Panzer Corps 2 Early Preview Unit Thoughts

[TJLionheart]

I purchased the Field Marshall version, and am a longtime player of PC1, really, really loved the Grand Campaigns DLCs -- played it through many times, didn't really ever finish the original campaign. On Feb 18 and 19 I played the 1939 campaign, chose the Afrika branch and made it to start of the Tunisia evacuation scenario before the 48 hour preview expired. I think this game is going to be a big hit for PC1 fans, extremely well done game.

The coolest thing from my perspective is the unit development improvements, which allow for a much more immersive process. For example, in dealing with a tank unit In PC1, you got to choose the type of panzer, reinforcements for that unit, acquired heroes that were automatically attached to that unit and the unit developed experience, which then set the bar for overstrengthing that unit. in PC2, that process is more diversified and controllable:

1. In addition to experience, you acquire medals which improve the stats of a unit, and you acquire unassigned heroes with a greater variety of skills, that can then be assigned to any unit of your choice prior to deployment. These are two really cool improvements.

2. You can pick an overall general trait at the beginning that give you greater chances to acquire prototype units in limited quantities that you can use as well. For example, you will be given a choice of a prototype PzIIIh and told that there are 15 available. This means that if you upgrade to the prototype and your unit is 10 strength, you only have 5 replacements available for that unit, and if you use these up, your unit does not have replacements available until the unit goes into production. So much more realistic than using such units with unlimited quantities.

3. I was leary of the use of core points which means that if you have a better tank, you use more core points. For example, a PzIIc will use 2 core points, and as you upgrade, the better tanks use more core points. After playing this, I really like the realism this feature leads to. This is then tied into overstrengthing your units. Overstrengthing is no longer tied to experience. You get to choose overstrength between 1 and 5 for any unit, but if you do, it uses more core points, which requires you to make many strategic decisions on whether to overstrength and for how much.

4. Speaking of general traits for the player, the diversity of these are pretty cool and set the course on how you will develop your core over time. Are you going to be heavy panzer or heavy infantry, etc.? If you pick a negative trait, it allows for more positive traits to be selected. I chose the trait that limits the number of upgrades I can make by scenario to 3 so that I could have both panzer and infantry bonuses. I thought that trait forced me to make more strategic decisions as to which units to upgrade. For example, in the past, as soon as a new unit became available, you could upgrade all your tanks to the new unit if you had enough gold, which was unrealistic and allowed instant upgrades. With this negative trait, I could only upgrade 3 units at a time and I had to decide between air, tank, infantry, or other units to upgrade. At the time of the Tunisia scenario, I had 1 x Tiger and I still had a PzIIIg that still had not been upgraded, and every level in between.

Bottom line is I thought it was awesome to have that many choices and will significantly improve replayability. My hope is the DLCs will include the more extensive grand campaigns like PC1, but I was really enjoying the 1939 campaign when time ran out. This will be my new favorite game.

[Retributarr]

"TJLionheart" ...I concur with your appraisal/assessment!. I can't think of any other developer or entity that has achieved this level of intricacy in their Games.

I can't stop "Stressing"...just how beneficial it has been for the 'Developers' to take their time to take great care in the development of this Game...as well... as to also have listened... and then incorporated many of the suggestions from the forum participants regarding their input on this subject matter.

This is a 'Major-Achievement or Victory for them!.

[Rood]

Well put!
I will spent many many many hours on this game.