Commendations, Caches, and Collectables

[Bee1976]

Indeed. More interesting history lessons from a game.

Cant wait to play 45, im still working myself through the ao series again. Soon finished 39....hehe

[RVallant]

Indeed. More interesting history lessons from a game.

Cant wait to play 45, im still working myself through the ao series again. Soon finished 39....hehe

Same.

I'm on 1944 though, doing the historical route first.

Got lucky with two double move, double strike tactical bombers, all six artillery has lethal strike, two Tiger 2's with zero slots, three grenade troops with first strike and other nonsensical defensive heroes. And my core fighters with original Galland and Hartmann etc, all have no retaliation.

Put it this way, I would not want to come up against that army vs the AI tbh. I'd positively cry.

I did not get so lucky with that many good heroes in my last run.

[Kerensky]

Beate Uhse from elite objective

Im still amused about that name. Most germans know her name very well, but not because of her participation in WWII. After the war she founded the first "sexshop" in the world, and her company is still out there and operating.

Indeed. More interesting history lessons from a game.

[Stormchaser]

Huh, I haven't played PC2 in some time...Oh, they released 1945...2 months ago!?

Jokes aside, I'm sorry this took so long. Lot of things going on, some serious but mostly not, and this game just kinda fell to the wayside for me.

AO 1945E Historical
Tata
Events
Nothing majorly new in the starting hero lineup, but starting unit lineup has a He 111Z which is neat.

Cache
The village at 9,45 contains 81 Toldi IIa, 76 Tulan II, and 49 Zrinyi III.

And the airfield at 17,6 contains 78 Nimrod 40 and 69 Me 210C

Operation Bodenplatte
Objectives
You can earn a total of 4 Commendations, 2 each from killing 8 and all 18 Allied Airfield Hangers.

Total: Earned: 4/Spent: 0

Operation Konrad III
Events
You can spend 2 Commendations for a T-34/43, T-34-85, KV-1/42, KV-2, SU-152, Churchill Mk.VI, M4A3, Sherman Crocodile, M10 Wolverine, Sherman Calliope unit added to your Reserves.

Total: Earned: 4/Spent: 2

Cache
Taking 3,20 rewards you with 33 Lowe Prototypes

Operation Southwind
Events
1 Commendation can be spent to recruit Helga Grese.
Helga is an Anti-Tank, Anti-Aircraft specialist with Skilled Support, Aiming Assistance, and Crippling Blow. Honestly, feels more like an Artillery Hero with that lineup of Skills, and not quite what I'd go for an AT/AA Hero, but still quite useful.

Objectives
Capturing Ipolyszalka rewards 2 Commendations

Total: Earned: 6/Spent: 3

Operation Spring Awakening
Events
You can spend 2 Commendations for another batch of Reserve Units: an M3 Lee, M18 Hellcat, M15/42, Char B1, SU-100Y, T-26, T-28, Achilles, Crusader Mk.III, and a Matilda II.

Total: Earned: 6/Spent: 5 (This is the last Commendation related event in the historical route)

Cache
Another 33 Lowe can be acquired by taking 37,24.

Vienna Offensive
Cache
Taking 30,29 rewards one last batch of 50 Lowe as the last Cache of the historical campaign.

AO 1945E Alt-History
Operation Puma
Events
Unlike the historical route, the starting Hero lineup gets Upgrades across the board.
Roll Call:
-Siegfried von Bonde and Reinhardt Herzog add Reduced Slots, which is always useful for squeezing more units into battle.
-Ludwig Mittermeier adds Survivor, which combined with Evasive makes for a very hard to kill unit.
-Volkhardt Kautz adds Lightning Attack making him a powerhouse both offensively and defensively.
-Markus von Reuenthal adds Overwhelming Attack and now only needs Shock Tactics or Envelopment to be a capturing machine.
-Speaking of capturing, Wolfgang Schneider adds Shock Tactics, which working in tandem with Markus does the job.
-Friedrich von Kraken replaced Reduced Slots with Zero Slots, a huge boost for his Overstrength capabilities.
-Helmut Kielb adds Distraction. Not the greatest Trait, but with Prudent and a fast moving unit can cause chaos behind enemy lines.
-Diederich Franzen adds Evasive which is just a solid trait in general
-Ingvar Dugross adds Readiness for another defensive focused Hero alongside with existing Survivor with decent mobility thanks to Double Move.
-Franz Baumann adds Low Profile to an already powerful Hero.
-Elsa Kloss now has Double Attack to go with the extra Ammo and Range. Do with that knowledge what you will.
-Hans-Ulrich Rudel adds Survivor, which is easily the least useful upgrade here as Survivor can be earned via medals. Although admittedly aircraft are probably the hardest to farm Survivor with so I can see some niche case usage.
-Erich Hartmann adds Crippling Blow to really bring the pain to enemy aircraft.

