Same-old Same-old Syndrome

[AnalogGamer]

Greetings all,

Picked PzC back up after a break and went into a campaign. Vanilla, no mods or DLC yet. Always takes me back to my old PG games and it is an enjoyable experience. I want the grand campaign, but will wait for it to go on sale.

On the "green" campaign path and sitting at the Moscow deployment screen. It's the same army I always have somehow. Not sure if it is force of habit in the game or general OOB bias for balanced force. Thought that sharing here and seeking opinions may open up a few new ways of looking at my force structure, without going to gamey extremes just for variation.


I treat ground units as regiments and planes as squadrons. Two main columns(sometimes three), with specialist units as needed. All three SE units are tanks... 2x PzIIIJ and a PzIVF.

Here is the Moscow '41 deployment...

1st Division..

1x Inf
1x Pioneer
1x Gren
2x PzIIIJ
1x PzIVF
1x 17 cm art
1x 21 cm art
1x Wurf art
1x 8Rad recon

I have this twice, except the tank types are switched. Plus 1x Fallschirm, 1x Bridging and 1x 7/1 SP AAA.

In the air I have...

5x 109e (already looking ahead to USA.. want exp)
2x StukaB
1x Bf110F
1x Ju88

-----

This easily splits into three columns as needed. But... it's the same darn army I end up with every time. I mean since PG1 I have done similar. I follow a logical progression of capabilities and needs.

I amost always add one or two more Fallshirm next to balance out capabilities. I can feel it coming, so thought that the first step is admitting I have a problem.

My name's Carl, and I am an OOB addict.

Any suggestions?

[stan23]

My OOB, with some minor changes, is very similar, I think it's just the natural progression of things.

[PoorOldSpike]

Any suggestions?

Hi mate, I bought Pz Corps Gold last year (61 GB pounds/84 US dollars) which contains all 10 Grand Campaigns, so I don't know if we're singing from the same song sheet, but how did you get to play the Moscow 41 battle? Did you have to fight through all the earlier battles in the campaign to get there?
In the Grand Campaign 41 (below) there's one called 'Streets of Moscow', is that the one you're referring to?
PS- and what do you mean by the "green campaign path"?

[Panzerpimp]

and what do you mean by the "green campaign path"?

Vanilla campaign. (Panzer Corps Wehrmacht)

Your picture is from Grand Campaign. (DLC)

VanillaTree.jpg (545.7 KiB) Viewed 3771 times

[PoorOldSpike]

and what do you mean by the "green campaign path"?

Vanilla campaign. (Panzer Corps Wehrmacht)
Your picture is from Grand Campaign. (DLC)

Thanks, there's a standalone 'Moscow 41' scenario which I'm familiar with but I think AnalogGamer is talking about the one in the Campaign which has different units in it, but I'm not familiar with that one so I can't help him.
(PS- In fact I'm more of an individual standalone scenario player rather than a campaign player because in campaigns you have to play whatever battles are dropped in your lap even if they're boring, whereas with scens you can choose which ones you want to play)

[AnalogGamer]

Yes, I am playing the original stand-alone Panzer Corps. In the manual, the campaign tree is laid out with color-coding to designate various paths. I have won Sealion '40, Barbarossa and Kiev. I am now at Moscow '41 and plan on taking a marginal to get Stalingrad, Kursk and Moscow '43. Much better preparation for USA that way.

Once the price comes down or a sale happens I will be on my way with the entire Gold edition.

[PoorOldSpike]

Hey AnalogGamer, I'm a moderator at the Mission4Today forum and am always on the lookout for good WW2 photos for our galleries section-

http://www.mission4today.com/index.php? ... orum&f=105

so if you can send me any pics by email or can point me to any links on the net, let me know and I'll buy you Pz Corps Gold in return..

