lettowvorbeck

This is good to hear, Bill. It is less interesting and fun to play with tech luck as a prime factor in victory or defeat, but, on the other hand, variability is important for replay value.

I really thought this thing was going to be released this week.

aesopo, I thought the players mentioned a ways back that both of those things (steeper ramping up of production/mobilization) did occur.

Are any units kept aside as garrisons when the armies teleport back to their homeland after the Russians are knocked out of the war? I don't recall how many divisions Germany left in the east, but it was a lot.

I hope this thing is released this week.

I didn't know you could examine your opponent's spending with FOW on. Good to know! I don't think they should be viewable either.

It will be interesting to witness how the western campaign goes. Games seem to always design France to fall fast (a very dubious assumption) and I am looking forward to seeing how the designers handled it here.

That's pretty close!

Does anyone else think the middle zoom level provides the most enjoyable play? I wish the replays would not automatically switch to the closest-in zoom. Another thing I wish the middle level had was the retention of the labeled features that exist only for historical flavor. For instance, the city of Pinsk is placed on the map but has no effect on the game. But, like all the little white outlined map locations and labels, it disappears from player view on the middle zoom level. I'm not sure why this occurs, as I don't think there are enough of these to cause a crowding effect.

From a cursory Google search, it doesn't appear the SC series has a tradition of user graphics mods similar to say TOAW. I am well satisfied with the appearance of the game overall (except for the giant cities and towns) but I would love to see some jazzed up unit counters. For instance, the various surface ship naval counters carry the same ship profile for the Dreadnought, cruiser, and the destroyer. Obviously, the vast preponderance of the effort went into the sprites, but I just "see the board" far far better with counters. Unfortunately, I have no artistic skills in this department.

Has anyone actually captured Paris in 1914 using the retail version of the game (not the playtest betas)? One thing needed by the Germans is the extreme luck of having clear weather for the entire string of early turns. My first pbem opponent had this bit of good fortune. When I play I always get mud bogging everything down after the first turn..LOL.

There is much to be gained from an immediate Russian attack in lower Galicia. I would think most Entente players would at least do that.

Bill, It's funny how the 1914 ending battle lines along the Western Front are almost exactly the same in every AAR and in my own game. But I think it is unavoidable given the historical setup and the perfect hindsight knowledge of all the players.

I noticed on the German AAR that the Entente player had his ships on Raider mode when occupying the blockade tiles. This isn't necessary for inflicting the NM loss the tile confers, is it? I thought raider mode was only needed for surface ships on convoy lines.

You have 17 children and you're worried about a game patch? Ha

Great! I was hoping the two would be paired.

Seems like Battlefront jumped the gun a bit in "announcing" this scenario. We of course already knew it was coming but I would have thought they would have made the announcement when release was imminent instead of 6+ weeks away and counting.

Interesting. Perhaps a kind of home front investment so you can pay off the civilian population a bit to buck up their support (like the British govt did by agreeing to the demands of striking workers instead of taking a hard line)?

Thanks, Bill. I've always wondered if leaving the Turkish detach. in Van is worth keeping the non-unit uprising there in check. One thing I also wanted to know was if a British detachment will auto-spawn in London if a German amphib unit approaches. I was always uncomfortable leaving the city ungarrisoned in my pbem game.

From the "Call to Arms" scenario pbem AARs, it looks like the unopposed blockade very quickly racks up a devastating effect on German NM (too much so??... I don't know) but no effect on MMPs. How about lowering the NM value of these tiles slightly, but also assign an MMP penalty to these tiles to represent the material pinch that the blockade will also incur?

As far as I can tell, in the Call to Arms scenario, partisans appearing as actual units on the map are limited to Libya, the Lawrence/Arab uprising, and Serbia. Is this correct?

Hmmm... very tantalizing.

Bill, Were you and Dan testing out any other new features beside the forced march ability? Drew

Thanks, Bill!

Bill, What are the NM values of the blockade tiles for the near and far lines? If I recall correctly, the manual just mentions that the near line tiles lower German NM more. Thanks.