Locarnus Addon 2025-08b, for Battlefield Europe, Afrika Korps and Grand Campaign East

[bondjamesbond]

Just for argument's sake, in order to be successful, the attacking side must outnumber the defending side by at least three to one. However, in our case, the situation is slightly different, as the AI of our favourite game is not very sophisticated, resulting in a comical scenario where our 300 Spartans must attack the AI horde. If you've noticed, the AI always buys cheap units unless special scripts are written, and sometimes it just spawns clones of these cheap and useless units to block our path. Well, it's still a game, and it's a very difficult task to balance, realism and playability.

Yeah, the current AI would be game breakingly useless when attacking, if the defender mechanics would be stronger.

Unusual tank units of the Red Army at the end of the war
https://dzen.ru/a/YIlbUsRi7zoCM5hD
https://dzen.ru/a/Z8dZo8NMEjgIaGYV

[Locarnus]

Unusual tank units of the Red Army at the end of the war
https://dzen.ru/a/YIlbUsRi7zoCM5hD
https://dzen.ru/a/Z8dZo8NMEjgIaGYV

1000 replies, this thread is joining the 4 digit club.
Thank you for your feedback, support and all those interesting information!


This update is mainly about introducing cross class upgrade options for infantry, both for soviets and germans (mainly using mortar units).
Based on goose_2 unit roster feedback, which shows the experience deveolopment problems due to his double Field Marshal setting. Wanted to make it available before he starts GC 44 East chapter, since Panzer Corps engine updates some data only at campaign start.
Next main update 2025-09 is planned to include non grand campaign feedback, like Luftwaffe divisions for BE.


Several units are now switchable between infantry class (various infantry upgrade families) and artillery class (various upgrade families as well).
Including the soviet 120mm mortar, the german derivative and the earlier 10cm mortar (both from regular inf to Nebelwerfer artillery family!).
The pretty useless german 8 cm mortar is just a bridging unit from Jäger infantry family to GebG artillery family. Due to range 1, though a range hero could make it work on its own.
But the dual infantry/arty class mortars can not produce range heroes, they have infantry class set to be the primary.

StuG IV can switch between 3 modes (tank, camo AT, range 1 arty).


2025-08a Update "Locarnus Addon" Download: https://bit.ly/4fqXoGK

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.

Technical and graphics:
- German 8, 10 & 12cm infantry mortars with graphic thanks to guille1434!
- German 7.5cm IG, graphics thanks to guille1434 & Messmann (AMULET)

Battlefield Europe, GC East, AK, SC & original PzC campaign compatibility
- GC & OC new Std 7.5 leIG 18 arty/AT from the start
- GC & OC new Std Cannone 65/17 arty from start of GC 41
- GC & OC Std 7.5 cm FK 16 nA arty a year earlier (start of GC 42)

Unit Changes:
- Several 7.5cm arties now have own upgrade family (7.5cm leIG & FK)
- New 7.5cm leIG switchable betw. inf, AT and arty classes
- Soviet 120 mortar switchable inf and arty classes, has leg movement type
- German 8, 10 & 12cm mortars, also switchable between inf and arty classes
- The dual infantry/arty class mortars can not produce range heroes!
- German Nebelwerfer units more expensive to account for ammo costs
- M10 american tank destroyer nerfed hard attack by 2 (thank you DONAR444)
- M18 and M36 also nerfed hard attack (but only 1)
- StuG IV now has 3 modes (tank, camo TD, arty)
- Möbelwagen available a few weeks earlier (end of March 1944)

[Locarnus]

Corrected the great new heroes (both a3) I missed, for Makorin and Soljaism, thank you for reminding me!
Integrated my upgrade recommendations from the last few posts.
Marked with / at front are the units goose_2 wanted to leave in reserve for 44e1.

But there are new options with the just published 2025-08a update (StuG IV and those cross class infantry/arty mortars),
which may affect the units marked for reserve in 44e1.

For bonus SE units, there is a new cross class one, the 7.5cm leIG 18, but more importantly a second useful arty with the italian Cannone 65 (2 range, 2 movement).
So it would be feasible to have 2 bonus SE units training in arty class. Though with the new regular infantry mortar options, perhaps this has to wait for the next scenario?

Soljaism, Artemis and Pullig can switch to mortar and the latter two can then switch to useful GebG family arty (while 12cm Mortar is good itself, like soviet one it is based on).
That in turn creates an infantry deficit, so I would make PatrickLee a Std Inf 43 unit, instead of the 7.5cm Pak I proposed previously.
Night Phoenix can cheaply be converted to StuH 44, which has range 2 and is decently armored (might prove useful against the hordes of enemy air attacks).
I would then recommend taking Pullig & NightPhoenix and leaving two of the rof 8 self propelled arties behind, just for 44e1 (Grille, Lorraine GW, Brummbär, StuIG).
Brummbär and StuIG could be very useful in direct fire mode, with several big tanks not taking part, so I would probably leave behind the lightly armored rof 8 units Grille (PanzerVorwärts) and Lorraine (Reoguru)?
Rimski can cheaply upgrade to StuG IV, which is basically a StuG III (tank and camo AT modes) that can additionally switch to a range 1 arty mode.

For aircraft I propose taking Slender1870 instead of RMA901.
Starting out AI181 in his current strat bomber mode until he reaches 5 stars, then upgrading him in scenario to Ju 88 R-2.
While starting out Slender1870 in his Ju 88 R-2 mode to help with enemy aircraft and then upgrading to Ju 188 A-2 in the same turn AI181 takes the Ju 88 R-2.



goose_2 youtube playthrough GC Napoleon difficulty
GC 1944e1 start upgrade recommendations
5758 prestige, after elite replacements to full strength for all understrength units and selling excess captured units.

red marker for a) no or 1 hero, b) <800 kills, c) <350 experience
blue marker for a) 3 heroes, b) >=1500 kills, c) >= 450 experience

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


45 Ground units

8 non-hero bonus SE units
. Std Nimrod+ r11 ............... a3s1 ... Brodrick ............. 1416 ... 351
. Std Brückenpio 43 ............ d1d2 ... PatrickLee ............ 974 ... 348 ... ==> Std Inf 43?
. Std P26/40(i) ................... i1d2 ... Dimitri ................ 842 ... 359 ... ==> Std Pz III M+ ?
. Std Marder III M .................. m1 ... PaulWilde ............ 695 ... 321 ... ==> Std Gepard r12 ?
. Std Flakpanzer I r12 ....... m1a3a3 ... Makorin ............. 1240 ... 408
. 7.5 FK 16 nA r11 ... Horse ....... ?? ... Eskuche ............... 154 ... 311 ... ==> Std 42M Toldi IIa ?
plus 2 non-hero bonus SE units for the current 43 and the later 44 &45 grand campaign years

6 Infantry
. Pioniere 43 .......... Blitz+ ... m1a3 ... Soljaism ............. 870 ... 316 ... ==> 12 cm GrWerfer (new unit)
. Grenadiere 43 ..... Sd250/1+ ... d2 ... RichardMartin ....... 865 ... 325
. Jäger 43 ......................... m1d2 ... Artemis .............. 777 ... 330 ... ==> 8 cm GrWerfer, then 10.5 cm leG 43 ?
/ Fallschirmjäger 43 .............. i1a2 ... Pullig ................. 915 ... 314 ... ==> 8cm GrWerfer, then 10.5GebH with Kettenkrad ?
. Kradschützen 43 ................... a1 ... PeteMitchell ......... 832 ... 339
. Sahariana 43 ....................... a2 ... Kostia ................. 772 ... 313

0 Towed AT

2 Recon
. Panzer II L 5cm r9 ................. i1 ... Blast ................... 752 ... 403 ... ==> Pz II 44
. SdKfz 233+ r9 .................... s1s1 ... DanielS ................ 793 ... 372 ... ==> SdKfz 234/2 Puma ?

