Division Templates, Tank Designs, Aircraft Designs, and Metas (Bolivar 1.14+)

---

The guide is now updated following Trial of Allegiance DLC and Bolivar Patch!

Thank you for re-visiting my guide!

---

The combat width meta has drastically changed after the release of Arms Against Tyranny. You may have remembered the old combat width meta (21w and 42w), aren't you? There are now additional viable combat widths you can use. The exception is that any template with combat width lower than 12 and higher than 40 as it isn't efficient.

While you are reading further down, please treat my suggestions as literal suggestions. I do not intend to make them as hard-and-fast rules. The final stats in templates are influenced by researched land doctrine, and the final stats in designs are also influenced by MIO. For this reason, I do not research any doctrine and do not receive any bonuses from MIO in my templates and designs below.

I will update the division templates and designs each time any patch directly affects and alters their values.

---

This section shows the optimal templates used to populate the front lines for defensive and offensive purposes.

In-game Template:

Notes: Guard your coastal ports or supply hubs against potential naval invasions or airborne invasions with a stack of 10-width garrisons.

Upgrade Possibilities: Add engineer company, support anti-air, and support artillery. You may add more Infantry Battalions to make it 12w to 20w.

In-game Template:

Notes: This template has the most optimal combat width, so it serves as all-purpose infantry.

Upgrade Possibilities: You can add more infantry battalions to make it 21w to have higher and better stats.

In-game Template:

Notes: This template serves for larger and defensive infantry. It is best to use as a standard frontline infantry to populate on the front. In-game Template:

Notes: This template serves for larger and offensive infantry.

Upgrade Possibilities: Add more support companies, especially Rangers via mountaineers special forces doctrine. You can change this template with 8 infantry battalions and three artillery battalions with 25-width for better attack capabilities. Alternatively, you can make it 30w by adding more artillery battalions.

In-game Template:

Notes: This template serves as specialized infantry used to engage in wet terrain and perform amphibious invasions. 18w is a good size to start with.

Upgrade Possibilities: Add more support companies. You can make it 24w or 30w by adding more artillery battalions. Swap engineer to pioneers if you unlock it in marines special forces doctrine.

In-game Template:

Notes: This template serves as specialized infantry to maneuver through and engage in rough terrain.

Upgrade Possibilities: Add more support companies. You can change this template with 8 mountaineers battalions and three artillery battalions for better attack capabilities.

In-game Template:

Notes: This template serves as specialized infantry to have slightly better stats than regular infantry. They are very powerful when paradropped into the field if you unlock the paratroopers' traits in special forces doctrines. 18w is a good size to start with.

Upgrade Possibilities: I recommend adding airborne light tanks as another support company when you can. You can make it 24w or 30w if necessary.

---

This section shows the optimal motorized, mechanized, and armored templates used to break through the frontlines effectively.

In-game Template:

Notes: Motorized infantry is harder and faster version of infantry but expensive. It is suitable to accompany armored units while they are pushing the front. If you choose to not research the motorized rocket artillery, you can use regular motorized artillery instead.

Upgrade Possibilities: When you research and unlock the mechanized technology, you can swap motorized to mechanized as you can afford it. They are more expensive but provide higher attack, armor, and hardness. You can swap motorized rocket artillery with SP artillery tanks. Add more support companies as you want. You can make it 30w by adding more motorized artillery battalions.

In-game Template:

Notes: This template is your starter tank unit. Use your existing armored division template with light tanks battalions and edit it. You can use this template until until 1941 and switch to medium tanks template. In-game Template:

Notes: This template is your starter tank unit. Use your existing armored division template and edit it. This template works with all land doctrines except mobile warfare. If you use mobile warfare doctrine, you can trade motorized/mechanized for more tanks. If you choose to not produce Self-Propelled Artillery tanks, you can replace it with motorized infantry or motorized artillery.

Upgrade Possibilities: Get and add maintenance support company as soon as possible since the tank designs started with lower reliability. Logistics support company is also needed to minimize the supply penalty. You can downgrade the combat width to 30 or 34 if you want.

In-game Template:

Notes: This template serves as stronger offensive front-line tanks. If you choose to not produce Self-Propelled Artillery tanks, you can replace it with mechanized.

Upgrade Possibilities: Medium flame tanks and light tanks as support companies will boost stats greatly, so add them if you can afford. You can downgrade the combat width to 30 or 34 if you want.

In-game Template:

Notes: This is a late-game front-line tank template. It is strong enough break through the front lines. Always invest into it when you can afford. If you choose to not produce Self-Propelled Artillery tanks, you can replace it with mechanized.

Upgrade Possibilities: Medium flame tanks and light tanks as support companies will boost stats greatly, so add them if you can afford. You can downgrade the combat width to 30 or 34 if you want.

In-game Template:

Notes: This template serves to perform naval invasion with strong breakthrough. It can also be used to advance across rivers. Invest it as a late-game tank template when you can afford.

