Potzblitz V25.0 OCT 18th 2024

[Robotron]

Always glad to help the few remaining players that appreciate my work.

By the way: your savegame was one of the weirdest I ever saw.

[Wolf001]

The AI is notoriously bad at maintaining a wide front so gaps somewhere in Russia are bound to happen, not much that can be done about it besides toning down the effects of the Russian supply crisis event.

If you tell me which modifications and new commanders you would like to see included, I will add them so you won't have to manually re-add your changes after the next update which I've been working on in the meantime.

The A.I defiantly shows its limitations playing either the Rupprecht Plan or the Aufmarsch Ost as the Entente. Finished the Aufmarsch Ost yesterday and it was the easiest game I’ve had so far. I’m going to start Rupprecht Plan today and imagine it will be much like Aufmarsch Ost once I stabilize western front.


In regards to commanders I was in the process of adding Arthur Currie who would show up once the Canadian Corps event is played. Another commander for the British/Commonwealth would be John Monash who would show up once the Gallipoli event is played. I do worry that another two commanders for British would make the map somewhat crowded. During the last game I played there were more commanders for the British then I knew what to do with.

For the French Charles Mangin who could become unlocked sometime before the end of 1914 and sacked if the Neville Offensive fails.

For the German side I thought another U-boat commander could be added such as Walther Forstmann who was the second most successful U-Boat commander during the war. Then again after adding him it just made it all the more easy to starve Britain with von Arnauld.

I also thought about adding Max Hoffmann however I can’t think of a good way to add him. Depending on how the game goes you can end up with a lot of ground German commander’s mid/late game and I’m doubtful if another one is needed.

For the Ottoman’s is there a way for von Falkenhayn to be added? He would only be unlocked if the German’s fail to take Verdun and after Romania surrenders. I’d imagine that it would take a lot of coding if at all possible.

I did add Gabriele D’Annunzio to one of my previous games and with as crowded as the Italian front is I found another commander for aircraft irrelevant.

If you add any of the commanders or not I still really appreciate it. Out of all of them maybe Currie, Mangin and von Falkenhayn if possible would be the ones to consider.


I’m curious what leads to Von Francois being unlocked? The first few games I played he showed up every time and now the last few games I’ve played on both sides he hasn’t been showing up. I’ve looked through a lot of the code and couldn’t find what leads to him being unlocked.

Going to start playing the Rupprecht Plan as the Entente. I'll need to think about if there's any other modifications I'd like to see.

[Robotron]

Max Hoffmann does not appear as an actual commander but as a choice event, boosting German attack strength for 1 attack against Russia after Tannenberg has happened.
The idea behind this event is to facilitate the early capture of a Russian fortress or even Warsaw.

Regarding Francois see manual page 11, Steamroller bonus:

Russian troops will have a chance for bonus attack strength until the "Victory at Tannenberg" event has happened or the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia (Tarnopol and Lemberg) has been captured.
The more units have attacked the higher the bonus will get.
If the bonus gets too high, then German General Von Francois will be unlocked and the bonus is reset to 0.

He won't appear anymore after Tannenberg or the loss of Galicia, so there is an element of chance involved here whether enough Russian attacks were made before.

As for the other proposed commanders:

Arthur Currie: why not? but he should have a range of 0 as a corps commander.

John Monash: in the mod the Gallipoli Campaign is already led by Ian Hamilton.

Charles Mangin: there is no Nivelle Offensive event in the mod yet because the historic conditions are rarely met but I might add it.

Falkenhayn in Turkey: you would have to create an Ottoman commander named Falkenhayn for him to command turkish troops but you would have to assign a different name like "Falkenhayn (O)" because no two commanders can have the same name even if from different nations. I learnt this the hard way during my failed attempt to recreate the Russian Civil War and the game would no longer start without a bug report because I added a second Kolchak for the Whites.

Gabriel Dannunzio: he's implemented as an event. Do you want to assign him as a commander or did I misunderstand you?


