Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

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Buffalohump
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Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by Buffalohump »

I have finally began to re-play the grand campaigns at field marshal level. I have made it to Piatek and am having a blast so far. I have a few questions.
Is it a good idea to overstrength strategic bombers?
Is it a good idea to purchase new units once my existing core units max out in experience for a given campaign with a long term goal of having a large, diverse, and experienced army for the eastern campaigns?
Or should I work on hero farming?

Thanks in advance for your answers.
dalfrede
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Re: Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by dalfrede »

The theory on Overstrengthing Strategic Bombers [and Artillery] is that they suffer fewer losses, so you overstrength once and they stay that way.
Note: check ROF for artillery before overstrength, a 15 cm sFH, with RoF=8 at strength 11 is same as one at strength 10

I overstrength
1) infantry [w/o transport] because they are cheap,
2) My best fighter, I played US Corp and there is always one FW190 that needs to be dealt with.


Hero Farm vs Large Diverse Army
My advice: Do both; Hero Farm your best 1 to 2 units each type.
The rest "retire" at max experience and build at large army.
There comes a time on every project when it is time to shoot the engineer and ship the damn thing.
captainjack
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Re: Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by captainjack »

The key thing with Field Marshal is that experience gain is especially difficult above about 3* (2* for AA for some reason).
Artillery and strategic bombers gain experience quite fast, so you can afford to lose a bit of experience for an in-game reinforcement, but for most other units regaining experience is very slow and difficult so you will have to accept that sometimes you'll need occasional an in-game elite replacement or retire the unit to safety. Also remember that some units (recon and bridge engineers, and for mine clearing, normal engineers) very rarely benefit from experience or overstrength so can be used green or at very low experience.

The other thing is that you might want to pick one or two units to keep at high experience (and possibly 2 or 3 points of overstrength) and just maintain the others at say 3* and say 1 overstrength. Of course the unit type and experience benefits make a bit of a difference as do heroes (especially big defence heroes which help you keep that expensive overstrength) so keep an open mind.

Dalfrede's comments on infantry and transport and overstrength cover most of the other things I can think of right now but you might get some benefit from tracking down the old threads (from about three years or so back) about prestige management for extra tips (some a bit extreme and some not necessarily sensible) so you have enough prestige for any in-game reinforcements.
Buffalohump
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Re: Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by Buffalohump »

Thank you both for your replays. I will try what you have suggested.
I am currently at Warsaw North. I just managed to squeak out a decisive victory at Piatek. I have been rotating out my heavy bombers and artillery as soon as they get the maximum exp. level for 39 and purchasing new. However I am going to have to rethink this strategy a little or possibly face not having enough prestige banked for the later eastern campaigns. I plan to play the western campaigns as well but prestige will not be a factor with the reset in 42/43 west. I do plan to purchase a couple of more infantry units and recon cars to try to max them out prior to the beginning of the 41 campaign.
I am currently not purchasing tanks until the Pz III and IV become available. All purchases are being made with an eye to future upgrade paths. I disbanded both Pz I's and replaced them with SdKfz 222's. I did this because early on their armour and guns are as good as the Pz II's and my recon units will need all the exp I can get them. I must admit that playing at field marshal is for me considerably harder that playing at general. Thanks again for the suggestions.
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Re: Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by goose_2 »

Buffalohump wrote:Thank you both for your replays. I will try what you have suggested.
I am currently at Warsaw North. I just managed to squeak out a decisive victory at Piatek. I have been rotating out my heavy bombers and artillery as soon as they get the maximum exp. level for 39 and purchasing new. However I am going to have to rethink this strategy a little or possibly face not having enough prestige banked for the later eastern campaigns. I plan to play the western campaigns as well but prestige will not be a factor with the reset in 42/43 west. I do plan to purchase a couple of more infantry units and recon cars to try to max them out prior to the beginning of the 41 campaign.
I am currently not purchasing tanks until the Pz III and IV become available. All purchases are being made with an eye to future upgrade paths. I disbanded both Pz I's and replaced them with SdKfz 222's. I did this because early on their armour and guns are as good as the Pz II's and my recon units will need all the exp I can get them. I must admit that playing at field marshal is for me considerably harder that playing at general. Thanks again for the suggestions.

For my Manstein playthrough I built up 2 Pz2's to try and at least get them to 2 stars of experience, which was difficult, as I rarely give any elite replacements in 39, to save prestige. I now have 3 Flamm's that I rotate in and out with Heinz Rondorf being a Flamm. They are awesome infantry killers. I absolutely love watching the 8-11 kills each one of my Flamms get when I unleash them on the infantry. Flamm on!
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Re: Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by BiteNibbleChomp »

I haven't played the GC in a couple of years (and seeing as my playthrough took me half as long as the real war to complete, I'm not keen to go back). However, when I play the standard Wehrmacht campaign (on colonel, not FM), I have found overstrength to be too expensive for what it is worth, save a couple of 'shock' units (such as sticking a tank behind a bridge with artillery and flak support). Except maybe on the static flaks in the late war. Much more efficient way of clearing the enemy airforce IMO.

