French Campaign Misery

[robman]

The only thing I would particularly disagree with in the above post is that I think you should always take 2 of them when you are expecting lots of naval presence (ie Norway and Crete).

We even agree on that. When I wrote, "Always bring at least one to any scenario in which you expect to encounter naval targets, [and bring] two if you expect to encounter a great many of them," I had scenarios like Norway, Crete, Sea Lion, India, etc. in mind for the "bring two" category.

[brettz123]

Well straight away I see the major difference here is the number of units you have. Usually my maximum is
around 20. How did you get all those extra slots? From DV's maybe? No wonder I am struggling!

DVs play no part in the amount of slots you have. They are a fixed amount based on each scenario. You are earlier in DLC 40 then I am in my current playthrough so you will get to the higher slot numbers eventually. You can have more units than you are able to deploy though. I find that new players tend to not take enough support units (artillery and tactical bombers) when they first play.

[brettz123]

The only thing I would particularly disagree with in the above post is that I think you should always take 2 of them when you are expecting lots of naval presence (ie Norway and Crete).

We even agree on that. When I wrote, "Always bring at least one to any scenario in which you expect to encounter naval targets, [and bring] two if you expect to encounter a great many of them," I had scenarios like Norway, Crete, Sea Lion, India, etc. in mind for the "bring two" category.

Makes sense. I would like to see more times where they are useful but then again Panzer Corps is a game about land combat not naval combat so it does make sense.

[Szabtom]

I managed to beat Arras with decisive on FM difficulty yesterday. Just so you know what is stacked against you: I had to destroy over 10,000 prestige points of allied units.
At least 5 Matilda II-s that I can remember (~1900 pts), 6-8 Matilda I (~1000 pts), 4-5 air fighters (~1000-1250 pts), 4-5 bombers (~1200-1500 pts), 5-6 Somua and Renault tanks (~1200-1500 pts), 5-6 Cruiser MK (~1500), and I cannot even recall the number of infantry, artillery, anti-tank units, anti-air and scout units. The total must have been well over the 10k.
I lost one Pzr IIIF which I foolishly rushed ahead alone, thinking I was almost done with the allied army. Five brand new armored units pounced on the poor guy.

I spent about 2000 points on on-field repairs (only on land forces). My gross prestige result was about zero points, so a net loss of 2000. Did not mind, the accomplishment was worth it.

I re-started the scenario from scratch about 8-9 times (re-worked the army composition and the starting position of units). 2-3 ridiculously bad results in a turn ruined my whole operation a few of the times so I reloaded auto-saves when a series of absurd bad luck hit me in the same turn. e.g. predicted result 8:0 my favour, rolled result 3:1 to the enemy or some such several times in the same turn.

[tonyUK]

I started the whole thing again from beginning,currently on Narvik mostly Dv's.
The main thing I notice is my constant lack of Prestige and the almost limitless
prestige the AI has. The previous scenario was a trial against the russians but I
could not break out from my defensive positions they had so many units.

I am starting not to enjoy the game due to the Prestige problem. How do you know how much
prestige the AI has - 10000 is rediculous at that stage of the game.

[brettz123]

I started the whole thing again from beginning,currently on Narvik mostly Dv's.
The main thing I notice is my constant lack of Prestige and the almost limitless
prestige the AI has. The previous scenario was a trial against the russians but I
could not break out from my defensive positions they had so many units.

I am starting not to enjoy the game due to the Prestige problem. How do you know how much
prestige the AI has - 10000 is rediculous at that stage of the game.

Not sure you can know. What level are you playing at? Please post your CORE at various point so we can help you out. Without specifics it is a little hard to offer suggestions. By the end of the 39 DLC a good player on Field Marshall should have at least 6000 prestige and everything upgraded to the best unit.

My suggestion would be to lower the difficulty level if you are not able to achieve all DVs.

For instance I just finished a playthrough of the 39 DLC on a modified Manstein level (+2 strength to most units) and finished with 6915 prestige and 27 corE units (not all of these are deployable of course).

