Bill101

Hi Claus Where possible I generally agree about the Decision Event, but here it could only really be done prior to the Ottomans joining the war. Any later on, and an Ottoman player who has stuffed Gallipoli full of troops won't be pleased to find them all pushed out and the town captured by the Entente as the result of a decision event. Currently, a successful Entente landing at Gallipoli will: Reduce Ottoman National Morale by 2,500, i.e. 12.5% of the Ottoman's starting figure. Make Bulgaria, Romania and Greece all swing 30-45% towards joining the Entente.One problem with Gallipoli is that I think the mission could never really have achieved what it aimed to do, unless Constantinople could have been taken and held by a large force. The Russians did make some preparations for an amphibious landing and that would have helped if it had been carried out, but whether it would have affected the outcome is hard to tell. A second problem is the benefit of hindsight that we all have, though at least the fear of a landing there does tie up two Ottoman units for the whole war. Though I have at times been so hard pressed elsewhere that I've been forced to leave the area empty. So far, the risk has paid off. In terms of the game, perhaps a solution is to increase the bonus to the Entente or penalty to the Ottomans if a landing is made. One thing that can be done is to add in a penalty to Ottoman morale if Entente naval units are in the Sea of Marmara. This location can already be used by naval units to reduce Ottoman supply at Constantinople. ____________________________________________________ Incidentally, I have carried out landings at Gallipoli and it's not always been a waste of time. One important thing is to pick the right time, and even late in the war it can be a very useful thing to do. As Ottoman, I've also lost Smyrna due to a landing, and in a different game the Entente landed behind my lines in Syria. The landing in Syria came just as the Ottomans were about to surrender and for them, that was the icing on the cake!

Hi In addition to the Maude decision event which provides an HQ (Maude) and the Tigris Corps at Basra in July 1916, I have found some of my opponents sending quite a large proportion of either the original British army, or of Kitchener's New Army to this area. They are taking a chance that the French will be able to hold on the Western Front in the meantime, possibly with some British support, but it does seem to have some potential so I would recommend giving this a try. That said, I am considering adding a second decision that would allow for an artillery unit at Basra at the same time, but it would be at full price. Bill

Hi Peter I'm afraid that it isn't possible to allow for Elite reinforcements to some countries but not others, so that issue cannot be addressed directly. I'm not sure that I follow, though a Major can adjust the amount of money it sends by convoy, e.g. the USA to the UK, via the Convoys map.

The lack of movement in the Caucasus has been mentioned in a few posts. There is a Russian Decision Event to provide the Caucasus front with an artillery unit in the spring of 1915, but I presume that this isn't enough generally enough to start pushing the Ottomans back, or is the artillery unit being sent to the Eastern Front instead?

Hi Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'm just sifting through it properly now and from it I'm taking that in general the scenario is pretty well balanced but there are a few details that could be improved upon. I might have a few further questions or comments later. Bill

Hi If you click on the Maps button (4th one down on the right) then select War Map, make sure you have the German flag selected and then click on the Belgian flag on the map. Then click on the Declare War button and off you go!

Hi Glabro The Dutch, British Indian, Chinese, Communist Chinese, Australian, Nepalese, New Zealand, Filipino, Canadian and US units all have varying chances of fighting on if their country is captured. It's not relevant for the USSR as if they were forced to surrender then they'd have no friendly territory to carry on the fight from. I guess this leaves Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, Hong Kong, Indochina, Malaya, Manchukuo, Polynesia, Portuguese Timor, and Sarawak. But hardly any of these have any armed forces. So, essentially pretty much all the active countries' units will fight on, or at least have a chance of doing so.

I like this suggestion because it should keep the pace up, though the question is which mini campaigns would be best. Perhaps a choice of Gallipoli, Kaiserschlacht or Race to the Sea as I think they are the most balanced?

I'm not really sure without testing it out, but generally my experience is that the higher the city strength, the more costly your air attacks on it will be. But if there is a unit in the city, then only the unit is attacked (this was changed in SC2 so that the city could be damaged by strategic bombers or rocket attack, with the unit having only a % chance of being damaged).

Ah, this is a situation I'll have to think about how to deal with. Thanks for mentioning this and I'll see what I can do. Bill

Hi It is an error and has been fixed for later patches. Thanks Bill

Hi As I hope to start work this week on making changes to the WWI campaigns ready for the next patch, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the balance of the WWI campaigns, and especially of 1914 Call to Arms. Now is the time to have your say, so please do, whether you think it is well balanced or not. We all have different perspectives so the more input, the better. Thanks! Bill Note: One reason for asking this is that although we may introduce something whereby the Central Powers have to maintain some forces in the east after Russia has withdrawn from the war, if it is generally considered that the Entente already have an overall advantage in the game then this will not work without some compensating factor.

I agree, they look pretty cool!

