Panzer Corps 2: Frontlines - Bulge Campaign Path and FAQ
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 3:42 pm
Panzer Corps 2: Frontlines – Bulge
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this about?
This is a US campaign depicting the Battle of the Bulge aka the Ardennes offensive. As such it centers around the late German attempt to win back the initiative on the Western front by launching a major offensive into the Belgian Ardennes, a sector thinly defended by US troops. The campaign covers roughly the weeks from mid-December 1944 to mid-January 1945.
How does it differ from previous content for this game?
Aside from playing the US, the campaign offers a more focused look at a single operation. In larger campaigns the whole Battle of the Bulge would often be presented as a single map, now we broke it down into a series of scenarios that depict key stages of the entire operation.
How many battles are included in Bulge?
The campaign has 12 scenarios overall, the longest path is 9, due to the various alternatives available. There are no specific alternative routes or fixed paths. At any given choice you can select freely from both available options, regardless of earlier choices. The last choice is merely a skip-option to either play the Bure scenario, or to move to the La Roche one right away.
How difficult is this campaign?
Players who aren't used to battling highly effective German late-war equipment may be somewhat surprised, but seasoned players should be able to cope.
The campaign starts with a small, easier map, in order to familiarize players with the concepts and context. Some of the ensuing battles can be very challenging, especially in higher difficulty settings, but there are also choices in the campaign path between easier and harder battles to further affect the experience of difficulty.
How historically accurate is it?
Like other Panzer Corps content it is not meant to be a die-hard simulation, and things like “accuracy” or “realism” will always remain debatable, because games are - per definition - always abstractions.
However, all maps in this campaign are rather detailed, and we think they depict the historic situation at key points of the Battle of the Bulge in a satisfactory way. All scenarios are based on battles that were fought indeed within the circa 4-5 weeks the campaign is covering.
Isn't the timeframe way too tight to depict the Battle of the Bulge in this way?
Sometimes we only depict key stages of certain battles, because many engagements happened almost simultaneously when the German offensive began. To deal with this, some early scenarios represent only one day of combat, or even less. The timeframe gets somewhat less tight as the campaign progresses. However, even late scenarios usually only cover a few days.
Isn't it rather unrealistic to redeploy your core units to various different locations in such a short time?
It is, but while year-long campaigns make large re-deployments between battles more feasible, there is really no way that a certain force is re-deployed constantly to fight in every major battle of the war, like it is possible in longer, even linked campaigns. That has always been a gameplay element to offer players an interesting campaign, and that's done here as well.
How are weather and terrain?
Weather in mid-December 1944 was initially not too cold, but very foggy, hindering air operations. Early in this campaign you will often encounter rain or snow to limit air power in a similar way, only later in the campaign conditions for air operations improve. Terrain-wise early maps are a randomized mix of dry, muddy or frozen ground, but soon it will be all winter settings.
Why are there quite many Aux units in some scenarios?
Usually these units represent forces that should be there historically. They may be a certain help, but they also may suffer quite a bit. In general, they do not win the campaign for you – the player’s core units have to make the difference.
What are those AI-controlled Allied units for I see on a few maps?
These units usually hold parts of the map that were controlled by the Allies, but did not participate directly in certain battles. They are mostly added for flavor and play no active role, serving as blocking force at best.
What's the deal with those green mines?
Pre-placed land mines belonging to the player's alliance show green counters to tell them apart better, especially in a zoomed-out map view.
Why are there no rewards to grant me Tigers and Panthers?
We decided against this, not only because it would be rather ahistorical, but gameplay-wise the whole point of making non-German content would be moot if you get a constant stream of strong German units anyway.
So what rewards can I expect then?
Prestige rewards aside, players receive at least one randomly generated hero in almost every battle, plus a few bonus heroes at certain points.
Additional core units can be earned by achieving secondary objectives or come sometimes as free gifts. Those rewards are mostly not meant to be super units, their biggest advantage is that they come with more experience. Still, towards the end of the campaign players can get a few rare or otherwise unavailable and pretty strong units.
