Potzblitz V26.01 OCT 26th 2025

[Robotron]

Unfortunately the main playtesting team has been infected by a common flu and failed a morale test, thus not showing up regularly at the Plotzblitz studio lately.
Furthermore the Gfx guys and the usual bunch of useless script-kidz have been reported to have suffered 10+ collapse points during the weekend while having been exposed to unreasonable amounts of Hot-chili-Pizza and beer.
If everything goes peachy without further demands made by "Reloaders Unlimited" then I'd say, expect V8 on coming Wednesday.

[cocolo]

Hi Robotron, I am playing mp with hnox. Its going pretty smooth and having lots of fun. We are just having a few problems understanding some events or inconsistencies with what some events are supossed to do or how to trigger. I know you are redoing the pdf so maybe its fixed already, i will list what i have noticed.
- German bc sinking british bc didnt trigger battle of jutland
-ethnic revolts in Austria when moral was over 55%
-GABRIEL DANNUNZIO event puts Italy 0-2 turns from war, without ITALIAN INTERVENTIONISM or ITALY DEMANDS TRENTO happening before, Trento was empty
-TRIPLE MONARCHY REFORMS available with only 7 collapse points ,acording to pdf should be 8 at least. I dont recall the text of the event on the game but it failed and doubled Austria-hungary collapse points to 14. Thats much worse than what i understood from pdf .
-Hnox comented too that "Canadian Corps" didnt bring any corps

In my opinion it doesnt make much sense to work on hardening reloads as there will always be ways of cheating that cant be fix, like reloading when you dont like some important combat results etc... Just dont cheat. I would focus on actually making the game even more fun.

[Zombo]

Yep, my opinion is devote your precious time and energy to improve the core game, and leave that reloading non-sense aside.

Eagerly waiting for 8.0 to jump aboard!

[Robotron]

- German bc sinking british bc didnt trigger battle of jutland

The target must have been at least at unit strength 3 before getting sunk for the event to trigger. I'll remove that prerequisite.

-ethnic revolts in Austria when moral was over 55%

The roll is modified by the combined total of revolting czechs/croats/hungarians plus the number of AH collaps points.

GABRIEL DANNUNZIO event puts Italy 0-2 turns from war, without ITALIAN INTERVENTIONISM or ITALY DEMANDS TRENTO happening before, Trento was empty

I've completely rebuilt that part for V8, so no comment on this.

-TRIPLE MONARCHY REFORMS available with only 7 collapse points ,acording to pdf should be 8 at least. I dont recall the text of the event on the game but it failed and doubled Austria-hungary collapse points to 14. Thats much worse than what i understood from pdf .

The PDF mentions that if the test is failed then AH will collapse (as in: having 10 or more collapse points). This is a dangerous event that should only be played if AH is close to 0 morale and at 9 collapse points and deemed not to survive the next turn anyway. I will rewrite the text to make this more clear.

Hnox comented too that "Canadian Corps" didnt bring any corps

Then the spawning hex (x: 76, y: 25) must have been in LOS of CP units (zeps, naval units) and no unit was spawned because that would have caused the replay crash bug. There is a safety script preventing such spawns. Do you remember if you had that specific hex in LOS at that time?
Hnox was compensated by getting 30 PP anyway.

[hnox]

Hnox comented too that "Canadian Corps" didnt bring any corps

Then the spawning hex (x: 76, y: 25) must have been in LOS of CP units (zeps, naval units) and no unit was spawned because that would have caused the replay crash bug. There is a safety script preventing such spawns. Do you remember if you had that specific hex in LOS at that time?
Hnox was compensated by getting 30 PP anyway.

That may be the case... Yes, it was the mid game (1915, I think), plenty of german subs at the Channel for sure.

A couple of ideas about this:

I think spawn events that are prone to crash should not appear as a choosing option. Having 30 PP which can render into a corps in 4 gameturns is a meager comfort when the Germans are approaching Paris! : ) Is it possible to run the safety script before to check and then replace the event so it does not appear as an option to the player? Or at least a note, so the player realizes the corps is coming... 4 turns later?

