GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

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hugh2711
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GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

GC42-45 EAST Field Marshall, Dice chess.

This is a continuation of my AAR thread 'GC39-41, replays and analysis, Field Marshall. Found here: http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 45&t=81741 So that thread is where I got that starting prestige and core.There will be a West path thread as well. I think that amount of prestige is enough to do the rest of the grand campaign comfortably.
As I said before:
Everyone has their own style for playing. I consider myself to be only an average player as you can see by the many mistakes in the replays. The human multiplayer matches are the real test
of who is good however hopefully this strategy will get a newer player through the grand campaign with enough prestige and good units to comfortably weather the onslaught in the later east campaigns. My strategy is basically fourfold, its about a) mining prestige, b) farming heroes c) an agressive strong airforce and d) All SE unit are tanks."
I hope the replays work - let me know if they dont. Feel free to comment or ask questions.
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

1) Vitebsk [DV] Prestige = 68021 [ captureable tank + 100 prestige per turn. Enemy goes First.]
Strategy: This is a difficult scenario but it is a good earner if done right. Medium size map. Initial and later air activity. There are alot of enemy units. They are always attacking
somewhere. There are also a number of groups of enemy units waiting around for counter attacks. I will try to take out some of these dormant groups by air with tactical bombers before they are triggered. Deployment is tricky as you start with a number of units within your lines, however they dont attack in that first turn, merely restrength and resupply. It is best however to take out these out in the first turn so that you have clear 'lines'. Use the free aux units to shield you while you do this. There will also be a big attack in the centre west and east. There is an easy way to do this scenario but you may want to prolong it as the free 100 per turn is quite generous. Even with good defence there will be losses in these attacks but the free amounts more than cover it. If you want to do the scenario very quickly just unload the trains and divest the units of their trucks and then they can be flown over to the target very quickly and easily. You can delay or avoid a couple of the counterattacks by destroying all the units around the centre west and centre right VH's and just leaving a unit there to take them at the end. The centre west VH has a capturable T34 worth 386 so by this method that would have to be taken on the penultimate turn to make sure you get the freebie. There are plenty of free aux units that make good diversions and bait.
Core activity: Disband previously captured T34. Repair KV1b. Upgrade P4
Deployed: 4x Bf110, 4x Bf109, SE P4, Flammpanzer, P3 (S+2), 4x SE P3, recon, 4x 17cm, 2x88mm, mobileAA, stug3b, 2xsturm, 3x Wurfrahmen, 2x para, pionere, M+3, 2x Gebirj, grenadier.
Destroyed:33,25,1,4,8,5,0,6,2,0. Total = 84
Comments: Went mostly to plan. Very small losses (apart from free aux units which dont cost me anything).
Attachments
replay(15.02.2018) Vitebsk, Turn 19.rar
(56.92 KiB) Downloaded 169 times
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

2) kharkov 42 [DV] Prestige = 72605 [capturable tank +200 prestige per turn, enemy goes first]
Strategy: Small map, quite crowded at first. Very strong enemy air activity. Also this scenario makes the first appearance of numbers of 'spaag' AA units which can be quite expensive for
you so exterminte them immediately when ever possible. In your first go make a big attack on thier large air attack then on the second turn go for their secondary unactivated air grouping by the southern VH. This will incur AA losses but its cheaper than letting them run riot. Try to take out some of their static AA on the river hexes. Let them take izyum. Pull back to behind the rivers but go east then south around the back with a seperate north group to get the free tank. Then wait a bit with that group. In the centre kill alot of their armour units on the two rivers iether by air attack or by ambushes just behind the two rivers. When you have thinned out the herd alot go on the attack with the centre group and retake izyum. Proceed to the other VH's. With a south group take out their large heavy tank southern attack using the terrain, then proceed to the south VH. There will be losses but the 200 per turn more than covers it. This should be another high earning scenario. You are given some aux tanks that are quite good, use them for taking initial losses in attacks as opposed to the usual diversionary bait etc. The other thing about this scenario is that towards the end they may spawn a load of KV1b/c tanks which is very tricky to deal with so it is best take out the units around a VH, then just leave adequate units to deal with whatever is in the VH but dont actually take the VH until you are ready .ie. iether pre-positioned for the counter attack or take it just before the end of the game.
Core activity: Disband T34. Repair KV1b. Upgrade bf109's. Upgrade BF110's, the extra fuel makes it worth it. Upgrade the heinkel.
Deployment: Notice I actually hit the softcap for the first time. So in future softcap calculations will be part of my deployment thinking, it is particularly affected by overstrengthening. North group; 2x Wurf, P3 S+2, Sturm, Gebirj, 2xaux P3l. South group; SE P3, para, KV1B, recon, 2x17cm, stug3b, sturm. Centre group; para, grenadier, M+3, pionere, Geb (D+2) 88mmm, 2x sturm, 3x SE P3, SE P4. Air; 6x Bf 109, 4x bf110.
Destroyed: 26,21,6,2,7,4,0,8,1,3. Total = 78
Comments: That seemed more straight forward then I remember, possibly because I pre-empted the lots of spawning kv tanks. You cant really take them head on untill the tiger comes. I
certainly did rush that a bit and spent half the scenario doing nothing collecting turn prestige waiting for the last turn. I would have avoided some losses by going slower but most of my losses were in the air so were largely unavoidable. That was a really profitable scenario, a gain of 6469 including the disbandable T34 (repairs wont be much).
Attachments
replay(16.02.2018) Kharkov42, Turn 20.rar
(53.64 KiB) Downloaded 124 times
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

