Land Doctrine

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Doctrine Overview

Land Doctrine effects:

  • Organisation and Morale values
  • HQ Unit availability and effectiveness
  • Production costs of certain units (only patch 1.2 and newer; they do not function in 1.1)
  • Combat Events
  • Some Night/Terrain modifiers

There are 6 Doctrine trees available in the game, depending on tech choices.

  • Mobility Focus - Spearhead (finishes in Volksturm Doctrine or Modern Blitzkrieg)
  • Mobility Focus - Human Wave (finishes in Mechanized Wave)
  • Firepower Focus - Superior Firepower (branches on the last tech into Mechanized Offensive or Combined Arms Defence) finished at Air Land Battle.
  • Firepower Focus - Grand Battle Plan, which branches in 1941 into:
    • Attritional Containment
    • Infiltration Assault
    • Operational Stages
    • Grand Battle Plan finishes at Assault Concentration Doctrine.

Doctrine Summaries

Each of the doctrines have their own strengths and weaknesses which are detailed out below. The choice of which one you would be best to adopt is should be determined by a number of factors such as:

1. What type of game you want to play;

2. How far at the start of a scenario you are already along a certain doctrine path (for example, in the 1944 scenario, it would be significantly counter-productive for Germany to change its doctrine path);

3. The relative 'matching' of your tech teams with you preferred doctrine path (for example, German tech teams are better matched to research the Blitzkrieg path, and less so the others);

4. If playing a minor, what a major ally might be able to offer in terms of blueprints (for example, Hungary starts on the US Superior Firepower path, but if played normally, would usually ally with Germany on the Blitzkrieg path - switching to this doctrine might be worthwhile);

5. The 'difficulty' of the path undertaken. Note that Firepower path only has 9 techs to research, whilst mobility has 10. Further note that the Grand Battle Plan difficulty is only 9 per stage, compared to 10 for the other three (the other exception is the Human Wave, the last two are both 8);

6. When you are intending to enter the war.

Spearhead

The Spearhead doctrine tree is exceptionally strong, particularly between 1937 and 1941. It has extremely high organisation, fast headquarters units, cheap tanks, and Breakthrough and Encirclement offensive combat events . Most of the benefits are achieved by 1940, giving early advantages.

Between 1939 and 1942 there are also cost savings on infantry and artillery; in 1943 these are switched to motorised and mechanised troops and self-propelled guns.

Spearhead doctrine is ideally suited to nations who are seeking to conduct rapid Blitzkrieg offensives. The high Organisation levels mean that the troops are very good at winning battles and sustained operations. The only disadvantage is that some other nations have better cost reductions, and defensive combat events are scarce.

Neither of the late war techs are very good however. Volkssturm, available by 1944 (the earliest of the late/post war techs) offers discounts to milita and urban defence at the expense of a 10% organisation penalty to infantry. The Modern Blitzkrieg doctrine, whilst offering a 5% org increase, isn't available till 1947 and doesn't offer as much as the other tech trees do.

Human Wave

The Human Wave doctrine tree has low Organisation throughout but exceptional Morale. At every stage the Morale is higher than any other type. Higher morale allows organization to recover much faster, meaning that units can recover organization and quickly attack again.

There are significant discounts to Infantry and Cavalry throughout, biggest in 1940 and the first two of three 1941 land doctrines. Starting with the last 1941 land doctrine, there are discounts for Motorised, Mechanized and Armoured units. HQs are initially slow until the last 1941 Land Doctrine is researched and give virtually no Supply Efficiency bonus until 1943. One of the difficulties of the Human Wave land doctrine tree is that you need to research one 1940 and then three 1941 land doctrines consecutively while the German Blitzkrieg branch has only one 1941 Land Doctrine.

The combat events focus on Assaults and Counterattacks, which trade your manpower for enemy organisation.

Human Wave doctrine suits nations which have plenty of Manpower to make lots of Infantry units which throw themselves at the enemy on the offensive or the defensive. The initially slow HQ speed means an operational attack is relatively slow and needs careful planning. With the later doctrines, however, HQ speed increases significantly.

