Jack
Posts: 309
Joined: 5/25/2000
From: Canada
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Buying smart, and playing smarter!
Introduction
One of the first things I learned when starting my apprenticeship as a plumber is you never stop learning even as a Journeyman. How this relates to Steel Panthers is simple. I will pass on what I think is best in purchasing units and tactics and I am hoping you guys will do the same so that we can all learn from each other.
Buying smart
The following applies for playing against a human. I like a good mix of infantry, armor and artillery. Before I get into buying them I just want you to know what I like for choosing preferences. If I am going to be a player who side will have low experience I will ask that both sides have the same experience level usually close to 75. I don’t mind playing the Italians but with experience level set to historic, well the same results could occur. The bottom line is you want to have fun and you want your guys to rally. Remember if you decide to up the Route and Rally preference to more than 100% it is a freebie and there will be no added cost to your troops. That one button is highly under rated so you will have to consider what both sides should be. I usually keep them both the same.
When purchasing having some basic historical knowledge helps. What year is the battle taking place? Who am I fighting? What is the weather? What type of battle is it: assault, defend, meeting engagement? Is the battle in Europe, dessert or jungle. What size map are we going to play on. The reason all these things are important to consider is very simple. If the weather is stormy what are the chances of your opponent being able to buy air support or conduct airborne ops? You probably won’t need to purchase as many AA guns now. By knowing what size map you are going to use if you are the German for example you could purchase the rocket artillery on the half-tracks if rarity factors allow, you know the one with the 21cm rockets and the 32 cm flame projectile. It only has a range of 52 hexes(or close to it) so all your targets will be in range. On the other hand if you are playing on the big 100x240 map you want arty with lots of range, you may even consider the off board stuff. I try and limit the off board stuff because if you use it often it will run out of ammo and you will no longer have it once it runs out of ammo.
Armored infantry are nice to have and have advantages over foot born infantry but at a cost. You must ask yourself in this particular battle do you really need mobility or am I going to fight to the last man defending this position. Mechanized units are good when defending if used to plug holes in your defense once you established where the main push is coming.
Experience bonus’s are also a real advantage I try and buy units with the +10 experience bonus whenever possible, they are more expensive but more durable. One I shy away from when purchasing infantry is purchasing infantry without AT capability. Sometimes you don’t have a choice but if you do, a squad with a PIAT is better than one without.
When buying arty units I like to see the size of the warhead, that can be found in the encyclopedia the bigger the better I always say. For crying out loud don’t forget to purchase ammo vehicles or ammo dumps. When I purchase my arty here is what I do. I will always purchase the guns first like one battery of 4 guns, then I go to the misc button and purchase a section of ammo vehicle’s (2 vehicles). The hard part is deciding if you want one ammo vehicle for 4 guns or 2 ammo vehicle for 4 guns, 2 guns per ammo vehicle. The advantage of having two ammo vehs is that you can spread you battery out a bit more making it harder for counter battery fire to destroy or suppress the entire battery. I do both, when I am trying to save points I will use one veh per battery and take my chances.
Buying armor is important and in my book there is such a thing as buying too much. I usually play in forested areas with small towns and villages so it is crucial that all the armor have infantry support. What I mean by that is, the armor goes nowhere without the infantry. When buying tanks make sure they carry lots of rounds in battle. The Soviet Joseph Stalin tanks and the IS 152 have a very low ammo storage capacity to it(there are many example too from different countries), so it is important to decide if you really want them. When playing the as the Russian I have changed my way I thinking. I used to buy on the premise that quality is better than quantity. I have started to change in that respect. It is nice to have some IS-2m and IS-3 tanks but they are expensive and short on ammo. What I buy now are the T44’s with the 85mm gun or T-34 85. Both carry lots of ammo and stand a reasonable chance of taking out a Panther or a Tiger.
Remember the 100 limit on formations and 400 unit limit when playing the high point games. Don’t sell yourself short. How you can do this, is by buying formations with only 5 tanks, example would be the T-44. A Squadron formation consist of the Sqrdn Comd and only 2 troops of 2. Doesn’t matter for the smaller games but when you start to push the 15000 point limit of a big battle you will lose before it has even begun. Most German Sqrdn’s comes with as many as 17 tanks( 2 in Sqrdn HQ, and 3 troops of 5.) I’m not an expert at the OOB editor so I can’t tell you how to change it.
