PzC Series - Ashes of Empire v1.0 / Das Reich demo (08/05/26)

[imp44791]

One last comment. With only one Bf-109 and one Bf-110 you will never win air supremacy as the French planes will always retreat and reinforce back. Perhaps this is as intended, but it overrates the French air force somewhat (especially the sad little Morane-Saulnier 406 which got its butt kicked).

Two Bf109s would probably make it too easy, two Bf110s probably too ahistorical. I don't know.

[imp44791]

OK, there's a Hurricane too. So the German auxiliaries need two 109s after all. It is May 1940 after all, the allies potentially having air superiority in fighters is a bit odd.

[imp44791]

I won with lots of turns to spare. That early French attack crippled them as some of their better units were caught in the open.

Fun scenario. I am sure you know but there are no specific placenames (e.g. Abbeville etc) on your map. It's not important, but usually you are so meticulous with this stuff I wonder if there is something you forgot to add to the scenario.

Now we seem to jump to 1941 but I will stop for today as I simply have too much work.

[BeADriver]

Soviet Corps 1937-1942.png
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Soviet Corps roadmap.png
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panzer_taskwindow_02_03.png
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Phase one has been completed in the meantime.

Is this a reworked version of your Soviet Grand Campaign DLC or did you start from scratch? I'm not familiar with the Soviet units of your Armory equipment file yet, but I'd like to see a late-war Soviet campaign at some point too.

[imp44791]

I lied . I played a bit the Yugoslavia scenario.

Again, the Luftwaffe is too limited for the Balkans in spring 1941. The Yugoslavs have two fighters, you only have one 109 and one 110. I would add another 109 for sure, as historically the Germans won control of the sky almost immediately. If you don't want to completely destroy the Yugoslav AF on the first round, perhaps replace the 110 with a second 109, rather than add a third fighter; perhaps make one 109 an early E, and the second a late E or even an F. Add instead a level bomber in place of the lost bombing ability of the replaced 110. By this time you have Ju-88s which were used in the Balkans quite a bit. An air group of one 109E, one 109F, one Stuka and one 88 should be sufficient to shadow history and allow a skilled player to prevail eventually but not immediately.

Regarding the armoury, I was slightly surprised that in the beginning of the scenario I could not upgrade my purchased Pz-IIIF to a J. That's not the SE gift. The SE roster includes the IIIJ (as it should, it was rolled out to units in April 41) but not the regular one. I noticed this because I wanted to upgrade the gift SE B1 to a PzIVF1 and noticed that the IIIJ was available to the SE upgrade path. Incidentally the livery for the SE PzIVF1 is regular field gray rather than the usual in PzC "camo" of SE units. It doesn't matter, but it's unusual and I thought I'd mention it.

[nikivdd]

OK, there's a Hurricane too. So the German auxiliaries need two 109s after all. It is May 1940 after all, the allies potentially having air superiority in fighters is a bit odd.

Yep, you are right, i add a fighter in both France and Belgrade mission.
During my playthrough i hadn't so much trouble with enemy air assets, i bought in the third mission an 88.

The panzer IIIJ is added to the equipment file.

equipment.rar

(144.49 KiB) Downloaded 6 times

Is this a reworked version of your Soviet Grand Campaign DLC or did you start from scratch? I'm not familiar with the Soviet units of your Armory equipment file yet, but I'd like to see a late-war Soviet campaign at some point too.

A more polished version, especially intro briefings and translations in German, French and Russian. I also changed some units in the missions but nothing fancy.
Imp44971 in no small part, was a great support in helping me out to balance the missions that have been made available so far.

[imp44791]

You are very kind, but all I did is play. You are doing all the work.

I may hold you to that "so far"

[imp44791]

I was actually wrong about the IIIJ - it should be the IIIH in early 41. It was the most common "good" Panzer during Barbarossa as well, together with the IVE. The IVF1 in fact came out exactly in April 41, so it wouldn't have been available to units in the Balkans. I don't think I noticed the E in this armoury, at least in the SS units. Lots of Skoda 38t were still in use until early 42, don't think I've seen one yet.

[stormbringer3]

Thanks for the Italy- Afrika Korps download link. I've installed 5 of your mods and they all work without a problem. I used the same process for this, and it shows in the Mod folder. However, when I start Afkika Korps as the installation document states, all I get is the usual start.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[nikivdd]

Thanks for the Italy- Afrika Korps download link. I've installed 5 of your mods and they all work without a problem. I used the same process for this, and it shows in the Mod folder. However, when I start Afkika Korps as the installation document states, all I get is the usual start.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Unzipping the file creates the folder Italy Corps + Afrika Corps. It is the content of that folder that needs to be copied to the panzer corps main directory. Overwrite when prompted (but backup data folder first).

[imp44791]

Yugoslavia is ok other than the LW bit. Turn limit is generous but fine

Barbarossa is ok so far on the ground. Turn limit is too generous I think for such a narrow map, but I haven't won yet. The LW needs more fighters (this should be my motto ). 1x109 is too little - you can never knock out that I-16. This is Barbarossa we're talking about, the poor VVS was so badly hammered on the ground that the Germans had immediate air supremacy for the first crucial days. I would definitely add one more 109, and possibly one 110 as well. You can up the Soviet AA if you think this will make it too easy.