The 1946 tech 'Mechanised Wave' does offer huge bonuses (30%) to armour and mechanised unit morale.

Superior Firepower

Organisation and Morale are initially both very poor. Superior Firepower organisation is worse than even the Human Wave's until 1941, but almost catches up with Spearhead in 1943.

However, the Superior Firepower tech tree has discounts on Infantry that are just as big as the Human Wave tech tree. Artillery brigades are also heavily discounted. Later this switches to Motorised, Mechanised divisions and SP Guns.

The other notable feature is that this tree has the highest Supply Efficiency bonus from the presence of HQ units.

The Superior Firepower doctrine tree suits countries that are entering the war late. Early on their armed forces are very disorgansied and vulnerable. This doctrine also encourages an Artillery focus, whether static or mobile.

The 1946 tech 'Air-Land Battle' finally gives a 10% boost to both Organisation and Morale, with a cost reduction for Cavalry (presumably for the upcoming helicopter unit).

Grand Battle Plan

This doctrine line is superior right at the beginning, in 1936 - but is outclassed almost immediately. (Note that Germany starts the '36 scenario with many advanced techs).

These doctrines give poor organisation and morale and slight discounts to infantry and AT guns.

They improve somewhat in 1942-44 as the tech tree splits:

  • Attritional Containment: Achieves relatively high morale levels and low organisation. Respectable discounts on Infantry, AT, Engineers and Artillery. Combat events are the Assault and the Counterattack. Mainly suitable for static defense or slow attack.
  • Infiltration assault: Very high Morale, though both Org and Morale are always lower than the Soviet tech tree. This tree gives advantages to night combat, which generally makes your land units more effective. Plenty of Ambush combat events. Discounts on Infantry, Marines and Militia. Armour becomes more expensive. Encourages to an extent an offensive Infantry and Militia focus.
  • Operational Stages: Balanced between Org and Morale and mediocre at both - ends up in 1944 equivalent to where the Germans were in 1941. Discounts end up spread over Infantry, Mechanized, Motorised, Anti-Tank and Armour. Not a strong tech tree but the only way to shift the Grand Battle Plan decision around to mechanised warfare.

The 1946 addition 'Assault Concentration' adds 20% morale and organisation to any divisions with an artillery brigade, making the addition of these brigades to units very worthwhile.

Rankings

While all doctrines have particular strengths and weaknesses, a general table can be constructed showing the value of doctrines relative to each other. The top three doctrines switch places, but always remain in the top three: Blitzkrieg, Human Wave, and Infiltration.

1936- 1942

  1. Blitzkrieg
  2. Human Wave
  3. Infiltration/Operational/Attritional (identical)
  4. Superior Firepower

1942 - 1943

  1. Infiltration
  2. Human Wave
  3. Blitzkrieg (best only if outnumbered or on the defensive)
  4. Superior Firepower (with tech rush)
  5. Operational Stages
  6. Attritional Containment

[ ]{#1944+} 1944+

  1. Infiltration
  2. Human Wave
  3. Blitzkrieg
  4. Superior Firepower
  5. Attritional Containment
  6. Operational Stages

Doctrine Information in Full

Available from this thread at the Paradox Forums.

USA Firepower- Superior Firepower Tree

Year Hq_Ty HQ_ESE Hq_Spd Org Morale C_Inf C_Art C_ Mot C_SPA C_Mec C_Cav
1936 0 1 0 50 30 0 0 0 0 0 0
1937 0 1 0 50 30 -5 -5 0 0 0 0
1938 0 2 1 60 40 -10 -10 0 0 0 0
1939 0 3 1 60 50 -15 -15 0 0 0 0
1940 1 4 1 60 60 -20 -20 0 0 0 0
1941 1 4 1 60 60 -20 -20 0 0 0 0
1942 2 6 2 70 60 -10 -10 -10 -10 0 0
1943.1 2 8 2 90 80 -5 -5 -15 -15 0 0
1943.2 2 8 2 90 80 -5 -5 -15 -15 -15 0
1946 3 8 2 100 90 -5 -5 -15 -15 0 -5

