Slitherine

Introduction

Only Decisive Victories... yeah, it is an extremely painfull goal

First of all - beside of couple of easier scenarios (mostly defensive ones), achieving decivise victory on ultimate difficulty with normal combat rules without a single reload is literally impossible and that is a fact. I tried to do Poznan scenario without reloading over 100 times, even watched some youtube DV videos (btw. all of them are in replay-mode, not a life-gameplay, I wonder why ) and tried to reproduce them without a single success. And I'm not talking about single unlucky roll, cause that can always happen and you should be prepared for it. I'm talking about 3 or more unlucky rolls in a row so crucial attack, which should be a massive overkill situation, still fails. And on ultimate difficulty there is no room for even a single fail... Few examples from the Poznan scenario:
- 3 artillery + 2 dive-bombers + 2 infantry + tank failed to kill a single anti-tank unit at the first Polish checkpoint so it still provides a view on your forces and you can't trap the second Polish fighter
- 3 artillery + dive-bomber inflicted 0 damage and 0 suppression on an infantry garrisoned in the crucial railway station so you can't push it out and prepare your tank for transport
- ambushed Polish fighter (which is really weak unit) received almost none damage in ambush encounter, then your 2 fighters failed to destroy it so it can go back for replacements (you can't hunt it down cause your fighters have to deal with the bomber in next turn) and attack your un-protected forces later on

After so many tries I came to the conclusion that with "zero reloads" rule I can completely forget about DV in most (if not all) scenarios. So I changed it into "if massive fail happened, reload an entire turn" rule. Yes, I know - I'm save scummer and I will burn in hell I still had to brake this rule during Lodz scenario, but beside of that I stick to it. Second rule - reloading scenario for SE unit is allowed but selling those units for an additional prestige definitely not. Still those two bonus SE gebirgsjägers make a huge difference at the beginning of the campaign.

Another shamefull behavior during this campaign - I don't play it blind. It is quite obvious that after so many years most players perfectly know all maps and AI behavior on each one but excessive use of this knowledge (like placing your unprotected artillery on trucks in front of overstrenghtened mountain infantry which you know is in full-passive mode) is still somehow unfair for me. On the other hand I can't imagine playing blind (or pretending to) on ultimate difficulty when you really have to rush as fast as possible...

And, before I start, I don't speak english very well so please forgive me any grammar mistakes

Poznan

Starting prestige: 800

Initial thoughts / map info / key tactics:
- All infantry stationed in cities are in full passive mode - you can place really juicy targets literally in front of them and they will not attack it. That is especially usefull for blocking the city and prevent AI from buying new units.
- AI will start buying new units in Poznan in turn 4 and in other cities in turn 5. To prevent that you have to place your units close to those cities before: recon in Poznan; Pz.II via railroad in Konin; Pz.I or motorized infantry (if you don't use that infantry for central checkpoint and airfield) in Kalisz.
- AA gun in Poznan airfield is in aggressive mode - you can use that to lure it out into river hex, in which it can be easily destroyed. Still softening it by an arty one turn before is recommended. And of course don't use dive-bomber in that maneuver - fighter is much less usefull at this stage of scenario so it can take some damage and also much more resistant to AA fire.
- Infantry stationed in central checkpoint is also in aggressive mode - you can lure it out from its strong defensive position and destroy it quite easily with the arty/bomber support or simply capture the checkpoint for free without dealing with this infantry. Although I don't know what determines if that infantry is triggered and move out from fortification or not - it is some kind of RNG cause reloading AI turn with only this infantry move can have different results and sometimes it will stay in the fort.
- Aggressive AI units will stop for replacements if they are damaged high enought (I think it is at least 4 strength points damaged but I'm not 100% sure) and if replacement is possible for them. It is extremely important for the TKS on the north which will attack your Pz. II blocking Konin - with the artillery support this TKS has very high chance to destroy your tank in 2-3 attacks and extremely high chance (like 90%) to push it out (and destroy entire city blocking idea) in second attack - so you have to stop it using your airforces and forcing replacement. That rule is also quite important for other units - if you damage them enought they will stop advancing, which can ruin your tactic (for example AA gun from Poznan will not move into river, if "softening" arty attack damage it high enough). Although even highly damaged aggressive units will choose attack over replacement if there will be a really juicy target (like artillery or infantry on trucks) in their range.
- AI has only 3 airforce units (2 fighters and 1 bomber) but they can be extremely dangerous if you don't deal with them in first 4 turns. First fighter is most important and it has to be destroyed in the second turn at the latest. Some says it has to be down in the first turn but it is not true - in fact it is even better if it survive first attack so it can provide more experience to your fighter in the second turn. Second fighter and the bomber can be easily dealt with if you know how to ambush them.
- All 6 airfields on the map are marked as a key victory objects but for DV you have to capture only 3 of them so you can completely skip the middle one (highly recommended, same as checkpoint close to it), the south one and Poznan one (although luring out the AA gun and capturing it for free is rather easy) since first one (near Nowy Tomysl) is easy to capture in first turns and other two on the north are unguarded.

Core changes
- bought 3x 10.5cm towed artillery with Opel trucks (-726 prestige)


Replay
Summary
Surprisingly for me I had to reload only 3 times. Firstly in turn 3 when my recon Rudel temporarily became his uber version and dealt 7 damage to TKS forced it to stop for replacement so my entire plan of dealing with Polish counterattack and opening way to Kalisz failed miserably.
Secondly in AI's turn 3 when the same TKS (this time only slightly softened by Rudel) completely destroyed my Pz.I (10 strength points of damage dealt in a single attack) and following cavalry went through the resulting hole and did almost the same with the defending artillery. In fact I reloaded this AI's turn mutliple times cause second try (which is in the final replay) in which TKS dealt no damage to my Pz.I and lured out Polish infantry took a huge hit from my infantry (usually it is like 1-3 strenght points damaged on both sides) seemed extremely too lucky to me but in next 5-6 tries that Polish infantry didn't want to move from its fortification so finally I gave up with reloading.
And last reload was in turn 4 when I was too greedy and after couple of lucky rolls I decided to destroy all 3 counterattacking units which ended with one of them surviving on 1 strenght point out of my zone of control (so 15 strenght points in next turn) and blocking the possibilty to move my Pz.I far enought to reach Kalisz (and block buiyng new units in that city) in next turn.
Also I did huge mistake in turn 3, when I didn't capture Nowy Tomysl - I don't think it is requireded for DV but AI still can buy units in it and having bunch of fresh enemy TKSes behind my back is rather not a wet dream Fortunately I noticed that in next turn and fixed it before AI started shopping.

