Bill101

The Germans have withdrawn at Belfort! Dubail’s arrival has stiffened our resistance and the Boche will now struggle to capture this great fortress. General Joffre reviews our reinforcements heading for the front It’s time for our counterattack, and three German infantry divisions are smashed! The casualties the Germans have suffered in their frontal attacks have been tremendous, and they are now paying the price for not having invaded Belgium, even if only to turn our flank north of Verdun. Here’s the situation in mid-August 1914

More French divisions arrive at Belfort ready to repel the invader. General Dubail is now here at Belfort, commanding the forces that will defend his hometown. General Auguste Dubail A German infantry division south west of Toul showed itself to be totally spineless when attacked by two French divisions. The Boche were so scared they ran away every time they were attacked! As more infantry reinforcements march up behind the Meuse, they are taking over the positions occupied by our Cavalry, freeing up our horsemen to form a masse de manoeuvre ready for the next stage of operations. It would be interesting to know what von Moltke’s next grand plan will be. Was he wise to throw his predecessor's ideas into the waste paper basket without having a back up plan? The Kaiser’s mention of India makes the British Foreign Secretary suspect that he has designs on the British Empire, and this raises British demands to have the UK enter the war. British mobilization is well underway, and Sir John French just awaits the order to embark the B.E.F. for the continent!

Trenches in this aren't that strong, they just help to give the attacker a bloodier nose than otherwise. I think that what Ivanov has mentioned above is the price of not attacking through Belgium, because doing so would have provided the Germans with a number of routes into France, and the French would struggle to resist them all. Hence the campaign would have been mobile for longer. Not that we have necessarily seen the end of mobile campaigning yet in this game, I seriously doubt that the Germans will let that happen.

I would recommend The Somme, because it is just land combat, with no diplomacy, research (though you can, and should upgrade your artillery), air or naval aspects. This means it is ideal for getting a good grasp of land combat, and how to launch attacks against strong positions, coupled with the correct use of artillery to soften up the target before attacking. Playing as the Entente will also give you the challenge of trying to do better than Haig! Then later on you can try a bigger campaign which has more of these features.

I've added a post to this thread that should help: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?p=1416354#post1416354

Turn Sequence Here are some general thoughts to help guide you through your first turns. 1) Reinforce or move to safety any battered units. 2) Replace them if they were defending key positions. 3) Look for any other key positions that aren’t currently defended, but are threatened by the enemy, and see if you can place or move units to defend them. 4) Now make your moves and attacks. Some general thoughts on this: Use your Cavalry and Recon Bombers as scouts where applicable. Conserve artillery ammunition until you can fire a number of shells at once. Entrench your Infantry and Cavalry if they are not going to move or attack. It is generally best to shell enemy units before attacking them. Keep your HQs, air units and artillery fairly close to, but not in, the front lines.4) Consider whether you need to buy any units to either replace losses, or for use in the near future. Remember that in most campaigns there is a delay between buying a unit and its arrival. 5) Upgrade any units that can be upgraded, but keep an eye on your available expenditure as some upgrades are less important than others. For instance, upgrading your navy probably isn’t very relevant if the enemy are shelling your capital. 6) Consider whether you have any remaining income to undertake any research or diplomacy. Do not underestimate either of these, especially not in a grand campaign like 1914 Call to Arms, as both have an important role to play in deciding the outcome. Or you can keep some income back for the next point. 7) Consider reinforcing any experienced units. 8) Have fun! That's what it's all about, so don't get too hung up on doing everything right first time. It will come, and sometimes a decisive defeat is the best teacher. 9) If you do get stuck on anything, don't be afraid to ask.

Just to add to the above, one thing you could do would be to pick a scenario and get a good grasp of it, because as you gain in experience with it, so you'll also gain an increasing feel for the game mechanisms and features. Playing in Hotseat mode would also allow you to check out what both sides are seeing, and their relevant options. Papafourtwo's suggestion is the quickest and most fun way to learn the game, once you've got the hang of the basics. I'll see if I can type up a generic guide to the first steps to take in a campaign, something that will at least serve as a starting point.

1914 Call to Arms, and (if you download the first patch) 1939 Storm over Europe have been updated for Breakthrough, using the Breakthrough exe rather than the SC WWI one.

I normally think of each step up from a Division to Corps to Army as resulting in slightly more than a doubling of combat power, due to the extra assets that higher units will have. Cavalry Corps should have good recon, reasonable attack but fairly poor in defence. Better than a division, but worse than an Infantry Corps. Tank Corps being the guys who can really pack a punch, being reasonably close to an Army with some stats, better in terms of tank attack and defence, but slightly worse in their soft attack and defence values.

Hi Frank When the British enter the war, France will receive a nice boost of 5,000 National Morale points. In some ways there are parallels to 1870, but hopefully not in the competence of the French High Command and its fighting spirit!! I'm not sure what I might have done differently yet. Perhaps been a little more cautious, but I could tell pretty quickly that the Kaiser wasn't going to violate Belgian neutrality. Bill

The Germans suffered heavy casualties assaulting Toul. Our forces now stand two divisions deep behind the Meuse, forming a tough barrier that will cost many German lives to cross. Three more divisions deploy for battle to the west of Verdun, with nearly two dozen more units still mobilizing. The Kaiser’s optimism and dreams of repeating 1870 might be a little misplaced! Further south, Dubail launches a counter-attack near Belfort, battering German 8th Division. Judging by this divisions’s low supply level, they forgot to bring any Brockwurst with them. So far, the Germans have suffered higher casualties in battle than us, but their losses have been spread over a much larger number of units. British mobilization is underway, but their government is still debating whether or not to enter the war. Let us hope they do not delay too long as their army is the best in the world. The British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, is believed to have sent the Kaiser a few polite letters asking him to withdraw from France.

