Locarnus Addon 2026-01, for Battlefield Europe, OC, AK, SC and Grand Campaign East

[Locarnus]

@eskuche & @goose_2 the last page of this thread has some additional relevant info not to be overlooked, like the updated changes from BE and training options for Kostia and Zyavoo grand campaign Italian units.

Very much looking forward to the AAR and feedback!


Thank you bondjamesbond, RobertCL, goose, markthorn, eskuche for the all the comments, inspiration and feedback in the last few days.

This update includes several fixes and adjustments, but also aspects which are rather experimental and untested (like giving Western aircraft more ground defense to spice up the bomber war in Battlefield Europe scenario).



2026-01 Update "Locarnus Addon" Download: https://bit.ly/4ad4fT8

This is only an update to the Addon and requires the 2026 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 2026 base version are included in this one.

Technical fixes and graphics:
- OC Kursk scenario fixed for de, ru and fr language settings
- Library entries fixed for de, ru and fr language settings
- Ar 234 has switch indicator icons and ferry mode
- FW 190 A-3 & 4 and tropical versions of A-5 to 8 use different McGuba graphics
- SC Sinyavino (Leningrad) captured Tiger I r9s8 gets new Soviet camo icon
- SC Battle of Caucasus captured Fw 190 gets new Soviet camo icon

Battlefield Europe, GC East, AK, SC & original PzC campaign compatibility
- BE Air war changed, by giving all West Allied air units 2-3 more ground defense
- BE Minor adjustments, like Caucasus Soviet inf slightly repositioned
- BE A few more hold position active instead of hold position passive stances
- BE One Grenadiere unit changed to PzA/Sd250, Balck hero added, repositioned
- BE Pioniere unit in front of Brest changed from Sd 250 to Sd 251 transport
- BE KV-2 near Lvov has only 1 ammo, thank you eskuche
- GC East Vilna has more useable upgrade hexes, thank you goose_2
- GC West Sealion 45 has Tortoise defenders
- OC USA East Coast scenario has two free aircraft upgrades to Do 335 & Ar 234
- OC USA East Coast scenario has one free ground unit upgrade to Tiger II B++
- SC Sinyavino & Caucasus scenarios Axis unit upgrades for fighters & few inf
- SC Sinyavino (Leningrad) captured Tiger I is only the early r9s8 version

Unit Changes:
- British and US air units get 2-3 more ground defense
- Soviet organic transports rebalancing, especially heavypull, eg much slower S-2
- Soviet organic transports are mostly in the same upgrade family per weight class
- SdKfz 250/11 and /9 basic versions reactivated, but now in Sd10 tank class family
- PzA / Sd250 vision reduced from 3 to 2, early hard attack buffed in infantry mode
- New Italian infantry mortar unit (switchable between elite inf and 75mm arty classes)
- Several Italian unit names shortened
- British Tortoise buffed

[eskuche]

Sounds good! Will comment later. Is it still feasible to cheat my way through the first missions (since prestige is reset) or should I actually try playing them? Seems like FM Rommel is asking for a butt kicking

E: I suppose it is too cheeky and probably not intended to sell units on turn 1 to carry over prestige. Rethinking my core on the drive home, given the air war changes. I don't think a Bf-110 is defensible. May have some surprises.

[Locarnus]

Sounds good! Will comment later. Is it still feasible to cheat my way through the first missions (since prestige is reset) or should I actually try playing them? Seems like FM Rommel is asking for a butt kicking

E: I suppose it is too cheeky and probably not intended to sell units on turn 1 to carry over prestige. Rethinking my core on the drive home, given the air war changes. I don't think a Bf-110 is defensible. May have some surprises.

I recommend starting from the bottom right picture in the campaign screen, which only has one of those pre-scenarios just to customize your 6 core units, and then continues directly to the big main scenario.
Even that micro campaign start allows you to receive random heroes, while those do not pop up when starting from the scenario screen!

