PzC Series - Campagna d'Abissinia - Avanti per la Vittoria (24-28/06/26)

[imp44791]

I continued Eagles (having finally settled down to a more sedentary phase of my holiday) to Bardia. The maps are all good, being defence the turn limits are not important; as with other maps, a tiny strengthening of the RAF would make them a bit harder for the human and thus good for an imported core. The problem is that historically the DAF had basically just Hurricanes, Wellingtons and Blenheims until late 41 when Beaufighters finally came in to help in the F/B role. The exception is Bardia, which is perfectly balanced. A lovely fight all the way.

[imp44791]

Retreat across Cyrenaica. Perhaps some rebalancing needed. Turns can be extended to 17 or even 18 (the M13s can barely get there if they don't manoeuvre at all) and the British strengthened instead. As before 1 each of a Hurricane, Wellington and Blenheim is too little. I would add a second Hurricane and Blenheim perhaps as part of a southern battlegroup. That's currently the main issue with the British ground forces: they're roo scattered at the south and come to you piecemeal. They should be more concentrated and perhaps reinforced by 1-2 LRDG lorry infantry

[imp44791]

Minor issue. The scenario briefing for Beda Fomm mentions "area marked with an A", but of course with your current equipment file there are no more As or Bs.

[imp44791]

Odd. The experience maximum seems to be variable per unit, perhaps something to do with imported vs gifted vs purchased units?

I have a SM84 capped at 306, an SE BR20 capped at 225 and most of my ground units apparently capped at 244?

[nikivdd]

Odd. The experience maximum seems to be variable per unit, perhaps something to do with imported vs gifted vs purchased units?

I have a SM84 capped at 306, an SE BR20 capped at 225 and most of my ground units apparently capped at 244?

One of the scenarios did not have the experience capped. It has been corrected. I will post an update of the campaign after you concluded your playthrough.

[imp44791]

Beda Fomm. Very nice. Better than the vanilla, though again the RAF could do with some strengthening. Perhaps the following troops can be beefed up more generally and given an additional Hurricane and Wellington and perhaps even a Matilda or two to prod the player on to break through. It makes more sense for the Matildas to be coming from the rear anyway, considering their limited mobility.

[nikivdd]

Romanian_Fw-190A.png (34.02 KiB) Viewed 622 times

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[bondjamesbond]

Romanian_Fw-190A.png
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Romanian_Pe-8.png
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Refugees.png

https://en.topwar.ru/172046-krasnyj-plan.html
Refugees are the scourge of all wars, but they're necessary for authenticity and realism! So I like these kinds of settings—they really help you get a feel for that era!

https://irc-libfl.tilda.ws/georgesromant/str


The Romanian army is really awesome—with Hitler to Moscow, with Stalin to Berlin

[imp44791]

Final mission of Eagles. Starts very well with a running battle, but the player will easily slaughter the British in their trucks especially if he can keep a forward position with a 90mm AA viable for the first 2 rounds. Together with 3 12 strenght fighters this completely wipes out the RAF in two rounds and then it's easy slaughtering.

The answer, as ever, is to beef up the RAF with a minimum extra Hurricane and Wellington. Some LRDG lorries (instead of Bren Carrier infantry) on the flank would make this a more threatening proposition. AA wouldn't hurt for the British either to stop the relentless blitzing from the sky.

The campaign overall is excellent. The PzC engine is very limited on attack, so the retreat scenarios are not as fearsome as they could be (unless the British are strenghtened as underlined repeatedly in my reports). I also think that the Italian attack phase up to November 1940 can be expanded with some of the maps from the other Afrika Corps campaign (BuqBuq, and either of Sidi Barrani/Mersa Matruh. But we've been through all this before. This is a lovely campaign and I'm looking forward to the next installment when it comes.

[nikivdd]

Thanks a lot for the constructive feedback, that is what is most useful to be able to give the scenarios a final polish. So soon i will post the final update for Eagles in the Sand.

[bondjamesbond]

Thanks a lot for the constructive feedback, that is what is most useful to be able to give the scenarios a final polish. So soon i will post the final update for Eagles in the Sand.

That's great, but I'd like to go to Latin America. I'm tired of Europe and Africa.
https://btgv.ru/history/civil-war/the-u ... ran-chaco/
The changing scenery and landscape will be a treat for my eyes )

[imp44791]

I want to go back to the Soviet Union! There are some nazis I need to push back from the Don

[nikivdd]

Some screens of a program i am working on - The Panzer Corps equipment file viewer.
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Efileviewer2.png (174.75 KiB) Viewed 448 times

[bondjamesbond]

Some screens of a program i am working on - The Panzer Corps equipment file viewer.
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Efileviewer1.png
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Efileviewer2.png

A great idea and program

[imp44791]

I've been doing some checking (granted, on Wikipedia) and perhaps an alternative path to balancing this campaign is not to increase the RAF resources but restrict the Italian air force. Both sides had very limited air assets well into 1941.

