Slitherine

bondjamesbond wrote: ↑Sat Feb 14, 2026 6:16 pm Italy couldn't keep up with progress. But still, they had some strengths. For example, their torpedo boats were good and achieved much more fame than their cruisers and battleships. An easy victory over the savages turned the Duce's head.

Yeah, and to be fair, most nations had trouble keeping up in some aspects. Rapid tech change, and very little experience with that rapid change. I mean it was only a few decades earlier that humans learned to fly and shortly before that, sailing ships were just being replaced.

eskuche wrote: ↑Fri Feb 13, 2026 5:47 pm Turn 25
Enemy Turn/Surrenders/Casualties/Spawns: 4 infantry, 1 KG replacement. The silly T-34s finally perished. We get some artillery surrenders around Moscow.

[Enemy sub one shotting naval transport carrying infantry]
Quite ridiculous. It was NW of Heraclion and moved to exactly the one spot to get a clean kill on a full strength naval transport. (Used cheats to see if there was another random huge spotting unit, but nope)

Case Blue fortunately is progressing at a steady clip. Of course, a T-34 to ruin my day…I don’t see a need to touch the Black Sea for now. Perhaps the Crimean contingent will head there.

Refit/redeploy/Heroes: Fw 200 C-3 was distinguished with a +1 initiative hero. Absolutely useless heroes throughout this playthrough. Recalling SKG 210 and ZG 26, my three star starting Bf110 and Ju 88 C-4 for anti-bomber duty. Leaving only one Fw A-3 on the Western front.
Upgrades/purchases/repairs: Hungarian artillery to 3 range. Flamm II with initiative actually to a Bison in anticipation of the winter.
Prestige: 3276. This is a lot. We have 22 core slots. Still only normal replacing most everything. It’s unclear where the best money is spent, however. Might try to top up anti-air. 88s are too flimsy for winter duty.
Balance: Still too many enemy planes…

Ouch, that was really bad luck with the enemy sub, especially about those irreplaceable naval transports.
I still have not found a way to fully replenish those.

Black Sea can be an alternative for the Northern Caucasus route, but I only tried it a while back. Did not work out well for me. But I made the Georgian port of Batumi an upgrade city, like Tobruk, just in case someone else wants to try that approach and provide an incentive to not only go for Baku.
The Northern Caucasus approach is imho much more viable.

Yeah, hero rng is really unusually terrible.
3k prestige and rising fast gives quite a bit of leeway to experiment, or give out a few more elite replacements?
End of 1942 there will be more stuff to spend it on, like Tiger or even a Tiger P in addition to those given by event. Even an additional Panzer IV would help, your tank force could use something. Although you seem to crush the enemy with what you already have.

Turn 26
[BF 109 F-4:] Hmmm this didn’t upgrade last turn.

Mortar decided to become an infantry again, so we pick off the mountain division and once again deplete the fort.

Refit/redeploy/Heroes: K5 got 2 defense, continuing the tradition.
Upgrades/purchases/repairs: We requisition four 7.5 PaKs for winter lodgings. They are ⅓ the cost of a StuG and have a similar attack/defense profile vs. soviet armor (accounting for soft vs. hard target). I think this may be a good enough stopgap.

I'm reworking those upgrade scripts to hopefully fix those issues.
I will also introduce an experimental approach that does not need scripts at all, testing it for the Panzer III to Panzer IV option for late 1942.

I guess I just have to take away the switching ability of the Soviet 120mm Mortar for Battlefield Europe again. Will create a separate unit with that switching ability for Soviet Corps.

Turn 27
Enemy Turn/Casualties/Spawns: Somua gave its life at Moscow to coerce the AA to switch to anti-tank. Lost an overeager Romanian division crossing the Black Sea strait.

AGN overall has advanced far. We’ve taken Kem and are on the way to Archangelsk before the winter sets in.

Refit/redeploy/Heroes: N/A
Upgrades/purchases/repairs: Of course the 7.62 AT gun comes out exactly the next turn…so need to re-upgrade them.
Prestige/Surrenders/: 2812
Balance: N/A

Kem and thus Murmansk cutoff in 1942 is good, reaching Archangelsk before winter is great, so that the river can be crossed when frozen.

Summer of 1942 is the time of rapid towed AT gun advancement. No difference for the normal campaigns consisting of many scenarios, but in BE it can be a bit annoying.

Locarnus wrote: ↑Sat Feb 14, 2026 9:34 pm

bondjamesbond wrote: ↑Sat Feb 14, 2026 6:16 pm Italy couldn't keep up with progress. But still, they had some strengths. For example, their torpedo boats were good and achieved much more fame than their cruisers and battleships. An easy victory over the savages turned the Duce's head.

Yeah, and to be fair, most nations had trouble keeping up in some aspects. Rapid tech change, and very little experience with that rapid change. I mean it was only a few decades earlier that humans learned to fly and shortly before that, sailing ships were just being replaced.

Murmansk after German carpet bombing, 1942.350 tons of bombs were dropped on the city in a single day.



There is nothing good about war, of course, but sometimes during wars, progress rapidly gains momentum. People love to kill each other in sophisticated and varied ways.

6 scientific achievements we should be grateful for... World War II
https://dzen.ru/a/Yk74fRNiKgAabU5D

https://news.ru/society/eho-vojny-10-iz ... menili-mir
https://en.topwar.ru/112063-izobreteniy ... chasy.html
https://en.topwar.ru/113189-izobreteniy ... oraya.html



Abandoned Tigers among other German equipment on the Eastern Front.

bondjamesbond wrote: ↑Sun Feb 15, 2026 9:50 am There is nothing good about war, of course, but sometimes during wars, progress rapidly gains momentum. People love to kill each other in sophisticated and varied ways.