first of all congratulations for starting on the ultimate difficulty it is really something extraordinary to play on this type of difficulty.

secondly of course reloading is allowed at this situation and no blind play.

thirdly keep it up and try to add a few screenshots if you can

Finally in case you fail a DV in any scenario I dont think is an issue, as long as you enjoy the game
all the best

faos333 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 11:19 am first of all congratulations for starting on the ultimate difficulty it is really something extraordinary to play on this type of difficulty.

Initially I started on Rommel difficulty. But my overall tactic is highly based on artillery so I don't have many losses in fights - so limited prestige is not a problem at all. It was so easy that I started to have stupid ideas like destroying gen. Kutrzeba's army in Lodz scenario or dealing with Modlin strongpoint in Kampinoska Forest. So I switched to Manstein difficulty and it was quite harder at the beginning... but after a few scenarios I realized that my units gain kills so extremely fast that half of my core will have 2 heroes before '40 and they will be ridiculuosly OP later on. And normal prestige ratio combined with my love for the artillery (so slight losses) resulted entire core being fully overstrenghtened every single scenario and Manstein difficulty stopped being challenge at all... So then I decided to try ultimate one...

faos333 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 11:19 am secondly of course reloading is allowed at this situation and no blind play.

I hate reloading in any kind of game - it is same as cheating for me. What is the point of playing if your every single move/decision is close to perfection cause you keep reloading after each mistake you made? So I feel embarrassed every time I reload previous save
Same with blind play - if you exactly know where is your enemy and what he will do, there is no challenge in dealing with this enemy...


Danzig Corridor

Starting prestige: 614

Initial thoughts / map info / key tactics:
- River is your best friend. There are several bridges on the map, two of which are marked as a key victory objectives so AI will always try to place some unit there (even an artillery if there is nothing better in range). North one is not very attractive since it is a railway bridge and has much better defence statistics but south one is your airforce wet dream: two dive bomb attacks (especially if you overstrenght your stuka) usually are enought to completely destroy full 15 strenght enemy unit (beside of units with high air defence which requires 3 attacks). And watching enemy most dangerous units (like 7TP tanks) being melted for free while they are "defending" the key bridge is priceless. So I highly recommend buying an additional stuka. Buying more than one is not recommended since in that case even 1 day of bad weather can force you to restart scenario.
- Auxiliary units are your second best friend, especially that 75mm artillery. It is insane how effective this artillery is in defensive situations against infantry so using those units for creating ambushes is your best way to clear couple of AI units and soften Bydgoszcz defences.
- Most of infantry stationed in cities are in passive mode. Two exceptions are units in Wiecbork and Koronowo but both of those units can be easily ambushed and destroyed by your auxiliary forces.
- 105mm gun stationed in Bydgoszcz is in passive mode (although it will still provide defensive fire if you attack units next to it). Those two 75mm guns close to the bridges are in aggressive mode though.
- Since dealing with the enemy forces on bridges using airforce is most effective tactic, your primary objective should be the southern airfield and adjanced city (Wloclawek). Also, since it is a key victory objective, AI will try to take it back and it is quite easy to defend.
- One of enemy cavalry units is initially being relocated on the north (near Grudziadz). It can potentially reach your auxiliary units from the north side if they are too close to Koronowo - so it can attack them from the back where usually is the artillery... It wasn't a nice surprise for me

Core changes
- bonus SE Gebirgsjägers with Opel trucks
- standard replacements on all damaged units
- bought Ju87B (stuka) (-254 prestige)
- 7.5cm artillery upgraded to 10.5cm (-60 prestige)
- disbanded wehrmacht infantry without trucks (+127 prestige) - cheaper than straight upgrade to pioniere, experience loss is negligible
- bought Pioniere with Opel trucks (-243 prestige)
- 3 artillery overstrenghted to 11 strenght points (-72 prestige)
- Ju87B overstrenghted to 11 strenght points (-25 prestige)
- both Pz.IA upgraded to Pz.IB (-32 prestige)
- Gebirgsjägers upgraded to Opel trucks (-50 prestige)

Replay
Summary
Attack on Gniezno in 1st turn is quite crucial (since dealing with its infantry will open the road to the airfield) and I was lucky with it but I noticed from previous attempts that attack with this configuration (overstrenghtened stuka + overstrenghtened arty + SE gebirgsjägers + Pz.I + another stuka/fighter for finishing) has like 10-15% chance to fail which will force you to restart scenario. Other two initial cities (Wagrowiec and Pila) are guarded by cavalry which is quite vulnerable to artillery and dive-bombers attacks so they are no problem at all.
Over all I had to reload only 4 times.
Firstly in turn 2 when I was greedy and wanted to finish an AT unit on the bridge below Torun - mostly cause I was hoping that AI will move arty on this bridge what didn't happened. And because AI will never use replacements on this AT unit, that reload was completely unnecessary since there is no difference between destroying this AT unit or leaving it with 2-3 strenght points and dealing with it later on. Shame on me
Secondly on turn 3 when attack on Walcz encountered rugged defence (3% chance) in which my infantry was almost completely destroyed and my only options were give up conquering this city or spend much more time softening it by arty so Pz.I could win figth with that Polish infantry. Another shamefull greedines from my side - I shouldn't even attack this city at all
Thirdly on AI's turn 4 when TKS in ambush encounter supported by defending arty still managed to deal 8 points of damage to my infantry - it was pretty insane roll, according to combat details this TKS unit had 10 unsuppressed strength and 14% chance to kill, yet still managed to deal 8 points of damage... And last reload was in turn 8. In fact there were two reloads - first when I missed the obvious possibility to force surrender on TKS unit; second when my stuka and recon attacks did almost no damage to the 75mm gun guarding Torun and dealing with this arty before final attack is quite crucial.
Also I did huge mistake by not blocking Torun - two reloads in a row can lead to some silly mistakes. Fortunately for me AI decided to buy AT unit on wrong hex - in other case I would have to reload 8th turn third time. But to be honest I was quite lucky that AI decided to guard the key bridge with 7TP unit - this tank is extremely difficult to deal with in normal combat even for my little pak unit.

