PG3 - Let's take all their potato!

[Hellraiser]

Meine neue panzer ist wunderbar! Now all the untermensch that stand in my way shall tremble and shit themselves!

 

[spectre]

Stalingrad awaits us, Waffenbruder.
We will snatch an epic victory for the Vaterland, or we will die trying.

This is a good moment to take our sweet time to review our force and honor the fallen properly.

First the stats.

Our war effort has been highly successful. We had stellar success in Polish campaign, taking great many potato.
Unfortunately, this didn't last for long, our glorious Blitzkrieg ground to a halt once we entered deeper into the Russian soil.
Kills went up, but potato harvest went poor. Fortunately, we were able to pick up steam.

Also, PG3 screwed someting up in the scoring. No way we did 83 kills two misions back. Oh well. It's funny with numbers sometimes.

Time to review our forces.

First, our Panzer Korps, the armored fist of the Fuhrer.

Carius is our most experienced panzer kommander, with an impressive kill count.
It is only fitting that he shall ride the might Tiger to Stalingrad.
His second commendation is long overdue.

Garf is our second most senior Panzer leader, with kill count not far behind Carius.
All guts and no glory, Garf gets the job done without fancy talk and boasting.
The Russians almost got to him during the "Second Wind" scenario, but he managed to return to our lines and kick some more Rotte Arsch, now in the improved PzIVF design.

Hellraiser used to ride the comandeered T34 tank, turning the tide of battle when we were in a crisis.
It's a major overlook that he hasn't receved a commendation for his valorous service, but we have not forgotten that.
He shall command our second Tiger to crush the communists.

Finally, Derper

Eager to prove himself, the insane man with rape in his eye volunteered to ride the KV against the soviets.
This may have made the high command to shun him, meaning promotions and commendations generally went the other way,
but that doesn't stop derper.

Our Panzer divisions are ready and able. Some promotions will be headed their way as available, Derper needs some love in particular, cause he's not being used to the full extent.

Next comes our Infantry corps.

Azira is our only remaining veteran infantry commander.
True to his aryan heritage, commands the fearless Fallshirmjaeger, striking deep behind enemy lines, bringing death to the Communists.

Our infantry division needs some serious loving. The loss of the pioneers was a blow, and we desperately need to compensate for the coming assault. Lots of streetfighting is expected, and we need that infantry support bad.
Unfortunately, we don't have capable infantry leaders to use at the moment.

Heavy Support and Anti-Tank

Vaarne is a recent addition to our force. He rides the StuG, in equal part lethal and MAJESTIC. He still seeks to prove himself, but noone questions his ability.

Cassidy does the dirty work. He often protects our flanks and rear from enemy marauders.
A thankless and inglorious job, but someone's got to do it.
He received the commendation from the Fuhrer for his ability to quickly entrench into a defensive position.
Many communists have fallen into his snare of heavily entrenched, camouflaged positions that appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Serrated commands the 88, which is technically AA, but as you can see from the kill count,
it's not just the bombers he's been after.

Our supporting forces could use an additional AA at some point in the future. We have a suitable candidate for this opening, but no space at the moment, as we need more recon and infantry atm. I'm not too hot about expanding our AT regiments,
cause in PG3 they act like a bit more defensively oriented tanks, and we have plnty of tanks at the moment.

Recon Forces

Gondolin's been with us from the very beginning, starting out as a level 2 roookie.
Now, missions pass and he slowly racks up kills and experience, yet medals award him.
Recon is a thankless job that is both necessary and risky, as Gondolin knows first hand, seeing his comrades
being cornered and killed in the line of duty.

Yep, recon needs expansion. It also has the highest fatality rate in our Kampfgruppe.

Artillery Support

Anus was an able artillery commander since our Polish campaign, and together with Psychic formed the backbone of every assault. After some experimenting, it was decided that the 10,5cm Haubitze offers the best combat parameters for our task at hand.
Anus is certified expert support specialist, meaning he is even more effective at defending our main lince, firing at the advancing foes.
He also received a commendation for his ability to effecively manage his ammunition reserves. Efficiency worthy of a true German son.
His low kill count is deceptive, as he's proven himself invaluable in any assault of our kampfgruppe.

