Critique my gameplay - base campaign on FM difficulty

[frugivore]

I think you are doing quite what should be expected as it is more or less the first or second time you play the GC right?

I am currently playing the GC on Rommel. It is the first time for me playing on Rommel as well but I have completed the GC on Colonel, General and Field Marshal previously so I know the maps and scenarios quite well.

Yes, it's my second time through '39 and '40. Last time I stopped there, so anything past '41 will be new to me. I think that how I am playing also factors into my results. For example, now that you have played through the GC a few times and know the enemy positioning on the maps, do you take advantage of that? Do you purchase and deploy your units knowing that in the next scenario there are no enemy air units? Do you move through the fog of war knowing there are no units in a particular location? Well, even though I remember some of the maps and scenarios, I am trying to play as through it was the first time. I should've just kept going through the rest of the campaign my first time around.

I loaded up my save from Amiens (turn 1) and I had 5858 prestige. The only units I had overstrengthtened were my 2 Bf 109 fighters and my 88s. Maybe the strat bombers too. Can't remember since they were reserves and not deployed. All other units were at base strength. I had up until then swept every single map and captured every single village/hex which rewards prestige and my situation still was not great.

I had up until that time also not used elite replacements at all and rarely used any in-game replacements, if so it was definitely regular replacements and not elite replacements.

I am playing on 1.14 rules though and I believe you are awarded a lot of prestige when forcing surrenders on 1.20 rules. Maybe someone else can confirm this.

Thanks for confirming how much prestige you had at that point. So it seems that I am behind on prestige. I don't seem to be getting much prestige for a surrender under 1.20 but perhaps it's just because the early enemy units don't cost much prestige to begin with.

I did buy a lot of units during GC39-40 so my prestige does not look great either. GC39-40 is usually when I buy all my units, I almost never buy any new, green units after 1940 when playing the GC. From GC40 on I only add (maybe with the exception of an anti-tank unit like Stug) captured units or the special units which are awarded by High Command.

FYI I am currently playing Stalingrad Ruins (still on Rommel) and I have >30K prestige which I think is decent considering I started using more over strength and elite replacements in GC42 so my prestige situation improved a lot between GC40-42.

But you are on to something regarding slowing down. It of course depends on the scenario and the amount of awarded turns but sometimes a slower approach is actually quicker since you take less damage and do not have to "waste" turns by bringing in in-game replacements because your units have been shot up so bad. Also be wary of attacking ground units without suppressing them with artillery first, at least until you get the super tanks like Tiger I/II and Panther. Even if your tank (say Panzer IIIF or IVD) can cause -5 damage on an enemy unit by attacking it is not great if it ends up taking 3-4 hits itself so that its strength goes from 10 to 6-7. As you know, when it goes below 6-7 it is becoming dangerous for it to operate and you will probably be tempted to use replacements on it in order to keep it operational. Of course if you do bring in regular in-game replacements you lose a lot of experience for the unit which also decreases its effectiveness and leads to more casualties for the unit down the line so use loads of artillery. Artillery is one of the best ways to preserve prestige and keep your units in decent shape

I also spend all my prestige early on to build a full core that I will use toward the end of the campaign (I think it's 50 at the Berlin scenario right?). And rotate experienced units for the green units.

But I realize now that although I thought I was being cautious with my attacks, I was not being cautious enough. In his videos, I see Soren fully suppressing units before attacking so I think I need to buy more artillery.

[dalfrede]

Some raw data for your quest.
https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewto ... 45&t=81701

Since Nico's 'upgrade' includes withdraw hexes on every map, I could withdraw Aux units and sell them for prestige.

[heinzrondorf]

Yes, it's my second time through '39 and '40. Last time I stopped there, so anything past '41 will be new to me. I think that how I am playing also factors into my results. For example, now that you have played through the GC a few times and know the enemy positioning on the maps, do you take advantage of that?

Yes, absolutely, there are certain things you remember and know and there is no way of switching that off. But I never look at the scenario editor (I am not even sure the Mac version has one) so in my cases it is more like having a very rough idea of what might happen like "when I capture this hex it will trigger a massive counter attack from the East" or looking at the map and thinking "oh yeah, I remember that behind these enemy artillery units there will be a few AA units protecting them" or something like that.

Do you purchase and deploy your units knowing that in the next scenario there are no enemy air units?

