Slitherine

Hello everyone!
New user here. Been trying the Demo and waiting for the full version which should arrive in my mailbox tomorrow (bought it from a local online store when i saw it). Not sure why it took me this long to find the game as I used to be an avid fan of turn based ww2 games.
Anyway, I was having a look at the DLCs and was wondering if I should play the vanilla game from start to finish then buy up the DLCs or should I jump right into the advanced features/AI of the DLCs?
Loving the demo, I am having the same fun I had all those years ago!
Cheers to you guys for remaking such a classic

Any advice for a newbie is appreciate

The DLCs are very good products, and if you like the game, you won't be disappointed with them. The only thing is, the DLCs are so good, if you play them first, you will probably be bored by the stock campaign. So if you want to play both, you probably should play the vanilla game first.

Thanks for that, is what I figured would be the case. i just can not decide whether I want more gaming overall or less but better quality lol.

Is there an inherent difficulty level difference between vanilla and the DLCs?

Overall i think the DLC's are a bit tougher and can provide a challenge at the harder difficulties. They are winnable but getting through with your original core in good shape can be tricky. I can see a new player having a very tough time at Field Marshall level in the DLC's, especially 42
There are certainly some tough scenarios in the original too but if your successful you can skip some of the disastrous battles in 44 and 43. I think theres more strategy involved in playing the original campaign. You have to move fast and race the clock so Germany has time to consolidate its gains and prepare for more ambitious conquests. The DLC's are more linnear and historical where you focus more on destroying the enemies army at a tactical level in any given scenario so you can continue on.

The original campaign can feel a bit short if you acheive all your objectives in record time. If thats the case theres plenty of fun and fighting ahead in the grand campaign (maybe 10 times more battles). I'm only just starting the 43 DLC

Think I will thrash out vanilla first, no sense skipping any content.

Venge, how did you end up finding about the game?

Venge wrote:Is there an inherent difficulty level difference between vanilla and the DLCs?

There stock campaign and the DLCs got a very different feeling to them. In the stock campaigns most of the difficulty comes from racing the clock as in achieving the victory in time. Beating the opposition is usually not that hard, with a few notable exceptions like Bagration or some of the scenarios including naval invasions. The DLC on the other hands are much less about the clock but more about actually fending off the enemy. The time limit rarely is the problem but instead, especially in Russia, the hordes of enemies you get to beat.

All in all both the stock campaign and the DLCs can be quite challenging but in a different way.

VPaulus wrote:Venge, how did you end up finding about the game?

Hmm, I just replied to this and hit submit but can not see if it posted anywhere.
Might be double posting but i found this game on a New Zealand based online gaming store called Mighty Ape. Just spotted it while browsing their site and recognized the similarities to the games I used to play years ago. Ordered it and then did some internet searched and found this site
Feel free to delete out the store I named if you so desire.

Tarrak wrote:

Venge wrote:Is there an inherent difficulty level difference between vanilla and the DLCs?

There stock campaign and the DLCs got a very different feeling to them. In the stock campaigns most of the difficulty comes from racing the clock as in achieving the victory in time. Beating the opposition is usually not that hard, with a few notable exceptions like Bagration or some of the scenarios including naval invasions. The DLC on the other hands are much less about the clock but more about actually fending off the enemy. The time limit rarely is the problem but instead, especially in Russia, the hordes of enemies you get to beat.

All in all both the stock campaign and the DLCs can be quite challenging but in a different way.

Good to know, thanks for the info. Looking forward to giving it all a go.

Then when you got your mojo going, jump into the multiplayer. Pick a scenario (I love steamroller vs steel), play it a few times solo to get a feel for it, then join in on the fun. It amazes me how much I learn about tactics and what works and what doesn't. You will get an education the first few times.

Definitely will look into some multiplayer action once I get my head around the game.

Venge, I'm in the exact same boat. Just found out about this game and bought the base version. Figured I'd play through that first at least once before I tried the DLC.

Actually stumbled on this game accidentally in a local shop

At this stage I am playing the game at an easier level, Vanilla Version, so I can get a feel of it. I then will turn up the levels of difficulty. Then I will add the DLC stuff

The best way to get the most from the game is to visit the Scenario Design part of the forum and utilize some of the mods that are offered. They change the entire game from graphics, campaigns, scenarios, statistics, land and map presentations and everything else from top to bottom. THEY ARE ALL FREE AND MOST ANYONE ON THAT BRANCH OF THE FORUM WILL DO EVERYTHING TO HELP YOU AND HELP YOU LEARN TO USE THEM AND GET THE MOST OUT OF THEM. THERE ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS ON THAT PART OF THE FORUM.

