New Campaign Idea?

[goose_2]

Ok, I have been stewing over this long enough, the time has come for me to layout my thoughts on a new Grand Campaign.

I have been mulling this over since I started my youtube channel, and now thanks to Braccada I think I have an idea that intrigues me for a new playstyle to try out.
I think I will call it Kluge Difficulty.

The idea got its germination after watching the full playthrough of Braccada’s awesome playthrough of Streets of Moscow:
1st part of the 4 part playthrough is found here:


I recommend watching as he did a complicated formula for buying replacements that I want to mimic, as it made his playthrough, exciting, dynamic, and a real nailbiter.

This brings me to the parameters of my new playthrough:
Kluge Difficulty:
Double Rommel 25% Prestige for the entire War
Field Marshall Difficulty 50% Experience for the entire War.
No reform units. (I have been using them in my Blindthrough of the US Corps Campaign, and my new AfriKa Korps Double Rommel Campaign, and I feel how it is changing my playstyle in ways I do not like.)

Here is where it gets complicated:
Germans start 39 with 5 Overstrength whereas the allies start with only 3 Overstrength. (How is that complicated, or even harder? Patience my friend, patience.)

I am only able to get replacements for every month of the war. So, I start out with an advantage, but quickly it will get more and more difficult.

Here is the formula I came up with to buy back replacements every month. (I tried basing this on some real world figures of actual units on the battlefield, and translating that into a replacement formula.)

This is per Month rate for each unit type:
1.5 for each infantry unit. (So if I have 10 infantry units, I can buy 15 casualty replacements after the first month.)
1 for each towed AT, AA, arty, and recon unit.
.75 for each plane unit.
.5 for each, Tank, and self-propelled AA, AT, and artillery unit.

(I hope this makes sense)

So for example I will not be able to get replacements until I fight at Spoils of War in 39 and there it is only based on a single month.
By the time Norway comes around 6 months will have passed so I assume that will be enough time to buy back full replacements, but when I go to France only 1 month’s worth of replacements will be able to be purchased.

It is at this point that I will also bring the enemy up to full parity with me because starting in 1940 I will have the Allies also have 5 extra Strength points.

Here is where it really gets difficult.
No Super Heroes, so as soon as they are deployed, I will disband, so I will not even get the prestige for them either.
(The original game did not have them so I will play without them.)

NO SE Units: This is where things get really, really tough. I will sell them at the beginning of deployment, so I will at least get the prestige, but fighting without SE units will make the scenarios extremely difficult, especially in latter war scenarios where the SE units really help with Soft Cap.

(I want this to be a real challenge, and I am always looking for ways to make the game feel more and more desperate as the war raged on. I think this challenge might recreate this.)

My other parameters are to not keep more than 1 of each captured unit, so no more than 1 KV-1B and 1 KV-1C, that kind of thing. The rest will be sold for prestige.

I will try and keep purchasing new units instead of buying replacements, (the more units I have the more I can replace each month), but at Double Rommel, buying units will be extremely difficult, and at 50% Experience they will be extremely difficult to get stars of experience.

I will try not to spam any particular unit but use as diverse a force as I can, so I will not be fielding all Gebirgsjaeger’s, I am however not promising to buy only 3 of each unit type because I am unsure what my composition will look like as the Campaign plays itself out.

Let me know your thoughts on this playthrough and any tweaks that you may or may not want to see to this playthrough.

I know I have like 3 Panzer Corps Playthroughs, and My Shining Force Playthrough, and now my Lutheran Weekly podcast I am uploading, along with the weekly liveplay with Braccada on Saturday’s, so why not throw another one out there for consideration.

I have all next week off of work in preparation for my son’s graduation celebration next weekend, so I believe I will be starting this sometime soon.

I would love to hear your thoughts, and as always….Stay Lutheran My Friends.

[captainjack]

I've been experimenting with restricted reinforcements and even with 60% prestige and retaining Oleh Dir, Kerscher and Lent it adds a noticeable challenge in 39 and 40 (which is as far as I've got with this).