Or maybe you can bypass the spawn problem by injecting the unit into the production pool ready to deploy and tell the player the location in which the unit should be deployed and then: either a) trust honour, or b) destroying the unit if it's spawn out of the intended area. If I recall well, area of deploy checks happened with some CP commanders in early versions (not sure if still applies), but I mean it seems you had the logic developed. I understand it's going to be difficult to tell normal units from restricted placement units, but...

May be, Robotron, you should divert anticheat efforts into efforts for serious players. Cheaters will always find reasons to complain and always will be bad companions, so, why bother?

As always, thankyou very much for your effort. Do you have an Amazon wish list or something?

[Robotron]

@hnox:
- in V8 the German attack bonus will be reduced so France will have more time to build some defenses.

- spawning new units into the production queue so players can deploy them in marked setup hexes does not work for reasons yet unknown to me. I really wanted to implement that but no dice.

- your proposal about filtering out events with problematic spawns is already implemented. Because of the big LOS of the German zeppelin spawning of French units in the vicinity of Paris is out of the question (replay crash). Maybe spawning in the Toulouse region is safe enough so "Paris Taxis" could spawn an Army Corps there.
Btw: the BEF is disabled in V7.4 but will be active again in V8 and this will definitely have to be spawned because of British inability to produce Army Corps. So I made a quite long check list of probably safe spawning points. It's also good to hear that the safety check script seemed to have worked fine in your match by preventing the Canadians to spawn in CP LOS.

- I'll be happy to redirect my efforts from anticheat-solutions back to other stuff but the only playtesters who were daring enough to participate in taking the mod out for a test drive were powergamers so I had to at least do something about it. I'd rather tone down the outcomes of certain events to discourage reloading than trying to find a bulletproof reload-protection.

Cheers!

[Robotron]

Before I'll upload V8 I need some feedback.


Here's the situation in the west at the start of the game:

Clipboard02.jpg (517.94 KiB) Viewed 3719 times

Since players felt that the Germans when going through Belgium are too strong I'm pondering whether to give the Entente a few more light units.
Notice I already added a "garrison" to Paris and in V8 the German attack strength will be reduced.

What are opinions about:

- replacing the smallgarrison in Toul with a garrison since it's an important border fortress after all.
- replacing the smallgarrison in Namur with a garrison for the same reason? Namur posed almost no problem historically though.
- placing a smallgarrison in Luxembourg? I've read they only had less than 200 soldiers so even a smallgarrison feels a bit too much but it would force 1 German unit to attack it

If you are interested in browsing through the updated PDF manual with all featured event descriptions and other stuff now being up to date here's the link:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ff3uS ... UQYatHppkQ

[Argentum]

I would suggest replacing the garrison in Paris with a army. Garrison in Namur its OP, and, in my opinion, you should not give more mobile units to the French. If you think that another army its too much for France, then it is probably worth replacing the Belgian garrison in Brussels with a army. Historically, Belgium has created far more problems for Germany than it can do in game. Units in Luxemburg it's just ridiculous.

[Robotron]

An Army Corps ("infantry") for Belgium in Brussels it is then.

[Zombo]

An Army Corps ("infantry") for Belgium in Brussels it is then.

I wouldn't go beyond that

[hnox]

Hi, just curious about this: how many pre-dreadnought units has the British player on MP? Are they just for the start like, say, "legacy" units? Can you build new ones or can some spawn by some reason?

***

About this:

An Army Corps ("infantry") for Belgium in Brussels it is then.

I haven't play enough to have an opinion. Seems quite hard to me, but I'm sure that after practice it will be not a heavy nuisance as CP.

[Robotron]

@hnox: Britain starts with 2 pre-dreads. 1 more can spawn when Gallipoli starts.
Pre-dreads like Armoured Cruiser are "obsolete" and cannot be built, only repaired.
There is a very small chance per turn that pre-dreads from the British Dominions arrive in the Atlantic after the North Sea blockade was broken by Germany.

