Thoughts on War Stories...

[adiekmann]

I thought I'd begin a thread were people can post their reviews or thoughts on the new DLC. I am only at Strykow at the moment, so about half way through. Had to replay the first map when I discovered I still had the AO Redone mod enabled. It actually was easier with it off!

So far I like it more than the Battle of Bulge Frontlines mini campaign. This is longer and the promise of a possible continuation DLC adds to the enjoyment that you're building your core for future campaigns/DLCs (Battle of France, Battle of Britain, North Africa, Italy...?).

The Survivor/Story character/units have so far turned out a bit different than what I was expecting. I thought after you saved one they would join your core. Maybe that is still coming at some point, but if not that it would be a little disappointing.

Before I even purchased it, I read some early posts (I'm Pacific Time Zone GMT -8 so those of you in Europe have a nice head start on me) that hinted at it being a bit difficult, so I started at the default level which has proved too easy. No problem, increase the difficulty next play through. Prestige has been plentiful to my surprise as I have yet to ever be short of it.

I think that the best contribution, or new idea, for this campaign has been the challenge of designing it with ultimately a defeat in mind. It is even better than the way some of the PC1 British campaign scenarios were handled in North Africa before Operation Compass, especially with the way it has also been so well woven into the story.

At first I thought the overwhelming proportion of weaker German equipment (e.g. Pz.Mk. Is and IIs) was intentionally done to keep the AI side from being too strong, but I then remembered that in fact the Germans did field a surprising number of those tanks even up to the beginning of Barbarosa. So it is perhaps keeping in tune with greater historical realities of the time, which I feel is always a good thing when possible. On the other hand, I find the mostly curious absence of the Luftwaffe a bit puzzling. Granted, to have them pounding you in number would make things very difficult for the player. But as it is, I realized there is no need for AA Veteran nor any core AA or aircraft units up to this point. I do not yet know, but I understand that may very well change later in this DLC. Time will tell.

Overall, so far I like it! Well done team!

[Bee1976]

On the other hand, I find the mostly curious absence of the Luftwaffe a bit puzzling. Granted, to have them pounding you in number would make things very difficult for the player.

Oh, hehe wait for it

I had to call my playthrough, the prestige drain is heavy. And real bad luck on heroes....
And i feel a portion of the desperation, the poor polish soldiers must have suffered back in time. Right now, i have mixed feelings. Most missions so far doenst feel like "battles" more like solving puzzles/riddles while beeing hammered into oblivion. The difficulty is really high, its a challenge, thats nice, but to be honest i miss "real battles" so far.
The storytelling is definetly interesting, but sometimes im a little confused. "help the survivors" is lacking some informations and textboxes like "bring person xyz to point abc" are ok, but if you have to escort more thn 1 person to more than 1 location without any chance of reading the text again can be quite confusing, the pressure level gets higher and higher.

I will write more when i finished it, might take some time on GM. So far its fun, playing with inferior equipment and imited resources againt an enemy superior in numbers and equipment its a challenge. definetly worth the money.

[Thunderhog]

I'm enjoying it, but I miss the end of mission debrief's. I thought we'd be getting WAY more story and character stuff than AO. But it just feels a bit empty compared to our AO missions with our beloved Wehrmacht crew. Most of all I like playing as the allies and especially Poland. Who is , more often then not, a punching bag for WW2 games. I do wish we could have an alternate ending where you get to punch the Nazis and Soviets in the face and forcing them to withdraw. But hey, there's always the future.

[Tassadar]

I'm enjoying it, but I miss the end of mission debrief's. I thought we'd be getting WAY more story and character stuff than AO. But it just feels a bit empty compared to our AO missions with our beloved Wehrmacht crew.

I'm on the third scenario now and I must agree. While I am really enjoying the DLC and it is great overall from a mechanical standpoint, this part of the narrative element is severely lacking. Mid-mission narration from key characters does not supplement it enough. I realize the player is not given an assistant to narrate the objectives probably since jumping along the country like that is a major logistical stretch and a concession for the sake of gameplay, but the debriefing should at least give some historical context for the battles, as it often did in Axis Operations. There should be a few sentences about what happened in reality, as well as how it affected further events. Not having such a summary feels really strange.