10 Tanks
. Panther A dg ....................... a2 ... Kapl ..................... 454 ... 321
/ Panther D ........................ d1d3 ... Festival ................. 986 ... 404
/ Tiger I E .......................... d2a3 ... Temis .................... 949 ... 430
. Tiger P+ s8 ......................... m1 ... ElBaron ................. 940 ... 413 ... ==> Tiger P++ s8
/ Ferdinand s8 .................... m1d2 ... Gooseboy ............. 1147 ... 362
/ Flammpz III 43 r12 ............. m1a2 ... NightPhoenix ......... 1036 ... 359 ... ==> Flammpz III 44 r12 or StuH 44 ? Imho StuH 44
/ StuG III G+ ....................... i1m1 ... DoktorG ............... 1048 ... 372 ... ==> StuG III G 44
. Panzer IV H ....................... s1a2 ... Rimski ................. 1051 ... 312 ... ==> Panzer IV H+ or StuG IV ? Imho StuG IV
/ Nashorn ........................... a1i1 ... ForestLaw ............. 1010 ... 440 ... ==> Nashorn 44
. SU-85(r) ............................. a3 ... 7Bowls .................. 949 ... 314
. KV-85(r) .......................... d2d2 ... Paramecium .......... 1003 ... 319

11 Mobile Arty
. Hummel r8 .......................... s1 ... Soren ................... 647 ... 285 ... ==> Hummel 44 r8
. Grille r8 ............................ m1 ... PanzerVorwärts ....... 754 ... 363
/ Wespe ............................ m1d2 ... Goose .................. 936 ... 365
. Lorraine GW r8 .................... m1 ... Reoguru ................ 590 ... 364
. Brummbär r8 ..................... a2a2 ... Locarnus .............. 747 ... 387 ... ==> Brummbär 44 r8
. StuIG 33B r8 ......................... r1 ... RayCaster ............. 675 ... 464
. 10.5 leFH auf B2(f) ............. m1a2 ... Pierre .................. 752 ... 421
. Semovente 105/25 ................. d2 ... RightSide .............. 654 ... 425
. Panzerwerfer 42 r12 ............... a3 ... Singer .................. 674 ... 363
/ Wurfrahmen 43 r8 ................ r1r1 ... Dneos .................. 891 ... 452

5 Towed Arty
. 7.62 FK 288(r) r11 . Sd251/1+ . m1a2 ... Gigiduru ............... 754 ... 395
/ 10.5cm Polish arty . Blitz ....... s1a3 ... MichalGolaszewski ... 867 ... 458
/ 10.5cm leFH 18M ... Horse ....... m1 ... Raunosavolainen ..... 778 ... 474
. 15 sFH range3 r8 .... Sd7 .......... r1 ... Raduku ................. 555 ... 435
. 21cm Mrs 18 r5 ...... Sd8 ......... m1 ... Kei ...................... 818 ... 409


3 Anti-Air
. 8.8cm Flak 41 ........ Sd7 .... m1m1 ... Jemhadar .............. 907 ... 343
. Cannone 90/53 r8 ... TP40 ....... a2 ... Zyavoo .................. 735 ... 326
. SdKfz 7/2+ r11 ................... a3a1 ... MalcolmRichardson ... 861 ... 361


15 Airforce

8 Single engine Fighters & Fighter Bomber
. Bf 109 G-6+ ......................... d3 ... vonThüringen ....... 670 ... 373
. Bf 109 F-4+ ......................... d3 ... CouchOffiziell ....... 548 ... 342
. Fw 190 A-5 ......................... a2 ... MafujKhan ............ 658 ... 353 ... ==> Fw 190 A-7
. Fw 190 F-3 ......................... d2 ... Alvarez ................ 444 ... 330
/ Re.2005 .......................... a3a3 ... Noxush ................ 810 ... 405 ... ==> Re.2005+
. G.55 Centauro ..................... a2 ... BlackVulture ......... 633 ... 371
+ 2x bonus SE hero fighters in 1945

2 Multi engine Fighter Bomber
. Me 410 A-1/U2 ..................... d1 ... FighterAce ............ 758 ... 346
/ Ju 88 R-2 .......................... i1i1 ... Slender1870 ........... 765 ... 416 ... ==> Ju 188 A-2 during 44e1

2 Dedicated Tac Bomber
/ Hs 129 B-2 BK .................... a3a1 ... AratoBela ............ 1061 ... 381
/ Ju 87 G-2 r9 ...................... a1d3 ... cmbbfan ............... 977 ... 370

1 Tac/Strat Bomber
. Ju 188 E-1 ........................... a1 ... AI181 .................... 581 ... 498 ... ==> Ju 88 R-2 during 44e1 then Ju 88 G-1 in 44e2

2 Dedicated Strat Bomber
. Do 217 M ............................. d1 ... Richard ................. 405 ... 459 ... ==> Do 217 N-1 or N-2 ? I would take N-1
. He 111 H-16 ......................... a1 ... RMA901 ................. 536 ... 492

[DONAR444]

What is this unit? What does it do? It cannot dive.

[goose_2]

goose_2 youtube playthrough GC Napoleon difficulty
GC 1944e1 start upgrade recommendations
5758 prestige, after elite replacements to full strength for all understrength units and selling excess captured units.

red marker for a) no or 1 hero, b) <800 kills, c) <350 experience
blue marker for a) 3 heroes, b) >=1500 kills, c) >= 450 experience

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


45 Ground units

8 non-hero bonus SE units
. Std Nimrod+ r11 ............... a3s1 ... Brodrick ............. 1416 ... 351
. Std Brückenpio 43 ............ d1d2 ... PatrickLee ............ 974 ... 348 ... ==> Std Inf 43?
. Std P26/40(i) ................... i1d2 ... Dimitri ................ 842 ... 359 ... ==> Std Pz III M+ ?
. Std Marder III M .................. m1 ... PaulWilde ............ 695 ... 321 ... ==> Std Gepard r12 ?
. Std Flakpanzer I r12 ....... m1a3a3 ... Makorin ............. 1240 ... 408
. 7.5 FK 16 nA r11 ... Horse ....... ?? ... Eskuche ............... 154 ... 311 ... ==> Std 42M Toldi IIa ?
plus 2 non-hero bonus SE units for the current 43 and the later 44 &45 grand campaign years

6 Infantry
. Pioniere 43 .......... Blitz+ ... m1a3 ... Soljaism ............. 870 ... 316 ... ==> 12 cm GrWerfer (new unit)
. Grenadiere 43 ..... Sd250/1+ ... d2 ... RichardMartin ....... 865 ... 325
. Jäger 43 ......................... m1d2 ... Artemis .............. 777 ... 330 ... ==> 8 cm GrWerfer, then 10.5 cm leG 43 ?
/ Fallschirmjäger 43 .............. i1a2 ... Pullig ................. 915 ... 314 ... ==> 8cm GrWerfer, then 10.5GebH with Kettenkrad ?
. Kradschützen 43 ................... a1 ... PeteMitchell ......... 832 ... 339
. Sahariana 43 ....................... a2 ... Kostia ................. 772 ... 313

0 Towed AT

Sorry I was not able to make the broadcast yesterday as I got called for last minute assistance with helping a candidtae in a special election in our county. I was busy walking up and down our neighborhood with my 13 year old son encouraging my fellow citizens to vote in this special election.

