Looking for some help 1944+ East

[IggyDaDino]

Hi again,

So I restarted the campaign and made it to mid-1944 east and I'm just having all kinds of trouble. Still on Colonel. I've reached Babruysk.

I had a mountain of prestige (about 60-65k going into 1944) and this and last mission have been especially troubling. My fighters get shot out of the sky immediately (Fw-190As--unfortunately not terribly experienced, I only have a few 3-4 star).

Did I make a mistake earlier in the campaign using regular replacements on expensive to replace units? I mostly did it when I wouldn't lose a mountain of experience on them, but I'd routinely drop from ~250 to 180 or so on things like fighters. I do not overstrength anything as everything tends to take so much chip damage throughout the campaign that only artillery (which now get hammered by air even if I escort/defend with AA) and level bombers get overstrength.

With how heavy the initial waves are, I'm finding my positions overwhelmed and artillery and any non-tiger unit is just getting wrecked. Last few missions I'm not even deploying infantry because they can't even do damage, not even with 5 star. I deploy just enough to cover defensive city tiles.

What's kind of the strategy from here on out? What should I actually be doing? As I'm kinda deploying 6 12mm AAs + 20 king tigers and backing up as much as necessary. Once I feel it's safer, I go into my deployment and deploy units as needed. But how do you even go for DV on these scenarios? There simply isn't enough time I feel to not suffer heavy losses and press. I think if I made a serious error in the earlier years, it's getting here without 4-5 star everything but it's possible I'm not using infantry effectively as my soft cap is now 25% haha.

[PeteMitchell]

IMHO, I think there are different play styles...

Some people develop a very broad core in the earlier years, developing them up to the respective experience cap of a given year and then rotate them out into leave of absence/furlough (Fronturlaub). By end of 43 they have a lot of units (e.g. 80-100) with high (max) experience and can deploy whatever is needed in 44 and 45. Some end up not using many units for a long time (as they don't even need them)...

Others play with the bare minimum core (i.e. never have much more than they can deploy) but bank the prestige... for later

And some guys here can actually do both (broad core with lots of prestige)... and a few play Ultimate quite successfully (compare youtube)...

It also depends if this was your first playthrough of the GC...

Some sort of balanced core is often good and actually more interesting to play...

Other people on the forum here will have other opinions of course...

[IggyDaDino]

Yeah. I really enjoy that different playstyles work but I feel there's a convergence happening. My best guess is that +2 on AA/fighters per xp star is a big deal as one of the major issues developing is needing to put in extras of those which take up core slots you need elsewhere.

I may restart now with my better skills with a focus on getting better backline XP + heroes on INF + Arty + a real air force. The best thing I got was the dream air force with a A+2 and A+3 dive bomber pair.

[Erasermarek]

Only Tigers? 20? No ifrantry? Well this is problem. How you conquer city? With tanks? Tigers with low fuel? Maybe some Panther G (near identical AD) and more fuel - better mobility (6 move!) you will suit better. Infrantry on open is easy to kill but if you stay in shadow (trees, city, etc) you will be fine. How about Oleh Dir, Pein? FW with Uber Rudel? Did you have this hereos in your core?

[captainjack]

It does look a bit tank heavy,, especially if dealing with snow.
It's reasonably easy to develop infantry to 2 or 3" in to about 41, so with a bit of planning you can have a reserve of reasonably experienced 43 infantry to roll out to support your tanks in severe snow or dense terrain. In snow, walking 43 inf are cheap and reasonably effective, have OK ammo and (most important) never run out of fuel. They won't be much good against tanks in the open in good weather but they are very dangerous in close terrain and on ambush, and uou king tigers will rule open spaces in the sunshine

[PeteMitchell]

Some people will say that maintaining a real airforce in 44 and 45 is too expensive, maybe consider some (mobile) AA as well/instead

[Buffalohump]

I would like to add my observations to this discussion.
I have learned to pay attention to the scenario briefing. It will usually contain useful information to help you plan your attack or defense. A balanced core usually works better than a core heavy with one particular kind of unit. Pay attention to your terrain, it boosts or detracts abilities depending on which type of unit you deploy on it. Experience matters and it is important to shepherd units until they gain sufficient experience. Each unit type gains a different boost based on experience, for instance a 3* antitank unit gains +6 attack. Check Last Combat Details in game to see how any given unit type’s experience is affecting outcome and build your core to exploit it. When on defense use the terrain and set up choke points to help limit the number of units the enemy can attack you with. River crossings, forrest roads and mountain passes work best. If possible, wait to reinforce units between scenarios it is cheaper on your prestige. And finally, several of the best players post AAR’s on the forum and videos on YouTube that are quite useful.
Regards,
Buffalohump

[hugh2711]

I would say two points.
1) in the previous earlier dlc's specially when it's easy for the air force I never use green replacements always experienced. I always go out of my way to build up experience in the airunits including strafing easy kills. I always try and farm for heroes and experience.by the time I usually get to 44 my air units usually have multiple heroes defence or attack and plenty of experience so they can cope with the onslaught. I only usually need to use one additionally heroes and experienced 88 and a similarly experienced mobile flak (high rate of fire one.) Sometimes one additional throw away 88.
2) for the ground onslaught you need to pay very careful attention to the terrain and use it to your advantage. Also rather than spread your experience around I would have 'farmed' an experienced tough core of specialised heroed up units.those multiple heroes can make all the difference. I would occasionally employ some disposable green units as a tactical sacrifice but never the multiple heroes ones.
For both air and ground I would always use the latest most powerful version available unless the later one has a rubbish rate of fire.