Locarnus Addon 2025-06a, for Battlefield Europe, Afrika Korps and Grand Campaign East

[Locarnus]

I have been doing some crazy thinking about Kharkov, since I have time at work to ponder possibilities.

I know how Kharkov 42 is usually fought with the crux of the battle being to hold the Soviets around the river at Izyum.

What if I do a slow retreat into Kharkov itself with my camouflaged units, and allow the Soviets to spread themselves out?

This will mean I do not get the great defensive position of the river, but it also means I get the prestige for the places they take and them I take them back.

It also would be great to put up a different way of fighting this battle.

Thoughts?

On the one hand, I like the idea of doing a more historical Kharkov battle.
On the other hand, you probably just do not have the time for it.
Historically the Soviets already threw the Axis forces out of Izyum in January of 1942 and then pushed a lot further before the last soviet attack with direction Kharkov and the german counterattack a few days later (both in May, the timeframe of the scenario).
So the PzC scenario already condenses 4 months into 2-3? weeks.

I think the river defense bonus will be much more valuable than a bit of additional capture prestige (that will be divided by 4 anyway, due to your difficulty settings).

And it will already be more difficult than before, with the nerf of the 4 german aux tanks (from time traveling Pz III L to more historically accurate Pz III J) and the lack of StuG III F (which the scenario designers assumed to be available).
That alone will probably require some changes to the way the battle is usually played.

Addon update coming tomorrow (with more changes than expected, as usual...).

[goose_2]

I have been doing some crazy thinking about Kharkov, since I have time at work to ponder possibilities.

I know how Kharkov 42 is usually fought with the crux of the battle being to hold the Soviets around the river at Izyum.

What if I do a slow retreat into Kharkov itself with my camouflaged units, and allow the Soviets to spread themselves out?

This will mean I do not get the great defensive position of the river, but it also means I get the prestige for the places they take and them I take them back.

It also would be great to put up a different way of fighting this battle.

Thoughts?

Addon update coming tomorrow (with more changes than expected, as usual...).

hoping this comes in before I go to game night a t church tonight

[Locarnus]

hoping this comes in before I go to game night a t church tonight

While the last update had lots of "under the hood" work,
this one has a lot more directly observable changes.

I'm still thinking about the "UI & graphics" discussion in the Battlefield: Europe thread itself and what to do about it,
but had to publish an update today for goose_2 to be able to start Kharkov 42.2 for his youtube Grand Campaign.
So for compatibility with my "UI & graphics half-measures" taken so far, I had to include the "extended" "Optional PG Style Strength Plates mod originally form McGuba" in this Addon update.
This extension and inclusion also fixes a long standing UI issue with some of the special Allied units in the Afrika Korps campaign (eg during the AK "Battleaxe" scenario).
I have some more ideas about all this, but need some time for testing and evaluating.


For Kharkov GC 42.2 scenario:
- I postponed the general german infantry 1942 hard attack upgrades until November 1942, when the Hafthohlladung (adhesive hollow charge) was introduced. @goose_2 might consider downgrading those infantry at his discretion for historical reasons.
- Only the more elite Jäger infantry types have the hard attack upgrade in early 1942, to still acknowledge some special AT training for some units at that time. The basic Italian inf still gets a defense buff some time after Kharkov 42.
- No additional AT unit types for Kharkov, as that battle was pretty infamous amongst germans for the general lack of AT.
- StuG III F only available after Kharkov and the four available aux tanks are downgraded from Pz III L to Pz III J
- Two Char B conversions added and available at time of Kharkov (Flamer & Arty), both "not great, not terrible"

