This one has been bugging me for a while. Artillery, AA, and AT are NOT hardened units (as opposed to SP artillery and SP AA). They are "soft" targets and they are "support" units. I haven't heard of such a thing as an artillery division (OK - the Soviets had them - but they weren't front line units) and definitely never a AT or AA division. I'm getting sick and tired of watching people lead assaults with AA and AT units. This is ridiculous. While AA and AT would have some effectiveness against infantry, Arty would get overwhelmed once the infantry got into contact (of course the INF would take a lot of damage while moving forward to engage if the ART targets them).
Given these facts, I would recommend/suggest the following changes:
Given these facts, I would recommend/suggest the following changes:
- Change the armor class of regular artillery, AA, and AT to Infantry - or create a new class of unit called Artillery (after all, it is one of the three main branches of any army);
- Give Infantry (and tank?) units attack bonus against artillery and possibly AA. Infantry should have an attack bonus against AT (while some types of AA were effective against INF, not all were).
- INF support of Artillery and AA: if a stack containing INF with ART and/or AA (NOT AT) is attacked, the INF should have to be destroyed BEFORE the ART and/or AA start taking any damage except by indirect fire (but they can still fire back).
- Retreat/Withdrawal: unsupported (i.e. alone in a province) ART and AA (see #3 above) should be able to retreat or withdrawal to a neighboring friendly province in the event that enemy INF or Armor enter the province they are in and move toward the provincial town/city.