Slitherine

Overall Thoughts:

-Playing on Rommel difficulty.

-Judging by the reports from other beta testers, I am probably in the minority who thinks that the scenarios are a bit too easy and there is too much prestige. Since this is Poland, I have no problem with things being easy, even on Rommel Difficulty.

-Rate of exp gain for artillery needs to be severely reduced. This is mostly because those units rarely take damage, and it is easy to get 12-13 str artillery quickly, which are devastating just 3 scenarios in.

-Similarly, tactical and strategic bombers should get their exp rate gain reduced somewhat, although nowhere near as much as for artillery. Those units can and do take damage.

-I do think there is too much prestige though, if I had too much on Rommel, I can only imagine others have tons. The thing is, there really isn’t anything to upgrade, which normally costs quite a bit. Your core also grows slower, which is appropriate.

-Double check the spelling and grammar for some of the mission briefings, I don’t remember exactly what was misspelled where, but for instance once the text said “it’s” [it is] when you meant “its” [possessive].

Poznan
-I was overconfident, and to my surprise the AI busted out a cavalry and a tankette to destroy one of my opel blitz infantry. That actually hurt me quite a bit, it was my only mobile infantry! Impressive move.

-Would it be possible to add a few more Polish aux air units, but most of them should be out of ammo and at 3-5 str. To further simulate the complete unreadiness of the Polish air force. These units also should not be reinforced, if you can make the AI do that. Give the AI one or two functional fighters though, maybe like two 3-5 str aux fighters.

-DV easy to achieve, I made it in many turns.

Danzig Corridor

-Not too challenging, truth is I can’t remember too much about it. Some bridges are tricky to get, due to artillery behind them, but a stuka or two quickly took care of those.

-Nice to see that the Polish really don’t have an air force, as is accurate. The Luftwaffe should have near complete control of the air for the Polish campaign.

Lodz
-Nice strongpoints in front of Lodz, might I actually further recommend buffing them to 15 str, to further deter a frontal assault?

-Attack on the panzers of the 10th army needs to be buffed, it is too weak. Alternatively, reduce the strength of the 10th army units. I’d add either 2 7TP, or maybe 1 7TP and 3 more infantry, and an artillery, to further punish the human player if he tries to go into close terrain. Frankly saving the 10th army is a non-issue. Or reduce the amount of prestige the AI gets, and give them some more units to block the advance of the human player’s core forces. I see the AI adding all sorts of units to defend its cities, which really just made this more or less a standard capture all VH mission.

-Many aux polish 7TP near Kutno, to simulate “encircled” Polish units. I think 1 or 2 of the tanks should activate if the human player gets kinda close.

-After the battle I see a core Polish tankette between Turek and Kalisz, which probably should attack towards Sieradz immediately.

-Made DV with 1 turn to spare. I did not use the aux units to their full potential, which would reduce the time needed for DV.

Piatek

-Overall thoughts: truth is, I got bored defending and moved out all my units to attack, getting nearly all the Polish cities except one at the end. I incurred the odd lost or two, but I feel I should’ve suffered more.

-Should the Generals be buffed in stats? I guess that would require making a separate unit. I see him as like a 1 or 2 star cavalry, with 15 str and with +1 to hard and soft attack, +1 initiative, and maybe +2 defense. Or maybe you can do this by adding some heroes to him, hmm.

Edit: apparently there is a 3 star Polish 15 str general, heh. And other generals. I guess this last one satisfies me. Still, consider adding a bit to their stats.

-The AI has no problem moving units onto cities or bridges on rivers and attacking my units which are covered by artillery, without their own artillery units. This is fine, since the Polish are clearly desperate to break out of their encirclement. However, they won’t advance onto a river that is not a victory hex. I feel the AI should mass up its units and mass ford a river at multiple hexes, which would give me more of a problem, since some would be able to cross and do some damage. But honestly I do realize it wouldn’t matter even if it did that, because I can crush the AI regardless of its tactics here. Again, I have no problem with this being easy, but it’d be nice if the AI tried to force a broader front. Arriving piecemeal onto a river is not as effective as a mass fording.

-I attacked towards General Stanislaw, because I didn’t see any Polish units come in that direction first. I think if German units approach one of these Polish armies, they should activate and start attacking towards the German units that approach it, as opposed to rushing towards the VH. After all, it would be easier to destroy the German units out in the open, when they are not hiding behind a river.

