Locarnus Addon 2025-07, for Battlefield Europe, Afrika Korps and Grand Campaign East

[Locarnus]

[...]
Unit class thoughts:
- Infantry: No complaints. I found krad and cav difficult to use. Easier in mods with default recon movement on infantry class.

Yep, I'm still not sure about mobile infantry implementation, especially with BE distances and balancing in mind.
Krad, Cav and Sahariana would fall under this category and all use somewhat different approaches.
Quite some time ago I tried to unify those and expand the equipment file with PzGrenadiere, PzSpäher and so on, but so far I could not figure it out. You probably saw those unit ID reservations for several "mobile infantry" in the equipment file, still without real values and graphics. Perhaps I'll be able to pick up on that project at some point in the future.

- Tank: Reasonable options all over. I talked about my thoughts of the flammpanzer above. May be more relevant in BE. StuG options are good for experiencing up, but I found no need/good use for them in direct attack, including PzIVs in '44. Maybe in EXTREME prestige situations, but at that point I'd rather just play more infantry instead of risking a whole unit loss with poor positioning. Direct fire arty/AA is good cheap options for soft target control.
- Recon: I (still) don't really like the recon lineup with the movement changes and the lower movement. It's extremely hard to predict when you have one more hex left, and that can make the difference between a botched turn and a chain of surrenders.

I guess late PzIV and similar become more useful in BE on higher difficulties, when prestige is really scarce. Otherwise the 1 unit per tile favors the then bigger tanks.
I'll keep the movement issue in mind and will try to work on simplifiying it, especially for eg the all terrain wheeled movement type 7 (eg SdKfz 232). Unfortunately won't be quick though, considering the more limited time available for modding in the next months.

- AT: No big comments, I just really enjoyed the GebG for farming experience later on. I'm not sure the UE stuff is really useable ever, I didn't bother. Marders have a short useful time window, as historical I guess.
Arty: I think I used every single arty model except the 30 cm nebel, which I may begrudgingly use in berlin. It offers no/barely any advantage compared to the wurfrahmen (in fact I regret not keeping a '41 model, but I only had 2 range heroes). The sIG series ROF7 is crippling and almost unuseable as soon as StuGs come online (even though it's much more expensive to repair StuG III early models compared to vanilla). The soviet SP arty has caused me the most trouble and random strength point loss when I don't have decoy fire units around.
- AA: No major complaints. Don't see the use of towed AA as with mounts they will be as expensive as self-propelled. They will rarely see action and thus not gain experience. 2 cm FlaK is pretty bad, averaging like 2 str points even fully overstrengthed.

Imho sIG rof 7 units are ok early on, when nothing better is available in numbers. They were mostly produced in very low numbers due to their shortcomings. The higher production number, later sIG units have rof 8, making them much more competitive.
Towed Flak in general and 2cm mobile Flak are probably much more relevant in BE with scarce prestige, like the late Pz IV mentioned above. Though I like the "2 cm FJGeb FlaK r12" for variety reasons, with its para trait and pack (Kettenkrad) transport options. Not so much as an AA, but more in the ground attack role in mid 42.

- Fighter: Fw seem very nerfed; repeating, I would probably use none of them. The fighter/bomber switch is too finicky given the pace (4-5 turn waves) in the campaign. I don't quite know the specifics of armement but would prooobably expect them to have maybe 1-2 more points of attack. Fighter Ju line is cute but never got a spotting hero so didn't feel the need for them.
- Tac: Barely used; without named hero AFVs may need more in other playthroughs.
- Strat: Heavily used, especially to experience up. Useful in fighting with a weaker core; you can retreat and hold terrain while concentrating artillery fire with just one fighter guard. Not sure if this tactic holds up if you can't afford to consistently fully overstrengthen them.

I'll take another look at the Fw 190 lineup, while working on the Bf 110 upgrade family, which is still pretty overpowered in the late war.
With the way the game engine works, the late Fw 190 A types with their high air attack value make for excellent escort fighter traps (where their low ini is ignored) and killing enemy bombers. While the inherent ini advantage of the Bf 109 make those better at initiating attacks, even without a large mass attack ini bonus.

Any big cannon tac bombers used? I guess Rudel fills that role in even without real tac bombers.
Did you try the Ju 388, which can switch between fighter and strat bomber modes?

[...]

That's interesting, I wasn't aware of that aspect of modding! Too late, however, as I am in Budapest once agains and aim to finish the campaign by weekend. May stream/record the two Berlin scenarios, though I can't imagine it being terribly interesting. I'm up to 12 mostly 5-star infantry for core.

Oh wow, Budapest already? You are really blazing through the grand campaign!
Thank you for all your feedback, very interesting to see your core develop and read your thoughts on the units and unit classes!

[goose_2]

may have issues with recording
headphones ringing, ordering new microphone

[goose_2]

I am not even ready for Orel yet

[thejf]

Oh wow, Budapest already? You are really blazing through the grand campaign!
Thank you for all your feedback, very interesting to see your core develop and read your thoughts on the units and unit classes!

