Potzblitz V26.01 OCT 26th 2025

[Robotron]

Another solution could be, depending on if it's modable, to allow straight deployment at Gallipoli/Saloniki

Nope, any faction can only deploy at cities originally belonging to them and that info is encrypted in the mapfile. For the exact same reason I had to abandon my Russian Civil War mod.
But how about supercharging the troop transports instead, they really are too slow at movement 12 anyway, how about raising that stat to 25 or maybe even higher? This would also help getting the Yankees to Europe much faster. However, troop transports would then be even faster than light cruisers.

Is it possible to also get this one in MP? It's pretty cool.

Whoa, free naval units for Britain in multiplayer? That sounds quite powerful in my opinion. On the other hand, the event can also trigger the 2nd Russo-Japanese War...hmmmm...unsure.

Not sure if you caught this part, about what appears to be a bug with Tsar Outraged feature.

Saw that and fixed. I've now made it a rule that Russia has to keep a minimum of 3 army or cavalry corps in East Prussia until either "Victory at Tannenberg" or "East Prussia devastated" were achieved.

[Umeu]

Nope, any faction can only deploy at cities originally belonging to them and that info is encrypted in the mapfile. For the exact same reason I had to abandon my Russian Civil War mod.
But how about supercharging the troop transports instead, they really are too slow at movement 12 anyway, how about raising that stat to 25 or maybe even higher? This would also help getting the Yankees to Europe much faster. However, troop transports would then be even faster than light cruisers.

Yeah that might work, though it solves only part of the problem. How about (also) increasing the hexes that Greece donates in the Saloniki event? If the Entente can ship more than 1 unit to Greece before triggering the Macedonian Warfront, that would solve the problem of them getting overrun, since CP gets to move first after the event triggers.

The issue of troop transports being slow is a seperate issue, though it does intersect with the above one. I'm in favor of increasing transports, as long as it then doesn't affect merchant convoys, or else the speed of battleships might also need some tweaking? But in general, yes I'm a fan of increasing transport naval speed. Also because you have to factor the 3 turns of going to port, embarking into sea, and then disembarking at shore, so even if the movement takes only 1 turn, such as across the British channel, it's still 4 turns before a unit can be combat ready. That's quite long.

France and Britain can drop troops transports at the edge of the map, is there any way to mod this to have such a drop near Saloniki? That would be another option as well, though increasing transport speed would do the trick too. Maybe let's just try 25 and see what happens? Can always revert or increase it.

Whoa, free naval units for Britain in multiplayer? That sounds quite powerful in my opinion. On the other hand, the event can also trigger the 2nd Russo-Japanese War...hmmmm...unsure.

Well, I hope my diary on the Battle of Jutland showed that the German navy is quite capable of fighting the British navy now, with the improved Tirpitz plan. Imo, Tirpitz plan is now a must send if you want to contest the blockade by conventional means (ignoring it is no longer really an option I think, so you must either force a battle in the North Sea or go the submarine route and starve Britain before they starve you. Though perhaps with the changes to conquering grain lands, going hard for the Brest Litovsk + Romania might also be viable. And this means Entente must send Naval review (which they probably should send anyway). If Germany sends Tirpitz, but Entente does not do naval review, they are in for trouble. But in general, now that the bloclade is a thing to be reckoned with, naval warfare is more important than ever, and any events that deal with that side of the war would be interesting and fun I think. CP/Germany has a few already, but Entente doesn't have that many.

But yeah, the event coming at some kind of cost or risk, is always a good thing imo. 2nd Russo-Japanese war sounds juicy, or else just a simple PP/Morale cost would also be ok. Though it depends on how many ships the event gives

[Robotron]

Okay then...