6 scientific achievements we should be grateful for... World War II

Indeed, even horrible conflict and loss can be a massive long term boost for change and innovation.

eskuche wrote: ↑Fri Feb 13, 2026 5:47 pm Turn 28
Enemy Turn/Casualties/Spawns: Misc. thought, should the minor prestige requirements be increased a little bit since the player can simply buy those units?

Moscow is taken (!), we are starting to set up winter lines across the entire front. Notably, each front will have 1-2 dedicated anti-armor units (Marder/StuG).

Crimea and the dedicated Case Blue crew are set. We may be able to preempt some of the winter buildup with our Panzer IIIs, depending on what our scout sees, but that seems QUITE risky in addition to taking the oilfields.

Refit/redeploy/Heroes: Unsure about Tobruk triggers so we will try to give it some lip service with another grenadier. Planning for Torch starts now. We probably want both Ju 88s with AGN upgraded to the 7 naval attack variant, which is the highest among strat bombers currently. We will need probably 4 elite fighters, although this may be able to wait until after the winter given the anticipated month of attack. It’s probably more cost-effective to buy new artillery that doesn’t need 3 range or heavy motorization. The 12 cm nebelwerfers would do great in this role. They also have the best ground defense among non-armored artillery, important for withstanding anticipated naval fire. All three subs of the Mediterranean theatre are still alive and will be able to participate in the defense. We will grab some Italian infantry and move them there ASAP, as well as 2-3 German PzGr regiments. I don’t think heavy armor is needed (and in fact may take too many bomber losses), but the planned 7.62 cm PaKs will also service this front in a cost-effective manner (247 prestige, 8 initiative, 14 hard attack, 7 ground defense). 88s are probably too flimsy to US mobile artillery.
Upgrades/purchases/repairs: Elite core bomber-fighters reach western front and upgrade to Ju 88 C-6 and Bf 110 F-4 for cheap. PaKs from last turn upgrade to 7.62 PaK 36(r).
Prestige/Surrenders: Moscow piggy bank → 3583 prestige. I think buying 2-3 Panthers fresh off the printing press will probably be a reasonable investment, but we will still have prestige leftover. Anticipate 1500 for Torch new units. However, if we plan on fully defeating the USSR, we need to plan ahead to counter the Western Allies’ moves, namely with heavier air/anti-air. I don’t think Regia Marina is worth repairing, although we could consider the German BB BCs sitting at home…

Hm, I think that very much depends on the prestige difficulty setting. The prestige gains are affected by that, while the unit costs are not. I fear increasing them would punish those who already struggle with prestige.

Congratulations on taking Moscow! With Leningrad also being close to falling!

Yep, Baku and Northern Africa planning. Especially Africa will be a gamble, since reinforcements can hardly go there once it begins. Too few units and it goes the historical path, too many and they are stranded there for quite a while.
I like the cheaper 3 range arties, even more when I can not use strats due to weather or enemy airforce.

If the prestige is there, a Tiger P in addition to the gifted Tiger and Elefant can be a valuable high defense consideration. For the faster but less resistant Panthers there are 4 special upgrade opportunities from scripts.

Naval engagement for Torch can be a worthwhile but also costly gamble.

Turn 29
Enemy Turn/Casualties/Spawns: Another recon mauled, another 7.5 cm PaK upgrade that I didn’t know about…

A warhawk has shown up. Its range with 52 fuel means that it can reach the bottom-most Atlantic lane. We can’t really contest this, so does it mean it’s time to give up the battle for the Atlantic? With no safe vision and massive destroyer movement/initiative/experience advantage, even wolfpacks of subs have no chance (see previous turn, where 3 subs against one 3-star destroyer got maimed pretty badly without even a kill). The only throwmoneyattheproblem solution at this point seems to be running a Do 217 J-2 or five into the Atlantic. I don’t think the warhawk should be there historically though, and maybe if US carriers show up there should be some sort of warning. (enough, whinging but this seems an surmountable problem. The logistics of subs and massive real life time of microing them back and forth makes even this increased effort seem diminished. Perhaps the Warhawk will fly to the UK mainland?

Upgrades/purchases/repairs: More 7.5 cm PaKs, including one at Tobruk. Preparation PzGrens for Tobruk as well. We still have 18 core slots so could comfortably just buy more, honestly. Is it possible to have a negative modifier for upgrade cost to promote upgrading from existing units instead of buying new ones? The core slots seem VERY generous with addon. For example, if I upgraded a 100 prestige to 200 prestige unit, could it cost only 175 possibly?
Prestige/Surrenders/: 2887.
Balance: N/A
I don’t remember what the end-game enemy fighter stats look like. Here is my current fighter complement, using mostly normal replacements. Unfortunately the Fw 190 upgrade does not fully restore HP.

I think the Warhawk spawns near the US airbase in Greenland. It should get less fuel though.
But yeah, the Battle for the Atlantic becomes tougher for the Axis in 1942, with the US officially being in the war.

Unfortunately the PzC engine allows only either "pay the difference" or "pay the full unit price", nothing in between. I would very much wish to make some in-family upgrades a bit more expensive (eg from Panzer III to StuG III), while making some out of family upgrades a bit cheaper to encourage upgrades of existing units over buying new ones.

