Slitherine

First, thanks for selecting me.

Sorry I just found time to start it. I chose Field Marshal, as that's the difficulty in previous ones that I don't have to cheat (including replay moves) to win. Rommel and Mainstein will require me to cheat from time to time.

I don't have a completed 40 DLC core yet, but chose to import anyway. Wow, now I am in a deployment phase with 13250 prestige!! (Is this a bug or intended?) So I went ahead to do all the out-of seriers upgrading, buy all the best units, and still have over 9000 left after.

For comparison, without importing I will get 3000 prestige, but 7 more 1 to 2 star units, and be in the 1st turn right at the start.

Definitely choose to import. One, I can manage my core to choose units I want. Two, I'm in deployment phase, not 1st turn. Three, I have a net of around 8500 more prestige. The 7 raw recruits won't be much of a problem as a 2 star unit can be achieved very quickly. There is going to be an exp cap anyway.

Speaking of this, I hope all Campaigns can have the first scenario started at the deployment phase. This way players can choose their core units right from the beginning, instead of having to disband some in the deployment of the next scenario (to get the credit for the disbanded units).

Also please allow buying experienced units depending on the time of the scenario. Say 39 you can only get raw, 40 you can buy 1 star, 41 you can buy 2, 42 3, 43 go back down to 2, 44 and 45 back to 1. This is somewhat historically accurate, right? 'Buying' a unit is using your prestige to persuade high command to transfer some units to you, right? So they shouldn't always be raw. But getting experienced units should be a whole lost more expersive.

Very happy to see the Stug to have 8 ammo now and didn't hesitate to buy 2 of them. The 10 GD should be good enough to not let them getting killed easily even marching on the front. The problem is in later years, where heavy armor is everywhere, they become useless with a range of 1, as they may get killed easily even with a GD of 15. So can we have the StuH42 with a range of 2 (then it will be very useful in late years)?

For the original campaign, artillery is king in the earlier years where you keep your enemy supressed for virtually every battle you ever engage. But in later years when heavy armor dictates the battle field, they become much less useful, and it pained me greatly to have to disband a couple 3, 4 star artillery who had followed me faithfully through all the years, just to buy a couple new, shining King Tigers. Of course I found out later I didn't have to disband them but just let them sit in the reserved list.

When I say start the first scenario in deployment phase, I guess the units can be already deployed, just not in the 1st turn yet. So for those who wants to get into the action right away, they can just click the end turn button.

BTW, can we call the deployment phase 'turn 0' but not 'turn 1'? It can cause a little bit of confusion with the actual turn 1. I always want to save at the end of deployment, and had to manually change the 1 to 0, so as to not mix up with my actual turn 1 save.

Speaking of Experience Cap, I think the current hard cap is going to really annoy some players. A better solution is not to cap the units, but the replacements. Yes, you elite replacements will only be max of 200 EXP or 300, depending on the campaign/scenerio. This is more accurate/believable in real life anyway, where it is absurd when you can always get 5 star replacements in late war when experienced units are hard to find in the Wehrmarcht. This gives a new challenge to the player in how to use their high exp units, and solves the balance issue in late campaign battles when I can just use my 5 star, 15 strength, 3 hero units to 1 shot 1 kill through the map, like having "uber units" turned on.

Once the replacements are experience-capped, the rate of experience gain at high level may need to be adjusted in case it becomes too hard to maintain highly exp units once they pass the cap, though I doubt so.

Just finished Belgrade in 12 turns with DV. The difficulty feels OK.

A strange thing I observed, is that the AI seemed to not buy anything until Belgrade was completely taken. Is this intended? I'm playing on Field Marshal. The AI should have plenty of prestige to spend. In fact, right after I completely took Belgrade, the AI bought 6 units worth about 1000 prestige around Obrenovac. I could have prevented the AI from buying anything, but intentionally held my units back just to see.

BTW, the 2 new StuG IIIBs performed well, had 11 and 14 kills, gained 115 and 135 Exp, while my 2 newly bought 10.5cm, had 9 and 11 kills, and gained only 53 and 88 Exp.

Metaxas line: This one seemed a tad too easy. Thessalonika didn't present a lot challenge and was ready to be taken in just 7 turns, though I held back until the last turn to wait for the finishing of the Metaxas line. Got a nice 1 star Captured British Matilda II for that, which was cool. AI seemed didn't have much prestige, only bought several units.

The amount of prestige given seemed perfect. I had just about enough to do what I need to do.

All the raw units from 1st scenario achieved 1 star except the SE Panzer IVE. Is there a penalty for the experience gain of SE units?

