I'm playing Blitzkrieg 2 at the moment and really enjoying it. I just have a few minor questions in relation to it.

1) Is there many drastic changes from 1? I have heard about healing units and such but are there any others?

2) Would you recommend going back to play 1 after playing 2?

3) I am really liking the minutiae of battle things (reloading units, repairing tank tracks etc.) but I miss the base building from the likes of Empire Earth and Age of Empires. Are there any games that have a good combination of these elements? Even mods for other games would interest me.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

1) Blitzkrieg1 is more of a set-piece game, where you get a specific starting force for each scenario, and you might get further specific reinforcements based on objectives met during the scenario.

Also BK1 gives you "core units", a small set of armored units that - for the most part - show up in every scenario and gain experience as individual units. They can also be upgraded as individual units; not upgraded as in the special abilities you get in BK2 (fire on-the-move, for example), but upgraded as in trading a Panzer III for a more-powerful Panzer IV.

2) Would I go back? Sure. The similarities make learning either one simple after having played the other, and the differences are enough to keep them from being just 'more of the same'. The graphics are prettier in BK2, as should be expected, but those of BK1 are just fine. One thing I didn't like at first was that the hot keys changed around a bit so I kept pressing the wrong keys. You might miss a couple unit options available in BK2 (like the special ability upgrades), but you also build a sort of attachment to your core units in BK1. So far, I'm also finding that BK1 offers much larger battles, whereas some scenarios in BK2 seem to be almost puzzle-oriented. In BK1 you aren't able to shift-click multiple orders (unless I'm doing it wrong).

3) Company of Heroes straddles that line, and is simply a fantastic game all around.

1) + 2)That actually sounds pretty good. Thanks for the answer. They definitely seem to be very distinctive games then. I will probably check it out. I like the idea of individual units gaining experience.

3) I own the COH games. Yes they are very good but the base building isn't quite as in depth as I would be thinking. Something with the ammo replenishment and repair elements of the Blitzkrieg crossed with large scale civilization building of the Empire Earths would be a mix I'd like to see. Although they would probably clash too much I suppose.
Thanks for the answers anyways.:)

The experience gain doesn't give them special abilities, but only seems to increase the accuracy and I think also the rate-of-fire a little bit. Still, it's worth it to try to keep "your guys" alive. Definitely an accuracy difference between newbie and experienced artillery, for instance.

Actually are the infantry any tougher in the first game? It is like trying to fight a hot frying pan with butter in 2 when I send them to attack anything!

They still die easily, but if you can get them close to armor the little guys can really mess up a tank in a hurry. The binoculars are weaker in BK1, since your officer won't automatically see everything in binocular range like he does in BK2. For the sniper you have to use binocs (scope) for the extended vision range, unlike BK2 which gives the sniper long distance sight all the time. Also, the sniper stays hidden in BK1 oince he starts taking shots; I guess the game assumes he / she found a good hiding place.

One annoyance I've found in BK2 is that when a squad is told to capture a weapon, the officer often goes to the weapon instead of staying with the squad. This means your squad loses the binoculars, which are, in turn, an important asset for scouting for your armor and arty. In BK1, the officer stays with the squad, and if he dies you can get a new officer from a supply truck so long as it least one squad member survived.

Bk 2 is pretty great...however I think the major flaws are the almost non existent repair trucks and the scarce supply vehicles. You can easily run out of ammo or find yourself with damaged vehicles that basically are useless from quite early on in the campaigns.
Also, the expansion for BK2 ""fall of the reich is ridiculously hard" If you dont do the scenarios exactly right or start with the right balance, you WILL lose.