Army composition to aim for going into GC 44 & 45 East?

[allophyl]

I'm just starting Oboyan in GC '43 East, I'm quickly reaching (if not already past) the point where I feel like my army composition should be more or less finalized, as any new units I buy at this point likely won't have enough time to built up 4+ stars of exp before the end of '45.

So I'm wondering what people usually try to aim for in terms of army composition going into GC '44

Here's my current comp going into Oboyan in '43:

Infantry:
8x Gerbigsjager (+2 SE)
0x Infanterie (+2 SE)
1x Grenadier
2x Pioniere
2x Bruckenpioniere

Armor:
3x Panzer IV-H (+1 SE)
3x Panther D (+1 SE)
4x Tiger I
4x Obsolete captured tanks with at least 1* (will probably upgrade these to panthers or tigers eventually)

Recon:
2x Sdkfz 233 8Rad

Anti-Tank:
2x Stug III-G
1x Nashorn
1x Elefant

Artillery:
4x 17cm
1x 15xm
2x Wurfrahmen
2x Hummel
2x SU-122

Anti-Air:
2x 8.8

Air:
4x Bf-109G
2x FW-190A
2x Ju-87D
2x Ju-87G
2x Me-410A
2x HE-177A


One thing I am perpetually worried about is that I don't have enough fighters. In the last few scenarios most of my losses occurred from the red air force finding holes in my air defenses, and 6 fighters doesn't feel like quite enough to escort all bombers *and* fill any gaps in AA defence while simultaneously destroying enemy air attack waves. Maybe I should buy a couple more FW 190As?

Another obviously lacking area is SPAA. I've avoided SPAA so far because I feel like anything it can do a fighter can do a thousand times better, so if I'm going to buy a SPAA unit I might as well just buy a fighter. Plus every scenario so far that has had a lot of enemy planes has had auxiliary SPAA units to use anyway (though admittedly their coverage is often imperfect and limited)

I probably have more infantry than I need right now, but I feel like they'll really come in handy in the urban defensive scenarios later on. I do intend to convert some of my mountaineers to regular infantry and grenadiers, as there is a much bigger difference in HA now that the '43 versions are available

I also feel like one more recon would probably be a good idea. It is pretty common to have to split my army into three groups for any given scenario, and with only 2 recons, one of those three groups always ends up without one, meaning they have to move a lot more cautiously than they otherwise would.

[eskuche]

Random thoughts:
1. What difficulty and how much prestige? New SE units can be either kept in an attempt to get them to 3-4 stars, even on FM, throughout '44. If you're hurting for cash by '45, it might not be an awful idea to sell those SE panthers. OTOH, SE tigers that repair with normal replacements might not be awful.
2. You're gonna get massacred by the soft cap (look it up if not familiar). The SOP for GC is to direct all your SEs to tanks, so you don't go over the cap.
3. 6 fighters is "okay" if you don't lose any. You get 1 or 2 more heroes, albeit with +attack/+ini/-def. Do NOT neglect AA. Fighter points are too expensive too replace. AA also gets +2 attack per star. SPAA helps you reposition more easily. I used my Sdkfz 10/4 +5 attack + 5 stars till very late.
4. You get pretty much enough infantry heroes to only really need to take some outstanding (+5-6 stats) heroes. The urban defensive scenarios are handled fairly well are chokepoints with 2 infantry at each. Suppress once then hit with an infantry in close terrain to get surrenders.
5. Unless you have superb heroes for recon (I ended up with +3att/+3def one in my first campaign; +2 spotting is amazing, I lucked out with that onto Kerscher for 6 spotting (!)), they aren't doing much later on in terms of combat. One can make the argument to fish for spotting/movement heroes on them only.
6. You have too many bombers. It'll be impossible to cover them all later, and you'll inevitably take damage. The Me-410As will be chewed up by the late war Yaks and La's very soon.

