Tipps for playing Battlefield Europe mod v2.2

[PeteMitchell]

Tips anti tank starting units:

There are lots of AT units. My advice is after 1942 pick the top performers in kills and exp. and covert them to StuGs.
The version StuG IIIF/8 is available from turn 33 and the III G from turn 38.

There is only one Panzerjäger, so protect it, since is very useful against soviet armor.

There is also, one 88 gun in the east and one in N. Afrika, keep it safe at all costs.
My advice is to upgrade at least three AA in France to 88’s and send two to the East and one more in N. Afrika, the British armor is tough

There are nine AT Pak 36, gradually they should be converted to Pak 38 and Pak 40
One Pak 38 later to Pak 40
Axis allies have also AT guns of which one in N. Afrika
Finally, there one mobile Renault AT

I think it is critical to upgrade all 3.7 cm ATs to the 5 cm ATs, you can already start moving the 3.7cm AT back to Germany from turn 1 as they won't change much in the east in my opinion.

Later on, I would change from 5 cm to StuGs if prestige allows. If you are on the defense, then better to go from 5 cm to 7.5 cm. I would just not go from 5 cm to 7.5 cm and then to StuGs as this might be a waste of prestige.

[faos333]

Upgrading many flaks to 88 can be very costly, IMHO

Indeed, it is costly, I will re-edit thanks

[PeteMitchell]

Finally, during the first winter 41, move some expensive units to Germany to avoid the minus one point strength penalty in Russia. The -1 WINTER strengths to all units in the east start at the end of turn 12 and last for three turns, till the end of turn 14.

Edit: Winter penalty does not effect the super guns like Karl Gerat, so there is no need to pull it back during the first winter. Also Finnish troops and all air units are not effected by this penalty.

Depends on strategy, some people just move forward (or at least hold the line) as time is of essence...

[PeteMitchell]

Of course there are numerous other tips for air units in this Mod but in this topic I tried to cover few basic ideas.

Feel free to add your tips so I can incorporate to this section later.

For detailed events about unit reinforcements, type availability, Oil crisis, etc from turn 1 till turn 99, see Uhu post at the first page of this topic

Some others views on this, i.e. some people decide to:

- move minor nations' planes to the east as they have a better impact on SU planes and send German planes to Africa
- abandon the German airspace for the most part and move all planes on the east, Malta and Africa
- go for Sealion very early to take out the UK airports and to the Allied bombing on Western Europe, freeing up planes later
- temporarily concentrate almost all planes in one theater to take out entire Allied air fleets for some time

[PeteMitchell]

5 Finnish infantry, of which one Jäger -> receives elite replacements, one unit to be upgraded to Jäger

There are different views on elite replacements (in general) and especially regarding minor nations, in the case of the Finns... they will lay down their weapons once the SU has been defeated, so the value of elite replacements is limited, also since they can't board any transports...

[faos333]

Installing the Mod help Video

Hi all Mod players,
with the cooperation from McGuba there is a video created about the BE Mod installation.
The video applies to all Mod versions and will help also installing other mods of the game.

It premiers tomorrow 8/5/21 the link is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ2yQyNYMms

[McGuba]

Installing the Mod help Video

Hi all Mod players,
with the cooperation from McGuba there is a video created about the BE Mod installation.
The video applies to all Mod versions and will help also installing other mods of the game.

It premiers tomorrow 8/5/21 the link is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ2yQyNYMms

Many thanks to faos333 for making all the efforts in creating this video and opening the youtube channel. Over the years there has been quite a lot people who tried to install this and other complex mods without success. Hopefully this will improve the situation and more players will be able to enjoy custom mods. We are planning to dedicate this channel to Panzer Corps mods and gameplay and more content will be added later. The future is here!

[Ursulet]

Great news!

[PeteMitchell]

I suggest to put the link to this installation video very close to the download like of the mod.

Maybe also into the general PzC tips and tricks section so it won't get lost as time moves on.

