Slitherine

ok great. thanks for the tip. I missed that one. makes sense now. and you can keep moving after overrunning the air units if mps remain

I played to turn 14 and have proceeded very historically (albeit not by intention). I closed both pockets (Kiev on the very last turn) and advanced to the outskirts of Moscow, only to be stalled by counterattacks and the weather. I now face the choice of trying to hold my position at the outskirts or retreat back a little and preserve troops. I already lost some elite units and likely will lose more if i try and hold position, but it may be worth it if it allows me to counterattack and take Moscow in a shorter time? I desperately need the weather to improve as the -1 strength per turn is a killer and the Luftwaffe sit idle.

About AT, it seems that these units now switch to their transports, rather than just doing the usual move and it automatically appearing as an option. Also, they have to be in truck mode to use trains (this threw me for a few turns as i thought they couldn't be moved via train). What's the reason for this new mechanic? Is there something special about it that we should know?

I think the towed ATs have been changed to make them visible when transported, i.e. they were only "invisible" when hidden in bushes etc.

JimmyC wrote: Tue Apr 27, 2021 1:49 am I now face the choice of trying to hold my position at the outskirts or retreat back a little and preserve troops. I already lost some elite units and likely will lose more if i try and hold position, but it may be worth it if it allows me to counterattack and take Moscow in a shorter time? I desperately need the weather to improve as the -1 strength per turn is a killer and the Luftwaffe sit idle.

The winter weather penalty lasts for 3 turns. After it can be either snow or overcast, it is decided by the game randomly. It is hard to say which one is better, to hold out or to retreat a bit. It depends on the exact type and postition of your units. It may also depend on the difficulty level. Earlier, when I was playing on General difficulty, I usually held out with these because the German units are generally better than the Soviets at this point. But last time I was playing on Field Marshal and decided to retreat because all the Axis units have half the experience on that difficulty level making them significantly weaker and less effective. As a result it took longer to capture Moscow in 1942 but it is still possible to do it, but everything is harder.


As for the towed ATs I write about them in the in-game Library:


So in a nutshelly, now they have camouflage trait in AT gun mode and they lose it when switched to transport mode. It was necessary to do it like that because otherwise they would retain their camouflage even when transported by a train or a ship, which would be silly.

By the way, I highly recommend reading the "Changes" section of the Library, there may be other interesting bits.

Yes, good idea about reading about the changes in the library.

One downside regarding the AT changes, is that some AT can’t be upgraded. Most can, but there is at least one 3.7cm Pak that has a small mechanised transport (not sure the name). If you upgrade it to 5cm there are only different series options so you have to pay full price.

Regarding the non-moveable tanks, I would resupply them each turn and was puzzled why they were back to 0 fuel again next turn. I actually thought it was a bug and considered disbanding them to free up core slots. Perhaps you could just have them spawn into location from the turn they become active, in order to avoid confusion? Or alternatively have a message on turn 2 saying they are being refitted and cannot be used until this is completed? Just a suggestion.

I got badly mauled during the winter of ‘41/42 and would definitely take a more defensive stance next time round. Now its spring of ’42 and I’m ready to assault Moscow again, but am suffering from a deficiency in armour – the German armour is simply outclassed by Russian medium/heavy tanks. I have delayed my attack to upgrade the PzIII’s and am wondering whether i should delay further to upgrade the Pz IV’s to the F/2 model. But time keeps on ticking and I don’t think I can afford to wait. It will be a very costly battle though...

I upgraded it to the movable 37mm AT version, which is a light Panzerjäger. You can collect much faster xp with it you just have to care of it because of its vulnerable type. Later you can upgrade it to 4-movement tracked 75/39 AT gun (the weaker, captured French version) - or just simply upgrade it to a fresh StuG.

JimmyC wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 1:53 am One downside regarding the AT changes, is that some AT can’t be upgraded. Most can, but there is at least one 3.7cm Pak that has a small mechanised transport (not sure the name). If you upgrade it to 5cm there are only different series options so you have to pay full price.

