Slitherine

I'm an Ipad player and don't have access to many of the background files. I'm after some advice about what tanks to up grade to. I'm currently at the back end of Stalingrad and I hear that the Tiger upgrade is coming soon. But when does the Panther arrive? I have a healthy amount of prestige, 45k, so should I upgrade all my tanks to Tigers, or do Panthers out perform Tigers in some areas? Also the Mark IV were the mainstay tank for the Germans so are there future mini upgrades for them which would be cheaper and still make them competitive?

With 45K Prestige you can upgrade everything easily to Tigers. In fact you have so much Prestige that you will have no trouble with the rest of the campaign.

Tigers become available during the Stalingrad scenario, so you should be able to upgrade them in a few turns.

first Panther : 4th of July 1943
faster and better than Tiger I, Tiger II has far more firepower though

i usually upgrade Panzer IIIs to Panthers and Panzer IVs to Tigers

The Tiger has more armour then the Panther which really pays off from 44 onwards. I only upgrade tanks to Panther if they got a decent def. hero bonus.

German productions was about as follows:
Tiger II - 500
Tiger I - 1350
Panther - 4500
PzIVs - 9000
PzIVHs - 3700

So if you have ten tanks youd get 1 Tiger II, 1-2 Tigers, 2-3 Panthers and 5 PzIVs. I always field a 1 Panther for every 2 PzIVs when I play. But some people like more cheese with their army and run nothing but Tigers! lol

It's nice to have the slugging power of the Tiger(s) but there is clear advantage the Panther has and that is mobility. It's a good idea to have a few in your core (two to four) to act as that fire brigade when Ivan has pulled a nasty surprise and the sluggo Tigers can't get there. This is more and more critical in the later war in the east when there is a flood of Russian tanks.
One can upgrade to Tiger say one per battle or so, to not break the bank at any one time.
The captured Russian T34 '41s serve well getting upgraded to Panther (if you have the prestige) as both have high movement factors but the Panther can slug it out better, of course (besides, the AI LOVES to kill any and all captured units...once seen as German the AI leaves it alone).
In the war the Germans produced many many more Panthers, so some might like the idea of a more historical core make up. Maybe not.

I agree that the speed of the Panther is useful for a mobile reserve, especially if you have a lot of Tiger 2 and Elefant, which fight much better but might never get there. If only I'd followed my own advice and developed a few more AT in the early scenarios to convert to Jagdpanthers.....

I suggest deploying Panthers on the edges of the map where they can clear those areas and be available and have the movement to take care of the nasty surprises. Meanwhile your heavies (Tigers) slug it out toward map middle. You'll be ready when that T34 comes diving down and around to bite your soft flank.
Very effective when they've earned a few stars even against Russian heavies, especially after a Tiger has taken a big piece out.

TIGERS KILL ALL

- BNC

BiteNibbleChomp wrote:TIGERS KILL ALL

- BNC

True. The following wikipedia entry:

"Lions and tigers coexisted in central India until the late 19th century.[11] The possibility of conflicts between the two has been raised in relation to the Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Project, which would introduce Gir Lions (Asiatic lions) from Gir Forest National Park to another preserve, the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, that contains tigers.[11] Concerns were raised that the co-presence of lions and tigers would "trigger frequent clashes".[12] The University of Minnesota's Lion Research Project describes one reason to delay the introduction of Gir lions to Kuno Palpur is the fears that tigers living in Kuno would kill the incoming lions.[11] The tigers, being stronger and larger than the lions, are a potential threat for survival of lions."

Now, about those Elephants...

During the later GC East scenarios, I found that anything less armoured than a Tiger will not survive contact with the enemey, as the Soviets carelessy throw unbeliebably large numbers of heavy tanks and SPATGs at you. That made my core forces boring, but it worked. I have no idea how to get a mere IV through a 44 or 45 eastern battlefield.

sn0wball, I am struggling to get Panthers and Tiger 1 through 44 East!
The Panzer IV have been in the blast furnaces for a while now......

Thanks everyone. I think I have got the idea! Tigers yes, Panthers maybe, Pz IV no. It would be a shame not to have some Panthers so I'll take the suggestions to allocating to a unit with some good heros.

antoniocapo wrote:

BiteNibbleChomp wrote:TIGERS KILL ALL

- BNC

True. The following wikipedia entry:

"Lions and tigers coexisted in central India until the late 19th century.[11] The possibility of conflicts between the two has been raised in relation to the Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Project, which would introduce Gir Lions (Asiatic lions) from Gir Forest National Park to another preserve, the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, that contains tigers.[11] Concerns were raised that the co-presence of lions and tigers would "trigger frequent clashes".[12] The University of Minnesota's Lion Research Project describes one reason to delay the introduction of Gir lions to Kuno Palpur is the fears that tigers living in Kuno would kill the incoming lions.[11] The tigers, being stronger and larger than the lions, are a potential threat for survival of lions."

Now, about those Elephants...

What a funny reply! I was actually referring to tiger tanks, but true, actual Tigers do kill as well!

- BNC

Defense is arguably the most important stat in this game. So, I suggest you go for Tigers insteads of Panthers.

From mid GC43 onwards I use 6 PzIVs, 3 Panthers, 3 StuGs, and 1 Tiger until the last scenario of GC44 East. After that the Soviets simply have too much quantity and quality for me to keep up. I either have to drop the difficulty down to FM OR I give in and upgrade most to Panthers.

That's the problem with the approach to challenge players with a well developed core - impossible to create scenarios with an even remote resemblance to history.

No easy way out for a game developer, though. In 1944 Germany was doomed no matter what, but of course this is no practical advice for a game developer addressing an audience that wants nothing else than to ... Win of course .

Regards,
Thorsten

ThorHa wrote:That's the problem with the approach to challenge players with a well developed core - impossible to create scenarios with an even remote resemblance to history.

No easy way out for a game developer, though. In 1944 Germany was doomed no matter what, but of course this is no practical advice for a game developer addressing an audience that wants nothing else than to ... Win of course .

Regards,
Thorsten

Same in 1918 after Op. Michael failed. I made some brutally impossible-to-hold-the-line scenarios out of Arras18 and Mons18. Idea in those is that you run back and hold out for a few turns. Even 100 poison gas strikes can't save you in Mons18

- BNC