That mini pre-scenario allows customization, but unfortunately I can not give units kills using the editor. Thus one major advantage of the early BE campaign is earning kills with those 6 core units and getting accustomed to the switchable units for players who are new to the Addon mod.


Regarding customization of those 6 core units: The more you change that default composition of 3 tanks, one Bf 109, one Bf 110 and one Ju 87, the harder it affects the balance. A StuG instead of a Panzer III is negligible, but eg bringing a lot of additional artillery (espcially mobile arty) can significantly boost your ground forces. Going with lots of fighters makes it much easier to achieve air superiority. Strat bombers can be used as tokens to purchase destroyers or transports, same as existing strat bombers. And so on. Practically, leaning hard in one of those directions makes it easier.

edit: The customizable core can therefore work like an additional difficulty slider. Purchasing costly units and selling them during deployment phase of the main scenario certainly takes the bite out of the early prestige situation.
I only make minimal adjustments when testing (eg change one Panzer III to StuG III or so), thus have only limited experience with such major start customizations. I mainly start from the campaign screen so that random heroes can appear.


I have not looked at the early BE campaign scenarios in a long time, since I wanted to wait for BE 2.5 before doing so and reconsidering that balance. Thus the aspects above might change in the future after BE 2.5 comes out.


Imho FM Rommel main goal is surviving, particularly for a first run. Especially considering all those changes and getting used to them.
FM is a general combat nerf from the start, but the half prestige from Rommel is imho the harder issue!
Really looking forward to your experience and AAR.

[eskuche]

I'm not sure if I'm doing this incorrectly, but starting at the bottom right screen isn't generating random heroes except for the default one on 9. Pz. Can you clarify if there is a turn requirement in the refit scenario or if this happens turn 1 in main BE map?

[Locarnus]

I'm not sure if I'm doing this incorrectly, but starting at the bottom right screen isn't generating random heroes except for the default one on 9. Pz. Can you clarify if there is a turn requirement in the refit scenario or if this happens turn 1 in main BE map?

I mean those random heroes that appear during all campaigns, but only after a unit has reached those kill count thresholds.
With the main BE map being so long, several units may get a first random hero at some point, when starting from the campaign screen. So nothing that happens in that single pre-scenario itself, since there are no enemies to increase your kill counters.


That random hero mechanic is just deactivated if starting BE from the scenario screen.

[eskuche]

I'm not sure if I'm doing this incorrectly, but starting at the bottom right screen isn't generating random heroes except for the default one on 9. Pz. Can you clarify if there is a turn requirement in the refit scenario or if this happens turn 1 in main BE map?

I mean those random heroes that appear during all campaigns, but only after a unit has reached those kill count thresholds.
With the main BE map being so long, several units may get a first random hero at some point, when starting from the campaign screen. So nothing that happens in the pre-scenario itself.


That random hero mechanic is just deactivated if starting BE from the scenario screen.

Ah, gotcha. Based on my previous runs on FM Rommel I'm comfortable setting my kills/exp/OS to 50/200/12 on all units without feeling like I'm cheating. If this indeed is a challenge run on FM Rommel, I will try to break the game as much as possible while staying within the house rules. My bank at the end of prior runs was ~3000 with all fighters, so I felt like it was okay to buy one K5 to sell at outset, bringing my prestige to 2250 starting. However, that feels quite unbalancing to the game start, where I could buy, for example, 20 more infantry units, so I'll skip doing that for now. Otherwise, 4 experienced fighters and 1 experienced Bf-110 with the 9. Panzer changed to a Morser (edit: or heck, just keep it as another K5) is I guess how I will play this. Planning very far ahead, I think a strong bomber will be necessary for the IS waves.

[Locarnus]

Ah, gotcha. Based on my previous runs on FM Rommel I'm comfortable setting my kills/exp/OS to 50/200/12 on all units without feeling like I'm cheating. If this indeed is a challenge run on FM Rommel, I will try to break the game as much as possible while staying within the house rules. My bank at the end of prior runs was ~3000 with all fighters, so I felt like it was okay to buy one K5 to sell at outset, bringing my prestige to 2250 starting. However, that feels quite unbalancing to the game start, where I could buy, for example, 20 more infantry units, so I'll skip doing that for now. Otherwise, 4 experienced fighters and 1 experienced Bf-110 with the 9. Panzer changed to a Morser (edit: or heck, just keep it as another K5) is I guess how I will play this. Planning very far ahead, I think a strong bomber will be necessary for the IS waves.