Indeed a very interesting read and impressive progress so far eskuche. Clearly a bigger challenge needs to be prepared for a general of your calibre!
I'm far behind you as this point but agree with most of your findings. The FW's are indeed useful for escort and ambush duty, but I do agree that the A1-A4 models need an INI boost. What I've read about them is that they were only slightly worse in pure dogfighting then the BF109, which should place them 1-2 INI below them max, not 2-3 like now.
The BF110 and the fighters JU88 are too strong, but fun to play with. The HS129 has been awesome for me so far, able to do Rudel level of damage to tanks.
Great to see that infantry are now able to shine in the late war, gives some extra options beside going armour-heavy.
I've used the Flammpanzer III to good effect in the Kursk scenario's to blast through heavily entrenched units, but see little use outside of that so it has moved back into a IIIN+.

[eskuche]

Yep, I'm still not sure about mobile infantry implementation, especially with BE distances and balancing in mind.
Krad, Cav and Sahariana would fall under this category and all use somewhat different approaches.
Quite some time ago I tried to unify those and expand the equipment file with PzGrenadiere, PzSpäher and so on, but so far I could not figure it out. You probably saw those unit ID reservations for several "mobile infantry" in the equipment file, still without real values and graphics. Perhaps I'll be able to pick up on that project at some point in the future.


I guess late PzIV and similar become more useful in BE on higher difficulties, when prestige is really scarce. Otherwise the 1 unit per tile favors the then bigger tanks.
I'll keep the movement issue in mind and will try to work on simplifiying it, especially for eg the all terrain wheeled movement type 7 (eg SdKfz 232). Unfortunately won't be quick though, considering the more limited time available for modding in the next months.

Towed Flak in general and 2cm mobile Flak are probably much more relevant in BE with scarce prestige, like the late Pz IV mentioned above. Though I like the "2 cm FJGeb FlaK r12" for variety reasons, with its para trait and pack (Kettenkrad) transport options. Not so much as an AA, but more in the ground attack role in mid 42.


I'll take another look at the Fw 190 lineup, while working on the Bf 110 upgrade family, which is still pretty overpowered in the late war.
With the way the game engine works, the late Fw 190 A types with their high air attack value make for excellent escort fighter traps (where their low ini is ignored) and killing enemy bombers. While the inherent ini advantage of the Bf 109 make those better at initiating attacks, even without a large mass attack ini bonus.

Any big cannon tac bombers used? I guess Rudel fills that role in even without real tac bombers.
Did you try the Ju 388, which can switch between fighter and strat bomber modes?

1. About distances and feedback in the campaign. The bonus movement in cities can really have enemies crashing through extremely fast. I'm not sure how much it affects balance but it disproportionately weakens recon, which as I mentioned above already has issues. For example, I wiped Breslau within 2-3 turns of the second wave activation. I don't think the timing is such a huge concern, but I may like to see recon buffed by 1 vision range given the faster transit times. If a T-34 with 6 wide-tracked movement can appear from 9 hexes away, recon is pretty pointless. This exacerbates the "I know the map" factor and puts less emphasis on skill. Similarly as you said previously that you don't want the game to be like a puzzle, I think the positioning "puzzle" is exactly one of the things that keeps bringing me back to this game. More whole numbers = a manageable problem space. On a separate note, think 1.2 forest wide-tracked movement is too much of a buff in GC. In BE, it may make sense given you there are probably not fully forested areas per tile, but in the tactical zoom in the GC, it's too strong (IMO).

2. I disagree a bit for the roles of cheaper stand-ins in extreme prestige limitation. If you use cheaper units, they are much more likely to take damage and actually cause you more prestige in the long run. If I were to run at say 0% prestige (relying on only capture prestige), I would probably just take losses over DVs and use a LOT more infantry rather than say trying to rely on a PzIV standing up to a 7-8 effective movement range T-34-85. Again, not an easy balance problem. PC2 solves it by using a points rather than slot system. It also conflicts directly with the one of rule. I would rather have 1 Tiger II over 3 PzIV's in '45 and fill in the gap with 3-4 star infantry.

3. Perhaps lowering Bf-109 attack would actually rebalance it a bit?
4. Big cannon tac bombers: no. I use the ?rocket Me-410 on a generic [A2D2] unit, but my air power in later years is almost exclusively focused on 1) suppressing artillery-hit AA, 2) suppressing enemy artillery, and 3) softening up IS/KVs for 1 shot kills/surrenders by infantry in close terrain or my very elite armor. All of this is done better (and safer) by strat bombers, but again this may be a prestige bias. Early war your killing options for option (3) are limited due to poor hard attack; that is where tac bombers fill a role for me. As you see I just have one Stuka that's not even always used. In general, you don't *need* to kill the KV/IS's, just stall them to remove the artillery/AA threat then take your time leading them into kill zones. At least, that's my philosophy to take the least amount of chip damage on high overstrength units.

