Slitherine

Nalikill wrote: ↑Sun Apr 26, 2020 11:12 pm IMO France or Spanish Civil War would be perfect for showing off the "branching campaign" tech: an "allies" and "axis" alt history branch for a Francoist victory and a "comintern" and "allies" (read: France or North Africa) branch for a Republican victory.

France you could have the ultra-hard alt history "France Stands" path where France fights Germany to a standstill, a medium difficulty alt history "Evacuate to Algeria" path, and the historical branching between Vichy and Free france.

Japan / China would set us up perfectly for an eventual Pacific War DLC and cover a little-known and understood front in the war.

First!... "France you could have the ultra-hard alt history "France Stands" path where France fights Germany to a standstill:"

The only realistic possibility is if and when the German's had invaded Poland... with all their 'Get-Go!'... and then have only left a weak screening-force stationed on the French/ German border... would such an opportunity have presented itself to severely cripple the German war machine or completely put it out of business.

Alternatively!... there were real ongoing plans to complete the 'Maginot-Line', but due to the reality of 'Insulting' the Belgians... the French decided to stop the 'Maginot-Line' construction in it's tracks... near Sedan. Charles de Gaulle also was in the process of trying to further develop France's armored units with many more tanks and organizing them into something resembling what the Panzer Divisions were to the Germans.


His superiors... the "WWI Vintage cabal"... couldn't and didn't see it his way... and instead wanted such tanks as they had to be evenly dispersed to the infantry divisions for infantry support. The French tanks were superior to the German tanks, but that superiority was negated by the Stuka (Junkers Ju 87 ) Dive Bomber.

Not only that... but the French only had out- dated WWI 'Anti-Tank' guns... and most of them were allocated or deployed to the north to stop the supposed main German invasion coming through Belgium. As well... the French troops in the South near the Ardennes' were mostly made up of hastily recalled reserves as well as fresh conscripts... by no means a seasoned veteran fighting force.

When the German tanks and other heavy battle equipment came thundering out of the forest... the French had nothing realistic to stop them with!. So many of them panicked and ran for the hills. Had the French paid more attention to the development and modernization of their 'Anti-Tank' artillery guns and had made sure to develop them in meaningful quantities... that would have also have made a big difference.

"Japan / China would set us up perfectly for an eventual Pacific War DLC and cover a little-known and understood front in the war:".

Agreed!... not too well understood!.
Not only that, but many games on this subject put too much emphasis on only one sector of this theatre' of operations... such as in the Game... "Strategic Command". There is so much overwhelming pressure from the Chinese... that the Japanese player cannot really 'Not-afford' to not make China a first priority!.

A more balanced Game is needed to fairly and honestly complement both the Land and separately also the Island Campaigns. To make both of them playable together or... even as separate game entities. Until this is accomplished, there is no real satisfaction in playing a 'Pacific Region Campaign'.

Retributarr wrote: ↑Mon Apr 27, 2020 12:03 am The only realistic possibility is if and when the German's had invaded Poland... with all their 'Get-Go!'... and then have only left a weak screening-force stationed on the French/ German border... would such an opportunity have presented itself to severely cripple the German war machine or completely put it out of business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKTbhC0s5xg

They tried, but so many factors were against them.

Their army wasn't built for offense. They were entrenched on the Maginot Line, they didn't have large formations of mobile forces of infantry/tanks/aircraft set up like offensive orientated German blitzkrieg.
Also, from what I researched, the entire terrain of the French/German borders were specifically set all the way back from the days of Napoleon specifically to deter French aggression. Germans held all the high ground. I don't mean they resculpted the terrain, they picked the borders based on where it would disadvantage French aggression.

Retributarr wrote: ↑Mon Apr 27, 2020 12:03 amthe French troops in the South near the Ardennes' were mostly made up of hastily recalled reserves as well as fresh conscripts... by no means a seasoned veteran fighting force.
When the German tanks and other heavy battle equipment came thundering out of the forest... the French had nothing realistic to stop them with! So many of them panicked and ran for the hills.

Serious units were set here, but the so great general Gamelin, with his "Breda variant" plan, removed this 7th Army, at least 6 of the best divisions, well equiped, with airforce, from protecting the Ardennes, sent to Holland. Then France collapsed.

ErissN6 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 28, 2020 4:32 am

Retributarr wrote: ↑Mon Apr 27, 2020 12:03 amthe French troops in the South near the Ardennes' were mostly made up of hastily recalled reserves as well as fresh conscripts... by no means a seasoned veteran fighting force.
When the German tanks and other heavy battle equipment came thundering out of the forest... the French had nothing realistic to stop them with! So many of them panicked and ran for the hills.

