Slitherine

My 4-year-long playthrough of the GC is almost at an end - I'm finishing Budapest 44 off as I type this.

Anyway does anyone have any advice for the final year in the East?

Currently on Lieutenant with ~36k pp and 1.20 rules

Core:

2x 4-5* Infantry (one MG, one Gebirgs)
some weaker infantry (amount varies between scenarios)
4x 4-5* Tiger 2
2x SE Tiger 2 (~2.5*)
1x 2* Tiger 2
~8x 8.8 Pak 43/41
6x 10.5mm Artillery
1x Nebelwerf 43
~10x 12.8 AA gun.
1x 5* Me262.
Plus some stuff that I just buy to fill gaps, usually used as cannon fodder.

- BNC

I will also add that the 5* Gebirgsjager unit can stop an enemy horde from capturing a city just by sitting there - the AI is a coward and never dares attack it.

- BNC

I only made it to 45 East once and by then was too mentally exhausted to carry on, so I can't offer anything constructive.

The massed 128mm must make short work of any aircraft. I think I've gone up to three or four AA, but I usually have three fighters still.

I only just noticed your team of PaK43s. I tried very hard to use towed AT guns to build up 2 or 3* so I could create lots of Elefants later on, and did get to the 75mm (my mod gives 75mm HA of 18 or 19 rather than 13, depending on the version so they are noticeably better than the 50mm). I never made it to the point of using the 88mm AT though. More recently, I started using AT only once mobile AT was available as I got fed up of hardly ever being able to use the towed ones. Obviously you have had more success than me.

Most of this stuff came from earlier in '44

The AA is the replacement for my airforce, as you will have noticed I only have 1 fighter (but it's 5* so it should live for the rest of the campaign). But the Russian AF has left me alone since I bought them all.

As for PaKs most of them can't get past 2*, I just have them because they are fairly cheap. As the Tigers slowly die away they are being replaced by Jagdtigers, but overall the army is a mix of heavily elite stuff and a bunch of green units that I found on discount at the market (The 35k pp still has to last another 10 missions, so I'm not likely to be quick to throw it away)

captainjack wrote:I only made it to 45 East once and by then was too mentally exhausted to carry on

I've been playing this since '39's release in 2011, usually at about 1 scenario a month. But my New Years Resolution was to finish the rotten thing once and for all!

- BNC

More news: I lost Budapest44, along with 45% of my army. '45 is going to be very difficult

- BNC

MV on Goldap (Unless I am very sure of the enemy's weakness, I will not be trying for DVs anytime through '45)

Maybe I should post an AAR of my replays?

EDIT: btw, I chose the defensive path when given the choice, so I'll be heading off to Insterburg. (prestige net increase of 5k)

- BNC

Haven't made it to the '45 scenarios, but I'm close. Please do post the AAR's. I'm curious how they'll turn out for you.

BiteNibbleChomp wrote:More news: I lost Budapest44, along with 45% of my army. '45 is going to be very difficult

- BNC

What happened? You seemed to have a specialised core that should have made at least a minor (4 locations) possible.

None of my 5* stuff was lost. Only some cheap trash. I posted the % because it was more than I was expecting in Budapest 44. Plus one of the locations was forced from me on the 2nd last turn.

As for the AARs, I didn't save Budapest, but will post the replays of 45 in the AAR section when I get home (10 Jul.)

- BNC

6 Turns through Insterburg. I was expecting this campaign to be a nastier version of '44, but it seems like the game has decided to be nice to me for once. Maybe I should go for a DV?

- BNC

MV for Insterburg.

- BNC

Replays have now been put up in the AAR forum. Watch them to see how I went in the rest of the missions (what better way to spend a 24hr plane trip?)

- BNC

I have played through the entire GC many times. Love it.

First I have to ask, are you trying to play a "historic" corp vs. a winning one that the game rules allow? Your corp looks more like the former, and if that is what you are after then my advice will not help.

I can get through '45 on rommel level, 1.20 rules, with all DV's. It is tight, but do-able consistently. In my view, the corp that can do this is the strongest for all levels; it can do it on the thinnest resources possible, and w/o much overs-strengthening until well into '45. It require that that each unit and prestige is used to its full potential. Here's a post recently where I posted my "Berlin" corp. Start of '45 looks the same except more infantry (I have yet disbanded the extra you do not need) and the tanks you will be awarded in '45. Purchasing any that late is pointless as they will have too little experience by Berlin to be of much use. Check my 1st post in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=121&t=65647

I would say you need to learn to fight the air game. 5 experienced fighters can handle the opponent air in all scenarios from '44 on when used skillfully; six gives a comfortable margin and the SE awards make it easy. using fighters in ambush is the key.

Having so many units tied up in FlaK really hampers your ground forces, and w/o fighter cover you are really losing the massive anti-armor edge of deploying 4 Stukas each turn.

The campaign is done. And I'm not about to throw another 3.5 years away to do it again.

I think the main problem with my playthrough was lack of personal experience with the game during '39-'41, so I didn't know all the tricks that I found here (I got to the start of '43 in 2013, roughly the same time I joined the forum). So the core wasn't set up to have 5* or anything like what most people manage. It wasn't until about '44 that I understood how experince (stars) even worked, so I had given no thought to it before then.

However, the 5* units I did have (6?) never died and so it seems 45 wouldn't have been very hard had I had a few more 5* tanks and another Me262.

I used flak mostly for its low cost - 4 points taken off a fighter by a SPAAG or 85mm costs quite a bit more than even a whole new flak 128 unit. The 2 fighters I did have did a good job, but I always had to avoid SPAAGs, which were a really nuisance (and there were hundreds in '43, so I don't know how you would keep an AF alive there!)

But overall, the GC is too big a time commitment so I highly doubt I'll be going back (except maybe for Seelowe). But the advice I have found will certainly help in the regular campaign as well

- BNC