Yep, script upgrades to Fw 190 (and Panther later on) just change the unitID, which allows heroes, kills and experience, but also strength to be persistant. While the earlier strat to fighter upgrades delete the existing strat and just place a totally independent, new fighter on the map.
Both Bf 109 and Fw 190 lineups have great fighters later on, so your force should be competitive, with the experience being the most crucial aspect for fighters in particular (since it is the only unit class left which gets a +2 attack bonus per experience level).

Spotting hero on 17cm arty, really bad luck with the heroes.

Turn 30
Annoying, enemy coastal battery got a full suppress on mine and the infantry got a free surrender kill.

Finally our first good hero of the entire game, fittingly to the PzGren (re)taking Leningrad after another dud spotter.
Upgrades/purchases/repairs: Grenadiers and PaK 7.5s. I try to land an Italian level bomber to trade for trains, as the bottleneck is finally being felt trying to reinforce Torch.
Balance: N/A

Coastal battery loss is certainly annoying, seems rng compensated for giving you that unusually great hero.
Not sure the script accepts an Italian level bomber for payment, but yeah, with bigger strategic shifts occuring and the front lines moving away from Axis homelands, trains are becoming a bottleneck.

Turn 31
Enemy Turn/Casualties/Spawns: One sub, infantry sitting on Leningrad.

I think the Atlantic war is irrecoverable at this point. Even though I’ve lost only 1-2 subs, the fact that (3 star) destroyers will wolfpack any sub immediately from even the other shipping lane means it’s really not worth it. Because there are 3-4 enemy fighter/fighter-bombers patrolling now, the Condors are pretty defenseless. Perhaps historic, again, but not very playable. Possible changes: moving the airbase to the far top left corner; controlling the number of fighter units available, creating a new Atlantic escort DD with less move points, like 4-5 (more like an escort) and perhaps 1-2 more close defense to represent its defensive role. Perhaps one or more subs with spotting hero, or giving more spotting to one of the sub modes. It should be more of a cat and mouse IMHO, rather than a “if the enemy plane spots you it’s over.” I’ll give it a couple more turns/tries.

Wait, which infantry sitting on Leningrad? The one that just got the hero?

I will publish my February update either later today or tomorrow, since it already contains lots of changes based on your feedback. Unfortunately it only affects a game after a scenario transition.

I will try a slower but stronger UK destroyer, which is closer to the escorts you are describing. For the experiment the stat changes will be handled by that hero, so that I can already put it into this update.
And then work on a bigger change after that.

eskuche wrote: ↑Fri Feb 13, 2026 5:47 pm

I recommend not installing this update for your ongoing Battlefield Europe playthrough.
Since all the positive changes only work after a scenario transition, and not for an ongoing scenario.


This update includes a great many changes and bugfixes for the Battlefield Europe main scenario,
based on all the feedback and discussions with eskuche and bondjamesbond.
Though several are work in progress and this is just the first step. Eg regarding the destroyer to escort change for the Atlantic convoys, or the experimental Panzer III to Panzer IV upgrade unit option (thus without script) for the end of 1942. I look forward to see eskuche deal with the threat to the ore supply from Sweden, which was proposed by bondjamesbond and already introduced before eskuche started his ongoing playthrough!
Major changes were also made regarding the Leningrad siege and the still somewhat unreliable upgrade scripts.
The biggest overall adjustment not only to BE but also to all other campaigns was to the elite replacement costs during a scenario. Eskuche proposed a reduction by 10 percentage points, which makes them much more viable!


Goose_2 feedback for the grand and original campaign also lead to some changes, like added upgrade hex for Warsaw GC 44east and the bonus SE/Std Panzer III M changed to N and so on.

<< Ongoing BE + Locarnus Addon playthrough by eskuche >>
It is a classic picture and text AAR on 75% player prestige, plus 50% AI experience, plus 1 AI strength settings:
https://tinyurl.com/y8euym2r


<< Ongoing Grand Campaign East Locarnus Addon playthrough by goose_2 >>
Youtube playthrough on double Field Marshal, double Rommel difficulty plus rule of one and no super heroes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFieC-H ... 61Emy2K5bz


<< Ongoing Originial Campaign Locarnus Addon playthrough by goose_2 >>
Youtube playthrough on double Rommel difficulty plus rule of one and no super heroes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0UmJXn ... FssRp8ZU5p




2026-02 Update "Locarnus Addon" Download: https://bit.ly/3ZEiSJi

This is only an update to the Addon and requires the 2026 base version of the Locarnus Addon to be installed already on top of BE 2.4 and the bugfixed PzC patch 1.32 first. All previous updates to the 2026 base version are included in this one.