And hey, the Azul Infanterie are still here, very nice.

Objectives
Capturing the District Centers rewards 55 Lowe, 19 IS-3 and 19 T-44-100.

Cache
Caches at 26,15 and 23,31 grant 32 PT-34s each.
Several airplanes Caches are available: 67 La-7 and 42 Pe-3 at 3,3; 51 Yak-9D and 51 Pe-3 at 10,30; and 45 Yak-9U and 22 Pe-3 at 23,6.

Operation Wagtail
Objectives
Escorting the cargo ships rewards you with 55 Lowe and a Tank/Anti-Tank Hero named Otto Carius.
Otto has Crippling Blow and a potent +2 to Speed. A perfect fit to spearhead your armored forces.

Operation Barca
Cache
Another batch of aircraft Caches: 52 La-7 and 19 Pe-3 at 25,58; 41 Yak-9D and 27 Pe-3 at 39,2; 39 Yak-9U and 42 Pe-3 at 20,40.

Operation Feuerkartoffel
Objectives
Another Hero, Beate Uhse, can be recruited by capturing Minsk
Beate is a Fighter/Tactical Bomber Hero with Aiming Assistance, Zero Slots, and +1 Initiative. Zero Slots is always great, especially as Aircraft Slot costs have skyrocketed in these late years, and the rest is just a bonus.

Cache
2 Caches, the first being 79 Il-2M3 and 95 Il-10 at 36,17 and the second being 63 OT-34-85, 44 T-44, 71 IS-3 and 85 SU-100 at 35,19.

Zahidan
Objectives
You are rewarded with 999 Lowe for capturing Karachi. I guess they entered production in this timeline...

Cache
The final Caches for this campaign are 55 BL 7.2 inch and 61 Land Mattress at 10,18 and 68 M7 Priest and 54 Firefly Tulip at 25,3.

[VirgilInTheSKY]

Welcome back, General.

I don't think that cache in Southwind is actually in game, it's the same line as the one in Elista, and there isn't a (47,3) in this map at all. Possibly a leftover that's not removed for some reason.

[Tassadar]

Huh, I haven't played PC2 in some time...Oh, they released 1945...2 months ago!?

Jokes aside, I'm sorry this took so long. Lot of things going on, some serious but mostly not, and this game just kinda fell to the wayside for me.

Glad to see you back, even if only for these summaries. I think everyone grew fond of them by this point.

[rafdobrowolski]

Warsaw
Events
I told you it would be soon. At the start of the mission, you are given the opportunity to spend 8 commendations to investigate rumors of a Russian prototype plane. If you spend these Commendations, you will get a report that they found only garbage (18 PZL P.11c and 19 I-15 fighters as well as 17 PZL P.37B Los bombers) EVERY TIME. The important thing is that if you do spend those points, when Turn 5 rolls around you are given the choice to spend 4 more Commendations to continue the search. If you spend that, then on Turn 9 you'll receive a report informing you of success, and you receive a Gift Unit of an Il-2 Sturmovik.
The P.11cs, I-15s, and P.37Bs are all inferior to your German planes, even with Retrograde. The are, indeed, garbage.
The Il-2, on the other hand, is a different story. It's essentially a Ju87 that isn't as much of a sitting duck, with only 1 less Soft Attack in exchange for significantly increased Air Attack and Air Defense. You pretty much have to take the Prestige Sink if you want this though. 12 Commendations is a very hefty price tag if you just try to save your Commendations from missions, and runs the risk of missing out on other important rewards, namely Kerscher and Dir.