I will revert with other comments as I have a bit of time in my hands before I go to bed.

[imp44791]

Oh, a second I-16. It doesn't make a difference, it's an easy scenario for a decent player, but it does look extremely odd.

The turn limit is too rich. 16 or even 14 would be better, to reflect the sense of tight schedule for the Germans. I won on turn 10.

I was awarded a strength-12 Pz-IIIJ as gift at the end

[bondjamesbond]

I’m always looking for a way to victory through retreat!

[imp44791]

Smolensk. Turn limit is fine (I won with 3 turns to spare). LW a bit better balanced, though still a bit light on fighters despite now 2x109 and 1x110. With the help of the auxiliary AA you will win air supremacy eventually.

Soviet ground forces need a tiny bit of beefing up. Perhaps give them a KV-1 to make the player plan a little?

German mix has too many Pz-IIIs and IVs. Considering the player will have those, you should give the scenario auxiliaries some Skodas, and even the odd Pz-II which was still knocking about during Barbarossa.

Give the auxiliary bridge engineer horse transport at least. Just by walking he will never get to the other side of Smolensk from the south, which is the point of the manoeuvre. As the defences of the landbridge were not that tough there was no point anyway, and I just took Smolensk frontally. I would strengthen the Soviets in front of the town blocking the access from the landbridge (as I said, perhaps give them a nasty KV-1 plus some extra artillery - they're Soviets after all, they love their cannon) but make the bridge engineer mobile.

More tomorrow if I get the time.

[nikivdd]

Smolensk. Turn limit is fine (I won with 3 turns to spare). LW a bit better balanced, though still a bit light on fighters despite now 2x109 and 1x110. With the help of the auxiliary AA you will win air supremacy eventually.

Soviet ground forces need a tiny bit of beefing up. Perhaps give them a KV-1 to make the player plan a little?

German mix has too many Pz-IIIs and IVs. Considering the player will have those, you should give the scenario auxiliaries some Skodas, and even the odd Pz-II which was still knocking about during Barbarossa.

Give the auxiliary bridge engineer horse transport at least. Just by walking he will never get to the other side of Smolensk from the south, which is the point of the manoeuvre. As the defences of the landbridge were not that tough there was no point anyway, and I just took Smolensk frontally. I would strengthen the Soviets in front of the town blocking the access from the landbridge (as I said, perhaps give them a nasty KV-1 plus some extra artillery - they're Soviets after all, they love their cannon) but make the bridge engineer mobile.

More tomorrow if I get the time.

Thanks for the feedback, i made the necessary adjustments.
The bridge engineer is switchable.
Long time ago on the forum i found some custom buttons highlighting the switch option. I have been using it ever since.
Credits to the original poster.
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panzerbutton_mbutton09_inact.jpg (1.96 KiB) Viewed 154 times

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Those go into the UI\Buttons folder.

[imp44791]

Oh. I know the icon, I just never noticed it for this unit! The pitfalls of trying to playtest at 11 pm after a full day's work.

[imp44791]

Vyazma. No major issues. The rain is the main obstacle as it should be. I got the KV-2 capturable (also the KV-1 in Smolensk). LW/VVS strengths look good (yes! you have read this right! there is no need to add extra German fighters!). Turn limit is fine considering you grind to a halt in the mud. I won with 2 turns to spare.

Prestige now looks just right. It's not possible any more to fill out the core with the latest and greatest, overstrength and reinforce during battle.

[bondjamesbond]

In the end, I managed to get through this level, even though many of my warriors fell in battle! But there’s more to come...

[imp44791]

I've started Gates of Moscow. The LW hasn't got enough fighters

Seriously, just an additional Bf110 will help the two 109s at least try to kill off slowly the numerous VVS planes who are attacking.

EDIT: OK, not "numerous" but it's still impossible to kill off the enemy unless you lure them to an AA trap.

Also the first 6 turns have been sunshine. I don't know if this is something that the engine allows to control vary much, but we're talking about the famous 1941 winter here.

EDIT2: The other impression I have is that the Red Army is too sparse. I haven't had much resistance and I'm almost at Khimki on Turn 7. In Real Life the Germans only poked a tiny detachment, perhaps (accounts vary), just before the whole thing was called off. Ground war-wise, this should be much more of a grind. We need more Soviets, and we need them entrenched with cannons and AA!

I would also probably reduce the auxiliary Wehrmacht units (BUT NOT THE PLANES ) or at least have them understrength. By the time the 4th Army launched the attack along the highway straight to Moscow, the attacking units were at the end of their rope. This should be a tough battle, even on Normal/Normal.

[bondjamesbond]

Chett, bro Nico, you’ve gone a bit overboard with the Greek hordes and the air force, backed up by artillery ))) I reckon the Greek hordes need to be scaled back a bit. As usual, I’ve attached some screenshots and replays to back up my point!