(Hope it helped.)

Anyway I so wanted to talk to you about looking at the what I got coming into 44 and my thoughts for Korsun Pocket and arty situation.

Also was not able to connect with Richard yet, but hopefully next weekend. I may have to wait for the start of 44 for after my hiking trip, but not sure I want to wait that long. We will see what I have time for.

SE situation:
I am giving up the gamey idea of selling 44 se unit for prestige instead of using the year to build up another unit.

I think building up another unit is more of a concern than trying to game the system for incremental prestige gain. I have settled into the pocket of banking on somewhere around 5000 prestige and only get worried when I play around the 2000 prestige mark. The damage I am taking is quite shocking looking at what the losses were on my unit roster, something we have not looked at, but wanting to take a deeper dive with Richard around.

So with all of that said. The SE situation is looking really really good, especially now that I have 2 SE arty options, and inf arty options. So that being said I plan on building up Eskuche to at least 4 stars, and my new SE arty, still deciding who to honor with this one as I am getting a lot of new commentors, and interested parties. My hope is to start fooling around to get as many se units to 4 stars by the end of 44 as possible. The kill count for all units except Eskuche is extremely positive. Paul Wilde being at 695 kills even though he started in 42 is to me incredible use of that unit. All the rest are either at or getting close to 1000 kills, so to me they need to be all pushing 4 stars to really shine in the difficulty that will be the new exp levels of 45.

As far as my core inf levels the exp is the biggest concern while the kills are getting better and better now that they are being utilized more and more in defensive scenarios with Kiev being the first of many in 44 where I create a wall to just tear their attacking force a new one as I use my close terrain advantage to the fullest. Wit that said I will be leaving Pullig behind and concentrating Soljaism and Artemis as my arty options to get them up to 4 stars in exp before I switch them with other units to get all inf up to 4 stars by the end of 44, not sure I can do all of them, but 3 of the 6 at 4 stars will make me happy.


That is it for now. I will go into more thoughts later now that I am in office at work.

[goose_2]

goose_2 youtube playthrough GC Napoleon difficulty
GC 1944e1 start upgrade recommendations
5758 prestige, after elite replacements to full strength for all understrength units and selling excess captured units.

red marker for a) no or 1 hero, b) <800 kills, c) <350 experience
blue marker for a) 3 heroes, b) >=1500 kills, c) >= 450 experience

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


45 Ground units


2 Recon
. Panzer II L 5cm r9 ................. i1 ... Blast ................... 752 ... 403 ... ==> Pz II 44
. SdKfz 233+ r9 .................... s1s1 ... DanielS ................ 793 ... 372 ... ==> SdKfz 234/2 Puma ?

10 Tanks
. Panther A dg ....................... a2 ... Kapl ..................... 454 ... 321
/ Panther D ........................ d1d3 ... Festival ................. 986 ... 404
/ Tiger I E .......................... d2a3 ... Temis .................... 949 ... 430
. Tiger P+ s8 ......................... m1 ... ElBaron ................. 940 ... 413 ... ==> Tiger P++ s8
/ Ferdinand s8 .................... m1d2 ... Gooseboy ............. 1147 ... 362
/ Flammpz III 43 r12 ............. m1a2 ... NightPhoenix ......... 1036 ... 359 ... ==> Flammpz III 44 r12 or StuH 44 ? Imho StuH 44
/ StuG III G+ ....................... i1m1 ... DoktorG ............... 1048 ... 372 ... ==> StuG III G 44
. Panzer IV H ....................... s1a2 ... Rimski ................. 1051 ... 312 ... ==> Panzer IV H+ or StuG IV ? Imho StuG IV
/ Nashorn ........................... a1i1 ... ForestLaw ............. 1010 ... 440 ... ==> Nashorn 44
. SU-85(r) ............................. a3 ... 7Bowls .................. 949 ... 314
. KV-85(r) .......................... d2d2 ... Paramecium .......... 1003 ... 319

11 Mobile Arty
. Hummel r8 .......................... s1 ... Soren ................... 647 ... 285 ... ==> Hummel 44 r8
. Grille r8 ............................ m1 ... PanzerVorwärts ....... 754 ... 363
/ Wespe ............................ m1d2 ... Goose .................. 936 ... 365
. Lorraine GW r8 .................... m1 ... Reoguru ................ 590 ... 364
. Brummbär r8 ..................... a2a2 ... Locarnus .............. 747 ... 387 ... ==> Brummbär 44 r8
. StuIG 33B r8 ......................... r1 ... RayCaster ............. 675 ... 464
. 10.5 leFH auf B2(f) ............. m1a2 ... Pierre .................. 752 ... 421
. Semovente 105/25 ................. d2 ... RightSide .............. 654 ... 425
. Panzerwerfer 42 r12 ............... a3 ... Singer .................. 674 ... 363
/ Wurfrahmen 43 r8 ................ r1r1 ... Dneos .................. 891 ... 452

5 Towed Arty
. 7.62 FK 288(r) r11 . Sd251/1+ . m1a2 ... Gigiduru ............... 754 ... 395
/ 10.5cm Polish arty . Blitz ....... s1a3 ... MichalGolaszewski ... 867 ... 458
/ 10.5cm leFH 18M ... Horse ....... m1 ... Raunosavolainen ..... 778 ... 474
. 15 sFH range3 r8 .... Sd7 .......... r1 ... Raduku ................. 555 ... 435
. 21cm Mrs 18 r5 ...... Sd8 ......... m1 ... Kei ...................... 818 ... 409

As far as tanks and arty go, here are my thoughts.

Tanks are big killers especially when they are stuck in big dog mode, as such use sparingly within a scenario as to allow less used units to garner kills or surrender opportunities, this is not easy to do, but is necessary to not lean to heavy on your big dogs to the detriment to your whole army.

Thoughts on recons:
Blast has a good amount of experience thanks to his Wespe exercise, now as Pz2L 5.cm need to get his kills at or close to 1000 kills. After that, maybe, based on 2nd hero an upgrade into some BIG DOG unit?

Daniel S will stay as the recon arty until I get him to at least 4 stars and then maybe upgrade to the Puma. I want as many at 4 stars as I can get.

Tanks: Night Phoenix and Rimski both have a good amount of kills and I only see myself using Rimski in next scenario as his experience is anemic. Kapl, Paramecium, and 7 Bowls will be deployed every battle as there experience is each one at the red marker and their kills are not in the blue category, so they need exercise. The rest will be deployed ona case by case basis as they all get above 1000 kills, 2 heroes, and at or near the starred status. Once I get any of them with 2 of the 3 categories in blue they will be left behind as they run the danger of becoming too good and too heavily relied on to get the desired wins. I want to save 45 to get as many to within the 3 heroed and 4 starred category as I can.

