Slitherine

25-Turn beta version of the large map is out: https://www.mediafire.com/?giquxc1qx7r8ea8
And yes, I'm calling 2.0 "Gold Edition"

I had a problem with the Poison Gas and Blockade Quests in early/mid-1915, so can someone see if these are working correctly?

- BNC

Why no-one replying? I'm thinking of releasing a 45-turn beta before full release on 11/11, bu if no-one tells me how their game is going then what's the point?

- BNC

No replys = No 3rd beta edition.

Also, I think that GOLD will probably be the last update for this mod (I have another thing I want to do instead now that this is basically finished)

- BNC

Well, I did download it and played a few turns past weekend, but I won't have enough free time this week to play through it a few times, which is what is really needed I guess, especially as the playing length increases. But still, some things that I remember and/or noted down:

I was a bit more agressive, on the second attempt Serbia was conquered within 8 turns, thanks to the bad weather. Oh yeah, the weather: first attempt was miserable, I think I had 2 or 3 out of 8 turns without rain, the mud started in turn 4. The next time the weather was a little better, but not by much. Overall, when there are no airforces involved rain is not really that bad, and it ment the GA could be used more effectively. Well, actually less ineffectively: I remember attacking a 5-point Russian infantry withhout ammo, I sent three GA units at it, and they all scored zero kills! But they usually do not get killed in a single turn, so rotating and reinforcing them can keep the fight going.

Still, I managed to capture Warsaw twice within 7 turns, although the Russians threw everything they had at it, but I noticed a tendency for the Russian garrison to leave Warsaw and attack GA infantry when sighted. So on the second try I baited the Russian infantry out of Warsaw with a juicy GA and it worked! maybe they should stay put, to make Warsaw harder to capture.

The balancing looks fairly good: my battlefield usually consisted of a collection of half-depleted units with more than half low on ammo or even empty. Prestige was always low but never ran out, I (again) spend a lot on (green) reinforcements and the odd artillery. I actually only bought regular infantry this time, because of the lower soft attack and the higher cost of the MG infantry.

A single bad combat can lead to cascading failure on the Western Front, where the early counterattack by the French was not the suicide run from the previous beta. Also, it was nice to notice the navy ranges were dialed back. I also noticed a new floating welcoming committee on the North Sea, which retreated when my subs went after them, but they called some friends and it got messy. So that is all good.

I did notice new messages explaining & warning me of strategic effects, and it took me a second to figure out where exactly Przemysl was; it was a strongpoint, not a city hex. Maybe center the view on it when the message pops up?

ThvN wrote:Well, I did download it and played a few turns past weekend, but I won't have enough free time this week to play through it a few times, which is what is really needed I guess, especially as the playing length increases. But still, some things that I remember and/or noted down:

interesting...

How about the quests? You get Italy or Bulgaria to join you? (or possibly knock out Russia - I coded that when I made it 25 turns)

- BNC

Hi, I managed to play a few more turns and trigger some events, I'll walk through them briefly. Note that at this point I have already conquered Serbia for some turns.


Turn 12:
East front: I managed to recapture Tarnopol, and started attacking Brest-Litovsk.

West front: I managed to get near the Supply Dump, and started mopping up artillery that was left exposed. Naval action with subs (I am doing badly with the navy but managed to take out a lot of escorts so my subs might re-balance things).

Ottomans: pushed back by Russians, and a dreadnought suddenly appears just outside Constantinople. A very lucky dreadnought, as it manages to not lose a single point in 4 attacks. Grmmbl.

ME: I am searching for some colonial infantry unit that is wandering around. I actually bought an extra infantry there to see if I can get near Basra.


Turn 13:
2 Quests Completed: Przemysl and Serbia.
Not much action but I manage to sneak an Ottoman unit into Basra while the other two tie up the colonial infantry. Brest-Litovsk falls and Minsk & Kiev are getting close. Not a Russian unit to be seen, strangely.


Turn 14:
The weather is clear for the first time I think. Still snow everywhere of course (although it is May)
Quest Completed: Poland is born. I see no infantry unit near Warsaw, however. I did reload and clear the area, but still empty.
Quest Issued: Use chemical weapons. Oddly the new unit is not announced at the start of the turn (new equipment), maybe to much going on?

