lettowvorbeck

Ah, as per Bill, the first interpretation turns out to be correct. If the capital(s) is/are occupied, you just need two units (.5 * 2 = 1 or 100%) to keep the minors from surrendering.

Perhaps it is: .5 x .5 x .5 x .5 x .5 = 3% chance per turn to surrender?

From the v1.04 readme, I am not sure what this means: "WWI games will now have a Minor Country Surrender Calculation Check = 50% * number of remaining units" If I occupy all 3 Serbian capitals and they have 5 units left, what does 2.5 (.50 x 5 = 2.5) mean in terms of chance to surrender?

Thanks, Bill!

Bill, take a look at this map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Serbian_Campaign_1915.JPG If nothing else, it would help if you made the road connecting Monastir with Albania not go through neutral Greece but pass above the lake as seen in this map. The route on this map west from Skopje roughly corresponds to the path I mentioned in the earlier post as one of the primary ones used in the retreat.

Since it happened in all 3 games at nearly the same moment (around Nov 1914) it seemed scripted. I think Belgrade was occupied in all 3 but not much more of the country than that. I wouldn't consider that such a smashing success as to induce Bulgaria in at such an early stage. For v1.04, the version notes say that the pro-CP swing in Bulgarian stance with the fall of Belgrade was "adjusted" but nothing specific. Might that perhaps have been overdone?

The one I was thinking of specifically was in a library book. Maybe we can find one online.

Yes! it does

It would be nice to have a road from S. Serbia into Albania, too, that didn't go through Greek territory as that was the route they used historically to retreat to the sea.

I rather liked the old pattern of Bulgarian entry with its wide variability. With v.104, I've done 3 pbem games and all have seen a 1914 entry of Bulgaria. This strikes me as too consistently early. If this event's timeline is so advanced of history, shouldn't it be coupled with an earlier timed event for the Allies to pressure Greece into allowing Allied troops into Salonika?

Well, yes, of course the aims changed throughout the war, but I think I provided a fairly decent impression of the thinking expressed in the September Program drafted right at the beginning of the war.

I've seen several maps in various atlases that graphically depict the German war aims in terms of permanent territorial seizures on the western front. IIRC, at least initially, they included a big chunk of land to include some of the channel ports, Lux., and the industrial areas of Belgium and NE France.

Not a fan of soft builds, either.

I marvel at that, and the air fleet that occupies every square foot of Britain..LOL

I'll try to remember next time I see it.

I haven't been able to figure that out either. Another thing I've found is that some turns I can only attach 4 units to a given HQ and cannot determine a logical reason why the other nearby units that should be viable candidates are ineligible as a fifth.

For it to succeed you'd either have to knock the UK out completely (which won't happen b/c the US Navy will arrive to put an effective end to any more German naval ops plus the combined navies can them easily enforce both blockades fully as well as chase down all German subs and surface ships) or knock UK NM down so far that the enlarged German NM buffer can always keep ahead of it even in the face of US military intervention. A huge risk, but like Bill says, I love that someone tried it and am interested in seeing how it turns out.

That's a pretty big downside! Ha. I would be interested in hearing how it turns out.

Thanks, Bill.

Good question. I was also wondering about the Syrian partisan tile. When does it become "active". Once the TE player chooses to support the Arab revolt or does some other tile like Damascus or Jerusalem have to be occupied first?

I just had this happen to me in a PBEM game and was very annoyed. Initially, I assumed I did something wrong, but this confirmation clears that up.

Managing offensives is difficult enough when you have a double line of tiles to handle. You have 6+ on the Russian front...LOL.

Well, in the WW1 game (I can't speak for Gold), the last patch upped the port defense value, and I think it is finally perfect. Before, ships in port were getting destroyed with little or no damage to the bombarder. Ports are supposed to represent safe havens for ships, well defended with big guns, minefields, etc., and dangerous to attack directly.

Something I read recently finally explained to me why Belgium's force distribution was so terrible. They basically felt obligated to disperse their forces in positions roughly equidistant from the French and German borders so as not to appear favoring one side over the other. Nice political move, but not exactly a sound military setup!

