DLC 42 West 10B- Salerno Counter attack

[Kerensky]

Things to be aware of:
Designed as the 'hard' path of the campaign, this scenario should be suitably challenging. Difficulty tuning here is paramount. The somewhat static nature of the Supply Dumps might change to random placement though, to keep players on their toes.

[Kamerer]

10b) Salerno Landing-Landing (? – see "problems" below) – beta 1

Level: Field Marshal
Prestige - Begin: 675. End: 1,750. Net: +1,075.
Result: DV at 17/17
Replacements: Mix of regular and elite to keep mostly artillery and tank units in the game, air did not suffer as badly as in Salerno Landing.

Core changes: Disbanded Pz.II/L and FlaK 88 for prestige.

Problems:

• · The game thinks this is also called “Salerno Landing” and tries to save the game over the prior scenario. Need to rename scenario – I realize it is supposed to be ‘Salerno Counter-Attack,’ (or how about, “Salerno Assault” – simpler and slightly alliterative) - but the game doesn’t call it that.
  · Minor text error in briefing, posted it in text thread.

General impressions/comments:

• · Good scenario, nicely paced and balanced.
  · The air here was much more manageable than in Salerno Landing.
  · Grabbed DV (all hexes taken/map cleared) at last turn.
  · I repaired my core afterwards deploying for the next scenario – I have already fought it (Volturno) via the Catanzaro/Taranto path. I did this to compare the effect on the core. Apples to apples, my core is slightly weaker on a few units (-100 or so experience/-1 strength on a few units), but my prestige is also net minus 2,700 (!) from choosing the Salerno path. E.G. - starting Volturno with 3,200 via Catanzaro, 500 via Salerno with equipment/core equal.
  · Perhaps do three things: a) slightly down-scale fighters and one or two fewer bombers in Salerno Landing, b) add some booty on the beach at Salerno to capture and trade-in for prestige, and c) up the prestige in the two Salerno scenarios. The difference between going the two paths is too large, and really brutal as-is on the Salerno path.

Thoughts about the Campaign:

• · The switch to fighting some small-scale “brushfires” and detailed tactical maps is a welcome switch; nice touch
  · By Sicily/Salerno, though, the player/General is now fighting what are in reality theater-decisive scale battles, but still with a small core. Also, the small scale really prevents the development of new units. Looking over my core at the end, it’s unbalanced with “super-star” units I imported, and generally green/weak ones I purchased or received. There was never enough prestige around to sufficiently build new infantry, armor, air and keep earned experience or earn hero bonuses on the new units.
  · This might pose a problem going forward to larger battles – unless future west campaigns keep to a similar small scale. Perhaps a few more unit slots available, or reinforcements come with some more experience on them?

[monkspider]

Salerno Counter-attack

Marginal victory, turn 17/17

This time I said, damn the torpedoes, I am investing heavily in anti-air. I bought a second fighter to replace one that was lost, and an 88 FLAK. My strategy was to send my ace fighter along with a strategic bomber down to attack the American navy while an infantry heavy force approaches from the north. While a Panzer heavy force would advance from the east. The strategy worked quite well, I destroyed the navy before it could do much damage and to my shock, I actually gained air supremacy eventually. My anti-air proved quite useful for softening up enemy units for my other fighters to finish off. Due to the investment in anti-air, my force lacked the oomph to try to push toward the two southern objectives. This is another scenario that would benefit from a couple more unit slots. Overall, an excellent scenario!

[Kamerer]

Salerno Counter-Attack –beta 2, stock core.

Field Marshal, DV 17/20
Begin pp: 200. End: 850. Net: +650
2nd time (see below) Begin pp:200. End: 1,400. Net: +1,200, DV at 18/20

Problems: Did not find any capture as noted in changelog. All hexes taken/map cleared.

Observations:

• Had DV same time as first play; felt the same.
• Comparing core state at Volturno start vs. Italian path, down 3,200pp via Salerno path. (2,400 prestige alone, 800 value of capture from Taranto). Seems too much? Would have to start Volturno w/0 prestige and some units understrength via this path.

I had saved the game at turn 7, when back and played in ‘rommel’ mode - me, not the game - being stingy with replacements and going slower, retiring units instead of repairing. First time I had not noticed the 3-turn lengthening of the scenario, so I hadn’t realized I had extra time - I look at the changelog after I play so as to not pre-bias my playing – so this was me not paying attention. I managed to save an additional 550pp as you can see, and take less damage, and finish with a DV at 18/20. That let me fully strengthen for Volturno and not have to cash in my Ju-88 purchased for this scenario. I had no strat bomber coming in; had to sadly cash in my He177 for prestige long ago.

Suggestions:

• Add 200pp bonus for each supply dump destroyed
• Add capture(s) to balance vs. those in Taranto (maybe a little more, actually) I see after the game this is in the changelog, so maybe a glitch? I would suggest a Long Tom, M18, and M4A3.

[ThvN]

beta 2

Colonel, DV 14/20
Prestige: deployed with 2591, after reinforcing 991. Ended with 2177 (3077 incl. DV bonus). I did not get the capturable unit because I took Agropoli on my last turn.

The amount of troops you can deploy seems a bit on the low side to cover everything, good spotting helps a lot on this map.

Salerno gave me lots of trouble, because the allied ships could suppress my infantry and artillery. This can mean losing a unit to a counterattack from a weakened allied unit after it is fully suppressed. I had a strong airforce but no strategic bombers, so I could clear the skies with careful positioning and luring them into my AAA, but most ships lasted until the end of the scenario. At Salerno, I had to withdraw out of range and completely reinforce two attacking infantry and artillery halfway through the siege. If I had had a strat bomber it would have been less painful, but I never bought one, considering the strong allied air presence in all the Italy scenarios. But here the allied airforce gave me far less trouble than in Salerno Landing, I could even start using my planes for scouting and ground attack after a while, so using a strategic bomber would have been very feasible.

[Zhivago]

I won a DV at Salerno, wiped out all of the enemy units, and captured all hexes. As such, the Salerno German counter-attack scenario obviously feels out-of-place. My first reaction to seeing the board was, "Hey, I just took all of this stuff--why do I have to win it all back? I think that a DV at Salerno should skip the player past this scenario just for the sake of realism.

[Kamerer]

Salerno Counter-attack, beta 3 – imported core

Field Marshal, DV 17/20
Begin pp: 3,950. End: 6,325. Net: +2,375.

Swimming in prestige now – well, relative to before. It seems about right now vs. past games from my perspective. Enough I could get a win on Rommel w/o radical pain, and generous enough for a beginning player to make mistakes.

I did not see any significant changes in the changelog re: Catanzaro, Taranto, Volturno, so I'll not play them this beta unless you need.