Bill101

I assume that flu is referring to the fact that the USSR has no choice on its unit deployment prior to Barbarossa, so that the Axis can destroy a lot of it on the western border. This has been largely fixed in more recent releases by deploying a very large proportion of Soviet forces on the western border only on the turn that the USSR enters the war. But admittedly this wasn't in SC2 Blitzkrieg or Weapons and Warfare.

Hi Ivanov and myself are back with a new After Action Report, this time playing the forthcoming 1870 Franco-Prussian War campaign that will be released with the next patch for WWI Breakthrough! It is a divisional level campaign, starting in late July 1870 while both sides are still mobilizing. I am commanding the forces of the North German Confederation, under the guidance of von Moltke (the elder), while von Bismarck will handle any political negotiations, should the French ask for terms at any point. Ivanov has bravely agreed to be the French. It's a tough side to play as although he starts with good troops, his forces are outnumbered, his income is less, and his generals aren't exactly the best. With Napoleon III and his interfering wife in charge, one thing France lacks is strong leadership. But should Napoleon fall, then hope may be restored as France once again becomes a Republic, and new men like Gambetta may come to the fore and rise to the challenge! France has the ability to mobilize large numbers of volunteers, Paris has good fortifications, and international opinion may swing their way. Better generals can be given commands, and new forces raised, so it would be rather rash for me to assume that the Prussians will win a decisive victory. It will certainly be a tough fight and I look forward to it. Let battle commence!

Hi Marvin Firstly, welcome to the forum! I think what's happened is that the penalty for moving into mountains has been increased from when the Manual was originally written, so your understanding of the rules is correct. Apologies for the confusion. Just to add that if the mountain was on a road coming directly from either city then its supply would be at 9, but as it is not, its supply is only 6. Bill

Hi Clausewitz The HQ is supplied by Wuhan, and as Wuhan's supply value is 8, it is providing the HQ with supply of 7 (1 less than 8 as it is 1 tile away, connected by road). If a full strength HQ receives supply of 6 or more, then it will act as a supply center at supply of 10. Thus the unit at 327/98 which is 2 tiles by road from the HQ, is at supply 8. But if it is receiving supply of 5 as in the example you mentioned at Canton, then a full strength HQ would receive supply of 8 if occupying the city. Hence any adjacent units would be at supply 7. There is more information, including a table of supply values compared to resource strength, on page 35 of the Global Conflict Manual. Note that HQ strength is now a factor, so damaged HQs are less able to provide supply than full strength ones, and this is explained on pages 8-10 of the Expansion Notes. I hope this helps. Bill

Hi numdydar This can be edited by opening up the campaign in the editor and selecting: Campaign -> Edit Morale Data and changing the Surrender (Land Units) and Surrender (Naval Units) data. Bill

Thanks!

Hi Strategiclayabout That all makes sense to me in your examples, and the answers to your questions are yes, yes and yes! Bill

Hi Clausewitz That is true, there is a zone of control penalty, and killing the enemy unit will definitely remove the zone of control penalty! It is the same setting as in our WWI games, so if you've played them then you'll already have experienced it.

It's possible, and if it is the case then the first time you played it, there would have been a message saying something like "Original Campaign cannot be found". I'd recommend asking your opponent so as to shed some light on this.

I'm not sure, as I've just run a test by placing a Russian unit immediately adjacent to Constantinople, on the south eastern side, and the strength of Ottoman resources at Smyrna, Angora and in Palestine, Arabia etc is only 5. Is it possible that the campaign has been modified in the editor at all? Only there is a switch that would change the supply rules. It is in Campaign -> Edit Campaign Data -> Advanced -> Resource Supply Calculation, which should be set to Rail Only. But if it is set to Unrestricted then I could understand what you're seeing happening.

Good spots, these now definitely are fixed my side! I think I fixed the unit script before, without realizing that there was also a problem with the Decision Event itself.

Of course, the Russians landing will also have the same effect. The port strength being lowered isn't amazing, but it will reduce the ability of the Ottomans to upgrade naval vessels in the ports, and to supply land units from the port if Constantinople is besieged.

Hi Ancient Demon There are Ottoman Industrial Centers further east, which will be keeping some of their port and city strengths up. Bill

Hi Ancient Demon If the Entente land at Gallipoli and send some naval units into the Sea of Marmara, then by occupying the tiles with those ship icons in, their presence will reduce the strength of the ports at Constantinople. This reflects the panic it would cause, coupled with the interdiction of Ottoman civilian shipping. Bill

Hi Do the Central Powers hold, either before or after this happens, any towns and cities in Russia? Only it sounds as though they are operating some units by rail to strengthen their position somewhere. If you're able to post a screenshot of the situation here it may help. Thanks Bill

I think that if you've mastered the general game mechanics, then ramping up the difficulty will give the most challenging game so even if you get beaten, it will inspire thoughts to improve your own gameplay, hence leading to a second round! That would be me anyway!