With that said I find it very difficult to justify holding back REoGuru or Panzer Vorwarts based on their diminished kill count and less than 4 starred experience level. The mobile arty's just do not rack up the experience levels my towed artys do. I will give my final thoughts on AA and air next as they all kind of go together.

[goose_2]

goose_2 youtube playthrough GC Napoleon difficulty
GC 1944e1 start upgrade recommendations
5758 prestige, after elite replacements to full strength for all understrength units and selling excess captured units.

red marker for a) no or 1 hero, b) <800 kills, c) <350 experience
blue marker for a) 3 heroes, b) >=1500 kills, c) >= 450 experience

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


45 Ground units


3 Anti-Air
. 8.8cm Flak 41 ........ Sd7 .... m1m1 ... Jemhadar .............. 907 ... 343
. Cannone 90/53 r8 ... TP40 ....... a2 ... Zyavoo .................. 735 ... 326
. SdKfz 7/2+ r11 ................... a3a1 ... MalcolmRichardson ... 861 ... 361


15 Airforce

8 Single engine Fighters & Fighter Bomber
. Bf 109 G-6+ ......................... d3 ... vonThüringen ....... 670 ... 373
. Bf 109 F-4+ ......................... d3 ... CouchOffiziell ....... 548 ... 342
. Fw 190 A-5 ......................... a2 ... MafujKhan ............ 658 ... 353 ... ==> Fw 190 A-7
. Fw 190 F-3 ......................... d2 ... Alvarez ................ 444 ... 330
/ Re.2005 .......................... a3a3 ... Noxush ................ 810 ... 405 ... ==> Re.2005+
. G.55 Centauro ..................... a2 ... BlackVulture ......... 633 ... 371
+ 2x bonus SE hero fighters in 1945

2 Multi engine Fighter Bomber
. Me 410 A-1/U2 ..................... d1 ... FighterAce ............ 758 ... 346
/ Ju 88 R-2 .......................... i1i1 ... Slender1870 ........... 765 ... 416 ... ==> Ju 188 A-2 during 44e1

2 Dedicated Tac Bomber
/ Hs 129 B-2 BK .................... a3a1 ... AratoBela ............ 1061 ... 381
/ Ju 87 G-2 r9 ...................... a1d3 ... cmbbfan ............... 977 ... 370

1 Tac/Strat Bomber
. Ju 188 E-1 ........................... a1 ... AI181 .................... 581 ... 498 ... ==> Ju 88 R-2 during 44e1 then Ju 88 G-1 in 44e2

2 Dedicated Strat Bomber
. Do 217 M ............................. d1 ... Richard ................. 405 ... 459 ... ==> Do 217 N-1 or N-2 ? I would take N-1
. He 111 H-16 ......................... a1 ... RMA901 ................. 536 ... 492

As far as AA is concerned I am garnering kills and excellent heroes, but experience is a real struggle, as I am leaning into using se units more heavily then all 3 aa core units I see using 2 every scenario being opportunity to still exercise them to keep them up to pace with training, but also not getting them too far ahead.

As far as Fighter's and Fighter Bombers are concerned they almost all need exercise, but unable to bring them every battle. So concentrating on my thoughts per unit:
Von Thuringen is my BF trainer, he is the one I am focusing on getting a sole Fighter up to 4 stars 2 heroes and as close to 1000 kills by 44. In order to do that I think the next hero has to be +2 or 3 attack. He just does not hit worth a darn almost every time I attack another plane. I have sen several times where I will miss or hit 1 or 2 while the fighter plane fires one shot and misses. Thank God the +3 Def pays off.

Couch unfortunately will probably be on the sidelines for most of 44 as I need to concentrate on other planes, not sure what to try and do with him.

Mafujkhan is my sacrifice in almost every battle trying to build up his kills and exp experience level. He needs better, but plan on keeping him at 10 str except for the big battles as he will continue to absorb losses and come back fighting.
Same for Alvarez, but he has much further to go, and bomber capabilities are sucky. They can and do need to take direct attacks from the enemy, but at least they can absorb some of that damage.

Noxush will stay behind for Korsun Pocket but I see using him every other scenario to keep him pushing towards the needed 1000 kills as he is my hope for 3rd heroed fighter/Bomber.

Black Vulture was my hopeful 2nd 13 str Fighter to dominate the air, but he takes damage so I will continue to abosrb losses and try to bring him up to speed in the air. He and Noxush have been my pleasant surprise.

FighterAce needs kills and exp to really shine but he is mediocre on ground attacks, and mediocre in the air, so the worst of both worlds, but still hopeful can get within scope.

Slender is my best chance to turn a Fighter into a 5 starred first shot machine after stratting him to 5 stars and changing him straight up into some experimental fighter that just murders the opposition. Looking forward to that.

Arato and cmbbfan continue to be raining hell on opposition, but will probably change cmbbfan back to more balanced bomber as you nerfed the G. But do not need to use until later scenarios in 44.

With that what are your plans for my Strats? I see you wanting me to train them up to 5 stars and the Dornier and AI to switch back to Fighters and to switch with 2 of my Fighters. If so which ones and what are you thinking in terms of total air dominance.

I am hoping to get together with Richard sometime this next weekend, but in the meantime have nothing but time for planning and playing other campaigns, including next D-day killer scenario.

[Locarnus]

What is this unit? What does it do? It cannot dive.

Due to balancing reasons, most naval units exist in 2 versions.
One for Battlefield Europe (eg where subs can dive and naval transports have more movement) and the other one for the normal campaigns.
The normal campaign ones are called "GC" (grand campaign), and are pretty close to how they were balanced without mods. So no diving for submarines, slower naval transports and so on, which is important for quite a few maps. Like all the naval invasion scenarios, which were specifically designed around those original values and capabilities.
If your screenshot is not from Battlefield Europe main scenario, it is just a submarine as they were without mods and working as intended.

6 Infantry
. Pioniere 43 .......... Blitz+ ... m1a3 ... Soljaism ............. 870 ... 316 ... ==> 12 cm GrWerfer (new unit)
. Grenadiere 43 ..... Sd250/1+ ... d2 ... RichardMartin ....... 865 ... 325
. Jäger 43 ......................... m1d2 ... Artemis .............. 777 ... 330 ... ==> 8 cm GrWerfer, then 10.5 cm leG 43 ?
/ Fallschirmjäger 43 .............. i1a2 ... Pullig ................. 915 ... 314 ... ==> 8cm GrWerfer, then 10.5GebH + Kettenk?
. Kradschützen 43 ................... a1 ... PeteMitchell ......... 832 ... 339
. Sahariana 43 ....................... a2 ... Kostia ................. 772 ... 313

As far as my core inf levels the exp is the biggest concern while the kills are getting better and better now that they are being utilized more and more in defensive scenarios with Kiev being the first of many in 44 where I create a wall to just tear their attacking force a new one as I use my close terrain advantage to the fullest. Wit that said I will be leaving Pullig behind and concentrating Soljaism and Artemis as my arty options to get them up to 4 stars in exp before I switch them with other units to get all inf up to 4 stars by the end of 44, not sure I can do all of them, but 3 of the 6 at 4 stars will make me happy.