It seems that the Sturmovik gift unit is no longer offered? I was just playing through and noticed that I did not get the unit, becuase at Turn 5, there was no choice to spend more commendation points, even though I have been spending them up until this point. Anyone else have this problem?

[adiekmann]

[/quote]

It seems that the Sturmovik gift unit is no longer offered? I was just playing through and noticed that I did not get the unit, becuase at Turn 5, there was no choice to spend more commendation points, even though I have been spending them up until this point. Anyone else have this problem?
[/quote]

Yes, you still get it. I just did the other day. You need to make sure you have enough CD points to "pay" for it. Check your total at the beginning of the Warsaw scenario and match it up with what the info for AO1939 above claims you need to make the acquisition.

[VirgilInTheSKY]

It seems that the Sturmovik gift unit is no longer offered? I was just playing through and noticed that I did not get the unit, becuase at Turn 5, there was no choice to spend more commendation points, even though I have been spending them up until this point. Anyone else have this problem?

If you don't have enough CP, the CP exchange event won't be triggered at all.

[CaptainRope1]

Screenshot 2023-11-10 212916.png (121.61 KiB) Viewed 13027 times

whats up with this unit it suppose to be unlimlied but its not and for some resune i got some in 1942 and use it do you think it my have be the reason why it does not work ant the cashes for this mission are not there 13,1 i have a unit on it but no free stuff and 34,1 does not exsecten on the maps as far as i can see as the map goes to 31 points please help. The unit is the gift unit panther and this mission is Zaperzion

[VirgilInTheSKY]

Screenshot 2023-11-10 212916.png whats up with this unit it suppose to be unlimlied but its not and for some resune i got some in 1942 and use it do you think it my have be the reason why it does not work ant the cashes for this mission are not there 13,1 i have a unit on it but no free stuff and 34,1 does not exsecten on the maps as far as i can see as the map goes to 31 points please help. The unit is the gift unit panther and this mission is Zaperzion

You have read the wrong line. 13,1 and 34,1 caches are in Backhand Blow, not Zaporzhia.

And yes, you have triggered the "hidden side" of gift units, that if you have any stock of the same type before you get this gift (from Industrial Connection I guess), the unit would no longer be unlimited, because it now consumes your Prototype stock for replenish.

[CaptainRope1]

Screenshot 2023-11-10 212916.png whats up with this unit it suppose to be unlimlied but its not and for some resune i got some in 1942 and use it do you think it my have be the reason why it does not work ant the cashes for this mission are not there 13,1 i have a unit on it but no free stuff and 34,1 does not exsecten on the maps as far as i can see as the map goes to 31 points please help. The unit is the gift unit panther and this mission is Zaperzion

You have read the wrong line. 13,1 and 34,1 caches are in Backhand Blow, not Zaporzhia.

And yes, you have triggered the "hidden side" of gift units, that if you have any stock of the same type before you get this gift (from Industrial Connection I guess), the unit would no longer be unlimited, because it now consumes your Prototype stock for replenish.

well kind of how it word in the cashe stuff it is miss in for the first mission and that simes to be a bug for the gift unit thing but good to know for the future right now i have to play 1943 to 1945 again cause of a damn script error if 1945 ahistorical mission where none of the cashes work

[VirgilInTheSKY]

Screenshot 2023-11-10 212916.png whats up with this unit it suppose to be unlimlied but its not and for some resune i got some in 1942 and use it do you think it my have be the reason why it does not work ant the cashes for this mission are not there 13,1 i have a unit on it but no free stuff and 34,1 does not exsecten on the maps as far as i can see as the map goes to 31 points please help. The unit is the gift unit panther and this mission is Zaperzion

You have read the wrong line. 13,1 and 34,1 caches are in Backhand Blow, not Zaporzhia.

And yes, you have triggered the "hidden side" of gift units, that if you have any stock of the same type before you get this gift (from Industrial Connection I guess), the unit would no longer be unlimited, because it now consumes your Prototype stock for replenish.

well kind of how it word in the cashe stuff it is miss in for the first mission and that simes to be a bug for the gift unit thing but good to know for the future right now i have to play 1943 to 1945 again cause of a damn script error if 1945 ahistorical mission where none of the cashes work

Don't read my post, it was just a stopgap before Stormchaser, the owner of this topic, can post a more clear and ordered one when he had found the time.

