Slitherine

I've been getting into Panzer Corps the last couple of weeks having had it on my iPad for ages. I did a run through the vanilla campaign and have just started the Grand Campaign on General difficulty. First few scenarios seemed a bit easy and I was wondering if I should up the difficulty a bit, but then I hit Piatek.

It was probably my favourite scenario so far: very immersive and I dug out a decisive victory on the last turn by recapturing an objective. My core units were devastated though. I'm down to 12 units and only about 450 prestige. I'd like to keep going but wondering if it's a lost cause from here and maybe I should replay it. Any thoughts from more experienced players?

Mike

I would suggest against increasing the difficulty until you have completed the game once. There is a natural increase in the difficulty throughout the campaign. 1943 - 1945 is a meat grinder on the eastern front, and the western campaign is generally more challenging than 1939-1941. If you start off at a setting you can barely handle in 1939, you will get stuck in 1943 and have to restart which can be frustrating or fun depending on how you feel about that.

Also, the GC is balanced based on the assumption that you aren't taking huge losses each scenario. Generally, losing 1-2 core units a scenario is sustainable, but if you are losing 4+ you should probably restart or you will have trouble down the road with not enough units and not enough experience. Just a rule of thumb though- if it is an especially difficult scenario surrounded by easier ones (e.g. Streets of Moscow) and the units you lose aren't super high value, higher losses for one scenario may be OK. As SE units are replaced for free, losing them is less of a blow than losing your main units. Finally, if you are planning on playing the western front, you will only be able to choose 8 units to start 1942 with, so having a bit army in the early years is less important and you can take higher losses.

Piatek is simple if you do it right. See here for some idea on how to hold the line without taking major losses.

I like the historical briefing while you play.

I personally got my butt handed to me my first time playing Piatek.
I still ended up with a decisive victory, but it had chewed up my units.

My advice is not to replay it because you can only do a blind playthrough once.

I made it to the start of 1942 and had about 6000 prestige, which was not going to be enough.
My computer pooped on me and I lost all my saved games.

I am playing through again and am working my way back to 1942, I am playing a lot smarter and already have almost 20000 in prestige.
I should have greater than 30000 by the time I get to 1942...so it just will not be the same as that first blind playthrough.

The most important thing to consider is to look for ways to enjoy the game.
Have fun.

Thanks for all the advice everybody - much appreciated.

The are several keys to success here.
There are a huge number of enemy units. They all attack toward and want to cross at the river crossings. The key strategy is to NOT occupy the victory hexes. Defend from the non-river hex* and attack the enemy who is badly positioned on the river hex, sometimes in city. Back up each crossing with artillery, sometimes double covered (may mean buying an extra artillery), and also shuttling them back and forth from crossing to crossing to support defending units. Slowly exhaust attacking units all coming to crossing like lemmings. Use armor to counterattack. Make trapped enemy units on crossing surrender -- no where to retreat because of jam up at crossing. Put your pionere infantry in the far left city to help deal with armor. Have bought one 88AA anti-tank to hit armor...it'll get lots of experience this battle. Move up the auxiliary artillery and anti-tank to the crossings...watch out for enemy infantry flanking each side of objective/crossing.
When enemy exhausted at each crossing, you may occupy the objective and reap the prestige! But beware there will be a rolling attack on the river from left to right. You will have to abandon the objectives once more, and repeat previous strategy.
The forts help spot, especially the delayed attack on the far right. Its good to keep Oleh Dir infantry units at next closest crossing so he can move quickly to the assault far right. Anticipate the rolling attack and move units to next crossing.
NEVER cross the river to fight or kill weakened units...that's a great way to get your armor unit swarmed and killed. The AI will spawn many units at nearby cities...watch out for wave attacks after first one seemingly beaten off.
Stuka ground attack key...to hit enemy armor and artillery on other side of river...keep them refueled if bad weather as the airfield are not close...use two fighters, two Stuka. There is an enemy fighter.
You will fight until the last turn...by then if you played right from your side of the river and objectives you can plan to move into and occupy all objectives on last turn.
Back up your river-side units with artillery.***