I share your impression that one should be careful to not overcrowd any given front and in my opinion the limit is already reached in most areas.

[Wolf001]

Regarding Francois see manual page 11, Steamroller bonus:

Russian troops will have a chance for bonus attack strength until the "Victory at Tannenberg" event has happened or the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia (Tarnopol and Lemberg) has been captured.
The more units have attacked the higher the bonus will get.
If the bonus gets too high, then German General Von Francois will be unlocked and the bonus is reset to 0.

He won't appear anymore after Tannenberg or the loss of Galicia, so there is an element of chance involved here whether enough Russian attacks were made before.

That explains why I haven’t been getting Von Francois to show up. I’ve gotten better at defending against the Russians and usually only lose Tarnopol and get the Victory at Tannenberg two or three turns after the Russians attack. Should have looked at the manual.

Regarding the commanders:

Currie does seem like the best one to add out of all of them. Maybe Falkenhayn for the Ottoman’s yet there’s a lot of commanders for the Ottoman’s already. The others I’ve suggested seem best disregarded other then Mangin if you add the Nivelle Offensive later on.

One last commander I was considering would be Louis Franchet d’Esperey for the French who would replace Maurice Sarrail in 1918 if Bulgaria isn’t conquered and or Romania has surrendered.

I finished the Rupprecht Plan as the Entente and won on turn twenty eight the earliest victory I’ve gotten so far. No crashes or anything odd. The last plan I haven’t played is The Schlieffen Plan as the Entente so I guess I’ll give that a go now.

[Wolf001]

Finished another modified Schlieffen Plan as the Central Powers and had a question on the S.M.S Goeben event. If it is sent to reinforce the East Asia Squadron is there a time frame when the Spee should show up in the Atlantic or is it random? During my last game the Goeben was sent to reinforce the Squadron and by the time I won game turn fifty I believe Spee never showed up. There were convoys going through the Suez eventually some I wonder if it was just a glitch.

I was looking through the events and saw some rather interesting ones I was wondering if they were going to be added into the mod? The Q ships looked rather interesting and it would help make up for the Entente naval A.I somewhat.

[Robotron]

QShips, and any other event you might have spotted while looking through the events, are indeed already a part of the mod.

For instance QShips might be added to the Entente event pool if at least 3 to 4 convoys were sunk. However the chance for this event to get chosen by the AI is quite minute, so the event is not guaranteed to happen in every match.

In earlier versions of the mod I had implemented fixed chances/dates for events to get activated until players grumped about stuff happening always at about the same time in the game.
I've been struggelling to fine-tune the probabilies for certain events to happen ever since.

And quite frankly I stopped playtesting the whole mod altogether when the feedback from players became reduced to about 1-2 times a month.
So yeah, I guess there's nothing much that will be done on behalf of my end for anytime soon, and this includes the observations you made at least until I feel "in the mood" again to look into it.

I hope you understand.

Cheers.

[Wolf001]

I understand how you feel. Apologies for my feedback being rather scarce, haven’t an opportunity to play until very recently. When you do decide to come back to it I have a fair number of observations and possible suggestions that I’ve written down after my earlier post this evening.

[Robotron]

Finished another modified Schlieffen Plan as the Central Powers and had a question on the S.M.S Goeben event. If it is sent to reinforce the East Asia Squadron is there a time frame when the Spee should show up in the Atlantic or is it random? During my last game the Goeben was sent to reinforce the Squadron and by the time I won game turn fifty I believe Spee never showed up. There were convoys going through the Suez eventually some I wonder if it was just a glitch.

Do you remember if you decided to cede Tsingtao to Japan during that playthrough? In that case Von Spee and the Goeben will remain in the Pacific and may trigger a 2nd Russo-Japanese war if things go badly for Russia late in the war. Russia will then sue for peace with CP.

I could not find any other reason for Far-East Goeben not appearing in the Atlantic. Usually this should happen late 1914/early-mid 1915 depending on how fast Britain joins the war.