[thejf]

Quick update on my progress: this weekend I'm planning to start with the big one: Prokhorovka. Prestige is still slowly going up but that may end soon. Got a fairly comfortable DV in Olkhovatka and a relaxed MV in Armory (not taking any risks).
After Prokhorovka almost all main units should be 4-star, but on the hero front there still is some work to do. Got only 3 new hero's in the last two missions, all second ones. On my +3A fighter (no prize for guessing what type), my +3D Panther (+1M, not sure what to do with that) and on my +3D Wehr42 (+2D, so now have two +5D inf )

[eskuche]

Indeed a very interesting read and impressive progress so far eskuche. Clearly a bigger challenge needs to be prepared for a general of your calibre!

Thanks but it's just because I play this too much. The named heroes are probably carrying my campaign to be honest. I may try a 0 prestige/25% experience run the next time I boot up the campaign in 1-2 years.

On a side note, some idea I had was a partial randomization of the campaign. I'm surprised that no (or oblivious to) attempts at spicing up the vanilla campaign simply be redistributing enemy deployment and *adding significant heroes to enemies*, something that I've only seen Sonja_89 do reliably. Panzer corps 2 does this as well; for example, elite Soviet guards corps units will all be significantly overstrengthened with up to multiple game rule-breaking heroes, e.g., no retaliation (!), double hit, camouflage, etc. Obviously, we don't need to video game it to that extent here, but it would add spice to the campaign and most importantly test and improve player skill, not player memorization of the map.

I did a few randomized layouts (1-3 hex shifts of random soviet units) for Gary Grigsby's War in the East and it did a reasonable job at removing formulaic first turns from the campaign. My reimagining for GC would be initially redeployments and adding some strong hereos to enemy lieutenants. Currently the only change is like +1-2 stars for enemy "boss" units and a renaming -- very boring. A separate experience would be to have a few alternate map variants for each map, presenting with specific challenges, such as relatively overpowering a certain arm of the enemy strength, e.g., an additional corps of Char Bs appearing, presence of capital ships in maps that you don't necessarily want to bring air power to. The possibilities are pretty interesting and work can be done in chunks. Just not sure if it's worth the effort.

[Locarnus]

may have issues with recording
headphones ringing, ordering new microphone

Oh, good luck with getting your recording issues solved.
Will there be a youtube video premiere on sunday for Belgorod?

Indeed a very interesting read and impressive progress so far eskuche. Clearly a bigger challenge needs to be prepared for a general of your calibre!
I'm far behind you as this point but agree with most of your findings. The FW's are indeed useful for escort and ambush duty, but I do agree that the A1-A4 models need an INI boost. What I've read about them is that they were only slightly worse in pure dogfighting then the BF109, which should place them 1-2 INI below them max, not 2-3 like now.
The BF110 and the fighters JU88 are too strong, but fun to play with. The HS129 has been awesome for me so far, able to do Rudel level of damage to tanks.
Great to see that infantry are now able to shine in the late war, gives some extra options beside going armour-heavy.
I've used the Flammpanzer III to good effect in the Kursk scenario's to blast through heavily entrenched units, but see little use outside of that so it has moved back into a IIIN+.

Initiative is probably rather overvalued by the PzC 1 community.
At least I overvalued it before doing the calculations, thinking 1 ini is worth more than 1 attack.
But in the PzC 1 game engine, the opposite is usually true => attack value has more effect than ini.
As a rule of thumb, +1 attack value is mostly worth between 1 and 2 initiative in a duel.
But the +2 attack per experience level does change that valuation for fighters.
Ini can have the great benefit of acting as an added defense, but only when having more ini than the enemy and sufficient attack over the enemy defense (to make use of that ini advantage).

With that in mind, balancing the aircraft is a major task.
I moved away from eg comparing ini vs ini ratings for balancing.
Instead, I pitch the fighters directly against each other using an abbreviated game engine formula and all three relevant values (ini, air attack, air defense). And then set the values mostly based on those "duels" (vs fighters and bombers).
Somehow I just missed the later Bf 110s in the last "duels" balancing round.

Yeah, Flammpanzer III has niche usefulness. I still like it due to military engineer trait and high rof, but it might not be for everyone.

[Locarnus]

1. About distances and feedback in the campaign. The bonus movement in cities can really have enemies crashing through extremely fast. I'm not sure how much it affects balance but it disproportionately weakens recon, which as I mentioned above already has issues. For example, I wiped Breslau within 2-3 turns of the second wave activation. I don't think the timing is such a huge concern, but I may like to see recon buffed by 1 vision range given the faster transit times. If a T-34 with 6 wide-tracked movement can appear from 9 hexes away, recon is pretty pointless. This exacerbates the "I know the map" factor and puts less emphasis on skill. Similarly as you said previously that you don't want the game to be like a puzzle, I think the positioning "puzzle" is exactly one of the things that keeps bringing me back to this game. More whole numbers = a manageable problem space. On a separate note, think 1.2 forest wide-tracked movement is too much of a buff in GC. In BE, it may make sense given you there are probably not fully forested areas per tile, but in the tactical zoom in the GC, it's too strong (IMO).

