Karhu

All sorted, with many thanks and kudos to John at the Helpdesk.

Thanks Schrullenhaft. I bought the games separately when they each came out. It's asking for the Breakthrough key, which I'm typing in manually. I'll open a ticket with Helpdesk as you suggest. In the meantime I've uninstalled the Windows update, as I'm nearing the end of a very tense email game.

Evening all. I'm afraid the new Windows 10 upgrade has caused a SNAFU in my SCWW1/Breakthrough. The game won't initialise: I just get a message asking for the activation key, which it doesn't then recognise. We had this problem before when Windows 10 was first rolled out, and you came up with a workaround. Any chance of working the same magic this time? Many thanks.

All sorted, thanks to John at the helpdesk.

Found the correct key, re-installed the game (from download), it still won't accept the key. At a loss now.

Hm. Found the activation key, but still can't access the game. The error message won't accept any input. Seems I may need to re-install the game...

Ok, thanks - I'll have a hunt around for it. BTW, curiously enough there's the same problem with AoC and AoD, but all the other SC games still work fine.

Made the mistake of installing Windows 10. Now when I try to run Breakthrough I get the following message: -Error- No Game Title It seems like there was a problem with your license. a Contact us for further assistance. -Erroro- No Request Code Send this number to customer support to get your activation key Please enter a serial key to fix this error. Erroaaaaaar message. Exit Enter Needless to say, having installed the game ages ago I've no idea what the activation key might be. Any help appreciated.

Cheers, Bill - thanks.

In our current Storm over Europe game, which has swung backwards and forwards over the years, Russian morale got a huge boost when the western Allies landed in France, and another big boost with the liberation of Paris. As a result Russian National Morale was at over 100%, even though the Germans held Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad. The Germans then launched a counter-offensive, re-took Paris and have have almost cleared out the rest of France. However, Russian morale has not taken a hit as a result of all this, and is still very high. I can't help thinking that Russian National Morale should take a hit if the Germans kick the British and Americans out of Paris, and especially if France then surrenders a second time. It would make sense for it to fall at least to back where it was before the Allies landed in France, if not a fair bit lower still. I should add that we're using patch 1.04, as 1.05 was put out after we'd already started our game, so my apologies if this has already been addressed in the latest patch.

One other question - does the patch resolve the issue of Italy getting no production at all in Barby? I don't see it mentioned in the blurb.

Ah, maybe that would explain it. I have .03

Ok, this may be a silly question, but still: I've tried extracting the cgn files in the hotfix to the AoC campaign folder, but they don't seem to be having an effect. Italian income is still at 0. Where should they go?

We're also finishing a PBEM game of Barby '41 with the extended Berlin map. It's now April '44, we've played over 100 turns each, and we're still having a blast with it. Many thanks to all involved in this great game! We're still using version 1.01, with no hotfixes, so my apologies if these issues have already been addressed. 1. It's not just Finland - Persia didn't surrender either, even with its only unit destroyed and every village taken. Not sure about the other countries yet, but we'll find out about Hungary soon... 2. I think the way the Allied invasion of Italy is managed is great, especially with the liberated area on the map creeping northwards. It's a pity this stops soon after the first landing on the mainland. Later on there's just a message that Rome has fallen, though it doesn't appear on the map. It also seems a bit odd that Italian units fight on in Russia even after Italy surrenders. 3. I'm also a bit confused about the role of NM. Based on my experience with the WW1 game, I've been trying hard to keep my NM level as high as possible, but if hitting 0% has no effect then obviously there's no point. That would be a pity, as I think NM is a very good way of discouraging people from using their forces recklessly. OK, got to go and find a way round the Dracula Line (an enormous series of fortifications in Rumania, between the mountains and the sea).

Actually Finland held on to Petsamo after the Winter War - it was only ceded to the Soviet Union in 1944, at which point Norway had a border with the Soviet Union for the first time; see eg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Peace_Treaty The key passage is: "Interestingly, there was also an area that the Russians captured during the war, which remained in Finnish hands according to the Peace Treaty: Petsamo. However, the peace treaty also stipulated that Finland would grant free passage for Soviet civilians through Petsamo to Norway."

Nice one! Many thanks for the great Christmas present!

Hi Hubert, I've sent you the Brusilov turn, and I'll get my opponent to send you the Perm turn.

Update on the overrun manoeuvre - it seems to be more widespread than just Perm. In the Brusilov scenario, my opponent as the Russians was able to do the same thing against an Austro-Hungarian corps entrenched in front of Brody. He attacked the corps, then was able to overrun it using the swop feature. The Austro-Hungarian unit disappeared, but was not listed as a casualty in the end of turn summary.

I have to admit I did laugh when I saw what had happened, especially as Perm is so very difficult to take otherwise. Of course I offered my opponent to do the turn again, but to his eternal credit he refused, saying "No, that's just fortunes of war, and the officers have already been shot". Mind you, he's Polish, so he doesn't have much of a soft spot for the Bolsheviks...

A very strange thing happened in an email game of the Russian Civil War I'm playing at the moment. Playing as the Whites, I had three units round Perm - one across the river next to Perm, the other two on the south side of the river. I attacked the Red unit (a level 10 corps) with the unit next to the city, and then went to swop it with one of the other units by pressing the shift key. Instead of swopping places with my unit, the unit next to Perm moved straight into the city; the Red unit simply disappeared. What I must have done is clicked on the Red unit instead of my own by mistake, but I suspect the Red unit wasn't supposed to disappear into thin air...

Thanks for clearing that up, Bill. I'd certainly not destroyed all their units either, and it makes sense that they wouldn't surrender immediately after their capital was taken in a sneak attack. Cossacks are made of sterner stuff than that, after all...

Hi Robert, Thanks for the quick feedback. As far as the NW Whites are concerned, I'd be in favour of blanking out the option for armoured trains rather than inventing a railway line that wasn't there. The inverted Ukrainian flag is on Kiev and the Petliura HQ, so maybe the Western Ukraine flag got carried over to them by mistake. Thanks again for the great game!

I don't see the Balkan War scenario as being over-generous to the Turks - if anything it's easier for the Balkan states. Mind you they did win in the real world. Found the Brusilov Offensive to be a bit of a slug-fest, but maybe I'm just not doing it right.

Hats off to all concerned for the great scenario on the Russian Civil War. Am having a blast with it, especially in multiplayer. It's chaos, but/and great fun. A couple of things, partly in support of what's gone before: 1. The armoured trains do seem a bit overpowered defensively. They seem to be stronger than tanks, which can't be right. But I love the idea of a mobile artillery unit which is limited to railway tracks - adds a whole new dimension to the game, and increases the value of cavalry (to free up those tracks). 2. I also took the Don Cossak capital, expecting them to surrender. No such luck, even after several turns. Is it meant to be that way? If not, at what point will they surrender? 3. Don't buy an armoured train for the North-Western Whites! You'll have nowhere to place it. Doh! Perhaps this option could be shaded out in the unit purchase menu. 4. Some of the Ukrainian flags in-game (those on the capital and on generals, but not on other units) are upside-down. Think blue sky over fields of golden wheat... 5. Has anybody taken Ekaterinburg against a human opponent?

What a great idea!