Favorite or Best DLC so Far?

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adiekmann
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Favorite or Best DLC so Far?

Post by adiekmann »

With the forum awfully quiet, I thought I'd throw a question our there. I'm curious to see what people's opinion is. Which DLC is your favorite/best? Use whatever criteria you wish to answer it. I'd even be very interested in hearing which one Kerensky likes the best. :D

For me...it's probably between AO40 and AO41, leaning maybe more towards the latter.
GUNDOBALDO08
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Re: Favorite or Best DLC so Far?

Post by GUNDOBALDO08 »

IMO SCW and 1941.
More historical than others and large use of non german axis.
Tassadar
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Re: Favorite or Best DLC so Far?

Post by Tassadar »

In the order so far.

1. AO1941 - Best variety of missions and a really long set of different scenarios.
2. AO1940 - Very creative approach towards fictional UK invasion, again a lot of missions and various theaters, tough to beat nemesis to fight multiple times.
3. SCW - A part of the war not yet covered in the games apart form Panzer General 2, unique cooperation with the AI and a bunch of new, low power units.
4. AO1942 - Great air only scenarios, but felt a bit a few missions short.
5. AO1939 - Similar to 1943 it just felt too short. I've got nothing against the Saar scenarios, but this DLC could use at least 2 more missions in Poland, even small ones.
Last edited by Tassadar on Fri Jan 28, 2022 5:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Parnosian
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Re: Favorite or Best DLC so Far?

Post by Parnosian »

1: SCW - not many games cover this conflict so its a big plus & a lot of scenarios
2: AO1940: the Rommel & SeaLion scenarios 8), also DeGaulle nemessis
3: AO1942: many new units, very divert. I liked Harkov, Grosny & Assault on Stalingrad scenarios
4: AO1941: good Dlc, but too bad it doesnt have a southern path
5: AO1939: not bad, but felt short, maybe some extra polish scenarios would had worked :D
Bee1976
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Re: Favorite or Best DLC so Far?

Post by Bee1976 »

SCW is my favorite. Its tough, and some special Traits/Challenges are nearly impossible on highest difficulty (due to our spanish infantry friends)
but as mentioned, new battles, new maps, real tough fights with inferior german hardware. In no campaign i spend so much time to plan my moves and positioning.

Maybe some tuning to prestige waste, but a real 10/10 for me.

AO39 got some nice battles, but first and last scenario feels like fillers. i know they are histroically important, but well....most fun part in this dlc is the fight against the french a 9/10 for

AO40 Is nearly as good as ao39, but playing sealion feels fun and wrong together.... so a 8/10

AO 41 is the first DLC i enjoyed not that much. Some realy nice missions, but most of the maps are huge, and i feel forced to hurry hurry hurry to smash some minor defenses...some tougher fights would have been nice. But 41 is still ok, 6/10

AO42, well to many missions not connected together, the fight for stalingrad is better/more epic in the main campaign, to many air support missions, and it feels short. the update was a big improvement, but its still nothing i enjoy. I just hope that ao43 and the split will be way more intensive. ao42 is a 5/10 now prepatch its was something like 3/10 for me
Panzer73
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Re: Favorite or Best DLC so Far?

Post by Panzer73 »

Having played 5 corps through, SCW is my favorite all around.

AO'41 is probably my second favorite, with AO'40 the third.

I like the fictional Western front and Finnish battles in AO'39, though it felt short. May be it would have been better to have a single AO'39 + AO'40 DLC instead.

I like the variety of missions of AO'42, but I am very frustrated by the lack of continuity among the Stalingrad scenarios. I clear the map in Bombing of Stalingrad, and still start from square 1 in Streets of Stalingrad. What I do in Assault on Stalingrad is immaterial for the final scenario.
adiekmann
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Re: Favorite or Best DLC so Far?

Post by adiekmann »

Interesting and a wide variety of replies.

1. 1941 - Historical and I like very much the beginning scenarios in the Balkans too. Plus, I like the distances and historical flare of the Barbarossa maps. Moscow is an epic and probably fav map in this DLC for me.