New captured units and conversions
-The Char B flamer conversion was historically available at the start of Barbarossa, but then reworked (overall about 60 converted). Good armor, but they were rather quickly withdrawn from the eastern front due to their abysmal reliability. But imho they might have been more useful in urban terrain with better surfaces and shorter approaches, like Sevastopol or Stalingrad...
-The Char B arty conversion had a well armored hull with a less armored open casemate and 10.5cm gun on top and still terrible reliability. Although historical, only 16 were built (unsurprisingly...), but still more than Bison II (Sturmpanzer II). Thank you Birgeria for the unit icon!
- Another conversion of a french vehicle was the "15cm sFH 13 on Lorraine Schlepper(f)". The 15cm sFH 13 is somewhat between the short range "15cm sIG" and the long range "15cm sFH 18". About 160 or so produced, so I guess pretty much the most successful self-propelled 15cm gun up to this point (mid to late 1942). Thank you flakfernrohr for the unit icon!
- Also some more soviet towed arty to towed anti-tank conversions (7.62cm FK(r) and 7.62cm Pak(r)), so far only as bonus SE units for the Grand Campaign. Thank you Birgeria for those graphics
- The Grand Campaign SU-122 capturable unit will have the SU-85 and SU-100 upgrade options in the future. The units are already in the equipment file, but still have the nopurchase trait for now (hiding them from the purchase menu).



2024-10 Complete "Locarnus Addon" Download:

The bugfixed version of Panzer Corps 1.32 is required, see install instructions in "Locarnus Addon" forum thread

Optional PG Style Strength Plates mod from McGuba
- Extended with the SPECIAL glowing border plates from vanilla PzC
- Integrated into the Addon for compatibility reasons (see below)

Battlefield Europe, Afrika Korps, GC & original PzC campaign compatibility
- BE big scenario historical hero units now have "glowing" strength plate
- BE big scenario many hero boni increased, though Marseille gets a -1 to defense
- BE big scenario Studekamp added in 1942 & Hartmann now only joins in 1942
- BE campaign some adjustments to default unit types of the 6 core units
- AK historical heroes rebalanced and they now have glowing strength plates
- AK Gazala Line more italian aux units, compensating no StuG III F available
- GC 42.2 Kharkov scenario the 4 aux Pz III L are now Pz III J (shorter 5cm gun)
- GC additional bonus SE arty to anti-tank conversions for 1942, thank you Birgeria
- GC Marder I bonus SE unit available later, new bonus SE 5cm mounted on Sd10
- GC German SU-85 and SU-100 upgrade options for captured SU-122
- GC Char B1 bis captured unit upgrade options to Flamm and arty added

Unit Changes:
- Lorraine 15cm sFH 13 arty added, thanks to Flakfernrohr graphic & Birgeria
- Char conversion to "10.5 leFH auf B2" arty added (GC), thanks to Birgeria graphic
- Char B1 bis more ini & costs, also german "Flammpz B2" conversion added (GC)
- Brückenpioniere nerfed ini and slightly increased costs
- 3.7cm Flak soft attack increased by 1
- Infantry hard attack upgrades much later in Nov 1942, except Jäger/GebJ/FallJ
- Tiger I, early & mid Tiger P and Ferdinand available later, late Tiger P available earlier
- German JPanther higher GD & costs, Soviet SU & ISU rebalanced GD
- Matilda II (no HE) and SU 85 & 100 (no MGs) soft attack nerfed
- Some T-34s higher GD, mid T-34/42 lower CD
- StuG III F higher GD, but later available in June 42, StuG III G 1944 version added
- JagdPz IV get the switch to camo AT as well
- Pz III late M & N versions as well as late Pz IV GD buffed
- Pz III, StuG III & Pz IV availability adjustments for versions with skirts
- Pz IV some graphics reassigned, new "Pz IV J PzBeWg" (Pz IV J with 3 spotting, 9 rof)
- German SU-85 and SU-100 upgrade options for captured SU-122 (Grand Campaign)
- Bf 110 G-2 & G-4 separated into early and late versions
- Ju 88 fighter bomber versions and some Me 410 & Bf 110 G buffed ground attack
- Hard attack buffed of aircraft using cannons against ground targets
- British Hurricane, Beaufighter and Mosquito rebalanced
- US/Soviet P-38, P-39, P-40 and P-63 rebalanced, Yak-9U buffed
- Karl-Gerät strength 8 instead of 10, rof 4 instead of 3 (for better GC compatibility)
- Soviet 7.62cm arty guns with shields have higher defense stats

[Locarnus]

Hotfix update, thanks to the quick feedback from goose_2.
Concerning the german "Char B2" conversions (which are available in the grand campaign as upgrades to the captured Char B1 bis).
My apologies. I also just validated all other unit IDs as well, this typo was the only issue.


