serg3d
Posts: 137
Joined: 8/23/2003
Status: offline
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Finally got the hang of CS on the medium level (Barbarossa russian side, heavy tank battalion), and now have six battles, ranging in performance from "poor" (first) to ""outstanding" (last two).
Now some observation:
Game mechanics:
1.Whoever is the "first side" I never get the ranking of the battle at the end, like major/minor victory, draw etc. The only performance indications I'm getting are in the Campaign History
2.It seems to me upgrade is zeroing uni experience.
3. battle setup: You should not exit the game during setup phase, before finishing it. If you exit you will not be able to continue setup because setup is considered to be AI turn.
4. Fortification during setup: If by mistake yo stack one fortification on top of another (ctrl-click/ctrl-right-click) the lower fortification disappear. Also sometimes fortification disappear while you are moving unit out of it (during battle setup)
Gameplay and AI:
At first I thought CS to be a lot more difficult then Steel Panther, practically unwinnable, but that could have been just unfortunate first missions I got by chance. In the mission I got regiment of PzIV/PZIII was attacking my T-26 battalion. But later I found that was probably an aberration - PzIV/PzIII appear usually only after upgrade to T-34.
AI seems mostly fairly competent, it handle unit unload quite well, accumulate forces before major attack, coordinate tanks, infantry and towed artillery well - doing all this better than Steel Panther AI.
What Steel Panther WW2 (shrapnelgames) doing better is feigns, diversion attacks and flanking maneuvers.
CS AI always go for one spearhead and always attack left flank first, moving from left to right.
Tactic (some spoilers) :
For Russian side to play heavy tank brigade a lot more easy than light tank brigade. T-26 is fragile with weak gun. T-28 is fairly well armored, have decent gun and are quite good vs infantry. And on top of it you get more tanks in heavy battalion - you get additional BT company. Lately both heavy and light brigade battalions upgrade to the same 1941 tank brigade battalion - one five tank KV company and six three-tank T-34 platoon in two companies.
Defense:
Because AI always have one axis of advance it is logical to put all AT guns to left flank, with interlocking fields of fire and place tanks near them, to concentrate fire even more. AT guns should be deep inside you territory, behind the infantry if possible. If you have bunkers, pillboxes or trenches that is the best place for AT guns. I usually put 2 guns in the bunker and last into IP(improved position) or trench. Rightmost victory hexes could be garrisoned with couple of plt infantry each. Infantry can dig in itself, but that seems not helping much. If I have a lot of open lands I put one of the field guns into position for direct fire.
Than panzers start rolling I try not to hold to outermost victory hexes, and let the enemy take them. They are not worth core unit loss. At the end of the game I'm trying to take them back. AT guns from bunker shoot first and soak in the enemy fire, thus making core units more safe.
Though it is not catastrophic to lose many core T-28/BT/T-26 - upgrade to T-34/KV restoring battalion completely.
Advance: I'm trying to move behind infantry, and not trying to take all vic hexes. Moving trucks with infantry could be a problem.
Artillery: Though German siG-1B armored they are quite vulnerable to 122mm field guns fire. Then firing on infantry I'm trying take into account possibility of movement (two hex max). Field guns are not of much use against tanks.
Aviation: aviation is the tank buster in the game. It is major source of core losses for me. Not quite historical BTW.
Replacement: Jason Petho posted two files which should be replaced to make replacement work. Usual replacement is two strength points, but could also be four. Replacement is available randomly, seems with two/thirds probability,at the start of the next battle.
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Some observations on DCG - 
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