I'm playing on Generalissimus with the Europe on a Shoestring (Rommel mode, no passive prestige at all) and Race Against Time (Guderian mode, 5 fewer turns to complete scenarios) modes active. I've also disabled heroes, so I won't be receiving any; having played through the ahistorical campaign I found them to be poorly balanced, leading to a less tactical experience where I ended up snowballing hard with a number of demigod units. I'm confident this limitation will make the game not only more challenging but more fun. I'm using 25% Combat Randomness (in retrospect I think I'll use full RNG in the future, because the fixed marginals exasperates the problem with chip damage; however I'll save that discussion for when I use it), custom army (allowing me to customise the army I start with in Poland), 2 free General trait points (which is the default).
I've also disallowed Liberator and Trophies of War, the two traits that make it a lot easier to gain prestige, undermining the difficulty of Generalissimus. I'll still be opting to make most of my prestige by forcing surrenders, but will not benefit from the extreme bonuses Trophies of War provides. It should be noted though that having actually played with these rules -- and reading the other AARs -- picking Liberator is probably more of a penalty than a boon for an experienced player, because it offers nothing at all except prestige, and you won't be short on that if you adapt this style. Trophies of War makes it easier to field enemy equipment at least, but at 2 points it's rather expensive. This isn't what I expected, but that's part of the fun of this challenge -- making discoveries that weren't readily apparent whilst playing the game "normally."
In the interest of full disclosure, I'm not playing on ironman and have set the game to allow unlimited undos. Whilst this theoretically allows for unlimited cheating, it's currently necessary for me to be able to complete a campaign, as I cannot get used to the control scheme and consequently end up making too many misclicks per scenario, ranging from moving units, selecting the wrong unit (especially fiddly with air units) and even ending the turn while scrolling. With such tight margins I can't really afford this, so ironman is out for now. I won't be save scumming, but I will replay a scenario should I fail -- I'll save the true ironman for when I know the game better, especially the eastern scenarios.
Edit: For those who are impatient, the campaign comes into its own early on in Barbarossa; of the early scenarios only Dijon is really covered in detail.
I'm borrowing the community campaign tree to help visualise my plans. I'll be starting in '39 with Poland North, followed by Bug River and Norway South. After that it's off to Western Europe where I'll be going through Belgium, Dunkirk and Dijon. As of now I've already played up to Dijon, so I've put the campaign on hold while I catch up with the AAR, as I'm already regretting the lack of notes (my memory is evidently not as infallible as I'd like to believe). I apologise for the quality of the screenshots; it didn't actually occur to me at the time to look for a hotkey to hide the GUI. I promise to improve on that from Dijon, but the existing screenshots are what they are.
Seeing as the other two AAR veteran players both played Dijon perhaps I should go with Paris, but as I sank the British fleet at Dunkirk there'd be no British expeditionary force in that scenario, which'd make it a lot less fun. I've yet to decide where to head in '41, but it'll probably be Operation Barbarossa. I honestly prefer the North Africa setting, but I played that in my last campaign, and I suspect the Soviet Union will prove a stiffer adversary than the British.
Scenario I -- Poland North
Now for my general traits. I formed this list partly with a fictional protagonist in mind, a commander with similarities to Guderian -- a modernist who believes in the strength of armour (Panzer General), flexibility (Flexible Command, Perimeter Control) and rapid movement (Master of Blitzkrieg, Operational Initiative, Deep Recon) to enable encirclements (Deadly Grasp). He disdains siege warfare as a relic of trench wars (Trench Slog) and is an outspoken critic of the Nazi movement, earning him the enmity of the political establishment as well as part of the Wehrmacht, meaning he's last in line to receive new equipment (Retrograde) and forcing him to achieve much with limited means (No Overstrength).
Panzer General: Reduces the core cost of all tanks by 25% (I believe it's rounded up; see discussion on army composition). Core slots are one of the greatest limitations, and reducing the cost of tanks effectively increases the amount you have to work with. If like me you intend to field a lot of tanks it's a good pick -- it should probably be avoided in a truly challenging run, however, because of the benefits of extra core slots.
Deep Recon: A trait I'm experimenting with. I'm not convinced the bonus is really worth the cost (the 5% accuracy buff to recons is welcome but permanent visibility over primary objectives isn't terrible useful when you can use recon planes), but perhaps I'll be convinced otherwise.
Operational Initiative: Offers a permanent +1 initiative to all your units and as much as +4, +3 and +2 respectively for the first 3 turns. I like this for its ability to help me establish air superiority, as it provides an edge for those vital early clashes in the air. As I'm not looking to destroy everything in my path the extra initiative might end up being somewhat superfluos, however, and I do have to pay for the privilege.
Master of Blitzkrieg: The extra movement is welcome, but it's the ability to cross minor rivers with tanks that makes this great when combined with Perimeter Control and Flexible Command, allowing encirclements that would otherwise be impossible. In many cases it makes tanks more mobile than even recons, and although bridge engineers can help any unit accomplish this the ability to adapt to a changing tactical landscape on the fly is very valuable.
No Overstrength: Heroes are what make overstrength extremely strong, so without them it loses much of its appeal. That isn't to say that it's a freebie -- many cheaper units can effectively overstrenghten for only the prestige cost, and for some types of units (especially air) overstrengthening can dramatically improve their performance. That said, as far as the weaknesses go this is one that seems quite managable.