Landings at Gallipoli, they look a bit strong so I send in some GA infantry (will take at least three turns) and try to weaken and contain the landing forces. However the one landing on the western shore appears right next to the artillery there so that is gone.

And the Italians join the war, their units appear near Marseille, Tobruk and Tripoli, I've no idea what to do with them yet. I just start marching them towards the nearest Entente-flagged cities for now.

Kiev and Minsk are taken, there are no Russians anywhere, so I just walked in. At that point I had to stop playing, but first I skipped the turn to see the result of the capture:


Turn 15:
And yes, another Quest fulfilled. I get a nice message to move my forces west of Brest-Litovsk.

ThvN wrote:Hi, I managed to play a few more turns and trigger some events, I'll walk through them briefly. Note that at this point I have already conquered Serbia for some turns.


Turn 12:
East front: I managed to recapture Tarnopol, and started attacking Brest-Litovsk.

West front: I managed to get near the Supply Dump, and started mopping up artillery that was left exposed. Naval action with subs (I am doing badly with the navy but managed to take out a lot of escorts so my subs might re-balance things).

Ottomans: pushed back by Russians, and a dreadnought suddenly appears just outside Constantinople. A very lucky dreadnought, as it manages to not lose a single point in 4 attacks. Grmmbl.

ME: I am searching for some colonial infantry unit that is wandering around. I actually bought an extra infantry there to see if I can get near Basra.

East: You might hate me, but I think I have made an offensive that rips this quick offensive up and turns it into a massive WITHDRAWAL (no retreats however!)

West: When (and HOW) did you break through. So far the only odds I've ever seen there are -4/0 in favour of the enemy.

Ottomans: Its called a dreadnaught for a reason! (Need some subs here?)

Middle East: You sure that think didn't die of attrition. Theres a rule that takes -6 off every unit in the desert that's more than 2 hexes from a river or the sea.

ThvN wrote: Turn 13:
2 Quests Completed: Przemysl and Serbia.
Not much action but I manage to sneak an Ottoman unit into Basra while the other two tie up the colonial infantry. Brest-Litovsk falls and Minsk & Kiev are getting close. Not a Russian unit to be seen, strangely.

Minsk and Kiev should be much harder next version (didn't think anyone would break Brest in that time!). Also, you try for Riga at all?

ThvN wrote:
Turn 14:
The weather is clear for the first time I think. Still snow everywhere of course (although it is May)
Quest Completed: Poland is born. I see no infantry unit near Warsaw, however. I did reload and clear the area, but still empty.
Quest Issued: Use chemical weapons. Oddly the new unit is not announced at the start of the turn (new equipment), maybe to much going on?

Landings at Gallipoli, they look a bit strong so I send in some GA infantry (will take at least three turns) and try to weaken and contain the landing forces. However the one landing on the western shore appears right next to the artillery there so that is gone.

And the Italians join the war, their units appear near Marseille, Tobruk and Tripoli, I've no idea what to do with them yet. I just start marching them towards the nearest Entente-flagged cities for now.

Kiev and Minsk are taken, there are no Russians anywhere, so I just walked in. At that point I had to stop playing, but first I skipped the turn to see the result of the capture:

Poland: The unitshould appear SW of Warsaw, but I'm not sure if it's coded for 1916 or instant.
Poison Gas: Those sort of things aren't announced in single scenarios as a general rule AFAIK. You might hae noticed that Flm 15 and Fokker E3s are purchaseable now, among many other new toys.
Gallipoli: The enemy knows that GA armies are rubbish. You might be attracting more - just to warn (nothing coded however)
Italy: Marseille - take Marseille (flank Paris). Tripoli - take Tunis. Tobruk - take Cairo. The last one is a VP, so getting Italy can be quite useful. The defences in these regions will be much better in GOLD.

ThvN wrote:
Turn 15:
And yes, another Quest fulfilled. I get a nice message to move my forces west of Brest-Litovsk.

Historical turn = 54! (Minsk and Riga)

Obviously Russia needs x3 armies!

- BNC

BiteNibbleChomp wrote:East: You might hate me, but I think I have made an offensive that rips this quick offensive up and turns it into a massive WITHDRAWAL (no retreats however!)

Ssshhh, it's called "Tactical repositioning"!

