Slitherine

DLC 43 Testing, Rommel

Kharkov 43:
In the briefing, there should be a more information on the disaster at Stalingrad. I would elaborate on paragraph 2 and change it to something like:

“As you know, our attempt to relieve our soldiers in Stalingrad, Operation Winter Tempest, has failed. The Luftwaffe simply could not deliver enough supplies to the Sixth Army. After nearly three months of being besieged, our soldiers have run out of food and ammunition and have no choice but to lay down their arms in that wretched city. What is more, the Soviets have launched another offensive codenamed ‘Little Saturn’ that threatened to cut off our forces in the Caucuses. Fortunately the sacrifice of the soldiers at Stalingrad tied down enough Soviet forces that we managed to withdraw our armies from the Caucuses and conduct an orderly fighting retreat. Now the Soviets have over-extended themselves, and an opportunity presents itself for us to counterattack and destroy the Soviet forces in Kharkov.”

I remember winning DV in Tatsinkaya and it said something like “Great work General, now our planes can continue delivering supplies to the soldiers in Stalingrad.” It is very jarring to have been so successful previously but start DLC 43 without explaining why Stalingrad could not be salvaged.

DV 18/20. A very big difference from Manstein. I lost one unit: a Stuka, which the AI shot out of the sky despite it being escorted by a fighter. Very nice work. Otherwise, the Russian land army is not a threat. The key to this map is to seize the bridgeheads ASAP and force the Russians to fight with the river penalty.

Belgorod:
Since Manstein is too tough, but Rommel is too easy, I’ll play with some extra self-imposed rules. (I don’t like Guderian as currently implemented, as the difficulty is too map-dependent. Some would be hard, like Belgorod I suspect is quite tough on Guderian, but others are quite easy, like Warsaw or Arras from previous DLCs.)

I’ll limit myself to two upgrades per scenario. Upgrades must be done in steps, e.g. Ju 87B -> Ju 87R -> Ju 87D. Upgrading out of family will count as both upgrade slots. I’ll also limit myself to two green recruits per scenario. The exception will be at the start of the Kursk line of scenarios, when I’ll allow myself 4 extra upgrades and 2 extra reinforcements, because I want to have some combination of Panthers, PzIVH, and Ju 87G for historical flavor.

Upgraded the Bf 110G to the new Me 410 because it seems like fun, and a PzIIIJ/1 to a PzIIIL. Purchased a truck-mounted 10.5 cm arty.

The German 15 cm arty really should be changed to 90% as opposed to 80% ROF. This would bring it in line with the other artillery.

Captured a T-34/41, which is sadly obsolete at this point. Disbanded it for prestige.

Easy enough scenario, did not attempt to cross the Donets except at Belgorod. AI air opposition is very good, nearly lost another stuka. AI ground units are varied and offer a reasonably tough fight. Recommend replacing the two Katyusha rockets at Yastrebovo to T-34s or AT guns, because they are useless in that defensive position. That or they need to move with the Soviet mountain troops on the attack.

Orel

Upgraded a PzIVF/2 to a PzIVG, a Ju 87B to a Ju 87R.

The last time playing a scenario on Rommel that made me smile in appreciation of its challenge was Storming Stalingrad. This exceeded my wildest expectation for something just 3 scenario in. I was expecting something like Simferopol or Novoanninsky, that this was going to be a cakewalk, how wrong I was.

I restarted once about 2 turns in when I realized that all the Orel hexes were rail stations. I did remember the briefing, but I didn’t think it would be necessary to shift my forces by rail. How wrong I was. It is imperative that at least 6-8 units be transferred on the first turn. I fought off the various Soviet attacks, which were of generally good composition. Now that the Soviets get mobile artillery, their offensive is much more powerful. The AI is still not that good with mobile artillery, but they aren’t completely useless with it. The SU-122 also has pretty good defenses and is not trivial to kill, just wait until the ISU-122.

The Soviet paratroopers surprised me. I was super paranoid about something spawning in the back, but I fought off the partisans and forgot about it. Then I moved units back to deal with the paratroopers, one of which actually ambushed me.