Deadly Grasp: Doubles the penalties for encircled enemy units and is effectively a mandatory pick if you're going down the route of forcing surrenders -- the extra 2 suppression per turn is worth its weight in gold when you're trying to cordon off a large number of units and lack the resources to fully suppress them all to mitigate damage.
Flexible Command: This is mandatory if you want to split units, as otherwise it requires free core slots, something you'll normally never have. Offers fantastic synergy with Master of Blitzkrieg and especially Perimeter Control, allowing you to force surrenders much easier by significantly increasing the number of units you can field at any given time. It also offers opportunities to increase entrenchment damage with artillery if needs be, improve Mass Attack bonuses and reduce the damage your designated defenders do when attempting to capture units. It does make units a lot more vulnerable to attack, however.
Retrograde: Originally I thought this'd make for an interesting weakness, forcing me to work with older models which would hopefully lead to a more stimulating tactical game. Receiving upgrades 6 month late shouldn't be crippling weakness, although it's bound to hurt at some points (Kursk w/o Tigers or Panthers seems a little rough, come to think of it), but there's a catch with the skill I only became aware of in Belgium.
As it works right now Retrograde prevents the player from accessing new models until 6 months later. This is as expected, but while it does this it still uses the default equipment file. Why is this a problem? Because often updated models replace outdated models entirely, such as the new Me 110 that becomes available in Belgium. A retrograde player thus ends up unable to requisition the unit at all, a problem I imagine will only become worse as the campaign progresses. It's likely that there'll be a 6 months window in '43 where I cannot requisition any infantry at all, and that is terrible design. I can only assume this is a bug (I've reported this in the bug section).
Perimeter Control: A fantastic trait that allows you to form a path through enemy lines as long as there's a physical void to exploit, enabling encirclements of enemy positions that are otherwise secure. Vital for the intended strategy of capturing enemy units as opposed to facing them head on.
Trench Slog: I feel a little guilty picking this, because it's not much of a penalty. Entrenchment is very powerful, but in reality I tend to use engineers when I assault entrenched positions, and engineers ignore entrenchment. It does mean it takes more effort to reduce entrenchment levels when trying to force surrenders (enemies won't retreat as long as they have an entrenchment level higher than the base of the hex), but for 2 points it's a bargain.
Initial Prestige: 50
Final Prestige: 1680
Core
- Infantry
- Wehr Infanterie
- Wehr Infanterie
- Pioniere w/ Opel Blitz
- Tanks
- Panzer IB
- Panzer IB
- Panzer IIC
- Panzer IIC
- Recon
- SdKfz 222
- SdKfz 222
- Artillery
- 10.5 cm leFH w/ Opel Blitz
- 10.5 cm leFH w/ Opel Blitz
- Fighters
- Bf 109E
- Tactical Bombers
- Ju 87B
- Strategic Bombers
- He 111H2
The reason I initially had 2 free core slots is that I picked Panzer General, which lowered the cost of the IIC to 2. Being able to field tanks that cost 3 slots for only 2 is a great early game advantage, although the IB is an extremely competitive tank, all the more so when you aren't looking to destroy the enemy. The extra recon will help with scouting and improve my accuracy (thanks to Deep Recon 2 recons should provide an impressive 30% bonus to accuracy when adjacent to a target). The Polish airforce consists of a single strategic bomber in this mission, so a single fighter is more than enough to gain control of the skies. Finally, the strategic bomber will help in suppressing targets to make them easier to capture.
The first scenario is wide open with few chokepoints. I hadn't played with Race Against Time before, however, and so I wasn't sure whether I'd have enough time to go for the optional objective in the NE. In the end I decided to only go for it if I had time to spare. The Pioniere, supported by the Wehr and artillery, will head down to Bydgoszcz to secure it and the airfield. They will then follow the river to Chelmno. The bulk of my forces will push towards the middle plains to draw out and encircle the Polish defenders before converging on Chelmno.
Recons are significantly more valuable now than in PzC1. Combined with the bonus from Deep Recon my 2 recons provide a 30% accuracy bonus.
Splitting the artillery allows me to increase suppression while minimizing the risk of killing the targets. The Polish infantry are forced to surrender.
The Polish strategic bomber is drawn out by my Pioniere and proves an easy target for my fighter. Polish forces are responding in the center as I opt to destroy the armoured car and gun owing to worries that they'd slow me down (and in the case of the car, potentially use its phased movement to strike at my vulnerable artillery).
Halfway through the scenario things are proceeding according to plan, with Chelmno within striking distance of my Pioniere.
The Pioniere force the Polish defenders to surrender. It's clear that there's a lot more prestige hidden in this scenario than I initially anticipated.
With Grudziadz secured and the Polish force vanquished, I turn my attention to the bonus objective.
A comforting win in the end and an excellent start to the campaign. After subtracting the initial 50 prestige and the 650 from the captured victory locations from the end result of 1680 I'm left with 980, a net gain of almost a thousand prestige just by forcing enemies to surrender, and while I'll have to reinforce many of my units that's still a surprising amount from a scenario of such limited scale; it's too early to say for certain but it feels somewhat overtuned, but at least this should be a viable way to finance my operations.
In hindsight I should have captured the gun and possibly the armoured car as well, and my losses could've been lower seeing as I had more time to work with. My core worked well enough but would've benefitted from dropping at least 1 of the Wehr and downgrading the artillery to make room for more of the latter. On to Bug River!
