Breakthrough in campaign mode is literally the worst oh and there's lots of it

Breakthrough mode is awful.

First off, bunkers whyyy

• bunkers are an HP sponge of absurd proportions, able to absorb concentrated tank and artillery fire for a minute or more. The only reliable way to kill them is 500kg+ bombs or surrender or radio guided artillery if AI counter battery wasn't utter cancer

• bunkers can self spot out to max range

• infantry are useless vs bunkers to the point that if an HMG bunker comes out of suppression it can near instant surrender a close up CQC infantry squad

• infantry squad attacking a bunker from the rear may as well dump their guns and have a smoke. Infantry bombs and grenades are apparently utterly without effect against literally the very target they were designed to counter

• bunker suppression regen is lightning quick even under heavy fire

It takes forever and a day to end the mode:

• as attacker you need to spend minimum half an hour attacking to get a good victory, often in a pure grind against an enemy that has long since lost the ability to meaningfully resist

• as defender you will spend minimum half an hour even if the AI brings nothing more than two dudes and an insulting sign unless your battalion has real offensive capability and can push out and take all of the spawn points

• placing bunkers as defender is so slow because LOS is fiddly. The AI thankfully is willing to place them for you across most of the map so I tend to do that (RIP squads under its control) but if you're doing manual RIP an hour of your life in pre battle setup.

The AI is utterly clueless when attacking bunkers so defensive battles are an incredibly dull and time consuming slaughter of immense proportions

• it suicides tank after tank into AT bunkers

• it suicides squad after squad into HMG bunkers

• it is very unlikely to target either with any supporting assets

• if it doesn't have heavy tanks it will make no progress of note, if it does it will lose most of them trying

The tactical execution of breakthrough battles is completely backwards

• Soviet doctrine for tactical execution of breakthrough mission is small squads of close combat infantry (ideally with intensive training for the mission and lots of SMGs and explosives) infiltrate enemy lines and then reduce fortified positions with supporting fires as necessary. Armor beyond the minimum necessary should be preserved for the exploitation mission. Careful reconnaissance and use of terrain is essential to establish routes of advance

• in game your best bet is bombing the absolutely living heck out of everything while your tanks and infantry conduct recon by moving forward until something go boom. Yeet your shturms toward the rear and bring up them strelki boys so that you've got quantity

Then there's more general complaints:

• maps are so lacking in depth that forward placed mortars can counterbat heavy artillery in the rear. In reality guns with 15-20km range would be well out of range of anything but the heaviest enemy guns. This makes fielding heavy artillery for breakthrough a good way to lose expensive assets for no gain

• scoring system on the map gives zero points for breaking into the enemy depths and securing their spawn. Instead all points are awarded for lateral movements along the front. This is the opposite of reality where commanders are instructed to bypass fortified positions wherever possible and if necessary breach them quickly then penetrate into the enemy depths to unhinge the defensive line and force the defending units to withdraw or be enveloped.

• map design tends to have either dense blobs of heavy cover or barren plains, no middle ground

• entrench is extremely fast and the AI loves doing it. Either go around and envelop them with zero fights or grind through eight billion bunkers, joy

• tiny twitches of the front line determine who is scoring. Give larger scoring boxes, not 1px flags!

I also have a number of complaints about the campaign map largely caused by the weird goings on of the front line, the lack of indicator regarding whether units are legally able to support one another on the defense, asinine formation composition (a recon detachment with no units that can hold ground???) and the bizarre lack of zone of control mechanics but that is all for another post.