Bill101

Hi It may be possible as the river crossing doesn't cost as such, they only cause a problem to the attacker if the river line is defended. Does your opponent have their turn still from prior to when they made the move, as maybe they could advise on the details from their point of view? Bill

Hi roy64 It will provide your artillery units with more shells per turn, rendering them more powerful and worth having. Bill

Hi Shri Welcome to the forum and thanks for your questions. Will95 has answered most (thanks for doing so! ) and I'll just add a few extras. 1) With Italy, they start with a few units that they can move/reinforce. But there's not much they can really do with them, and the vast majority of their forces will deploy only when (or if) they enter the war. 2) The Ottomans will be able to defend their territories, but these territories only activate subsequent to the Ottomans entering the war, at which point forces will deploy in all of these areas. 5) The mobilization for both sides is worked out to follow the overall speed it had, coupled with the length of time it takes to launch offensives into the game. Russia did historically mobilize quicker than expected, and the mobilization schedule in game does allow them to launch their offensives pretty much in line with historical timescales, and this will probably become more apparent as more turns are played. Bearing in mind that each time period only belongs to one side in this game. 7) I recall cutting down the number of Corps slightly on all sides for the sake of space and playability. Otherwise the map would have had to be bigger, and coupled with more units it would slow gameplay and AI turns down without necessarily adding much in the way of extra fun. The compromises are pretty equally distributed to both sides, so any reductions shouldn't penalize either side. Mobilization continues for all sides for a number of turns, so that the initial unit count is not the same that you will have after a few turns, if we ignore losses. I hope this helps, and good luck in your PBEM game! Bill

Hi The USSR has likely not surrendered because they still have a good number of units in the field. Once their last capital, Perm, is taken, there will be a check each turn for the country to surrender. By reducing the number of units they have, and preventing them from deploying any more by capturing any remaining Industrial Centers they may have, probably just Baku in this case, the chances of them surrendering should increase dramatically. Bill

Hi Vercingetorix13 I recall some sort of issue a long time ago, though not that it involved Turkey, more to do with France not having surrendered and the USSR still receiving that boost. It was a very rare event indeed but it was certainly fixed. I've just checked the script in the most up to date version, and the USSR will not receive a morale boost unless France has previously surrendered and is now liberated, and the USSR is still in the war. I am a little confused as to how this has happened in your game, but I strongly recommend making sure you download and instal the latest patch once you've finished your current game, as if there were a problem, it should be history now. Bill

Just to add that as you advance into the USSR, their resources will be damaged due to the operation of scorched earth, but once in your hands they will repair by one per turn so with time supply will improve. But the proximity of HQs to your troops, as outlined by Will95 above, with friendly resources nearby, is the biggest factor.

Great to hear it was sorted Craig!

Hi Craig Within Breakthrough's installation folder there should be a sub folder called Campaigns. Within this there should be the .cgn files for all campaigns, as well as a folder for each. If Nupremal's campaign already has a folder here, then place the Media inside it (it needs to be placed in a folder called Media, if there isn't one already). Bill