[hnox]

There is a very small chance per turn that pre-dreads from the British Dominions arrive in the Atlantic after the North Sea blockade was broken by Germany.

That explains that pre dread in the mid Atlantic. For a while I thought a bug transformed a british convoy!

[Robotron]

Could you give a brief/general summary about what is going on in your match? Anything weird happened? How about INTEL actions?

[Robotron]

@all: I'm sorry for the delay for V8 but I'm still struggling with balancing the mod.

[hnox]

Could you give a brief/general summary about what is going on in your match? Anything weird happened? How about INTEL actions?

It's been a classic opening. Normal events, no eastern attack, no Serbian Ultimatum.

I'm playing Entente. Year is 1917, the US just entered some 3 turns ago. Austria surrendered on turn 36. That saved Italy, Entente side, as it was invaded mostly by AH, and by the time AH surrendered, Italy was 7 collapse points and I was forming a line at the French border with whatever I was able to gather. That was close.

Brits are having a bad time on the east. Egypt was lost in late 1916 (even if an Armor unit just arrived, but on red status and was an easy prey). The Turks seemed hard as Serbians on the attack, even if they were on same tech levels as brits. Entente ciphers are safe, CP are broken (more on this later), so I can't blame intel for such strong Turks. The Persian Gulf is interesting. I have an armor unit there. Persia is attacking with CP, but the Brits are hitting hard, although retreating to Abadan. I don't predict a good future for Persia, as 3 Russian army corps are closing. Some others are advancing through the Black Sea shoreline, but the advance will be stoped as soon as Cocolo is able to take some units.

Russia is strong. The Germans didn't attack so much, no important conquests, neither the Russians, so the line is quite like 1914. The eastern frontline keeps units on several degrees of tech, from II to X, mostly IV, VI. The supply crisis is still unhappened, so I predict an interesting time for the Russian empire in a few turns.

Romania switched sides when it was to enter on CP side the next turn. That event caused funny comments on chat, and also some friends on wargaming hobby heared about that. Turkish and Bulgarian units had to ruse back from the Russo-Turk border. Sofia felt on 2 turns, and a multicoloured line is now formed in Bulgaria and European Turkey, even with CP iddle arty units on front line as stopping measure. That saved Russia, as the line would be just non-existent if the Romanian border opened, with those dangerous balcan units wandering...

Greece is still neutral, but several events are happening and now territory is smalled and Entente units are debarking on Salonika.

In North Africa, arab units have taken all cities on the coast line to Bengazi, wich resisted and Frech and Italian reserve corps are repelling the advance wth the help of ship bombards.

The naval fight in Mediterranean was fast. AH ships battled French ones at the Sicilian Strait. Several encounters happened and the match was finally for the Entente, althoug the AH DRE sold hard its live on Crete battling italian and french ships. AH subs (at least 3) where a heavy nuisance until surrender.

On the western front, the 1914 german advance was stopped in winter far from Paris. Just a Brit reserve corps landed. Then the line stayed static for many turns. Now I'm advancing. Took Calais last turn.

On the sea, a big naval battle happened on the east english coast. Tons of german subs and some Dre cornered the Navy and killed many brit ships. That was quite gamey, but I finally repulsed them (you got notice of that from Cocolo's post). I'we build 2 Battleships, and many light cruisers to fill loses and expand my escorting pool. Convoys had a hard time with subs, which also decimated brit cruisers until level V was reached. After level VII and the failed Jutland, the subs are still a problem and entente convoys are struggling to reach port, but enough arrive so UK is on enough supply (take a look to the attached logs as I don't want to hint Cocolo ; ) ).

On the Baltic sea, IIRC, only one CP convoy arrived. The rest is sunk by british subs and the help of the Imperial Navy. I'm using the russian airplane to spot cover the approaches, sometimes even placing it in Finland, most of the time in the northernmost Livonian hex.

Serbia surrendered on 1916. I made a mistake: after Belgrade fall, I stopped building units. I realized that Tirana was also working as capital city when it was taken. My mistake not to pay attention. Serbia surrendered with +100 PP and 100 unspent ammo : ( That could be several RC or even a couple army corps which would have been a top nuisance to Cocolo!

