Them Germans were good

[runequester]

Didn't the Germans uses 88's in a ground role at Arras ?

The weapon he is referring to may be the Polish 46mm (or thereabouts) grenade launcher ? it can propably hurt the light German tanks with lucky shots, and I believe its carried by the infantry squads, instead of being a separate weapons team

[Imp]

They may well have but I am assuming it was not a common practice till Matildas in N.Africa. I could well be wrong but as said will just use a couple if defending till then to "discover" their effectivness. Besides playing like this is making for a challenging game. The plan is not to become a fully mechanised force till Italy where the rough ground will make HT handy. Should not have bought trucks in core till near that time really.
Going to add a platoon of engineers to my force though.
I am sure I will lose more core this way & wont get as many kills as can't leap in taxis to mopup but its a 60 battle game my guys would be unstopable if all survived to veteran status. High exp levels & an extra shot make a big diffrence with poor FC of WW2

[iCaMpWiThAWP]

88's are aways in my german core, i get a couple of them and trucks to move them, this way i get experienced gunners in N.Africa and 1337 gunners when back to the swim against the red flood in the east, and what if we can win "the last battle"(like in sp1)?
what happens if i keep being victorious in the east, may i change history, or simlpy live it again?(this lead me to a question, is spww2 long campaign limited to living history?or can i change it?eg:sealion,succesful defense of normandy?)

[Imp]

See to me thats cheating, the AI is not as good as a human & its force does not improve with time so why do you want a further advantage. I will buy the 88s only when I need them & explore other avenues like air. Taking the easy option means you do not develop other tactics for when disaster strikes & while some do not work so well against a human they give you a grounding.

From reading several posts I think many people want their core to survive relativly intact & have an easy game as quality improves. It is gutting when you lose a guy with a Superman outfit as you sort of become attached to them & I have been known to launch rescue attempts to save them in the past.
I am in the other camp though & want a challenging game that makes me have to think as in my view thats how you learn & improve. I would even go so far as saying that playing with an ubber force makes you a worse player. I would find easy games very boring & have the option if so wish of having superior equipment for a decent chunk of this campaign

My campaign is set so AI recieves 130% (I think crap memory) of my forces & I must admit the hordes of Polish troops caused me some concern. I had to break up the assualt so I stood a chance of dealing with it & pick my targets.

Meant to say most of my squads have grenades & SMGs as extra weapons. Managed to nearly sneak 4 up on an H-39 when it decided to bug out. Mass tank panic they all decided to scatter, highly amusing but a bit of a setback. When they are in the mood & possible they are assulting the tank or lobing grenades at it first & soaking up any fire to allow the engineers to kill it in relative safety. Also they always get a kill as tank is suppressed if they hit the damn thing, sometimes have to fire twice.

[Mobhack]

Originally Posted by runequester

Didn't the Germans uses 88's in a ground role at Arras ?

The weapon he is referring to may be the Polish 46mm (or thereabouts) grenade launcher ? it can propably hurt the light German tanks with lucky shots, and I believe its carried by the infantry squads, instead of being a separate weapons team

88s under the personal command of Rommel at Arras. Also the 105mm arty in the direct role too (there is an AT version of the gun there somewhere).

Poland has a 37mm ATG, and can also field 75mm field guns in an AT role. Also have the usual ATR, which can annoy Panzer 1 and 2 and is availableto some heavy infantry sections.

Cheers
Andy

[Imp]

Thanks for that did not know about 105 arty will take a look, I just dont want overkill, multi role stuff is useful

[iCaMpWiThAWP]

Is there any 88 classed as flak?all them seem to be HATG

[Imp]

This game does not like me more on later.
Well those H-39s were not so bad we had a funny little dance infantry chasing them as speed 12 & my armour joined in up close both can kill each other if MkIIIs, MkIIs have to pray a bit as vurnerable full stop.
Char-Bs still scare me but local force superiority will stop H-39s
My MkIIs held them off infantry that came to get me while dealt with H-39s.
Smoke to localise battles has become my best friend.
Nothing much else happened of intrest once tanks gone armour assisted in defeat of troops.
marginal victory

Swaped ATGs for 47cm - some chance
Added 2 platoons of engineer to core for tank threat & experience means will clear mines faster. Handy as usualy takes place under arty fire.
Swaped 4 more trucks for HTs they are taxis for the enginneers as now have 8.
Swaped a couple of MkII to MkIII for survival more than anything.