[Stormchaser]

Not late this time!

On a more serious note, this campaign works a bit differently when it comes to rewards compared to all the previous ones.
No Optional Objectives to acquire Commendation Points, and no caches that I could find either.
Fist, this Campaign has Bonus Objectives, which all involved capturing specific hexes, and reward you with significant amounts of Prestige (2000-5000 per capture, depending on the map). Since these are all roughly the same, I will not be covering them in detail with this guide.
Second, and more relevant to this guide, almost every Scenario has an Elite Objective, which grants you the rewards more commonly associated with Commendation Events and Caches, and with one exception are the only rewards you can earn.

AO 1946 Amerika
The Nagasaki Conference
Events
Nothing to do here but take stock of default starting force Heroes and special units if you didn't import a Core.

On the Hero Front, the only change from Alt-History 1945 is the new addition of...Helga Grese? For some reason she is here from Historical 1945, as opposed to the 2 Heroes from the Alt-History path. Odd, but a Hero is a Hero.

As for Unique Units, the ever reliable Azul Infantrie are here, plus a squadron of Bf 109Zs. In addition, you start with a number of E series tanks and tank destroyers and some Ju 187s that don't actually become properly available until the next Scenario.

Operation Tenacity
Objective
Raiding Victoria is quite a profitable objective, assuming you can make it through the atomic fire to reach it in time. A Hero in Capitana Vigano, a Gift Unit of an Atomic V2, and some captured and not-so-captured equipment in 50 JP Banzai Infantry 46, 50 JP Naval Infantry 46, and 25 Vought XF5U.
The Capitana is a Tank/Anti-Tank Hero with a coveted +1 Speed alongside the equally strong Double Attack, as well as Thorough Preparation and Legendary.
The Japanese Infantry you'll be able to recruit this Campaign are generally cheaper in Slot cost compared to your infantry, in exchange for some tradeoffs. For these two, the Banzai Infantry have higher Attack and Close Defense values, but a lower Ground defense, while the Naval Infantry are dirt cheap in Slot Cost while only being slightly weaker statswise for a true budget option.
And the Vought Flying Pancakes serve as the second best 7 Slot Fighter available to you, only marginally worse than the Go 229A.

Operation O-Go
Objective
Capturing Anchorage is also incredibly valuable is you can pull it off. 100 Panzer VII Lowe (Have you even made a dent in that 999 you earned if you imported your Core?), 50 JP Naval Paratroopers 46, 50 JP Teishin Shudan 46, 40 20/70 quadruplo (An odd choice, but I don't know if Italy has anything more useful to send), and 29 of the fancy new Ranged Attack Bombers: the G10N3 Fugaku F.
The Naval Paratroopers continue the trend of cheaper Slot Cost but tradeoffs (In this case weaker offense but stronger defense), but the Teishin Shudan break the trend by being a flat upgrade over their German counterparts, only losing Bunker Killer.
As for the Fugaku, the only thing that stops this from being the scariest bomber flying is that is has limited Soft and Hard Attack values to make use of it's ranged attacks against non-naval targets. Still a great way to harass or finish off units from unique angles. Oh, and I guess Atomic Bombers exist, those are probably scarier still.(On a side note, anyone else realize the game now has a way to implement Torpedo Bombers? Just drop the range to 1 or 2.)

Battle of San Francisco
Objective
Capturing the Presidio Forts gives you 2 things: 45 Sherman Crabs (Kinda wish we could get some of those shiny alt-history American tanks, but considering the amount of minefields in future Scenarios I get it.) and an Atomic V2.
So, unlike Atomic aircraft, Atomic V2 only get 1 shot, the you lose them. but the kill the primary target no matter what, while aircraft only take 90% of their HP, so if you want something really, really dead. Oh, and don't worry about saving it too much. This is the first of many.

