Battlefield: Europe MOD v2.4

[McGuba]

[cw58]

That's epic!

[PeteMitchell]

That's epic!

+1

[Uhu]

For the better development, play Battlefield Europe. For the best solution, play BE multi!

...

[endrsgm]

i am running into a c++ run time error on the start of turn 13. i get the message that i have a t-34 tank available in a pop up at the start of my turn. close it. and boom ...

[Intenso82]

+1

[McGuba]

i am running into a c++ run time error on the start of turn 13. i get the message that i have a t-34 tank available in a pop up at the start of my turn. close it. and boom ...

Hi,

Not sure what it is, no one else has reported this specific problem since the release of the mod five years ago, that's why I am wondering...

I suppose you used the "/nocache" parameter to avoid running out of memory after a few turns as described in the first page of this topic? If not it may cause a crash to desktop after a few turns of continuous playing. The only possible way to avoid using the /nocache parameter after the main exe file of the game is to make a save game in every 2-3 turns and then quit and restart and reload.

Please report back if you still have this problem after restarting/reloading the latest save game. If it does happen, and you did add the "/nocache" previously, I can have a look at that savegame and try to recreate this issue in case you are able to upload that save game somewhere or send it to me by e-mail.

[PeteMitchell]

Hope everybody is well... are people playing more PzC these days? ... Is anyone up for BE MP?!

[slowgtp]

Discussion post!

Hi all, just a couple of questions on your experiences with the mod (not a complaint post, just talking about how we all play the mod):

Tell me about how you play the areas I'm going to discuss here, I'm interested to hear different people's strategies!

On Barbarossa, what are some of your most frustrating parts of the scenario, or that give you the most fits?

-For me, I seem to get hung up for two months in the Lutsk-Rowno area. Really sets me back. How do you all approach this?

-The tank at Gomel is always frustrating to me over every update to this mod. I used to try to pound away at it with air and artillery and advance my infantry cautiously, but now I immediately attack the city and run the tank and artillery there out of ammo. How about you?

-What's your Leningrad/Finnish strategy? I bring Karl up there to Pskov, and move him up as well as 2 artillery pieces. I upgrade a few units to Grenadier and Pioniere. I bring my bombers up to pound away at the heavy artillery, Marat, and Kronstadt. I take Petrozadovsk, and camp the Finns at the Svir River.

-When do you generally complete the Kiev encirclement? It takes me to Nov or Dec which is unacceptable.

-Do you assault Iceland?

-What do you do with the German capital ships? I brought them to full strength and am preparing to dash through the Channel.

-What do you do with the Italian fleet? I bring mine up to strength and camp around Sardinia, and destroy the RN movements through there before I move to bombard Malta. Do any of you move the fleet east to support the Afrika Korps?

-Do you keep Italian aircraft in Africa, or move them back home?

-What is your Afrika strategy? Generally, I advance to the El Alamein line and stay there, and just fend off the attacks.

[Appren]

Discussion post!

On Barbarossa, what are some of your most frustrating parts of the scenario, or that give you the most fits? Mostly I got annoyed at errors I made myself (hence several times going back 10-20 turns to "start over", finding a balance between taking care of my units while still progressing (or falling back in an orderly manner on the winter 41/42 offensive)

-For me, I seem to get hung up for two months in the Lutsk-Rowno area. Really sets me back. How do you all approach this? Heavy air attacks, smash them, make their tanks attack your infantry in the woods, I think I was past at turn 4-5, with tanks already past the next city, Zhitomir, closing on Kiev

-The tank at Gomel is always frustrating to me over every update to this mod. I used to try to pound away at it with air and artillery and advance my infantry cautiously, but now I immediately attack the city and run the tank and artillery there out of ammo. How about you? - Combination of Stuka and strategic bomb supression, take it and city out at same time

