New Version 6.8 available
After more play-testing and an in-depth review of all the scripts for both the 1914 and 1916 campaigns, I am pleased to release the latest version of the Icarus mod, Version 6.8. I have also fully updated the Guide, plus the Decision Log, the National Morale Events Log and the Mobilization Log for this version. You can find the mod files and all of the documentation for Icarus Version 6.8 at the link below to my drop-box.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/y4cm9w21 ... o0kxl&dl=0
As usual, I will promptly make corrections to any glitches found in the scripts as players bring them to my attention. That said, after the time spent polishing this version I do not plan to revise the mod again for a while. So, if you have been considering trying the Icarus mod, I would suggest playing this latest version. As always, I welcome player feedback.
Here are the main features that are new or improved in Icarus 6.8
- I have extensively re-worked the U.S. mobilization scripts, with the intention of making it almost certain that the U.S. will enter the war by late 1917 if the game proceeds in an approximately historical way. I have dropped the idea from Version 6.7 of having the U.S. swing to the Entente by 1% a turn, starting in 1914. Instead, it will start to swing 1-2% a turn towards the Entente starting on November 18, 1916 (after the re-election of Woodrow Wilson). When the First Revolution in Russia occurs and the Czar abdicates, the U.K. can fund the Preparedness Movement in the USA, which will increase U.S. mobilization by a further 1% per turn. When Russia withdraws from the war following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the U.S.A will swing 4-6% towards the Entente per turn (provided that Wilson has not rejected the Zimmerman telegram as a fraud).
- German naval activity against the U.K. will hasten U.S. mobilization, but in a slightly reduced way compared to the regular game. Only German naval units that are raiding the convoy lines from the U.S.A or Canada to the U.K. will risk triggering a protest from the U.S.A. German ships in the Atlantic can raid the other convoys to and from the U.K. with no effect on U.S. mobilization. Each turn of unrestricted naval warfare can swing the U.S. towards the Entente by 1-3% (down from 1-4% in the regular game). The Lusitania sinking event remains in the game, but it only fires on a 2% chance every turn that Germany is carrying out unrestricted naval warfare (ie. it is not limited to May 8, 1915). The Entente blockade can still trigger U.S. protests that will swing the U.S. 1-2% away from the Entente on a 4% chance per turn, but only the Northern Blockade line will trigger these protests until April 1916 when Britain can decide whether to tighten the blockade. If the UK says YES to that DE, there will be similar risk of U.S. protests against the Distant blockade line as well.
- Germany now has a strong incentive to begin unrestricted naval warfare by November 1916. If the U.K. decides to tighten the blockade against Germany, Germany will lose 500 NM points a turn for ten turns beginning on November 18, 1916 from food shortages due to “turnip winter”. However, these NM losses can be partially or completely offset if Germany is practicing unrestricted naval warfare against the U.K. at the same time. See the Guide to the mod for more details. Note that there is no separate Decision Event for Germany to begin unrestricted naval warfare, either before or after U.S. mobilization. Germany is deemed to be carrying it out if there is a German naval unit on any one of the NM hexes west of Great Britain. Also, the size of the Bristol Channel zone has been increased from 3 to 7 hexes, making it easier for German subs (especially coming up the English Channel) to operate in this unrestricted warfare zone.
- The U.K. has a new option once the Ottoman Empire enters the war of starting a convoy either to Russia or to France. Once the U.K. makes this choice, it can not be reversed; but if Russia or France withdraw or surrender, the convoy will automatically re-route to the remaining ally. The new U.K. convoy to France will run from Liverpool to St. Nazaire.
- All resource hexes that belong to major powers have an intrinsic NM value (as in the regular game, but unlike Version 6.7). If a major's resources are captured by an enemy major, the losing power will have the NM points for that resource deducted every turn, but the capturing power will not earn any additional NM points for capturing the resource. This approach "splits the difference” between the settings in the regular game (in which captured resources from majors do earn extra NM points) and Version 6.7 (where I experimented with eliminating the NM values of resources altogether). The main effect of this setting will be to eliminate the NM buffer that Germany earns against the effects of the Entente blockade by capturing resources in Russia. Russia will also no longer get an NM benefit every turn from resources captured from the Ottomans or Austria-Hungary; and Austria-Hungary will not longer receive a NM buffer every turn capturing Serbian resources.
- The exception to the above is that Russian settlements, ports and towns have no intrinsic NM value, while Russian fortified towns, cities and fortresses do. This means that Russia will not lose as many NM points every turn as in the regular game when it loses territory to the advancing Central Powers, but they will still pay a significant NM penalty over time for lost resources.
- Vinnitsa in Ukraine has been added as an NM objective for the Central powers, costing Russia 1000 NM points if captured. This is meant to give the Central Powers a NM objective before reaching Kiev or Odessa, and is meant as a proxy for the losses to Russian agriculture if the Central Powers occupy western Ukraine. I have returned Warsaw to costing Russia 3000 NM points if captured (down from 4000 points in Version 6.7).
