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

[goose_2]

I guess my last thoughts on Prok are as follows...
1) Will try and go full boat for all of my big dog units
ie: Nashorn, both Tigers, Panther D, and Ferdinand is already there
The rest of the unist may get 1 extra os for extra hitting power, but limited based on the expense of os.

I think I will keep all arty where they are at, unless I see a need for full boat os for arty.

I plan on using all arty except Michal and Dneos based on the kill count for both units.

StuH is probably not happening yet.

All fighters and Fighter Bombers are coming to help solidify the sky.

Thinking playtesting will start not this weekend, but soon after the update comes. Watching my Ultimate and Soren's playthrough makes me think the correct play is to split my units into 2 groups not the 3 that are laid out in system.

Let me know if you have any thoughts or advice.

As you can see based on my ending in Armory I will be shooting for the DV in this battle, but let me know if you had difficulty achieving that Thejf or eskuche

Blessings,

[Locarnus]

[...]
All fighters and Fighter Bombers are coming to help solidify the sky.

Thinking playtesting will start not this weekend, but soon after the update comes. Watching my Ultimate and Soren's playthrough makes me think the correct play is to split my units into 2 groups not the 3 that are laid out in system.

Let me know if you have any thoughts or advice.
[..]

Quite a few things coming together now,
most importantly all the recent feedback received by you, eskuche, thejf, RobertCL and Anderkav.
=> I went a bit further down the slippery slope of manual scenario adjustments for the Grand Campaign (and a bit for the original campaign).

And as feared, once I'm in the scenario editor, I always spot some other stuff that could be improved with a just a few more clicks...
So now several of the 43 and the first two 44 scenarios will have a more varied and slightly more up to date enemy airforce (including Prokhorovka). The AI now fields aircraft like the Airacobra and the Yak-9T, as well as accounting for slightly improved versions like the LaGG-3+ instead of the LaGG-3 and the La-5F instead of the La-5.

After the german fighter rebalancing and the Yak-9D retaining 13 ini, I'm very excited to see the air war.
Mass attack ini bonus combined with fighter experience for that attack +2 boost per level will make all the difference.

Two ground force groups instead of 3 make the air war much more controllable.
My concern would be, that 2 larger groups could make more of a traffic jam, where several units do not start firing on the enemy until a few turns in. Most deployment hexes in the north west corner are rather far from enemy troops?
But not having to deal with that major river in the south east would be a considerable benefit.


I'm still holding on to the rof nerf for the T-34/40 until T-34/42. That will make the ground war noticeably easier, for BE and the Grand Campaign. Even in 1943 and early 1944, since the scenario designer placed lots of older T-34 in those years, between the newer models. I did not change that, simply exchanged T-34/41 with T-34/42, which have near identical stats (just slightly different fuel and lower costs).

So with the enemy ground forces quality reduced a bit, their quantity is relatively more important.
When deciding between units to bring I would therefore recommend higher rof, attack heroes and higher ammo to be able to keep firing, just to be able to deal with all of the AI hordes.

[Anderkav]

Good day!
Actually the limitations of Soviet tanks always seemed to me rather questionable, certainly they were simpler in terms of equipment and convenience (below the initiative). There were also big problems with the running gear, engine and transmission. In 1942 it is quite common to find photos of tanks without rubberized rollers or poor quality welding. Also in the initial period of the war there were problems with the quality of armor, although it was largely compensated by the thickness of armor plates)
This is me to the fact that the main disadvantage of the t-34 and KV early models, it is a lower initiative and reduced mobility (less fuel). It is worth saying that the other problems are much less dependent on the tanks themselves:
1) Problems of supply, repair and logistics (1941-early 1942)
For example, you can find mentions that the 76mm gun t-34 could not be armor-piercing shells in some parts. Lack of spare parts or capabilities of repair brigades, because of which almost whole equipment was abandoned. Chaos due to constant retreat - lack of gasoline tankers or fuel itself (before that the RKKA tanks were on gasoline). And it is worth noting the merciless exploitation of equipment, such as marches of 100 kilometers or more, which put the equipment out of service.

Important: these problems were in any army in the world, but these are more scripted limitations, not shortcomings of the equipment itself and poorly trained maintenance personnel.