If he is not the most civil and helpful giving moderator in the world, VPaulus certainly is on Scenario Design. There is a plethora of willing mod makers and knowledgeable PzC enthusiasts who will do the same for you there too.

I also stumbled onto this game rather "accidentally" a few months ago. I have bad a ball since then.

I think the "play vanilla" then play DLC is good advice. Both play differently; be aware briefings and prestige play differently between the two. There is a post somewhere in the stickies on that point (wish I had found it before playing all the DLC/GCs!). If I find it I will come back and link it.

But a visceral, battlefield level comment I have is to study the unit characteristics. Until you can look at a unit you have as well as an enemy unit and know it's relative hard/soft combat abilities, movement radius IN VARIOUS TERRAIN/WEATHER, zone of control effects, etc., keep right-clicking and studying. Also use "esc" to pull up the library and look at the terrain and movement effects on different classes. There is a ton of interesting, accurate subtlety built into the game. Studying it and learning it is a big part of the fun. Frankly, once you know all this, destroying the AI is easy at the hardest level rather quickly. But still fun.

Another thing I find immensely fun is to basically link the game to Wikipedia (not literally, but figuratively). I can be playing a river crossing in GC '43 and I'll go look up the river, the town, etc. in Ukraine or NE Russia. Read about it, history geography, etc. Or just go read about the Demyansk pocket before/during playing that scenario. Fascinating. And of course, equipment - reading the real subtleties of the MkIV variants or Panther, etc. is interesting (to me at least!). Fun to link the game to facts on line and see how well the developers/designers captured things (pretty impressive to me, frankly).

I get a big kick out of this as I was a history student a long time before taking a different career path. Doing these things, to me, links the game to reality and makes a very interesting experience. So to me, "getting the most from the game" involves more than which path you take in playing, but exploring the vast wealth of equipment, geography, historical chronology, etc. that has been replicated. Really impressive to me (I'm not a very experienced computer gamer. I've played StarCraft years ago, and the BBC simplistic "battlefield Academy" online - that was how I found this game circuitously). That's about it in the last 12 years. But this is a ton of fun.

Having said that, what I found "fun" was playing the 1st Poland scenario several times. I played it through on the Col. level twice, found it manageable. Set it at "Field Marshall" and played it until I could get a decisive consistently (six or eight tries?). Then I played everything on FM from then on. I really found that satisfying; I did not wonder if there was something harder or I was "taking it easy." And honestly, I think a person approaching the game seriously can get the hang of FM play quickly.

I have not played multiplayer yet; I'm sure that will be a new, humbling experience.

Edit: Ah, here it is:

the sticky from Kerensky about DLC vs. main game:

viewtopic.php?f=121&t=29134

the main game teaches you to finish in a time constraint to advance - dv ms. mv dictate success and camaign path. the DLC is not that way. You generally have ALL the prestige you need, and a dv vs. an mv is never really important. So a big lesson is to understand this and to play the GC games differently than the core game. I had trouble adapting for a while.

Awesome advice guys, thanks!
So much to learn but I will slowly get through it all. A lot of the units seem to have similar attributes to the old panzer general series so I do have a decent head start on having a feel for the various units. Some things have changed though, so i need to pay attention
I seem to be loving strategic bombers this time around, where as before I had stukas covering the map like bees.

There are so many Mods it seems quite daunting. The game is so new it is hard to get a grasp on what Mods would be good to use.

Some folks love strat bombers; others love tac. I've played both ways and I find tac way more useful. But I know others differ! Keep in mind the modification/upgrade tree. A Bf110 goes up the chain to an ME410. A strat bomber becomes flaming tinder by '43 when allied air becomes ascendant and suffers horribly w/o costly escort. It depends upon which branch (core game or GC) you are playing, what time in the war, etc.

A path I loved was the 2nd time through the GC, I upgraded my Stukas to Me410s when they became available. Dovetailed nicely with the increasing effectiveness of Soviet air power, so I had the dual fighter/bomber effect. This really helped me maintain air dominance whereas before I was struggling with ground unit vs. air unit allocation, and defending those Stukas. With the wide deployment of IS tanks and IS-152 SPAs, etc starting mid-43, the dive-bombers become critical to help the panzers.

What do you mean "mods?" Models? of equipment?

Kamerer wrote:What do you mean "mods?" Models? of equipment?

all the enhancements to the game people have programmed and made available for us to use, as per this thread viewtopic.php?f=147&t=27036
I have used mods on different games, but have not got my head around what ones to use here yet.