No, I don't really purchase for specific scenarios but I build and develop my core so that I have a variety of units for the challenges that I know will come. I know I will need certain types of units for the urban scenarios, certain types of units for the open tank battles where you are on the offensive/defensive etc etc.

When it comes to deployment the answer would have to be yes. For example if I know there will be a lot of ships on the map I will of course bring the strategic bombers but in most cases you are actually told in the briefing if a certain unit type (such as bunker busting pioneers, strategic bombers, anti-tank units etc) will be needed in order to win the scenario.

Do you move through the fog of war knowing there are no units in a particular location?

Usually no, my memory of the maps, especially of the larger ones, is not that good. It's too risky.

[faos333]

......... I also spend all my prestige early on to build a full core that I will use toward the end of the campaign (I think it's 50 at the Berlin scenario right?). And rotate experienced units for the green units......

Personally I would not advise to buy all your core so early on, you spend lot of prestige this way.
Units better to be bought slowly every year.

FYI in Berlin 45 you can deploy 45 units and in Berlin Redux the final battle 50 units.

[heinzrondorf]

Personally I would not advise to buy all your core so early on, you spend lot of prestige this way.
Units better to be bought slowly every year.

FYI in Berlin 45 you can deploy 45 units and in Berlin Redux the final battle 50 units.

I understand what you mean and I am not saying you are wrong , especially if you look at an extreme example such as this.

Say you have a Panzer I in GC39 which you might upgrade like this all the way to Berlin Redux in GC45:

Panzer I -> Panzer 38(t)A -> Panzer IVD/E/F/F2/G -> Tiger I or Panther D/A/G -> Tiger II -> (maybe) Maus

The player will spend a lot of prestige doing all those upgrades even if you skip the Panzer 38(t)A upgrade. It is of course cheaper to skip a few of the upgrades and buy a new Tiger I or Tiger II when they become available rather than upgrade an old unit. You might even disband the old unit to really save prestige. However, since Panzer Corps has a "RPG element" with heroes, medals etc I think a lot of the fun is in nurturing and developing the units from the very start. At least I become somewhat affected to the units which have been with me from the early years, much more so than the units which I obtain from GC43/44 and onwards.


Fun aside, you obviously also maximise the chances of getting experience/kills/heroes the more and longer a unit is deployed which, at least based on my experience, will save prestige since the unit takes less damage and is more effective than a green unit. I therefore prefer to settle most of my core very early in the game and roll with it so that almost all units have 2-3 heroes by the end.

Preserving and being conservative with prestige is super important in the game and I am not a master of it but I have found that you cannot be too conservative either as it will then start affecting the units effectiveness. On my current Rommel play through I decided not to use elite replacements or overstrength until GC42 and I stuck with it and did quite well but after 42/43 I find it almost becomes counterproductive to be too conservative in that regard as the units performance start decreasing as the AI units get stronger and more experienced.

Again, i am playing on 1.14 rules so my approach might not be good for someone playing on 1.20.

[PeteMitchell]

I find it difficult to introduce new green units after 1942

[frugivore]

I watched Soren's Poznan video all the way through and I understand why he has so much prestige later on in the campaign.

First, he knew where AI units where. Thus he was able to move quickly and set up his units optimally. Because of this, his units took minimal damage and enemy units were destroyed by turn 7 or 8 of 14. Then, he let the AI respawn units around one of the primary objectives. He then farmed experience and proceeded to suppress quite a few for extra prestige.

This extra experience and prestige has a snowball effect. His units take less damage and get to the XP cap sooner. And thus spends less prestige to bring replacements.

While I won't be using those tactics, I did manage to learn something about the AI. For example, i didn't know the AI has a tendency to try and recapture empty primary objectives. Now I know how to set up traps for ground units and exploit the AI. In one situation, he didn't capture an objective so that the enemy AT would vacate its city hex and thus lose entrenchment.

[frugivore]

As I'm going through the GC, I'm doing my best to manage my prestige. There is one situation, that although minor, I believe will impact the situation far into the future.

Let's say I have an 88mm AA/AT at 9 strength in the deployment phase. I can either use elite replacements to keep that unit at 2 stars and 10 strength or I can use regular replacements to bring it down to 1 star but then over strength for the same prestige and get it to 11 strength. Which do you choose and why?

I decided to go with the 1 star and over strength to 11 because of feel the extra strength helps me build experience faster and the unit will get back to 2 stars after the first combat interaction.