It seems this is your first time progressing throughout the whole monster campaign. It might be worth seeing what gets tossed as you but I would IMHO plan for a repeat run with more foreknowledge. I wouldn't feel too comfortable with less than, say, 50,000 prestige starting '43. Hope this helps!

[allophyl]

Hey eskuche, thanks for the input! To respond to your points:

1. I'm playing on General, however I have modified the soft cap to be 800-1600 instead of 400-800
2. See point 1. I mainly did this because I played through 39-41 and part of 42 not even knowing about the soft cap, then when I saw my prestige income start to tank I discovered that it existed, and by then I felt it was too late to start disbanding my SE infantry units that already had maxed XP and pretty good heros, so I decided to bump the prestige cap up instead. If/when I do a second playthrough, it will be on FM with the standard prestige cap
3. I just bought a 3rd FW-190A at the start of Oboyan, with the intention of buying a 4th soon, which will round me out to 8 total fighters. I'll take your advice on the AA and buy myself a couple of SPAA, as I can definitely see the usefulness of them now that my fighters can't always be where they need to be due to Russian AA
4. Yeah I already have a lot of amazing infantry heros, and I always have infantry units that go unused in any given scenario so I probably won't bother getting any more infantry
5. I find my recons to be invaluable - I can drive them up ahead of my front to see where enemy artillery and AA are then move them back behind my lines before the end of the turn. This helps me make sure my air force is able to avoid enemy AA and I can make more well-informed plans for my turn with the intel they provide. Plus as a bonus, the latest model of recon has some bite and at 4* of experience they can easily finish off weakened units and still get back to safety before the turn ends
6. But my stukas and Me-410s are insanely good at chewing through soviet armor! I always try to group them together so that I can have 1 fighter escorting 2-3 bombers on any given turn, and with the number of fighters I have I've never had a problem making sure they all get escorted. Also one of the Me-410s is the Reconnaisance flight which I rarely use any more because it already gets torn to shreds so easily by the soviet air force

Funnily enough I've had ~50k prestige for all of GC '43 so far. I started with just over 50k and currently have just over 51k, so I think I'm doing alright there

[PanzerTum]

I'm not that far in my GC yet, but what I understood from reading the forum is that aiming for air superiority in 44/45 is increasingly a lost cause.
The amount of enemy fighters and bombers is going to increase to such an extent that only dealing with them fighters is just not viable anymore, both from a number and prestige perspective.
So to survive that the doctrine has to change. More AA is needed both mobile and towed. Mobile for more fluid scenario's and towed for the more fixed scenario's.
I imagine it will feel strange saying goodbye to the good old tactic of air superiority.

To a lesser extent there may also be a shift from expensive tanks to anti tank. Because of the sheer number of enemy armour a larger AT force may be needed.

[dalfrede]

A few years ago I documented a full GC[E] campaign to use as a reference. You may want to look at it.
https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewto ... 40#p757740

[faos333]

Hello, there it really all depends on your style of strategy:

In my opinion 44-45 campaigns objectives are:
A] Gain more heroes; especially acquire a third hero for units close to it. Kill counts matters so to able to earn heroes. Since from 1001-2000 a unit can earn a 3rd hero. From 301-1000 can earn a second hero, while the first hero appears from 101 – 300.
B] Earn more experience, especially the newer core units. In that sense super heroes like Ole Dir already at 515 exp, to be used only when absolutely necessary.
C} Develop the core units’ composition so survival is guaranteed till the end in 45.

Personally, I go for developing a core consisting of the following at the end of 45:
12 infantry plus two SE infantry, 7 tanks plus six SE tanks, 3 Anti/Tank, 4 Anti/Air, 12 artillery (plus two reserve Wurfrahmen), 7 fighter plus two SE in 45, 5 Tactical Bombers and 4 Strategic Bombers
This way I can have many deployment choices in every scenario in 44 and 45.

Keep in mind, that in Berlin 45 you can deploy 45 units and in Berlin Redux the final battle 50 units.
So, you should decide how many units of each type you should develop.

