Units in DLC - with deducter's mod

[orlinos]

Hi to everyone here – I finally stopped lurking and signed in.

I post this in the AAR forum, although I am reporting about the units, rather than scenarios. I comment on the way my playing and unit usage evolved – especially since using Deducter’s e-file (viewtopic.php?f=147&t=30708). I decided against posting in mod’s own topic, not to break the ongoing discussion and go off on a tangent.

I cannot comment on the late war changes – I have only gone as far as the first half of the DLC ‘42. I usually get a little fed up with so many units and have to start from the scratch - again. For a novice player, first DLC’s are much more relaxing.

I have noticed many changes in the way I play and choose units, since I started copying some of Deducter’s methods, as seen on videos. At first – I would simply by cut the prestige gains in the campaign and gamerules.dat files by 50% and tried copy the tactics. Afterwards I have also installed the e-file. Mind you, some of the changes I have seen in me may just be myself learning. The DLC's make learning relatively less painful – the player commands a small force for a long time thus allowing him to learn all the differences between units.

As to my wargaming background - I have only played tiny bits of PG II in the past, never tried PG I – so PzC is my training grounds.

Prestige, prestige, my kingdom for prestige
No money for beer, no money for pretzles. My army is poor and starving! I have learned that my infantry does not need so many Opels (I dare not mention any better transports). Jogging is much healthier, anyway! Soldiers without trucks tend to stay behind, so I often try to race ahead with my panzers and mounted troops, leaving unmounted guys to do finish sieges, mop up stray AT etc.

I can truly see differences between the standard Wehrmacht and army elite – well fed and happily cruising in their luxurious trucks. I try to remember not to use them, when the probability of having great loses is high, the reinforcements are too costly.

One of the things I find hard – seeing the difference between the few of the elite – and the rest of the troops. I have a tendency to elite reinforce everything – and then lack prestige.

Infantry
I use a lot of normal Infantry. Gebirgsjäger act as experienced commando - I usually receive them as SE. In the early years their +1CD and fast move through the hills makes them great dealing with infantry and tanks in cities and forests.

I couldn’t crack the Pioniers usage at the beginning. Right now I have only one Pionier in my core (bought the second one for Streets of Moscow, but, sadly, he died afterwards). Low ammo makes them bad choice for long defense scenarios, 2 move points make them tactically inflexible. I have since found, that they have to be treated delicately (so as not to waste prestige on elite reinforcements) – and used only in special cases.

When the enemy is well dug in and I don’t have time to waste on playing sieges; or when I want to destroy forts fast – here they come! Overstrength and ready. The go in, do their job and return to beer drinking afterwards.

I miss being able to do air missions with Fallschirmjäger. I bought one and used to great effect at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa – to claim all these airfields – and to attack that lonely British Paratrooper in Metaxas Line. Otherwise, I can’t afford these troops.

I was able to successfully drop Paras in vanilla DLC’s – I would usually send two Fallschirmjäger, with a fighter and bombers.

Right now, I find them almost useless in DLC’s 40-41. Too costly to drop, and on the ground the +1 Ini does not make enough difference to increase their survivability. I prefer Gebirgsjäger in trucks.

I also wasn’t able to buy Brückenpioniere early on. I used to use them to cross the river in Modlin, to attack the town from behind. O, them prices…

Anti-Tank
I liked that little PaK 36 from Deducter’s videos. I wanted to have one myself. He has managed to grow to a big Pak 40 and scored few nice kills (almost half of it on infantry…).

I am afraid that his younger brothers were not so lucky – the last one died on me in Kharkov42. Nasty, numerous conscripts…

By the way, Deducter, how do you plan ahead the placement of PaK’s and ’88 FlaK’s? I still find it very cumbersome, especially if I am not well familiar with the scenario. As a result, the little PaK often just does relaxing rides from town to town, claiming the prestige flags and getting his beauty sleep, while the big panzer boys go fighting.

My two cents to the AT discussion of today – I think the realism problem cannot be well solved with the current game rules. One of the ideas behind the PG and PzC was that you play big wars and battles, but the units behave like small groups of soldiers and tanks – it has been mentioned by the developers in interview for Gameshark. It sometimes creates awkward situations – in Vitebsk, I would constantly swap my new PanzerII-turned-Marder with Panzer IVE, to accommodate the enemy type. It’s hard to do it with a towed unit.

