I have designed a new version of my Icarus mod for Strategic Command World War One. Version 6 of the mod offers many new features, notably a wide range of new war weariness factors that will reduce national morale on both sides as the war progresses. This should make National Morale an even more important feature of the game. As before, the mod comes in both a 1914 and 1916 campaign.
Version 6 of the mod has not yet been fully play-tested. However, given the mod is now relatively well known, I thought I would release Version 6 in a preliminary version so other players can see what is included.
You can find the files for Version 6 of both campaigns here.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/x2v96nqx ... 9dcg2&dl=0
I have pasted the full text of the latest edition of the Guide to mod below. Differences between Version 5 and Version 6 of the mod have been marked with an asterisk. I would encourage players who have looked at this new version of the mod to post initial feedback here.
Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Last edited by mdsmall on Wed Feb 21, 2024 6:20 am, edited 4 times in total.
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Strategic Command: World War One
1914 and 1916 Icarus Mod, Version 6.2
Explanation of Modifications
(new features since Version 5 are marked with an *)
Contents:
1. Overview
2. Unit Capabilities and Upgrades
2.1 Artillery
2.2 Corps, Divisions and Detachments
2.3 German Stormtroopers
2.4 ANZAC Corps
2.5 Mountain Corps and Mountain Divisions
2.6 Tanks
2.7 Airships and Maritime Bombers
2.8 Submarines and ASW
2.9 Torpedo Boats
2.10 Coastal Guns
3. Fortified Towns and Fortresses
4. Technology
4.1 Tech Maximums
4.2 Starting Tech Chits
4.3 Tech Chit Costs
4.4 Selling Tech Chits
5. Building Units
6. Unit Morale
6.1 Swapping Units
6.2 Impact on Unit Morale of Surrenders
6.3 Desertions and Mutinies
6.4 Summer Heat Effects
7. National Morale
7.1 War Weariness
7.2 New NM Objectives
7.3 Reversing NM Gains and Losses
7.4 Surrender and Liberation of Minors
7.5 Surrender and Armistice of Majors
8. Diplomacy
9. Mobilization
9.1 Reversing Mobilization Swings by Minor Powers
9.2 Reversing U.S.A. Mobilization
10. Winter Weather Effects
11. Ottoman Empire Modifications
11.1 Gallipoli Campaign
11.2 Mesopotamia
11.3 Arabia
11.4 The Caucasus
11.5 Armenia
11.6 Expeditionary Corps
11.7 Ottoman Resources
10.8 National Morale Objectives
11.9 War Weariness
11.10 Armistice and Surrender
12. Persia
13. Balkan Modifications
13.1 Albania
13.2 Serbia
13.3 Bulgaria
13.4 Montenegro
14. Greece
14.1 Greek Mobilization
14.2 Entente Intervention in Northern Greece
14.3 Re-routing the Convoy to Serbia through Salonika
14.4 Greek Convoy to Austria-Hungary
14.5 Greek Build Restrictions
15. Austria-Hungary
15.1 War Weariness
15.2 Desertions and Mutinies
15.3 National Morale
15.4 Diplomatic Proposal to Italy
15.5 First Winter in the Carpathians
15.6 Naval Saboteurs
15.7 Polish Legion
16. Denmark
17. Egypt
18. Finland
19. France
19.1 War Weariness
19.2 French Army Munity
19.3 Impact of U.S. Entry
20. Germany
20.1 National Morale Effects of the British Blockade
20.2 National Morale Effects of Unrestricted Naval Warfare
20.3 Reduced Food Imports from the Netherlands
20.4 "Turnip Winter"
20.5 Diversion of Synthetic Nitrogen to Food Production
20.6 Effects of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
20.7 German Funding for Indian Nationalists
20.8 New HQ for General Falkenhayn
21. Gibraltar
22. Iceland
23. India
24. Italy
24.1 War Weariness
24.2 Annexing Albania and Slower Mobilization
24.3 Italian Armistice
24.4 Convoy to Italy from France
24.5 Italian Frogmen
25. Libya
25.1 The Senussi Uprising
25.2 Italian Garrisons
25.3 Ottoman Regulars
26. Morocco
27. Netherlands
28. Norway
29. Portugal
30. Romania
31. Russia
31.1 War Weariness
31.2 Mutinies and Desertions
31.3 NM objectives
31.4 Supply and NM Value of Resources
31.5 Tech Limits
31.6 Rail Line Upgrades
31.7 Caucasian and Turkestan Corps
31.8 Russian Naval Deployments
31.9 Surrender
32. Spain
33. Sweden
34. Switzerland
35. United Kingdom
35.1 War Weariness
35.2 The National Morale Effects of Unrestricted Naval Warfare
35.3 Tightening the Blockade Against Neutral Shipping
35.3 National Morale Loss of Egypt
36. United States
36.1 The Zimmerman Telegram and its Aftermath
36.2 Mobilization Towards the Entente
36.3 Building the U.S. Army
36.4 Spanish Flu Events
37. Optional House Rules
37.1 Naval Mines on NM and Blockade Hexes
37.2 Deploying Minor Forces Outside of Europe
38. Information Settings
39. AI Settings
40. 1916 Campaign
1. Overview
The primary purpose of this mod is to expand the range of strategic options available to both sides, using the existing game system (version 1.14). The Western and Italian fronts remain largely unchanged. In the East, new scripts for both sides should intensify the fighting in Galicia while reducing the national morale cost to Russia if they have to give up territory to the Central Powers. Many new Decision Events have been added to make the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire more interesting theatres of war. Other scripts have been added to bring minor powers like India and Portugal into the game. Some of the new features make historical events more plausible as options for players - like the Gallipoli campaign, the Arab Revolt, the Persian theatre of war, or the Zimmerman Telegram. Other features have been added which did not happen but could have - like the Ottomans extending a railroad to Baghdad, or Sweden starting a convoy to Britain through Norway. Diplomacy has been made more powerful, combined with a range of new options with minors which can only be achieved through the creative use of diplomacy.
A second purpose of this mod is to slow down the tempo of the war so that the game will more often run to 1917 or even 1918 before it is decided. This should allow players to experiment with new technologies which only emerge in the later stages of the war. The capacity of both sides to dramatically expand their MPP production through Industrial Tech has been reduced. Trench warfare tech takes longer to reach higher levels and maximum levels depend on the front; only the powers on the Western Front can achieve trench level 5. The lethality of artillery has been reduced by restricting the number of shells that artillery units can store and by slowing down investment in Gas /Shell production. Heavy Artillery units are introduced. Several kinds of air-power tech have been made cheaper to encourage investment in them. German stormtrooper units with some unique capabilities make an appearance starting in August 1917.
Strategically, National Morale has been made much more important to winning the game. Historically, the national morale of all the European powers were severely tested by a war that none of them expected would last for more than four years. In the end, the political systems of all four empires - Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Russia - collapsed by the end of the war. Even the victorious Entente powers were close to exhaustion by the end, except for the United States. In this version of the mod, war-weariness has been introduced into the game, whereby most powers suffer a progressive decline in their National Morale that increases in the later years of the war. The risk of desertions and mutinies by Italy, Russia and Austria-Hungary has been increased once their national morale falls below 50%. The British blockade of Germany has been made much more effective in reducing German national morale, and the German submarine counterattacks against Britain have an increase morale effect as well. There is a new option in the game for Italian withdrawal from the way when its National Morale reaches 25%. If powers can recapture lost national morale objectives, they can win back lost national morale points. These changes should give both sides more capacity to hold on until at least 1917, increasing the odds that the United States will enter the war. At that point both sides should be in a race to see which side can push the other's national morale to the breaking point.
2. Unit Capabilities and Upgrades
*2. 1 Changes to Artillery
Artillery forces have now been divided into Field Artillery and Heavy Artillery. (Field Artillery are still just called "Artillery" in the game system but referring to them "Field Artillery" makes it easier to distinguish them from Heavy Artillery).
Field Artillery units have a range of 2 hexes, 3 APs, a maximum of 6 shells after upgrades. They cost 250 MPPs and take three turns to build. They have a base demoralization rate of 5% and a maximum of 15% per shell after upgrades.
Heavy Artillery units have a range of 3 hexes, 2 APs and a maximum of 8 shells after upgrades. They cost 300 MPPs and take four turns to build. They have a base demoralization rate of 10% and a maximum of 20% per shell after upgrades.
*All artillery units now have a base de-entrenchment ability of 1, which does not increase with tech investments. Artillery Weapons has the same demoralization and combat effects as in the regular game.
Each increment of Gas/Shell tech adds one shell to the maximum for Field Artillery and two shells for Heavy Artillery. (Logistics Tech has no effect on the number of shells per artillery unit).
Gas/Shell production now costs 200 MPPs and only 1 chit can be invested at a time (as opposed to the current limit of 3 chits at 100 MPPs each). The maximum level for Gas/Shell tech is now 2 (as opposed to 3 in the regular game).
Neither Artillery nor Heavy Artillery can be motorized.
*The build limits for both types of artillery for each major power has been changed as follows (compared with existing levels):
Country: Heavy Artillery Field Artillery New Total Old Total Net
U.K. 2 3 5 6 -1
France 2 1 3 3 0
Italy 1 1 2 2 0
Serbia 0 1 1 1 0
Russia 1 3 4 4 0
USA 0 2 2 4 -2
Germany 4 2 6 4 +2
A-H 2 1 3 3 0
Ottomans 0 3 3 3 -1
Entente 17 20 -3
Central Powers 12 10 +2
Note that the U.K. receives 2 artillery through Decision Events (in Egypt and Mesopotamia) and Russia receives 1 Artillery through a Decision Event (in the Caucasus). These units are included in the build levels shown above. The artillery units built through these events will be Field Artillery and the costs of these DEs have been reduced to reflect that.
In addition, each increment of Gas/Shell tech now increases the build limit for Field Artillery by 0.5, so that when they reach level 2, each major can build an additional field artillery unit.
Minors can only build Field Artillery, not Heavy Artillery, and their build limits do not increase with Gas/Shell tech.
* Field Artillery can only start to be produced by the Central Powers in late January 1915 and by the initial Entente powers in late February 1915. Italy can start to produce Field Artillery in July 1915 and by the USA in February 1917. Heavy Artillery can start to be produced by the U.K., France, Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary in August 1915 and by Italy in January 1916. Serbia, the U.S.A and the Ottoman Empire cannot build Heavy Artillery.
When Rail Guns are upgraded to Artillery Weapons 1, they can fire 2 shells per turn (they cannot be upgraded to Artillery Weapons 2). As strategic artillery, their main function is to attack resources, not units.
Comment: These changes have been made to slow down speed at which artillery becomes more lethal until later years in the war. They also offer more flexibility between the capabilities of the two kinds of artillery. These changes have been made to distinguish between the artillery used combat between the Major powers on the Western Front, where concentrated firepower is the most important factor; and artillery combat in Russia, the Balkans, the Middle East and the Caucasus, where mobility is a more important factor between dispersed targets.
