Tricks and Tips

[Kerensky]

Tips for the base game:
http://slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=121&t=26367

Tips on locations of capturable units throughout the DLC and AK Campaigns:
viewtopic.php?f=121&t=39382

Complete Grand Campaign Tree.
http://slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=121&t=41972

It's still the same Panzer Corps, but the AI has quite a few devious tricks up its sleeve now, so be prepared!
Just thought I'd share a few helpful hints for anyone curious.

1. Pay close attention to your briefing.
They often contain very specific and useful information about the upcoming scenario.

2. Recon is important.
With abundant enemy counter-attacks, knowing where these attacks are coming from and how strong they are is vital to preparing an adequate defense. Recon units and fighters are your best units for this task.

3. Escort your Stukas.
The AI has a tendency to send its aircraft to attack in waves now. So expect air battles for some scenarios to last the entire length of a scenario, not just a quick 3 turn clearing of the skies at the start of a scenario!

4. Tanks, anti-tank, and tactical bombers.
While there are still plenty of soft targets that must be dealt with, you should be prepared to face off against a lot more enemy armor in the DLC campaigns than you have in the current Panzer Corps campaigns. Some scenarios actually have a 2:1 ratio of enemy infantry to enemy tanks, so build your core accordingly!

5. Victory is *not* life.
If you find yourself struggling, don't be afraid to settle for a minor victory for a scenario or two while you slowly build your core to strength. Decisive victories and minor victories share a similar progression path, so getting minor victories isn't as damaging like it is in the main campaign (cant get to USA without decisive victories). Of course that doesn't mean Decisive Victories aren't worth going for. They reward more prestige, access to 'bonus' scenarios, and a more likely possibility of capturing enemy equipment! Just don't think of a Minor Victory as a loss.



Thanks Rood and Eraser for their original contributions!

[macattack]

While there are still plenty of soft targets that must be dealt with, you should be prepared to face off against a lot more enemy armor in the DLC campaigns than you have in the current Panzer Corps campaigns

Well it is called "Panzer" Corps after all.

[Kerensky]

Well it is called "Panzer" Corps after all.

Bingo.

[kjeld111]

Let me add some other tips I got from playing the beta :

- It's called "Blitzkrieg" for a reason : Speed and momentum in some of the early scenarios (Poznan, Danzig, Eben Emael ... to a lesser extent Wyszgorod or Lilehammer) is important, because the enemy is really unprepared. You'll encounter light defenses, and even sometimes undermanned, unsupplied units if you strike fast and hard. But the enemy will reinforce and mount counterattacks. So, get the maximum impact (without overextending) while you can !

- Defence is not reserved to 1944 : The more focused (geographically and chronologically) action in the DLC scenario mean there will be defensive scenarios too, simulating various allied counterattacks absent from the "abstracted" base campaign mission. Be ready to defend the Bzura or the Albert Canal with all you have got. Plus, even some offensive missions will have local organised counterattacks. Plan your core accordingly !

- Warsaw will redefine your opinion of what a real "siege" is. I don't even want to think about Stalingrad at that point . Don't purchase too much artillery though, there is a little twist to that scenario.

- The difference between a marginal or a decisive victory is no longer how fast you can plod through the map. The turn limit is relatively lenient, and is the same for MV/DV. The point is to complete the optional, diversified objectives, so study your briefing and the map well

- Experience is capped in the DLCs, so be careful with elite reinforcements ...

[Kerensky]

Good point on the experience caps.

The experience cap for units in DLC 1939 is 225 experience. Or a 2 Star unit.
The experience cap for units in DLC 1940 is 325 experience. Or a 3 Star unit.

And this trend of easing the experience cap will continue as the DLC campaigns continue.

Also, medals being awarded and heroes being earned have both been slowed down compared to the primary campaign to compensate for an overall much longer campaign (70-100 scenarios is the end goal for this first DLC series).

[airbornemongo101]

Recon,,,,Recon,,,and more Recon

No matter how you do it ,make sure you survey the sorrounding area,be prepared to be counter-attacked while you are attacking

I can't stress this particular point enough: using a COMBINED ARMS core force is the key to victory with the DLC'S

[impar]

While there are still plenty of soft targets that must be dealt with, you should be prepared to face off against a lot more enemy armor in the DLC campaigns than you have in the current Panzer Corps campaigns.

Never knew Poland had so many TKS tanks...

[Kerensky]

They had hundreds of these tanks, and on the new DLC scale that is "more focused", as kjeld111 put it, these tanks and their numbers are not entirely out of place.

