What your favorite year?

[DefiantXYX]

I would like to know what your favorite year of wwII is. I am not only talking about the units you got there, I am also talking about the playstyle in this years.

Well, I go first:
- SCW (1936 - early) 1939 ==> you only got limited kind of german units and a lot of them suck. Still, its very interesting playing in this age, when you try to capture russian stuff and a lot of strategies are only possible with with an unexperienced units, like massencirclements with just some recon units.
- 1939 ==> pretty boring, only some new stuff, nothing special. Strategies are also pretty standard.
- 1940 ==> far more interesting, you get a lof of new tanks, some antitanks and talking about strategies, you sometimes cant no longer only work with artillery support. Especially french tanks can be powerful and a good target to capture.
- 1941 ==> pretty much like 1940, you get new kind of units everywhere and fighting russia you now fall behind. Like in SCW you should try to get some of their tanks and stuff. You need a good combination of air- and ground units.
- 1942 ==> very interesing year. with panzer IV F/G you close the gap to the russian tanks but they still can be killed easily. You finally get some self-propelled anti-tanks and you need some. Prototypes getting more and more important, a early tiger tank can make the difference. Unit are getting stronger and stronger but you can still make some small mistakes without getting punished hard.
- 1943 ==> finally german stuff is superior again, tiger and panther tanks even overpowered. There is so many interesting stuff, you can field a lot of different units. Strategies are definatly changing now, some extrem powerful units on both sides can make the differnce. Everything gets wiped out when you are paying attention on enemy airforce, ambushes...
- 1944 ==> you might have more stuff available that you want to. especially when playing with prototypes you are upgrading all the time, playing with limited stock gets really interesting again. Beside the tanks and anti-tanks the airforce is very interesting especially on german side with jets and other crazy stuff. What already started in 1943 units are somehow too strong now. Everything is 5 star full of heroes, fresh units are almost useless. Strategies get somehow boring, you are always forced to weaken the strongest units first and start to overrun everything thats left. It sometimes feels more like a material battle
- 1945 ==> well, hard to say, since there are only a few map and no DLCs yet. But it will be like 1944, but even more intense. You will play a lot of stuff that never really existed and doesnt matter what kind of path you are playing, I might fell ahistoric. I guess the allies will keep up, that you cant even let your jets fly around untouchable.

So, my is ranking:
1) 1942
2) 1943
3) SCW, 1940, 1941, 1945 (?!)
4) 1939

[GUNDOBALDO08]

My favorite dlc is 1941 because of Greece, Crete and wonderfull Barbarossa. The worst one IMO is 1939 because there’s so less poland, the ugly Saar offensive and Finland without Finns…

[DefiantXYX]

I dont mean the DLCs. Imagine if you could play change the year in any dlc, lets say play SCW with 1945 stuff on both sides

[Bee1976]

I dont mean the DLCs. Imagine if you could play change the year in any dlc, lets say play SCW with 1945 stuff on both sides

So you mean gearwise ?
If yes SCW is my fav year. Inferior equipment on the german side makes tough and funny battles
2nd would be 1944, tons of diffrent hardware to play around with, which adds a lot of strategic depth.

@Gundobaldo08
I enjoyed "The Saar Offensive" that were some tough battles to fight, way more challenging to fight french tanks and planes. The Poland missions feel like exp and medalfarming after the Saar Offensive. (for me)

[ckk010515]

I dont mean the DLCs. Imagine if you could play change the year in any dlc, lets say play SCW with 1945 stuff on both sides

Can we use the map from DLC and create a mod? I haven't try making a mod.
If yes making a mod of what if USSR win SCW and fight the Allies in 1945 will be funny.

[Tassadar]

For me on the German side it's the 1941-1942 part. It's where most of the equipment I like using the most appears, the tanks are not yet overpowered and there is a large variety of different unity types already that makes for multiple possibilities of the core composition. Later years are interesting for the more tech oriented runs or feel great with Retrograde, since it makes the progress slower. As for SCW and 1939, it makes for an interesting time due to lower unit experience, but could greatly benefit form expanded units file.

I'm not yet certain how this might feel for other nations once they get their own DLC, but I suspect 1941-1942 will remain the more interesting period as everyone is experimenting and rearming around this time.

[zakblood]

for me there is only one and that is 17–26 September 1944 for one battle only.

Arnhem, loved it since my first war game as a child.

when it's included in the game or any game for that matter, i get it, play it and see how it pans out to others which ive loved over the many many years

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[zakblood]

so wish list for the Developers and or mod makers, please add in all the units, the amount matter to me, same as the map lenght and size

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thanks

[Retributarr]

For 'Hitler'... to postpone his "war-plans" in order to do better preparation for possible eventualities:

In short!...a 'Time-Table' schedule delay to construct more U-Boats to be used for raiding supply convoys and seaports... when the time comes. Longer-Range... longer air duration aircraft would be needed as well. Better planning for disrupting and destabilizing British Airfields in order to gain and maintain 'Air-Superiority'. Proper Barges in quantity for troops-supplies and heavy equipment. Diversion plans devised to lure the British Fleet out of the region... to allow the invasion to proceed unhindered.