When you do decide to come back to it I have a fair number of observations and possible suggestions that I’ve written down after my earlier post this evening.

Okay, you made me curious, let's hear it.

[Wolf001]

Do you remember if you decided to cede Tsingtao to Japan during that playthrough? In that case Von Spee and the Goeben will remain in the Pacific and may trigger a 2nd Russo-Japanese war if things go badly for Russia late in the war. Russia will then sue for peace with CP.

I did cede Tsingtao which explains why Spee never showed up. Now I’ll know next time thank you!

As for my suggestions/feedback do keep in mind some of its just stuff that I find personally interesting and might or might not work with the game. I realize there is a limit to what you can do with the game and with the A.I so some of this might be unworkable or throw off the balance. If you need me to clarify anything just let me know.

Q ships I’ve yet to have had the A.I play the event since playing the mod. Since it’s easy to starve Britain would it be possible to make Q ships come into play once convoy losses reach a certain amount? Just eliminate the A.I having to choose the event altogether. Right now I’m finding it too easy to starve Britain out of the war.

If Serbia ends up surrendering could it then be possible to give France additional manpower? Just to simulate the Entente supplying the Serbian army. I’d suggest the same with Belgium man power as well if they surrender.

I was looking at the Congress of Poland event and have yet to see it. I very rarely unlock Ludendorff only a total for three times I believe. The event would be a great help during the late game I just never seem to reach the kill count required to unlock Ludendorff.

Perhaps a faster Ottoman endurance loss when the units are around the Suez area. I’ve been finding it pretty easy to block the Suez if the Fires in the Desert event is played as the A.I seems to make taking out the Senussi a priority.

While still on the topic of the Ottoman’s I’d consider replacing the home guard in Erzurum with a reserve corps. When playing against the Entente A.I the Russians really steamroll through the area during the Bergmann Offensive. Then again maybe not as this does make you focus on the area rather easily overrunning the Suez area.

Hermann Von Francois if he comes into play since he was somewhat reckless with disobeying orders I would make it a random chance each attack made there’s a chance for him to be dismissed for disobeying orders by Ludendorff. I’d also have him give up his command in July 1918.

The Entente forces in Salonika had to deal with Malaria could that be replicated with any unit in Salonika like what happens with Serbia with the Typhoid outbreak?

Regarding Typhoid it was pretty common on the Eastern Front on both sides perhaps have outbreaks happen randomly if possible?

If Romania has surrendered and they still have territory under control is it possible to have them reenter the war mid 1918 if a moral check favors the Entente?

The British and Belgium army send armored car expeditionary forces to the Eastern Front. That might be an interesting event however it doesn’t seem to serve much of purpose other then something for the A.I to use as cannon fodder.

The Wave of Patriotism event I’d almost consider removing or lessening the effect. I’ve found that it can more or less decide how the game is going to finish once it’s played. It makes it too easy to overrun Belgium and France. Playing as the Entente when played using the Russians it guarantees East Prussia and Galicia will be overrun when played after the Russian surprise attack event. Of course this might just be me wanting to make the game harder for myself.

The events that are in mod that aren’t active because other players grumbled I would add them back in. I don’t find them happening at the same time every game annoying to me it adds to the game. I’d personally like to see French Insurgence, Martial Law In France, French Revanchism, Balkan Deadlock, Torpedo Boat Ambush, Human Cadaver Factory, Chinese Labour Corps, Shame and Symbolism, Edith Cavell Shot and Guilty Conscience. If any of those show up while playing right now I haven’t seen them.

I really like the paranormal/urban legend type events that pop up occasionally. I found one that is interesting to me at least. It was said there was a third army in the middle of No Man’s Land that were zombie like ghouls looking for new victims. I just thought it would be something else interesting to add.

Looking through the event pictures I saw some for the Field Post Office I’ve never seen before while playing. Could those be added in?

I hope I’ve been of some help. Sorry if any of these suggestions seem silly.


Curious what does the Fisher’s Fulminations event do exactly?

