Locarnus Addon 2025-05, for Battlefield Europe, Afrika Korps and Grand Campaign East

[caesar67]

Ah, I see. It works!
But two more questions:
In BE I have two SE-mot.Inf, but not here. Is this intendet?
And what are the differents between the starting options (Colonel, General etc.)?

[Locarnus]

Ah, I see. It works!
But two more questions:
In BE I have two SE-mot.Inf, but not here. Is this intendet?
And what are the differents between the starting options (Colonel, General etc.)?

Yep, the SE-motorized Inf was new in BE 2.4 and I was not yet able to implement something like it.
Just did not find the right balancing concept within the Addon framework so far.
On the other hand, some Addon units are considerably stronger (or weaker) than they are in BE 2.4, depicting facets of elite infantry.
Like SdKfz 250 and 251 infantry transports are much more powerful and units like the Kradschützen can switch between recon (phased movement) and infantry modes (close terrain and combat boni).

Starting difficulty levels just change the sliders that are visible in the "Advanced" difficulty tab.
If you want to finetune any of those sliders, you have to also set the checkmark to use "Custom Difficulty" at the top.
But beware that changing the standard difficulty options has no effect after you set that checkmark.
So first select the standard difficulty, then set the checkmark, then finetune the sliders.

Colonel is the default selected, but should not be used (AI level 1, no other boni or mali).
General should instead be the default used for Battlefield Europe (AI level 2, no other boni or mali).

I wrote some more about balance stuff in the "Difficulty recommendations and house rules" section (first post of the Addon thread). https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=106547

[goose_2]

I thought a bit more about Stalingrad.
It seems the best way to make sure you have a 3 star infantry would be to temporarily change Makorin to an Inf for Stalingrad.
If you want to have that upgrade option, he should then be in infantry class at the end of GC 42.8 "Buzinovka Depot". Switching him to transport mode as a towed AT gun would satisfy that requirement.
So Makorin would have to be a towed AT gun at the start of "Buzinovka Depot".
If you want to keep him as a Semovente for GC 42.7 "Ilovlya", he has then to be in AT mode at the last turn of "Ilovlya".

GC 42.7 "Ilovlya" end => Makorin in AT mode (which is in AT class)
GC 42.8 "Buzinovka Depot" start => Makorin upgraded to a towed AT gun
GC 42.8 "Buzinovka Depot" end => Makorin switched to transport mode (which is in infantry class)
GC 42.9 "Storming Stalingrad" start => Makorin upgraded to Std Wehrmacht infantry

Why are you so adamant that I use 3 starred inf in Stalingrad? I am ok with where my guys are at? Would I like to fly with 3 starred inf, yeah, but you fight with the army you have not the army you want.

[Locarnus]

Why are you so adamant that I use 3 starred inf in Stalingrad? I am ok with where my guys are at? Would I like to fly with 3 starred inf, yeah, but you fight with the army you have not the army you want.

Probably a case of overthinking things, due to digging a bit too deep into the mechanics coupled with the sun going down so early.

I ran some tests for the close defense rebalancing of the 2024-12 update (all inf and many towed AT guns have 1 more close defense now).
All axis units are attackers with 10 strength, all soviet units are city hex defenders with 1 star & 3 entrenchment.
Except for the more varied unit strength and soviet entrenchment, those base stars should be close to the Stalingrad scenario situations.

Against.............................Conscripts (15 str)....Guards (11 str).......SMG (11 str)
Std Wehrmacht Inf (2 stars).........(-2.2 vs -4.9).......(-4.4 vs -4.4).......(-4.4 vs -3.5)
Std Wehrmacht Inf (3 stars).........(-1.9 vs -5.3).......(-3.2 vs -4.9).......(-3.2 vs -4.0)
Grenadiere (2 stars, +2 def hero)...(-1.5 vs -5.3).......(-2.3 vs -4.9).......(-2.5 vs -4.0)
Fallis (2 stars, +1 ini hero)...........(-1.5 vs -5.3).......(-2.1 vs -4.9).......(-2.4 vs -4.0)

[caesar67]

Ah, I see. It works!
But two more questions:
In BE I have two SE-mot.Inf, but not here. Is this intendet?
And what are the differents between the starting options (Colonel, General etc.)?

