Potzblitz V25.0 OCT 18th 2024

[hnox]

Thanks. So many ports now. Sure will make new local situations.

[imp44791]

Hm, I think we have now overcompensated with port hexes. The Austrian should be able to roam within the Adriatic within reason. A naval base at Ancona (though the port itself was and remains important) will prevent historical actions like, well, the bombardment of Ancona! Same thing holds for the South. It's nice to see Brindisi, but in itself it should be enough. Yes, Bari also could (and did, but I don't have the documentation handy) serve, but one port hex between the two is sufficient to represent the bases for the barrage.

Too many ports in the Adriatic also diminishes the importance of Taranto, which should remain the main base.

I think that one port on the heel of Italy plus Taranto represents the Italian dilemma perfectly: they can bottle up the Austrians with a distant blockade, but if the Austrians sortie then the Italians have to rush all the way up the Adriatic coast to catch them. Try a close blockade and they will have to shuttle ships up and down the coast for endurance purposes. It's a perfect simulation of the real war. But the Italians should have a couple of subs (really, a simulation of the MAS boats) to compensate.

I love the new placing of Verona and Bologna, and now the Italian front looks nicely congested as it should be.

[hnox]

Hm, I think we have now overcompensated with port hexes. The Austrian should be able to roam within the Adriatic within reason.

I agree with that.

Just to focus: my inital asking was about the Italian front easily overran because the attrition from sea, with no balance for the opposite: the Italian is unable to overrun Trieste using the same tactic.

To avoid overporting that sea, I see some options:

1. Make Venice coastal fortress. That means a new kind of terrain: normal from land, fortress against sea. Reflect this with a different terrain icon (unidirectional fortress). The Italian still struggles to keep the first hex, so there is a chance for Austria.
2. Make Ancona port, and forget about Bari and Brindisi. The Adriatic remains an AH lake.
3. Make diferent port levels. A normal civilian port is not a strong naval base. So, for example, ports give a lower proximity combat bonus, a discount upkeep for naval units instead of free upkeep, and naval units need 2 turns for a full endurance refill. Staying a single turn only gives half endurance.

Number 1 is my prefered: simple, very local. Number 2 could work, but seems ahistorical. Number 3 can be tricky to understand for new players and enters a new game concept, so I'm not sure if it is worth the pain even if I like it.

[Robotron]

I'll remove the port at Bari. Ancona and Brindisi will remain.
This way the Austrian navy will think twice about bombarding anything, including Venice, having 25% less units (removal of Armoured Cruiser as per suggestion from imp44791) and Italian ports now in closer vicinity.

[Unwichtig]

Good evening,

Happy with the many many changes. Actually I lost a bit track of how many things have been discussed, must be hell of work to implement all. Next big update looks massive I guess.

Anyway I am very happy with the many adjustments made for Italy. It all sounds very promising making the game even better.
I am only a little worried that the Austrian navy will have a much harder time now.
Italy has 2 additional ports in the Adriatic, the choke points seems to be even easier to block as a port blocks half the entrance, Austria lost an armoured cruiser and surprise attacks on italy won't work anymore with the better Italian troop layout now etc. That is all definitely much more realistic, makes sense and I think it will change the game a lot and make it less gamey.

On the other hand I am a little worried that adventurous outbreaks of the Austrian navy (unrealistic, but great fun) have come to an end now. It will be very hard now to Escort the goeben to the black sea against an experienced French player. The larger French navy just blocks Messina and the strait of sicily and the goeben is trapped in the western med. I can't remember how many times I fought him out of the western med trap using the Austrian navy incl. The armoured cruiser. This allowed me to send it to black sea. Will be harder now. But okay I ll try. In addition, If the German BC is send to the Adriatic sea Austria has a shortage of ports for all naval units. No problem in the past... Italian navy was far away and exhausted when arriving in the Adriatic. Rotating ships in Port and out of port was no problem. Now Italy will see every Austrian naval move and with so many ports in Adria Italy will sink every AH ship once it's out of port with no risk. It sounds ah has a tough time now.

But anyway it needs to be played out first. Maybe it all perfect now. Definitely more realistic and maybe my concerns are not valid at all. Can't wait to test it out.

Just one for the back pocket (not urgent, but I though it's a nice a-historical touch that is not entirely unrealistic). Could be added just in case my concerns are true. Especially as Germany already has a very similar choice event for the goeben. There is an easy option for AH as well.

Since the Austrian navy has lost an armoured cruiser now, I found one that was stuck in the Germany colony of tsingtao. Not kidding... The AH navy Cruiser SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth was on its duty and voyage to tsingtao when the war broke out.

It had bacically three choices:
1. Join the Germany east Asian squadron on its way through the pacific and fight under command of Graf spee
2. Stay in tsingtao and help defending the colony of the Germany allies against Japanese invasion
3. Sneak back through the Indian Ocean / south Africa towards the med and conduct similar actions like the SMS Emden, I. E. a raiding campaign against uk shipping whilst evading, thereby distracting the royal Navy

Option 1 was not considered as the the AH ship was too slow and could not keep up pace with the evading graf Spee.