Of course, in reality there would be no such swapping, because different units cooperate all the time. But when you play in turns…

Artillery
The prices, the prices, of them prices. Financial crisis has even hit video game worlds…

Lessons learned: the 7.5 cm FK is quite good for many beginning scenarios. It doesn’t do much killing but it’s increased rate of fire results in a high suppression. In Poland I often use it in conjunction with 10.5 cm: one suppressing enemy's distant artillery, the other bombarding the town infantry. I use a graphic from Terminator’s sepia mod [http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.as ... a&#3082392], to make the 7.5 cm stand out more.

I think I have only begun using 15 cm in Russia. Before, if I had to attack big tanks or well entrenched positions, I would use strategic and tactical bombers along with artillery.

Off course, I have a +1 range hero on my 15 cm Nblwf 41, helping me out incredibly.

Anti-Air
The rate of fire decrease – along with the increase of allied planes strenght – hurts like hell. Even with overstrength, I often just miss dice throws and kill nothing (especially in foggy weather). My fighters finally have something to do… But the AA work well on defense. And I enjoy using SdKfz 7/1, due to the high ROF.

Tanks
In Poland Panzer I’s, II’s and 38(t)A’s do not suc. They are price competitive with some of the infantry – but have great mobility. It’s only that they have to be used as infantry support – not the other way around. They can drive long distances, stop and screen units in trucks. Afterwards, it is the infantry that takes care of business, leaving tanks to clean the mess.

In France they have to be left behind the main force or well-protected with artillery. I used them less, but it was still no self-flagellation – their cheap price meant I was often able to elite-reinforce them. The experience, coupled with few heroes, meant having killer units for a really small price. That also meant I was able to gather prestige for 2-3 more advanced panzers – and to overstrengthen my Stukas.

In Russia they became hard to use. 38(t)A died along the way, the Panzer II with +2 Initative managed to turn into Prince Charming… I mean Marder Charming. Although I admit I find it hard to survive the masses of tanks and conscripts.

I have troubles using Panzer IV’s. If they stay in the front – they get slaughtered by French and Russian tanks. And they are a magnet for tactical bombers, due to lower AD. If they stay in the back – they are often a waste of prestige. I find it easier to just make the infantry retreat to close terrain and kill them there with experienced Grenadiers or Gebirgsjägers.

I mostly did well without them in France, except for those scenarios, that featured a lot of tough infantry attacking in the open. It got worse in Russia, with those human masses. I finally bought one Panzer IVE, got him killed stupidly in Demyansk Pocket. At the beginning of ’42 I found out I was out of cash, so I finally reloaded and restarted Demyansk Pocket and also decided not to cut in half the per-turn prestige in defensive scenarios nor the fixed prestige that is triggered in some scenarios (like Smolensk 41). I even cheated that prestige back to my account…

Returning to my Panzer IV – magically back from the grave, I’ll see, how he’ll do. Right now I often keep him in the back, afraid of losing him again.

Recon
SdKfz 222 is not that bad, if there are many roads in the scenario. It getting hard to use it in Russia, with so many steppes. (I have the same problem with trucks, I can only afford 2 SdKfz 251/1 for elite infantry, and Opels do bad outside of roads). Anyone ever use SdKfz 231 6Rad? I never did, didn’t know why should I.

I shudder when reading about the changes in recon units and their new prices. I miss the cavalry of the vanilla e-file…

Still, if it is used correctly (driving only 4 hexes and retreating), the recon can survive for a long time. I often use it to close gaps in tight enemy groups – they allow me to kill the enemy faster due to surrender – and then I can retreat them. This means I do not have to leave any unit in bad position after surrender. There is a tight spot in Demyansk Pocket where this ability can almost be abused.

Hm, I believe this a VERY long first post...

[deducter]

Hi to everyone here – I finally stopped lurking and signed in.

I post this in the AAR forum, although I am reporting about the units, rather than scenarios. I comment on the way my playing and unit usage evolved – especially since using Deducter’s e-file (viewtopic.php?f=147&t=30708). I decided against posting in mod’s own topic, not to break the ongoing discussion and go off on a tangent.