Build limits for Artillery have been partially re-balanced (previously the Entente had an even greater advantage). Because artillery units can now de-entrench without having to be upgraded with Artillery Weapons, Field Artillery units are useful as soon as they arrive in the production queue (or the deployment queue for the German Field Artillery unit that arrives on August 1, 1914). The production schedules for new artillery units have been pushed back in time, so that they will start to arrive around the time that powers start to achieve Artillery Weapons One. The extra Field Artillery unit that can be built at level 2 in Gas/Shell tech is meant to partially offset the reduction in the maximum level of that tech.
By giving Heavy Artillery a range of three, attackers can use a second line for reinforcing corps and reduce the risk of artillery being killed by enemy counterattacks. However, this reduces the number of hexes they can hit; if placed in the second line, Heavy Artillery can hit a wider range of targets but are within reach of defensive counter-battery fire from enemy Heavy Artillery.
* 2.2 Corps, Divisions and Detachments
Infantry Divisions including Marines now have attack and defence values against other hard targets of 3 - 3. Detachments have an attack and defence value against hard targets of 2 - 2. This represents a 1-point increase in the defence strength of Corps and Divisions and a 1-point reduction in the defence strength of Detachments.
* Each increment of Infantry Weapons tech now increases the defensive strength of all infantry units except Garrisons by 1.5 (versus 1 in the regular game). This does not have an effect at level 1 in Infantry Weapons (as the .5 gets rounded down) but at Infantry Weapons 2, Corps now have an attack strength against hard targets (i.e., other corps) of 6 but a defensive strength of 7.
Infantry Divisions and Cavalry Divisions have been upgraded to have full zones of control, comparable to Marines (which are also division sized units).
Comment: Increasing the base defense strength of Corps when upgraded to Infantry Weapons 2 is meant to increase the attrition effects of combat later in the war, and to reduce the overwhelming odds of attack once a defender has been de-entrenched by a number of rounds of artillery fire. The changes to the strength of divisions and detachment has been made to bring the combat capabilities of these units more in line with their cost.
*2.3 German Stormtroopers
* German stormtroopers have been introduced into the game using the German Colonial Corps sprites. They have a base attack strength against hard targets of 3 and a base ability to evade losses on attack 10% of the time. Each Infantry Warfare tech increment increases stormtroopers attack strength against hard targets by 0.5 and increases their ability to evade losses on attack by 5%. Thus, at Infantry Warfare tech level 4, they have an attack strength of 5 against hard targets (versus 4 for regular corps) will evade losses on attack 30% of the time. They also gain experience points when attacking at 0.25 per enemy point killed (versus 0.15 for regular corps), meaning they gain experience faster when used to attack.
* Each increment of Infantry Warfare tech allows Germany to build two stormtrooper corps. Thus, Germany has a base build capacity of four stormtroopers which can rise to eight at Infantry Warfare level 4. Germany can only start building stormtroopers as of April 21, 1917. They take three months to build, like regular corps.
* Stormtroopers function like a special kind of upgrade for regular corps. Following a house rule, the CP player must first disband a regular German corps on a German town or city before deploying a newly arrived stormtrooper unit on the same town or city. Both the corps that is disbanded and the stormtrooper that replaces it must have the same level of research.
* Stormtroopers have a base cost of 75 MPPs. Note that when disbanding the regular corps, the German player will earn 45 MPPs per corps, so the net cost of the replacing it with a Stormtrooper unit is 30 MPPs, modified by tech costs. They cannot be reformed, so if destroyed they will cost 75 MPPs and three months to rebuild, plus the costs of rebuilding the original corp.
To avoid confusion, build limits for Colonial Corps for other majors have been eliminated and their regular Corps build limits have been increased accordingly. British and French colonial corps that arrive in the game have been replaced by regular Corps units.
Comment: the use of German stormtroopers was a major tactical innovation on the German side late in the war. They were built by concentrating the most experienced troops into elite formations that could not be easily replaced. The house rule requiring an existing corps to be disbanded first makes it possible to build stormtroopers as a special kind of upgrade for existing corps, rather than as wholly new corps which would need to be built at full cost.
2.4 ANZAC Corps
British ANZAC units no longer have a 20% demoralization bonus. Instead, they have an increased ability to gain experience when attacking. They earn experience points at 0.25% per attack, versus 0.15% for regular corps. The Canadian Corps has been reclassified as an ANZAC Corps, so it has a similar capacity to gain experience.
Comment: This better reflects the true capabilities of Australia, New Zealand and Canadian units in the British Army, which was their capacity to innovate new tactics and learn from experience, rather than an intrinsic ability to de-moralize the enemy.
2.5 Mountain Corps and Mountain Divisions
Mountain Corps have been removed from the game in this mod and have been replaced by Mountain Divisions. Mountain Divisions receive a 2 point bonus in attack and defence against soft and hard targets if the Mountain Division is located on mountain or high mountain hex. This means they have an equal attack and defence strength as mountain corps on the same terrain in the regular game. However, their attack and defence strength on all other kinds of terrain is equal to a regular division, i.e., one point less than a corps. Mountain Divisions cost 150 MPPs, the same amount as a regular division to build. They have been upgraded in this mod to have full zones of control.
Comment: this change makes a sharper distinction in the advantages and disadvantages of mountain divisions versus regular corps. The lower cost of mountain divisions compared to corps may encourage players to build more of these special purpose units.
2.6 Tanks
Tank Corps base Defense Value against Artillery is now set at 1.5 (as opposed to 1). Each increment of Tank Development increases their de-entrenchment by 0.5. so that at Level 2 they will de-entrench at 2 per turn.
Comment: these changes are meant to make Tanks more effective as shock front-line units and slightly less vulnerable to taking casualties from artillery fire (since they cannot entrench).
2.7 Airships and Maritime Bombers:
Airships can only be upgraded to Airship Tech 3 (rather than 5). Their base strike range is 8. Each Airship tech increment adds 2 to their strike range (for a max range of 14) and 1 for naval spotting (for a maximum of 4). Aerial Warfare tech adds 0.5 per increment to the build limits for airships.
Maritime Bombers can only be upgraded to Long Distance Aircraft 3 (rather than 5). Each increment adds 2 to their strike range, but zero to naval spotting. Their base strike range is reduced to 8 (rather than 10) giving them a maximum strike range of 14. Their fixed naval spotting range is 2. Maritime Bombers can be upgraded to Anti-Submarine Warfare 2.
Comment: Airships and Maritime Bombers are both very useful at sea, but their range and especially their spotting values were over-powered. These changes rebalance that and differentiate more between the spotting value of airships and the ASW value of Maritime Bombers.
* 2.8 Submarines and ASW
* Subs now have a base chance of diving when attacked of 50%. This is no longer affected by enemy ASW tech or friendly Advanced Sub tech. Advanced Subs tech increases the attack strength (only) of subs against naval units. Upgrading subs with Advanced Subs tech only costs 5% of the base cost of a sub (not 10% as in the regular game), making this tech comparable in cost to ASW upgrades.
* Subs now have a weak zone of control (comparable to destroyers).
Comment: These changes are meant to increase the survivability of subs from the start of the war and reduce the overall cost of upgrading them, relative to ASW tech. The weaker zone of control is meant to reduce the ability of lone subs to reduce the movement of surface ships.
2.9 Torpedo Boats
Torpedo Boats now have 7 Action Points (increased from 5) to allow them to move two hexes, enter a naval zone control, attack and then return to port. Their cost is reduced to 80 MPPs (from 100 MPPs).
Comment: these changes should increase the cost/benefit value of building Torpedo Boats, compared to Destroyers.
2.10 Coastal Guns
All majors (except Serbia) have been given the option of building 1 Coastal Gun. Their cost has been reduced from 100 to 75 MPPs. They can be upgraded with Naval Weapons tech which will increase their attack and defence strength by 1 against Naval targets and Transports and will give them one extra shell.
Comment: Coastal Guns were a common defensive feature in this era, so they have been added to the build limits give players the option to use them. The cost has been reduced to the equivalent cost of a detachment. This also reflects the limited combat capability of coastal guns. For game engine reasons, they only inflict damage on enemy ships when attacking, not when being attacked. Their main advantage is their ability to automatically fire during the enemy turn if amphibious transports move adjacent to them.
* 3. Fortified Towns, Fortresses and Major Fortresses
* The following Fortified Towns on the map have been converted into Fortresses: Liège; Belfort and Przemyśl. Erzurum has been converted from a City into a Fortified Town.
* Fortified Towns have their maximum entrenchment level increased from 3 to 4 and their defensive bonus against Soft and Hard targets increased from 2 to 3.
* Fortresses have their maximum entrenchment level increased from 4 to 5 and their defensive bonus against Soft and Hard targets increased from 2 to 4.
* Major Fortresses have their maximum entrenchment level increased from 6 to 8 and their defensive bonus against Soft and Hard targets increased from 5 to 6.
Comment: these changes were made to strengthen the defensive capacity of fortified hexes and to make them more expensive to capture, even when fully de-entrenched by artillery fire.
4. Technology Starting Levels and Maximums
Maximum levels in Trench Warfare now differ across majors. Germany, the UK, France and the USA can each reach level 5. Austria-Hungary, Italy, Serbia, and the USA can reach level 4. Russia and the Ottoman Empire can reach level 3. The maximum number of chits that can be invested at one time in Trench Warfare has been reduced from four to three.
Comment: These changes are meant to accentuate the differences between fighting on the Western Front - where there were advanced trenches by 1917 - versus the Eastern Front or the Caucasus where trenches were less sophisticated. It also makes field artillery units more useful for offensives on front where the trench maximums are not as high.
* The maximum number of chits that can be invested in Industrial Tech for all majors has been reduced from three to two and the maximum level for this tech is now 3. Each level achieved in Industrial tech increases the Industrial Modifier by only 10% rather than 15% in the regular game.
Comment: This is intended to slow down the rapid expansion in MPP production through investment in this tech. It should reduce the frequency of majors on the winning side in the game producing more MPPs than they can spend.
As noted above, the maximum level for Gas/Shell tech is now 2.
* Austria-Hungary starts with one chit in Command and Control, but it cannot invest any more chits and it is capped at level 1 in this tech.
Comment: this change is meant to reflect the serious command and control problems faced by Austro-Hungarian officers who only spoke German when commanding troops of different nationalities who only spoke their own languages. These problems became more acute as casualties mounted during the war in the Austro-Hungarian officer corps.
* Russia starts at zero in Command and Control and can only reach a maximum of level 1 .
Comment: this is meant to reflect the truly awful level of Russian generalship at the start of the war, and the limits on their improvement after Czar Nicholas II became Commander in Chief in September 1915.
* Italy, Serbia and the Ottoman Empire can only reach level 3 in Command and Control.
Comment: these changes are meant to limit these powers' ability to improve in this tech relative to Russia and Austria-Hungary.
The maximum level for Spying and Intelligence for the UK and Germany, has been raised from 2 to 3. Serbia now has a maximum level of 1.
Comment: this should prolong the competition between the UK and Germany in particular for dominance in this important tech. Serbia's ability to contribute to Entente intelligence should be more modest.