Option 2 was actually done which I find incredible. I did not know that but the ah ship helped defending the German colony until they ran out of ammunition.

Option 3 sounds interesting and could be an option to have another ah cruiser entering the med via Gibraltar one year after this was chosen.
This sounds unrealistic, but it would at least add an extra (damaged) cruise to ah that could enter (Spanish?) ports or bombard Gibraltar. Both options sound nice if we consider the many spanish events we discussed in the past. Suddenly an extra ah cruiser joining from the Atlantic would be very useful - if it's used to make Spain join CP quicker or she'll Gibraltar etc.

So basically I am talking about a choice event for AH what to do with the detached cruiser. If Austria rejects defending tsingtao, Japan could take it faster etc.

My thoughts are not very accurate yet I just thought this has some interesting potential.
Just for the back pocket if required.

https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Kaiserin_Elisabeth

Habe a nice evening.

[trulster]

Since the Austrian navy has lost an armoured cruiser now, I found one that was stuck in the Germany colony of tsingtao. Not kidding... The AH navy Cruiser SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth was on its duty and voyage to tsingtao when the war broke out.

It had bacically three choices:
1. Join the Germany east Asian squadron on its way through the pacific and fight under command of Graf spee
2. Stay in tsingtao and help defending the colony of the Germany allies against Japanese invasion
3. Sneak back through the Indian Ocean / south Africa towards the med and conduct similar actions like the SMS Emden, I. E. a raiding campaign against uk shipping whilst evading, thereby distracting the royal Navy

A bit off-topic, but you might be interested to know that a new board game covers these obscure WW1 in Pacific events, including the merchant raiding.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/326 ... re-sunrise

[Unwichtig]

A bit off-topic, but you might be interested to know that a new board game covers these obscure WW1 in Pacific events, including the merchant raiding.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/326 ... re-sunrise

Wow thanks. Great recommendation. I love boardgames like that and I will definately try it out.
Just read the review and it looks very promising to me.
Such a niche game... I never thought someone would produce that kind of boardgame. Will be hard finding an opponent for this. I ll try.
Back to topic now.

[trulster]

Fair warning though that it is very asymmetrical which is not for everyone, Germans are destined to lose, the question is just how much damage you can inflict.

[Robotron]

I've just finished the scripts for all the new stuff and begun testing the new version. About 99% of all proposed stuff is included.
Not included: "Sixtus Affair": too severe (Austria leaving the war) and "Kaiserin Elisabeth cruiser": too insignificant

Venice got its port hex after all, all other Italian Adriatic port hexes were removed again.

One of the French armoured cruisers will now start at Sardinia to counter the reduction of the Austrian fleet in respect to concerns about the inability to help the Goeben breaking through.

Added the following events (only titles, too lazy to describe all the stuff in detail now)

"German War raw supply department", "Semirechye Revolt", "German submarines enter Cadiz", "For the Fatherland!", "Q-Ships", "Daddy, what did YOU do in the war?", "Graf Luckner Commerce Raider", "Field Post Services", "War widows", "Defuse the Irish Question", "Blame the Central Powers", "Langemarck", "Paper War", "European War Office", "Shelling of Gibraltar"

Added cities:
Verona, Brindisi, Scutari

Gameplay changes, bugfixes and balancing:

I.) German morale drain for Russian troops in East Prussia until Tannenberg triggered is halved

II.) as an alternative to fighting the Tannenberg battle, the retreat of Prittwitz beyond the Vistula now causes less morale drain but 1 collapse point and unlocks Hindenburg.
Losing Königsberg or Lötzen after the retreat no longer causes morale loss or collapse points.

III.) event for Romania joining the Centrals will be more difficult to unlock, also Romania will be scared away from Centrals if Russia thrashes Austria too hard

IV.) if Romania joins the Centrals in singleplayer vs Entente, 2 Russian army corps will spawn at the Russo-Romanian border

V.) Entente ships creeping up too close to German ports in the North Sea are subjected to torpedo-boat raids

VI.) Submarines uncovered by moving friendly ships into the submarine's hex can be attacked by other friendly ships too. Same for submarines attacking enemy vessels, but needs to be confirmed in multiplayer.

VII.) raised anti-sub stats for all naval units except convoys and transports

VIII.) set shock stats for submarines to 0

IX.) France, Britain, Russia and Italy have a submarine building limit of 1, though Russia won't start with a sub.
AH can build 1 sub for each 2 researched sub techs. Germany can build 2 subs per tech.

X.) removed 1 German sub at start

XI.) lowered the chance for Germany suffering from Food Crisis when NOT being blockaded

XII.) armoured cruisers are a bit slower

XIII.) presence of Austrian heavy units near the Austro-Italian border will provoke Italy in order to make CP surprise attacks on an Entente-aligned Italy more difficult. Also redeployment of Italian troops.

