Battlefield: Europe MOD v2.4

[cicciopastic]

it was just the patch (1.24)!!!!! now everything seems allright .. i'll let u know .... thanks a lot (!!!!)

[JimmyC]

Its a great mod, so i hope you enjoy it. I'm going through my 2nd playthrough now and am loving it!

[Farre]

Hello

The only other option is to make a new savegame after playing 4-5 turns, quit the game and then restart and reload??????

Do i need to do that all the time when i play? (i havent downloaded it yet)

[cicciopastic]

I just played all introductive scenarios .... is far ahead any official mod i've played till know .... honors and glory to the developer of this mod ....

anyway i feel too rokie to play the great patriotic war by the wrong side ... i dunno mayby i will givi it just a try on a very easy (colonel?) level

thanks very very much

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Hello

The only other option is to make a new savegame after playing 4-5 turns, quit the game and then restart and reload??????

Do i need to do that all the time when i play? (i havent downloaded it yet)

There's instructions on how to operate a 'nocache' switch somewhere in either the readme or (probably) the first page of this thread. Other than that, restarting is the only option to prevent endless game crashes.

- BNC

[JimmyC]

Playing through this mod for a 2nd time, I’m finding that its difficult to follow my pre-planned strategic objectives, as I lose sight of them. Partly this is due to the map being so huge, but also its because I have very little time at the moment to play the game, so generally just get in 6 or so turns per week (and hence forget what the short term plan was!). I’m finding that rather than positioning and advancing my troops strategically, I tend to move them based on the closest enemy around them. As a result they get pulled out of position. Case in point - my planned drive on the Russian Caucuses was pushed back 3 months because most of my armour found itself fighting with Army Group Center south-west of Moscow (which isn’t even one of my strategic objectives for the moment).

Another thing I’m noticing is that Malta seems to be a lot harder to capture. Was it buffed since the previous version?

[DavidWill]

Dear McGuba,
thank you very much for the most enjoyable mod I ever played. I am a fan of Panzer General since it's first release in the 90ties and spent hours beyond count playing the series and it's mods.
I managed to reach a total victory in my second game (Colonel, AI level 2, new game rules) and like to share some tips for everyone interested.
(In my first game my forces were stopped south of Stalingrad and then crushed by the soviet counter offensive in winter 41/42.)

1. Preparation / general hints:
Collect / save as much prestige as possible. Aim is to have 5000 pp available at the start of Barbarossa after you have upgraded your units
As already advised by other players have 2 core fighters that you directly relocate to the western front. The rest should be tanks and maybe one artillery but no inf.
Save prestige: Select some few core / elite forces (e.g. 4 tanks and 4 fighters) that always get elite reinforcements. All your other units should receive normal reinforcements. Do not buy Tiger tanks or heavy artillery. Only purchase 2-3 FW190 in the entire game.
Always advance with caution. You cannot affort to "Blitz" everywhere. Especially not in the Leningrad and Stalingrad area. Avoid losing units. You need every man at some stage of the war.
Focus your free prestige on Russia. After Moscow your secondary objectives are the oil fiels. Do not loose time.
Do not upgrade your Pz III to Pz IV tanks they can be turned to Panthers later.
Using your railway network is essential. Keep it free from partisans all the time.
The game setting “AI level 2” gives you a big advantage because entrenched enemy infantry leave their positions and start attacking themselves. You can then easily destroy them with tanks in the fields.

2. Western front
2.2 Early Naval warfare
Withdraw your capital ships in the Atlantic to save harbors protected by 8.8 FlaK, do not waste prestige on reinforcements before Russia has surrendered.
Use your FW200c bomber to defend your submarines against destroyers attacking your subs. Do not use your surface fleet to attack the merchant lines.
Try to make your subs survive as long as possible. Do not take any risks. Always keep them dived unless on their way to reinforce in Brest. Collect as much prestige as possible.
After the fall of Leningrad use your capital ships in the Baltic Sea and the Tirpitz to destroy the radar station south of London. Always protect them with AA and fighters. Destroy the Battleship in London with a sub.
2.3 Air battle
Use free core slots to build up a strong 8.8 Flak defense between Hamburg and Paris with a strong focus on North West Germany.
Attack bombers rather than fighters. Weaken fighters with AA. If you attack fighters mass your forces around them to make sure they do not escape.
Have at least 2 FW190 available for fighting British spitfires if really necessary. Use the remaining 109s and allied fighters to kill the bombers. Always make sure that your fighters are strong enough to survive counter attacks by spitfires.