Yep, the SE-motorized Inf was new in BE 2.4 and I was not yet able to implement something like it.
Just did not find the right balancing concept within the Addon framework so far.
On the other hand, some Addon units are considerably stronger (or weaker) than they are in BE 2.4, depicting facets of elite infantry.
Like SdKfz 250 and 251 infantry transports are much more powerful and units like the Kradschützen can switch between recon (phased movement) and infantry modes (close terrain and combat boni).

Thank you again for your detailed answers.
Perhaps there is a way to implement those two or more units in a later update? For historical immersion it would be very nice for me to have some SS-units at the start of Barbarossa. Renaming some existing mot-inf units would not be the same, because they don't have the camouflage design.

[Locarnus]

Thank you again for your detailed answers.
Perhaps there is a way to implement those two or more units in a later update? For historical immersion it would be very nice for me to have some SS-units at the start of Barbarossa. Renaming some existing mot-inf units would not be the same, because they don't have the camouflage design.

It is on my todo list (and I even made some entries in the equipment file already, just haven't figured out the balancing).

Until then, the normal Wehrmacht infantry units (only 39 & 42 versions) can be switched between two different camo patterns (visual switch only, no in-game benefits to either one).
The normal grey camo pattern and the desert (ie tropical "TP") camo pattern.

If I remember correctly, only one unit in Battlefield Europe scenario uses the desert camo pattern by default.
So you can eg replace that desert camo graphic with the SS_Inf.png graphic and then switch some of the Wehrmacht units to that.

Just save the below attached graphic into your "Panzer Corps\Graphics\Units" folder (it is the already renamed SS_Inf.png), to overwrite the existing desert camo with the same file name.
That should work right away, even for an existing savegame without needing a scenario transition.

Wehrmacht_InfTp.png (27.35 KiB) Viewed 1930 times

[caesar67]

Thank you again for your detailed answers.
Perhaps there is a way to implement those two or more units in a later update? For historical immersion it would be very nice for me to have some SS-units at the start of Barbarossa. Renaming some existing mot-inf units would not be the same, because they don't have the camouflage design.

It is on my todo list (and I even made some entries in the equipment file already, just haven't figured out the balancing).

Until then, the normal Wehrmacht infantry units (only 39 & 42 versions) can be switched between two different camo patterns (visual switch only, no in-game benefits to either one).
The normal grey camo pattern and the desert (ie tropical "TP") camo pattern.

If I remember correctly, only one unit in Battlefield Europe scenario uses the desert camo pattern by default.
So you can eg replace that desert camo graphic with the SS_Inf.png graphic and then switch some of the Wehrmacht units to that.

Just save the below attached graphic into your "Panzer Corps\Graphics\Units" folder (it is the already renamed SS_Inf.png), to overwrite the existing desert camo with the same file name.
That should work right away, even for an existing savegame without needing a scenario transition.

Wehrmacht_InfTp.png

Wow! Thank you very much!! I will try tonight, when I start my first game with your submod.
And good news, that you are working for some new SS-units. In BE, I use them (5 units) as a fire brigade in critical frontlines. So it would be nice to make them a bit stronger - as it was historical - and given them unique colours (also the tanks).

[goose_2]

Why are you so adamant that I use 3 starred inf in Stalingrad? I am ok with where my guys are at? Would I like to fly with 3 starred inf, yeah, but you fight with the army you have not the army you want.

Probably a case of overthinking things, due to digging a bit too deep into the mechanics coupled with the sun going down so early.

I ran some tests for the close defense rebalancing of the 2024-12 update (all inf and many towed AT guns have 1 more close defense now).
All axis units are attackers with 10 strength, all soviet units are city hex defenders with 1 star & 3 entrenchment.
Except for the more varied unit strength and soviet entrenchment, those base stars should be close to the Stalingrad scenario situations.

