Potzblitz V25.0 OCT 18th 2024

[nehi]

@nehi: Well, it's a slight gamble. Now that I pretty much spoilered the event for you I'm sure you will make the right decision in the future.

so far i sunk both goebens i met in mp, if i imagine someone will manage to pass through and then will be forced to go back...

[Robotron]

@nehi: ARGH!!! Why didn't you say so in the first place you met TWO Goebens in the same game??????

[nehi]

@nehi: ARGH!!! Why didn't you say so in the first place you met TWO Goebens in the same game??????

because it wasnt in same game

no one out of 2 reached dardanelles
(but now i remember, argentum could make it, but he went back in hopeless try to save austrian battleship - but there is no way back, thats what im talking about)

in my cp games once i have to repair it in austrian port, it was heavily damaged (it was easier cause of ruprecht, with aditional british old dread it would be doomed), then it crashed when i was trying to sneak out of adriatic

second one i dont remember, i guess argentum let it pass, it spawned closer than usually, but game crashed soon during race to the sea, before i reached dardanelles

[Robotron]

I'll upload V4.80 at about 10PM MET.
If you have anything to add, do it now.

Changes:

- tried another last desperate approach to fix the replay crash bug in Zombo's & nehi's MP game but I really think the bug is a consequence of all the script changes that got applied during the current game. Maybe the game is executing a call to a part of the script that just isn't compatible anymore. If the replay still won't work, please start a new game.
- fixed the date hiccup from turn 24 to 25 with 2 turns of September in a row (might have been another cause for the replay bug, who knows)
- slightly reduced damage from mines
- every Russian units in East Prussia has a 66% chance to generate 1 extra diplo point (each unit is tested separately) for Entente before Tannenberg, 33% chance after Tannenberg. No more bonus diplo points after all Russians are repelled from German territory
- Russian steamroller in SP toned down
- removed 1 French submarine (the western one near Gibraltar)
- Dreads now have 11 MP (movement points), Pre-dreads have 10, Armoured Cruisers have 13, Light Cruisers and Battle Cruisers 14 and subs 12.
- 50% chance for Goeben to spawn with "veteran" rank, else "trained" rank
- "DENOUNCE" success chance raised according to number of diplo points invested, might destroy enemy diplo points
- "DESTABILIZE" now displays proper success rate
- fixed all reported bugs from SP games

[jkehoe]

hello robotron:)

interesting game, belgium neutral but switzerland not:) britain declared in april 15 so all strange and interesting! as usual the SS arab irregulars are doing a blitzkrieg in egypt but my crash is when i try to torpedo a german battleship just off konigsberg with a russian submarine or a cny combination of available russian ships? thanks in advance, john

[Robotron]

Also fixed.

arab irregulars are doing a blitzkrieg in egypt

That's strange since arab units have lower combat values than their european counterparts.

[Robotron]

ScriptFix V4.80
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0N7V ... nd5ZEJycm8

- tried another last desperate approach to fix the replay crash bug in Zombo's & nehi's MP game but I really think the bug is a consequence of all the script changes that got applied during the current game. Maybe the game is executing a call to a part of the script that just isn't compatible anymore. If the replay still won't work, please start a new game.
- fixed the date hiccup from turn 24 to 25 with 2 turns of September in a row (might have been another possible cause for the replay bug, who knows)
- slightly reduced damage from mines
- every Russian units in East Prussia has a 66% chance to generate 1 extra diplo point (each unit is tested separately) for Entente before Tannenberg, 33% chance after Tannenberg. No more bonus diplo points after all Russians are repelled from German territory
- Russian steamroller in SP toned down
- Dreads now have 11 MP (movement points), Pre-dreads have 10, Armoured Cruisers have 13, Light Cruisers and Battle Cruisers 14 and subs 12.
- 50% chance for Goeben to spawn with "veteran" rank, else "trained" rank
- "DENOUNCE" success chance raised according to number of diplo points invested, might destroy enemy diplo points
- "DESTABILIZE" now displays proper success rate
- fixed all reported bugs from SP games

[Zombo]

Game still crashes, as expected, (too bad I can't surrender, then)

every Russian units in East Prussia has a 66% chance to generate 1 extra diplo point (each unit is tested separately) for Entente before Tannenberg, 33% chance after Tannenberg. No more bonus diplo points after all Russians are repelled from German territory

Good idea. what about removing diplo points for hexes in France not held by Germany? This would make the Alsace-Lorraine sitzkrieg less attractive for the German (currently, imho, the optimal posture).