I cannot comment on the late war changes – I have only gone as far as the first half of the DLC ‘42. I usually get a little fed up with so many units and have to start from the scratch - again. For a novice player, first DLC’s are much more relaxing.

I am always pleased to see someone enjoying my equipment file. The biggest changes come in GC43, which is very hard and you shouldn't really expect to get many DVs. Don't be afraid to play on General setting, it is quite challenging on that.

I do want to try to get the latest version of my mod out, with various other tweaks and adjustments, especially for 1944.

Prestige, prestige, my kingdom for prestige
No money for beer, no money for pretzles. My army is poor and starving! I have learned that my infantry does not need so many Opels (I dare not mention any better transports). Jogging is much healthier, anyway! Soldiers without trucks tend to stay behind, so I often try to race ahead with my panzers and mounted troops, leaving unmounted guys to do finish sieges, mop up stray AT etc.

I can truly see differences between the standard Wehrmacht and army elite – well fed and happily cruising in their luxurious trucks. I try to remember not to use them, when the probability of having great loses is high, the reinforcements are too costly.

One of the things I find hard – seeing the difference between the few of the elite – and the rest of the troops. I have a tendency to elite reinforce everything – and then lack prestige.

You can play on Rommel setting, which is just -50% prestige compared with General, no need to mod the equipment files yourself. I did 1939-1942 with -75% settings which requires me to mod the equipment file. I admit from my own playtesting that 1943 is pretty much unbeatable with -75%, at least if you want DV. I can probably win mostly DVs with Rommel setting, but even then it'll be extremely hard.

I elite reinforce almost everything too, at the deployment phase at least. It's still affordable if you are careful and don't overdo it.

The elite (SE) infantry are 20% cheaper and their transports are 50% cheaper. They are actually the best candidates for elite reinforcements, and the performance of 3-4 star infantry is significantly better than green infantry. Worth it IMO.

I couldn’t crack the Pioniers usage at the beginning. Right now I have only one Pionier in my core (bought the second one for Streets of Moscow, but, sadly, he died afterwards). Low ammo makes them bad choice for long defense scenarios, 2 move points make them tactically inflexible. I have since found, that they have to be treated delicately (so as not to waste prestige on elite reinforcements) – and used only in special cases.

When the enemy is well dug in and I don’t have time to waste on playing sieges; or when I want to destroy forts fast – here they come! Overstrength and ready. The go in, do their job and return to beer drinking afterwards.

Yes, pionieres are very specialized for urban warfare or to destroy forts. The ability for them to ignore entrenchment matters more than you think, because it eliminates any possibility of rugged defense. Especially nice are pionieres with +INI heroes. I have one in my playtesting core and it works wonders, since I never have to worry about rugged defense.

I miss being able to do air missions with Fallschirmjäger. I bought one and used to great effect at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa – to claim all these airfields – and to attack that lonely British Paratrooper in Metaxas Line. Otherwise, I can’t afford these troops.

I was able to successfully drop Paras in vanilla DLC’s – I would usually send two Fallschirmjäger, with a fighter and bombers.

Right now, I find them almost useless in DLC’s 40-41. Too costly to drop, and on the ground the +1 Ini does not make enough difference to increase their survivability. I prefer Gebirgsjäger in trucks.

Paradrops being too costly is intentional. You can actually use paratroopers reasonably well in Eben-Emael and the Hague, for instance, but paradrop operations were simply too costly in WWII, as the Germans found out during Crete and the British during Market Garden. BUT, mount these units on trucks, and they can perform extremely well. They have 6 SA, a critical value because each experience star grants them one additional SA. Get them to 3 stars and watch them destroy Russian infantry without breaking a sweat. And in 1943, they can be upgraded to the very best infantry the Germans have, a unit with skyhigh SA, INI, and defenses, although the prestige cost is correspondingly high.

Anti-Tank
I liked that little PaK 36 from Deducter’s videos. I wanted to have one myself. He has managed to grow to a big Pak 40 and scored few nice kills (almost half of it on infantry…).