[PanzerPlayer01]

My opinion on what you should have as a composition for each year by memory as I am not sitting in front of the game and cannot name the units specifically.

10 to 15 total infantry:

6 - 1943 Paratroopers (due to high initiative use these as your main infantry with trucks, not airborne. If +2 movement bring up to 13 to 15 and make main soft target attack)
2 - 1943 Grenadiers (due to defense, and changed to 4 once you reach the Berlin maps by converting paratroopers)
1 - 1943 Engineer (once you get a hero with +1 movement convert it to this type)
1 - Bridge unit (+1 movement if you have it)
SE Remainders upgrade to 1943 Grenadiers in mid 1945

12 tanks:

8 - Tiger 1s (upgrade slowly when Tiger 2s become available. Panthers have weak close defense except the latest model)
4 - SE hold these to best upgrade for the cheaper price. Some have small incremental bonuses and upgrade to Tiger 2s first

4 Tds:

Elephant is a good TD but the Jagdtiger has better defense and initiative. Upgrade late 1944 to early 1945.

2 Scouts:

6 AA Guns:

4 - The 8.8 is a good gun early in the Grand Campaign to use as an anti-tank gun, but later becomes less effective. Upgrade to the 12.x later on.

2 - Mobile AA guns

Artillery:

4-6 - Wurfrahman
2 - Hummel
0-2 Captured Soviet Su-122 (I believe this is what they are, but they have 3 range)

Fighters:

7 - Best fighter available to eventually get the M262A (the single wing fighter statistically is better, but I find it worse in defense)

Tac Bombers:

2 - Stukas
2 - Fw190G (previous to this being available there is a tac bomber that can fight)

Note about tac bombers: at some point you will get a free bomber during a campaign. It has +6 attack and +6 initiative. Use this as a stuka until the Fw190G is available and it is as powerful as a M262A and can be used for both bombing and fighting. In 1945 convert all tac bombers to Fw190Gs.

Level Bombers:

1 - The best with naval ability for early maps ( I personally do not use level bombers for suppression as I consider them a waste unless on a naval map)

Advice on over strength(OS) of units:

It is cheaper to OS units like infantry and you should have your units at 11 constantly imo. As mentioned, pick a paratrooper unit that has +2 movement and hopefully some + attack or + int and bring him up to 13 to 15 and let him lead attacks.

OS TDs to 11 and bring one up to 13 to 15 and make him your lead hard attack TD.

OS all fighters to 11 minimum and make one OS 13 to 15 to crack the hardest enemy fighters.

OS AA guns to 11 as it is very cheap and use them to weaken fighters. Hopefully you are aware that any unit gains more effectiveness if more of your units are adjacent to the enemy you are about to attack. Bring a fighter next to an enemy and then bring another and you will notice the estimated outcome with change more in your favor. Properly place those fighters around targets and you can often never lose any strength taking out entire formations of fighters. This same rule applies to most units.

Game advice:

In the Berlin city defense, you can use tanks in city blocks with artillery backup that are Tiger 2 or Maus. The only infantry unit that can challenge this is the engineer units. Prioritize killing or weakening those units first. Kill artillery with tac bombers first as they can suppress your infantry. Put your heaviest tanks in corners of your formations Maus, OSed Tiger 2s with def bonuses.
Rename your units for what their bonus is (example +2Att +3Int).
Sell the captured units that are obsolete instead of upgrading them, unless they come with hero bonuses ( I believe the command is Alt-D)

[RVallant]

Another obviously lacking area is SPAA. I've avoided SPAA so far because I feel like anything it can do a fighter can do a thousand times better, so if I'm going to buy a SPAA unit I might as well just buy a fighter.

Not really. At least on normal or higher IMHO.

A fighter heavy core is going to suffer in the later years because Russian AA and air will eventually overwhelm you and eventually get equal to you in tech parity.

Your fighters will need to go on escort duty primarily unless you want very dead bomber planes, and cannot cover the skies as you need - which will lead to heavy losses on any artillery or open topped SPART and SPAT guns that you don't cover with air defence.

