Panzer Korp Updates

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If any of you are Panzer Korps fans, update 1.2 is now available along with the many new campaigns. They are available on the company website.

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For those of you IPAD users, Panzer Korps is now out for IPAD.

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I've been a fan of Panzer General and now Panzer Corps, its replacement or upgrade for many years. How representative it is of actual war conditions is debatable. I can only guess by the fact that as the German, you have few resources and must use tactical skill and resourcefulness to win. That means that it probably is reasonably accurate.

In that vain, I decided to try some virtual historical analysis using the cheat codes. I use only the core and prestige cheat to increase the total units I can have and of course the prestige allows me to maintain my units at full strength and buy plenty of new ones anytime. Is this realistic? No, because the logistics for the North African campaign were way beyond the German or Italians ability to cope. In the game with cheat codes, I am now finishing off Iraq, having taken Basra and Shaiba airfield. But it does point up possibilities had the industrial resources and logistics planning been available.

For the Barbarossa operation, it allows me to take Moscow and end the campaign. After that, with the extra resources, I can reinforce the Luftwaffe, gain air supremacy over the Channel, destroy the Royal Navy and land safely( more or less) then take London and win that campaign. The next campaign was the invasion of the US. and that is far close to fantasy as the German's would never have consider it at all. So I am not interested in anything else.

All in all, with the limitations for a PC based game, it does show that with extra resources the German's might have at least a better chance in Russia, North Africa is again fantasy. They probably could have taken Cairo and shut down the Suez Canal forcing the Allies to use the round trip to India and Australia but with naval supremacy it might not have affected them much. During the war, the Suez path was shut down for a while so things would have kept going.

Anyway, lots to play with.

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I am going to play the 1943-1945 campaign on the German side. This includes Sicily Invasion, Italy and the rest. My plan is to defend along the spine of mountains and passes in Sicily.  I will overload on fighters, tactical bombers to gain air superiority. This plan will eliminate the naval superiority of the Allies. I can interdict forces moving on shore and win the Battle of Sicily. I will purchase many German 88 mm FLAK guns as they have the dual purpose of AA and AT.

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1943 - 1945 Campaign Sicily, Southern Italy German Side

The first round of this campaign was Sicily and Southern Italy specifically Salerno, Taranto. It seems the Allies by the AI try to attack Palermo and Southern Sicily all at once. I overloaded on HS-129, and ME-410 with escorts by Fw-190s. I gained air supremacy, bought six to eight Tigers and proceeded to crush the Allied invasion. I almost invaded Tunisia and take back Bizerte et al but ran out of time. I used the guiding principle of attacking the invading forces while they were still on the ships, sank 90% of the transports, and with my infantry, rocket launchers, Tigers, MK IV's I crushed the invasion of mainland Italy.

In Sicily, I used the ground attack forces to sink the transports with my Tigers along the beaches to deliver the coup de grace. No Allied forces made it ashore at Palermo, only one or two units in the toe of Italy and the rest were scattered in SE Sicily and were crushed easily. Air power was the overwhelming key as I did not or was not given naval forces. Interesting because as the Allies, I face some Italian Naval Forces.

I noticed that the AI does allocate more to its side of the action, but no matter, air supremacy won the day.

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Round 2 - 1943-1945 Campaign in the West - Normandy

My forces were not near Normandy but at least three turns away however, the Allies landed mostly on the Cherbourg Peninsula, taking Cherbourg before I could arrive. My forces in the Normandy area were minute, to say the least. This setup was a problem for me historically.

Again, I upgraded my fighters to FW-190D-9s, used Me-410 and HS-129Bs gaining air supremacy and then going to work on his transports and armor. As my tanks arrived along with infantry and artillery, they met reduced enemy units which were easily overcome. Once the Normandy area was cleared it was then a slower process of clearing the Cherbourg Peninsula since I couldn’t swing around their flanks, but had to hit them head on, to the advantage of the defense. With air supremacy, it was possible to attrite his forces and eliminate Allied forces from the continent. A decisive victory was gained.

I believe the setup at the beginning was not historically correct which means I may have to use the editor and address the issues. It was apparent, as always with cheat codes, that overwhelming forces will overcome the Allied advantage of numbers. Air power was the key. With the initial placement issues it is difficult to draw any worthwhile conclusions. It was fun.

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Panzer Corps now has a new add-on; Soviet Corps. You play the Soviet Army and its very interesting. First, you get far more prestige points than the German side so you can really overload. You start with Nomenhan against the Japanese and then move to Finland and Poland before the big act with the Germans. I will develop more later.