2024-10a Complete "Locarnus Addon" Download: https://bit.ly/3BJ9487

The bugfixed version of Panzer Corps 1.32 is required, see install instructions in "Locarnus Addon" forum thread

Bug Fixes & Unit Changes, thanks to goose_2 feedback:
- Fixed Char B2 arty typo, which switched it to KV-5 instead of just tank mode...
- Buffed Char B2 Flamm ammo and GD

[goose_2]

applied and looks good
thanks

by the by I am going to downgrade my infantry that are technically upgraded early

I am going to "give" my prestige back that I spent on the upgrade and os for units that are not meant to be upgraded, also will take away their os

I hope that makes sense

[goose_2]

I am doing my research for Simferopol.

Just checking there is no updates I need to wait for correct?

Are there any units you want to see for sure in that battle?

I hope your holiday went well, and you are ready for Sunday's broadcast.

[Locarnus]

I am doing my research for Simferopol.

Just checking there is no updates I need to wait for correct?

Are there any units you want to see for sure in that battle?

I hope your holiday went well, and you are ready for Sunday's broadcast.

- Just some availability shifting and a better captured AT gun for normal units (it has 2 more hard attack than 5cm Pak), but imho nothing that really requires a wait for short Simferopol scenario.
- Karl-Gerät with current Addon only has 3 actual rate of fire, so at the moment you will have only 1 instead of 2 dice rolls with that auxiliar Karl-Gerät. Annoying, but the aux 5 strength Karl-Gerät is not very useful anyway due to ammo and range limitations. Correcting that rof will make more of a difference for the aux 15 strength Karl-Gerät in Sevastopol.

No unit requests for Simferopol from my point of view.
Perhaps consider the different upgrade options for the SdKfz 22x, they are all in family for different purposes:
- SdKfz 221+ has the best hard attack, but lacks defense
- SdKfz 222++ good allrounder
- SdKfz 223+ has 4 vision, making it an excellent scout at the cost of hard attack capability

Holiday is going great, will be back for the Sunday broadcast and hopefully be also able to work on the next Addon update.
Sevastopol has some issues that definitely need to be corrected before starting that scenario!

[goose_2]

So small spoiler...SdKfz 10/4 ................... ?? ... Reoguru ................ 179 ... 216
has been awarded a hero...guess which one?

My most popular hero...+1 Movment

Since he is already super fast, I was thinking of changing up to a SdKfz 7/2 since it has range 2.

Thoughts?

[Locarnus]

So small spoiler...SdKfz 10/4 ................... ?? ... Reoguru ................ 179 ... 216
has been awarded a hero...guess which one?

My most popular hero...+1 Movment

Since he is already super fast, I was thinking of changing up to a SdKfz 7/2 since it has range 2.

Thoughts?

Another movement hero?
This makes me doubt the rng now.

If the "SdKfz 10/4" is in AA mode, there is another upgrade option close by (I think at Sevastopol in the current Addon version).
Something like the towed "2cm Flak", but with parachuting ability, light infantry movement and option to add a Kettenkrad transport (which has alpine movement). Also I think lower ammo and much more expensive, but higher soft attack, hard attack and ground defense than the normal towed "2cm Flak". Which could make it a situationally useful unit to accompany your normal paratroopers and switchable para arty/AT ("10.5cm Leichtgeschütz"?) if a scenario has multiple "Ju 52" transport planes available (eg Sevastopol has those 3 Ju 52 transport planes available). Although that unit does not improve the AA capability over the normal, rather anemic "2cm Flak".

[Locarnus]

Great job at balancing the core development!
I'll have to change the criteria for red and blue markers next time, just wanted to keep them the same as the last report for comparison.

