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Panzer General (e)

Panzer General Strategy Guide

V1.0
Part 1

This is part 1 of 2 of a strategy guide for panzer general. Part 1 will cover
General issues of play, as well as offensive operations tactics.

Part 2 will cover defensive operations, and will include a chart of
victory objectives for all of the scenarios .

In writing this, I am indebted to SSI for producing such a wonderful game.
All the material for this guide comes from my own experience
playing the game, and if anything is incorrect, I have only myself
to blame.

This guide is based on campaign play, but almost everything is
applicable to single scenario and two player games as well.

Please feel free to distribute this freely.

Contents
--------
I. General Issues

a. Experience
b. Initiative
c. Strength
d. Prestige
e. Combat Values
f. Entrenchment and Rugged Defense
g. Suppression
h. Supply
i. Weather

II. Offensive Operations

a. Planning to Win
b. Battle Group Composition
c. Secondary Objectives
d. City Busting
e. Open Field Assaults
f. Aerial Assaults
g. Overstrength buildup

III. Defensive Operations

a. City Defense
b. Counterattacks
c. Counter Air
d. Terrain Effects

IV. Campaign Game Chart of Victory Conditions

I. General Issues

A. EXPERIENCE AND ITS EFFECTS

Experience plays a VERY important part in Panzer General. It determines
the following during combat :

- Along with Initiative values and a random factor, experience
determines who shoots first. This is a HUGE factor. If two units
are in combat, each with ten strength points, the unit who shoots first
can very often knock enough strength from the enemy that it is
not damaged during the enemies couterblow.

- Casualties sustained by experienced troops are often FAR less
than similar,. unexperienced troops. This difference can often be
as much as 50%.

- Experienced troops can be made 'overstrength.' This is accomplished
by selecting 'elite replacements' for units with their 'gold stars'
filled in next to their unit type. These units can be made 1 overstrength
point per turn for each gold star completely filled in before overstrength points are
added>.

- Experienced Troops are much less likely to face a 'rugged defense'
in combat

A unit that is severely beaten in combat will gain experience
quickly ,
provided you fix it up with elite replacments.

Note that when using replacements, ELITE REPLACEMENTS will have no
effect upon a units experience, whereas regular REPLACEMENTS will
SEVERELY cut into a units experience values. DO NOT DILUTE CRACK
TROOPS WITH REGULAR REPLACEMENTS !!!

B. INITIATIVE AND ITS EFFECTS

Initative serves one purpose in PG. It determines who shoots first. Now, this
is very important, since fights between equal strength units often
comes down to whoever gets in the first blow. Initiative is determined
by a combination of experience, unit initiative rating, and a random
roll of 0, 1 or 2. The unit with the higher # goes first, with some
exceptions :

- Whenever a unit faces a rugged defense, it has an initiative
of 1.

- Whenever a Non-Infantry unit faces a dismounted infantry unit in a
forest,city, or mountain hex, it has an initiative of 1. Note that
this applies to infantry that are mounted. Only dismounted infantry are
excepted from this rule.

C. Strength

All units in Panzer general start with 10 strength points. Strength
is at the heart of the combat system. Weakened units are easy
prey to almost any attacker; for example a unit of paratroopers would
normally inflict almost no damage upon a full strength tank division;
however, if the tank division is weakened to say, 2 or 3 strength points,
the paratroops should be able to finish them off without any damage to
themselves !!!

Always try to pull weakened units off the battle line and issue them
replacements. This is much cheaper that purchasing a new unit outright,
if it is destroyed.

D. Prestige

Prestige is the heart of Panzer general. Every battle you fight in, every
city you win or lose, effects your prestige.

What does this mean? Well, prestige has four uses :

- It allows you to trade prestige points for new units

- It allows you to issue replacements to weak units

- It allows you to upgrade your troops

- After certain campaign scenarios, it allows you to skip certain battles
by 'buying' them off with prestige

A further discussion of prestige will follow in various sections to come.

E. Combat Values

How do you choose among troops? Well, with two exceptions, the combat
value tables is how you do it .

When choosing new troops or upgrading old troops, you should try
to have a well balanced force. For example, Panzer III tank divisions
have higher HA value than the Panzer IV line, making
them good tank busters. But the Panzer III's are not especially
good against 'soft targets' like
infantry and dismounted artillery; the panzer 4's
are excellent against these targets, however. This
is where a well balanced unit mix is important. Ideally, each
battle group should have a good mix of units
to ensure success.

Most combat values are fairly clear, except for CLOSE DEFENSE.
Close defense is the units defensive values in the following
situations :

- When facing a Rugged Defense

- When a non infantry unit is fighting dismounted infantry
in a city hex

Since these Close Defense values normally stink, it is a good idea
to try to avoid either of the above situations

F. Entrenchment and Rugged Defense

Entrenchment is a very important part of Panzer General.