Psychic is essentially Anus' double. Despite having more kills, he's not received personal commendation yet,
long overdue in my opinion, as he is without doubt anus' equal.

Merk is a new face in our artillery force. The man loves to experiment with new stuff and is especially fond of
unguided missle fire. His old Nebelwerfer was hurt by the lack of range and mobility, so he'll be testing the experimental rocket mounts attached to a Sdkfz chassis in Stalingrad.

Our artillery could use some promotions, as anus and Psychic actually started the war at the same level, and we could use some higher level veteran orders. Unfortunately, the promotions are running dry at the moment. I'll use Merk to experiment with new Waffen, until we find the sweet g-spot. So far, anything else than the Haubitze proved suboptimal.

Luftwaffe

Heinz Katz is a highly competent fighters leader, screening our bombers, conducting scouting runs and winning air superiority since Poland. Sadly, he wasn't recognized with any medals yet.
The respectable kill count shows he's also a threat to various lightly armored ground units, yet enemy figthers are his prey of choice.

von Ulm has some catching up to do, as he joined our forces during the operation near the Crimea region.
His aptitute for air recon was noted, and so his apetite for enemy bombers.

Our fighters are shaping up nicely. Some equipment update would be welcome, though.

JoKa is the senior bomber leader, he wanted to ride a Panzer for the Fuhrer, but was forced to accept the honors of the stuka leader.
Well known and feared for the feriocity of hiss attacks (reflected in his commendation which converts supression hits into kills, making him lethal.
He's also renowned for rainign death regardless of weather.
Finally, JoKa boasts the second most impressive killcount in our force.

eklektyk
Not as famous and not as decorated, Eklektyk is our second stuka leader. Equally fearsome, he still is to prove himeslf in bad-weather operations.

Somewhere in the future, I'll expand our bomber force by one pilot, but so far, it seems sufficient. The improved stukas have 4 attack orders available and are v.good vs enemy armor, meaning they perfectly suit our current operational needs.

An now,
Heroes of the Reich who have fallen in the line of duty, we salute you:

Recon leader Bee, fallen in the line fo duty, spearheading the assault.

Anti-tank leader Merkwurdig, fallen in the line fo duty, spearheading the assault.

Panzer Kommander Vaarne, totally unrelated to the present AT leader. Fallen in the line of duty witholding a fierce russian counterattack.

Recon leader Nex fallen in the line of duty by enemy bombardment while screening our offensive force.

Brave pioniere leader, HooDoo wounded once then fallen in the line of duty during a brave assault.

Or has he...?

***


***


Stalingrad...

We leave the comfort of the steppes and embrace the Russian winter once more.

Winter, 1942.

The Amerikwans have entered the war, apparently. We're up for a treat, not just potato to be liberated, but bubble gum and jeanshosen.
Scratch that. The superior Lederhosen-clad master race just needs the potato.

Two promotions. We get little love from the Fuhrer for some reason. Seems like times are getting tougher.

As you can see, there are multiple objectives to be captured, most olf them are located conveniently, but there are lots of hiding spots in these ruins.

We're almost ready to begin, three slots are open. We will need recon support to sift through this rubble.
And infantry support, much needed in the close quarters of Stalingrad. This will be hard to come by, but I'll think of smething.

 

[The Thin Man]

Luftwaffe

Heinz Katz is a highly competent fighters leader, screening our bombers, conducting scouting runs and winning air superiority since Poland. Sadly, he wasn't recognized with any medals yet.
The respectable kill count shows he's also a threat to various lightly armored ground units, yet enemy figthers are his prey of choice.

I know, wtf is up with that?!? Fuhrer be hating on a Fokka.

 

[eklektyk]

so much "fun" time ahead .... onwards to glory!

 

[spectre]

What can I say, the commendation system is one big wtf. Best bet is to aparticipate in combat (i.e. attack, get attacked, both on your turn and in the enemy turn) and cross your fingers.

