Bill101

Thanks for posting that Eisenhammer. The best way to load pictures here is in my opinion via something like photobucket. You upload the pictures to the site, and then click on an IMG link it provides for each one. Paste that into your post, and the image will appear bigger here!

That is odd but glad to hear things have worked out now!

Hi Ancient Demon Thanks for the feedback. Villages don't provide supply, and unfortunately it isn't possible to reflect their lack of supply provision in the Interface, so I will mention this in the Guide to make it clearer. That is the railway as it was at the time, partially constructed but not usable. So it reflects things as they were. Ok, thanks, I'll take a look at that. Some of these scripts will be fixed shortly, as they are tied in to the AI issue we discussed over the weekend. The flights to Belgium don't happen on a given date, so given the random nature of things, despite their high chance of occurring every turn they could in theory not happen. For example, the comte de Palikao has a 33% chance of fleeing to Belgium every turn from the 1st September, providing French National Morale is below 75%. Yes, I think this is a much harder campaign for the AI than our WWI and WWII campaigns. The force density and maneuverability is so different, and even in multiplayer it is possible for catastrophic mistakes to be made, and a devastating Prussian victory like occurred in August 1870 is far from guaranteed. So for the AI it is a much tougher proposition than in our other campaigns.

Hi MonsterClaude Thanks, and this one will be fixed for the first patch. Bill

I'll see what I can do, and Napoleon III had never really been a great leader, and by 1870 he was in poor health and what leadership abilities he had had previously, were pretty much gone by then. He joined the army but didn't take command of it, and became more and more of a liability. Plus there was the meddling Empress who would send messages to the commanders with instructions at variance from, and sometimes contradictory to, their orders. Confusion reigned supreme! Add in to that the political opposition to the Bonapartes, especially in Paris, and we are looking at an unstable regime that really should have avoided going to war as much as possible. The events in game about disorder and attempted insurrections in Paris are modelled on real events. They were small to start with, but acts of opposition were already taking place in August 1870 prior to any major defeats to rise up against Napoleon. Add in some military failures and Napoleon's days were numbered!

Yes, I think we'd need to add in some extra victory conditions to cater for this eventuality. Thanks for mentioning it.

Our cavalry reconnaissance reports that the main French force is retiring from Metz! We switch to the defensive around Thionville and instead probe towards Metz from the north, while also switching to the defensive south of Metz. Apart from hammering some Garde Mobile at Pont-a-Mousson who made an easy target. Further to the south east, our 21st Infantry Division has run into a surprise enemy formation at Sarrebourg, and in attempting to bring up support to the division, we discover an opportunity to cut off an enemy Headquarters to the west of the town. Reports indicate that it is General Faidherbe. Our troops have never forced march as much as they have in the last few days, and we hope that the sweat expended will contribute greatly to our victory, for if we can batter this HQ then victory will be all that much closer. The situation is very fluid and we are not following any specific plan of campaign, but instead seeking opportunities and trying to keep our opponents on the horns of a dilemma as to where we will strike next!

The question this brings up is: should it be possible to prevent literally all partisan activity without significantly weakening your main fighting forces? Also, would Garrison units always be sufficient to deal with partisans? I immediately think of parts of Russia and Yugoslavia, and Warsaw too, where this wasn't the case.

Hi The Thai army wasn't insignificant, but it's fighting power (tied in with the government's fighting spirit) wasn't that significant. When the Japanese invaded in 1941, the Thai army only resisted the Japanese for a few hours, and the Thai government then made a deal with Japan whereby it became a puppet state. So here we have the situation whereby the invader effectively gets an ally! We have no way of really knowing whether or not the Thais would have provided any more noticeable resistance to a British or Chinese force, and given the pro-Allied feelings of many in the country, it is doubtful that an Allied force would have experienced more resistance. So by leaving the capital open, Thailand is prey to whoever feels powerful enough to invade it, and then of course to fight over it with their opponent!

That is pretty impossible in the way things are set up, as the Emperor's fall is tied in to France's National Morale falling. His behaviour even before the fighting started was hardly inspiring, and it just got worse as time went on.

You're right, it is intentionally a decision with no downside! The reason for making it a decision rather than just having it happen is that it gives a good opportunity to describe what is happening, and for the event to have more visibility than were it just to happen in the game. It was a big thing at the time so I wanted to make it as such. This way, players not so familiar with the war won't be left wondering what it is all about, and why they are being told about Gambetta taking to a balloon, an event in itself which (without the full context explained) could otherwise seem quite meaningless.

Yes, thanks, we have this fixed ready for the first patch.

Thanks to Ancient Demon for sending me a saved turn, we've tracked down that there is a problem with the French AI. It won't really affect things much during the initial phase of the war, but in the post-Imperial phase it will unfortunately lack most of the forces it should have. We will get a fix sorted out for this, but in the meantime the early phase playing against the French AI is pretty unaffected by this, as is Multiplayer and playing against the Prussian AI.

Just as an aside, when playing this be sure to check out the 1870 Franco-Prussian War Player's Guide which will be in the Manuals folder once you've installed patch 1.03. It includes information on the unit types, guidance on some features specific to this campaign, and a list of all the Decision Events and their implications.

Thanks very much, I'll take a look!

It's the 12th August and events are developing in Alsace as we make a move to surround and then lay siege to Strasbourg! The situation further near Metz is full of activity, though with very little combat this turn. The only attack we launch is to storm the fortress of Thionville which guards Metz's north flank. To the south of Metz we are advancing at top speed. How will the French react, will they continue their withdrawal or be bold and counterattack? Now is their chance, perhaps their sole opportunity to achieve a glorious victory before our lead elements link up to the west of Metz and trap the cream of the French army! Here's the updated strategic situation. Note how things have changed since my last update:

Thanks Micha!