[deadtorius]

I have made it pat the Bazura river so far. That was a hard one and you will finally find a need for AA guns. I bought a pair early on and have been using them as AT guns most of the time. I agree that the lack of escort information being kept in the message log is a bit of a pain. I did discover that their destinations appear as a broken hex outline, just have to remember which one goes where. I was perplexed by saving all four of them so far and not seeing any rewards. Then you get to a simple talk to the survivors scenario where the rewards all pile in. Patience has its rewards.
I am surprisingly finding the Uhlans to be some of the best infantry as you can mount them up and they can cover a lot of ground quickly. Just try to stop them some place safe as they will get hammered if enemy armour or infantry show up out of the fog. So far I only have been using 2 tanks, unlike my German armies, and they are variable in their usefulness. I have a lot more antitank guns and a similar amount of artillery.
I have been enjoying the DLC so far, have had to restart some missions due to not keeping an eye on the counter and running out of turns. It is nice that if you complete your main objective the game ends immediately. I have saved a lot of my troops by grabbing the necessary victory hex in the face of a German horde.
Prestige was not much of an issue until Bazura where I started to run low for the first time but still managed to get out with some prestige to spare. A hard battle but still enjoyable.
Over all I think it has been a great DLC and I hope to see more of these in the future. Congratulations to the design team on a job well done.

[RVallant]

I'm enjoying it, but I miss the end of mission debrief's. I thought we'd be getting WAY more story and character stuff than AO. But it just feels a bit empty compared to our AO missions with our beloved Wehrmacht crew. Most of all I like playing as the allies and especially Poland. Who is , more often then not, a punching bag for WW2 games. I do wish we could have an alternate ending where you get to punch the Nazis and Soviets in the face and forcing them to withdraw. But hey, there's always the future.

Yes, this bit has by far been the most underwhelming feature of the 'story'.

The potential here could have been to use those characters to showcase the struggles of the war, from various perspectives. I think, that they missed the opportunity because they used the (rather dull) pre-briefings, which is the spot to do the drama dialogue from these characters that can then lean into the mission blurbs and post-dialogue as well.

Anyway, battles are okay so far, I understand the whole 'puzzle' complaint in a way. I think Bzura, you were basically just better off evacuating everyone to the west, so you shorten your battle lines and then crack on to defeat the Germans line by line. Kampinoska was okay too, just extract the characters, and then all you need to do is defend the supply depot and take out the cities.

Most disappointing objective thus far was Westerplatte, I had the nurse out so quick, and eliminated the post office assault so quick that I probably missed optional stuff there. I had fortified the centre awaiting an assault but nothing came out tbh.

So far, decent but missing its potential story-wise.

[VirgilInTheSKY]

I was perplexed by saving all four of them so far and not seeing any rewards. Then you get to a simple talk to the survivors scenario where the rewards all pile in. Patience has its rewards.

There should be FIVE of them...

[Thunderhog]

I'm now on Lwow and suddenly the surviving characters are 3 instead of 5. Even though the Nurse and Civilians didn't die last mission. What about you guys?

[VirgilInTheSKY]

I'm now on Lwow and suddenly the surviving characters are 3 instead of 5. Even though the Nurse and Civilians didn't die last mission. What about you guys?

They are presence in the next scenario while these 3 are not. Guess it is because the officers took a different path from the civilians.

[RVallant]

I'm now on Lwow and suddenly the surviving characters are 3 instead of 5. Even though the Nurse and Civilians didn't die last mission. What about you guys?

They go MIA if you don't do their mission objectives ~ did you make sure you do them as they don't show up on the mission objective list unfortunately.

[VirgilInTheSKY]

I'm now on Lwow and suddenly the surviving characters are 3 instead of 5. Even though the Nurse and Civilians didn't die last mission. What about you guys?

They go MIA if you don't do their mission objectives ~ did you make sure you do them as they don't show up on the mission objective list unfortunately.

I have checked the map files, they are just not present in that specific scenario.

[VirgilInTheSKY]

DLC finished, I'm not completely satisfied due to the lack of debriefing, but out of that this is one of my most enjoyed PC2 campaigns.

[Retributarr]

DLC finished, I'm not completely satisfied due to the lack of debriefing, but out of that this is one of my most enjoyed PC2 campaigns.

"I Agree!".

[Thunderhog]

I'm now on Lwow and suddenly the surviving characters are 3 instead of 5. Even though the Nurse and Civilians didn't die last mission. What about you guys?

They go MIA if you don't do their mission objectives ~ did you make sure you do them as they don't show up on the mission objective list unfortunately.

I have checked the map files, they are just not present in that specific scenario.

That's so weird. Maybe a mistake on the devs part?

[VirgilInTheSKY]

They go MIA if you don't do their mission objectives ~ did you make sure you do them as they don't show up on the mission objective list unfortunately.