2. 1940 - Perhaps my favorite opening scenario of all the DLCs (with the first one in 1942 its main competition). I liked the Dunkirk all air map, though I think its success went to Kerensky's head because I feel he overdid it in 1942 with the all air battles. (More on that later.) I enjoyed the nemesis of DeGaulle and his posse of support units. They were a challenge to handle and defeat. A major improvement over the original idea in SCW. Plus, I must give kudos that it also reflects, I think, how he listened and took forum feedback into consideration. But my favorite part of this DLC is the final two Italian/Greek maps. Those two maps made this DLC's finish my favorite of them all (with the epic battle for Madrid 39 and the final two maps in 1942 giving stiff competition).

3. 1942 - I have very strong feelings, both good and bad, about this one. I would mirror some people's comments above re: too many air only scenarios; feels too short, especially for a year that had so much going on; and the arguably most important/famous battle of the entire war (Stalingrad) was largely disappointing, especially after what I thought was an outstanding treatment in PC's Grand Campaign. The ending of it was excellent, but the actually fight for the city? Too small. Basically the one map. Sometimes I think it's okay to come close to recycling scenarios from the GC. The air battles were not bad, especially the Dash through the Channel. But I think they seemed excessive in number because of the percentage of scenarios that it represented overall in the DLC. It exaggerated the feeling of being too many. And on top of this, a few of my favorite maps in all of AO series are in this DLC, like Grozny. I could go on but I'll stop there. So, this is a series of very highs, and some lows.

4. SCW - I like this for being different. I also found it interesting how many of the above posters praised it when upon its release there was a tsunami of criticism. I guess they weren't among them. But I have always been, then and now, somewhere in between. When I replay this now, it is definitely the most challenging for me. In fact, the only one that I have never completed on either of the two highest difficulty levels. It is also the quickest. Sit on that spacebar, baby! I still do miss having my own control of my own infantry (core), but there is also a lot of interesting and well-designed scenarios. It always felt to me like A LOT of time, perhaps more than usual, went into the development of this DLC compared to some of the others.

5. 1939 - Interesting how this one comes up most frequently as everybody's least favorite. Mine too. Fighting the French so much early on, I always feel like I'm in 1940. I like them; they just feel strange. I also feel that a bit more in Poland should have been done, with or without the adjustment of some of those French scenarios. But my least favorite part of this DLC are the first map and Forbach map. I really am not a fan of puzzle maps or ones where you don't use any of your core units.

In some ways, I am glad the AO team is taking the time to do a bang-up job on AO43 and beyond. I wonder if a bit more time with AO42 would have helped, yet we (including me) are always chomping at the bit crying over the wait. The only downside is that it has now greatly raised my expectations for the next installments. Poor Kerensky; he can never win. :lol:
terminator
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Re: Favorite or Best DLC so Far?

Post by terminator »

Tassadar wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:06 pm In the order so far.
4. AO1943 - Great air only scenarios, but felt a bit a few missions short.
AO1943 ???
Raganr129
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Re: Favorite or Best DLC so Far?

Post by Raganr129 »

1a) AO 1941 - Very similar bullet points to '40. Introduced muddy terrain for additional challenge and the mobile airfields, more variety in German roster, good airborne scenario with Crete, and my favorite scenarios as a contained DLC beyond that in Russia. The German army gets guns with some punch now, but still is challenged by Russian tanks specifically, encouraging asymmetric play focusing on air power and/or big AT guns. Fun unique units with the double fuselage planes and the Sturer Emil and the Dicker Max prototypes. Best hero (so far, I will continue to push for Michael Wittman or Knispel or other German tank aces) comes into play with Rudel. Only thing I find annoying is the weather in later scenarios where you can't use him as much as I'd like. Very hard to call between this and '40.

Grade: A+

1b) AO 1940 - Had the most inventive scenarios, forcing usage of paratroopers, amphibious landings, good mix of defensive/offensive scenarios. Gave us our first hint of alternate history with Sealion which were great scenarios in their own right, and some of my favorite unique heroes. This is when German armor begins to be really useful with the PzIII H and the roster as a whole opens up for you completely (paratroopers again).