UI & Library changes, thanks to eskuche BE playthrough
- Library now includes most BE events and special upgrade scripts up to turn 20!
- Library also includes the special BE turn 22 Fw 190, and turn 50 Panther upgrades

Technical fixes and graphics, thanks to eskuche BE playthrough:
- BE Fixed Minsk surrender for enemy overstrength difficulty settings
- BE Heavy arty winter str loss fixed (but now only 28cm K5 and Karl-Gerät)
- BE Fixed Mines around Tobruk not losing strength after city is captured
- Fixed Soviet 120 Mortar upgrade family, and AI issue by unitID swap, see below
- Saharan Inf wheeled move sound, since it recently changed to wheeled move type
- Enemy Captured SdKfz 222 has different paint (eg 44 East - Warsaw scenario)
- Shortened trop to tp in several aircraft names

Battlefield Europe (thanks to eskuche), GC East, AK, SC & original campaign
- ALL After deployment elite replacement costs reduced from 75% to 65%
- ALL Elite replacement costs during deployment phase unchanged (50%)
- SC 120mm Mortar team unitID replaced due to AI issue with its switching ability
- SC For ongoing campaign, please upgrade your 120 Mortar after updating the Addon
- BE Kübelwagen and Italian Command unit no longer available in BE main scenario
- BE Experimental switchable Pz III => Pz IV upg family connector for BE (28.11.1942)
- BE Convoys higher strength, better defense, but also 120 instead of 100 reward
- BE All US & British Emp. units +2 exp per turn, if no Axis navy on convoy routes
- BE All US & British Emp. units 0 exp per turn, if 1 Axis navy on convoy routes
- BE All US & Brit. units -1 (-2/-3) exp per turn, if 2 (3/4) Axis navy on convoy routes
- BE Convoy unit kill gives 120 prestige to Axis instead of 100, same for Allies loss
- BE Leningrad siege cycles 1 & 2 always reduce Strength (not 90% like cycles 3+)
- BE Leningrad siege cycles 3+ also reduce maxStrength, but only outer ring units
- BE Leningrad siege each turn lowers Allied prestige by 30
- BE Leningrad special mortar unit that can not switch & has self-defense AA rating
- BE Leningrad special mortar has hero, Olga Bergholz representing morale boost
- BE Scripted upgrade options to Fw 190 earlier (turn 22) & cheaper (120 prestige)
- BE Scripted Fw 190 upgrades now have a safety switch (Bessie in Lake Balaton)
- BE Scripted Panther upgrades have a safety switch (Cessie in Lake Constance)
- BE 28cm K5 railway arty classified as armored train in BE (no protective fire)
- BE Player purchased 28cm K5 railway arty does not lose str in first winter
- BE Soviet reinforcements from Persia now come from the map border
- BE Additional warning for Eastern Med spotting (amended Gibraltar message)
- BE Düsseldorf added to strat bomber trigger zone 22
- BE Several replacement and later units come in more modern versions
- BE Increased Moscow, Stalingrad & Malta prestige rewards by 200/100/100
- BE KG 40 with Fw 200 Condor gets Petersen hero
- BE British destroyer gets Walker hero
- BE Non-replaceable Do 17 stats adjusted (no changes for BE fighter exchange)
- GC 44 East Warsaw captured units adjusted, +1 upgrade city (thx goose_2)

Unit Changes, thanks to eskuche & goose_2 playthroughs:
- Fw 200 all nerfed ground def, C-3 and later versions buffed ground attack
- He 162 one more air defense, due to its ability to disengage from every enemy
- SdKfz 222 and 234/1 buffed self-defense air attack value
- PzSfl IVb has 6 ammo (instead of 5), also more fuel, but costs 40 prestige more
- Std Panzer III M+ changed to Pz III N 44 & different paint
- Romanian 3.7cm Flak unified values including rof 11
- Infantry mortars buffed air defense (Soviet, German)
- Brandenburger units a more expensive (BE and USA branch of original campaign)
- Bf 109 G-6+ GP reduced air attack by 1, later G-6/U2 not changed
- 28cm Kanone 5 slightly buffed ground attack, significantly buffed naval attack
- Re 2000 and Heja 2000 a lot more expensive (but lowers gap to Re 2001)
- Jagdsturmtiger gets one more soft attack
- Jagdsturmtiger tropical s8 earlier, for ahistorical Afrika Korps path (25.4.1944)
- Jagdpanther G3 & full str Jagdsturmtiger added, late ahistorical (8.6.1945)
- Removed confusing "Rec" from the name of Bf 109 E-8 and G-4, no stat changes

Locarnus wrote: ↑Sun Feb 15, 2026 5:27 pm

bondjamesbond wrote: ↑Sun Feb 15, 2026 9:50 am There is nothing good about war, of course, but sometimes during wars, progress rapidly gains momentum. People love to kill each other in sophisticated and varied ways.

6 scientific achievements we should be grateful for... World War II

Indeed, even horrible conflict and loss can be a massive long term boost for change and innovation.

Everything repeats itself; progress cannot be stopped.


Production of chamber pots from German helmets, Denmark, 1945.

The Dutch Army's bicycle regiment on the eve of the German invasion, 1940.



https://dzen.ru/a/Zzo0vYk2QimSoxGK




https://union.4bb.ru/viewtopic.php?id=971&p=29#p127490

Took a small break, back into it now with Torch landings.

eskuche wrote: ↑Fri Feb 20, 2026 4:30 am Took a small break, back into it now with Torch landings.

I had to take a break as well.

Turn 32 Rain Mud

Enemy Turn/Casualties/Spawns: N/A
Atlantic/Western/Mediterranean: Constant rain, full retreat. Condors should be able to help with Torch landings.
Refit/redeploy/Heroes: 10. Pz in Caucauses gets initiative hero.
Barely any movement due to the bad weather.
Upgrades/purchases/repairs: Misc. fighters to F-4+. 2513 remaining.

Balance: 12 cm grwerfer seems a bit undercosted vs. the nebelwerfer. Traded in a Ju 88 aufkl (which cannot be “up”graded to a bomber variant) for 2 trains. Seems worth it! Since recon planes don’t actually have recon movement, it’s not quite worth sending them into the unknown this far along wrt enemy fighter experience.

