Slitherine

Press
"Shift + Ctrl + Alt + C"

and then

2 - "fuel 10"

3 - "prestige 1000"

you can use any other values

Farre wrote: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?

There is a step-by-step install guide in the readme file which is included in the zip. This mod only requires Panzer Corps v1.22 with no other DLCs needed.

Intenso82 wrote: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.

I always play on normal randomess. Originally Panzer Corps only had this one and I got used to it and never really felt the need to change. However, it can also be played on limited dice chess if someone feels the normal one way too random. On normal it is indeed sometimes a bit too random, but if you play long enough the odds will even out as the AI suffers from the same. And this mod is long enough.

I consider reloading after an unfavourable dice roll a cheating, but there are many built in cheating options in the game anyway, so there is no way that I can stop it if someone wants to play like that. I think if someone wants to reduce the challenge it is easier to reduce the difficulty level. On the other hand, I understand that the big scenario is a long one with 99 turns, and it is not possible to change the difficulty during a scenario so it might make sense to use some cheating if you do not want to restart the whole scenario at a lower difficulty level.

cicciopastic wrote: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 ...

Hi, you will get reinforcements every once in a while, but if you have empty slots in early 42 and also some available prestige, it can be a good idea to purchase a few much needed new units before the unit pool gets filled again with weak minor axis reinforcements.

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

Remember that in WWII winter 41/42 was only a little appetizer for Germany before the main course was served by the Allies... They will start to show their real strength starting from late '42 so to keep them at bay you should defeat either the Soviets or the Western Allies in '43 otherwise they will overwhelm you from '44 and from then the best you can expect is a draw.

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?

Yes, if you play through the first three scenarios you carry over the prestige from those to the 4th one. However, you need to be good in those (save prestige, achieve DVs, etc.) otherwise you might be better off starting with the Barbarossa scenario directly.

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?

Unfortunately it is not possible to add tankers. You have to keep an eye on the fuel level of those as if they run out of it they are effectively lost for good. (There is a message box appearing which explains it and warns the player for the implacations.) Historically these torpedo boats were only used in coastal waters or in the North Sea at best and were not suitable for long range operations.

3) if i would like to cheat some extra PP how cuold i do?

I do not know as I never used cheating, but I guess that's it:

hs1611 wrote:Press
"Shift + Ctrl + Alt + C"

and then

2 - "fuel 10"

3 - "prestige 1000"

you can use any other values

4) what other mod would you suggest to me?

There are many nice mods here and it is hard for me to suggest any as in that case the creators of the others would get mad at me. So just check them all out and pick the ones you are most interested in.

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)

I did not, but I found a work aroud solution (I used the same AI zones for several different tasks, whenever I could) and in this way I managed to add the most needed events and AI scripts. The major operations in the European theatre are all simulated, and the smaller ones are up to the actual tactical situation anyway, which changes with each replay. Also, the AI will react to the player's actions in most cases.

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

Thanks and welcome!

McGuba wrote:

4) what other mod would you suggest to me?

There are many nice mods here and it is hard for me to suggest any as in that case the creators of the others would get mad at me. So just check them all out and pick the ones you are most interested in.

If you want something similar to this, look out for War of the World II. Not quite ready for release today, but should be by the end of the year.

Other ones I can guarantee are very good:

Rise of the Mongols (again WIP, but has a playable beta)
Kaiserschlacht (WWI)
Soviet Storm
bebro's Japanese campaign
anything made by nikivdd
and of course others, but these should give you a place to start!

- BNC

cicciopastic wrote: 4) what other mod would you suggest to me?

The Hungarian campaigns of course!
1., The Turan Campaign, made by McGuba
2., The Zrinyi Campaign, made by me (not yet finished, but bigger part already playable).
Both are hardcore difficulty, but it's worth to play them.

Oh yes, the Italian Campaign 2.0, made by me, is also very playable!

(self advertisement OFF )

Good job!

Let me ask:
sorry for my eng. )

1. AI uses Elite or ordinary replacement?

2. I have seen that many units of the Soviet Union has the experience of 100, 200, 250.
And when you buy new units experience is 0.
Experience 200 is already a veteran unit.
I think that the Soviet Union had no so many veterans, it was usually quickly-trained part without combat experience.

