Stalingrad Scenario is so difficult

[myclan]

My materials were exhausted at Turn 7, and finally captured Stalingrad at Turn 12, but more and more Soviet planes were coming every turn and it became very difficult for me to intercept.My fighters just couldn't be repaired in time for lack of materials, while their bombers didn't need to face this problem at all!

And at Turn 11, a large group of Soviet tank appeared at 2 corners. Though it might not be too hard for me to defeat part of them finally, all my units had been badly injured and couldn't afford another battle.

Any suggestion to my problem?

 

[gargoyle575]

It's a historical mod, and Germany lost at the battle of Stalingrad. I've never won that scenario when playing as Germany, the Soviets just keep coming in an endless wave of troops.

 

[myclan]

2 more questions：

1. Was gold just useless？ I found that I couldn't buy anything at all.

2. Was there any bonus if I could fulfill the secondary objectives?

 

[Gedemon]

1/ the 3 cities closer to the map borders allows you to build units.

2/ yes, more victory points.

 

[constrainer]

First off hats off to the makers and balancers of this scenario! It is difficult and has really been enjoyable for me to struggle through. Im no expert but I can tell you what I have found through trial and error.

Spoiler Alert!​

My materials were exhausted at Turn 7

Its vastly important to conserve! You have to only attack when the odds are greatly in your favor so mostly surrounding the enemy is vital. Lure them to you and stick to the roads as you can never out maneuver the soviets on snow. Set all cities to give you the max amount of personal at fist until your material starts to depreciate which is usually in the first few turns. After, set all cities to war bonds to aid in keeping your material up. Many times I would keep back units that are heavy on materials to maintain a material stock pile.

And at Turn 11, a large group of Soviet tank appeared at 2 corners. Though it might not be too hard for me to defeat part of them finally, all my units had been badly injured and couldn't afford another battle.

Once the soviet reinforcements arrive its all about keeping them from breaking through the lines. If you are trying to fulfill the secondary objectives you have likely found the best defensible positions using natural boundaries. Fortified infantry behind rivers, attacking units on swamps ect. Also most of the cities have such low power its not worth keeping troops in the city as 2 bombers and 1 infantry will sack most of them dealing huge damage to any troops caught inside.

By far the most important tactic that helped me was is in your first turn you should drive your tanks deep inside soviet territory taking the two cities near Stalingrad and putting all the troops in and around Stalingrad into a pocket where only the north is open. This stifles their counter attack and allows you the best defensive position while putting on the pressure. This is done before the Soviets get to even move.

1. Was gold just useless？ I found that I couldn't buy anything at all.

I have not found a use for gold either.

2. Was there any bonus if I could fulfill the secondary objectives?

At the end you are given a score and the secondary objectives play into it in some way.

 

[Parthius]

I would like to add that it is also very important to be very careful with your air power as they are a real drain on material to rebuild. As one example, save the Stukas for areas where it is "safe" (either no Russian fighters in range to intercept or after you have done enough air sweeps).

As Constrainer stated, it is all about getting Stalingrad before the Russians can reinforce and then trying to engage in combat only where you will cause more damage than you take to conserve your forces.

I still haven't figured out whether it is better to kill off severely wounded Russian units or to leave them as a drain on Russian material.

I was able to buy units with gold in the cities where I had the option to build them...

 

[Gedemon]

I would like to add that it is also very important to be very careful with your air power as they are a real drain on material to rebuild. As one example, save the Stukas for areas where it is "safe" (either no Russian fighters in range to intercept or after you have done enough air sweeps).

True, and if you really have to send Stuka (like if you see a KV-2 ) in a contested area, send some He111 before them if the air sweeps were not enough, they could draw out the last interceptors and they take less damage. The Fw-190 is the best unit to gain offensive air superiority at the beginning of the scenario, especially if you give it the dogfight promotion, it may put to ground the initial air defense before the first soviet air reinforcement are send.

 

[constrainer]

I was able to buy units with gold in the cities where I had the option to build them...

Ha! Wow, I completely missed that! That will certainly help.

 

[constrainer]

I just started a new game and it looks like in the beginning you can't buy anything with gold. It must be unlocked at a certain turn.

