Ebusitanus wrote:Hello all again,
I finally bought the whole package deal up to and including Sealion and Allied Corps hahaha
Anyways..I am dutityfully watching the Youtube tutorials and trying to learn the finer arts of this game.
On the same time I started today the tutorial missions and this brought me a few quick questions I hope you might help me out with. Here they go and many thanks in advance.
As the first missions come by I am being asked to build say core units up with Recon cars, more inf, more tanks, upgrade them, buy Falischirmjäger and Stukas, etc...
- Are these units I am buying going to stay with me when I eventually start the real war?
- Is there a list somewhere to know what sort of units I should be using given the available units? I do not want to start building up something that is a dead end.
- Should I buy grenadiers and ditch the wehrmacht infantry? How does one sell or get ridd of units he wants exchanged?
- I have seen several tutorials noticing the players do not fill their unist up with reeplacements and wait up until game end. Why? Only to save some prestige points?
1 - The tutorial is stand alone if I remember right. It is just to get you used to the mechanics. I would play the tutorial 2-3 times, read and re-read and get the basics down. It does teach useful things there.
2. There isn't really a 'dead end' in terms of units as you should be able to upgrade them (at a cost). There are units that become obselete as the years go by (Grand Campaign) - For example Stuka bombers are excellent anti-tank planes, but in the later years they are a liability because they get destroyed with comparative ease by superior enemy planes.
3. If you're in the grand campaign, normal Wehrmacht infantry is a good versatile option. They have 3 movement and so you don't need to give them transports. - In the GC the time limit is very forgiving, so you don't need to rush as much. In the normal campaign, Afrika Corps, Allied Corps, Soviet Corps etc the time limits are short, so you need speed, so you're better off with Grenaiders etc + transports.
The way I break it down is like this:
Infantry - I like them, I use them a lot - In the GC you need them early and mid-war because there is a lot of poor terrain and city fighting (tanks are useless there). Late war, enemy forces will one-shot infantry even in forests and cities if they're not backed up with lots and lots of artillery etc. =/
Normal Infantry - Most balanced type.
Mountain - Have special movement, higher Anti-Infantry but weaker vs Tanks. Some people 'game' the system and use Mountain infantry early on and then upgrade to normal Infantry in 1943.
Grenaiders (Heavy weapons) - More 'defensive' units, good for holding cities etc.
Engineers - "Offensive" units, they don't get rugged defence events, so they're good for attacking enemy cities - However, they have poor defence, and poor initiative. You shouldn't attack with them unless you have used artillery and bombers first, and don't defend with them. Initiative = who shoot first, so they will usually fire last.
Paratroops - Offensive units with low ammo, these guys are great early war but are very situational. Later on they are weaker because the AI stacks lots of units 'behind the lines', so they can't deep-strike as well as you might expect.
Bridge - Create bridges, situational, keep out of combat obviously!
Tanks - Early war of Grand Campaign you don't need too many. Late war, you need loads. Early German tanks = crap. Late German tanks = Great, but very expensive. Russian tanks? Awesome. British tanks? Slow, but very hard to get rid of. In Grand Campaign you will probably capture and use British/French/Russian tanks because they're usually better.
Tanks come in four/five different types (they combine)
1 - Anti-Infantry Tanks - These tanks have high soft attack, low hard attack - Early war tanks tend to be like this. The Panzer IV starts out like this.
2. Anti-Tank Tank - These tanks have very high hard attack, but low/medium soft attack - The Panzer III series starts out like this.
3. Balanced Tank - Late war tanks tend to have a good mix of Anti-Infantry and Anti-Tank weaponary - The Panther tank for example.
4. "Heavy" Tanks - The Tiger and King Tiger Tanks (Germans) or the KV and IS series (Russian) or the Matilda (UK) tanks. These are slow, but have very high defence, you use these to lead the line and defend your units. Note, these tanks have a movement of 3-5, which means they can stay ahead of normal Infantry, perfect.
5. "Fast" Tanks - The Panther (Germans), or the T-34 (Soviets) or the Cruiser (UK) tanks. These tanks are fast, but they don't have as much defence as the heavy tanks. You use these to 'strike' at the opposition and flank them or bypass areas. But you need to be careful, because the AI will target them and destroy them with their heavy tanks. Use them for emergency, or to help infantry or whatever. Never use them to run away and attack without Heavy tanks to support them.
So, you can have Heavy Anti-Infantry tanks (UK/France have a lot of these) or Light Anti-tank tanks etc. Mix and match. In the end you will usually have your Heavy Tanks and your Fast Tanks, but early game for Germany you will have Anti-Infantry and Anti-tank models.
Anti-Tank Guns:
Come in two varieties;
1. Static - These are very hard to use for Germany, but are great for Soviets. You use them on defence = great. Late war? Not so good, because Tanks become so powerful that they one-shot them sometimes.