[captainjack]

In 1.20 experience gives +2 AA for anti aircraft, and overstrength gets progressively more expensive for each extra point, so you'd probably be better off keeping experience instead of overstrength.
In 1.14, your approach is probably a reasonable choice. However, you keep your combat experience bonuses at any strength but overstrength benefits are lost once you take damage.I suspect as you gain about 3* experience it's better to preserve it - it shouldn't be too hard to work out some example combats to see if there's a benefit to one approach over the other.

Incidentally, if you do consider chaging versions, it took me a while to get used to the differences of 1.2 over 1.14, but for me almost all of the 1.2 changes make the game better (I personally don't like softcap and disable it with a mod, though others love it).

[PeteMitchell]

I agree on 1.2 vs. 1.14 (although I don't mind softcap)

[Stephen1024]

When reach 44 your going need lot prestige to pay your way. Your looking at needing around 40-50k to see you through. If dont you'll find you get stuck.

Just giving you heads up as you said not played that far into GC.

Good luck and enjoy

[Stephen1024]

If you try 1.2 won't be able to field all tiger tank force. Soft cap can really hurt you against endless Russian waves. That said SE units don't count towards soft cap so lot people make SE tigers and non SE panthers. Having huge air force hurt soft cap.

[captainjack]

Stephen1024 is right - when using soft cap, you want to trade in SE infantry so you can have lots of expensive SE tanks that don't affect soft cap. I'm a fan of SE grenadiers and overstrength strategic bombers and prefer to set my own challenges, so soft cap is not good for me.
Stephen1024 - do you keep your SE fighters and Tac bombers or is it still better to go for just SE tanks with soft cap?

[frugivore]

Stephen1024 is right - when using soft cap, you want to trade in SE infantry so you can have lots of expensive SE tanks that don't affect soft cap. I'm a fan of SE grenadiers and overstrength strategic bombers and prefer to set my own challenges, so soft cap is not good for me.
Stephen1024 - do you keep your SE fighters and Tac bombers or is it still better to go for just SE tanks with soft cap?

captainjack - As it is my first full playthrough of the GC, I don't want to disband any units. I want to play the game with what I'm given so if that means I buy fewer infantry and more tanks then so be it. I've been overstrengthening my strategic bombers as well but that can get expensive, not just for the soft cap, but if they take damage, which sometimes happens to mine.

If you try 1.2 won't be able to field all tiger tank force. Soft cap can really hurt you against endless Russian waves. That said SE units don't count towards soft cap so lot people make SE tigers and non SE panthers. Having huge air force hurt soft cap.

Stephen1024 - So it probably makes sense to start building up my mobile AA force now I guess. I already have a sizable air force in late GC '40, but I don't think the Stukas are that expensive - just the fighters and strategic bombers.

As for the tanks, I don't have that many yet but I can see how each one would end up costing me 700+ prestige. Very expensive!

When reach 44 your going need lot prestige to pay your way. Your looking at needing around 40-50k to see you through. If dont you'll find you get stuck.

Just giving you heads up as you said not played that far into GC.

Good luck and enjoy

Thanks Stephen1024! I will try to conserve my prestige but I don't see myself getting near that amount, especially as I'm playing on Rommel level. I've got a few more scenarios until I finish GC '40 and I'm at about 8500 prestige. I have purchased most of my end game core already so from this point on I can hoard my prestige and not overspend on overstength.

[Stephen1024]

Stephen1024 is right - when using soft cap, you want to trade in SE infantry so you can have lots of expensive SE tanks that don't affect soft cap. I'm a fan of SE grenadiers and overstrength strategic bombers and prefer to set my own challenges, so soft cap is not good for me.
Stephen1024 - do you keep your SE fighters and Tac bombers or is it still better to go for just SE tanks with soft cap?

Unfortunately your stuck that with allied campaigns its SE troops and planes. So going have make best of that.

With afrika corps can get gifted SE air they don't count towards soft cap and dont count towards SE limit.

GC Germans just tank's and troops. Sometimes I play on 1.14 so can build corps more my own liking.

[Stephen1024]

On 1.14 prestige won't be to much drain. That said hordes soviet armour will hit you cause you spend so still good have as much can. 1.20 it's must due to soft cap.

Personally I train lot up in 39.