A general point; By this time the air battles now follow the pattern of waves of attack during the game. There is no more just kill them at the beginning and they dont come back as characterised by the earlier campaigns. There is a school of thought that thinks you should have every unit covered all the time to defend it. I dont do that as it is very wasteful of units. Particularly on small crowded maps you would need alot more fighters/AA ALL the time. They would spend alot of time doing nothing. That would be very wasteful. I just have enough fighters (and BF110's) to exterminate them immediately when they appear. You will take losses when they first appear but I think this outweighs the usefullness and cost effectiveness of having more, 'active all the time' units on the field.

3) Simferopol [DV] Prestige = 78688
Strategy: This is an easy scenario, also very short. Small map. 3 waves of air activity. Two enemy air within range of first turn at airfields. The later two waves appear at a scripted time so without prior knowledge you cant really anticipate. The deployment however is tricky as in your first turn you want to destroy and force surrenders of as many units as possible from that big clump and VH right in front of your own deployment. There are a couple of counter-attacks but nothing too large. There are a couple of groups waiting at the sides to counter-attack, I will try to pre-empt these by taking out the tanks with air power before they are activated. The last VH at the bottom of the map is very well defended with lots of units so it is essential to pre-position attacking units and all attack at once. There is enough time to take all of the secondary hexes. The only two aux units you get you have to keep intact so they dont really get used much.
Core activity: Disband T34, minor repair; SE P3, art, 109. Major repair; recon rudel - I am (unusually) going to go for experienced replacements for fun because at this rate he is going to get a hero which is something I have never done with him before. Overstrength all SE tanks to max. Upgrade P4 to 'ivg' , this is a very good tank. With the 'ivg' model for the first time the P4 series has better stats than the P3 series. Bought a stug 3f. IFF I can get this up to hero and experience this might be quit usefull. The problem is in the mean time they are quite vulnerable and have to be mollycoddled. When there are lots of tigers etc in play then these can be useful because of the softcap; they are only 300-ish whereas a tiger is approx 700 so occasionally they can be an economical good choice. So it is worth building up one in easy scenarios. Bought another wurfrahmen.
Deployment: 4xBF110, 3xbf109, Heinkel, 4x17cm art, 4xwurfrahmen, 4x sturmpanzer, 4x SE P3, SE P4, P3 (S+2), KV1b, recon, 88mm, stug3f, flammpanzer, grenadier, pionere, 2x para, M+3, 2x Gebirjager.
Destroyed: 33,18,3,2,12,5,0,7,2,0. Total = 82
Comments: Went as expected. Got a very nice A+3 on my upgraded heinkel. This is now a very powerful weapon. However at 13 strength its softcap relevant value is 755! more than a tiger.
Attachments
replay(17.02.2018) Simferopol, Turn 11.rar
(50.06 KiB) Downloaded 126 times
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

4) Sevastopol SEIGE [DV] Prestige = 81463
Strategy: I am choosing the seige as opposed to the assault as I think there will be less losses than with an assault. This is a straightforward scenario. Not much air opposition apart from the beginning. Take one large group of fast moving tanks down the right side. They will use the open terrain by the coast. Have some arty and infantry trailing. This group will take the VH's on the coast down the right side and the bottom of the peninsula . The only complication along there is; there are a couple of capital ships and AA around each port that can cause some losses. To take them out have good spotting, similtaneously take out the AA on the ground and also use the heinkel to take out those ships. At 13 strength that experienced and heroed heinkel will destroy most of those ships with one shot if it is good weather. The other VH's can be taken by a slow careful approach (over mixed terrain) being careful not to come into the range of forts surrounding the city. There is plenty of time so you can take a few secondary targets but Dont go near the actual urban city area itself, the arty/forts will get you. You get given an aux matilda which is useful for taking some punishment and an aux ju88 which can be used as bait for enemy AA.
Core activity: minor repairs. one experience star on newest SE tank.
Deployed: 4x SE P3, SE P4, P3 (S+2), 4x sturm, 4x wurfrahmen, recon, stug3b, stug 3f, KV1B, flammpanzer, 88mm, pionere, 2x Gebirj, M+3, cavalry, 4xBf110, 3x Bf109, heinkel. The stug 3f, the flammpanzer and to a smaller extent the newest SE tank are still being mollycoddled as they are too vulnerable. Also have deployed an inexperienced cavalry; they are very cheap and I am up against the softcap (,98% at this deployment,) 5 movement and 3 spotting is useful in a limited way. From now on occasionally I will deploy a unit that appears not to be the best choice or strongest but it is solely because they are cheap and disposable.
Destroyed: 22,10,3,8,8,4,0,5,0,0. Total = 60
Comments:As expected, easy. Negligeable losses. The upgraded heroed heinkel takes 8/ 9/10 points out of a battleship with first shot. Surprisingly got a D+3 on my newest SE tank so it no longer has to be protected. In one forced surrender of a large tank I got 210 points, illustrating: as the softcap bites more in the later campaigns surrenders will form a bigger important part of prestige income.
Attachments
replay(18.02.2018) Sevastopol Siege, Turn 18.rar
(52.08 KiB) Downloaded 152 times
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