Ground recon imho has the problem that terrain is not taken into account for the vision.
A recon car eg has 3 vision regardless whether it looks from a mountain over adjacent flat terrain, or if it looks from flat terrain towards hill terrain with a mountain in between.
Another issue is the AI not being able to properly use recon, neither in the simple scouting role, nor in the more advanced phased movement for mass attack boni or encirclements role. Looking at goose_2 making so much of that in his youtube playthroughs, I'm a bit hesitant to buff them.
Perhaps dedicated recon planes could be buffed though, making more separate version for BE and the normal campaigns?
Good point about the 1.2 wide tracked forest movement, I'll try to rein it in with future movement changes. Perhaps making wide tracked exclusively advantageous in bad weather (and swamps in dry weather or so)?

2. I disagree a bit for the roles of cheaper stand-ins in extreme prestige limitation. If you use cheaper units, they are much more likely to take damage and actually cause you more prestige in the long run. If I were to run at say 0% prestige (relying on only capture prestige), I would probably just take losses over DVs and use a LOT more infantry rather than say trying to rely on a PzIV standing up to a 7-8 effective movement range T-34-85. Again, not an easy balance problem. PC2 solves it by using a points rather than slot system. It also conflicts directly with the one of rule. I would rather have 1 Tiger II over 3 PzIV's in '45 and fill in the gap with 3-4 star infantry.

I agree for longer campaigns, like the GC, where experienced players can pretty reliably plan for a run until the end (if not trying a new mod or difficulty).
Thus the out of family upgrade prestige cost provides sure benefits the player for 100s of turns (eg when upgrading a Pz IV to a Panther in mid 1943).
But in BE, that out of family upgrade cost only potentially benefits the player for eg dozens of turns.

3. Perhaps lowering Bf-109 attack would actually rebalance it a bit?
4. Big cannon tac bombers: no. I use the ?rocket Me-410 on a generic [A2D2] unit, but my air power in later years is almost exclusively focused on 1) suppressing artillery-hit AA, 2) suppressing enemy artillery, and 3) softening up IS/KVs for 1 shot kills/surrenders by infantry in close terrain or my very elite armor. All of this is done better (and safer) by strat bombers, but again this may be a prestige bias. Early war your killing options for option (3) are limited due to poor hard attack; that is where tac bombers fill a role for me. As you see I just have one Stuka that's not even always used. In general, you don't *need* to kill the KV/IS's, just stall them to remove the artillery/AA threat then take your time leading them into kill zones. At least, that's my philosophy to take the least amount of chip damage on high overstrength units.

I'm looking more at lowering the late Bf 110 defense value. That would retain their effectiveness as bomber killers and escort fighters, but significantly weaken them against enemy fighters in a duel.
If you are willing to spend the prestige, give the Do 335 a try. It will probably also have 1 less defense in the next update due to currently being overpowered against enemy fighters. And it has very nice ground attack particularly in the B-2 configuration for Berlin.

[eskuche]

1. I think AI recon is fine for its use: keeping the player honest and making sure there is air cover on everything close to the front line. Because enemy recon have so much movement now on roads, they have de facto longer spotting range, and they are basically one shot use in that the AI doesn't have to save them for later. A recon plane with phased movement would probably be greatly useful/used/worth a slot.
2. I'm ignoring most of the wunderwaffen...AFAICT they don't offer significantly better bonus. Berlin has too much cover for direct attack planes to be of much/any use, and the prototype armor suffer from the math of ROF/str malus. Maybe look into having only either ROF or strength malus; this way, the breakpoints aren't a headache to calculate, e.g., you may have noticed my gustav has only 10 strength, since 13 strength (max with str8) still gives only 3.9 shots. Being rebalanced to 10str rof2 or rof3 may make more sense; the player has more granularity of control.

For the 8rof8str units, this unduly punishes chip damage and stacks very unfavorably with the minimum 5% hit chance both in terms of random AI attacks in rain and conscript cheese in BE. At 8 strength, they have 6 shots; at 13 strength, they have 10 shots. Potential rebalancing would be just ROF6, going from 6 to 9 shots. This keeps their role as a defensive bulwark but lessens some of the risk and feelsbad with them. Just my opinion, however, and may be too much work if BE vs. GC differences are needed. Paying full 5th point OS cost on a 13 str tiger pinged by a conscript is just oof.

[eskuche]

Additional thoughts:
1. Not sure how important the minutiae in air war balancing is. In the end, optimal play is weakening enemy fighters to one-shottable range and then either using mass initiative bonus to wipe them out or just let them go non-elite replace to take them down little by little. Of course, this is from the perspective of having the luxury of +2-3 initiative named heroes.

2. If I were redesigning recon from the ground up without an eye to history at all, I would do something like 1) pure long-range recon with medium move, weak to no attack, low armor, and HIGH spotting (4-5); 2) "tactical" recon abusing phased movement with high move (9-10), moderate attack, low-moderate armor, and NO spotting bonus to use in surrounds/initiative bonus; and 3) fighting recon like the puma. The arty recon really should have recon move on the arty mode; otherwise it is really lackluster.

3. Is there a reason baseline spotting needs to be 2 from the player's side? Obviously, it shouldn't be 1 for the enemy due to silly baiting traps, but some mods have spotting 1 as default for non-recon/air units.

[goose_2]

Belgorod will go up Sunday

[Locarnus]

A recon plane with phased movement would probably be greatly useful/used/worth a slot.

