Think I'm playing the game wrong

[IggyDaDino]

Hello from the battlefield! I've been playing through the massive grand campaign and a number of scenarios just seem to be weird. I'd like to understand what I should be doing as it seems the devs made some assumptions. The game is absolutely wonderful but let me share and let's see if I can get some useful advice to enjoy the game more with less reloading...

I'm on Korsun pocket 1944. I scramble my 8 fighters to the SW portion of the map where I spotted the enemy's air squadron. So I intercept and do generally well. During turn 3's AI turn, 2 air defence guns appear out of thin air under my fighter and kill it (until I reload enough times to not die as I didn't feel this was fair).

That's the first one in a while I saw where the unit just directly spawns. I got the impression from the briefing it was mostly a defensive mission.

My deployed core consists of the following:
5 infantry (2 pioneers, 3 regulars/alpine)
6 tigers
6 Special unit tigers
4 18mm (largest gun arty)
2 wurfrahmen (infantry arty truck)
1 sig 38 (mobile arty)
3 12.8cm flaks (for this mission based on briefing warning of heavy air bombardment)
8 fighters all fw 190A
5 Junkers 88 dive bombers
1 He 177A level bomber

Now this mission had restricted amount of deployable units. I usually use the additional slots on more artillery and I tend to always take my mobile ones, a random recon tank, an antitank elefant. I feel very much on these later 1943 and beyond missions I need to bring extra artillery as too frequently the tanks need to peel infantry off squares and I use suppression to make this happen.

So my question is twofold, am I missing anything in core makeup? Is it just some of these missions have units that spawn on top of you/just out of vision and I just need to play out of defence more? I am playing on Colonel difficulty.

[captainjack]

Your airforce looks quite big, especially as you have three 128AA for deterring attacks on ground forces and for weakening enemy aircraft. I usually cut back air force in or before 44 east because of all the soviet AA so that may cloud my judgement.
Though Korsun is quite hard work, the extra ground slots available with a weak airforce make it a bit easier to hold one or two key points and use the rest as a fire brigade or assault team, depending on what's going on. You also have the advantage then that ground troops are more use in bad weather (and the satisfaction that most of the enemy mobile AA is now useless).
As you have a very different force mix than I use, I'd go no further than suggesting trading a few air for ground units, and maybe also consider dropping some 210s to 170s. The rate of fire of 80% largely compensates for lower attack, and even 1 extra ammo is very useful on defence when multiple guards, smg and conscripts appear from nowhere. This is especially true in snow when your initiative advantage on front line units is cancelled out.
Good luck. If all else fails, bitenibblechomp once made a scenario where you got to destroy an army of nothing but T90 spaag with a tiger to releive stress caused by soviet SPAA .

[dalfrede]

Your airforce looks quite big, especially as you have three 128AA for deterring attacks on ground forces and for weakening enemy aircraft. I usually cut back air force in or before 44 east because of all the soviet AA so that may cloud my judgement.

I'll second this recommendation, and point to another tread that makes the same point.
https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewto ... 21&t=98010

During most of GC44 my only TB is Rudel, and Strats are useless [here].
3 to 5 fighters max, maybe Lent in a FW190.

[IggyDaDino]

Thanks for the replies. One of the issues I think I'm having. Throughout the past several scenarios, I've tried out different kinds of artillery and in these kinds of defence scenarios I seem to be running into trouble with the endless amount of infantry showing up. The infantry-focused artillery has been great but they seem absolutely impossible to defend. The only thought I've had and it just commits 2 units for 1 and I might as well just bring 2 artys--is to park a fighter on top of them as a 'land escort'.

I restarted this particular scenario for the third time, mixing up what and how much air coverage. Just using air force to defend my local area is still suffering from the magic spawning AA--this honestly feels a bit unfair and I'm very tempted at this point to pass this scenario until next playthrough.

What kind of core would you all deploy on this kind of scenario? My thought is, the game's freedom is great but on certain scenarios, there's this sort of designed-in expectation you're bringing x,y,z or using x,y,z this way. My only general sense I got from playing is I could bring more infantry--except the infantry cannot handle the tanks unless I get those few tanks lured onto bad terrain.

[KarisFraMauro]

You're definitely doing better than me. I've been off the game for the last couple of months because it just got so infuriating to constantly rush rush rush every stage in an increasingly futile attempt to meet the best turn limit. Even on the easier settings it eventually turns into an exercise in frustration. Tanks being hopeless against infantry when they're dug in on unfavourable terrain (which is inevitably the case), aircraft rendered pointless by weather, never having enough artillery to deal with everything getting thrown at me and just when it looks as if I might have a chance whoops rugged defence try again. And again, and again...

Sorry for the grumbling, I did get my money's worth out of it. I'm currently playing Order of Battle (which itself I was frustrated with initially) and having a great time! One of these days if circumstances permit I may give Fantasy General II a go, which leads me to wonder how closely it resembles Order of Battle or Panzer Corps, if it all.

[captainjack]

I picked up Fantasy Wars cheaply recently on GOG. It's very like a 3d Fantasy general and pretty good fun, though I get beaten up even on easy setting.

[hugh2711]

You shouldn't need so many dive bombers.
I only have one experienced regular use 88 and one occasional use one. I keep them as 88's instead of 128's because 88's are switcheable to anti tank in an emergency. Your air force should be already strong enough to cope.
I think it's all about 'farming' for heroes and experience in the earlier easier years which gives you a strong enough main core to cope with later years, specially in air force.
Green units are easy meat in the later years.
I did a series of AAR's which clearly show and discuss how to 'farm' a really strong heroed core - specially air force. If you look through the aar section on my name you will find it.
The planning for later starts right at 1939!

[KarisFraMauro]

I agree success in later stages is determined by choices made early on. That feels kind of like a shortcoming though. The thing about painting oneself into a corner is generally you can see it ahead of time, while here you can't. So in other words you invest hours and hours of effort all for it to be wasted and have to start over again from the beginning. Thanks for the advice however. I have a bad habit about that sort of thing, makes me feel that by following it I can't take any joy in success as it's properly the maker of the guide who deserves credit rather than me. One of the reasons I'm hilariously awful at Hearthstone for example, heh.

I vaguely remember something to the effect of weather reports only being 80 percent correct, but is the weather predetermined anyway? A couple stages rain will ruin things so I restart, but it ends up raining then as well.