1919 Quiet Flows the Don - a new mod for 1919 Shadow the Tsars

[mdsmall]

Two months ago, I posted a note in the main SC WW1 forum asking for views about how to adjust the play-balance of the Russian Civil War game in this series, Shadow of the Tsars. A number of experienced players had reported that the game is tilted a bit too much against the Bolsheviks. I thought this was unfortunate, as it is a fascinating scenario with lots of historical colour that deserves to be played more often by experienced players of SC WW1.

Based on very helpful advice from Old Crow Balthazar, I have now designed a small mod to remedy this game balance issue. The mod is called 1919 Quiet Flows the Don, after the classic Soviet novel covering this period. You can download the files for it from my dropbox here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/8zjxpq0d ... 2rxee&dl=0

Here is the complete change log for the mod.

1. Changes in MPP Income

1.1 The Bolsheviks start with 150 MPPs (rather than 100) which should allow them to invest in Infantry Weapons tech on the first turn.

1.2 The four cavalry divisions and one HQ unit of Budyonny’s First Horse Army now arrive for free in the Bolshevik production queue on August 10, 1919, rather than costing 50 MPPs per turn for 8 turns.

1.3 The Ural Whites start with 150 MPPs (rather than 250) and the Southern White start with 100 MPPs (rather than 200), which will reduce these factions head start in technology over the Bolsheviks.

1.4 Among the four White factions, only the Ural Whites can invest in Industrial Tech and only to a maximum level of 2. The Bolsheviks are still able to invest in this tech up to 5.

1.5 Georgia and Azerbaijan are now UK minors, rather than Southern White minors. Armenia starts as a neutral with 0% mobilization for the Whites. This change in status in the three Caucasian republics will reduce the Southern Whites income by 40 MPPs per turn.

1.6 The value of UK supplies every turn to the Southern Whites has been reduced from 30 MPPs to 20 MPPs . Together with the change in the status of the Caucasian republics, this reduces the Southern Whites income every turn by 50 MPPs.

1.7 The UK convoy to the Northwestern Whites has been reduced to a maximum of 40% so that the increase in UK revenues from Georgia and Azerbaijan is not passed onto the Northwestern Whites.

2. Maximum Advance Limits

2.1 Polish units now face a hard maximum line of advance that runs along the Daugava River to the north, the Berezina River to the northeast and then two hexes east of Kiev down to Nicolayev near the Black Sea. Any Polish unit which ends a turn beyond this line will be destroyed by the game engine.

2.2 A pop-up on the first turn explains this to the White Player. There are also in-game pop-ups demarcating each hex of this line which appear if you move your cursor over them (if you have clicked on the blue “i” symbol above the menu bar).

2.3 Georgian, Azerbaijan and Armenian units also are prohibited from entering Russia (if they do, they too will be destroyed by the game engine). An info symbol reminding players of this has been added to the map on the Georgian/Azerbaijan border.

3. Rebel Minors

3.1 Rebel minors are the micro-states that can suddenly appear in a resource due to decision events which can fire if the resource is not garrisoned by the owning side.

3.2 There are two anti-Bolshevik "green" rebel minors: the Karelians in Olonets on the east side of Lake Ladoga; and the Tokamakivists, in Tambov in central Russia.

3.3 There are five anti-White “red” rebel minors: the Terek Socialist Republic (SR) in Petrovsk-Port on the Caspian; the North Caucasus SR in Romanovsky Khutor in Kuban Cossack territory; the Stavropol SR in Stavropol also in Terek Cossack territory; the North Caucasian Emirate in Grozny in the north Caucasus; and the Reds in Poti in Georgia.

3.4 If the side that originally owned the capital of a rebel minor recaptures that resource, it reverts back to its original status as a town or city. This prevents the original owner from getting an artificial MPP boost by capturing a “new” capital city that can generate up to 20 MPPs per turn.

4. Hryohorivite Revolt

4.1 The Hryohorivites are a pro-Bolshevik "green" minor which mobilizes in Ukraine for at the end of the first White turn in 1919. In the regular game, they will rebel against the Bolsheviks, anytime after May 8, 1919 (on a 33% chance per turn).

4.2 In this mod, the DE triggering the rebellion will not fire a White unit is within two hexes of their capital, Oleksandriia. New pop-ups have been added to clarify that it was their leader, Nykyfor Hryhoriv who decided to go rogue in July 1919, not his troops. The Bolsheviks will automatically crush the revolt.

4.3 When the rebellion occurs, all the Hryhorivite units will immediately disappear from the map. However, once a Bolshevik unit occupies Oleksandriia, there is a 33% chance that the two regular divisions and the armoured train will join the Bolsheviks (arriving at 8 strength), and a 33% chance they will join the Makhnovists. (This replaces the script in the regular game which automatically gives two former Hryhovite divisions to the Bolsheviks).

5. Cosmetic Changes

5.1 All references to “Fighting Spirit” in this mod have been replaced with “National Morale”, to be consistent with the terminology used in all of the Strategic Command World War One and World War Two titles.

5.2 A new DE10 has been added at the top of the Decisions menu. If unticked before playing, it will turn off all of the strategic advice and historical pop-ups in the game. (This can be time-saving if you are running a hot-seat test).

5.3 Pop-Up scripts in the Editor have been re-ordered under the sub-headings of "strategic advice", "tactical advice" and "historical events".

5.4 Unit scripts in the Editor have been regrouped under sub-headings for each major and now appear under each sub-heading in chronological order.

[OldCrowBalthazor]

Polish Advance Limit Maps