Well, I was kept on my toes until the Russians simply seem to ran out of troops. There was a late attack with some cavalry near Przemysl and some of their infantry (2 units) showed up near Serbia in AI turn 8 (at hex 79,38), luckily this was after I cleared Serbia so the GA could handle it. This last Russian wave did manage to empty Lublin, simply because everything I had ran out of ammo. All my units there ran dry, which is also how I defeated the Russians, see below. I had cleared the area around Warsaw and I was just busy sending some Germans and an artillery to help the poor GA retake Tarnopol. After these units were gone, that was it, just a walk through the snow from then on.

Tactics used:
The AI keeps moving them forwards even if they have 1 strength and 0 ammo (wrong AI orders?). So I isolate a unit, deplete their ammo and try to keep at least three of my units in contact to prevent resupply/reinforcement. Then I reinforce/resupply those units, and even the GA can handle unarmed Russians. But you need to keep your numbers up, so I rotate units as soon as it starts to look they won't last another turn.

You need a freshened stack of units, and over time this degraded, but before that happened the Russians dried up. The biggest livesaver was artillery, which has huge SA in your mod and I could halve Russian infantry with a single shot sometimes. Just one extra gun I bought killed more than 3-4 GA units together, and it didn't need reinforcements every other turn. Also, I don't waste Germans on strongpoints, the GA has the same hard attack.

West: When (and HOW) did you break through. So far the only odds I've ever seen there are -4/0 in favour of the enemy.

Timing, luck & AI exploits. I kept the frontline reinforced or rotated out troops that faced too many opponents. No MG infantry, regular inf has higher SA and is cheaper. Keep artillery stocked with at least 2 ammo. I spent some turns just reloading, because of the weather halving supply. The AI will attack during bad weather, since it can't spot your guns. This will hurt them, usually every unit they attack with gets two artillery barrages.

Then you wait until their artillery runs dry, pick a weak spot and attack. Rinse and repeat. The siege artillery is used to suppress artillery units that can provide mutual support. I had most losses right after advancing, when the AI could attack my weakened and poorly entrenched units which usually don't have room to withdraw. If you want to see the flow I can dig up a few screenshots to show positions during some turns.

The most trouble I have is with Strasbourg, it is impossible to attack there but the French keep shelling my troops and nearly took out an infantry two times, I had to bring in a third one to rotate the slowly weaking frontline. The Fahrpanzer is utterly useless (very historical!).

Middle East: You sure that think didn't die of attrition. Theres a rule that takes -6 off every unit in the desert that's more than 2 hexes from a river or the sea.

That's a nice idea. But still, Basra was very easy to take over; I just walked in.

Minsk and Kiev should be much harder next version (didn't think anyone would break Brest in that time!). Also, you try for Riga at all?

No, too far away from the fighting for my liking, I wanted to take Brest-Litovsk andTarnopol first, and these two are the first logical targets after those. Brest strongpoint is easy with some artillery and three infantry, it is in close terrain so defense is only three. With artillery to help out even the GA can manage that.

Poland: The unitshould appear SW of Warsaw, but I'm not sure if it's coded for 1916 or instant.

Well, those hexes were clear but I didn't see it.

Poison Gas: Those sort of things aren't announced in single scenarios as a general rule AFAIK. You might hae noticed that Flm 15 and Fokker E3s are purchaseable now, among many other new toys.

I will have to check, that could be the reason.

Gallipoli: The enemy knows that GA armies are rubbish. You might be attracting more - just to warn (nothing coded however)

Yes, but I exploit that, the AI will leave good defensive positions (Warsaw) if I move GA close. Then the Germans twirl their moustaches and charge in. I think the AI can be issued an order to prevent that (can you use that?)

Obviously Russia needs x3 armies!

The flow of units that I encountered is fine, but it just ran dry. So not more units per sé but deeper reserves (unit slots/prestige?)

Tactical repositioning - seems alright with the Prussian officers that you sent to help the GA a while ago. They don't like retreats however.

Serbia - how did those stupid Russians still manage to get through Romania!? I edited their commands so that they head for Przemysl rather than just some random location of their choosing. Oh well - historical enough.

Galician Offensive - Ok. I've never actually sent the Germans towards Tarnopol. Normally I spend 5 turns clearing East Prussia, then hit Wasaw/Ivangorod and then aim at Riga.