The UK and France each start with one chit on Armoured Warfare.
Comment: this is meant to encourage the arrival of tanks in the game and recognizes these Entente powers early lead in tank development.
Germany starts with one chit on Aerial Warfare.
Comment: this is meant to compensate for the extra chits the French and British receive in Armoured Warfare.
Serbia cannot invest any tech chits in naval or aerial technologies.
Comment: since Serbia has a zero build limit for ships or aircraft, it makes no sense that they could invest in these techs.
4.2 Tech Chit Costs
As noted above, Gas/Shell tech costs 200 MPPs per chit and only one can be invested at a time.
Comment: this intended to slow down the acquisition of surplus shells until later in the game.
The cost of Trench Warfare for Russia has been reduced from 75 MPPs to 60 MPPs per chit.
Comment: Russian armies reluctance to entrench is better reflected by having a maximum entrenchment level of 3. The reduced cost for Russia in this tech puts them on the same footing as their enemies in Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
The cost of investing in Long-Range Aircraft, Anti-Aircraft and Logistics has been reduced from 50 to 40 MPPs per chit.
The cost of investing in Heavy Bombers and Production Tech has been reduced from 75 to 60 MPPs per chit, except for Serbia which is reduced from 50 to 40 MPPs per chit for Production Tech.
Comment: these changes are meant to encourage players to invest in these infrequently used technologies.
* 4.3 Selling Tech Chits
* The MPPs that I previously gave France, Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary on the first turn have been eliminated in this version of the mod, so they all start with zero MPPs as in the regular game. Giving these MPPs blunted the chances of success of first turn offensives by Germany in Belgium and by Russia in Galicia.
Players should observe a house rule that they will not sell any tech chits on the first turn (only).
Comment: this house rule is needed to reduce the Central Powers first mover advantage which can be greatly magnified by selling tech chits on the first turn.
5. Building Units
As noted above, Mountain corps have been removed from the build limits for all powers and have been replaced by mountain divisions.
The French build limits for regular corps has been increased from 24 to 26 to offset the 2 colonial corps that they can no longer build. The UK can no longer build colonial corps, but India can build its own corps, as explained below.
* A special Ottoman minor has been created called Expeditionary Corps to allow the Central Powers to build corps that can be commanded by generals of any of the three Central Powers. This minor has a build limit of two corps. See section 11.6 for more details.
The Ottomans can now build 6 Infantry Divisions and 2 Cavalry Divisions at a cost 150 MPPs each. Their build limit for regular Ottoman Corps is reduced to 18 (down from 22).
Comment: Given the Ottomans' MPP constraints, this makes it more affordable for them to build a new unit in most turns.
Russia can now build two infantry divisions through Decision Events relating two Persia. They can also build two cavalry divisions.
Comment: these smaller units may be useful in secondary theatres such as the Middle East.
Italy can now build 9 Detachments rather than 6; their build limit for Corps has been reduced from 15 to 14. They can also now build one Garrison.
Comment: this is meant to give the Italians more flexibility in the size of the units they can build, given that they usually need many smaller units for defensive purposes rather than full strength corps.
Italy can now build 2 Torpedo Boats
Comment: I could not see why Italy should not have the same capability as the other Majors.
The Russian naval mine that was placed in the Gulf of Finland in the regular game has been removed giving the Russians two mines which they can place on either coast.
Canada can build 2 Destroyers and the UK build limit for Destroyers is now 14 (down from 16).
Comment: building one or two Canadian destroyers may be useful if German subs raid off the coast of Canada and the U.S.A.
Greece can only build 3 Corps (down from 6). Greece can only build units after January 1, 1916.
Comment: Greece's original build limit of 6 Corps is out of proportion to its Balkan neighbours. The same six Greek corps can be mobilized through DEs if an enemy approaches, but after combat losses, only 3 can be rebuilt. The later build limit reflects that Greece was very slow to mobilize and rebuild its armed forces until the second half of the war.
The Netherlands can build a 1 Fighter and 1 Recon Bomber.
Comment: It seemed strange that they have an Artillery unit but no ability to build aircraft, unlike neighbouring Belgium.
Portugal cannot build Fighters or Recon Bombers.
Comment: I could not see why Portugal was given these aircraft in the first place.
Sweden's HQ arrives when it mobilizes.
Comment: every other minor has a HQ that mobilizes when it goes to war, so I could not see a reason not to allow Sweden to do the same.
India (which is a new minor in this mod) can build 4 corps, 1 cavalry corps, 1 division, 1 detachment and 2 field artillery. This represents all of the Indian Army units that normally deploy for the U.K. as a result of DEs in the regular game, plus two corps and one division in addition. See section 23 on India below.
6. Unit Morale
6.1 Swapping Units
Units can now swap places with an adjacent friendly unit at 0% cost to morale.
Comment: this is very handy game feature, especially in situations like the Western Front where there is usually two lines or more of troops at the front. It represents the standard tactic of having rearguard units move up to replace front-line units that have taken casualties. It seemed a mistake to me to penalize the morale of units that use this feature.
6.2 Impact on Unit Morale of Surrenders
The standard settings that penalize the morale of land and sea units when a minor or major power on the same side surrenders have been eliminated. Instead, the impact of a surrender is registered on National Morale, not at the unit level.
Comment: it has long seemed unbalanced to me that the surrender of minors would have an impact on the morale of majors, apart from possibly their direct parent. Since it not possible to fine-tune these settings in the Game Editor, I have simply set them to zero.
However, to model the unit morale boost that Germany receives on the first turn in the standard game from the surrender of Luxemburg, all Central Powers land units within seven hexes of Luxembourg receive a 20 - 30% boost in unit morale and all Entente land units in the same range receive a 20 - 30% unit morale penalty. These unit morale boosts, and penalties do not apply on other fronts.
Comment: Keeping this swing towards the Germans in unit morale is important for an effective German attack in the West in the opening turns of 1914, so this new DE provides a specific offset to the general rule above.
*6.3 Mutinies and Desertions
The risk of desertions and mutinies have been significantly increased compared to the regular game for Italy, Russia and Austria-Hungary when their national morale drops below 50% and then again when it drops below 35%. There are new provisions for the risk of mutiny in the French Army when national morale drops below 50%. German, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian units in Russia suffer a greater risk of desertions after the Bolshevik Revolution. They suffer additional desertion effects once they are removed back to their home countries following an armistice with Russia. See the details under the section on each major below.
Comment: mutinies and desertions were a major factor in the effectiveness of armies late in the war in the face of sinking national morale and political instability at home. These changes give them more prominence in the game.
6.4 Summer Heat Effects
All regular units will suffer a loss of unit morale during the summer turns when they are deployed in Syria, Palestine, Arabia, Mesopotamia, southern Persia, Kuwait, Egypt and Libya (but not in the French territories in North Africa or within the borders of the Ottoman Empire). For European majors and minors, the morale loss will be 25 - 35%. For forces from the Ottoman Empire, India, Egypt and Persia, the morale loss will be 5 - 10%. Arabian and Libyan partisans are not affected.
Comment: The heat of summer in the Middle East and much of North Africa affected all forces operating in these regions. The difference in morale effects are meant to give the Ottomans a slight edge over European units in this region in the summer turns; while also giving the U.K a greater reason to deploy Indian forces to campaign in this region (as they did historically).
7. National Morale
* 7.1 War Weariness
* War weariness scripts have been added to reduce the starting National Morale levels of most of the majors by up to 50% if the war extends to 1918. The U.K., France, Russia, and Austria-Hungary each lose 5% of their starting National Morale over the course of a year, starting in 1915. This amount is cumulative, thus over the course of 1918 these powers will lose 20% of their starting National Morale. (Italy and the Ottoman Empire lose the same amount per turn as Austria-Hungary, which works out to 7.5% and 6.5% per year respectively of their starting National Morale). See the specific NM loss schedules for each of these Majors in the notes below. Serbia does not suffer from war weariness since the war posed an existential threat to its survival; nor does the United States, given its late entry in the war.
* Germany's war-weariness levels are determined by the success of the Entente naval blockade, with certain additional factors that increase its level of hunger. Austria-Hungary has an additional mix of hunger and war weariness factors which reflect the internal political tensions in the Empire that the war unleashed. For details, see the sections on Germany and Austria-Hungary below.
* The Decision Events allowing France, Italy, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire to spend MPPs to raise their national morale fire on their first turns in 1917 if their National Morale has dropped below 50%; and then again on their first turn in 1918, if it has dropped below 40%. In the case of Russia, these DEs only fire if the First Revolution has already happened. Germany has the additional option to start spending to raise National Morale on its first turn in 1916, if its morale has dropped below 90%. Serbia and the U.S.A no longer receive these Decision Events since neither of these powers suffer from war weariness.
* The amount of NM points that can be bought per turn and the cost now varies with each power: for the U.K., France, Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary, the NM point gain per turn is equivalent to 5% of initial National Morale over a year (higher proportionately for Italy and the Ottoman Empire), thus cancelling out one year of war-weariness. If their National Morale subsequently rises above these thresholds, then the Decision Event will stop firing and no MPPs will be deducted that turn in order to boost morale.
Comment: War weariness combined with territorial losses and casualties on the battlefield should cause all the European majors to end the war with National Morale levels under 50%. If the war is closely fought, it should be a race to see which side has one or more Majors surrender by 1918. Even Majors that are doing well will wish to consider diverting some of their MPPs into boosting National Morale to give them a buffer against further declines. The fixed dates for these events to fire mean that players will need to estimate at the start of each of the last two years if they are likely to need to make this investment.
Adding a significant war weariness factor for both sides magnifies the importance of individual NM events late in the war, such as an Armistice by Russia, the Ottomans or Italy, or the entrance into the war of the United States. The new National Morale criteria for a Minor Victory increases the importance of this variable for winning the game.
7.2 Changes in NM Objectives
The following resources have been added as NM objectives which will cost the owning Major NM points if captured:
UK: Kuwait, Cyprus (requires control of both Limassol and Nicosia)
France: Dijon, Lyons, Marseille
* Italy: Benghazi, Rhodes, Tirana, Tobruk
Russia: Baku, Batum, Kars, Tiflis
Germany: Mulhausen
* Austria-Hungary: Sarajevo, Czernowitz
Ottoman Empire: Angora, Mosul, Zonguldak
The following NM objectives have been added to the list of those that will earn NM points for the following majors if they capture them.
Italy: Trieste, Pola
Serbia: Sarajevo
Russia: Konigsberg, Krakow, Przemyśl
Austria-Hungary: Venice
* Salonika has been removed from the game as an NM objective for Austria-Hungary.
Ottomans: Baku, Batum, Benghazi, Cairo, Cyprus, Kars, Kermanshah, Kuwait, Rhodes, Tabriz, Tehran, Tobruk, Tripoli
* Note that in the case of the Ottoman Empire only, their national units have to occupy these enemy NM hexes in order gain NM points for capturing them. Thus, if the Ottoman Empire gains Batum and Kars through a transfer of territory after Russia withdraws from the war, the Ottomans will not earn the NM points for these resources until they have occupied them with an Ottoman unit at the end of a Central Powers turn.