[OmegaMan1]

Another tip for the 1939 campaign: don't overlook cavalry units for your core force, they are great for scouting and handling rough terrain.

And don't underestimate the Polish cavalry... those guys are absolutely dangerous (they have a really nasty habit of killing off weaker units)!

[Longasc]

- the Grand Campaign is harder than the Panzer Corps Campaign

- expect more core units to die

- you can have 2 SE units in the 1939 GC, 3 SE units in the 1940 Campaign. No SE tanks before Norway.

- again, read the briefing! You are given really vital extra information.

- in some scenarios aux units might have extra fuel and ammo.

- you can capture enemy units for use in your core in certain scenarios

- fear the Polish Cavalry, it's fast all-terrain recon infantry that will hunt down your weakened units

[airbornemongo101]

- fear the Polish Cavalry, it's fast all-terrain recon infantry that will hunt down your weakened units

You can say that again

Best bet is to use mass attacks where possible to limit casulities and retreat/pull back units that are weak

One of the tactics that I adopted is to move my units adj. to the "target". When all of the units (I wanted involved for that obj.)where in place only then did I attack.This way if one of my units got hit hard I could pull it back behind some others to screen it and reinforce it next turn.

[monkspider]

The most important tip I would add would be not to underestimate the AI's ability to make extremely powerful counter-attacks. None of the few counter-attacks you see in the main campaign can prepare you for the massive counter-thrusts you should expect in the DLC. Defensive fire from your artillery is instrumental to blunting these. Prepare accordingly.

Also, don't be surprised if you get some interesting new additions to your core by way of captured units.

[HeinzG]

The best Pak is the Flak!

With the new patch 1.04 and the DLC scenarios obviously the 8.8 FlaK fit's the role it played in German warfare.

Not enormously expensive, yet deadly to enemy tanks the 8.8 is superb

[kjeld111]

Recon,,,,Recon,,,and more Recon

Absolutely, I have a new found love for recon units in those DLC :

- Various surprises and unpredictable scenario scripts means that scouting > guesswork

- Attack and (Fragmented) Move is still as useful as ever, even more so in a "Blitzkrieg" setting

- Poland = light, "low tech tanks" (both on the german and the polish side), with mostly low hard attack. Your recons are actually pretty comparable and surprisingly useful in this context


Oh, and I'd add :
Stukas, Stukas, and more Stukas

[postalpanzer]

A surprise secret is how useful cavalerie is I only used one throughout the 1939 campaign yet it had 40 kills 8 more kills than even my 88 that got a +1 movement hero. Their ability to maneuver in rough terrain and move 5 without having to mount up in a truck is priceless and the +3 spot is just icing on the cake. Moving a sturmgenshutz along with it keeps it alive better too. I wonder how many kills it would have gotten if it had gotten a nice hero too. Armored car scouts have one drawback is that in close terrain infantry can hurt them pretty bad but cavalrie want to move into the rough terrain when they are your scout it makes up for their lower defense. When coming across one of those cities defended by a strength 5 garrison an armored car cant clear them out without help but a cav can.

[kjeld111]

One thing I forgot :
In Poland, many of the scenarios are focused on river/bridge battles, especially on the Vistula (Danzig, Wyszgorod) and the Bzura (Piatek). Be aware that an unit on a river hex, whether attacking or defending, suffers from SEVERE penalties, and bridges do not help, they are counted as river hexes.
Of course, this advice is not specific to the DLC, but here, there are brand new bridge objectives, so they will be heavily contested. So it is of the utmost importance to keep in mind that you are at risk holding these hexes, and that you can effectively (especially in Piatek) lure enemy units on disadvantageous terrain by deliberately abandoning these objectives (temporarily).

[Longasc]

What kjeld said, this tactic turned a loss into a victory for tonyuk43.

[Molve]

3. Escort your Stukas.
The AI has a tendency to send its aircraft to attack in waves now. So expect air battles for some scenarios to last the entire length of a scenario, not just a quick 3 turn clearing of the skies at the start of a scenario!

Let's keep separate the AI and the scenario.

Does this mean the actual AI routines (specifically the purchasing "subroutine") have changed, or does it merely mean the scenario designer have added reinforcements that give the AI more planes to use at specified intervals of specific scenarios?

[El_Condoro]

Pretty sure it's the latter, Molve.

Have any changes been made to the AI in 1.04 or is it the creativity of the designer (Kerensky) that simulates a better AI?

[impar]

In Norway I moved a Ju52 with paratroopers above an airfield, in the AI turn the enemy infantry, that was in the adjacent city of the airfiled, moved from the city to the airfiled as to block my paras from jumping into the airfield and taking it.
It was a moment.