3. Russia
Destroy the Russian air force on the ground.
Focus on capturing Moscow before winter. Carefully advance against Leningrad and Odessa. Ignore Sevastopol. Try to reach Rostov as soon as possible. Use remaining forces to destroy the Kiew pocket.
Once you invaded Moscow stop your advance and prepare for continuous heavy counterattacks. At some stage you will have the chance to retake the initiative and advance north, south and east. Be careful because heavy Russian tanks keep appearing all the time.
Leningrad can be invaded already in spring 42 using finish troops to destroy the fort, the Karl Gerät, Stukas and Art to weaken the heavy tanks. The tanks can then be destroyed by infantry.
After capturing Rostov do not advance towards Stalingrad. Prepare defensive positions. Use rivers / hills and forests to slow down the Russian winter offensive. Make sure your Pz III and VI are always up to date to have a chance against the Russian tanks. Early 43 you will be given a Tiger Tank. Move it to Rostov to beat the Russian advance.
Right from the beginning I started a naval operation against Poti trying to sneak through the Russian naval defenses. A lot of units got lost but I managed to take and hold Poti. From there I used Mountaineers to attack Grozny from the south. The paratroopers from Crete can help here a lot. This operation is costly but very important because it helps your advancing forces from Rostov to capture the oil fields in time.
Your main forces in the south should proceed towards the oil fields after capturing Rostov. Cross the Kuma river with “Brückenpioniere” and attack Grozny from the back as well. After capturing Baku split your troops. Advance towards the English oil fields and Astrakhan.
In spring 43 you might be ready to take the remaining Russian victory towns. Attack Stalingrad at the very end from north, south and west. Russia must fall in summer 43.
The partisans are a real pain in the ****. Always have a ring of allied units around the swamps and 1-2 mobile forces to destroy them after they have attacked your entrenched infantry in the cities.
Split your fighters, bombers tanks and artillery after the fall of Russia between the England and Italy theatre. The strongest tanks should be sent to France.

4. Africa / Italy
Attack Malta with all available air and naval forces. Bombard the fort until it is destroyed. That might take some time. Invade it with a unit from Sicily. Block / slow down the advancing English fleet with subs. This way collect 1500 prestige early in the game and avoid new fighters to be created. Build a Ju88 to destroy ships if possible.
Destroy the forces in Tobruk by massing your forces on one side rather than attacking everywhere. Invade Tobruk itself with a German unit. Make sure your German Tank and 8.8. Flak survives the British counterattack. Carefully advance to Egypt and then to Aleppo with all your forces. Use your 109 and the Italian fighters / bombers to defend against the British ships and planes.
I did not try not to defend Tunis against the Americans. I slowed them down with Italian AT guns and stopped them in Tobruk with purchased Panzer VIs, Stugs and Heavy Infantry.
Stop the American invasion south of Rome using the terrain. Your victorious units from the eastern front can then slowly push them back. Crush the invasion of southern France with newly build heavy infantry, some tanks and bombers. The US Air force can finally be destroyed by Komet fighters.

4. Sealion
After the fall of Russia start embarking troops in le Havre but do not attack. Let them stay close to the French coastline. Start reinforcing your Atlantic fleet.
The brits will send infantry from London to defend the beaches. Destroy them with capital ships and artillery based in the Dunkirk area. This is necessary to land at least 2 units every turn.
Invade England south of London using your strongest tanks. (All other areas are protected by mine fields that will slow your ships down too much.) Your Atlantic fleet, the subs produced in Germany, the Baltic fleet and the bombers from Russia must repel the counteroffensive of the British navy. Make sure that you have a constant flow of units landing that is not harmed by enemy planes or ships. Carefully advance towards London and the other cities. Start building AA units in the UK to protect your tanks against the American fighters. England should fall summer ‘44.
After you have stopped the Americans in Italy and Northern Africa start your counter offensive. You can capture Tunis is pretty easily. Sicily is problematic because if the constant naval bombardment south of Naples. I landed Heavy Infantry on the airfield of Catania and took the island. But taking it seemed not relevant for the victory. The game ended in turn 89 after the fall of Tunis.

