East First breaks the game

[ThunderLizard11]

ORIGINAL: Christolos

I'm currently playing this out in MP as the CP, and from the way it is going so far, I would not call it an automatic slam dunk. The Russians have a lot of forces to contend with...but if I had to play this out as the Entente, I would say that France and Britain, if they choose to not DOW against Belgium and possibly even the Netherlands to open up the front, would probably need to be more aggressive in other theatres, like helping the Italians and even the Serbians. They could also be more aggressive against the Ottomans in the Middle East...

C

Same here. Have captured a Warsaw and a few Russian towns but Entente very much alive and well. They took Belgium and are pushing back in Serbia.

[Christolos]

My AH forces were hit pretty hard with heavy losses so I decided to gamble by letting Italy have the AH territory they demanded to not have to deal with them. I remembered in playing my first game as the CP against the Entente AI, that Italy can be quite a pain to AH when they join the war...so I took the chance. I knew this would result in a big NM hit for AH, but what I wasn't prepared for, was how big the hit actually was! AH NM went from 80 something% (I can't remember exactly how much) down to 55%![X(]

This made all my AH forces easy targets for being beaten up, which my astute opponent is not letting me get away with it. After a few more turns and a disastrous AH versus French and UK ships naval engagement in the Adriatic, AH NM is now at 45% and it is only June 19, 1915! Russia is still holding out but at 59% NM...

C

[lwarmonger]

Yeah... ceding territory to the Italians is really just a bad choice unless the Austrian army has been almost entirely destroyed (then the national morale hit on combat power doesn't matter... because there is no more Austrian army to weaken).

[eightroomofelixir]

Austrians giving Trento-Trieste to Italy will result in a 8000 point lost in morale - about 25% for the A-H morale pool.

Compare: Even if losing all the NM towns in Galicia, A-H's morale lost is 3100, about 10%; and A-H can spend 50 MPPs to raise the morale by 2000 points when Russians are close to Przemyśl.

Maintain A-H's morale will be a priority for CP players, similar to Russians for Entente players.

[Christolos]

Yeah... ceding territory to the Italians is really just a bad choice unless the Austrian army has been almost entirely destroyed (then the national morale hit on combat power doesn't matter... because there is no more Austrian army to weaken).

My AH army was mauled but not badly destroyed...so I thought what I had left could survive the NM hit long enough for Russia to be knocked out. Boy was I wrong! Won't be doing that again! Russian NM is at 59%...so I may still have a slim chance...but France will soon be pounding the Germans in the West, so it is a real nail biter.

Austrians giving Trento-Trieste to Italy will result in a 8000 point lost in morale - about 25% for the A-H morale pool.

Compare: Even if losing all the NM towns in Galicia, A-H's morale lost is 3100, about 10%; and A-H can spend 50 MPPs to raise the morale by 2000 points when Russians are close to Przemyœl.

Maintain A-H's morale will be a priority for CP players, similar to Russians for Entente players.

I wish I re-read the Strategy guide before I made that very bad decision! I read it awhile ago and just didn't remember how bad it could be. Also, it says that AH NM will drop by 10000. It seems like a no brainer to at least still put up a fight against Italy...especially since Romania also swings to the Entente by 40%!

C

[BillRunacre]

Thanks Christolos, you are right about the Strategy Guide. I've made a note to get that corrected.

[ThunderLizard11]

ORIGINAL: eightroomofelixir

Austrians giving Trento-Trieste to Italy will result in a 8000 point lost in morale - about 25% for the A-H morale pool.

Compare: Even if losing all the NM towns in Galicia, A-H's morale lost is 3100, about 10%; and A-H can spend 50 MPPs to raise the morale by 2000 points when Russians are close to Przemyśl.

Maintain A-H's morale will be a priority for CP players, similar to Russians for Entente players.

Made this mistake in first MP round. Worked fine for SP but not sure it seems like really bad idea for MP.