Impressions after 10 scenarios, and some suggestions.

[Tordenskjold]

Impressions
Great game this and very challenging.
The impression is that one have to "crack the codes" to be able to replay the history as it actually unfolded. I have never played longer than to the start of the fourth scenario in the Campaign since by then, my forces are not many and strong enought to prewail against very strong allied units. And why is this? Since I have started the Campaign over 3 times I have really tried to figure this out. I have choosed to play Colonel level (also tried General) with Weather, Supply and Fog of War. I might drop Supply for my next campaign since this halts my units and makes it impossible to achieve a Major victory, except from in Polan perhaps. This might alslo lead to tougher resistanse..?

It took me a long while to find out the importan feature; disband unit I did not want to take into the next scenario. Why is there not a button for this? You use the (D) to do this by the way. (Always read the manual...) Does one get the prestige points back when doing this? Seems not to happen.

Anyway I love games that I have to restart several times to figure out. As long as there is a sence in what is happening and that the game behaviour is consistent that is. I have a feeling that the odds more often goes in the favour of the AI. That is a bit disturbing. I have seen forces with 220 experience crack against allied forces with 90. Is there sence in that?

And so many questions:
-Artillery are extremely important but I can't tell any difference between 10,5cm and 15,5 cm guns. So why spend the extra prestige?
-Does cities give additional defense?
-Is it possible to cut enemy units supplies through Zone Of Control, or is there actually no imaginary supply lines?
-Why does infantry struggle that hard to knock out anti tank weapons?
-Why does not an artillery/AA unit conquer a city?

Some suggestions:
1. After action report with loss figures for both parties after a Scenario. This would give the player a lot of information
2. A Disband button in the main interface (did I overlook it?)
3. Experience figure in the main interface (the more the better here to avoid right clicking on units to find out) There seems to be room for it under or over the minimiap. The minimap fits well in the bottom right.
4. The French and Belgians has loads of Anti Aircraft guns. Is this very realistic? I don't think so from what I have read about the war the last 35 years.
5. The German 88 could kill a tank on a 3000m range. To depict this the range when using it this way should be 1, not 0. I haven't killed a singel enemy tank with this gun in 10 scenarios!

A good review that describes this great game in a very precise way: http://www.gamesquad.com/review/panzer-corps-review

And then, starting up again without supply. Maybe I get further this time?

[El_Condoro]

And so many questions:
-Artillery are extremely important but I can't tell any difference between 10,5cm and 15,5 cm guns. So why spend the extra prestige?
-Does cities give additional defense?
-Is it possible to cut enemy units supplies through Zone Of Control, or is there actually no imaginary supply lines?
-Why does infantry struggle that hard to knock out anti tank weapons?
-Why does not an artillery/AA unit conquer a city?

Some suggestions:
1. After action report with loss figures for both parties after a Scenario. This would give the player a lot of information
2. A Disband button in the main interface (did I overlook it?)
3. Experience figure in the main interface (the more the better here to avoid right clicking on units to find out) There seems to be room for it under or over the minimiap. The minimap fits well in the bottom right.
4. The French and Belgians has loads of Anti Aircraft guns. Is this very realistic? I don't think so from what I have read about the war the last 35 years.
5. The German 88 could kill a tank on a 3000m range. To depict this the range when using it this way should be 1, not 0. I haven't killed a singel enemy tank with this gun in 10 scenarios!

Welcome to the forum!
I can't answer all your questions but some tips:
- Artillery differences: (for any equipment) when in the Deploy screen at the beginning of the scenario, click the equipment you want to compare and you'll see them in columns on the right of the screen. Red figures = worse, green figures = better. You then make up your own mind if an upgrade is worth the cost.
- cities have a higher entrenchment cap and units start at 3. There may also be an initiative cap, too.
- supply is not represented. The only way to affect a unit's supply is to put friendly units adjacent. 3 adjacent = no supply for the enemy unit. Proportional otherwise.
- INF vs AT: use a ctrl-click before an attack to get a breakdown of a combat - that should show why a particular infantry unit might have trouble with an AT. Use it for any combat.
- the ability for AA, ART to conquer objectives was discussed at length (I think in beta) but you might need to do a search of the Open Beta forum to find it.

Some of your suggestions have been made by others, too.
1. AAR - requested
2. Disband hasn't but may be added. Do it during the Deploy phase of the turn and you'll get your money back. In a game, no return, but it does free a slot if you need one.
3. Experience shown - agree, along with range.
4. Can't comment as not familiar with the battles
5. Range is always adjacent hex, unless ART type. The longer range of the 88 is built into its attack figures. I have found it to be very effective, so I'm not sure why it's not living up to its potential for you. It does suffer as all towed AT do, though - it's towed!

Cheers and keep posting your questions.

[soldier]

5. The German 88 could kill a tank on a 3000m range. To depict this the range when using it this way should be 1, not 0. I haven't killed a singel enemy tank with this gun in 10 scenarios!