I am afraid that his younger brothers were not so lucky – the last one died on me in Kharkov42. Nasty, numerous conscripts…

By the way, Deducter, how do you plan ahead the placement of PaK’s and ’88 FlaK’s? I still find it very cumbersome, especially if I am not well familiar with the scenario. As a result, the little PaK often just does relaxing rides from town to town, claiming the prestige flags and getting his beauty sleep, while the big panzer boys go fighting.

Basically, you have to have a pretty good understanding of how Zones of control work. I generally place these units in such a way that they cannot possibly be targeted by an AI counterattack, and then have it ready to "swap" with a frontline unit the next turn to inflict damage. Also, the other way is to preplace these units in strategic locations where you expect an attack. I admit they are difficult to use correctly, and I'm also not too good at describing how exactly you should go about using them, except that you have to plan 2-3 moves ahead of time. When used correctly though, they are very satisfying.

Artillery
The prices, the prices, of them prices. Financial crisis has even hit video game worlds…

Lessons learned: the 7.5 cm FK is quite good for many beginning scenarios. It doesn’t do much killing but it’s increased rate of fire results in a high suppression. In Poland I often use it in conjunction with 10.5 cm: one suppressing enemies distant artillery, the other bombarding the town infantry. I use a graphic from Terminator’s sepia mod [http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.as ... a&#3082392], to make the 7.5 cm stand out more.

I think I have only begun using 15 cm in Russia. Before, if I had to attack big tanks or well entrenched positions, I would use strategic and tactical bombers along with artillery.

Off course, I have a +1 range hero on my 15 cm Nblwf 41, helping me out incredibly.

Excellent to see artillery working out as intended. All the various artillery units have specific uses. The 15 cm Nblwf 41 has ROF = 12, making it the ideal weapon to suppress conscripts, while the larger caliber Nblwf have greater SA but lower ROF. This is described in that manual which I will include with the next update.

Anti-Air
The rate of fire decrease – along with the increase of allied planes strenght – hurts like hell. Even with overstrength, I often just miss dice throws and kill nothing (especially in foggy weather). My fighters finally have something to do… But the AA work well on defense. And I enjoy using SdKfz 7/1, due to the high ROF.

To be accurate, only the 8.8 cm FlaK and the 12.8 cm FlaK have their ROF reduced to 7. All other units have either the same or increased ROF. But yes, killing the Allied and Soviet planes should take you longer, but I don't ever have a problem with air superiority in 1939-1942. Only until late 1942 and especially 1943 does air superiority become difficult to achieve. It's still doable, but you'll end up draining so much of your prestige that it won't be worth it, and it's better for you to maintain air parity with the Soviets.

Tanks
In Poland Panzer I’s, II’s and 38(t)A’s do not suc. They are price competitive with some of the infantry – but have great mobility. It’s only that they have to be used as infantry support – not the other way around. They can drive long distances, stop and screen units in trucks. Afterwards, it is the infantry that takes care of business, leaving tanks to clean the mess.

In France they have to be left behind the main force or well-protected with artillery. I used them less, but it was still no self-flagellation – their cheap price meant I was often able to elite-reinforce them. The experience, coupled with few heroes, meant having killer units for a really small price. That also meant I was able to gather prestige for 2-3 more advanced panzers – and to overstrengthen my Stukas.

In Russia they became hard to use. 38(t)A died along the way, the Panzer II with +2 Initative managed to turn into Prince Charming… I mean Marder Charming. Although I admit I find it hard to survive the masses of tanks and conscripts.

Exactly my intention! An experienced P38(t)A can work very well, since its GD and HA are both 6, meaning at 3 stars it has GD = 9 and HA = 9, which is pretty good, more than enough to crush any contemporary light tanks. And the Panzer IIC is very cheap and can be plenty effective if used correctly. The early war German tanks are best used to screen your forces and to attack either heavily suppressed units, or very vulnerable units like artillery.

I have troubles using Panzer IV’s. If they stay in the front – they get slaughtered by French and Russian tanks. And they are a magnet for tactical bombers, due to lower AD. If they stay in the back – they are often a waste of prestige. I find it easier to just make the infantry retreat to close terrain and kill them there with experienced Grenadiers or Gebirgsjägers.