3. How about to add more for the Soviet infantry units with a low level of experience?
The exact number of casualties is still unknown. But we can assume that the USSR lost 10-million soldiers, Germany on the Eastern Front - 3-5 million.

4. About characteristics of the aircraft.
Aircrafts USSR and Allies, as well as the tactics they use are really the best than Germans at the end of '42?

5. About Tanks.
I saw that the T34 is very superior German tanks. And every year the progressive increase - Samples 41,42,43.
But looking at the specifications, the gun was not changed to T-34-85,
and armor increased only later.

The persistence of the T-34 was lower than that of the Pz3,4.
Due to the placement of the fuel tanks often burned.
Worse were pointing devices. Worse overview. There were no radios to communicate.
There was not a dedicated member of the crew - the commander.
The armor was thick, but the quality was poor and she cracked after one or several hits.
There were none emergency repairs and parts. And there was little use of the service life.
And German tanks on these parameters were better.

How about a few characteristics to reduce the T34?)

And thanks again for the Great MOD!

Intenso82 wrote:Good job!
Let me ask:
1. AI uses Elite or ordinary replacement?

This is a very good question. AI behaviour is still somewhat "secret" and can only be understood by observing it most of the time. My understanding so far in this matter is that the AI uses both. I suspect it depends on how much prestige the AI has at any given time. If it has a lot of available prestige it uses elite replacements, if it has not it uses green. It would be good to know the exact formula, but I think it is hidden in the annals of the game code. It would be also good to know which one is more important for the AI: new unit purchases or elite/green replacements?

If anyone has more information on these I would be happy to know.

2. I have seen that many units of the Soviet Union has the experience of 100, 200, 250.
And when you buy new units experience is 0.
Experience 200 is already a veteran unit.
I think that the Soviet Union had no so many veterans, it was usually quickly-trained part without combat experience.

It is only partially true. And just for your reference, it is the same in the base game. And it was like that in Panzer General, the great ancestor, too.

In my view in this mod, and in the PG/PC series in general, unit experience represents not only direct combat experience, but also training, morale, organization and all those other things which are not related to the unit's equipment and which are not depicted in the simplified system of the game. I would say it represents the general quality of the troops. And if we see it like that we can say that the general quality of the Soviet troops gradually increased during the course of the war, and the general quality of the German troops gradually decreased between 1941-45.

3. How about to add more for the Soviet infantry units with a low level of experience?
The exact number of casualties is still unknown. But we can assume that the USSR lost 10-million soldiers, Germany on the Eastern Front - 3-5 million.

The Soviets indeed suffered huge losses in 1941-42, but as the war went on Axis and Soviet losses became more and more balanced, indicting what I wrote above: the quality of their troops increased and the quality of the German troops decreased.

Even them, I will consider reducing the number of Soviet units with 200 or so exp, and add a few more with 100 to compensate it in a possible later version.

4. About characteristics of the aircraft.
Aircrafts USSR and Allies, as well as the tactics they use are really the best than Germans at the end of '42?

In the mod the Soviets have generally weaker fighters than the Germans until 1944/45. The Western Allies and the Germans have generally similar fighters throughout the war. You can compare their stats for reference. Given that you keep upgrading to the latest Bf-109/Fw-190 subtype. And the Allies always have more aircraft, as historically. Basically that's why Germany completely lost air superiority by 1944.

Having said that I do not think that the Allies AND the USSR have better aircraft than the Germans at the end of '42. As for their experience level: the same goes for it as for the infantry: German pilot training gradually decreased during the war and Allied pilot training gradually improved.

5. About Tanks.
I saw that the T34 is very superior German tanks. And every year the progressive increase - Samples 41,42,43.
But looking at the specifications, the gun was not changed to T-34-85,
and armor increased only later.

The T-34 (and the KV-1) was indeed very superior to the German tanks in 1941-42. All sources agree on this. However, susequent German tank designs eventually narrowed the gap and the late Pz-IV types were virtually equal with the latest T-34/76. And the new Panther and Tiger tanks were vastly superior to the T-34 with the 76 mm gun. That's why they introduced the T-34/85.