Additionally, your prestige is going down from 1943 onward (but especially 44-45), so those fighters become exceedingly expensive. A basic fighter is going to be 300+ prestige (what is it 4-500 points in 1943?) and is only getting more expensive as the years go by. Each point of loss is money you really can't afford, you cannot be going into an air fight with 2-3 point losses at all, even if you're winning 7-3 or whatever, and enemy AA will chip away 1-4 damage per shot, and the Russians LOVE their AA guns.

By contrast, the Germans field superb SPAA guns, probably the best out of all the nations tbh.

Put it this way, a 2-3* experienced AA unit will do 3-5+ damage vs a fighter or tac bomber plane on attack and will do 8-10 damage (yes, one shot) if it is doing defensive fire. On top of that, if the AI is smart enough to identify the SPAA before it launches its bombing run, it will ABORT the attack and 9/10 leave it completely unescorted the next turn, sitting right next to your AA gun. That means you've now got a sitting duck that did ZERO damage and is free exp for your units.

That SPAA gun? Costs you 100-200points, is never going to be hit as it's in the backline, and you can OS it for extra punch. The SPAA gun gives your fighters more flexibility - it also allows your fighters to zoom and boom to wipe out enemy planes with 0 losses after the SPAA gun takes first shot for free, stops you losing those valuable artillery and other units, that you need to push forward asap as you don't have time nor money to repair them.

Yes, they 'don't do anything' on the ground, but that's the point, they're the safety net, and if you must use that argument, use a switchable AA/AT gun, though you get range for less defensive net IMO. They're just as weather dependent as fighters, but they're so much cheaper and cost effective, they just decimate the enemy air fleet.

I don't leave home without a minimum of 2, ideally one for each battle group I field. They are superb units and I think too many people overlook them tbh. You'll get some free, crap AA in the GC later because even the devs know people bleed from overbuilding their air force.

[rubyjuno]

I agree about the SPAA. The towed AA such as the 88s are powerful and great for defensive duty, but aircraft need to be in a 4-hex range (move 1 + range 3). SPAA might not pack the same punch, but it can keep up with your battle group without being towed (which leaves towed AA useless and vulnerable during the AI turn) and has enough movement to pick its targets. I'll admit that i was unsure about SPAA early on as it was so pathetic, but as pointed out above, it's cheap, and with perseverance builds up enough experience (and maybe a hero or two) to be essential.

[allophyl]

Another obviously lacking area is SPAA. I've avoided SPAA so far because I feel like anything it can do a fighter can do a thousand times better, so if I'm going to buy a SPAA unit I might as well just buy a fighter.

Not really. At least on normal or higher IMHO.

A fighter heavy core is going to suffer in the later years because Russian AA and air will eventually overwhelm you and eventually get equal to you in tech parity.

Your fighters will need to go on escort duty primarily unless you want very dead bomber planes, and cannot cover the skies as you need - which will lead to heavy losses on any artillery or open topped SPART and SPAT guns that you don't cover with air defence.

Additionally, your prestige is going down from 1943 onward (but especially 44-45), so those fighters become exceedingly expensive. A basic fighter is going to be 300+ prestige (what is it 4-500 points in 1943?) and is only getting more expensive as the years go by. Each point of loss is money you really can't afford, you cannot be going into an air fight with 2-3 point losses at all, even if you're winning 7-3 or whatever, and enemy AA will chip away 1-4 damage per shot, and the Russians LOVE their AA guns.

By contrast, the Germans field superb SPAA guns, probably the best out of all the nations tbh.

Put it this way, a 2-3* experienced AA unit will do 3-5+ damage vs a fighter or tac bomber plane on attack and will do 8-10 damage (yes, one shot) if it is doing defensive fire. On top of that, if the AI is smart enough to identify the SPAA before it launches its bombing run, it will ABORT the attack and 9/10 leave it completely unescorted the next turn, sitting right next to your AA gun. That means you've now got a sitting duck that did ZERO damage and is free exp for your units.