Troops start off cavalry reason for it they build experience fast. Then change to mix of pioneer, para and mountain troops. Pioneers great for taking victory hexs. Para for drops behind lines and they hit hard, not used in defence. Mountain troops great without transport and hold their own. Helps with soft cap. Para find can drop them up till 42

I like spare troops can choose best of them as my go to guys for most maps, then still got experienced spares I can rotate to keep building experience and on city maps have large enough troop heavy army all experienced.

Depending on map can bring whats best. Mountains more Mountains troops. Lots bunkers paras free up pioneers to capture most cities etc.

88s train early as want all heroes I can get on them. Heavy soviet armour lot easier to deal with if got 88s. I prefer encircle and force surrenders but times not always possible, hate to soften up with tank as hurts my tanks. AT is good for softening up but again not always possible. Air war in later war years 88s really help limit damage they do, hard to maintain air space and pointless having the fighters you would need to do that.

Tanks depends on rule set 1.20 SE be your tigers. 1.14 I train more tanks then need as want movement hero to be my tiger tanks. Tigers limit movement without hero. 1.20 I split my tank force heavy assault force slow with towed arty. More mobile panther force with tiger with movement if lucky and mobile arty. Keep best heroes as go to guys. Rest spares can bring out on more open maps.

Recon try train 3 up get me through war. So start early once reach experience limit bring next one out to train. Recon is great save you lot ambushes. Just leave it in safe place end of its moves. Some don't like but it's must. Can and often do Recon with not in use fighter but only works when not busy with primary role or escorting.

AT train early but its so slow. That said AT is really important late war so don't avoid. Even tiger going get hurt if your stuck using it on os Russian heavy tank.

Air force don't over do it. Smaller better then large. Large air force grounded when wet, which with large air force going hurt maybe even make scenario impossible win. Late war allies air force going swarm you and having large air force isn't going be efficient as won't win in air. I keep it just enough that with 88s not taking lots damage. I got enough tacs can bomb Russian tanks into next year. Strats mostly have 2 don't always have both on map. They are good removing ammo on really annoying heavy tanks and anti navy duties.

Arty don't need lots 21cm it's not going to do much more then smaller guns and runs out ammo to fast. I have 1 or 2 but most maps bring 1 out max. Soft cap can just use 10.5cm and lower number 15cm. Hard attack 17 can be useful so good have nice mix sizes in your corps. Look at map at start decide how much hard attack arty need then bring in smaller guns make up numbers. Mobile arty must for most mobile force speed gets you to far away objectives. Rocket arty great anti troop but needs more protecting.

Air force is soft cap hell so another reason learn use less. Stukas going need protecting war goes on and in end need changing to other more safe tacs. That said had rudal hero stuka through out war before but he had be escorted everywhere with fighter.

Force surrenders are really important on higher difficulties and 1.20 as it will be best way build your buffer for late war prestige. Good reason learn how play 1.20 while on 1.14.

You will get special hero's during play through mostly tanks and infantry. Some fighters and tacs to. Look at what have as bonuses and decide what best equipment for them is with your play style. 1.20 heroes really going be important as they help give you harder punch while you learn use less of best stuff to please the soft cap.

43 grenadiers are best troops. Won't need pioneers as tanks can clear troops in cities. Troops suck late war even on closed ground. Tanks soft attack higher then any troops. Hence grenadiers are only troops you'll want as they only ones got reasonable hard attack.

That really should help you develop core and your abilities

As for other tips combined arms attack and defence will save lots prestige.

Learn read maps, see what best before you enter. Try build plans can adapt on fly.

Have fun and enjoy

[Stephen1024]

On 1.14 prestige won't be to much drain. That said hordes soviet armour will hit you cause you spend so still good have as much can. 1.20 it's must due to soft cap.

Personally I train lot up in 39.

Troops start off cavalry reason for it they build experience fast. Then change to mix of pioneer, para and mountain troops. Pioneers great for taking victory hexs. Para for drops behind lines and they hit hard, not used in defence. Mountain troops great without transport and hold their own. Helps with soft cap. Para find can drop them up till 42

I like spare troops can choose best of them as my go to guys for most maps, then still got experienced spares I can rotate to keep building experience and on city maps have large enough troop heavy army all experienced.

Depending on map can bring whats best. Mountains more Mountains troops. Lots bunkers paras free up pioneers to capture most cities etc.