v1.04 GAME ENGINE CHANGES - WWI games will now have a Minor Country Surrender Calculation Check = 50% * number of remaining units (Bill R.) - swapped units are no longer fully committed so long as their action points are > 1. A swapped unit is now reduced to 1 AP and will be able to attack or move 1 AP if it is able to (Bill R.) - fixed an 'Across River Attack' penalty formula error (Amadeus) - fixed a National Morale Objectives map display error (Dan) - fixed a unit movement error when the minor unit's parent withdraws from the war (Bill R.) - fixed an AI naval unit movement error that allowed it to move through enemy ports such as Gibraltar - fixed a research development level bug that caused the game to crash in the 'handle_end_turn' phase (lottowvorbeck) - fixed an AI naval combat error that produced very long 'thinking' phases for when the game is played without FoW - fixed an animate replay error that caused the game to crash during E-mail replay sequences (Falk, Sami) - fixed a FoW error during AI turns when completely zooming out the map (ascrab) - fixed a SUPPLY values display error when zoomed out one level (Winti) - fixed a Partisan display error when zoomed out one level as they were not showing (Winti, Bill R.) - fixed several swap unit errors (Bill R.) - improved map text rendering speed and added the options to disable map text and national morale bar display - retreating units will now also attempt to retreat to the better supply position (Big Al) - operational movement highlights will now also highlight underneath existing units to indicate that these positions would be reachable if the existing unit were to subsequently move (Sharkman) - free units can now be upgraded by their new parent country if applicable (Bill R.) - minimum research breakthrough threshold now increased from 25 to 30% (Bill R.) - fixed a unit medals experience display error for minor nations (Cantona66) EDITOR CHANGES All campaigns - River crossing combat penalty reduced from 50 to 35%. All Main Campaigns - Decision Event added for Germany to send supplies by Airship to East Africa in 1917. If successful, they will receive a morale boost. - Scripts added for Spanish Partisans. - Decision event fixed that was incorrectly charging Germany 25MPPs. - Greek unit scripts amended (Glabro). - Spanish military potential increased (Glabro). - Germany now gains 30 National Morale points per turn if Holland is pro-Central Powers but neutral. - The chance of the US getting annoyed by the Entente's blockade of Germany has been increased and can now be triggered by the Distant and Northern Blockades separately (Ludi1867). - NM bonus to Germany increased for using unrestricted naval warfare from 50 to 75 NM points per turn per sea area (Dan Fenton). - National Morale penalty to the UK of Germany using unrestricted naval warfare increased from 25 to 75 NM points per trigger point per turn (Dan Fenton). - Attack value of Arab Partisans increased. - The town of Hail has been added to the north east of Medina. - Mountain Defense Bonus decreased from +3 to +2 (Glabro). - Arab Partisans adjacent to Medina and Aqaba now have a 50% chance per turn of disrupting Ottoman supply in their respective locations. (Rabelesius). - National Morale penalty introduced for Germany if Holland joins the Central Powers (Habari). - Introduced a penalty to Austro-Hungarian National Morale if Trieste is captured (Kommandant). - The National Morale boost to Russia when the first revolution occurs has been increased from 1,500 to 2,000, with a similar boost if France is still in the war (Rabelesius). - Germany's National Morale boost from the Ukrainian Grain supplies increased from 100 to 150 per turn. - Operational Movement and Forced March morale loss now increased from 25-40% to 50-65% (Iron Ranger) - National Morale value of Cairo increased from 2,000 to 4,000. - Road added between Oltu and Sarikamish in the Caucasus (Kommandant). - Road added near Mount Ararat in the Caucasus. - Failure to keep four German units within five tiles of Warsaw after the Russians have pulled out of the war will trigger the Ukraine to move 15% towards the Entente per turn. If the Ukraine attains a pro-Entente leaning then all Grain Imports to Germany will cease. This will mean that Germany will no longer benefit from the economic and morale boosts that the Ukrainian grain provides. - Pop Up added to advise the Central Powers player of the importance of the Ukrainian Grain Supplies. - The Zimmerman Telegram decision will now only occur when the USA is at 75% mobilization, and the AI will only send it 50% of the time. - Naval Loop added to remove Russian ships from the Baltic when they pull out of the war. They will now be moved to the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland, and returned there if they are moved out of that area. - Unit morale loss or bonus on surrender reduced to 5-10%, and on liberation to 10-15% (IronRanger, Glabro). - Victory Conditions corrected (Syagrius). (Decisions 932, 934, 944 and their respective Victory scripts have been removed, and 31, 32, 34, 41, 42, 44, 931, 941 and 942 amended). - NM boosts will now no longer charge MPPs when their Major has pulled out of the war (Habari). - MPP income for Romania and Serbia increased from 10 to 25MPPs per turn if Russia has pulled out of the war. - Coastline in the Gulf of Iskenderun modified and the river Goksu Nehri lengthened slightly. - Half strength Iskenderun Detachment deployed at Adana - Ottoman Detachment build limit increased by 2. 