Slitherine

I've played OOB a few years back and I played quite some similar games. I would call myself an average player. Now I've come back and really want to play the long German campaigns, but I allready struggle on the first two missions playing on the 3rd difficulty level. I lack RP to even buy enough crappy and average units (like horse drawn 75mm artillery) to fill out my CP and repplenish my units. Reaching the objectives in the given time is quite hard, and the enemy seems to outnumber me on a large scale. Any advice? Should I lower the difficulty to the 2nd level? I know it's the standard difficulty of the game, but having more or less maximum strength points on unit than the enemy just feels wrong to me. Or should I give myself a small RP starting bonus via cheat? I've started the Morning Sun Campaign, but it's quite easy. I also still have the Marine Campaign to play.
I also noticed some differences in the rules like artillery losing efficiency when firing, which makes it harder for me compared to the last time I played the game. Back then it also wasn't worth using elite replacements on most of the units, because they were to expensive and the effect was marginally. Has this changed?
Any help is appreciated.

Your first purchase should be one of the 8-range artillery units. Softening up units prior to attack is really important, and unlike some people, I don't go for the kill on enemy units; because it often causes you to get strung out and the furthest ahead units get hit back hard. Beat 'em back, and you can finish them off when you catch up to them again.

I don't really understand why people struggle so much with lowering game difficulty when the game is too difficult for them. This game offers 5 difficulty levels so just pick the one who suits you the best. You are right that the balance of this game has changed over the years for the better that's for sure. In general OOB tries to NOT have units that deal damage without suffering negative consequences (damage or efficiency losses). Artillery was one such unit - you could fire at enemy units at long range without any negative consequences. The generic advice is that you can't prevent your army from suffering damage but you can choose which units get damaged in general. Use infantry as damage buffers to protect your precious and expensive tanks. Engineers are a great retard magnet for enemy artillery and units. Don't deploy tactical bombers until skies are clear of enemy fighters. Attack with your tanks only if enemy unit has 8 or lower efficiency. Protect your infantry with AT guns.

Oh and btw if you find Blizkrieg difficult you're gonna love Sandstorm .

hrafnkolbrandr wrote:Your first purchase should be one of the 8-range artillery units. Softening up units prior to attack is really important, and unlike some people, I don't go for the kill on enemy units; because it often causes you to get strung out and the furthest ahead units get hit back hard. Beat 'em back, and you can finish them off when you catch up to them again.

I'd like to get one, the long rang means that you don't have to repostion it so often, quite nice, but it costs 290 RP, I start with 200. This means I need to wait for several turns and not getting anything else. Is this really recommended?

You could take the other approach - stock up on infantry and AT and those little move-and-shoot arty pieces. Don't buy any tanks just use the ones that are provided as auxiliary pieces. Try this ratio (5) inf - (2) 7.5 cm leIG 18 - (1) 37-mm PAK. Don't outrun your AT support and blast away with the little leiG before you attack. Go for quantity of units rather than firepower so you don't get obliterated by one mistake. Always buy the best fighters until you get absolute air superiority.
If you can't make up your mind, buy more AT and move-and-shoot arty. Both are cheap and very effective. You can always use the Arty and when you need the AT support, you really need it.

On second thought, I remember I had a lot of trouble with the first scenario. Better buy a stuka and an engineer at first to help reduce the bunkers!
conboy

Mojko wrote:I don't really understand why people struggle so much with lowering game difficulty when the game is too difficult for them. This game offers 5 difficulty levels so just pick the one who suits you the best. You are right that the balance of this game has changed over the years for the better that's for sure. In general OOB tries to NOT have units that deal damage without suffering negative consequences (damage or efficiency losses). Artillery was one such unit - you could fire at enemy units at long range without any negative consequences. The generic advice is that you can't prevent your army from suffering damage but you can choose which units get damaged in general. Use infantry as damage buffers to protect your precious and expensive tanks. Engineers are a great retard magnet for enemy artillery and units. Don't deploy tactical bombers until skies are clear of enemy fighters. Attack with your tanks only if enemy unit has 8 or lower efficiency. Protect your infantry with AT guns.

Oh and btw if you find Blizkrieg difficult you're gonna love Sandstorm .

For balancing reasons the change to artillery sounds good to me. Maybe the scenarios in the campaign aren't so hard, but I the low amount of RP makes it hard for me. Guess I won't play Sandstorm then...

Same to me, but i just ignore it and passed easily. All three scenarios each campaign are hard. You dont need to fill all your cps and can buy as much regular infantry as you can. Dont need to repair damaged units too if you lack of rps. Just left them cover suppy line. The 17cm is good but i never can buy one before france campaign.
Im not so good, i play first 200 hours on level 2 but still, i love this game

grenadier98 wrote:I've played OOB a few years back and I played quite some similar games. I would call myself an average player. Now I've come back and really want to play the long German campaigns, but I allready struggle on the first two missions playing on the 3rd difficulty level. I lack RP to even buy enough crappy and average units (like horse drawn 75mm artillery) to fill out my CP and repplenish my units. Reaching the objectives in the given time is quite hard, and the enemy seems to outnumber me on a large scale. Any advice? Should I lower the difficulty to the 2nd level? I know it's the standard difficulty of the game, but having more or less maximum strength points on unit than the enemy just feels wrong to me. Or should I give myself a small RP starting bonus via cheat? I've started the Morning Sun Campaign, but it's quite easy. I also still have the Marine Campaign to play.
I also noticed some differences in the rules like artillery losing efficiency when firing, which makes it harder for me compared to the last time I played the game. Back then it also wasn't worth using elite replacements on most of the units, because they were to expensive and the effect was marginally. Has this changed?
Any help is appreciated.