XIV.) "Tirpitz Plan" event: BC or BB more expensive (15/25 PP)

XV.) artillery techs reduced in strength and ground defense techs (barbed wire, pillboxes, concrete dugouts) strength raised

XVI.) combat boni for experience ranks reduced

XVII.) fixed weird re-allocation of a surrendering nation's hexes in friendly or enemy territory suddenly becoming neutral

XVIII.) re-wrote the combat result preview to include more modifiers to reduce the chance for severe occurrences of wtf

XIX.) in singleplayer mode vs Entente AI, France will gain 1 reserve corps and the Paris army corps will start at full strength

XX.) new sights and sounds

I'll upload the new version within the next few days.

[Unwichtig]

Incredible update. Lots of new stuff and ever improving changes.
Amazing work, it looks like you followed every single discussion in detail that we all had during the last few weeks since V12 came out and took all the feed back into account -
Now THATs what I call good 'support' for the fan base. Game gets more and more interesting.

Must be hard to 'filter' comments from 10 different people and merge them into one product that pleases everybody in terms of balancing 'realism' versus 'gamism'.
It's easy to suggest new stuff, much harder to make it happen. Looks like you nailed it.
Thank you.

[trulster]

Amazing effort!

[imp44791]

Fantastic list. This is already an amazing achievement and it looks like it's getting even better. I'm looking forward to giving this a go.

Small question: I see you put the balancing troops for the Russians vs Romania in case of CP entry for the latter. Did you consider doing the same for the Caucasus on Ottoman entry? Current Russian forces there are insignificant. In reality they had as I remember two full corps there even after mobilised reserves for the Caucasus were rerouted to Poland. I don't think there is a need for an event, just more troops down there. As it is, the Ottomans are much stronger, especially vs the AI.

Anyway, as I said, this already is amazing and looking to get even more amazing.

[uzbek2012]

Will there be any mention of Chinese workers ?

Chinese Labor Corps workers wash a Mark V tank in the Tank Corps workshops, Erin, France, February 1918. Photo: Tank Museum
https://zen.yandex.ru/media/mlozha/kak- ... 4111febf4a

China and the Russian Civil War
https://en.topwar.ru/115976-kitay-i-gra ... ossii.html


1918. Разборка подбитого танка Марк IV на запчасти
China in the First World War
http://war-only.com/kitaj-v-pervoj-mirovoj.html

[Robotron]

Will there be any mention of Chinese workers ?

Now that you mentioned it: yes, as a last-minute addition.

@imp: added Russian army corps at Sarikamish. Of course that means that taking Sarikamish is now almost impossible for the Turks.

I'll upload the mod this evening.

[Robotron]

(...)

[imp44791]

Will there be any mention of Chinese workers ?

Now that you mentioned it: yes, as a last-minute addition.

@imp: added Russian army corps at Sarikamish. Of course that means that taking Sarikamish is now almost impossible for the Turks.

I'll upload the mod this evening.

Well, it was impossible in real life!

If a player wants to divert resources (newly raised corps/artillery) to take it, he should be able to do it. But he's going to miss these troops in Suez/Mesopotamia/Gallipoli. As he should - hard choices! If he attacks everywhere he will be beaten back everywhere. As he should. It's WW1.

Thanks for doing this, and everything else. Will take the new version for a spin tonight, as CP.

[nehi]

as sarikamish is solved

i have to mention, that suez is in like 4 out of 5 games very similar easy to take issue

i was usually facing just 2 home guards before i blocked suez, first one used like elevator in opening turn to move nearby port said/ismailia, which doesnt allow ai to spawn new units close enough to hold port said in next turn (turns)

i suggest to forget about home guards and spawn there at least reserve corps in opening turn

[imp44791]

Agree on Suez.

Very quick first impressions. Historical Schlieffen but with extra troops rushed East. Something is weird with the initial Russian attack. I understood from the list of changes that it was meant to be scaled down in strength. As it is, it looks insanely overpowered. Every single attack, including by reserve corps bludgeoned my units back with massive losses, including active corps and including entrenched units.

The weirdest results:

Russian cavalry corps against entrenched strength 10 German active corps : 8:0 losses and push back.
Russian strength 9 reserve corps vs entrenched strength 10 reserve corps: 7:2 losses and push back.
Russian train vs entrenched reserve corps: 10 (!):2 losses.

Austria had pulled back to the hills so there was no battle on this round, but I stopped the game on the spot as it's ahistorical. I'll switch to the Entente to see whether it's only an AI thing.

[Robotron]

I stopped the game on the spot as it's ahistorical.

It would have been more helpful if you'd uploaded the autosave_endturn so I could have a look at the issue since I did not encounter such results in my testgames.

Also if you are afraid of ahistorical results then maybe this mod is not for you.

[imp44791]

Here you go. I tried a different save just in case. Same result: the bit where the train knocks an entrenched active Austrian corps out of Lemberg is especially noteworthy. Some knockbacks of active corps in this save are for unentrenched units, but it still looks over-the-top.