Ghost Division

[milliethedog]

Well i have spent the last few weeks playing the British and the Italians in the Desert and yes it was fun, but something was missing, but now " The Germans Are Back!" This game came out of no where, no Beta, Nothing ! When i saw it was only going to be 9 games, i lowered my expectations, But.......

The Germans are Back ! I played the first game 30 turns and a large map. Good introduction and force to rescue. by turn 26 I had cleared the map, captured every Flag, got the hidden bonus and returned the trapped units. great fun The polish forces were tough and it felt good to start again without masses of Heroes, just good old fashioned fighting. I really, really liked the start to this series. Fingers and toes crossed that the rest is as good.

Martin

[scorehouse]

what was the Hidden Bonus? I did a playthrough up to Moscow. tell you, Moscow and Warsaw in other campaigns wear me out, Warsaw outcome is inevitable and Moscow when you win you really don't. same with Stalingrad. too tedious. is there a list of hidden bonuses/rewards? like to make sure I got/get them. main difference so far to me is you don't get an opportunity to accumulate lots of captured equipment which is contrary to my playstyle.

[adiekmann]

I've completed the first 2 scenarios and I like it so far. This kind of campaign that focuses on a particular unit with an emphasis on its operations rather than that of the entire front or army is what I've been suggesting for many, many years.

My hope and expectation is that you will continue with your core. That said, only one scenario in Poland?!? I would have hoped for the campaign to be more drawn out than that. But in every other way it is so far what I had long envisioned this sort of campaign to be.

Like the previous post, I feel the difficulty level to be appropriate. The special award hero in the first map is nice; I really like it when they do it that way. And no, I am intentionally not giving up more info than that, other than to say it is worth replaying the map to acquire it.

On the other hand, I don't really understand the "elite" gift infantry unit you receive in the second scenario. It costs a ton (prestige) and has far worse stats in every way except movement! Elite only in that it comes with 4 stars of experience, but otherwise I don't get it. I've upgraded him to standard infantry unit at the beginning of the next scenario. Onwards to scenario #3!

[scorehouse]

I thought the same thing about the New Unit. I wanted to know what the Hidden Unit was not particularly where? I probably acquired it just don't remember

[deadtorius]

I did find the new unit was pretty good on defence, not so much on offense. I also agree that a few more Polish battles would have been nice, I was surprised to just see the one. I've made it to the first Moscow scenario, see what kind of red horror awaits here. Unfortunately I was not able to kill 2 of the required Russian army units in the previous battle, they were down in the bottom corner in the swamp. Hedged in by woods I was able to contain but not destroy... That was a hard battle seeing as the German tanks don't do much to the Russians.
Looking forward to seeing what else is in store tomorrow.

[adiekmann]

Well, I have now reached 1943 and it has been abundantly clear for some time that this is not going to be a campaign that continues with follow up DLCs like AO. That is a shame. Why do the devs continue to short-change us by doing something that leaves us disappointed?

Finally they do a great concept, but still fail in one of the most fundamentally important aspects that makes this game popular with players: continuing to build your core over time in a long campaign. The reaction to its announcement once again demonstrates what most players want: A long campaign where you develop your core over multiple campaigns that span many dozens of scenarios with new and interesting game dynamics, units, functions, options, and ability to play as someone besides just Germany. And yet, all of these recent, short DLCs seem to address a few of these while leaving us wanting for the rest. It cannot be that hard to figure out a winning formula. This forum (and probably the one on Steam) has made their wishes pretty clear for some time now.

[Bee1976]

I finished it 2 hours ago on Generalissimus and wanted to give some feedback:

pros:
- New Content, always a winner
- i really like the concept of getting and customizing heros! i hope the devs keep it in that way fpr a longer campaign or a future pc3. The idea of adding heros and abilities that fit your playstyle and your current core is awesome
- the story was nice, as always
- easter eggs
- the release speed out of nowhere

cons:
- too short
- Main selling point of this great game were obsolet or nearly obsolet, like growing and developing a nice coreforce. medals/awards were nearly obsolete. Neraly every mission felt more liek a new scenario with complete new units.
- some traits are complete useless again
- fun fact: retrograde is not a good pick for this DLC
- difficulty was a little low - no struggles on Generalissimus....if i would play this again i would add some bad traits or challenges - but im afraid i wont ever touch this DLC again.
- no aditions to the base game. like the option to raise DvG or some adjunstmenzs to heroic showdown (the AI gets weak/useless heros way to often...)
- nothign ahistoric or not even a chance to turn the tides at least a little

So, as a little summary:
The price was fair (a little too low in my opinion), i had some hours of fun with the DLC so no complaints abaout that. But as adiekmann said, i had other expectations so im kinda disappointed, and i cant even tell you why.

[Tassadar]

- nothign ahistoric or not even a chance to turn the tides at least a little

I've yet to complete the full DLC, but that is one thing I would prefer to stay as-is. Let's leave the ahistorical options for long, combined campaigns like AO or even for War Stories or Frontlines if they end up always standalone, but for those historical ones keep them as realistic and close to actual results as possible. I'd even argue that the campaign is still too ahistorical looking ant some enemy unit compositions, especially in the Polish scenario.