16 April: There was a tough fight with Russian forces along the Yalu River. The army landed at Takushan was desperately needed to help in the fight. Eventually the tide turned in Japan’s favor. All that remained at this point was to secure fortified positions along the Yalu. During the fight, Fenshui Pass was secured and fortified by a cavalry force. The army landed at Pitzuwo was advancing on Port Arthur during this time. By 18 May, Nanshan Hill and Dalny were secure, a HQ and further artillery landed at Dalny, and forces deployed to begin the daunting task of taking Port Arthur. Things are now in place to further persecute the war in Manchuria. While the effort to take Port Arthur is underway, the rest of Japanese forces are poised to advance onto Liaoyang, their first large objective. By 10 May, additional forces had been landed (an effort that must not be overlooked and tended to efficiently), and began moving towards Haicheng. Forces from Korea begin their march towards Motien Pass to advance on Liaoyang from that direction. The Russians have dug in a defensive line to cover Liaoyang and have secured Motien Pass with and entrenched Cossack Division. By 22 May, the battle for Liaoyang is fought. Japan succeeds in breaching the center of Russia’s defenses. For some reason, the AI had the Russians entrenched facing the opposite direction. There may have been a different result if this were not the case. Liaoyang is taken, the army refitted, and the advance towards Mukden began. By 23 June, Japanese forces are revived and pushing on Mukden. Russian forces seem sparse at this point, though I hold out the possibility of their reinforcement. I am concerned at his point to see that Russian Infantry could now be upgraded to level 2, whereas my troops were only at level one. I could potentially face a more powerful Russian army in the turns to come. There is good news though! After a bloody affair, Port Arthur had been seized. All that remained was to mop up the remaining Russian forces and this army could be sent north to reinforce the fight up north. Not long after this, Mukden falls quickly. The Russian Army just did not reinforce it. It seems the AI did not make use of rail movement effectively and the space of Manchuria made their marching detachments ineffective in a timely manner. The game was quickly ended after this, as it was apparent that is was over for Russia. I hope this gives insight to those who asked for this AAR. Designer Notes To conclude, let me make the following points. This is generally the historical route taken by Japan during the war and not the only option. Nonetheless, Japan must assemble its army, protect it, and bring it to its objectives. Otherwise, Russia will win. Russia obviously does not have to set and let Japan do this. The fleet in Vladivostok can be used to be a real nuisance that will either cause harm or draw away Japanese ships to deal with them. The fleet in Port Arthur can be powerful, but the Japanese Navy is slightly superior. You may not be able to defeat the Japanese fleet, but you can sure make their task difficult and even cause some upsets. Historically, Russia bided its time in order to assemble forces large enough to fight with. In this scenario, the Russians committing extra forces to the Yalu only allowed me to destroy them between two armies. I used a garrison event to build a defensive line at Liaoyang, but it seems extra forces are still flung at the nearest enemy. This is a frustration in many mods I am working on. It seems the AI will blindly attack, even to great disadvantage, simply because it is the closest target. Philip Sharp You can download this mod here: http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3042

Tokyo has a number of forces to start with. Here I already began to transport the Guards Division and Kureki HQ, with the intent of sending them to Korea. I continue to add replacements to the understrength units to bring them up to war footing. While forces are assembling and the fleet keeps watch, the fight begins in Korea. The Varyag is engaged and the 12th Division is moved north. Movement of the hot air balloon begins towards Korea via Idzuhara in the Korean Straights. The Varyag is destroyed. The next phase is to build up forces in Korea to face the Russians lurking to the north. Transports were gathered and by 24 February 1904 a force had been assembled just south of Korea protected by auxiliary cruisers covering the Korean Straights. In the mod I posted, the Russian fleet is very aggressive and you will have to fight them to protect your forces. In this scenario, I had placed parameters to have the Russian navy behave more historically (keeping to the safety of its harbor). Admiral Makarov arrived and put the fight back into the Russian Navy, but somehow that did not replicate in my design. The Russian Navy never came out to fight as a result. This was not intended, though in the posted mod you will certainly face that fleet. The force assembled for Korea was safely delivered by 7 March. The 12th Division had pushed up to the town of Anju past Ping Yang by this time, therefore the Korean reinforcements were landed at the port of Chinampo since it was closer. At this point it is important to clarify the overall strategy of the campaign by listing key objectives. I am following the strategic pop up with its advice and will explain it further. There is a three point axis of advance into Manchuria. 1. The army assembled in Korea will advance north to the Yalu River, the border with Manchuria. The Russian forces will be engaged there to hold them in place and hopefully defeat them. Upon a victory, be prepared to advance further into Manchuria. 2. An army will be landed by amphibious assault to secure the port of Takushan. This army will turn the flank of Russian forces on the Yalu and if possible secure Fenshui Pass for future operations. 3. An army will be landed by amphibious assault to secure the port of Pitzuwo. This army will sever the lines of communication with Port Arthur and the Russian main army. Then its objective is to take Nanshan Hill, secure Dalny as a base of operation, and place Port Arthur in a state of siege. As you can see, one of the amphibious armies was assembled in south Japan by 24 February. While these forces were assembled and moved to their objectives, the operations in Korea were beginning to unfold. The Russians were dug in along the Yalu River and had committed forces to advance into Korea, seizing the town of Seng-Cheng. As you can see, Japan had just developed and advancement in Infantry technology and one of the divisions had been upgraded. At this point, 19 March, the landings are not yet taking place at Takushan and Pitzuwo, so the army in Korea will initially fight the Russians head on without backup. However, it won’t be like that for much longer. Both objective ports are seized simultaneously on 23 March without opposition. More Russian forces have arrived at the Yalu as the Japanese army in Korea begins its efforts to retake Seng-Cheng.

