old Potzblitz thread (discontinued)

[Robotron]

Okay, 10%, 20%, 30% it will be then for simplicity's sake and testing purposes though TripleCP suggested the biggest change should be between green and trained and Zombo agreed because of diminishing returns.

I'd propose to give:

"veteran" status for all Serbian units from the start

"trained" status for every German unit in the west and the French units stationed at the German border.

Elite status for the BEF and AH cavalry units in Galicia.

All other AH units besides cavalry and Russian units at startup will be "trained".

Okay?

[Zombo]

I'm surprised you want to give AH trained status, equivalent to the Germans. Not only was German military effectiveness considerably higher than AH ( which in addition suffered from plurality of ethnics) but AH generals were often piss-poor ( which is hardly reflected in the game since all generals bring some added value, even if minimal. AH performance in the opening stages of the invasion of Serbia, Serbian tenacity notwithstanding, was abysmal.

[nehi]

he wrote just ah cavalries, which were considered as elite units of k.u.k. army, on top of that just in galicia... others basic training

[Robotron]

@Zombo: hey, hey, cool it...AH will be green then.

[TripleCP]

It seems like so many things are being overhauled that we'll have to test the latest version to find out. Given that the AI has significant boosts to their stats and PPs it may be worth keeping the veterancy benefits a little higher (I think a 25% boost for trained soldiers vs green levies isn't unreasonable, with subsequent bonuses being 35/45 or 40/50). Have to see how many units you need to kill to earn those promotions, too.

In my most recent game, for example, France was able to spam and upgrade large numbers of Infantry, Fighters, and eventually Tanks until surrendering in mid-1918 (after losing Paris in Jan 1915). It could all be too much if they're now blocked from sending half their army to Italy. Only one way to find out, though.

I have my doubts about making any starting units Elite (or even Veteran), but would have to do a couple play throughs to be sure. For example, I think most historians now agree that it's a myth that the BEF's regulars mowed down German conscripts at the rate of 3 to 1 at Mons. Also need to keep in mind that the German "right wing" units already get a substantial boost via generals.

I don't see a problem with having the starting units of either Austria or Russia beginning at "Trained." The regulars of both armies were by and large as good as any in 1914, but were just badly employed by their senior commanders. Potiorek's main offensive into Serbia was via it's most defensible frontier, while in Galicia Conrad made his initial deployments for a defensive stand but then decided to go on the offensive in both the north and the east. I will say that I almost always do better than the historical results in the West whether I play as Entente or Central Powers (i.e. the Germans barely make it into France when I play Entente and the Germans either have taken Paris or are threatening to at the end of 1914), but in the East I almost always do significantly better than historical when playing as the Entente but often do significantly worse when playing as the Central Powers (i.e. struggling to contain the Serbs, barely holding the line from Krakow to Lemberg (at best...sometimes the Russians break through to Hungary), while the Germans are too busy in East Prussia and Silesia to help). The main thing should be that both Austria and Russia should be especially worried about keeping their Trained units intact.

Thanks again for your efforts and taking everyone's input into account, Robotron.

[satchel]

I've attached roundels for Egypt, based on the flag included in Potzblitz. (These are primarily for Robotron's use, so I will forgo further instructions. To manually add them, right-click on the image, and choose "Save image as" from the menu. They ultimately belong in your C:TGW folder called data\graphics\flags)

Egypt roundel emblem 50

emblem_egypt50.png (332 Bytes) Viewed 3360 times

Egypt roundel emblem 100

emblem_egypt100.png (1.35 KiB) Viewed 3360 times

Robotron, please let me know if there are any other custom graphics that I can provide, along these lines (the graphics you've done yourself are great).

[Robotron]

@satchel: great, I forgot about those, thanks a bunch for your contribution.

Right now I'm playtesting the game using the new experience system. I decided to go for 10, 25 and 33% bonus attack/defense strength for trained, veteran and elite units for testing purposes.

Units will gain 10 experience points for each "kill" of enemy unit strength and will lose 10 points for each casualty they suffer.

Repairing a unit will cost 10% of the total unit experience for each repaired point of unit strength.

0-99 points will qualify for "green"
100-249 for "trained"
250-499 for "veteran"
and 500+ for elite/crack/shock (not sure about the title yet)

(The experience is calculated in hundreds because the game calculates unit strength in hundreds not tens)

Here's an example of how the medals for the ranks will look like (green troops have no medal):



Cheers.

[Zombo]

Hi there

a friend of mine just bought the game (based on my warm recommendations about the mod) but the game crushes after the opening Podblitz screen

he might have done something wrong but just to be sure, is the version here (http://www.filedropper.com/potzblitzv25full_1) the last updated version?

thx

[nehi]

its not, i had similar problem, but patched to latest version its ok now

[Robotron]

Yes, a 1.66 is mandatory. If the game keeps crashing please send me the log (ctgw.log).