[Robotron]

Q ships I’ve yet to have had the A.I play the event since playing the mod. Since it’s easy to starve Britain would it be possible to make Q ships come into play once convoy losses reach a certain amount? Just eliminate the A.I having to choose the event altogether. Right now I’m finding it too easy to starve Britain out of the war.
I've added an automatic trigger for QShips to happen once a few convoys were sunk.

If Serbia ends up surrendering could it then be possible to give France additional manpower? Just to simulate the Entente supplying the Serbian army. I’d suggest the same with Belgium man power as well if they surrender.
I assume this is supposed to represent scattered Serbian units joining Entente units? Why not. Any leftover Serbian unit at surrender will generate 5 manpower to France then.


I was looking at the Congress of Poland event and have yet to see it. I very rarely unlock Ludendorff only a total for three times I believe. The event would be a great help during the late game I just never seem to reach the kill count required to unlock Ludendorff.
I've never had problems unlocking Ludendorf in my test games but okay, I removed Ludendorf as requirement for the event to unlock. Also lowered his "kills" requirement by 50.
If you somehow manage to get Ludendorf killed however the event will be discarded.

Perhaps a faster Ottoman endurance loss when the units are around the Suez area. I’ve been finding it pretty easy to block the Suez if the Fires in the Desert event is played as the A.I seems to make taking out the Senussi a priority.
I've added up to 10 extra efficiency loss for Ottoman troops in the Sinai Dunes hexes per turn during non-winter turns.

While still on the topic of the Ottoman’s I’d consider replacing the home guard in Erzurum with a reserve corps. When playing against the Entente A.I the Russians really steamroll through the area during the Bergmann Offensive. Then again maybe not as this does make you focus on the area rather easily overrunning the Suez area.
So no changes here.

Hermann Von Francois if he comes into play since he was somewhat reckless with disobeying orders I would make it a random chance each attack made there’s a chance for him to be dismissed for disobeying orders by Ludendorff. I’d also have him give up his command in July 1918.
Historically he ignored his orders twice so I added a 35% chance for him to be removed after his third attack BEFORE Tannenberg has been achieved. I believe having him removed in July 1918 is negligible.

The Entente forces in Salonika had to deal with Malaria could that be replicated with any unit in Salonika like what happens with Serbia with the Typhoid outbreak?
I believe Entente has enough troubles even holding Salonika in singleplayer against Entente AI.

Regarding Typhoid it was pretty common on the Eastern Front on both sides perhaps have outbreaks happen randomly if possible?
Let's not have too many random strength draining events. The Russians are already screwed enough by the Supply Crisis.

If Romania has surrendered and they still have territory under control is it possible to have them reenter the war mid 1918 if a moral check favors the Entente?
If Romania has surrendered it will be beaten up so heavily and likely has lost any useful source of production that it's not really able to achieve anything of importance anymore.

The British and Belgium army send armored car expeditionary forces to the Eastern Front. That might be an interesting event however it doesn’t seem to serve much of purpose other then something for the A.I to use as cannon fodder.
I agree on this.

The Wave of Patriotism event I’d almost consider removing or lessening the effect. I’ve found that it can more or less decide how the game is going to finish once it’s played. It makes it too easy to overrun Belgium and France. Playing as the Entente when played using the Russians it guarantees East Prussia and Galicia will be overrun when played after the Russian surprise attack event. Of course this might just be me wanting to make the game harder for myself.
I'll reduce the attack bonus for that event and will have it removed if Russian Surprise Attack was played.


The events that are in mod that aren’t active because other players grumbled I would add them back in. I don’t find them happening at the same time every game annoying to me it adds to the game. I’d personally like to see French Insurgence, Martial Law In France, French Revanchism, Balkan Deadlock, Torpedo Boat Ambush, Human Cadaver Factory, Chinese Labour Corps, Shame and Symbolism, Edith Cavell Shot and Guilty Conscience. If any of those show up while playing right now I haven’t seen them.
All of the events are already implemented and active but are not guaranteed to happen in every game, some of them need very specific conditions to trigger and some will only be displayed for either CP or Entente. The events you listed are mostly only displayed if playing Entente, their effects however will happen "behind the scene".