Switcheroo options:
1) The Panzer III chassis 3-way switcheroo is now possible, with the StuG III F finally becoming available.
2) Raduku and ForestLaw are in the same upgrade family. Switching their main units would allow Raduku to get more kills, because of the higher attack values of the 15cm sFH. With those heroes and the switcheroo, you would then have three range 4 arties (Raduku with 15cm sFH and range hero, ForestLaw with 10.5cm sK and Kei with 21cm Mrs and movement hero). That might also be more helpful in Sevastopol against the range 3 fortresses, than the current one range 5 arty (Raduku with 10.5cm sK and range hero) and one range 4 arty (Kei with 21cm Mrs and movement hero).

edit: Included potential upgrade recommendation for the 10.5cm Char B arty to Flammpanzer B2(f) for Sevastopol 1942.4 city fighting. Since it has the military engineer and fortkiller trait, it could be really helpful in that role and then be converted back to the arty after Sevastopol (I guess until Stalingrad where the Flamm version could be more helpful again).


GC 1942.2 scenario end & start of Simferopol 1942.3 unit roster
6463 prestige at 1942.3 start, after elite replacements for all and sale of excess captured units

red marker for a) no heroes, b) <200 kills, c) <200 experience, d) imho overdue upgrades
blue marker for a) r1 or a3 heroes, b) >=400 kills, c) >= 300 experience

UnitType ......... transport ... Hero ... SubscriberName ... KillCounter ... Experience with elite replacements


45 Ground units

8 non-hero bonus SE units
(eg 6 inf, 1 towed AT, 1 tank destroyer)
BridgeEngineer ...... NAG500 ... a3 ... Brodrick .............. 738 ... 259
Cavalry ............................. d1 ... PatrickLee ........... 455 ... 238
ItalianInf ............. Pack......... i1 ... Dimitri ............... 259 ... 227 ... ===> 42 version
HungarianInf........................ ?? ... PaulWilde.............. 43 ..... 73
Panzerjäger 35R .................. m1 ... Makorin .............. 620 ... 319 ... ===> Semovente 47/32 or 4.5 Pak 42(r)
plus 3 non-hero bonus SE units for the later grand campaign years

6 Infantry
Pioniere .............. L3000 ..... m1 ... Soljaism .............. 417 ... 214
Grenadiere .......... Sd250/1 ... d2 ... RichardMartin ........ 451 ... 246
Gebirgsjäger 42 ................... d2 ... Artemis ............... 373 ... 235
Fallschirmjäger 42 ................. i1 ... Pullig .................. 467 ... 224
Kradschützen ....................... a1 ... PeteMitchell .......... 344 ... 220
Bersaglieri .......................... a2 ... Kostia ................. 248 ... 167

1 Towed AT (plus AT/TD Makorin bonus SE unit)
7.5 Pak 97/38 /UE ................ m1 ... Gigiduru .............. 369 ... 272 ... ===> 7.62 FK 36(r) /Henschel with Addon 2024-11

2 Recon
SdKfz 222+ ......................... d2 ... Goose ................. 335 ... 234 ... ===> Sd 221+ or Sd 222++ or Sd 223+
SdKfz 232 .......................... s1 ... DanielS ................ 445 ... 312 ... ===> Sd 232+

9 Tanks
Panzerjäger I ..................... m1 ... Gooseboy ............. 355 ... 281
Marder II /132 ..................... i1 ... Blast .................. 357 ... 243
Marder III ......................... m1 ... PanzerVorwärts ....... 345 ... 227
Panzer III J2 ...................... m1 ... DoktorG ............... 399 ... 300 ... ===> StuG III F
Panzer IV F1+ ...................... s1 ... Rimski ................ 486 ... 215
Panzer IV F2 ....................... s1 ... Soren .................. 339 ... 152
Matilda II(e) ....................... a3 ... Singer ................. 367 ... 221
T-34/40(r) r9 ...................... ?? ... 7Bowls ................. 225 ... 149 ... ===> T-34/41(r) r9 !!!
KV-1B(r) ............................ d2 ... Paramecium .......... 319 ... 175

