DLC '45 West #01: St. Vith

[VPaulus]

Please post here your comments about this scenario.

[billmv44]

General level, standard core. Ending prestige 3936.

The American units are tough, but too few in number to hold up the German advance. DV on 13/14. The balance seems about right. I really like the V-1s. A good innovation for the game. If you do Pacific Corps, that type of unit will translate to Kamikazes nicely.

A nice start to the '45 campaign.

[semper_fidelis]

Running Windows 8.

Finding a lot of sound files are not playing and some animations are not as well. The Americans seem particularly affected by this. The 31st 3 inch AAA battery never had any sound, either in defense or in attack. Game locked up on turn three.

V-1s work really nicely and I look forward to using them again.

[taffjones]

Like the V1's, but the briefing say's to use them immedietly when it would be better to say "use them within X amount of turns or they will run out of fuel"
I used them in the first two turns before I was able to attack the entrenched positions.
Also lost 2 units - A Puma and Pnr Grn but couldn't replace them, because the commando's were shown as core units (Gold outline around the strength indicator)but didn't carry over to the 2nd senario, they should be Aux units.
May be the briefing could reflect the fact that at the end of this senario you will have a choice of routes to take (For whose like me who some times forget to save the game at the end turn) maybe like "Depending on your success in this battle the options for the diretion of our advance will increase"
Overall a nice start - some may say itsto easy but I think this reflects the surprise element the Germans achived.

[Balois]

Pretty straight forward offensive. Germans seem really powerful, but you have to cross a fair amount of territory to accomplishe the DV. I was able to DV on Turn 14 and with better play probably by 12. The lack of an airfield in the north until you take the main objective hexs slows down the offensive. As previously noted the explaination on the V1's needs to be clarified. I elected to not use them all on the first turn but wan't sure that they would still be there on turn 2. An enjoyable scenario.

[Moltke71]

I question the V1s - ahistorical to the point of sci-fi. I do appreciate the German supply problems.

[LostAgain]

Not sure if I missed something...I have restarted several times and haven't been offered the option of importing my core? Is this intentional?

[ThvN]

Not sure if I missed something...I have restarted several times and haven't been offered the option of importing my core? Is this intentional?

I can import my core without problems. Do you have a suitable core file from DLC '44 west in the right directory?

[Moltke71]

Not sure if I missed something...I have restarted several times and haven't been offered the option of importing my core? Is this intentional?

I can import my core without problems. Do you have a suitable core file from DLC '44 west in the right directory?

That's a question I'vee been having. Could somebody please do a step-by-step for importing core? Thanks.

[ThvN]

That's a question I'vee been having. Could somebody please do a step-by-step for importing core? Thanks.

Well, first of all, you need to have finished the DLC '44 West campaign, after you have finished it the core is saved automatically. On my PC, the saved cores are in the directory \My Documents\My Games\Panzer Corps\SaveCore , they are files with the .pzcor extension. If you have a suitable file the program will ask you when you start the new DLC if you want to import a new core. If you have several files (if you have played through the DLC '44 West multiple times) it will ask you which file you want to import. I've never had any problems with this system, and I've succesfully imported a core for the DLC '45 West beta which I'm using right now.

If you do not have a core file, you can also just start the beta campaign, and use the cheat codes (see viewtopic.php?f=121&t=25990) to modify prestige levels and experience stats, you can even buy or upgrade units, only this way you'll miss the special bonus units you may have gathered during the previous DLC's and heroes.

[Moltke71]

Thanks.

[LostAgain]

Just noticed that the possibility now exists for heroes to be granted multiple bonuses...a great idea and long overdue! Why indeed would a great leader be limited to just one extra ability? Kudos!

[Kamerer]

1) St. Vith – beta 1

Level: Rommel, imported corps
Prestige - Begin: 1,750. End: 2,300. Net: +550
Result: DV 13/14
No replacements used.

• Core changes, Purchased:
  
  2x recon 234
  4x Gerbirgsjager ‘43
  1x 21cm artillery

Problems:

• In Campaign splash, says “its” when should be “it’s” Campaign menu, not scenario menu.
• In scenario briefing, 2nd para. Says “Watch” am Rhein. Needs to be “Wacht.”
• In scenario briefing, 4th para should be “against well entrenched targets.”
• Skorzeny’s “Rangers”? That’s a uniquely American term. Commando is ok or just Fj (Fallshirmjager).
• V1’s have 1 spotting ability. Should be 0 I think?
• Unclear about SE experience? Says cap is 325; mine went out above that/whatever they came in at.

General impressions/comments:

• Briefing was thorough and clear, other than minor grammar noted above.
• I bypassed Steinebruck, took rest of map.
• Felt good, fairly historical
• It does feel weird to be using V1s as tactical weapons though – being able to hit point targets instead of area targets. Nice touch to have them, but may make them effective only against urban targets/area targets if possible? I was able to use them as recon; don't think that should be.

[tnourie]

I attacked Schoenburg with a V1 (before doing anything else) and after the battle, it showed a new Allied ARTY unit to the north of the city. This should probably not happen, as there were no cameras or pilots on any rockets used by the Nazi's.

[monkspider]

St Vith
General Level
Imported Core
Starting prestige 4000
Ending Prestige 1200
DV on 14/14

First of all, a huge THANK YOU for allowing me to once again be part of the beta-tester team. Getting that email invite on Friday night is always an awesome way to start my weekend.

