Help with Manstein difficulty.
Moderators: Slitherine Core, Panzer Corps Moderators, Panzer Corps Design
Help with Manstein difficulty.
So I have played the DLC-s on Guderian,Rommel, was hard at start but I adapted and had most DVs.On Manstein however, Im still in DLC1940.I had to replay Arras scenario a couple of times, and barely made a marginal victory. My problem is destroying units, its very hard to destroy them on Manstein, especially when they have over 15 STr, some have over 20 str. Infantry is causing most of the problems, they decimate my tanks even with artillery support behind them. Should I use 7.5 artillery more to protect vs infantry? I can soften tanks up fast with stuka/bf109/me110 and destroy them, but infantry is a real pain.
Fighting off the 15 strength AI hordes can be very tricky, especially when your units are inferior. The most critical thing often is to make sure you kill a unit, and not force it to retreat with 1 strength and leave it to reinforce back to 15. Make sure when planning on killing a unit to have enough assets available to finish off the enemy. Sometimes it is wise to keep a stuka in reserve just for this.
If you don't have enough units to kill the enemy, try to make sure you don't force it to retreat, but keep 1-2 units near it, so the AI can't reinforce fully. Sometimes it is best to keep an AI unit next to yours this turn so you can kill it next turn.1
Take advantage of surrender mechanics. The AI tends to blunder its units in groups up to you, which is a golden opportunity to exploit.
For enemy infantry, either attack with panzers in the clear, or force it onto close terrain, suppress it with artillery, then hit it with your own infantry. Unless the enemy is at 1-2 strength, generally I try to fight infantry on infantry battles in close terrain with artillery support, since they shoot at each other's close defense. Sometimes it is best not to force an entrenched enemy to retreat. For instance, say an infantry has entrenchment 3 in a forest. I hit it once with artillery, attack with an infantry, then hit it again with artillery and attack with a second infantry. Hitting it twice with artillery then attacking will force the AI's unit to retreat, which is not necessarily desirable.
You will take losses. Fortunately, you should have enough prestige to replenish 2-3 units a scenario and still be able to elite reinforce/overstrength during deployment.
Just out of curiosity, did you play Spoils of War on Manstein?
If you don't have enough units to kill the enemy, try to make sure you don't force it to retreat, but keep 1-2 units near it, so the AI can't reinforce fully. Sometimes it is best to keep an AI unit next to yours this turn so you can kill it next turn.1
Take advantage of surrender mechanics. The AI tends to blunder its units in groups up to you, which is a golden opportunity to exploit.
For enemy infantry, either attack with panzers in the clear, or force it onto close terrain, suppress it with artillery, then hit it with your own infantry. Unless the enemy is at 1-2 strength, generally I try to fight infantry on infantry battles in close terrain with artillery support, since they shoot at each other's close defense. Sometimes it is best not to force an entrenched enemy to retreat. For instance, say an infantry has entrenchment 3 in a forest. I hit it once with artillery, attack with an infantry, then hit it again with artillery and attack with a second infantry. Hitting it twice with artillery then attacking will force the AI's unit to retreat, which is not necessarily desirable.
You will take losses. Fortunately, you should have enough prestige to replenish 2-3 units a scenario and still be able to elite reinforce/overstrength during deployment.
Just out of curiosity, did you play Spoils of War on Manstein?