5+1 Mobile Arty
Bison II (SturmPz II) r7 ........... d1 ... Festival ............... 403 ... 324
StuG III B r11 ...................... r1 ... RayCaster ............. 368 ... 348 ... ===> StuG III E r11
StuG III E r11 ...................... a2 ... NightPhoenix ......... 331 ... 308 ... ===> Panzer III J2
10.5 leFH auf B2(f) .............. m1 ... Pierre .................. 314 ... 223 ... ===> Flamm B2(f) for Sevastopol 1942.4?
Semovente 75/18 r11 ............ d2 ... RightSide ............. 284 ... 255
+ SU-122 to be captured later on

8 Towed Arty
7.5cm GebG 36+ ..... Pack ...... d2 ... Temis .................. 286 ... 324
10.5cm leG 41 ..................... r1 ... Dneos ................. 312 ... 387
10.5cm Polish arty ... Blitz ...... a3 ... MichalGolaszewsk .... 527 ... 378
10.5cm leFH 18M .... Horse .... m1 ... Raunosavolainen ..... 415 ... 385
10.5cm sK 18 r9...... Sd7 ........ r1 ... Raduku ................ 214 ... 300 ... ===> switcheroo with ForestLaw?
15cm sFH r8 ......... Horse ..... a1 ... ForestLaw ............. 422 ... 304 ... ===> switcheroo with Raduku?
21cm Mrs r5 ......... Sd8 ....... m1 ... Kei ..................... 448 ... 306
21cm NblWf 42 ...... Horse ...... ?? ... ElBaron ................ 198 ... 304

5 Anti-Air
8.8cm Flak 36 ....... Sd7 ....... m1 ... Jemhadar .............. 422 ... 234
Cannone 90/53 ..... TP32 ....... a2 ... Zyavoo ................. 214 ... 205 ... ===> better TP40 transport !!!
Flakpanzer I r12.................... ?? ... Locarnus ............... 266 ... 265
SdKfz 10/4+ r12................... m1 ... Reoguru ............... 217 .... 231 ... ===> 2cm FJGeb FlaK 38 r12 & Kettenkrad
SdKfz 7/1 r13...................... a3 ... MalcolmRichardson ... 315 ... 269


15 Airforce

8 dedicated Fighters
Bf 109 E-7 .......................... d3 ... vonThüringen ......... 369 ... 307 ... ===> Bf 109 G-2 in 1942.4
Bf 109 F-4 .......................... d3 ... CouchOffiziell ......... 408 ... 311
Fw 190 A-2 .......................... ?? ... MafujKhan ............ 130 ... 207
Fw 190 A-3 .......................... ?? ... Alvarez .................. 32 .... 93
Re.2001 ............................. ?? ... Noxush ................. 210 ... 277
MC.202 .............................. ?? ... BlackVulture ........... 110 ... 212
+ 2x bonus SE hero fighters in 1945

3 Fighter bomber
Bf 110 E-2 .......................... d1 ... FighterAce ............ 421 ... 223
Bf 110 F-2 .......................... a3 ... AratoBela ............. 404 ... 294 ... ===> Hs 129 B-2 r11 !!!
Ju 88 C-6 ........................... i1 ... Slender1870 ........... 396 ... 315

1 dedicated Tac bomber
Ju 87 D-1 ........................... a1 ... cmbbfan ............... 570 ... 340 ... ===> Ju 87 D-3 in 1942.4

1 Tac/Strat bomber
Ju 88 A-4 ........................... ?? ... AI181 ................... 206 ... 354

2 dedicated Strat bomber
Do 217 E-2 ......................... ?? ... Richard ................. 148 ... 377
He 111 H-6 ......................... ?? ... RMA901 ................ 174 ... 347

[goose_2]

Thanks for the great discussion and some thoughts you shared on upgrade possibilities.

So glad you enjoyed time off, and am excited about the coming November update.

[goose_2]

Finished Simferopol this morning.

Man you would think I would be getting better but these Soviet units really have some bite, as you will see.

I posted Friday's, but I will not be able to post another this weekend. Do you want me to post Monday?

I have been really enjoying this playthrough, but am worried that the damage will end up taken me out of the campaign as it will drain my prestige

[Locarnus]

Finished Simferopol this morning.

Man you would think I would be getting better but these Soviet units really have some bite, as you will see.