-Similarly, I used a recon car to scout out Kutno. The Polish units should activate when they see a German unit like that.

-I like this scenario a lot, I just think as long as the Polish units start attacking if German forces approach them, it would be quite fun. That would more or less force the German player to stay on the defensive, since the Polish armies are fairly impressive.

-The general strength of the Polish army is very good. I moved out to attack and was somewhat punished for it, losing a Panzer I and a Wehrmacht, and dare I say if I weren’t quite so experienced with the game I would’ve lost more, even one of my artillery got flanked by a 3
star(!) general. So there are some pretty nice Polish generals, heh.

Modlin

-Were there really two of the fortress structures (the ones that fire artillery)? Because I only remember one for some reason. Regardless, pretty straightforward scenario. I think the AI bought 3 tankettes and put them south of Modlin, across the rivers. Those proved completely useless. Should probably have the AI deploy its forces more in the forward cities , and certainly not back there.

-DV was quite easy to achieve, I beat it by several turns. Pioneers are invaluable.

Warsaw North

-Now this is incredible! When I first saw Warsaw, I was floored by its size. London has nothing on it! I can’t wait for Stalingrad and the size of that city...

-Won DV with like 9 turns to spare, probably should’ve sent a few more units to get those bonus artillery faster. Those units really, really help the help. I can see this one being harder on Manstein difficulty, I’d probably buy wave after wave of infantry and sacrifice them. Prestige was no problem on Rommel, should be even less on Manstein.

-Good Polish defensive positions, this really felt like a siege map.

Privet

-Now this is interesting, I assume this is a fictional scenario, and not historic based? Is this supposed to be a MP map too?

-I got my first SE unit here, it’d be nice if they were buffed in stats. I see them as having considerably more initiative (+2), and slightly more attack (+1) and defense (+2). At least give them higher initiative to represent their superior quality.

-I captured all the non-Brest VH in like 7 turns. It took another 5 or 6 to get the Brest VH.

-Again, if my forces capture all the non-Brest VH, the Soviets should mobilize everything to counterattack. I marched my forces up to Brest and seized it with about 8 turns to spare, with many Soviet units just sitting around, doing nothing. Those need to activate if I get close.

-I also think the Soviets need many more ground units. Since I assume you can only get this scenario by getting a string of DVs, it should actually be made hard to challenge those players who can get here. I think any sort of bonus scenarios of this nature should be designed to be challenging.

-To make this harder, I’d start off by giving the Soviets a massive amount more prestige per turn so they can buy things, and, oh, 10 extra conscripts to delay the German advance so they have time to mobilize. Throw in an extra fighter or two, and maybe some more artillery, and the Soviets will be challenging. I think the Soviets have plenty of tanks, so no real need to add more there.

-I have noticed that the AI will on occasion retreat injured units to the back lines, I assume to reinforce, which is very nice. However, when in a VH, the AI seems too stubborn to withdraw, and on a map like this that emphasizes mobility, they should. On a map like Warsaw though, the AI should definitely stay in VH until the last man.

Oslo

-On Manstein I can see how saving the Heavy Cruiser might be a bit luck-based, but that’s fine. I think as long as all scenarios are beatable on FM and with DV, they are fine. For must-win scenarios, even the bonus difficulties at least this early on should allow at least a MV. But saving the Cruiser is just a requirement for DV, not MV.

-I’m fine with the lackluster Norwegian defenses here, since historically they were completely unprepared and their units were using weapons from the turn of the century or earlier!

Lillehammer

-The weather report prior to the briefing should make clear that the ground is supposed to be frozen, I was under the impression this was a clear terrain map.

-I was scared for my veteran P(t)38 which was trying to flank the British artillery, and 3 Norwegian mountain infantry came out to attack it. Yet It didn’t press the attack the next turn, after I retreated my unit 1 hex due to ZOC, and it was down to 4 str. It was snowing, but I was adjacent to a AA, so the AI would have vision. Even if it didn’t, it should know to pursue. Regardless, by AI silliness my veteran tank lived, which I felt the human player should be punished for sending troops out isolated like that.

-The Matilda tank was tough, which was nice.

-Otherwise very easy scenario, made DV with 8 turns to spare. Give the British units 1.5 stars, to represent the veteran nature of the British forces. Add a few more units here and there, especially in the roads to interdict.