Russian Advances: The AI seems incapable of launching offensives with proper supply (except for early Galicia offensive the AI should launch any there until the Brusilov Offensive - at least until the next update!)

Artillery - East: I'm guessing you use the Medium Guns then (25 SA, 200 pp). I usually spend all the early pps until I capture Antwerp rescuing Konigsberg. After that I need to fix the Western Front up while trying to work out how to break this silly blockade!

Artillery - West: Light Guns? Also, the MG '14 has better defense than Inf '16 IIRC, so it might solve problems near Strasbourg. Also, from Jan. 1915 you can buy Siege Guns, which are useful for blasting Verdun and other annoying things to hell.

Fahrpanzer: Not quite utterly useless. Send it to the east as soon as you get it (T3-4 upgrade with Horse Transport, then rush it to Warsaw) - you'll need it if the Russians launch an offensive there (1 in 4 chance of it occuring, but you get mauled if you face the offensive!). If you survive T15 there (next update), bring it back to the west. The British tanks will begin to come.

Basra: is no longer easy. Now protected by some Dreadnaughts and an Artillery.

Brest: I upped it's entrenchment and put half a ton of barbed wire there, so I think that the GA might return to its old 'useless' status soon. Also, cities that weren't defended should be in the next update.

Polish unit: I'll do another test and see if it comes for me.

GA sucking: Looks like Warsaw needs to be locked to it's hex like I did in the west.

x3 Armies: That was a joke - you beat them in 1/3 of the time, therefore 3 times as many armies would be needed to be realistic. I have put some more stuff for them, as well as heaps of wire and some better entrenchment, but not THAT much change.

Reinforcements: The AI is set to 1 core slot so that it doesn't do really stupid things (it can't if I don't put armies there!)

- BNC

I don't think that anyone would have managed to conquer France yet. But anyway, there is a new setup for it in the final version.

When Paris falls, Germany will occupy France north of Nantes, as well as the Colonies in Algeria. Italy gains a few bases south of Nantes and Tunisia. Italy gains those no matter what side it is on.

If Italy joined the CP, I'm saying that they got to take part in the peace conference with France (these terms aren't as harsh as Versailles was - just peaceful occupation and a plunder of 700pp).

If Italy joins the Entente (basically if you suck at taking Serbia), Italy marches in right after Germany claims all of France (Germany still gets 700pp however). While not mentioned in game, I'm saying that they decdied to try and liberate France (only to suffer the wrath of the mighty German Army, and possibly a less mighty GA)

- BNC

BiteNibbleChomp wrote:No replys = No 3rd beta edition.

Also, I think that GOLD will probably be the last update for this mod (I have another thing I want to do instead now that this is basically finished)

- BNC

But... nooooooo!

I was so looking foward to more "non grand strategy map" stuff!

Wasnt there going to be a Grand Campaign with the central powers?!

Sorry but as i said before, i am not a fan of one huge map.

I suspect your drop in posts might be reflecting the fact that many people also are not a fan of those (just kidding, i am have no ideia if they are related, they might tho ).

So PLEASE DONT DROP SUPPORT FOR THIS! Just release GC1914 and we will (hopefully) see more people coming back to this! (myself included!)

1500th post!

BR4ZIL wrote:But... nooooooo!

I was so looking foward to more "non grand strategy map" stuff!

Wasnt there going to be a Grand Campaign with the central powers?!

Sorry but as i said before, i am not a fan of one huge map.

I suspect your drop in posts might be reflecting the fact that many people also are not a fan of those (just kidding, i am have no ideia if they are related, they might tho ).

So PLEASE DONT DROP SUPPORT FOR THIS! Just release GC1914 and we will (hopefully) see more people coming back to this! (myself included!)

The Gc 1914 can't be released without briefings. If you are (or anyone else) willing to write them then I will be able to release it. However, I can't say the same for 1915-18. I have another project that I've started now (aside from Mongols) so I don't see much point in continuing something 'finished'.

Also the drop in posts isn't just this thread. The entire forum is half-asleep now. I don't think that will change much until Soviet Corps.

- BNC

Congratulations on your Junkers! Out of curiosity, what is the problem with the GC briefings? Your Grand Strategy map has good messages and everything, so I'm a bit surprised to hear that the briefings are such a big problem? I'm not a native speaker but your English seems fine to me. Do you have texts that need to be proofread or translated first? Or are you upset that the briefings won't accept your smilies?

