DLC 44 Impressions
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 3:10 pm
Hello,
I just changed the clock of my PC to be able to finish this DLC this afternoon. This works but bothers my anti-virus (when you reboot you have to change the year back otherwise your anti-virus is suddenly out of date so I strongly advise to purchase DLCs for the peace of mind), anyway I just wanted to finish the playtesting before purchasing the DLC.
As you already know in my previous post I finished DLC 45 first before even starting DLC 44.
So it took me a couple of nights to play the whole DLC 44 at Leutnant level with 30.000 prestige points (I played DLC 45 at Sergeant level with a pre-defined core).
First impression: excellent work!
Even in DLC 43, confirmed in this DLC and of course in DLC 45 I think the Wehrmacht is struggling at a ratio of 1 to 3.
Those DLCs shows up how impossible a victory for Germany was as far as the war went on.
My two preferred scenarios are Narva and Warsaw uprising (only one leader "Bor Komorowski" although the scenario intro file mentions "destroy all leaders").
Warsaw uprising was a little jewel, watching the Soviets doing nothing shows up how Polish resistants should feel at this period of their history...
It shows up how important infantry is in our core forces (my newly purchased engineers could nothing againts strong entrenched and experienced Polish infantry units, I had to use my tigers in the city, needless to say I lost two of them).
Minsk 44 and Vilna were too long for me (one of them is 30 turns!) but it increases game immersion.
Korsun pocket was great too with the escort of Ju 52s, I failed because I just forgot to escort the last aircraft while I was focused on ground battle, how stupid I was!
I was unable to get a decisive victory in Budapest (everywhere else -except Korsun pocket due to distraction- I could get it thx to the prestige gained by cheat hotkeys).
It is always sad to see highly experienced units die by lack of ammo when surrounded by massive Soviet armies.
I know Siltherine has already answered but it is sad scenarios cannot be played as standalone ones.
Here after my DV in Warsaw I was sent to Budapest so I never played "Return to Kishinev".
In DLC 43 we had the possibility to select infantry or tank battles in the campaign thus selecting a specific campaign path in a certain way, it was historically justified and was a great added-value in terms of replayability for this campaign.
In this case (DLC 43) I can better understand why scenarios are not playable as standalone, but in DLCs 44 and 45 the standalone mode would have been fine, just my standpoint.
I like the defensive scenarios running the risk to lose your core forces.
The absence of numerous AUX units increases the risk to lose the CORE forces.
The limit of German forces on the battlefield is a great thing, otherwise we lose the historical coherency.
I just wonder if any play uses heavy bombers in its core forces.
I replaced all my Stukas with Me 410.
Bf 110G is great too to destroy tanks and infantry!
I also like the possibility to import its core forces (and prestige) from one campaign to another one (what I did from DLC43 to DLC44).
Maybe 44 and 45 DLCs could have included what if scenarios, alternate history in case of DVs in specific battles.
Anyway this was a great campaign but I prefer DLC43 maybe because in 1943 I feel I can hope for a victory, in 44 and 45 "the toast is roasted!" and you only fight for survival trying to save your core forces.
Congrats to the team for this splendid work!
NB: a long time ago I had DLC41 but never had time to begin Barbarossa (I just finished Creta and had no time to go any further), I regret I never finished this DLC. I just have to purchase it! One thing is certain from 1943 on the nr of Soviet units is huge, am I right when I say the ratio is 1 vs 3 ?
I would be delighted to playtest the AK campaign!
I hope patch v 1.6 should be available to the standard game when AK will become purchasable.
I just changed the clock of my PC to be able to finish this DLC this afternoon. This works but bothers my anti-virus (when you reboot you have to change the year back otherwise your anti-virus is suddenly out of date so I strongly advise to purchase DLCs for the peace of mind), anyway I just wanted to finish the playtesting before purchasing the DLC.
As you already know in my previous post I finished DLC 45 first before even starting DLC 44.
So it took me a couple of nights to play the whole DLC 44 at Leutnant level with 30.000 prestige points (I played DLC 45 at Sergeant level with a pre-defined core).
First impression: excellent work!
Even in DLC 43, confirmed in this DLC and of course in DLC 45 I think the Wehrmacht is struggling at a ratio of 1 to 3.
Those DLCs shows up how impossible a victory for Germany was as far as the war went on.
My two preferred scenarios are Narva and Warsaw uprising (only one leader "Bor Komorowski" although the scenario intro file mentions "destroy all leaders").
Warsaw uprising was a little jewel, watching the Soviets doing nothing shows up how Polish resistants should feel at this period of their history...
It shows up how important infantry is in our core forces (my newly purchased engineers could nothing againts strong entrenched and experienced Polish infantry units, I had to use my tigers in the city, needless to say I lost two of them).
Minsk 44 and Vilna were too long for me (one of them is 30 turns!) but it increases game immersion.
Korsun pocket was great too with the escort of Ju 52s, I failed because I just forgot to escort the last aircraft while I was focused on ground battle, how stupid I was!
I was unable to get a decisive victory in Budapest (everywhere else -except Korsun pocket due to distraction- I could get it thx to the prestige gained by cheat hotkeys).
It is always sad to see highly experienced units die by lack of ammo when surrounded by massive Soviet armies.
I know Siltherine has already answered but it is sad scenarios cannot be played as standalone ones.
Here after my DV in Warsaw I was sent to Budapest so I never played "Return to Kishinev".
In DLC 43 we had the possibility to select infantry or tank battles in the campaign thus selecting a specific campaign path in a certain way, it was historically justified and was a great added-value in terms of replayability for this campaign.
In this case (DLC 43) I can better understand why scenarios are not playable as standalone, but in DLCs 44 and 45 the standalone mode would have been fine, just my standpoint.
I like the defensive scenarios running the risk to lose your core forces.
The absence of numerous AUX units increases the risk to lose the CORE forces.
The limit of German forces on the battlefield is a great thing, otherwise we lose the historical coherency.
I just wonder if any play uses heavy bombers in its core forces.
I replaced all my Stukas with Me 410.
Bf 110G is great too to destroy tanks and infantry!
I also like the possibility to import its core forces (and prestige) from one campaign to another one (what I did from DLC43 to DLC44).
Maybe 44 and 45 DLCs could have included what if scenarios, alternate history in case of DVs in specific battles.
Anyway this was a great campaign but I prefer DLC43 maybe because in 1943 I feel I can hope for a victory, in 44 and 45 "the toast is roasted!" and you only fight for survival trying to save your core forces.
Congrats to the team for this splendid work!
NB: a long time ago I had DLC41 but never had time to begin Barbarossa (I just finished Creta and had no time to go any further), I regret I never finished this DLC. I just have to purchase it! One thing is certain from 1943 on the nr of Soviet units is huge, am I right when I say the ratio is 1 vs 3 ?
I would be delighted to playtest the AK campaign!
I hope patch v 1.6 should be available to the standard game when AK will become purchasable.