As for the subtypes of the T-34/76: it was slightly improved each year, just not as much as the Germans improved their Pz-III/IV between 1941-43. They mainly increased the max armour of the turret from 45 mm to 65-70 mm. Model 40 and 41 were produced with both the 45 mm thick welded turrent and the 52 mm cast turret. Model 41 was equipped with the better F-34 gun, which replaced the ineffective L-11 gun of the Model 40. Model 42 was a simplifed version to cut down production time and used the same gun, but most were fitted with an improved 60 mm cast turret. And while the T-34/43 had the same main gun and armour as the previous model, it had a somewhat larger turret (but still a two-man one) with a commander's cupola which greatly improved vision devices, and most models were finally fitted with a radio set and that's why the slight (+1) increase in the attack and initiative values. Source: The T-34 Tank by Stephen Zaloga.

Due to the placement of the fuel tanks often burned.

On the other hand contemporary German tanks had weaker (unsloped) armour.

Worse were pointing devices. Worse overview. There were no radios to communicate.
There was not a dedicated member of the crew - the commander.

That's why the early T-34 types have an initiative penalty even though they had a bigger 76 mm gun.

The armor was thick, but the quality was poor and she cracked after one or several hits.

Only the German long 75 mm towed anti-tank guns and the 88 mm Flak guns could effectively penetrate the frontal armour of the T-34 at combat ranges. Contemporary German tanks were either equipped with a 50 mm or a short 75 mm gun which were much less effective. Only the Pz.IVF2 and later tanks had the long 75 mm gun.

There were none emergency repairs and parts. And there was little use of the service life.

I think it is well represented in the mod as the AI does not really care about taking back its damaged tanks for repair/resupply. Instead it keeps attacking with no regard to the losses in a real Soviet commander's style. Short service life did not really matter for the Soviets in WWII. They just wanted to win the next oncoming battle and that's it. They could easily replace their losses.

And German tanks on these parameters were better.

There is no doubt, and these are represented in the unit stats to some extent.

How about a few characteristics to reduce the T34?)

I would not do it. I believe that the T-34 was generally better than the average German tank in 1941/42. The German units in that time period have more experience and heroes which can compensate for it.

Even after several play throughs the Mod can still surprise me.

This time I risked an invasion on England from the east in winter 1943/1944. Due to good weather the RAF and US Air Force stationed somewhere in England attacked my fleet that could not land quickly due to the mine fields. I had to retreat to the continent to save the rest of my troops.

Then I realized the big fault in this plan. Because all bombers followed my fleeing troops and are now bombing nearly everything on the continent. All radar stations from Norway down to France were destroyed. My capital ships fleeing to the East Sea were all hunted down.

Never before I felt the frustration of the total air supremacy of the Allies in western Europe like this time. Great

It also surprises me GW. In my current playthrough I evacuated my troops from Tripoli in late ’42 when the massive British reinforcements at the Suez are announced. However instead of advancing west, the reinforcements proceeded north-east and obliterated my troops around Beirut/Aleppo, which I was totally unprepared for (including catching a precious fallschirmjäger in the open and destroying it). I just hope they don’t go after my attack force currently besieging Baghdad. If they do, then there is not much I can do to support those troops and there isn’t anywhere to run!

BFE now has a competitor: War of the World II is finished!

- BNC

general werner; i found that the east coast, specifically the east anglian peninsula, that is the bit between the north of london and the first minefield going up north, the easiest way to take the uk. (after of course taking out the battleship in london with subs. i had to sacrifice a few less useful pieces to start it off. i also did it earlier than you as i find otherwise the airforce becomes too strong)

GeneralWerner wrote:Even after several play throughs the Mod can still surprise me.

JimmyC wrote:It also surprises me GW.

Well, I tried to code the AI so that it can provide a reasonable response to just about everything players can come up with. With the aim that at times it should give a sense that the player is really playing aginst those cheeky Allies and not aginst a mindless computer. And also to increase the replay value. Luckily I was given quite a lot of feedback by players and with the subsequent versions I could make the AI more and more "clever". That's why AARs and stuff like that are very important for us, mod makers.