2. Tank Destroyer - These are Anti-Tank guns on wheels, they look like Tanks, but they are very bad vs Infantry. Tank Destroyers = great, Soviet TD Guns = Amazing. German TD guns = very situational. Germans did TD research far, far too late. Sometimes you can use them, sometimes you can't. When you get Stugs = fun times, when you get PanzerJagers = Fun times. Before then? Oh dear. Still, very good units to use, because they're cheap and cheerful!
Artillery Guns:
Also 4 types:
1. Static = These NEED transport, but are very good.
2. Mobile = These don't need transport, you send them with tanks for fun times. However, they are weak vs air, so need to protect them.
3. Normal Artillery = The smaller artillery = Suppress enemies. You want small artillery (3 range) when you fire vs Infantry and cities. Big artillery = More damage = Good Vs Tanks, not so good vs Infantry. Early on, you can stay with small guns, it is better in every way. Later on, a mix is better because enemy tanks will laugh if you point small artillery at them...
4. Rocket Artillery = Boom, boom. Anti-Infantry. Get these ASAP and use them with Engineers to destroy enemy cities and Infantry. Not good vs tanks though, you need the normal artillery with big guns for that.
Anti-Air Units:
Lots of people ignore these. Very bad people.
Anti-Air = VERY good units, cheap, easy to replace, do lots of damage, protect your tanks and artillery. = Better than fighter planes? It will save you money in long run.
Two types:
1. Static = Only good in defence, say, if you are defending city, you put artillery behind Infantry and you put the AA gun behind Artillery. Planes will cry when they see it. Big guns like 8.8 Ack Ack (Germans) = do massive damage to enemy planes. Also, some of these can switch into Anti-Tank guns. = All good. In Soviet Corps these are great weapons because early Soviet planes = crap.
2. Mobile = These you use to travel with your tanks. Tanks = weak vs bombers, doesn't matter if you have Heavy Tank or Light Tank. Bomber sees them? Bye bye tank. Mobile AA = ruins enemy plane's day. Also, very cheap, very cheerful. Get AA with half-tracks or tracks. Wheeled AA = good but needs roads, won't keep up with tanks cross-country. These guys on attack = 2-3 damage, crap right? On defence? 2-6 damage. If you use Anti-Air units, enemy planes = weaker, means when your own planes attack you don't lose damage = saves you more money! And you NEED money, late war Soviets (Grand Campaign) will take all your money.
Fighter Planes:
Too many people buy 20+ Fighter planes. Don't do this. Fighter planes = very expensive. Fighter planes have two roles:
1. Escort bombers.
2. Rule the skies.
Early war (Germany, grand campaign) German planes = the best, you fly, enemies cry. Late war? You fly, you give Russians £1,000. Or US laughs at you.
Two types of fighter planes:
1. Anti-Fighter planes - These have high initiative + high air attack. You use these to fight enemy fighters, beware, if both teams 10/10 and equal you will be looking at 4-5 HP loss each battle. This makes planes expensive, you want fighter planes to swoop in, make kill with 0-1 loss. How to do that? Having a better plane = one way, but second way is to use Anti-Air to weaken enemy air force so you can wipe them out nice and quick.
2. - Anti-Bomber planes - These have good attack but low initiative. Don't use vs enemy fighters, use vs bombers, because Initiative doesn't matter vs bombers.
Best example? Anti-Fighter plane = Spitfire. Anti-bomber plane = Hurricane. Spitfire has better initiative than Hurricane, means that Spitfire will fight better vs German ME planes than Hurricane will.
You have two choices; Either buy two types of plane, or buy best plane all the time. Second option = more expensive, more painful, first option = you might not get enough planes. Always need to think about this, depending on your playstyle. A lot of people feel 5 planes = enough. But beware, bad weather = planes do nothing (same applies for AA though.)
Tactical Bombers:
Bombers = fun, bombers = anti-tank, don't use them vs infantry, don't use them vs Cities. Two types:
1. Anti-Tank bombers - Think of the famous Stuka. See tank? Bye bye.
2. Mixed-role bombers - These are bombers that can also fight other planes. Very good because you can use them to fight enemy bombers and then bomb tanks later. Means they can help your fighters to win the air-war.
Early Grand Campaign = Stuka rules, late on? Nope.
Strategic Bombers:
Anti-Navy, see a boat? Send these guys, bye bye boat.
Second thing, Strategic bomber = Flying artillery. You need extra bombs on a city or infantry unit? Send these guys in. These guys help you maintain mobility, if artillery runs out of ammo, or you need extra bombs, these guys fly in and do the job. The more experience = the BETTER they get. 15 Strategic Bomber Vs City = all infantry suppressed.
Also, they destroy enemy ammo, means you can bomb tanks, infantry, whatever and they end up with 1 ammo left. Means it is easier for you to kill them. Strategic bombers = very, very under-rated units. I always try to bring 2-3 of them, love them, but same problem as all air units = very expensive, don't lose them.
I think that's everything?
