Potzblitz V26.0 OCT 25th 2025

[Robotron]

After a half dozen quick defeats I finally managed to get a win as the CP in August 1918.

I came across no bugs (a few crashes caused by Airship attacks... but I think that's a base game issue & none repeated after reloading).

If you happen to come across that airship bug again make sure to post the logfile before restarting the game please. Alternatively you could just post the last few lines from the logfile describing the error (saves the upload procedure).

Just a few missing descriptions/images for "unusual events" (at the end Denmark joined for me & the Berbers surrendered, both had descriptors like "Event_DOWdenmark").

Fixed.

I was surprised by how cheap & quick capital ships were to build (8-12 months).

The rationale behind this decision is that all major seagoing nations are assumed to have a few capital ships in the pipeline waiting for completion but being put on hold unless more PP are available. But okay, I've raised both PP and production time by a bit (12 turns for BCs, 15 for BBs).

Oh, one oddity... throughout 1917 & 1918 I was repeatedly given the option of Choosing War plan Ost as an event... even though the war had been going on for years & Russia had surrendered.

So I take it you did NOT choose "Aufmarsch Ost" then for your game, right?

Again, thanks a bunch for reporting the bugs, I've done some more bugfixing myself just yesterday. New update due later this weekend.

[KOB001]

If you happen to come across that airship bug again make sure to post the logfile before restarting the game please. Alternatively you could just post the last few lines from the logfile describing the error (saves the upload procedure).

Okay will do... I'm sure it was a base game issue but probably best to double check.

The rationale behind this decision is that all major seagoing nations are assumed to have a few capital ships in the pipeline waiting for completion but being put on hold unless more PP are available. But okay, I've raised both PP and production time by a bit (12 turns for BCs, 15 for BBs).

That makes sense but I quickly took advantage.

BTW Battlecruisers were often as large & as expensive as the Dreadnoughts (sometimes larger... HMS Hood for instance). They were ships built with a different design philosophy & not cheap faux-Battleships.

So I take it you did NOT choose "Aufmarsch Ost" then for your game, right?

Nope... part of my "breaking the game" attempt was to stick to the normal war plan, take the collapse point & morale hits on the chin & just strike Eastwards anyway.

Luckily Britain didn't have Churchill speed up their war entry so I managed to make a lot of diplomatic headway, take Warsaw & Belgrade, avoid a year of Blockade and take advantage of Russia's supply crisis (which I believe is disabled if you choose war plan Ost). I gave away Trento & then Italy joined the war after Russia surrendered in late 1916.

I wonder what would have happened if I had chosen War plan Ost in 1918? I should've tried it!

Oh another oddity now that I think about it... In my game Portugal joined the war earlier than Britain!

I'll wait for the new update & have another go... perhaps with some other odd strategy.

[GPT55]

Thanks for this great mod. I was playing my first game as entente and had a crash. Reloaded the autosave end turn twice and got two more crashes. I am attaching the file (if I can figure out how)

[jkehoe]

hello robotron,

many thanks for V5, I've been busy recently and haven't played but just downloaded it and had a crash. another point about mines, i just sent a British sub into the Baltic and suffered 50% hit from mines, i thought this was excessive?

Apart from that it's nice to be back;) John

[moreauv]

everytime i try to repair a unit the game crashes

[Robotron]

everytime i try to repair a unit the game crashes

Sorry but I need to have either a savegame or the logfile to help.

@jkehoe: you are using V4.85 please update to the latest Version.

[Robotron]

V5.1 is out:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0N7V ... WlON3VOd2c

- British fighter plane at start removed
- Armoured Car cost raised to 15PP
- barbed wire max entrenchment raised to 3
- capital ships build time and cost raised slightly
- sea mines damage lowered again
- all reported crashes and bugs fixed (where sufficient info was supplied by players)

Cheers!

[KOB001]

V5.1 is out:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0N7V ... WlON3VOd2c

- British fighter plane at start removed
- Armoured Car cost raised to 15PP
- barbed wire max entrenchment raised to 3
- capital ships build time and cost raised slightly
- sea mines damage lowered again
- all reported crashes and bugs fixed (where sufficient info was supplied by players)

I just had a standard run through with the Entente... there were no crashes or bugs, none.

The Trench warfare feels utterly brutal & even against the AI it took me to until mid 1917 to finally break the Central powers (and I lost the Suez Canal doing so!).

I imagine against a human opponent your mod would be VERY competitive and I'm trying to speed up my vanilla opponent so we can try it out.

One minor thing (and I know you're trying to wrap the mod up) is it strikes me that Italy is almost too competent.

In reality the Italian army under Cardona was a disaster... his relentless mass assaults, brutal discipline, disregard for his armies morale & the toxic atmosphere of media lies all but broke his army & helped lead to Caporetto. After his dismissal & the promotion of General Diaz, the Italian army recovered magnificently.

