Bill101

If a trench is empty at the end of a turn then it will be removed from the map. Ah, the Germans need to be very aggressive in the west in the early stages of the game, and in the east carry out a mobile defense with the German forces, i.e. stay concentrated and counterattack when opportunities arise. Later in 1914 with the reinforcements that arrive and von Mackensen's help it is usually possible to start holding and later pushing the Russians back.

Hi Amadeus Thanks for the explanation. The trenches themselves don't have any NM value, and the appearance that they do should be fixed in the next patch. But your unit casualties will have had a big impact, especially if the Germans have lost their navy. Trenches will be destroyed by leaving them, and if you need to change the facing then you can Entrench again in your next turn with a new facing if necessary. Giving away Trento-Trieste to Italy does lower Austro-Hungarian NM quite dramatically, but it should buy peace with Italy therefore the cost to NM balances out. Plus you can then afford to use all of the Austro-Hungarian army against the Serbs and Russians. It looks as though your troops had suffered very badly against the Russians. The best way to prevent this normally is to get Hindenburg and Mackensen moving against the Russians, but I guess that if you've had a hard time in the west then this will be quite difficult. Once the enemy have good entrenchment then it can be difficult to launch successful attacks until you have Heavy Artillery with upgrades and lots of shells to pound them before the infantry attack. How much French and Russian territory have the Germans captured?

I don't know if you or anyone else might be tempted if the information were at hand but there seems to be quite a bit here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_Wars The Osprey Men-at-Arms book called Armies in the Balkans 1914-18 by Nigel Thomas would help a lot with the armed forces, and pages 8-9 of A Military Atlas of the First World War by Arthur Banks contains a very good graphical summary of the events.

Oh yes. The decision event only has a small chance of being successful, and it won't get the Swiss to enter the war, just nudge them slightly towards the Central Powers. It's based on the head of their armed forces having been pro-German and wanting to join the war. But like with most other minors, even if the decision has any effect it would still require a lot of diplomatic investment. Is it worth it? Possibly, but not necessarily.

Hi Amadeus I'd be interested to know how Austria-Hungary got defeated so quickly, and also, what were the Germans doing while her ally suffered? Bill

Because the blockade is simply a way of hurting Germany, the most the Kriegsmarine can do is either to contest the trigger points (i.e. by what you're suggesting) or to keep the Royal Navy so busy elsewhere with unrestricted attacks or even sending out the main fleet that they can't spare ships to enforce the blockade. A third way is of course to ride out the blockade and attempt to defeat both France and Russia before the blockade and your own casualties weaken your own side's will to fight too much.

Hi Karhu Great to hear that you're enjoying the game! 1. With the naval blockade, it's a case of the more naval units used, the more effective the blockade. A lone ship will have minimal effect, but if all the trigger points are occupied then it will start hurt Germany's National Morale quite a bit more. 2. It will just serve as a good trap for the Royal Navy, as they will have to attack it to drive it away so that they can enforce the blockade there. So in a way it is a way of breaking the blockade. 3. For raiding the feedback can be seen in the Graphs in the Reports section (7th button down on the right). The actual pop up happens at the end of your opponent's turn. Thanks for the comments and info on the flag. Bill

I wonder, does changing the game resolution in Settings fix this?

Are you seeing this just against the AI or in multiplayer too? Also, is it just on one front or more widespread? Only if there are specific causes then we may be able to fix them another way. I have other ideas too but I would welcome some more detailed feedback first. Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback and I can confirm that the US reaction to unrestricted warfare is slightly unpredictable, so as not to give guaranteed and definite increases in US reaction whenever it's used. Thus there is an element of risk, and you might be lucky and not annoy the US when using it!

Interesting AAR, great stuff!

Italy doesn't yet have any NM objectives.

The latter, apart from a unit of Marines.

What some people have done has been to increase the MPP cost of research, while at the same time increasing the chance of a hit. An example of this is the Battle for Russia campaign that came out with the Weapons and Warfare expansion pack - most research cost 1,000 MPPs! While you might not want to set the price quite as high (although it worked in that campaign) here's what you would need to do: Open up the relevant campaign in the editor. If it's a default campaign, select File; Save As and give it a new name (saving it may take some minutes). Now click on: Campaign Edit Country Data Edit Research (near the bottom of the screen that pops up) In what has popped up you can now amend the cost for all types of research, for all countries. You only need to change the price for Majors. You can also amend here the maximum levels that can be researched, and the maximum number of chits that can be invested. If you click on Advanced, on the screen that has now popped up, on the right hand side is shown the Research Progression (per chit). Increasing the percentages will increase the chance, and you will need to do this for all the Majors that are listed on the left hand side. Hopefully coupled perhaps with a price increase you should be able to find some research settings that suit. Then when done hit Ok a few times and then save. You should now be ready to play the modified campaign! Bill

Hi The reasoning is for simplicity's sake, because once Russia is out of the war I really wanted to avoid players getting bogged down in fighting out the Russian Revolution and Civil War. Instead, the intention is to focus attention on where the war needs to be won - in the west. Defining what has or hasn't been conquered beforehand can get very complicated given that some of the new countries are so large, e.g. the Ukraine. I'm not sure that there is an easy solution, but I guess that your major gripe is with the loss of income if you have already conquered any of these territories? Bill

Hi Soetekouwd The chance of evading damage can be edited by ship type and by nation in the editor. If you open up a campaign and go to: -Campaign - Edit Country Data - click on Edit Combat Target Data. Here you can change the settings of the naval units, e.g. the evasion in land or naval combat, their attack and defense values, action points. Bill

This will be a mixture of luck, coupled with both sides learning off the other. It is possible but pretty unlikely. I guess that now you'll have to crack on with Heavy Artillery and Shell Production research to effect a breakthrough!