Apart from those events we have commented on earlier posts, everything goes OK. The base game sometimes crashes due to system bugs. Mine sometimes crashes on suspension, sometimes after entering a chat line, also usually when closing the game. Cocolo's when minimizing game window. It's clear that the UI is a crap, and does not implement even basic procedures like TAB key on fields, etc.

About strategy:

I have made an emphasis on intel. After a few turns, I spent DPs on Intel and counter intel so most of the time my cipher has been safe and Cocolo's has been broken. Not sure if that's been an overkill. Will see after game, when I compare logs with Cocolo.

I have built as few reserve corps as I've been able, and saved PPs for army corps. So in the mid game I've been able to have punch.

I have distributed duties. Brits went for armor and sea units with several labs. French went for arty and infantry. Both went for planes without focus.

Armor has been like historical war: too soon, too few, diluted amongst several fronts: many urgences made impossible to keep them rear guard until a massed attack happened.

Most brit PPs are gone for light cruisers and 2 battleships so the sea is as safe as possible.

I can't say much for Cocolo, but it seems he favoured subs, may be a couple of DRE (they have been more advanced than brits). He has upgraded half of the army, upgrading only when he felt an attack was comming (easy to see looking at arty moves). On the last turns I feel his arty is stronger and may be he focused on air fighters.


Some questions:
- I need clarifications on intel and counter intel. I know there are somewhere, but I don't find them...
- The event log is really needed to keep track.
- What happens if a port is taken, with all available sea hexes occupied by enemy naval units and a sub in port is displaced? Is it lost? (Happened in Calais: don't know if its lost or simply disappeared).
- Need info on british supply level on the screen. Only appears when too late.
- Subs need clarification. Cocolo and I have been making experiments and deducting the behavior. You can attack them if they are just in your intended destination hex, even ir you are moving a DRE.
- Disagree with fighters been so strong (that screenshot posted made me feel ridiculous. I understand grounds support capabilities are taken into account when tech levels up for infantry.
- Disagree with subs being unpasable for surface capital ships, so you can be cornered. Ambush is OK, but they are too OP. Historical units could chase merchants and made surface attacks, but not against warships as subs were slow and unsuited for surface attack against armed foes.
- Keep that Romanian switching event. Makes the game more interesting.

I attach some logs and a couple of screenshots. Cocolo will not take a look on them until game end.
* EDIT: files attached.

[Robotron]

I need clarifications on intel and counter intel. I know there are somewhere, but I don't find them...

The % chance for INTEL success per turn equals the number of INTEL points spent, provided your alliance has SIGINT superiority ("enemy code broken").
SIGINT can increase by spending more INTEL.
You can protect your own nations from enemy INTEL by clicking on COUNTER-INTEL, this will reduce the enemy’s chance to perform INTEL on your own nation and may increase your SIGINT possibly making the nation 100% safe from enemy INTEL.
Example: CP has spent 50 INTEL on France. Entente has spent 20 counter-INTEL on France. CP success chance is 30% per turn (50 minus 20) but only if CP has managed to break the French cipher ("enemy code broken").

The event log is really needed to keep track.

Agree, but right now I feel too lazy.

What happens if a port is taken, with all available sea hexes occupied by enemy naval units and a sub in port is displaced? Is it lost? (Happened in Calais: don't know if its lost or simply disappeared).

It will be removed from the game.

Need info on british supply level on the screen. Only appears when too late.

A different color for each supply level maybe?

Subs need clarification. Cocolo and I have been making experiments and deducting the behavior. You can attack them if they are just in your intended destination hex, even ir you are moving a DRE.

Not sure whether that behavior was different in vanilla at all.

Disagree with fighters been so strong (that screenshot posted made me feel ridiculous. I understand grounds support capabilities are taken into account when tech levels up for infantry.

Still I want to discourage armadas of fighters so AA techs will be boosted.