Crete Airborne: Again, this is a tad too easy, even on Field Marshal level. Does everyone realize navy is not even needed here, because nothing should be deployed in the sea. Since you can keep deploying into the deploy zone after the turn starts, one just need to move their units away for other units to be deployed. Thus, at the end of turn 1, one can deploy 8-10 units in each of the 3 zones, which should be strong enough to defend themselves and take care of the enemy around them. I had only a few units left undeployed after turn 1.

I started this one before the new 41 DLC update came out. Saw that stronger navy and a strategic bomber was added to the Axis. I'm against this change. This is a good chance to make people think about buying Strategic bombers. I bought a Do217E in this one to deal with the Royal Navy. It had 41 kill at the end, pretty much all done in the water. I may not need it soon in later scenarios but can let it stay in the reserve list, and use it when any navy action is needed.

Again, the amount of prestige seems just fine.

Strange thing about the AI: some units it just won't do replacement. There was one unit down to strength 1, I had some artillerry parked around it hoping to do experience training. But the thing is, AI just never replace it, even though the units around them kept getting replaced.

I suppose Crete Navy will be harder and will need some navy help.

fenglicao wrote:I suppose Crete Navy will be harder and will need some navy help.

Exactly. This change was *only* for Crete Naval. Crete Airborne did not receive the extra Italian Cruiser and Level Bomber.

Thanks for clarifying that.

Overall, Crete Airborne was a very fun scenario for me as it required some different thinking and tactics.

Also, the captured Matilda II from the last sce was perfect for this mission.

Minsk: This is the first map of decent size, and was quite a challenge. The Karl-Gerat was nice to have, but I hope I could have been informed of its arrival in the briefing so I can plan ahead. Brest-Litovsk was tough to attack from the west. I had to swing half of my force around to come in from the Northeast. Once everything is cleared up, the fortress can be taken out rather easily because of all the level bombers available. Looks like just 3 level bombings in 2 turns removed almost all its ammo. I just parked 3 armor next to it and it was reduced to 0 in just several turns. I did not use the Karl-Gerat.

Minsk was also a good challenge as half of my force was still working around Brest-Litovsk. The russian air force who showed up later didn't pose to be any threat at all. I had 1 fighter, 1 tac, and 3 level bombers showed up. Once I took all air fields, the 2 remaining russian level bombers just stayed on the map edge and never moved. Is this a bug for the AI? Also, the AI always use its artillery after its armor attacks, which is stupid. Again, AI won't do replacements for some of its units.

I had to do a lot elite replacement as many units suffered significant damage. The amount of prestige seems to be just enough.

I doubt the auxillery AAs should be provided (at least provide less). A good general should always prepare the unexpected, not to mention the russian air force wasn't much a threat anyway.

The Do 217E was supposed to help with recon but it just feels wierd. They only have 1 spotting range. They are far more useful when re-armed, e.g., to take out the ammo of the fortress.

It seems the scenario can use a few less turns. 16, 17 turns should be enough.

Smolensk: This one seemed a bit easier than the last one. The armor concentration on the outskirks of smolensk did present some problem, but I got a fleet of 2 star IVFs to deal with them and they lasted maybe 3 turns. I did lose a Inf and a Recon there though, and that is tough. Also I'm starting to have some significant flow of cash so I think the prestige can be less. It may not need 21 turns, I finished it in 14 turns.

Nice to have the captured KV-1B after taking Krasny. This is such an excellent tank to have at this stage of the war. Too bad it starts with 0 experience. I thought I would transfer my best tank crews to it if it is my best tank. How about instead of giving a new unit, allow free upgrade to it from one of my existing units. I know this may be too much trouble.

A question: How many SE units are allowed in this DLC? Is it 4?

Yup, in DLC 1941 the SE limit is increased to 4.

Thanks.

Sorry 1 more: what's the Exp Cap in this one?

Up to 375 in DLC 1941.

Gives more of a cushion for using regular reinforcements.

Thanks.

BTW, the KV-1B I got is a stealth one. It moves with absolute quietness...

Both captured units don't have the bigger unit picture on the unit details screen, you know, when alt-clicked.

Ostrov: I chose to go north. Feel a little disappointed as this one is even easier than the last one. My core units are getting stronger after every scenario, especially with the addition of the KV-1B, but the Russians are not. Yes they had a couple more KVs in this one, but the narrow width of the map means I can keep a very tight and strong front line moving north, so no suprise attacks to my weaker units. I took 12 turns to finish. The Red Air Force did a little more damage than the previous ones, which is good. The amount of prestige is mostly ok, could be somewhat less though.

Overall, this scenario has less interesting stuff than the other ones.

I thought this Bug was fixed long time ago: after a Recon made a move but didn't fire, if you move it again then backspace it, the Recon will be treated as never moved, allowing it to still do a full replacement or resupply.

Or was it a different Recon bug that was fixed.