Perhaps the 7.5 GebG++ is better than the 10.5cm leG 43, due to having more ammo, requiring fewer reloads.
Or alternatively the 10.5 GebH, which only has 1 move, but range 3.
With only the 8cm GrWerfer as a bridge, Artemis can convert to one of them in 44e1, and Pullig to the other one in 44e2.
While Soljaism keeps the 12cm GrWerfer from 44e1 onwards (or until RichardMartin gets his second hero and then can also transition to arty class for training).

Perhaps 2 bonus SE infantry are then necessary to fill the infantry gap. Which would not be a bad thing, since bonus SE infantry values (eg Std Inf & Std Blue Division) are pretty close to your best normal infantry values. While all other bonus SE units have much worse values then their best normal counterparts (tank, AT, SPAA, arty).

[Locarnus]

10 Tanks
. Panther A dg ....................... a2 ... Kapl ..................... 454 ... 321
/ Panther D ........................ d1d3 ... Festival ................. 986 ... 404
/ Tiger I E .......................... d2a3 ... Temis .................... 949 ... 430
. Tiger P+ s8 ......................... m1 ... ElBaron ................. 940 ... 413 ... ==> Tiger P++ s8
/ Ferdinand s8 .................... m1d2 ... Gooseboy ............. 1147 ... 362
/ Flammpz III 43 r12 ............. m1a2 ... NightPhoenix ......... 1036 ... 359 ... ==> Flammpz III 44 r12 or StuH 44 ? Imho StuH 44
/ StuG III G+ ....................... i1m1 ... DoktorG ............... 1048 ... 372 ... ==> StuG III G 44
. Panzer IV H ....................... s1a2 ... Rimski ................. 1051 ... 312 ... ==> Panzer IV H+ or StuG IV ? Imho StuG IV
/ Nashorn ........................... a1i1 ... ForestLaw ............. 1010 ... 440 ... ==> Nashorn 44
. SU-85(r) ............................. a3 ... 7Bowls .................. 949 ... 314
. KV-85(r) .......................... d2d2 ... Paramecium .......... 1003 ... 319

11 Mobile Arty
. Hummel r8 .......................... s1 ... Soren ................... 647 ... 285 ... ==> Hummel 44 r8
. Grille r8 ............................ m1 ... PanzerVorwärts ....... 754 ... 363
/ Wespe ............................ m1d2 ... Goose .................. 936 ... 365
. Lorraine GW r8 .................... m1 ... Reoguru ................ 590 ... 364
. Brummbär r8 ..................... a2a2 ... Locarnus .............. 747 ... 387 ... ==> Brummbär 44 r8
. StuIG 33B r8 ......................... r1 ... RayCaster ............. 675 ... 464
. 10.5 leFH auf B2(f) ............. m1a2 ... Pierre .................. 752 ... 421
. Semovente 105/25 ................. d2 ... RightSide .............. 654 ... 425
. Panzerwerfer 42 r12 ............... a3 ... Singer .................. 674 ... 363
/ Wurfrahmen 43 r8 ................ r1r1 ... Dneos .................. 891 ... 452

Tanks: Night Phoenix and Rimski both have a good amount of kills and I only see myself using Rimski in next scenario as his experience is anemic. Kapl, Paramecium, and 7 Bowls will be deployed every battle as there experience is each one at the red marker and their kills are not in the blue category, so they need exercise. The rest will be deployed ona case by case basis as they all get above 1000 kills, 2 heroes, and at or near the starred status. Once I get any of them with 2 of the 3 categories in blue they will be left behind as they run the danger of becoming too good and too heavily relied on to get the desired wins. I want to save 45 to get as many to within the 3 heroed and 4 starred category as I can.

With that said I find it very difficult to justify holding back REoGuru or Panzer Vorwarts based on their diminished kill count and less than 4 starred experience level. The mobile arty's just do not rack up the experience levels my towed artys do. I will give my final thoughts on AA and air next as they all kind of go together.

Imho your mobile arties gain less experience than your towed arties, because of their generally lower rate of fire & lower ammo (thus needing many more resupply turns).
Thus it should be a priority to use high rof, high ammo units for experience farming, instead of the low rof, low ammo ones.

rof . ammo . range . move
.8 ..... 4 ....... 3 ....... 5 ... Hummel (range 3 makes it useful, also has a powerful direct fire punch)
.8 ..... 4 ....... 2 ....... 5 ... Grille => bad for training
.8 ..... 4 ....... 2 ....... 4 ... Lorraine GW => worse for training
.8 ..... 4 ....... 2 ....... 4 ... Brummbär (lots of armor and direct firepower makes it useful)
.8 ..... 4 ....... 1 ....... 5 ... StuIG (low range, but at least good armor and decent direct firepower)

10 .... 5 ....... 3 ....... 5 ... Wespe => best for training
10 .... 4 ....... 2 ....... 5 ... StuH 44 (low ammo, but good armor and decent direct firepower)
10 .... 6 ....... 1 ....... 5 ... StuG IV (low range, but good ammo, armor, direct firepower and camo AT mode)

I recommend using those better for training unit types on whatever unit needs training (eg to 4 stars). Then give those better training unit types to others that need to get to 4 stars.

Soren in Hummel for foreseeable future.
Locarnus in Brummbär until 4 stars
RayCaster in StuIG for now, but taking more direct fire shots?
Goose in Wespe until 4 stars
Night Phoenix in StuH 44 until 4 stars
Rimski in StuG IV for foreseeable future

Once Locarnus, Goose or NightPhoenix are at 4 stars, then PanzerVorwärts and Reoguru can take over those vehicles.

Path to Brummbär would be direct (also in sIG arty family, like PanzerVorwärts Grille and Reoguru Lorraine GW).
Path to Wespe via Bison II (both in Panzer II tank family, Bison II in sIG arty family).
Path to StuH 44 via StuIG (both in Panzer III tank family, StuIG in siG arty family).

For 44e1 I would thus use NightPhoenix and Goose in StuH 44 and Wespe, instead of PanzerVorwärts and Reoguru.

[DONAR444]

What is this unit? What does it do? It cannot dive.

Due to balancing reasons, most naval units exist in 2 versions.
One for Battlefield Europe (eg where subs can dive and naval transports have more movement) and the other one for the normal campaigns.
The normal campaign ones are called "GC" (grand campaign), and are pretty close to how they were balanced without mods. So no diving for submarines, slower naval transports and so on, which is important for quite a few maps. Like all the naval invasion scenarios, which were specifically designed around those original values and capabilities.
If your screenshot is not from Battlefield Europe main scenario, it is just a submarine as they were without mods and working as intended.

Ah okay. No I'm currently playing BE with your addon... so I'm not sure why that submarine is there.

Also, quick question, how do you prevent the allies from landing in southern france, after they already landed in normandy? I can't deal with yet another front

[Locarnus]

Ah okay. No I'm currently playing BE with your addon... so I'm not sure why that submarine is there.

Also, quick question, how do you prevent the allies from landing in southern france, after they already landed in normandy? I can't deal with yet another front

Oh, that "GC" sub should not be in BE. I will have to fix that, thank you for the bug report.

About Allied mediterranean landings:
The best thing to prevent them from taking over Italy and southern France is to stop them in Tunisia.
If I remember correctly, their mediterranean invasion fleets towards Europe do not spawn if they fail to capture Tunis.

