Grand Campaign '39 / Ultimate / only DV

[Armant]

Having seen this video from R Martin I realised that Armant has the potential to bring many new things and advanced PzC strategies, welcome Armant , its good to see new high caliber players

see the video
https://youtu.be/Fc4Zhh9UUFo

I'm still learning this game and retrying many of my ideas - I'm not even close to be a "high caliber player" but thx

After many discussions with Richard Martin, hours spent reading the forum and wiki I decided that my entire approach for GC'39 was really bad. Of course it was effective and makes most of scenarios after Lodz quite easy but if I want to go through all GCs I will have problems after '43 with this approach. Too much prestige spent on ovestrength, upgrades and ellite replacements; too much prestige lost cause missing surrender opportunities and SE units sells; too small core so I will have to use fresh green units in future scenarios; too heavily relied on SE Gebirgsjägers units which are extremelly powerfull in '39 but shouldn't be in core after '43 when soft cap becomes a problem.

So finally I decided to replay entire '39 campaign (including Poznan) with different goals:
- squeezing every single prestige possible so forcing SE unit spawn and selling them, using every single surrender opportunity (Danzig Corridor, Piatek and Warsaw are great for this), capturing secondary objectives if possible
- no ellite replacements
- no unnecessary upgrades (goodbye my Pionieres, I will miss you)
- no overstrength on first-line units (although I may use 11 OS on them later on - will see)
- not using SE units so they will not steal kills and experience from core units (although I'm using one SE infantry as a meatshield)
- much wider core already prepared for future campaigns
- farming some kills and experience instead of killing units if it is possible

My final core after '39 should be:
- 2x Grenadiers (both upgraded from initial regular infantry)
- 1x Gebirgsjägers
- 3x Fallschirmjägers (best glass-cannon infantry)
- 8x 10.5cm leFH 18 (I love arty suppression mechanic)
- 2x Sturmpanzer I (even more arty )
- 2x 8.8cm FlaK 36 (poor Polish tanks...)
- 1x SdKfz 7/1 (I want to buy SdKfz 10/4 to farm exp in Warsaw and upgrade it to SdKfz 7/1 as soon as it will be available)
- 2x SdKfz 232 (scouts are really usefull in this game)
- 3x Ju87B (best anti-tank and anti-artillery weapon in '39)
- 1x Bf109 (I still think that 1 fighter + Lent fighter-bomber are enough)
- 3x He111H2 (still didn't find strategic bombers really usefull but Richard Martin insists they will be in '44 and '45 so I can already prepare them in '39)
- 1x 3.7cm Pak 36 (requires lot of babysitting in '39 but it should start shinning later on)

+ all unique hero units (Rudel, Dir, Kerscher, Lent)

As you can see beside of recons and mobile AA gun no cross-family upgrades. Later on Kerscher will be upgraded to Pz.IV family and both Gebirgsjägers (initial one and Oleh Dir) will be upgraded to Pionieres since '43 version of Gebirgsjägers is a joke... And still I will use trucks on all my infantry beside Oleh Dir (even Fallschirmjägers will have trucks) - most of my tactics are relied on long-range jumps which are impossible without trucks.

Also I have learned a lot about game mechanic and AI behaviour so I have improved most of my approaches. Richard Martin forced me to publish them on youtube (but don't expect any commentary with my pathetic english ) so instead of replays, I will post links to youtube videos here.

Poznan
Instead of fast killing second fighter, I decided to farm some kills on it. Same goes for TKS - my little Pak was happy. Also I made some surrenders.




Danzig Corridor
Quite nice prestige farm from surrenders using Richard's tactic. Still I wanted to grab all these secondary hexes.




Lodz
More arty = don't need to save-scumm in first turn anymore. I used much less units for railway flanking maneuver so I didn't managed to capture all secondary cities but at the same time more units on eastern side made this approach much smoother and reliable. Plus on top of that I managed to force some surrenders.