5) Voronezh [DV] Prestige = 84991 [ Capturable tank + 2x heroes]
Strategy: Big map, mostly open terrain. Easy scenario, quite profitable and quite short. Two enemy air units within range in first turn, two more next turn, you will take a little losses to exterminate them. Little air if any activity after that. A south group with fast moving units goes east, crosses the river and takes two VH's, then turns north and takes the capturable tank and another VH. A couple of units can cross the river in the north and take a few secondary hexes.Everything else goes to the centre and closes a ring around a large bunch of units around two VH's. There is plenty of time to take secondary hexes, in fact you may have to delay taking the final (centre) VH's to get them.
Core activity: Upgrade P3 j/1's to P3L, although the close defence on the P3N model is better, the initiative is alot lower, hence P3L rather than P3N. Upgrade stug 3f to f/8.
Deployed: Although some of my fighters are now up to 4 stars experience I will not be deploying them that overstrengthened as that 4th point over costs 119!, also soon they will be upgraded 'out of family' and that loses any overstrength. I have also deployed 2 less units than the allotment. This is to allow for the two free hero units given in this scenario.
north group; 2x SE P3l, 2x17cm art, stug 3f/8, recon, 2x para, pionere,2x wurfrahmen, sturmpanzer, KV1b, mobile AA, 3x fighter, 3x tactical bomber, recon rudel, Heinkel. South group; 2x gerbirjager, M+3, 3x SE P3, SE P4, (S+2) P3, flammpanzer, 2x wurfrahmen, 17cm, 2x sturmpanzer, bf110, fighter.
Destroyed: 28,18,3,2,8,5,0,4,2,0. Total = 70
Comments: It is worth noting that I started off with a softcap of 100% but the addition of the two heroes brought it down to 95%. It is easy to forget that additional heroes gained in a scenario count towards your softcap. Ironically by deploying two less units I have ended up with more prestige gained overall than if I had deployed the full amount. One of these heroes is a very nice infantry i+3 making it great in attacking and M+2 making it very mobile, really usefull as an attacking grenadier. The other fighter is a similar situation to the last hero; it has great attack (A+3 i+3) but it also has a D-2 which makes it a bit vulnerable so as before I will keep it on the roster for the time being but I am unlikely to train it up to another hero. The capturable tank is a KV1b, a very good tank but I have already trained one up to two stars experience so this one is redundant. I will disband it for the 485 prestige it is worth. The fighter is worth 410 as a 109e.
Attachments
replay(19.02.2018) Voronezh, Turn 13.rar
(52.77 KiB) Downloaded 123 times
Last edited by hugh2711 on Mon Apr 30, 2018 8:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

6) Noavianninsky [DV] prestige = 87822
Strategy:I think this is a difficult scenario. Mixed terrain with strong air activity. Three are in range in the first turn but they are protcted by mobile AA (spaag). A line of infantry block your way then a big tank counter attack blocks your way which includes lots of 13 strength t34's and a 15 strength KV so there will be losses. You have to go through another big concentration of units including tanks to get to the last two VH's which are well defended. The last two VH's are a distance away. In the tank counter attacks you have to eliminate the spaag's first to minimise your losses. Good use of the mixed terrain against the tanks and for defence is important in this one. Your initial deployment is quite constricted. There is time to take all the secondary hexes.
Core activity: Disband captured KV1B (worth 485). I have had a p38 with 171 kills on it doing nothing since gc39. For fun I am going to convert it to a flammpanzer (waste of 350 prestige since I already have one!).
Deployed: 4x SE P3, P3 (S+2), SE P4, recon, stug 3b, stug f/8, 4x wurfrahmen, 3x sturmpanzer, 4x Bf110, 4x Bf109, 88mm, mobile AA, 2x flammpanzer, 2x para (both M+1), M+3, grenadier (M+2), 2x gebirjager, pionere, 3x 17cm art.
Destroyed: 23,18,1,6,11,7,0,7,0,2. Total = 75
Comments: Easier than I remember. If I was to do it again I would not deploy one of the gebirjagers as it was not used. It was just too slow to get to the action. Even my very good A+5 pionere only got used once.
Attachments
replay(20.02.2018) Novoanninsky, Turn 13.rar
(52.51 KiB) Downloaded 140 times
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