Is there any way you could add a few events just to spice things up on the Italian front?

My suggestion would be...

That as long as Cardona is in play then Italy suffers from events similar to Frances "attaque a outrance".... this could be VERY expensive if Cardona stays in command throughout the whole war!

However to get rid of him is a problem for the Entente player because of his political connections & good relationship with the King. As such it'll take several events to remove him.

One event to take out his political supporters (something like "replace war minister") but with the result that it weakens the liberal government & causes a collapse point & a morale loss.

One event to weaken the monarchy (something like "Emmanuel hits back at critics") but again with the result that it causes collapse points & morale loss.

One event to take out his popular support (something like the Popes "useless slaughter" prayer) but again with the result that it causes collapse points & morale loss.

Also a few events to take out his military support... ("foreign boots on Italian soil", loss of your first military unit = "punishment expedition" event & loss of a full infantry unit = "Caporetto" event). Again all three equal collapse points & morale losses.

Eventually as these events stack up the odds of a "replace Cardona" event increase & once he's gone then you get General Diaz & an end to the wasting of the Italian army.

[Robotron]

*sigh* As you mentioned quite correctly this is exactly that kind of request for more features I was trying to avoid by announcing that V5 is coming to and end.

But...okay, I'll see what I can do.

[Zombo]

- Armoured Car cost raised to 15PP

I suppose you removed the vanilla ridiculous recon range, right? that was utterly absurd

- sea mines damage lowered again

most welcome!

Very interesting proposition about Italy. I like the idea of a "Isonzo Offensive" to mirror the AH and French mandatory attacks

Maybe, to keep it simple, you could have a "Cadorna authority undermined" event that has a very small chance of popping after the first Isonzo Offensive ( provided no AH-Italian border hexes are controlled by Italy) or a small chance if an Italian border hex is controlled by the CP.

and that would chain with a "Cadorna dismissed" event, that would also be automatically available if the CP manage to replicate Caporetto ( is there a Caporetto event?)

I tried the first couple of turns of the All-East plan. The Russian forward defense in Lithuania is ... an air unit...
It should be moved back to the rear.

Diplomacy:

Since this may be the last opportunities to bring change to the mod, I'll mention one aspect that I have consistently forgotten to bring to Robotron's attention in the past, and maybe other players might jump in to give their opinion on the matter.

it's a bit frustrating that the key countries of turkey and Italy are impervious to diplomacy ( why?) when instinctively they would be primary targets for diplomatic efforts on both sides. Now, I understand perfectly that they are central to play balance and therefore their entry in the war should not be easily advanced or postponed with a few clicks on the diplomacy board. And that other event-related matters should be predominant in determining how they stand. But allowing for a reduced diplomatic effect would make the diplomatic game more interesting (let's face it, currently there aren't that many interesting targets for diplomacy, and it's hard to justify why one can influence Bulgaria but not Turkey). This would also make the choice of spending points on events or influence more of a dilemma. Anyway, diplomatic efforts on these countries fare likely to cancel out as they are played by both sides, and if they're not, well, that may constitute a strategy of its own.

btw, I'm not sure how balanced the German financial help to Turkey event is. The "pisses off Italy" consequence is enough to make it sound very undesirable, and only preventing the British ships thing is not enough to make it appealing. I would throw in a little influence bonus to make it worth the investment.

[KOB001]

Very interesting proposition about Italy. I like the idea of a "Isonzo Offensive" to mirror the AH and French mandatory attacks

I like it too but remember there's a chance that Italy joins the central powers & I'm sure Cardona would've been equally (if not more) inept attacking the Ligurian Alps too.

Maybe, to keep it simple, you could have a "Cadorna authority undermined" event that has a very small chance of popping after the first Isonzo Offensive ( provided no AH-Italian border hexes are controlled by Italy) or a small chance if an Italian border hex is controlled by the CP.

and that would chain with a "Cadorna dismissed" event, that would also be automatically available if the CP manage to replicate Caporetto ( is there a Caporetto event?)

Yeah feel free to simplify my (complex sounding) idea... especially as you're trying to wrap up the mod.

The simplest would be just to have Cardona & his deleterious effect end with his automatic dismissal at the end of 1917 and then have Diaz available for 1918.

[Robotron]

it's a bit frustrating that the key countries of turkey and Italy are impervious to diplomacy ( why?) when instinctively they would be primary targets for diplomatic efforts on both sides. Now, I understand perfectly that they are central to play balance and therefore their entry in the war should not be easily advanced or postponed with a few clicks on the diplomacy board. And that other event-related matters should be predominant in determining how they stand. But allowing for a reduced diplomatic effect would make the diplomatic game more interesting (let's face it, currently there aren't that many interesting targets for diplomacy, and it's hard to justify why one can influence Bulgaria but not Turkey). This would also make the choice of spending points on events or influence more of a dilemma. Anyway, diplomatic efforts on these countries fare likely to cancel out as they are played by both sides, and if they're not, well, that may constitute a strategy of its own.