Next battle river crossing, oh b#$%#
Vis 62 turns 50 someting flags shotgun mainly round centre
Terrain clumps of woods a few low hills on my side. french side same but more hills & to level 3.
2 roads to river centre one near enough to heart of flags, top within a few hexes of map edge with wide open space on other side, centre not much better very little cover near river on either side, said smoke was my friend.

Spending all support points (lots) as would actualy like some survivers
8 barge carriers in case AI is unervingly good with arty again.
Several 105 155 offmap bateries one will be assigned CB duties
8 planes for armour.
3 bombers if I can identify on map arty if he has or to help with tanks if not
2 companies of paras, poor sods unexposed landing could be hard.

Vision will at least help my FOOs have 2 & a vehicleFOO. Risky bet but if moves to tree line slowly should be safe at over a Km, oh river is 14 hexes wide, thats a bit of time in a rubber boat

Paras come with a PAW 7.5cm with pen 8 heat 6 but only 4 rounds of each, if I can get them close enough maybe.

Current thinking is a feint crossing down the middle but main landing using top road.
to close to map edge for my liking but Paras can contest the area. Need road realy for barge transports as slow.
Also means if make it across can roll him up from there.
Timing is key here my troops are going to be in those boats way to long for my liking.
If there are any tanks near the crossing point those planes better do their job.

[Mobhack]

Originally Posted by iCaMpWiThAWP

Is there any 88 classed as flak?all them seem to be HATG

Errr - that is because they ARE heavy ATG in the game.

Heavy FLAK in the game is being deployed as ATG, and tactically spread out as ATG. If dug in they will be in deep gun-pits oriented for direct fire and not out in the open with wide arcs as needed for AAA fires. But as their only AAA usage is salvo barrage fire at high level bombers, which needed the guns to be all close together so the HAA director could be hooked up to the guns then there is really no point in an AA version that would sit twiddling its thumbs against the AI (which has no use for level bombers) and against most human players (who prefer strike planes or regular arty over a single-pass HE dumptruck that was really only provided for a few scenarios that might need them to drop arty all over the map and also likely on own forces too - e.g. the Normandy breakout).

The guns that have their AAA sights on the mounting and are used for following individual strike planes "down in the weeds", you already have to hand.

Cheers
Andy

[Imp]

Well minor porky I bought 6 bombers not 3 , also 5 gliders & there are acouple of level 2 hills on my side.

My ATGs have been ordered to assist the paras so on board 3 of the gliders. The FOOs comandered the motorcycles for a run to those hills & FOO vehicle is following one, slowpoke.
Turn 1 the 6 armoured car & remaining motorcycle head down main road stopping in full sight & drop a bit of smoke near his side of the river. Will the AI think I am coming that way? Also a few empty trucks in general area but probably take him another turn to see.
Main force is grouped to close together as top road is to near map edge, if he drops arty here its game over.

Turn 2 one of the hills is not safe for my FOOs 155mm Bat just landed on, will wait nearby before risking.
I can get to about 250m from river in vehicles then have to unload as visible.
Drop arty barrage on landing zone.
82Mtrs are there usual useless self as cant reach anything they are now in range to bombard riverside.

Turn 3 Drop smoke to protect landing zone. I got 8 gold spots & placed 4 on riverbank some arty transfering over to hammer it. I have also decided to use the bombers here as crossing is the hard part, they are ready to go & FOOs should have eyes on next turn.

Turn 4
Ruse might have worked no AI arty this go, hope he has called on centre, will start pulling forces out of there next go.
Riverside bombardment starts & paras come in.
Sort of cheating did not realy think about but came in from side as that was the direction I wanted them to spread. Smoke worked a treat no plane was fired on before they dropped & only a couple were hit later, all 20 or so survived thats a first.
4 units drifted off & took fire while landing 2 lost a man & one LMG section was destroyed as forgot to set company rally point so Lemminged towards them.

So I have 2 intact para companies & 3 ATGs on his side to see what they can spot. Hope tanks are not to heavy in the area but planes are primed & ready to go when they have targets.
2 FOOs have a good view but on reflection should have risked sending one over as LOS will get messy fast.
Screen shot straight after landing attached.