Hopefully this helps Mancspartan but don't hesitate to ask further if you need to, and if you do get the game, playing a multiplayer game with someone really is the quickest way to get a grip of how to play, because you'll probably have your backside handed to you on a plate, but you'll learn so much from the experience and no doubt come back and teach the teacher a thing or two!! I know that was my experience with SC1, I remember my first game with some embarrassment, but things got a lot better after that.

If there's demand then I'm sure one could be organized, so if those who are interested post here then it would be good. I would certainly be happy to take part if there is enough interest.

I would say, only send Lenin to Russia if you are happy to face the consequences, because that is the only way to avoid Bolshevik agitation reaching your countries. If you have done so, not signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and fighting on until Russia surrenders will lead to morale boosts for Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans. This is because the Treaty led to high expectations of peace in these countries, rather than of victory. Don't sign the treaty and your populations will welcome the victory when it comes!

For France, the relevant scripts are: Potential Penalties: French Morale Falls Due To The Loss Of Verdun French Morale Falls Due To The Loss Of Belfort French Morale Falls Due To The Loss Of Paris French Morale Is Affected By The Russian Defeat French Morale Is Affected By The Italian Defeat French Morale Falls Due To The Loss Of Algiers Potential Bonuses: France Welcomes The Arrival Of US Troops France Celebrates The Taking Of Strasbourg France Celebrates The Taking Of Metz French Morale Is Boosted By The Liberation Of ParisGiven that probably very few of these have occurred in your game, could it be that the lower starting National Morale totals are at the root of what you've noticed?

Hi Ivanov I've just been taking a look at 1917 Fate of Nations and there are some scripts that can hurt Austro-Hungarian morale: The Bolshevik Revolution will lead to Bolshevik Inspired Agitation Against The War Spreads To Austria-Hungary - this will only happen if Germany sent Lenin to Russia, and the Bolshevik Revolution will be triggered once Russian National Morale is below 35%. Austro-Hungarian Morale Drops Due To The Fall Of Budapest Austro-Hungarian Morale Is Affected By The Defeat Of The Ottoman Empire Austro-Hungarian Morale Falls As A Result Of The Bulgarian SurrenderAnd this one is a boost to their morale: Austria-Hungary Celebrates The Defeat Of RussiaFrom the description of your game it sounds as though the Bolshevik agitation might be the only relevant one so far, but one important point to note is that because the starting National Morale figures are significantly lower than in 1914 Call to Arms, all unit casualties suffered by the Austro-Hungarians will have a proportionately higher impact on their National Morale % than in the 1914 campaigns. Consequently the National Morale bar will be dropping at a higher rate than we're used to in the 1914 campaigns.

As you can get a breakthrough once the 25% threshold has been reached, I imagine that it was reached in the first turn due to your massive investment and that the test to see if a breakthrough is achieved is worked out after the calculation to see how much research is done per turn.

Have fun, and note that I've corrected one thing in my post above about the effectiveness of attacking after moving.

Hi Mancspartan The game manual contains some information on how to play, and is available online: http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_flippingbook&book_id=18&Itemid=469 However, rather than starting by reading a wordy document, my advice would be to load up the 1918 Kaiserschlacht scenario and play that first, because it will give you a good introduction to the combat mechanism and you'll then be more prepared for the main campaigns. By all means have the manual to hand, but feel free to ask any questions here too. The basics of combat and movement are left click to select a unit, with it selected, hover your mouse over a target unit (for land units normally an adjacent enemy unit). At the bottom of the screen in the centre it will show the combat odds, e.g. Atkr 1 - Dfdr 2, where 1 is your predicted losses and 2 the target unit's. Generally it is best to pound a target with artillery prior to attacking it with ground units. Most ground units, apart from artillery, can move before attacking, but they will attack with less effect if they attack after moving. Air units have a longer range and Recon Bombers can spot and bomb enemy units, while Fighters will automatically escort the Recon Bombers if the latter are intercepted by enemy Fighters. I hope this helps to get you started! Bill

With IT research for the USA their income can be boosted up to 520 a turn, though we are considering some other things to help the Allies here. Please keep the feedback coming because now is the time to speak up while we consider preparing changes for the next patch!

Hola ¿Es possible que el correo va en el archivo "spam"? Bill

I'm pretty sure that you benefit from both, i.e. both the Corps' Air Defence and also the City's AA level. Certainly attacks on the unit in a city appear to take more casualties.

Hi I've just checked the script for this and it will fire even if the Axis have not advanced into the USSR, it just checks for the USSR having joined the Allies. The good news is that if the Axis haven't advanced into the USSR, as in your game, then there should be no damage to Axis units. In other words, even though the message pops up to say Soviet Winter Strikes, as all the Axis forces are in eastern Germany/Poland, they should be quite safe from its effects. Looking at your screenshot and comparing it to the scripts, I don't think that there should have been any Axis losses from this.