Operation Bellerophon/Operation Teufel
Events
Both of these Scenarios grant the sole non-Elite Objective reward for this Campaign at the start: A Meerschweinchen.
The Meerschweinchen is a Landkreuzer, the first you'll see this campaign. I don't really know what else to say but have fun.

Objective
In Bellerophon, destroying 2 Radar Installations rewards 30 Type 5 Chi-Ri, 45 Sherman Crab, and 40 J9N1 Kikka.
The Type 5 is basically a Panther G by another name.
The Kikka is slightly worse than your 262As, which makes sense considering it was basically a Japanese copy of the 262.

Teufel instead gives you 50 Verdeja 3 and 45 Sherman Crab for capturing Mt. Diablo
The legend of the SCW returns! With stats comparable to the E-50 while only costing _2_ Slots to deploy! ...Just keep it out of Close Terrain and protected by AA/Fighter cover.

Portland Trail/Fall Grun
Objectives
Portland Trial offers 50 JP Naval Paratroopers 46, 50 Teishin Shudan 46, 30 Type 5 Chi-Ri, and 40 J7W Shinden.
Falls in the same general situation as the Flying Pancake, but closer to the He 162A than the 229 and Pancake.

Investigating the missing Japanese forces during Fall Grun grants 50 Panzer VII Lowe and 100 Type 5 Chi-Ri.

Operation Flugelstutzen/Battle of Los Angeles
Objectives
Silencing the Forts in Flugelstutzen and destroying the Army Bases in Los Angeles grant basically the same thing: An Atomic Bomber Gift Unit. The G10N3 Fugaku A for Flugelstutzen and the Horten H.XVIII A for Los Angeles.
They basically serve the same purpose, giving you a reusable variation of the Atomic V2 (Just keep in mind the primary target only loses 90% Strength, not 100%.)

Operation Dora
Objectives
Capturing Carson City grants a Landkreuzer P.1000 Ratte Gift Unit, alongside a stockpile of 50 JP Banzai Infantry 46, 50 JP Naval Infantry 46, and 40 20/70 quadruplo.
The Ratte may not be quite as strong as the Yamato-armed Meerschweinchen, but it's still a Landkreuzer.

Operation Pfeffer
Objectives
Defeating the 5th Armored Division recruits our next Hero, Kurt Knispel, as well as 100 Panzer VII Lowe, 50 Verdeja 3, and 25 Vought XF5U.
Knispel is another Tank/Anti-Tank Hero, with a powerful+2 Speed this time, along with Tank Killer, Artillery Support, and Legendary.

Operation High Fortress
Objectives
Destroying Mount Rushmore Gifts another Atomic V2, alongside a stock of 50 JP Teishin Shudan 46, 50 JP Naval Paratroopers 46, and 35 Bf 109Z.

Battle of Hoover Dam
Objectives
You can acquire 50 JP Banzai Infantry 46, 50 JP Naval Infantry 46, 50 Verdeja 3, 45 Sherman Crab, and 35 Vought XF5U by securing Hoover Dam.

Ground Zero
Objectives
Fittingly, you gain another Gift Atomic V2 for defeating the Mounted Patrol, plus 35 Bf 109Z and 55 P-82 Twin Mustang.
The Twin Mustang is the best 5 Slot Fighter available.

Operation Kowboy
Objectives
Capturing Carlsbad Caverns rewards 50 JP Teishin Shudan 46, 50 JP Naval Paratroopers 46, 50 Verdeja 3, and 35 Vought XF5U.

Alamo 1946
Objectives
Taking the Alamo Gifts yet another Atomic V2, plus 70 Firefly Tulips and 35 Vought XF5U.
The Tulips are tankier than your StuH 42s if looking for a new 3 Slot Tank Destroyer.

Battle of Witchita
Objectives
Back from the optional path, Raiding Newton gives 100 Panzer VII Lowe, 50 Verdeja 3, and 45 Vought XF5U

Operation Liberty
Objectives
Getting Manstein to Topeka earns 40 Type 5 Chi-Ri and 55 Shinryu II, as well as ends the Scenario.
The Shinryu II has the highest Air Attack of it's competition, but loses out on several other stats in exchange.