Upgrade Possibilities: Medium flame tanks and light tanks as support companies will boost stats greatly, so add them if you can afford. You can downgrade the combat width to 30 or 34 if you want. Swap engineer to pioneers if you unlock it in marines special forces doctrine.

---

This section shows the optimal templates used to suppress the resistance effectively. This only applies if you have La Resistance DLC.

In-game Template:

Notes: You only need a single cavalry battalion in this template. It is economically efficient to suppress the resistance from earlygame to midgame. In-game Template:

Notes: Fill the whole template with cavalry battalions. Military Police support company applies to every battalion with a suppression bonus which is extremely useful in your world conquest. This template costed a lot of XP to build, so keep that in your mind, and you can select Proper Heritage as Spirit of the Army which makes cavalry battalions free to add for only 35 Army XP. Extra line battalion slots can only be unlocked with doctrine. In-game Template:

Notes: Fill the whole template with Armored Cars battalions. Unlike 25 x Cavalry Military Police, they provide hardness and strong suppression (93.7 suppression with fully upgraded Military Police support company). The Military Police support company applies every battalion with a suppression bonus which is extremely useful in your long-run world conquest. The Armored Cars are effective at saving manpower at the cost of Armored Cars. This template costed a lot of XP to build, and the Armored Cars are very expensive to produce, so keep that in your mind. Extra line battalion slots can only be unlocked with doctrine. In-game Template:

Notes: Fill the whole template with Light Tanks battalions. Unlike 25 x Cavalry Military Police, they provide hardness and strong suppression (93.7 suppression with fully upgraded Military Police support company). The light tanks are cheaper than the armored cars and have more hardness which means saves more lives. Extra line battalion slots can only be unlocked with doctrine. Please select interwar light tanks to equip for this template particularly. Refer the design below. In-game design:

---

Tank design is really complicated since there are too many factors to consider, so there is a rule of thumb when designing economical and optimal tanks. I usually follow this guideline below:

In my opinion, the cost to produce light tanks between 1936-1941 has to be around 3-9 Industrial Capacity (IC). The medium tanks between 1938-1943 should cost around 10-22 IC, and the heavy tanks between 1940-1943 should cost around 22-40 IC. I tend to follow the optimal IC ranges very loosely when playing singleplayer mode. The optimal IC range for each type of tank is pretty opinionated, so use whatever way you see fit.
You should make the reliability as close to 100% as possible if your tank design is really expensive (>30 IC), so the tank divisions will not suffer slower reorganization and attrition & combat losses caused by reliability penalty. Due to previous reliability nerf, I urge you to get a maintenance support company in your template as soon as possible, so it will boost reliability by 20% at maximum.
That way the tanks can catch up with speedy motorized and mechanized trucks, which makes your tank division faster enough to push and encircle. There is an exception to the higher speed; the tanks used as the support company or as the battalion in the foot templates do not need that high speed. Heavy tanks are perfect for that because they do not have to meet that speed since heavy tanks are trading speed for higher armor. Any speed value more than 8.0 km/h is really unnecessary and wasted in my personal opinion.
In singleplayer, your tank divisions will face more infantry divisions than tank divisions. Your goal in singleplayer is to maximize soft attack as much as possible. For example, you can swap medium cannon with a medium howitzer on the medium tank to increase soft attack and to melt infantry divisions faster. Adding more MGs is another way. To this day, vanilla AI isn't intelligent enough to field more tank divisions unless you use a mod that enhances AI. In multiplayer, however, you will face plenty of tank divisions, so your goal is to balance both soft attack and hard attack or produce tank destroyers with higher hard attack and piercing.
How much you want to invest in armor on the tank is your personal preference. In singleplayer, it might not be necessary and should be less to keep the cost cheaper; however, in multiplayer, it may be absolutely necessary. In either mode, if you know AI or a real player does produce anti-tanks or tank destroyers, then your goal is to have more armor stat of your tank than the piercing stat of the foe.

Breakthrough, in other words, is defense on offense. More breakthrough is better and allows the tank division to continue attacking the line more effectively without taking any damage, but only if it exceeds the foe's attack stats. Your goal is to try and maximize breakthroughs.

At the bottom line, your goal in designing tanks is to balance the cost and stats. It is no easy feat because the approaches to tank designs in singleplayer and multiplayer are too much different, but this guideline provides a clear direction in designing the tank you want to deploy.

Okay, I am showing you the tank designs I have used in my tank templates as suggestions primarily for singleplayer.