There are also walkthroughs on youtube and you can upload your own replays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siD_W5c ... XqDDwnjd53

Conboys advice most closely resembles my playstyle in Blitzkrieg. However, that doesnt work so well in the other DLCs which play differently.
The more you post, the more we can help.

I tried something different this time. Bought a Stuka and used it to weaken the Polish units at Chorzele together with the leIG. Meanwhile all the auxilliaries and my core withdraw from the region around Mlawa and crossed the river to the east. The tanks attacked the Chorzele units in the back and I managed to kill them without them blowing up the bridge. As soon as I got the RP I bought a 17cm K18 and a Me 109 E. My forces moved south to the airfield at Przasnysz. By advancing with my tanks east of the forest I was able to draw the Polish untis towards me, so I avoided attacking their entranched positions. After I defeated most of them I secured the airfield and things got a little fuzzy with repelling single enemy units and hurrying towards Mlawa and taking care of the enemy bomber which luckily never attacked my core units.
The first time this didn't work, the second time I bought an additional tank because I lacked the resources for another artillery and I was able to complete the scenario and even got the secondary objectives, just not the auxillary artillery. But it wasn't possible without knowing the scenario.

I wanted to go for a big unit to save on upgrade costs later on. Because I want to get the infantry specialisation first, I only used the auxilliary infantry and reinforced them as well. Infantry will be bought for Warsaw. I never used any elite replacements.

My core units at the start of Warsaw are 17cm K18, Ju 87, Me 109 E, 2 tanks (Pz 38 and a Pz III) as well as a shitty 2cm flak and 316 RP. I want to get another ME 109 and lots of infantry now and maybe later on another big artillery. But maybe this is wrong and it's better to go with lots of cheaper units right from the start of the campaign. I didn't get any RP for completing the mission.

Should I use elite replacements? Are the worth it? When the game was releaed they were extremly expensive and only worth having on big units like battleships and so on.

I think your core is good and you have a nice amount of RPs at this stage. I would probably buy another K18 later, but if you have the points then by all means buy it now.

I use elite replacements for core units almost always if I have the points. Actually it is very rare not to have the points. Experienced units are very resilient which saves RPs in the long run. There is an exception, tho: if those big K18s lose points, it is very expensive to use elites, so don't. Of course best to keep them away from the enemy.

By the way, you'll save yourself a lot of RP if you keep that flak next to your artillery whenever there are enemy aircraft in the sky.

Given the choice, the AI aircraft will choose to attack uncovered units rather than covered ones; and each time they get a hit on your 17mm, it is going to cost you around 50 RP.

Just a little protip so you don't have to find out the hard way.

As an aside, I think that mlawa is one of the best maps in order of battle. I always find a slightly different way of completing it.

Shards wrote:As an aside, I think that mlawa is one of the best maps in order of battle. I always find a slightly different way of completing it.

Agree, and of Rzhev in PK. When not in the mood for Sandstorm or other bigger scenarios I start either of them and try new ways and cores to win.

A new OOB player here. I just finished the first scenarios - I was waiting for the patch to move on to Norway.

I have only been using elite replacements on core if they have an experience star to save RP. Also One of the first units I bought was another Ju 87 which does help with reducing bunkers!

edb1815 wrote:A new OOB player here. I just finished the first scenarios - I was waiting for the patch to move on to Norway.

I have only been using elite replacements on core if they have an experience star to save RP. Also One of the first units I bought was another Ju 87 which does help with reducing bunkers!

Nice to hear from another "new" player. Which units did you buy and where you able do reach the airfield by turn 20 to get the bonus RP? Another Ju 87 is nice, but you're restricted by your air cp. In Warsaw you have only 10 air cp, so by using two Stuka this would leave you with just one fighter. I'll try the other way round because I want to protect my core ground units and I'd like to fullfill the secondary objective and get the air commander/hero. I don't know when I can continue my campaign, but I'll post my experiences then. Would like to hear yours as well.

And for blitzkrieg, i see good time to upgrade 7,5cm to 17cm k18 is when the battle of france raging. Its very amazing unit but as expensive as a tiger tank. Replay many times a scenarios helps me know that placing better than shopping.
When you dont know what aircraft to buy, take bf110, its all around unit and can deal decent damage to ground. Use it to take damage to boomber while bf109 + free AA deal with fighter. Just slow down advanced

grenadier98 wrote:

edb1815 wrote:A new OOB player here. I just finished the first scenarios - I was waiting for the patch to move on to Norway.

I have only been using elite replacements on core if they have an experience star to save RP. Also One of the first units I bought was another Ju 87 which does help with reducing bunkers!

Nice to hear from another "new" player. Which units did you buy and where you able do reach the airfield by turn 20 to get the bonus RP? Another Ju 87 is nice, but you're restricted by your air cp. In Warsaw you have only 10 air cp, so by using two Stuka this would leave you with just one fighter. I'll try the other way round because I want to protect my core ground units and I'd like to fullfill the secondary objective and get the air commander/hero. I don't know when I can continue my campaign, but I'll post my experiences then. Would like to hear yours as well.

That's what I did - 2 Stuka and 1 BF 109. I wasn't too worried about the Polish fighters although I did lose some SP on the Stukas to them. I did get to the airfield. I did not get the commander. The unit that got the most XP was a MkIVC not sure if that was part of the starting forces, but is it in my core units now, along with the 2 Stukas which you will need for Belgium.

In Warsaw I had two BF 109 and one Stuka. The two fighters got enough kills for the commander. Warsaw was quite heavily defended and my first assault was so bloody, that I restarted. It went better the second time. For Norway I bought a second Stuka. Overall this scenario was much easier. I also had no problems with triggering the victory conditions.