2) Probably the most important factor is the combat experience of the tankers themselves and auxiliary formations. Where t-34s and KVs were used by experienced crews, they became a formidable weapon. Where there were no problems with supply and interaction between the branches of the army, the tanks showed themselves well. The problem is that like any other country attacked by the Third Reich... it lacked the cohesion and combat experience. The Poles, the French, the British and others all had the same problems. And another important point, it is very hard to gain combat experience with constant huge losses, and the RKKA had a very hard time gaining it.

Due to the peculiarities of the game engine, it is rather impossible to make an adequate implementation (it should mostly work through the scenario). I rather lean towards the fact that Soviet tanks should have 0-50 experience in 1941 and 100 experience at the beginning of 1942, t-34-40 should probably have worse characteristics (but again depends more on the crew). But t-34-41 and t-34-42 and onwards should have better performance (albeit not by much, just because of better supply and better familiarization with combat vehicles)

Not sure if the translator can adequately translate all the subtleties, so feel free to ask and comment)

[thejf]

Mostly 5 stars and 12 units with 3 heroes is great!
So the third heroes are possible as a cherry on top, just not something that can be taken for granted. I like that, even a fighter with 3 heroes. And well, hero rng at this point is a special thing.

Yep, just talked with goose_2 yesterday about the cost of nicks of damage on significantly overstrengthed units.
With the rule of 1 and no non-random heroes, those nicks of damage are a lot more frequent than they were in the normal campaign.
Oh, no strat bombers at all? Emphasis on fighter bombers is pretty historical for the late eastern front. I also like the versatility of fighter bombers, but also bring strats for ammo drain and suppression. Glad you gave the Do 335 a spot, one of my favorite ww2 odd projects.

Yeah, third hero's are really optional although good ones would have made an impact. But in my case almost all were 1A/1D, which is irrelevant at this point.

Nicks are indeed extremely expensive so I'm quite happy with my decision to only go full OS on my tanks in '45.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of strat bombers. It's just that the two main roles you described (suppression and ammo stripping) are not needed anymore. My arties can handle the suppression part and I don't need to ammo strip the IS-2's anymore as I can just shoot them up with my top units after dropping them below 10 strenght with a Tac bomber.
To illustrate the qualitative superiority: in Seelow my 15 str Jagdpanther one-shot-surrendered 4 3-star T34-85's in a row without using suppression and without suffering any casualties. The T34's had 12 strenght and lost 9 from my attacks.

[Anderkav]

And as usual it is worth to outline in more detail the T-34s themselves (there were a lot of varieties, which do not appear much, but the differences are quite important)
T-34 of 39-40 with the l-11 gun (problems with the gun/engine/comfort of the crew)
T-34 of 41 with the f-34 gun (all characteristics are slightly better than the 1940 version)
T-34-57 of 41 with the Zis-4 gun (extremely good gun, but 10 vehicles were produced), fought in winter 1941 near Moscow (it would be interesting to meet them in small numbers in some scenario) (a little more initiative at the expense of the gun)
T-34E of 41 with f-34 gun (reinforced 15mm details of the frontal part of the hull and turret)
T-34 of 42 is a rather large modernization (turret nut with improved armor and much improved comfort for the crew, improved running capabilities)
There is one thing to note here, if we are talking about tanks produced by Stalingrad Tractor Plant they can be given slightly lower characteristics, for example (Ini -1/Def -1/fuel -3) for vehicles up to 1942 inclusive.

[goose_2]

I am loving this discussion, keep it up I love reading stuff like this

[Locarnus]

Good day!
Actually the limitations of Soviet tanks always seemed to me rather questionable, certainly they were simpler in terms of equipment and convenience (below the initiative). There were also big problems with the running gear, engine and transmission. In 1942 it is quite common to find photos of tanks without rubberized rollers or poor quality welding. Also in the initial period of the war there were problems with the quality of armor, although it was largely compensated by the thickness of armor plates)
This is me to the fact that the main disadvantage of the t-34 and KV early models, it is a lower initiative and reduced mobility (less fuel). It is worth saying that the other problems are much less dependent on the tanks themselves:
[...]