I posted Friday's, but I will not be able to post another this weekend. Do you want me to post Monday?

I have been really enjoying this playthrough, but am worried that the damage will end up taken me out of the campaign as it will drain my prestige

The coming monday would be good as well!

Yep, now it is pretty much elite replacements for nearly all damage taken. So that not only arty and aircraft can reach and maintain 4 stars. Very expensive.
Fortunately the income will not suffer beyond difficulty settings, since there is no soft-cap.
But we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

And I guess preventing damage to your own core units is becoming even more important, compared to dealing damage or earning prestige. So front unit protected by some arty, and camo AT ambush or heavily armored tank to hold the cornerstones of the zones of control?

[goose_2]

What I am finding is that setting up traps are not as devastating to the enemy as they are in the normal game. Which means I still benefit, but am not able to fully exploit as Soren does. The rule of one and the weak se units are limiting the OP playthroughs that you can find on the internet. I am left scrambling and rethinking my approach. This again makes it exciting and new.

So thank you very much for keeping my addiction and enjoyment level so very high.

[Locarnus]

What I am finding is that setting up traps are not as devastating to the enemy as they are in the normal game. Which means I still benefit, but am not able to fully exploit as Soren does. The rule of one and the weak se units are limiting the OP playthroughs that you can find on the internet. I am left scrambling and rethinking my approach. This again makes it exciting and new.

So thank you very much for keeping my addiction and enjoyment level so very high.

This is probably affected a lot by the experience level (and boni).
Iirc, the odd levels are where initiative gets a boost, in addition to attack and defense.
Nearly all non-arty ground units were below those 3 stars before Simferopol, so that might become better in the coming scenarios. And 4 star arty suppression, as well as more self-propelled arty units to provide defensive fire, will help as well.

[Locarnus]

@goose_2

Some notes on Sevastopol upgrades and units:

1) Upgrades
1a) The Italian and Hungarian "Standard" bonus SE infantry units have 1942 upgrades available, giving +1 GD
1b) The Kradschützen got their early 1942 upgrade reactivated, for +1 GD and +1 HA.
1c) Not sure whether the Char B2 is more useful in arty or Flammpanzer configuration. The Flamm is pretty good against those very heavy Maxim Gorky fortifications, and also decent against all those infantry units (which will be entrenched once you reach them).
1d) While the now available 2cm Fallschirmjäger Flak (as an upgrade option for Reoguru) can be useful in the south, flak units in general are bad against entrenched infantry in close terrain.
1e) AratoBela in the Hs 129 would be by far your best tac bomber against those fortresses. The very high ground defense value of the Hs 129 counters some of the Maxim Gorky suppression and is followed up by the very high hard attack value. Unfortunately the Hs 129 is pretty underwhelming against all those infantry units in Sevastopol.
=> Or you could deploy AratoBela in the Bf 110 F-2 to finally lose his overstrength against those fortresses and then finally upgrade him to Hs 129 eg in one of the following scenarios, but at the latest for GC 1942.7 (Ilovlya) => make sure that he ends Sevastopol scenario in tac bomber mode when deployed as Bf 110!
While upgrading FighterAce to Bf 110 F-2 in the scenario after Sevastopol to gain experience with him in GC 1942.5 (Voronezh) & GC 1942.6 (Novoanninsky), before GC 1942.7 (Ilovlya) needs AratoBela in the Hs 129 against the tank hordes.


2) Non-upgrade unit discussion
2a) If the Hs 129 is not used, then the Ju 87 is your best tac bomber against those fortresses. Due to the precision bombing capability of the Ju 87, it is the only axis aircraft with the "fortkiller" trait, giving +5 hard attack against structures.
2b) While the Karl-Gerät only has 2 movement and range in firing mode, it can switch to "redeployment" mode, where it can move 3 in normal terrain and 4 on roads, but can not fire. It is probably still your second best unit to engage the fortresses, besides the super heavy Gustav railway gun (which can alsow switch between a firing and a redeployment mode).
2c) Unfortunately I don't have a great recipe against Soviet SMG infantry in the city, aside from heavy suppression.



