good old Stalingrad

[scorehouse]

before i disembark on this beast, how many Tanks do you use and r N's and Flamers necessary or worthless? should all infantry be Pioneers? are the cheap Brukers valuable at all? r heavy bombers or Stukas the best way to go? how many 109's do you carry or reserve a few in favor of AA? thanks

[dalfrede]

https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewto ... 96&t=98841

[o_t_d_x]

If you have GUSTAV, stalingrad is very, very easy: ignore the south completly, clean the map with a line from north to south. Since the map has no counterlandings in the north designed (which i think is stupid because the russians would have done that surely), you dont need guards in the north.

I took some tanks, especially at the beginning, when youre taking the air base near "the hill", there are two t34s (one more south) that can make problems, in the north there are two t34 also. Ok, i had an "ignore entrenchement" trait and a tiger prototyp - with that a tank is a must, even in stalingrad. I didnt use IIIN or flamethrower tanks. I used many pioneers and arty. The counter arty arty is very good here.

You can only loose here, if you spread your core over the map, or through time, if you dont have gustav or enough arty. I didnt use bombers, because the enemy has good fighter support and flaks. 3 or 4 good fighters are necessary and i used 3 8,8 flaks. (all your forces have to be under a flak screen all the time, or you will bleed lotz of prestige...) The fighter bombers are cheap and useful too, if you have slot problems.

If you want to change history, you need a prestige reserve, based on the difficulty. 2000-10000 pr. But only if you have an absolute vic at moscow.

[scorehouse]

ok. first artillery i have Gustav, the Rail Monster and a another 17, so 3? then i have one 88aa and 2 others, 1 cost overstrengthed to a cost of 2 each. i have 2 heavy bombers. i was planning on using those to batter forts and sink ships? you disagree with this tactic? thanks for you help. is the "hill" air base the one with the tank on it to start?

[adiekmann]

Ditto much of what o_t_d_x said above. I however, did not deploy all of my tanks. I used the flame halftrack instead because it's cheaper. However, you need to protect it. If you have any good heroes to put on it like double attack and no retaliation, use them. OS it too. It will murder Soviet infantry that are dug in. Steady as you go, don't rush. Weaken enemy positions with artillery fire. Air support less helpful because of the abundance of Soviet AA guns. I attack central and north and then worked my way down like o_t_d_x advised. Can't tell you what my core consisted of exactly because it's been a while since I played that map.

[scorehouse]

im usinf my double attack on Gustav. so u don't try to sink the reinforcement barges/ships?

[adiekmann]

im usinf my double attack on Gustav. so u don't try to sink the reinforcement barges/ships?

No, not like in Stalingrad Docks in PC1. You can't really. The mechanics are different and the distance is so short that the AI is able to pack 'em, ship 'em, and deliver them all in the same turn. Once you control the area, leave a couple of units to guard the area (in the middle) where they are landed while the rest of your forces cross the river and take care of the southern portion of the map. Again, like previously stated, you needn't guard the northern areas of the map. The AI doesn't try to land any troops there.

[scorehouse]

thanks back to the drawing board

[scorehouse]

what r the bonus objectives and do i need to cross the river? if so, where and how do i get boats? thanks

[adiekmann]

what r the bonus objectives and do i need to cross the river? if so, where and how do i get boats? thanks

No, not the Volga River, the smaller East-West river that divides the bottom/southern section of the city and the upper part of the city. You may be correct that only bonus objectives are located south of that river, but I can't remember for sure. I always try to capture all objectives whenever possible and did so each time for that map.

[scorehouse]

ok then i'll head South and not worry about the big river.

[scorehouse]

the big Soviet AA guns. how to you capture one without having to reduce it {2}, {3}, etc. i like to capture so i can buy them from the captured pool.

[Schwarzvogel]

what r the bonus objectives and do i need to cross the river? if so, where and how do i get boats? thanks

You could cross the Volga with Fallschirmjaeger, but that is generally a bad idea. There is an annoying 203mm gun on the other bank of the river, but I usually prefer to kill it with aircraft (or the Gustav gun) as opposed to actually sending a paratroop unit over to take it out, since they won't be able to get back across.

Also, apropos of capturing the "big Soviet AA guns," there are a couple ways you can capture one:
1. Surround them on all sides (or with the river on one side), season them with artillery to reduce entrenchment and inflict suppression, then deliver the coup de grace with a weak infantry unit--something that is woefully understrength, split, or a bridge engineer as this will reduce the chance of their wiping out the unit entirely. You will still lose some in the process of capture, but having the "Scavenger" hero or "Trophies of War" general trait will offset this.
2. If you have the heroes which force retreat and destroy enemy movement points, use this unit to capture the gun after hitting them with split artillery units to reduce entrenchment to base level. You may want to split the hero unit (and make sure to use the portion with the hero) just to make sure you don't accidentally kill the AA gun. The artillery garnish is necessary not to induce suppression, but because units will never surrender if their entrenchment is above base level. If the number is green, they won't leave the scene.

However, I would not prioritize capturing those AA guns at Stalingrad, since the towed ones are no better than your 88s, and are perhaps even worse because at least you can readily reinforce your FlaK 36s. The self-propelled ones are nice, but even then, they won't do much that your rapid-firing Flakvierlings won't do (i.e. tear up enemy fighters and tactical bombers.) The only advantage the Soviet equivalent may have is in initial purchase price. If you want to capture gear at Stalingrad, I'd recommend focusing on T-34s, and even then, your long-barreled Panzer IVs can generally fight them on equal footing, and post-Stalingrad, you'll get Tigers which will eat any T-34 for lunch.

[scorehouse]

wow. thanks for all the info. i've been wasting my time and ammo.