Narvik

-I forgot that I could upgrade units until now. So I did, still with plenty of prestige to spare.

-Way too easy, made DV in 9/18.

-I actually think this scenario should be reworked the most, and the only one that I feel you should change drastically

-Strategic bombers need to be much, much less effective against ships. Frankly tactical bombers were the ones that were useful historically. The way I would do it, is add a buff to tactical bombers attacking warships, but a severe penalty for strategic bombers.

My suggestions:

-Have two scenarios, if and only if you achieve DV in the previous two Norway scenarios do you get access to the special Narvik, bonus scenario (let’s call it Narvik Special), otherwise you get the regular scenario.

-In the special mission, because of your lightning successes thus far, High Command has decided to place three major German warships at your disposal to avenge the German defeat at the Second Battle of Narvik. During the time frame, the British had sent the HMS Furious, not HMS Glorious, to Narvik. Since High Command has faith in you, you are tasked to destroy the British Naval presence.

-Buff the Royal Navy, they should start out with at least 1.5-2 stars, and elite ships 3 stars. Maybe add a few more destroyers (historically I think 9 were sent). German ships are much less experienced, so 0 exp is fine.

-In the special mission, to get MV should still be very easy, just get 3 objectives. But to get DV should be hard, you need to sink the HMS Furious and HMS Warspite, while keeping Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Admiral Hipper alive, and get all objectives. Add two more U-boats to the German navy to help them. Even with a buff to the Royal Navy, this should be doable on FM without too much difficulty. But I can see how this might be a nightmare on Manstein, and it should be!

-Change the naval AI to go after German naval assets instead of rushing towards Narvik. Historically the Royal Navy was much more concerned about sinking German ships than actually helping their Norwegian allies.

- A lot of German destroyers were sunk, and the naval troops joined the mountain units/fallschirmjager, so perhaps add a few 7-8 str aux German infantry.

-British naval presence

-In the normal Narvik mission, you don’t have to hunt down the Royal Navy, which in fact will only have a minimal presence (a few destroyers, + battleship for ground support). The human player gets a u-boat or two and some torpedo ships to screen the landing force, that’s all. DV is to just get all objectives, MV is still 3.

-Either way, seriously buff the Norwegian ground forces, add at least like 10 more units in various places, probably in the roads, and a second AI force coming down from the north to reinforce. As I said, making DV in 9/18 turns is way too easy, I’ve not done that with any of the missions in the standard campaign.

Overall Thoughts:

-I am very tempted to say that the 88 should not be available until France, since there’s no real air force that the Bf109s cannot deal with. Furthermore, the weapon is a bit too powerful against the early tanks. I thought it wasn’t until the Ardennes campaign that German commanders turned the 88 against French tanks, because their tanks could not penetrate the heavy armor.

-Just noticed exp is capped to 2 stars in the first DLC, which is a good touch.

-Nice touch naming a lot of ships, I guess destroyers are in general not important enough to be named, but I’m sure records exist (Edit: was just looking at Wikipedia, which apparently names all 9 of the destroyers the British sent to Narvik), and it would be very nice to have all naval assets named and not too much work to do it I think

-While I understand this is the first DLC pack, I still think making it a bit more challenging would be nice, since most players will have played through the campaign with the standard game and have enough experience to be ready for a tougher challenge. I don’t think a drastic difficulty increase is warranted, but in certain missions (especially the Norway ones) some buffs to the enemy is best.

deducter wrote:Lillehammer

-The weather report prior to the briefing should make clear that the ground is supposed to be frozen, I was under the impression this was a clear terrain map.

I specifically wrote in the briefing's opening line: "Come in out of the frightful weather, Herr General." I guess this indicator was not strong enough.
Even so, the terrain on the ground during the deploy phase SHOULD be the frozen tileset, and hopefully this issue will definitely be addressed, because it affects all future scenarios that begin with mud/snow ground states.

deducter wrote:Warsaw North

-Now this is incredible! When I first saw Warsaw, I was floored by its size. London has nothing on it! I can’t wait for Stalingrad and the size of that city...

Yes, a thousand times yes. Exactly what I want people to think.
"If this is Warsaw, wow imagine Stalingrad!"

We have many, many ideas for Stalingrad, once we get there in DLC 1942.