7)Ilyova [DV] Prestige = 91654 [Capturable tank]
Strategy: A very difficult scenario. Small map, alot of units, constrained deployment. Alot of big, tank, counter attacks, alot of close terrain around the VH's. The enemy has alot of the new T34/43 variant which is very tough. Regular air action, they have lots of spaag mobile AA and static AA. There will be more losses in this than any scenario so far. Three enemy air units are within range of the first turn , so they can be eliminated. Basically after a tight deployment split into two groups. One on the left side breaks out south down to the southwest corner and takes the free tank then engages the large counter attack. I will try to take out some of the tanks by air power. The rest go east, fight off a large counter attack which I will try to minimise with air power, then go south. They will then meet up and try to take out the remaining VH's by luring some of the tanks onto the rough ground. Some of the southern group tanks will cross the river and engage the last big tank formation before trying to get the last VH. I will try to adopt defensive formations before taking the actual VH when I have cleared an area. So this will involve multiple tricky timings.
Core activity: Overstrength SE tanks to max.
Deployed: Softcap 94%. 4x SE P3, SE P4, P3 (S+2), stug 3b, stug f/8, 4x wurfrahmen, 4x sturmpanzer, recon, flammpanzer, 88mm, Mobile AA,4x 17cm art, 2x para, pionere, M+3, geb (A+2 i+3), grenadier (M+2). air; 5x fighter, 3x tactical bomber, recon rudel.
Destroyed: 28,28,4,6,8,10,0,8,1,3. Total = 96
Comments: I think I was lucky with the weather, although I had very small losses this was probably the least losses I have ever had in this scenario. If the weather had been worse their tanks would have had time to do damaging individual attacks. The free KV is the 'C' model. Although its stats are slightly superior to my current KV1B I will still disband it for the 485 prestige as it not worth training it up, my current KV1B has two stars experience and a D+3 hero. Soon (1943) all my tanks will be upgraded to tigers anyway.
Attachments
replay(21.02.2018) Ilovlya, Turn 20.rar
(54.74 KiB) Downloaded 131 times
Last edited by hugh2711 on Mon Apr 30, 2018 8:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

You have the choice to do the next scenario. I think you should do it for the two capturable units. One of them is very good, worth keeping (an SU-122) and one is a rubbish, disbandable for prestige (sherman tank).

8 ) Buzinovka depot [DV] Prestige = 94818 [2x capturable tank & capturable art]
Strategy: This is a difficult scenario. The centre has alot of units (including some KV5's and an armoured train) crowded together and also alot of town hexes. There is also alot of mobile and static AA. Also there are regular waves of fighters so it is a bit rough on air units and you will get losses from these seemingly random attacks. By taking the centre area you get the two capturables and satisfy an MV. Getting a DV would require taking a few outlying VH's. These are well defended and have counter attacks associated with them and will incur losses however you will get counter attacks anyway. The last VH in particular spawns alot of tanks.I will hold back my tactical bombers untill I have destroyed some of the mobile and static AA. By traps and other it is possible in the first two turns to take out 3 fighters and 4 mobile AA units. Those KV5's definately take a bite out of your tanks even when you are protected by arty.
Core activity: Overstrength SE tanks to max or 13. Minor repairs. Major repair to recon rudel.
Deployed: I have deployed two less units than allocated. The deployment is in two groups which quickly merge. After I get the capturables I will be over the softcap.
West group; 2x SE P3, SE P4, KV1b, stug f/8, 2x sturmpanzer, 3x wurfrahmen, flammpanzer, 88mm, pionere, recon, 17cm, para.
East group; 2x sturm, 88mm, 2x SE P3, P3 (S+2), stug 3b, KV1c, wurfrahmen, grenadier, M+3.
Air; 4x Bf109, 4X Bf110
Comments: As an experiment going from the same starting point I tried for a DV then an MV.
MV: destroyed; 12,33,2,0,3,7,0,8,1,0. Total = 66 ...Gain after repairs = 2289 (+ capturables)
DV: destroyed; 18,43,4,3,5,12,0,8,1,0. Total = 94 ..Gain after repairs = 3374 (+ capturables)
So as you can see it is definately worth going for the DV
I spent alot of time fiddling with the initial deployment. I did not do that DV very well, it could be done alot better. The two similtaneaous attacks at iether side could have been anticipated and handled better and also the southern/last VH could be done better but I am not going to it again because I really dislike that scenario. The SU-122 is really worth keeping as it is attacking arty with very high armour/toughness, the germans have nothing like it. The two shermans can be disbanded for prestige, they are worth 383 each.
Attachments
replayDV(22.02.2018) Buzinovka Depot, Turn 17.rar
(55.13 KiB) Downloaded 130 times
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

Because I have been so frugal I seem to have a ridiculous amount of prestige. I may have to use the cheat to remove some of the prestige because when it rolls over 100,000 it goes back to zero and then you are stuffed. With this much prestige I could do whatever I want and get away with (e.g. overstrength everything to max) but I am only doing the things I would normally do regardless of prestige situation.