Without plane support, the player will have a much tougher job considering the weakness of Italian armour. Could you put a restriction to a max 2-3 air deployments like in some US Corps Tunisian scenarios?

[bondjamesbond]

I've been doing some checking (granted, on Wikipedia) and perhaps an alternative path to balancing this campaign is not to increase the RAF resources but restrict the Italian air force. Both sides had very limited air assets well into 1941.

Without plane support, the player will have a much tougher job considering the weakness of Italian armour. Could you put a restriction to a max 2-3 air deployments like in some US Corps Tunisian scenarios?

As we say here, I’ll put in my two cents ) Dear tester, what difficulty level are you playing on? (Don’t forget that a lot depends on the difficulty level – what might be a walk in the park on ‘Lieutenant’ could turn into a bloody massacre on ‘Field Marshal’! I’m all for realism, of course, but why turn the campaign into a masochism simulator??? ))) Everyone’s level of skill and playing style is different – not everyone’s as brilliant a military commander as you are )

[imp44791]

Always on Normal (no bonuses either side), AI 2, Chess.

I find that giving the AI artificial bonuses is exactly the sort of "masochism simulator" you describe. The same goes for insane entrenchment levels that make every second attack a rugged defence and ruin every point of strategising. The (wonderful) Soviet Storm campaign suffered a lot from this "everyone entrenched at 9" disease.

A well constructed map will keep the player creative without needing to swamp the AI with artillery/plane fire. I find Nico's scenarios very good on that behalf. The terrain and positioning of the enemy does their work for them on defence, while on attack a well placed event battlegroup on the flanks (a favourite of this modder) keeps you from being too confident.

[nikivdd]

I think it should be up to the player to decide how many fighters to include in the core army. Not everything needs to be restricted by rules, and experimenting with different core compositions can be fun. I know I imposed some restrictions in the past, but personally, I am no longer in favor of them.

[bondjamesbond]

Always on Normal (no bonuses either side), AI 2, Chess.

I find that giving the AI artificial bonuses is exactly the sort of "masochism simulator" you describe. The same goes for insane entrenchment levels that make every second attack a rugged defence and ruin every point of strategising. The (wonderful) Soviet Storm campaign suffered a lot from this "everyone entrenched at 9" disease.

A well constructed map will keep the player creative without needing to swamp the AI with artillery/plane fire. I find Nico's scenarios very good on that behalf. The terrain and positioning of the enemy does their work for them on defence, while on attack a well placed event battlegroup on the flanks (a favourite of this modder) keeps you from being too confident.

If there are trenches, minefields, anti-tank hedgehogs and bunkers, this should make cities and their defences stronger – that’s why they’re being built, using up resources and man-hours! And there’s no masochism involved here; you’ve got several options too: lay siege and gradually wipe out the defenders, or flank them by looking for weak spots in their defences! Everyone plays as best they can and as they wish – let’s not impose our own stereotypes or engage in self-indulgence. Your suggestions are good for blitzkriegs, but they come to an end very quickly if the defenders can also take countermeasures or wear down your well-ordered ranks through a protracted defence. )))

Anti-tank trenches are dug both for practical reasons and for show – not so that the population wouldn’t think about war whilst digging away with spades and pickaxes )))
https://reibert.info/media/stroitelstvo ... pg.255936/

https://yandex.uz/images/search?lr=1033 ... овые%20рвы

Barbed wire is there to make sure no one in sexy shorts runs past it )))

[imp44791]

As always my comments are suggestions, not the word of god. After all I do exactly zero work to create the mod!

Regarding entrenchments, I have no issues with besieging a set position, like Leningrad, or the German fortifications on the Dniepr in 1943. My issue with Soviet Storm (an otherwise fantastic mod, let me repeat) was that during the Soviet counter phase of the war after 1943 and especially 1944, every bleeding German unit was entrenched to the hilt, including in clear ground. It made things tedious.

Ans it's true that I enjoy battles of encounter more than static artillery fests (though artillery is by far my most cherished units and I tend to have artillery heavy cores). The PzC engine is at its best when approximating combined arms operations with rock-paper-scissors dynamics: infantry rules in closed terrain, tanks catch you in the open and you're dead, artillery is tremendous as long as it's protected etc. Sieges work too, but there the recipe is the God of War to the nth power: cannon, cannon, cannon. A bit repetitive, and this comes from an artillery lover, let me repeat.