This could of course... set 'Hitlers' plans back a year or two... if it were possible to do it?... it could have granted him much more success than he actually had!... with "Britain" out of the picture!.

[Sequester Grundleplith, MD]

1940 is top, great mix of mission types, historical & "what if", overall campaign length

Next 3 are SCW, 1939 and 1941, in some order (all share the same good qualities of 1940, imo, but '40 does them all the best)

Last 3 are 42, 43, 44

1942 least favorite; until the recent hero mgmt fix, I sort of actively hated replaying it, as you had to totally rejigger your core and heroes between almost every mission. Plus, too many air-only missions, and Stalingrad felt underwhelming, even compared to the mission in the base campaign
1943, again, Kursk felt underwhelming. The maps for those scenarios reminded me of sand tables. Plus the campaign was too short vs the previous ones
1944 Each campaign felt too short, and yet there still managed to be significant overlap between ahistoric and historic, as both had multiple missions in Hungary and Romania where you were doing basically the same thing.

[adiekmann]

1940 is top, great mix of mission types, historical & "what if", overall campaign length

I would add 1941 to this list, and I agree with the following statements 100% and have said so multiple times previously elsewhere:


1942...too many air-only missions, and Stalingrad felt underwhelming, even compared to the mission in the base campaign

Wish it was more like the Stalingrad scenarios from PC1 which were excellent

Plus the campaign ['42-44] was too short vs the previous ones

1944...multiple missions in Hungary and Romania where you were doing basically the same thing.

[Lykanion]

My ranking would be something along the lines of 1939 as favourite, 1940, 1936, 1941, 1943 and only then 1942. Haven't finished 1944 yet.

- 1936: At first I was hard put to get into this AO, but since I adapted my playstyle it's among my favourites. Working with the Spanish, capturing all the cool Soviet stuff, relying on encirclements - I like it. Also, rather uncharted territory for most WW2 strategy games.
- 1939: My all-time favourite. Lots of different theaters to fight in, and the Saar campaign is just hilarious. Superbly done! You start to get some decent equipment and are able to capture quite some interesting stuff, too. Saar campaign, Winter War, Denmark - quite the fresh take!
- 1940: Some interesting fights and the first air-only scenario. I liked the narrative and playing with Rommel, though I still swear solemnly every time de Gaulle is mentioned. I think the story line in England gets bit silly, but whatever. Ending with a preview of the Balkans was a nice touch.
- 1941: After the Balkan campaign, it's up against the Soviets. While this is nice, it's more run-of-the-mill than previous AOs, but after all, that's what is expected from a WW2 strategy game.
- 1942, 1943: I really admire the scenario designer for his outstanding work, and you can see that they tried to mix things up and use every kind of means available to keep scenarios interesting. But after three years of fighting masses and masses of Soviets all over again, it's just really hard to not feel bugged out. Not switching to Italy in 1943 was such a big missed opportunity! On the other hand, 1943, due to the split paths, had more replayability while keeping the respective playthrough shorter, so that's a positive.

[Bee1976]

Not switching to Italy in 1943 was such a big missed opportunity!

Yes it is, but im pretty sure Italy will be part of the AOwest. The AO DLCs are labelled east so far since 1941.
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To mention 1944, it still feels to short for the path you choose, at least for me. I still hope we will see some flavour DLCs in the future to "fill up" campaign pathes with more missions in each year. It would be great if, once all DLCs for PC2 are released and all stuff is done, we can have about 16-20 real fighting mission for each year of the war. I mean we missed some interesting battles and theatres. More finnish scenarios for example in 1939 and early 1940 with maybe a special finnish infantry gift unit (hehe) or visiting the "Kurland Pocket" in 44/45 for some battles.
Stalingrad might have addional battles without breakting the storyline of the original DLC and so on.

But that are just my dreams and hopes for the future.

[Retributarr]

Better-more realistic Historical Military Attributes for Units:

The 'Developers' and 'Game-Designers' or whomever... should to the best of their understanding of the make-up of the opposing forces should as they seem to do... to determine the capabilities of the Units in the Game.

The military capabilities of the various - sides... progressed or changed throughout the War. As a fast example... the Japanese at 'Midway' in the Pacific... already had highly skilled pilots in that confrontation.., whereas the Americans were much less capable overall. Later on... when the Japanese had lost many of their skilled pilots... the following later echelons of Japanese-Aviators were of much lower quality or standard... whereas now... later on during that war... the Americans were much more capable.

