Self-restriction ideas to spice up a campaign?

[MaxDoge]

Did anyone think of any fun ideas to spice up the gameplay and the campaigns, with self-restrictions and such?

For example, last couple times when I played a campaign on Rommel/General difficulty sometimes it seemed a bit unfair when powergaming and min-maxing everything, always using only the strongest units while ignoring the rest etc. Hardly seems fair when I see the AI use a mix of different units, often much weaker than my own so they just get steamrolled. Then I got the idea of playing with a few restrictions, like having no more than 1 type of unit each (one PZII, one PZIII, one PZIV), or never upgrading a unit unless it's in the same family-tree, if I want a fancy new Tiger then I have to buy a fresh one instead of instantly upgrading my best heroes to Tigers making them unstoppable. Forces me to use all kinds of different units and apply a bit more strategy than simply steamrolling opponents, almost like a historical mix of units which makes it more balanced and fun.

Anyone had any similar ideas or shares the same thoughts?

[MaxDoge]

Forgot to mention that the fact that all of our units get heroes, often amazing ones, and also a ton of SE units, it doesn't seem fair compared to the AI that doesn't seem to get any heroes and very few stronger SE units.

[dalfrede]

New Campaign Idea?
https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewto ... 21&t=91841

[TSPC37730]

You could try limiting the numbers of units you are allowed to deploy. If the scenario allows you to deploy 25 units, you could allow yourself to only deploy say, 25 - 3 = 22. You could also limit yourself on the number of upgrades you can acquire - say, only 1 - 2 per scenario. Not a big deal initially, but, it could get a little interesting when '43 rolls around. The drawback to all of this is that you're on your own when it comes to keeping track of things.

[MaxDoge]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Yeah, keeping track of things is an issue, ideally the rules have to be something simple and yet effective, I should just make an effort not to use the same overpowered unit like the Churchill Mk IV. Looked at the link and Braccada's playthrough looks interesting, but too much math and micromanagement for me. When I think about it I think I had the most fun years ago in PG2 when I had a simple rule of one type of unit each and I could only upgrade units that had heroes on them. Made me appreciate strong units a lot more since there was only one of them and I've grown to love a lot of the underused units, once they became obsolete they went into the reserve if needed. I also played ironman style with no reloads whatsoever but I had a lot of metaknowledge of the maps and campaigns.

In Panzer Corps I've only done about half of GC and started Allied Corps and Soviet Corps a bit so playing blind ironman style is very tricky, since the AI will randomly spawn or hide units at the corner of the map to surprise you on purpose, or switch up mission objectives completely so your planning goes out the window in an instant, so no more ironman for me. I am finding it very difficult to balance out my gameplay, the devs gave us too many sliders and options to play around with, it's hard for me to find the perfect balance between too easy and annoyingly punishing. At this rate it will take me a couple of years to go through all the DLC content And PC2 is just around the corner, yikes.

[RVallant]

If you're on the GC, try only deploying at 100% soft cap indicator.

If the % goes 99% or any other number, you have to un-deploy until you're back at 100%

If you're zooming ahead for the top tier units at every opportunity you'll soon find you won't even be deploying half your force, especially late GC scenarios where the cap comes in just by virtue of trying to put out an air force. I was consistently at 60-70% and I only had one official Tiger 2 tank in my core.

I'd be very impressed if you managed to get decisive consistently that way, especially if you have to buy cheaper fresh models of units in order to get under the cap, no downgrading allowed!

[MaxDoge]

That's a great idea actually, thanks for sharing

[PoorOldSpike]

Personally I use a dice a lot in computer wargames to see what units it allows me to purchase, for example we'd all love a Tiger but if the dice says "no, but you can have a Pz IVH", it adds an extra challenge to the game to force us to make do with what the dice (aka 'High Command') gives us.
Same dice-roll procedure applies to all other unit types, planes, artillery, AT, AA etc.
That way every battle is fresh and different every time we play it..

"I have set my life upon a cast, and will stand the hazard of the die"- Shakespeare's Richard III

PS- I also use a lot of my own "house rules" in computer games, mostly to hinder myself and increase the challenge because after all we're only playing against the AI..