Maybe add captured Soviet guns to the player as a bonus if he gets somewhere quickly or manages to defend something in defense ? )
https://en.topwar.ru/165236-trofejnye-s ... ovuju.html

there really begins a good Soviet counteroffensive near Moscow )
German anti-aircraft small-caliber anti-Soviet aircraft (part of 7)
https://en.topwar.ru/152104-nemeckie-ma ... ast-7.html

https://historical-fact.livejournal.com/135335.html

I wanted to write for months, but first I wanted to read a lot of things, especially other's playthrough, they were really interesting. First of all, thanks for Mc Guba for this fantastic mod, this is so awesome and amazing challange, which made me stop all other games ( even I paid a lof of money for them on Steam ) and play only this mod.
I feel honoured as a hungarian, that a creator is also from Hungary, I really, really hope 2.2 version will become much more popular in other countries too, especailly in biggest ones, I am sure many poeple would find it really interesting and challenging too.

What I found the most interesting so far :
1: Italian fighters later on the war like Centauro and Veltro are surprisngly good, especually the first can go toe to toe even with Mustangs and Thunderbolts.
2: The amount of allied airplanes especilly fighters .... Made me rage quit nearly a few times,that doesn t matter how much I shoot down, they come back in a few turns, just more and more, stronger and stronger, meanwhile I don t even have enough prestige for normal replacements sometimes

Before I write shortly about my experience and playthrough in a next comment, I would like to share an idea about later versions which I would find really great :
CONVOY changes. I mean the creator tried to be as realist as possible in every other aspect of the game which is great, but this one should be changed imo. Why? Because currently you get reward for placing your units on $ fields, so they best you can do to hide your U boats and try to run away, not to sink any tankers or merchant ships.
In reality, Germans did absolutely the opposite . they wanted to sink as much Allied ships as possible. Now if you try to do that, you are not rewarded but punished for that, because Allied destroyers will find you earlier, and you gain NOTHING for sinking tankers and merchant ships. So what about changing the current 50prestige reward to 25 for example, and give also 25 for sinking every tankers/merchant ships?

So a short summary about my playthrough ( pictures and statistics will come later on if anyone is interested )

First of all, I was confident, because I played victoriously the other campaings like Afrika Corps on Rommel level and the huuuge main campaign with all DLCS on Field Marshall first and then on Guderian. However, my first playthrough in 2.0 was a total failure even in just a realistic version, around turn 50 I had to give it up, because draw remained my only realistic goal, which is cannot be an option for me
So second time I decided that because I failed on General level and realistic version, and the 2.2 version just arrived, I try on Field Marshall and Realistic + ( 500 IQ and logic right ? )
The sad thing is, that I chose the so called scenario version, because without playing the first 4 maps it was possible to play only Realistic not the Realistic +. Sadly, because of it, I didn t receive any heroes, which is a big disadvantage, so next time I will play the first 4 campaign, and try to achieve TOTAL VICTORY. My goal was only a Minor Victory this time.

Well, so the summary : I am at TURN 73 NOW, just after NORMANDY
My 4 ( well 3.5) front are :
1: Tunisia and Algeria: 99% finished and won, we just captured Casablanca, and about to kill the last allied ships close to Gibraltar.
2: Middle East : Jerusalem and Beirut are both taken, hope that I can continue my advance through the Middle East and capture Oil Fields.
3: Normandy : Well we will see what happens, but I am confident enough I can prevent the Allies to capture a German city, the only question is, for what cost, because I brought back 75% of my tanks and antitank guns from the Eastern front, which could be a mistake. What happens in France is rather irrelevant anyway, because even if I can destroy the whole invasion, I will have no time and prestige or ships to do a very late Sealion in 45.
4: Russian front: Moscow has fallen in July 42, Leningrad followed soon in September, but sadly, Sevastopol and Rostow took a lot of time, so by the time I captured Grozny , the Soviet 42-43 winter counterattack caught me totally off guard and surprised,and lost even a few PZ 3-4 not to mention the ton of poor Hungarian Italian and Romanan infantries.
By now, we are at the gate of Baku, will fall in 1-2 turns, but this is obviously too late
Because of Normandy landings, I only had left 5-6 tanks and antitanks COMBINED against about 15 russian ones...Our airfoce is equal, meanwhile I have a huge advantage about infantry.
I have 26 turns left, the chances are not so good, but I will try my best to defeat the Russian beast and end with my desired Minor Victory in the end



P:S I tried to attach files, but failed, is there anyone who can help me ? Went to add files, chose the one from my laptop and did submit... But nothing happened

JimmyC wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 1:53 am One downside regarding the AT changes, is that some AT can’t be upgraded. Most can, but there is at least one 3.7cm Pak that has a small mechanised transport (not sure the name). If you upgrade it to 5cm there are only different series options so you have to pay full price.