BiteNibbleChomp wrote:BFE now has a competitor: War of the World II is finished!

Congratulations!

hugh2711 wrote:general werner; i found that the east coast, specifically the east anglian peninsula, that is the bit between the north of london and the first minefield going up north, the easiest way to take the uk. (after of course taking out the battleship in london with subs. i had to sacrifice a few less useful pieces to start it off. i also did it earlier than you as i find otherwise the airforce becomes too strong)

I think GW already did that in a previous playthrough, but now he started the mod at the time of the Kursk battle for more challange and by that time the chance of a succesful landing in England is very low.

I think little, i do like this, cause i have the original Panzer corps on CD, i will load the original 3 times into the computer and then add 1 mod in one original.
It will be battlefield europe, amulet mod 2 and last this Eastern Europe v1.5, so then i dont have to take away some mod file.....

Edit, i have the grand campaign to in original, do the 3 mod up there worke with that? (i think battlefield europe and amulet will work)

Well the American attempt to recapture Iceland finally happened. And it wasn’t a half hearted effort either!

SPOILER!! – stop reading this post if you don’t want to know about the Allied counterattacks for Iceland.

When I captured Iceland in late ’41, I positioned 3 units there. A 5cm Pak 38 (AT), a Germany infantry unit and a Romanian artillery unit. They were there for over 1 year with nothing happening and I was thinking it was a total waste of these units, but soon after Torch, the Americans came to Iceland in force. I think there were 2 Shermans, 2 infantry, an artillery and an AT unit, as well as a Paratrooper who landed East of the airport and attacked from that side.

Luckily for me, the Yanks sent their transports in first and their offensive naval vessels (cruisers/destroyers etc) later. So it allowed me to block most of the transports from landing whilst hitting them with my surface fleet and Condors. Otherwise there was no way I ever would have survived! Even then, it was a pretty close thing.

I really love how the computer reacts to what you do. This one I knew about from reading this thread, so could prepare for to an extent. But others, like in late ’42 when the British sent huge forces from the Suez Canal to Aleppo to recapture it, totally threw me! As McGuba said, it does sometimes seem as if you are playing against a person and not a computer. Which goes to show how great a job McGuba has done with this mod!

New record: Rommel, timerun, DV at turn 55!
I have to notice, that with every new version, the game gets a little harder... But no problem, at least there are new challenges.
This time, the biggest problems were the new types of naval mines. I didn't recognized first, that they have now Zone of Control, and after turn 14 - when it turned out for me - I didn't wanted to start a new game. So, the invasion of England had to be postnoted, until I cleared that damn mines south of Plymouth.
With this gamestyle, some reloading are necessary - even I'm not a PzC god, who can make everything perfect.
So, there was one big reload point at turn 14 (because of the mine problem) and an another one at turn 27. This was the point, where I just captured Rostov, but did not advanced further to the Caucasus - it became clear to me, after a failed attempt, that with a timerun mode, there is no time to capture the Caucasus and it doesn't have any worth too. From that point I had to reload several times. I always have to say, that the weather - which is the luck part of the game - completely effects the operations. One time, I got already bad weather with rain and mud (!!!) at turn 30, which absolutely made my attempts fubar. On the other hand, taking into account the calculable winter weather can help: for example no Allied air terror plus the AI get most part blind, which is also a great advantage.

Some bugs noticed:
- There is a Soviet partisan unit north of Liverpool (possibly from some student change program left ).
- It was really annoying, that a Churchill IV spawned out from the already fully occupied zone, south of Birmingham at turns 41/43/45 (several reloaded games, possibly a triggered appearance).
- The new naval mines around England should be set up, that if a major British town is already captured, no new ones appear. It was also a little annoying, that my ships got "encircled" by a new mine and it was hard to get out from it, because of the ZoC. I think, it is realistic, when the British homeland is invaded, there are no resources to build new minefields.

I also made some modifications with the naval mines on the map, to make it harder to go around them and also to hinder some invasion, for example at North Africa. I will show it. Plus I hope, this time, I will really make a complete AAR and continue the tipps and tricks section.

