A few clarifications needed

[PoorOldSpike]

..........I would also suggest when you come to do the grand campaign you look at the youtube videos of someone called 'deducter sc', (he didnt do any of afrika corps).

Thanks but at the moment I can't digest the campaigns, I prefer small fast individual scenarios that only take an hour or two to play but sadly most scens seem to be too big and long.
In fact I'm still struggling to understand the combat system, for example in the test below can anybody tell me why the AT gun under attack in a city only got an Entrench level defensive bonus of +1?
I thought cities were supposed to give a +3 bonus?

[hugh2711]

I have to admit I was playing it for a long time before I had a clue about the combat system. I still dont sit there and calculate what the outcome would be for every combat. I would not go into the detail you have above at the beginning. I do know that if it was my AT and I wanted to keep it I would have it supported by artilliary and if it was my infantry and the AT had no artilliary support the AT would get hurt really badly. I do also know that if my infantry had EXPERIENCE and (attack or defence) 'HERO' then the AT would be damaged even more. I also know that if If my infantry was very experienced and 'heroed' AND I hit it with artialliary first I might kill it completely with no damage to my infantry. You just get a feel for what works and what doesnt. I would also strongly suggest you change the settings to 'dice chess' or even 'chess' at the start because the sheer randomness of the dice sometimes can be extreemely bewildering and only serves to confuse and hide understanding. I think you will find (for most experienced players) dice chess to be the most popular. It allows for some unexpected results but not completely non-intuitive ridiculous ones that are very impossible and annoying.

[turn4441]

It is because the AT gun is being attacked by infantry. Attacking with infantry reduces the entrenchment modifier as they are good at using close terrain, even if they are attacking other infantry. In your example, the AT probably is really entrenched to level 3 (base entrenchment for cities). Again, even if the AT was infantry entrenched to level 3, it would also only get a +1 modifier against attacking infantry. The entrenchment modifier will go up as a defending unit's entrenchment increases but will always be below it's actual entrenchment level when attacked by infantry. If you attacked the AT with a tank or other non-infantry unit, then you should see the +3 entrenchment modifier (or whatever level of actual entrenchment the defender has) applied.

[turn4441]

Also, as you noted, infantry get a +2 modifier when attacking ATs. If the AT is attacked by a tank, it would get it's full entrenchment and a +3 initiative modifier (better chance to shoot first) for defending against armor/recon. Infantry is very hard on ATs in close terrain due to the +2 attack modifier, the reduction in the defender's entrenchment, and the defender has to use it's close defense value (which in this case is 0).

[PoorOldSpike]

Thanx guys, I'm also doing exhaustive tests in editor setups, it's the only way to find out things for ourselves if they're not mentioned in the editor manual..

[hugh2711]

I am just having a quick look at gazala line; I will send you my replay after i have finished. my basic strategy will be as follows:
In the north use the two free 'group hecker' to land on the spur undetected just north of gazala itself. Use the free 14 strength shutzen brigade to destroy the minefield at 15,11 backed up with some arty to supress the 7.2 inch at gazala.
The trick in this scenario I think is not to spread your forces thinly across the whole perimeter but to use the two deployment points in the north near gazala to (you dont have to deploy everything in the first turn); in the appropriate order introduce the right supprting arty to blast a whole in front of gazala. then use those two placement points to introduce your armour to pile through the hole and finish off clearing out gazala. This is done very fast so the specific order of deployment there is important. then take some of the armour north through the gap in the escarpment to deal with some of the armour there and also take the perimeter line from behind. (they dont like it from behind mr mannering the remains of the armour plus some arty and a couple of infanry I would take stright to tobruk and then bel? and sidi R?.then when they have those they can swing south and deal with more armour and various other secondary objectives and bits and pieces. The secondary objectices are important in this if I remember correctly as there are free prestige/capturables. However if you are struggling with this scenario it is best to do the basics and ignore the frills. In the centre 22,26 I would give it some extra arty and an88 as AA to protect the arty to slowly slog away at the fortified position using the italians as cheap cannon fodder. It will crumble eventually but will take a while.Also initially i would concentrate my airforce there as there will be the main initial attacks. After some of the enemy planes are down I would send the airfoce north then east using the airfields at gazala and then tobruk. the regular air attacks are spread out alot then so you will have to cover a large area in the rear and their airforce is strong. In the south I would place one pioneer, one other infantry and a couple of arty to take the fortification at bir hacheim, the pioneer getting a hole in the minefield. I would also have one tactical bomber (the free one) to help there. overall you need to be fast in the north and slow in the south to do it cheaply and not take much losses. There should be plenty of turns. About half way through the enemy will cleverly send some paras to retake your airfileds in the center, easily defeated but irritating.

edited:
I have a run through of gazala line at field marshall difficulty it is a DV at turn 29. While it certainly was the physically quickest one I have done it was very far from my best with lots of rushed/careless mistakes and i even let the enemy get behind my lines! which led to lots more prestige recapturing. It is enough to get the idea of a workable strategy for a DV on this one. Oh and its from Nikivdd's DLC upgrade project version of afrika corps which is actually slightly easier than the origional as you start the dlc with a three very handy heroes. For some reason it wont let me attatch it here but if you want I can attatch it to a PM. let me know

[Panzerpimp]

The file won't open for me mate, same with a lot more scens and campaigns, some instructions mention 'mod enabler', or "required game versions" or "required mods" etc and as I'm a PC dummy I haven't a clue what they're talking about,

You don't need the mod enabler or other mods to play the alternate grand campaign.
Just follow the instructions from topic: (First post) http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 47&t=53153

Install: Extract the rar file in your "documents\my games\panzer corps\mods" folder, start the game, click on the more campaigns folder and this mod should be in the list.

The file won't open for me mate,

Which file? You mean the RAR archive? Open It with WinRAR / WinZip / 7-zip etc.