Matrix Games Forums

Do you guys buy the best you can get at the start of a campaign and leave little room for improvement or do you buy a lot of cheaper equipment/troops with a plan to upgrade?

I generally buy mid range tanks, motorised troops and mid range arty/AA. Then, upgrade the units after each battle.

I’m wondering does anyone buy the best of the best at the start and work through the campaign building the unit in experience and history?

Toey

I Try & buy a mix - some of each type of unit.
Armour, I try for the best armour protection so they are more likely to survive to gain experience.
Armoured cars - max fire power, cause they tend to find trouble when I Rush them to support a weak sector.
Infantry - green is fine.
Engineers - experience helps them avoid supression.
Direct fire artillery (SPs, ATGs & AAA) - highest accuracy - fire control & range finder (a weak hit is still better than a miss).
Machinegun Squads - balance accuracy with HE kill power.

Bonzo

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Robert (Bonzo) Lindsay, Coordinator
28th (North-west) Battalion Headquarters
http://dreadnaught.home.icq.com
nwbattalion@icqmail.com

I try to purchase historically accurate units. No fancy US tanks for June 44. I want to feel the effect of the weapons of that time period.

When tanks were upgraded, I do the same, moving from a 75mm gun to a 76mm guns, etc.

It does not always help me to win, but it has a more realistic feel.

In SPWAW, you definitely can't go wrong with a mixed force, A Kampfgruppe or Combat Command, Task Force type of formation to get the job done. The day of all tanks is over. It just doesn't work that well, especially in a good human designed campaign.

Wild Bill

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In Arduis Fidelis
Wild Bill Wilder
Coordinator, Scenario Design
Matrix Games

Further to my earlier post (& closer - I think - to your question). I generally start with average troops (within the performance parameters in my first post) except green/average infantry & average/experienced engineers.

Bonzo

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Robert (Bonzo) Lindsay, Coordinator
28th (North-west) Battalion Headquarters
http://dreadnaught.home.icq.com
nwbattalion@icqmail.com

I usually buy light/recon forces to start and then upgrade to heavier and heavier as the campaign goes on.

I go with the cheap. Say, some Pz-Ib and lots of infantry for Germans. The Pz-Ib:s are surprisingly good with their MGs.

In a recent campaign I bought two infantry companies for Ruskies.

I want a largeish core so that I can try many types of units in the campaign. I start with fairly limited points, though. It also makes a tougher start and more of the interesting upgrades.

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Markku "Mac" Rontu

"Understanding is a three-edged sword,
your side, their side and the truth."
- Sheridan in B5

I usually buy a little more "mediocre" equipment. It's more realistic, if you want to play a regular army force and not some elite force of course. It also provides a lot more of a challenge to fight those Tigers with Sherman tanks instead of Pershings or Jumbos

Wild Bill, could you tell me in bit more detail what units you would buy, say for Babarosa? The way AI fights, I'd figure Germans vs. Russians come closest to being historical.

I try to buy historical forces. And at the very least, I try to buy a combined arms or infantry heavy mixture.

I find that the changes in spotting, sighting and infantry lethality make it mandatory to cover or screen your armour. I used to rely on tank 'riders', but find this no longer does the job. Also purchasing a couple of AT guns which you guard *very* carefully can't hurt.

Certainly can't go wrong with buying some HMG/MMG as part of a core force, because after they start to gain in experience they really can chew up the infantry nicely.

But, there literally is a lifetime of forces and choices to make in this game eh?

Tom

I usually take a few of the best units available and a larger number of very cheap units for later upgrades. I'm in a German Campaign now and I started with some Pz38T's and Pz2's, also Rifle Platoons and Motorized Rifles. I did take a section of 88's right from the start. I also took a bunch of MG and sniper sections which I later converted to artillery.

I then gradually upgraded as follows:
Pz38t -> Pz3H -> Stg3 (L43 gun) -> Tiger 1
(its now 1943 in my campaign)
Rifles -> Engineers, attached to tank platoons
Motorized Plt trucks -> SdKFz 150 Htk
Motorized Rifles -> Paratroopers (with FG42's !!!)
MG's etc -> 81mm Mortars -> 150mm SP Howitzers
I downgraded the '88s to sp quad 20mm and single 37mm FlAK after I got the Tigers and didn't need them for AT any more.
Of course it is this sort of thing that leads to my being vastly outnumbered by the AI in every engagement. In my last assault my 16 tanks and 12 infantry squads (plus support) destroyed over 90 tanks and 90 infantry squads. And I was assaulting!!