I mostly did well without them in France, except for those scenarios, that featured a lot of tough infantry attacking in the open. It got worse in Russia, with those human masses. I finally bought one Panzer IVE, got him killed stupidly in Demyansk Pocket. At the beginning of ’42 I found out I was out of cash, so I finally reloaded and restarted Demyansk Pocket and also decided not to cut in half the per-turn prestige in defensive scenarios nor the fixed prestige that is triggered in some scenarios (like Smolensk 41). I even cheated that prestige back to my account…

Returning to my Panzer IV – magically back from the grave, I’ll see, how he’ll do. Right now I often keep him in the back, afraid of losing him again.

First off, don't be afraid to give yourself more prestige for a first playthrough. This mod is meant to be difficult, and really, even in 1942, you shouldn't necessarily go for DV. In 1943 you are not even meant to get all DVs anymore, unless you are an extremely good player.

That said, the Panzer IV has a role in which it excels in 1940-1941: to kill soft targets. Its high SA of 8 means it can crush any soft target in the open without any trouble. It shouldn't be used to engage tanks, unless they are the crappy Russian tanks (T-26, etc.) or heavily damaged/suppressed T-34s/KV-1s. The Panzer III is better against Russian armor. Having 1 or 2 Panzer IV for 1941 is still a very good idea, because immediately in 1942 you can upgrade them to the long-barreled 75 mm gun, which has HA = 14. The low defenses of the Panzer IV means you should use them very carefully, even sparingly. The bulk of your panzer forces will likely be Panzer IIIs in 1940-1942, however. In 1943 though, the Panzer IV is very good, more than a match for any Russian medium tank.

Recon
SdKfz 222 is not that bad, if there are many roads in the scenario. It getting hard to use it in Russia, with so many steppes. (I have the same problem with trucks, I can only afford 2 SdKfz 251/1 for elite infantry, and Opels do bad outside of roads). Anyone ever use SdKfz 231 6Rad? I never did, didn’t know why should I.

I shudder when reading about the changes in recon units and their new prices. I miss the cavalry of the vanilla e-file…

Still, if it is used correctly (driving only 4 hexes and retreating), the recon can survive for a long time. I often use it to close gaps in tight enemy groups – they allow me to kill the enemy faster due to surrender – and then I can retreat them. This means I do not have to leave any unit in bad position after surrender. There is a tight spot in Demyansk Pocket where this ability can almost be abused.

Hm, I believe this a VERY long first post...

The new version will competely redesign recon units, so no comment from me on this.

On the whole, it sounds like you are enjoying my mod. If you feel it is difficult, do not be afraid to turn down the difficulty, because again, this mod was designed to be a challenge. Please do not hesitate to share any specific thoughts, like the defenses of such and such unit is too high, or whatnot, although I would like it if you provide either some historical or gameplay reason.

[orlinos]

I am always pleased to see someone enjoying my equipment file. The biggest changes come in GC43, which is very hard and you shouldn't really expect to get many DVs. Don't be afraid to play on General setting, it is quite challenging on that.

I am playing on General already. I'm afraid of Field Marshall and slower experience gains. At least for now.

My first play through DLS’s 1939-40 was without any mods or changes. I have read all these long discussions about abundant prestige and difficulty. Giving inexperienced player lots of prestige is fine by me – I was able to play without constant reloading – which was much better for my education; I lost lots of units, but was able to replace them fast. If the player becomes better – the prestige definitely has to be cut.

Gameplay of even early DLS’s with your mod definitely has a different flavor. With -50% prestige I have to be careful when shopping and cannot afford the best equipment. Still, even cheap – but experienced - Infantry and Stukas are very dangerous to enemies. It’s a very different feeling than just driving with lots of tanks.

When the Russians come in… yeah, I was shocked and awed by their superior armor. I still am.

You can play on Rommel setting, which is just -50% prestige compared with General, no need to mod the equipment files yourself. I did 1939-1942 with -75% settings which requires me to mod the equipment file. I admit from my own playtesting that 1943 is pretty much unbeatable with -75%, at least if you want DV. I can probably win mostly DVs with Rommel setting, but even then it'll be extremely hard.

Does the Rommel also limit the core limit? Or does it only limit the prestige gains? I have modded campaign files already and I didn’t bother to cheat through vanilla campaign to get additional difficulty settings.