I really like the paranormal/urban legend type events that pop up occasionally. I found one that is interesting to me at least. It was said there was a third army in the middle of No Man’s Land that were zombie like ghouls looking for new victims. I just thought it would be something else interesting to add.
I've read it was a monstrous predator kind of animal. You might encounter it if playing Entente.

Looking through the event pictures I saw some for the Field Post Office I’ve never seen before while playing. Could those be added in?
They have a chance to be discarded if not played in 1914. I've now edited them to be available a bit longer.


I hope I’ve been of some help. Sorry if any of these suggestions seem silly.
Definitely! I've had fun implementing your suggestions and will be uploading the result next weekend. So if you have any other ideas (nothing too wild please!) let me know before Friday.

Curious what does the Fisher’s Fulminations event do exactly?
It moves British alignment 1 point per turn closer to joining Entente: the Brits don't like to see the German High Seas fleet cruising around.

[Wolf001]

Thanks for looking over all the suggestions Robotron. Regarding Serbian manpower going into the French manpower pool you are correct. My other suggestions you decided to alter/add/discard I’m in agreement with.

Since my last post I have a four more suggestions.

Von StrauBenburg replaced von Hotzendorf as Austria-Hungarian Chief of Staff in March 1917. Would it then be possible to have von Hotzendorf transferred to the Italian front and stay there?

On the topic of the Italian front would adding the Battle of Caporetto event for the Austrians be possible? It could play somewhat like the Kaiserschlacht just lessen the effects bonus since Austria was at the last of its manpower when it took place late October-mid November 1917.

For the Italians the Second Battle of the Piave River event in June 1918. The event becomes playable if the cipher used by Austria is broken and Diaz is still alive.
If the Gallipoli event fails could Admiral Fisher then resign if playing Entente versus Central Powers? I’d be hesitant to remove him if the A.I is playing the Entente as it needs all the help it can get in navel matters.

For now that’s more or less all I can think of other then things that are pointless or can upset the balance of the game.

Looking forward to playing once the new file is ready to download.

[Robotron]

Thanks for looking over all the suggestions Robotron. Regarding Serbian manpower going into the French manpower pool you are correct. My other suggestions you decided to alter/add/discard I’m in agreement with.

Since my last post I have a four more suggestions.

Von StrauBenburg replaced von Hotzendorf as Austria-Hungarian Chief of Staff in March 1917. Would it then be possible to have von Hotzendorf transferred to the Italian front and stay there?
This is possible if CP is controlled by the player but if CP is AI controlled there's no way to ensure that Hötzendorf's unit will stay there.

On the topic of the Italian front would adding the Battle of Caporetto event for the Austrians be possible? It could play somewhat like the Kaiserschlacht just lessen the effects bonus since Austria was at the last of its manpower when it took place late October-mid November 1917.
That area on the map where the Caporetto battle might take place is only about 2 hexes big. I don't think it is worth the hassle to add a whole complicated system like for the Kaiserschlacht (about 150 lines of scripting) to reflect that battle. Also any victory caused by simply playing an event in that key area might well decide whether Austria or Italy might overrun their respective enemy and this sounds a bit too cheap to me.

For the Italians the Second Battle of the Piave River event in June 1918. The event becomes playable if the cipher used by Austria is broken and Diaz is still alive.
Same as above.

If the Gallipoli event fails could Admiral Fisher then resign if playing Entente versus Central Powers? I’d be hesitant to remove him if the A.I is playing the Entente as it needs all the help it can get in navel matters.
What would be the condition for the Gallipoli campaign to fail? I assume the capture of Anzak Koyu (Anzac Beach) by CP? If so then, yes, no problem to add this in.

For now that’s more or less all I can think of other then things that are pointless or can upset the balance of the game.

Looking forward to playing once the new file is ready to download.