The one criticism of the reinforcements as a percentage of existing force is that it rewards having a big (unused) reserve. Of course % increases are usually how things work but the other way to look at it is that If times are tough, you probably would be told to draw down your reserve before you can get any reinforcements. Relating it to number of deployment slots could also work.

Rather than have a limit of units of any one type, maybe you could allow unrestricted in the lowest available version (so you can have as many horse drawn 75mm guns as you like to keep your 39 foot infantry company). Another apprach would be only one upgrade per class per time (so you can only upgrade one tank per month, one infantry per month etc,). I've tried a version of this and it can be very frustrating, so maybe worth considering.

[PeteMitchell]

Oh wow, this would be impressive... well, it might get complicated to keep track of eventually as well?

Good luck!

[braccada]

I have to agree with captainjack here. I like the idea (no suprise ), but that model has a stong focus on gaming your own system. Simply close the loop holes and reduce up front difficulty would be my suggestion.

By the way, I like the idea of limiting upgrades and to relate replacements to deployment slots. Moreover I would think about dropping the overstrength for both sides. That way you are forced to fight with understrength units (acting as overstrength for the enemy) and the desperation is more visible and it is easier for people to relate to. Having this system of changing overstrength makes it very difficult to appreciate what is going on, because there are probably only a hand full of people playing like that.

[martiniiirichard]

I really think over strength breaks the game in many ways. Much like reducing the number of campaign days. But what will really pushes you to your limit is Field Marshall and Double Rommel. That I like. Disbanding hero units is going to cause massive problems for you. Disbanding SE units will cause even more problems. I highly doubt you will get away with replacements only every month. The game is not designed for that. I think it makes way more sense to only use elite replacements on half your units and regular is always available up to Vyazma. If you think that is too generous do double field marshall. I really think double Rommel, double field marshall by itself is enough to break most people. I would moderate the over strength as well. Plus 1 for 39 and 40. Plus 2 for 41 and 42, plus 3 for 43, plus 4 for 44, plus 5 for 45. I highly doubt you can even do it with over strength but if you insists you need to moderate it. I think getting through 1941 is going to be hard enough with all of this changes above. No need for wild calculations on how many units to use for replacements. At Vyazma it might be a good idea to drawn down how many units are eligible for regular replacements. Perhaps 75%. By Stalingrad 50%. At Kursk 40%. Start of 44 25%. By 45 10%. But well you will be dead ling before you hit 44 so that might be too harsh.

I am thinking of starting Heroic mode Grand Campaign. Double field Marshall double Rommel, 200% AI prestige, progressive Manstein. But with deducters mod everything is so incredibly expensive and availability of units are pushed all over the place. It is hard to imagine getting the units I need. For a long time I will not be able to follow Soren's path, so I need my own plan to try and match his inspirational approach. Now that I caught up with braccada it might be nice to have my own other campaign to play while he takes breaks.

[huckc]

Not sure if it's an issue but at -75% experience you will stop gaining experience after 4-stars in GC East for many, if not all engagements due to the campaign's exp modifier. Also probably at 2 or 3-stars occasionally.

Regarding enemy over-strength, I actually think it enhances the game, partly due to needing to think about forcing more surrenders rather than just blasting away at the enemy. You also need to come up with entirely new tactics/strategies due to a stronger and consequentially more aggressive enemy AI.

And regarding prestige reduction, part of the issue with that is it can be a non-factor depending on the campaign. For example at -50% prestige a highly skilled player can reach 100k prestige in GC East, more than they can ever spend. It's also doesn't affect disbands, making captured units way too important over income from actual victories and flag capturing. Overall I think it breaks the game way more than over-strength does.

Finally, as usual gonna have to recommend Ultimate It's nice and simple and an actual in-game difficulty.

[martiniiirichard]

I don't think Ultimate mode is practical in the least. How would one get a decisive in 8 turns on the Lodz map? I would love to see it. And even if by some miracle you could do it there is no way at all with the other conditions of Ultimate mode added in. Turn limits takes many scenarios and makes them unplayable.