9) Storming stalingrad prestige = 96253 [MV] [capturable tank + 50 prestige per turn]
Strategy: I am going for an MV, not just because I dont like urban enviroments due to the inherent high losses. It is very difficult to get a DV and the tank without really high losses.
The actual extra VH's for a DV are a bit further than I normally get as I move very cautiously in an urban sprawl. Likewise the capturable tank is further than I usually go however if I
make better progress than usual I may go for a dv+tank. This is an enormous map with plenty of enemy units dug in everywhere, some very overstrengthed . As per urban, the crucial tactic is; my tanks will only be going in the roads that grid the hexes, never the hexes themselves (unless they are WAY behind the lines and need to capture a town hex that has been cleared). At deployment there are two groups of enemy partisans behind the lines in rough terrain. I will focus on those first and then when they are destroyed release those units to support the main attack. There are some aux italian units which can be used as bait and to fill gaps in lines. The german infantry units will advance in lines backed up by artilliary. There are three planes in range of your first go that can be destroyed. there is some air activity later but just one wave not regular attacks.
Core activity: Overstrength SE tanks to max or 13. Minor repairs. Disband two shermans.
Deployed:Softcap is at 99%. I have deployed my heinkel initially for use against the partisan tanks behind the lines. Norh group; P3 (S+2), 2x SE P3, SE P4, 2x 17cm, KV1b, 2x wurfrahmen, sturmpanzer, 2x Para, grenadier. South group; flammpanzer, 2x wurf, 2x SE P3, KV1c, stug3f/8, 17cm, sturm, recon, 88mm, su122, M+3, 2x Gerbirjager, pionere, grenadier. Air; 3x 109, 4x 110, Heinkel.
Destroyed: 61,25,0,2,13,6,1,4,0,0. Total = 112
Comments: Difficult as expected. However with only minor repairs this MV was a gain of 7593 for that one scenario, the highest so far. Also the destroyed units count was the highest so far. I had to use the cheat to remove 10k prestige to allow for the non-existence of a sixth digit in the prestige counter, I will probably need to do it again as there are another three
scenarios in this GC. The last few turns I did not do much but I decided that the capturable tank was not worth going for.
Attachments
replay(24.02.2018) Storming Stalingrad, Turn 24.rar
(66.41 KiB) Downloaded 164 times
Last edited by hugh2711 on Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
huckc
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by huckc »

hugh2711 wrote:Because I have been so frugal I seem to have a ridiculous amount of prestige. I may have to use the cheat to remove some of the prestige because when it rolls over 100,000 it goes back to zero and then you are stuffed. With this much prestige I could do whatever I want and get away with (e.g. overstrength everything to max) but I am only doing the things I would normally do regardless of prestige situation.
Talk about a good problem to have!

Why not park the prestige into a bunch of new units then disband them when needed?
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hurly »

huckc wrote:
hugh2711 wrote:Because I have been so frugal I seem to have a ridiculous amount of prestige. I may have to use the cheat to remove some of the prestige because when it rolls over 100,000 it goes back to zero and then you are stuffed. With this much prestige I could do whatever I want and get away with (e.g. overstrength everything to max) but I am only doing the things I would normally do regardless of prestige situation.
Talk about a good problem to have!

Why not park the prestige into a bunch of new units then disband them when needed?

Hm I'm not sure there is a Problem if the Prestige goes over 100000.
In an older Run I did just that and even though the viewable Counter can Not handle the Number, I could still spent all my Money, it just goes back to numbers below 100k.
That might have changed with newer Patches of the Game though (my experience stems well From the times before the 1.20 Patch and the Soft Cap)
With newer version Runs I farmed Heroes and Units extensively so my Prestige Counter never went that high again, but my Army easily topped the 100 Unit Count so priorities changed obviously
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

It was a much older run, it may have changed now. Anyway I am dong this as I would regardless as if I have little prestige. This was meant to be for your average (like me) or newer player hence ONLY at field marshall level. It is meant to give general tips or tricks for scenarios and help you plan your campaigns better. I am very interested to compare the different levels of prestige gained/lost in each campaign, I have not done that before. Or for example comparing the DV with an MV in buzinovka as above. I have not invested in getting lots of units because as I explained earlier my understanding is there is only so much action to go around and I want my units to be fully loaded with heroes rather than, alot of heroes spread widely. Quality versus quantity? :-)
There is also a philosophy that gets really good results that goes for as much attack as possible. This is a more subtle just what needs to be done approach.
At this rate I wil have to fiddle with the counter again. I never really thought of GC42 as a good prestige earner.
hurly
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hurly »

Just tested the Counter issue with a newer Run on Colonel everything Vanilla except AI set to Level 2 and Game patched to 1.30

Sold some stuff to get over 100000 and then bought some stuff to go below 100000 again.
Works like a charm so don't be afraid to lose your well earned Prestige because the Counter does not display it correctly.

Would be interesting to see if it can handle 200000 or seven digits :lol:

I think you can earn Prestige at least til the End of 44 while still farm some Units. Not necessarily Green Ones (can be done too if you are really careful, but that will have effects on your Armys Fighting strength temporarily) but the Stuff you have in the Bag for some Time pimped up to 1, 2, 3 or 4 Stars along your Journey and which gets a seat in the Pressbox once it reaches the Campaign Limit.