Serious units were set here, but the so great general Gamelin, with his "Breda variant" plan, removed this 7th Army, at least 6 of the best divisions, well equiped, with airforce, from protecting the Ardennes, sent to Holland. Then France collapsed.

Let me Reiterate:
Battle of Sedan (1940)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sedan_(1940)
French forces
In the sector of Longwy, Sedan and Namur, where the Ardennes and the River Meuse meet, the Ninth Army and Second Army were made up chiefly of poor quality divisions. Reinforcements were minimal, and those units were equipped with obsolete weapons. The resources at the disposal of the two Series B divisions, the 55th and later 71s Infantry Divisions, who were to bear the brunt of the attack, were weak. They had almost no Regular officers and they had not been broken-in to war conditions by being in contact with the enemy.[34]

The 55th Infantry Division guarding Sedan had little time for combat training, as its time had been spent in construction work. The division consisted mainly of reservists, most of who were over the age of 30. Little attempt was made to improve the poor combat quality of the division. One officer, First Lieutenant Delas of the 1st Battalion 147th Fortress Infantry Regiment was arrested and confined for 15 days for ordering firing practice with a 25mm anti-tank gun in a nearby quarry.[35] The division's commanding officer, General Lafontaine, put more faith into fortifications than training, as he believed it would compensate for the weakness of the division. The men of the division lacked the confidence and will to fight when the battle took place.[35]

French defences at Sedan

View of the Meuse in the French Ardennes

The French defences at Sedan were weak and neglected.[25] The French had long believed that the German Army would not attack through the Sedan sector as part of their concentrated effort, and only Brigadier General Pierre Lafontaine's French 55th Infantry Division, a category B division, was allocated to this sector.

While I'm looking forward for more factions dlc, if the current crisis is impacting the devs, I wouldn't mind a small extension to the current campaign, a mini Grand Campaign if you will. Yugoslavia, Greece would be obvious choice but the alternate history branch could be expanded as well. Possibly more options on the Eastern Front as well, like a drive to the Caucasus instead of Stalingrad or Rzhev Salient.

Of course, what I'm looking forward the most is the GC but that will take a while.

I’d like to see huge Allied campaign dlc, with mixed faction including polish, franch, greeks, brits and its commonwhealt, Usa and antifascist italians from spanish civil war till may 1945.
I’d like too italian campaign swiching after 8 september 1943 betwen italian fascist of Salò Playing with germans and loyalist italians playing with Allied

Tassadar wrote: ↑Sun Apr 26, 2020 8:08 am After being almost done with the first German campaign I'm already looking forward to the upcoming DLC in the future. I'm not a multiplayer fan, so the campaigns are the core experience for me and things I look forward to the most. With that being said, I was wondering what are your opinions about the faction the first DLC should focus on. I cannot create a poll sadly, but, here are some options below.

• UK/USA - the classic, but that would be a bit boring as it follows the Panzer General into Allied General cycle
• USSR - another classic, again a bit expected
• Pacific front (Japan/USA) - probably not yet the time for it, as it would be better to take some time to flesh out the details and test out things like naval combat more
• Italian campaign - the one I look forward to the most, after playing the superb campaign by Uhu in the first part
• French campaign - with branching Vichy and Free France
• Polish campaign - with branching Western and Eastern allies paths
• Finland, Hungary or Romania - would give some fascinating and unique challenges such as having to capture a lot of equipment
• Spanish civil war - here's an unexpected one, but could be a chance to play low power units more

In Q and A that were published few months before release, they were mentioning Cold war era as well.

for me, it's not a question: remake of the grand campigns, splitting the east path with north, middle and south
then a british corps grand campaign
and finally remake of us corps
and after that maybe pacific theater, but this is for me not a must have

Yugoslavian DLC would be cool. Three sides were there, Croatians (Domobrani and Ustase), Serbs (Chetniks and remains of Kingdom of Yugoslavia army) and Partisans (Yugoslavian communists).

Japanese campaign should be no brainer, with invasion of Australia, far east USSR and west coast of USA. That would be cool .

Maybe Battle of Atlantic DLC, where you would have only U-boats and Navy and try to sink as many merch ships as possible

With enough creativity, all sorts of things are possible. So yes, you can have a GC with the a historical path, but there are lots of ways to make it fresh and not exactly the same as PC1 or its predecessors.