Philip Sharp has written the following After Action Report for his 1904 Russo-Japanese War campaign that can be downloaded from the Battlefront.com Repository here: http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3042 I hope you enjoy his report that follows, and please give the campaign a try! Bill I have decided to play out this campaign as Imperial Japan since they have the most moving parts and the overall burden of the offensive. Japan starts the war mostly scattered in their peace time garrisons. Because of this, it is important to form an overall strategy to get your forces in motion and set up the process to bring this about. I have set a series of objectives to prosecute the opening phases of the war. 1. It is imperative that the fleet keep the Russian fleet bottled up at Port Arthur Japan’s Army must cross the ocean to fight in Manchuria. If Russia’s navy gets a free hand, it could cause havoc on the war effort. The fleet is currently in strength to face the Russian fleet. Its sole task right now is to keep the transports safe and permit the Army to deliver its forces to fight the Russians on the main land. The rest of Japan’s Navy will secure key passage ways with their auxiliary cruisers against possible activity from the smaller Russian naval force at Vladivostok. 2. The Army must be assembled and delivered to the fight in Manchuria Some units will be railed or shipped, and closer units will march to save cost. The ports of Tokyo, Hiroshima, Shukishima, Sasebo, and Osaka are the primary ports of assembly to collect and transport the Army. 3. Secure Chemulpo Bay and Korea The Russian cruiser Varyag covers the port of Chemulpo and the Japanese 12th Division had just been landed to initiate the war. Destroy this vessel and move the 12th Division north protect Japan’s Korean possession. These shots show the progress of this opening plan: A Division from northern Japan was railed to Shukishima and the Division near Sasebo will march to that port. There is a division already at Hiroshima. Another one is railed there from further north and another is scene marching to that port. At Osaka there is a division. It is built up as well as the cavalry unit nearby. The division to the east is set to march to that port.

Yes, they are all good research areas, and Infantry Warfare will also prove very useful.

I've been thinking about this some more, as my preferred strategy is still for a limited Invasion of Flanders to start with, followed by turning on Russia. This is a bit like what happened in real life, except without a mindless rush into France leading to a Battle of the Marne, as my Germans won't overextend themselves. The idea being simply to grab the Belgian and French mines in the north, Lille and Brussels too, and then dig in. Excess forces can then be transferred to the east for an offensive into Poland and Russia from late 1914 onwards. This does mean invading Belgium and therefore the UK will be in the war from the start, but it does avoid allowing France and Britain to build up their forces and incomes for a harder slog later on, while the occupied resources in Belgium and France will go a long way to replacing losses on the Western Front (upto 56 MPPs a turn) while depriving France of at least 30 MPPs a turn. Bill

I have an off-the cuff theory here, which may be wrong but might be worth a try! How about beating up the French in the Nancy area and holding your position there (whether or not you take the city depends on local factors, think of the German idea behind the Verdun offensive, rather than what they actually did). Then build up forces for a swift advance into Belgium in 1915. This will enable you to gobble up Belgium and Lille's mine producing areas, increasing your income while reducing France's and forcing them to react in the north, possibly weakening their line in the south. Bill

There is a certain amount of randomness involved, so that it can't always be guaranteed whether or not a country's units will fight on after surrender, which is generally I think as it should be. In terms of the Heemskerck, were there any other significant Dutch ships in European waters that did the same?

Hi If you ignore the restrictions then they will withdraw from the war quicker, but in a way you'll need to use them if you are to benefit from them, so it's a bit of a Catch-22 situation really. Bill

Hi Gandalf Within the Campaign folder for Brute Force there is a file called localization.txt The countries listed within the file on the left hand side are the default names, while on the right hand side it will show the actual names given them in Brute Force. So by working through this list, it should be possible to work out the country IDs as they are in numerical order, using the list that appears near the top of all the script files as comparison. I hope that makes sense! Bill

Hi Panzer1962 Glad you like this campaign. I've just checked the scripts (been a while since I played this) and if possible, it might pay to delay the invasion of Manchuria until the USSR can defeat the Japanese and be ready to engage the Chinese. Reason being that the Chinese will mobilize when Soviet forces are present near either Tsitsihar or Hsinking. Whether it pays overall to delay while your forces build up in the east is a good question, and I can only suggest trying it out and seeing how things go. In terms of moving German units to the east, Germany and the USSR are allies but like with relations between the west and the USSR during WW2, they aren't co-operative so Germany cannot operate over Soviet territory. You could always make a mod of this campaign where they are cooperative if you want to test out the difference it would make. To do this, open up the Editor and then open up the campaign within it. Select Campaign -> Edit Country Data -> USSR and tick the box for Cooperative? which is about 2/3 of the way from the left, fairly near the top under the heading "Status". Then click on File -> Save As, give the campaign a new name, and once it's finished saving (might take a few minutes) use this mod to try it out. I hope this helps! Bill