Frequently Asked Questions
- bulge_cam_path.jpg (985.58 KiB) Viewed 5911 times
What is this about?
This is a US campaign depicting the Battle of the Bulge aka the Ardennes offensive. As such it centers around the late German attempt to win back the initiative on the Western front by launching a major offensive into the Belgian Ardennes, a sector thinly defended by US troops. The campaign covers roughly the weeks from mid-December 1944 to mid-January 1945.
How does it differ from previous content for this game?
Aside from playing the US, the campaign offers a more focused look at a single operation. In larger campaigns the whole Battle of the Bulge would often be presented as a single map, now we broke it down into a series of scenarios that depict key stages of the entire operation.
How many battles are included in Bulge?
The campaign has 12 scenarios overall, the longest path is 9, due to the various alternatives available. There are no specific alternative routes or fixed paths. At any given choice you can select freely from both available options, regardless of earlier choices. The last choice is merely a skip-option to either play the Bure scenario, or to move to the La Roche one right away.
How difficult is this campaign?
Players who aren't used to battling highly effective German late-war equipment may be somewhat surprised, but seasoned players should be able to cope.
The campaign starts with a small, easier map, in order to familiarize players with the concepts and context. Some of the ensuing battles can be very challenging, especially in higher difficulty settings, but there are also choices in the campaign path between easier and harder battles to further affect the experience of difficulty.
How historically accurate is it?
Like other Panzer Corps content it is not meant to be a die-hard simulation, and things like “accuracy” or “realism” will always remain debatable, because games are - per definition - always abstractions.
However, all maps in this campaign are rather detailed, and we think they depict the historic situation at key points of the Battle of the Bulge in a satisfactory way. All scenarios are based on battles that were fought indeed within the circa 4-5 weeks the campaign is covering.
Isn't the timeframe way too tight to depict the Battle of the Bulge in this way?
Sometimes we only depict key stages of certain battles, because many engagements happened almost simultaneously when the German offensive began. To deal with this, some early scenarios represent only one day of combat, or even less. The timeframe gets somewhat less tight as the campaign progresses. However, even late scenarios usually only cover a few days.
Isn't it rather unrealistic to redeploy your core units to various different locations in such a short time?
It is, but while year-long campaigns make large re-deployments between battles more feasible, there is really no way that a certain force is re-deployed constantly to fight in every major battle of the war, like it is possible in longer, even linked campaigns. That has always been a gameplay element to offer players an interesting campaign, and that's done here as well.
How are weather and terrain?
Weather in mid-December 1944 was initially not too cold, but very foggy, hindering air operations. Early in this campaign you will often encounter rain or snow to limit air power in a similar way, only later in the campaign conditions for air operations improve. Terrain-wise early maps are a randomized mix of dry, muddy or frozen ground, but soon it will be all winter settings.
Why are there quite many Aux units in some scenarios?
Usually these units represent forces that should be there historically. They may be a certain help, but they also may suffer quite a bit. In general, they do not win the campaign for you – the player’s core units have to make the difference.
What are those AI-controlled Allied units for I see on a few maps?
These units usually hold parts of the map that were controlled by the Allies, but did not participate directly in certain battles. They are mostly added for flavor and play no active role, serving as blocking force at best.
What's the deal with those green mines?
Pre-placed land mines belonging to the player's alliance show green counters to tell them apart better, especially in a zoomed-out map view.
Why are there no rewards to grant me Tigers and Panthers?
We decided against this, not only because it would be rather ahistorical, but gameplay-wise the whole point of making non-German content would be moot if you get a constant stream of strong German units anyway.
So what rewards can I expect then?
Prestige rewards aside, players receive at least one randomly generated hero in almost every battle, plus a few bonus heroes at certain points.
Additional core units can be earned by achieving secondary objectives or come sometimes as free gifts. Those rewards are mostly not meant to be super units, their biggest advantage is that they come with more experience. Still, towards the end of the campaign players can get a few rare or otherwise unavailable and pretty strong units.
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