Final thoughts on DLC 43

[Zhivago]

I enjoyed DLC 43 a lot, and I am sure that when it is released people will definitely enjoy it too. As a test, I replayed the entire DLC 43 on Colonel, but at the beginning of each scenario I used the prestige cheat code to add just enough prestige to completely repair all of my units to maximum over-strength. This usually meant adding anywhere from 2500 to 3500 points at the beginning of many of the scenarios (mostly the Kursk battles). I also tried several scenarios on the General level doing this.

My conclusion is that with a full core of fully upgraded, over-strength German units, the German Army always rolls over the Russians. I was able to get DVs with an average of 5 or more turns to spare in many scenarios, and in every scenario I was able to capture most, if not all, hexes held by the Russians. I do not feel that the AI is much of a challenge to an experienced player in this situation. It is clear that the only balance in the game is achieved by a shortage of prestige which forces the German Army core to be under-strength, and not upgraded to its maximum potential. Essentially, the AI can make the game a challenge if one arm is tied behind the German Army's back by a prestige and unit shortage. I am definitely not trying to knock the game, but I think the AI could definitely be tweaked up. Small things, like having the AI make better use of its arty by firing it at the beginning of the turn, would really make a difference. I don't know how many times a Russian tank or infantry unit will attack one of my units (usually a soft-target like infantry or towed arty), and then after that skirmish is complete, the AI fires its arty at the unit it just attacked. This totally defeats the purpose of using arty in an offensive capacity. Also, Russian aircraft need to be more aggressive. I can remember in Panzer General that the AI would sometimes throw aircraft in suicide waves against my attacking aircraft just to drain my aircraft's ammo. Perhaps an instruction could be added to the code whereby if a German plane's ammo is down to less than three shots, the Russian planes will go after it to drain its ammo and then have a better shot at shooting it down.

Additionally, once you have a fighter with a 12 or 13 strength, especially if it is an FW190, you are going to blow every Russian aircraft out of the sky. By the last few scenarios of DLC 43, my FW190's were 14 and 15 strength. Most of the time the Russian fighter or bomber disappeared completely with no losses to my fighter. The only way the Russians could get at my fighters were with ground AA, or if they caught a bomber of mine without an escort and without ammo.

The bottom line is that this game shows that there is not really a question of which army has the better equipment--the Germans do in almost every single area. And with enough strength and experience, the Germans will crush the Russians every single time. The game is about using less-than-the-best equipment, and with little prestige, and with weakened units and seeing how well you can do. This can be enjoyable, and a definite test of your playing skills. However, it is also hard/tiresome to see core units that have been brought along from 1939 get wiped out--not because they were not superior to the enemy they faced--but rather, because you can't afford to keep them at full strength, or near full strength on the map. So I guess Panzer Corps is a supply/demand type of game when you look at the big picture, and the game ultimately mirrors what happened in real life--the Germans did not have the ability to fully replace their losses in equipment and manpower.

I remember I several years in the mid to late 90s playing Panzer General against human opponents on Mplayer. Playing an experienced player adds a whole new dimension to the game, which I believe would undoubtedly be the case with Panzer Corps. I am thinking it is getting time for me to leave the AI behind and start playing human opponents again!

Thanks for letting me participate in this testing process for DLC 43!

[deducter]

I can assure you that in MP, getting the best of equipment will result in defeat against an experienced MP player. A significant component of MP is prestige management, because against an experienced player you will run short very quickly.

[Kerensky]

Quality is probably the most important factor in singleplayer and campaign play.
Efficiency is undoubtedly the most important factor in multiplayer. The ability to inflict more damage than you are receiving. Even if that makes suffering 9 strength lost to destroy 10 strength points.