The 88mm has a very "specialist" anti tank role in the early war scenarios and requires a bit finesse to get right, but can really deliver the knock out blow against the allied heavies if used correctly. Sometimes you have to plan a move ahead and carefully set up your attack to get good results. Always soften up your target with artillery and air strikes before using the 88mm offensively, the same way a boxer might set up for his big right hook. It doesn't work so well when asked to walk out and open up attacks on fresh enemy amour without support.
Of course, its much easier to use defensively but by then its 1943 and its coming out as the central weapon in all kinds of hideous heavily armoured contraptions

[Molve]

Impressions

A few (purely personal) observations regarding your post, Tordenskjold:

- By your post, I'm gathering you're in the beginning of hopefully a long and usccessful "career". By this I mean that the more you play, the more tricks you learn, the easier things will become!
- I highly suggest playing at at least General difficulty level. Why so? Because at lower levels, the AI (which like in many games isn't very smart) is further hobbled - it is first at General level the AI plays at full strength (however imperfect that is). Of course you need to practice a bit before then, but once you wish to get a bloodied tooth I mean.
- I highly recommend playing with all three options on: weather, fog of war, and supply. As others have told you the supply system is actually quite limited in Panzer General - meaning it is actually much more generous than in a more advanced game. Playing without even the rudimentary supply restrictions is not something I recommend you get used to. Best to learn the full game from the start.
- You can disband units, and if you do so during deployment (as opposed to when the units are on the map) you get prestige back. All expertise is still lost, however. But I can't say I recommend using this option too much. I think its best if you learn to "make do" with the units you have; forcing you to already from the beginning to consider well-rounded units...
- the combat predictor is woefully inadequate. As others have said, you can bring up a details screen (both before and after the actual battle). It would have been so much better, however, if all circumstances were included in the combat predictor already so you didn't have to use those details screens. As it is, as a beginner you need to learn about suppression, entrenchment and initiative - all things not properly taken into account by the "quick" combat predictor.
- One thing is for certain however, the game does not cheat. You might feel the odds are against you, but let me assure you this is an illusion. Once you master the preparations that pave way for a successful attack, you should see that the admittedly very wild results swing both ways. Keep in mind it's human nature to remember set-backs much more strongly than when things just seem to go your way...!
- "Bigger" artillery have greater "soft attack" values. But you're right, as long as your piece has a range of three, it does its basic job - reducing entrenchment and suppressing part of the enemy. It's just that heavier armor hits a bit harder. As others have said, you will have to make up your own mind here. Sticking with 10.5's is an entirely reasonable proposition: more prestige left for other things. Like halftrack transport for those artillery pieces. Also - bigger artillery often have lower ammo magazines, they need to reload more often.
- Regarding city defense: please check the entrenchment tables of your user manual or in-game library.
- no supply lines; nothing to cut. But if the enemy is adjacent, you don't get full resupply. A simplistic approach perhaps, but one that generally gives acceptable results. But it does mean that if you can sneak a unit behind enemy lines, and you can conquer and hold a city, you can start buying fresh units there (even though there would be no real way of bringing them there).
- If your infantry is struggling against anti-tank: check the defender's entrenchment. And of course, that it isn't actually good at fighting infantry (a good soft attack)!
- artillery/AD can't take flags because... that's the way it's always been (already in the now-ancient Panzer General game).
- no disband button; only keyboard shortcut. Check the thread in the main forum!
- no (land) unit in Panzer Corps can fire direct fire longer than the adjacent hex. Previous games featured heavy armor with range 2, but that is deemed overpowered by the PC devs. So the reason is "balance over realism".

Good luck!

[Tordenskjold]

Thank you everyone! Things have been much clearer and I am now well into my fourth campaign. Just finished the first Barbarossa scenario and like all the other scenarios in this campaign I managed a Major victor in the last turn! I must say this game is just impressingly balanced. I would never achieved all those Majors with Supply turned on. I have turned it off playing at Colonel level. If anyone out there has managed any numbers of Major victories with Supply On and at General level, I'd love to get some AAR. Do you listen Molve .
Seriously I really use a lot of time and consideration to achieve such victories and just wonder how it is possible to do it much better? One might always choose the wrong combination of units of course. That is a tough one.

And about the 88. I have till now not killed a singel enemy Tank with this gun, but given the enemy airforce a good beeting. How can you kill an enemy tank with this weapon with 0 range? Have you killed any soldier?

And just to give the developers some well deserved credit. I loved the Greece scenario, fabolous. In style with Norway that are great too. Tremendoulsy well done!

And some more suggestions:
1. Even though this is a copy of Panzer General I would love something that adds more atmosphere. What about a film or animation that gives a break when an importan city are conquered? The fact of the matter is that this game is so addictive that a break is most welcome.
2. I would also love the see the nations flag on the unit on the map, so one might tell the difference between Greek and Australian and German and Italian units right away.

Great game!

[MartyWard]

And about the 88. I have till now not killed a singel enemy Tank with this gun, but given the enemy airforce a good beeting. How can you kill an enemy tank with this weapon with 0 range? Have you killed any soldier?

Are you changing the 88 to AT mode? It's default is AA but there is a switch button to change it over to AT mode.
It works really good in the early scenarios as an AT gun just don't expect to wipe out gobs of JS tanks with it.

[deducter]

Check the AAR forum, I gave some brief summaries of my time on Rommel difficulty, in which I won decisive on many maps. I consider it the easiest bonus difficulty though. My first or even second attempts on most maps on Manstein results only in marginal victories, but I did not post any AARs.