Grand Battle Lines

Year Hq_Ty HQ_ESE Hq_Spd Org Morale C_Inf C_Art C_Mot C_SPA C_Mec C_AT C_Eng C_Mar C_Mil C_Arm
1936 0 2 0 50 40 -5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1937 0 2 0 50 40 -5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1938 1 3 1 50 70 -10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1939 1 3 1 50 70 -10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1940 1 4 1 60 80 -15 0 0 0 0 -5 0 0 0 0
1941 1 4 1 60 80 -15 0 0 0 0 -5 0 0 0 0
1946 3 4 1 60 80 -15 0 0 0 0 -5 0 0 0 0
France
1942 1 6 2 75 80 -20 -5 0 0 0 -10 -5 0 0 0
1943 1 6 2 75 80 -20 -5 0 0 0 -10 -5 0 0 0
1944 2 7 3 75 105 -20 -10 0 0 0 -10 -10 0 0 0
Japan
1942 1 6 2 70 130 -20 0 0 0 0 -10 0 -5 -10 5
1943 2 7 3 70 130 -20 0 0 0 0 -10 0 -10 -20 10
UK
1942 1 6 2 85 80 -10 0 -10 0 0 -10 0 0 0 0
1943 1 6 2 85 80 -10 0 -10 0 0 -10 0 0 0 0
1944 2 8 3 85 80 -10 0 -10 0 -10 -10 0 0 0 -10

German Doctrine- Mobility-Spearhead

Year Hq_Ty HQ_ESE Hq_Spd Org Morale C_Inf C_Art C_Mot C_SPA C_Mec C_AT C_Eng C_Mar C_Mil C_Arm C_TD C_LA
1936 0 0 1 50 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1937 1 2 2 60 60 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -10 0 -15
1938 1 3 3 70 80 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -20 0 -20
1939 1 3 3 75 80 -5 -5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -20 0 -20
1940 1 4 3 80 80 -10 -10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -20 0 -20
1941 2 5 3 90 80 -10 -10 0 0 -5 0 0 0 0 -20 -5 -20
1942 2 5 3 90 80 -10 -10 0 0 -5 0 0 0 0 -20 -5 -20
1943 2 6 4 100 80 0 0 -10 -10 -15 0 0 0 0 -20 -15 -20
1947 2 6 4 105 80 0 0 -10 -10 -15 0 0 0 0 -20 -15 -20

Soviet Doctrine- Mobility-Human wave

Year Hq_Ty HQ_ESE Hq_Spd Org Morale C_Inf C_Art C_Mot C_SPA C_Mec C_AT C_Eng C_Mar C_Mil C_Arm C_TD C_Cav
1936 0 0 1 40 80 -5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -10
1937 0 0 1 50 80 -10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -20
1938 0 0 1 50 80 -10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -20
1939 0 0 1 50 80 -15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -10 0 0 -20
1940 1 1 1 50 100 -20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -20 0 0 -20
1941 2 2 2 70 100 -20 0 -5 0 -5 -5 0 0 -15 0 0 -15
1942 2 2 2 70 100 -20 0 -5 0 -5 -5 0 0 -15 0 0 -15
1943 2 6 2 70 140 -10 0 -15 0 -15 -5 0 0 -5 -10 0 -5

Comparison of final results

Doctrine: (Org)/(Morale) Superior Firepower: 70/50 Human Wave: 40/110 Blitzkrieg: 75/50 Operational Stages: 55/50 Infiltration Assault: 40/100 Attritional Containment: 45/75

Note - The maximum organisation can actually vary from unit to unit, even within the same doctrine path, by quite some degree, due to domestic sliders (Full standing army provides 10% org bonus, whilst full drafted army has a 10% negative), brigade attachments and specialist infantry.

As an example, with all techs researched in the Infiltration Assault path, a unit could have as little as 63 Org (normal unit, full drafted slider) or as much as 110 Org (Specialist infantry with Artillery brigade attached with full standing army slider).

See also

Downloads