2024-11 Complete "Locarnus Addon" Download: https://bit.ly/4htYWQV

The bugfixed version of Panzer Corps 1.32 is required, see install instructions in "Locarnus Addon" forum thread

Battlefield Europe, Afrika Korps, GC & original PzC campaign compatibility
- GC upgrade options SU-85 (GC 44) and SU-100 (GC 45) activated for captured SU-122
- GC 1942.4 Sevastopol fortresses "fixed" (rebuffed), BE unit IDs adjusted accordingly

Unit Changes:
- Wide Track movement type removed from Tigers, Panthers, SU-100
- New Unit IDs and switching for Maxim Gorky and adjacent IDs
- Fixed Karl-Gerät rate of fire (was 3 should have been 4), buffed attack
- Some availability shifting and adjustments for units introduced in mid 1942
- 7.62cm FK 36(r) and Pak 36(r) available as normal towed AT units
- Kradschützen 42 upgrade back to 19.3.1942 availability date
- Several larger Semovente buffed, mainly rate of fire
- StuG IV buffed rof in arty mode, StuG III G 44 available much earlier
- He 177 much later and rebalancing, A-5 version added
- Corrected bugs with switchable minor nation aircraft
- Tiger I E a bit cheaper, some T-34 fuel values nerfed

[GeneraloberstYukariAkiyama]

Hello, I'm here with a question, I noticed the Battlefield Europe scenario isn't playable in multiplayer with the Locarnus addon. How come? What does the addon change that the game can't handle?
Is it because it's untested and there could be balance issues or are there factors which prevent the game from being played altogether? Because I was looking to play it with a friend and at a first glance the game seemed to load up properly.
Though I'm asking before I begin sinking hours into such a large campaign.

[Locarnus]

Hello, I'm here with a question, I noticed the Battlefield Europe scenario isn't playable in multiplayer with the Locarnus addon. How come? What does the addon change that the game can't handle?
Is it because it's untested and there could be balance issues or are there factors which prevent the game from being played altogether? Because I was looking to play it with a friend and at a first glance the game seemed to load up properly.
Though I'm asking before I begin sinking hours into such a large campaign.

Unfortunately there are both potentially gamebreaking technical reasons and balancing reasons.

The Addon expands eg the unit file and movement tables based on Battlefield Europe 2.3.
BE 2.4 then also introduced many new units with their own new unit IDs and movement table entries and so on.
That new data since BE 2.3 (Addon vs BE 2.4) is partially contradictory and reintegration would be very tedious and savegame breaking due to the way PzC stores some of it.

The singleplayer BE main scenario with Addon is not affected, simply because the Addon uses its own heavily modded scenario file (based on the BE 2.3 version).
I never made all those modifications to the BE 2.3 multiplayer scenario file (which is totally independent of the singleplayer file due to the way the PzC engine works in that regard).
And due to the amount of changes, it would now be practically impossible for me to catch up. I would probably have to start from scratch.

Thus with BE multiplayer still being worked on by McGuba himself, I instead focus on making the Addons unit variety available for Afrika Korps and the Grand Campaign.


edit:
The Battlefield Europe multiplayer and singleplayer scenarios are two completely separate files, with different scripts, map zones, and crucially different numbers of units made available to the Alllied side. Because eg the AI is just so stupid in terms of keeping planes alive, it gets lots more of them in the singleplayer scenario than the human player would receive as the Allies in the multiplayer scenario.
=> So the singleplayer scenario is fully compatible with the Addon, but ridiculously imbalanced for multiplayer.
=> And the multiplayer scenario is of course balanced for multiplayer, but unfortunately now technically incompatible with the Addon.

Sorry for the disappointment.
I wish I could have maintained multiplayer compatibility, but that in turn would have made many of my contributions prohibitively time consuming for a spare time modding project.

[GeneraloberstYukariAkiyama]

Hello, I'm here with a question, I noticed the Battlefield Europe scenario isn't playable in multiplayer with the Locarnus addon. How come? What does the addon change that the game can't handle?
Is it because it's untested and there could be balance issues or are there factors which prevent the game from being played altogether? Because I was looking to play it with a friend and at a first glance the game seemed to load up properly.
Though I'm asking before I begin sinking hours into such a large campaign.