[JimmyC]

In late '42 Commonwealth troops arrive from the Suez and counter attack. Do you recommend to try and take the defenses at El Alamein before the reinforcements from Suez arrive, or is it better to use Tobruk as the strongpoint for defending against them? Soon after this, the Western Allies commence Operation Torch (invasion of North Africa). How to juggle defending against Torch with the push to the oilfields? Is it better to defeat Torch entirely before attempting to push to Alexandria and beyond? Or should you already commence the push to the oilfields?

The timing of push to the oilfields is so important as you cannot upgrade troops on the way, with Tripoli being the closest upgrade point. So you really need to time it right. Any tips for this?

[faos333]

In late '42 Commonwealth troops arrive from the Suez and counter attack. Do you recommend to try and take the defenses at El Alamein before the reinforcements from Suez arrive, or is it better to use Tobruk as the strongpoint for defending against them? Soon after this, the Western Allies commence Operation Torch (invasion of North Africa). How to juggle defending against Torch with the push to the oilfields? Is it better to defeat Torch entirely before attempting to push to Alexandria and beyond? Or should you already commence the push to the oilfields?

The timing of push to the oilfields is so important as you cannot upgrade troops on the way, with Tripoli being the closest upgrade point. So you really need to time it right. Any tips for this?

Hi JimmyC
A. In late '42: better use east and south east of Tobruk as strong point for your defense, there is a chock point there
B. For Torch you need to build a separate strong force to deal with
C. The push to the oil fields is better to do it from Rostov - Russia to Grozny and Baku
D. Alexandria and beyond is a long way for the oil fields

[faos333]

Tipps videos

Thank you all for the warm welcome of the installation help video.
Now we are very excited to announce the creation of new content in the Mods You Tube Channel.

A series of short videos with Tips about the Battlefield will start soon in order to help new players to learn more about the Mod.
These tips at first will be explaining various mechanics within the game and not strategies.

The first video is about MINES and is to premiere this Friday evening, set your reminder in You Tube and subscribe to the Mods Channel not to miss future content.

SEE updated VIDEO
https://youtu.be/e1y82bkpg7A

The channel was created to promote content for all game Mods

[McGuba]

The timing of push to the oilfields is so important as you cannot upgrade troops on the way, with Tripoli being the closest upgrade point. So you really need to time it right. Any tips for this?

Only for the record, in BE v2.2 you can also upgrade ground units in Tobruk. I hope it helps.

How to juggle defending against Torch with the push to the oilfields? Is it better to defeat Torch entirely before attempting to push to Alexandria and beyond? Or should you already commence the push to the oilfields?

As faos pointed out, defending Tunisia requires a different army than the one being used in Libya. The distance is too long between these two theatres to cooperate.
Unless you decide to retreat from Libya to Tunisia and join those two armies as it happened in real life.

The first video is about MINES and is to premiere this Friday evening, set your reminder in You Tube and subscribe to the Mods Channel not to miss future content.

SEE VIDEO
https://youtu.be/niwtwwvwpH0

For sure, mines are probably the most hated aspect of the mod, so it is essential to know them. You must know your enemy.

[PeteMitchell]

In late '42 Commonwealth troops arrive from the Suez and counter attack. Do you recommend to try and take the defenses at El Alamein before the reinforcements from Suez arrive, or is it better to use Tobruk as the strongpoint for defending against them? Soon after this, the Western Allies commence Operation Torch (invasion of North Africa). How to juggle defending against Torch with the push to the oilfields? Is it better to defeat Torch entirely before attempting to push to Alexandria and beyond? Or should you already commence the push to the oilfields?

The timing of push to the oilfields is so important as you cannot upgrade troops on the way, with Tripoli being the closest upgrade point. So you really need to time it right. Any tips for this?

Hi JimmyC
A. In late '42: better use east and south east of Tobruk as strong point for your defense, there is a chock point there
B. For Torch you need to build a separate strong force to deal with
C. The push to the oil fields is better to do it from Rostov - Russia to Grozny and Baku
D. Alexandria and beyond is a long way for the oil fields

I am not 100% sure you talk about these reinforcements... but if you push really hard you can reach Cairo in time (i.e before turn 32 or so) and with this avoid these reinforcements... if you are short one or two turns and therefore can't avoid them, it seems easiest to kill these UK tanks one by one in the Cairo city hex

[PeteMitchell]

Tipps videos

Thank you all for the warm welcome of the installation help video.
Now we are very excited to announce the creation of new content in the Mods You Tube Channel.

