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Going over terrain width can result in some pretty heavy penalties to combat performance, so it’s important to design templates that can fit as many divisions as possible into the terrain width without receiving a penalty. Fortunately, there are plenty of viable options players can utilize.
10 21-Width Infantry: Good All Rounders
The standard, go-to template; this division is relatively low-cost, reliable, and performs well in most terrains, especially forest and jungle. It works best as a basic infantry unit, used to hold the line or make a general push along the front.
Theatres with lots of forests and plains, like Europe, are especially favorable to this template. It’s also highly adaptable, with players able to choose between 9-1 or 6-3 infantry to artillery, depending on production capabilities. Finish the design off with support companies (artillery, engineer, and recon are usually the strongest) and produce en-masse!
9 15-Width Infantry: Desert Specialists
If players are looking for a cheaper and lighter variant of the standard infantry template, a 15-width is their best bet. Requiring less equipment and manpower than bigger divisions, this template is best used in theaters with a limited amount of supply.
It performs especially well in the desert, with 6 divisions able to fit into a 90-width desert if attacking from one direction, and a further 3 divisions if attacking from multiple directions. This makes it an ideal choice for campaigns in Africa: deploy these as frontline desert infantry and reap the benefits!
8 10-Width Infantry: Cheap And Cheerful
These smaller divisions are best used to guard territory, protecting key ports and coastlines from naval invasion. While relatively simple in design, they shouldn’t be seeing too much combat, so there isn’t any need to invest in more expensive designs to do the same job.
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However, if important ports are coming under heavy attack, it may be beneficial to add more infantry to upgrade the division to a 20-width or add anti-air support to assist with the fight in the sky. Alternatively, to make these divisions even cheaper, remove the engineer support company.
7 15-Width Marines: Ideal For Storming The Beaches
Naval invasions can be difficult to accomplish, but these divisions are usually up to the task. Considering that most islands in the Pacific, and most terrain on either side of the English Channel for that matter, are plains, this marine template is well suited for assaulting the most common terrain players will have to face when naval invading.
Of course, that depends on the country being played and the situation it faces, but these divisions are nevertheless a solid pick (if in need of a harder-hitting template, try using 30-width or adding a light flame tank company).
6 25-Width Mountaineers: Strong, But Situational
Predictably, these divisions excel in mountain warfare. Slightly beefier than regular infantry, this template is designed to fit three of these mountaineer divisions into 75-width mountains, plus an extra fourth division if attacking from multiple directions.
While slightly more expensive than other infantry templates, they can be put to good use defending the alps from Italy as France or fighting in mountainous regions like Turkey and Asia. Despite this, mountaineers are highly situational, so it might be better to forgo the cost and deploy more standard infantry if playing a flatter, less mountainous country.
5 21-Width Motorized: Need For Speed?
Particularly useful once a breakthrough has been made, these divisions (which can cover three times more ground than an infantry division, and almost double that of a cavalry division) are best used to quickly encircle enemy divisions, and hold that ground until the pocket is destroyed.
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While they may be one of the fastest divisions in the game, they don’t have anywhere near the breakthrough of tank divisions, but if playing a minor nation and looking for a substitute that is cheaper to produce than tanks and less fuel-guzzling, these templates can come in quite handy.
4 21-Width Light Tank: Beware Being Outclassed
A starter tank division, this template is essentially a Motorized division with the added benefit of 300 more breakthrough. Use them to great effect as volunteers (Spanish civil war, I’m looking at you), or in the early years of the war, though they’ll become increasingly outdated into the 1940s.
Like the 21w Infantry and 21w Motorized, this template performs well in most terrains but suffers from being a jack of all trades, master of none. Players will have to customize it further, or better yet upgrade to a more modern division, to effectively punch through enemy defenses.
3 42-Width Medium Tank: Bringing Out The Big Guns
Designed for offense, this template specializes in penetrating enemy lines, with a whopping breakthrough of over 640, almost four times as much soft attack as 21w Infantry, and almost three times as much hard attack as 21w Light Tank. Use these in tandem with motorized divisions to form sweeping encirclements.
This division is especially useful in forests and jungles, and while it may suffer in some terrains, it should perform well in most situations. Be mindful of its fuel usage though, as fielding lots of these divisions will rapidly drain players’ fuel stores.
2 42-Width Modern Tank: Ultimate Late-Game Powerhouse
With extremely high production costs, and guzzling fuel and supplies like no other, these divisions may seem too expensive to be worth it, but their devastating combat stats (almost 800 breakthrough) more than makeup for it.
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It’s worth noting that by the time these are unlocked, it’s more than likely the war is coming to its closing years, but it shouldn’t stop players (if they have the immense production capacity) from deploying these behemoths to end their campaign with a lightning advance through enemy territory.
1 2-Width Cavalry: Garrison, Garrison, Garrison
Once players have taken some ground, they’re going to need to hold it. These small cavalry divisions are highly effective in suppressing the resistance, with each battalion boasting a suppression of 2, double that of an infantry battalion.
The game will automatically use as many divisions as needed to suppress the resistance, so a one-battalion division is the most cost-effective choice, as it uses the exact number of battalions required. It’s also a lot cheaper equipment-wise than other suppression options, including armored cars and military police.
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