It seems to be tied with the amount of stuff you do in one turn (as though there's a hidden counter that resets at eot).

I had some issues with Stalingrad, PG kept crashing on me for some mysterious reason. Shame, cause it behaved pretty nicely until now.

But, you'll be glad to know that the screenshots are made and should be uploaded in a few, unless unforseen RL issues turn up.

 

[Johnny the Mule]

 

[Johnny the Mule]

How does the game take into account the unit strength for damage calculations?

I mean, is the Tiger (8 units*17 attack) better than the PzIV (10 units*15 attack) against infantry without close combat?

Do you perceive the Tiger as a better tank in general in the game compared to the PzIV?

 

[spectre]

Do you perceive the Tiger as a better tank in general in the game compared to the PzIV?

Firepower is actually comparable (maybe slightly in favor of the Tiger)
The armor value is key here. PzIVF is stuck at 10, like the rest of the PzIV family, while the tiger has a whooping 18. And this makes a difference, the PzIV actually feels pretty squishy and is more suitable for flanking, rather than the main line.
You saw that in the mission where the first Vaarne died - a stray katyusha + an overstrenghtened AT and the PzIV is done. It's basically impossible to go toe to toe with the KV family, without artillery support.

Tiger, on the other hand, can easily shrug off artillery fire.
And that is also why derper is really served well by the captured KV, 14 armor makes the difference.

Now, regarding the strength, I think it only matters when the unit is overstrengthed (i.e. over the standard value of 10), as I've not seen any decrease in performance in the elite 8 str. units (Pioniere, Tiger, FW), other than the increased squishiness.

I'll admit that I haven't tried the overstrenghted units yet. I looked around and we have a couple of obsolete equipment (atillery and an old Pz38(t)) with str. 15, and a 12 str. recon car. Guess I may give them a spin after we're done with the current update.

 

[Johnny the Mule]

Looked at the manual. Strength determines the amount of rolls on attack so a 8*17 or 10*15 is a seemingly fair assessment.
On defense though strength does nothing. So simply more helps more. Yay for Tigers.

I think a dude on some page before asked to be a PaK 41 and as a coincidence I was reading a guns magazine at that time and the PaK 41 was featured. Sweet piece. Shame that the wolfram was gone by 41 and replaced with steel and soft iron cores.
They even had a nice little booklet with ammo c&c

And here is the Panzer General 3 Scorched Earth Unit Data Reference
http://www.mediafire.com/?65tpijfvw4radm5

 

[Merkwürdigliebe]

Awwwww Yeah.

I think a dude on some page before asked to be a PaK 41 and as a coincidence I was reading a guns magazine at that time and the PaK 41 was featured. Sweet piece. Shame that the wolfram was gone by 41 and replaced with steel and soft iron cores.

Think that was me, though it was a Pak 43 rather than a Pak 41. Check these penetration data. Potentially penetrating 150 mm of sloped armor at a distance of 2 km, thats some serious firepower compared to what was available at that time.

 

[spectre]

Looked at the manual. Strength determines the amount of rolls on attack so a 8*17 or 10*15 is a seemingly fair assessment.

Looks solid. More attack rolls sounds just about right, but it cannot replace raw power vs. heavy defense rating.

On defense though strength does nothing. So simply more helps more. Yay for Tigers.

Well, it does increase survivability a lot. A 8str. pioniere caught in the open will get busted by two katyusha barrages.
On the other hand, chasing 15 str. units through the countryside can be an exercise in patience. Thankfully, there's the Blitz special.

On the whole, I think it's a nice balancing touch, allowing older equipment to remain semi-viable that way. Strength alone often cannot replace stats such as firing range, mobility, fire orders, but I'll be sure to check how the 15 str. artillery performs.


Ai'ght lads on with the show. Most likely there won't be a full update today, but it's Stalingrad. We'll be taking our sweet time here.

First let's welcome the frishes Blut.
I pondered for a while who to take, and decided that we need long range support for this siege.
Infantry is badly needed, so we need some quick ersatz.
Aaaand some recon, I find the 2x ground recon + 2x figther recon combo sufficient for all our needs.

cBreaker is the new artillery guy in the team. We give him the Haubitze.