Also the V2.5 is NOT the latest update, there were numerous updates since then but I stopped uploading at some time.

I will upload the new V3.0 once I'm done playtesting it which will take a few more days. Please hold the line.

[Moreau]

cheers!

[Robotron]

Tried out the "race to the sea" proposal by blocking the hexes between Antwerp and Calais until the German advance gets stopped with expected results:
this only allows the Germans to have their northern flank covered without having to actually move to the coast. Should the block lift at some time the Germans are also the first to be able to occupy those hexes since they go first every turn.
As it is this actually helps the Germans which was not the intention of "race to the sea" concept I guess.
So unless someone comes up with a nifty idea about how to implement the "race" it won't be included.

[TripleCP]

I don't think the "Race to the Sea" mechanic is necessary and would feel too forced. It's a legitimate strategy for the Germans to go for for the ports first and Paris second. Likewise, the Entente ought to be able to counterattack a German drive on Paris from the north.

[satchel]

Here's an example of how the medals for the ranks will look like

Medal configuration looks good, and your visual presentation makes the medal tiers easy to understand.

I don't know how the medal graphics work, but I'd be happy to create a set of roudels with a thin border outline, like the round portions of the medals in your example graphic, in order to make them compatible with your medal presentation. Yet the flags look very good, in this context. If it's possible to have the medals appear as in your example, and have roudels used on the map, that would make the whole experience more rich.

(Of course your choice of what to use, and where, is your own, and I support whatever you choose to do. I will be satisfied if any of my work, or even a suggestion I make, eventually ends up in Potzblitz. And I will also be satisfied with your work, if none of my own contributions make it in.)

_______________________________________

On another matter, if using my unit counter colors, I recommend that Egypt's counter color be:

{0, 76 ,0}

inspired by the Potzblitz in-game Egyptian flag, which would make it the darkest green unit (Portugal now being second-darkest).

[Robotron]

@satchel: yes, by all means, please do so. I've attached the medals graphics to this post for reference.

One caveat though: I've only succeeded in getting the medals displayed upon unit selection and not on the actual map and I still have no clue whatsoever how to achieve this.
I had notepad++ search for any references to the name of the emblems and medal graphics and the only places it came up with were "main_hud.lua" and "selection_tab.lua" but these only seem to adress the display of emblems/medals in the unit display section not the map.

[Zombo]

Robotron

can you remind me of the changes you have done to the multiplayer version, compared to the single player version?
if I remember well, it was removing the Belgian armoured car and transforming the British coastal cities garrisons into small garrisons,( both most welcome) but I don't remember if there was anything else
My pals are available for multiplayer again, so I'll be able to give you feedback on that soon

Keep up the good work, looking forward to your 3.0

[Robotron]

Off the top of my head:

In multiplayer the following changes apply:

- Britain loses its coastal garrisons at the start of the game and Belgium starts without armoured car
- The "Austrian Siege Howitzer" event always triggers in turn 3 (in V3 this will alway trigger in any mode, but you get a bonus if the AH arty was actually moved to the western front)
- the Russian Supply Crisis might start sooner (neither Warsaw being captured by CP nor Rasputin being triggered nor Turkey still being neutral are prerequisites)
- it is harder for the Entente to maintain the British Sea Blockade (Entente warships' strength-points in the Atlantic (NOT in the North Sea) are divided by three not two when calculating Entente naval superiority)
- Germany loses no morale to the "Cossacks are coming" event
- retreating Prittwitz west of the Vistula will prevent the "Victory at Tannenberg" event and bring in Hindenburg for a morale penalty of between 18 to 33.
- French General Gallieni will always spawn with a garrison instead of a possible infantry in SP

@all: I know I'm just terrible at meeting deadlines but bear with me, V3 will be worth the waiting. Thank you for your patience.

[Zombo]

V3 will be worth the waiting

Without a doubt!

I know it sounds stupid but, how do we install the updates of the mod? where do we put the Lang and the Script file? My friend keeps trying and it doesn't work, so I just hope he's doing something wrong

[Robotron]

If you have downloaded the full mod or an update:
After unpacking the ZIP archive you will have a folder called "Data".
Copy and paste that folder into the main directory of the game, there should already be a folder called "Data" there. Overwrite that folder with the folder you got from the archive.
MAKE SURE TO USE A NEW 1.66 installation or backup the complete "Data" folder just in case you want to revert to the original game without having to reinstall the complete game.


If you have downloaded one of the many bugfixes:
After unpacking the ZIP archive you will have two folders called "lang" and "scripts"
Those belong into the "Data" folder found in the game's main directory.
There should already be folders called "lang" and "scripts" there, overwrite those.

[nehi]

just a notice, ive copied whole ctgw folder elsewhere and renamed it (it works just fine anywhere, it doesnt matter which partition or hard disk or flash disk, at least steam version), to keep independent vanilla for mp and moded game for sp