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Buffalohump
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Re: Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by Buffalohump »

goose_2 wrote:For my Manstein playthrough I built up 2 Pz2's to try and at least get them to 2 stars of experience, which was difficult, as I rarely give any elite replacements in 39, to save prestige. I now have 3 Flamm's that I rotate in and out with Heinz Rondorf being a Flamm. They are awesome infantry killers. I absolutely love watching the 8-11 kills each one of my Flamms get when I unleash them on the infantry. Flamm on!

I have been considering that actually and intend to purchase 1 PZ II to begin gaining experience after I complete Warsaw. My primary motivation with going with the recon units at this time is because they are competitive with most early 39 and 40 tanks and I can get them ready for later on in the war when that extra exp may be the difference between destruction and possibly being able to withdraw and regroup. Thanks again for the suggestions, I honestly forgot about getting the Flamm and how useful it can be. I also agree with BiteNibbleChomp that overstrength seems for me to be a waste of resources but for a few select units such as heavy bombers and artillery.
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Re: Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by goose_2 »

Buffalohump wrote:
goose_2 wrote:For my Manstein playthrough I built up 2 Pz2's to try and at least get them to 2 stars of experience, which was difficult, as I rarely give any elite replacements in 39, to save prestige. I now have 3 Flamm's that I rotate in and out with Heinz Rondorf being a Flamm. They are awesome infantry killers. I absolutely love watching the 8-11 kills each one of my Flamms get when I unleash them on the infantry. Flamm on!

I have been considering that actually and intend to purchase 1 PZ II to begin gaining experience after I complete Warsaw. My primary motivation with going with the recon units at this time is because they are competitive with most early 39 and 40 tanks and I can get them ready for later on in the war when that extra exp may be the difference between destruction and possibly being able to withdraw and regroup. Thanks again for the suggestions, I honestly forgot about getting the Flamm and how useful it can be. I also agree with BiteNibbleChomp that overstrength seems for me to be a waste of resources but for a few select units such as heavy bombers and artillery.

I have found that recon's are mostly irrelevant past a certain point, I have one on my Manstein run and thankfully it was blessed with a +1 Spotting hero. This makes for a nice recon unit, as I have 1 Kradschutzen with this amount of spotting as well, With Albert Kirscher. That makes 3 units with 4 spotting which help set up a frontline observation starting point and then I go from there. Pz2's were difficult to utilize on Manstein, but I am sure glad I did, disbanded 2 Panzer 1's after the 1st mission and I think immediately bought 2 Pz2's, or at least 1 and bought another once that first hit 2 stars, I kind of forget right now. I was buying an extremely diverse army in 39 expanding it further in 40 so that I could either disband crappy heroes or put them on a diminished status.

The army I have going into 42 has over 70 units (actually 80 with 42,000 in prestige) and a lot of them have 3 or close to 3 stars exp, with many 1st heroes, if not 2.

I need to get time to update my ARR's. :oops:
Last edited by goose_2 on Wed Jul 19, 2017 9:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by captainjack »

Early recon units are quite good, but recon has poor improvements with experience, and at FM I'd rather get experience on real combat units. However, I will sometimes buy a fast recon unit for mine-heavy scenarios as they are very good for scouting minefields.

Bear in mind that I usually play with Nico's modified equipment files (or slightly modified versions of them). His Panzer 38(t) have 3 spotting, and Kradschutzen, LRDG and Sahariana have 43 versions which means that there is rarely a need for specialist recon-only unit, especially if you can convert a spotting hero infantry unit to kradschutzen.
proline
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Re: Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by proline »

goose_2 wrote:I have found that recon's are mostly irrelevant past a certain point
Trouble is, if they are bad past a certain point, then they are bad in campaign, period. Because if you get 500 kills on a recon unit that can't do anything useful 1943 onwards, those kills could easily have been put on a tank that may very well have an extra hero and be doing crazy damage throughout the entire war.
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Re: Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by Buffalohump »