That SPAA gun? Costs you 100-200points, is never going to be hit as it's in the backline, and you can OS it for extra punch. The SPAA gun gives your fighters more flexibility - it also allows your fighters to zoom and boom to wipe out enemy planes with 0 losses after the SPAA gun takes first shot for free, stops you losing those valuable artillery and other units, that you need to push forward asap as you don't have time nor money to repair them.

Yes, they 'don't do anything' on the ground, but that's the point, they're the safety net, and if you must use that argument, use a switchable AA/AT gun, though you get range for less defensive net IMO. They're just as weather dependent as fighters, but they're so much cheaper and cost effective, they just decimate the enemy air fleet.

I don't leave home without a minimum of 2, ideally one for each battle group I field. They are superb units and I think too many people overlook them tbh. You'll get some free, crap AA in the GC later because even the devs know people bleed from overbuilding their air force.

Thank you very much for this superb explanation of why SPAA is so important, especially later in the war.

Shortly after making the original post in this thread, I did end up buying some SPAA, and wrapped up GC '43 East with 3 SPAA units leveled up to 2 stars (I have 2x Sdkfz 7/2 and 1x 7/1 - The 7/1 has slightly less air attack but a higher rof so I'm not sure what's better). Between those and the 2x 8.8s I've had since much earlier in the campaign, hopefully I have enough AA for the later battles. I figured 3 SPAA would be a good number, as I usually split my army into 3 groups, so each group gets one.

[Kawaleria]

Air defense units are must when you play on Manstein difficulty.

The reason they are more and more important as the game go into 44 and 45 is exp. Each 100 exp gives a unit +2 attack bonus, so 400 exp means additional +8 att. Even weeker SdKfz 7/1 is then a beast. The best german AA is Wirbelwind with ROF 12. especially given to +1 range hero.

Please notice there is a bonus scenario in GC44 called Poltava where you might get 4 of caturable AA for free. They are here ;
8.8 cm Flak 36 x2 at Armory 18, 24 & 14, 14;
Wirbelwinds x2 @Armory 21, 14;
12.8 Flak 40 x2 @ Armory 19,8;
Mobelwagon x2 @Armory 24,26.

and of course money talks. AA is way cheaper then planes.

[captainjack]

The other thing with SPAA is that defensive fire against fighters and tac bombers gives the attacker -5 defence penalty - that's usually 2 or 3 extra kills, and it can do this every attack unlike a fighter which can do only defend once. Sure towedAA also gets it, but SPAA can stick with and proetct the expensive strength or very expensive overstrength of your key units.
My preference is move hero for towed AA - usually I use a 128 rather than an 88 as the AT switch is a bit limited by then (and Elephants are cooler) while the air attack is worth an extra kill or two per attack - and a range hero gets converted to SPAA. Personally I like the quads because they have 120% rate of fire - they are almost as good when picking off enemy overstrength and muchmore devastating when providing defensive fire.

[rubyjuno]

Personally I like the quads because they have 120% rate of fire - they are almost as good when picking off enemy overstrength and muchmore devastating when providing defensive fire.

Which ones are the quads? I'm currently on GC44E and using SdKfz 7/2.

[Delta66]

Having played GC East on Manstein, Rommel and Guderian difficulties, getting only DV ofcourse.

First point, is your force composition also reflect your play style. Each player as his own preferences and favorite tactics.
My general approach is to take only attacks that yields zero, or 1 loss prediction for me. Using a lot of artillery to achieve this. While also focusing on denying any good attack to the AI during its own turn.

- From 43 on, Grenadier are the best infantry overall. Mainly because of their high Initiative of 4, combined with good defense and attack values. In contrast Pioneer start to show weaknesses as their Initiative stick to 2. It is fairly obvious when facing Soviet Guards with 300xp or more. My Pioneer are at risks whereas my Grenadier aren't. Grenadier are also the best to deal with enemy armor in rough terrain. The main issue with Grenadier is their movement of 2. Some with movement hero are welcome. Sdkfz.251/1 is good enough, the more expensive Sdkfz.250/1 is a luxury, and become very expensive to overstrength. Also the more you are on defense the less movement is a problem.