-What's your Leningrad/Finnish strategy? I bring Karl up there to Pskov, and move him up as well as 2 artillery pieces. I upgrade a few units to Grenadier and Pioniere. I bring my bombers up to pound away at the heavy artillery, Marat, and Kronstadt. I take Petrozadovsk, and camp the Finns at the Svir River. Well, I chose to just siege Leningrad at first, I think I had it sieged for well over a year before attacking it, after Moscow had fallen, after I cleared the forces (most) in the wood east of Leningrad. I mostly ignored the battleship and fort

-When do you generally complete the Kiev encirclement? It takes me to Nov or Dec which is unacceptable. Turn 8-9 (october) - this was on my...umm, third or so, restart though

-Do you assault Iceland? No, I couldn't see a point, the few air that was flying around after I conquered Britain was irrellevant anyway

-What do you do with the German capital ships? I brought them to full strength and am preparing to dash through the Channel. I repaired them, then gathered them around Caen, on the coast, next to multiple AA guns, for support on invasion of UK, destroyers taking some beating destroying one of the minefields to allow easy access to Portsmouth - once invasion was on, I had a sub (or two?) blocking Straight of Dover, with plane helping taking down DDs that were attacking, while my capital ships support the invasion, without taking fire from Plymouth area. After the invasion, once I had the needed units ashore, and the first wave of attacking Royal Navy had been dealt with, the ships were on an extended fishing voyage in the Bay of Biscay, away from enemy bombers, at various state of repair...mostly badly damaged, but hey, they still fish nicely, and at my victory at turn 95, they were still out there

-What do you do with the Italian fleet? I bring mine up to strength and camp around Sardinia, and destroy the RN movements through there before I move to bombard Malta. Do any of you move the fleet east to support the Afrika Korps? I focused much more on keeping this alive and healthy than the Germans, after Malta, I'd say about half (probably more like 2/3rds) went west (with submarine and strat bomber support), and the rest went east, staying close to coast and playing very defensively

-Do you keep Italian aircraft in Africa, or move them back home? What would they do back home? I had several German planes brought to Africa, to support the Italians, especially once the invasion of Marocco etc was getting close

-What is your Afrika strategy? Generally, I advance to the El Alamein line and stay there, and just fend off the attacks. I did spend some time getting past that line, but after the first announced counter attack, I pressed hard east. I probably waited far too long to start the advance, but I had focused getting aircraft ready for Tunis and Russia, and didn't want to get close to the Battleship until I had beat the other defenders - it was a LONG time to get from there to Persia, so the last 10 or so turns I had only forces in Iraq moving, the rest of the war was over

[slowgtp]

Discussion post!

On Barbarossa, what are some of your most frustrating parts of the scenario, or that give you the most fits? Mostly I got annoyed at errors I made myself (hence several times going back 10-20 turns to "start over", finding a balance between taking care of my units while still progressing (or falling back in an orderly manner on the winter 41/42 offensive)

-For me, I seem to get hung up for two months in the Lutsk-Rowno area. Really sets me back. How do you all approach this? Heavy air attacks, smash them, make their tanks attack your infantry in the woods, I think I was past at turn 4-5, with tanks already past the next city, Zhitomir, closing on Kiev

-The tank at Gomel is always frustrating to me over every update to this mod. I used to try to pound away at it with air and artillery and advance my infantry cautiously, but now I immediately attack the city and run the tank and artillery there out of ammo. How about you? - Combination of Stuka and strategic bomb supression, take it and city out at same time

-What's your Leningrad/Finnish strategy? I bring Karl up there to Pskov, and move him up as well as 2 artillery pieces. I upgrade a few units to Grenadier and Pioniere. I bring my bombers up to pound away at the heavy artillery, Marat, and Kronstadt. I take Petrozadovsk, and camp the Finns at the Svir River. Well, I chose to just siege Leningrad at first, I think I had it sieged for well over a year before attacking it, after Moscow had fallen, after I cleared the forces (most) in the wood east of Leningrad. I mostly ignored the battleship and fort

-When do you generally complete the Kiev encirclement? It takes me to Nov or Dec which is unacceptable. Turn 8-9 (october) - this was on my...umm, third or so, restart though