Yes, as Uhu write this one can be upgraded in-family to the 7.5 cm Pak 97/38, but only later in 1942. I agree that there should be some information provided to the player regarding this, but I am not sure how to communicate it. In my opinion there are already a bit too many message boxes appearing at the beginning of the turns and giving even more would perhaps overload the players with information, which I would like to avoid.

The same goes for the 2 "frozen" tanks in the early turns. In this case it would probably be better if they would appear later to reduce the confusion, but I thought it may be better if the player can see in the beginning that there are some addtional tanks waiting in the hinterland but maybe I was wrong.

JimmyC wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 1:53 amNow its spring of ’42 and I’m ready to assault Moscow again, but am suffering from a deficiency in armour – the German armour is simply outclassed by Russian medium/heavy tanks. I have delayed my attack to upgrade the PzIII’s and am wondering whether i should delay further to upgrade the Pz IV’s to the F/2 model. But time keeps on ticking and I don’t think I can afford to wait. It will be a very costly battle though...

I think it is better to press on with the attack then waiting for better equipment. Time is on the enemy's side and it would be foolish to waste it. Additionaly, the Allies also get better and better equipment with time.

The Pz.IIIH and J are still relatively good until late 1942, especially if backed by StuG IIIs. I like to place a StuG IIIB in artillery mode behind the first line of these tanks. They provide them artillery support on defense which largely compensates for their deficiency and thus the AI is less likely to attack my tanks in the front and they can hold out better even if attacked. The enemy artillery is also unable to suppress my StuGs and these can be moved to the first line in AT mode, if needed. Thus they are very versatile and one of the best units of 41-42. I dare to say it would probably worth upgrading one of the towed 10.5 cm guns to these if there is prestige for that. Historically there were 600 StuG IIIA-E combat ready in mid 1942 which equals with 3 units in the mod.

uzbek2012 wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 8:22 am Maybe add captured Soviet guns to the player as a bonus if he gets somewhere quickly or manages to defend something in defense ?

Yes, maybe later. But I think there is enough Axis artillery in the mod for the first year and more can be purchased from mid 42 if necessary.

Marginaldefeat wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 8:34 am I wanted to write for months, but first I wanted to read a lot of things, especially other's playthrough, they were really interesting. First of all, thanks for Mc Guba for this fantastic mod, this is so awesome and amazing challange, which made me stop all other games ( even I paid a lof of money for them on Steam ) and play only this mod.

Hi, and you are welcome!

Marginaldefeat wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 8:34 am I feel honoured as a hungarian, that a creator is also from Hungary, I really, really hope 2.2 version will become much more popular in other countries too, especailly in biggest ones, I am sure many poeple would find it really interesting and challenging too.

To be honest, I am not so sure about that. This mod is one of the harder ones, it is not for casual players. And I do not plan to make it easier to appeal to more players because I could only do so at the expense of historical accuracy. For those who want to achieve an easier victory there is the "moderate" version of the scenario, but interestingly, it does not seem to be very popular. It looks like most players want to go for the "realistic" versions, even if it means they are unable to win. And then they start complaining that the mod is too hard... people are strange.

Marginaldefeat wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 8:34 am What I found the most interesting so far :
1: Italian fighters later on the war like Centauro and Veltro are surprisngly good, especually the first can go toe to toe even with Mustangs and Thunderbolts.

Yes, if you check the wiki pages of these planes you will find that these were regarded to be in the same class with the best German and Allied planes of 1943-44. Their stats in the mod reflect that. However, they are more expensive than the equivalent German fighters so it is not really worth purchasing them as new. It reflects the relatively low production figures.

Marginaldefeat wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 8:34 am 2: The amount of allied airplanes especilly fighters .... Made me rage quit nearly a few times,that doesn t matter how much I shoot down, they come back in a few turns, just more and more, stronger and stronger, meanwhile I don t even have enough prestige for normal replacements sometimes

Historically the Luftwaffe was heavily outnumbered in the second half of the war in every front, especially in the east against the Soviet Union:



http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.com/ ... h-and.html

And in the west the situation was similar. It was not uncommon that the Allied planes outnumbered the Germans in the air 5 to 1 or even 10 to 1.

CONVOY changes. I mean the creator tried to be as realist as possible in every other aspect of the game which is great, but this one should be changed imo. Why? Because currently you get reward for placing your units on $ fields, so they best you can do to hide your U boats and try to run away, not to sink any tankers or merchant ships.
In reality, Germans did absolutely the opposite . they wanted to sink as much Allied ships as possible. Now if you try to do that, you are not rewarded but punished for that, because Allied destroyers will find you earlier, and you gain NOTHING for sinking tankers and merchant ships. So what about changing the current 50prestige reward to 25 for example, and give also 25 for sinking every tankers/merchant ships?

