Efficacy of WaffenSS Spec?

[jakemon]

I’m on my second play through of the Blitzkrieg campaign (I know, I know- for me the Grand Tour is somewhat lacking in historicity and continuity in this vehicle.) I took the Waffen SS spec because it followed the historical path but found it a bit constraining and inefficient.

I own but have yet to play the following two campaigns in the trilogy. I understand there’s a second spec, and recall reading in later years there’s too much RP for the available CP.

I’m wondering what other players might think about following or avoiding these specs?

[bebro]

There's also a third later on, upping it overall to +18 CP (IIRC) in 1944, plus more RP. Unless you seek an extra challenge it's usually worth having at some point. You may not need it at all costs in Blitz, but if you play all 3 DLC it's a huge help IMO.

RP might be even too much in the end (1944) for those CP, but that's another matter. It's better than getting too low RP to actually use them.

[Bobster66]

I believe the advantage of extra CPs is much stronger than other Specializations. Therefore War Economy and Female Factory Labour are always my first two choices. Following those two, I take the SS as soon as possible. Initially, the available RPs for purchasing units and replacements are so low you can't use the SS units aggressively, but they still have utility. However, mid way through Endseig you are correct that the SS are swimming in extra RPs.

[jakemon]

Thanks for the insight Bebro. I’ll take your advice and this core through the trilogy. I was concerned the spec branch might be a hit to overall production to represent the inefficiency of fielding a redundant service branch. Instead the tradeoff seems to be spec points vs extra CP/RP.

Taking the spec ahead of Blitz Scn 7 Yugoslavia immediately rewards a previous DLC purchase with the Viking inf division- without my Inf School experience star. I couldn’t determine if it benefited from the Auftragstaktik +1 damage spec during the Liberation of Serbia. By the time Belgrade fell, elite reinforcement made it half a star with 135 RP left in the bank.

Generally, I’m with Bobster- the more CP the better. However, in my previous play through I took 2 inf and banged them up so badly they had to be sidelined by the time Ukraine rolled around. This time I’m thinking spend the 6CP on (motorized Viking + recon) or (Viking + 88). Not really needed for Greece, but a decision now gets them on the board and blooded…

[Hubbfrosch]

Unfortunately the ingame "Waffen SS" is just a weaker version of the Wehrmacht (no specialisations) and the "Viking" Ski-troops are wrong from a historical point of view.

But: the additional CP and RP are very helpful, especially for the early scenarios of "Panzerkrieg" and "Endsieg". The extra units really make a difference. I use the "Waffen SS" for support units (artillery, AA, recon) that do not have bonuses from specialisations anyway.

[terminator]

... and the "Viking" Ski-troops are wrong from a historical point of view.

Why ?

PS: "Wiking"

[Hubbfrosch]

"Wiking" started as motorized infantry division. It's 1st action was 1941 against the soviet union. It was renamed in 1942 as armoured infantry division and again in 1943 when it became a armoured division. It never had ski troops or mountaineers.

There is however another unit of the Waffen-SS named "Nord" that had mountaineers. In 1942 it included a ski company called "Norge" (120 men), mostly nowegian and a few german soldiers.

The detailed information can be found in the internet, "Wikipedia" has some articles.

[JoaoLuisAngelo]

(...) the Viking inf division- without my Inf School experience star.(...)

This probably comes too late to be useful in this particular situation and it may even not be feasible, I've only played the Boot Camp and U.S. Pacific campaigns.

About a week ago I had an epiphany: during the deployment phase it is possible to disband a core land unit deployed by the scenario designer and that sends it to the "destroyed" roster and reimburses a little of its price. If you then revive/reform it you pay full price but it comes back with the experience from the relevant class specialization.

At least it did when I tried it with the core U.S. Infantry in the Island Hopping scenario of the Boot Camp campaign.

Hope this is useful to someone.

[Hubbfrosch]

(...) the Viking inf division- without my Inf School experience star.(...)

This probably comes too late to be useful in this particular situation and it may even not be feasible...

Unfortunately this little trick will not work in this case. The "Waffen SS" is a separate faction and the developers of the german DLCs forgot to give it proper specialisations. This makes it incompatible with specialisations of the "Wehrmacht" (e.g. "Pakfront")

[grenadier98]

I really would like to see a useful alternative of the SS specialisation, where you could give an additional boost to the normal German units. So far I've only played the first DLC of the German Campaign and didn't care about the SS. But I guess when I play the later DLC, fielding additional units with those 12 and even 18 points will be huge boost. So unfortunatly it doens't seem smart to skip those specialisation. But which units should those be?

Infantry - no benefit from Auftragstaktik
AT - no benefit from Pakfront
Artillery - to expensive at first and later on all your RP go to waste because your artillery shouldn't get hit at all
AA - maybe, but the best german AA is also an AT, and a waste of RP like the Artillery
Tanks - no benefit from Panzerkeil (Does a Wehrmacht Tank benefit from Panzerkeil, when the Heavy Tank adjacent to them and the enemy is SS? It should get the bonus, because the SS Heavy should be considered friendly. Does anyone know this). maybe a good option is to buy a Stug B, use it as a mobile artillery and upgrade it to a useful tank later on.

[dragos]

I am halfway into Panzerkrieg (with 2nd SS specialization), and I fill my SS CP with 1 Panzer, 1 Inf, 1 75mm arty. I find I always stockpile more SS RP than regular RP, so the advantage is that I can always use elite replacements for SS and the panzer is always upgraded to best available model. I guess the SS Panzer will be the first to be upgraded to Tiger once available.

[cutydt02]

The best about SS is that they always have constant CP in every missions. Some small missions or when you must wait for reinforcement, SS proves to be a solid force in battlefield.

So what units for SS ? AT and Arty of course, they have very same power as normal Wehrmacht. Medium tanks are ok then if you can farm xp without tanks school.

[Erik2]

I think the Waffen SS should benefit from the standard Wehrmacht infantry/pioner/panzer specialisations.
This is a must for campaigns with SS core units.

[grenadier98]

I think the Waffen SS should benefit from the standard Wehrmacht infantry/pioner/panzer specialisations.
This is a must for campaigns with SS core units.

Agreed

[grenadier98]

The best about SS is that they always have constant CP in every missions. Some small missions or when you must wait for reinforcement, SS proves to be a solid force in battlefield.

So what units for SS ? AT and Arty of course, they have very same power as normal Wehrmacht. Medium tanks are ok then if you can farm xp without tanks school.

AT will miss the +2 attack against tanks from Pakfront and supporting fire for each other, I guess the last on will not occur very often, but missing +2 attack is bad.
I guess in my new campaign I'll go for the self propelled arty or a medium tanks, which could be upgraded to heavy ones later on. Having to start without the exp star is not a big deal for a tank. The can rack up exp quite fast if you use them wise.

[dragos]

Towards the end of Panzerkrieg campaign I have downgraded the SS arty to 75mm leIG without transport so I could upgrade the tank to Tiger according to CP limit (first H, then E as soon as available). At Kursk the SS Tiger had 5 stars. I couldnt care less for lack of specializations.