Grade: A

2) AO 1942 - Deeper into Russia, covers one of the most important battles in the war in Stalingrad, you get the famous elements of the Wehrmacht coming into play with Tigers and Panthers (dependent on Industry Connections for the latter I think, but still). The Kharkov scenario is in my top 5 scenarios over the entire campaign so far, I loved that mission, and have played it numerous different ways. This DLC arguably has the most story in terms of focus on ...personal stories? Don't know the words to describe it. You get Wagner back, see Gerhardt cycle out and probably sacrifice himself at Stalingrad, Manstein and the scenario with Gero as a focus, which can play well if players are invested in the characters, but can sometimes seem to overshadow the overall war happening. The stumbling blocks come largely with some interesting choices and bugs at release: Controversy around rule changes at the time for paratroopers, a large focus on air support scenarios, certain broken scripts with commendation points, the entire Soviet air force crashing on turn 1 due to weather in the last scenarios, etc. Most of these are fixed now, but they definitely colored my opinion when I played it on release.

The biggest disappointments (admittedly probably too strong a word) to me were the Stalingrad scenarios. They seemed largely underwhelming, some of this is comparing it to PzC1, where Soviet troops would actually transport across the Volga in large numbers, instead of bombing boats that trundle around aimlessly in this iteration. without ever landing reinforcements. The boats are there to simulate reinforcements without ever actually being an urgent threat you need to take out. The Streets scenario also feels oddly quiet with most of the southern parts of the city being empty. I preface this by stating I know this is because Paulus already cleared those sectors as explained in the briefing and seen during the air support scenario, but it still felt a bit too much that you missed most of the most important battle of the war so far. I would argue that the struggle for the city in the base game's campaign is (arguably) more challenging and interesting in every way here.
The other factor I wasn't a fan of was all the air scenarios. Between the 3-4 of them (depending on how you count and play Demyansk), I always feel frustrated at my AI ally's decision making (or scripted behavior). Their presence makes the turns really really long and boring, particularly Bombing Stalingrad. Additionally, when your force isn't in the fight it makes those missions feel like a sideshow and contributes to this DLC, despite being of comparable length to the others, feel shorter. Other DLCs have these kinds of missions, but not to the extent that '42 did.

Grade: Strong B to B+

3) AO 1939 - Weird Czech mission that caused some controversy on release, I personally was indifferent. Additional controversy when you do not take part at the start of Fall Weiss, instead being deployed to garrison the border with France, and you potentially reinforcing an absent ally in Finland later. I'm just noting the controversy here, I personally really enjoyed the French scenarios, potentially with the exception of the captured vehicles mission. (It was a fun mission, but since you aren't using your force, it feels like you are again skipping action and makes the campaign feel shorter than others before it. See the same note above for '42). The missions you get in Poland are also well done and enjoyable to play. It would have been nice to see a full Fall Weiss, but then you'd chronologically miss the other fresh content with the Saar offensive, so this is a wash for me personally. Quality wise this DLC was one of the better ones on release, it's just not my personal favorite period of the war to play.

Grade: B

4) AO SCW - This ranking for me is purely based on my preference of wanting to fight WW2; in contrast this feels like a sideshow. Your roster in '36 isn't really ready for many fights or suits the Spanish terrain without infantry (unless you play Rudankort's mod that lets you command Spanish infantry or use Italian auxiliaries) and makes for slower gameplay. Good DLC, just ranks below all the others for me, but I appreciate seeing a conflict never seen in games before.

Grade: B+
Tassadar
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Re: Favorite or Best DLC so Far?

Post by Tassadar »

terminator wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 5:05 am
Tassadar wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:06 pm In the order so far.
4. AO1943 - Great air only scenarios, but felt a bit a few missions short.
AO1943 ???
1942 of course. I guess my subconsciousness is looking forward to the new DLC a lot.
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Re: Favorite or Best DLC so Far?

Post by nexusno2000 »

Tassadar wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:06 pm In the order so far.

1. AO1941 - Best variety of missions and a really long set of different scenarios.
2. AO1940 - Very creative approach towards fictional UK invasion, again a lot of missions and various theaters, tough to beat nemesis to fight multiple times.
3. SCW - A part of the war not yet covered in the games apart form Panzer General 2, unique cooperation with the AI and a bunch of new, low power units.
4. AO1942 - Great air only scenarios, but felt a bit a few missions short.
5. AO1939 - Similar to 1943 it just felt too short. I've got nothing against the Saar scenarios, but this DLC could use at least 2 more missions in Poland, even small ones.
Exactly this.
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