The Pioneer special ability aren't so useful in late war, again I tend to suppress enemy target a lot before attacking.
Gebirsjäger are weak overall from 43 onward. Their extra movements don't balance their weaknesses.
Fallschirmjäger are also significantly weaker after 43. Early in the war they an attack target without artillery preparation with their high initiative, but as the enemy get more experienced their weak defense become a liability. Also one of their asset is airdrop, which also mean no transport, which is a pain.

I have played sucessfully all GC east scenario without any BrückenPioneer. Though having one doesn't hurt. I even get into the trouble into pushing one up to 5 stars in a campaign. But in all case an extra Grenadier works better for me.

In practice I use mostly Grenadier for my core infantry, keeping 2 Pionner and 1 Gebirsgjäger and Fallschirmjäger if need be. I use the Pionner for the city scenarios. I should also add, that you'll get special heroes infantry that clearly outperform any one you could develop the regular way. I upgrade them all to Grenadier Sdkfz.251/1.
From 43 infantry means Grenadier for me, the other types being specialist for specific situations.

-For Panzer,
Early on I focus on Pz.IV, because they have a longer and more efficient upgrade path, once the 75L become available they clearly outmatch the Pz.III. Then I switch to Panther, which is an excellent all around tank. I skip Tiger.I because it is a dead end and doesn't upgrade in family to Tiger.II, actually I often keep one Tiger.I for the sake of diversity. Then when Tiger.II become available I upgrade most of my Panther keeping a few Panther with movement heroes, for recon and flanking maneuvers.

I have experimented various TD approach but I think they are not so good. AT units need to reach 4 or 5 stars to be more valuable that a regular tank with similar gun. In contrast to Tanks, AT get +2 Hard Attack per level but start with a much lower Initiative. Another serious issue is TD unit low Close defense. making them very vulnerable to enemy infantry when in close terrain even with artillery backup. Whereas an experienced Tiger.II with a Wurfrahmen behind can stand a Guard counterattack. So overall I get better result with a Panzer only approach, though developing 1 or 2 TD is an option.

- A strong fighters force is critical during all the campaign to get air supremacy, yet from 43 on the Soviets fighters are more and more challenging. I do have 7 fighters in my core, but actually I rarely use more than 5 or 6. I should say that for tactical bombers I only use attack capable ones. That's Bf.110 ->Me.410 ->Fw.190->Do.335.
This is a matter of playstyle. But from 43 on the pure bomber become too vulnerable to enemy fighters hence they need a dedicated fighter just for escort purpose. In Manstein enemy fighters can hit your bombers even if they are covered by an elite fighters. The way I play the multi-purpose are good enough too weaken or finish enemy units. Moreover I appreciate their attack capability to help with mass attack bonus, to finish enemy planes, and to relieve the fighters from destroying the enemy bombers. My fighters clear enemy fighters whereas my tactical can engage the enemy bombers.

- I don't like much SPAA during the campaign. Their movement is good for sure but they don't pack enough punch. More problematic, is that they tend to level up slowly. from the begining of the campaign I usually develop a pair of Flak.36. The option to switch for AT make them much more useful; and help them level up faster. Eventually late in the war you can convert them to SPAA if you want, but I don't find it necessary, I'm usually happy to use, and abuse of, the auxiliary SPAA provided by the scenario. In contrast for GC West SPAA are more useful.

-Suppression is critical to my playing style, therefore I use a lot of artillery. Mostly Hummel and Wurfrahmen. Plus I keep a few 21cm Mrs.18 for heavy target. The captured SU-122, start a bit weak compared to your experienced artillery but at 4 stars they start to be pretty good. So I always keep the first one. And actually the second one is also a good option though you might not have the time to develop it to the max.

