The masterpiece: Storming Stalingrad. By far the hardest scenario and most epic scenario in the DLC. Best scenario produced to date, period. I cannot praise it enough. Based on the comments, the challenge was a good thing.
Biggest surprise: Getting my ass kicked on Vitebsk on Manstein the first go-around. I had thought the scenarios were tuned to be much harder, since it was mentioned that the scenarios should get progressively harder, and if the first scenario was like that, I thought I had no chance in the subsequent ones. Well, it turns out Vitebsk was actually pretty hard, and I shouldn’t have been scared off.
Biggest disappointment: Sevastopol Assault. I could’ve won DV with 2/3 of the force limits, as most of my tanks sat around doing nothing for the entire scenario. This is admittedly only for beta v1, but perhaps it is now better under v2.
Most important thing to change (IMO): Stalingrad Docks. Not nearly as epic as the first scenario. This should be even more difficult/hard fought. It should be as epic as the previous scenario.
Second most important thing to change: Hard modes were promised to be hard. If they are offered, they should be really, REALY hard, since the player can always go through the easier path if they don’t want to face the difficult odds. This is Stalingrad, a complete disaster for the Germans, and the final four missions should reflect that accordingly. Thus far, I feel only Storming Stalingrad was a truly fitting representation, although Stalingrad Docks and Tatsinkaya weren't bad. The thing is, because the developers did make such an impressive scenario, I feel compelled to point out that the subsequent ones can surely be made as good!
Scenario difficulty: Storming Stalingrad > Stalingrad Docks > Tatsinskaya > Vitebsk. Ilovlya is worth a mention for the surprise counterattack using 5 T-34/43.
The briefings for the Stalingrad series of missions should be changed somewhat. It should mention how your forces are to lead the initial assault into the city and the attack on the Docks, but the 6th Army is right behind you and also involved in fighting for/securing the city. In the Escape from Stalingrad missions, the briefings should be changed to something along the lines of “the 6th Army has been ordered to stay behind and hold the city at all costs, but you have decided to ignore orders and attempt a breakout with your own core forces.” The current briefings give the impression that the entire German army broke out.
Final Thoughts on DLC 42 (beta v1)
Moderators: Slitherine Core, The Lordz, Panzer Corps Moderators, Panzer Corps Design
Interesting! I found the Stalingrad scenarios easier as I could carefully advance at my own pace, while Tatsinskaya really kicked my butt.
You should play Tatsinskaya with V2, it is apparently harder than in V1. At least I think so! Requires you to use a pre-Tatsinskaya save, otherwise you won't get the V2 scenario.
You should play Tatsinskaya with V2, it is apparently harder than in V1. At least I think so! Requires you to use a pre-Tatsinskaya save, otherwise you won't get the V2 scenario.
If anyone wants to try Tatsinskaya with 1942 V2, here is my savegame:
http://www.filedropper.com/longtatsinskaya
http://www.filedropper.com/longtatsinskaya
V2 addressed these points.
I'd make a sticky, but there are so many it doesn't really mean anything anymore.
Here's my quick and dirty notes of the changes.
Vitebsk
It is now possible to disembark trains in southern rail depots
Increased starting prestige and strength of pre-built core
Added trigger to end scenario prematurely If battle is going badly for the player and too many trains are lost
Simferopol
Added pair of t34/41s and reduced turn limit by 1
Sevastopol assault
Aux Matilda II removed added several ATG and light AD units to increase difficulty, increased turn limit by 2
Voronezh
reduced turn by 3
Novoanninsky
reduced turn limit by 2
Docks:
Added many idle soviet infantry units to guard the non VH dock flag hexes
Bolstered defenses around Pavlov’s house and the Rail depot
Escape from Stalingrad:
Reduced inactivity time for last wave of Russian forces to begin attacking.
Added two groups of soviet air units
Added several static defenders to block the route to Sector C escape zone
Tatsinskaya:
Increased strength of initial soviet attack waves
Added several soviet aircraft to better contest air superiority battle
Added 150 prestige per turn income
Various text fixes
I'd make a sticky, but there are so many it doesn't really mean anything anymore.
Here's my quick and dirty notes of the changes.
Vitebsk
It is now possible to disembark trains in southern rail depots
Increased starting prestige and strength of pre-built core
Added trigger to end scenario prematurely If battle is going badly for the player and too many trains are lost
Simferopol
Added pair of t34/41s and reduced turn limit by 1
Sevastopol assault
Aux Matilda II removed added several ATG and light AD units to increase difficulty, increased turn limit by 2
Voronezh
reduced turn by 3
Novoanninsky
reduced turn limit by 2
Docks:
Added many idle soviet infantry units to guard the non VH dock flag hexes
Bolstered defenses around Pavlov’s house and the Rail depot
Escape from Stalingrad:
Reduced inactivity time for last wave of Russian forces to begin attacking.
