Easy battles that are Unwinnable

[kenberg]

I have seen in most of my playthroughs as Russia that mass offensives with 50+ divs vs a pocket will fail.

With like 1 or 2 german divs holding out in a pocket vs 50+ divs and as i bomb the hell out of them, And i use everything i have and after weeks i just give up and leave a small army of 2-5 inf divs and come back to it months later.

And when i come back to KO the pocket with 20+ divs it still takes me weeks to over run the pocket.

Does germany have a hidden pocket advantage?

And yes i know HOI4 is still in very early open beta.

[Včelí medvídek]

50 divs on same spot probably dont have any supply to fight at all..

[Nuttex]

Death stakes don't work in Hearts of Iron - there are only so many divisions you can put on the battlefield. The best thing to do with pockets is leaving them to die off without supplies and then mop up whatever's left by the end of it.

[Nautious Maximus]

I think there is an "over stacking" penalty when you try to use too many divisions, but I can't find any details on it at the moment. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Camerons101]

Originally posted by kfortner99:

I think there is an "over stacking" penalty when you try to use too many divisions, but I can't find any details on it at the moment. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't know how it works exactly but you can get a penalty for having too many stacks in a fight.

[TheHostName]

The"penalty" is simply that these troops are not used nothing more.You can only field a limeted amount of troops into a battle the rest waits.

[Sohei]

The penalty you may be seeing is too much width in the front line compared to the available width. This is usually 80 for an attack from one direction. This sometimes happens when the divisions you have do not divide evenly into 80. You can have many extra units in the stack as reserves though without any direct penalty that I am aware of - they just may not be used and thus wasted. A large stack does have a large supply demand though so they can be less effective because of that and since many may not be in the front lines they can be an unnecesary drain better used elsewhere.

4 divisions of 20 width each are enough to fill a front line without waste. Then you can optionally add a few more if you want some replacements available for that battle.

[Exarch_Alpha]

OP title is silly, how something easy is unwinnable

As others said it´s irrelevant if you have 50 divisions if you only attack from one province, as width LIMITS how many can attack.

So spread those 50 all around the pocket and hit it from all sides. Easy peasy.

[kenberg]

I come at the pocket from all land routes not just one and most of the time it takes me months to over run it.

[TheHostName]

Yes because they have some supply rests. One thing that might be a problem for you is when they are in a city with a victory point as they provide supply to the divisions in its provinces....

[Pippin123]

If your divisions are good quality (20 width, support, blabalbla) , the pocket is effectively out of supply (not on a port or a VP point) and not sitting on a Fort or in mountains, what you describe doesn't happen.

It takes them a few days to become fully OOS, and their org crashes, at this point they're pushover..

Do you have a screenshot of a typical "stubborn pocket" situation ?

PS: And no, there's no special rules for Germany.

[Manx]

I've had pockets form in capitals like Addis Addaba that took 6 month of constant attacking to push thru. 20 Italian divisions where split into 5 teams and each took turns in mashing their men and equipment into the Ethopian lines. Trick is never to to stop, as one grp runs low on org the next team goes in. Give the enemy 24hr rest and he'll regain all the org a month of fighting has removed. At the end i had 20 elite divisions with little to no equipment in the capital.

[LangWang420]

I have this same problem. I actually got Poland into the Cominterm before Germany attacked and got my forces to the new front line. Germany and Italy were getting their butts whooped in Europe and in Africa, but now they are winning against everyone and my Russian superiority of endless man power should overwhelm them I would assume, but then again they are at about 90 unity as well.....but time and time again I can't even seem to beat Germany, even on Easy mode...sadly and unfortunately. I even have Spain, Turkey and a few others in the Cominterm

[Adam Apples]

I used to get really frustrated how 1 or 2 divisions could hold out for so long against my 6-8, but as my understanding of the game grew, perks, penalties, width etc. it all fell into place as to how they were able to do so. Also how to defeat them ;)

[Elo (cult of Yes!)]

I am playing a game that has lasted until 1958, where it is basically me (as the USA) vs Germany and Japan. Despite invading Japan with 300 divisions (with each division of maximum strength and width), and having over 10,000 planes to provide Air Superiority to the region, I have only been able to push inland to take a couple dozen territories before I start getting driven back by territories that have 1/10th of the divisions that I do.

My Field Marshall is higher level. Every single thing that can be researched, has been. Not sure what to do at this point. I can't make it inland far enough to build up ports to improve supply. End-game definitely seems broken.

[Noel]

Originally posted by kenberg:

I come at the pocket from all land routes not just one and most of the time it takes me months to over run it.

You just described one of longest battles of WWII/one of the bloodiest battles of all time (Leningrad), and seeing as the aforementioned battle was won by the defenders I don't quite get how your battle is automatically easy. If the enemy is entrenched on a victory point it really makes perfect sense.