Wow, this is so great to read! Yes, some screenshots here and there would be amazing as well!

Are you playing at normal dice?

Also, what is your core composition?

Have you tried using SB's at all? There's a variety of possible uses for them in the '39 Campaign.

I will add some screens if I find easy way to draw some arrows on them. Also I can't find any BBCode which allows you to hide screens (like "spoiler" one) for people who don't want to see many huge images during scrolling through the topic...

PeteMitchell wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 3:59 pm Are you playing at normal dice?

Yes, I'm playing with the normal combat dices.

PeteMitchell wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 3:59 pm Also, what is your core composition?

I added information about core changes in every scenario. My final army in '39 campaing should be like:
- 6 infantry: 3 Pioniere, 3 Gebirgsjägers (2 SE units) equipped with halftrucks as soon as they are available - maybe I will change some to Grenadiers later on
- 6 artillery: 4 towed, 2 spg
- 1-2 recons - they are quite useful in the early stages of war
- 3 tanks - German tanks were completely garbage in '39 (in fact their best tank was Czech LT-38) and this fact is represented in the game so I'm not planning to buy any more
- 1 AT gun - not really useful but there are some scenarios where you can utilize it
- 1 (or 2) 8.8 AA gun - best anti-tank unit in '39, also quite useful for ambushing enemy airforce since I don't have many fighters
- 1 fighter - definitely not enough if you are playing blind but combined with 8.8 gun and Helmut Lent Bf110c it is enough for me
- 4-5 tactical bombers (including recon Rudel): all stukas beside of Helmut Lent
- 2 strategic bombers - only for dealing with the naval forces in Norway scenarios

TSPC37730 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 3:07 am Have you tried using SB's at all? There's a variety of possible uses for them in the '39 Campaign.

No, I'm not planning to use strategic bombers (beside of naval scenarios) - I didn't find them useful at all. Their ability to neutralize the city is completely useless. Potential AI prestige loss on ultimate difficulty is a joke. Ability to deplete enemy ammo is useful only in theory - in practice you don't have much chance to deplete full enemy ammo in a single attack so it will be fully operative in crucial first attacks. So for me strategic bombers are basically high-mobility weak arty without the most important arty ability - providing defensive fire. And also they are another air target which you have to protect with your single fighter...

Lodz

Starting prestige: 756

Initial thoughts / map info / key tactics:
- There is huge gen Kutrzeba's army on the north which is in half-passive mode. They will not move, even if you place some juicy targets in their range, but they can attack if you place units in their zone of control. The only exceptions are AA guns - they will move to attack, but their movement is rather blocked by other units.
- Polish Mnt units stationed in Sieradz and Brzeziny are in aggressive mode - you can use that to lure them out. Same goes for AT unit stationed in Glowno.
- 3 infantry units stationed in Lodz are in half-passive mode. They will attack units in their zone of control but will not move outside the city. Also they will move from fortification into the city hex if unit on that hex was destroyed.
- 105mm gun in Lodz is in full-passive mode (altough it will provide defensive fire); 75mm gun in Lodz is in half-passive - it will fire at units in its range but will not move outside the city.
- All Lodz bunkers and infantry unit east of them are in full-passive mode.
- All other city garrisoned infantry units are in full-passive mode (same as one in forest south of Piotrkow Trybunalski) - altough I'm not 100% sure about Lowicz garrison.
- Infantry unit stationed on the south airfield is in aggresive mode - but it will spend first turn to overstrenght if replacements are possible for it.
- There are two units waiting for targets - Mnt Infantry on the hill north of Tomaszow Mazowiecki and TKS close to the river west of Lodz. Both will move and attack everything in their range but other than that they will not move. Also replacements are higher in their priority list so you can use that to stop them from attacking - quite useful with TKS which can be really dangerous at the end of scenario.
- Inital Polish attack on your auxiliary panzer forces is not so deadly as it seems. It contains 3 cavalry units (one from which usually goes straitgh into Lodz), TKS unit (which uses first turn for replacements) and 3 AT guns (which attacks are easy to avoid). 5 auxiliary units should deal with this attack without bigger problems - especially if you provide them dive-bombers support.
- My plan was to survive inital Polish attack by giving them Pz38t as a cannon fodder (AI really likes to attack this unit and usually two cavalry attacks hugely damage it with +/-20% chance of fully destroying it), then extremely fast rush through the east, exploiting some full-passive units behavior, using auxiliary units as a meat shields and decoys, higly basing on airforce support and de-entrenchment.

Core changes
- bonus SE Gebirgsjägers with Opel trucks
- elite replacements on all damaged units (-103 prestige) - experience loss is becoming painfull
- bought sIG33 Sturmpanzer I (-327 prestige) - crucial in railway flanking maneuver
- wehrmacht infantry upgraded to Pioniere (-193 prestige) - this unit had over 100exp so disbanding it and buying fresh Pioniere to save some prestige wasn't a good idea for me
- artillery overstrenghted to 11 strenght points (-24 prestige)
- Rudel's Ju87B overstrenghted to 11 strenght points (-25 prestige) - he is not very useful but I can't afford replacing him with normal stuka yet
- Bf109E fighter overstrenghted to 11 strenght points (-41 prestige)