Not all players have the same ability to play the Game effectively against their computer "AI-Adversary"... so why-not include an "adjustment mechanisms/tools/apparatus" and so on... so that the player can make these changes for the Unit settings themselves. Nobody wants an 'Easy-Walk-Through'..."i-don't"... without any challenge to accomplishing the objective of the Scenario... so why-not? experiment with implementing this effort... and perhaps save some players from being frustrated. If the task is "too-simple or too-easy"... the player will naturally increase the difficulty stats.

A 'Rating-System' could also be incorporated to identify the players true-capabilities by means of assigning a 'Rankings-Designation'... such as from ???... "Sparrow to Shite-Hawk?".

Furthermore... it would also be interesting to be able to manage the "independence-prowess-ingenuity"... either with increased or decreased capabilities of the other-side or your-side... to make the Gaming competition more challenging and satisfying. This way, you could generate or create a more sneaky-aggressive-stealthy Computer-AI-Opponent... or generate your own 'Atilla The Hun'... to unhinge your sensiblities!.

[truth80]

My preferences

- Spain, 1940 (lot of various strategies, nice difficulty)
- 1939, 1941 (1939 is too short in Poland, 1941 is too easy in Soviet Union)
- 1942, 1943 (nice length and variety but way too easy, core units are already overpowered)
- 1944 (least favourite, lot of battles are missing, very short and too easy). There should be one separate historical and ahistorical DLC each with 17-19 missions.

[cutydt02]

1943 would be my choice.
Tons of content both historical or ahistorical. Operation Winter Storm, Kharkov counter offensive, Kuban air battle & famous showdown at Kursk. For me, it’s the truely turning point of Eastern Front for any possible outcomes.
And tons of new vehicles from both sides debuted

[BarbarianHunter]

I like them all well enough. I think I enjoy '39 & '44 least of the lot but they are quite fun still.

If forced to rank, it'd be:
41
42
40
43
39
44

SCW is in a class all its own.

[DefiantXYX]

While playing Afrika Corps ("Grand Campaign" Mod) again, I can just confirm myself. There is a really thin corridor when the game starts to get boring in terms of difficulty. In 1942 when you got at least 2-3 prototypes (Tiger I, Panther D) everything is still fine. As soon as you can upgrade your whole tank army to these models the game is somehow messed up.
Once again, if you do not punish yourself somehow, like not using heroes or pick lots of negativ traits.

[Retributarr]

"Any-Year!"... when "Major-Decisions" are needed to be made!:
These suggestions would require an "Alternate-Historical" war-Game package... where in which these ideas could be implemented.
***Until "I-Myself... or someone else can come up with a better 'Name or Title' for this potential Game... for now,... i'm going to try.... "Premeditation-Determination": ...meaning!... that whatever you wishfully... possibly... mistakenly believe to be successfully achieved or that can or could happen as you envision it can... is what you are gambling or risking to do or to carry-it-out... to make it just so!.
***For the Allies in the "Pacific"... don't be too-concerned with what "Japan" will or will not do!... "Go-Ahead" and invade France in 1943 as was so-desired by the Americans and their allies... instead of expending those scarce resources on less critical situations in the "Pacific!".
***For the German's... take an extra-year to formulate and plan for a more potentially-assured successful invasion-assault on England. Using more practical strategies such as "Air-Field-Disablement-Suppression"... Torpedo-Bombers for the disablement and sinking of British-Warships... and a sensible plan for the prior possible luring away of a greater part of the British-Fleet away from the invasion-zone.
***For "Rommel" in North Africa... "No-Deployment" to North-Africa until "Malta" is "First!"... fully subjugated by a significant invasion operation effort... so!... for the time being, "forget Russia" for this moment!.
***For "Hitler"... "Do-Not" declare "War on the United States"... keep away from making that fatal erroneous mistake!... "U.S. anti-war-sentiment" would have kept the Americans out of the European-War until something else... some major incident would take place. In this-case... the Americans would then have devoted their whole effort into defeating the Japanese instead!.
***For "Stalin"... this is more difficult!. Stalin had to keep a low-military-activity profile on his eastern borders so as not to rattle "Hitlers-Cage"... causing him-Hitler... to accelerate his Russian-Invasion-Plans.
So!... instead... Stalin could better plan for possible encirclement contingencies... such as what to look out for in these situations and how then to proceed when and if this type of event looks like it is about to take place... to avoid or minimize mass surrenders of troops.
To also have a heightened alert-system for his many military-airfields so that they are not caught off-guard by complete surprise on the ground... whereby then... many or most of their Aircraft would easily be destroyed.
Also... to not get too-close to the Romanian "Ploesti-Oilfields"... as this would terribly upset Hitler... making him very-nervous as to having the Russians so close nearby... to having them possibly taking over his only guaranteed "Oil-Supply".
***For "Mussolini"... better leadership for his armies would be needed, better military and supply organization planning... with the additional planning for formidable air cover during any future operations.
Mussolini would also need to retrofit his Military-Factories to start producing more up-to-date... more effective modern equipment... such as getting the German Armaments manufactures to assist him with this task.. especially for more effective "Tanks".