[goose_2]

Ok for now I have answered the call.

(I am still tweaking with the other difficulty level, I started this post with, but as of now that is not feasible...yet.)

Panzer Corps Grand Campaign 39 Ultimate Difficulty



You want to see what Ultimate looks like. Here it is in all it's ugliness.

Do not expect Decisive's, do not even expect all Marginal's, expect pain misery, and maybe even some savescumming, but at least it is an attempt to play the Ultimate difficulty on the Grand Campaign.

Parameters:
Field Marshall 50% Experience
Rommel 50% Prestige ai 150% Prestige
Guderian 5 less turns for each scenario
Manstein ai has 5 extra strength points

This is the brutal no holds barred playthrough at the Ultimate Difficulty. Hope you like, and let me know.

Thanks for watching.

Richard Martin has also started a modified playthrough of his version of a doable Ultimate Difficulty.

[PeteMitchell]

Wow, great to see you are going for Ultimate! East and/or West?

[goose_2]

Wow, great to see you are going for Ultimate! East and/or West?

You expect me to get past 39? Oh that is so cute

[PeteMitchell]

Come on, of course!

[goose_2]

Richard Martins playthrough of Lodz is the one to watch in order to find a way to play that scenario successfully at this level, at least to get a Marginal

[goose_2]

Ok so I have completed Modlin on the Super hard difficulty, which is super easy, but looking at Warsaw, has me terrified. as I have 15 turns to try and get 4 areas for just a Marginal Victory, but a cursory glance at the map shows that there are 6 Victory Objectives.

4 is a lot with all the restrictions I am fighting under.

So my overall questions are as follows.

1) Which direction North or South and why? (I tend to lean North, but am open to thoughts)

2) Do you waste time going after auxiliary artillery's to help in assault? (I always do because I feel more artillery the better, but under these time constraints maybe I am thinking about it wrong.)

3) Overall strategy: Do I focus on taking the 4 corners and stay away from the center, or what I tend to do is focus on the east after I get the extra artillery and keep pushing until I secure the needed victory Objectives.

4) Any other helpful hints around army composition and any other words of encouragement are greatly appreciated, because if I cannot do this with at least a Marginal it is game over for my Ultimate playthrough. (Watch Richard Martin be able to pull off a Decisive and make me feel the fool.)


Thanks again for being such a great resource for the community.

[PeteMitchell]

I would probably come from the north and then focus on the east but that's just my initial gut feeling... could be completely off given the time limitations...

[glaude1955]

Hello goose_2
Warsaw South, in case of decisive victory, provides access to an additional Spoils of War scenario that gives a hero
(Helmut Lent - Tac Bomber (Att + Init +6).
Hope this help.
Regards
Yves

[goose_2]

Hello goose_2
Warsaw South, in case of decisive victory, provides access to an additional Spoils of War scenario that gives a hero
(Helmut Lent - Tac Bomber (Att + Init +6).
Hope this help.
Regards
Yves

You can get that mission if you get a Decisive in the North as well, but there is no way I can conceive of garnering a Decisive out of this

[martiniiirichard]

I got some radical ideas, but I want to see what you come up with. If you fail I can give you a new approach. I think a decisive is completely out of the question.

[goose_2]

I got some radical ideas, but I want to see what you come up with. If you fail I can give you a new approach. I think a decisive is completely out of the question.

You meanie, I ask for ideas, you say you have ideas, but you are keeping them close to the vest...

I hope you see the smile on my face.

[goose_2]

Does anyone know why my videos are restricted , I thought it was because of the videos I was putting on them, but I am not putting any videos on my Ultimate Playthrough and all of them are being put on the restricted access. It is frustrating because I am unable to watch at work, but Richard Martin's videos which are the same battles are not restricted.

Is there anybody that understands the parameters behind what decides if it is restricted?

[PeteMitchell]

Restrictived videos... maybe because it's a "war game"... there was some (related) discussion recently... http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 64&t=91808