- both Salonika Donation and Macedonian Warzone events have been rewritten to trigger earlier to give an opportunity to have an actual Macedonian front
- troop transports now have a movement of 35: enough for US troops to traverse the Atlantic in 2 turns and move from about anywhere to anywhere in the Mediterranean in one turn.
- new event: Recall Dominions fleets back to Europe: spawns a new British fleet every 4 turns in southern Atlantic, could be anything from an armored cruiser to a battlecruiser (very low chance) but NO dreadnought. Can lead to 2nd Russo-Japanese war if things go south for Entente

other changes:

- removed the 15PP cap for building more than 15 ammo factories
- players are now informed before they trigger German Chaos at OHL when moving German troops from the west to the east in Schlieffen/Moltke-Schlieffen scenarios
- new Russian commander Alexejev (attack: 2, assault: 1 , defense: 2, radius: 3) is unlocked as soon as Tsar takes command is triggered and removed upon February Revolution
- Diplomatic Poker: removed result concerning Russia in "Aufmarsch Ost" scenario, removed result concerning Belgium in "Rupprecht" scenario.

[Umeu]

- new event: Recall Dominions fleets back to Europe: spawns a new British fleet every 4 turns in southern Atlantic, could be anything from an armored cruiser to a battlecruiser (very low chance) but NO dreadnought. Can lead to 2nd Russo-Japanese war if things go south for Entente

wow lol that's pretty... strong every 4 turns is also quite often. I suppose it depends on from what year this event can be sent / is likely to be in the pool. Probably needs very strict conditions or a cap. But let's see how it works out like this. Certainly interesting what does 2nd Russo-Japanese war do exactly? Just knocks Russia out of the war? (does it also end the bonus Entente gets from the event allying with Japan earlier in the game?)

other changes:

- removed the 15PP cap for building more than 15 ammo factories

why I thought cheaper ammo was one of the better changes to the mod. Imo if you take away the top cap, then ammo should go back to the 1,2,3,4, etc system. Now it's 10, 10, 10 > 11, 12, etc

[Robotron]

wow lol that's pretty... strong every 4 turns is also quite often. I suppose it depends on from what year this event can be sent / is likely to be in the pool. Probably needs very strict conditions or a cap. But let's see how it works out like this. Certainly interesting what does 2nd Russo-Japanese war do exactly? Just knocks Russia out of the war? (does it also end the bonus Entente gets from the event allying with Japan earlier in the game?)

Recall Dominions fleets back to Europe will be available from the first time the North Sea Blockade was broken.
Chance for unit type to be spawned: armored cruiser: 35%, pre-dreadnought: 30%, light cruiser: 25%, battlecruiser: 10%.
The effect of 2nd Russo-Japanese war is to deal 2 collapse points to Russia. If February Revolution gets triggered by this or February Revolution is already in effect, then Russo-German Peace talks is unlocked, which in turn unlocks Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, causing the surrender of Russia.

why I thought cheaper ammo was one of the better changes to the mod. Imo if you take away the top cap, then ammo should go back to the 1,2,3,4, etc system. Now it's 10, 10, 10 > 11, 12, etc

From my own experience and all reports I got, I felt that the game is still almost always ending too soon in 1917 or even earlier, so anything to delay that is good in my opinion. Artillery is a vital part to force a decision on any front and removing the 15PP cap is a step into that direction. What amount of additionally spent PP are we talking about anyway from 15 to 20 ammo factories built...15PP? Ridiculous!
20 to 25 factories: 40 PP, now that's proper WW1 stalemate style. And suddenly even the Supplementary Ammunitions events make sense again too.
Bringing back the 1,2,3 etc. system would also benefit the minor states too much which you already bemoaned in the past.

[Umeu]

Recall Dominions fleets back to Europe will be available from the first time the North Sea Blockade was broken.
Chance for unit type to be spawned: armored cruiser: 35%, pre-dreadnought: 30%, light cruiser: 25%, battlecruiser: 10%.
The effect of 2nd Russo-Japanese war is to deal 2 collapse points to Russia. If February Revolution gets triggered by this or February Revolution is already in effect, then Russo-German Peace talks is unlocked, which in turn unlocks Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, causing the surrender of Russia.

yeah that's quite powerful, for not too much down side. Also, imo, the battlecruiser is better than a dreadnought anyway, so it's not even bad that it spawns a battlecruiser instead. 10% for a free battlecruiser that's pretty good. This event can easily be sent around turn 20, which means 10 free ships. Of varying quality, that's true, so could argue it's a double edged sword, but Entente has enough ports to stick them in for free upkeep. Maybe battlecruiser spawn at 5%? The rest seems fine. Though maybe a randomized turn limit after which it ends is also a good idea, somewhere between 16 (4 free ships) and 32 (8 free ships)?