Operation Lumpenjagd
Objectives
Taking out the Vanguard grants a Gift Atomic V2, 50 JP Teishin Shudan 46, 50 JP Naval Paratroopers 46, 55 P-82 Twin Mustang, 40 8 inch M1...and 90 203 M1931s? (Okay, I can kinda see the 20/70s being supplied by our Italian allies, but what the heck are these old Soviet guns doing here? Especially when they have the except same stats as the 8 inch!)
The 8 inch M1, like the 203mm before it, falls into a middle ground between the German 15 and 21cm guns.

Battle of Springfield
Objectives
Destroying your first encountered enemy Landkreuzer rewards your own Landkreuzer P.1000 Ratte as a Gift Unit, plus 100 Panzer VII Lowe.

Operation Holzfaller
Objectives
Bridge Units get the chance to shine as using a few of them to make your own river crossing Gifts an Atomic V2.

Battle of the Ebro 2: Electric Booga-I mean Operation Ken-Go
Objectives
Destroying another enemy Landkreuzer Gifts another Atomic V2.

Operation Zweihandler
Objectives
Raiding Fort Knox gives another 100 Panzer VII Lowe (Seriously, could they not have just made those regular purchases at this point?), 50 Verdeja 3, and 45 Vought XF5U.

Operation Prometheus
Objectives
Securing the Research Facility steals fire from the gods in the form of 5 Atomic V2s.

Battle of the Pentagon
Objectives
One more enemy Landkreuzer, one more Gifted Landkreuzer P.1000 Ratte and 100 Panzer VII Lowe.



The Final Battle has arrived.
Good luck Generals.

[Bee1976]

Not late this time!

Thx for your ongoing work and the effort you put into this. Its highly appreciated! /hug

[VirgilInTheSKY]

Operation Wagtail actually also adds 120 Do 335 to your prototype stock when you start it. Just noticed this a few days ago when replaying it.

[HerrKaLeu]

The Final Battle has arrived.
Good luck Generals.

Dankeschön, Herr Generaloberst Stormchaser, für Ihren hilfreichen Beitrag!

[PanzerCro]

AO 1944E Alt-History
Case Orange
Events
The Hero lineup remains the same as in the Historical route. Kind of a shame, would have been interesting to see our cast diverge in skills depending on how events played out.
The starting Cores are different however, and you still get an Azul Infanterie in this timeline.

Like the historical path, partway through the Scenario you are given the option to reset Prestige to 9500, for no reward.

I am currently on this mission, so this is 100% ? reset prestige for no reward ?

Why the hell would anyone do that

[Stormchaser]

AO 1944E Alt-History
Case Orange
Events
The Hero lineup remains the same as in the Historical route. Kind of a shame, would have been interesting to see our cast diverge in skills depending on how events played out.
The starting Cores are different however, and you still get an Azul Infanterie in this timeline.

Like the historical path, partway through the Scenario you are given the option to reset Prestige to 9500, for no reward.

I am currently on this mission, so this is 100% ? reset prestige for no reward ?

Why the hell would anyone do that

People that want to feel like Damage to their units matters. Having a stockpile of 20k or more Prestige at this point, which is very possible, makes Repairs a non-issue. And I think resets like this can also work in reverse. Say you're playing with a bunch of difficulty options turned on and barely scraping by with only about 1000 Prestige at any given time, the reset will actually increase your Prestige I'm pretty sure. Although that's a more niche case.

[PanzerCro]

Operation Stormbird
Events
Just from arriving, you receive an Me 262A Gift Unit and 170 He 162A Prototypes.
The He 162A is similar in stats to the 262A, which means it outclasses pretty much everything else you have.

Objectives
Defeating the Paratroopers rewards 1 Commendation.
Army Group B capturing Victory Points rewards 1 Commendation as well.
Sinking the Allied Battleships grants another Gift Unit, this time a Go 229A.
The Go 229A is better than both the 162A and 262A, so as long as you don’t mind wunderwaffe it’s an excellent addition to the Core.

I don't see number of core slots jumping from 85/85 to 92/85 ? Is it really gift unit or just auxiliary one for this mission ?

EDIT : I see it now, I thought Galland's one is gift...