Piatek
Instead of killing everything as fast as possible, I changed this scenario into massive farming simulator. My little Pak was delighted (almost 70 kills farmed here), same as fresh acht-acht gun. And this abusing of surrenders was disgusting...




Kampinoska Forest
I skipped one of secondary cities to make rush through the forest more reliable. Also instead of de-entrenching key objectives garrisons I lured them out using weak units as a bait - although I had to save-scumm to make sure that my meatshield SE infantry survives their baiting duty. And of course I forced surrender whenever it is possible and doesn't slow me too much.




Modlin
Again more arty = smoother approach. Instead of Pionieres (which I don't have in my current core) I took fresh 8.8cm with me - really effective against tanks and strongpoints here. Not many opportunities to force surrender (this scenario requires being extremelly fast) but this full strength train was really delicious. And of course my meatshield SE infantry facetanked all the damage - I'm starting to feel sorry about this poor unit...




Warsaw South
Without Pionieres and 2 overpowered SE Gebirgsjägers this scenario is not so trivial like in previous approach. Also I decided to farm some kills on my fighter and fresh mobile AA gun so 2 of my units spent entire 15 turns shoting at one poor Polish bomber, which didn't help clearing the city. Couple of surrenders.

[martiniiirichard]

A couple of points.

Most people have 3 pioneers. I want one at least for Warsaw so I use Ole Dier. Pioneers are the most OP unit in the game simply because they ignore entrenchment. I upgrade M+1 infantry to these units. You will want pioneers for maps like Warsaw, Maginot Line, Streets of Moscow, Sevastopol, Stalingrad...etc. They are key to reducing RNG on ultimate mode. I think damn near everyone now uses Oleh Dier as a Pioneer which turns him into a one man army.

You should get 4 88's use them hard through 42. Push for as many kills as possible then upgrade 2 to mobile AA. This way kill count is super high on them before upgrading to mobile AA.

11 OS on artillery isn't useful since 10.5 cm have rate of fire of .9 wait until 2 stars and save that prestige for the OS then.by Warsaw feel free to dump that prestige there. Statistically, you will not see any reason to OS more until 4 stars, but soft cap comes into play. Given how artillery loses effectiveness 43 on, I say keep it at 2 points OS.

The farming is a brilliant idea and 88's should get in on that as soon as possible.

I think you need some more infantry especially since you are not using SE infantry. And tank numbers are absurdly low. You will have like 1 PzIV and 1 PZIII for 40. That is a tall order. 2 PzIV's for Albert Canal is amazing.

That being said selling the PzI's and getting a scout makes a ton of sense. I am seeing a ton of utility from the scouts, but I question how to use 2 scouts in 43 on when you may be thinking an extra tank would sure be nice.

Very nice job only using one fighter. Braccada would approve. More ground units makes a big difference. I am curious how one less fighter plays out over the campaign. Very risky.

The trucks are crucial to your success. Hard to argue with the absurd amount of prestige you have earned.

[PeteMitchell]

Oleh Dir is less effective as Gebirgsjäger but still a bit faster than Pioneer and could possibly help clear maps, for some time at least, no?

[Armant]

A couple of points.

Most people have 3 pioneers. I want one at least for Warsaw so I use Ole Dier. Pioneers are the most OP unit in the game simply because they ignore entrenchment. I upgrade M+1 infantry to these units. You will want pioneers for maps like Warsaw, Maginot Line, Streets of Moscow, Sevastopol, Stalingrad...etc. They are key to reducing RNG on ultimate mode. I think damn near everyone now uses Oleh Dier as a Pioneer which turns him into a one man army.

Oleh Dir is less effective as Gebirgsjäger but still a bit faster than Pioneer and could possibly help clear maps, for some time at least, no?

I know how powerfull Pionieres are - thats why I went for them as soon as possible in my previous campaign. I will upgrade Oleh Dir into them at some point, same as my other Gebirgsjägers and probably one of the heroes (I think Pein with his initiative and movement bonus will be a great choice) - definitely after '43 infantry variants came in, Gebirgsjägers will have no sense anymore. But right now in most of my approaches difference in movement range is quite crucial and I don't want to upgrade them into Pionieres if it is not necessary.