Replay
Summary
Welcome in save-scumm hell First turn I had to reload multiple times and even broke the rule "reload entire turn". Firstly - this inital attack on Sieradz which contains 4 arty, 3 stukas, SE gebirgsjägers and recon unit is not an overkill at all. In fact it is like 50:50 chance that you will be able to push this Mnt unit outside the city and destroy it with last stuka and recon - and destroying this unit is quite crucial. I had quite lucky roll with my SE gebirgsjägers, which is not needed - usually I'm using recon to finish the infantry and I'm dealing with the arty (which is not really dangerous) in next turn.
Secondly - flanking railway maneuver is based on attack on Turek in which I'm using two fighter attacks + spg fire + Rudel's stuka attack (which wasn't needed in this attempt) to soften garrisoned infantry enought for Pz.I to push it out of the city. Basing on multiple attempts I think that there is like 40% chance to success without Rudel attack and 60% with his attack - still obvious save-scumm situation Of course you can use one of your normal stukas so chance will be like 80% - but in that case your auxiliary units will have problems with only one good dive-bomber support.
Btw. this extremely lucky roll with pioniere on Kalisz infantry (10 out of 10) wasn't intended. Plan was to soften this infantry with pioniere, push it out with gebirgsjägers and then finish it with panzers - I was expecting to take some damage on gebirgsjägers unit cause it wasn't crucial in next turns. So no, it wasn't save-scumming
And I did ridiculous mistake in attacking airfield infantry - in this order of attacks there is a high chance that instead of destroying it, you will push it out of your zone of control with 1 or 2 strenght points (so 15 in next turn cause AI will use replacements on this unit) which is unacceptable. Too many reloads and you are making silly mistakes
Beside of first turn there was no more massive save-scumming situations but still I had to reload couple of times - way to many in my opinion. Especially this rainy day forced me to reload next turn twice and also forced suicide attacks for de-entrenchment.
The most embarassing part is that the entire railway flanking maneuver wasn't really needed and I could use all those units on the other flank. With an additional arty and two panzers I wouldn't need to save-scumm with attack on Sieradz and also entire rush through the east would be much stronger and faster. So I guess it is possible to achieve DV in this scenario without save-scumming. But I'm too tired of this map and don't want to try it again...

I see quite a lot of progress

Piatek

Starting prestige: 731

Initial thoughts / map info / key tactics:
- It is the easiest scenario in the entire game.
- If you haven't fallen in love with rivers yet, you will do that after this scenario for sure - every single key victory hex is either a bridge or a city next to the river.
- This scenario is also a great opportunity to gain some experience on your AT gun (or 8.8cm AA gun used in AT role) so I highly recommend to bring those units here.
- There are 4 waves, each one contains 8-10 units (with one extremely overstrenghted cavalry unit which is the army general).
- Waves triggers are rigidly set on specified days (I think there are 5 days between each of them but I'm not 100% sure).
- Because of this trigger setup, last 4th wave will be triggered way too late (in fact it is triggered in last turn) and will not be dangerous at all - developers forgot to change triggers times for the ultimate difficulty in which scenario is 5 days shorter.
- All 4 waves are initialy placed on the map and they are in aggressive mode - they will move and attack units spotted in their range. Also they will move to capture cities in their range.
- Each wave will attack nearest key victory hex. After capturing it, entire wave will be redirected to the next target leaving only one "guarding" unit behind - you can use this mechanic to predict AI behaviour and force its movement.
- Because of this mechanic, recon units can be very useful to capture key bridge and go back in the same turn (using their recon move trait) forcing AI to redirect some units to this bridge.
- There are only two 75mm artillery (the most dangerous enemy on this map) - one in 1st wave, one in 4th wave. It is very important to deal with this first arty before it starts raining your troops. Second arty will be triggered too late so you can ignore it.
- There are only two PZL P.11c fighters - one in 2nd wave, one in 4th wave (so triggered too late).
- Beside of 1st wave, every other has one AA gun - but they will not move with the other forces when the wave is triggered. Although they are in aggresive mode so they will move if one of your aircrafts will be spotted in their range.
- Beside of wave's armies there are no other units (like city garrisons) so you can use recon to sneak up and capture cities for an additional prestige.

Core changes
- elite replacements on damaged pioniere unit (-17 prestige)
- bought 8.8cm FlaK36 with SdKfz 7 halftruck (-344 prestige) - quite useful here
- bought SdKfz 222 recon (-137 prestige) - additional prestige from sneaking captures will pay off this investment
- all towed artillery overstrenghted to 12 strenght points (-144 prestige)
- spg artillery overstrenghted to 11 strenght points (-32 prestige)
- Ju87B overstrenghted to 11 strenght points (-25 prestige)


Replay
Summary
This scenario is so easy that there is not much to talk about it. My main goal was gaining some experience on AT and AA guns - especially on my fresh 8.8cm FlaK which gains experience in really slow pace and which will be extremely useful in 1940 against French and English tanks (at least I hope so). My secondary goal was acquiring some additional prestige but without abusing the surrender mechanics (what you can easily do near Ozorkow with second Polish wave) - I still have couple of expensive units to buy in this campaign and lack of prestige can be dangerous in the future. Gaining some experience and kills on other units (Oleh Dir and SE Gebirgsjägers are most important) would be nice but not crucial - not taking unnecessary casualties was much more important. Of course I completely forgot about my spg artillery (which is quite hard to level up) and didn't gain much experience on it. Also I really wanted to replace Rudel's stuka with some normal dive-bomber but I couldn't afford it (lack of prestige already became a problem) - 8.8cm FlaK and a second recon were much more important in this scenario.