 

[Gedemon]

the menu shows only the unit that you can buy with your actual gold.

 

[myclan]

Its vastly important to conserve! You have to only attack when the odds are greatly in your favor so mostly surrounding the enemy is vital. Lure them to you and stick to the roads as you can never out maneuver the soviets on snow. Set all cities to give you the max amount of personal at fist until your material starts to depreciate which is usually in the first few turns. After, set all cities to war bonds to aid in keeping your material up. Many times I would keep back units that are heavy on materials to maintain a material stock pile.

Conserving is really important for lacking of materials. I also think that even the odds are favoring us, I should not attack if I can't defeat it in a few turns. Their resources are so abundant that they don't care losing more HP than us as long as the unit hasn't be killed in the battle. Compared to infantries, tanks can attack mutiple times and producing much more damage, it's difficult for me to keep them back.

Once the soviet reinforcements arrive its all about keeping them from breaking through the lines. If you are trying to fulfill the secondary objectives you have likely found the best defensible positions using natural boundaries. Fortified infantry behind rivers, attacking units on swamps ect. Also most of the cities have such low power its not worth keeping troops in the city as 2 bombers and 1 infantry will sack most of them dealing huge damage to any troops caught inside.

Keeping troops in the city is just useless? It don't help to guard the city at all, the only reason to keep units in the city I think is preventing them from the bombers. Also it may be useful to keep a few units around the city. When the city is lost, use artillery to retake the city, doing much damage to the USSR units in the same time.

 

[myclan]

I would like to add that it is also very important to be very careful with your air power as they are a real drain on material to rebuild. As one example, save the Stukas for areas where it is "safe" (either no Russian fighters in range to intercept or after you have done enough air sweeps).

As Constrainer stated, it is all about getting Stalingrad before the Russians can reinforce and then trying to engage in combat only where you will cause more damage than you take to conserve your forces.

I still haven't figured out whether it is better to kill off severely wounded Russian units or to leave them as a drain on Russian material.

I was able to buy units with gold in the cities where I had the option to build them...

My Stukas just rest there most of the time for I can't afford using my fighets to sweep, which means they can't intercept their planes this turn. And their planes are so many that even all my fighters are intercepting, it's inevitably to be bombarded with all my fighters injuring.

 

[Parthius]

You might try moving the Stukas back to the western edge of the map to help repel russian attacks. The Russians don't have enough air power to intercept everywhere. Just make sure that the targets are important enough to justify the material drain. One example is if it is the only way to hold an important defensive position. The Stukas can be quite useful this way, essentially long range artillery that can make all the difference in holding a position or helping to extricate a unit in trouble. Just make sure you keep track of Russian fighter redeployments!

 

[ilshur]

conserving airpower is important but also making judicious use of armor and the blitz attacks. Whenever possible, use the last movepoint to back up a tank to allow the next oneinto the same spot it if's 'attacking through a road' - i.e. expending minimal movement oints for each attack (as opposed to losing all attacking once over a river, or using 2 or 3 attacking off road or in rough terrian).

The blitz promotion i still think is exceptionally unbalanced because the attacker in civ5 already has tremendous advantage and the blitz with a clever human player allows you to just mow through wide swaths of enemy units along weak points like roads.

Conversely, know when to sink everything into a final assualt to crush the enemy. This is as much about having a decent idea of what the enemy's economy and strategic position looks like (which is one thing that civ5 and R.E.D. don't allow enough of).

Being more thrifty in general usually means the difference

 

[Parthius]

I agree on the blitz promotion. Either one extra attack, or no extra attacks starting with Panzer 3 or Panzer 4 units would provide better balance and reflect the fact that the German armor didn't "blitz" later in the war (and as the tanks got heavier/more powerful.

There are times when it makes sense to soften up the enemy with the infantry first (even with heavy casualties) before going in with the armor, just in order to preserve that all important material supply (one of the aspects of being "thrifty.")

 

[sonihi]

How I managed to win at Stalingrad: 1st concentrate all forces on Stalingrad 2nd Buy as many Tiger as possible 3rd entrench around Stalingrad. It is impossible to break through the defensive ring.