David from Germany

[Uhu]

I experienced too, what about you are talking.
I advise to make notes, plans on paper. I made complex plans for every theater, writing also many times the needed types and quantity of units. Also made print screened pictures of the maps, putting in the defending units to make plans for the winter of '42. It is also advisable to end the actual stand after you made all your actions, before the enemy actions. You will not remember all of it, when you come back to play. I also write "to do" list under the AI's action phase (for example hunting partisans in the given theater other way I mostly forgot about them).

Playing through this mod for a 2nd time, I’m finding that its difficult to follow my pre-planned strategic objectives, as I lose sight of them. Partly this is due to the map being so huge, but also its because I have very little time at the moment to play the game, so generally just get in 6 or so turns per week (and hence forget what the short term plan was!). I’m finding that rather than positioning and advancing my troops strategically, I tend to move them based on the closest enemy around them. As a result they get pulled out of position. Case in point - my planned drive on the Russian Caucuses was pushed back 3 months because most of my armour found itself fighting with Army Group Center south-west of Moscow (which isn’t even one of my strategic objectives for the moment).

Another thing I’m noticing is that Malta seems to be a lot harder to capture. Was it buffed since the previous version?

[McGuba]

Hello

The only other option is to make a new savegame after playing 4-5 turns, quit the game and then restart and reload??????

Do i need to do that all the time when i play? (i havent downloaded it yet)

Yes, you are advised to save, quit and reload after a few turns in the big 99 turn scenario (Barbarossa), otherwise the game would crash to desktop after a while as the base game was not designed for such large maps. Even then, keep in mind that in this large map one turn takes approximately half an hour so you do not have to do it too often.

The other (recommended) option is to add the /nocache switch to the PanzerCorps.exe file, which will eliminate this problem.

I just played all introductive scenarios .... is far ahead any official mod i've played till know .... honors and glory to the developer of this mod ....

Thanks, and you are welcome!

anyway i feel too rokie to play the great patriotic war by the wrong side ... i dunno mayby i will givi it just a try on a very easy (colonel?) level

Well, if you do not want to invade the glorious Soviet Union, you do not have to. You can stay on defense in the east with about one third of your army, and only concentrate on invading England and defeating the Western Allies in the Mediterranean. In that case it could be somewhat easier, even if the Soviets will eventually attack you from the east.

For the first playthrough the suggested difficulty level should be at least 1-2 level lower than the one you are usually playing (and winning) Panzer Corps. Unless you are ready to take a serious beating from the Allies. Just as it happened historically.

Playing through this mod for a 2nd time, I’m finding that its difficult to follow my pre-planned strategic objectives, as I lose sight of them.

I’m finding that rather than positioning and advancing my troops strategically, I tend to move them based on the closest enemy around them. As a result they get pulled out of position.

Yes, I understand, but it happens to everyone, I guess. Reading through the history of WWII and having watched all those movies I have a feeling that it happened to the real commanders, too. They often changed their original plans according to the actual situation or just lost their focus and started offensives which had nothing to gain from. I think it is part of our human nature, it is very hard to be a cold blooded commander and only to go after our pre-determined objectives. In this regard the computer AI is well above us...

Uhu is right, making notes and such can help a lot, especially if you are only playing occasionally.

Another thing I’m noticing is that Malta seems to be a lot harder to capture. Was it buffed since the previous version?

I think it is only bad luck, actually I made it rather easier in v1.6, as if you can successfully blockade it and prevent the Allied merchants and carriers from reaching it there will be less British fighters to worry about. The recommended solution is still using the Ju-87 with the hero Rudel against it.

Dear McGuba,
thank you very much for the most enjoyable mod I ever played.

Thank you, and welcome to this forum!

I am a fan of Panzer General since it's first release in the 90ties and spent hours beyond count playing the series and it's mods.

That makes the two of us.

I managed to reach a total victory in my second game (Colonel, AI level 2, new game rules) and like to share some tips for everyone interested.

Congratulations, and thank you very much for your report, I always like to read how other players try to win in this mod. There are many possible solutions and yours is just one of them. For example until now, to my knowledge, no one has ever let the AI to take Tunis only to stop it at Tobruk and then retake the whole North Africa and then achieve a Total Victory. It is in itself a very nice achievement as the loss of Tunis triggers the Allied landings in the Med which can be a great problem.

(In my first game my forces were stopped south of Stalingrad and then crushed by the soviet counter offensive in winter 41/42.)