Good idea, I'll try to separate the recon planes for BE and GC and give the latter ones phased movement.

2. I'm ignoring most of the wunderwaffen...AFAICT they don't offer significantly better bonus. Berlin has too much cover for direct attack planes to be of much/any use, and the prototype armor suffer from the math of ROF/str malus. Maybe look into having only either ROF or strength malus; this way, the breakpoints aren't a headache to calculate, e.g., you may have noticed my gustav has only 10 strength, since 13 strength (max with str8) still gives only 3.9 shots. Being rebalanced to 10str rof2 or rof3 may make more sense; the player has more granularity of control.

For the 8rof8str units, this unduly punishes chip damage and stacks very unfavorably with the minimum 5% hit chance both in terms of random AI attacks in rain and conscript cheese in BE. At 8 strength, they have 6 shots; at 13 strength, they have 10 shots. Potential rebalancing would be just ROF6, going from 6 to 9 shots. This keeps their role as a defensive bulwark but lessens some of the risk and feelsbad with them. Just my opinion, however, and may be too much work if BE vs. GC differences are needed. Paying full 5th point OS cost on a 13 str tiger pinged by a conscript is just oof.

To be honest, I thought that the Gustav would only be used as those aux units during Sevastopol scenario.
Historically they were extremely difficult to deploy, because they required so much preparation.
The much smaller and much easier to deploy 28cm Kanone 5 were the most I anticipated as a core unit for the grand campaign.

Imho having some of the really powerful units limited to 8 strength is the only way I know to make many of the other, weaker units a viable option at all.
Eg Elefant (8str) and Jagdtiger (8rof 8str) would absolutely dominate without those restrictions. Now they at least have some tradeoff (expensive chip damage).
Now with rule of 1 only your single full strength Tiger II unit can absolutely dominate in 45 until Berlin (when the full strength Jagdtiger is available, which still has rof .

For a long time I preferred playing with reduced rng and tried to play "perfectly" (practically no replacements during a scenario, as little chip damage on fully os units as possible, good heroes due to reloads and so on). Eg I previously saw elite replacements during a scenario and chip damage on os units as a tactical failure or at least as something very frustrating.
Every turn became a puzzle with a perfect solution to be found, instead of a dynamic wargame. And except for my first GC, I saw the prestige number more like a highscore than a relevant game mechanic.

Now I try to embrace the randomness and the small setbacks a bit more (except for some of the hero rng, I still can't get used to that bs, but I m slowly working on it).
And treat prestige more like a dynamically used maintenance and investment budget.
But for that to work, prestige has to be at least somewhat scarce beyond 1939.

Finetuning the difficulty to the players ability is necessary, but imho very hard.
So far I have not even found the right settings for myself.
AK with all the Addon scenario changes is balanced tighter, Rommel difficulty alone is enough.
GC balance is alot wider, also because it is so much longer.
Given your feedback and thejf and goose_2 playthroughs so far, FM + double Rommel (50% experience, 25% prestige gain) might come close for many. FM Rommel still provides lots of prestige, double FM + double Rommel exposes too much of the skewed experience mechanic.

2. If I were redesigning recon from the ground up without an eye to history at all, I would do something like 1) pure long-range recon with medium move, weak to no attack, low armor, and HIGH spotting (4-5); 2) "tactical" recon abusing phased movement with high move (9-10), moderate attack, low-moderate armor, and NO spotting bonus to use in surrounds/initiative bonus; and 3) fighting recon like the puma. The arty recon really should have recon move on the arty mode; otherwise it is really lackluster.

3. Is there a reason baseline spotting needs to be 2 from the player's side? Obviously, it shouldn't be 1 for the enemy due to silly baiting traps, but some mods have spotting 1 as default for non-recon/air units.

I want to have another look at the movement tables first, before making big changes to the ground recon. Phased movement for air recon only for GC is also much easier to implement, because there are so few equipment file entries for them.

The baseline vision 2 makes it so that bad weather leads to a noticeable difference. In BE the Axis offensive becomes a lot riskier when air recon does not work and your normal units can only see adjacent hexes.

[eskuche]

I want to have another look at the movement tables first, before making big changes to the ground recon. Phased movement for air recon only for GC is also much easier to implement, because there are so few equipment file entries for them.

The baseline vision 2 makes it so that bad weather leads to a noticeable difference. In BE the Axis offensive becomes a lot riskier when air recon does not work and your normal units can only see adjacent hexes.

Just a random driving thought today for the tactical recon.
Movetype tactical: costs double movement compared to normal all-terrain. A tactical recon would have say 12-13 movement points. This means that it could move 1 clear hex four times since using one phase takes one movement point. However, it would be worse than other recon at long distances and at all other functions.

[Locarnus]

Just a random driving thought today for the tactical recon.
Movetype tactical: costs double movement compared to normal all-terrain. A tactical recon would have say 12-13 movement points. This means that it could move 1 clear hex four times since using one phase takes one movement point. However, it would be worse than other recon at long distances and at all other functions.

When I tried to "standardize" movement (leading to the current mostly dry countryside = 1 movement cost, except horse drawn I think) I considered using higher numbers in general, in order to perhaps even avoid those decimals.
It would also solve some current issues, like eg infantry with 2 movement points not being treated fairly on roads.