Kampinoska Forest

Starting prestige: 858

Initial thoughts / map info / key tactics:
- Most of the fight will be in deep forest so airforce is not very useful here. Also this forest is full of AA guns, all of them are in aggressive mode (but I'm not 100% about Warsaw airfield AA gun).
- There is only one Polish fighter here so you must bring your fighter or watch this PZL hunting for your overstrengthed arty. After dealing with this single Polish air unit your fighter will be quite useless...
- Polish counterattacks are triggered after capturing key victory city. It is great opportunity for an ambush cause AI will blindly rush straight into this city.
- There is very strong Modlin fortress (20 strength points) with many extremely overstrengthed units (like 3x 20 strength points infantry entrenched in fortifications) on the north part of the map - going through that is very hard on easier difficulties, on the ultimate it is pure suicide.
- Almost all enemy units (including Modlin forces) are in aggresive mode and will attack attractive targets in their range - it can be painful when you meet overstrengthed Modlin units but it is also great opportunity for your trapping skills to shine.
- 105mm artillery near Turskaw and 75mm near Pruszkow are in passive mode. Extremely overstrengthed artilleries (19 strength points) near Modlin are in aggressive mode, same as Modlin fortress itself - and their hits really hurts...
- All 15 trains are stationary units and they can be easily forced to surrender, which making them very good prestige source. But some of them are in thick forest and... they are heavily entrenched


Core changes
- bought 10.5cm leFH18 towed artillery (-242 prestige)
- bought Ju87B dive-bomber (-254 prestige)
- Bf109E overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-61 prestige) - quite risky but I have only one fighter so it has to be strong...
- 3x Gebirgsjägers overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-46 prestige) - quite cheap and useful overstrength

Replay
Summary
On other difficulties it is one of the easiest scenarios - almost all enemy units are in aggresive mode so you can easily destroy them using traps and slowly but surely break through this forest. This tactic doesn't work on the ultimate difficulty - or at least doesn't work if you want DV. You simply don't have enough time - for DV you have to dash much faster. On the other hand rushing through this forest while all enemy units are in aggresive mode is... well... quite complicated. I decided to do a mix of rush and trap tactics but to do that you have to know where are enemy units and where they will move in certain circumstances. Even then I had to reload a couple of times when AI went somewhere I didn't expected it to go, found a little hole in my frontline and immediately rushed through it straight into my precious arty.
My goals for this scenario were (beside of DV of course) squeezing some prestige from train surrenders (quite risky cause setting surrender situations can delay you enough to lose DV) and secondary objectives on the south. And getting some experience/kills on my most important core units (especially the fresh ones and my beloved "acht-acht"). Bringing fresh Ju87B into this scenario was a big mistake - beside of few targets in the open, I started save-scumming to achieve any kills on it. And even then it finished with only 31 kills... rather disappointing result. Bringing second tank instead of this dive-bomber would be much better idea.
Beside of squeezing some kills on the fresh Stuka (it is really frustrating when you have to save-scumm for pathetic 1-2 kills per attack - I shouldn't bring this bomber with me at all), there was only one save-scumm situation in turn 8th, when my arty delivered a huge hit and opened the 50% opportunity to finish both enemy cavalry (I planned to finish only one and block replenishments on the second one).
Also after thinking about it, I decided to start taking some risky fights instead of only safe attacks on fully-suppressed targets so my units will not be in perfect shape after scenario any more. But gaining more kills for heroes is much more important than saving every little prestige possible.


Heroes
Yeah, this is the thing I forgot to mention in the introduction (or simply I didn't think about it at that time). Having units with useless heroes (like view range on an arty) is quite annoying on other difficulties but it is not something you can't deal with. On the ultimate difficulty, especially when your goal is "only DV", useless heroes will be a crucial problem at some point - for example I can't imagine achieving DV on Prokhorovka without good heroes... So I decided to save-scumm heroes during my campaign - it also means that I will gain heroes much later than usually .
In this scenario I got my first hero and he wasn't my dream one: I got +3 attack on SE Gebirgsjägers. I was planning to upgrade my both SE Gebirgsjägers into Grenadiers and use them as a strong defensive units so I would rather have defensive heroes on them. But from the other hand Grenadiers begin to shine in their '43 version - in early stages of war they aren't so great. And having +3 attack Gebirgsjägers so early in the campaign can be really beneficial so finally I decided to keep this hero.

Modlin

Starting prestige: 991

Initial thoughts / map info / key tactics:
- there is no Polish airforce here, so you can leave your fighters at home.
- 105mm arty near Ciechanow is in aggressive mode.
- Beside of tanks, most other units are in passive mode. This (combined with no airforce presence) allows you to freely move around the map.
- If you don't want to attack the fortress frontally (which is kind of suicide move), terrain is your biggest enemy. Flanking through the swamps or crossing the east rivers can delay you enough to lose DV.

Core changes
- elite replacements on all damaged units (-32 prestige)
- 2x Pioniere overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-48 prestige)
- 10.5cm towed artillery overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-24 prestige)
- 8.8cm FlaK overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-34 prestige) - but I didn't take it into this scenario
- 2x Gebirgsjägers overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-34 prestige)
- 2x Ju87B overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-76 prestige)
- bought 2x He 111H2 strategic bombers (-600 prestige) - pretty useless in this scenario but I wanted to level them up before Norway

Replay
Summary
This scenario can be pure pain in the ass because of lack of time needed for flanking maneuvers. But from the other hand it can be quite easy if you know what to do and have prepared proper plan for it. The key to victory is crossing eastern rivers as soon as possible since eastern fortress is the most dangerous one and it is also easier to destroy then other two. So I planned the attack on first two key cities (Mlawa and Ciechanow) in details so I could cross the first river in 3rd turn. After that scenario became so trivial that I even bought two strategic bombers (completely useless here) for my final attempt just to level them up a little before Norway. And even then I could achieve DV in turn 11th.
I save-scummed in this final attempt 5 times. Firstly in turn 2, when I missclicked last arty attack and fired at AT gun instead of city garrison so Oleh Dir had 50% chance to destroy that crucial garrison. He did it in first try so I didn't have to reload but I was prepared to save-scumm that situation. Secondly in turn 5, when I had higher than average roll on my first Stuka attack on TKS, so I decided to save-scumm second Stuka attack (50% chance) to finish this annoying tankette. Third time in turn 8th when I had 3 rolls below average in a row and I had to use strategic bomber to finish cavalry with 2 strength points (didn't want it on full strength in next turn). Fourth time in turn 9th - I wanted to be sure that this massive arty barrage on eastern fortress will fully suppress it for my Stukas. And fifth time in turn 11th when Oleh Dir had big chance to destroy last fortress with his attack (and finish scenario in that turn) and I wanted to finish remaining AI units in next turn for additional exp.
Also I reloaded several times cause of bad heroes on my Stuka - I think I had 2 useless heroes before that final +3 attack.