Yep, BE with Addon leans more towards the direction of player freedom, which allows custom preferences, but makes house rules/player self-restraint necessary.
The practical removal of the core slot limit from turn 2 means that initial prestige is more potent.
And the cross class upgrade options can be abused in many ways, with Addon it is the players choice where to draw the line.


The IS-2 is certainly a strong unit, though with Addon mod it has rather limited rate of fire of 7, compared to 10 for unmodded PzC and BE 2.4 without Addon. Similar to the rof handicapped T-34.
However that rebalancing goes in the other direction for the airforce. A Fw 190 from mid 43 is not as superior compared to Soviet fighters with Addon, relying more on pilot experience levels for 1v1 advantages. Which are harder to achieve thanks to FM and harder to maintain thanks to Rommel difficulty.

[bondjamesbond]

@eskuche & @goose_2 the last page of this thread has some additional relevant info not to be overlooked, like the updated changes from BE and training options for Kostia and Zyavoo grand campaign Italian units.

Very much looking forward to the AAR and feedback!


Thank you bondjamesbond, RobertCL, goose, markthorn, eskuche for the all the comments, inspiration and feedback in the last few days.

This update includes several fixes and adjustments, but also aspects which are rather experimental and untested (like giving Western aircraft more ground defense to spice up the bomber war in Battlefield Europe scenario).



2026-01 Update "Locarnus Addon" Download: https://bit.ly/4ad4fT8

This is only an update to the Addon and requires the 2026 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 2026 base version are included in this one.

Technical fixes and graphics:
- OC Kursk scenario fixed for de, ru and fr language settings
- Library entries fixed for de, ru and fr language settings
- Ar 234 has switch indicator icons and ferry mode
- FW 190 A-3 & 4 and tropical versions of A-5 to 8 use different McGuba graphics
- SC Sinyavino (Leningrad) captured Tiger I r9s8 gets new Soviet camo icon
- SC Battle of Caucasus captured Fw 190 gets new Soviet camo icon

Battlefield Europe, GC East, AK, SC & original PzC campaign compatibility
- BE Air war changed, by giving all West Allied air units 2-3 more ground defense
- BE Minor adjustments, like Caucasus Soviet inf slightly repositioned
- BE A few more hold position active instead of hold position passive stances
- BE One Grenadiere unit changed to PzA/Sd250, Balck hero added, repositioned
- BE Pioniere unit in front of Brest changed from Sd 250 to Sd 251 transport
- BE KV-2 near Lvov has only 1 ammo, thank you eskuche
- GC East Vilna has more useable upgrade hexes, thank you goose_2
- GC West Sealion 45 has Tortoise defenders
- OC USA East Coast scenario has two free aircraft upgrades to Do 335 & Ar 234
- OC USA East Coast scenario has one free ground unit upgrade to Tiger II B++
- SC Sinyavino & Caucasus scenarios Axis unit upgrades for fighters & few inf
- SC Sinyavino (Leningrad) captured Tiger I is only the early r9s8 version

Unit Changes:
- British and US air units get 2-3 more ground defense
- Soviet organic transports rebalancing, especially heavypull, eg much slower S-2
- Soviet organic transports are mostly in the same upgrade family per weight class
- SdKfz 250/11 and /9 basic versions reactivated, but now in Sd10 tank class family
- PzA / Sd250 vision reduced from 3 to 2, early hard attack buffed in infantry mode
- New Italian infantry mortar unit (switchable between elite inf and 75mm arty classes)
- Several Italian unit names shortened
- British Tortoise buffed

You're welcome. Come on, geese and swans, fly in! I've updated your mod.