1914 Call to Arms and Triple Alliance - Starting strength and Ground Cover values for both Belgian Corps increased. - Montenegrin starting strength reduced slightly (Ivanov). - Bulgarian mobilization dependent on Belgrade having fallen adjusted (Ivanov). - Decision Event added for the UK so that if they deploy Maude in Basra then they will have the opportunity to provide him with a half strength artillery unit at a cost of 200 MPPs (Rabelesius, Kommandant). - Romanian armed forces increased by giving them 1 extra Infantry and 1 extra Cavalry Corps (Rabelesius, IronRanger). - Starting experience of deployed Austro-Hungarian Infantry Corps facing the Russians reduced from 0.8 to 0.5. - Basic Port Defense increased from 0 to 2 (Ludi1867). - Trigger location for the sinking of the Lusitania amended (Glabro). 1917 Fate of Nations: - Admiral Scheer's name added to the German Unrestricted Pop Up. - Starting strength of the French Tank unit reduced from 10 to 5. - Starting strength of the II ANZAC and Canadian Corps reduced from 11 to 10. - Starting experience of the II Bavarian Corps in Flanders increased from 0.5 to 1. - Starting shells of British artillery in Flanders reduced to 1, and their starting strength reduced from 10 to 8. - Starting experience of all Entente artillery on the Western Front reduced to 0, as well as the experience of some British and French units. - The French artillery near the Chemin des Dames now starts with no upgrades. - France now starts with only level 1 in Gas/Shell Production, though they do have a chit invested in researching it. - Germany now starts with Level-5 Trench Warfare. - Russia will receive National Morale boosts by liberating Warsaw, Brest-Litovsk, Kovno, Vilna and Lodz. - Bolshevik agitation is now conditional on the Central Powers holding Warsaw (Ivanov). 1914 Call to Arms Strategy Guide - Call to Arms Strategy Guide corrected to reflect the continuation of Bolshevik agitation irrespective of whether or not the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is signed (Rabelesius). 1914 Race to the Sea - Unit script error corrected. Mini-Campaigns - Objective markers added. - Forced March morale loss increased to 50-65%. - Air attack values for land units increased. - 1914 Race to the Sea - Bruges added as a second German capital. - 1915 Gallipoli - Naval Mines added. - 1917 Cambrai - German starting MPPs and Industrial Modified increased. - 1918 Megiddo - German and Ottoman starting MPPs and Industrial Modified increased. - 1917 Gaza-Beersheba - German and Ottoman starting MPPs and Industrial Modified increased. - 1918 Kaiserschlacht - British and French Industrial Modifiers increased by 10%. - 1918 Georgette - Belgian capital changed from Nieuport to Ypres. 1939 Storm Over Europe: - Added 1 UK mine at 197,47. - Decreased initial German IM from 80% to 75% to match the UK. - Added 2 mines to the USSR in the Urals that are not tied to the Industrial Transfer event. - Added an additional 2 mines to the USSR that are tied to the Industrial Transfer event - Added a 750 MPP boost for the USSR once it reaches 100% mobilization. - Increased initial US Industrial Technology to Level 1. - Placed 1 chit in Advanced Aircraft, Heavy Bombers, Long Range Aircraft and Naval Warfare. - Added 2 more Oil resources that will activate once the USA mobilizes for war. - Added an additional 2 more mines to the US that are not tied to the USA mobilization event. - Reduced US research costs by 50 MPP across the board. - Increased the cost of Tanks, Fighters, Tacs and Bombers by 50 MPP for all countries with the exception of the USSR. - Increase Anti-Tank TA/TD from 3/3 to 4/4. - Removed 9 PARTISAN event positions for the USSR, all supply effect positions only and for towns not connected by rail. - fixed a DE 301 UNIT script error regarding the deployment of the Canadian Bomber (Ivanov) - Italy will now automatically be at war with Poland, once Poland surrenders, enabling combat between free Polish and Italian units (Happycat) - Operational Movement morale loss now increased from 25-40% to 50-65% (Iron Ranger) - LOOP events for USA to Europe now reduced from 4 turns to 2 and USA to the Middle East reduced from 6 turns to 4. - action points increased by 4 for Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers, Subs and Carriers (Desert Dave) - action points increased by 1 for Transports from 24 to 25. - Siberian UNIT transfer position changed from Sverdlovsk to Kazan. - French Foreign Legion UNIT event now occurs when DE 100 is no. - Italian Forces Break Out Of East Africa To Serve In Egypt UNIT event is now linked to DE 112 and when it is no. - Tactical Bombers and Bombers now correctly have their proper Naval Attack values set (Big Al) - Cairo added as a NATIONAL MORALE objective position (Bill R.) - disabled DE 116 as both 116 and 117 may fire if a player is active with DIPLOMACY regarding Portugal (Bill R., Gunnar) - US Infrastructure research now starts with 2 chits (Gunnar) - Allied player is now warned each turn they abandon one of the critical Mediterranean city positions (Bill R.) - SUPPLY events linked to DE 613 now properly linked to DE 113 (Winti) - SUPPLY events linked to Axis US East Coast raids now properly target US resources as opposed to Canadian ones (Winti) - UK DECISION event to transfer capital to Canada or Australia now has Ottawa as a #FRIENDLY_POSITION (Winti)