(I know you wanted something self-propelled, but they suck pretty bad. At least with the tactics I am using.
Honest injun, you'll get the first Hummel or Wespe that we get.)

NewBee will do the scouting work. It's too late to change the equipment, but the discussion inspired me to try somethign different next time.

HooDoo returns, obviosly traumatized by the recent near-death experience.
He won't be the same man again, but his flammenwerfer assistance is essential for the coming siege.

(the two infantry leaders are level 2, so I'm kinda scraping at the bottom of the barrel here. Plus, we'll see what's it like
to have amismatched leader type.)

Winter's here again.

We deploy our forces.

Hmm.

The path to the main objective is straightforward. It also means we're certain to meet strong resistance.

The three objectives in the city are located quite fortunately, but what bothers me is the primary to the north. If we focus on the city, we may run out of time to seize it.

I need some intel first.

Scouting positions to the south.

I see an airstrip manned with a recon team. There's some communist conscipts lurking nearby.

The airfield is irrelevant, and they russians will most likely withdraw o the city first thing they see us.

Not to say, we shouldn't allow them to get any funnny ideas. AT squad, search and destroy.

I am on it.

With the aid of the luftwaffe, the airstrip is quickly cleared.

That infantry looks like they're about to run.

Let them, it's more fun that way.

Scouting positions to the north.

Minor resitance only.

Looks encouraging.

We'll deploy a kampfgruppe to the north. They will secure the secondary objective then move to the primary north of the city.

If it works gut, we'll have them surrounded.

Shitty business, going through all that snow.

Stay on course, there's a road ahead. Should be easier from there.
Hellraiser, Gondolin, Anus and HooDoo will be the flanking force.

At this point you may wonder why taking the howitzer and not the self propelled rocket artillery?
The Wurfraumen may have a bit easier time on the snow, but without the extra range, any assault will be ineffective - the Wurfraumen won't be able to take out enemy artillery and AAs - which is essential.

Conducting recon sweep of the main advance.

Hostiles spotted.

Heavy tanks with artillery support. No AAs in sight. Let me at them.

Hm. There are two approaches to the main objective. Logically, we need as much firepower as possible.

Northern path looks clean, while there's some enemy waiting for us down south.

CBreaker Vaarne and Garf will take the southern path. They will clear the heavy armor in our way with Luftwaffe's assistance.

Carius, Derper, Merk, Psychic, Cassidy and Serrated will form the main assault. Most heavy armor and most heavy firepower.

As usual, Fallshirmjaeger stand at the ready.

Enemy turn.

The enemy does not engage and appears to be withdrawing.

We saw lone fighters, recon flight only.

We knocked their air support pretty good last time. I guess we can be cautiously optimistic about our air superiority.

So, they're looking for us. Let's not dissapoint

Let me do the knocking.

The AT and AAs in the north attempt to fall back to the city and walk straight into our ambush.

A quick dispatch. Scouts, confirm clear route to the objective.

We are clear. Let's take it.

Swiftly and efficiently, the lone infantry falls. Gondolin is finally ecognized for the service to the Vaterland.

'Bout time... I mean, Blut und Ehre.

Little resistance is met along the way.
von Ulm downs the first enemy figther...

And cBreaker dispatches the fleeing infantry.

Weissen sie, it's really much more fun when they run.

Stukas, ready to divebomb. I see infantry in the abandoned buildings.

They hoped to slow us down? Show them the error in their logic.

Damn almost had them...

I'll mop them up.

Oopsie, katyusha spotted, disengaging.

I fear no rocket fire!

I've found the heavy armor. Permission to engage.

Proceed, this will slow them down so that they won't rejoin the main force.

Damn this is one tough shit.

I almost have it, one more run!

Negative, stukas disengage, there's still enemy fighters nearby.

We want this attack to go nice and clean.

Scouting for enemy aircraft, Kommand.

Got him. And there's more.

Stirep time.