Here another key point are the strategic bombers. Starting from Norway I develop 2 of them He.111, then to save prestige I wait until HE.177 become available. There is no such thing to suppress enemy boss tanks. They allow special tactics that no other units can.

- Recon AC shine early in the war they are as good as the early Panzer and have useful split movement. Moreover in the west the road network is pretty good. In contrast come Russia, roads become scarce and even experienced AC can't resist a T-34 attack. So I prefer to use fast Panzer for recon, especially those with Movement and spotting heroes. I should say I know every map very well, so the need for recon is much lower than when playing a scenario for the first time.

By the end of 44:

6 Grenadier Sdkfz.251/1 (one SE)
2 Pioneer Sdkfz.251/1
2 Gebirgsjäger Sdkfz.251/1, actually it would be one, but I kept the bonus D2 I2 S1 hero though I don't use it.
1 Fallscirmjäger

4 Panther.A (one SE)
14 Tiger.II (five SE)
1 JagdTiger Prototype, thoug hI don't use it.

1 Sdkfz 232/8rad, just in case but I haven't used it since Crete I think.

4 21cm Mrs.18, I kept my early 39-40 in family to save prestige but they are no more my go to choice
6 Wurfrahmen, essential vs soft targets.
5 Hummel
1 SU-122

2 Bf.109 , one K with the good special hero, and another still at E that I kept just in case, but actually stopped developing
5 Fw.190A, I skip the upgrade to reach Me.262 next scenario. This is my core air force.
4 Me.410, here again I skipped the Fw.190 upgrade to save prestige, I'm doing fine late 44

2 He.177. I almost always use at least one.

Focusing heavily on Tiger.II and Grenadier and artillery, allows me to be more flexible than having specific infantry type or TD. Actually I would like one more Tiger.II whereas I think I have more than enough infantry. except for the big city maps

a Typical 44 core is

3 Grenadier
14 Tiger.II
3 Panther
2 Mrs.18
6 Wurfrahmen
4 Hummel
1 SU-122

2 Flak.36 (or one of them the captured Flak.40), to help weaken the strongest enemy fighter in Manstein, otherwise an extra fighter could be more flexible.
1 Bf.109K
4 Fw.190.A
2 Me.410
1He.177A (or 1 Me.410 and 2 He.177A)

[Kawaleria]

Interesting approach but such army cost fortune. Grenadiers with Sdkfz.251/1 if overstrenght cost above 1000,
6 Wurfrahmen? Each cost around 700 if Just 12 overstrenghted and 14 King Tigers?

In my current Manstein GC 44 before Budapest half of my infantry walks on foot. I have only 3 SE King Tigers and 5 Tigers 1. I never field Wurfrahmen because of soft cap. Half of my artillery is eiher SU 122 , 15'' or Stug IV.
I have 3 Wespe s.

i dont know maybe you dont overstrenght at all or turned soft cap off.

[Delta66]

I do play in Manstein with vintage settings, soft cap, RNG, no mod or cheat code.

Usually I don't overstrength front-line units to the max. Up until late 44 Tiger.II of strength 12-13 are good enough.
In contrast I push my artillery to the max as anyway I don't plan to take damage on support units.

I finished GC East in Manstein difficulty in 45 with 10 000 spare prestige.
I never repair units during a scenario, I wait until the next setup phase, if a unit is badly damaged I just move it back to the rear. I put a high priority on taking as few damage as possible. Another option is to have a couple "loss attractors", units with strong defense, and preferably defense heroes, you keep them at strength 10 and use non elite replacements. Use them to draw potential attack and preserve your overstrength units.

Since Oboyan, 1943 third scenario, I am at 20% soft cap.
To save prestige I rely mostly on skipping some upgrade branches, to save on purchases. Then I try to make the most of surrender. In Manstein enemy units have +5 strength, and surrenders can yield a lot of prestige. In Field Marshall difficulty I would suffer less damage. Also disband unnecessary captured equipment for more prestige, be sure to disband after the end of the scenario and not during battle. I try to stockpile prestige early on until 43. Reaching 30k-40k by the end of 42 before soft cap start to hurt. You can also disband newly received SE units to get some extra pp, hoping to get another one next scenario. But at some point you certainly want to keep SE units to get some experience.