Condors against Torch is a great plan, and then against the follow up landings as well. Gives them utility beyond the initial battle of the Atlantic.

Yep 12 cm grenade thrower has better utility than the older 15cm nblwf, though the nblwf has slightly better rof. I will make some price adjustments.

Turn 33

Refit/redeploy/Heroes: Heavy artillery mostly redeployed to Caucasus to handle heavily entrenched positions. 7. Flieger may do better as literally any other unit and needs to make its way to an upgrade city.

Upgrades/purchases/repairs: Another Nimrod upgraded through AT route. New JG 52b Hartman to upgrade to Fw 190.

Prestige: 3108.

Balance: 11 core slots still remaining after a lot of ablative PaK purchased. May consider lessening the cap, or making the cap release a bit more gradual. I feel like I have a LOT of units.

Torch landings will be very interesting to see, with Allied units and especially fighters having more experience.

I will also revisit the number of core slots as you suggested.

Turn 34
Enemy Turn/Casualties/Spawns: sPzAbt 502 with a Tiger has arrived
T-34s ruining days…enemy still has 4 fighters here, including a hero.
Refit/redeploy/Heroes: N/A
Upgrades/purchases/repairs: Nothing particularly special. Only 8 core slots left, so we start upgrading some new infantry divisions to grenadiers.
Prestige: 3025. 12 turns for Grozny to repair.

Balance: Please make sure tropical Western Allies planes do not have the same higher ground defense, since it doesn’t necessarily make sense there.

Tiger will help a lot, though the first version is still handicapped.
The allied super spotter for the channel is indeed a real pain for those north western french airfields. I like that it puts pressure on the player regarding those ports, but it might be too much for the airfields.

Malta progress is good, i m not sure whether it is worth the effort, which is rather historical.

Agreed, I will lower the ground defense for western trop versions.

Turn 34 or 35? Snow

Enemy Turn/Casualties/Spawns: JG 154 bomber replacement Bf 109 F-4 spawns.

Atlantic/Western/Mediterranean: Snow! 5 Italian reinforcements for Torch, which spawned but has not landed.

Turn 34 appears twice in the AAR and turn 38 is missing. I assume this is turn 35?

Cant check the game triggers at the moment.

Turn 35 or 36? Snow Frozen (11/29/42)

Enemy Turn/Casualties/Spawns: Azul perishes in front of Ryazan to two random infantry attacks.

We have substantial units, notably all three Mediterranean subs still here. However, Malta will definitely prove to be a problem. We will try to get a bit of AA onto Tunisia in this case.

We ambushed about 5 Soviet units last turn and took them out along the front.

Tiger and a few more PaKs arriving.
Refit/redeploy/Heroes: N/A
Upgrades/purchases/repairs: N/A
Prestige/Balance: 2852 from the fighter repair.

Heavy fighting in the east plus Torch beginning.
While the global weather neutralizes the air units.

Decisive winter events for the the war, just as it was historically. But with Leningrad, Moscow and Grozny already captured.
Great work after 1.5 years of the war!

Locarnus wrote: ↑Thu Jan 22, 2026 12:02 am goose_2 youtube playthrough GC Napoleon difficulty
GC 1944e9 start upgrade recommendations
8565 prestige, after elite replacements to full strength for all understrength units and selling excess captured units.

red marker for a) no or 1 hero, b) <800 kills, c) <350 experience
blue marker for a) 3 heroes, b) >=1500 kills, c) >= 450 experience

UnitType ....... transport ... Hero ... SubscriberName ... KillCounter ... Experience with elite replacements


45 Ground units

Non-hero bonus SE units
.Std 15cm sIG33 r8 ............... a3s1 ... Brodrick ............. 1645 ... 386 ==> Cavalry 44 once I get final exp point for 4th star
.Std Blue Division 44 ........... d1d2 ... PatrickLee .......... 1332 ... 384
.Std M4(r) Sherman/Emcha ................... i1d2 ... Dimitri ............... 1189 ... 400 ... he is doing great as Emcha
.Std Hetzer r9 ............... m1a2 ... PaulWilde ........... 1083 ... 368 ... ==> I plan on updating Paul to 15cm once I upgrade Brodrick to Cavalry so I can work on getting him 4th star
.Std Nimrod+ r11 ......... m1a3a3 ... Makorin .............. 1659 ... 432
.Std Reg Inf 44 ... Horse .... a3 ... Eskuche ............... 339 ... 403 ... ==> doing great as inf
.Std 7.5 FK 16 nA r11 . Horse .... ?? ... Thejf .................. 122 ... 215
plus 1 non-hero bonus SE units for 45 grand campaign

Infantry
.Grenadiere 44 .... Sd251/1+ . m1a2 ... Gigiduru ............. 1145 ... 422
.Pioniere 44 ........ Blitz+ ..... m1a3 ... Soljaism ............. 1114 ... 405
.Kradschützen 44 ................ a1a2 ... PeteMitchell ........ 1220 ... 373 ... ==> upgrading both to arty's for 4th star training
.Sahariana 44 ..................... s1a2 ... Kostia ................ 1126 ... 353 ... ==> upgrading both to arty's for 4th star training

Towed AT

Towed Arty
.10.5 GebH .......... Kettenkrad . i1a2 ... Pullig ............... 1015 ... 351
.Jaeger 44 ....................... m1d2 ... Artemis .............. 879 ... 401 ...
.7.62 FK 288(r) r11 . Sd250/1+ .. d2d2 ... RichardMartin ..... 1014 ... 405 still working on getting more exp for him, for now
.15 sFH range3 r8 ..... Sd7 .......... r1 ... Raduku ............... 662 ... 460
.21 Mrs 18 r5 ........... Sd8 ......... m1 ... Kei .................... 972 ... 441