I have checked the map files, they are just not present in that specific scenario.

That's so weird. Maybe a mistake on the devs part?

I think it is an intended design.
In Lwow you are tasked with the escort of gold reserve convoy, and then in the briefing of Tomaszow Lubelski you have another load of the convoy that didn't made it with the main body, for which you have to assault German position to raid supplies so that your forces can have enough resources to go to Romania.
The three officers moved together with the main body as guards fighting the soviets, while the two civilians were kept behind by their personal matters and have to be extracted from German control.

[Thunderhog]

So, I've finished the campaign and I enjoyed it. However, it just feels like they didn't go far enough in the story and personal connection of the characters. It's just not enough. They advertised it as a story driven campaign but at most it's just tiny blurbs here and there with some objectives not giving any dialogue at all. If you want a more story driven experience just play AO. No adjutants and no end debriefs here. No comments on capturing objectives. The combat and maps are actually quite fun and they did a great job on that. It just feels like this whole campaign is a setup for stuff to come after. I'm almost certain we will be seeing our Polish core force and characters again. Especially if it's an allied campaign. I'm also disappointed in the command infantry and tanks. They give zero aura abilities like they do in mods for Panzer Corps 2. What is the point of them? The other added units like the Uhlan and new German armored cars, Polish tanks are all very nice.

[Moransky]

Just finished Westerplatte. I've killed all ground German units and recapture all cities, but it's no influence on the war. There're many other problems like stupid AI, lack of briefengs, no dialogs with new heroes and so on. As for me even AO were better DLCs than this one.

[Snake97644]

So, I've finished the campaign and I enjoyed it. However, it just feels like they didn't go far enough in the story and personal connection of the characters. It's just not enough. They advertised it as a story driven campaign but at most it's just tiny blurbs here and there with some objectives not giving any dialogue at all. If you want a more story driven experience just play AO. No adjutants and no end debriefs here. No comments on capturing objectives. The combat and maps are actually quite fun and they did a great job on that. It just feels like this whole campaign is a setup for stuff to come after. I'm almost certain we will be seeing our Polish core force and characters again. Especially if it's an allied campaign. I'm also disappointed in the command infantry and tanks. They give zero aura abilities like they do in mods for Panzer Corps 2. What is the point of them? The other added units like the Uhlan and new German armored cars, Polish tanks are all very nice.

Yeah, I think a big part of why people liked the AO series was the investment in the story and characters. I agree that there needs to be at least a Wagner type adjutant that can help to drive the story along. I did enjoy the distant and cold telegraph briefings, as it helped to give the player the feel that they were on their own with like C2 existing higher up. However without a Wagner around it made our “player general” and the story feel sterile.
I really enjoyed the campaign and hope that it is developed in to a multi-installment dlc where our Poles will fight on to the end of the war. My hope however is that they will find a way to develop these fictional characters further, while also working some of the historical Polish heroes into the next installment.

[adiekmann]

Finally finished the DLC today. My final thoughts...

I frequently found myself not entirely sure of what I needed to do. While the opening briefing/telegram format is interesting and different, it also lacks some character/flavor, but more importantly was a bit confusing on some maps as to what I exactly was supposed to do.

For instance, all this business about the main characters being "missing" and not. Other than a little dialogue box upon completing their side mission, there often seemed to be no reward or much of anything else for accomplishing it. Left me wondering on some maps why I even bothered.

The actual gameplay, maps, units, and the rest were all actually pretty good and I liked this DLC. But the title of the series and the promise of the Dev Diaries all had raised my expectations to a level that far exceeded what was delivered in terms of flavor and the role of the special heroes. This aspect I have already addressed in other posts/threads.

I am not sure how this will continue through to the next War Stories installment. Some of the ideas that I and others here
have suggested or hoped for seem now like a missed opportunity in reaching this DLC's full potential. I now hope that I am wrong and will be surprised by what comes next. After all, who foresaw the whole Wagner/Ana saga in AO SCW as it developed over time? Time will tell with the next War Stories DLC.

[Retributarr]

"adiekmann!"... i Concur or Agree with your thought's on this DLC.If whomever makes the decisions on how to develop and Orchestrate a Scenario or Campaign has any ambiguous uncertainties about how developed it is or isn't... then!, as i "Alway's-Say,"... ask the "Formum-Member's" for their "Input".

We-Are-Not-Idiot's!!!... we know what we like and what we expect!. So don't treat us like "Clueless-Wonder's"... and instead "Seek-a-Second-Opinion!".