A veteran comes to school before Victory Day. He is covered in medals, as expected. The teacher asks him to talk about the war.
"Well, what can I say... Nikolai and I went on a reconnaissance mission. And then, suddenly, there were fuck Germans! We turned left, and there were fucking Germans there too!
The teacher is shocked:
-Vasily Petrovich! What are you saying! These are children!’
-What the fuck are children!? Fascists!’

[Locarnus]

Looking forward to see how the potential threat to Swedish ore shipments will pan out for eskuche.

And seeing all the changes thanks to feedback from and since that first youtube BE+ Addon playthrough by Duedman affect the experience.

Great idea to link ongoing playthroughs in the first post of this thread.
I used the tinyurl link from your signature.


<< Ongoing BE + Locarnus Addon playthrough by eskuche >>
It is a classic picture and text AAR on Field Marshal Rommel difficulty (player gets only half experience, half prestige):
https://tinyurl.com/y8euym2r


Excellently done, earning that prestige while already standing at Orsha in turn 2!
Surrender prestige is much higher with Addon, to acknowledge that Germany used quite a lot of captured equipment. And taking into account that Rommel difficulty is now often used with the Addon mod.

With FM Rommel, the first winter weather will probably be a lot harsher than Soviet resistance itself.
Duedman managed to outrun the upgrade problem back then (by defeating the Soviets before the age of his units became a problem for the Eastern Front). That will most likely be different now, and the initially limited train capacity makes it harder to catch up after falling behind (at least without trading in a strat bomber for 2 more trains).
I'm very eager to see how the first winter combined with lack of trains and the ground forces upgrade situation will come together to form a strategic dilemma.

[goose_2]

Hello Locarnus, I have applied the latest update and very much appreciate the updated upgrade hexes for Vilna. 5 upgrade hexes allows for a lot of flexibility. Might want to start utilizing more upgrade hexes as we move forward in this playthrough as may need to start shuffling more and more for last minute tweaking to the training I am trying to give to maximize kills and exp.

With that said anyone should watch Soren's Vilna playthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMODgGtp5Es

It is mesmerizing watching him play around with those isolated Conscripts to rack up easy kills for various units that need kills as they push around 3 different isolated Conscripts around the south portion of the map. That will be a great way to get needed kills for at least 3 of my lower kill count units.

Then the way the Strats just stay in the Vilna area and their other planes just stay around that general area while he plays around with damaging various fighters to rack up good kills for AA, make me excited to play catch up for my aa units in Vilna.

It is a true thing of beauty.

I hope to go over some of the 5 upgrades I want to use in Vilna, but right now going to get work done.

[bondjamesbond]

Looking forward to see how the potential threat to Swedish ore shipments will pan out for eskuche.

It would be even more interesting to see if the bombed oil depots and destroyed powder mills and food factories really affected the replenishment of their army with all the necessary resources. But for now, it's a plus and a missed move by one of the units. A hungry army with empty tanks won't achieve much.

https://www.deepl.com/ru/translator

You may have hundreds of aircraft in your arsenal, but what good are they if they don't have fuel and ammunition with bombs, for example?


Demonstration of the Panzerwerfer-42 in action on the Eastern Front (1943).

What's the point of all this artillery if you don't have enough shells right now? In terms of resources, it's simply a cornucopia.

[goose_2]

Here are the 5 units that I need to use the change hexes for:
.Std 42M Toldi IIa ............... a3s1 ... Brodrick ... change to 15cm sIG arty to get him quickly to 4 stars, if not close to 5 stars, not sure how much training I want to do before 45.
.Std 15cm sIG33 r8 ... Horse .... a3 ... Eskuche ... Panzer 3 M+ to be used in South to push around Conscripts and rack up enough kills to hopefully get 2nd Hero within 1 single scenario 30 rounds takes a long time.
.10.5 leG 43 ....................... m1d2 ... Artemis ... Jaeger 44 after watching Soren's playthrough and seeing how fast I rack up kills with infantry in close terrain I need to consider more infantry training for units that need kills. This may be a shift away from big dog tank training for arty units, and maybe consider more infantry as we get into 45.
.StuG IV+ .............................. r1 ... RayCaster ... .Möbelwagen r12 . In seeing how many Kills Soren acquired around Vilna gets me excited to see what I can garner with an almost 5 starred Mobelwagen that can hit with a 3 range.
.Sahariana 44 ..................... s1a2 ... Kostia ... - New Italian infantry mortar unit (switchable between elite inf and 75mm arty classes)
Since you made this available love to get this going for Italian units to rack up quick experience to get him up to 4 star's quickly.