I do not disagree about there limited utility late war. I am using them early campaigns for a couple of reasons. They are close or equal to most early enemy tanks. They are cheap to reinforce. To have any chance to gain heros for them I must get enough kills when they can still be effective in combat. I have found them in past campaigns, teamed with antitank units, to be good for flank protection and setting up ambushes. They tend to be a magnet for enemy units. Backed by artillery and anti aircraft units I have had some very good ambushes which I must admit bring me great joy. I currently have 5 in my core. My goal is to have two with good defensive heros ,if I get lucky, so that they can take some damage. The remainder will be used as bait. I agree about tanks being more effective in most situations but playing at field marshal every bit of prestige I can save during deployment will count with the prestige handicap. In another thread I became involved in a discussion of naming units and organizing divisions. I myself have settled on a Brigade/kampfgruppe structure. I believe this will give me the most flexibility through the course of the campaigns. The recon units will be unattached Heer units that will, with other units, only be deployed in support of the brigades depending on the scenario and which Brigade needs additional support during deployment. I am unfortunately not able to play as blind play through as I have completed the campaigns a couple of times at lower levels. My trade off is that I am planning to play a straight through campaign. In the past when I lost a favored unit or got a unwanted hero I had a tendency to reload the previous turn and try again. I believe during the coarse of the eastern and later western campaigns I will have plenty of time to hero up several tank units. I will only have a limited amount of time to get any recon units to that level. Again thanks for the comments. They are helping me plan for how I will proceed as the campaigns progress.
Buffalohump
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Re: Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by Buffalohump »

I just noticed my avatar has changed. I will miss the mobility of my SdKfz 222. (Laughing maniacally)
edahl1980
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Re: Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by edahl1980 »

Buffalohump wrote:I have finally began to re-play the grand campaigns at field marshal level. I have made it to Piatek and am having a blast so far. I have a few questions.
Is it a good idea to overstrength strategic bombers?
Is it a good idea to purchase new units once my existing core units max out in experience for a given campaign with a long term goal of having a large, diverse, and experienced army for the eastern campaigns?
Or should I work on hero farming?

Thanks in advance for your answers.
I overstrenght units that isnt supposed to take dmg. Artillery, strat bombers, tac bombers and so on.
Artillery go all the way to max, but i stop OS on strat bombers and tac bombers because their likely to take dmg from AA, therefore if you OS For example a HE177 to 13 or 14 you will spend alot of prestige.
ycloon
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Re: Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by ycloon »

Before 1942, recon could probably be in the front line and reasonably survive. That's certainly the case in 39-40. In my GC42 East playthrough, recon units become more vulnerable and staying visibly at the front will almost guarantee significant damage, if not outright destruction. Even guarding flanks can be dangerous without adequate artillery support. Putting the recon in close terrain may dampen damage from a T-34, but will leave the recon exposed to infantry attacks. The point is that recon requires more careful handling from around 1941-1942 and should not stay in the frontline. However, recon can still be valuable, if used carefully. Besides scouting, a recon has a number of other uses: (a) increase mass attack bonuses, (b) create surrender opportunities with its staggered movement ability, (c) finish off 1-2 strength enemy units, and (d) capture undefended cities/airfields. Just make sure that the unit has enough movement to pull back behind the front after executing such manoeuvres. Deducter sc demonstrates these tricks in his youtube playthroughs, which I highly recommend.
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Re: Questions For Playing at Field Marshal Level

Post by hugh2711 »

The BIGGEST step up of my performance was when I instituted the policy of making sure that ALL my SE units were tanks, they become available as SE units in norway. During DLC 45E I have 8 SE tanks (usually tigers by that time!) that do NOT count towards the soft cap (which I enjoy playing with as otherwise its ridiculous).The later dlc's are 'won' (not that you can actually 'win') by the little choices you make in the earlier ones.

The first two or three DLC's i use to entirely farm heroes, experience and prestige.
I upgrade tanks as soon as available but only overstrength the se ones. Its the heroes and experience that make them stand up to whatever attacks. The reason I disband captured tanks for the prestige is the time and effort you spend nurturing them to get a hero and experience could give you a strong german one and remember the captured foreign ones have no upgrade path, they are a technological dead end. I tend not to buy or use AT untill the stug 3 comes out. I can do that as I usually have enough tanks. As for arty I go straight from the 10cm to the 17cm, (you will find a thread which compares costs and the 15 comes out badly in terms of 'bang for buck') specially if I have a range + 1 hero. I use wufrahmen alot, they are awesome with range hero. I use a mix of towed arty and sturmpanzer, thses get upgraded to sig 33/88 when available. I tend to capture and use two out the three available su-122's because they are tough. the captured arty from warsaw north becomes a wufrahmen. I nurture a strong airforce plus at least one 88 AA, also an sdkfz 7/1 AA ( N.B. NOT the single barrel upgraded model which has a lower rate of fire) but dont always use them in every scenario. I dont use flammpanzer as by DLC43 they become too vulnerable and hence expensive to keep up.

this thread has some interesting comments and explanations of styles:
viewtopic.php?f=121&t=76184
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