A very strange game!

[stockwellpete]

I have just completed my first effort as the Entente powers on "balanced" in single player. It was extremely odd to say the least. Towards the end of 1917 I was well on top. Serbia had survived right through the war; Turkey was being defeated on two fronts by the British and the Russians; and my western army had broken the German line and British infantry and tanks were poised to attack Hanover, next stop Berlin. The only problem I had was that Britain's morale was down at 15% or so. Everyone else's was fine in the 60 and 70% range.

Then British troops suffered some serious damage from German artillery and the tanks were isolated and destroyed over a couple of turns. Britain surrendered!! Even though those losses had not really halted the Entente's drive to Berlin. The Germans were well-beaten really. Then, the Russians, who were winning in Turkey and holding the Eastern front quite comfortably, had the October revolution (in January 1918) and they too surrendered!! So the Turks, as well as the Germans, who were both on the road to defeat, were reprieved. The Turks actually had no-one left to fight and a soldier was heard to say, "Praise be to Allah for it is a miracle!" So I struggled on and the Germans and Turks started to recover and then the French mutinies occurred! Romania was defeated and I eventually achieved a "significant defeat" with only France, Italy, Serbia and Portugal still fighting.

I have a number of observations here . . .

i) I don't think the British would have surrendered in those circumstances when the war was actually going to be won. The Germans were in complete disarray in the West. Maybe there would have been a negotiated settlement to the war as both sides had taken really heavy punishment. Maybe the "rout levels" of each army (in terms of manpower losses) need to be linked to each other so countries can go that "extra mile" for victory?

ii) The Russians were also winning their part of the war too so I don't think the Bolshevik Revolution would have happened then. Maybe the "February 1917" revolution would have, but then Russia would have stayed in the war. Is the February revolution in the game. If not, could it be?

iii) The French mutinies were plausible upto a point in this situation but the French were really battering the Germans so maybe they would not have happened (I am not sure how long the effects of these mutinies last in the game either).

In other words, "I wuz robbed!!"

Then there were some other oddities that may need checking out . . .

a) after Britain surrendered Belgium became independent

b) the hex directly below Strassberg also seemed to have declared independence as I could not enter it

c) I was unable to deploy a unit for the Arabian army after Britain surrendered even though Arabia had expanded its territory and Medina was safe

d) the Turkish army was still wearing blue uniforms in 1918 so they probably had not purchaed an infantry lab (ahistorical, I would say as Turkey was ruled by modernisers)

e) the German unit behind Russian lines in Minsk when Russia surrendered either disappeared or remained stuck there. FOW prevented me knowing for sure.

[Umeu]

lol you how could you be winning and let british moral go down to 15% you mustve had a major deficit and not built up any reserves from convoys.

and 60-70% is quite low on moral actually you shouldnt really let it go below 80 or you are playing with fire.

[stockwellpete]

lol you how could you be winning and let british moral go down to 15% you mustve had a major deficit and not built up any reserves from convoys.

It was that Haig chappie - he kept on insisting that we attack!!

and 60-70% is quite low on moral actually you shouldnt really let it go below 80 or you are playing with fire.

There was not a lot I could do about it really. The Russians, Italians, French and British were all advancing and taking cities. The Central Powers were broken by autumn 1917 so I just kept going.

[Myrddraal]

Must have been quite an ... interesting ... game. I can imagine you banging your fists and coffee cups flying

As to how this could have happened, if you were taking cities, there are two things that can explain your lack of morale:

a) Deficit. If you're making a loss every turn and don't have the production reserves to support your armies, their morale will quickly deteriorate. It doesn't matter if Berlin is just over the next hill, the British troops won't keep fighting if they've been starved for months.
b) Casualties. Again, it doesn't matter if Berlin is over the next hill if taking it means walking slowly into the next line of machine guns. If you consistently attack against the odds, morale will fall through the floor.

About your other points:
The Turkish AI should have bought a lab... do you happen to have a savegame from this game I can check out?
Units trapped without supply when a nation surrenders are 'repatriated' to that nation's production queue. They can then later be redeployed like a new unit.

[stockwellpete]

The Turkish AI should have bought a lab... do you happen to have a savegame from this game I can check out?.

I have a save game that shows Turkish forces in blue uniforms outside Nis in 1918. But I cannot find the save game file in the "Commander" folder. Where would it be please?

[Myrddraal]

It should be in your documents folder, under a sub-folder for Commander (under My Games I think).