I think this is one of the most important differences between the first, blind playthrough of Battlefield Europe and subsequent playthroughs. The importance of holding Tunis for the AI scripts in the mediterranean.
Otherwise the pain will only get worse.

Which reminds me that I wanted to make the scripts more interesting. As the mediterranean becomes much less interesting for second time players, who manage to hold Tunis.
Enjoy the struggle, for the next attempt you have to increase the difficulty settings or use house rules to keep it challenging while knowing about those script triggers .

15 Airforce

8 Single engine Fighters & Fighter Bomber
. Bf 109 G-6+ ......................... d3 ... vonThüringen ....... 670 ... 373
. Bf 109 F-4+ ......................... d3 ... CouchOffiziell ....... 548 ... 342 ... ==> Ju 88 C-6+ ? (edit)
. Fw 190 A-5 ......................... a2 ... MafujKhan ............ 658 ... 353 ... ==> Fw 190 A-7
. Fw 190 F-3 ......................... d2 ... Alvarez ................ 444 ... 330
/ Re.2005 .......................... a3a3 ... Noxush ................ 810 ... 405 ... ==> Re.2005+
. G.55 Centauro ..................... a2 ... BlackVulture ......... 633 ... 371
+ 2x bonus SE hero fighters in 1945

2 Multi engine Fighter Bomber
. Me 410 A-1/U2 ..................... d1 ... FighterAce ............ 758 ... 346
/ Ju 88 R-2 .......................... i1i1 ... Slender1870 ........... 765 ... 416 ... ==> Ju 188 A-2 during 44e1

2 Dedicated Tac Bomber
/ Hs 129 B-2 BK .................... a3a1 ... AratoBela ............ 1061 ... 381
/ Ju 87 G-2 r9 ...................... a1d3 ... cmbbfan ............... 977 ... 370

1 Tac/Strat Bomber
. Ju 188 E-1 ........................... a1 ... AI181 .................... 581 ... 498 ... ==> Ju 88 R-2 during 44e1 then Ju 88 G-1 in 44e2

2 Dedicated Strat Bomber
. Do 217 M ............................. d1 ... Richard ................. 405 ... 459 ... ==> Do 217 N-1 or N-2 ? I would take N-1
. He 111 H-16 ......................... a1 ... RMA901 ................. 536 ... 492

As far as Fighter's and Fighter Bombers are concerned they almost all need exercise, but unable to bring them every battle. So concentrating on my thoughts per unit:
Von Thuringen is my BF trainer, he is the one I am focusing on getting a sole Fighter up to 4 stars 2 heroes and as close to 1000 kills by 44. In order to do that I think the next hero has to be +2 or 3 attack. He just does not hit worth a darn almost every time I attack another plane. I have sen several times where I will miss or hit 1 or 2 while the fighter plane fires one shot and misses. Thank God the +3 Def pays off.

I could add gun pod variants for some of the Bf 109, they would give higher attack values at the cost of ini and defense?

Couch unfortunately will probably be on the sidelines for most of 44 as I need to concentrate on other planes, not sure what to try and do with him.

Couch imho has to go Ju 88 R-2 => Ju 88 A-4 for strat bomber training. The Ju 88 is the most versatile strat bomber platform, where there are non-strat variants even late in the war. And while the Ju 88 A-4 is outdated, it is still a strat and can be used together with the more modern Ju 188 strat (now AI181, then Slender1870).

[...]
FighterAce needs kills and exp to really shine but he is mediocre on ground attacks, and mediocre in the air, so the worst of both worlds, but still hopeful can get within scope.

The Me 410 A-1/U4 is available in the next scenario 44e2. It has a 5cm gun in the nose, which is pretty deadly against enemy tanks (even after the nerf). If I remember correctly, it will be your best tank buster aircraft aside from the Hs 129. So FighterAce could wait for that and give his 44e1 deployment spot to Slender1870 instead.

Slender is my best chance to turn a Fighter into a 5 starred first shot machine after stratting him to 5 stars and changing him straight up into some experimental fighter that just murders the opposition. Looking forward to that.

Arato and cmbbfan continue to be raining hell on opposition, but will probably change cmbbfan back to more balanced bomber as you nerfed the G. But do not need to use until later scenarios in 44.

Imho the time of the Ju 87 is coming to an end. The Hs 129 might be worth the now necessary fighter escort, but except for soft attack in the Ju 87 D-5 config, the Me 410 A-1/U-4 is better in every way.
cmbbfan is imho a good canditate for upgrade to He 177, if you can spare the prestige.

With that what are your plans for my Strats? I see you wanting me to train them up to 5 stars and the Dornier and AI to switch back to Fighters and to switch with 2 of my Fighters. If so which ones and what are you thinking in terms of total air dominance.

CouchOffiziell deploy in Ju 88 C-6+ => Ju 88 A-4 (for experience training)
Or could deploy him as Bf 109 F-4+ to help with the initial soviet aircraft, then do the conversion during 44e1.

Slender1870 deploy in Ju 88 R-2 => Ju 188 A-2 (to bring him to 5 stars)
Once AI181 is ready to do the switcheroo in the other direction, during 44e1.

AI181 deploy in Ju 188 E-1 => Ju 88 R-2 (to gain more kills and thus a second hero)
Once he has gained his 5th star in strat bomber mode during 44e1. End the scenario in fighter mode, if you want to convert him to a 5 star fighter in one of the next scenarios?

Richard deploy in Do 217 N-1 (to gain more kills and thus a second hero)
While the fighter version is not totally outdated, get some kills in. The strat bomber version is ok until the end.

With Couch becoming a strat during 44e1, I would then perhaps leave RMA901 in reserve for 44e1. And perhaps deploy one more ground unit, due to the potentially bad weather?


Not sure about those two Fw 190. For training it would be effective to convert one of them to a strat bomber, but the prestige might be better spent on other stuff (like the Bf 109 F-4+ to strat conversion).
Perhaps it makes more sense to switch roles between the Fw 190. Make Alvarez the Fw 190 A-7 and use him first against other fighters (where the d2 hero helps). While MafujKhan takes the Fw 190 F-3 to do more ground strikes with his a2 hero?

[DONAR444]

Enjoy the struggle, for the next attempt you have to increase the difficulty settings or use house rules to keep it challenging while knowing about those script triggers .

Yeah, I had to fall back in Tunesia. It's barely holding


Italy on the other hand is looking quite nicely. I don't think they will get through there.


Normandy is a bit questionable. I just don't have the units..


And I don't even know what to do about this. Scrambling to pull units together meant for anti-partisan, or didn't need in Italy anymore... *help*

[goose_2]

Thinking as of now based on all the feedback you have provided me to ponder over:

I appreciate all of your thoughts and hope to bring up a lot of what you are talking about in these posts with Richard.

So these are the for sure leave behinds for Korsun Pocket:
(The reason these make the list is because they are already high enough in exp, kills, heroes or some of all of the above. These are the ones that I want to back bench for the first scenario, maybe first 2.

I will need to decide on one more, but I cannot make up my mind, yet.
Inf:
Pullig: Has enough kills and heroes, that I want to use others as arty trainers first and than Pullig.

Tanks: (These Big Boys are sailing through kills and exp, as such need some back benching.)
Festival
Temis
Gooseboy
DoktorG
Forestlaw (This one also needs to wait for consistently good weather as worried what crappy weather will mean for his survivability. Not very happy with his heroes.)

