorched Earth PE can plant boobytraps on sectors, and destroy them, why not have an infantry unit that can "lock" itself to the sector flag?

That's an interesting idea as well.

[confederate880]

Just a thought, but the Ostheer should have a doctrine focused around urban warfare (a sort of stalingrad themed doctrine). probably an armoured assault doctrine (kursk) and a siege doctrine (leningrad).

I know thats whats already been discussed, but an idea you havent put forward is an off map Karl Mortar shell. Karl Mortars were used at Sevastopol, had a 600mm shell and would blow just about anything to hell.

[hgghg4]

@Confed

Doctrines

   Army Group North
   - Mechanized Infantry and Defensive Support
   Defensive Half
      - 2 CP - Defensive Operations
         - Allows for the building of Flak Cannon Pit
         - Increases HP on Pillbox and HDFP
      - 2 CP - Fortified Outposts
         - Increases HP on outposts and adds a MG34 for Light Infantry Defense
         - Allows for a small Anti Infantry Minefield to be placed around Outposts (Butterfly Bomb Type)
      - 3 CP - Increased Fortifications
         - Allows for the building of the 7.5cm Fixed AT Position
         - Gives Infantry a Defensive Bonus while near a HQ, Pillbox, Flak Pit or AT Bunker.
   Assault Half
      - 2 CP - Assault Squads
         - Gives access to a group of Gebirgsjager Infantry - 550MP
            - Highly skilled marksmen and mountain men that can traverse ground quickly.
         - Allows access to Assault Grenades for 50 Munitions
      - 2 CP - Assault Halftrack - 400MP
         - A halftrack with a dedicated MG42 gunner, Increased armor and HP with the Ability to
               carry 3 Unit Types and a max of 15 Troops and a Flank Speed option for 25 Munitions
      - 4 CP - Panzerwerfer 42 - 450MP
         - A 15cm 8 rocket barrage max call in of 3.
         - High damage, long cool down.

   Army Group Center
   - Anti Tank and Tank Assault
   Defensive Half
      - 2 CP - Hold the Line!
         - Allows Access to Tank Bunker
         - Gives a Defensive Bonus to Infantry near HQ, Tank Bunkers and Pillboxes
      - 1 CP - Advanced Warning
         - Just like for the Defensive Doctrine
      - 5 CP - Ferdinand - 500MP
         - Call in a One Time Heavy Ferdinand Tank Destroyer to hold the line (can not be Tank bunkered)
   Assault Half
      - 3 CP - Surprise Attack - 150 Munitions
         - Tanks and Infantry get a speed Boost, Enemy Infantry get pinned and Tanks get stunned for 10 Seconds
         - Is a Linear ability, only units in the area are affected (Like a Strafe with no damage and a larger area)
      - 1 CP - Light Artillery Strike - 75 Munitions
         - Soften your opponents positions right before you attack! (Can only be Used in Enemy Territory)
      - 4 CP - Tiger Battalion
         - Allows Access to Tiger Production at the 1st SS Panzer Division.

   Army Group South
   - Urban Conflict
   Artillery Command
      - 1 CP - Booby Trap Building
         - Just like Panzer Elite
      - 3 CP - Flak 88 Fixed Artillery Position
         - Allows Access to the 88 Fixed Artillery Position
      - 3 CP - Wespe Self Propelled Artillery - 350MP
         - Max Call in 2
         - Range of upgraded Priests
         - High Damage, long cool down.
   Street Fighting
      - 2 CP - Advanced Street Fighting
         - Give an increased offensive and Defensive Bonus to infantry while fighting in Buildings
      - 3 CP - Firebomb - 150 Munitions
         - Call in a Trio of HE111's to drop lines of 3 Incendiary Bombs
         - Can not be used in Command Sector
      - 4 CP - Railway Artillery Shell - 200 Munitions
         - A single railway shell is launched at the target of your choice causing extremely high  damage to the target area. Only Notification is a high pitched whistle 8 seconds before impact.