What's your Strategy?
https://forums.matrixgames.com:443/
I have now checked this out doing some hot-seat tests and it is not necessary to end the turn with a friendly unit on an occupied capital in order to liberate it. You just have to move through the hex with a friendly unit to capture it. And I can not think of any reason why those capitals would have reverted to Ottoman control unless the Ottomans were able to retake them with one of their own units.go_rascals wrote: Thu Mar 30, 2023 10:41 pm I have a thought. When I captured Baghdad, Basra was controlled by me but unoccupied. I got the "Entente liberate Mesopotamia" message, but the next turn I got "Mesopotamia moves capital to Basra". In Arabia I passed through Medina but did not occupy it at the end of the turn. The same thing happened as in Mesopotamia. Maybe I have to physically occpy all capitals at the end of the turn?
Chernobyl wrote: Sun Apr 16, 2023 6:21 am I don't believe there is a "main" thread for this mod so I'll just post here.
This mod is great!
Here are some thoughts of mine (yes it's a lot, and as always just take what I say as interesting suggestions, not demands!)
- NO SWAPPING MORALE PENALTY -
Removing the morale penalty for swapping units is interesting. The penalty as it exists in vanilla is unintuitive and probably many newer players don't even realize it exists. And more advanced players sometimes perform complex maneuvering of units to avoid the penalty which also looks strange and unintuitive. Optimizing to avoid the swapping penalty is something I don't mind, (it's a kind of puzzle) but it may not be everyone's cup of tea.
As far as the gameplay/balance effects of removing the swapping penalty, I imagine it could make attacks in crowded areas stronger, but it could also make defense stronger too, especially where entrenchment is concerned (you lose only one entrenchment level for swapping into a hex, which could leave you with higher entrenchment than if you walk in). I'm not really sure who it benefits most, so let's try it out.
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Chernobyl wrote: Sun Apr 16, 2023 6:21 am
- ARTILLERY -
I'm not sure if I wrote about it before on the forums, but I had the same idea of dividing artillery into heavy vs field artillery. My idea was to remove the de-entrenchment ability from field artillery but keep it with the ability to do damage. In this mod it seems the field artillery has de-entrenchment, but compared to "heavy" artillery it's cheaper, does less morale damage, and has range 2 instead of 3, moves faster, gets less maximum shell capacity with full tech, and does a bit more damage against tanks when fully upgraded. I'm not sure the difference is all that significant to be honest. They both get 3 shells per turn when you get full tech, and they both de-entrench. You say that Field Artillery is limited to 10 morale damage per shot but it appears to do 15 morale damage per shot at level 2 unless I'm missing something.
As far as the range 3 for Heavy Artillery goes, I like that it allows for defense in depth, and in theory it could be a good thing for artillery to fire at other artillery units (this is what you mean by counter-battery fire right?). But I'm not sure in practice that counter-battery is a good thing. For one, when I tried firing my artillery in 1916 at the enemy artillery unit, there seemed to be no effect. It seems you reduced both types of artillery's upgrade to give no attack strength increase to firing at enemy artillery, so it just remains at attack=0 no matter what tech level it has. I'm not really sure why I'd want to waste precious shells firing at enemy artillery batteries especially when I can't do any damage. (Though taking away artillery vs artillery damage is probably a good thing overall since destroying an enemy artillery unit with long range artillery fire would probably break the game). But regarding the range=3 vs other units, I am a little wary that this doesn't make Heavy Artillery even more powerful than it was in vanilla. It's going to be very difficult for the defender to locate and plan against every possible enemy artillery barrage + assault with that range upgrade, and I think it will lead to more situations where multiple artillery batteries target the same unit during the same turn. You reduced the maximum shell capacity and slowed down Gas/Shell production, which is good, but overall I don't think the artillery units are much different from vanilla. They still both do Strength damage, Deentrenchment, and Morale damage with each shot. I think the first step is to playtest, which you guys are doing right now. But I suspect you're going to conclude that artillery still feels the same, once it gets upgraded.
My suggestion is let both types of artillery do only 2 out of 3 things (fully upgraded):
Heavy Artillery: Morale damage and Deentrenchment
Field Artillery: Morale damage and chance for Strength damage
The logic for this is partly that small caliber artillery like the French 75 were incapable of obliterating trenches and fortifications. I'm not sure if this makes Field Artillery too weak, but anyhow you can figure out what you think on your own
Chernobyl wrote: Sun Apr 16, 2023 6:21 am
- RUSSIAN MOUNTAIN CORPS -
Yes these were ridiculous.
- TORPEDO BOATS -
They are cheaper and more mobile, which will help a bit vs the "minesweeping problem" in this game. Might consider reducing their attack vs Subs? Not sure many torpedo boats sunk many submarines during the two world wars. I would straight up consider buying these instead of DD as far more economical counters to subs.
- ASW and ADV SUBS -
Minor point - it seems subs have a max upgrade of level 3 and DD have a max ASW level 5, though nations can only research up to ASW level 3. I assume the intended maximum is 3.
-TRENCH WARFARE -
You say you reduced max chits invested from 4 to 3 but this appears to only be true for the 1916 scenario and not for 1914 v5. In the 1916 scenario the UK actually has 0 chits maximum (3 currently invested) which I believe is your attempt to simulate the relatively lax British improvement of trenches compared to Germany.
I think I like the idea of different max limits for different countries. I think I would like to give Germany some extra entrenching ability or perhaps adding a "Hindenburg Line" event or technology into the game since as far as I know there isn't any representation of the Hindenburg Line in the game and German trenches were considered superior.