Unfortunately there are both potentially gamebreaking technical reasons and balancing reasons.

The Addon expands eg the unit file and movement tables based on Battlefield Europe 2.3.
BE 2.4 then also introduced many new units with their own new unit IDs and movement table entries and so on.
That new data since BE 2.3 (Addon vs BE 2.4) is partially contradictory and reintegration would be very tedious and savegame breaking due to the way PzC stores some of it.

The singleplayer BE main scenario with Addon is not affected, simply because the Addon uses its own heavily modded scenario file (based on the BE 2.3 version).
I never made all those modifications to the BE 2.3 multiplayer scenario file (which is totally independent of the singleplayer file due to the way the PzC engine works in that regard).
And due to the amount of changes, it would now be practically impossible for me to catch up. I would probably have to start from scratch.

Thus with BE multiplayer still being worked on by McGuba himself, I instead focus on making the Addons unit variety available for Afrika Korps and the Grand Campaign.


edit:
The Battlefield Europe multiplayer and singleplayer scenarios are two completely separate files, with different scripts, map zones, and crucially different numbers of units made available to the Alllied side. Because eg the AI is just so stupid in terms of keeping planes alive, it gets lots more of them in the singleplayer scenario than the human player would receive as the Allies in the multiplayer scenario.
=> So the singleplayer scenario is fully compatible with the Addon, but ridiculously imbalanced for multiplayer.
=> And the multiplayer scenario is of course balanced for multiplayer, but unfortunately now technically incompatible with the Addon.

Sorry for the disappointment.
I wish I could have maintained multiplayer compatibility, but that in turn would have made many of my contributions prohibitively time consuming for a spare time modding project.

I see, a pity though but understandable, thank you for clearing that up!

[goose_2]

@goose_2

Some notes on Sevastopol upgrades and units:

1) Upgrades
1a) The Italian and Hungarian "Standard" bonus SE infantry units have 1942 upgrades available, giving +1 GD
1b) The Kradschützen got their early 1942 upgrade reactivated, for +1 GD and +1 HA.
1c) Not sure whether the Char B2 is more useful in arty or Flammpanzer configuration. The Flamm is pretty good against those very heavy Maxim Gorky fortifications, and also decent against all those infantry units (which will be entrenched once you reach them).
1d) While the now available 2cm Fallschirmjäger Flak (as an upgrade option for Reoguru) can be useful in the south, flak units in general are bad against entrenched infantry in close terrain.
1e) AratoBela in the Hs 129 would be by far your best tac bomber against those fortresses. The very high ground defense value of the Hs 129 counters some of the Maxim Gorky suppression and is followed up by the very high hard attack value. Unfortunately the Hs 129 is pretty underwhelming against all those infantry units in Sevastopol.
=> Or you could deploy AratoBela in the Bf 110 F-2 to finally lose his overstrength against those fortresses and then finally upgrade him to Hs 129 eg in one of the following scenarios, but at the latest for GC 1942.7 (Ilovlya) => make sure that he ends Sevastopol scenario in tac bomber mode when deployed as Bf 110!
While upgrading FighterAce to Bf 110 F-2 in the scenario after Sevastopol to gain experience with him in GC 1942.5 (Voronezh) & GC 1942.6 (Novoanninsky), before GC 1942.7 (Ilovlya) needs AratoBela in the Hs 129 against the tank hordes.

Quick update. I was able to record the first 2 of what will be 4 broadcasts of 5 days each for Sevastopol. I found that pausing between rounds and making sure I do not make stupid mistakes helps me sort out the difficult battle. I am still not 100% sure I can get a decisive, but I am more confident than when I initially started. Thanks for the suggestion to bring Richard and Malcolm. I also buckled down and bought replacements for my SE Italian Infantry to get him back up to speed for the final push. It is going well, and do not see myself buying anymore in scenario elite replacements. They key is to draw as many units out as possible to give up their deep entrenchment, and also lucky shots against their forts.

Thanks for the help again.