The siege artillery that never arrives

[rocketman71]

I have a problem with siege artillery. I played the card and the artillery took 8 days to move to a city 10 hexes from assaulting on Kiev which was the purpose. However, because of my dismal relationship with von Gercke the chance for delays is 97% so turn after turn it remains delayed. Shouldn't there be some kind of cap on delays regardless of poor relationships. Especially as you can't play the Siege Artillery card again until it arrives. Right now it is more or less "lost" for the remainder of the game unless a very lucky roll (my relationship with von Gercke won't improve that much [:@] I'm afraid).

[ChuckBerger]

Maybe your relationship is so bad because you keep calling him "von Gercke", rather than "Gercke". He might think you're being intentionally sarcastic about his lack of aristocratic ties...

Seriously, I kind of agree, it is possible to get into relationship death spirals that are impossible to ever patch up. Maybe that's realistic, maybe not, but the penalties should have a limit.

[Franciscus]

ORIGINAL: rocketboy

I have a problem with siege artillery. I played the card and the artillery took 8 days to move to a city 10 hexes from assaulting on Kiev which was the purpose. However, because of my dismal relationship with von Gercke the chance for delays is 97% so turn after turn it remains delayed. Shouldn't there be some kind of cap on delays regardless of poor relationships. Especially as you can't play the Siege Artillery card again until it arrives. Right now it is more or less "lost" for the remainder of the game unless a very lucky roll (my relationship with von Gercke won't improve that much [:@] I'm afraid).

Exactly the same thing happened to me last game I played... If your relationships with the trains and trucks guys go downhill it's very difficult to get anything done...WAD, I think)

[rocketman71]

ORIGINAL: ChuckBerger

Maybe your relationship is so bad because you keep calling him "von Gercke", rather than "Gercke". He might think you're being intentionally sarcastic about his lack of aristocratic ties...

Seriously, I kind of agree, it is possible to get into relationship death spirals that are impossible to ever patch up. Maybe that's realistic, maybe not, but the penalties should have a limit.

Well, if I drop the "von", do you think he'll deliver my Siege Artillery?
Otherwise I'll start calling him "von Oben"
Its not like the relationship can get any worse
Kiev fell without his precious train effort.

[lancer]

Hi rocketboy,

A cap isn't a bad idea but I opted to leave it out. Historically the Germans lost entire trains 'in the system' for months at a time.

I also like relationships having meaningful gameplay effects when you get extremes. Take that away and your relationship with a character becomes less important. A big part of the game's design is that it's impossible to keep everybody happy all of the time. You've got to figure out a compromise that works for you.

Gercke, like Wagner, is having to meet conflicting demands from a number of people, not just yourself, and if your relationship with him has tanked then he won't be doing you any favours.

Cheers,
Cameron

[rocketman71]

ORIGINAL: lancer

A cap isn't a bad idea but I opted to leave it out. Historically the Germans lost entire trains 'in the system' for months at a time.

I knew it was bad IRL, but "lost for months" was beyond my expectation. I also like for the relationships to have a meaningful impact, just thought that something as big as siege artillery sooner or later would clog up the system so even Gercke would want to move it forward.

[Philippeatbay]

You can't win with siege artillery.

In my last game I decided to get smart and started thinking about the siege of Odessa well in advance.

I cultivated good relations with Gercke, and planned to convert the rail lines to Odessa to make things easier.

And I started shifting my siege artillery south at the first opportunity, so that when the time came it would only be a small move over converted rail lines.

Then disaster struck.

Most of the front line Soviet divisions in the Southern Theater got wiped out, my air offensive kept the Soviets from moving up their second line, and most of their divisions had been pulled out to mount a last ditch defense of Smolensk.

There were so few Russians left in the Southern Theater that one of my German divisions waltzed into the city unopposed.

There was no point in going on if I couldn't lay siege to Odessa.

[ChuckBerger]

Imagine losing a Dora or a Karl-Gerat "in the system" for several months. Now where did I put that super-heavy siege mortar and its team of hundreds of crew...