Some ideas off the top of my head:

• break up some of the major battles into parts, or multiple maps/scenarios
  cover other battles; this is especially true on the Eastern front. While Stalingrad was roaring, it wasn't like the rest of the front was sitting by eating popcorn and just watching; Caucasus anyone? Why does that only have to be a fictional battle from the South (Afrika Korps) especially if you are doing a historical (i.e. losing) path like last time. Then it even makes more sense.
  Another idea that popped into my head: Get pulled back to France during the Eastern Campaign "for rest and refitting." While there, be forced to deal with a British Commando raid. Or these can be alternative paths if you lost the last battle or need an opportunity to lick your wounds after being mauled in the last slugfest
  Likewise, be redeployed to a troublesome partisan area, like Yugoslavia for example, before redeploying back on the Eastern front

These are just a few ideas and are historically based; I am sure others could think of more plus fictional scenarios.

PanzerCro wrote: ↑Tue Apr 28, 2020 4:54 pm In Q and A that were published few months before release, they were mentioning Cold war era as well.

Historical paths seems like a interesting inclusion, or maybe something fictional on People's General level. I'd only by concerned about power scaling at that point. If an IS-2 is a beast, then I dare not imagine the stats on a Chieftain with the scaling up starting from 1939 units. Same for Me-262 compared to a F-86 Sabre.

I too would like a Grand Campaign remake, possibly with some different battles than in PC1. I have no interest in a protracted campaign in early Poland, Spain, etc. Nor am I particularly interested in various "revisionist history" scenarios that some peddle. Frankly, I play through the early battles simply because I MUST to build my core the way I want it for mid to late scenarios that I find more interesting. You could do a lot worse than a new Grand Campaign similar to PC1, with a few different battles perhaps. Those PC1 battles are not going to play the same way in PC2.

Retributarr wrote: ↑Tue Apr 28, 2020 6:08 amBattle of Sedan (1940)

Sure, but it's wrong telling there was never the good needed units here, french generals are not all idiots. The idiot was the big chief, Gamelin, who had removed them.

egrofik wrote: ↑Tue Apr 28, 2020 5:02 pm remake of the grand campigns, splitting the east path with north, middle and south
then a british corps grand campaign
and finally remake of us corps
and after that maybe pacific theater, but this is for me not a must have

Completely agree!

I really like the idea of a Balkan campaign and fighting through the mountains could be very interesting. Still hoping for a Grand Campaign remake first, but at least the Balkans would be new and the terrain would be challenging.

I too would like a Grand Campaign remake

Seems almost unanimous calls for new Grand Campaign. I hope we don't disappoint.

Just remember those 144 scenarios of the old Grand Campaign didn't show up all at once. They rolled out slowly one campaign piece at a time.

Kerensky wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2020 12:10 am Seems almost unanimous calls for new Grand Campaign. I hope we don't disappoint.

Just remember those 144 scenarios of the old Grand Campaign didn't show up all at once. They rolled out slowly one campaign piece at a time.

That's to be expected!... Rome wasn't built in a day either!. In-Fact... Emperor "Nero" had half of 'Rome' burned to the ground so that he could retrofit, upgrade and rebuild the city to his liking.

Take enough time to make sure that the development of these 'DLC's' is done to the best of your abilities. "We/I"... would appreciate that very-much!. Don't be afraid to ask the 'Forum Community' for their opinions on some of the designing and such, as they know what will give them the greatest satisfaction (Historically and otherwise) as well as to what feels and seems right to them.

Retributarr wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2020 12:59 am
Take enough time to make sure that the development of these 'DLC's' is done to the best of your abilities. "We/I"... would appreciate that very-much!. Don't be afraid to ask the 'Forum Community' for their opinions on some of the designing and such, as they know what will give them the greatest satisfaction (Historically and otherwise) as well as to what feels and seems right to them.

Considering the original Grand Campaign was a direct result of user feedback, I would fully expect a new one to be treated similarly. We've had an overwhelming amount of feedback since Panzer Corps 2 came out, and there are definitely areas with 'room for improvement' that extended content should attempt to address.

What ever you do, I hope such things like the Gustav will not be in the core army.
I enjoy myself using it but feel bad at the same time. Its so total nonsense. Not only was it super immobile in reality but there also was no chance in hell that this thing would repeatedly oneshot entire tank columns. But with rapid fire hero it does.

But if you incorporate it, please do not plan railroad tracks to every victory hex