And the quietness on the forums is probably due to several factors: it's been a while since new content came out, there are some big beta tests happening (Order of Battle, WH40K), and other new games take over peoples' time.

Actually I don't mind Soviet Corps being delayed, I might even manage to actually do some modding myself before it comes out! My first steps resulted in failure when I discovered that the AI cannot seem to switch air units, that was a lot of time down the drain. It seems I've finally managed to get terrain/movement issues mostly sorted, but now I'm stuck with tweaking combat stats... I have difficulty getting past the spreadsheets, I'm a bit 'outnumbered' as it where.

ThvN wrote:Congratulations on your Junkers!

I'd much rather have a Red Baron or something!

ThvN wrote:Out of curiosity, what is the problem with the GC briefings? Your Grand Strategy map has good messages and everything, so I'm a bit surprised to hear that the briefings are such a big problem? I'm not a native speaker but your English seems fine to me. Do you have texts that need to be proofread or translated first? Or are you upset that the briefings won't accept your smilies?

Simple. Can't think of any ideas! (The messages are about as long as I can make before going - "What the hell. This sounds awful (goes and plays some other game)"

ThvN wrote:And the quietness on the forums is probably due to several factors: it's been a while since new content came out, there are some big beta tests happening (Order of Battle, WH40K), and other new games take over peoples' time.

Actually I don't mind Soviet Corps being delayed, I might even manage to actually do some modding myself before it comes out! My first steps resulted in failure when I discovered that the AI cannot seem to switch air units, that was a lot of time down the drain. It seems I've finally managed to get terrain/movement issues mostly sorted, but now I'm stuck with tweaking combat stats... I have difficulty getting past the spreadsheets, I'm a bit 'outnumbered' as it where.

Sorry. You can't start modding until you've conquered WWI GOLD!

Also, aside from the GC briefings, the main reason this is (probably) the final update for Kaiserschlacht is because I've started work on another mod, you might see an announcement fairly soon.

- BNC

I find briefings are surprisingly hard to write - maybe it's the format imposed by Excel, or maybe the inability to see the layout before starting the game. If anyone knows a way to write them in Word or Notepad and copy them over with the intended layout - and check them before starting the game - please let me know.

Even though I'm only writing briefings for me (more importantly I'm doing them for me in a year's time when I have forgotten what I was thinking now) I still try to write them to a decent standard as a good briefing does seem to add to the game feel. And it does get hard to think of what to write. I can see the attraction of the alternative DLC style, but there's still the matter of layout, what to say etc..

Either way, I'm looking forwards to the official release after all that work you've put in. I might save it for a rainy day or two over the holidays as my current project is running late - it's too interesting, so I keep getting distracted, and am taking longer than I expected (it will be over by Christmas....).

captainjack wrote:Either way, I'm looking forwards to the official release after all that work you've put in. I might save it for a rainy day or two over the holidays as my current project is running late - it's too interesting, so I keep getting distracted, and am taking longer than I expected (it will be over by Christmas....).

Well you have until Christmas to develop your thing. I have decided to take a break from modding until January (It's about the only thing I've done since Oct 2013), but I shall have a few more surprises after that!

Also, only issue with GOLD that I've found is that some countries have forgotten how to surrender - they get the command but refuse to pull down those flags (the scripts are there - maybe there's just too many). The main one that this happens to is France (with Italy in the Central Powers), so I'm not sure if this will need /nocache or it's just some random glitch or script overload thing. (I hope script overload doesn't exist - if it does there will be too many in the next thing!)

- BNC

https://www.mediafire.com/?4ef8r8sn5e3d8u4

GOLD edition is finished!

The full map is 75 turns, lasting until Nov 1918. Enjoy!

(You will need to move the WWIgrand.pzscn and .pzloc files into My Games/Panzer Corps/Scenario to play the large map)

- BNC

Wow! BNC, you have really excelled yourself this time - very impressive.

Oh Wow! This is beyond your limits!
Really good job on the scenario, it is very good.
Can't wait to see what you churn out next!

Minaenoji wrote:Oh Wow! This is beyond your limits!
Really good job on the scenario, it is very good.
Can't wait to see what you churn out next!

Have you looking into my Mongol Empire project? That is my next planned work, and then I have something else.

This is only the beginning...

- BNC