[Locarnus]

Indeed, the economic aspects are unfortunately underrepresented by most wargames, but especially the PzC 1 game engine.
Even games focused on big scenario play like Strategic Command or War in the East struggle with that.
Hearts of Iron goes in that direction, but it imho leans a bit too much towards gamey meta strategies and power fantasy in terms of balancing priorities.

Here are the 5 units that I need to use the change hexes for:
.Std 42M Toldi IIa ............... a3s1 ... Brodrick ... change to 15cm sIG arty to get him quickly to 4 stars, if not close to 5 stars, not sure how much training I want to do before 45.
.Std 15cm sIG33 r8 ... Horse .... a3 ... Eskuche ... Panzer 3 M+ to be used in South to push around Conscripts and rack up enough kills to hopefully get 2nd Hero within 1 single scenario 30 rounds takes a long time.
.10.5 leG 43 ....................... m1d2 ... Artemis ... Jaeger 44 after watching Soren's playthrough and seeing how fast I rack up kills with infantry in close terrain I need to consider more infantry training for units that need kills. This may be a shift away from big dog tank training for arty units, and maybe consider more infantry as we get into 45.
.StuG IV+ .............................. r1 ... RayCaster ... .Möbelwagen r12 . In seeing how many Kills Soren acquired around Vilna gets me excited to see what I can garner with an almost 5 starred Mobelwagen that can hit with a 3 range.
.Sahariana 44 ..................... s1a2 ... Kostia ... - New Italian infantry mortar unit (switchable between elite inf and 75mm arty classes)
Since you made this available love to get this going for Italian units to rack up quick experience to get him up to 4 star's quickly.

Looks good for farming experience and kills for Vilna.
Soren indeed shows the way in terms of farming, though I wish he would increase the challenge instead.
Möbelwagen rate of fire is also nice in ground attack mode, if your airforce needs more kill farming instead.

End of GC 44 East brings the Wirbelwind also on Panzer IV chassis when in tank mode, with even better rof 13 and increased soft attack (though lower air attack and range when in AA mode). Only the Flammpanzer III is a better soft target shredder.

[Locarnus]

4 Turns already, quick AAR progress!

I like the different Bf 110 approach, keeping it in tac bomber mode even when attacking enemy bombers. So that an adjacent Bf 109 can cover him during the AI turn.

There are several differently or additionally placed units compared to BE, but Kolobanov is the most famous.
Another new (hidden) aspect is a liaison to the "French resistance", giving the UK visibility of some of the French territory near the channel. Certainly more than the radar stations and aircraft incursions alone. That was implemented to somewhat reduce the AI vulnerability to player fighter traps in that area.


Submarine warfare in the Atlantic is indeed problematic in terms of balancing.
Most players did not even use it in BE without Addon/Rommel, to save up the subs for a Sealion operation.
There are some benefits from hurting the AI a little, but it depends on the player prestige gain vs sub repair costs balance.
Which of course is much worse on Rommel difficulty.
Certainly something that could use more work in the future.
I'm hoping that McGuba has some good idea for BE 2.5 in that regard.

[eskuche]

Another new (hidden) aspect is a liaison to the "French resistance", giving the UK visibility of some of the French territory near the channel. Certainly more than the radar stations and aircraft incursions alone. That was implemented to somewhat reduce the AI vulnerability to player fighter traps in that area.

Oh okay, I was wondering how my docked MAS was directly targeted. I was searching for a 10-range radar (briefly toggled FoW to check). Anything special I should know about the Norwegian steel trigger or is it figure-it-out-on-the-spot friendly?