Against.............................Conscripts (15 str)....Guards (11 str).......SMG (11 str)
Std Wehrmacht Inf (2 stars).........(-2.2 vs -4.9).......(-4.4 vs -4.4).......(-4.4 vs -3.5)
Std Wehrmacht Inf (3 stars).........(-1.9 vs -5.3).......(-3.2 vs -4.9).......(-3.2 vs -4.0)
Grenadiere (2 stars, +2 def hero)...(-1.5 vs -5.3).......(-2.3 vs -4.9).......(-2.5 vs -4.0)
Fallis (2 stars, +1 ini hero)...........(-1.5 vs -5.3).......(-2.1 vs -4.9).......(-2.4 vs -4.0)

Finished the 2nd broadcast for Illovlaya this morning before work.

Dude, it is going well, and pushing the boundaries, as always. So many good things and scary things as well

You will love. See you Friday

[goose_2]

Finished the final broadcast a few minutes ago. Everything came up Milhouse and very pleased with progress of units. Still not sure of the Bison upgrade for you. You do so so well as the FlakPanzer. I am pleased with the kinds of units I am playing with not sure I want to mess with a winning formula.

[Locarnus]

Finished the final broadcast a few minutes ago. Everything came up Milhouse and very pleased with progress of units. Still not sure of the Bison upgrade for you. You do so so well as the FlakPanzer. I am pleased with the kinds of units I am playing with not sure I want to mess with a winning formula.

You have a winnig formula, looking forward to friday!
Thanks to PzC mechanics, you also have experience to spare among your arty lineup and a comparative experience deficit in the other ground force classes.

+2 attack helps on AA a lot, but 5 AA are imho still too many to all properly train up at this point. Especially two units both having 2cm AA guns.
So if the +2 attack hero stays an AA unit, then the +1 movement hero (Reoguru) should imho become an arty for the time being. Cheapest upgrade path stays the same, just one more step and current Flakpanzer would simply not deploy for a scenario.

SdKfz 10/4+ in AA mode upgraded to Flakpanzer I
Flakpanzer I in tank mode upgraded to Bison I

edit: And near the end of 43 a similar way leads back. Grille arty and Gepard AA are both based on the Panzer 38(t) chassis.
Early 44 there is another similar path, with the Brummbär arty and Möbelwagen AA.

[caesar67]

Switching between camo and normal pattern works. But now also for artillery! Would it be possible to switch also to camo pattern in regard to the vehicles of the Panzergrenadiere?

[Locarnus]

Switching between camo and normal pattern works. But now also for artillery! Would it be possible to switch also to camo pattern in regard to the vehicles of the Panzergrenadiere?

Aircraft, tracked & halftracked vehicles have different movement types for their normal and desert versions with the Addon (so each has movement benefits in their respective terrain, normal units in "clear" hexes, desert units in "desert" hexes, all other hexes being treated equal - including countryside terrain).
In BE 2.4 without Addon, even wheeled vehicles differentiate between normal and desert movement types (no difference between wheeled units with Addon, since that is based on BE 2.3).
Since there are tangible differences between those tracked units, they require an upgrade purchase to get from non-desert to desert variant, not just a switch.

Even if that would not be the case, there is no game engine possibility to really switch between different transport units for eg the same infantry or artillery unit.
PzC engine is unfortunately a bit limited in that regard. Every camo pattern is actually a completely different entry in the unit file, not just a visual camo like in PzC 2.

[caesar67]

Switching between camo and normal pattern works. But now also for artillery! Would it be possible to switch also to camo pattern in regard to the vehicles of the Panzergrenadiere?

Aircraft, tracked & halftracked vehicles have different movement types for their normal and desert versions with the Addon (so each has movement benefits in their respective terrain, normal units in "clear" hexes, desert units in "desert" hexes, all other hexes being treated equal - including countryside terrain).
In BE 2.4 without Addon, even wheeled vehicles differentiate between normal and desert movement types (no difference between wheeled units with Addon, since that is based on BE 2.3).
Since there are tangible differences between those tracked units, they require an upgrade purchase to get from non-desert to desert variant, not just a switch.

Even if that would not be the case, there is no game engine possibility to really switch between different transport units for eg the same infantry or artillery unit.
PzC engine is unfortunately a bit limited in that regard. Every camo pattern is actually a completely different entry in the unit file, not just a visual camo like in PzC 2.