A major disadvantage was, that it made movement heroes pretty much worthless for any unit not being towed or having similarly minimal movement. Like they are on aircraft, which have those double digit base movement points.
Fuel values would also need adjustment.
I was leaning in that direction, though I could not quite eliminate those decimals for all conditions (which would have made it worthwhile).
And without that "benefit", the effort and disadvantages were imho too great for me at that time.

[Locarnus]

Just a random driving thought today for the tactical recon.
Movetype tactical: costs double movement compared to normal all-terrain. A tactical recon would have say 12-13 movement points. This means that it could move 1 clear hex four times since using one phase takes one movement point. However, it would be worse than other recon at long distances and at all other functions.

Maybe the standardized dry countryside = 1 movement cost was not the best thing either.
When I have a bit of time I will reconsider movement in general.

Which complete (dry, muddy, snow) movement tables would you prefer? Or another mod that handles movement better?

[thejf]

Was finally able to spend some time on this again and finish up my '43 campaign.
Overall it went quite well. I missed out on the DV in Kremenchug due to bad tactics but was able to DV everything else.
Prestige is looking good at 50k, mostly due to limited switching and a lot of prestige farming possibilities in the last 3 missions. Overall goal was to get to 4 stars and 60% second heroes, hit the first milestone but not the second (currently at 50%)
Heroes itself have been generally poor. No shortage of movement or initiative heroes. but good defense and especially good attack heroes have been missing.

Core going into '44 with some small notes. Am still thinking about which direction I should take this: the current mix or infantry heavy like eskuche.

Class........Unit..................Transport.......Hero.......Kills.....XP
SE.........Standard Infantry'43....................1D-1I.......1261...449
SE...........7.5 Pak 40..............RSO...........1M..........794....445
SE...........Kavallerie 43..........................1A-1S........921....432
SE.............Marder IIIH..........................1D-1I........492....399
SE...........SdKfz 10/5.............................1A...........550....437
SE...........7.62 Pak 36 (r).........RSO............1D..........174....270

Mostly used as flank cover units and bridge blockaders, in which they have rendered excellent service. Have to decide whether I want to keep the AT's or switch them to INF.

INF..........Grenadiere '43....SdKfz 251/1+.....1A-1A.......1045....415
INF...........Pioniere '43.......SdKfz 251/1+.....1I-1M.......1078....409
INF..........Wehrmacht '43....SdKfz 251/1+......3D-2D.......957....441
INF.......Fallschirmjager '43.......................1A-1A.......838......412
INF.........Gebirgsjager '43 ..........................1S.........970......461
INF..............Jager '43............................3D-2D........820.....432
INF.........Kradschutzen '43........................1S-1S........771.....418

Lot less action for these guys in the tankfest that is '43. Kradschutzen are now very feeble so might switch them to Recon depending on 2nd heroes I get there.

TA.............Pz III N+................................3D-1D......1127.....434
TA.............Pz IV G++...............................1I-1S........651.....500
TA.............Pz IV H..................................1A-1M......544.....479
TA.............StuG III G+..............................1D-1D......696.....476
TA.............Ferdinand...............................1M-1S......907.....413
TA.............T34-43 (r)..............................3A-1D......1096.....415
TA.............Tiger I E................................3A-2D.......1015....436
TA.............KV 85 (r)................................1A-1D......1157.....418
TA.............Marder IIIM..............................1A-1I.......643.....438
TA.............StuG III G................................1A-2D......866.....426
TA.............Panther A...............................3D-1M.....1077.....436
TA.............8.8 Pak 43............ Sd7.............1M-1I........786.....413

The big cats are still immune to everything except IS2's but all Pz 3 and 4 based units have been taking more and more hits. The units without DEF heroes will probably have to be switched.

REC...........SdKfz 233+................................1S...........668.....478
REC..........Pz II 5cm...................................1S...........667.....476
AA............Gepard...................................2A-1S.........866.....353
AA.............SdKfz 7/2+...............................2A............710.....437
AA.............SdKfz 7/1+...............................1D............880.....459
AA.............8.8 Flak 41..............................1A-1M.......1060.....388

No new heroes, which was disappointing. Might switch some units based on those 2nd heroes.

ART.............15 sFH 18.............SdKfz 7..........1M-1I........881.....411
ART..............17 K 18...............SdKfz 8..........1S............447.....472
ART............21 Nblwf 42...........Maultier..........1R...........556......509
ART...........105mm mle 1913 (f)..Opel Blitz........1A...........623......515
ART..............10.5 sK 18............SdKfz 7..........1M...........972......468
ART.............10.5 GebH 40........Kettenkrad.......1A...........438.....501
ART.............10.5 leFH 18/40......Maultier..........1M...........693.....515
ART..............StuIG 33B................................1R...........679.....472
ART..............Wespe ...................................2A-1S........947.....462
ART..............Brummbar...............................1A-1I.........947......437
ART..............StuH 42+.................................2A-3D.......1059.....416
ART..............SU 122 (r).................................1S...........330......408

That StuH 42 is of course going into the tank/AT class but the rest is a question mark. Have so far favored ammo count over hitting power for the towed units, so no rocket units outside of the 21 cm. Might change this.