[Locarnus]

Another new (hidden) aspect is a liaison to the "French resistance", giving the UK visibility of some of the French territory near the channel. Certainly more than the radar stations and aircraft incursions alone. That was implemented to somewhat reduce the AI vulnerability to player fighter traps in that area.

Oh okay, I was wondering how my docked MAS was directly targeted. I was searching for a 10-range radar (briefly toggled FoW to check). Anything special I should know about the Norwegian steel trigger or is it figure-it-out-on-the-spot friendly?

That hidden vision of the British evolved a bit further to also represent UK espionage and code breaking when it comes to the defense of the british isles. Making raids and especially a Sealion attempt harder to conceal.

About the the interruption of Steel from Norway:
My additional mechanic was introduced very recently, and would not have made it if not for bondjamesbond reminding me, so balancing will need some work. It is still rather static at the moment, so infos about it could spoil the fun?
Your choice if I should continue.
So far effects are limited as well to account for the balancing work still to do (mainly costing a bit of prestige each turn), but of course prestige is much tighter on Rommel.

[bondjamesbond]

Indeed, the economic aspects are unfortunately underrepresented by most wargames, but especially the PzC 1 game engine.
Even games focused on big scenario play like Strategic Command or War in the East struggle with that.
Hearts of Iron goes in that direction, but it imho leans a bit too much towards gamey meta strategies and power fantasy in terms of balancing priorities.

The only photo of a T-70 with a cast turret on the front.The train carrying the tank was captured by the Germans in the summer of 1942



SBD Dauntless aircraft from the USS Ranger (CV-4) are heading for the invasion of French North Africa. Operation Torch, November 1942.


Throwing foil from an Avro Lancaster aircraft over Hamburg during Operation Gomorrah. This was how the RAF created
interference for German locators. 25 July 1943.


A Sherman tank next to an inflatable dummy used for disinformation of enemy air intelligence, 20 May 1944.

Total war in the air, blockade of seaports, mass partisan movement in the rear that disrupts logistics and army supplies usually does not end well.

Italian 194 mm railway gun. Italy, 1944


False positions, guns, and vehicles were constructed by all armies during World War II, but the Western Allies perfected this tactic. Even small details such as rivets could be seen on the fake tanks.


On 1 February 1942, the Germans changed the secret naval code ‘Enigma’,known to the British since the beginning
of the war, to a new one - ‘Triton’.World War II.

[Locarnus]

Throwing foil from an Avro Lancaster aircraft over Hamburg during Operation Gomorrah. This was how the RAF created
interference for German locators. 25 July 1943.

I did not know about them dropping foil to make detection more difficult!
UK was really ahead in the recon, camo and military intelligence aspects.

Love all those pictures and information.

Another new (hidden) aspect is a liaison to the "French resistance", giving the UK visibility of some of the French territory near the channel. Certainly more than the radar stations and aircraft incursions alone. That was implemented to somewhat reduce the AI vulnerability to player fighter traps in that area.

Oh okay, I was wondering how my docked MAS was directly targeted. I was searching for a 10-range radar (briefly toggled FoW to check). Anything special I should know about the Norwegian steel trigger or is it figure-it-out-on-the-spot friendly?

It is an infantry placed in the back, with camo trait and special hero that gives a massive vision buff.
Learned that from McGuba, who placed such a unit in the deep desert West of Egypt for BE singleplayer games, giving the AI massive vision around Egypt from some specific turn onward.
I was sceptical at first regarding the balancing, but imho it helped me reduce my own tendency for exploiting the AI stupidity too much.

Upgrades/Purchases: N/A; the Do 17z conversion at Wien doesn’t seem to work. However, I think the bombers are way more important in the fall of ‘41 and maybe the conversion should be delayed a bit. Repaired 4 SP StuG. 2nd and 5th Panzers (Pz I and III F) exist; former may be a Sturmpanzer I as well, and the III becoming a IIIJ. I recall a Panther upgrade path for IIIs at some point (?). My campaign brain says to train them up at StuGs but I’m not sure we have this luxury.

