Invading belgium as the entente

[Seelenwerk]

Hi, i am currently in my first mp game. I am playing the entente and want to ask what penalties i get for invading belgium since the the cp didnt. I know it lowers the french and british NM and that the dutch and the americans dislike it.
But i cant find exact values and i dont want to risk the netherlands trading with germany again.
(I tried looking in this forum and the manual but i didnt find anything)

And please tell me if this is a bad move ig. ^^

[Etzel]

You can do a hotseat match against yourself to get an impression of the effects - there is some randomness.
Don't know the situation, but in most cases it is a very bad idea.
Etzel

[OldCrowBalthazor]

British NM will drop about 20% and French 10% if the Entente invades Belgium. This is a pretty significant loss of National Morale, particularly with Great Britain.
The Netherlands won't be affected at all with their mobilization score if the Entente declares war on Belgium.

[mdsmall]

More specifically, Britain loses 8000 NM and France loses 3000 NM if the Entente DOWs Belgium. If the Entente DOWs Belgium before the UK has entered the war, it does suffer any NM losses but it swings 25-35% towards the Central Powers, which will delay their entry into the war.

You can find these figures by studying the scripts in the Game Editor. Or you can just look up the crib sheets I posted on this Forum about a year ago (which is much easier). You will find them on page 4 of this Form, posted in June 2021.

Having seen the Entente DOW Belgium several times, my conclusion is that the penalties outweigh the benefits - which means the settings in the game are about right.

Michael

[Bavre]

More specifically, Britain loses 8000 NM and France loses 3000 NM if the Entente DOWs Belgium. If the Entente DOWs Belgium before the UK has entered the war, it does suffer any NM losses but it swings 25-35% towards the Central Powers, which will delay their entry into the war.

You can find these figures by studying the scripts in the Game Editor. Or you can just look up the crib sheets I posted on this Forum about a year ago (which is much easier). You will find them on page 4 of this Form, posted in June 2021.

Having seen the Entente DOW Belgium several times, my conclusion is that the penalties outweigh the benefits - which means the settings in the game are about right.

Michael

Alternatively it's also linked in this thread
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 3#p4999323
Just search for NM events there.
And I would also counsel against invading Belgium. It only widens the front by 3 hexes in very defensible terrain, imho not worth the steep penalties.

[Seelenwerk]

Thanks for the great help and the links to the awesome material!

I dont think i will invade belgium right now but i may consider it when the netherlands enter on my side (i massively overinvested in them )

[Bavre]

Assuming the reason for your question was trying to help Russia:
You can also just ship units of the western Entente over to help them directly. The WW1 game does not have the penalties of the WW2 versions. Everyone can fight everywhere.

[Seelenwerk]

Its less about helping russia and more about making progress at the front.
This game is very slow atm. The only real territorial changes at this point (turn 30~) is that i was able to push the austrians out of galicia.
Other than that no NM targets have been captured by either side, not even in serbia.
Because of that i had the idea to get the netherlands on my side via diplomacy and then declare war on belgium to more or less double the western front for germany.

Or should i just sit this out? i have the blockade up and running and have cut the netherlands trade so would it be a good strategy to just wait?

[BillRunacre]

I'd build up France's artillery force to the maximum and then get blasting your way forward into Germany.

But there are other options, such as sending French forces to aid the Serbians.

[Bavre]

The situation you describe looks indeed rather favorable for you and you can probably win by sitting it out.
Other things you can do are diplo in Norway and Sweden. If Germany loses that trade they also get a NM penalty for each.

[OldCrowBalthazor]

Yeah, diplo-ing Sweden and Norway is a good idea for sure. Its painful for Germany when the convoys end and the loss of NM....having been on the receiving end of these Entente ventures.