Due to the peculiarities of the game engine, it is rather impossible to make an adequate implementation (it should mostly work through the scenario). I rather lean towards the fact that Soviet tanks should have 0-50 experience in 1941 and 100 experience at the beginning of 1942, t-34-40 should probably have worse characteristics (but again depends more on the crew). But t-34-41 and t-34-42 and onwards should have better performance (albeit not by much, just because of better supply and better familiarization with combat vehicles)

Not sure if the translator can adequately translate all the subtleties, so feel free to ask and comment)

Yes, the lack of logistics is an unfortunate game engine limitation for Panzer Corps 1. And most other games, though perhaps to a lesser extent.
This is also a major problem for scenarios like Battlefield Europe, where issues like rail gauge had a significant historical impact.

After some more consideration, I will not reduce the early T-34 rate of fire stat further. Several of their other stats are already lowered.
While the early T-34 was good to great for its time in the "harder" aspects firepower, armor and mobility, it was bad to horrible in the "softer" aspects like workload (2 man turret), ergonomics, communication, situational awareness, target acquisition and so on.

Similar to the French tanks in 1940, though those were much worse in many aspects (like 1 man turrets!).
German failures, for example overengineering and lack of production streamlining and simplification, are practically impossible to take into account with the Panzer Corps engine. Also fuel is not strategically limited, thus not simulating yet another major german issue.

I am loving this discussion, keep it up I love reading stuff like this

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of strat bombers. It's just that the two main roles you described (suppression and ammo stripping) are not needed anymore. My arties can handle the suppression part and I don't need to ammo strip the IS-2's anymore as I can just shoot them up with my top units after dropping them below 10 strenght with a Tac bomber.
To illustrate the qualitative superiority: in Seelow my 15 str Jagdpanther one-shot-surrendered 4 3-star T34-85's in a row without using suppression and without suffering any casualties. The T34's had 12 strenght and lost 9 from my attacks.

Yep, many factors come together for those far too lopsided results. And it gets worse the further we are into a long campaign.
I reduce the hard attack for the long 8.8cm gun by 1 in the coming update.
Imho in general the stats for the late tanks pull too far ahead from eg the mid war tank values in-game.

[goose_2]

Imho in general the stats for the late tanks pull too far ahead from eg the mid war tank values in-game.


do you mean you think the late war tanks are misrepresented as too overpowering compared to mid war tanks...there should be increases in their stats but not so overwehlming?

Or something else?

[Locarnus]

Imho in general the stats for the late tanks pull too far ahead from eg the mid war tank values in-game.


do you mean you think the late war tanks are misrepresented as too overpowering compared to mid war tanks...there should be increases in their stats but not so overwehlming?

Or something else?

Yes.
Imho the late war tanks should be much better than mid war tanks.
But not so much better that they are practically invulnerable.
Though it is not easy to find the stats for this, within the Panzer Corps engine restrictions.

[goose_2]

rof I think would be a way of stripping them of the overwhelming punch...ie see comment about 9 hits on mid tank for full surrender with no suppression comment, while at the same time keeps their chances of return fire which means damage, so they still have better guns and armor but not the overwhelming punch that we are seeing
make sense

[Locarnus]

rof I think would be a way of stripping them of the overwhelming punch...ie see comment about 9 hits on mid tank for full surrender with no suppression comment, while at the same time keeps their chances of return fire which means damage, so they still have better guns and armor but not the overwhelming punch that we are seeing
make sense

Yep, rof nerf would reduce that problem a lot.
Though the lessons from the IS-2 and similar big gun SU units are make me weary to use rof again.
Might even have to roll that back a bit, for the Soviet big boys.
But that will have to wait for some time in the future, along with many things on the todo list...


This update is already packed with changes, including more adjustments based on feedback, like Hetzer nerf and IS-2 (1944) buff.
Units with the long 8.8cm gun had their hard attack nerfed by one, hopefully narrowing the gap between mid and late game tanks within the Panzer Corps engine limitations.
Thank you Anderkav for providing T-34 information, some slight rebalancing of those instead of the more radical rof adjustments considered.

Single engine fighter balance feels a lot better now for 1942, 1943 and early 1944.
Thank you eskuche, thejf and goose_2 for all the feedback and grand campaign core reports, that highlighted the Fw 190 vs Bf 109 problems.
I'm still unsure about end of 1944 and 1945 fighter stats. Especially regarding the initiative jump by 2. Until I find some better way, I increased the late soviet fighter ini values to keep up.