Sorry, but no way. Italy's alignment will strictly fluctuate according to the course of war (and a bit of luck which should be canceled out if either side is winning) since her presence on either side is, as you mentioned, a game-breaker.

Same for Turkey: without Turkey CP would be crippled. Ludendorff once mentioned that without Ottoman help the war would have been over by 1916 and I just don't want to give Entente more advantage than they already have by also giving a chance to delay Turkey DOWing. Turkey is vital for CP to tie down the Brits (lest they'll suffer collapse points from losing Abadan, Suez and India) which is the default scenario applying to most of the games.
And by the way, allowing the BBs sent to Turkey might well postpone Turkish war entry to about spring 1915 if not later.

btw, I'm not sure how balanced the German financial help to Turkey event is. The "pisses off Italy" consequence is enough to make it sound very undesirable, and only preventing the British ships thing is not enough to make it appealing. I would throw in a little influence bonus to make it worth the investment.

The "pisses off Italy" reception is a VASTLY exaggerated, I'll rephrase the event to "might be disappointed" to give a better impression: it's just a 50% chance for a +1 bonus applied to the "pro-Entente" amplitude of the Italy-alignment-swing mechanic.

About that Cadorna-mechanic:

I plan to implement a toned-down "Attaque a outrance" mechanic for Italy (less casualities, morale loss and 1 collapse point if a D100 roll vs Italian morale is failed):

as soon as Cadorna is in unlocked (and no: you can't just NOT deploy him, it won't count! you could try to get him killed but the chance is about 8% and you have to sacrifice a unit)
AND as long as Monte Verena OR Udine are held by Italy (CP will have to take both)
AND as long Trieste AND Trento have NOT been taken by Italy (ENT will have to take both)

for the sake of simplicity.

Should Italy join CP then Nice must be taken and Turin must still be held by Italy for the Cadorna-effect to end.

[Zombo]

Point taken.

Robo, don't you think the mod is ripe enough for some MP?

I hate SP

[Robotron]

@Zombo: surely not with overpowered Italy.

[KOB001]

Started a run through of 5.1 as the CP... I chose the official war plan Ost this time.

I had a number of crashes due to diplomacy issues (if I'm reading the logs right).

The first few did not repeat & the game carried on after reloading, nonetheless I've attached the save & logs for just such an event.

My second file is of a crash that did repeat & has halted the game.

Also, a minor query, I've attached the save of the turn after I've captured Riga. I was just wondering if four collapse points each for both Germany & AH is an "expected" result considering the war winning situation I appear to be in.

Certainly AH are struggling a little against Serbia & their losses have been heavy so it may be reasonable, most of the collapse points for both sides seemed to occur when Winter began. I know striking East automatically causes collapse points for Germany.

Again thanks for this excellent mod Robo (your simplified Cardona mechanic sounds excellent... though I'd argue not to worry about reducing casualties. In the real war Italy suffered almost as many casualties on the Italian front as the entire British Empire on the Western front... and that with one year less worth of combat!).



@Zombo I'm up for an MP game. Nothing too competitive... just doing random shit to try & get the game to crash.

The more you "break" it the more it can be fixed!

[Robotron]

@KOB: bugs fixed.


Regarding 4 collapse points for Germany. Hmmmm...normally you are expected to have 3 collapse points for Germany: 1 for choosing Ost and 2 for failing your objectives before winter, which you did not. Strange.
Austrian collapse points can be explained by Serbs trucking through Austria and maybe Hotzendorf attack events. AH also suffers 2 collapse points for failing warplan OSt objectives.

So for 5.2 I rewrote the whole objective check routine from scratch but seeing your good advance and the bountiful resources you still have left I took the liberty to raise the difficulty.

NEW WARPLAN OST OBJECTIVE:

-take Warsaw and both Riga and Vilna

or

- take Warsaw and Minsk

or

- take Warsaw and Kiev

Cadorna's slaughter events implemented in 5.2 plus brand new general Diaz via choice event.

I'll give you guys 24 hours to have a chance for more niggling requests to further delay upload of V5.2

[Robotron]

V5.2 is out:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0N7V ... jNCeDBSMWc

Hope everything works fine, especially the new events about Cadorna.

Other stuff:

- new Aufmarsch Ost objectives: take either of
Warsaw, Riga and Vilna
or Warsaw and Minsk
or Warsaw and Kiev
- bugfixes

Cheers!

[Zombo]

Robo: crash with CP as soon as the German artillery targets Liege and I am asked if I want to declare war to Belgium

[Robotron]

Check your PM for on-the-fly fix, I'll exchange the download links.

[Robotron]

Zombo, I was able to continue the match. Links updated.