7.3 Reversing NM gains and losses:
Many NM losses due to towns and cities being captured can be reversed if the objective is recaptured by the side that originally controlled it. This applies to cities and towns close to national borders which the original owners might reasonably regain later in the game.
Specifically, these changes apply to:
France: Belfort, Lille, Nancy, Paris, Verdun
Italy: Benghazi, Padua, Tripoli, Tobruk, Venice, Verona, Udine,
Serbia: Belgrade, Cetinje, Nish, Pec, Pristina, Uskub
Russia: Brest-Litovsk, Batum, Ivangorod, Kars, Minsk, Novo-Georgievsk, Riga, Tiflis, Warsaw, Vilna
Germany: Konigsberg, Metz, Strasbourg, Thorn
Austria-Hungary: Bruneck, Klagenfurt, Pola, Trento, Trieste
Ottoman Empire: Amman, Aqaba, Basra, Baghdad, Damascus, Deraa, Erzurum, Jerusalem, Maan, Mosul, Trabzon
The same logic applies to all NM objectives outside their borders which Majors can earn NM points by capturing. If these objectives are lost, the capturing power loses the NM points earned.
*7.4 Surrender and Liberation of Minors
The UK and France will lose 2000 NM if Belgium surrenders. They can recoup those NM points if
Belgium is subsequently liberated.
The UK will lose 1000 NM and the Ottoman Empire will earn 2000 NM if Greece surrenders to the Central Powers.
Comment: As the controlling power for Greece, the UK should take a NM hit if Greece surrenders. Given the sharp tensions in this period between the Ottoman Empire and Greece, the Ottomans would welcome the surrender of Greece.
7.5 Surrender and Armistice of Majors
The negative NM impact of an Ottoman armistice on Germany and Austria-Hungary has been reduced to a level that simply reverses the NM points earned when the Ottomans entered the war. To achieve the full impact, the Entente has to push the Ottomans to surrender.
Comment: these changes are intended to give an incentive to the Entente to push for a full surrender by the Ottomans, rather than settling for an armistice. In the existing game, the scripted NM impact of an Ottoman armistice is the same as surrender and in many situations could be enough to trigger the surrender of the other two Central Powers. This is close to the actual sequence of events in 1918 but makes for a less balanced game.
New scripts have been added for the UK, France and Serbia to increase the negative NM impact on them of a Russian surrender versus a Russian armistice (post Brest-Litovsk). New scripts have also been added to increase the positive NM impacts on Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans if the Russians surrender, though not if they withdraw through an armistice.
Comment: Driving Russia to surrender requires a heroic effort by the Central Powers, given the NM boost they receive if the Germans reject their offer of an armistice and the distance the Central Powers have to cover to capture both Petrograd and Moscow. These changes are meant to offer a modest incentive for the Central Powers to try anyway to push for a full Russian surrender.
New NM scripts have been added for the U.K., France, Austria-Hungary and Germany if Italy signs an armistice with the Central Powers (as described below). A new script has been added for the U.K. if Italy surrenders. If Italy withdraws from the war or surrenders, Spain will swing towards the Central Powers (see below).
Comment: this adds a new strategic dimension to the Italian front in the game.
The impact on Italy if France surrenders has been increased and the impact of a UK surrender has been reduced.
Comment: The impact on Italy of a surrender by France should be even greater than the surrender of the U.K.
* The NM impact of Serbia's surrender now diminishes over time. Is Serbia surrenders within the first six months of the start of the war, all majors experience the full impact: Russia loses 2500 NM points and France loses 2000 points; Austria-Hungary gains 2000 NM points and Germany gains 1500. If Serbia surrenders after February 1st, 1915, these impacts are reduced by 500 NM points for each major. If Serbia surrenders after August 1st, 1915, they are reduced by a further 500 NM points each.
* If Serbia is subsequently liberated, France and Russia recoup the NM the points they lost when Serbia surrendered, and Germany and Austria-Hungary lose the NM points that they gained. For this purpose, the loss or gain is assumed to be equivalent to Serbia surrendering after August 1, 1915.
Comment: Although Serbia provided the casus belli for the start of the war, Serbia's survival diminished in significance to both sides as the war dragged on. These NM point reductions are meant to reflects that. They are also meant to reward the Central Powers if they move quickly to drive Serbia to surrender, and to penalize them if they take longer to do so.
8. Diplomacy
The probability of a hit per chit is raised to 8% (up from 5%). The normal swing per hit is raised 5 - 10% (up from 4-8%). The bonus swing against Minors is raised to 10% - 20% (up from 8% - 16%).
Austria-Hungary has its Diplomacy chit limit raised from 4 to 5; the USA has its chit limit reduced from 5 to 4.
Comment: these changes are made to make diplomacy a more attractive investment for both sides compared to investing in tech or buying more units. Many new options have been added for minors in the game that are only achievable through diplomacy (see the sections below on Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal). The Entente still has a significant edge in diplomacy chits, but these changes slightly rebalance the number, reflecting Austria-Hungary's historic status as a diplomatic power in Europe, versus the newcomers from the United States.
The ability of both sides to invest diplomacy chits in the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden has been capped at 10 chits per side. For the Central Powers, only Germany and Austria-Hungary can invest in diplomacy chits in these minors (at 5 chits each). For the Entente, the UK, France and Russia are able to invest a more limited number of diplomacy chits in each these minors, for a total of 10. The specific limits for each major are specified in the Diplomacy menu and explained in the sections on each minor below. Italy and Serbia cannot invest in diplomacy towards these minors. However, the USA has no constraints on where it can invest in diplomacy once it enters the war.
Comment: these specific limits have been introduced for game balance reasons to reduce the Entente's ability to use its significant edge in diplomacy to flip the alignment of the four minors that send resources to Germany at the start of the war. However, the Entente retains an overall superiority in diplomacy chits, which is significantly increased when the USA enters the war.
9. Mobilization
9.1 Reversing Mobilization Swings by Minor Powers
The following swings in the mobilization of minor powers can be reversed if the NM objectives which triggered the swing are recaptured by the original owners. This only applies if the minor has not yet fully mobilized for one side or the other.
If the Entente recaptures Nish or Belgrade, Bulgarian mobilization will swing back towards the Entente by 8 - 12%.
If the Central Powers recapture Czernowitz, Krakow, Lemberg or Przemyśl, Romanian mobilization will swing back towards the Central Powers by 8 - 12%.
Comment: the ability to reverse these swings is meant to reward success by the original owning side in recapturing these heavily fought over NM objectives
9.2 Reversing USA Mobilization
If Italy surrenders before the USA enters the war, the USA will swing 25 - 35% away from the Entente. If France or the UK surrender before the USA enters the war, the USA will swing 50 - 70% away from the Entente.
Comment: The surrender of any of Major should have a significant deterrent effect on the U.S. determination to enter the war on the Entente side.
1914 and 1916 Icarus Mod, Version 6.2
Explanation of Modifications
(new features since Version 5 are marked with an *)
Contents:
1. Overview
2. Unit Capabilities and Upgrades
2.1 Artillery
2.2 Corps, Divisions and Detachments
2.3 German Stormtroopers
2.4 ANZAC Corps
2.5 Mountain Corps and Mountain Divisions
2.6 Tanks
2.7 Airships and Maritime Bombers
2.8 Submarines and ASW
2.9 Torpedo Boats
2.10 Coastal Guns
3. Fortified Towns and Fortresses
4. Technology
4.1 Tech Maximums
4.2 Starting Tech Chits
4.3 Tech Chit Costs
4.4 Selling Tech Chits
5. Building Units
6. Unit Morale
6.1 Swapping Units
6.2 Impact on Unit Morale of Surrenders
6.3 Desertions and Mutinies
6.4 Summer Heat Effects
7. National Morale
7.1 War Weariness
7.2 New NM Objectives
7.3 Reversing NM Gains and Losses
7.4 Surrender and Liberation of Minors
7.5 Surrender and Armistice of Majors
8. Diplomacy
9. Mobilization
9.1 Reversing Mobilization Swings by Minor Powers
9.2 Reversing U.S.A. Mobilization
10. Winter Weather Effects
11. Ottoman Empire Modifications
11.1 Gallipoli Campaign
11.2 Mesopotamia
11.3 Arabia
11.4 The Caucasus
11.5 Armenia
11.6 Expeditionary Corps
11.7 Ottoman Resources
10.8 National Morale Objectives
11.9 War Weariness
11.10 Armistice and Surrender
12. Persia
13. Balkan Modifications
13.1 Albania
13.2 Serbia
13.3 Bulgaria
13.4 Montenegro
14. Greece
14.1 Greek Mobilization
14.2 Entente Intervention in Northern Greece
14.3 Re-routing the Convoy to Serbia through Salonika
14.4 Greek Convoy to Austria-Hungary
14.5 Greek Build Restrictions
15. Austria-Hungary
15.1 War Weariness
15.2 Desertions and Mutinies
15.3 National Morale
15.4 Diplomatic Proposal to Italy
15.5 First Winter in the Carpathians
15.6 Naval Saboteurs
15.7 Polish Legion
16. Denmark
17. Egypt
18. Finland
19. France
19.1 War Weariness
19.2 French Army Munity
19.3 Impact of U.S. Entry
20. Germany
20.1 National Morale Effects of the British Blockade
20.2 National Morale Effects of Unrestricted Naval Warfare
20.3 Reduced Food Imports from the Netherlands
20.4 "Turnip Winter"
20.5 Diversion of Synthetic Nitrogen to Food Production
20.6 Effects of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
20.7 German Funding for Indian Nationalists
20.8 New HQ for General Falkenhayn
21. Gibraltar
22. Iceland
23. India
24. Italy
24.1 War Weariness
24.2 Annexing Albania and Slower Mobilization
24.3 Italian Armistice
24.4 Convoy to Italy from France
24.5 Italian Frogmen
25. Libya
25.1 The Senussi Uprising
25.2 Italian Garrisons
25.3 Ottoman Regulars
26. Morocco
27. Netherlands
28. Norway
29. Portugal
30. Romania
31. Russia
31.1 War Weariness
31.2 Mutinies and Desertions
31.3 NM objectives
31.4 Supply and NM Value of Resources
31.5 Tech Limits
31.6 Rail Line Upgrades
31.7 Caucasian and Turkestan Corps
31.8 Russian Naval Deployments
31.9 Surrender
32. Spain
33. Sweden
34. Switzerland
35. United Kingdom
35.1 War Weariness
35.2 The National Morale Effects of Unrestricted Naval Warfare
35.3 Tightening the Blockade Against Neutral Shipping
35.3 National Morale Loss of Egypt
36. United States
36.1 The Zimmerman Telegram and its Aftermath
36.2 Mobilization Towards the Entente
36.3 Building the U.S. Army
36.4 Spanish Flu Events
37. Optional House Rules
37.1 Naval Mines on NM and Blockade Hexes
37.2 Deploying Minor Forces Outside of Europe
38. Information Settings
39. AI Settings
40. 1916 Campaign
1. Overview
The primary purpose of this mod is to expand the range of strategic options available to both sides, using the existing game system (version 1.14). The Western and Italian fronts remain largely unchanged. In the East, new scripts for both sides should intensify the fighting in Galicia while reducing the national morale cost to Russia if they have to give up territory to the Central Powers. Many new Decision Events have been added to make the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire more interesting theatres of war. Other scripts have been added to bring minor powers like India and Portugal into the game. Some of the new features make historical events more plausible as options for players - like the Gallipoli campaign, the Arab Revolt, the Persian theatre of war, or the Zimmerman Telegram. Other features have been added which did not happen but could have - like the Ottomans extending a railroad to Baghdad, or Sweden starting a convoy to Britain through Norway. Diplomacy has been made more powerful, combined with a range of new options with minors which can only be achieved through the creative use of diplomacy.