Also another major step towards eventual GC West compatibility, though many more are necessary:
The unit IDs for naval transports and landing craft, as well as US & British warships, are separated between GC and BE. This makes the original campaign scenarios with naval landings a lot more consistent with vanilla.
BE submarines have one less vision in all modes, making them more dependent on eg air recon.

The feedback by RobertCL and his start of GC 1944 without core import lead to the previous updates work on the GC starting cores, thank you! It also made me curious about more of the scenarios as standalone challenges:
OC Italy and OC Overlord scenario deployments reworked, and all OC scenarios are now available from the scenario screen. Though so far most are still unadjusted for single scenario play.
Perhaps I can make some of the special grand campaign scenarios also available as single challenges in the future (eg Prokhorovka, Kishinev, Budapest and so on).

I would also like to thank Messmann, guille1434 and rezaf (DCS) for all their graphics work. I'm slowly integrating more of their great units and camos.
The 10.5cm Flak now has an AT mode (graphics by Messmann - AMULET mod), but can not attack in that mode, only defend.
It is also added to the 8.8cm Flak upgrade family, making it more useable in the GC when no ground attack functionality is required.

New bonus SE unit list (the new tank line starts with the Somua in mid 1941, the plans for two earlier tanks will also have to wait for a future update for proper implementation):




2025-06 Update "Locarnus Addon" Download: https://bit.ly/43SpeGx

This is only an update to the Addon and requires the 2025 base version of the Locarnus Addon to be installed already on top of BE 2.4 and the bugfixed PzC patch 1.32 first. All previous updates to the 2025 base version are included in this one.

Battlefield Europe, Afrika Korps, GC & original PzC campaign compatibility
- BE cauldrons (Minsk, Kiev) have a chance for 2-4 breakout units!
- BE naval transports new unit IDs assigned for every UK and US unit
- BE new unit IDs for every US warship
- BE all US & UK destroyers also have only 2 spotting
- BE Yeryomenko in Bunker on airfield added behind Stalingrad (vision buff)
- BE road, railway and some terrain adjusted in the Donetsk, Don, Stalingrad area
- BE road, railway and terrain adjusted in Tiflis, Yerevan, Tabriz, Baku area
- BE some terrain & road adjustments in the northern Levant, but no railway
- BE railway Viipuri - Petrozavodsk added from BE 2.5 beta by McGuba
- BE sea mines around Tobruk and Alexandria redeployed based on BE 2.5 beta
- GC new bonus SE tank lineup, from mid 1941 onwards for now (Somua)
- GC 105mm captured french arty available, so its transports can be upgraded
- GC germany captured T-34 & SU upgrade families joined (same chassis)
- GC 1943 Kursk armory scenarios captured units changed to KV-85 and SU-85
- GC 43e8 - 44e2 scenarios 76mm gun removed from Emcha tanks (M4A2)
- GC in several 43&44 scenarios more SU aircraft variety (eg Airacobra, Yak-9T)
- GC 43e9 overstrength Lt tank unit IS-2 (1943) replaced by KV-85
- GC 43e10 both IS-2 (1943) units replaced, one with IS-1 and one with KV-85
- GC 44e1 west flank IS-2 (1943) tanks replaced by IS-1
- GC 44e2 capturable tank replaced with SU-85
- GC & OC landing craft and US warships have generally old stats back
- GC & OC battleships and cruisers have 2 spotting range (US, UK, Axis)
- GC & OC warships bigger than destroyers have 1 less range (US, UK, Axis)
- OC Italy, Overlord scenarios adjusted