I think most players fail at their first attempt, which is in accordance with the historical facts: I am quite sure that if they were given a second chance, the German commanders would do many things differently as well. They were also surprised by the strength of the Soviet winter offensives, started by an enemy which was supposed to be already beaten.

This mod has a high replay value and since you have years of experience in this type of games you can try to beat the mod at a higher difficulty or by using a different strategy of by loading one of those savegames which come with the mod and try to turn the tide starting at a later stage in the war.

...

Anyhow, thanks again for your praise guys, in the name of all those who contributed to this mod. It has been a great journey.

[Farre]

Is the JSGME same as Generic mod anabler viewtopic.php?f=147&t=27158

[McGuba]

Yes it is the same. JSGME stands for JoneSoft's Generic Mod Enabler. It is also known simply as GME.

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[Farre]

How will i do to install this game into panzer corps? Di this work with grand campaign or it this free one with only the Barbarossa attack?

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Yes it is the same. JSGME stands for JoneSoft's Generic Mod Enabler. It is also known simply as GME.

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Why am I not seeing Rise of the Mongols there?

- BNC

[JimmyC]

@ David – interesting reading your tactics. I suggest next time playing without AI set to normal (ie. not level 2). You will find it much more challenging to defeat the Russian defences then.

Uhu made a really useful “hints and tips” thread that I have read a couple of times. It gives great advice on what to do. There are also some after action reports from GeneralWerner and me which can make an interesting read.

@ Uhu – yes, I think it is good advice to make some notes. I also agree on stopping playing at the end of your turn (rather than after the AI has done its actions), as its really easy to forget.

@ McGuba – Re. Malta I guess it must just be my bad luck, although some strategic decisions did see me lose a couple of month’s worth of attacks as I didn’t have enough fighters available.

[Intenso82]

What your opinion about Combat Random - normal, limited, chess in this mod?
What you will advise to use?

I faced that in Combat Random - normal turn out very different results at a replay turn. Small cheating metod.

[Uhu]

I play since the availability of the limited chess option with that. When I started McGuba's Late war save, it was for me really disturbing to face the normal (many times extreme) combat results. Luckily, the limited chess cheat works, so I could alter it!

What your opinion about Combat Random - normal, limited, chess in this mod?
What you will advise to use?

I faced that in Combat Random - normal turn out very different results at a replay turn. Small cheating metod.

[JimmyC]

I use fully random as i feel it better simulates the real randomness that occurs in combat. It can be very frustrating at times though.

[GeneralWerner]

Same for me - fully random. I used this from the very beginning with Panzer General many years ago.

Sometimes frustrating but also sometimes very satisfying when an attack becomes much stronger as expected.

Malta in my second play was a pain, so many rounds of bombing without any effect.

In my third play I used (as recommended by other players) Rudel's Stukas and the job was surprisingly done in only three or four rounds.

[JimmyC]

Actually i am using Rudel, but it seems that half the time he does no damage and the other half he chips off 1 health, but also takes 1 health damage. Combined with enemy fighters sporadically appearing and bad weather, it is a very slow process this time round. I managed to get it down to 4 health before the winter snow of ’42 appeared. I just gotta hope there are some clear days so I can knock it out before the Torch vessels come.

For my current playthrough I invaded Iceland and stationed an artillery, infantry and AT unit to repel the expected response from the Allies. But no response ever came. I thought that the Americans were supposed to try to retake it?

[cicciopastic]

hi guys,

i'm in march 42 ... i thougt it was going swift, but then i realized i had 9 core spaces free (!) .... maybe during the winter i lost some unit too much .... i'm very much on histoical point (this worries me a lot) ... i want to go on a bit even if probably i will start to be scratch next winter ...

the fact is that i had always the initiative and seemed to be quote easy to keep the soviet at distance during the winter ... i never really quit to advance, maybe i was slower, but never really stopped


i have a couple of question hereafter

1) how do i get the PP bonus at the start of the big scenario? .... do i save all PP point i got from previous 3 scenarios?
2) i had a couple of the smallest boats finishing fuel and now they are steady in the middle of the sea ... is it possible to insert in the game a tanker???? or at least to leave always just a MP to make them slowly head to the nearest port?
3) if i would like to cheat some extra PP how cuold i do?
4) what other mod would you suggest to me?
5) did you get any extra AI area to implement more strategy? (i'm reading all this topic, but i'm only at page 36)

good job guys ... i'm loving this!