There are two parts to the entrenchment equation : a units
entrenchment rate, and the base/max entrenchment values
for a given terrain. Normally, infantry and non armored vehicles
entrench quickest; tanks entrench slowest.

Base Entrenchemnt value refers to the begining entrenchment values a unit
has after 1 turn in a given hex. Base values are highest for City, Mountain,
and forest hexes, and are lowest for road and clear hexes.

Max Values refers to the highest entrenchment level a unit can attain
in a given hex . Highest values are for
cities and mountain hexes.

Why is entrenchment so important? The higher a units entrenchment
level, the greater the chance of a RUGGED DEFENSE ! There also
seems to be some factor in the combat equation that favors heavily
entrenched units, even if a rugged defense doesnt occur.

Every attack upon an entrenched unit lowers its entrenchment by 1.
The significance of this will be discussed in the relevant offensive
and defensive sections.

RUGGED DEFENSE

What is a rugged defense? Simply put, it means the defender
kicks your butt!!

How does it occur?

- When a unit moves into the ZONE OF CONTROL of a previously
undetected unit . This
is why Reconnaisance is important

- When a unit attacks a well entrenched defender, there is
a chance, which is less for experienced attackers, of a rugged
defense occuring.

What happens during a rugged defense?

- The defender shoots first ,.

-The attacker uses his close defense values

G. Suppression

Suppression refers to strength points surpressed during combat.
Normally, surpression lasts for only the current round of combat;
however, LEVEL BOMBERS can surpress enemy strength for the players
ENTIRE TURN !!! This is an important factor that facilitates
multiple attacks on the surpressed unit.

H. Supply

The manual does a competent job of describing supply.
The tactical aspects of supply are somewhat incomplete, however.

It is very important to note maximum fuel values when purchasing
new units. For example, the Tiger I has such a lousy fuel
value that it literally has to be refueled every third or fourth
turn. This is important when conducting blitzkrieg offensives,
or when fighting in close quarters wher a unit has to fight every
round, A UNIT OUT OF FUEL HAS ITS COMBAT VALUES HALVED!!!!

Supply rules can be turned off , which simplifies the game enormously.
However, turning off supply has the following effects :

- the side with air superiority has a great advantage
when supply is turned off

- cities under siege dont suffer the 'cant resupply when enemy unit
is adjacent' rule

- light, fast attack forces no longer move much
more quickly than heavy armored columns

- Desert fighting becomes much easier for the offensive force
to manage

Be aware of these effects before switching off supply rules.

I. Weather

Once again the manual does a good job of laying out the effects
of weather. Turning weather off has the following effects

- the side with air superiority can press their air advantage to
the limit

- all offensive forces benefit from dry terrain, and can move
very quickly

II. OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS

A. Planning

During the campaign game, you are very often given a wide area of
choice when deploying your forces.

How do you decide what goes where?

This is where Objective Planning comes in.

The way I proceed is this: I take a look at the strategic map, and take note
of all objective target cities. I then trace their path along favorable
terrain back to my allowed starting locations. By doing this,
I will quickly be able to see how many battle groups are
required for the current scenario. I WRITE down in a looseleaf
notebook each
battlegroups path to their objectives.

For example, I might see that their are 3 objective cities on the
eastern edge of the map.
These cities might be located in the north,
southern central, and souhtern part of the map. Additionally, each city
has 1 favorable approach to it .
This would lead me to write out the path that each unit takes
to its objectives, with secondary objectives listed as parallel
paths, and cities that cant be avoided as part
of the main route.

It might look something like this :

Northern Army Group: City A ---City B---City D----Objective
|
|
City C

Southern Army Group City E---Objective---City F---City G---Objective
|
|
Port H

Etc Etc.

This kind of plan keeps you FOCUSED on your main goals. If
the plan needs adjustment as you play, fine. Any good plan needs
to be adaptable. But playing with no objectives planned out
from the begining means your initial force locations and makeup
may not be appropriate for the current situation.

A more detailed plan might include TIME values for taking
various objectives. This usually becomes possible only
after playing the various scenario at least once; however,
you still might try it, so long as you realize you turn
values might be way off.

The question of when to take secondary cities will come up later in
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES.

B. Battle Group Composition

Now that you have a detailed plan, you need to allocate forces to it.
When you are playing with the 'hidden units' option on, you dont
really know what you will be facing, with a few exceptions.

This discussion ONLY deals with offensive operations. Defensive
operations and force compositions will be discussed later

Each Battle group should be composed of JUST enough units to fulfill
the battle plan. This often requires you to speculate on what forces
each group is likely to face. Sometimes I will plop my units down
roughly in equal groups, and scout ahead with fighter planes
during my first turn, and during the same turn will move my forces
along their respective paths to their objectives, sort of
'forming a battle group on the go'. However, in most scenarios
you can expect defensive forces to be laid out pretty evenly, with
tank forces favoring open country, infantry and anti-tank weapons
in fortified positions, and infantry, air defense, and artillery
guarding cities.

