Icarus Mod, Versions 6 and 7 in Preliminary Release

[mdsmall]

So Syria is just Entente country:


Homs and some hexes there are 'CP occupied':


Ents cannot move into the occupied territory:


Because it is occupied by armisticed-Ottoman Empire...:


I think this is because of Expeditionary Corps units.

Hi Beriand,

I have done more hot-seat testing and have now figured out the source of this weird outcome. You are right: it was because Homs was occupied by an Expeditionary Corps unit. But more specifically, it was because I wrote a Surrender #2 script which triggered an armistice by the minor called Expeditionary Corps when their Ottoman parent withdraws from the war. That seems logical, but it produces this strange outcome whereby hexes occupied by Expeditionary Corps units outside the actual boundaries of the Ottoman Empire are also subject to an Ottoman armistice and thus can not be entered by Entente units.

My solution in Version 7.2 will be to make Expeditionary Corps a minor of Germany, rather than the Ottomans. That way if the Ottomans sign an armistice, Expeditionary Corps units will not disappear from the map and any hexes they occupy in the Middle East or elsewhere will be treated like normal CP occupied territory and thus can be occupied by the Entente. It will also give the Ottomans the benefit of not having to pay for upgrades or reinforcements for Expeditionary Corps units. Those costs will shift to Germany.

Thanks for reporting this issue. Feedback like this makes for a better mod!

Cheers,

Michael

[mdsmall]

New Release: Icarus Version 7.2

I have uploaded the files for Version 7.2 of the Icarus mod for both the 1914 and 1916 campaigns to my DropBox. You can download these files along with updated documentation for the mod here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/9ctljev4 ... 4oa3t&dl=0

Version 7.2 contains all of the proposed changes which I outlined in my post above on October 1, 2026, except for the increase in the NM cost of Constantinople. It remains at 5000 NM points. In addition, I have included the following edits to Version 7.2 based on player feedback.

- Bulgaria's mobilization for the Central Powers has been slowed. Bulgaria now swings 8 - 15% towards the CP if Belgrade is captured (compared to 10-20% before). If the Central Powers have two units within 2 hexes of Sofia, Bulgaria will swing 4-6% towards the CP on a 50% chance per turn (rather than a 100% chance). (recommended by hanaj)

Comment: these changes in Bulgarian mobilization are in the same direction as the changes made in update 1.17 to the regular game, but do not go as far. In my view, once the Central Powers have sufficient forces on the Serbian border with Bulgaria, the Bulgarians would be keen to get into the war. However, by reducing the speed of mobilization every turn by 50%, it will allow Serbia to survive longer against a Central Power blitz, while still establishing the threat of Bulgarian attack from the east once they are reduced to only Uskub as their capital.

- The CP minor called Expeditionary Corps is now a minor of Germany rather than the Ottomans. The only Expeditionary Corps units that can be built or rebuilt are the three corps that arrive through separate DEs for the Central powers. (intended to fix a glitch reported by Beriand)

Comment: this change will prevent the glitch which Beriand reported above which caused hexes formerly occupied by Expeditionary Corps units to become impassable due to an Ottoman armistice, even if the hexes were outside the borders of the Ottoman Empire. This correction also means that Expeditionary Corps units will continue to fight on for the Central Powers after an Ottoman armistice or surrender.

- U.K. General Maude, the Tigris Corps and the Mesopotamian field artillery unit will now arrive in Kuwait rather than Basra if there is one CP unit adjacent to Basra. General Maude and the Tigris Corps also now arrive at the beginning of the turn immediately after the DE fires and thus have 1 and 2 AP respectively. (intended to correct an issue reported by cfant)

Comment: these change makes these newly arrived units less vulnerable on arrival to enemy attack.

In addition, for the 1916 campaign only, I have adjusted the starting forces on both sides to reduce the strength of the Entente at the start in the West (as recommended by hannaj):

- The DE which offers France the choice of redeploying a field artillery unit from Gallipoli now fires at the end of the first Entente turn. If the Entente players decides to send the unit to the Salonika front, it arrives there immediately; if the unit is returned to France, it arrives in Marseille at the end of the next turn.

- the U.K. 1st heavy artillery unit now starts the campaign in Portsmouth, rather than already deployed behind the front line in France. The U.K. VII corps now arrives in the production queue in the first turn, rather than already deployed in Portsmouth.

- Germany starts with one more full strength reserve corps deployed in Belgium, while France starts with one less reinforcment corps behind its front lines in France.

As always, I welcome questions, comments and feedback from players of the mod.

Michael

[hannaj]

Dear Michael,

Let me take this opportunity to thank you for this great mod you created, and all the efforts you put into this, not shying away from even inspecting where a mountain or two belong on the map in person. If there is a reasonable strong player, I would actually be _very_ eager to play the new version (send me a PM).

Thank you!
hannaj

[Cfant]

I agree - you really leveled up the game! Awesome work, thanks a lot for your effort!