Also, does Rommel cut the fixed prestige gains the player receives in some scenarios by triggers? I tried halving that using cheats in 1942, but I found out I wasn’t good enough and the game stopped being fun. I used cheats again and replaced the prestige and I am not that ambitious now.

1939-41 are plenty beatable for me with full -50% prestige settings. 1942 got ugly, especially that now I’m less familiar with the maps.

But I’m having fun with the difficulty – only occasionally do I scream at the computer “leave this poor little tank alone, you Red bastards!”. The fights are long and exhausting.

The amount of prestige received definitely seem to be the most important aspects of difficulty. After reading late discussions, I was thinking: what would the game look like, if the prestige was given dynamically? Many survival horror games do something like that – in Resident Evil 4&5, if the player is heavily depleted of ammo and health packs, he usually finds some around the corner. If he is doing well – he finds nothing.

PzC already does it to some extent (optional scenarios, very hard and exhausting; having to go out of one’s to claim captured units in faraway towns; getting more prestige after a lost battle, than after a MV etc.) – but it all comes to nil after lots and lots of scenarios. The player either swims in prestige or is struggling.

Awarding prestige dynamically, to some extent, seems easy in theory, it’s just a bit of math (I am only talking in scope of PzC 2, of course). But I wonder whether the players would accept such mechanism.

It would be similar to what I am doing with my game right know (-50% prestige to everything in 1939-40, -50% to captured flags and after-scenario rewards, 100% of the rest of the prestige – from the second half of 1941). But the computer might be wiser, than I am.

I elite reinforce almost everything too, at the deployment phase at least. It's still affordable if you are careful and don't overdo it.

The elite (SE) infantry are 20% cheaper and their transports are 50% cheaper. They are actually the best candidates for elite reinforcements, and the performance of 3-4 star infantry is significantly better than green infantry. Worth it IMO.

Yes. And I like how I see my army is divided into elite and ordinary – less experienced – soldiers. More variety.

With the experience counting more, I also find myself using the Reserve feature more. Fast moving scenario – use more mounted troops. Leave the unmounted at home, waiting for city battles, where the pace will be slower etc.

Yes, pionieres are very specialized for urban warfare or to destroy forts. The ability for them to ignore entrenchment matters more than you think, because it eliminates any possibility of rugged defense. Especially nice are pionieres with +INI heroes. I have one in my playtesting core and it works wonders, since I never have to worry about rugged defense.

The rugged defense is not that bad if the enemy is fully suppressed – in the worst case I just do not do any damage. I can live with that, unless I am in a hurry. Then I use Pioniers.

Paradrops being too costly is intentional. You can actually use paratroopers reasonably well in Eben-Emael and the Hague, for instance, but paradrop operations were simply too costly in WWII, as the Germans found out during Crete and the British during Market Garden.

I know it’s intentional, I’m just whining, because I miss them, along with the cavalry (Polish cavalry makes me both proud – I am Polish – and scared to death. I’m still having nightmares after the Kampinos Forest).

BUT, mount these units on trucks, and they can perform extremely well. They have 6 SA, a critical value because each experience star grants them one additional SA. Get them to 3 stars and watch them destroy Russian infantry without breaking a sweat. And in 1943, they can be upgraded to the very best infantry the Germans have, a unit with skyhigh SA, INI, and defenses, although the prestige cost is correspondingly high.

I’ll have to try it. Although it may be hard leveling them up right now, with Sevastopol in sight…

Basically, you have to have a pretty good understanding of how Zones of control work. I generally place these units in such a way that they cannot possibly be targeted by an AI counterattack, and then have it ready to "swap" with a frontline unit the next turn to inflict damage. Also, the other way is to preplace these units in strategic locations where you expect an attack. I admit they are difficult to use correctly, and I'm also not too good at describing how exactly you should go about using them, except that you have to plan 2-3 moves ahead of time. When used correctly though, they are very satisfying.

Only lately did I learn, that I don’t have to clamp my units tightly to make a good front line, quite the opposite. But I still have such a tendency. And planning 2-3 moves ahead is not yet my forté.

I’m much better at preplacing AT’s during defensive scenarios. The one that died in Kharkov took endless amounts of troops with it and heavily damaged a KV tank.