Remember don’t be afraid to load your infantry on tanks to save points on transport. Another button highly under rated is the change command button. I use this button EXTENSIVELY and for good reason. If you are like me I sometimes have a bad habit of splitting units. When more units are incorporated into one command I find it much easier to control and at the same time better chance to rally units. For example lets say you buy and infantry coy. That coy comes with 1 Coy Comd, and 1 Plt Comd for each Platoon. Some coy’s will have organic mortars attached to it as well. I usually delete that formation because I already purchase my arty. If the mortar formation is after the Coy Comd I will immediately purchase something else to put in its place. Like a platoon of engineers or something. Being that flame-throwers are an excellent devise for killing infantry and armor I will purchase a troop of flame-throwing vehicles and use the change command button and attach the troop Comd to the Coy Comd, and the tree vehicle that are left one to each platoon. Flame-throwers in my opinion should be an integral part of any attack or defense. I guess the bottom line the way I see it: is that the more times you have a chance to rally a unit in one turn the better chance he will come back to fight.
The Set up
Now that you have purchased your units comes the set up. Just to get it out of the way I want to talk about the option of employing your infantry behind the enemy lines. Yes it is a great advantage to have units back there but they all are not guaranteed to make to battle. I feel that in my opinion if they can’t all get there on the same turn take an alternate rout. To me that rout would be gliders or para drops. A rule of thumb for me is to have all my gliders or Planes approach from the enemy rear and go straight across. I find they run into a lot less enemy fire that way. If I think it is going to be a hot LZ I use my pre game arty strike and blanket the whole area with smoke. Make sure you have a look at the map before you set up and have a plan in your head. Know the visibility too especially when fighting a good German player.
Decide if you want to employ the pre turn bombardment option. The sooner you fire the sooner you give away your positions. Don’t forget the pre-registered hexes. The pre-registered hex should coincide with your plan. Artillery isn’t called the King of battle for nothing. The game does an excellent job of creating suppression when using artillery. There is a big difference when attacking compared to defending so put your hexs in accordingly. I remember reading an article on the use of arty a couple of years ago. But it was for the old DOS game, the same rule applies with SPW@W. If a target is important enough for you to give it attention with arty then all your guns should be trained on the target. I can’t tell you how many times that I have had arty employed against me with just a light sprinkling here and there with just minor suppression. All or none is my motto, that is the way I do it.
Game play
Make note of the VC hexes and their worth. There is a big difference between a hex worth 200pts at the end of game and a hex worth 50 points per turn. Plan accordingly to justify losses. Don’t be afraid to use the change of command button for and LMG team or some small unit and attach it to a Sqrdn Coy as a passenger as an extra set of eyes. Keep all Coy Comds and Squadron Comd out of the action as much as possible for rallying purposes. The AO is another story. I know of some people who like the AO at the back with the arty units to keep them in contact with the Arty Observer, that’s ok. But I like to have him in a fast veh to get to the troubled spots to rally the troops.
Naming units is something I do that not too many other people do. I will either use letter or numbers or both. I find it much easier for command and control. I like to deny my opponent as much information as the game will let me. I will constantly change the name of the AO depending what unit he is in the vicinity of. Example one of my rifle coy or combat teams is having trouble, ie getting their ass kicked. I unload the AO change his name then change the name of the veh that is carrying him to the same call sign that he is going to help.
I will move the AO up to the unit leaving him inside the vehicle. All units of the same combat team have the same call sign. If the Combat team is call sign 1, then I name the AO and the veh he is in 1 as well.
Closing comments
These are some of the things you can do to make it a bit more challenging for your opponent. Nothing is the complete and totally right way of doing things. The bottom line is your just playing for fun. My definition of fun is when my opponent moves his King Tigers into a village without infantry support for my glider borne troops to have something to do. Am I right Warehorse?
If someone else has a better way I am always willing to learn. Remember to keep your units together as much as possible. Just in closing not all Arty observers are created equal. Look at their arty rating, the one with the highest rating use the most. Name him the same as what ever unit is in the vicinity, some guys are lazy and won’t bother to right click on a unit to see what it is.
Looking foreword to hearing from you.
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Buying smart, playing smarter. - 
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[ October 08, 2001: Message edited by: Charles_22 ]
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