A little nameing issue...:)

[Szun]

For the most part the names chosen for the various units i totaly agree with, but the 1944 german tank divison is called PZIVj well... it might be right to the total number used by germany, the most numerus were Pz IV.
But i miss the Panther here
Pz IVG IVH and IVJ werent all that different, only minor changes were made over the years since the 75L48 "found the way" to the PzIV.
A namechange wont affect gameplay much, but it would add some 'flavour'.

The main reason germany kept building PzIV in the late war, was that Guderian fought for keeping it in the building.
"The tank crews know the PZIV in thier sleep" he argued.
If germany hadnt been under so much pressure at the eastfront, i doubt the PzIV would have been build past '44, when the Panther G went out on production without the flaws Panther A and B had.

thats my thought about the subject... if you differ thats ok

 

[unmerged(17767)]

I thought your post well reasoned and thought out. I'd have to agree.

The course of the war definitely had a major impact on what models were produced. Like you say if the war in the east had gone differently there wouldn't have been the pressure on production that kept the PZ IV's on the assembly line so long.

 

[unmerged(53215)]

The late war divisions typically had a mix of types so what about just calling it PzIV/PzV?

 

[unmerged(19967)]

It bothered me too. I changed mine to reflect the PzV Ausf G Panther.

 

[ArmdChair]

IIRC, the Panzer Divisions mainstay continued to be the PzKwIV until the end of the war. I don't believe that any of the Panzer divisions ever managed to field more than a few battalions of Panthers or Tigers. I think that is why you see the PzKwIVJ as the model name in this case.

 

[m_spencer]

Of course they never had tons of Tigers. Tigers were heavy tanks. They did have a lot of Panthers though. Not tons like the IIIs and IVs but the Panthers were out there.

 

[unmerged(19967)]

If the Germans had the resources and ability to do so, the Panthers [by 1944] would have replaced the PzIV's. I want the game to reflect that possibility.

 

[ArmdChair]

If the Germans had the resources and ability to do so, the Panthers [by 1944] would have replaced the PzIV's. I want the game to reflect that possibility.

Certainly, there was a possibility that the PzKwV models could have become the bulk of the Panzer forces. Can a Player replicate the increased research and production costs, and pay the military and political costs of such a decision? I'm not sure that the game is equipped to reflect that kind of ahistorical alteration very well within the historical framework itself.

But, for a Player, the hope is that things have gone a bit better for Germany than they had historically. For that, I would agree that being able to produce something better would be a possibility, But, the farther afield from "history" any particular game goes, perhaps the less a Player should pay attention to model dates of equipment techs. If a Player has concentrated more on armour research, then perhaps that Player should be a year or two "ahead" of the model dates in production.

By the same argument, a change in US armoured philosophy could have seen the deployment of significant numbers of M-26 Pershings by 1944. Is then a change required for US armoured divisions to reflect this? I'm not persuaded. Just move ahead with the "later" models...

 

[Szun]

its only a name change....i never intended to increse combat values

i allwys can do it myself of course, but i thought the general playerbase would miss the panther named divison.

I agree the wehrmacht had a lot more PzIV in '44 then panther and the PzIV was cheaper and faster to produce as well.
Wich ultimatly was the reason they did keep producing it, because germany had 1 big problem from start...the tank production was to low and when AH wanted to double it (source see "Guderian the Tank-General") they had to reduce the planeproduction instead, wich was kinda low itself, so they didnt.
/rant off

 

[Wolfhead]

Personally I think I'll change the names to duel models like this: PzKpfw.IVj/PzKpfw.V 'Panther'