Warsaw South

Starting prestige: 921

Initial thoughts / map info / key tactics:
- There are 4 Polish airforce units: 3 fighters and 1 bomber. But only one fighter is in full strength at the beginning. Second fighter will use first turn for replacements at the airfield near Minsk Mazowiecki, other two airplanes are spawned outside airfields so they will use first turn to relocate into airfields (bomber on the southern Warsaw airfield, 3rd fighter on the easter Warsaw airfield), then 2nd turn for replacements and they will start to be dangerous in allied turn 3. The proper use of this knowledge and trapping skills allows you to deal with the Polish airforces without buying additional fighters - quite crucial in my plans.
- There are 4 AA guns, but 3 of them are at airfields outside the city and are quite easy to destroy. So only one AA gun is guarding city center and its movements is blocked by other units - you can use that to freely bomb the city garrison.
- Beside of 4 alpine units guarding additional arty, only two small cities (Piaseczno and Blonie) have garrisons. All other are empty and they are nice source of free prestige.
- Polish Mnt units guarding key victory hexes inside Warsaw are not in passive mode - they can move and attack your units. It wasn't a nice surprise for me when one of them attacked my beloved acht-acht
- All regular infantry, strongpoints and 75mm guns are in passive mode. But at some point AI will change their mode into aggressive - for me it was turn 9th.
- Tanks and cavalry are in aggressive mode from the start.
- 105mm gun in the center of the city is in aggressive mode from the start - fortunately this arty is not very dangerous for units on city hexes (+/-5% chance to kill) and it has only Warsaw in its range so units outside the city borders are safe. But if you move your unit into one of the clear hexes inside Warsaw, this gun can be really dangerous for it.

Core changes
- elite replacements on all damaged units (-35 prestige)
- 1st Pioniere overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-36 prestige)
- 2nd Pioniere overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-24 prestige)
- 1st recon overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-33 prestige)
- 2nd recon overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-13 prestige)
- spg artillery overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-49 prestige)
- Gebirgsjägers overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-17 prestige)
- Oleh Dir Gebirgsjägers overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-31 prestige)
- Ju87B overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-25 prestige)

Replay
Summary
Another scenario which seems difficult but becomes trivial if you know the map and have proper plan for it. Key to victory is to deal with Polish airforces using only your single fighter and 8.8cm gun (so you don't have to waste prestige and core slots for more fighters) and start besieging Warsaw as soon as possible. First two turns were planned in details - after that it all comes down to proper use your massive artillery forces to dig through Polish defenses and dive-bombers/8.8 gun to deal with enemy tanks. Also auxilliary units are quite helpful in this scenario... mostly as a meatshield but this fighter-bomber really helps with dealing with Polish airforces if low-rolls happened.
This detaily planned start gave me such an advantage that I could achieve DV with easy in turn 13th even after I made a terrible mistake and didn't block all city hexes so AI started shooping. Over all I finished scenario in turn 14th cause I'm greedy and I wanted to destroy all remaining forces for more experience for my units - but I think it is possible to finish it even in turn 12th.
There weren't too many save-scumm situations - several low-roll attacks which ended up leaving enemy units with 1-2 strength points. But I guess all those save-scumms in total could save me one turn so maybe achieving DV in turn 13th is not so easy without a single reload.
And of course couple of useless heroes on my second Ju87B forced me to reload - over all I didn't get any good hero on this Stuka during this scenario. Also I noticed that save-scumming for heroes is really painful - I have to remember to save before every Stuka attack or I will have to reload entire turn... quite annoying...

Any time that you have turns at the end of the scenario to spare, you may want to let the AI spawn & then force surrenders for extra prestige. You will need every bit you can get at this level.

TSPC37730 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 2:47 am Any time that you have turns at the end of the scenario to spare, you may want to let the AI spawn & then force surrenders for extra prestige. You will need every bit you can get at this level.

It is useful exploit on lower difficulties, but on the ultimate difficulty AI has tons of prestige so it will spawn units on every possible hex. Dealing with 7 tankettes (AI likes spamming TKS), each one with 15 strength points, in one turn is quite impossible. Beside of that I'm really cheating a lot in this campaign, like abusing map knowledge, exploiting AI behaviour, save-scumming several times during one scenario - I don't want to exploit more cause I will lose the fun of the game...

Spoils of War

Starting prestige: 2009

Initial thoughts / map info / key tactics:
- There are 4 Russian airforce units: 3 fighters and 1 bomber. And they are much more dangerous then Polish airplanes. Fortunately, just like in Piatek scenario, they are triggered in waves so you can deal with them in traps one by one.
- Most of AI units are grouped into 3 waves, which will be triggered on certain day (just like in Piatek scenario). First wave is the biggest one, but it is also the widest and contains mostly infantry (and couple of recon units which are surprisingly strong). Other two waves contains mostly armored forces and are much more concentrated - second wave will go the north side, third wave the south side.
- Beside of several highly entrenched units guarding Brest, entire Russian army is in full-aggressive mode. Even not triggered units will attack everything spotted in their range - beside of airplanes which are sleeping till their wave is triggered.
- It is the first scenario in which you will encounter enemy tanks with passive Air Attack (T-26S). It is really low and has only 5% chance to kill but those units have 15 strength points so it will damage your valuable overstrengthed Ju87B quite often.
- The most dangerous Russian units are 122mm artillery (AI also keep hidding it in forest so it is not easy to destroy by your Stukas) and KV-2 (fortunately this monster is vulnerable to dive-bombers but you have to lure it out from area guarded by AA gun).
- Keep in mind that developers made Polish units in this game really weak, while Russian have similar stats to their German counterparts. And when it comes to armored forces, Soviet tanks and recons are much stronger than German early war garbage - only Czech LT vz.38 is not outclassed by them. Thats make Russians much more dangerous than Poles and dealing with the enemy here will not be as easy as in previous scenarios.