But now that I think of it, "diplo" points are used for a variety of totally not diplomatic things, so probably the global strategic posture of the country should neither help nor hinder purchase of most events. Maybe there should be a "diplo" multiplier, based on enemy hexes held, etc, that would increase or decrease chances of success for diplomacy or diplomatic events

How about slightly reducing chances of actually hitting a mine too?

What do you make out of the Goeben starting in Pola historically?

[Robotron]

@Zombo: did you read my post from earlier this day?

@Zombo & jkehoe:
chances to run into mines and the amount of damaged can be reduced by providing escorts like light cruisers, fighters and zeppelins.

If the target square is within the LOS of said units then both chance and damage for sea mines will be halved for each unit providing escort.

Alternatively commanders assigned to capital ships will drastically reduce the chance even further.

If the North Sea Blockade is in effect the chance will be further reduced.

The basic % chance will usually in the 5 to 10 % range and will be halved if a sea mine event was already triggered the same turn.
I will lower the damage somewhat but during playtesting I found that even 2 escorts (or 1 escort with upgrade: Light cruiser with passive hydrophone or Zeppelin with observation car) usually reduce the chance to about 2,5% and the damage done to nil.

@Zombo about historical Goeben: to my knowledge the Goeben tried to bombard Algerian ports when war broke out between France and Germany and so the point where it spawns (or better where it becomes active) seems to be quite correct, at least to me.

Concerning Sitzkrieg being the optimal solution: consider that since you started your games quite a lot has changed:
- the new war plan Rupprecht has a new setup: 3 Reserve Corps got removed and you only get a compensation of about 30 PP on average while the new Russian setup has been strengthened with max entrenchment in all cities around Warsaw, 2 Reserve Corps and an extra armoured train.
- You suffer one extra collapse point for not achieving anything in France and an extra hit of morale which might not be enough anymore to net you the bonuses from the "annual morale report" event should you fail against the new Russian setup.
- you forfeit the chance to get Antwerp or maybe even Calais as important submarine bases, reducing maximum range for anti-convoy operations and making you more vulnerable to sea mines.
- the usual Moltke-advance in France generates quite a lot of bonus diplo points per turn for CP.

[nehi]

every Russian units in East Prussia has a 66% chance to generate 1 extra diplo point (each unit is tested separately) for Entente before Tannenberg, 33% chance after Tannenberg. No more bonus diplo points after all Russians are repelled from German territory

Good idea. what about removing diplo points for hexes in France not held by Germany? This would make the Alsace-Lorraine sitzkrieg less attractive for the German (currently, imho, the optimal posture).

But now that I think of it, "diplo" points are used for a variety of totally not diplomatic things, so probably the global strategic posture of the country should neither help nor hinder purchase of most events. Maybe there should be a "diplo" multiplier, based on enemy hexes held, etc, that would increase or decrease chances of success for diplomacy or diplomatic events

or rename diplo points as intelligence points

and make events more strict in use

i was thinking about each turn just single choice out of 3

which could be definitively made antiload protected and could make game maybe more variable, no saving points for huge combos - germans vs russia for example - radio+hoffman+hindenburg

[Robotron]

@nehi: I don't see how being able to only choose 1 event per turn would deter from reloading? Players would still be reloading if the choices presented would not meet their expectations.

Also 1 event per turn would not be enough for 1914 and too much for the later game.

Game still crashes, as expected, (too bad I can't surrender, then)

Logfile please, maybe there is anything new to see.

[nehi]

@nehi: I don't see how being able to only choose 1 event per turn would deter from reloading?
.

ive desribed u some time ago, how to combine dynamic pool of events with drawn numbers in the past

at least attacks are using such formula, except winter phase, in same order they are giving same results, then reloading would be pointless

question is, if u can draw own numbers and carry it through the game or u have to use some allready in game as attacks (but modulo should do all the magic with almost like any enough large number)

i guess with all that stuff game have to "remember", few more numbers shouldnt be problem

as long as there are more choices per turn, u still can load and try to spent all, if there are not interesting event/s, u can save points and try it next turn

Also 1 event per turn would not be enough for 1914 and too much for the later game.
.