Hi, disabling it does improve some of the AI's routines, so for the best AI performance this is recommended, though it will be at some cost to the AI's speed. You can always play a few turns with it disabled to see how much of a difference speed wise it makes, and if the turns aren't taking too long then leave it disabled.

Interesting discussion and there's a lot to agree with here! What we're trying to achieve is to make it much more possible for the historical result to occur in 1940, but without necessarily making it be the case that it will always happen that way. Yes, it will certainly make it more of a challenge than it currently is for the Allied player, and I look forward to hearing your feedback on this after we have released the patch.

Hi Aikei One thing about the lower difficulty settings is that the AI is more cautious about guarding places than us humans are, so it is easier to defeat because some of its units, that we might have had in the field so to speak, it will use to garrison positions that might be potentially threatened. The higher levels give it greater income, so it can better afford to buy units for both garrisoning potential threats and also for fighting in the front line. I would suggest trying upping the difficulty levels until you find what's right for you.

I understand numdydar, and the hefty penalty in US mobilization would certainly prevent me from doing this action. Other penalties could be introduced if desired, if there is a strong consensus that they are needed.

Hi Aryaman Hopefully the patch is in the near future, hard to predict exactly but if you're happy to wait a little while then that would make sense. As to the Winter Event, it's certainly in this campaign and I think it might be this thread you're thinking of? http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?p=1332825&highlight=winter+event#post1332825

I'm not sure that an Allied attack on somewhere like Ireland is worth it, partly because morale/readiness boosts are very temporary, and also because it would move the USA 15-25% towards the Axis. Switzerland, Sweden and Spain would also move 10-15% towards the Axis. The latter could be quite important if the Axis are making a play for Spain using diplomacy. It's the player's choice I guess!

It's not currently possible, so would require some coding. Hard to say at this point in time but it's something I've added to my list of ideas to consider.

How the Research System Works This section describes the maths behind researching upgrades, inspired by the recent discussion with Ashes Fall on this forum. A) Progression every Turn In all the WWI campaigns, the base % progress per chit invested per turn is as follows: To attain: Level 1 = 6% Level 2 = 6% Level 3 = 5% Level 4 = 4% Level 5 = 2% In 1939 Storm over Europe, the base % progress per chit per turn is as follows: To attain: Level 1 = 5% Level 2 = 4% Level 3 = 3% Level 4 = 2% Level 5 = 1% The actual increment per turn will be a random number based on the % chance you have each turn relative to the number of chits invested. So, as an example, if you have 1 chit at 6% each then you will have a 3 -> 9% increment towards 100% per turn. If you have 2 chits for a total of 12% then you will have a 6 -> 18% increment towards 100% per turn. Each chit makes progress every turn from 0-100%, and once you reach 100% you will automatically achieve a research breakthrough, taking you to the next level in that category. Research Breakthroughs! Once your research has progressed to a 30% threshold, there is a chance per turn of achieving a research breakthrough and attaining the next level. The chance of a breakthrough is based on the number of chits invested multiplied by the % chance of progressing per turn. Progression in A) is variable, whereas the chance of a research breakthrough once the 30% threshold has been reached isn’t. For example: once you have reached 30%, 1 chit @ 6% gives you a 6% chance every turn that you might get a hit and achieve a research breakthrough, i.e. attain the next level. This way, you may not have to wait until research has progressed all the way to 100%, but you do have to wait a few turns at least for it to reach 30%. Viewing Progress To view the current research progression a tool tip in the RESEARCH dialog will show your % advancement when hovering with the mouse above an invested research item. Progressing to the Next Level Research will advance a level for whichever is achieved first, either A) reaches 100% or there is an early breakthrough once A is above 30%. While progression varies per turn, the chance of a breakthrough does not. So if you have 1 chit invested to research a level 1 technology at 6% a turn, and the enemy has not yet researched that level, then progression will be 3 – 9% per turn, but the chance of a breakthrough once the 30% threshold has been passed will be 6% a turn. Intelligence and Research Each new level of Intelligence research increases your own research bonus by 1% and decreases your opponent's bonus by 1%. If the enemy's intelligence level is higher than yours, then it will just negate your own intelligence. Intelligence levels only compete with each other, so if the enemy have higher intelligence than you, the only net effect will be to negate the benefit you'll get from your own intelligence level. It won't prevent or slow the base research % chance per turn. Intelligence can also affect the chance of a breakthrough after 30%. Catch Up Bonus The research formula also has an adjustment that takes into account real life situations that occur in every war, such as captured enemy equipment and spying and espionage. Therefore, if an opponent has achieved a higher level in a particular category, there will be a bonus applied to your chance calculation each turn. However, the normal research chance can only be increased if a level of difference exists. It can never be reduced. This bonus might be further modified by friendly and/or enemy Intelligence research advances as described above. Good luck with your research!

Not exactly, as it just increases the minimum supply level for your HQs, which helps when they have been battered and reduced in strength. Otherwise HQs that are low in strength provide next to no supply, so infrastructure is important to keep the supply level up when the enemy is targetting your HQs. Thanks for the ideas!