GSv2.00.03 (Hotfix 03 to GSv2.00ap)

[rkr1958]

I. This is the third (i.e., 03) hotfix to the last full release of the GS beta, which was GSv2.00ap. We are very close to release of GSv2.00 to Iain (i.e., Slitherine) for him to build the installer. The files released to Iain will only carry the version number GSv2.00. Even if we have to issue small updates to Iain it will keep this version as long as GSv2.00 hasn't been release to the public. However; hotfixes will issued in this manner to you will carry a version and will be identified by by the third set of numbers (i.e., .03 for hotfix 3 or, if necessary, .04 for hotfix 4 and so on).

II. PC users can get GSv2.00 pre-release hotfix 3 here. Again, if you have trouble downloading this hotfix just email me and I'll send it to you. This and all other hotfixes between now and the official release of GSv2.00 must be applied over the top of GSv2.00ap or later.

III. MAC users will need to get this hotfix from Paul.

IV. GSv2.00.03 Change Log (4-19-2011)
1. Changed code so Allies don't suffer a morale loss if Belgium is Axis controlled when Belgium surrenders. The Canadian units spawn in both situations.
2. Changed the code so the values for entrenchments and XPdots in settings.txt will affect all games. Before the value selected was stored in gamestate and if you decided to use a different value then you could end up with the gamestate value being used.

[schwerpunkt]

1. Changed code so Allies don't suffer a morale loss if Belgium is Axis controlled when Belgium surrenders. The Canadian units spawn in both situations.

Guys, this needs to be seriously thought through. France can knock Belgium out on turn 2 of the game if you deploy your forces well on turn 1, and the loss of the Belgian penalty will make the French campaign much more difficult for the axis. I can see this being a default option for the allies as there is little downside due to the Germans having only limited forces normally available in the west on turn 3.
There should be some penalty for the allies breaching Belgian neutrality as this historically was a very big issue.....

[rkr1958]

1. Changed code so Allies don't suffer a morale loss if Belgium is Axis controlled when Belgium surrenders. The Canadian units spawn in both situations.

Guys, this needs to be seriously thought through. France can knock Belgium out on turn 2 of the game if you deploy your forces well on turn 1, and the loss of the Belgian penalty will make the French campaign much more difficult for the axis. I can see this being a default option for the allies as there is little downside due to the Germans having only limited forces normally available in the west on turn 3.
There should be some penalty for the allies breaching Belgian neutrality as this historically was a very big issue.....

One simple way to deal with this is to make Belgium pro-allied, which would prevent an allied invasion of Belgium.

[Blathergut]

An Allied invasion of Belgium really shouldn't be possible.

[JimR]

I agree -- an Allied invasion of Belgium should not be allowed.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

I can easily change Belgium to pro-Allied in the scenarios. Shall I do that?

But what about the situation if e. g. the Axis decides to launch a 1940 Barbarossa and use Belgium as a buffer to prevent the Allies from entering Germany except across the Rhine and the Siegfried line. Isn't this the same issue we had with Poland where we made sure Poland DoW'ed Germany after turn 2 if Germany didn't DoW Poland?

Option 1: One thing we can do is to let Belgium be Pro-Allied at the start of the 1939 scenario and change the flag to neutral in April 1940 or something. This means the Allies can DoW Belgium without penalties if Germany hasn't first DoW'ed Belgium.

I think the current game had a problem with Belgium being DoW'ed by the Allies early. The reason is that if the Allies do that and take Brussels they got the morale penalty while Germany was busy in the east so they would have recovered a bit before Germany gets back.

Option 2: One compromise is to just remove the penalty hit for the Allies by taking Brussels if the turn is later than June 1940. That means the penalty hit will always be there during the time when the Germans would normally attack Belgium and France. So if the Germans turn east instead then you can enter Belgium during the Summer of 1940.

Option 3: A third option could be to make Belgium pro-Allied and let them join the Allies e. g. late 1940. This way the Germans better get Belgium before they join the Allies. This is a very clean solution which prevents Allied adventures into Germany in 1939-1940 and later in the game Belgium won't be a permanent neutral buffer.

Which option do you prefer?

[pk867]

My vote is option #3

[schwerpunkt]

Option 1 for me. The Belgians desperately wanted to avoid being in the war (and being a battlefield again) to the point that they were not even prepared to meet with the British or French to plan common defence strategy for fear or provoking the Germans. If the Germans had gone east and left them alone they would likely have been happy to stay at peace.

[JimR]

Option #3 is clean and quick from a gameplay point of view. But I take schwepunkt's point about the Belgians' determination to remain out of the war altogether if they could. From a gameplay point of view I would prefer either #1 or #3, not #2. If option #1 is more historically plausible, then this might be a reason to choose it.

[rkr1958]

Option #3 would be the cleanest one from a game perspective and the one with the least risk of introduction a bug. If Option #3 can be supported as historically pausible then I vote for that one. However; if it can't then I would vote for Option #1.

[Blathergut]

number 3

[KingHunter3059]

Option 3

[gerones]

I think that the best way to avoid France DOWing and attacking Belgium on turn 2 is to increase significantly penalties for such attacks. We implemented before USA war effort penalty for avoiding allied player to take Ireland in most of the games as an ASW platform and we all could see that this worked well since we rarely see now this kind of operations.

The same could be applied for an allied DOW in Belgium: we could set heavy political penalties for avoiding this gamey playing. But this could wait for future updates so I vote for option 3 as a temporary and easy solution for solving this issue.