After defeating the Soviet attack, which included a very good mix of units, and a strong Red Air Force, I went on the counteroffensive. I was paranoid about a potential Soviet counterattack, like 2-3 T-34s hitting my half-tracks, so I advanced reasonably cautiously. I spotted a few tanks near Pozdeezo and I thought that must be the last Soviet reserves. Imagine my complete shock and surprise when many, many T-34s and Red Guards in half-tracks poured out of the fog! Gone are the days of puny Soviet counterattacks that I could laugh off. I barely fought off the attack as it was, and lost a Pz IIIN here. Those half-tracks are not as vulnerable as one particular forum post made them out to be, might I add. I shudder to think how I could’ve beaten this attack if the infantry dismounted immediately, which admittedly might be a good thing for the AI. I lost count of the number of T-34s I destroyed, and after clearing up this Soviet attack, I was left with 2 well-defended objectives short of DV.

Lost a veteran infantry and a Pz IIIN. Shouldn’t have lost the infantry, as I did not play the Orel defense optimally and lost my infantry to a surrender mechanic. Admittedly I choose to save prestige and often did not reinforce my units in this scenario, that’s how I lost the Pz IIIN. I just love seeing all those 3 star units, but I will now be forced to start losing exp...

Honestly, this could’ve been a “hard mode” scenario, and we haven’t even gotten to Kursk yet OR the years of German defeats. Do not reduce the difficulty!! After seeing this map, I do know how to get DV, and I am confident if I replay and if I don’t handicap myself I can get DV without much issue. For once, I am not saying this scenario should be buffed. MV 16/16.

I do really like the suggestion about contextual information about Stalingrad appearing in the briefing. That disaster really set the stage for what happened in '43.

Yakovlevo

Choose Kursk South path. I love armored warfare, even though I’m probably more proficient at infantry/close combat tactics. Anyway, Rommel wouldn’t want to get bogged down fighting in forests/hills, he’d just urge his tanks on.

Six upgrade slots and 4 new units, hmm.
Purchased one green Elefant for historical flavor, although I generally dislike the unit.
Purchased a green Panther D.
Purchased a new Wespe.
Ju 87D -> Ju 87G
Sherman -> Panther D (2)
Panzer IVG -> Panzer IVH
Panzer IVG -> Panzer IVH
StuG IIIF/8 -> StuG IIIG

That’s all my upgrades. Using a mixture of units, should prove interesting.

Hard battles ahead, the Soviet 15HA AT gun surprised me on numerous occasions by moving out of fortification hexes and attacking my panzers. Lost a new SE Panzer IIIL to this.

Red Air Force surprisingly active throughout the map, and those IL-2s are hard to shoot down without 14-strength FW 190s. Lost my Me-410 to marauding fighters. Love the chaotic nature of the aerial battle. The AUX Flak units are invaluable.

Breaking through the tiered defenses is not trivial, at least for my core. The most dangerous units are the 15 HA Soviet AT guns, they can and will do significant damage to any armor not covered by artillery.

There are numerous tricks you can use to increase your kill rate of AI air units. One is counting spotting hexes, and hiding your covering fighter/Flak just out of range of AI spotting range. Then when their planes attack, you get a free turn of cover fire, usually at no cost to yourself. The danger of course is if you were covering a stuka with only 1 fighter, then more AI fighters will come out and shoot down your stuka.

My Tigers/Panthers and the one Elefant annihilated all Soviet tanks without trying. This is without overstrengthing/elite reinforcing them or having heroes. The StuG IIIG is fantastic, but the older Panzer IIIs are really starting to feel their age. Various AI armored counterattacks not as strong as I expected. They could use a few more strength points, especially on those older T-34/41s.

DV 20/20, could be faster, but I advanced very cautiously.

Best aspect: Soviet Air Force, very strong, very active.
Needs improvement: Slight buff to AI ground units, especially older ones need more strength points. I did not expect to be able to make DV.

Testing is slow because I’m distracted knowing now that each DLC can have its own equipment file. Been playing around more with modding and the current released content, and very excited for what I can do in 1943...

Oboyan

Oh boy, starting with 1k prestige. Normal reinforce everything, the first time I’ve had to do that.

Panzer IIIJ/1 -> Panzer III/L
StuG IIIF/8 -> StuG IIIG
Purchased a new recon unit and a new FW 190.

256 prestige to start.

This scenario is another masterpiece. Already two masterpieces in DLC43, I can’t believe it! To describe the intensity of the action is all but impossible, but suffice to say, the AI fought tenaciously. I lost many units here, a first for a sub-Manstein difficulty. The Soviet defense in depth is very impressive, as is the Red Air Force, which dominated the skies for most of the battle. I resorted to hiding behind my Flak and sending out fighters to pick off weakened units.