Added two groups of soviet air units
Added several static defenders to block the route to Sector C escape zone
Tatsinskaya:
Increased strength of initial soviet attack waves
Added several soviet aircraft to better contest air superiority battle
Added 150 prestige per turn income
Various text fixes
I hope that the usual drop in feedback for the 2nd round of testing doesn't mean nobody is going to test this one, as the final scenario of the DLC it is likely to get tested the least as people progress through the DLC again from the start.
So far it's only me who felt suitably challenged this time. Could be that I simply wasn't playing well this time, lost more units than during the entire DLC-war.
So far it's only me who felt suitably challenged this time. Could be that I simply wasn't playing well this time, lost more units than during the entire DLC-war.
I'm not particularly concerned. It's tough to get people to test content and leave feedback the first time around, and then to expect them to do it all over again (The DLC is not a small product, it takes many MANY hours to play to completion) is asking a lot.
The first run of feedback was the most important, a full second run isn't as important. Almost all the changes are minor difficulty tweaks or text fixes as it is, which means the content on the whole is not radically different. The main focus of testing right now is to make sure the campaign is functional and that we didn't accidentally break anything that would cause the campaign to error out (victory conditions getting messed up, scenarios linking improperly, campaign suddenly and unexpectedly ending, problems of this nature).
There's no change that should produce errors such as this that I can think of, but that doesn't mean we may not have missed them.
So right now the important thing is for people to just play the content. I'm absolutely positive if someone manages to seriously 'break' the campaign, we'll get feedback on that.
Otherwise, what we have now is a 'no news is good news' situation.
The first run of feedback was the most important, a full second run isn't as important. Almost all the changes are minor difficulty tweaks or text fixes as it is, which means the content on the whole is not radically different. The main focus of testing right now is to make sure the campaign is functional and that we didn't accidentally break anything that would cause the campaign to error out (victory conditions getting messed up, scenarios linking improperly, campaign suddenly and unexpectedly ending, problems of this nature).
There's no change that should produce errors such as this that I can think of, but that doesn't mean we may not have missed them.
So right now the important thing is for people to just play the content. I'm absolutely positive if someone manages to seriously 'break' the campaign, we'll get feedback on that.
Otherwise, what we have now is a 'no news is good news' situation.
Adean wrote:Nothing again buddy but, sometimes it should be great write here about the changes::D it should be great to know what we can compare:)
Kerensky wrote:V2 addressed these points.
I'd make a sticky, but there are so many it doesn't really mean anything anymore.
Here's my quick and dirty notes of the changes.
Vitebsk
It is now possible to disembark trains in southern rail depots
Increased starting prestige and strength of pre-built core
Added trigger to end scenario prematurely If battle is going badly for the player and too many trains are lost
Simferopol
Added pair of t34/41s and reduced turn limit by 1
Sevastopol assault
Aux Matilda II removed added several ATG and light AD units to increase difficulty, increased turn limit by 2
Voronezh
reduced turn by 3
Novoanninsky
reduced turn limit by 2
Docks:
Added many idle soviet infantry units to guard the non VH dock flag hexes
Bolstered defenses around Pavlov’s house and the Rail depot
Escape from Stalingrad:
Reduced inactivity time for last wave of Russian forces to begin attacking.
Added two groups of soviet air units
Added several static defenders to block the route to Sector C escape zone
Tatsinskaya:
Increased strength of initial soviet attack waves
Added several soviet aircraft to better contest air superiority battle
Added 150 prestige per turn income
Various text fixes
I got it thx:-)Kerensky wrote:Adean wrote:Nothing again buddy but, sometimes it should be great write here about the changes::D it should be great to know what we can compare:)Kerensky wrote:V2 addressed these points.
I'd make a sticky, but there are so many it doesn't really mean anything anymore.
Here's my quick and dirty notes of the changes.
Vitebsk
It is now possible to disembark trains in southern rail depots
Increased starting prestige and strength of pre-built core
Added trigger to end scenario prematurely If battle is going badly for the player and too many trains are lost
Simferopol
Added pair of t34/41s and reduced turn limit by 1
Sevastopol assault
Aux Matilda II removed added several ATG and light AD units to increase difficulty, increased turn limit by 2
Voronezh
reduced turn by 3
Novoanninsky
reduced turn limit by 2
Docks:
Added many idle soviet infantry units to guard the non VH dock flag hexes
Bolstered defenses around Pavlov’s house and the Rail depot
Escape from Stalingrad:
Reduced inactivity time for last wave of Russian forces to begin attacking.
Added two groups of soviet air units
Added several static defenders to block the route to Sector C escape zone
Tatsinskaya:
Increased strength of initial soviet attack waves
Added several soviet aircraft to better contest air superiority battle
Added 150 prestige per turn income
Various text fixes