Share your tips and tricks here......

[Jonesy1760]

I found buying a recon unit is a must. Lots of maneuverability to get behind enemy lines.
Also always attack a unit on a river hex. They have a lower defense rating while crossing a river.
OK..what are you ideas!!!

[Kerensky]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG-nOnQpL-w

[AgentX]

Use the Mass Attack concept whenever possible. Below is a quote from the beta forums by Kerensky explaining the concept (though the graphics have changed quite a lot since that beta version). Also, note that the Mass Attack also works with fighters so move multiple units around the target before attacking (fighter-bombers can also contribute).

Pictures explaining Mass Attack below. The only difference between the images, as you can see, are the number of friendly units adjacent to your target which have not yet fired themselves.

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[El_Condoro]

Get a second attack with a tank:
if it starts its move and attacks
if the target then retreats and 'disappears' into the FoW
then intentionally run it into the weakened unit to get ambushed
a strong tank will survive an ambush and kill a weakened unit

This will not be a good idea in every situation but it might be a good way to finish off that weakened unit. A 1 strength unit can hold up a panzer column for a turn just like a 10 strength one.

[PinkPanzer]

Upgrade your army's organizational culture from centralized to decentralized decision making.
An army full of bureaucrats is incompetent, slow and liable to be unable to adapt to reality.

But that doesn't apply to this game.

[texican]

Air...Air...and more Air

Have to control the skies and control them well or you lose.

[Razz1]

Not necessarily... AA works quite well.

[KageToraUK]

In multiplayer, your first couple of moves should be to use paratroops to take control of enemy airfields and the city hex next to them - very often they are behind enemy lines, so you now have attack points from behind and you have encircled the enemy. The enemy will have to use units from the main force to try to retake the airfields, so this lowers resistance in the middle, too.

[billmv44]

Have plenty of artillery. The King of Battle will reduce those Red hordes for smashing by your Panzers. Use your tanks as much as possible to pile up the kills. Building their experience and obtaining heroes will enable you to have a chance to withstand the hordes of IS-2s in Bagration if you don't finish the Russians off before then.

[patriot14]

Have plenty of artillery. The King of Battle will reduce those Red hordes for smashing by your Panzers. Use your tanks as much as possible to pile up the kills. Building their experience and obtaining heroes will enable you to have a chance to withstand the hordes of IS-2s in Bagration if you don't finish the Russians off before then.

When you have all that artillery, place them initially on the front lines during deployment. This will put them in good range of the enemies support units (AA and art.) so you can start to work on them early. You can always move them back if you don’t clear space for your other units to take the front lines ahead of them.

Let your auxiliary units take most of the damage in battle, but get your kills with your core units. That helps build their experience and keep them fresh. Since you have aux for only that scenario, it won’t hurt as much to lose them.

Don’t wait around to kill off everything around you. Decisive victories are tough so you have to keep on the move. Once you have removed support units around cities, move on except for an inf or two. They can mop up the enemy AT or inf in a city while you are moving on.

If you weaken an enemy and it retreats or not, put something next to it. This will force him to move or not allow full reinforcements or regaining of entrenchment. There is nothing more frustrating than spend a turn using 3 units to get the enemy to a 1-2 strength, have him retreat or you move your units, and he reinforces fully. Now he has the edge because you may have weakened units and short on supplies and he is again fully stocked..

[Locarnus]

give overstrength first to the units that make the most use of it while being the least likely to lose the overstrength:

first give it to artillery and bombers

[Razz1]

Not necessarily, Lance Corporal.

Depends upon map conditions.

[AgentX]

Just found out something interesting. Normally, AA units and artillery can't capture cities or airfields; however, if you switch your 88 to AT mode, you can now capture hexes with them, even while in a half-track (make sure to switch before moving, though; because you can't switch after it has moved). Don't know if this was by design or a quirk because of their switching ability, but it can come in handy at times.

[Razz1]

Think about it..

When you switch you are an AT class.

[AgentX]

Think about it..

When you switch you are an AT class.