From my own experience and all reports I got, I felt that the game is still almost always ending too soon in 1917 or even earlier, so anything to delay that is good in my opinion. Artillery is a vital part to force a decision on any front and removing the 15PP cap is a step into that direction. What amount of saved PP are we talking about anyway from 15 to 20 ammo factories built...15? Ridiculous!

MP games or SP vs AI? I'm kinda split on this, on the one hand, there's the balance, on the other hand, there's nothing so satisfying as planning a surprise attack after winter by shipping 6 artillery batteries from one front to the other and suddenly taking what seemed a well defended force by storm. And I mean, it's WW1, artillery was king.

I still stand by my earlier proposal of the artillery overhaul for minor nations. Their artillery is too strong, too easily maintained and supplied. I'm currently in a game where Bulgaria and Romania can afford 2 batteries, and have massive stockpiles. Ottomans can afford 3 and I'm contemplating a 3rd. Germany has 5 artillery batteries + 2 bombers, while Austria has 3 + 2 bombers. The way I'm supporting germany and Austria's artillery is by sending ammo from minor nations to them, so their better batteries can just keep pounding away. But even then, I have create stockpiles during winter when artillery is less effective.

Reducing the effectiveness of minor nation artillery + reducing ammo production so they can't feed the bigger nations as easily would be good step in the right direction of better balance, also for historical purposes.

Still, I would not want artillery nerfed directly, these units ought to be strong, they ought to be what you plan your offensives around, and your ammo stockpiles. I'd rather see a minor boost for planes, bombers and zeppelins against artillery instead. This would make maintaining a proper airfleet more important, and also gives you a chance, if defending, to opt for a defense by air only, instead of also maintaining your own artillery batteries. That said, increasing the effectiveness of counter-artillery battery fire might also be a good idea. It's currently not that relevant.


based on 2 of my current MP games which are both going into 1917, I noticed a few things:

fires in the desert, Senussi uprising is still too strong. I got 7 units from the event, though I think it was combined with Jihad. Removing 1 unit from it can be considered. But arab troop attacks shouldnt count toward ottoman deserters event (not sure if they do?). That said, with the nerf to Ottoman set up at Suez, the Senussi uprising might be ok now.

usa takes quite a while to join, even with unlimited subs warfare and sinking a ton of merchant convoys. Even sinking the lusitania didn't do much. In 1 game, Wilson got elected, I then sunk the lusitania, and USA was still sitting at a comfortable 30 alignment (70 to entente, 30 to CP). Might be in part because the war is going well for CP, but seemed a bit strange.

Dreadnoughts seem like they're not a better deal than a battlecruiser. the amount of defense is not that much lower, but attack is quite a lot higher. Either a buff to dreadnoughts defense stats or a nerf to the cruiser defense stats to differentiate more between them? Not sure which of the 2 would be better. I'd generally opt for a buff, but since the veterancy system can scale quite hard, not sure if that's good in this case.

I still have not seen anyone get those Russian offensives events. It feels like Russia usually crumbles quite quickly, and then all those places where the offensives are supposed to spawn, are already taken. It feels like some of the conditions might be too strict. It could help if there's a random chance for these events to happen without selecting it in the diplomacy screen. Should probably come at a cost of collapse points or PP (to make it more expensive compared to sending from event).