Theadvance is proceeding as planned. In the south, the russsians let us advance into the city with no problems. However, there's a sizable force up north, just past the frozen river, ready to flank us.
The northern Kampfgruppe will proceed to secure the objective, and ideally will involve some of the enemy force.
The main assault will proceed cautiously. We have plenty of time still.
The southern Kampfgruppe needs some catching up to do, but thegood thing is the resistance along the way is neutralized. They will proceed to flank the city from the south and secure the closest objective.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Syvä iskumme on, viha voittamaton!

 

[spectre]

We press on.

While Katz is away for resupply, von Ulm nails the second enemy fghter as it tries to molest cBreaker's artillery.

That should be the last one.

Damage report...

Damn, it aways have to be the wheels, doesn't it?

Target is in range. Let them know we're here.

That should attract their attention.

Meanwhile, the main advance is assaulted by tanks and artillery.

Artillery is in position. They're attempting to flank us.

Eat this!

Shit, I'm almost out already?

I'm on them

Now the tank.

Tough one.

It's killed.

Hey, there's a Kapitalist tank over there!

Me, me, meme...

Aw fuck, anti aircraft... withdrawing.

Hidden movement.

Another small counteroffensive is lanuched. Thankfully, Psychic is well positioned to assist.
And I'll have to say this about the Wurfrahmen, they may suck as na arty, but they're sure as hell tough.

Our turn to return the favor. Merk, after you.

Verpissen, how can kill stuff when I'm out of ammo again?

For some odd reason, the GaZ AA also moved in to flank us.

Let me show you the error of your ways.

NewBee mops up, stumbles upon enemy strongpoint.

Nothing's ever easy, eh?

That was predictable. We won't get tangled in the bunkers, just drive past them and secure the objective.

Engage the bunker only when absolutely necessary.

Carius nails the American M3A1

And gets the overdue second commendation. He's officially awesome now.

How convenient. It means we don't have to worry too much about infantry support. I had hoped for something more spectacular, but this is definitely useful.

Meanwhile at teh flanks...
Vaarne assists circuit breaker. The remaining tanks are almost wiped out. The KV1C is pretty damned tough, knocking off a good portion of Derper's strength.

We're cleared to assault the main objective.

Let me shell'em a bit. And if that infantry moves an inch from them ruins, I'll let them have it.

That's good an all, but what about that KV?

It can't be allowed to resupply. I'm on it?

Now I'll be damned...

Le'ts check the situation up north.
Preliminary shelling failed to attract their attention. We have to come to them.

Scouting enemy defenses. Katyusha, light tank, infantry and what's this?

Looks like the crafty communists ploped an AT on a Panzer Chassis.

They know what's gut. Rare spark of intelligence.

We mop up the exposed katyusha. Easy as pie. Unfrtunately, HooDoo is clearly not himself.

Fallshirmjaeger are called to assist.

Deploying.

Komministen stole our PzIII? This abomination shall not stand!

Indeed it shan't. The SU-71i is quickly dispatched.

Unfortunately, without the Tactician special, Pioniere lose a lot of their flair.
To add insult to injury, we cannot access the veteran orders as well due to difficulty settings. the camouflage would be useful.
But, the loss of leader special is what hurts the most.

 

[spectre]

The northern objective is quickly seized. A lone AT tries to counterattack, but is quickly pounded to oblivion.
No treat for the capture this time.

The northern kampfgruppe is to randezvous with the main battle group asap.

We will grab them with our armored pincer, ja?

Luftwaffe scouting the positions to the south.

All clear over here.

Since the threat of enemy arcraft is long gone, Serrated breaks formation and seizes the airfield.

Now even if they had some, they won't be fielding any aircraft.

Garf and Derper seize the other primary objective.

And Garf gets recognized.

I'll see about the secondary.

Hmm. Not much I can do here at the moment.

Withdrawing, requesting assistance at the earliest convenience.

Sitrep time.

We're ready to begin closing the pincer. Unfortunately, we have no recon about the area past the river.
They may be hiding something in reserve.

The main battle group begins proper siege.
It starts with a rocket barrage to disable the katyushas.