Hi Furchtlosundtrew Thanks for this, it is interesting and a few thoughts immediately spring to mind. It was posted on here recently that the Austro-Hungarians were too strong at the start of the campaign. If that is the case then are they not able to help their German ally to drive the Russians back? What do you think about Austro-Hungarian strength? Secondly, if Germany invested a few diplomatic chits in the Ottomans early in the game then they could deprive the Ottomans of the Dardanelles trade even earlier. This could be a way round the problem perhaps. I use diplomacy heavily when I play and it frequently works. Maybe that's because opponents do not expect it as they are focusing more on the military side, but even so it might be worth a try. Bill

Hi Gandalf You could try changing: #LINK= 26[1] To: #LINK= 0[0] Secondly, if I am not mistaken it seems to be set for when France surrenders: #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 2 [2] [100] [1] Changing the first number to be Netherlands' country id might fix that. Lastly, this looks like a Unit script rather than a Free Unit script. If so, then the #COUNTRY_ID= will need to be the UK's. One or all of the above should hopefully fix this for you. Bill

Hi Furchtlosundtrew The problem is that the Vichy Decision determines what happens to France, and the scripts are designed for Vichy France to be formed or for France's capital to move to Algiers and for France to then receive reinforcements at Algiers (one HQ, one Army, and the air units). If Vichy France is not formed then the air units would automatically deploy: The Tactical Bombers from 3rd June 1940 The Strategic Bombers from 20th June 1940 But if there is no Vichy Decision presented to the Axis player, then none of this will happen. However, I cannot see any circumstances in which the Vichy Decision would not be presented to the Axis player when France surrenders, no matter why it surrendered. So, the most important thing we need to know is whether or not Steelwarrior had the Vichy Decision Event at all. He should have done when France surrendered, but I have the feeling that it didn't happen, which is very odd, providing of course that the campaign is as per the default with no scripts turned off. I am also thinking about how to improve things for the future, and hopefully my thoughts should also make it more viable for France to receive the aircraft orders. Bill

Hi I don't know, because he should be offered the Vichy Decision if France surrenders, no matter what caused France to surrender or whether or not Algiers is in Axis hands, and the aircraft's arrival is determined by the Vichy Decision. If Steelwarrior can shed some light on things from his viewpoint then it might help. Thanks Bill

Hi Furchtlosundtrew I've just checked the scripts and if Germany does not form Vichy then these air units should deploy at Algiers on the 3rd June 1940, or as soon after that when the Vichy Decision is made. The interesting thing is that the scripts are set so that the Vichy decision should have been presented to the German player regardless of how he played. If for some reason this didn't happen then that would explain why the aircraft didn't arrive. However, I can't actually see how the Vichy decision could not have been offered, so I am a little confused. Bill

Hi Here are the details from the Strategy Guide: DE 106 - UK: Impose Economic Sanctions On Iraq? Event fires: When both Germany and Italy are Axis and not surrendered, Iraq is politically aligned with the Allies but not fully mobilized, Alexandria is in Allied hands, and the Axis have units in the proximity of either El Alamein, Alexandria or Amman. Cost of accepting: 140 MPPs at 35 MPPs a turn for 4 turns. Yes: Axis supply in Baghdad is reduced temporarily to zero. The UK annexes Basra and a strength 10 UK Corps deploys there. Iraq will join the Axis, and Syria will swing slightly towards the Axis. No: Iraq will join the Axis.

Hi Justin Firstly, welcome to the forum! The campaign runs from September 1939 to potentially May 1947. Weather and terrain effects are included, with different weather zones depending on the part of the planet, so yes, both will play the role in the war that you would expect. From snow to desert storms, rain to rough seas and ice... while taking up defensive positions in terrain is the best way to slow an enemy offensive. If you want to give the game a try, you can always try one of our demos for free here: http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=0&Itemid=318 And of course feel free to ask any further questions you might have here. Bill