Even though Russia usually does surrender around the historical date (somewhere in 1917). They seize to be a military threat somewhere in late 1915 or early 1916, depending on how the game goes. The fact that they hold out so long is mainly because of winters + territory just being so large that it takes forever to conquer places and get to moscow etc. Even without there being many units to oppose you. I'd rather see a bit more of a military challenge from Russia, but more ways for them to accumulate collapse points so that they still get knocked out of the war around 1917 if it goes badly for them.

There's also still issues with the Russian steamroller, but that's an even bigger post. I'll save that for later. XD

[Robotron]

I still stand by my earlier proposal of the artillery overhaul for minor nations. Their artillery is too strong, too easily maintained and supplied.

And that's exactly why that 15PP cap for ammo factories needs to be removed.

[Umeu]

I still stand by my earlier proposal of the artillery overhaul for minor nations. Their artillery is too strong, too easily maintained and supplied.

And that's exactly why that 15PP cap for ammo factories needs to be removed.

yeah I get where you are coming from, but I usually don't get more than 10 factories with minor nations anyway, and that's already super strong. In another game, I have Netherlands, Sweden & Norway all supplying Germany and AH with 10 ammo per turn, that's on top of the normal Ottoman + Bulgarian ammo transfer of 15 and 10 ammo per turn respectively. So making the factories past 10 more expensive won't do much.

But making earlier factories more expensive will also limit the capacity of major nations to get their ammo production up and running quite early in the game, as they did historically. A cap on minor nation ammo production ensures that major nations can still be artillery powerhouses, and simulate that they were the only ones that had the industrial capacity to produce ammo and artillery on such a large scale, while also help solve the problem of there being too much artillery/ammo.

The code has all been written (and tested) anyway, all you need to do is review it to make sure I didn't cause any bugs with what you added after

Alternatively, if you really don't want to make those changes to minor nations artillery, you can consider limiting the ammo transfer max to 5? (though I'd probably just send PP from major nations to minor nations so that they can get artillery, and disband their army corps to make sure they don't go negative PP)

20 to 25 factories: 40 PP, now that's proper WW1 stalemate style. And suddenly even the Supplementary Ammunitions events make sense again too.

I tend not to go over 20 in MP. Though in SP I think I managed to go 35 once XD. I mean... there's already the cap of not being able to stockpile ammo over 100. So there's definitely a point after which it's not even good to have more factories as you'll go over limit all the time. And if artillery can't be used as much, then yes, it'll be really ww1 stalemate as the improved trenches can no longer be broken without artillery. Even homeguards often hold out vs a single army corps without taking much damage, if deeply entrenched (they die quickly when you have more than 1, but 1 army corps + 1 reserve corps can't even always take a city defended by a homeguard lol). Nerfing artillery use too much also risks making the game boring.

Bringing back the 1,2,3 etc. system would also benefit the minor states too much which you already bemoaned in the past.

you are right I was overreacting XD

[Robotron]

In another game, I have Netherlands, Sweden & Norway all supplying Germany and AH with 10 ammo per turn, that's on top of the normal Ottoman + Bulgarian ammo transfer of 15 and 10 ammo per turn respectively. So making the factories past 10 more expensive won't do much.

Good thing a game where Netherlands, Sweden & Norway all cooperating for CP is not exactly the standard game the average Potzblitz newcomer would stumble upon but rather a product of Mr. Umeu's distorted/manipulated version of the game.

But making earlier factories more expensive will also limit the capacity of major nations to get their ammo production up and running quite early in the game, as they did historically. A cap on minor nation ammo production ensures that major nations can still be artillery powerhouses, and simulate that they were the only ones that had the industrial capacity to produce ammo and artillery on such a large scale, while also help solve the problem of there being too much artillery/ammo.

Costlier ammo factories over 15 for major nations will remain in place. But minor nations get an ammo/factory cap of 10 to compensate. Satisfied?