On said run I entered 44 with 106 + SE Units in the Core (I usually keep all capturables and useless stuff :oops: Maybe I have a serious Unit Mess and Horde Disorder, hey I even have the 2 Panzer 1 from the First Scenario and hope to catch the Final Victory Hex in Epilogue in 45 8) with one of them. If all goes well I would disband another Unit late and guide the Deployed Panzer 1 in there --- hey don't call me weird :wink: ok maybe a bit :mrgreen: )

ok like I said I entered 44 with 106+7 Units and 92k prestige

the latest savegame I found is Budapest44 and there I start with 112+7 Units and have still 84k Prestige after upgrading all 7 SE Tanks to Tiger 2 and all 5 Fighters to Me 262 which makes up for a net Prestige Gain if you crunch the numbers

so assuming on Fieldmarshall the Prestige given out is still the same as Colonel you mostly have to deal with less Experienced Units

btw I only Overstrength Arty (but not any Rocket arty as they are premium Targets of the Enemy) and AA to the Limit and go with 10 strength on all Frontline Units. Seldom buy anything new except Arty either and go with the stuff I find and upgrade it accordingly to the Best Unit available

Eg
all German Tanks become Tiger 1 asap and all SE Tanks first Tiger 1 then Tiger 2
Tac and Strat Bombers almost the same once there is a better one available its upgraded.

The only thing I'm seriously thinking about is to upgrade all Stukas to the FW 190 G. They are extremely vulnerable that late in the war and I use them sparingly by then. It worked out great with Rudel, he loses some Tank Busting ability but is a bonafide Fighter as well with his Special Virtues. I think Lent would do great in that Unit as well, but so he does in a 410.

I'm not playing much lately so this idea is idle as well, but probably will try it some day
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

10) Stalingrad Docks [DV] Prestige = 101846 [capturable recon + 50 prestige per turn]
Strategy:This is another very difficult scenario. Similar to above with an enormous map. I think the key to this one is actually sinking all the transports coming across the river. If they get across and unload you tend to get overwhelmed by the number of units against you in the urban area. For this although you are given an aux ju88 you need to have your own heroed and experienced strat bomber that can take out transports in one shot. I actually deploy 2 and there is a case for deploying another even then there will sometimes be too many transports. It is important to make the SMG infantry and guard units your priority, make sure none of them get through. Your own infantry can take care of the conscripts but the SMG and guards are quite tough and need multiple arty strikes. You also need recon rudel for his great spotting. It is possible to get a lossless MV in 8 turns and do very little for the next 14 turns but as for a DV it is very costly as the last two H's are so heavily defended. Two of their fighters are in range of the first turn. You get given alot of aux stukas and 2 aux 109's these are useful for finishing off transports on the river when they are near the bank as there is alot of static AA at the bank and you dont want to expose your core units to this. You are also given some aux italian units which are usefull for bait, risks and plugging gaps in lines. Of course there is the usual urban nightmare - dont advance untill you are backed up by two arty per unit and dont put your tanks in the town hexes.
Core activity: Minor repairs. Have converted 4 of my Bf109's to FW190A's. These are alot more powerful but are expensive as they are an out of family upgrade (583 each). I wont do the others untill I actually use them. There is an upgrade to the stug 3b but I am not going to use it as the rate of fire is not as good.
Deployed: Softcap at 95%. north to south anti-clockwise;190a, Heinkel, Ju88,110, para, flamm, 190a, 110, wurf, sturm, 17cm, S+2 P3, stug3b, SE P3, 17cm, pionere, grenadier, M+3, 2x Gebirj, 2x wurf, recon, 2x sturm, KV1B, para, 17cm, stug f/8, 3x SE P3, SE P4, wurf, SU-122, sturm, grenadier, 190a, 2x 110, para (air).
Destroyed: 95,32,0,14,13,6,0,8,0,0. Total = 168 (also 28 river transports).
Comments: Well I am glad that is over :-). As expected very difficult which makes it alot longer. The other thing about this scenario is it is such a big map with lots of units you cant do it in one go and have to do it in bits, very unsatisfying. It is also hard to keep track of the units across the river. Looking at the second column of casualties I destroyed 28 transports as well. Given they were mostly SMG infantry and guard units I dont think I could have gotten a DV if they had made it across. I took some losses; recon rudel got bopped, also lost 3 overstrength points on one of my Bf 110's. The MV was straightforward and I have posted it as well if anyone wants to try the DV from the MV at turn 7. Got a couple of very nice heroes. A range+1 on a wurfrahmen and a D+3 on the flammpanzer, also a naff D+1 second hero on a fighter. The captured recon is worth 103.
Attachments
replay(02.03.2018) Stalingrad Docks, Turn 22.rar
(70.13 KiB) Downloaded 141 times
MV turn7(01.03.2018) Stalingrad Docks, Turn 7.rar
(59.36 KiB) Downloaded 126 times
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

There are now two paths of two scenarios each.
One path; Escape from stalingrad which is easy plus Tatsinskaya which is not easy but doable, mainly defensive and straightforward.
Other path; Stalingrad ruins which is another big urban grind plus Kotelnikvo which I have never actually done but looks straightforward - open terrain with alot of tank action.
Like most people I will choose escape, not just because I dislike urban scenarios.