88s train early as want all heroes I can get on them. Heavy soviet armour lot easier to deal with if got 88s. I prefer encircle and force surrenders but times not always possible, hate to soften up with tank as hurts my tanks. AT is good for softening up but again not always possible. Air war in later war years 88s really help limit damage they do, hard to maintain air space and pointless having the fighters you would need to do that.

Tanks depends on rule set 1.20 SE be your tigers. 1.14 I train more tanks then need as want movement hero to be my tiger tanks. Tigers limit movement without hero. 1.20 I split my tank force heavy assault force slow with towed arty. More mobile panther force with tiger with movement if lucky and mobile arty. Keep best heroes as go to guys. Rest spares can bring out on more open maps.

Recon try train 3 up get me through war. So start early once reach experience limit bring next one out to train. Recon is great save you lot ambushes. Just leave it in safe place end of its moves. Some don't like but it's must. Can and often do Recon with not in use fighter but only works when not busy with primary role or escorting.

AT train early but its so slow. That said AT is really important late war so don't avoid. Even tiger going get hurt if your stuck using it on os Russian heavy tank.

Air force don't over do it. Smaller better then large. Large air force grounded when wet, which with large air force going hurt maybe even make scenario impossible win. Late war allies air force going swarm you and having large air force isn't going be efficient as won't win in air. I keep it just enough that with 88s not taking lots damage. I got enough tacs can bomb Russian tanks into next year. Strats mostly have 2 don't always have both on map. They are good removing ammo on really annoying heavy tanks and anti navy duties.

Arty don't need lots 21cm it's not going to do much more then smaller guns and runs out ammo to fast. I have 1 or 2 but most maps bring 1 out max. Soft cap can just use 10.5cm and lower number 15cm. Hard attack 17 can be useful so good have nice mix sizes in your corps. Look at map at start decide how much hard attack arty need then bring in smaller guns make up numbers. Mobile arty must for most mobile force speed gets you to far away objectives. Rocket arty great anti troop but needs more protecting.

Air force is soft cap hell so another reason learn use less. Stukas going need protecting war goes on and in end need changing to other more safe tacs. That said had rudal hero stuka through out war before but he had be escorted everywhere with fighter.

Force surrenders are really important on higher difficulties and 1.20 as it will be best way build your buffer for late war prestige. Good reason learn how play 1.20 while on 1.14.

You will get special hero's during play through mostly tanks and infantry. Some fighters and tacs to. Look at what have as bonuses and decide what best equipment for them is with your play style. 1.20 heroes really going be important as they help give you harder punch while you learn use less of best stuff to please the soft cap.

43 grenadiers are best troops. Won't need pioneers as tanks can clear troops in cities. Troops suck late war even on closed ground. Tanks soft attack higher then any troops. Hence grenadiers are only troops you'll want as they only ones got reasonable hard attack.

That really should help you develop core and your abilities

As for other tips combined arms attack and defence will save lots prestige.

Learn read maps, see what best before you enter. Try build plans can adapt on fly.

Have fun and enjoy

[captainjack]

AA is useful, especially when the enemy starts getting advanced experienced fighters and AA.
Under 1.14, this will be slightly less destructive than 1.2 rules as fighters and AA both get +2 AA per star under 1.2 rules, which is very nasty once you get to about 3*.

The 88 is useful because of the switch to AT, so it gains experience more readily, but SPAA doesn't do too badly if it's guarding forward units, since defensive AA fire is more destructive on fighters and tac bombers than attacking fire, so you get kills a bit faster. Personally I like to use one of each. The ability to weaken very powerful enemy air units before your fighters engage is also good for reducing damage to your own fighters. If you play Soviet Corps, the fighters are so poor early on that you can manage with just AA guns.

But that's a nice thing about PanzerCorps, you have more than one way to do everything.

[frugivore]

On 1.14 prestige won't be to much drain. That said hordes soviet armour will hit you cause you spend so still good have as much can. 1.20 it's must due to soft cap.

Stephen1024 - I don't really know the difference between 1.14 and 1.20 but I have only been playing with 1.20 which I assume is the newer version of the game. In regard to the soft cap, I know that there is a formula that penalizes prestige rewards once the average of your deployed units increases beyond 400. If that is correct, then most unit classes shouldn't contribute much toward this penalty. I think only tanks, some SPATs and fighters would increase the average. And perhaps once I get to the point where I'm at that cap, I should probably stop overstrengthening. In fact, haven't been and don't expect to overstrength tanks, SPATs or fighters.