FIG..............Bf 109 F-4................................3A-1A.......652......413
FIG..............Bf 109 G-6................................1A...........646......413
FIG..............Bf 109 G-6+...............................1A...........601......427
FIG..............Bf 109 F-4+...............................1A...........664......429
FIG..............Fw 190 A-3................................3D...........345......493
TAC..............Fw 190 F-3................................1A...........517......401
TAC..............HS 129 B-2+...............................1A...........791......459
TAC..............JU 87 G-2.................................2D...........274.......357
TAC..............Bf 110 G-2................................1D...........494.......411
TAC..............Bf 110 G-4.................................1S...........318.......337
TAC..............JU 88 R-2.................................1A...........566.......438
STR...............Do 217 M...............................................256.......482
STR..............He 111 H-16...............................1D..........214.......436
STR...............JU 88 A-4.................................1A...........460.......464

The hero misery continues. Am still ruling the skies but Kiev was the first mission where some of my fighters got attacked directly. For now I'm just going to fully overstrenght them and hope they can hold. The FW 190 fighter is a former strat bomber, mostly use it for bomber escort and bomber killing

[goose_2]

Was finally able to spend some time on this again and finish up my '43 campaign.
Overall it went quite well. I missed out on the DV in Kremenchug due to bad tactics but was able to DV everything else.
Prestige is looking good at 50k, mostly due to limited switching and a lot of prestige farming possibilities in the last 3 missions. Overall goal was to get to 4 stars and 60% second heroes, hit the first milestone but not the second (currently at 50%)
Heroes itself have been generally poor. No shortage of movement or initiative heroes. but good defense and especially good attack heroes have been missing.

Core going into '44 with some small notes. Am still thinking about which direction I should take this: the current mix or infantry heavy like eskuche.

Thanks for this breakdown this gives me real hope seeing stats like this by the end of 43. Maybe I can get 50% to 2nd hero status. You seem poised to actually get quite a few more to 3rd heroes then I thought even possible.

I started Orel, I had to bring some units I was hoping to rest before Kursk, but other than a couple of mistakes it is going really, really well. I am going on my family vacation tom, but should be back up to regular postings come Sunday.

Thanks again for the breakdown.

[goose_2]

Quick Update before I leave for Holiday with family.

This morning I recorded a shorter middle broadcast, but only able to play four days, which means the last part will be a marathon 9 day broadcast. Hope I can do it.

By the by I counted 10 units capable of getting 3rd heroes for thejf, that has me very hopeful for my playthrough as the 2nd heroes are extremely sparse right now, but looking at al the kills he acquired in 43 makes me think it is doable.

See you Sunday!

[Locarnus]

@thejf thank you for your core update, very interesting to read.
Yep, hero stats are a major difference, between the named campaign ones and random ones with and then without reloads.

Class........Unit..................Transport.......Hero.......Kills.....XP
SE.........Standard Infantry'43....................1D-1I.......1261...449
SE...........7.5 Pak 40..............RSO...........1M..........794....445
SE...........Kavallerie 43..........................1A-1S........921....432
SE.............Marder IIIH..........................1D-1I........492....399
SE...........SdKfz 10/5.............................1A...........550....437
SE...........7.62 Pak 36 (r).........RSO............1D..........174....270

Mostly used as flank cover units and bridge blockaders, in which they have rendered excellent service. Have to decide whether I want to keep the AT's or switch them to INF.

The difference between the best bonus SE infantry and best normal infantry a lot smaller than it is for the other available bonus SE unit classes. But on the other hand, you will have quite a few bonus SE units in 45 (excluding the two hero SE aircraft and the bonus SE Maus tank). So I guess some of those bonus SE units can stay non-infantry. The 7.5 Pak 40 /RSO is already the best bonus SE AT unit, but at least the decently armored Hetzer will become available as a bonus SE tank destroyer in 44.

INF..........Grenadiere '43....SdKfz 251/1+.....1A-1A.......1045....415
INF...........Pioniere '43.......SdKfz 251/1+.....1I-1M.......1078....409
INF..........Wehrmacht '43....SdKfz 251/1+......3D-2D.......957....441
INF.......Fallschirmjager '43.......................1A-1A.......838......412
INF.........Gebirgsjager '43 ..........................1S.........970......461
INF..............Jager '43............................3D-2D........820.....432
INF.........Kradschutzen '43........................1S-1S........771.....418

Lot less action for these guys in the tankfest that is '43. Kradschutzen are now very feeble so might switch them to Recon depending on 2nd heroes I get there.

Kradschützen get a ground defense buff with the 44 update. Still not great, but imho ok because they have the advantage of being a soft target type recon unit. And enemy tank improvements in soft attack are often countered by bad rof now for the Soviets.
The even faster, improved SdKfz 250 transport might be worth the higher price for one of your units. Eg in combination with that def +5 hero unit.