Our defences at Belfort continue to be strengthened and Dubail has now taken charge here. Further north, the fortress of Toul is under threat, and the enemy have crossed the Meuse at Commercy. But von Kluck may find exploiting his success here a little harder than he thought, for we have reserves aplenty, and the German 26th Reserve Division to the southwest of Toul has just learnt that French rifles don’t fire blanks. General Pau takes command of a new army in Lorraine, based at Bar-le-Duc just a few miles to the west of Commercy. General Paul Pau One thing that will prove useful in coming weeks is that we have not lost a single cavalry division, even though they have all been closely engaged, whereas the Germans have lost five. This means that we still retain a significant body of mobile troops, available for scouting, lightning attacks and rapid reinforcement of key areas. It is now the 11th August, and here is the strategic situation after 10 days of war:

Hi Are the carriers in stormy seas or being rained upon? Only either of these would stop the carriers from intercepting. The only other way is if their air strength is less than 5. Hopefully one of these is the answer? Bill

It’s best that we rest our forces after our double victories of Dodoma and Kilosa, rather than push our troops too hard. Otherwise we could succumb to enemy counterattacks, and we do need our Askari to be ready for action again very soon. But that doesn’t mean that we have to be quiet at Neu Langenburg, and there’s no better way to defend our positions here than by destroying another enemy Regiment! Our forces at Ujiji are getting stronger all the time, so the British and Belgians would be wise not to delay their attack too long. It is a little surprising that they are still in strength here, and that they don’t appear to be threatening our positions to the south of Lake Victoria.

Yes, pretty much as the editor will prompt you to correct the relevant scripts but once that's done it's just a case of adding in the supply centers.

Thanks, I've got the file and I'll take a good look at it and get back to you, and I'll consider the US mobilization level too.

The battle is won at Dodoma, the last enemy unit there collapses in defeat, and fighting continues to rage at Kilosa where the 130th Baluchis are nearly destroyed! It is amazing how well our Levies at Bagamoyo on the coast have been doing in holding up Smuts’ advance on Dar-es-Salaam. Their stiff resistance is extremely valuable as it’s helping us to keep up our extremely successful campaign further west at Dodoma. The Graf von Gotzen is now fully repaired, and Major Wahle’s forces at Ujiji stand poised to receiving the coming attack. If it's anything like the previous one, we can't wait!

The fighting along the frontier is certainly hotting up, and the enemy are piling on the pressure between Verdun and Toul. We’ve pushed the Germans back from the area to the north east of Verdun, and battered a number of units south of Verdun. Generals Joffre and de Castelnau discussing the latest developments Large numbers of reinforcements are arriving, and Dubail is taking charge near Belfort to stiffen up the defence in this sector. This is certainly no easy battle, but we have one message for our opponents: You are not fighting the France of 1870, there is no Bazaine or Louis Napoleon in charge here. We are fighting as one, to defend our soil and liberate our countrymen in the occupied provinces of Alsace-Lorraine. Long live France! Long live the Republic!

Hi It should be, and I did run a test when you first mentioned this. If you could perhaps email me a saved turn that would probably be best, as then I'll be able to check the maths and see what's happening. If you can email it to bill.runacre@furysoftware.com that would be great. Thanks Bill

Hi Vaalen That's ok, and hopefully we can get to the bottom of it. The main factor on NM will be casualties, and it can affect Germany's NM if she is fighting actively on two fronts at the same time, because the NM boost for occupying enemy resources will probably be more than offset by unit casualties. One thing that might be a worthwhile strategy in the east is to switch largely to the defensive there once a good chunk of Russian territory has been captured. The reason being that due to the territory you occupy Russia's NM will continue to fall, while the lower tempo of operations might help with your NM. The naval blockade will also have impacted, if it was vigorously enforced. What was the status of Holland during your game? Did it remain favouring your side as a neutral, or did the enemy use diplomacy to get it to switch? Bill

You're 100% correct Rankorian, the victor needs to be careful how they pursue their foe, because we are still in sufficient strength to bite back, and bite hard!

We’re switching to the defensive near Nancy as the enemy are in superior strength here, while reinforcements are rushed to Belfort. It looks as though the Germans are now preparing for a massive attack on Verdun, as their forces in this area have suddenly grown quite considerably in number. No enemy units are destroyed this turn, but we do batter a few before we withdraw to occupy new positions along the Meuse. Further evidence that an invasion of Belgium is not planned comes from Luxembourg, as it is reported that not all of the state has been occupied by German forces.

The British offensive is turning into a complete failure, as we destroy two units and another is surrounded and will easily be destroyed next turn. Kilosa and Dodoma remain German! Some skirmishing at Neu Langenburg also goes our way, while our heroic African Levies on the coast near Dar-es-Salaam are still holding out at Bagamoyo. It is nearly the end of 1916. Morale remains high in our colony and the enemy have shown that they can be defeated as it is fairly easy to outmanoeuvre them. Major Wahle reports from Lake Tanganyika that he is expecting the enemy to make a move in this area shortly. They will need to, as otherwise they will have nothing but bad news to report to their high command in London for Christmas.

Hi Vaalen I'm a little confused as we haven't changed anything with regards to NM and the occupation of enemy resources, except that now you will no longer gain NM from occupied resources once the enemy Major it belongs to has surrendered. Is that the change you're thinking of? If so, I'd be interested to know how it directly affects your strategy, so I can work out how that would affect Central Powers' strategy. If that isn't the cause, then there might be something else at work. It would also be good to hear if anyone else is having any difficulties relating to this. Thanks Bill

Thanks for posting this Aryaman!