Unit Changes:
- 10.5 leFH 18/40, 10.5cm Flak & Hummel graphics from Messmann (AMULET mod)
- 10.5 cm FlaK got defense only AT mode added, and is now in 8.8 family
- 15cm sFH range3 and 4 pictures fixed
- Several smaller availability changes in months 12.1944 and 1.1945
- Ju 388 less movement, more ini, but later, also ahistorical + version
- Bf 109 mid war lineup (F-4 to G-14) major rebalance, incl. several ini nerfs
- Bf 109 F-4+ available a year ealier, in Feb 1942! instead of March 1943
- Bf 109 G-6 one month and G-6+ two months earlier available
- Bf 109 G-6+ and ++ split into 3 versions (Erla added), with stat adjustments
- All Fw 190 F & G & Do 335 fighter bombers have one more initiative!
- Late Fw 190 A-9 and D-9 buffed
- Me 410 A-1/U2 gets one more hard attack
- Stat equalization for same units used by different countries (eg Bf 109, Ju 88)
- P-51 B and Mustang Mk. III one more ini
- Airacobra and Kingcobra more ini
- Very late Soviet fighters buffed, like La-7, Yak-3 and Yak 9
- Long 8.8cm gun nerfed hard attack by 1 on all units
- Nashorn and Jackson reduced ini by 1, both in tank and camo AT mode
- Semovente 90/53 and other 90/53 italian guns one more hard attack
- German captured T-34 & SU upgrade families joined (same chassis)
- German captured T-34 tanks are quite a bit cheaper than before
- German captured T-34-85 & SU-85 available months earlier
- T-34 lineup rebalancing, not great, not terrible... (both the tank and the rebalance)
- SU-76M has 5 instead of 6 movement, but now wide-tracked type
- IS-2 (1944) one more ground defense
- Soviet M4A2 Sherman renamed to Emcha
- British M4 Shermans GD adjusted on III, V and V+
- Italian P26/40 & P30/43 both cheaper and much earlier
- 43M Zrinyi II purchasable in tank mode for Hungarians
- Hetzer nerfed GD and close defense
- Panther F & Ostwind II days later, 7.5.1945, so only for ahistorical paths
- Panther D has camo like Ferdinand, to better differentiate D & A versions
- Landing Craft (GC, OC) different unit ID than Naval Transport (BE)
- US ships separate versions for GC, OC on one side and BE on the other
- GC & OC battleships and cruisers have 2 spotting range (US, UK, Axis)
- GC & OC warships (bigger than destroyers) have 1 less range

[goose_2]

no, 43M Zrínyi, or 44M Zrínyi ?


This makes me sad, please consider for July Upgrade

[Locarnus]

no, 43M Zrínyi, or 44M Zrínyi ?

This makes me sad, please consider for July Upgrade

The 43M Zrínyi can switch to self propelled arty mode, which would be a major capability boost for the bonus SE units.
Currently there is only the horse drawn 7.5cm arty, all other bonus SE units have to get close to participate in combat.
I'm still testing some other options though, for making hungarian units available.

[Anderkav]

Lots of changes!!! Thanks)
I'm already tempted to make my own Soviet hull, with rulers of changes and switching between classes like yours). I just need to find battle maps and time for such work

[goose_2]

Hello,

I applied the update and look forward with working through the deets of overstrength and plans of my layout this weekend. Not sure I will be able/ready to record the start of Prok, but the planning will take place.

Super Excited to see what I can come up with.

[Locarnus]

Lots of changes!!! Thanks)
I'm already tempted to make my own Soviet hull, with rulers of changes and switching between classes like yours). I just need to find battle maps and time for such work

You are welcome!
A word of caution: There are quite many strange issues with Panzer Corps engine and modding.
You will spend considerable time stumbling over them and searching what actually went wrong.

My advice: If you start modding, start small. Make small changes, to something, then test the changes. Then make a backup of your working version before making new changes. This way you lose only a portion of your recent progress when something inevitably goes wrong and you are unable to find the exact cause.

Thats what I do with the monthly updates. At most I lose 1-2 months work. In the early stages, I did new separate updates evem more frequently. Thus losing only days or weeks of work, before I got more familiar with many of the game engine issues and limitations.

Hello,

I applied the update and look forward with working through the deets of overstrength and plans of my layout this weekend. Not sure I will be able/ready to record the start of Prok, but the planning will take place.

Super Excited to see what I can come up with.

Perhaps have some units without overstrength, that can cheaply take bits of damage?
To compensate your lack of aux units in the different unit categories, like fighters and frontline tanks and so on?

[goose_2]

Perhaps have some units without overstrength, that can cheaply take bits of damage?
To compensate your lack of aux units in the different unit categories, like fighters and frontline tanks and so on?
[/quote]

But I do have aux units. In the air and on the ground.
Erich Hartmann and Kurt Knispel
I briefly considered not taking Temis in order to match the rule of 1, but since he is an aux unit and the thought of being a Tiger short in Prokhorovka I reconsidered.