Hi Ancient Demon Thanks for this. I think the French will have bought many if not most of those units, and spent the rest on reinforcing. I'll take a look further to see what improvements can be made, and if you could send me a saved turn of how things currently stand it would be really useful too. Thanks Bill bill.runacre@furysoftware.com

Thousands of Frenchmen are retreating westwards, with our infantry and cavalry in hot pursuit! So hot in fact that our 2nd Cavalry division sacrificed itself in a "Death Ride", destroying a French infantry division but being itself annihilated in the process. Such is the price of glory, cost what it will. Rather than push the French centre back on Metz, our forces are advancing north and south of the fortress. The northern spearhead has surrounded the fortress of Thionville, and the southern spearhead has secured Morhange. Meanwhile, our scouts have spotted a large French force near Phalsbourg. They'd better get away from there soon unless they want a one way ticket to a Prussian P.O.W. camp!

Hi Sapare It sounds like you've halted the Prussian invasion, and if you've any thoughts or suggestions for improvements then I'm interested. Thanks Bill

Hi With the release of patch 1.03 and the announcement for our 1870 Franco-Prussian War campaign, I just want to point out that a lot of improvements to other campaigns were also included, and especially to this WWII campaign. Also, thanks for all your feedback which has been a great help here. This should now give the Axis a better chance of victory. Bill Here are the changes: 1939 Storm Over Europe - Media: refugee1.bmp and the png files - French unit morale now falls when Belgium is conquered by the Axis. - French unit morale now falls when there are two Axis units within four tiles of Nancy. - Base Soft/Tank attack values for Tactical Bombers reduced from 2 to 1 (Catacol Highlander). - The German Tactical Bomber that starts near the Polish Corridor now starts with level 1 Ground Attack tech. - Refugees will block roads in Northern France when Belgium falls, reducing Allied supply in the area NE of Paris. - Naval Loops added south west of the Azores for the Allies (The K Man). - Kesselring spelling corrected (Strategiclayabout). - The Allied AI will now support the Yugoslav coup every time (Hyazinth von Strachwitz). - Mekili (283,93) will now be affected by the Malta Effect (Hyazinth von Strachwitz). - The effect on Allied naval units in Norwegian waters has been reduced from moving Norway 15-20% towards the Axis, to 3-8% (Hyazinth von Strachwitz). - One Soviet mine has been added in the Urals, to start producing when industry is transferred from the Ukraine, and the Allied AI will receive two further mines. - Stalino has been changed from a city to a town. - If the Soviets carry out the Winter War then when Finland joins the Axis some Finnish units will deploy at half strength; whereas if the Winter War isn’t fought then they will deploy at full strength. - Soviet winter toned down (Catacol Highlander) and it will be better targeted to avoid it having any effect in most circumstances on Finnish units. - Hodges added to the US HQ build list (Dan Fenton). - Cost of the Operation Chariot Decision reduced from 50 to 20 MPPs (Dan Fenton). - AI’s responses to Decision Events amended (Ancient Demon). - Weather in Flanders and the UK amended (Strategiclayabout). - The cost of Production Technology for the UK reduced from 175 to 125 MPPs, and for Industrial Technology from 150 to 125 MPPs and the UK now starts with 1 chit invested in Production Technology (Dan Fenton). - France now starts with level 1 in Advanced Aircraft (Strategiclayabout). - De Gaulle raised from a rating of 4 to 5. - Greenland will now transfer to US control in April 1941 providing there are no Axis land units in the country (Ancient Demon). - The maximum number of chits that can be invested in Infantry Warfare is now 2, and the cost for the USSR of researching this has been raised to 225 MPPs. - Duplicated French unit names removed (Dan Fenton). - Disruption range of Soviet partisans amended (Strategiclayabout). - The effect on Soviet mobilization of an Axis landing in the UK has been decreased from 20-25% to 10-15%, so that this is in line with the effect it has on US mobilization (Strategiclayabout). - Pop up amended for Operation Mercury so it will fire when Greece falls provided there are no Allied units in Crete (Strategiclayabout). - The cost of Infrastructure research has been reduced from 100 to 75 MPPs. - France will now receive 50 MPPs to help reform the army when it is liberated (Dan Fenton). - Images added to the Victory reports at the end of the war (Dan Fenton). - The Axis AI will now automatically take Luxembourg after France and Belgium have fallen, if it has not done so before (Dan Fenton). - German Tank build limit increased from 9 to 10. - Increased Italy's Occupational Efficiency to 100%. - Reduced the Operational Air Minimum Connection Supply value from 5 to 3. - Decisions 303 & 616 corrected, relating to the US opportunity to ask Germany for surrender terms.

Hi Ancient Demon I'd be interested to know how many French units you've destroyed, and also where you are in France? It can be difficult to rebuild destroyed units, but they should with time receive reinforcements from new Garde Mobile units, and later on, International volunteers. Thanks Bill

Thanks Sapare, good spot!

Hi It's great to hear you're enjoying the game! 1. I'm afraid not, in this game you'll have to control Japan too. 2. The way to set a unit to sleep is to right click on it and select the sleep option. Bill

Hi Bob That's right, though in themselves trenches also provide defense bonuses too, in addition to increasing the maximum entrenchment. This is why even when your Trench Warfare research is still at zero, entrenching is still the best thing to do when expecting attack. Bill