A series of short videos with Tips about the Battlefield will start soon in order to help new players to learn more about the Mod.
These tips at first will be explaining various mechanics within the game and not strategies.

The first video is about MINES and is to premiere this Friday evening, set your reminder in You Tube and subscribe to the Mods Channel not to miss future content.

SEE VIDEO
https://youtu.be/niwtwwvwpH0

The channel was created to promote content for all game Mods

This is amazing!! Will you do some commentary voice over as well on your videos?

[faos333]

This is amazing!! Will you do some commentary voice over as well on your videos?

For the moment no voice commentary on the videos, but who knows maybe in the future, after all as you remember initially I had no plans for things like this, but because of you and some people on this forum I took the encouragement to do so

[JimmyC]

Tipps videos

Thank you all for the warm welcome of the installation help video.
Now we are very excited to announce the creation of new content in the Mods You Tube Channel.

Nice one Faos. I hope that it can get more people interested in this great Mod.

[JimmyC]

Hi JimmyC
A. In late '42: better use east and south east of Tobruk as strong point for your defense, there is a chock point there
B. For Torch you need to build a separate strong force to deal with
C. The push to the oil fields is better to do it from Rostov - Russia to Grozny and Baku
D. Alexandria and beyond is a long way for the oil fields

I am not 100% sure you talk about these reinforcements... but if you push really hard you can reach Cairo in time (i.e before turn 32 or so) and with this avoid these reinforcements... if you are short one or two turns and therefore can't avoid them, it seems easiest to kill these UK tanks one by one in the Cairo city hex

So is the general consensus that the best way to take the Middle East oilfields is via the Caucuses and not across the desert? In the old version of the mod i used to go across the desert, but maybe better to go via Caucuses now?

The timing of push to the oilfields is so important as you cannot upgrade troops on the way, with Tripoli being the closest upgrade point. So you really need to time it right. Any tips for this?

Only for the record, in BE v2.2 you can also upgrade ground units in Tobruk. I hope it helps.

How to juggle defending against Torch with the push to the oilfields? Is it better to defeat Torch entirely before attempting to push to Alexandria and beyond? Or should you already commence the push to the oilfields?

As faos pointed out, defending Tunisia requires a different army than the one being used in Libya. The distance is too long between these two theatres to cooperate.
Unless you decide to retreat from Libya to Tunisia and join those two armies as it happened in real life.

Good to know about Tobruk. Seems many changes from the older versions. I look forward to my next playthrough, although for the moment i focus on writing up the AAR for my current playthrough just focused on defeating Soviets.

[McGuba]

So is the general consensus that the best way to take the Middle East oilfields is via the Caucuses and not across the desert? In the old version of the mod i used to go across the desert, but maybe better to go via Caucuses now?

I think there is no such thing as "general consensus". Players seem to have different opinion on different things and it is good. It all depends on the playing style and the goals in a playthrough. For example a total victory can be achieved even without the invasion of the Caucasus region: it is not a requirement for the Soviet surrender and then the oil fileds in Iran can be reached through the desert to ensure the defeat of the British. In this case the units that were to be used in the Caucasus can be used elsewhere to speed up the victory.

for the moment i focus on writing up the AAR for my current playthrough just focused on defeating Soviets.

That's great we look forward to that!

I look forward to my next playthrough

Have you decided how you will play next time and what will be your aim? Note that I am planning to release a small update soon v2.3, with a few fixes and other cosmetic things. For example I have fixed the Italian mobil AA that could not shoot at planes, following your report. If you have encountered any other problems or isssues in your current playthrough which you think should be fixed it is time to let me know.

[faos333]

........ I think there is no such thing as "general consensus". Players seem to have different opinion on different things and it is good. It all depends on the playing style and the goals in a playthrough.

Totally agree on this one, everyone of us has its own style and plan and victory can be achieved in many different ways.
I will add this to my previous posts as well