Yes, maybe in the future I will do it like that, but currently in the multiplayer version of the mod there is a similar game mechanic which makes it worthy for the Axis side to destroy these convoy units. I am unable to do the same in the single player versions because the AI is too dumb to realize the importance of individual units and to protect them properly. By the way, I think it does worth sinking convoy units in single player as well even now, because in that case there will be less units left which can spot the U-boats by accident. But in most cases it is indeed better to just hide.


Thanks for your gameplay report as well. Playing on Field Marshal is very challenging, much more difficult than playing on General level, especially with random dice rolls and without playing the early scenarios. It is really-really hard to win like that, hence the recommened difficulty is General, especially for new players.

In my opinon it was a mistake to withdraw so many units from the east before finishing off the Soviets. They still receive new units as long as they own several victory objecitve cities in the east. And in the last year of the war they get some very formidable units and quite a lot of them. Chances are high that there are even more Soviet tanks hidden by the fog of war. Seeing the current situation in the screenshot I think it is very hard to achieve a victory at this point and maybe you have to prepare for a draw, even if normally it cannot be an option for you. Remember that even a draw is better than the historical outcome.


P.S.
I think you can only attach images, not any files. If you want to share other files like game saves I suggest using dropbox or another file sharing site and then attach the link to the file stored there.

And in the west the situation was similar. It was not uncommon that the Allied planes outnumbered the Germans in the air 5 to 1 or even 10 to 1.

By the way, Eisenhower himself, despite the huge advantage of the Allies-in manpower twice, in aviation 23 (!) - did not fully believe in the success of the "Overlord". Just in case, he prepared an appeal — fortunately, not useful-in case of failure. It read: "Our landing in the Cherbourg-Le Havre area did not lead to the retention of the bridgehead, and I withdrew the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the information I had. The troops, the air force, and the navy did all that bravery and loyalty to duty could do. If anyone is to blame for the failure of this attempt, it is only me…»

That each participant wants to be the first glass in a bucket of vodka ))) What else can I say about the great D-day ))
https://svpressa.ru/post/article/234775/

Certain file types are blocked, you can try zip

CONVOY changes. I mean the creator tried to be as realist as possible in every other aspect of the game which is great, but this one should be changed imo. Why? Because currently you get reward for placing your units on $ fields, so they best you can do to hide your U boats and try to run away, not to sink any tankers or merchant ships.
In reality, Germans did absolutely the opposite . they wanted to sink as much Allied ships as possible. Now if you try to do that, you are not rewarded but punished for that, because Allied destroyers will find you earlier, and you gain NOTHING for sinking tankers and merchant ships. So what about changing the current 50prestige reward to 25 for example, and give also 25 for sinking every tankers/merchant ships?

Yes, maybe in the future I will do it like that, but currently in the multiplayer version of the mod there is a similar game mechanic which makes it worthy for the Axis side to destroy these convoy units. I am unable to do the same in the single player versions because the AI is too dumb to realize the importance of individual units and to protect them properly. By the way, I think it does worth sinking convoy units in single player as well even now, because in that case there will be less units left which can spot the U-boats by accident. But in most cases it is indeed better to just hide.


Thanks for your gameplay report as well. Playing on Field Marshal is very challenging, much more difficult than playing on General level, especially with random dice rolls and without playing the early scenarios. It is really-really hard to win like that, hence the recommened difficulty is General, especially for new players.


In my opinon it was a mistake to withdraw so many units from the east before finishing off the Soviets. They still receive new units as long as they own several victory objecitve cities in the east. And in the last year of the war they get some very formidable units and quite a lot of them. Chances are high that there are even more Soviet tanks hidden by the fog of war. Seeing the current situation in the screenshot I think it is very hard to achieve a victory at this point and maybe you have to prepare for a draw, even if normally it cannot be an option for you. Remember that even a draw is better than the historical outcome.