There is certainly a snow ball effect, the stronger your core is the more damage you'll while taking less. Stronger artillery lead to more suppressed enemy steps hence less damage in return. a pair of 4 stars Wurfrahmen can completely suppress most soft targets even if heavily entrenched.
I kept the habit of keeping a spreadsheet of each campaign with prestige, losses, purchase, final turn to reach DV... Just to help me gather more experience from replaying the campaign. And trying to improve on my previous campaign run.

This is my current core on Manstein. But on FM I played with very low prestige, as low as 25%, and can do with a significantly weaker core. I also played the GC east on FM never using overstrength. Playing on extreme settings, told me valuable lessons.

[Kawaleria]

I expected 20% soft cap with such set of costly units.but the Wurfrahmen s idea is odd. You said you suppress a lot but rockets can only make those russian driving pillboxes like ISU or KV laugh . Wurfrahmen has only 4 ammo so they need constant resupplying. if the weather turn ugly its a little bit complex. The other issue is how such fragile units can be protected when russian planes fly around . Ammo 4 put Wurfrahmen out of service for me around Kursk battles. In late 44 i have 4 Level bombers for this suppression duty.

Olso soft cap 20% mean you can only get marginal share from surrenders because soft cap penalty.

Well this game is really great because various ways lead to a success. I checked my Return to Kishinev 44 army. I had 60% soft cap, still got DV. I have 60K prestige but Me 262 enter and i expect fast draining my resources from now on.

You bring an interesting idea about Halftracks attached to infantry. I wonder if attacking enemy use halftracks pays off somehow? My Oleh Dir has collective +4 move heroes. Maybe i could present him SdKfz 250/1 to move 12 hexes in an area where he is needed most.

[Delta66]

I said

Wurfrahmen can completely suppress most soft targets

.
And in my initial post I mentioned, I kept some Mrs.18 and He.177 for suppressing heavy targets.
I don't suffer much air attack on my artillery, because I protect them with fighters or Flak.

Indeed 20% soft cap bring less pp from surrenders. But having played the campaign many times, I actually know how much pp I need for the end game. And if I am at 30-40k prestige by the end of 1942, I now I'll be fine in 45 even with soft cap at 20%.

Well I force a lot of surrenders. starting right away in 1939. for example in 44
Mogilev South, 56 surrenders.
Babruysk South, 66
Minsk South, 61

Actually with infantry mounted in half-track, you can attack fully suppressed targets in half-track mode, usually doing only a few damage. This is good for surrender. There is no such thing as forcing a 15 strength JS-II to surrender with a half-track finisher.

this game is really great because various ways lead to a success

Absolutely

[proline]

I'm not that far in my GC yet, but what I understood from reading the forum is that aiming for air superiority in 44/45 is increasingly a lost cause.

Not at all. Air supremacy against the Russians is easy right to the end. A few tips:

1) Have some ground based AA to deal with Russia's best fighters (eg Yak 9U and LA-7). It is far more cost-efficient to hit them from the ground taking zero losses than from the air.

2) Target the bombers first if they aren't escorted. The fighters on their own are harmless. Only take down full-strength fighters where you need to in order to kill bombers.

3) Not all your fighters have to be the latest and greatest. Old Bf-109s are quite useful and cost a lot less both in replacements and cap hit than expensive stuff like the Me-262. Sure, have a couple fancy fighters to take on the best Russian stuff if needed.

4) Use the right fighter for the job. Shturmoviks are very armored but not an offensive threat, so pick a fighter with attack heroes. For the fighters, pick fighters with defense heroes to make your attacks cost effective.

[Kawaleria]

Air supremacy is not so important in 45. There are too many Russian units your several planes can hit after you gain it.
Although level bombers are more important.

The good thing is somehow Russians miss SPAAGs in 45.