You should get 4 88's use them hard through 42. Push for as many kills as possible then upgrade 2 to mobile AA. This way kill count is super high on them before upgrading to mobile AA.

I decided that I will have only 3 AA guns in my core (2x 8.8cm and 1x SdKfz 7/1). Farming kills on 8.8cm and switching it into mobile AA is a nice idea but at the same time it is quite expensive (over 300 prestige lost) and with my farming ideas I don't think I will have problems with getting kills on SdKfz 7/1 - don't expect it to reach 3 heroes but 2 shouldn't be a problem - I'm planning to have over 100 kills on it in '39 but maybe I will do next farming session on Albert Canal instead of Norway (or maybe both so first hero will be in '40).

11 OS on artillery isn't useful since 10.5 cm have rate of fire of .9 wait until 2 stars and save that prestige for the OS then.by Warsaw feel free to dump that prestige there. Statistically, you will not see any reason to OS more until 4 stars, but soft cap comes into play. Given how artillery loses effectiveness 43 on, I say keep it at 2 points OS.

According to equipment file 10.5 cm have 100% rate of fire, so 11 OS make sense on them. Sturmpanzers have 90% RoF so in this case 11 OS make no difference but I like to see which one of my arty requires more babysitting for experience. And, even if it is not very effective, I will probably use max possible overstrength on all my arty to slighlty improve their kills getting pace. After Spoils of War only 1 of my 10 artilleries has more than 100 kills and that worries me a bit - I think I will be able to get over 100 kills on most of them in '39 but it is still a long way till first hero...

I think you need some more infantry especially since you are not using SE infantry. And tank numbers are absurdly low. You will have like 1 PzIV and 1 PZIII for 40. That is a tall order. 2 PzIV's for Albert Canal is amazing.
That being said selling the PzI's and getting a scout makes a ton of sense. I am seeing a ton of utility from the scouts, but I question how to use 2 scouts in 43 on when you may be thinking an extra tank would sure be nice.

Early war German tanks are useless garbage - scouts are better in fight and have much more other usabilities. Later on I will have many SE tanks so I don't care about panzers in '39 at all. Also I'm still thinking should I keep SE Pz III and start exping them in Norway or should I wait for Pz IV family SE tanks (they will be available after Dunkirk)? Wassigny can be tricky without tanks but Pz III are garbage compared to Pz IV and cross-family upgrading will be expensive...

Very nice job only using one fighter. Braccada would approve. More ground units makes a big difference.

You wanted to say "more Stukas" There are two solutions for every single problem in GC'39:
1. bring more arty
2. bring more Stukas


Spoils of War
Similar approach but with many improvements - better airplanes trap, much more surrenders (including delicious surrender on KV-2 for over 100 prestige).

[alvinhsing]

I think you are far better and skillful in tactics of PzC, but one thing I don't have the same ground with you
For my two cents, the StG bombers are useful because nothing else can suppress Soviet Late game tanks/ Antitank (...you know what I mean)
not mention that the range limit for most of our artillery in late games

Have you tried using SB's at all? There's a variety of possible uses for them in the '39 Campaign.

No, I'm not planning to use strategic bombers (beside of naval scenarios) - I didn't find them useful at all. Their ability to neutralize the city is completely useless. Potential AI prestige loss on ultimate difficulty is a joke. Ability to deplete enemy ammo is useful only in theory - in practice you don't have much chance to deplete full enemy ammo in a single attack so it will be fully operative in crucial first attacks. So for me strategic bombers are basically high-mobility weak arty without the most important arty ability - providing defensive fire. And also they are another air target which you have to protect with your single fighter...

[faos333]

Another great talk between Richard and Goose about Armant playthrough watch

https://youtu.be/nzZF27fLStQ