Thanks a lot!
Perhaps it will be better to get some SS units with different camo from the start or via event with camo vehicle.
I show you one pictures of my current game. It ist hard to read the informations in the second line! There are some bomber with the same problem...

[caesar67]

Ups, don't know where my picture is. I loaded it up but it doesn't appear...it was the tank destroyer from the start.

[caesar67]

April 42: my inf-units have now minus 16 fuel. What are the
effects of this?

[Locarnus]

Thanks a lot!
Perhaps it will be better to get some SS units with different camo from the start or via event with camo vehicle.
I show you one pictures of my current game. It ist hard to read the informations in the second line! There are some bomber with the same problem...

Yep, thats part of the "long planned but still not sure how to best implement" elite mobile infantry.
You can see me testing out different switching and balancing approaches with eg the german Kradschützen, german Cavalry, italian Sahariana along the more traditionally balanced but still very powerful "Grenadiere with SdKfz 251 or 250".

That second line in the unit description is a real pain (along with all other issues caused by overly long unit type names).
I thought about really improving the UI in that respect, but I fear issues for people using different configurations.
Like youtubers who play on 1280x720 or similar to increase text and unit size for readability on smaller screens when watching the video (eg tablets).
PzC engine is a fickle beast, and after so many unanticipated issues, I have become perhaps overly cautious in that regard.

Ups, don't know where my picture is. I loaded it up but it doesn't appear...it was the tank destroyer from the start.

I guess you tried attaching the image to the forum post instead of linking an image stored eg on imgur?
Then after attaching the image, you need to click on a button next to the attachment saying something like "place inline" or so.

April 42: my inf-units have now minus 16 fuel. What are the
effects of this?

If they do not have a transport attached that needs fuel for movement, it can be ignored as far as I know.
One of the small benefits of leg and horse movement types within PzC engine.

April 42, your playthrough is progressing quickly!
How did the winter go? Sieging Leningrad or assaulting it?

[caesar67]

There was a small mod of DMP as I remember which give you a second line. But I can not download it, perhaps website is out of order.
1942 progress: I played BE before with 'General' difficulty. I could hold a line south Leningrad, Smolensk, Kursk and Rostow. Some troops where in Kaukasus, but without success. That was in winter 1943. 1944 my front starts to get broken and I quit.

Now with your submod I am in problems 1942. My front is south Leningrad, south Smolensk, Kiev to Sewastopol. No chance to upgrade tanks (besides my elite tanks), no chance to elite replacement, no chance to build new units (just two 8,8 AA).
Before winter 1941 I had about 1700 prestige. This all went off for replacements and some upgrades.
A little bit frustrating. Not the power of the Russians, but in my opinion players should have 3000 more prestige!
PS: I am playing PC since the very first day.

[Locarnus]

There was a small mod of DMP as I remember which give you a second line. But I can not download it, perhaps website is out of order.
1942 progress: I played BE before with 'General' difficulty. I could hold a line south Leningrad, Smolensk, Kursk and Rostow. Some troops where in Kaukasus, but without success. That was in winter 1943. 1944 my front starts to get broken and I quit.

Now with your submod I am in problems 1942. My front is south Leningrad, south Smolensk, Kiev to Sewastopol. No chance to upgrade tanks (besides my elite tanks), no chance to elite replacement, no chance to build new units (just two 8,8 AA).
Before winter 1941 I had about 1700 prestige. This all went off for replacements and some upgrades.
A little bit frustrating. Not the power of the Russians, but in my opinion players should have 3000 more prestige!
PS: I am playing PC since the very first day.

Prompted by your feedback, I meddled a bit with the UI files.

This zip archive contains 2 files, which should overwrite the 2 original files within the PanzerCorps\UI folder.
The modified main.htm increases the basic font size from 11 to 12 px and changes some formating to better show 2 lines for the unit name and unit type name for most units. Some unit names and unit type names are still too long (eg 15 sFH 13 Lorraine GW), but I'll have to deal with that in the equipment file (thus it can not change for an ongoing savegame).

The new rename.htm file increases the character limit for custom unit names (Shortcut: Alt + n) from 20 to 25.
That should still fit within the 2 lines, but only if the middle of the unit name is NOT one long word (then the first part would be in line 1, the long middle part in line 2 and the last part in line 3).