Disagree with subs being unpasable for surface capital ships, so you can be cornered. Ambush is OK, but they are too OP. Historical units could chase merchants and made surface attacks, but not against warships as subs were slow and unsuited for surface attack against armed foes.

not going to mess with the submarine scripts as they are totally complicated and closely linked to touchy stuff that can go spectacularly wrong.

[hnox]

The event log is really needed to keep track.

Agree, but right now I feel too lazy.

Totally understandable. The MP is totally enjoyable, so thanks.

I've posted the game logs if you want go into forensics. The only weird thing is that russian supply crisis still not happening in nov 17.

On the other side, Italy is regaining territory, 116 morale but still on 7 collapse points. Should that collapse points diminish as victory seems closer?

Cocolo and I will post more on finishing, but feel free to ask. I forgot to say it was 7.3

[Robotron]

Very impressive battle report by the way, hope you will be able to finish your match without trouble.

[cocolo]

The game is over, its early 1918 and germany surrendered, it was getting 5 collapse points every turn i dont know exactly why, it was winter with hard blokcade and koenisberg and danzig fell plus army moral shatered but i have no idea how that amounted to 15 points in 3 turns, is there any way of seing what the collapse points corresponde to?
Anyways i dont have any obvious bugs to report from my side. It was our first mp game so i can be wrong, but i found Russia very unbalanced in our game. For some reason the supply crisis event never happend.Maybe because Warsaw never fell? But i think thats just a modifier....In any case i found Rusia to be untouchable the whole game. The front line was static most of the war. Russia got to have a continuous line of army corps from the baltic to Romanian border except for 3 hexes, having plenty of units in reserve all the time. In addition to this it was able to send about 7 army corps to turkey, plus reserves and cavalry. Hnox told me that he was easily maintaining all that army and having over 100pp all the time.
I dont think the crisis event or the fact that AH collapsed very early in game would had made much of a difference on this, the rest of the theaters i found them pretty balanced and fun. Naval activities in special are very diferent from sp and a lot more fun.
some questions
-In the diplomacy area when you see the turns left for a country to joining an alliance, what means the remaining turns apearing in red?
-Is there ever any point at wich a nation is too close to a faction to switch sides by event or anything else?
this came to mind with what happend in our game with Romania of course, but i agree with hnox not to change it as it was inpredictable and fun, specially for him....Bulgarians got an epic backstabing.
-I think i get the int succes chances but how do you get SIGINT superiority? Success is calculated per turn and SIGINT is the acumulated?
-Do transports carry 10pp per unit strenth or it varies by the source of transport and date?
-do transports spawn always in the same turns or are random?
-i think i got 3 "neutral transport sunk" events attacking the same transport in a port without almost touching it, how work the chances of that event?
-I read somewher that some generals have "radius"? How does that work?
-If i understand correctly, once the british naval blockade is stablished, if the british keeps 100 strenght of surface units in the north sea, there are 0 chances of breaking it, is this right? In our game i only broke it once by event and then it was restablished inmediately and then hardened which if i understand correctly can only happen if it was previously broken so it ended up being worse than useless event. One of the reasons to begin the huge naval battle we had was trying to eliminated naval units so he couldnt just sit 100+ naval units constantly to assure the blockade, but it is super hard when to keep the blockade you can just sit in advantage home ports.... Shouldnt this ships be actually in the open sea to exercise the blockade?
-Playing with AH i found that i was in a path of acumulating collapse point with no way of stoping it at all. Shouldnt there be an option to spend, say 100pp, "for civilian use" to remove at least 1 collapse point? This is just and idea, but my AH was pretty healthy occupying almost all north italy, literally at the doors of Rome, with Serbia surrendered and wholy ocupied except for one city, a healthy human reserves, about 95% of production output and just 3 cities of the border lost to Russia...It felt a little silly to surrender. It was my fault to play untimely the reforms event but AH was at 7 collapse points already anyways, between the blockade and the constant revolts it wasnt going to last much longer even defeating Italy.
-Do collapse points affect production too? I noticed that Germanys production went down dramatically when i got the collapse points wave, and how do they affect moral exactly?

Thank you again for your mod, we both had a lot of fun in this game