Recon using DanielS and Blast to kick around a couple of Conscripts in Vilna has garnered almost 200 kills per unit so will continue this practice going forward to rack up kills to maximize 3rd heroes for as many units as possible
.Panzer II 5cm 44 r9 ............... i1a2 ... Blast ................... 888 ... 415 ==> switching Blast with me Goose as want to switch roles for these units for training purchases
.SdKfz 234/2 Puma ................ s1s1 ... DanielS ................ 928 ... 411

Tanks

.Tiger I 44 ........................ d2a3 ... Temis .................. 1185 ... 439
.StuG III 44+ ..................... i1m1 ... DoktorG ............... 1120 ... 398
.JagdPz IV/48 .................... m1a2 ... Pierre .................. 834 ... 428
.Nashorn 44 ....................... a1i1 ... ForestLaw ............ 1280 ... 461 ==> upgrading to Hummel for training purposes
.KV-85(r) .......................... d2d2 ... Paramecium .......... 1438 ... 358

Mobile Arty
.SU-122(r) ......................... a3a3 ... 7Bowls ................ 1240 ... 380
.StuH 44+ .......................... m1a2 ... NightPhoenix ........ 1165 ... 402
.Hummel 44 r8 ....................... s1 ... Soren ................... 774 ... 351 ==> .PzSfl IVb
.Grille r8 ............................. m1 ... PanzerVorwärts ....... 865 ... 404
.Wespe ............................ m1d2 ... Goose .................. 1037 ... 407 ==> switching Blast with me Goose as want to switch roles for these units for training purchases

.StuG IV+ .............................. r1 ... RayCaster .............. 716 ... 482 ==> .Brummbär 44 r8
.Semovente 105/25 ................. d2 ... RightSide .............. 854 ... 474
.Panzerwerfer 42 r12 ............... a3 ... Singer .................. 909 ... 426
.Wurfrahmen 43 r8 ................ r1r1 ... Dneos .................. 933 ... 457

Anti-Air
.8.8cm Flak 41 ........ Sd7 .... m1m1 ... Jemhadar ............. 1145 ... 378
.Cannone 90/53 r8 ... TP40 .... m1a2 ... Zyavoo ................ 1033 ... 361


I may have got a couple of the upgrade stuff a little wrong as I am at work and not actually looking at the game


15 Airforce

Single engine Fighters & Fighter Bomber
.Bf 109 G-6/U2 GP .................. d3 ... vonThüringen ....... 882 ... 410
.Bf 109 G-14 ......................... d3 ... CouchOffiziell ....... 586 ... 351
.Fw 190 A-8/R ....................... d1 ... Richard .............. 568 ... 500 ... ==> Fw 190 A-8+ or /R+
.Re.2005+ ......................... a3a3 ... Noxush ............... 955 ... 415


Multi engine Fighter / Tac Bomber
.Me 410 B-2/U4 r9 ............... d1d2 ... FighterAce .......... 1051 ... 385

Multi engine Fighter / Strat Bomber
.He 111 NJ ........................... a1 ... RMA901 ............... 574 ... 506
.He 111 H-20 ........................ a2 ... MafujKhan ............ 870 ... 404



Tac Bomber / Strat Bomber
.Ju 188 A-2 .......................... d2 ... Alvarez ................ 507 ... 407
.Ju 188 E-1 ........................ i1i1 ... Slender1870 ........... 872 ... 454

Dedicated Strat Bomber

I believe these are all of the units and there callibrations in order to play and win this kicking puppies scenario Warsaw Uprising

Hoping to train many units up to speed for Budapest which will be a taste of how rough 45 is going to be.

Let me know your thoughts

My wife and I are going to do a fast on screens. We saw the movie Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die. Found it to be a very thought provoking film and as such are going to take a sabbatical from screens until April 5th.

So, see you all after a very long hiatus.

goose_2 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 2:24 am My wife and I are going to do a fast on screens. We saw the movie Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die. Found it to be a very thought provoking film and as such are going to take a sabbatical from screens until April 5th.

So, see you all after a very long hiatus.

Looking forward to your return, will be able to watch the videos I missed during the coming weekend.

Probably better to discuss the upgrade list in early April?
Imho Zyavoo training as Obice 75 arty could significantly shorten the time to reach 4 stars, but it would be costly due to the transport repurchase. Maybe I can make the big transport available for that small arty in a coming patch until April.

eskuche wrote: ↑Fri Feb 20, 2026 4:30 am Took a small break, back into it now with Torch landings.

Turn 37
Refit/redeploy/Heroes: Trade in the Atlantic Do 17 with 1 SP for Ju-52.
Upgrades/purchases/repairs: Buy an Italian 88 in Tripoli, since next turn is projected cloudy (uh oh). Misc. grenadier and PaK upgrades.
Prestige/Balance: 2750. 3 core slots left. (turn 48 go to 250)

Trading in damaged strat bombers is certainly cost effective.

Maybe the core slot limit increase needs an additional step and the first one should be lowered?

Turn 38 Cloudy Frozen
Enemy Turn/Casualties/Spawns:
StuG IIIG prototype spawns. KG 54 replacement bomber (because too many trade-ins?) spawned at Frankfurt.

