Saving Blücher too random?

[Duedman]

hey guys!

I just played the scenario where you can save the Blücher. I think I did a good job.
Blücher suppressed the flak, Adolf Galland gave aiming assistance, Stuka silenced flak, 2 star Ju88A max OS with Gallands help bombarded the fort.
(since Ju87B cannot reach it and Ju88A has better hard attack than the twin engine Tac)
Oleh Dir and another Para dropped and silenced it.
But it still was able to shoot 3 times. And since it always shoots as if full strength, it seems to be totally random whether u manage to save the ship or not.
With some bad luck the fort sinks the Blücher in 2 turns, no matter what u do.

I know that saving the ship wont change much apart from it beeing usable in 1 scenario.
But I personally try to achieve every scenario objective. Its just part of the fun for me.
And this one seems to be totally luckbased. Or am I missing something?

[Edmon]

hey guys!

I just played the scenario where you can save the Blücher. I think I did a good job.
Blücher suppressed the flak, Adolf Galland gave aiming assistance, Stuka silenced flak, 2 star Ju88A max OS with Gallands help bombarded the fort.
(since Ju87B cannot reach it and Ju88A has better hard attack than the twin engine Tac)
Oleh Dir and another Para dropped and silenced it.
But it still was able to shoot 3 times. And since it always shoots as if full strength, it seems to be totally random whether u manage to save the ship or not.
With some bad luck the fort sinks the Blücher in 2 turns, no matter what u do.

I know that saving the ship wont change much apart from it beeing usable in 1 scenario.
But I personally try to achieve every scenario objective. Its just part of the fun for me.
And this one seems to be totally luckbased. Or am I missing something?

If you are running the default of 50% RNG, then it can indeed be random if you save it or not, since if the fort rolls high it can sink it too quickly for you to save it.

I play on 10% RNG and find that I can always save the Blücher.

How you save it, really depends on what heroes you have. I used an OS strategic bomber with lethal to smash the fort down, as that is what I had.

[Duedman]

hey guys!
[...]
And this one seems to be totally luckbased. Or am I missing something?

If you are running the default of 50% RNG, then it can indeed be random if you save it or not, since if the fort rolls high it can sink it too quickly for you to save it.

I play on 10% RNG and find that I can always save the Blücher.

How you save it, really depends on what heroes you have. I used an OS strategic bomber with lethal to smash the fort down, as that is what I had.

Yeah I'm running default randomness. Lethal attack seems the best choice. Did not have that. Used crippling strike (which only helped for the first bombing run). After the czech training mission I got flagkiller. Might have been useful too.
I also play with 1 hero per unit only.
Now that I think of it, overstrenghting the Paras might have also helped.

I got it saved in the end but it had to survive 3 hits and that was quite some reloading.
Maybe on a chess like random level it can reliably be saved based on players actions alone. I didnt think about that.

[Edmon]

hey guys!
[...]
And this one seems to be totally luckbased. Or am I missing something?

If you are running the default of 50% RNG, then it can indeed be random if you save it or not, since if the fort rolls high it can sink it too quickly for you to save it.

I play on 10% RNG and find that I can always save the Blücher.

How you save it, really depends on what heroes you have. I used an OS strategic bomber with lethal to smash the fort down, as that is what I had.

Yeah I'm running default randomness. Lethal attack seems the best choice. Did not have that. Used crippling strike (which only helped for the first bombing run). After the czech training mission I got flagkiller. Might have been useful too.
I also play with 1 hero per unit only.
Now that I think of it, overstrenghting the Paras might have also helped.

I got it saved in the end but it had to survive 3 hits and that was quite some reloading.
Maybe on a chess like random level it can reliably be saved based on players actions alone. I didnt think about that.

Remember, your not meant to save it, the Blücher was sunk in Norway. The missile artillery reward you get, is also available via "industry connections".

[Duedman]

Remember, your not meant to save it, the Blücher was sunk in Norway. The missile artillery reward you get, is also available via "industry connections".

Yeah. But you can! You dont even need to save it to get the nebelwerfer I think.
Its just for flavour with Blücher showing up in Sealion.

And if it is at all possible - I do not want it to be luck based.
But thats on me then, turning the luck-meter down

[Scrapulous]

I keep my game on 50% randomness, but as long as I have obtained a few strong heroes, I find that I'm consistently able to save the Blücher. The ingredients that work for me are:

• A bomber that can reach the fort (this is obviously mandatory). I believe a range of 12 or higher is the requirement. A Ju-87 (range 11) won't reach, but an Il-2 (range 12) will. The recent change to how airfields work (range is from the airfield hex, not whatever hex the plane returned to at the beginning of the turn - a great change in my opinion) make the Il-2 a reliable selection. Before that change there could be some turns where the Il-2 would not reach the fort.
• Overstrength the bomber to 15.
• Enough hard attack to damage the fort - again, the Il-2 is good here.
• One or more of the strongest offensive heroes - Double Attack and Rapid Fire are the obvious ones; I have used Crippling Blow (+5 attack against full strength units) and Exterminator (+5 attack against units with less than 50% strength) for this as well. Lightning Attack (doesn't trigger support fire) or Unyielding (doesn't get suppressed) can also be good for avoiding the island's AA defenses.

Strength 15 Il-2 + either Double Attack or Rapid Fire 2x will crush the fort in two turns on difficulties without an accuracy penalty.

In the GC I'm playing now, I had the Retrograde general trait (units become available 6 months later than usual), so I had no Fallschirmjager available. I had to dedicate a lot of air units and artillery to clearing the mines out of the way so I could send Grenadiers to take the island after I destroyed the fort. I was able to take the victory location two turns before the scenario ended - it would have been sooner if I had left a 21cm Morser nearby to help clear mines. I suppose you could also use one of the auxiliary FJ units from the north to take the island; if you do that, it's probably worth sending as much air support up to those airfields as you can to support the remaining FJ on the ground so that they can hold until your main force arrives.

[dalfrede]

Flag Killer Hero, the fort has a flag!!

[VirgilInTheSKY]

The recent change to how airfields work (range is from the airfield hex, not whatever hex the plane returned to at the beginning of the turn - a great change in my opinion) make the Il-2 a reliable selection. Before that change there could be some turns where the Il-2 would not reach the fort.

Reminds me of a bug caused by this change, aircraft rebasing is still using the current position to calculate their range limit, in certain scenarios same aircrafts from the same airfield cannot rebase to the other same airfield that still have available slots to hold them. Could be observed in AO 1941 in the muddy one that has bonus objectives for eliminating the two soviet armies (forgot the name).