Crete scenario strategy tips?

[MickMannock]

So I've tried the Crete scenario and really got my ass handed to me. I drop my paratroopers wherever I can, cause there ain't that many hexes to chose from (if one tries to stick close to the primary objectives). Around the victory hexes the enemy is well entrenched, supported by artillery and AA. All I have are paratroopers, no artillery myself. My air units can't do much because the enemy have plenty of AA and air units. On top of that, enemy units from the south of the island are rushed north, encircles me and kills my paratroopers by the droves within a few turns.

I welcome any strategy tips!

[Kerensky]

It's hard, brutally hard. If you just give zero fucks and do whatever, this map will annihilate you. I initially just dropped my paratroopers wherever, but I quickly stopped doing that after I saw how many Allied units are swarming Crete.
If you dont pick landing spots properly and attack everything at once, you'll just lose everything and accomplish nothing. There are no 'easy' targets.

So after a few turns pissing away my paratroopers, I stopped suiciding them and starting concentrating my force. I completely abandoned all attempts to land in the east and focused all aircraft and paratroopers in the west.

Properly organizing all my units together I was able to make good landing that didn't instantly get killed. As soon as I got a supply city, I loaded up whatever I could from the limited stock of equipment available.

Once I was established, I pushed from my western penetration and have to blast my way across the entire length of the map in an eastward direction.

No tanks and only horse transport made this a pretty unique experience. I tell you what though, I've never used so much 'force march' in my entire PzC career as I did here. Also putting fallschirmjagers back into their air transport to fly to new objectives helps a ton.

I needed about 30 turns of the 40 turn limit to win.

10 turns wasted on scouting and seeing how futile spreading out was.
20 turns of proper organizing my force and slowly fighting west to east at infantry foot movement speeds.

It has a distinct historical flavor, but not one I personally enjoy. There are literally no Panzers in this scenario in a game called Panzer Corps II. Har har!

Lastly, this is the perfect map to test out just how amazingly effective paratroopers can be at forming encirclements. People say paratroopers suck, and yes sending unsupported infantry behind enemies lines does often result in their death. But that's not their job, they're not a combat unit. They're an anti-supply unit!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2034627696

[Snake97644]

But that's not their job, they're not a combat unit. They're an anti-supply unit!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2034627696

Watch yourself Kerensky the Airborne and Para community will be out for your blood.

[Kerensky]

Watch yourself Kerensky the Airborne and Para community will be out for your blood.

Yea now that I think about it, I'm sure someone from the 101st Airborne will want to chew my ears off.

To re-phrase:

Paratroopers aren't Rambo. They can't fight behind enemies line and decimate all opposition all by themselves. If they land behind enemy lines, they are effect as any normal, unsupported and isolated infantry unit (IE not very). Doesn't mean they can't fight well under normal conditions.

[MickMannock]

It's hard, brutally hard. If you just give zero fucks and do whatever, this map will annihilate you. I initially just dropped my paratroopers wherever, but I quickly stopped doing that after I saw how many Allied units are swarming Crete.
If you dont pick landing spots properly and attack everything at once, you'll just lose everything and accomplish nothing. There are no 'easy' targets.

So after a few turns pissing away my paratroopers, I stopped suiciding them and starting concentrating my force. I completely abandoned all attempts to land in the east and focused all aircraft and paratroopers in the west.

Properly organizing all my units together I was able to make good landing that didn't instantly get killed. As soon as I got a supply city, I loaded up whatever I could from the limited stock of equipment available.

Once I was established, I pushed from my western penetration and have to blast my way across the entire length of the map in an eastward direction.

No tanks and only horse transport made this a pretty unique experience. I tell you what though, I've never used so much 'force march' in my entire PzC career as I did here. Also putting fallschirmjagers back into their air transport to fly to new objectives helps a ton.

I needed about 30 turns of the 40 turn limit to win.

10 turns wasted on scouting and seeing how futile spreading out was.
20 turns of proper organizing my force and slowly fighting west to east at infantry foot movement speeds.

It has a distinct historical flavor, but not one I personally enjoy. There are literally no Panzers in this scenario in a game called Panzer Corps II. Har har!

Lastly, this is the perfect map to test out just how amazingly effective paratroopers can be at forming encirclements. People say paratroopers suck, and yes sending unsupported infantry behind enemies lines does often result in their death. But that's not their job, they're not a combat unit. They're an anti-supply unit!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2034627696

Thanks a bunch for the suggestions. Will help a lot!

I was actually contemplating concentrating all my fighters on one part of the map, to be able to clear all the enemy planes, sector by sector. But apparently I have to do the same with the ground troops too. I find it a bit annoying to have to be "gamey" to beat the scenario. But regardless, I've always enjoyed the Crete scenario in all of the prior games (Panzer General and Panzer Corps Grand campaign) so I feel both the urge and need to beat this scenario, regardless of how much tears and sweat it will create.

[MickMannock]

So the second try went much better. Finished it with 13 turns left. But it was quite a slog fest.

But Karensky's tactic worked well. Focus all your forces to the west. Take the supply hex that is unguarded, it helps a lot. I purchased Bf109F's for all my free core slots, and took two Dornier 17's for the other two core slots that doesn't get spent on 109's. With the 109's I was ensured air superiority wherever I went and all my strat bombers acted as my mobile artillery. It goes a bit slowly in the beginning but when you have Rethimnon and Iraklion left it goes pretty fast.

So when one has taken the western part of the island, let your paratroopers jump onto their planes again and make a second jump at Rethimnon and then a third jump at Iraklion. Make sure to use encirclements to your advantage.

As I lost a couple of paratroopers, I replaced them with Ju87's. They are really helpful against the tanks on the island.

[MaxwellHart]

Crete heh?! as he mentioned above it's hard, brutally difficult. If you don't care and just joking around, this card will wipe you out. At first, I just dropped my paratroopers too, but quickly stopped doing that after I realized how Crete is invaded lol.
you must choose the correct landing spot and randomly attack everything, you may get lucky, and also probably you will lose everything and gain nothing. There are no “easy” goals.