Arty's
Reoguru: This one needs a different arty option as Lorraine just not cutting it.
Michal and Rauno
Dneos

AA
Malcolm

Air Units:
NoXush
Fighter Ace
Arato
cmbbfan
RMA


Ok so that is what I have in stone, but still on the fence of who the last back bencher will be, I know you would probably say Panzer Vorwarts, but he is doing fine in his arty, and I want to exercise him up to a 2nd hero and 800 kills. He is not that far off.

So which other unit would you leave behind to give others a chance to shine?

I would have said Rimski or Night Phoenix, but you seem determined to see their new chassis' in action.

Please give me your best argument and I will consider your thoughts.

Thanks again.

[Locarnus]

[...]


And I don't even know what to do about this. Scrambling to pull units together meant for anti-partisan, or didn't need in Italy anymore... *help*

Ah, thats the best of times!
When you fight a dozen enemies/fronts, and you finally seem to have everything stabilized, and then another one pops up from an unexpected angle. Scrambling and struggling to react to the new enemy/front.

I really wish I could repeat those situations for future playthroughs!
Thank you so much for the screenshots and feedback, great to see players having fun with the mod!

Also was not able to connect with Richard yet, but hopefully next weekend. I may have to wait for the start of 44 for after my hiking trip, but not sure I want to wait that long. We will see what I have time for.

This core development discussion gave me a plethora of ideas!
Some are already in 2025-08a update, several more are still on my todo list.

When will you return from your hiking trip?
If you won't start 44 until then anyway, I might be able to implement even more of those ideas!

[...]
Ok so that is what I have in stone, but still on the fence of who the last back bencher will be, I know you would probably say Panzer Vorwarts, but he is doing fine in his arty, and I want to exercise him up to a 2nd hero and 800 kills. He is not that far off.

So which other unit would you leave behind to give others a chance to shine?

I would have said Rimski or Night Phoenix, but you seem determined to see their new chassis' in action.

Please give me your best argument and I will consider your thoughts.

Thanks again.

Yep, PanzerVorwärts would be my favorite, but RayCaster is a close second.

RayCaster already has 464 experience. His range hero means that he will eventually be best used as some arty anyway, currently the hero just compensates the StuIG 33B range of 1 compared to all other sIG arty units. Which also have rof 8 and ammo 4, resulting in slow kill farming and even slower experience farming.

More frontline units need training or kills a lot more, while he will always make a good artillery with his current hero and experience level. Similar to Raunosavolainen.

Another leave behind option would be Pierre, based on your threshold criteria.
Already has 2 heroes and 4 stars. And with his heroes, he would quickly gather kills when switched to any direct fire unit type.

[goose_2]

When will you return from your hiking trip?
If you won't start 44 until then anyway, I might be able to implement even more of those ideas!


I will be back from hike on the 29th but will not be back, back until the 30th as I will get back exhausted and drained on the 29th late and ready to just collapse.

I could wait to start until then and take the hike as an opportunity to deeply think of 44 and 45 future plans and what my hopes will be for various units.

Most of my thinking revolves around the strat - fighter switching that you have been discussing, and what are my goals for my inf now that arty's will be an option for them.

Tanks are pretty basic and as such not much to think about or do, unless I have changes with later big dog options that I am not considering yet.

I think that idea of getting almost all of my units to 4 stars is possible now, and all ground units to 3 hero capable, while any air units will be shocking to get a 3rd hero on.

[Locarnus]

He-111-NJ.jpeg (34.84 KiB) Viewed 560 times

I will be back from hike on the 29th but will not be back, back until the 30th as I will get back exhausted and drained on the 29th late and ready to just collapse.

I could wait to start until then and take the hike as an opportunity to deeply think of 44 and 45 future plans and what my hopes will be for various units.

Most of my thinking revolves around the strat - fighter switching that you have been discussing, and what are my goals for my inf now that arty's will be an option for them.

Tanks are pretty basic and as such not much to think about or do, unless I have changes with later big dog options that I am not considering yet.

I think that idea of getting almost all of my units to 4 stars is possible now, and all ground units to 3 hero capable, while any air units will be shocking to get a 3rd hero on.

Great, then I will implement some more of those ideas and have an update ready for the last weekend of August.

Also thought a bit more about the fighter situation.
I searched for more strat bomber to fighter conversions (in addition to the recently added Do 217 strat/fighter aircraft). So I found that a bunch of He 111 were field converted to heavy/night fighters in early 1943 on the eastern front (one of them shown in the picture above). Not great, not terrible. Opens another historically existing path that could be implemented between in game fighter and strat bomber classes. Which makes the He 111 a decent training option.

Considering the experience struggle and the great playthroughs and feedback by eskuche and thejf, maybe we should go a lot further with the switching and strat bomber training?

I hereby propose an Emergency Fighter Experience Program!

CouchOffiziell (Bf 109), MafujKhan and Alvarez (both Fw 190) struggle to reach even 4 stars in 1944.
Imho all three of them could be converted to strat bombers for training!
While the two most experienced strat bombers AI181 (Ju 188, currently 498 xp) and RMA901 (He 111, currently 492 xp) could take over the two Fw 190 aircraft lines after quickly reaching 5 stars.

4 strats could be used in every scenario, mainly to train up your airforce experience.
Ju 88, Ju 188, Do 217 & He 111 will all have an in-family path between strat and fighter classes.

1) Alvarez and AI181 switch places, after AI181 reaches 5 stars (~1200 prestige)
2) RMA901 becomes a Fw 190 after he reaches 5 stars (~600 prestige)
3) MafujKhan becomes a strat (~600 prestige)
4) CouchOffiziell becomes a strat (~600 prestige)

I'm not yet sure on the details of steps 3 & 4, but step 2 requires that RMA901 is deployed during 44e1 to reach 5 stars as soon as possible. The plan for step 1 is laid out here:


44e1 switcheroo (step 1 of 4 from above)
The goal is at the end of 44e1 to have Alvarez in Ju 88 A-4 strat, AI181 in Fw 190 F-3, and Slender1870 in Ju 188 A-2 strat. This should cost roughly 1200 prestige and give you your first 5 star Fw 190 fighter.

a) Alvarez deploys in Fw 190 F-3, during scenario switches to Fw 190 F-3 tac bomber mode, then upgrades to Ju 88 A-4 tac bomber, switches to Ju 88 A-4 strat bomber mode for training for foreseeable future

b) AI181 deploys in Ju 188 E-1, after reaching 5 stars during the scenario switches to Ju 188 E-1 tac bomber mode and upgrades to Fw 190 F-3 tac bomber, has to end the scenario in Fw 190 F-3 fighter mode for potential next steps

c) Slender1870 deploys in Ju 88 R-2 and at some point switches to tac bomber mode, during scenario (after AI181 upgrades to Fw 190 F-3) he upgrades to Ju 188 A-2 for strat bomber training, completing the 3 way switcheroo


44e1 airforce deployment

/ indicates my proposal for non deployment, since RMA901 needs to reach 5 stars as soon as possible.
Would require one additional aircraft spot and thus one less ground unit deployed.
edit: Eg both RayCaster and Pierre could stay in reserve instead only one of them (see previous post), since the additional RMA901 strat would make up for one of them doing suppression work.