[pr0t0typ0]

Misión Crucible. What is the KV-85 doing fighting in July 1943? It was not put into service until the end of August.

KV-85A stopgap upgrade to the KV series was the short-lived KV-85 or Objekt 239. This was a KV-1S with the new turret from the Object 237 (IS-85) still in development, mounting the same 85 mm D-5T gun as the SU-85 and early versions of the T-34-85 (not yet in production at the time). The 85 mm proved capable of penetrating the Tiger I from 1000 m and the demand for it slowed production of the KV-85 tremendously, only 148 were built between August and October 1943.[21] Soviet industry was therefore able to produce a heavy tank as well armed as the Tiger I before the end of 1943. Although the KV-85 was an excellent opponent to the Tigers and Panthers, it was a stopgap and thus was built in small numbers.[18] Its weight had climbed up again to about 47 tons, which negated the whole point of trying to make a lighter KV. The complete Object 237 was accepted into service as the IS-85 and was produced in the autumn and winter of 1943-44; they were sent to the front as of October 1943 and production of the IS-85/IS-1 was stopped by the spring of 1944 once the IS-122/IS-2 entered full-scale production.

Source Wikipedia

And this is just one of many errors in this dlc...

[Retributarr]

Misión Crucible. What is the KV-85 doing fighting in July 1943? It was not put into service until the end of August.
Source Wikipedia

And this is just one of many errors in this dlc...

~~~Also!... Why is the "iii-3m2-WW2 Soviet-Rocket Ground Attack Aircraft" Attacking My Ground-Forces in the "RAIN"... while my own Aircraft are not permitted to engage and respond to that Attack???. This error needs to be corrected!.

[Tassadar]

Misión Crucible. What is the KV-85 doing fighting in July 1943? It was not put into service until the end of August.

KV-85A stopgap upgrade to the KV series was the short-lived KV-85 or Objekt 239. This was a KV-1S with the new turret from the Object 237 (IS-85) still in development, mounting the same 85 mm D-5T gun as the SU-85 and early versions of the T-34-85 (not yet in production at the time). The 85 mm proved capable of penetrating the Tiger I from 1000 m and the demand for it slowed production of the KV-85 tremendously, only 148 were built between August and October 1943.[21] Soviet industry was therefore able to produce a heavy tank as well armed as the Tiger I before the end of 1943. Although the KV-85 was an excellent opponent to the Tigers and Panthers, it was a stopgap and thus was built in small numbers.[18] Its weight had climbed up again to about 47 tons, which negated the whole point of trying to make a lighter KV. The complete Object 237 was accepted into service as the IS-85 and was produced in the autumn and winter of 1943-44; they were sent to the front as of October 1943 and production of the IS-85/IS-1 was stopped by the spring of 1944 once the IS-122/IS-2 entered full-scale production.

Source Wikipedia

And this is just one of many errors in this dlc...

While I've always been an advocate of using more historical unit compositions in scenarios, I would not go as far a calling it an error, since it is a deliberate choice by the devs instead of an accidental mistake. Panzer General and Panzer Corps never aimed for that level of historical accuracy (after all the player can essentially use whatever units regardless of their production figures and other such details) and the KV-85 is just one of many, many examples of vehicles that you can face off against that were either rare, or even just prototypes. It is often done both for balancing the difficulty and variance, since seeing only the same stuff over an over again could be boring. Now, if there was ever a DLC which should probably tone such fictional equipment down, it's this one given the tone it strives for. I would not complain if the enemy did not have prototypes and instead using weaker, but more experienced units. However, I am currently playing with a composition close to the actual 7th Panzer as much as I can and this experience, like no other, has proven to me how gameplay takes priority over realism, even in a more casual strategy.

Misión Crucible. What is the KV-85 doing fighting in July 1943? It was not put into service until the end of August.
Source Wikipedia

And this is just one of many errors in this dlc...

~~~Also!... Why is the "iii-3m2-WW2 Soviet-Rocket Ground Attack Aircraft" Attacking My Ground-Forces in the "RAIN"... while my own Aircraft are not permitted to engage and respond to that Attack???. This error needs to be corrected!.

Are you sure that the weather simply did not change on your turn? If not, then it might be some bug worth reporting with saves and screenshots.

[Funeral]

Retributarr wrote:

~~~Also!... Why is the "iii-3m2-WW2 Soviet-Rocket Ground Attack Aircraft" Attacking My Ground-Forces in the "RAIN"... while my own Aircraft are not permitted to engage and respond to that Attack???. This error needs to be corrected!.

I can confirm this! When my turn started it says that because of rain aircraft can't move or attack. But the Russian planes can.

[Tassadar]

Retributarr wrote:

~~~Also!... Why is the "iii-3m2-WW2 Soviet-Rocket Ground Attack Aircraft" Attacking My Ground-Forces in the "RAIN"... while my own Aircraft are not permitted to engage and respond to that Attack???. This error needs to be corrected!.

I can confirm this! When my turn started it says that because of rain aircraft can't move or attack. But the Russian planes can.

Is that when aircraft with Artillery support and At support provide cover fire in the rain? I think I saw that happen too now that I got to that mission several days ago, but it is just a visual thing, since if I saw that right, they do 0 damage despite the animation triggering.