[Anderkav]

Good morning! (I have
I have a little experience in PC modding. At one time I tried to make the Barbarossa scenario by Akkula more dynamic. I completely redid the equipment file(it's a very painstaking job with unpredictable results)) and changed most of the gameplay up to 1942. But everything got stuck in very long moves, huge number of units and impossibility of normal testing. So now, if I start, I will limit myself to small scenarios and a core player commensurate with the vanilla game.
Soviet campaigns have the problem of an extremely sparse equipment list, but BE units and your approach with multiclass modification solves this problem. And std units make you think in an interesting way. I wonder if it would be possible to make several different rulings for std units (obsolete equipment and lendlease in parallel?).
Thanks to you and mcguba for the titanic work.

[caesar67]

I am playing GC 2025-05 and getting the Kübelwagen in the second scenario. I can switch from Inf to Pak etc. But I can not fight with this unit in any constellation. Is this ok?

[Locarnus]

[/quote]

But I do have aux units. In the air and on the ground.
Erich Hartmann and Kurt Knispel
I briefly considered not taking Temis in order to match the rule of 1, but since he is an aux unit and the thought of being a Tiger short in Prokhorovka I reconsidered.

Agreed, I would also only use rule of one for your own deployed troops.
Not aux, captured and so on.

Good morning! (I have
I have a little experience in PC modding. At one time I tried to make the Barbarossa scenario by Akkula more dynamic. I completely redid the equipment file(it's a very painstaking job with unpredictable results)) and changed most of the gameplay up to 1942. But everything got stuck in very long moves, huge number of units and impossibility of normal testing. So now, if I start, I will limit myself to small scenarios and a core player commensurate with the vanilla game.
Soviet campaigns have the problem of an extremely sparse equipment list, but BE units and your approach with multiclass modification solves this problem. And std units make you think in an interesting way. I wonder if it would be possible to make several different rulings for std units (obsolete equipment and lendlease in parallel?).
Thanks to you and mcguba for the titanic work.

Ah, that experience will help tremendously.

I like that we have the option to make up a totally different list of units with the bonus SE/Std system.
Though personally I prefer house rules combined with the normal unit roster for several reasons.
Not only those reasons I mentioned before, like upgrade options and freely repurchasing destroyed units. But also more minor mechanics that add up.

For example bonus SE/Std units do not show up in the "new units" window, once they become available. The player/modder has to keep track of them separately, which is pretty annoying (like the screenshot of the library entry for the bonus SE unit I posted with the update).

I would prefer to be able to make separate, parallel lists available. But currently I do not see a way to do so without inviting other problems. Bonus SE/Std units can be given to the player by the scenario editor, like I did in the first GC 39 scenario (Poznan). But you would need several event scripts in each and every scenario to replenish them with the right units, if they are destroyed. Different bonus SE/Std lines would complicate that further.

Overall I think it would be possible to have different bonus SE units, I m just sceptical if it is worth the considerable effort. Especially since that effort would be required for each scenario.

Needing adjustments for each scenario is something I also struggled with for the Addon and the Grand Campaign, Africa Corps etc. And that was only for limiting enemy AI core slots to 1 (so the AI does not waste time each turn when it can not spam units anyway). Plus the german upgrade cities (rough desert tiles and jungle, which were used by McGuba for designating unit purchase and upgrade locations).

I am playing GC 2025-05 and getting the Kübelwagen in the second scenario. I can switch from Inf to Pak etc. But I can not fight with this unit in any constellation. Is this ok?

Yes, Kübelwagen is for cross class upgrades only, not fighting.

So that you can upgrade to Kübelwagen during the deployment, then deploy the Kübelwagen on one of those city hexes with balkenkreuz (black cross, usually when an upgrade city is first controlled by axis) or double chevrons (when an upgrade city is controlled by allies first). Then you can switch the Kübelwagen to the desired upgrade class and upgrade in those special cities. The black cross and double chevron cities are functionally the same, though you might need to have a german flag flying above them to upgrade german units.

edit: I recommend updating to 2026-06. Then the changes will take effect after you win the scenario you are currently playing and transitioning to the following scenario in your ongoing campaign.
That is especially important for the sea invasion scenarios, eg Overlord and Italy and so on.