This discussion will make light of air power. Air power will
be discussed more fully in "Aerial Assaults."

In our hypothetical scenario, we have twenty five ground units
and five air units available.

Lets suppose we have three battle groups, NORTH, CENTER, and SOUTH.
The northern part of the map has three or four cities , lots of rivers, and 1 road through to the eastern edge
of the map.

Strong tank forces will be of little use here. Instead, lots of cities
and rivers means 2 or 3 Engineer units . 1 or 2
tank units, an Air Defense unit and a
good Self Propelled Arty unit should round out the mix.
A reserve force of a Pioneer unit and
a towed arty or anti tank unit should be sufficient.

Army Center, which faces 1 City objective, 1 secondary city, and
numerous roads to the various targets, favors a fast moving
force made up of 2 or 3 tank units, 1 or two mounted engineer
units, and an SP arty unit. Since you will be attacking on
a fairly large front, with your tank force spread out and screening
your follow up forces, air defense units wont do much good here. Depend
on fast moving fighter cover instead.

A reserve force of 1 infantry unit and a towed arty unit, located
about halfway between battle groups Center and South and about 1 turn
behind should be sufficent for mopping up weakened units and
secondary cities .

Army group South, which faces open terrain, fortifications, and lots of
cities should be the main assault force. Try to keep your ratio
of 4 or 5 assault units
/ 1 Arty unit /1 air defense unit intact, and you should do well.

Defensive forces rely heavily on Towed Arty, but offensive forces
should use SP wherever possible. Remember, A UNIT CANT DISMOUNT/MOUNT
AFTER IT HAS MOVED !!!!!

Remember, depending upon the amount of units available in different
scenarios, force composition can be different.

Be aware that you will occassionally have to detach a unit from
one group to help another group that is stalled. This is ok,
provided it doesnt cost you your momentum.

C. Secondary Objectives

How do you decide whether a non-objective city is worth assaulting?
Well, sveral factors come into play. Here are some guidelines :

- If a secondary city contains no Air defense units, always try
to destroy the defenders < ARTILLERY FIRST!!!> using air

- If the city commands a major, needed crossroads or
cant be easily bypassed on route to the objective, assault it.

- If a secondary city lies out of the main route, and DOESNT CONTAIN
MOBILE FORCES , and CAN BE TAKEN IN 1 or 2
turns by FOLLOW UP FORCES, take it.

- If a secondary city contains powerful forces that could threaten
your rear areas, and is not far off the main route, consider detaching
a unit, joining them up with your reserve forces, and assault it.

- If the city has an airfield, and can be taken within 1 or 2 turns,
take it

- If a city has a non infantry/non tank defender and is quite a ways
off the main route
ignore it .

D. City Busting

Taking cities effectively is the key to winning quickly in Panzer General.

The classic city defense consists of 1 towed Anti-aircraft unit to
the cities rear, one towed ARTillery unit in the rear, and
an infantry unit entrenched in the city. All other forces defending
cities are in support of these.

The computer is fairly good at using terrain to its advantage. It often
takes 2 or 3 turns to effectively work your way around the city to
eliminate its support forces.

How do you assault such a city? Air assaults will usually be costly,
, and should be ruled out
on any of these three defenders. Dismounted Infantry will be
blasted to smithereens by the arty. So what do you do?

My tactic for city busting is as follows : If the city has additional
support forces, use tanks to destroy everything EXCEPT dug in infantry
and anti tank weapons. Lets suppose for our example that the city
has NO support forces except for the base three; You have 1 tank
unit, 1 Pioneer unit, 1 Arty unit, and 1 bomber.

Turn 1
-------
Your tanks goal should be twofold : it should try to work its way
around the city to take out the FLAK, while at the same time
trying to screen your infantry from a possible enemy surprise attack
from his rear areas. Getting in position will take at least
1 turn during which no attack is possible.

Your mounted infantry should pull up and stop THREE hexes away
from the citie's front area. This puts it OUT OF RANGE of the
Artillery .This
way the infantry can dismount and attack
the city DURING THE SAME TURN !! Being more than three hexes
away prevents this, while being closer opens you up to Arty bombardment.

Your Arty should be in the most defensible terrain possible while
still in range of the city. If you were assaulting the city with
non-pioneer infantry, then a three hex range would be fine, since
the infantry in the city would need to be softened up by the Arty.
But since you have a pioneer unit ,
you want to use counterbattery fire and destroy the enemy Arty.
A 2 hex range should suffice.