Thanks a lot for the feedback ,I will upload soon some more detailed pic and the casualties, which sadly are enormously high ( 44 infantries and 17 tanks ) so I could buy about 70 units.....
Next time I will surely play on FM and realistic+ again, and as a dice chess, because this time honestly sometimes I reloaded turns.
( Only a few times, but when like I attacked with my hero FW and the prediction was like 2:6 but instead, I lost 7 and enemy 1-2 then.....Fortunately, these extreme cases happened a few times only, I always accepted worse than expected results which were not so extreme )
but as a campaign not a scenario in order to get additional heroes plus with Poland start to get a bit more additional prestige. But only a total victory will be acceptable I assume probably I won t be able to do first, but I don t mind trying 2-3 times if needed




Yes, obviously mistakes were made, next time Caucasus and oil will be my primary
focus in early 42, without solving the oil crisis by mid 43 latest, Total Victory seems impossible for me.
And a lot of time it happened that I sent back 4-5 units from front to upgrade but I was unable to do it for several turns because of the zero prestige all the time. Especially after first winter in Russia, when until mid 42 I was unable to even do normal replacements for 10+ units on the front so they just idled and hoped a soviet bomber will not find them by accident

The map says I have to do Mediterrenian campaign in order to do a realistic + version in a campaign mode. If I start in Poland which includes this campaign, is it enough ?
Or should i do the Mediterranian as a Decisieve Victory in order to start Realistic + in campaign mode instead of scenario ?

Here are my losses so far plus add one PZ 4, which I wanted to transfer to Middle East, but instead, I landed in Cyprus, because I didn t realize, that island has no harbour.....And obviously, I didn t reload it, because that was my stupid mistake, not the random generator fucked me up

Marginaldefeat wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 1:09 pm The map says I have to do Mediterrenian campaign in order to do a realistic + version in a campaign mode. If I start in Poland which includes this campaign, is it enough ?
Or should i do the Mediterranian as a Decisieve Victory in order to start Realistic + in campaign mode instead of scenario ?

It does not matter when you start the campaign, or even if you win or lose the Mediterranean scenario. What only matters is you have to play in campaign mode and then at the end of the Mediterranean scenario you will be offered the choice. So you can start in Poland or any other scenario before Barbarossa and you will be offered the choice just before it starts. Some scenarios cannot be lost though, like Poland and France, or the campaign ends.

Here are my losses so far

Thanks, these are indeed quite heavy losses, but I guess most of these are inevitable especially when playing on FM. I am aware that most players are used to lose few units in the official DLCs and people in general hate to lose even a single core unit, but in reality victory always has a price. The relatively high losses in this mod may be another reason why I do not think that it would ever be too popular, but I am OK with that.

Next time I will surely play on FM and realistic+ again, and as a dice chess, because this time honestly sometimes I reloaded turns.

Good luck with that, but it may require more than just 2-3 attempts to achieve a total victory at that difficulty. Just a friendly warning.

Re. the towed AT, its a minor matter and not necessary. I just wondered if it was an oversight, but am glad to hear it can be upgraded later.

Agree about the saturation of messages. Every turn already there is some message. I understand your reasoning for having those tanks sitting there as a reserve rather than just having it pop in from the turn it can move. Its just a shame there isn’t some easy way to inform the player that these will be usable sometime in the future. I suppose its easy enough for them to guess this fact though.

I took your advice and just went for it re. Moscow rather than waiting for PzIV upgrades, capturing it in early summer. Air supremacy was the key, as well as the upgraded PzIII. I had a mentality of attacking entrenched troops with my infantry only (which failed miserably in winter during my 1st attack on Moscow), however the tanks were much more effective given the heavy supporting artillery defending the Russian troops. I also made good use of the Stug IIIB’s in providing defensive support. And in direct attack mode their guns are just as powerful as the early German Panzers.

My main thrust is now through the Caucuses, having just captured Rostov. But I need to decide if I want to try storming Leningrad or alternatively pushing further east with my troops of army groups centre and north so as to create a bigger buffer before the inevitable Soviet winter counterattacks.

McGuba wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:44 am

JimmyC wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 1:53 am One downside regarding the AT changes, is that some AT can’t be upgraded. Most can, but there is at least one 3.7cm Pak that has a small mechanised transport (not sure the name). If you upgrade it to 5cm there are only different series options so you have to pay full price.

Yes, as Uhu write this one can be upgraded in-family to the 7.5 cm Pak 97/38, but only later in 1942. I agree that there should be some information provided to the player regarding this, but I am not sure how to communicate it. In my opinion there are already a bit too many message boxes appearing at the beginning of the turns and giving even more would perhaps overload the players with information, which I would like to avoid.

The same goes for the 2 "frozen" tanks in the early turns. In this case it would probably be better if they would appear later to reduce the confusion, but I thought it may be better if the player can see in the beginning that there are some addtional tanks waiting in the hinterland but maybe I was wrong.

