Kaiser Ulver Attacks the Ottomans in sheer desperation

[racndoc]

I would take u on in this scenario as the TE. Question though...is Luxembourg off limits to the CP to prevent activation of Britain?

[ulver]

I did write Benelux. Let’s just include Luxemburg. It should probably be mutual – Britain originally had France in mind when issuing her guarantee. Would you accept that the ET are not allowed a DoW on a Benelux country until the British restriction are lifted?

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: ulver
In truth I always assumed it was pretty unlikely that Britain would deploy any forces in Egypt at all since the point of decision was likely to be France most players would tend to deploy their forces ready to intervene on the West front. My, perhaps optimistic, assumption was a 90% probability that there would be no forces from the British Isles at all.

A pretty gross miscalculation if so. I usually put almost everything in Egypt.

If for no other reason than the fact that you can always ship them to Toulon - usually with zero opposition because the Austrian navy can't really intervene - if you want them in France anyway - whereas the North Sea is often contested in 1914 by CP players who want to stop the BEF from landing.

Not to mention that if you take out the Ottoman Empire the CPs are toast by 1916, so a strong offensive against the OE seems to be the most desirable move.


In our game all but two British units started in Egypt. Though one of them got shipped to Toulon, the rest are all in Bulgaria now.

[ulver]

ORIGINAL: EUBanana

A pretty gross miscalculation if so. I usually put almost everything in Egypt.

If for no other reason than the fact that you can always ship them to Toulon - usually with zero opposition because the Austrian navy can't really intervene - if you want them in France anyway - whereas the North Sea is often contested in 1914 by CP players who want to stop the BEF from landing.

Not to mention that if you take out the Ottoman Empire the CPs are toast by 1916, so a strong offensive against the OE seems to be the most desirable move.

A valid strategy but it has two huge problems.

a) Requires two transports pr transported corps instead of one and transports are really scarce in the beginning – doing it that way is going to cost you raw material shipping
b) The Austrian fleet can often contest the East Med – don’t forget that contested status prevent shipping.
c) Safest and cheapest bet is usually transport across the North Atlantic.

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: ulver
a) Requires two transports pr transported corps instead of one and transports are really scarce in the beginning – doing it that way is going to cost you raw material shipping

You got a lot of transports until the submarines start sinking them. And not many corps to initially deploy. Remember, all your reinforcement corps will still be arriving in England, so we're only talking about the initial few (though those initial few pretty much have the same firepower as the entire OE army!). The assumption is you won't need to shift them to France ASAP. I think if the CPs tried the historical through Belgium Schlieffen plan, then this is a scenario where you will need those units ASAP in northern France.

But that doesn't seem to be a very popular tactic.

On the other hand, if you want to try a Gallipoli, to transport units from England you need 4 transports per unit, and it can be interdicted by both CP navies! That basically rules out any 1915 Gallipoli.

Whenever I play the CPs its an attack on the Ottoman Empire I fear the most. To still be in the game past late 1915, you need the OE. If you can trash the OE before Bulgaria joins the Central Powers and the 25 odd raw materials are shipped over, Germany is screwed. If you can do it before Bulgaria joins, the OE cannot be helped by the other CPs and so will fold like a wet rag against a determined attack. So I think an early attack on the OE is probably the best option the Triple Entente have.

b) The Austrian fleet can often contest the East Med – don’t forget that contested status prevent shipping.

Well, the High Seas fleet can do likewise to the North Sea, it is a lot bigger, and (importantly) it has a lot more naval assets and so is more capable of being a prolonged threat.

c) Safest and cheapest bet is usually transport across the North Atlantic.

Well... I know in the game I had with Lava he kept the North Sea contested every turn until about mid 1915! So I wouldn't say it was safe.

I wouldn't say it was a magic bullet tactic, to mass British troops in Egypt. But I think in general its a good one. In this game I held back one unit and one HQ in England for going to France, as I was all ready to thump the OE immediately. If anything, you attacking the OE put them out of position, but... those troops loitering around there did mean that that Bulgaria option suddenly loomed large. Just took a little while to rail sufficent units into position.

[racndoc]

Yes....I would agree to prohibiting TE DoW on any of the Benelux countries until all restrictions are removed from Britain.

[ulver]

ORIGINAL: EUBanana

Well... I know in the game I had with Lava he kept the North Sea contested every turn until about mid 1915! So I wouldn't say it was safe.

I wrote North Atlantic - not North Sea. Hard for the Central Powers to contest the North Atlantic - much harder then the East Med

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: ulver
I wrote North Atlantic - not North Sea. Hard for the Central Powers to contest the North Atlantic - much harder then the East Med

I dunno. I seen it happen. Depends how determined the Germans are - it will probably wreck the High Seas Fleet but if you press the button, and send it all, its pretty likely.

The Entente can smack around the Austrian navy in a single turn if they want though, and the Austrians will find fixing it very hard.

Sure, the Atlantic route is a bit safer but I don't think theres a whole lot in it. The opportunity to smack the Ottomans is well worth it IMHO.

[ulver]

Oh I do a hit and run to the North Atlantic sometimes. Not to contest pr say but to enable me to trade briefly. Just one turn at sea with 7 transports will nett Germany 14 food and resources. Worth a shot even if you are only likely to get away with it one or twice pr game.

The point is that the North Atlantic is a sea zone the Entante will have to defend fully every turn anyway because of British/French trade.

[EUBanana]

I'm not quite sure how the mechanics of it work but patrol doesn't seem to be all that good for blowing away transports.  I'm not sure on this but I think if you want to go for transports you have to ideally use Raider, while Patrol was more for toasting the enemy fleet and gaining control of the sea space.

I also remember that, in the dim and distant past, if you set the entire High Seas Fleet to raid, the British transport fleet would be gutted by January 1915, but I'm 99% sure that has been changed in a patch.  [:D]

[EUBanana]

On the eve of Entente victory over the Bulgars?

[EUBanana]

I find it vaguely amusing that Liman von Sanders and General Dobell are on the same side.  [:D]