The turn is useful thanks, and I've sent you an email. It looks like your drive on Paris is well underway now! For the US units, their production time is no faster than anyone else's, so once they join the war this should be borne in mind when deciding what units to field, e.g. infantry units can be on their way to Europe while artillery are still in training.

The minor countries will be created however Russia leaves the war, the incentive being for you to now switch your focus to the west where the war can be won if either France or the UK can also be knocked out of the war. Poland will come under German administration so your economy will still benefit from a portion of your conquests, but the minors act as a buffer zone to discourage you from expending further attention in the east where the victory has already been won. The new nations are generally friendly to the Central Powers but not that friendly that they will welcome German troops marching through the countryside to drag them back into the war. You can use diplomacy to bring some of them into your camp if you wish, but Central Powers strategy needs to focus now on the west if they are to win the war.

Hi I'd be curious to know how the US has joined this early too if you haven't been using any unrestricted warfare. I would think that your opponent must have invested heavily in diplomacy but it would be good to check. If you could send me a saved turn to bill.runacre@furysoftware.com it would be great. Thanks!

Hi Desechecs Worg64 has explained the main reasoning behind the cost, because these offensives required a lot of planning and resources and were therefore pretty rare during the war. Quite a number of operations were planned but never carried out, e.g. a landing in Flanders, or at Alexandretta in the Ottoman Empire. But the risks were considered too great, and charging a high price makes the players consider the risk more significantly than if they were just risking the cost of the unit itself plus a small premium. Generally an assault would be launched from as close to the objective as possible, so in the case of the Dardanelles the nearby Greek island of Lemnos was the base of operations. Operation Albion, the German landing in the Baltic in 1917, was launched from Libau which was the closest friendly port. If amphibious units were to either be cheap or have a large movement range then we would probably see them used far more prolifically and also against far away objectives, and that probably wouldn't really feel right in the context of the times. Given the large coastlines that some countries have this could well distract from the overall feel of the game, especially if players are then forced to divert undue attention to guarding their coasts rather than fighting the enemy in front of them. Overall then the aim is to make it so that amphibious operations are possible but rare, just as they were during the war, and the link between range and cost is the means to achieve this. Bill

Seeing Kronstadt on the historical maps surprised me too when I was researching the game. Kronstadt was the German name for the city, but nowadays its called Braşov. It wasn't in Romania at the time, but was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. For the Austro-Hungarian Empire all the cities have been given their German names, so there are quite a lot of places that nowadays we'll know as something else.

Another way to look at it is that every force has fluctuating levels of effectiveness in real life, and if rested and not in action most forces will attain a higher front-line strength. Thus the reinforcement represents the ability to rest and regain strength. However, the unit's morale and readiness won't suddenly rocket up to high levels on it being reinforced, and these are major factors on the unit's effectiveness in action. Additionally, without a HQ they should also be pretty much dead meat if attacked by a good force. If they were to leave that resource and move elsewhere then their supply will decrease again, making them even more susceptible to destruction. Couple in the fact that any land unit destroyed with a supply value of less than 5 cannot be cheaply rebuilt, too many rash attacks like this may actually cost more for the perpetrator than for the victim.

Thanks, and don't worry, your tone shows that you aren't here to just criticise. Glad to hear that you're loving the game too!

Hi Habari It might be a good idea to play with National Morale Objectives showing. This can be done by going to Options (third button from the bottom on the right); click on the Advanced tab, and then selecting National Morale Objectives. This doesn't show the actual NM value of the resource, but it does highlight that this is a location of importance that needs to be defended from the Entente. In general, the capture of a resource highlighted as a National Morale Objective will penalize the side that has just lost this resource with a one-time penalty that will cause a noticeable hit to the relevant Major's National Morale. It may in some cases (e.g. when Paris falls) also boost the occupier's National Morale too. To move the artillery across the Suez Canal will either require the presence of the HQ, researching and upgrading the artillery with Motorization, or shipping it to somewhere like Aqaba once this has fallen. The first solution is generally the easiest, and it stems from the low mobility of heavy artillery, the poor supply in the area, and the problems of crossing a land-sea tile. You are right that the trenches show an NM value. However, the good news is that it doesn't actually affect either side's values. It stems from the tab to amend their details being shared with Fortresses, and for Fortresses the NM value will matter if they are lost. I hope this helps! Bill