A second purpose of this mod is to slow down the tempo of the war so that the game will more often run to 1917 or even 1918 before it is decided. This should allow players to experiment with new technologies which only emerge in the later stages of the war. The capacity of both sides to dramatically expand their MPP production through Industrial Tech has been reduced. Trench warfare tech takes longer to reach higher levels and maximum levels depend on the front; only the powers on the Western Front can achieve trench level 5. The lethality of artillery has been reduced by restricting the number of shells that artillery units can store and by slowing down investment in Gas /Shell production. Heavy Artillery units are introduced. Several kinds of air-power tech have been made cheaper to encourage investment in them. German stormtrooper units with some unique capabilities make an appearance starting in August 1917.
Strategically, National Morale has been made much more important to winning the game. Historically, the national morale of all the European powers were severely tested by a war that none of them expected would last for more than four years. In the end, the political systems of all four empires - Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Russia - collapsed by the end of the war. Even the victorious Entente powers were close to exhaustion by the end, except for the United States. In this version of the mod, war-weariness has been introduced into the game, whereby most powers suffer a progressive decline in their National Morale that increases in the later years of the war. The risk of desertions and mutinies by Italy, Russia and Austria-Hungary has been increased once their national morale falls below 50%. The British blockade of Germany has been made much more effective in reducing German national morale, and the German submarine counterattacks against Britain have an increase morale effect as well. There is a new option in the game for Italian withdrawal from the way when its National Morale reaches 25%. If powers can recapture lost national morale objectives, they can win back lost national morale points. These changes should give both sides more capacity to hold on until at least 1917, increasing the odds that the United States will enter the war. At that point both sides should be in a race to see which side can push the other's national morale to the breaking point.
2. Unit Capabilities and Upgrades
*2. 1 Changes to Artillery
Artillery forces have now been divided into Field Artillery and Heavy Artillery. (Field Artillery are still just called "Artillery" in the game system but referring to them "Field Artillery" makes it easier to distinguish them from Heavy Artillery).
Field Artillery units have a range of 2 hexes, 3 APs, a maximum of 6 shells after upgrades. They cost 250 MPPs and take three turns to build. They have a base demoralization rate of 5% and a maximum of 15% per shell after upgrades.
Heavy Artillery units have a range of 3 hexes, 2 APs and a maximum of 8 shells after upgrades. They cost 300 MPPs and take four turns to build. They have a base demoralization rate of 10% and a maximum of 20% per shell after upgrades.
*All artillery units now have a base de-entrenchment ability of 1, which does not increase with tech investments. Artillery Weapons has the same demoralization and combat effects as in the regular game.
Each increment of Gas/Shell tech adds one shell to the maximum for Field Artillery and two shells for Heavy Artillery. (Logistics Tech has no effect on the number of shells per artillery unit).
Gas/Shell production now costs 200 MPPs and only 1 chit can be invested at a time (as opposed to the current limit of 3 chits at 100 MPPs each). The maximum level for Gas/Shell tech is now 2 (as opposed to 3 in the regular game).
Neither Artillery nor Heavy Artillery can be motorized.
*The build limits for both types of artillery for each major power has been changed as follows (compared with existing levels):
Country: Heavy Artillery Field Artillery New Total Old Total Net
U.K. 2 3 5 6 -1
France 2 1 3 3 0
Italy 1 1 2 2 0
Serbia 0 1 1 1 0
Russia 1 3 4 4 0
USA 0 2 2 4 -2
Germany 4 2 6 4 +2
A-H 2 1 3 3 0
Ottomans 0 3 3 3 -1
Entente 17 20 -3
Central Powers 12 10 +2
Note that the U.K. receives 2 artillery through Decision Events (in Egypt and Mesopotamia) and Russia receives 1 Artillery through a Decision Event (in the Caucasus). These units are included in the build levels shown above. The artillery units built through these events will be Field Artillery and the costs of these DEs have been reduced to reflect that.
In addition, each increment of Gas/Shell tech now increases the build limit for Field Artillery by 0.5, so that when they reach level 2, each major can build an additional field artillery unit.
Minors can only build Field Artillery, not Heavy Artillery, and their build limits do not increase with Gas/Shell tech.
* Field Artillery can only start to be produced by the Central Powers in late January 1915 and by the initial Entente powers in late February 1915. Italy can start to produce Field Artillery in July 1915 and by the USA in February 1917. Heavy Artillery can start to be produced by the U.K., France, Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary in August 1915 and by Italy in January 1916. Serbia, the U.S.A and the Ottoman Empire cannot build Heavy Artillery.
When Rail Guns are upgraded to Artillery Weapons 1, they can fire 2 shells per turn (they cannot be upgraded to Artillery Weapons 2). As strategic artillery, their main function is to attack resources, not units.
Comment: These changes have been made to slow down speed at which artillery becomes more lethal until later years in the war. They also offer more flexibility between the capabilities of the two kinds of artillery. These changes have been made to distinguish between the artillery used combat between the Major powers on the Western Front, where concentrated firepower is the most important factor; and artillery combat in Russia, the Balkans, the Middle East and the Caucasus, where mobility is a more important factor between dispersed targets.
Build limits for Artillery have been partially re-balanced (previously the Entente had an even greater advantage). Because artillery units can now de-entrench without having to be upgraded with Artillery Weapons, Field Artillery units are useful as soon as they arrive in the production queue (or the deployment queue for the German Field Artillery unit that arrives on August 1, 1914). The production schedules for new artillery units have been pushed back in time, so that they will start to arrive around the time that powers start to achieve Artillery Weapons One. The extra Field Artillery unit that can be built at level 2 in Gas/Shell tech is meant to partially offset the reduction in the maximum level of that tech.
By giving Heavy Artillery a range of three, attackers can use a second line for reinforcing corps and reduce the risk of artillery being killed by enemy counterattacks. However, this reduces the number of hexes they can hit; if placed in the second line, Heavy Artillery can hit a wider range of targets but are within reach of defensive counter-battery fire from enemy Heavy Artillery.
* 2.2 Corps, Divisions and Detachments
Infantry Divisions including Marines now have attack and defence values against other hard targets of 3 - 3. Detachments have an attack and defence value against hard targets of 2 - 2. This represents a 1-point increase in the defence strength of Corps and Divisions and a 1-point reduction in the defence strength of Detachments.
* Each increment of Infantry Weapons tech now increases the defensive strength of all infantry units except Garrisons by 1.5 (versus 1 in the regular game). This does not have an effect at level 1 in Infantry Weapons (as the .5 gets rounded down) but at Infantry Weapons 2, Corps now have an attack strength against hard targets (i.e., other corps) of 6 but a defensive strength of 7.
Infantry Divisions and Cavalry Divisions have been upgraded to have full zones of control, comparable to Marines (which are also division sized units).
Comment: Increasing the base defense strength of Corps when upgraded to Infantry Weapons 2 is meant to increase the attrition effects of combat later in the war, and to reduce the overwhelming odds of attack once a defender has been de-entrenched by a number of rounds of artillery fire. The changes to the strength of divisions and detachment has been made to bring the combat capabilities of these units more in line with their cost.
*2.3 German Stormtroopers
* German stormtroopers have been introduced into the game using the German Colonial Corps sprites. They have a base attack strength against hard targets of 3 and a base ability to evade losses on attack 10% of the time. Each Infantry Warfare tech increment increases stormtroopers attack strength against hard targets by 0.5 and increases their ability to evade losses on attack by 5%. Thus, at Infantry Warfare tech level 4, they have an attack strength of 5 against hard targets (versus 4 for regular corps) will evade losses on attack 30% of the time. They also gain experience points when attacking at 0.25 per enemy point killed (versus 0.15 for regular corps), meaning they gain experience faster when used to attack.
* Each increment of Infantry Warfare tech allows Germany to build two stormtrooper corps. Thus, Germany has a base build capacity of four stormtroopers which can rise to eight at Infantry Warfare level 4. Germany can only start building stormtroopers as of April 21, 1917. They take three months to build, like regular corps.
* Stormtroopers function like a special kind of upgrade for regular corps. Following a house rule, the CP player must first disband a regular German corps on a German town or city before deploying a newly arrived stormtrooper unit on the same town or city. Both the corps that is disbanded and the stormtrooper that replaces it must have the same level of research.
* Stormtroopers have a base cost of 75 MPPs. Note that when disbanding the regular corps, the German player will earn 45 MPPs per corps, so the net cost of the replacing it with a Stormtrooper unit is 30 MPPs, modified by tech costs. They cannot be reformed, so if destroyed they will cost 75 MPPs and three months to rebuild, plus the costs of rebuilding the original corp.
To avoid confusion, build limits for Colonial Corps for other majors have been eliminated and their regular Corps build limits have been increased accordingly. British and French colonial corps that arrive in the game have been replaced by regular Corps units.
Comment: the use of German stormtroopers was a major tactical innovation on the German side late in the war. They were built by concentrating the most experienced troops into elite formations that could not be easily replaced. The house rule requiring an existing corps to be disbanded first makes it possible to build stormtroopers as a special kind of upgrade for existing corps, rather than as wholly new corps which would need to be built at full cost.
2.4 ANZAC Corps
British ANZAC units no longer have a 20% demoralization bonus. Instead, they have an increased ability to gain experience when attacking. They earn experience points at 0.25% per attack, versus 0.15% for regular corps. The Canadian Corps has been reclassified as an ANZAC Corps, so it has a similar capacity to gain experience.
Comment: This better reflects the true capabilities of Australia, New Zealand and Canadian units in the British Army, which was their capacity to innovate new tactics and learn from experience, rather than an intrinsic ability to de-moralize the enemy.
2.5 Mountain Corps and Mountain Divisions
Mountain Corps have been removed from the game in this mod and have been replaced by Mountain Divisions. Mountain Divisions receive a 2 point bonus in attack and defence against soft and hard targets if the Mountain Division is located on mountain or high mountain hex. This means they have an equal attack and defence strength as mountain corps on the same terrain in the regular game. However, their attack and defence strength on all other kinds of terrain is equal to a regular division, i.e., one point less than a corps. Mountain Divisions cost 150 MPPs, the same amount as a regular division to build. They have been upgraded in this mod to have full zones of control.