Atlantic/Western/Mediterranean:
The first enemy capital runs into our sub trap.

Mildly scary moment here. Losing a train would be massive.

Various attacks throughout the theatre. In the far north, our infantry have killed one T-34 ambushing in heavy forest already.
We are getting quite the number of iron crosses (30 kill, hero eligibility), recently, which is nice.

Local air superiority is still possible without too much loss, although the concentration in the Caucasus is hard to deal with.

Not the best situation, but we have a few fighter trap/interception options, and we are at relatively low risk of losing anything outright. The double 13 strength ski infantry really did a number.

Upgrades/purchases/repairs: 7. Flieger to Gebgun -> sdkfz artillery -> 4 spot recon. Whoops this doesn’t work without crossclass. Changing to PzA/Sdkfz 250 Buy a massive 12.8 cm for Germany, since we are starting to be core slot constrained (smaller gun more efficient).
Prestige/Balance: 2552.. Not that much to capture, unfortunately. Black sea coast has about 600 prestige of objectives that might be worth cutting through the mountains to. Alternatively, we could just hit up Baku first with heavy artillery assistance.

Afair the replacement bombers are provided if too few "KG" strats are on the map.
I need to adjust those scripts, since I did not trade in more than one existing "KG" unit for trains and such (due to wanting to preserve their experience).

Yep, all those strategic transports being irreplaceable is a considerable weakness of the game engine for BE.
Had several catastrophic losses in my last game.

Air situation will be especially tough with the 150% AI experience setting, every bit helps with that.

Yep, Caucasus decisions. Baku oil is needed to stop the fuel and experience drain, and takes time to repair.
Batumi on the Black Sea coast is also nice as a position for unit upgrades for the forces taking Baku, if the hexes around Batumi can be cleared.

Turn 39 (Snow)
I missed reporting the last snow turn I think since nothing happened, so my numbers were a bit off.
Enemy Turn/Casualties/Spawns: Lost an unprotected Romanian bomber over Rostov (forced to use it to get rid of a 1 str tank unit).

Tobruk holds with a nice rugged defense. Ships are annoying and actually effectuating a blockade (supply rules).

We have three elite fighters and substantial anti-air and anti-ship capabilities here. Americans are on their way.

Snow and small advances. Most of the enemy armor is dispatched, including a T-34 surrender by our KV (though the T-34s are cheaper now…!)

Railing significant anti-air assets and radar to the Caucasus due to the persistent high enemy presence (with two heroes).

Refit/redeploy/Heroes:
Upgrades/purchases/repairs: Misc. anti-air upgrades. Additional 12 cm mortar at Tobruk.
Prestige/Balance: 2064. 1 core slot left.

The previous turn numbers are off by 1. Turn 37 is actually turn 38 and so on, back to turn 34 which exists twice in the AAR (second one is actually turn 35).

Soviet fighters are catching up fast, but the difficulty setting of 150% AI experience makes them really bold and dangerous.

Yep, Tobruk is tough to hold against enemy combined arms, since your air and naval forces can hardly be spared for this roadblock.

Haven't used radar on the eastern front, I agree it makes sense if you can get the Soviets to focus there. Though they will be missed in the West.

Turn 40
Enemy Turn/Casualties/Spawns: Nope, Operation Uranus is definitely not over. Promised Hs-129 did not spawn. Hotchkiss and a Romanian infantry ate it.

3-star destroyers are a massive pain. I expect capital ships to arrive soon. We basically need to use the Regia Marina as cannon fodder until our planes are unlocked by weather.

The major axis of advance for Operation Uranus it looks like. Hopefully our Tiger doesn’t eat snow ambush initiative failure.
We had the Tiger P available for I think 2 turns but at 900 prestige it’s not worth the chip damage risk at exactly this point.

We barely didn’t get to kill multiple units. That AT is really hampering train movement to reinforce.
Refit/redeploy/Heroes:
Upgrades/purchases/repairs: Bought another Sdkfz 7/1 to help the Caucasus air situation. 2 core slots left.
Prestige/Balance: 2042.

Will have to search for that Hs 129 script message and correct it, thank you for the bug report.

Yeah, the med is getting crowded with Allied ships and the Italian navy is not in the best state due to prestige constraints.

Imho the first Tiger P can be a stopgap against enemy hordes, but it really starts to shine with the armor upgrade. Not so much as a killer, but more as a cornerstone controlling 3 hexes with zone of control (if air and arty protection prevents damage).

Thank your for another 20 great turns. Imho it is going pretty well with that really tough difficulty setting.
150% AI experience providing a major buff for enemy fighters and navy, multiplied by strength +1.

Locarnus wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 8:01 pm

Glad you enjoyed it! To spoil it a bit, air is becoming a little too impossible to handle starting around turn 50. I think there is some twiddling with strategy to make it workable, but seriously considering a restart to test the new patch and Atlantic war. Similar to before, less about grinding through and winning and more about whether it's "fun" (last few turns my full AA complement gets around 0.25 kills per gun firing )

eskuche wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 8:41 pm

Locarnus wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 8:01 pm

Glad you enjoyed it! To spoil it a bit, air is becoming a little too impossible to handle starting around turn 50. I think there is some twiddling with strategy to make it workable, but seriously considering a restart to test the new patch and Atlantic war. Similar to before, less about grinding through and winning and more about whether it's "fun" (last few turns my full AA complement gets around 0.25 kills per gun firing )

I just skimmed through the next turns.
Perhaps western allied aircraft ground defense should be lowered by 1 again?
As it is currently usually 2 above what it was before the previous increase.