Oh, I just saw this comment of yours what's also not good:

based on 2 of my current MP games which are both going into 1917, I noticed a few things:

fires in the desert, Senussi uprising is still too strong. I got 7 units from the event, though I think it was combined with Jihad. Removing 1 unit from it can be considered. But arab troop attacks shouldnt count toward ottoman deserters event (not sure if they do?). That said, with the nerf to Ottoman set up at Suez, the Senussi uprising might be ok now.

usa takes quite a while to join, even with unlimited subs warfare and sinking a ton of merchant convoys. Even sinking the lusitania didn't do much. In 1 game, Wilson got elected, I then sunk the lusitania, and USA was still sitting at a comfortable 30 alignment (70 to entente, 30 to CP). Might be in part because the war is going well for CP, but seemed a bit strange.

Dreadnoughts seem like they're not a better deal than a battlecruiser. the amount of defense is not that much lower, but attack is quite a lot higher. Either a buff to dreadnoughts defense stats or a nerf to the cruiser defense stats to differentiate more between them? Not sure which of the 2 would be better. I'd generally opt for a buff, but since the veterancy system can scale quite hard, not sure if that's good in this case.

I still have not seen anyone get those Russian offensives events. It feels like Russia usually crumbles quite quickly, and then all those places where the offensives are supposed to spawn, are already taken. It feels like some of the conditions might be too strict. It could help if there's a random chance for these events to happen without selecting it in the diplomacy screen. Should probably come at a cost of collapse points or PP (to make it more expensive compared to sending from event).

Even though Russia usually does surrender around the historical date (somewhere in 1917). They seize to be a military threat somewhere in late 1915 or early 1916, depending on how the game goes. The fact that they hold out so long is mainly because of winters + territory just being so large that it takes forever to conquer places and get to moscow etc. Even without there being many units to oppose you. I'd rather see a bit more of a military challenge from Russia, but more ways for them to accumulate collapse points so that they still get knocked out of the war around 1917 if it goes badly for them.

There's also still issues with the Russian steamroller, but that's an even bigger post. I'll save that for later. XD

You know what, dude? You go on my ignore list until October because you're a royal pain in the ass!

[Umeu]

Good thing a game where Netherlands, Sweden & Norway all cooperating for CP is not exactly the standard game the average Potzblitz newcomer would stumble upon but rather a product of Mr. Umeu's distorted/manipulated version of the game.

They will because it's likely I asked them to play the mod in the first place

But more seriously, Netherlands joining was likely a bug. They were supposed to join Entente because I played Neutrality Violated. I even put troops at their border for their eventual DoW, and then suddenly they joined CP. I didn't report it yet because I wanted to replicate it first. Maybe my opponent accidentally declared war on them

Sweden joining was just the result of Entente sinking my convoys.

And Norway joining was a cunning plan of my opponent which failed because you put an Army corps in Kristiana.

As you can see, none of it was my manipulation

Costlier ammo factories over 15 for major nations will remain in place. But minor nations get an ammo/factory cap of 10 to compensate. Satisfied?

It's fine with me, but it won't really do what you want it to do. If artillery is (too) strong in mid-late game, it's also because there are no effective counters to it. I already suggested buffs for airforce vs artillery (preferably they do effeciency damage), as well as counter battery fire.

Can also consider something with zeppelins reducing the effectiveness of enemy artillery (because the zeppelins stop scouting missions for example)
Or firing artillery could cost 1 efficiency. This means you have to rest your artillery, and they get worse as the offensive progresses, which simulates wear and tear of using such machines for prolonged stretches of time.

Or, if you'd rather nerf artillery (though I don't like that idea so much), you should nerf their effeciency damage. What makes them powerful is that from 1916+ they do about 2 effeciency damage per shot (so it might be gas that's ultimately too strong), so you can reduce a unit to red efficiency in 1 barrage if you have enough of them gathered. And then the infantry tries to finish the job. Imo this is how it should be, because even now, an army corps will usually survive this when well entrenched. 5 artillery shooting rounds + 3-4 army corps attacking, and the enemy corps (provided it's upgraded and under a general) will usually survive this at 2-3 health. But it can be an option.

Oh, I just saw this comment of yours what's also not good:

Never said it wasn't good. Also don't forget to read the comments where I said things are great some things are just not reaching their potential greatness
Anyway, it's not just based on what I think, also from talking to some people I've been playing with.