Turn2
-----
Your tank should have made its way around to a position where it can
attack the Flak gun after moving. By now, either your tank or
your artillery took a hit from the enemy Arty after turn 1 . Most likely it was your Arty, which
is probably down to strength 7 or 8 . Your tank
should eliminate at least fifty, more probably 75% of the flak
guns strength. Lets suppose the Flak is down to 3 strength
points.

Your bomber is now free to attack the artillery . A strength 10 stuka will probably lose 2 points
to a strength 3 Flak . It should still be able to knock off
at least half of the Arty's strength.

Depending on what the Artillery strength is, your Arty will either
assault the city or the enemy Arty. If the enemy arty is strength
2 or 3, a city attack is wiser. Otherwise, counterbattery fire
is recommended.

Your infantry can do one of two things.
First, dismount . You
can move your infantry right up next to the city, and put the attack
cursor over thie city. If the results at the bottom look
favorable <2 to 1 in your favor> AND THE ENEMY
DOESNT HAVE MORE THAN A 2 LEVEL EXPERIENCE
LEVEL OVER YOU , go for it.
Otherwise, wait another turn.

Note - it is possible for your tank unit to have taken out
the Artillery instead, the rationale being that if you
keep your Bomber unit out of the fray, the flak
units cant hurt you. After the tank attacks the arty,
your artillery could then either finish off the enemy artillery,
or bombard the city.

Either approach works fine, but for this discussion I am trying
to show how air and ground work together.

Turn 3
---------
Assuming you waited another turn :

Your Tank finishes off the Air Defense.

Your Stuka finishes off the Arty.

Your Arty
attacks the city .

NOW your infantry storms the city. It should be able to take it in 1 or 2 turns.

In cities with lots of forces surrounding the core group , use tank forces with high SA values to wipe
them out .

In cities without air defense, use your tanks to knock out the Artillery
and the bombers to attack the city. NEVER USE TANKS AGAINST
FULL STRENGH, ENTRENCHED INFANTRY IN CITY OR MOUNTAIN HEXES !!!

Also, remember that when assaulting a unit with adjacent
artillery support, the artillery will shoot at you.

Note on Predicted combat outcomes :

As we stated before, the computer will attempt to give you a
prediction of the battle results at the bottom of the screen. These
numbers reflect entrenchment levels, unit strength, and
defensive artillery support. HOWEVER, THESE NUMBERS DO NOT
GIVE ENOUGH WEIGHT TO EXPERIENCE!!! They seem to show
what will happen IF BOTH UNITS SHOOT AT THE SAME TIME!
Therefore, if a given outcome is shown as equal,
but you heavily out-experience the enemy, chances are
you will clean up!

For example, when using my five star Fw190 in strafing assaults against
soft targets, the computer usually shows that I will
take out 1 or 2 strength points; however, since these combat
predictions dont put enough weight on experience,
this unit usually takes out 4 or even 5 enemy strength points.

These numbers take into account entrenchment and

E. Open Field Assaults and Screening requirements

ZONES OF CONTROL -

Simply put, a ZOC is the six hexes immediately
surrounding a unit. Any unit entering an enemy ZOC cannot
move further. This is why the places a unit can move to sometimes
seems funny. This ZOC is important, since it means that
you dont need units to be directly adjecent to each other
to block an enemy advance. They can be two hexes apart, since
their ZOC's are adjacent, and an enemy cant move through your ZOC
without first destroying you !!!!

When engaged in large scale battle group maneauvers over a wide
front, screening your weaker forces becomes important.

Tanks should screen mounted infantry and artillery wherever possible.

Tank destroyers should screen the tanks.

Towed pieces should always be in the rear, and protected
by air defense whenver possible.

The highest priority targets for enemy air attacks are
transport vehicles and artillery, in that order. Wherever
possible, protect these units with air defense and, if possible
park a fighter directly over them!!! Enemy bombers stay far
away from units protected by fighters.

F. Aerial Assaults

Using air power in PG is one of the keys to winning. They
are very differently used on defense and offense.

On offense, the bombers goal is to cripple enemy defenses. It is
very tempting to sometimes use your bombers to eliminate weakened
units like anti - tank guns, but if this wont help your main
assault, try to avoid it. Much better to forge ahead over cities that your forces will be arriving
at in two or three turns .

In the face of enemy air activity, your fighters goal is A> destroy
enemy bombers and B> protect your own bombers. Only after
both these tasks are done can any left over fighters
be used to help the assault.

Once youve eliminated enemy air activity, you can use
your air assets much more liberally, with both fighters
and bombers participating in the assault.

G. Overstrength Buildup

One note here ; if you are 1 hex from claiming victory, but there
are only two or three turns remaining, forget about a decisive victory.
It wont happen. Instead, use all remaining turs
to build up your units to 'overstrength' status. This will
make them much more potent in the next battle .

PART 2 will cover defensive issues