Oh, and an idea...
After seeing the really good TV series "The Man in the High Castle" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740299/, which background story is, that Germany and Japan conquered the USA, I could imagine a continuity in this campaign. Let's say, if the player makes an early DV (for example till end of 1943) and most of the capital ships of Germany and Italy stay intact, than an invasion can be initiated in middle 1943. Hmm, what about McGuba, will you make it? I can assist.
Corrected: "middle of 1944".

JimmyC wrote:Well the American attempt to recapture Iceland finally happened. And it wasn’t a half hearted effort either!

JimmyC, I don't want to neglect your efforts, but...does it really has worth to take it, will all the scarce resources spent on it?
OK, maybe, if you play until turn 99 and below Rommel, the 200 prestige/turn can be a nice asset.

Uhu wrote:...background story is, that Germany and Japan conquered the USA, I could imagine a continuity in this campaign. Let's say, if the player makes an early DV (for example till end of 1943) and most of the capital ships of Germany and Italy stay intact, than an invasion can be initiated in middle 1943. Hmm, what about McGuba, will you make it? I can assist.

Haven't you been reading all the announcements I have been making? War of the World II allows a possible invasion of the USA, though March 1944 is more realistic than May 1943.

Most capital ships hmmm, those can be purchased: WI the OstpreuBen-class was completed? (These are representative of H-42/H-43).

- BNC

Thanks for the information!
Sure, I meant middle of 1944. I don't know, even, if a half year for preparation is enough. But with a dominant U-Boat flottille and airforce, the secure transportation of troops shall be possible. Plus of course a smart spy network, which allowed for me to know all planned operations of the Allies!

BiteNibbleChomp wrote:

Uhu wrote:...background story is, that Germany and Japan conquered the USA, I could imagine a continuity in this campaign. Let's say, if the player makes an early DV (for example till end of 1943) and most of the capital ships of Germany and Italy stay intact, than an invasion can be initiated in middle 1943. Hmm, what about McGuba, will you make it? I can assist.

Haven't you been reading all the announcements I have been making? War of the World II allows a possible invasion of the USA, though March 1944 is more realistic than May 1943.

Most capital ships hmmm, those can be purchased: WI the OstpreuBen-class was completed? (These are representative of H-42/H-43).

- BNC

Uhu wrote:Thanks for the information!
Sure, I meant middle of 1944. I don't know, even, if a half year for preparation is enough. But with a dominant U-Boat flottille and airforce, the secure transportation of troops shall be possible. Plus of course a smart spy network, which allowed for me to know all planned operations of the Allies!

Seelowe was expected to only need 2 mo of preparation, so 6 mo isn't too unreasonable if some bombers and/or the Kriegsmarine have been annoying the USN since 1942.

As for the smart spy network, my mod has a bit more randomness, so you may be attacked in ways you don't expect

- BNC

Uhu wrote:

JimmyC wrote:Well the American attempt to recapture Iceland finally happened. And it wasn’t a half hearted effort either!

JimmyC, I don't want to neglect your efforts, but...does it really has worth to take it, will all the scarce resources spent on it?
OK, maybe, if you play until turn 99 and below Rommel, the 200 prestige/turn can be a nice asset.

No, it is not worth to do this IMO as it uses lots of resources plus units that could be used elsewhere. Having the additional income is nice, but overall cost>benefit imho. I just tried it this time because i wanted to do something different than last time and also because i dont plan on invading UK.
---
**SPOILER**
Unhappily for me, around early '43, a huge US fleet appears in the shipping lanes. They appear and get to move that turn, so they caused me much damage. It further reinforces my opinion that its not worth to invade Iceland.
---
Actually, if you have no intention on invading Britain, then i dont think its even worth the prestige to repair the damaged surface fleet ships that you start with (the ones in the South that have only 3 or 4 health. Just use them as bait for something.

Uhu wrote: ...it became clear to me, after a failed attempt, that with a timerun mode, there is no time to capture the Caucasus and it doesn't have any worth too.

I thought it is a prerequisite to defeating Russia that you must capture the oilfields?