This in turn makes for fun choices about how to best utilize them and eventually combine 2-3 perks in one unit. Some examples are one that gives the unit a large experience bonus when it takes losses, and another that causes any enemy unit attacked to lose all of its movement points for the turn. Heroes don't give flat stat bonuses, which are always boring, but instead gives the unit an interesting perk. After every mission you will get a new "hero" which you assign to a unit, and each unit can have up to three of these guys. There is also a new system for specializing your units over time. This system is great, as it can really let you change up how you play the game on different campaigns. Selecting these negative traits gives you more points to spend on the positive ones. You can also choose some negative options like getting new units later, or not having access to artillery at all. You get a couple of points to put into perks like extra mobility for tanks, or making enemy units deteriorate faster when you cut them off from supply. At the beginning of the campaign, you can customize yourself as the commander. The game also gives you new options in how to shape your force to match your play style. Not to mention all of this can be done in multiplayer matches as well.
It also lets you set up chaotic free for all battles between every faction in the game, something you certainly won't experience in the normal missions.
I found the random skirmish generator to be a fun alternative to the campaign, giving you a chance to experiment with all sorts of units and tactics while not worrying so much about being efficient across multiple missions. In addition to a bigger campaign, Panzer Corps 2 also comes with a tutorial campaign, several tactical puzzles, some large standalone scenarios (Crete, Fall Weiss, a couple fictional ones) and a random skirmish generator.
While playing the full campaign, you will often get chances to choose one branching path or another, offering different experiences on a second play through. You can play the war from start to finish, or jump ahead to the operations of Barbarossa, Kursk, North Africa, or Italy. The campaign only lets you play from the German side of the war, but features more than twice as many possible missions as the Panzer Corps 1 campaign. With Panzer Corps 2, while I have no doubt DLC is on the way, the initial experience is quite beefy. They might also be concerned about the expectation of buying a lot of the same DLC all over again. Often, when a sequel to a game with a lot of DLC comes out, users find themselves feeling like the sequel is quite anemic in terms of content compared to the fleshed out previous game. I could go on, but you get the idea, this is a visually appealing game whether we are talking mainstream or wargames.
The developers clearly were proud of the models, as you can zoom in as close as you like to check them out.
The unit models all look great, being realistic enough, but with just a touch of style to smooth the edges, matching the look of the trees and mountains around them. The colors really pop off the screen, with a perfect level of contrast and lighting that makes pretty much everywhere you fight look beautiful, be it green forests or arid deserts. The entire package, from the menus, the unit models, the UI, the new strategic view, and most especially the map itself, looks sleek and polished. Panzer Corps 2 has got style in spades, even compared to many mainstream games. Not just on the technical side of things, but in terms of pure style. With Panzer Corps 2 I think they can confidently say that they finally have a truly great looking game to show off. Caught somewhere between trying to appeal to the wargaming crowd and the mass market, the publisher has put out many games over the years that were "just okay" when it came to visuals. Right off the bat, Panzer Corps 2 is visually the prettiest thing Slitherine has ever released.