I thought you all might enjoy it as well.
Hey Brother of mine,
I am taking my lunch to quick type up my thoughts on getting started back with Panzer Corps.
If I remember correctly you like to play at Colonel level.
Some keys to playing initially and going through the Grand Campaign.
Starting off in 1939 you need to decide if you are eventually going the West or the East direction.
If West you will have most of your units and prestige stolen from you, I believe the first mission in that Campaign 1942/43 so focus on building up super units and focusing only on the most promising units as you will have to make a tough decision on what to keep on that first West Mission.
If East the key I have found is to keep buying new units in the first 1939 and 1940 campaigns and building a diverse base of trained and good units to tap into if you lose units later in the later campaigns, especially a diverse grouping of infantry units. (Gerbisjagers are very nice and do not need transport, in fact their transport is only costly, and unnecessary.) I have 3 Pionieres, 2 Grenadiers, 4 Gerbisjagers now in 1945 but I used to have many more including reg inf and Paratroopers, but I could not keep them alive. (Especially Paratroopers)
Artillery is key so you can suppress surround units and force them to surrender so you get prestige. You get extra prestige not from destroying units but by forcing them to surrender. (Let me know if you have questions on this as I see this as key to success at this game and many players struggle with fully mastering this awesome tactic.) Buy 10cm artys and build them up until they maximize their experience (225 in 1939 and 325 in 1940) or they get their first heros. If their first hero is a spotting hero disband it the next round as it is a useless hero, and when you disband units between scenarios after giving them full free regular replacements you can buy a brand new one to try again.
Tanks: I only purchased 1 read that 1 additional tank in 1939. You capture and are awarded so many additional tank units that it makes buying your own pointless. Use them to build up diverse groups of heroes. I have like 17 to 18 tanks currently being used as my fighting force to destroy any of the Soviet Big Dog units, but do not use tanks to attack inf in close terrain unless you have them fully suppressed and do not place tanks in close defensive terrain unless they are backed up by artillery. Tanks are very vulnerable in close terrain, cities, hills, forests, swamps.
Fighters: Bf-109’s are boss and can be used almost through entire campaign. I have a diverse group of Fighters with only 3 as ME-262’s and 2 FW-190’s, and 6 or 7 Bf-109’s. I rule the air.
Bombers: Never leave them unprotected except early on, as they will use unescorted bombers as their favorite targets, on the flip side use their limited visibility to your advantage and you can place bombers within their line of sight and the escorted fighter out of the line of sight to set up a nice surprise for enemy fighters. (Same with AA and vulnerable units their bombers love to attack.)
AA’s I recommend building up a force of like 3 88’s trying to build at least 1 that has either Range hero or movement hero’s 88’s are nice dual role fighters since they can be an AA or you can switch them to an AT.
Recons, are nice early but in 1942 they become enemy’s favorite target and as such extremely vulnerable, it is up to you whether or not you want to use them, I currently do not as all of my experienced ones were destroyed.
Strat Bombers: I have a force of at least 3 to help with suppression, surrounding and surrendering. (They are nice as back up, but are not hard hitting enough to gain much more than a single hero.)
AT’s: I have not been as successful in keeping these around as I would like. I only have 2 that I use right now. 1 is a JagdPanther with 4 stars experience and 1 is a JagdTiger that I was awarded that has 1 Star of experience. They are nice but can be vulnerable if overwhelmed.
Wow that was a lot of information.
I hope you find it helpful, and let me know if I can answer any other questions you may have.
I have played through the Allied Campaign at Colonel level as the British which was fun.
I played through Sea Lion Campaign, which I do not believe you have.
Beta tested Soviet Corps and the 3 American Grand Campaigns, so it will be a while before I revisit any of those as have too many other campaigns I am looking forward to going through first.
I am in 1945 east on the 2nd mission and looking forward to completing this enormous Grand Campaign.
I will be starting a blind playthrough of Afrika Korps at Rommel level trying to play it without purchasing any German units, which is called the Italian challenge on Steam. (I was asked to do this on the forum as a challenge they would like to see me try.)
Eventually I will go West on the Grand Campaign and I think I will be doing it at one of the harder levels, either Guderian, Manstein, or Rommel.
I still have not played through the original what is known as the vanilla campaign but have tried a couple of times but was more interested in playing the Grand Campaign.
Yeah I love this game.