maybe, as ive played mostly ai games, i experienced i can use usually at least one event per turn all the time, but in tight games there would be less points

it was just an idea, im not convinced if its better

but less choices in first turns would make it more valuable and maybe variable - u can add few "historical choices" in first turns (schlieffen/ruprecht/eastern first for example), i know, its less variable, just as compensation for less of them

there is a lot of stuff connected to diplo points now

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but one serious suggestion, what can u change about hexes? zombo was right, when he mentioned, that cities are just too weak

fortresses are maybe too strong, but i believe city hexes should be more tough to be beaten than common open space hexes

[Zombo]

but one serious suggestion, what can u change about hexes? zombo was right, when he mentioned, that cities are just too weak
fortresses are maybe too strong, but i believe city hexes should be more tough to be beaten than common open space hexes

I don't recall complaining (for once) about cities. There was no such thing as a WW1 Stalingrad. Urban warfare was rare. However, I do agree, fortresses are still considerably too strong.

Regarding events, It's important to have access to multiple events to start with: with one a turn you probably wouldn't even be able to keep up with the historical ones.

My concern is that the points are spent for diplomatic actions ( and should thus be impacted by the global strategic situation) and for events ( such as Fokker discovering synchronized MGs) which have nothing to do with anything

[Vokt]

but one serious suggestion, what can u change about hexes? zombo was right, when he mentioned, that cities are just too weak

fortresses are maybe too strong, but i believe city hexes should be more tough to be beaten than common open space hexes

I couldn't agree more. This is one of the reasons why Germans overran Western front in 1914. Cities should exert some sort of penalty on the attackers.

[Zombo]

This is one of the reasons why Germans overran Western front in 1914

I don't understand. The defensive advantage cities gave explains why the Germans "overran" the western front ?

[nehi]

I couldn't agree more. This is one of the reasons why Germans overran Western front in 1914. Cities should exert some sort of penalty on the attackers.

but overrun in the west is ok... maybe with industrial warfare tech some defensive, slight, bonus for units in cities

[Robotron]

Fortresses give +10 to entrenchment, cities give entrenchment according to their terrain factor which can be as high a 4.
On top of that is the entrench factor of the unit which depends on the unlocked entrenchment techs.

In vanilla 1.66 fortresses gave 3 bonus points ON TOP of that to BOTH base defense and ground attack (the latter for units within the fortress).
In PotzBlitz this was reduced to 2 base defense and 1 ground attack.
Most likely this was an addition by kirk23 when he was still actively participating with the design team since he added a lot of those "bonus" variables.

I have no problem editing that bonus or giving cities an extra entrench factor but bear in mind each entrenchment factor is +1 to ground defense.

German ground units starts with +4 to ground defense (industrial warfare tech), which is also factored into the damage calculation while attacking.
Sounds weird, but that's the way the combat works in the game.
So the German units are able to deal out a lot more damage than the French or Russians. If we were to reduce the fortress entrenchment then the Germans would overrun those Belgian, French and Russian fortresses even faster.

[nehi]

Sounds weird, but that's the way the combat works in the game.
So the German units are able to deal out a lot more damage than the French or Russians. If we were to reduce the fortress entrenchment then the Germans would overrun those Belgian, French and Russian fortresses even faster.

i vote just for slight bonus with industrial warfare +1D in cities

strongholds are needed, else corpses will be smashed anywhere in like no time... last time vs ai, my austrian corpse 7/10 eff6, was smoked out by 2armies+1cavalry in przemysl by frontal attack

[Robotron]

strongholds are needed, else corpses will be smashed anywhere in like no time... last time vs ai, my austrian corpse 7/10 eff6, was smoked out by 2armies+1cavalry in przemysl by frontal attack

Most likely those Russian units were within the command radius of Ivanov, which perfectly explains the outcome. Also your CORPS was at efficiency 6, so only at 60% REAL combat strength.

[nehi]

strongholds are needed, else corpses will be smashed anywhere in like no time... last time vs ai, my austrian corpse 7/10 eff6, was smoked out by 2armies+1cavalry in przemysl by frontal attack

Most likely those Russian units were within the command radius of Ivanov, which perfectly explains the outcome. Also your CORPS was at efficiency 6, so only at 60% REAL combat strength.

i know, but there were no one place to hide, when trenched corpses in initial turn were pushed by back single attack

experiences + commanders are the scourge of god for corpses

but in similar way it could be with arty vs full strength corpse, shoot+boom+boom+boom=bye, just one turn later