- AIRCRAFT RANGE AND SPOTTING -
Good to reduce these. Naval warfare is ALL about spotting. I even wanted to reduce subs to vision range = 0 but it's not possible. Perhaps reduce the vision and range of aircraft even more.
Chernobyl wrote: Sun Apr 16, 2023 6:21 am
- RUSSIA -1 C&C TECH TO START -
Good. Austrian and Russian armies were both messes in 1914. One reason the Russians made such great progress (Lvov, Premysyl) was because the Austrians disastrously attacked into Serbia and Poland immediately and thus were low on troops right away. In vanilla I believe it's not possible to defend Lvov from a determined Russian attack (this is before any artillery upgrades occur) without German help. My only concern is if this makes Russia too weak against a full-on East-first Central Powers strategy. This is very difficult to balance because if you make Russia any stronger and they are capable against some devastating brute force attacks if Germany commits to France-first, but make them weaker and they might not be able to handle East-first. It's partly due to the nature of Poland as a giant salient: if the Russians are stronger then Poland is a giant threat to lash out in any direction, but if the Central Powers are stronger, it's a giant cauldron for the Russian army. I might even consider something drastic like lowering Infantry Warfare tech by -1 for Germany UK and France in 1914, or lowering German starting logistics tech to make early redeployment more costly.
- CAUCASUS WINTER -
If I'm reading right this only damages Ottoman units and Russian units never take any damage?
- NM OBJECTIVES -
I like that you added ability to retake NM objectives and get the NM back. Does this finalize the equation or can you lose the NM again if they recapture (or re-recapture) it?
Chernobyl wrote: Sun Apr 16, 2023 6:21 am
- OTTOMANS -
Cool changes, I like the ability to rail to Baghdad and a nerf to the Basra takeover. Baghdad was very difficult to defend and as the Ottoman player you had to plan and commit to your Iraq strategy sometimes YEARS in advance considering how long it takes to walk a HQ over there. And it was very easy to screw up and lose Baghdad which is extremely costly in NM. I still feel like that Zonguldak mine is very difficult to defend from the Russian submarine (IIRC it can just park in a red hex and the Ottoman destroyer can't drive it away very easily). I feel the Ottoman rail line is extremely vulnerable to marine attacks as was historical, but perhaps the Ottomans could use an extra garrison or two perhaps in Jerusalem (kinda cheesy you can do a one-turn marine capture of the holy city) and Antalya. As it stands I would probably try to make the Ottomans hurt really bad by strangling their MPP and cutting their coastal rail lines, and given they spent the extra MPP on the line to Baghdad it's even more compelling to wreck them. I haven't seen your Gallipoli events yet but I would be careful to caution that a crafty player might direct these forces against a different Ottoman target (the rail in southern Turkey, Syria, or Jerusalem). This could be extremely difficult for the Ottomans to handle especially if they commit forces to defend Gallipoli and then find their rail line is cut and multiple landings are taking place against them. Especially if the UK backs them up HQs and other troops....
- CORFU -
Not sure what the benefit of paying 50 MPP for this is. Perhaps the description should explain why this port town provides any benefit? It isn't safe from land attack and the Serbians already start with an Albanian port in the 1916 scenario should they want to leave. Perhaps if there is no other escape route it makes sense, but can't they just retreat into Salonika directly?
- DENMARK -
This is random but I think it would be nice to mark off the sea hexes not to enter unless you want to piss off Denmark. I always find it hard to guess where these hexes are.
- SPELLING MISTAKE -
One of the Russian navy events says Baltic sea or Baltic sea instead of Black/Baltic
Yeah it's not there, I think I misread the text. Thanks for answering my post.
Hi Chernobyl - Do you mean the UK troops are not showing up in either Basra or Kuwait once the Ottomans enter the war? If you can be a bit more precise about what you were expecting to see that would help me investigate. I assume you are playing the game in SP mode.Chernobyl wrote: Wed Apr 19, 2023 3:54 am I'm not getting your Basra event to spawn no matter what I do, even if I don't move any forces near Basra and I choose all the events that encourage the Ottomans to join the war ASAP, nothing happens.
I am playing hotseat and it has happened multiple times. No UK unit shows up in either Basra or Kuwait. It doesn't seem to matter which choices I make for events like the Goeben. Ottoman detachment is able to march straight into Basra and the Kuwait town, taking everything. It doesn't matter if I delay for a couple months or do it asap.mdsmall wrote: Wed Apr 19, 2023 5:20 pmHi Chernobyl - Do you mean the UK troops are not showing up in either Basra or Kuwait once the Ottomans enter the war? If you can be a bit more precise about what you were expecting to see that would help me investigate. I assume you are playing the game in SP mode.Chernobyl wrote: Wed Apr 19, 2023 3:54 am I'm not getting your Basra event to spawn no matter what I do, even if I don't move any forces near Basra and I choose all the events that encourage the Ottomans to join the war ASAP, nothing happens.
Hi Chernobyl - I figured out what was preventing the Indian Force D detachment from seizing Basra and have now corrected the scripts. If you download the latest version of the .cgn file in Dropbox (dated April 20, 2023), these scripts should fire correctly. They should work both if Basra is unoccupied (in which case the Indian troops capture it) or if there is an Ottoman unit there (in which case the attempted invasion fails and Indian troops deploy to Kuwait).Chernobyl wrote: Wed Apr 19, 2023 3:54 am I'm not getting your Basra event to spawn no matter what I do, even if I don't move any forces near Basra and I choose all the events that encourage the Ottomans to join the war ASAP, nothing happens.