---

In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:

---

In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:

---

In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:

---

In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:

---

In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:

---

Fortunately, unlike tank designs, aircraft designs are less complicated and more straightforward, at least for me. The aircraft meta is somewhat similar to the tanks meta. I follow this guideline as a rule of thumb in designing aircraft:

Warplanes are the most important equipment that can change the course of the war, so the cost of production is a prioritized concern. The Industrial Capability (IC) should be smaller, so it permits replacing the losses faster and making it cost-efficient. If the IC is too expensive, depending on the type of aircraft, then it is harmful in long run, so urgent changes in aircraft design are necessary to make.
To achieve air superiority, the fighters should achieve higher air attack and air defense, so they can minimize air losses and enhance the air-kill ratio. Speed and agility are secondary essentials.
This narrows down to a situation of yours while playing a nation. Is your nation small with a weak industry? Stick to producing multi-role aircraft like the multirole fighter that can do both air superiority and CAS operations. Is your nation big with a stronger industry? Stick to producing specialized aircraft, so, let's say, you should produce pure fighters and pure CAS planes. Make sure the fighters have higher stats to compete for their air superiority operations and make sure the CAS planes have higher stats for their CAS operations.
Depending on the nation you are playing, you should focus on producing cheap and efficient multirole or specialized warplanes with higher stats as possible to win the air war.

Okay, I am going to show you my aircraft designs as suggestions

---

In-game design:

Available Special Features to Add (High to Low Priority):

• Armor Plates
  
• Either Self-Sealing Fuel Tanks OR Drop Tanks

In-game design:

Available Special Features to Add (High to Low Priority):

• Armor Plates
  
• Either Self-Sealing Fuel Tanks OR Extra Fuel Tanks
  
• Drop Tanks

In-game design:
In-game design:

Available Special Features to Add (High to Low Priority):

• Extra Fuel Tanks
  
• Armor Plates
  
• Self-Sealing Fuel Tanks
  
• Drop Tanks

In-game design:
In-game design:

Upgrade Possibilities: You can add one more 2 x Cannon II to the Secondary Weapons slot to increase air attack at the cost of agility if weight permits. Available Special Features to Add (High to Low Priority):

• Extra Fuel Tanks
  
• Armor Plates
  
• Either Self-Sealing Fuel Tanks OR Drop Tanks

---

In-game design:

Available Special Features to Add:

• Either Self-Sealing Fuel Tanks OR Light MG Defense Turret

In-game design:

Available Special Features to Add (High to Low Priority):

• Either Extra Fuel Tanks OR Drop Tanks
  
• Either Self-Sealing Fuel Tanks OR Heavy/Light MG Defense Turret

In-game design:
In-game design:

Available Special Features to Add (High to Low Priority):

• Extra Fuel Tanks
  
• Either Self-Sealing Fuel Tanks OR Heavy MG Defense Turret
  
• Either Armor Plates OR Drop Tanks

In-game design:

---

In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:

Available Special Features to Add:

• Either Armor Plates OR Drop Tanks OR Self-Sealing Fuel Tanks

In-game design:
In-game design:

Addition: Available Special Features to Add (High to Low Priority):

• Drop Tanks
  
• Either Armor Plates OR Self-Sealing Fuel Tanks
  
• Once Air-Ground Radar II is researched, either replace Floats with AG Radar II or keep it somewhere else.

In-game design:

---

In-game design:
In-game design:

Upgrade Possibilities: Add two Rocket Rails modules to the remaining slots of secondary weapons. It will improve ground attack value at little cost. In-game design:

Upgrade Possibilities: Add three Rocket Rails modules to the remaining slots of secondary weapons. It will improve ground attack value at little cost.

---

In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:

---

In-game design:
In-game design:
In-game design:

The combat width in the marsh is 50 with 25 additional. The efficient multiples are 25 and 15, so the 25-width or 15-width divisions can stack up to maximum without suffering the terrain plenty.
The combat width in the mountain is 50 with 25 additional. The efficient multiples are 25 and 15, so the 25-width or 15-width divisions can stack up to maximum without suffering the terrain plenty.
The combat width in the forest is 60 with 30 additional. The efficient multiples are 30, 20, and 15, 12, and 10. 30-width, 20-width, 15-width, 12-width, or 10-width divisions can stack up to maximum without suffering the terrain plenty.
The combat width in the forest is 60 with 30 additional. The efficient multiples are 30, 20, and 15, 12, and 10. 30-width, 20-width, 15-width, 12-width, or 10-width divisions can stack up to maximum without suffering the terrain plenty.
The combat width in the hills is 70 with 35 additional. The efficient multiples are 35, 14, and 10. 35 -width, 14-width, or 10-width divisions can stack up to maximum without suffering the terrain plenty.
The combat width in the hills is 70 with 35 additional. The efficient multiples are 35, 14, and 10. 35 -width, 14-width, or 10-width divisions can stack up to maximum without suffering the terrain plenty.
The combat width in the hills is 70 with 35 additional. The efficient multiples are 35, 14, and 10. 35 -width, 14-width, or 10-width divisions can stack up to maximum without suffering the terrain plenty.
The combat width in the urban is 80 with 40 additional. The efficient multiples are 40, 20, and 10, so the 40-width, 20-width, or 10-width divisions can stack up to maximum without suffering the terrain plenty.

This section concluded the guide. Thank you for reading my guide. I hope you find this guide helpful. Please leave a comment if you disagree with some of the templates or want to leave thoughtful feedback. You are welcome to make suggestions to add templates.

Best Regards,

~Nost

Post them in the comment section!