This is true, but it is still the same unit, just it's gun it pointing at a lower trajectory. Frankly, I thought it was a strange rule back in the PG days that AA and Artillery couldn't capture cities/airfields, but AT could. Personally, I think the rule should be that all towed units (whether they be AA, Artillery or AT) can't capture cities/airfields, but the self-propelled versions can.

[PinkPanzer]

When using a recon to capture cities or airfields move it into the hex then make sure you unselect the recon to capture the city/airfield. Then select the recon again and move it some more.
Otherwise you won't capture anything.

The SdKfz 232 8Rad makes a great light tank in the early war. Bring 2 into Norway and leave the Pz 1A and 1B in reserve.

In the Low Countries it was the only unit that could move into a location that could kick the suppressed Somua S35 into a city hex.
Then a grenedier close defensed/mauled it into a river hex and a Pz IVD finished it off.

[berndN]

Thanks for some great tips.

[DreadWing]

Here is what I learned while playing the game:

-If you want to be 100% sure that you receive a SE unit, then create a save game in the last turn of a Decisive Victory. Progress to the next scenario and reload the game if you haven't received an elite unit. (I consider this an exploit)
-The number of turns required for a Decisive Victory can be confusing. You are always told to capture the objectives with an X number of turns left. If you are not careful, you'll make the following calculation: DV Turn = Total number of turns - X tuns left, which is incorrect. E.G: you have a total of 22 turns and DV needs you to have 5 turns remaining. The correct DV Turn is not 22-5=17, it's Turn 18 (the 5 turns left are 18, 19, 20, 21, 22). This can be useful for that extra prestige before moving on.
-Regarding the randomness of fight results. You will notice that if you load a game and make the same actions as before, you will get exactly the same results (this was not the case in PG2). I believe that the game calculates all the possible fight results that can occur in a given turn before you initiate a combat. It repeats the process after a combat has occurred and so on. But here is what you can do if you are not satisfied with a combat result (e.g: you took heavy casualties, inflicted to little, or you completely missed a target): initiate another combat with a different unit and then try again with the unit that gave you troubles.
E.G:
You want to attack an infantry in the open with a PZIV. The PZIV inflicts minimum damage of 1, while loosing 2 strength point (the game's way of simulating the luck factor and telling you how unlucky you were despite overwhelming odds). You clearly do not agree with this. So load your game and, before repeating the action, go to other units on the map and attack another enemy unit. After the combat, return and attack with your PZIV (you will get completly different combat results). For more variation, try different combinations. This is useful in tight situations, where you desperately need to preserve one of your core units, or want to completly destroy an enemy unit that manages to escape with 1 strength. However, I consider this a major exploit.

L.E:

-I forgot to mention another thing. If you have cleared the map with spare Turns left for a Decisive Victory and you are now just pressing End Turn, don't forget your airplanes away from airfields. Even if you don't move them, they still consume fuel and, if you are not careful (like I was ), they can run out of fuel in the very last turn and lose them of course. I simply could not understand where some of my core planes disappeared after Sea Lion 40...

[texican]

I found buying a recon unit is a must. Lots of maneuverability to get behind enemy lines.
Also always attack a unit on a river hex. They have a lower defense rating while crossing a river.
OK..what are you ideas!!!

Agreed.

I kind of wish tanks would move like recon, except with very limited visibility.

[flakfernrohr]

Sometimes you are given a Core unit that isn't what you really want, but maybe it has good experience. At the start of the game and before your first turn. put them in the city or airfield that is a strongpoint when you deploy. In turn two, you will be able to upgrade it to something you like better and the experience transfers. Also when moving in a fast paced campaign, move your infantry on foot in the first captured city on the "next turn". After the "next turn" you can upgrade them into transportation cheaply or you can upgrade them to something better with transport. They can catch up to the rest of the motorized units quickly.

Always park "mounted infantry" or "mounted artillery", etc. in woods if possible, same for tanks if you have an air superiority problem. If you have a lack of ground based recon or you want long range recon, fly a plane far behind enemy lines and let it check things out for you. But use an experienced fighter with enough units in case it gets attacked. It's funny when you have taken all the airports of an enemy and he still has planes in the air too. You can guess what happens.