-Do you assault Iceland? No, I couldn't see a point, the few air that was flying around after I conquered Britain was irrellevant anyway

-What do you do with the German capital ships? I brought them to full strength and am preparing to dash through the Channel. I repaired them, then gathered them around Caen, on the coast, next to multiple AA guns, for support on invasion of UK, destroyers taking some beating destroying one of the minefields to allow easy access to Portsmouth - once invasion was on, I had a sub (or two?) blocking Straight of Dover, with plane helping taking down DDs that were attacking, while my capital ships support the invasion, without taking fire from Plymouth area. After the invasion, once I had the needed units ashore, and the first wave of attacking Royal Navy had been dealt with, the ships were on an extended fishing voyage in the Bay of Biscay, away from enemy bombers, at various state of repair...mostly badly damaged, but hey, they still fish nicely, and at my victory at turn 95, they were still out there

-What do you do with the Italian fleet? I bring mine up to strength and camp around Sardinia, and destroy the RN movements through there before I move to bombard Malta. Do any of you move the fleet east to support the Afrika Korps? I focused much more on keeping this alive and healthy than the Germans, after Malta, I'd say about half (probably more like 2/3rds) went west (with submarine and strat bomber support), and the rest went east, staying close to coast and playing very defensively

-Do you keep Italian aircraft in Africa, or move them back home? What would they do back home? I had several German planes brought to Africa, to support the Italians, especially once the invasion of Marocco etc was getting close

-What is your Afrika strategy? Generally, I advance to the El Alamein line and stay there, and just fend off the attacks. I did spend some time getting past that line, but after the first announced counter attack, I pressed hard east. I probably waited far too long to start the advance, but I had focused getting aircraft ready for Tunis and Russia, and didn't want to get close to the Battleship until I had beat the other defenders - it was a LONG time to get from there to Persia, so the last 10 or so turns I had only forces in Iraq moving, the rest of the war was over

Good stuff. Has anyone ever had Norway be invaded by the Allies?

[McGuba]

Good stuff. Has anyone ever had Norway be invaded by the Allies?

It must have happened to a quite a few players. But it depends on the strategic situation. It can happen in any gameplay if the Tirpitz is not in Trondheim for whatever reason between turn 20 and 80 and if Britain has not been defeated in that interval. The actual chance in each turn is rather small (a single digit percentage) but if the above situation is true over tens of turns then there is a good chance that it happens sooner or later. Or maybe not, no one can be sure.

On Barbarossa, what are some of your most frustrating parts of the scenario, or that give you the most fits?

In my case is that I still do not feel that the multiplayer version of the mod is fairly balanced. But I believe that sooner or later it will be.

the Lutsk-Rowno area. Really sets me back. How do you all approach this?

Ideally that tank army should be destroyed in 3-4 turns at max. By the way, probably that was one of the biggest tank battle of history when it comes to the number of tanks involved:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Brody_(1941)

As said before, it should be destroyed by using combined arms tactics, several air attacks, mass attacks, German infantry attacking tanks in close terrain, tanks and AT attacking enemy tanks in open terrain. But most important is some mobile units should move around and ahead even before the tank concentration is fully destroyed to save time. In 1941 speed is the most important thing. Mobile units have to move ahead at full speed if possible, while the slower infantry and horse drawn artillery catches up from behind and cleans the resistance.

-When do you generally complete the Kiev encirclement?

Usually at turn 7 or 8 the latest. Again, speed, speed and speed.

-Do you assault Iceland?

No, but theoretically it could be useful as a base for the air units which can support the U-boat blockade. However, the Allies would try to recapture it after a while so it has to be protected by a few ground units. Normally it does not worth the effort, but in some cases it may.

-What do you do with the German capital ships? I brought them to full strength and am preparing to dash through the Channel.

In my current multiplayer game with Uhu, I kept them where they were, repaired them and now use them to protect the French coast against any possible landings. In my previous multiplayer game with Intenso I did the same but in that one they were sunk quite fast. If I remember well they could at least sink on or two Allied sea transports.

-What do you do with the Italian fleet?