UI.zip

(5.26 KiB) Downloaded 13 times

Kiev - Sevastopol is frustrating for early 1942.

BE without Locarnus Addon prevents players from spending prestige on new units until after the first winter.
I went the other way and made early purchases possible, but lowered initial prestige.

Since prestige spent on reinforcements is ~4 times more cost efficient than spending it on new units, those two 8.8cm Flak purchases might hurt early on. That would be ~500 prestige without transports or ~750? prestige with transports, times ~4 if spent for reinforcements instead. Since basic reinforcements cost 25% of the normal unit price per strength point.

I'll add a warning and will take another look at the early prestige situation. Thank you for your feedback.


Another component could be the force allocation.
Imho the Barbarossa forces historically are kind of deployed incorrectly.
Too many mobile units pushing North-East into the swamp and forest terrain, instead of the South-East open and countryside terrain.
I usually redirect quite a few tanks and some of the infantry with trucks and half-tracks to the southern push.
Then practically ignore Sevastopol until some time in 1942 (just leaving some Romanians there until Gustav can deal with it). To be able to push faster towards Rostov and the Don river.

[caesar67]

Thanks for your interesting suggestions and the files. Those help a lot.
Sewastopol is quite easy. I take it without great losses in winter 1941. I go for it with one tank, two German inf. and two romanian inf. Also your both railway guns and some bombers.
AA: yes, reinforcement is better. But I have now with your addon only one 8,8 in France. In BE I have more AA there.
So I have to buy. In the east I had to upgrade also one 3,7 to 8,8.
For that only, my prestige is almost gone .
So, If someone will do so with the 8,8 like I did and will upgrade most of the tanks to PzIII till summer 1942, you will need 6000 extra prestige.

Destroyer in the atlantic and British bomber near my main cities will cost a lot. Yes, historical....but fighting with PzI and II at the end of 1942?

[Locarnus]

Thanks for your interesting suggestions and the files. Those help a lot.
Sewastopol is quite easy. I take it without great losses in winter 1941. I go for it with one tank, two German inf. and two romanian inf. Also your both railway guns and some bombers.
AA: yes, reinforcement is better. But I have now with your addon only one 8,8 in France. In BE I have more AA there.
So I have to buy. In the east I had to upgrade also one 3,7 to 8,8.
For that only, my prestige is almost gone .
So, If someone will do so with the 8,8 like I did and will upgrade most of the tanks to PzIII till summer 1942, you will need 6000 extra prestige.

Destroyer in the atlantic and British bomber near my main cities will cost a lot. Yes, historical....but fighting with PzI and II at the end of 1942?

Out of family upgrades for full price are really expensive are rarely worth it.
And with BE (and Locarnus Addon by extension), the AA is far less effective than in unmodded PzC.

Also, capturing towns and victory hexes brings in a lot of prestige (50 and 150 respectively).
So the further your initial push goes, the more prestige you will get from that, which you can then spend again.
And at some point the enemy will also get fewer units (and less prestige without eg oil fields, but the allies usually have no prestige shortage anyway).


Wait, you want to upgrade most of your tanks to Pz III?
The Addon provides equipment based upgrade families (mostly chassis based, but for some artillery also some gun based upgrade families).
So Pz III and Panther are not in the same upgrade family, contrary to BE without Addon.
Instead there are many more cheap "cross class" upgrade options (eg between Pz III and StuG III).

That Pz I can be relatively cheaply upgraded to a Sturmpanzer I (Bison I) in turn 2 when moved to Königsberg in turn 1.
Which has limited ammo, but can support and defend your tank pushes especially on the more mobile southern front, without needing a turn to get out of transports.

Panzer II units can choose between the recon path (Pz II F, with recon movement), Flammpanzer II (against entrenched infantry), Bison II (Sturmpanzer II mobile arty, from Jan 1942 onwards), and Marder II (glass cannon tank destroyer, from May 1942 onwards). Not great, not terrible, but at least a versatile little chassis.

Your own fleet is mostly a prestige sink, since there is not much for them to do that can significantly improve your strategic situation.