[brettz123]

I started the whole thing again from beginning,currently on Narvik mostly Dv's.
The main thing I notice is my constant lack of Prestige and the almost limitless
prestige the AI has. The previous scenario was a trial against the russians but I
could not break out from my defensive positions they had so many units.

I am starting not to enjoy the game due to the Prestige problem. How do you know how much
prestige the AI has - 10000 is rediculous at that stage of the game.

Just a couple of notes about the scenario you are talking about. I'm not sure how much prestige the Russian has in that scenario and it is a lot. It sounds to me like you simply don't have enough artillery and air support in that scenario. The idea should be to defend around the rough terrain with infantry and artillery. You should have an 88 by that time to help deal with the Russian tanks.

You should be running with at least 3 Stukas at this time, 1 Bf-110, and at least 5 artillery (I would suggest at least 2 be self-propelled). It doesn't leave you a lot of room for tanks and infantry but by this late in the DLC you should have gotten your 2 SE units (mine are always infantry in DLC 39..... never gotten a tank that early). I don't remember the turn limit but you essentially want to hold / move a couple hexes a turn for about half of the turn limit.

[Kamerer]

Oh, 'Spoils of War.' This is an odd fantasy scenario. Frankly I think it's there to be both humorous as well as warn you how things will be in Russia.

I have never earned a DV here on any setting like Field Marshal or Rommel (same difficulty, just 1/2 prestige).
By this time my corp has six artillery (preferrably 2 sp just like he said). Seven is better. A good place to add a 2nd fighter to "blood" it. Three 38(t) tanks. Early on, armour does not enjoy the advantage over other combat arms as it does later - the game tries well to model the rapid changes these years. At this point, artillery is really the queen of battle.

You can get within a few turns of a DV here even on Rommel difficulty (which is maximum difficulty + 1/2 prestige, remember). Like Brettz123 said, artillery/suppression, and choosing ground well.

The "big picture" to keep in mind here is that as much as Panzer Corp is about Panzers, it's also grounded in the reality of combined arms, force structure, training and tactics. "Training" can be viewed as experience/replacement management and experience building. I have gamed it both ways, fighting "Spoils of War" and skipping it. If you use sound tactics, your corp comes out much better for fighting it than not since it's optional. You get enhanced exp from fighting a first-class army, and earn a few heroes. Apples to apples, you will gain little in pp after repairing/reinforcing, but the experience and heroes really set you up to do better in the following scenarios. And PC is a "domino effect" game in a minor degree. Meaning very successful results set you up for more, and a really bad turn can handicap you to have many more. The game is beguiling in that it looks simple but takes thought on different aspects at all times to get a consistently positive result. This scenario annoyed the hell out of me until I really analyzed it and "got it." It's really helpful if you fight it smart and don't get obsessed about a "DV". Live to fight another day.

[soldier]

You can get within a few turns of a DV here even on Rommel difficulty (which is maximum difficulty + 1/2 prestige, remember). Like Brettz123 said, artillery/suppression, and choosing ground well.

Bring lots of artillery, its extremely powerful in panzer corps and allows you to engage a bombarded target with little fear of retaliation or return casualties. I find It can even overule the tactic of choosing defensive ground when its involved in combat. I'm playing DLC 44 with a modified set and the Russian guns can still Red line my expert heavy Grenadiers with one shot. It seems like being in city makes no difference.
Of course anything they can do i can do better

[brettz123]

I think some specific help might be in order. Below is the setup I use for Spoils of War and the Defensive positions I use.



The image above shows my deployment. I have:
7 artillery
1 Stuka
2 Bf-110s
1 Bf-109
2 Pz-38ts
3 Pioniere
1 SE Infantry
1 SE Gebirgsjaeger

In this scenario I find the Bf-110 to be the best plane choice because it can bomb and fight Russian planes which is necessary in this scenario. Also as a general hint do whatever you can to destroy a plane (or any unit for that matter) instead of damaging multiple planes.



In the image above the red lines are roughly where I defend based on rough terrain and an ability to cover my units with artillery. I do indeed take 7 artillery pieces in this one (5 towed and 2 self-propelled). The yellow dots are where I like to put my artillery.