Comment: this change makes a sharper distinction in the advantages and disadvantages of mountain divisions versus regular corps. The lower cost of mountain divisions compared to corps may encourage players to build more of these special purpose units.
2.6 Tanks
Tank Corps base Defense Value against Artillery is now set at 1.5 (as opposed to 1). Each increment of Tank Development increases their de-entrenchment by 0.5. so that at Level 2 they will de-entrench at 2 per turn.
Comment: these changes are meant to make Tanks more effective as shock front-line units and slightly less vulnerable to taking casualties from artillery fire (since they cannot entrench).
2.7 Airships and Maritime Bombers:
Airships can only be upgraded to Airship Tech 3 (rather than 5). Their base strike range is 8. Each Airship tech increment adds 2 to their strike range (for a max range of 14) and 1 for naval spotting (for a maximum of 4). Aerial Warfare tech adds 0.5 per increment to the build limits for airships.
Maritime Bombers can only be upgraded to Long Distance Aircraft 3 (rather than 5). Each increment adds 2 to their strike range, but zero to naval spotting. Their base strike range is reduced to 8 (rather than 10) giving them a maximum strike range of 14. Their fixed naval spotting range is 2. Maritime Bombers can be upgraded to Anti-Submarine Warfare 2.
Comment: Airships and Maritime Bombers are both very useful at sea, but their range and especially their spotting values were over-powered. These changes rebalance that and differentiate more between the spotting value of airships and the ASW value of Maritime Bombers.
* 2.8 Submarines and ASW
* Subs now have a base chance of diving when attacked of 50%. This is no longer affected by enemy ASW tech or friendly Advanced Sub tech. Advanced Subs tech increases the attack strength (only) of subs against naval units. Upgrading subs with Advanced Subs tech only costs 5% of the base cost of a sub (not 10% as in the regular game), making this tech comparable in cost to ASW upgrades.
* Subs now have a weak zone of control (comparable to destroyers).
Comment: These changes are meant to increase the survivability of subs from the start of the war and reduce the overall cost of upgrading them, relative to ASW tech. The weaker zone of control is meant to reduce the ability of lone subs to reduce the movement of surface ships.
2.9 Torpedo Boats
Torpedo Boats now have 7 Action Points (increased from 5) to allow them to move two hexes, enter a naval zone control, attack and then return to port. Their cost is reduced to 80 MPPs (from 100 MPPs).
Comment: these changes should increase the cost/benefit value of building Torpedo Boats, compared to Destroyers.
2.10 Coastal Guns
All majors (except Serbia) have been given the option of building 1 Coastal Gun. Their cost has been reduced from 100 to 75 MPPs. They can be upgraded with Naval Weapons tech which will increase their attack and defence strength by 1 against Naval targets and Transports and will give them one extra shell.
Comment: Coastal Guns were a common defensive feature in this era, so they have been added to the build limits give players the option to use them. The cost has been reduced to the equivalent cost of a detachment. This also reflects the limited combat capability of coastal guns. For game engine reasons, they only inflict damage on enemy ships when attacking, not when being attacked. Their main advantage is their ability to automatically fire during the enemy turn if amphibious transports move adjacent to them.
* 3. Fortified Towns, Fortresses and Major Fortresses
* The following Fortified Towns on the map have been converted into Fortresses: Liège; Belfort and Przemyśl. Erzurum has been converted from a City into a Fortified Town.
* Fortified Towns have their maximum entrenchment level increased from 3 to 4 and their defensive bonus against Soft and Hard targets increased from 2 to 3.
* Fortresses have their maximum entrenchment level increased from 4 to 5 and their defensive bonus against Soft and Hard targets increased from 2 to 4.
* Major Fortresses have their maximum entrenchment level increased from 6 to 8 and their defensive bonus against Soft and Hard targets increased from 5 to 6.
Comment: these changes were made to strengthen the defensive capacity of fortified hexes and to make them more expensive to capture, even when fully de-entrenched by artillery fire.
4. Technology Starting Levels and Maximums
Maximum levels in Trench Warfare now differ across majors. Germany, the UK, France and the USA can each reach level 5. Austria-Hungary, Italy, Serbia, and the USA can reach level 4. Russia and the Ottoman Empire can reach level 3. The maximum number of chits that can be invested at one time in Trench Warfare has been reduced from four to three.
Comment: These changes are meant to accentuate the differences between fighting on the Western Front - where there were advanced trenches by 1917 - versus the Eastern Front or the Caucasus where trenches were less sophisticated. It also makes field artillery units more useful for offensives on front where the trench maximums are not as high.
* The maximum number of chits that can be invested in Industrial Tech for all majors has been reduced from three to two and the maximum level for this tech is now 3. Each level achieved in Industrial tech increases the Industrial Modifier by only 10% rather than 15% in the regular game.
Comment: This is intended to slow down the rapid expansion in MPP production through investment in this tech. It should reduce the frequency of majors on the winning side in the game producing more MPPs than they can spend.
As noted above, the maximum level for Gas/Shell tech is now 2.
* Austria-Hungary starts with one chit in Command and Control, but it cannot invest any more chits and it is capped at level 1 in this tech.
Comment: this change is meant to reflect the serious command and control problems faced by Austro-Hungarian officers who only spoke German when commanding troops of different nationalities who only spoke their own languages. These problems became more acute as casualties mounted during the war in the Austro-Hungarian officer corps.
* Russia starts at zero in Command and Control and can only reach a maximum of level 1 .
Comment: this is meant to reflect the truly awful level of Russian generalship at the start of the war, and the limits on their improvement after Czar Nicholas II became Commander in Chief in September 1915.
* Italy, Serbia and the Ottoman Empire can only reach level 3 in Command and Control.
Comment: these changes are meant to limit these powers' ability to improve in this tech relative to Russia and Austria-Hungary.
The maximum level for Spying and Intelligence for the UK and Germany, has been raised from 2 to 3. Serbia now has a maximum level of 1.
Comment: this should prolong the competition between the UK and Germany in particular for dominance in this important tech. Serbia's ability to contribute to Entente intelligence should be more modest.
The UK and France each start with one chit on Armoured Warfare.
Comment: this is meant to encourage the arrival of tanks in the game and recognizes these Entente powers early lead in tank development.
Germany starts with one chit on Aerial Warfare.
Comment: this is meant to compensate for the extra chits the French and British receive in Armoured Warfare.
Serbia cannot invest any tech chits in naval or aerial technologies.
Comment: since Serbia has a zero build limit for ships or aircraft, it makes no sense that they could invest in these techs.
4.2 Tech Chit Costs
As noted above, Gas/Shell tech costs 200 MPPs per chit and only one can be invested at a time.
Comment: this intended to slow down the acquisition of surplus shells until later in the game.
The cost of Trench Warfare for Russia has been reduced from 75 MPPs to 60 MPPs per chit.
Comment: Russian armies reluctance to entrench is better reflected by having a maximum entrenchment level of 3. The reduced cost for Russia in this tech puts them on the same footing as their enemies in Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
The cost of investing in Long-Range Aircraft, Anti-Aircraft and Logistics has been reduced from 50 to 40 MPPs per chit.
The cost of investing in Heavy Bombers and Production Tech has been reduced from 75 to 60 MPPs per chit, except for Serbia which is reduced from 50 to 40 MPPs per chit for Production Tech.
Comment: these changes are meant to encourage players to invest in these infrequently used technologies.
* 4.3 Selling Tech Chits
* The MPPs that I previously gave France, Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary on the first turn have been eliminated in this version of the mod, so they all start with zero MPPs as in the regular game. Giving these MPPs blunted the chances of success of first turn offensives by Germany in Belgium and by Russia in Galicia.
Players should observe a house rule that they will not sell any tech chits on the first turn (only).
Comment: this house rule is needed to reduce the Central Powers first mover advantage which can be greatly magnified by selling tech chits on the first turn.
5. Building Units
As noted above, Mountain corps have been removed from the build limits for all powers and have been replaced by mountain divisions.
The French build limits for regular corps has been increased from 24 to 26 to offset the 2 colonial corps that they can no longer build. The UK can no longer build colonial corps, but India can build its own corps, as explained below.
* A special Ottoman minor has been created called Expeditionary Corps to allow the Central Powers to build corps that can be commanded by generals of any of the three Central Powers. This minor has a build limit of two corps. See section 11.6 for more details.
The Ottomans can now build 6 Infantry Divisions and 2 Cavalry Divisions at a cost 150 MPPs each. Their build limit for regular Ottoman Corps is reduced to 18 (down from 22).
Comment: Given the Ottomans' MPP constraints, this makes it more affordable for them to build a new unit in most turns.
Russia can now build two infantry divisions through Decision Events relating two Persia. They can also build two cavalry divisions.
Comment: these smaller units may be useful in secondary theatres such as the Middle East.
Italy can now build 9 Detachments rather than 6; their build limit for Corps has been reduced from 15 to 14. They can also now build one Garrison.
Comment: this is meant to give the Italians more flexibility in the size of the units they can build, given that they usually need many smaller units for defensive purposes rather than full strength corps.
Italy can now build 2 Torpedo Boats
Comment: I could not see why Italy should not have the same capability as the other Majors.
The Russian naval mine that was placed in the Gulf of Finland in the regular game has been removed giving the Russians two mines which they can place on either coast.
Canada can build 2 Destroyers and the UK build limit for Destroyers is now 14 (down from 16).
Comment: building one or two Canadian destroyers may be useful if German subs raid off the coast of Canada and the U.S.A.
Greece can only build 3 Corps (down from 6). Greece can only build units after January 1, 1916.
Comment: Greece's original build limit of 6 Corps is out of proportion to its Balkan neighbours. The same six Greek corps can be mobilized through DEs if an enemy approaches, but after combat losses, only 3 can be rebuilt. The later build limit reflects that Greece was very slow to mobilize and rebuild its armed forces until the second half of the war.
The Netherlands can build a 1 Fighter and 1 Recon Bomber.
Comment: It seemed strange that they have an Artillery unit but no ability to build aircraft, unlike neighbouring Belgium.
Portugal cannot build Fighters or Recon Bombers.
Comment: I could not see why Portugal was given these aircraft in the first place.
Sweden's HQ arrives when it mobilizes.
Comment: every other minor has a HQ that mobilizes when it goes to war, so I could not see a reason not to allow Sweden to do the same.
India (which is a new minor in this mod) can build 4 corps, 1 cavalry corps, 1 division, 1 detachment and 2 field artillery. This represents all of the Indian Army units that normally deploy for the U.K. as a result of DEs in the regular game, plus two corps and one division in addition. See section 23 on India below.
6. Unit Morale
6.1 Swapping Units
Units can now swap places with an adjacent friendly unit at 0% cost to morale.
Comment: this is very handy game feature, especially in situations like the Western Front where there is usually two lines or more of troops at the front. It represents the standard tactic of having rearguard units move up to replace front-line units that have taken casualties. It seemed a mistake to me to penalize the morale of units that use this feature.