Troops start off cavalry reason for it they build experience fast. Then change to mix of pioneer, para and mountain troops. Pioneers great for taking victory hexs. Para for drops behind lines and they hit hard, not used in defence. Mountain troops great without transport and hold their own. Helps with soft cap. Para find can drop them up till 42

I don't really know how to use cavalry because to me they seem like a more offensive type of unit, much like fallschimjagers. They have great movement and a great soft attack but they have low defense. I haven't purchased any cavalry yet and don't plan to - at least not in this campaign. I have purchased 2 fallschimjagers and tried using them for their paratrooper ability but managed to get one killed! It was my first and only unit that was destroyed, so I purchased another. I then decided that I should train them up to 2 stars before I deploy them in the air again. I did so and had some success with them in the late GC '40 campaign. Do these fallschimjagers become ineffective after GC '42?

88s train early as want all heroes I can get on them. Heavy soviet armour lot easier to deal with if got 88s. I prefer encircle and force surrenders but times not always possible, hate to soften up with tank as hurts my tanks. AT is good for softening up but again not always possible. Air war in later war years 88s really help limit damage they do, hard to maintain air space and pointless having the fighters you would need to do that.

I haven't purchased any 88s yet. Right now, I'm in the first scenario of GC '41 - Belgrade. I have been using my 13 strength JU87 tactical bombers to great effect, decimating enemy tanks. There have been some cases where cloud and rain have hampered my air force, but I believe one can take advantage of this type of weather - even with aircraft. What I usually do is return aircraft that needs refueling/resupplying to airfields. For those that don't need it, I place my fighters near enemy airfields in hopes that I'll catch enemy aircraft on the next turn. I place bombers in hexes where I think there might be good targets, usually behind enemy lines.

Recon try train 3 up get me through war. So start early once reach experience limit bring next one out to train. Recon is great save you lot ambushes. Just leave it in safe place end of its moves. Some don't like but it's must. Can and often do Recon with not in use fighter but only works when not busy with primary role or escorting.

You are soooo right! While I generally don't move into the fog of war, I found that when I've not used recon in scenarios, I tend to fall into traps much more easily. And while it is tempting to use a recon to move far forward to destroy a weakened enemy unit, I know that it is likely that the recon will be damaged or destroyed if it is attacked. And I do sometimes use fighters for recon work. Their high air defense helps even if they're attacked by AAs.

AT train early but its so slow. That said AT is really important late war so don't avoid. Even tiger going get hurt if your stuck using it on os Russian heavy tank.

I only have the towed AT that I was was part of my starting core. I haven't used it since the Poznan scenario but I was just able to upgrade it to the 5cm Pak which has a hard attack of 13 (up from 6), so maybe I'll begin using it. The only SPAT available is the Panzerjager which has a ground defense value too low for my liking. Perhaps when I have better options available to me, I'll purchase a couple more ATs. I believe those come in GC '42 so I'll need to wait until then.

Air force don't over do it. Smaller better then large. Large air force grounded when wet, which with large air force going hurt maybe even make scenario impossible win. Late war allies air force going swarm you and having large air force isn't going be efficient as won't win in air. I keep it just enough that with 88s not taking lots damage. I got enough tacs can bomb Russian tanks into next year. Strats mostly have 2 don't always have both on map. They are good removing ammo on really annoying heavy tanks and anti navy duties.

I wonder what you'd consider a large air force. I have relied on JU87s to take out tanks as I find them much easier to use than 88s, as I need to get those into position first. Once I take out the enemy air force, I can even send off my tactical bombers alone, just not near any enemy AAs. I have 2 strategic bombers and they have been useful as mobile artillery. A 13-strength bomber is great for supressing units in cities before I assault with ground troops. But you're making me worry about the late war allied fighters. I remember when I played the Wehrmacht campaign, I had difficulty handling the US fighters.

Arty don't need lots 21cm it's not going to do much more then smaller guns and runs out ammo to fast. I have 1 or 2 but most maps bring 1 out max. Soft cap can just use 10.5cm and lower number 15cm. Hard attack 17 can be useful so good have nice mix sizes in your corps. Look at map at start decide how much hard attack arty need then bring in smaller guns make up numbers. Mobile arty must for most mobile force speed gets you to far away objectives. Rocket arty great anti troop but needs more protecting.