Every time I thought I penetrated a Soviet defensive line, Soviet tanks would charge forth to plug the gap. I lost count of the number of tanks the Soviets threw at me, but it seemed like the Red Army just won’t stop coming. This scenario creates a great feeling of the Soviet strategy at Kursk, and it worked as well historically as it did here against me. Eventually my breakthroughs were contained and my exhausted 3-4 strength panzers simply could not forge ahead anymore.

Captured a Sherman, will disband for prestige. I like the idea of captured Shermans, I just wish they had better stats. There’s just nothing worthwhile about them (slow, low HA, its good SA and CD are even better with the PzIIIN).

MV 20/20. Could not get near Oboyan, just like in history. I’m sure with a stronger core I could win DV.

Prohkorovka

Updated to v2 Beta. I have 45 core slots to use, 5 of which are temporary, and 38 units, including 3 SE. Most of my units are exhausted in battle and are in no condition to advance. I have lost nearly all of my experience on my units. DV is clearly out of the question, but can MV be won? The Germans did win a marginal victory historically, crushing a Soviet tank army for few losses, but they could not advance after the battle. We shall see.

Breaking my own rules, as the game has proved sufficiently challenging. Purchased 3 infantry, a Fw 190F, a recon car, and a StuG IIIG. 214 prestige left.

I cannot describe in words the INSANITY AND EPICNESS OF THIS SCENARIO. No number of words can possibly do this justice. For the first time ever on a non-Manstein difficulty I lost. The truth is I must’ve lost somewhere around 20 units by turn 14. I might be able to scrap together a MV, but I decided just to endscn 2 and go test the remaining 3 scenarios. I felt I engaged perhaps 1/3 of the number of units on the map. There were so many left that it truly boggles the mind.

Yes, I didn’t have an optimized core or barely any heroes, yes, I was very low on prestige, but I destroyed DLCS 1939-1942 without trying under similar conditions, often not even trying very hard. Sure I might lose a unit here or there, and sometimes in the past I worried about making DV on time, but never have I actually felt defeated by the AI.

The number of AI units on this map is enormous, and their quality excellent. The T-34 tanks just won’t stop coming. The Red Air Force has so many planes that I could not possibly swat them out of the sky. The Il-2s in particular are devastating, as they take forever to shoot down.

This scenario is far, far harder than anything that has come before it. The difficulty is amazing. And it’s not even 1944 yet.

I suspect a player with pure Tigers/Panthers still won’t have a hard time here. However, anyone using a historic core composition will have a challenging time.

In order to win here, it is imperative that the player’s core is optimized to some extent. I think at least 6 veteran fighters and 2-3 88 flaks are needed to maintain parity in the air, possibly more. Also the player needs 2-3k prestige saved up to even attempt to win MV on this. I just ran out of prestige after losing too many units.

Admittedly I did not play perfectly by any means, or really up to my usual standards. That however is no excuse for my defeat. Many German generals like Manstein never did give enough credit to the Soviets, who improved very much by this time. Well, I didn’t give enough credit to the Soviets either, and unlike Manstein, I can own up to it.

This scenario is the ultimate panzer battle. I mean, I thought the developers couldn’t possible top themselves with Stalingrad. This scenario is the pinnacle of design. DLC43 East is thus far amazing and much more challenging. Surely this time Kerensky will be a victim of his own success! Do not nerf this scenario!!!

I think someone around here coined the phrase "Oh boy Oboyan". I rather liked that one.

As for Prokhorovka, ya we wanted to give Kursk the big finish it deserves. Largest tank battle in history should be largest tank battle in Panzer Corps. From here on out, you won't see scenarios of that size in official content anymore. Both because of its historical context and also to promote good game play and combat player fatigue, which has started to crop up because of the sheer size of their CORE.

Dnipropetrovsk

This scenario is too easy. My 0-1 star core with the odd Tiger and Panther easy won DV 9/18, half the turns needed! I expected an easy scenario, but not one so easy that after the battle was finished I saw two full Soviet armies left on the map, unengaged. Furthermore, the initial Soviet breakthrough was laughable, they have too small of a front. For the last 3 turns or so I controlled maybe 15 units out of 36, as all I needed were my planes and my artillery to secure the last VH.

I understand this scenario should be easy to give the player a chance to recover, but it shouldn’t be so easy that it felt like 1941 all over again. Historically these battles were absolutely brutal on both sides, not the cakewalk that it is now.