"Restraint? Why are you so concerned with saving their lives? The whole idea is to kill the bastards. At the end of the war if there are two Americans and one Russian left alive, we win!"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_S._Power

[charonjr]

FM - pre-build core - beta 2 - tried to stick to a strong, but not completely overpowered core




Active core units: 39+6 SE for the last scenario, lost 1 Pz IVH - 58 core units overall (mostly tanks, SP-AT and 2 aircraft as reserves)

Name/XP/Kills/Heroes

Fallschirmjäger - 356/353/+1 attack
Gebirgsjäger - 320/314/+2 ini
Wehrmacht Inf - 235/121
Pioniere - 260/376/+2 attack
Pioniere - 310/325/+2 attack

Panzer IVH - 343/481/+1 attack
Panzer IVH - 367/523/+1 movement
Panzer IIIN - 315/570/+1 attack
Panzer IIIN - 338/462/+2 ini
Panther A - 393/810/+2 attack +3 defense
SE Panther A - 374/781/+3 defense
SE Panther A - 308/422/+1 attack
SE Tiger I - 288/406/+1 ini
SE Tiger I - 367/706/+2 defense
SE Tiger I - 254/264/+2 defense
SE Tiger I - 387/725/+1 ini +1 attack

Elefant - 321/673/+1 movement

8,8cm - 373/367/+3 attack
SdKfz 7/2 - 180/40
SdKfz 7/2 - 119/22
SdKfz 7/2 - 225/61

SdKfz 233 - 232/56

StuH 42 - 339/334/+1 defense
StuH 42 - 323/267/+1 movement
Hummel - 230/53
SU-122 - 300/107
SU-122 - 369/231/+1 movement
Wurfrahmen - 271/309/+2 defense
Wurfrahmen - 323/391/+1 movement
Wurfrahmen - 265/320/+1 range
Nebelwerfer 43 - 331/468/+1 movement
17cm - 339/234
17cm - 319/207/+2 attack
17cm - 322/210/+1 defense

Bf 109G 320/204/+1 spotting
FW 190A - 356/420/+1 attack
FW 190A - 365/512/+2 defense
FW 190A - 344/450/+1 attack
Me 410A - 370/294
Me 410A - 406/379/+1 attack
Me 410A - 383/433/+2 attack
Ju 87D - 413/551/+1 attack
Ju 87D - 425/501/+1 defense
Ju 87G - 394/640/+1 attack
Ju 87G - 407/681/+1 attack

Currently the number of kills of the first guaranteed hero seems to be at 300, which is way to high to close the gap between imported and pre-build cores soon. IMO this value should be brought down to 100 for the first hero and maybe 500 for the second one. In the end I had 2 units with 2 heroes and IIRC most of my imported core units already have 2 heroes right at the start of the campaign. And since I tend to milk each scenario for the maximum number of kills I dare to say the my number of kills/heroes should be above average and it still looks way too low. Even with a 2nd garanteed hero at 500 kills I would most likely be "only" at 50% units with 2 heroes by the end of DLC 43 (12 guaranteed).

Overall DLC 43 feels to have a good flow to it (hard scenarios followed by a breather - even if I still consider Dnipropetrovsk to be too easy). Prestige was not really a problem for me at FM even with a non-super-optimised core - most likely I would have finished DLC 43 after repairs at close to the same level of prestige than we started with. In between I had to be selective about reinforcements and had to use some units below their potential maximum strength, which is good. I am a bit worried that going for the most heavy/modern units and thus creating unhistorical cores is the most efficient way to go, but sticking with oen equipment file for all campaigns will prevent anything from being done about this by the devs themself, but can be modded from what I read. Personally I would like older equipment get cheaper over time, thus increasing their efficiency.

The large number of Soviet aircraft was enough of a threat to force me to use SPAA - which is pretty inefficent from a pure damage point of view, but is very good for protecting units from bombers and softening up fighters to save repairs on my fighters. Especially the Yak 9D packs quite a punch and the more damage I can deal to those without allowing them to retun fire the better.

The more numerous Soviet heavy tanks forced me to play more conservative as well - which is good - since 4 IS-1s are even able to destroy a Tiger in 1 turn.

On some of the armor path maps I would like to see even a bit more armor, but overall - as can be seen by the casualties - the number of Soviet tanks is fairly high which fits this DLC.

It might be due to my style of play and taking the armor path as well, but having/using more than 4-5 infantry felt largely useless.

So, except for the large gap between pre-build and imported cores DLC 43 feels largely fine to me.

[charonjr]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I think a mini scenario should be added to the start of any DLC in order to allow some customisation of pre-build cores.

Imported cores in a way have this already build in, but with pre-build cores you are stuck at what you get right at the start which can be a waste of XP/kills in some cases.