I'll have to check later on, but as far as I remember, the strat to fighter conversion from McGuba looks for landed strat bombers with "KG" in the name (must be in the name from the start, player renaming does not count as far as I know).
So all of those existing strat bombers should work for fighter conversion, but it does not work for newly purchased ones. The new scripts I use for the trade ins, to get trains and subs and so on, should work for existing and newly purchased strat bombers.

You already have a lot more fighters, since bringing in 4 Bf 109 (and a Bf 110) at the start and purchasing another one?
Faster air superiority is great, but so far you are doing so well that I'm rethinking FM Rommel goals for you.
Perhaps with your experience and tactical skill it is possible to go a lot further than surviving or doing better than historically.
Victory over the Soviet Union seems possible at your current pace. And since the player gets quite a bit of extra prestige every turn after defeating the SU, maybe even more is achievable. Perhaps not a total victory in this first BE + Addon run, but much more than initially thought.

Panzer III and Panther are in the same upgrade family only in BE without Addon.
With Addon the upgrade families are the same as your grand campaign east run (or the updated version of those).
There is that cross class option in mid to late 44, a Sturmpanther that is in the sIG arty upgrade family, where most other tank families also have something (Bison I for Panzer I and so on). Players discretion to use those cross class upgrade paths in BE.
For BE main scenario there is also an earlier script for ugprades to Panther. Those script upgrade options are limited in number (like strat to Bf 109 and later Bf 109 to Fw 190) but not limited to Panzer III.

The long barrel StuG III now also have a range 1 arty mode, making them very versatile (not sure if that was added after your GC East playthrough). But that would have to wait for 1942 anyway.

Turn 6
Unit losses: A new section…Atlantic destroyer succumbed to combined attacks of five (!) enemy destroyers. I really don’t know the reinforcement scripts for the Allied player so I suspect that we need to overwhelm the escorts or they will continuously pile up.

Atlantic Allied scripts remain pretty much unchanged from BE 2.3, I have hardly even looked at them. Except for the recent addition regarding the Norway convoy trouble.
I remember McGuba mentioning that there is an Allied reaction to the player bringing surface vessels to the Battle of the Atlantic. Perhaps your destroyer on convoy routes triggered something?

When I play the Battle of the Atlantic (despite its questionable profitability), I usually start forming a combined arms task force to take out destroyers as well as supply ships. Bringing long range bombers up to strength, sometimes even adding more of them to the Atlantic theater. Forming submarine wolfpacks. And then using that combined bomber and submarine force to hunt all enemy vessels near the convoy routes.

edit: Existing Ju 88 bombers are great against ships, but range is an issue, Do 217 is decent and has a bit more range.
The "Scourge of the Atlantic" Fw 200 Condor has plenty of range and decent naval attack stats, but is very vulnerable and a new one is a massive investment.

[eskuche]

Thanks for the detailed reply! I was getting slight cold feet about this campaign while showering. I'm uncertain if I can break Moscow after scouting it. I really need to find the list of events by turn, for example, to plan ahead.

In retrospect, I am re-thinking the four fighters approach for FM Rommel. Air is particularly expensive to repair and is also unuseable half the turns. However, "melee" ground units are also unlikely to be used half of the turns just given positioning and supply concerns.

My pace is driven mainly by the enhanced movement mechanics in Addon. Well, also by extensive experience in other Barbarossa games and the lack of a rail gauge switch

Re: Atlantic and scripted upgrades, keep in mind that Rommel halves ALL prestige modifications, including losses, so really the juice might not be worth the squeeze. In contrast to MP, where hiding subs on the 4-5 lanes for 25 prestige a turn is definitely worth it, here it is too dangerous for 12 prestige among 2 lanes. First impressions-wise, at least. I think the bomber upgrades to fighters are likely worth it, since you can resell the bombers that come out the other end (I wonder what the trigger for that is? Do they need full strength? 8 strength? Too lazy to check myself) for strategic benefit in Addon. I'm unsure if the Fw upgrade is worth it here. I loaded a '45 GC start and the differences between FW and Bf109 don't seem significant enough to change that over. I will keep in mind the PzIII to Panther upgrades.