I lost it.
Only a few of them are still afloat. Uhu proved to be very effective with the Allied navy.

-Do you keep Italian aircraft in Africa, or move them back home?

Sometimes I keep them there, at least for a while, but they are probably best used on the Eastern front as the early types are inferior to the British fighters but superior to or equal with the Soviet ones. The MC.205 is the first that can compete any contemporary Western Allied fighter. The Italian bombers are generally not much worse then the German ones so they can be used in the Mediterranean theatre throughout the war if necessary.

[PeteMitchell]

I think some answers may differ a bit between singleplayer and multiplayer.

My general/overall approach to singleplayer can be found in one of my AARs: viewtopic.php?f=145&t=86481
Maybe not the best solutions in all places (e.g. in Africa) and situations but it was a lot of fun for me...

Other than that, despite continuous shortages in resources (i.e. you need to accept you can't achieve everything at the same time NOR something without the cost of something else), I personally believe some sort of focus/"Schwerpunkt" is required on the Axis side (i.e. finish something at one place and only then move on, don't try to entertain everything at the same time). I don't think an attrition warfare strategy will work for the Axis, you need finish situations forcefully/quickly/decisively (if possible).

Second thought, the time until the end of 1942 is really critical, if you don't dominate the map by then (in one way or another) it will be very hard as of 1943.

Uhu had started this thread: viewtopic.php?t=55486 (a while ago but still very helpful IMHO)

Same with the (currently) 133 pages of this thread...

Maybe interesting re Schwerpunkt: https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals ... art014.pdf

[Slartibartfast]

Single player strategy, realistic +:
-For me, I seem to get hung up for two months in the Lutsk-Rowno area. Really sets me back. How do you all approach this?
Just ignore it. Break through Lwow on turn 1. Bypass the Soviet armoured concentration in a long salient southeast, northeast of Bessarabia, with the fastest units first to get as quickly as possible towards Rostov. Encircle from behind. Leave a few Inf, AT and artillery behind the Bug in defence. And slowly mop them up..

-The tank at Gomel is always frustrating to me over every update to this mod. I used to try to pound away at it with air and artillery and advance my infantry cautiously, but now I immediately attack the city and run the tank and artillery there out of ammo. How about you?
Get the Luftwaffe there as soon as possible and keep bombing them. Destroy Brest on the first turn and move an elite Pz III and support army group and smash through Gomel and tank corps at the same time.

-What's your Leningrad/Finnish strategy? I bring Karl up there to Pskov, and move him up as well as 2 artillery pieces. I upgrade a few units to Grenadier and Pioniere. I bring my bombers up to pound away at the heavy artillery, Marat, and Kronstadt. I take Petrozadovsk, and camp the Finns at the Svir River.
Start bombing the T-34 with the Finnish ground attack wing on turn 1. Bomb the battleship. Start the seige by winter. Move up 1 or 2 artillery batteries from the Baltics in support. Next Spring, finish off the T-34 division and attack the mortar division with a tank. Maintain the seige against the infantry counterattacks to stop repairs and reinforcements. Soon the whole city will be open.

-When do you generally complete the Kiev encirclement? It takes me to Nov or Dec which is unacceptable.
Turn 6 or 7. Easy if you bypass the Lutsk blockage and smash Brest and Lwow on turn 1.

-Do you assault Iceland?
It's really pointless as it's not a victory condition. Maybe it should be. But all resources are required elsewhere for a DV.

-What do you do with the German capital ships? I brought them to full strength and am preparing to dash through the Channel.
All of them including the Tirpitz moved to the Channel at full strength, to support and protect Sealion. Destroyers take out mines and submarines keep the mined area open and defend against RN counterattack. Kriegsmarine pretty much all sunk by turn 60. Move the light cruiser and S-boats to Norway immediately to defend against the inevitable invasion fleet. Replace the Wehrmacht divisions in Norway with a couple of Italian and Romanian mountain divisions to quell resistance and defend against successful landings.