[MaxDoge]

I wouldn't insult the AI too much, they might remember it when they take over the world at some point

A bit of a rant, but sometimes I get stuck with the restart syndrome because I can't decide how to play (games in general), feels like there's an eternal battle going on between the hardcore powergamer that I was in the past and the more casual gamer that I try to be nowadays, so I end up something in between not really sure which approach I enjoy more, although it's very clear which approach is the larger time sink. Making a campaign too challenging sometimes just leads to more frustration than fun, which leads to restarting maps or campaigns which prolongs the whole game far beyond its intended playtime. I'm struggling to go through the game's content as it is, after 400hrs I don't have much to show for, the only campaign that I finished was the Wehrmacht one, barely got halfway in the GC on Rommel (the maps and my core are both huge). Brilliant game but gets very expensive timewise to play it, not sure the fun/time ratio is worth it, considering my library is full of games that I'd like to try at some point but can never find the time for them. Sorry for ranting, I just lose interest in a campaign if things get way too easy, but I know that I also lose interest if things become far too challenging and I start losing my fav units or have to replay the same battles, I don't usually struggle as much with my approach but for some reason Panzer Corps has me perplexed. Not a fan of savescumming either, that makes every battle trivial, very difficult to find the right balance, especially with the prestige settings since I don't know how much money I'll actually need for a campaign beforehand. Still haven't figured out how to fully enjoy the game after 400hrs, I'm starting to think that I enjoy restarting and early game battles and unit with smaller cores

[PoorOldSpike]

I wouldn't insult the AI too much, they might remember it when they take over the world at some point

Let the AI bots bring it on in the real world, I'll have 'em for breakfast..
I've been running rings round the AI in every computer wargame I've owned over the past 36 years, that's why I have my own house rules to give them some help.
PS- I've also put in 5000 hours in online multiplayer wargames like Armed Assault, playing against the most dangerous opponents in the known universe- humans- so by comparison whupping the AI in any wargame is a piece o' cake..

[captainjack]

Some things I've tried:
Divison structure -
typically each 4 or 6 units eg 2 inf a gun and an AT on foot (guns horsedrawn if you have a mod that allows horse transport) or motorised in trucks/mechanized in half tracks, Panzer division 2 tanks, 2 guns and two infantry. AA, Heavy guns, pioneers are Corps units which can be deployed where needed. Deploy by divisions, and in game the division works together as far as possible - works well at some stages, but gets tough at other times. It works best if you restrict division reorganisation to breaks - change of country, change of campaign, historic refit happenned - rather than at the end of any scenario. See those upgrades you can't have yet as you need to stop fighting to get them? During a reorganisation, you can shuffle individual units between divisions and into or out of Corps, change unit type to better fit heroes (eg spotting heroes become kradschutzen or +1 ini convert to pioneers. I use this quite a lot - kampfgruppen are more versatile, but deploying the divisions where they are best suited helps focus on objectives and on making the best of the units you have in that area.

Restricted overstrength
Add an extra challenge by allowing overstrength only at breaks. So you start Poland at 10 and can't overstrength until you finish Poland. You start Norway at up to 12 strength but can't add any overstrength until you head to Belgium, and then until you drive the British out of Dunkirk. Quite tough for me as I usually use 11 or 12 strength.

Restricted upgrades
One upgrade per scenario. 109G to FW190 or a IVF to IVG? This is a bit too much for me though I try to avoid wholesale conversion to Tigers and bring it in selectively, and do try to avoid multiple out of series upgrades (eg Panzer 2 to IV to Tiger to Panther).

[goose_2]

Restricted upgrades
One upgrade per scenario. 109G to FW190 or a IVF to IVG? This is a bit too much for me though I try to avoid wholesale conversion to Tigers and bring it in selectively, and do try to avoid multiple out of series upgrades (eg Panzer 2 to IV to Tiger to Panther).

Why would you ever change a Tiger to a Panther?

[goose_2]

Oh yeah and I found an old post on 2 different restrictive difficulty levels I have not heard anyone try yet?

https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewto ... 21&t=87445

I would love to hear someone's aar who has tried either campaign

[MaxDoge]

Appreciate all the feedback guys, Von Rundstedt Mode seems very interesting.

[captainjack]

[/quote]

Why would you ever change a Tiger to a Panther?
[/quote]

Excellent question - unfortunately the uninspiring answer is that I meant to write "Tiger or panther".
Fortunately it was only a typing error rather than a playing error!

Von Runstedt mode would be tough if not playing NIco's version with free choice of units at the start. The intermediate version would be to only buy units at the start of a new campaign.