Yep, Merk is almost out again.

Carius quickly rolls over the bunker, no fuss and no infantry assistance required.

Then kills the katyusha dead.

Infantry spotted. They are in range.

Bombardment complete. No survivors.

The path is cleared. No sense in bothering with the other strongpoints.


Duting enemy turn, we observe heavy movement down south. Scouts and light tanks.

They're trying to retake our objective!

Like hell they will.

I'm lovin it!
Derper receives a commendation for his overall performance in this mission

An immediately makes good use of it.

You're not going anywhere.

We're in position to assault the secondary. Somebody clean up this mess!

Gondolin scouts the flank. Sees a churchill and lots of enemy bunkers.

They may be up to something funny over here.

Sustained rocked and artillery fire leaves the defenders helpless and the objective is taken quickly.

Yeah, like we need more of this junk...

A Tommy tank, so far away from home? Let me at it!

Herzlich wilkommen to the Krieg!

Down south, the AI continues to pull units out of it's ass.

Quickly dispatched.

Kameraten, time for the final push!

 

[spectre]

Eklektyk was unable to kill the churchil and it refits. Next turn, Carius forces it's surrender.

Hey, you've got yourself some limey pets!

I see movement on the other side of the river.

Investigating.

Small fries. Cassidy, we should take them out.

Agreed.

Aaaand...

So much for their big plans.

Artillery reporting. We're mercilessly bombarding the city.

No stone left standing, know what I mean?

Luftwaffe will asssit you.

Pretty sight.

A lone KV and some infantry. Sheisse, they've got AA.

Down south, Vaarne, cBreaker and Garf clean up the secondary.

More potato is seized.

Good things come to those who wait. The enemy AA has moved in range of anus' emplacement.

That KV is blocking my path. I cannot move past it.

Dropping in to assist.

Path is now clear.

Meanwhile, Cassidy takes the final secondary on the other side of the river.

We end the turn. Not much happens. Stalingrad is at our mercy.

Whooping 3 turn left. This should be good.

We start by killing off the stragglers. The stukas circle the skies like birds of prey.

Anus' artillery fire keeps their head down.

And gondolin pries the last defenders from their hidey holes.

Our Tigers parade through the ruins.

And there was much celebrating.

Look at all this potato, I think we're breaking a record here!

Debriefing
What can I say, I'm kinda proud of that outcome. The plan went perfectly well.
Of course, a lot of it was due to the crippled enemy airforce.

What else,
Unfortunately, putting the AT leader in infantry shoes suck big time.
No tactician means the killing power is reduced significantly, even if we could use the vetern orders, I think it won't be helping much. It remains an option for AA or artillery, fighters maybe, but we won't be needing these.

Promoting Derper to level 4 means he can now roll with the big boys. It quickly began to show its benefit, as you could hopefully see.

I remain of the opinion that self-propelled artillery sucks nigger schlong. Sure, it won't be killed outright by tanks, but the increased mobility is all lost by the pitiful range. And just don't get me started on the 3 ammo.
Perhaps when range 3 mobile arty becomes available we can have some fun. Right now it fails to deliver.

That's it for today. Next update, you'll see what has become of our glorious victory.

 

[Derper]

I feel truly elite

 

[anus_pounder]

Nice going. Too bad about the lack of infantry.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m4tALfqyME

 

[JoKa]

Great show, Kamerad. Our Infantry may suck mightily, but our tanks and aircraft make more than up for it.

Moskva, here we come!

 

[Crooked Bee]

Splendid, just splendid.

 

[Johnny the Mule]

Go go go!

 

[Hellraiser]

We need MOAR glorious potato, das ist the only good thing the kommunist schweinhunde land has to offer.

 

[spectre]

Fuck, I had a pipe leak in my flat, and just at the same time, the fridge started leaking. After I sort this shitstorm out (wich should be soon), you'll be bleased to know that I have 4 missions worth of screenies to sift through, so you're in for a treat.

 

[Derper]

F5 all day, then

 

[Johnny the Mule]

the kitties feel for your pipes