- The new Decision Event (introduced in Version 6.7) for the Entente to bolster Russian morale by sending an intervention force after the First Revolution has been made more attractive. The UK can now send its intervention forces via one-time loop from London to Murmansk which fires as soon as there are three UK divisions or corps adjacent to London. (This avoids the risk and tedium of moving transports around the north of Norway - which seems to take much longer than it should given the projection used for the game map). Intervention forces can later be brought back from Russia with another DE which will fire a loop back to London from Murmansk.
- Taken together, these provision should mean that Russia holds out longer than it normally does in the regular game, but should still collapse by the second half of 1917 in the face of a concerted CP attack. If the United States has not already joined the Entente by the time Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, they should do so not long afterwards.
- Austria-Hungary has been even more fragile in this iteration of the mod. When the First Russian Revolution occurs, it will lose 50 NM points a turn (in lieu of a one-time loss of 500 NM points) and it will lose another 50 NM points a turn after the Russian Empire collapses into newly independent states, post Brest-Litovsk. It no longer gains MPPs or NM points from the Brest-Litovsk settlement (something I introduced in Version 6.4). The requirement to garrison regional capitals to suppress secessionist forces after Brest-Litvosk now covers six regional capitals - Lemberg, Krakow, Prague, Agram, Sarajevo and Klausenberg.
- The most visible new feature for Austria-Hungary is that 14 of the 24 corps it can build are now Slavic corps recruited from the non-German speaking parts of the Empire. Slavic Corps belong to a new minor of Austria-Hungary and have their own identifiable colours. They have the same combat capabilities as regular units, but suffer a higher risk of desertions, especially once Austro-Hungarian National Morale drops below 75%. On the plus side they are slightly cheaper to build (200 versus 225 MPPs) and because they belong to a minor, they can be commanded by German or Ottoman generals, as well as Austro-Hungarian ones. This means that they can be combined with German units under a command of a German general, as was often done on the eastern front from 1915 onward.
- The option to spend MPPs to buy NM points has been returned to a floating date rather than a fixed date (as introduced in earlier iterations of Version 6). But the first threshold for most majors is now 40%, rather than 50%; the second threshold remains 25%. Russia is not able to spend MPPs to buy NM points until after the First Revolution, so they can only make this investment when Russian national morale drops below 25% again. However, Germany retains the choices given in earlier versions of the mod of diverting synthetic nitrogen to food production at the start of 1916, 1917 and 1918, at a cost of 50 MPPs for 100 NM points per turn.
- The impact on unit morale of low National Morale has been extended past the 40% NM threshold in the regular game. For all majors, when National Morale drops to 20% unit morale will be reduced by 15%. When National Morale drops to 10%, unit morale is further reduced by 15%. Taken with the reductions in this mod in MPPs production when National Morale drops below the same levels, this makes 20% and 10% National Morale important thresholds for decreasing military effectiveness.
- I have retained the modified victory conditions from Version 6.7 which tilt a Minor Victory towards the Central Powers, by requiring them only to hold Verdun and Warsaw but not Paris by November 11, 1918. All three of their majors still have to be in the game in order to win. In Version 6.7, I have added the condition that Serbia must have surrendered. This normally should not be a problem if the Central Powers are en route to victory. But in the 1916 campaign in particular, it means that the Central Powers can not afford to completely ignore the Macedonian front, allowing the Entente to build up forces there and to push forward to retake Uskub, thus liberating Serbia.
- If players prefer to use the regular game victory conditions, I have added a feature which allows players of this mod to use them instead. Before starting a game, click Advanced and then Decisions, and untick “ DE 40 Modified Victory Conditions”. The game will then play with the regular victory conditions.
- Note that you can untick the Historical Pop-Ups and the Advice Pop-Ups as well from this menu. This can be useful when doing hot-seat tests. You can also untick any specific decision you do not wish to use from the same menu. The fact that all of the Decision Events have been renumbered so they appear in chronological order makes them easier to find.
- Last but not least I have added 193 new images in pop-ups in the mod. Most of them are contemporary photos, but there are paintings, posters, maps, newspaper articles and documents as well. They are intended to document more of the people or units referred to in the game, as well as to provide historical colour about new technologies, scenes of the front lines and images of political or cultural figures. Where possible, I have tried to include new images from every power, including most of the minors in the game. I hope you enjoy them!
So now USA is in fact much slower to join, unless Russia in on the ropes or Germany goes crazy with submarines, yes? But from ticking alone it is twice slower?
Hm now I am confused, sorry. I have this in vanilla:
I was more accustomed to the 'grind mode' then, and only after start of that test played more of vanilla campaign. Seen agressive plays here and there, before trenches settle in - and the difference between 1 and 2 is quite massive then, for initial plays, mostly 1914 and outside West in 1915.