11) Escape from stalingrad. [DV] Prestige = 10463 Enemy goes first.
Strategy: Small map , mostly open terrain. You are given a load of aux units, some get destroyed in the first go, some are quite useful, some can be sacrificed. You only have to save 7 out of the 12 that survive the enemies first turn. There are initial big attacks from the north east, centre west and south west. There are other attacks as well. It is helpful to take and keep river crossings and get them to expose their big tanks on the river don and destroy them there. There is regular air activity; a large wave at the beginning and approximately half way through. There are also a number of spaag which is a nuisance and expensive so they are an important initial target. You have to watch for some spawning (of KV's ) at the end. It is very easy to do quickly but you may want to prolong it to rack up some kills and retake some of the primary and secondary hexes. Contain the initial attacks then the easiest way is to go across the river at the southwest corner. This can be done with a bridge engineer or by brute force taking the crossing which initially has only one infantry and two switcheable 3 range AA. Three of the aux units are tanks so they can be sacrificed/used to blunt attacks. Since it is an easy scenario I will deploy a couple of units for experience. The extra (unheroed) flammpanzer to see how it does and pre-heroed fighter which has had little use so far.
Core activity: Minor repairs and overstrengthening. Major repair to recon rudel and the overstrength to one of the 110's.
Deployed: I actually started off with a few less units than allocated and added a few that I wanted to give an outing to.
Initial Deployment: 3 units undeer allocation. Softcap = 97%. North group; SE P4, 2xSE P3, sov recon, sturm, wurf, stug 3b. The rest; 2x SE P3, P3 (S+2), flamm, 3x sturm, 3x wurf, flamm, 2x 17cm, 2x para, grenadier, M+3, recon, 6x 190a, 3x 110.
Destroyed:33,32,4,2,11,7,0,12,4,2. Total = 107
Comments: Very easy. The unheroed flammpanzer was very succeptable to losses even when destroying enemy units. I think that in future I would only have the one pre-heroed flammpanzer on my roster.
Attachments
replay(04.03.2018) Escape from Stalingrad, Turn 20.rar
(59.5 KiB) Downloaded 119 times
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

12) Tatsinkaya [MV] Prestige = 106222 Enemy goes first. [150 prestige per turn]
Strategy: Small map, mixed terrain. At the beginning you get attacked north, centre, south. The biggest attack being in the centre. They are big tanks attacks and they are happy to overwhelm you with sheer numbers. You have plenty of aux units in the centre to slow them down and act as bait. You should keep the three western VH's including the airfieleds but you can give ground and the five VH's/airfield VH's at the beginning to get the right defensive posture. The air battle can be a bit tricky as there is a big initial attack but alot of enemy static AA where the action is makes a good offense difficult, so you take some air losses. Also initial deployment requires thought to get the right defensive positions quickly. You also get an aux tiger which is useful. The P3's will need arty support to take on the tanks thrown at you but of course the tiger has no problem. You can upgrade your tanks to tigers at the next campaign/scenario but for this one you have to be careful. I am deliberately going for an MV.
Core activity: P3 tank upgrade to 'L' Model
Deployed: Softcap was 91% at the start even with deployment of two units less than allocated but went down after taking losses (particularly on overstrength units) to 100%
Initial deployment: North group;stug f/8, 2x wurf, sturm, grenadier, Geb (D+2). Centre; 3x SE P3, SE P4, 2x sturm, wurf, 2x 17cm, su-122, KV1B, M+3, para. South group; Se P3, sturm, wurf, recon, flamm, KV1C, pionere. Air; 3x 110, 5x 190a, Heinkel.
Destroyed: 39,33,5,0,9,3,0,14,3,0. Total = 106
Comments: I didnt do much for the last few turns except start to convert to tigers. Lots of things will be upgraded before the next scenario. I took alot of losses from the air during that. If you go for the DV there is an extra counter attack if you get near the last hex but it is doable, specially if you have managed to convert some tigers quickly enough. Tigers can take anything thrown at them and at this next stage of the game if the unit is heroed as well usually will not get any losses (unless you do something really stupid like attack an infantry in a town).
Attachments
replay MVendGC42(05.03.2018) Tatsinskaya, Turn 22.rar
(58.74 KiB) Downloaded 143 times
Last edited by hugh2711 on Tue Mar 06, 2018 10:47 am, edited 3 times in total.
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

Compressed save of last turn of GC42east (for core)
Attachments
endGC42east(05.03.2018) Tatsinskaya, Turn 22.rar
(58.77 KiB) Downloaded 143 times
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

next scenario prestige start = 107921

COMPARISONS:
GC39: Total prestige gained = 10918 .......Destroyed: 196,69,5,27,37,36,13,16,3,1. ...Total = 404
GC40: Total prestige gained = 24114 .......Destroyed: 288,112,13,73,50,43,40,26,20,11. Total = 676
GC41: Total prestige gained = 28975........Destroyed: 279,153,18,42,55,48,3,41,11,12. Total = 662
GC42: Total prestige gained = 49900........Destroyed: 439,291,31,52,114,76,1,91,16,10. Total = 1121

