Panzer Battles 2 - The Official Teaser Thread

[ComradeP]

Due to the high loss rates of Soviet formations, Guards were not necessarily better than their regular counterparts and the name was initially mostly a title, though mid-late war Guards units received more specialists and tended to receive better equipment earlier than their regular counterparts because they would be the forces at the tip of the spear or the exploitation force during a breakthrough.

Generally speaking, until German resistance/casualty causing potential decreased late in the war, with the loss rates the Soviets suffered having numerous formations that consisted mostly of veterans would only be possible after a lull in the fighting and during the early stages of an offensive, unless a pool of experienced replacements was available or inexperienced units would take most of the losses.

In game terms, the vast majority of the regular Soviet units are rated as D and the Guards units as C, which is a bit artificial but in practical terms it does what it needs to do: make the player rely on Guards to attack and defend, with the other units primarily acting as their support.

In my opinion, regular Rifle units are a bit underrated as they have only a soft attack rating of 5 (Guards have 8, German regular infantry 9, motorized Panzergrenadier units 11, mechanized PzG units 12. German infantry units also have a maximum range of 4 instead of 3 like the Soviets and they're all A or B quality) AND receive a -20 firepower penalty due to being D quality. That combines into A quality German units plowing through them like they're not even there, though the advantages the Germans enjoy in terms of raw soft attack firepower is such that they will also mow down Guards in the open as well.

One of the interesting things about Normandy that I'm looking forward to is that in terms of soft firepower, the sides are more evenly matched, although the Germans still have an edge in support weapons.