Suggestions:

1. Add a VH beyond the Dnieper, to force the player to actually experience the various Soviet armies.

2. Add numerous Bridge Engineers and paratroopers for the Soviets. Both were used historically. The bridge engineers can be preplaced but show up as triggered reinforcements. Something needs to be done to allow more Soviets over the Dnieper.

3. Reduce German strongpoints to 5 strength. They are too hard to breach currently.

I loved the difficulty on all of the scenarios up until this one. Way too easy and hence bored me greatly. Buff this scenario!

Kremenchug
A significantly harder scenario than the previous one. I fell back behind the Dnieper and defended there, and even so it was relatively difficult, mostly because I lacked experienced fighters to contest the Soviet air power, and maybe of my weaker units were hit repeatedly. Generally exciting defense. Lost a good number of units, although almost all of them were to Soviet planes.

The naval attack was very easy to fend off, too easy I think. I recommend removing the two AUX infantry units in the area and placing some of the Soviet ships by land on the first turn, so they can land immediately. Otherwise the naval invasion is simply not a threat.

Again a few paratroopers would be nice to see. This is also historic, and will at least force the player to pull a few units off the River to deal with those rear-area units.

This is about the difficulty the previous scenario should’ve been.

MV 18/18.

Kiev43

Another masterpiece, this is one hell of a defensive scenario. I played out of my mind in this scenario, and my defense of Kiev was truly masterful... as long as my prestige lasted, which was not long at all. If I had another 2k prestige, I probably could’ve won DV, or at least MV quite comfortably, but as it was I could not even afford the repair bill on my tanks, and soon enough I was forced to abandon Kiev. My southern task force did very well, clearing out the Soviet paratroopers without much problem. I was quite shocked at the quantity of Soviet troops though, and it certainly did take a while to defeat them.

My major complaint with this scenario is that the AI needs to be scripted better. The assault on Kiev was overwhelming, but the Soviets had so many units there that it was easy to just force them to surrender over and over again, as they love to place their good KV and T-34 tanks in close terrain. As long as I had disposable infantry, Kiev was easy to hold. More importantly, it seems 75% of the Soviet armor just sat around uselessly for the first 8 turns or so, which is just silly.

The Soviets would do much better for the Soviets to hold some tanks in reserve and to send a lot more armor reinforcements down to assist their paratrooper operation. The Kiev assault should be done with mostly infantry and several more artillery, along with a few tanks. This would make the scenario more interesting.

I only played 13 turns, but after revealing the fog of war I was shocked to discover I actually killed off almost all the Soviet T-34s. They only had a few SU-76s and a few of the heavier tanks (JS1, SU-152) left over, along with a massive horde of infantry that I could not hope to overcome. I was down about 15 core units with another 10 or so sitting at 2-3 strength and I lacked the prestige to repair them. I also started this scenario with pretty much all 0-1 star units.

DLC 43East Conclusion:

I am satisfied with the difficulty of nearly all the scenarios, except for Dnipropetrovsk which needs a massive buff. This is truly the DLC for epic battles, from the German counterstroke at Kharkov to the tank battles of Kursk to the desperate defense of the Dnieper. One wonders what the Soviet offensives will look like in 1944 and 1945.

One big area of improvement should be writing more text for the victory and defeat screens. After playing for hours for a scenario and finally eking out a win, I want to see more than 2-3 lines of generic “Good work Herr General” text. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but it would be nice to see after say a DV at Prohkorovka that “Despite your complete victory over the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army, it is simply not possible for us to exploit your success. The Americans and British have landed in Sicily, forcing High Command to divert resources to contain their landings. Furthermore, the Soviets have launched another massive offensive at Orel, threatening Army Group Center. We also received word that the Soviets are planning a massive offensive along the lower Dnieper at Zaporozhye. We are literally out of strategic reserves and must fall back to defend against these new Soviet attacks.” It would not take more than more 15-30 minutes of research/writing per scenario to produce some better lines.

I pretty much agree with everything dedecter wrote about Dnepro, I nearly finished that one by accident at turn 6, but realised just in time that the SE major flag was the only one not under my controll.

The strongpoints held on long enough to get some artillery to them and from then on it quickly turned into a turkey shot followed up by counterattacks all over the place especially with the weather staying fine at first.

The Soviet counterattacks were a bit too weak, too, but following a potentially hard scenario that is ok I think.