(PS same offer goes for other Slith members, email or PM me)
pooroldspike (at) aol (dotcom)

[AnalogGamer]

At the moment all I have is one of the seven original copies of the US Declaration of War with the Empire of Japan. Dated Dec 8th 1941. Gift to my father when he retired from the U.S. State Dept. Full documentation on the back of the frame. Red wax seal and all.

[PoorOldSpike]

At the moment all I have is one of the seven original copies of the US Declaration of War with the Empire of Japan. Dated Dec 8th 1941. Gift to my father when he retired from the U.S. State Dept. Full documentation on the back of the frame. Red wax seal and all.

Great, just take a photo of it or a scan or whatever, and send it to me in an email..
Meanwhile I'll send you a download link for PzCorps Gold as soon as I find out how to buy it for you, I think I have to type your email address at Matrix checkout or something, I've just posted the question in the Matrix forum and am waiting for a reply.
Drop me your e-m address in a PM if you like, and are you PC or Mac?

[captainjack]

My OOB, with some minor changes, is very similar, I think it's just the natural progression of things.

I have made some changes over the years - eg swapping to Strategic bombers after using tac bombers, trying out AT units then back to tanks, small airforce with AA vs big airforce and no AA, but there are some general themes that work so well for our play style it's hard to find a replacement.

[PoorOldSpike]

As I mentioned earlier, I'm a standalone scenario nut rather than a campaign player, because with scens you've got a free hand to tweak them in the editor to your hearts content. For example I like to assign a "random appearance" chance to some of mine and the enemies units (say 50%) to make the battle like a box of chocolates and keep me on my toes because I never know what I'm gonna get, and each time I play it it's guaranteed to be refreshingly different.
I can also tweak the Parameters to give myself and the enemy a number of free slots (say 10 each) so that me and him can buy new units as the fancy takes us at the start and throughout the course of the game.
For example if his air force is getting troublesome I can buy a couple of fighters to beef up my own air force, or if one of my spearheads is running into stiff resistance I can buy a few tanks and send them to that sector to maintain the momentum.
That tremendous flexibility of editing can also let us create hypothetical scens, for example we could put a bunch of Maus's into our scens to see what would have happened if Adolf had put them into fullscale production.

"The whole art of war consists of guessing at what is on the other side of the hill"- Duke of Wellington

[Moniker]

.....new ways of looking at my force structure, without going to gamey extremes just for variation....Any suggestions?

Out of curiosity I dug up a save game at start of same scenario and found our forces to be similar, but you with more support type (and SE) units than me. So for suggestions perhaps replace SP AAA with an anti-tank (you have strong air force); don't use bridging (I don't like using core slot for that); don't use parachute (I may not have learned how to use them properly ); replace one recon with self-propelled artillery or anti-tank; downgrade one 21 cm arty to 10.5 cm arty for higher rate of fire, more soft target suppression and more ammo. Hope this may be along lines of what you are looking for.

[captainjack]

I agree with swapping the 21 for 105s. Cheaper, more ammo and more RoF (100 in place of 70). The 17 does the hard hitting job about as well as the 21 and with 1 more ammo and higher RoF while being cheaper.

For my current play style:
I'd keep the mobile AA as it can deter enemy air attacks on expensive units, especially overstrengthed ones, and can weaken enemy fighters. Maybe even add an 88 or another 7/1 for the same reason. I would replace one of the Stukas with a DO217 once available, which would suppress hard targets better than your 21cm artillery. You could then drop to three babysitter fighters and one spare, or even drop the other stuka and go to three fighters (the 110 doesn't usually need a minder).

If you have spotting heroes you could probably drop one of the recons, and when you do need bridgies or paras replace one or more of the infantry for that scenario (if you have enough prestige upgrade infantry to bridgies or paras and back to benefit from experience and heroes).

Fill any spare slots with Stug artillery or towed 105 (or 150/170 according to taste and what armour you are facing).

I suspect I'd disagree with at least half of this in a year's time (or a year ago), but it works for me at the moment, so maybe it will give you a few ideas.