Core changes
- normal replacements on damaged SE Gebirgsjägers - experience lost from 222 to 205 (so still 2 stars), saved 8 prestige... yeah, I'm greedy
- SE Gebirgsjägers overstrengthed to 12 strength points (- 43 prestige)
- Gebirgsjägers overstrengthed to 12 strength points (- 26 prestige)
- recon overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-13 prestige)
- 8.8cm FlaK overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-34 prestige) - still only 1 star
- 3.7cm Pak overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-15 prestige) - lots of Russians tanks here
- 10.5cm towed artillery overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-36 prestige)
- Ju87B overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-38 prestige)
- 2x He111 H2 overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-60 prestige)
Too much prestige spent on overstrengthning again units damaged in previous scenario... decision to accept attacks on not suppressed targets became quite expensive Or maybe I shouldn't overstrength first line units...


Replay
Summary
I remember when I first played this scenario - it was really painful experience. Mostly cause I used a lot of tanks and underestimated the power of arty. And of course the most important fact - I didn't have the almighty acht-acht Now, when I have three experienced Stukas and this awesome 8.8cm gun, dealing with Russian armored forces is a piece of cake. And everything else is just a food for my arty...
But still I restarted/reloaded first 3 turns multiple times before I have developed the opening plan which I used in the final attempt. Every single move in first 3 turns was precisely planned and calculated, including both airplane traps, backup units in case of low rolls and intentional use of auxilliary units as a meatshield (poor Panzerjäger IB). Only that extremely lucky roll at the Soviet Mnt in the end of turn 3 wasn't planned. In fact for me it was rather unlucky roll cause I just wanted to soften this unit so it couldn't destroy my unprotected auxilliary AA gun in one attack but I still wanted it to provide vision on this AA gun and lure other units on this bait.
After destroying almost the entire first wave in 4 turns, dealing with other two smaller waves was quite easy, so I didn't have to save-scumm at all. Beside useless hereos of course. Even a few days of bad weather wasn't a problem. I even stopped save-scumming when enemy unit had the chance to survive the attack with 1-3 strength points ouside my zone of control. The only situation when I reloaded was an attempt to pull out KV-2 using as bait Kerscher's Pz 38(t) guarded by two arty - this attempt failed miserably so I reloaded and tried to bring 3rd arty for that trap but in the same turn KV-2 decided to attack my 8.8cm gun and... that wasn't a great idea for this poor Soviet tank Another reason to fall in love with almighty acht-acht.
I got only one useful hero during this scenario, but it was +3 attack on my fighter - I'm really happy with that

Oslo

Starting prestige: 2863

Initial thoughts / map info / key tactics:
- There is only one enemy airplane - quite weak fighter. Still you have to bring your fighter to deal with it or watch it hunting for your overstrengthed arty...
- Notodden's garrison (infantry in the city and AA gun on the airfield) is in passive-mode and AI will not use replacements on them.
- Larvik's garrison is in aggressive-mode (including the arty) and AI will use replacements on them. Same goes for garrisons of: Porsgrunn, Tonsberg, Horten and Moss.
- There is one hex on which your key-objective heavy cruiser will be out of range of the most powerful fortress. Still other two fortresses can damage it quite heavily (average 2 strength points per attack) and will sunk it in 3 turns if you don't deal with them before - which is literally impossible with ground forces cause they simply can't even reach those fortresses before turn 4.
- Auxilliary fallschirmjägers can be extremelly useful in blocking the farthest cities (Honefoss and Jessheim) from shopping - their garrisons are in passive-mode.


Core changes
- Oleh Dir Gebirgsjägers overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-19 prestige)
- Albert Kerscher Pz38t overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-23 prestige)
- Helmut Lent Bf110C overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-32 prestige)
- 2x SE Gebirgsjägers overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-52 prestige)
- Pioniere overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-36 prestige)
- my beloved acht-acht overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-51 prestige) - finally at two stars
- elite replacements on damaged recon (-6 prestige)
- both recons upgraded to SdKfz 232 (-290 prestige) and overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-70 prestige)

Replay
Summary
This scenario simply forces you to save-scumm for DV. Not because it is hard (in fact it is quite easy) but because those overstrengthed fortresses destroy the cruiser in 3rd turn at the latest. I even had one attempt in which this canoe was sunk in the first turn. And you need at least 2 turns for landing so when your ground forces are able to reach those fortresses (4th turn is the earliest possible), your main objective is already sunk long ago. Using airforces to destroy those fortresses is the only solution but this scenario has extremely high chance for rain and I had to reload multiple times because of that.
Beside of canoe-rescue operation and several useless heroes I didn't have to save-scumm anything. This scenario is really easy if you propely use west path for fast rush (Oleh Dir is MVP here), auxilliary fallschirmjägers for blocking the farthest cities and massive arty firepower for fully suppressing every target before attack. I even took my beloved acht-acht with me for one attack (it is really useless in this scenario if you are using airforces to deal with fortresses) and second strategic bomber to level it up.
But again - I planned first 3 turns in details and to do that you really need to abuse map knowledge
Also I had a serious dillemma at the beginning - usually at this stage of campaign I'm upgrading all Gebirgsjägers into Grenadiers and replacing all Opel trucks with halftrucks. But during this campaign I noticed that additional hex of movement range is crucial in many situations (especially at the first turn of most scenarios) and even if Gebirgsjägers are significantly weaker than Grenadiers I heavily relied on their movement range in most of my detaily planned operations. Same goes for transport - halftrucks are much more versatile but there are roads in every scenario and if you are planning everything so carefully, you will be faster using trucks. I finally decided to not upgrade any unit (beside of recons) - at least for this scenario, Lillehammer and Narvik with their frozen ground can force me to change my mind.

Lillehammer

Starting prestige: 3084

Initial thoughts / map info / key tactics:
- There are 2 enemy airplanes here: weak Norwegian fighter and British Hurricane, which is very dangerous fighter. Both are in aggressive-mode from the start and both have almost entire map in their range.
- Gjevik garrison in in aggressive-mode (including the arty). Same goes for Follebu and Lillehammer.
- All small non-key cities garrisons are in full passive-mode. They will not attack even if place arty on trucks in front of them.