The experience level for everything that can switch to fighter mode is the most significant contribution to the air war. Meaning elite reinforcements for fighters, even though they are very expensive.
Which in turn eats away most of that prestige used to fill up the core limit with newly purchased units.

You could treat it as a test game and just delete some of those ineffective AA guns, while giving yourself the prestige back. And then spend that prestige on elite fighter reinforcements. Would be interesting to test that before restarting from the beginning.
And would give me the time to incorporate the feedback for turns 30 to eg 60 into the next update.


With the focus at the moment being more on the BE scenario than unit changes, I could also try to make the equipment file more accessible in its current version.

Locarnus wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 9:26 pm

eskuche wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 8:41 pm

Locarnus wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 8:01 pm

Glad you enjoyed it! To spoil it a bit, air is becoming a little too impossible to handle starting around turn 50. I think there is some twiddling with strategy to make it workable, but seriously considering a restart to test the new patch and Atlantic war. Similar to before, less about grinding through and winning and more about whether it's "fun" (last few turns my full AA complement gets around 0.25 kills per gun firing )

I just skimmed through the next turns.
Perhaps western allied aircraft ground defense should be lowered by 1 again?
As it is currently usually 2 above what it was before the previous increase.

The experience level for everything that can switch to fighter mode is the most significant contribution to the air war. Meaning elite reinforcements for fighters, even though they are very expensive.
Which in turn eats away most of that prestige used to fill up the core limit with newly purchased units.

You could treat it as a test game and just delete some of those ineffective AA guns, while giving yourself the prestige back. And then spend that prestige on elite fighter reinforcements. Would be interesting to test that before restarting from the beginning.
And would give me the time to incorporate the feedback for turns 30 to eg 60 into the next update.


With the focus at the moment being more on the BE scenario than unit changes, I could also try to make the equipment file more accessible in its current version.

I think my thought is that the prestige ecosystem should have the Atlantic war baked in as well. If that were differently successful, my choices with prestige and core would be different. I'll think if the current game is modifiable (I don't quite think so, might heavily over/underadjust that extra prestige allocation).

eskuche wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 9:49 pm

Locarnus wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 9:26 pm

eskuche wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 8:41 pm

Glad you enjoyed it! To spoil it a bit, air is becoming a little too impossible to handle starting around turn 50. I think there is some twiddling with strategy to make it workable, but seriously considering a restart to test the new patch and Atlantic war. Similar to before, less about grinding through and winning and more about whether it's "fun" (last few turns my full AA complement gets around 0.25 kills per gun firing )

I just skimmed through the next turns.
Perhaps western allied aircraft ground defense should be lowered by 1 again?
As it is currently usually 2 above what it was before the previous increase.

The experience level for everything that can switch to fighter mode is the most significant contribution to the air war. Meaning elite reinforcements for fighters, even though they are very expensive.
Which in turn eats away most of that prestige used to fill up the core limit with newly purchased units.

You could treat it as a test game and just delete some of those ineffective AA guns, while giving yourself the prestige back. And then spend that prestige on elite fighter reinforcements. Would be interesting to test that before restarting from the beginning.
And would give me the time to incorporate the feedback for turns 30 to eg 60 into the next update.


With the focus at the moment being more on the BE scenario than unit changes, I could also try to make the equipment file more accessible in its current version.

I think my thought is that the prestige ecosystem should have the Atlantic war baked in as well. If that were differently successful, my choices with prestige and core would be different. I'll think if the current game is modifiable (I don't quite think so, might heavily over/underadjust that extra prestige allocation).

I'm not sure how much the Atlantic war can be tied to the prestige.
Since ships are so expensive, it might become a runaway effect. Players with normal prestige settings might have enough to actually win the battle of the Atlantic, earning even more prestige. While players with harsh prestige settings are historically driven off, which also makes them miss out on the prestige gain.

Only cheats/debug console works for ongoing games, though imho using that option for reimbursing deleted AA units or similar for testing purposes is very viable.

Speaking of the Atlantic, the Swedish ore interruption should start in a few turns. It would be interesting to see if that works out or needs some adjustments.

Given the situation in the med, would you purchase an additional, new destroyer in Italy if that was possible?
Price would be high, similar or even higher than for purchasing one in Germany.

Locarnus wrote: ↑Thu Feb 26, 2026 10:33 pm I'm not sure how much the Atlantic war can be tied to the prestige.
Since ships are so expensive, it might become a runaway effect. Players with normal prestige settings might have enough to actually win the battle of the Atlantic, earning even more prestige. While players with harsh prestige settings are historically driven off, which also makes them miss out on the prestige gain.

Only cheats/debug console works for ongoing games, though imho using that option for reimbursing deleted AA units or similar for testing purposes is very viable.

Speaking of the Atlantic, the Swedish ore interruption should start in a few turns. It would be interesting to see if that works out or needs some adjustments.

Given the situation in the med, would you purchase an additional, new destroyer in Italy if that was possible?
Price would be high, similar or even higher than for purchasing one in Germany.

Perhaps that's so! In any case I would like to try to play it and see how the new convoy heroes work out. I think deletion-wise and reimbursement with cheats, yes, but so much has been different that it wouldn't really accurately portray a playthrough. IMHO I think the first 25 turns are most applicable for the vast majority of the players.

See the prequel playthrough that I just did. Your preset units are relatively accurate in terms of experience!