JimmyC wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 1:53 amNow its spring of ’42 and I’m ready to assault Moscow again, but am suffering from a deficiency in armour – the German armour is simply outclassed by Russian medium/heavy tanks. I have delayed my attack to upgrade the PzIII’s and am wondering whether i should delay further to upgrade the Pz IV’s to the F/2 model. But time keeps on ticking and I don’t think I can afford to wait. It will be a very costly battle though...

I think it is better to press on with the attack then waiting for better equipment. Time is on the enemy's side and it would be foolish to waste it. Additionaly, the Allies also get better and better equipment with time.

The Pz.IIIH and J are still relatively good until late 1942, especially if backed by StuG IIIs. I like to place a StuG IIIB in artillery mode behind the first line of these tanks. They provide them artillery support on defense which largely compensates for their deficiency and thus the AI is less likely to attack my tanks in the front and they can hold out better even if attacked. The enemy artillery is also unable to suppress my StuGs and these can be moved to the first line in AT mode, if needed. Thus they are very versatile and one of the best units of 41-42. I dare to say it would probably worth upgrading one of the towed 10.5 cm guns to these if there is prestige for that. Historically there were 600 StuG IIIA-E combat ready in mid 1942 which equals with 3 units in the mod.

It is not possible to purchase Hungarian units as there is nowhere to place them. Is this deliberate or an oversight?

JimmyC wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 1:24 am I need to decide if I want to try storming Leningrad or alternatively pushing further east with my troops of army groups centre and north so as to create a bigger buffer before the inevitable Soviet winter counterattacks.

I usually capture Leningrad early as it has the following advantages:
- it brings some prestige reward
- most of the Axis units in the north can be moved elsewhere
- the Soviets get less new units after its capture, couldn't say how much less, maybe around 5-10% less

On the other hand, it is probably easier to capture it later, especially if the blockade can be held (in this version the defenders lose more strength than before due to the blockade), and better units are available later which make the assault easier.

So it is kinda hard to decide. Just keep in mind that in this version the Torch invasion is also somewhat harder than before and the fighting in Tunisia starts earlier and is more intense so its defense probalby requires some more units and earlier than before if you intend to hold Tunis.

JimmyC wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 5:53 am It is not possible to purchase Hungarian units as there is nowhere to place them. Is this deliberate or an oversight?

Only German and Italian ground units can be purchased as new in this version. Unit upgrade and purchase cities are the same (the easier "moderate" version of the mod does not have this restriction). Air units can be purchased for all nations though.

McGuba wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:53 am Only German and Italian ground units can be purchased as new in this version.

This is very interesting. What was the rationale for this? Just curious...

Next time I will surely play on FM and realistic+ again, and as a dice chess, because this time honestly sometimes I reloaded turns.

Good luck with that, but it may require more than just 2-3 attempts to achieve a total victory at that difficulty. Just a friendly warning.
[/quote]

Thanks, we will see Probably before that , first I finish my current campaign next week, still hope for a minor victory, even though draw is more possible.
But yesterday I started and finished the first 4 prelude Barbarossa campaign from Poland to Mediterrenian and well....I expected I would be able to accumulate a few thousands of prestige, but the evil creator had a surprise up my sleeve The -500 prestige in France and the -1500 just before Barbarossa... Well I knew it would not be so easy
So in reality I ll be able to start my FM /Realistic / dice chess campaign only with 2800 prestige, only 1000 more than normally. And with plus 5 units of course.
I am thinking about spending even a bit more ( 3-400) prestige for overstrenghting for my 2 tanks and fighters and bomber. Is it worth? I need an advice about that I know upgrade to 12 strength is too expensive but... maybe at least to 11? I mean I know I will never be able to do it again in the campaign, and 10 vs 11 is not much difference, but still... maybe even such a small things can decide whether or not I have a chance for a push for Moscow in 41? On the other hand, the extra 3-400 would be useful when the first winter arrives...

Meanwhile I realized that campaign could be really as hard or even more harder than my current one, not just because I will play for TV not MV, but because dice chess can be even more tricky than normal, I mean, it s not possible to cheese anymore, or even just a few times reload a turn if I had an extremely bad luck, meanwhile go on with those turns, when I was very lucky

Some elite replacements on selected units can make sense, e.g. for spearheading tank units or on fighters to maintain experience... Overstrength I am not so sure...