6.2 Impact on Unit Morale of Surrenders
The standard settings that penalize the morale of land and sea units when a minor or major power on the same side surrenders have been eliminated. Instead, the impact of a surrender is registered on National Morale, not at the unit level.
Comment: it has long seemed unbalanced to me that the surrender of minors would have an impact on the morale of majors, apart from possibly their direct parent. Since it not possible to fine-tune these settings in the Game Editor, I have simply set them to zero.
However, to model the unit morale boost that Germany receives on the first turn in the standard game from the surrender of Luxemburg, all Central Powers land units within seven hexes of Luxembourg receive a 20 - 30% boost in unit morale and all Entente land units in the same range receive a 20 - 30% unit morale penalty. These unit morale boosts, and penalties do not apply on other fronts.
Comment: Keeping this swing towards the Germans in unit morale is important for an effective German attack in the West in the opening turns of 1914, so this new DE provides a specific offset to the general rule above.
*6.3 Mutinies and Desertions
The risk of desertions and mutinies have been significantly increased compared to the regular game for Italy, Russia and Austria-Hungary when their national morale drops below 50% and then again when it drops below 35%. There are new provisions for the risk of mutiny in the French Army when national morale drops below 50%. German, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian units in Russia suffer a greater risk of desertions after the Bolshevik Revolution. They suffer additional desertion effects once they are removed back to their home countries following an armistice with Russia. See the details under the section on each major below.
Comment: mutinies and desertions were a major factor in the effectiveness of armies late in the war in the face of sinking national morale and political instability at home. These changes give them more prominence in the game.
6.4 Summer Heat Effects
All regular units will suffer a loss of unit morale during the summer turns when they are deployed in Syria, Palestine, Arabia, Mesopotamia, southern Persia, Kuwait, Egypt and Libya (but not in the French territories in North Africa or within the borders of the Ottoman Empire). For European majors and minors, the morale loss will be 25 - 35%. For forces from the Ottoman Empire, India, Egypt and Persia, the morale loss will be 5 - 10%. Arabian and Libyan partisans are not affected.
Comment: The heat of summer in the Middle East and much of North Africa affected all forces operating in these regions. The difference in morale effects are meant to give the Ottomans a slight edge over European units in this region in the summer turns; while also giving the U.K a greater reason to deploy Indian forces to campaign in this region (as they did historically).
7. National Morale
* 7.1 War Weariness
* War weariness scripts have been added to reduce the starting National Morale levels of most of the majors by up to 50% if the war extends to 1918. The U.K., France, Russia, and Austria-Hungary each lose 5% of their starting National Morale over the course of a year, starting in 1915. This amount is cumulative, thus over the course of 1918 these powers will lose 20% of their starting National Morale. (Italy and the Ottoman Empire lose the same amount per turn as Austria-Hungary, which works out to 7.5% and 6.5% per year respectively of their starting National Morale). See the specific NM loss schedules for each of these Majors in the notes below. Serbia does not suffer from war weariness since the war posed an existential threat to its survival; nor does the United States, given its late entry in the war.
* Germany's war-weariness levels are determined by the success of the Entente naval blockade, with certain additional factors that increase its level of hunger. Austria-Hungary has an additional mix of hunger and war weariness factors which reflect the internal political tensions in the Empire that the war unleashed. For details, see the sections on Germany and Austria-Hungary below.
* The Decision Events allowing France, Italy, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire to spend MPPs to raise their national morale fire on their first turns in 1917 if their National Morale has dropped below 50%; and then again on their first turn in 1918, if it has dropped below 40%. In the case of Russia, these DEs only fire if the First Revolution has already happened. Germany has the additional option to start spending to raise National Morale on its first turn in 1916, if its morale has dropped below 90%. Serbia and the U.S.A no longer receive these Decision Events since neither of these powers suffer from war weariness.
* The amount of NM points that can be bought per turn and the cost now varies with each power: for the U.K., France, Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary, the NM point gain per turn is equivalent to 5% of initial National Morale over a year (higher proportionately for Italy and the Ottoman Empire), thus cancelling out one year of war-weariness. If their National Morale subsequently rises above these thresholds, then the Decision Event will stop firing and no MPPs will be deducted that turn in order to boost morale.
Comment: War weariness combined with territorial losses and casualties on the battlefield should cause all the European majors to end the war with National Morale levels under 50%. If the war is closely fought, it should be a race to see which side has one or more Majors surrender by 1918. Even Majors that are doing well will wish to consider diverting some of their MPPs into boosting National Morale to give them a buffer against further declines. The fixed dates for these events to fire mean that players will need to estimate at the start of each of the last two years if they are likely to need to make this investment.
Adding a significant war weariness factor for both sides magnifies the importance of individual NM events late in the war, such as an Armistice by Russia, the Ottomans or Italy, or the entrance into the war of the United States. The new National Morale criteria for a Minor Victory increases the importance of this variable for winning the game.
7.2 Changes in NM Objectives
The following resources have been added as NM objectives which will cost the owning Major NM points if captured:
UK: Kuwait, Cyprus (requires control of both Limassol and Nicosia)
France: Dijon, Lyons, Marseille
* Italy: Benghazi, Rhodes, Tirana, Tobruk
Russia: Baku, Batum, Kars, Tiflis
Germany: Mulhausen
* Austria-Hungary: Sarajevo, Czernowitz
Ottoman Empire: Angora, Mosul, Zonguldak
The following NM objectives have been added to the list of those that will earn NM points for the following majors if they capture them.
Italy: Trieste, Pola
Serbia: Sarajevo
Russia: Konigsberg, Krakow, Przemyśl
Austria-Hungary: Venice
* Salonika has been removed from the game as an NM objective for Austria-Hungary.
Ottomans: Baku, Batum, Benghazi, Cairo, Cyprus, Kars, Kermanshah, Kuwait, Rhodes, Tabriz, Tehran, Tobruk, Tripoli
* Note that in the case of the Ottoman Empire only, their national units have to occupy these enemy NM hexes in order gain NM points for capturing them. Thus, if the Ottoman Empire gains Batum and Kars through a transfer of territory after Russia withdraws from the war, the Ottomans will not earn the NM points for these resources until they have occupied them with an Ottoman unit at the end of a Central Powers turn.
7.3 Reversing NM gains and losses:
Many NM losses due to towns and cities being captured can be reversed if the objective is recaptured by the side that originally controlled it. This applies to cities and towns close to national borders which the original owners might reasonably regain later in the game.
Specifically, these changes apply to:
France: Belfort, Lille, Nancy, Paris, Verdun
Italy: Benghazi, Padua, Tripoli, Tobruk, Venice, Verona, Udine,
Serbia: Belgrade, Cetinje, Nish, Pec, Pristina, Uskub
Russia: Brest-Litovsk, Batum, Ivangorod, Kars, Minsk, Novo-Georgievsk, Riga, Tiflis, Warsaw, Vilna
Germany: Konigsberg, Metz, Strasbourg, Thorn
Austria-Hungary: Bruneck, Klagenfurt, Pola, Trento, Trieste
Ottoman Empire: Amman, Aqaba, Basra, Baghdad, Damascus, Deraa, Erzurum, Jerusalem, Maan, Mosul, Trabzon
The same logic applies to all NM objectives outside their borders which Majors can earn NM points by capturing. If these objectives are lost, the capturing power loses the NM points earned.
*7.4 Surrender and Liberation of Minors
The UK and France will lose 2000 NM if Belgium surrenders. They can recoup those NM points if
Belgium is subsequently liberated.
The UK will lose 1000 NM and the Ottoman Empire will earn 2000 NM if Greece surrenders to the Central Powers.
Comment: As the controlling power for Greece, the UK should take a NM hit if Greece surrenders. Given the sharp tensions in this period between the Ottoman Empire and Greece, the Ottomans would welcome the surrender of Greece.
7.5 Surrender and Armistice of Majors
The negative NM impact of an Ottoman armistice on Germany and Austria-Hungary has been reduced to a level that simply reverses the NM points earned when the Ottomans entered the war. To achieve the full impact, the Entente has to push the Ottomans to surrender.
Comment: these changes are intended to give an incentive to the Entente to push for a full surrender by the Ottomans, rather than settling for an armistice. In the existing game, the scripted NM impact of an Ottoman armistice is the same as surrender and in many situations could be enough to trigger the surrender of the other two Central Powers. This is close to the actual sequence of events in 1918 but makes for a less balanced game.
New scripts have been added for the UK, France and Serbia to increase the negative NM impact on them of a Russian surrender versus a Russian armistice (post Brest-Litovsk). New scripts have also been added to increase the positive NM impacts on Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans if the Russians surrender, though not if they withdraw through an armistice.
Comment: Driving Russia to surrender requires a heroic effort by the Central Powers, given the NM boost they receive if the Germans reject their offer of an armistice and the distance the Central Powers have to cover to capture both Petrograd and Moscow. These changes are meant to offer a modest incentive for the Central Powers to try anyway to push for a full Russian surrender.
New NM scripts have been added for the U.K., France, Austria-Hungary and Germany if Italy signs an armistice with the Central Powers (as described below). A new script has been added for the U.K. if Italy surrenders. If Italy withdraws from the war or surrenders, Spain will swing towards the Central Powers (see below).
Comment: this adds a new strategic dimension to the Italian front in the game.
The impact on Italy if France surrenders has been increased and the impact of a UK surrender has been reduced.
Comment: The impact on Italy of a surrender by France should be even greater than the surrender of the U.K.
* The NM impact of Serbia's surrender now diminishes over time. Is Serbia surrenders within the first six months of the start of the war, all majors experience the full impact: Russia loses 2500 NM points and France loses 2000 points; Austria-Hungary gains 2000 NM points and Germany gains 1500. If Serbia surrenders after February 1st, 1915, these impacts are reduced by 500 NM points for each major. If Serbia surrenders after August 1st, 1915, they are reduced by a further 500 NM points each.
* If Serbia is subsequently liberated, France and Russia recoup the NM the points they lost when Serbia surrendered, and Germany and Austria-Hungary lose the NM points that they gained. For this purpose, the loss or gain is assumed to be equivalent to Serbia surrendering after August 1, 1915.
Comment: Although Serbia provided the casus belli for the start of the war, Serbia's survival diminished in significance to both sides as the war dragged on. These NM point reductions are meant to reflects that. They are also meant to reward the Central Powers if they move quickly to drive Serbia to surrender, and to penalize them if they take longer to do so.
8. Diplomacy
The probability of a hit per chit is raised to 8% (up from 5%). The normal swing per hit is raised 5 - 10% (up from 4-8%). The bonus swing against Minors is raised to 10% - 20% (up from 8% - 16%).
Austria-Hungary has its Diplomacy chit limit raised from 4 to 5; the USA has its chit limit reduced from 5 to 4.
Comment: these changes are made to make diplomacy a more attractive investment for both sides compared to investing in tech or buying more units. Many new options have been added for minors in the game that are only achievable through diplomacy (see the sections below on Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal). The Entente still has a significant edge in diplomacy chits, but these changes slightly rebalance the number, reflecting Austria-Hungary's historic status as a diplomatic power in Europe, versus the newcomers from the United States.
