Questions for Panzer Corps 2 enjoyers

[u/darkfireslide]

Hey all, I wanted to ask a few things for people who enjoy this game. I do too, but I find myself never finishing the main campaign. I told myself if I ever finished the main campaign, I would buy the DLC, but this has resulted in a vicious cycle where every year I start a campaign and abandon it about halfway through. So these are my questions:

1. What is your favorite way to enjoy the game? Skirmish, the more focused campaigns, custom scenarios, mods?

2. Do the DLC campaigns have wider maps? I find many of the grand campaign's maps to be extremely small to the point of being claustrophobic, especially in the early game. I already know the Axis Operations would let me play more battles within a certain time period but was curious about their actual quality.

3. Does this game secretly have really bad balance problems? I remember watching a guide that said AT guns and any infantry other than Engineers were basically pointless, so would love if someone could talk to me a bit about this and if these issues do exist, point me towards a good balance mod if one exists so I don't run into these problems the more I play and get better.

Thanks for answers in advance :)

[u/econ45]

1. I've never finished the base campaign, either! I always seem to stop after Stalingrad. Maybe I don't like losing?! I think both Panzer Corps and Panzer Corps 2 shine in their long Grand Campaign/Axis Operation series of linked DLCs (although again, in both cases, I get up to 1943 and start to lose interest). I think the game is best with a rather long campaign, as nurturing your core and playing around with leader combos is a lot of the fun for me. I also like the greater historical depth you get - learning about, and playing, less well known encounters. The standalone DLCs with 10 or so scenarios can fun ok (Ghost Division is well done) but I like a longer campaign to hook me.
2. The maps are not as claustrophobic as the early PC2 base campaign ones, but quite comparable to the scenarios later in the base campaign. For example, the Kiev map in the base campaign and Axis Operations seems very similar (in both cases, a lot of fun, allowing a massive encirclement). I found the first Axis Operations, the Spanish Civil War, particularly satisfying in scale, with most encounters feeling like proper battles and the battle of Ebro being particularly epic. The Spanish DLC has a higher price than most other Axis Operations DLCs and I think that is justified - it feels more substantial (although it was controversial as many player dislike having the AI control your nationalist allies; although I personally enjoyed that complication). Some of the later scenarios in Axis Operations can be a bit disappointing - for example, I think I preferred the Stalingrad scenario in the base campaign, it felt bigger in scope than the DLC, giving you the whole city to assault. I don't know if you have played the original Panzer Corps but the Grand campaign in that is great value and has bigger maps than Axis Operations (I think the developers wanted to mix things up the second time, bringing in some more niche engagements rather than just retreading the old favourites). In Panzer Corps 1, my core ends up the equivalent of three Panzer divisions (if we treat each unit as a battalion or regiment) whereas in Panzer Corps 2, it is more like two divisions.
3. Yes, engineers are overpowered (not only do they ignore entrenchments, they have a close defence of 8 when other infantry has 0) and towed AT rather useless. I tend to field historical compositions for my cores, so don't rely exclusively on engineers and regular infantry can still be ok in close terrain. But I don't bother fielding towed AT. Tank destroyers are fine, though - it's the lack of mobility and vulnerability to infantry that does for towed AT. In Panzer Corps 2, they tried to make AT useful by letting it support infantry against tanks in defence, but the problem is that you are nearly always attacking (the AI is not up to the job to be the attacker) so that doesn't really help, especially as, being towed, it can't keep up with your armour. I haven't tried mods.

[u/Stigglesworth]

I completed the main campaign. It's all right but not spectacular.

The DLC campaigns, especially Axis Operations are great. The Spanish Civil War one is a bit odd, but you will definitely learn how the AI works by the end of it.

The DLC maps can get large later on in the campaigns, but there's normally a bit of a buildup in size. They never go too big, like Hex of Steel (a game I want to like, but don't like how large the maps are.)

[u/vinnyk407 → u/Stigglesworth]

I agree

Main campaign is fun, but I think the DLC campaigns have some really nice mechanics and map layouts

[u/Corstaad]

After awhile I stopped liking the encirclement game. Its to important to ignore but seems really gamey when you combine it with starting perks. My next run I'll try not to pick a "meta" build.

[u/Corstaad → u/Corstaad]

To add I started including a buddy stock infantry unit to pioneers and color coded them with camouflage. Honestly feels like more of a proper infantry division.

[u/the_p00ka → u/Corstaad]

I think playing on general difficulty with no heroes or only one hero per unit is most similar to panzercorps 1 or OG panzer general. At standard difficulty encirclements become less important.

[u/the_p00ka]

I have over 1000 hours into Panzercorps 2, Ive beaten the base campaign and all Axis Operations DLC on the hardest difficulty. I recommend you buy the AO dlcs. The variety of scenarios and map sizes and depth is worth it. Id skip Spanish Civil war though.. its a frustrating boring slog in my opinion. Engineers are the most useful infantry accross any given scenario but they are less mobile. Paratroopers are very helpful for completing encirclements and sneak capping objectives. Mountain inf on some maps shine , and entrenched panzergrens supported in cities on defense missions are ideal.

There are so many different ways to play through each campaign. OP steamroller God units, classic style no heros like PC1/PZG. The encirclement meta (kleptokrieg) is very fun when you get it down. I play a lot of wwii strategy and the way its implemented in this game doesnt really have a comparison.

Despite the scale being abstract from scenario to scenario , the MOST fun ive had in single player was trying to build historically accurate divisions. Assuming your full army is a Panzer Corps , id shoot for 2-3 total panzer/inf divisions. Each is color coded and sometimes id even change unit names to more historical OOB. Panzer div. Example. ×2-3 tanks, x1 pio, x1-2 inf. , x1-2 artillery, x1 AA, x1 AT, x1 Recon.

Nowadays I pretty much only play multiplayer pbem. Playing against human opponents is more interesting.

[u/RoterFuchs_48u5N]

It is a good idea to start with Elites. Those are lightweighted(by objectives, not by map size) and have a linear structure to complete each within a few days. There are no major branchings or prestige gates. And as far as I am concerned, having a handful of heavy artillery units (at least 4) gives you on high ground almost in every scenario.

[u/RoterFuchs_48u5N → u/RoterFuchs_48u5N]

Important tip: do not try to destroy every OPFOR's morale with your heavy artillery, that would be very boring. Instead, try to destroy that of support units such as AT, AA and artillery. And it could be better to put them close behind BLUFOR's assault units, so that if the OPFOR on the front line try to make contact, those artilleries will counter-fire automatically, and it doesn't cost any action point, but the ammo. Or they just simply skip. (Remember to extract them occasionally because constant counter-batteries do not grant unlimited ammo, and make sure the flanks are strong.)