Well no wonder I find GC42 a bit tiring, it is like two campaigns squished into one - as shown by the above prestige and destroyed stats. I am once again surprised at the prestige gained although of course there will more repairs than usual. Notice how the destroyed tank ratio in the campaigns keeps creeping up. Likewise with the air units ratio. This trend will continue untill the end of the grand campaign.
State of the core address:
This will be after the big upgrades before the next scenario.
5x SE Tanks; all go to tigers. All well heroed, pretty invincible if used properly.
KV1B; go to a tiger. Although its stats are very good it price is nearly the same as a tiger so might as well convert.
P3 (S+2 A+4 D+2 M+1) is a beast but at cost 703 if overstrengthed to 12 is more than twice the nominal softcap.
2x flammapnzer; for the time being will keep the pre-heroed one as flammpanzer. The ordinary one with an A+2 hero will keep for the time-being but If I need another tiger will convert. In future I would only keep the one.
stug f/8; go to stug 3g, a very nice and relatively cheap unit.
Infantry; upgraded to thier 1943 counterparts all heroed so very strong. Except for D+1 grenadier which I may convert at some point if needed.There are still plenty of pre-heroed heroes to come!.
Artilliary; keep as is including the stug 3b because the rate of fire of the upgrade is much lower and also the su-122 will be taking over some of its role. Since the su-122 is so tough I will be aquiring another.
FW190a's will be quite strong for a good while.
BF110's will be upgraded to ME410's. They will stay like this for a long while as well.
Ju 88 upgraded to ju188
Heinkel 177a; still a beast but an expensive one. At strength 14 it nominal value is 921!
2x 88mm; the main one is overdue for another hero. The Sdkfz 7/1 is still the best mobile option as the rate of fire of its successor is much lower even though the sucessors stats are higher bringing the overall bite lower so no upgrade there. The Sdkfz 7/1 is due for another hero

These are all great weapons and usually have an edge on their counterparts but they are very expensive. Way over the nominal softcap. (particularly the air units). At this point normally every scenario is a balancing act between what you would like to deploy, what you can actually afford, what level can you afford to deploy them (overstrength) and what percentage of the income you would like (both turn income and capture income). Since the SE units are all tanks (in my policy) it makes sense to overstrength them as they dont count, but overstrengthing ordinary tanks at this level however is debateable. E.G. tiger (S+2) @10 = 703, @11; + 70 = 773, @12; +70 +105 = 878, @13; +70 +105 +140 = 1018, @14 = =70 +105 +140 +175 = 1193!.
There is of course a minimum income level of 20%.Of course with the amount I have it doesnt matter but for someone less familiar with these campaigns having alot less, the question is; how much do you need?.
hugh2711
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Re: GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

Post by hugh2711 »

43EAST

1) Kharkov 43 ...Prestige = 107921 [DV] [capturable unit]
Strategy: A difficult scenario. Small map. There is plenty of time if you can resist rushing it. You are partially dependant on the weather as if the Donetz river on your right freezes over for too long you are stuffed. You have to hold the enemy at the river (donets) on your right while another force assaults the city. There is a capturable SU-122 in the northwest that is worth getting. For this you need to send a paratrooper ahead and give it a bit of support (strat bomber). The trick to this one is to block all the river crossings with your tanks BEFORE you assault the city AND BEFORE you take some of the other VH's outside the city. Once you take some VH's there is a big counter attack which you can only easily hold if you have already blocked all the river crossings. There is some air activity in this but not too much. The enemy has alot of artilliary and AA just on the other side of the river which makes protecting your blocking tanks from air attack difficult. Any soft targets in the vicinity also get hammered. There is no point in going further than the river as there are no VH's there. You may however want to prolong the scenario and rack up a few more kills but there are some serious tanks over there. The recon units/officers will appear as you take the VH's outside the city. I got 5 but you only need 3.
Core activity: Upgrade all infantry. Repair 2 KV's. Overstrengthen all tigers. Upgrade AT stug to latest. Repair 2x wurf. Upgrade 4x bf110 to me410a. Upgrade ju88 to ju188.
Deployed: Staggered deployment. Softcap = 79% with all units on. grenadier, 3x para, M+3, Gerbir (A+2 i+3), pionere, Tiger, flammpanzer, 2x KV, 6x SE Tiger, recon, stug 3g, 4x 17cm, stug3b, 4x Sturmpanzer, 4x Wurfrahmen, Su-122, 2x 88mm. Air; 4x 190a 3x me410a + recon rudel, 1x Heinkel.
Destroyed: 48,26,6,8,14,8,0,6,3,0. Total = 119
Comments: Could have been alot worse. I lost some points because of air attacks. Also lost some overstrength on tanks. My attempt to save softcap level by deploying my KV's without upgrading to to tigers backfired with one of them and ended up costing me points instead so I will be upgrading them to tigers before I use them again. They both have useful heroes so they will be kept. The captured su-122 is worth 325 prestige but I will be keeping it as its high armour, big movement and high ammo makes it better than anything the germans have at the moment and it will be better than the sig38 when that comes out. I was fortunate to get a decent hero (D+2) on my new SE tiger (much to my surprise!) so I dont have to pamper it.
Attachments
replay(05.04.2018) Kharkov43, Turn 20.rar
(63.11 KiB) Downloaded 136 times
Last edited by hugh2711 on Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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