8 Single engine Fighters & Fighter Bomber
. Bf 109 G-6+ ......................... d3 ... vonThüringen ....... 670 ... 373 ... ==> Bf 109 G-6+ with gun pods?
. Bf 109 F-4+ ......................... d3 ... CouchOffiziell ....... 548 ... 342 ... ==> Bf 109 G-6 Erla for one scenario?
. Fw 190 A-5 ......................... a2 ... MafujKhan ............ 658 ... 353 ... ==> Fw 190 A-7
. Fw 190 F-3 ......................... d2 ... Alvarez ................ 444 ... 330 ... ==> Ju 88 A-4 during 44e1, see plan above
/ Re.2005 .......................... a3a3 ... Noxush ................ 810 ... 405 ... ==> Re.2005+
. G.55 Centauro ..................... a2 ... BlackVulture .......... 633 ... 371
+ 2x bonus SE hero fighters in 1945

2 Multi engine Fighter Bomber
/ Me 410 A-1/U2 ..................... d1 ... FighterAce ............ 758 ... 346
. Ju 88 R-2 .......................... i1i1 ... Slender1870 ........... 765 ... 416 ... ==> Ju 188 A-2 during 44e1, see plan above

2 Dedicated Tac Bomber
/ Hs 129 B-2 BK .................... a3a1 ... AratoBela ............. 1061 ... 381
/ Ju 87 G-2 r9 ...................... a1d3 ... cmbbfan ............... 977 ... 370

1 Tac/Strat Bomber
. Ju 188 E-1 ........................... a1 ... AI181 .................... 581 ... 498 ... ==> Fw 190 F-3 during 44e1, see plan above

2 Dedicated Strat Bomber
. Do 217 M ............................. d1 ... Richard ................. 405 ... 459 (edit: needs to reach 5 stars asap)
. He 111 H-16 ......................... a1 ... RMA901 ................. 536 ... 492 (edit: needs to reach 5 stars asap)

[goose_2]

44e1 airforce deployment

/ indicates my proposal for non deployment, since RMA901 needs to reach 5 stars as soon as possible.
Would require one additional aircraft spot and thus one less ground unit deployed.
edit: Eg both RayCaster and Pierre could stay in reserve instead only one of them (see previous post), since the additional RMA901 strat would make up for one of them doing suppression work.

8 Single engine Fighters & Fighter Bomber
. Bf 109 G-6+ ......................... d3 ... vonThüringen ....... 670 ... 373 ... ==> Bf 109 G-6+ with gun pods?
. Bf 109 F-4+ ......................... d3 ... CouchOffiziell ....... 548 ... 342 ... ==> Bf 109 G-6 Erla for one scenario?
. Fw 190 A-5 ......................... a2 ... MafujKhan ............ 658 ... 353 ... ==> Fw 190 A-7
. Fw 190 F-3 ......................... d2 ... Alvarez ................ 444 ... 330 ... ==> Ju 88 A-4 during 44e1, see plan above
/ Re.2005 .......................... a3a3 ... Noxush ................ 810 ... 405 ... ==> Re.2005+
. G.55 Centauro ..................... a2 ... BlackVulture .......... 633 ... 371
+ 2x bonus SE hero fighters in 1945

2 Multi engine Fighter Bomber
/ Me 410 A-1/U2 ..................... d1 ... FighterAce ............ 758 ... 346
. Ju 88 R-2 .......................... i1i1 ... Slender1870 ........... 765 ... 416 ... ==> Ju 188 A-2 during 44e1, see plan above

2 Dedicated Tac Bomber
/ Hs 129 B-2 BK .................... a3a1 ... AratoBela ............. 1061 ... 381
/ Ju 87 G-2 r9 ...................... a1d3 ... cmbbfan ............... 977 ... 370

1 Tac/Strat Bomber
. Ju 188 E-1 ........................... a1 ... AI181 .................... 581 ... 498 ... ==> Fw 190 F-3 during 44e1, see plan above

2 Dedicated Strat Bomber
. Do 217 M ............................. d1 ... Richard ................. 405 ... 459 (edit: needs to reach 5 stars asap)
. He 111 H-16 ......................... a1 ... RMA901 ................. 536 ... 492 (edit: needs to reach 5 stars asap)

I just had a wild thought, based on our discussion yesterday and thinking about the problems we are trying to solve at the same time.

What if we are thinking about the wrong solution to the problem we see. Switching Fighters for strats would give fighters 5 star, but not a lot of kills, but if we transferred them to killer bombers
2 Dedicated Tac Bomber
/ Hs 129 B-2 BK .................... a3a1 ... AratoBela ............. 1061 ... 381
/ Ju 87 G-2 r9 ...................... a1d3 ... cmbbfan ............... 977 ... 370

They could rack up kills very fast to get them their 2nd heroes quickly.

Just something I will want to do a lot of thinking about, and probably good this is all coming around the start of 44 and delayed talk with Richard and my coming hiking trip. So much to consider.

[Locarnus]

[...]

I just had a wild thought, based on our discussion yesterday and thinking about the problems we are trying to solve at the same time.

What if we are thinking about the wrong solution to the problem we see. Switching Fighters for strats would give fighters 5 star, but not a lot of kills, but if we transferred them to killer bombers
2 Dedicated Tac Bomber
/ Hs 129 B-2 BK .................... a3a1 ... AratoBela ............. 1061 ... 381
/ Ju 87 G-2 r9 ...................... a1d3 ... cmbbfan ............... 977 ... 370

They could rack up kills very fast to get them their 2nd heroes quickly.

Just something I will want to do a lot of thinking about, and probably good this is all coming around the start of 44 and delayed talk with Richard and my coming hiking trip. So much to consider.

A hero does not help much for gaining experience, but experience helps a lot for gaining kills. Especially for fighters due to the +2 air attack experience bonus per level.
So imho experience has to come first, kills second.

And those strat bomber families can all turn into kill farming multi engine fighters, while those dedicated tac bombers can not turn into experience farming strats.
So you would pay full price just for gaining the second hero a little faster with a tac instead of a fighter.
And then would need to find something else to do for your current tac bombers.
edit: With the recent nerf to cannon armed aircraft, their ability to farm tank kills diminished. Especially if they do not have attack + 4 heroes like AratoBela.

While the fighter to strat switcheroo trades fighters needing experience for strats needing kills.

[slowgtp]

i loaded these mods as directed and my playing screen was black so i had to remove them

[Locarnus]

i loaded these mods as directed and my playing screen was black so i had to remove them

Black screen indicates that something went wrong with your files, often regarding the Panzer Corps version 1.32 being required to be installed first (even before Battlefield Europe 2.4). Another reason for a black screen could be, that the whole downloaded "BattlefieldEurope24.zip" file was put into the mod folder, while only the "Battlefield Europe v2.4" folder from within that zip file has to be placed into the mod folder (when using the generic mod enabler tool).

The install instructions in the first post of this thread have to be followed in detail and in that exact order. Make sure you use the bugfixed PzC 1.32 that is linked in the first post of this thread (there is a buggy version of the 1.32 patch that produces errors).

There is also a detailed Panzer Corps preparation guide for modding, if you want to have multiple PzC installs for different mods. It is linked in step 1 of 5 of the install instructions in the first post of this thread.

Unfortunately the Panzer Corps mod install process has many more steps than it should have. But most of it only has to be done once and then those 15minutes of work offer a whole world of new experiences.