WW2 Campaign Upgrade Path - GE

[Veritable]

Hello everyone! Been feeling a bit nostalgic recently so I'm got back into Steel Panthers after the original MS-DOS days. Kudos to Matrix Games for refreshing it for Windows and then releasing it as a freebie!

Anyways, I have a GE WW2 campaign going on, just a few battles in, and I'm wondering about the upgrade paths I should take for my equipments.

Core Force:

Start date is August 1939, True Cost On but Rarity Off, I was given 3100pts.

GE HQ

3x Company-sized mechanized infantry task forces, each consisting of:

Recon Platoon of 3x Recon Squad and 3x PzKW-IIc
Infantry Platoon of 4x Infantry Squad and 1x Engineer Squad
Transportation Platoon of 5x SdKfz 251/1
Attached Tank Platoon of 4x PzKW-IVc

1x Company-sized independent tank company, consisting of:

Recon Platoon of 3x Recon Squad and 3x PzKW-IIc
2x Tank Platoons of 4x PzKW-IVc
1x Tank Platoon of 3x PzKW-IVc

1x Motorized AT gun company, consisting of:

8x FlaK 18 AT Guns
8x SdKfz-11 Prime Movers

For some reason, in v8.4, the short-barreled 75mmL24 in the PzKW-IVc have a higher penetration value than the higher-velocity 37mmL46.5 in the PzKW-IIIe. That's why the independent tank company also started with the -IVcs.

I've just finished the first battle vs. the British in North Africa, which is early 1941. Throughout the Polish and French campaigns I've been following some of the advices I read here, about only upgrading equipments that have been destroyed, so some of the -IIcs in the Recon Platoons are now -IIfs, while some of the -IVcs in the attached tank platoons now use -IVds and -IVes.

Now that the 50mmL42 equipped PzKW-IIIhs are available, though, it's gotten me thinking. What are the logical steps for me to upgrade my force as time goes on? The end state is obvious: Panther Gs for the independent tank company, and Tiger IE (Late) for the attached tank platoons in the mech infantry task forces. What about in between, though? Should I even bother with the 75mmL48 equipped PzKW-IVf2 or the 50mmL60 late model PzKW-IIIj?

How about the AT guns? Anything better than the mighty 88? Half-tracks? What about the infantry? Hmm....

[Poopyhead]

Welcome Veritable! I play the Germans a lot so perhaps I can give you some useful advice. If you choose to go to the Russian front, then you should at least have a mix of IIIh and IV’s. In ’42 you can upgrade them to the long barreled IV’s. You take an experience hit each time you upgrade, so don’t do it too often.
I always upgrade the infantry squads to Spec Ops and you should mount everything in tracks. I believe that some of the later sturmgeschuetz models can also carry an infantry squad. The 88mm AT will be fine all the way through. What kind of indirect fire artillery do you have? Your Hungarian allies have some really wicked 15cm mortars (if you are not a purist) and later you get nebelwerfer.
You get more points than you can use, really. I had about 60 panzers in my final mix.

[Alby]

Welcome Veritable, dont forget to Start using Enhanced SPWAW as soon as possible.
[:)]

[Veritable]

I'll go and grab Enhanced now that the links are fixed; a couple weeks ago the links on the official site were expired.

I've upgraded all 11 tanks in the tank company to -IIIhs, and yes the experiences went down to the 80s. Just so it happens that the axis of advance that I'm throwing them into the British happens to be thick with infantry, so the smaller 50mm shells are a disadvantage, while the -IVc/d/es attached to the mech infantry task forces are slugging it out with the light-skinned Cruiser tanks. Oh well.

East Front is a bit too nasty for me, no thanks, I'll bring my guys to stay in North Africa and then Western Europe later ^_^

Now the problem I have with the long-barreled 75mmL48-equipped PzKW-IV is that it's available in mid-1942. Aren't Tigers available just a few months after that? Isn't it more economical to slug it out with the -IIIh/js for a few more battles to carry some extra points, and just upgrade to Tigers? Can I get away with the -IIIh/js until the Panthers show up?

For artillery, I thought that I'd use support points to buy them; not sure if there's any advantage in keeping them in the core force and to gain experience with them. I thought it might be better to have only direct fire forces in the core force (which is why I got the 88s rather than howitzers), but you chaps might know better....

Against tanks that I can't deal with (like the Matilda IIs), I'd spot them with the Scout Platoon, back off, use the A0 HQ to call in a couple batteries of 150mm (wait time: 1.4 turns), after the shelling finished, the target tank is probably routed, then I rush it while plinking (ineffective) rounds off its skin to keep it suppressed. If the crew hasn't bailed out by then, I'll drive the 88s next to it, set up, kill it, then load it back up again.

[Poopyhead]

I keep all of the panzers together. That way the III’s kill enemy tanks and the IV’s use their howitzers to brush the infantry aside. The infantry support the armor. If you are going to use support points for artillery, you might want to pick an FO too. The artillery barrage shows up quicker and is more accurate. Eight 88’s is a bit of overkill and a big expenditure too. Half as many would still be good and the 15cm SIG’s are quite good as a less expensive alternative (they come with a couple HEAT rounds that have IIRC 185 penetration!). I usually upgrade the IIIh’s to the IIIm model and the IV’s to the long barreled version. It seems realistic to me. If you just wait for Tigers and Panthers, then it becomes a somewhat long wait. I save the cats for ’44. They make things too easy. Good luck!

[Five_of_Swords]

the PZIII and IV class of tanks have stab 3 which gives them an excellent role that cannot be really replaced with panthers/tigers who have only stab 2. I like to keep these as they are and start with a lot of Stugs which i eventually change to panthers or tigers. I think its amazing that you didnt start out with some stugs....Those guys are awesome. Also, you dont have enough infantry. You gotta have snipers and MG. 8 88's is silly overkill.
heres the core that I am using and am very happy with, and had to change oob a bit:
3x sniper
1 flak 88 at with sdkfz11
4x AA 36mm (no transport, will be support points if not on defense)
1 elite close quarter brawling company of 5x FT engineer, 4x light mortar and 1 support gun (I dunno If the SP gun is appropriate in there, I just love the massive warhead (adjacent units suppresion)and didnt know where else to stick this guy...I keep him far in the rear and use as covering fire, but he tends to be too far away to benefit from being in the company...im sure this poor guy will just be an AT magnet...whats a good way to use SP guns?)
1 regular engineer platoon
1 ge rifle platoon
1 platoon of 4xSS mmg with 4 transport halftracks
1 forward obs and 1 tracked observer
4x medium mortars and 2x sp mortars, and 2 howitzers (I intend to upgrade the howitzers to Hummels)
1 elite mobile strike group consisting of 1x pzIII, 4x pzIV and 2x jgpz the jpz will eventually be jagpanther and i'll make the single pzIII a panther.
1 elite company of 8 stugs
I plan to upgrade the stugs to tigers and sturmtigers.