You know what, dude? You go on my ignore list until October because you're a royal pain in the ass!

Enjoy your R&R

[OMGNOES]

This game is getting harder and harder, the AI poses a serious challenge. Good to see this is still being developed Robotron

Got a new crash at the AI's turn during naval movements. Tried it twice, both times it crashed

[Robotron]

@OMGNOES: I'm sorry, although the problem you reported is a valid issue, I can see from your savegame that you are still using V22.1 which is obsolete since September the 3rd.

Please understand that I can't give you a bugfix for a version of my mod that is already obsolete. Instead I've integrated a fix for the issue you reported in the now
most up-to-date version which is V23.1. Unfortunately you won't be able to continue your game after updating because of the extensive additions from V22.1 to V23.1
In the future, I'd strongly advise to make sure you're only using the most recent version of the mod, which is the one found in the opening post of this thread.

THE MOST UP-TO-DATE VERSION OF POTZTBLITZ IS NOW V23.1

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uPnhcp ... aryDE/view

includes the following fixes:
- fixed erroneous removal of Austrian Armored Trains after "Organise Defense of Galicia" was played in multiplayer mode
- crash reported by user OMGNOES

All other users who already had V23.0 installed can safely update to V23.1, it won't break any savegames or multiplayer matches.

[OMGNOES]

Sorry Robotron, I tried updating using the link in the OP, but I must have messed up somehow.
Thanks for fixing the issue, I understand you can't provide a fix for a version of a mod that is obsolete!

[OMGNOES]

Can't find the discord link btw, maybe it would be good to add it to the opening post?

[Umeu]

Can't find the discord link btw, maybe it would be good to add it to the opening post?

https://discord.gg/3Sn8JjuW

We've just started out, but welcome!

[Umeu]

ran into a bug in MP:

[18:44:06][12340]Surrenderbelgium
[18:44:06][12340]+++++++++++++++++++++++++ Event triggered:Surrenderbelgium
[18:44:06][12340]game/game_events.lua:8063(global BelgiumAbandoned) game/game_events.lua:8063: attempt to index field 'hex' (a nil value)
[18:44:06][12340][C]:-1(method Show) game/game_events.lua:8063(global BelgiumAbandoned) game/game_events.lua:8063: attempt to index field 'hex' (a nil value)

adding: and unit.hex ~= nil below and unit.commander.hex ~= nil seems to have fixed it.

also, how to take back cities that were taken by rebels in North Africa? I sent armies there, but I can't move onto the hex nor bring attack it in any way


also came across this bug:
[20:09:31][17016]EVENTCHECKCHECK0
[20:09:31][17016]game/game_events.lua:14562(global Offensives) game/game_events.lua attempt to index field 'unit' (a nil value)

replaced what was there with this:

Code: Select all

	for _, hex in pairs(hexes) do
		if hex.terrain.type == Terrain.LAND 
				and hex.unit == nil 
				and hex.alliance.id == 2 then
				SpawnUnit(13, germany, hex.x, hex.y, 1, 100)
				break	
		end
	end		

[teletabicus]

Sorry, I am green with PotzBlitz, but can someone tell me where is the description of Russian Surprise attack in PDF. I didn't find it. Can I know its effects? Thanks

[Robotron]

The event you were looking for is titled "Russian pre-emptive Attack" in the manual but the description is no longer up to date. I'll have to edit the event in the next update.

Here's the correct description how the event works:

quelle surprise.jpg (140.1 KiB) Viewed 3912 times

[teletabicus]

Thank you. Btw it looks very hard for CP to face Russian advance

[Umeu]

yes, it's hard, but also not impossible. However, best way is to just avoid it all, by sending the counter-events. That said, there is currently a loophole. Entente can save diplopoints and gamble (with quite high likelyhood of success) to get both rush mob + surprise attack event on turn 3, immediately bringing Russia into the war on t3. Maybe Rush-Mob should be sendable only in t1 and t2?