Excellent to see artillery working out as intended. All the various artillery units have specific uses. The 15 cm Nblwf 41 has ROF = 12, making it the ideal weapon to suppress conscripts, while the larger caliber Nblwf have greater SA but lower ROF. This is described in that manual which I will include with the next update.

By the way, do you know the tool “Spreadsheet Compare”?
http://www.thefoolonthehill.net/drupal/ ... 20Compare/
It allows to easily report on the differences between two excel spreadsheets. It’s possible to view both files side by side and produce a report file with the differences. I use it to inspect your e-files, while waiting for the manual. I have put the report file as an attachment.

To be accurate, only the 8.8 cm FlaK and the 12.8 cm FlaK have their ROF reduced to 7. All other units have either the same or increased ROF. But yes, killing the Allied and Soviet planes should take you longer, but I don't ever have a problem with air superiority in 1939-1942. Only until late 1942 and especially 1943 does air superiority become difficult to achieve. It's still doable, but you'll end up draining so much of your prestige that it won't be worth it, and it's better for you to maintain air parity with the Soviets.

I’m having fun with extended air fights.

First off, don't be afraid to give yourself more prestige for a first playthrough. This mod is meant to be difficult, and really, even in 1942, you shouldn't necessarily go for DV. In 1943 you are not even meant to get all DVs anymore, unless you are an extremely good player.

It’s not my first playthrough.
DV’s are still possible for me in the first half of 1942, only much harder than they used to be. Streets of Moscow ended in a MV, after many restarts and I still got all my units heavily wounded – and I had no prestige for elite replacements during the scenario.

1939-40 are mostly a breeze, as long as I am careful. I do tend to sometimes have time problems, since I stopped throwing money away on expensive self-propelled artillery. I move too slowly. It usually results in very tensed and bloody last turns.

That said, the Panzer IV has a role in which it excels in 1940-1941: to kill soft targets. Its high SA of 8 means it can crush any soft target in the open without any trouble. […] The low defenses of the Panzer IV means you should use them very carefully, even sparingly. The bulk of your panzer forces will likely be Panzer IIIs in 1940-1942, however. In 1943 though, the Panzer IV is very good, more than a match for any Russian medium tank.

Yes, I’ll try that. Early Panzer IV’s getting heavily bombarded was also my problem in the vanilla file.

The new version will completely redesign recon units, so no comment from me on this.

Like I said, my poor army will probably unable to buy even one after your changes. I’ll tell my soldiers to use bicycles instead.

On the whole, it sounds like you are enjoying my mod. If you feel it is difficult, do not be afraid to turn down the difficulty, because again, this mod was designed to be a challenge. Please do not hesitate to share any specific thoughts, like the defenses of such and such unit is too high, or whatnot, although I would like it if you provide either some historical or gameplay reason.

Definitely. I won’t be able to provide historical data (PzC sparked my interests in modern history, I only had mostly school knowledge up to this point) – but I fully understand notions of gameplay balance, so I will be able to comment on that in the future.

EDIT:
Seems someone was actually interested in Excel comparisons, so I made more of them. Much more of them. In fact so much, I had to pack them into a RAR file, instead of a ZIP, because of the size. Now the file includes 1.6 -1.7 comparisons (year by year), vanilla vs. 1.7 comparisons and additionally the differences between each year in 1.7.

[deducter]

You should update to v1.7 now, 1943 and 1944 are even better.

[deducter]

Does the Rommel also limit the core limit? Or does it only limit the prestige gains? I have modded campaign files already and I didn’t bother to cheat through vanilla campaign to get additional difficulty settings.

Also, does Rommel cut the fixed prestige gains the player receives in some scenarios by triggers? I tried halving that using cheats in 1942, but I found out I wasn’t good enough and the game stopped being fun. I used cheats again and replaced the prestige and I am not that ambitious now.

1939-41 are plenty beatable for me with full -50% prestige settings. 1942 got ugly, especially that now I’m less familiar with the maps.

Rommel cuts prestige by half for everything. But really, the difficulty comes not from Rommel, which is trivial with the stock equipment file, but because of the mod. Almost everything costs more to begin with, and by cutting prestige in half, you feel the prestige crunch keenly.

[orlinos]

Seems someone was actually interested in Excel comparisons, so I updated the file in my previous post.