Secondly, the idea of actually reducing the experience cap is brilliant and very accurately represents the ragtag types of units that the Germans were using on the Westen front. The only problem is that it seems to be bugged. I still have a number of units that are 4-5 stars, and the core I imported was absolutely beat to hell. I don't remember ALL of my units being so damaged after the last Arnhem scenario. Maybe my memory is wrong, but anyone else have this experience?

Thirdly, I loved the writing in the scenario briefing. You know how everyone wants you to go back and remake the earlier Grand Campaigns with the new gameplay mechanics? What I really want you to do is rewrite all the old briefings with your improved writing style and historical notes. The old ones were always at least decent and often even quite good (I replayed DLC 42 recently and love the Stalingrad briefings), but since we have started the West DLCs, you have really had a sharp increase in quality.

Fourthly, the V1 weapons were a hoot and a half to use. I use them to soften up some of those tough looking anti-tank guns, and the entrenched infantry in cities right at the beginning, which allowed my units to get off to a galloping start. It is rare to see new units added in a DLC, so this is a very unexpected treat!

Finally, the scenario itself was a brilliantly crafted opener. I had to really stretch to reach the last few objectives after St. Vith, but I managed to pull it off on the last turn. Some of those entrenched troops were a pain to clear out, and I took higher losses than I wanted to because I knew time was of the essence.

Other than the possible bug mentioned earlier, sehr wunderbar!

[Moltke71]

I attacked Schoenburg with a V1 (before doing anything else) and after the battle, it showed a new Allied ARTY unit to the north of the city. This should probably not happen, as there were no cameras or pilots on any rockets used by the Nazi's.

You're joking, of course. V1s were only able to target things such as large cities like London and Antwerp. A few were targeted at the Normandy beaches days after the landings but did little damage. None were used during the Bulge.

In St. Vith, they act like cruise missiles when, in fact, they had the accuracy of pop bottle rockets.

[zappel]

• Skorzeny’s “Rangers”? That’s a uniquely American term. Commando is ok or just Fj (Fallshirmjager).

I Think they should be displayed as rangers because some of Skorzenys units used american uniforms and equipment (M10, M3 Halftrack, M8, M20 and two Shermans http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unternehmen_Greif / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Greif). Perhaps the name could be changed in german like "Kommando Skorzeny" or "Kommand Greif"?

[ThvN]

St. Vith

Colonel. Imported/customized core. Did not try the stock core. Played three times with different core setups:

One with powerful imported core, incl. air and AAA units deployed, had 'normal' snowfall (four turns not-snowing) , managed DV 12/14, quite costly but no units killed.

Second with same powerful core but this time no AAA and more infantry etc., had heavier snow (two turns not-snowing), still DV 11/14, some units badly hurt. Took all hexes, detroyed all AI units.

Third with a similar core as previous but slightly downgraded (ex.: couple of Pz IV/StuG IV, max. one Tiger II/Jagdpanther, etc.) and prestige reset to stock campaign level (6500) this time had very little snow (three or four turns?), DV 10/14, light losses. All hexes occupied/AI wiped out.

Note that I dropped a strength 14 paratrooper near Born (9,1), which inflicted a lot of damage and probably saved me at least a turn, maybe two. With 'normal' snow levels DV would still be possible but would take 12-13 turns I estimate.


Prestige before/after deployment: 6500/6500
Prestige on last turn/incl. victory bonus: 7750/9500

New units comments:

V1 worked fine, their spotting range is one, which is odd/exploitative as already noted. I don't mind the historical inaccuracy (pun intended) of them being used in this way. And you can always just pretend them to be the manned suicide version: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fieseler_F ... eichenberg, after all their trait isn't called kamikaze for nothing...

Skorzeny's Rangers worked well (although I would call them Skorzeny's Commandos, not Rangers). The glowing strength plate is a handy feature.

General comments:

These snow-levels have a very good atmosphere, and give very interesting tactical challenges (lack of spotting, initiative cap, supply difficulties). Only blemish is the AI sometimes attacking units covered by artillery when it starts to snow, because they can no longer spot the artillery and 'forget' it is there. I started to exploit this 'feature' more heavily, making it a lot easier. When there was no snow, airforce was still quite useful, so I took my two fighter-bombers with me.

The only letdown were the Gebirgsjäger on foot, I had hoped that their special mountain movement would also make them faster in the snow than regular infantry, but unfortunately this does not seem to be the case.

I downgraded a lot of my army to have a more balanced/historical core, power-wise I estimate it sits between the stock core provided and the well-preserved super-duper cores. I don't overstrength heavy armor, but anything cheap will be maxed out. After the first playthrough I ditched my trucks for halftracks as my mounted infantery were just too slow.

[zappel]

Beta1 - Colonel level - Imported core - DV at turn 11

A nice and entertaining scenario. I play simultaneously GC45 East and expected more opponents like those two waves russian mass-attacks in most of the eastern scenarios. So I was a bit too cautious and could perhaps sooner finish the mission. Nice idea regarding the V1, used them all.
I like the scenario, it is small and fast (in contrast to the eastern scenarios).

[tnourie]

In St. Vith, they act like cruise missiles when, in fact, they had the accuracy of pop bottle rockets.

Hehe - Pop bottle rockets. Fun times those provided. . .

But that brings up a valid point. I wonder if this can be compensated for in game turns by giving the V1 a 'landing radius' of 7 hexes, (the one you pick plus the surrounding six), with maybe a 70% chance of hitting the target hex and a 5% chance of one of the surrounding hexes. Also, a small chance that the rocket will totaly fail and blow up in flight, as happened in the real thing.