I use more artillery than you do. I found that it only makes sense to upgrade my 10.5cm artillery once they are at 13 strength. And then, despite the lower rate of attack of the 15cm+ versions, I think it still makes sense to upgrade them. I find them really helpful to suppress enemy ground units before I attack, thus preventing damage to my units. And in a few instances, I have been able to set up a trap where I place a tank or recon in rough terrain with artillery behind and done significant damage to the enemy when it moves it attacks. I only just purchased StuG IIIBs now that they're available so I intend to use them to move my tanks in quick forward thrusts.

Air force is soft cap hell so another reason learn use less. Stukas going need protecting war goes on and in end need changing to other more safe tacs. That said had rudal hero stuka through out war before but he had be escorted everywhere with fighter.

Again, other than the later fighters, aren't most of the bombers under the 400 prestige value? How many fighters should I anticipate having by the end of the war? I think that will also dictate how many bombers I should have.

Force surrenders are really important on higher difficulties and 1.20 as it will be best way build your buffer for late war prestige. Good reason learn how play 1.20 while on 1.14.

I had some success with surrenders in GC '39 but not so much in GC '40. I guess if I want to maximize prestige from surrenders, I would want to concentrate on tanks. This means having two bombers and lots of ground units to surround them.

You will get special hero's during play through mostly tanks and infantry. Some fighters and tacs to. Look at what have as bonuses and decide what best equipment for them is with your play style. 1.20 heroes really going be important as they help give you harder punch while you learn use less of best stuff to please the soft cap.

The heroes I've been allocated thus far have been great! I haven't used Rudel much but from what I understand, he will be getting an upgrade in GC '41. I have overstrengthened Oleh Dir to 13 and he is just destroying soft targets and not getting damaged, probably because of his high initiative value. And I managed to get a +1 movement hero for him so he's up to 7 movement!! I've upgraded Albert Kerscher to a PzIVE and he's been an infantry killer. He's just a great all around tank. There's also Helmut Lent whose +6 initiative bonus seems useful only for attacking enemy aircraft, which I don't do often. He doesn't seem that special to me. And finally, Heinrich Bar is the Kerscher of fighters - just an all around better fighter.

43 grenadiers are best troops. Won't need pioneers as tanks can clear troops in cities. Troops suck late war even on closed ground. Tanks soft attack higher then any troops. Hence grenadiers are only troops you'll want as they only ones got reasonable hard attack.

That really should help you develop core and your abilities

As for other tips combined arms attack and defence will save lots prestige.

Learn read maps, see what best before you enter. Try build plans can adapt on fly.

Have fun and enjoy

For tanks to attack infantry in rough terrain, I guess I would need to suppress them first. Is that correct? But then having more tanks means I get penalized more due to the soft cap. So what you're saying is that you would use only grenadiers in the late war? Would you recommend using fallschimjagers for paratrooper ability and pionieres for their special abilities or not at all?

I really appreciate all your advice. I have been having a great time so far and have been steadily improving my play.

AA is useful, especially when the enemy starts getting advanced experienced fighters and AA.
Under 1.14, this will be slightly less destructive than 1.2 rules as fighters and AA both get +2 AA per star under 1.2 rules, which is very nasty once you get to about 3*.

The 88 is useful because of the switch to AT, so it gains experience more readily, but SPAA doesn't do too badly if it's guarding forward units, since defensive AA fire is more destructive on fighters and tac bombers than attacking fire, so you get kills a bit faster. Personally I like to use one of each. The ability to weaken very powerful enemy air units before your fighters engage is also good for reducing damage to your own fighters. If you play Soviet Corps, the fighters are so poor early on that you can manage with just AA guns.

But that's a nice thing about PanzerCorps, you have more than one way to do everything.

I think I'll purchase a couple of SdKfz 7/1s next scenario and begin training them. That way, I can use my mobile AAs to protect my ground units and use my fighters to protect my bombers.

When I play the other campaigns, I think I'll need to rethink my core composition based on what strengths and weaknesses those units would have.

[Stephen1024]

Infantry late war problem.

Issue is that soft attack of tank is so very high. Even in closed ground your going take lot abuse as infantry. Grenadiers preform best after 43. Lot people change all infantry to grenadiers. Para not going air drop as they bad defence if any armour finds then bye bye.

I love my paras use them behind enemy lines lot but 42 really is last year can pull it off.

One the issues we always asked developers fix that infantry such late war. They shouldn't.