I definitely considered max OSing a Fw 200 as one of the six core units. It might be fun in non-Rommel.

[Locarnus]

Thanks for the detailed reply! I was getting slight cold feet about this campaign while showering. I'm uncertain if I can break Moscow after scouting it. I really need to find the list of events by turn, for example, to plan ahead.

Caucasus, Kazan, Leningrad and Moscow are the 4 areas with the most significant changes compared to BE itself, for the eastern front.
Back then there were several youtube playthroughs where the players took Moscow rather fast and easily (eg even with just some recon if I remember correctly). Now Moscow is better defended and less significant in terms of SU reinforcement dependencies (since lots of heavy industry was moved from Ukraine to places beyond the Ural anyway).

Ah yep, I occasionally miss that turn list and even started updating it for the Addon. It got rather outdated due to all those (edit: Addon) changes over the last few years.
But since I'm more recently trying to play less optimized, I actually learned to like not having it. Not remembering/knowing exactly when something triggers brings back a bit of the tension and dynamic that was so great in the first BE attempt. Can't prevent my knowledge of Italy surrender mechanic and so on, but at least I get back small bits of perceived uncertainty.

In retrospect, I am re-thinking the four fighters approach for FM Rommel. Air is particularly expensive to repair and is also unuseable half the turns. However, "melee" ground units are also unlikely to be used half of the turns just given positioning and supply concerns.

My pace is driven mainly by the enhanced movement mechanics in Addon. Well, also by extensive experience in other Barbarossa games and the lack of a rail gauge switch

Re: Atlantic and scripted upgrades, keep in mind that Rommel halves ALL prestige modifications, including losses, so really the juice might not be worth the squeeze. In contrast to MP, where hiding subs on the 4-5 lanes for 25 prestige a turn is definitely worth it, here it is too dangerous for 12 prestige among 2 lanes. First impressions-wise, at least. I think the bomber upgrades to fighters are likely worth it, since you can resell the bombers that come out the other end (I wonder what the trigger for that is? Do they need full strength? 8 strength? Too lazy to check myself) for strategic benefit in Addon. I'm unsure if the Fw upgrade is worth it here. I loaded a '45 GC start and the differences between FW and Bf109 don't seem significant enough to change that over. I will keep in mind the PzIII to Panther upgrades.

I definitely considered max OSing a Fw 200 as one of the six core units. It might be fun in non-Rommel.

Yep, the map wide no fly time in winter is a big factor, but so is the ground unit traffic jam at the start of Barbarossa and the general supply and positioning issues of ground units you mentioned. Overall those are factors that contribute to arty being so overpowered in PanzerCorps, in addition to that suppression and experience gain mechanic.

Movement was and is a tough one for balancing. Faster usually favors the better side, which is the player when fighting the AI. Compatibility with non-BE campaigns made that problem even worse. Though not as bad as aircraft fuel values and naval stats....

Speaking of naval stats, sinking one of those convoy ships is much more profitable than sitting on the convoy routes.
Bigger question is if the AI prestige pool can be hurt in a meaningful way. That was one reason why I removed the enemy bonus experience from Rommel and FM Rommel difficulties. But I do not know if it was enough so that convoy hunting is worth it. Something still on my list of aspects to investigate...

Don't know about the exact scripts for the bomber returns when previously trading them for fighters. Was it linked to strength points or number of totally lost bomber units?

Yep, Fw 190 are a lot less overpowered against enemy fighters, though they have those in-family ground attack F and G variants.
Bf 109 are good fighters and now also have some decent ground attack stats, especially from 43 onward.
But if I'm sitting in an Allied bomber, either eastern or western front, a non-hero Fw 190 is a considerably bigger threat than a non-hero Bf 109 until the latter somewhat catches up with gun pods.