Core changes
- Captured Polish 105mm upgraded to 10.5cm leFH 18 (-327 prestige) - second spg will be really usefull on frozen ground and this gun already had some experience so better than buying a fresh one.
No changes beside of that - previous scenario was easy and all attacks were on suppressed targets, so no unit received damage. Also all my usefull units are already fully overstrengthed, beside of Albert Kerscher and Helmut Lent, which I want to level up here.


Replay
Summary
Another quite easy scenario, which you can finish even 3 days before time limit. I had some luck with attack on Gjevik, which I finished in one turn - usually this infantry survive with +/-4 strength points but it doesn't change much in general plan. There is like 40% chance that you will be able to finish both fighters in one turn - it requires high roll on initial trap encounter, than 2 average (or above average) rolls on 8.8cm gun and fighter which should destroy the Hurricane and than Lent can finish the Gladiator. In this attempt I had good rolls on Hurricane but initial trapping encounter wasn't good enough so Lent had like 20% chance to finish the Gladiator - I decided to use him to finish the Gjevik garrison instead.
Again key to the victory was perfectly planned opening (every single move in first 2 turns was calculated), including airplane traps. Poor Pz.IB was taken here only for being a meatshield for the Hurricane - but it was much better solution than buying new fighter or sacrificing other expensive overstrengthed unit. Also second spg was a good choice since I haven't decided to replace trucks with halftrucks on my towed arty.
I had to save-scumm only twice (beside several useless heroes). Firstly to make sure that there will be a good weather in first two turns (crucial for fighter traps). Secondly in allied turn 6th when two Norwegian Mnt units woke up (I was sure that they will sleep one more turn) and attacked my poor recon unit, completely destroying it. After reload recon survived but still restoring its strength will be quite expensive...
I didn't achieve my goal of gaining second star on both special heroes units - Albert Kerscher finished scenario with only 174 experience. But there is really little use for tanks in Norway...
And when it comes to heroes I got only one which I kept - spotting hero on recon unit. Normally I would be really happy because of this hero since higher view range on recon units is very helpful but in this campaign I'm not playing blind so I don't need any spot at all. But after all I decided to keep him.

Narvik

Starting prestige: 3521

Initial thoughts / map info / key tactics:
- There is quite large group of ships, which can be dangerous... but also it is a perfect source of easy kills for your strategic bombers.
- There are 3 enemy airforce units: 2 fighters (Seafire and Hurricane) and a strategic bomber. Both fighters are in aggressive-mode and are quite dangerous. Also one of them is guarding the fleet so you can't start sinking those ships without dealing with this Seafire.
- Almost all enemy units are in aggressive-mode, so it is hard to block cities from shopping with those weak auxilliary units. Only Bogen and southern "Norwegian Town" garrisons are in passive-mode.
- AI will start shopping in Narvik and surrounding cities in turn 2 - usually it buy one arty in this turn.


Core changes
- Elite Replacements on damaged recon (-14 prestige) and overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-35 prestige) - one mistake in previous scenario costs me almost 50 prestige...
- 2x He 111H2 overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-90 prestige) - finally some scenario in which strategic bombers are not useless expensive garbage...
- Helmut Lent Bf110C overstrengthed to 12 strength points (-48 prestige)
- spg artillery overstrengthed to 11 strength points (-32 prestige)


Replay
Summary
One of the easiest scenarios in game. Ground fight is trivial - there is not much resistance on the way to Narvik (in fact your biggest enemy is limited range of movement cause of frozen ground - especially when most of your infantry and artillery is using Opel trucks), and Narvik siege itself is also quite easy. The biggest threat in this scenario should be the British fleet and indeed it is... if you don't know how to deal with it.
But if you know how AI moves its units (larger ships move first), dealing with these ships become trivial. Place your battleships in the way of enemy fleet but out of their view range. Enemy battleship and cruisers will move first, but they are at the rear of the fleet and also they are blind - so they will not spot your ships and don't fire at them. Then enemy destroyers will move, they will find your battleships (probably in "unexpected encounter") but they will not attack them (AI doesn't risk destroyer vs. battleships fights). Of course your fleet is now spotted and it is in range of enemy heavy ships, but these ships already finished their turn and will not fire at you (I don't know why...). So you can sink 2-3 destroyers for free and move out of enemy sight again. Repeat the process till all enemy destroyers are at the bottom of the sea. Then sink their cruisers for free using your battleships fire range superiority. After that there will be only one enemy battleship against your three. Simply and effective tactic.
But instead of finishing this scenario in 5-6 days I decided to use it as a training ground for my strategic bombers - so instead of using battleships to deal with enemy fleet I wanted to sink all enemy ships using mostly my two Heinkels. It requires a lot of save-scumm, not only for good weather but also for good dice rolls in almost every attack - 2 Heinkels can't sink all these ships in 12 days with average rolls. You can call me a dirty cheater but it is the only way to get some kills for heroes on these units and in future scenarios strategic bombers without heroes will be even more useless than now...
My secondary goal for this scenario was getting heroes on 8.8cm gun and second Stuka - both these units were close to 300 kills and at this amount of kills unit must have the first hero. Gaining some experience on Kerscher's Pz 38(t) and second spg would be nice too.

Did you consider upgrading your He 111's to Ju 88's? Their stats are much better.

TSPC37730 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 13, 2021 4:11 am Did you consider upgrading your He 111's to Ju 88's? Their stats are much better.

It is really bad idea - at least in my opinion. If you want to upgrade them you must pay full price of Ju 88 (372 prestige) and than again full price of going back into HE family - He 177 is far superior than Ju 188A and available even one year earlier. Paying 744 prestige for only 2 points of difference in naval attack? Definitely not worth it in my opinion. If you want to go further than '43, you must squeeze every single point of prestige you can in '39-'42 because later soft cap mechanics will reduce your prestige income to ridiculously low amounts while your forces maintenance costs will be extremelly high.

Having seen this video from R Martin I realised that Armant has the potential to bring many new things and advanced PzC strategies, welcome Armant , its good to see new high caliber players

see the video
https://youtu.be/Fc4Zhh9UUFo