[Robotron]

Here's V12.5

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gCSE7I ... qOSZL/view

This contains most of the suggestions by Wolf001 as well as quite a bunch of minor tweaking of stuff.

Raised cost for artillery from 30 to 40.

Moved Reims 1 hex further south.

Rouen is now Le Havre.

Added French general Charles Mangin.

New event: Fisher resigns and Churchill chooses to join the 2nd Grenadier Guards after Gallipoli failure.


Also rewrote/rearranged/clarified major parts of the manual, especially about the consequences about where to send SMS Goeben on page 45:

Option #1: Western Mediterranean:
If deployed to the Western Mediterranean then a German battlecruiser spawns somewhere near Algiers.

If it reaches a Turkish port before the “Dardanelles closed” event occurs, Turkey will receive a morale bonus of 10 points and admiral Souchon will be added to the unit and it will pass under Ottoman command.
Turkish resilience to "Ottoman deserters" will be raised.
Turkish starting Production Points will be raised by 10 PP.
After 3 turns , the “Shelling of Sevastopol” event will be unlocked to bring Turkey directly into the war.
The unlocking of the “German Military Mission” to Turkey will be accelerated.

If the event “Dardanelles closed” occurs before the Goeben has arrived at Constantinople, it must join the Austrian fleet by moving next to the port of Trieste or try to break out into the Atlantic.


Option #2: The Pacific
The "Cede Tsingtao to Japan" event is added to the CP event pool, giving CP the chance to ally with Japan before the British do, once Britain joins the Entente. The consequences are as following:

I.) If Tsingtao is not ceded via event, then the Goeben will make sure the German East Pacific squadron will make it to the Atlantic and will eventually appear there in the form of a damaged Battlecruiser and Armored Cruiser. Once either unit reaches a port, Germany gains a morale bonus and admiral Von Spee is unlocked.
The arrival of "Australian Newzealand Corps in Egypt" is delayed until Von Spee escapes.

II.) If Tsingtao is ceded via event, then the Goeben and the German East Pacific squadron will remain at Tsingtao under protection of Japan. Furthermore once the Russian "February Revolution" happens, the "Second Russo-Japanese War" event can trigger if India has revolted against Britain and the US have not yet joined the Entente. In that case Russia will immediately sue for peace with CP.
The arrival of "Australian Newzealand Corps in Egypt" will be severely delayed as Australian troops will be first sent to fight German colonial forces in Africa.

As always:
Don't update any campaign/match already in progress. Start a new campaign/match after updating

[Wolf001]

Downloading now thanks Robotron! I'll start out playing the modified Schlieffen Plan as the Central Powers and see how the changes worked out. The extra cost for artillery is going to make me change my play style now should make things interesting.

[Wolf001]

On turn six the A.I played the Pals Battalion event and Britain only entered the war on turn five. Is that possible? Usually I don't get the Pals Battalion event till late in 1914.

[Robotron]

The reason for this is that I just just don't know how to restrict the AI from producing any given type of unit - or make it build only certain kinds of units for that matter -, so the AI is able build British army corps from the start, which the player can't. The AI production script is quite convoluted and I've failed to reverse-engineer it properly.

Therefore the "Pals Battalions" event is of no additional value for the AI and has a chance to get unlocked earlier.
As a kind of compensation the AI then also suffers earlier from losing 2D6 manpower per turn from the side-effect of the event than the player.

[Wolf001]

Thank you for the explanation.

[Wolf001]

Attacking with a Zeppelin on turn 35 is causing the game to crash.

[Robotron]

I need the savegame from the turn this happened to replicate and run some tests on the issue.

[Wolf001]

I thought I saved the game last night and didn't. I went ahead and continued the game just moving the Zeppelin to the West. My apologies, I shouldn't be playing so late into the night. I had an earlier save from two turns before the crash and attempted to replicate it but it didn't crash this time. My question now is can I continue the game save that was having the crash or should I go back to the previous save from two turns before it crashed?