TA.............Pz III N+................................3D-1D......1127.....434
TA.............Pz IV G++...............................1I-1S........651.....500
TA.............Pz IV H..................................1A-1M......544.....479
TA.............StuG III G+..............................1D-1D......696.....476
TA.............Ferdinand...............................1M-1S......907.....413
TA.............T34-43 (r)..............................3A-1D......1096.....415
TA.............Tiger I E................................3A-2D.......1015....436
TA.............KV 85 (r)................................1A-1D......1157.....418
TA.............Marder IIIM..............................1A-1I.......643.....438
TA.............StuG III G................................1A-2D......866.....426
TA.............Panther A...............................3D-1M.....1077.....436
TA.............8.8 Pak 43............ Sd7.............1M-1I........786.....413

The big cats are still immune to everything except IS2's but all Pz 3 and 4 based units have been taking more and more hits. The units without DEF heroes will probably have to be switched.

Ferdi with spotting hero . Who needs phased movement to get out of harms way, when thick armor is available.
Your Pz IV with spotting hero could try out the "Panzer IV J BeWg r9" in early 44, though 9 rof is quite the trade off when overstrength is factored in. Probably not worth it from an efficiency point of view.
In terms of rule of 1 and balancing, the Panther was a problem. Because it was so numerous, with uncharacteristically few different named versions (for the german forces). Those "Panther A dg" and "Panther G rb" subversions allow eg 2 Panther A and G without breaking the rule of 1, if you want to. It also gave me a good excuse to add some more camo patterns to the usual lineup .

If you are able to keep a Nashorn in open terrain, with arty protection and only facing enemy tanks, not infantry, then it is imho better than expected for that low defense rating.
Another often overlooked vehicle is imho the coming Jagdpanzer IV/70. Against enemy tanks it is practically a slower Panther, but much cheaper and with camo switch.

REC...........SdKfz 233+................................1S...........668.....478
REC..........Pz II 5cm...................................1S...........667.....476
AA............Gepard...................................2A-1S.........866.....353
AA.............SdKfz 7/2+...............................2A............710.....437
AA.............SdKfz 7/1+...............................1D............880.....459
AA.............8.8 Flak 41..............................1A-1M.......1060.....388

No new heroes, which was disappointing. Might switch some units based on those 2nd heroes.

AA has a hard time against enemy aircraft, due to Battlefield Europe stat compatibility.
And without reloads for heroes, there are more spotting ones than can fit on recons.

ART.............15 sFH 18.............SdKfz 7..........1M-1I........881.....411
ART..............17 K 18...............SdKfz 8..........1S............447.....472
ART............21 Nblwf 42...........Maultier..........1R...........556......509
ART...........105mm mle 1913 (f)..Opel Blitz........1A...........623......515
ART..............10.5 sK 18............SdKfz 7..........1M...........972......468
ART.............10.5 GebH 40........Kettenkrad.......1A...........438.....501
ART.............10.5 leFH 18/40......Maultier..........1M...........693.....515
ART..............StuIG 33B................................1R...........679.....472
ART..............Wespe ...................................2A-1S........947.....462
ART..............Brummbar...............................1A-1I.........947......437
ART..............StuH 42+.................................2A-3D.......1059.....416
ART..............SU 122 (r).................................1S...........330......408

That StuH 42 is of course going into the tank/AT class but the rest is a question mark. Have so far favored ammo count over hitting power for the towed units, so no rocket units outside of the 21 cm. Might change this.

I agree that more ammo has quite a few advantages, especially when defending a rather fixed position.
But imho a Wurfrahmen is worth the 3 ammo and 8 rof issues, because can hit so hard.
The 10.5cm sK 18 can be in family upgraded to the recently introduced 15 sFH range3/range4. Giving it better short range firepower while retaining the ability to switch to lower rof range 4 when needed. Or using the Hummel for mobile arty?

FIG..............Bf 109 F-4................................3A-1A.......652......413
FIG..............Bf 109 G-6................................1A...........646......413
FIG..............Bf 109 G-6+...............................1A...........601......427
FIG..............Bf 109 F-4+...............................1A...........664......429
FIG..............Fw 190 A-3................................3D...........345......493
TAC..............Fw 190 F-3................................1A...........517......401
TAC..............HS 129 B-2+...............................1A...........791......459
TAC..............JU 87 G-2.................................2D...........274.......357
TAC..............Bf 110 G-2................................1D...........494.......411
TAC..............Bf 110 G-4.................................1S...........318.......337
TAC..............JU 88 R-2.................................1A...........566.......438
STR...............Do 217 M...............................................256.......482
STR..............He 111 H-16...............................1D..........214.......436
STR...............JU 88 A-4.................................1A...........460.......464

The hero misery continues. Am still ruling the skies but Kiev was the first mission where some of my fighters got attacked directly. For now I'm just going to fully overstrenght them and hope they can hold. The FW 190 fighter is a former strat bomber, mostly use it for bomber escort and bomber killing

Very interested to see how you are able to deal with the enemy airforce in 44 and 45.
Considering underpowered AA due to BE stat compatibility and underpowered airforce due to hero rng.
Perhaps some of the German special aircraft can help out. Though the Me 163 is practically useless in the GC as a core unit due to fuel, but on the other hand there are two versions of the Me 262 available now.