-What do you do with the Italian fleet? I bring mine up to strength and camp around Sardinia, and destroy the RN movements through there before I move to bombard Malta. Do any of you move the fleet east to support the Afrika Korps?
Full strength mostly. I move half of them to Tobruk area immediately to support moving over the infantry and a tank division from Greece from turn 1 to support breaking into Tobruk before the British counterattack. Then they mostly move over to Oran and Algiers to (counter-historically) destroy most of the Torch invaders in the sea. Torch isn't supported by naval forces in this mod, for no good reason. Then move the Regina Marina back to Tunis to defend the transports against naval attacks. 2 submarines stay in operations in the east until the battleships at Alexandria are destroyed.

-Do you keep Italian aircraft in Africa, or move them back home?
I send the Italian fighters to Germany to destroy bombers in 1942 and replace them with Fw190s and Me109s. The rest stay to support the Africa/Iraq campaign.

-What is your Afrika strategy? Generally, I advance to the El Alamein line and stay there, and just fend off the attacks.
I break into the Alamein line via the two units next to the coast. If I can, I'll advance to Cairo before the counterattack. Otherwise I'll sit in the first line of fortifications and leave most of the original units in the 2nd line to reduce the strength the enemy can bring to bear at once.

[PeteMitchell]

I think some answers may differ a bit between singleplayer and multiplayer.

My general/overall approach to singleplayer can be found in one of my AARs: viewtopic.php?f=145&t=86481
Maybe not the best solutions in all places (e.g. in Africa) and situations but it was a lot of fun for me...

Other than that, despite continuous shortages in resources (i.e. you need to accept you can't achieve everything at the same time NOR something without the cost of something else), I personally believe some sort of focus/"Schwerpunkt" is required on the Axis side (i.e. finish something at one place and only then move on, don't try to entertain everything at the same time). I don't think an attrition warfare strategy will work for the Axis, you need finish situations forcefully/quickly/decisively (if possible).

Second thought, the time until the end of 1942 is really critical, if you don't dominate the map by then (in one way or another) it will be very hard as of 1943.

Uhu had started this thread: viewtopic.php?t=55486 (a while ago but still very helpful IMHO)

Same with the (currently) 133 pages of this thread...

Maybe interesting re Schwerpunkt: https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals ... art014.pdf

Maybe a third thing to add, I didn't really believe it initially... but there is more than just one solution to this mod, i.e. multiple different approaches can work...

Plus, I would add this short summary by GeneralWerner to the recommended reading list: viewtopic.php?f=145&t=82546 It gives some good orientation (IMHO not only for first time players). Unfortunately, GeneralWerner has been quiet for a long time...

[slowgtp]

Quick question regarding the african version of equipment: does it apply to all of africa, or just desert reasons? Like does regular equipment have the desert penalties in like Tunisia or Algeria?

[McGuba]

Quick question regarding the african version of equipment: does it apply to all of africa, or just desert reasons? Like does regular equipment have the desert penalties in like Tunisia or Algeria?

It is relative to the terrain type and not the continent itself. "Tropical" type units move better on "desert" and "dunes" terrain types and slower on "plain" and "countryside" and normal (continental type) units are exactly the opposite. Both can move equally well on the other terrain types (or over when it comes to air units) like hills, mountains, cities, etc.

So yes, tropical units would get movement penalties in most of Tunisia/Algeria, at least in the coastal areas, but since there is a fairly good amount of roads and hills it is not very significant.

[alexfilip]

Dear McGuba, I just fired up v2.14 for the first time in SP and noticed the axis starts with only 700 ish prestige (by comparison, v2.0 had over 3000) Is that by design or is there some error in my installation? Cheers. Btw, Pete just won as the Axis in our game - he took London.

[PeteMitchell]

Hi Alex... it says 3850 in my version 2.14 (it drops to 2850 after the first turn). Poland starts with 10.

I think it also has to mentioned that this was your very first MP game if I recall correctly...

I am considering doing an AAR, not sure yet though... we got up to turn 80... now only partisans left I believe...

[alexfilip]

i should specify... i am talking about SP and barbarossa real+