AAR/Progress of german long campaign

[PanzerBob]

Originally Posted by DRG

I'm not going to get into a big discussion about the way the AI is deployed but do compare our AI deployments with every other version of Steel Panthers ----official versions or mods ---- and you'll find ours head and shoulders above the rest. However, deploying AT guns in forests does look a bit odd and only looks a dumb until you blunder into one with your last remaining tank while moving through an area that "nobody" would put an AT gun

Don

Amen and Concur Big time!!!

Bob out

[PanzerBob]

Good day 123,

Bear in mind even though the Russians generally didn't have "Stuff". On occassion, units and Commanders did have resources and did use them and had some successes. The whole march to Moscow so to speak was not a cakewalk for the Wehrmacht.

They generally forgot a good basic creedo!! "Never under estabimate your enemy!!" The basic landser sure learnt that fast, the leadership not so much, the Party certainly not!!

Bob out

[curious123]

i understood the AT guns issue, anyway, i wasn't critisizing (i even don't remember how the things played in spwaw2 since the last time i played it was in 2003 and i remember pretty damn well i didn't play their long campaign since it sucked ). i just wondered if the AA guns issue (if you see it as issue ) in the beginning stages of the war could be tweaked a bit if further patchs to make the russian AA concentration a bit more realistic to a history bookwarms like me :P
on a side note, when should i expect russian air superiority in the war (i read in some post that number of planes is issued according to the historical air superiority in the date the player is playing), would it have some planes at its disposition during the end of stalingrad battle
12/42-02/43 or maybe earlier?
i'm so eager to use my 2cm AA guns, they are elite, but the paradox they didn't even shoot once on a plane (which is historically accurate)

[PanzerBob]

Starting in 1942, the the Big Red Machine started recovering slowly but surely and along with that so did it's Airforce. Forecast, massed airstrkes starting in the 43-44 season.

Bob out

[curious123]

now i'm finishing the last battle of 06/42, i edited my force a bit to make it more realistic (thnx for your advices) so my force now consists of: 2 infantry companys, 2 mg's , 2 80mm mortars, 2 120mm mortars, 6 long barreled P4's (F2 version i think), 5 P3'sL, 6 stug3 f, 2 b2(f) flame tanks, 2 pzspw.AB41 armored cars, 2 gaschutz wagen B2 (some kind of mobile artillery based on the french bis2 tank), 3 nebelwerfer41 rocket launchers, 4 2cm AA guns, 1 battery of 15cm artillery and one 105mm+ battery.
now i know that 2 batteries is a bit too much but i'm used to massive artillery support and it was hard to switch from 6 batteries to only 2 :<
i hope this force is a bit more realistic.

now, a bit about the campaign:
since i got my stug3 f with its long barrel the scary T-34 M1941 became a joke (probably due to the fact that most of them conscript/green), i have some hardships with the KV's (some new versions with 13 frontal armor :0 the russians got), overall most of my lost armor was due to the AI's guns. i already forgot when i got my last result that wasn't decisive victory
i'm very eager to get to 1943 in order to taste some more balanced battles and finally to see some russian yaks/migs/anything with wings and stars on it.

edit: i remove my 2 88 guns and 2 88's mounted on trucks from the core (around 500 points) cause i didn't need them after i got my stug3 f.

[Mobhack]

edit: i remove my 2 88 guns and 2 88's mounted on trucks from the core (around 500 points) cause i didn't need them after i got my stug3 f.

Yes, once you have the long 75s and the captured Russian 76mm, they do the job almost as well and for less (as towed ATG) while being a wee bit less visible.

The towed 57mm(r) captured item is a nice hot little ATG, and it can be pushed around at 1 hex, which is very valuable I find. Good for plinking valentines at ~400m or so in the desert I found.

Cheers
Andy

[curious123]

yeah, the 57mm zis2 is an uber gun, i always buy 3 of this for my defend/delay missions with the support points.

[PanzerBob]

Had a Platoon of the T-34-57 in one Campaign and hung on to them as long as possible. They did invaluable service. That 57mm ATG is one to be careful of.

Bob out

[curious123]

i finally got to the stalingrad phase of the offensive, stalingrad/city battles look great. i was really impressed when i stumbled upon russian workers militia, it really gives me the immersion and the feeling of stalingrad

just want to mention that the german ground attack planes begin to contribute seriously only around 06/42 since their plains gain rockets, so they become extremely effective against guns (i can make up to 6 attacks with rockets, while with bombs its only one attack while the firepower remains almost equal).
i think the first time my planes totally repaid themselves was in the middle of 42 in assault mission:
i got 2 fw190A-3 equipped with rockets, i was taking out AA guns ( they were supposed to be suppressed with my arty the same turn :< ) with them on my 1st sortie, i lost one of the planes while finishing off the remaining guns in the northern sector of the map. with rockets left for
5 attacks plus some 20mm guns extra ammo i took out:
2 mortars, 1 76mm field gun, 2 entrenched T-26s (nothing to proud of since my plane had 13mm and 20mm cannons) and 1 entrenched T-34 (backstab) :0
after those feats my plane still had some guns ammo but it had no targets in the north
and the south was dotted with AA (my poor scout plane found it out the hard way) so to avoid unnecessary damage to my plane i didn't call it again :<

now, considering this was an assault i think that the one remaining plane paid of the 170 points that i invested in those planes (around 70 after dividing by the 2.5 assault modifier).
so now i really anticipate the kursk battle to test the stukas equipped with 37mm gun (i heard they were the nemesis of T-34s) and maybe i will even try the 75mm equipped plane (don't remember its model) in a battle or two if it will appear in my air roster closer to 44.

[iCaMpWiThAWP]

quick note there are two planes equiped with 75mm, Ju 88P-1 (9/43) and Hs 129 B-2/R-4 (1/44), for the short time you got them they are worth the points against the Churchills in the west, KV's and t34's in the east
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soldiers and workers unite!