The ability of both sides to invest diplomacy chits in the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden has been capped at 10 chits per side. For the Central Powers, only Germany and Austria-Hungary can invest in diplomacy chits in these minors (at 5 chits each). For the Entente, the UK, France and Russia are able to invest a more limited number of diplomacy chits in each these minors, for a total of 10. The specific limits for each major are specified in the Diplomacy menu and explained in the sections on each minor below. Italy and Serbia cannot invest in diplomacy towards these minors. However, the USA has no constraints on where it can invest in diplomacy once it enters the war.
Comment: these specific limits have been introduced for game balance reasons to reduce the Entente's ability to use its significant edge in diplomacy to flip the alignment of the four minors that send resources to Germany at the start of the war. However, the Entente retains an overall superiority in diplomacy chits, which is significantly increased when the USA enters the war.
9. Mobilization
9.1 Reversing Mobilization Swings by Minor Powers
The following swings in the mobilization of minor powers can be reversed if the NM objectives which triggered the swing are recaptured by the original owners. This only applies if the minor has not yet fully mobilized for one side or the other.
If the Entente recaptures Nish or Belgrade, Bulgarian mobilization will swing back towards the Entente by 8 - 12%.
If the Central Powers recapture Czernowitz, Krakow, Lemberg or Przemyśl, Romanian mobilization will swing back towards the Central Powers by 8 - 12%.
Comment: the ability to reverse these swings is meant to reward success by the original owning side in recapturing these heavily fought over NM objectives
9.2 Reversing USA Mobilization
If Italy surrenders before the USA enters the war, the USA will swing 25 - 35% away from the Entente. If France or the UK surrender before the USA enters the war, the USA will swing 50 - 70% away from the Entente.
Comment: The surrender of any of Major should have a significant deterrent effect on the U.S. determination to enter the war on the Entente side.
Last edited by mdsmall on Wed Aug 14, 2024 10:52 am, edited 18 times in total.
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
* 10. Winter Weather Effects
The probability of Frozen weather in Winter has been increased for the European weather zone from 60% to 80%. It has also been increased in the short Late Fall and Late Winter seasons. Small adjustments have been made to increase the probability of Frozen weather in the same seasons for the Alps and Caucasus weather zones.
Comment: given that Snow no longer has an effect on combat effectiveness for ground units, in the regular game, Winter does not provide a reliable break in the fighting on the main European fronts This increase in the chance of Frozen weather is meant to offset that.
11. Ottoman Empire Modifications
Comment: One of the main purposes of this mod was to enhance the range of strategic options for both sides in the Middle East, the Caucasus and in Persia. This has been done by a variety of new Decision Events that give the Entente greater scope for attacking the Ottoman Empire, and to increase the Ottomans' ability to defend their territory. Additional scripts have been added to reflect the weather and supply challenges of campaigning in this region. Some small changes were made to the map to increase realism and to enable the new DEs.
11.1 Gallipoli Campaign
Comment: the following changes have been to increase the realism of the Gallipoli theatre in western Turkey and to encourage the Entente to attempt an amphibious invasion there.
The map for this region has been extensively redrawn:
- narrowing the Gallipoli Peninsula;
- moving the town of Gallipoli onto the Peninsula;
- making both Straits hexes hill terrain, as well as the hex 199,103;
- moving the port at the tip of the peninsula one hex up, adjacent to the town of Gallipoli;
- adding a new port on the Sea of Marmara south of Adrianople at Tekfurdagi;
- adding a new town on the Aegean coast next to the Bulgaria border at Aynoz.
The 8 strength corps that starts the game on the town of Gallipoli has been moved to Panderma on Asia side of the Sea of Marmara. The Ottoman Empire also starts the game with a 5-strength coastal gun deployed at the mouth of the Dardanelles.
Two new Gallipoli campaign DEs have been written for the UK and France, offering the UK the option of having a unit of the Royal Marines deploy to Lemnos, along with a new French Marine division. The Royal Marines arrive on December 5, 1914, followed by the French Marines. A one-time loop will automatically transport to Lemnos any Entente unit sitting on Alexandria on January 2, 1915 (this allows the I ANZAC Corps to take part in the initial assault without paying to transport them from Alexandria to Lemnos). Once deployed to Lemnos, these units can be loaded one per turn on Amphibious Transports. This means that all three units will be on transports by April 10, 1915, and they can launch an invasion on the nearby Turkish coast the next turn, on May 8, 1915.
If the UK says NO to the Gallipoli Campaign DE, they will then be given the option of saying YES to the existing DE to occupy Lemnos and deploy only the Royal Marine division there. If the UK says NO, Lemnos will remain in Greek hands.
If the Entente says YES to the Gallipoli campaign DE, the Ottomans will be rewarded if they can contain or defeat the invasion. Specifically, the Ottoman Empire gets a 500 NM boost if the Entente has only captured the town of Gallipoli by August 1915; and a 2000 NM boost if the Entente holds no Ottoman towns or cities between Smyrna, Constantinople, and the Bulgarian border by January 1, 1916.
If the Entente can place a naval unit in the Sea of Marmara, either by capturing both Straits hexes controlling the Dardanelles or by capturing the Bosporus, there will be mobilizations swings by Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania towards to Entente. The Ottomans will also lose 2000 NM points. This replaces the NM losses and mobilization swings in the regular game if the Entente captured the town of Gallipoli in its former location. This more accurately reflect the impact on nearby minors if the Entente is able to threaten Constantinople. If the Ottomans subsequently retake control of the Sea of Marmara by recapturing the Dardanelles and the Bosporus, they will regain the 2000 NM points lost, but will not reverse the mobilization swings against them.
11.2 Mesopotamia
To increase their ability to hold Mesopotamia, the Ottomans have a new DE that fires in April 1915 allowing them to build a railway line from Aleppo to Baghdad by December 1916. (To enable this, a new settlement has been added to the map on the railway line two hexes south of Diyarbakir). Building this line costs 4 X 25 MPPs, shared between the Ottomans and Germany. However, the line cannot be completed until the Central Powers are able to establish a rail link from Berlin to Constantinople (by capturing Nish from Serbia and bringing Bulgaria into the war).
Mosul has been made a NM objective for the Ottomans. This makes it a more valuable target for capture by Russia or Britain if they plan a campaign in Mesopotamia. An additional Ottoman corps now mobilizes in Mosul when the Ottomans enter the war - as happened historically.
Campaigning in Mesopotamia was made more difficult by the marshes and the spring floods in the region. To reflect this, new Supply scripts have been added that on a random basis in spring turns will temporarily reduce the supply levels of the towns in lower Mesopotamia between Baghdad and Basra.
A new DE has been added to give the Ottomans the option of creating a new HQ in Baghdad (Khalil Pasha) in May 1916, at a cost of 4 X 50 MPPs. The timing reflects the historic date when Khalil Pasha was promoted to take command of the Ottoman Sixth Army in Baghdad.
A glitch in the regular game has been corrected so that if the British send an Indian Army detachment (Force D) to seize Basra as soon as the Ottomans enter the war, Force D will actually deploy onto Basra (rather than Kuwait). However, if the Ottomans manage to force march a unit to occupy Basra in time before they enter the war, the British invasion will fail, and Force D will deploy instead in Kuwait.
If the Ottomans recapture Basra from the British, it will revert back to Mesopotamia. If the Entente liberate Mesopotamia (by capturing Baghdad), Basra will also revert back to Mesopotamia to allow the Mesopotamian convoy to the UK to begin.
The Ottoman Mesopotamian Volunteer unit that mobilizes through a DE when the British seize Basra will now deploy in Amara, rather than Baghdad, putting it closer to the front.
Kuwait has been added as NM objective for the Ottomans, worth 1000 points.
Comment: Building the new rail line and the new HQ in Baghdad should make it easier for the Ottomans to defend Mesopotamia and potentially use it as base to invade Persia. The small changes to the British invasion of Basra in 1914 and the Ottoman response make it less predictable that the British will capture Basra and more important that they do so, as they will need to control it to trigger the Persian oil convoy and later to serve as the base for General Maude to launch the Mesopotamian Campaign. The seasonal flooding in the spring and the heat effects in the summer will make it somewhat harder to campaign in this region for part of the year. Taken together these changes should make Mesopotamia a more complex and interesting theatre in the war in the game.
* 11.3 Arabia
Comment: in the existing game, it is easy for the Ottomans to suppress the formation of any Arab partisans and thus thwart the Arab Revolt. These changes make the Revolt a much greater threat for the Ottomans.
The British Decision Event to sponsor the Arab Revolt by sending T.E. Lawrence to Arabia can start as early as November 1, 1915, but it has only a 20% chance of firing per turn. This makes the start date of the Revolt more unpredictable for both sides.
Both the number of partisan spawning hexes in Arabia and the number of chances per turn for partisans to spawn have been increased, making it almost impossible for the Ottomans to prevent the Revolt from beginning. The maximum number of Arab partisans that can be active at one time is 6. However, the Arab partisan hexes spawn in waves, starting first around Medina in January 1916; then in the Hejaz Mountains in March 1916; then north and east of Tayma in July 1916; and finally, east of Amman and Damascus, only if Jerusalem, Maan or Amman have been captured by the Entente.
To make it easier for Arab partisans to move into the desert to escape detection, the remote desert and mountain hexes of Arabia will become Entente territory in three waves. The first wave covering the mountain hexes east of Medina triggers when the Arab Revolt starts. The second wave is triggered when the Arabs capture Ha'il. It covers all the desert hexes on either side of the road to the Persian Gulf. The third wave covers all Syrian Desert hexes in Arabia that extend north to the road from Jordan to Mesopotamia. It is triggered when a partisan occupies one of four hill hexes on the western edge of the Syrian Desert. Once the Arab Revolt DE fires, these hexes will be identified by a pop-up if you move your cursor over them. (Since Arabia as a minor remains occupied until Medina is captured, these hex transfer happen by having them transfer to the new independent minor of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia only exists in this mod for this purpose).
The attacking strength of Arab partisans has been increased by 1 against soft and hard targets, making them comparable in attack to detachments. They also have a 30% chance of evading combat losses when attacked. Their action points have also been increased to 5 (up from 3), giving them greater range of movement. In addition, they get a one hex movement bonus if they start their turn in a desert hex, thus enabling them to move three hexes per turn across deserts.
Cutting the Hejaz Railroad from Amman to Medina becomes an important objective for the Arabs, as the Ottomans will lose 75 NM for each player turn that the rail line is cut. Two new Ottoman garrisons deploy when the Ottomans enter the war, based in Tabuk and Tayma, to help protect the rail line.
If the Arabs capture Medina and liberate Arabia, it becomes a British minor. In addition to having a build limit of 5 partisans, Arabia can build 1 regular infantry corps, 1 cavalry division, 3 infantry detachments and 1 HQ (Faisal).
* T.E. Lawrence can now arrive as an Egyptian HQ if one of the following towns is captured by the Arabs: Aqaba, Tabuk, Tayma, Yanbu, or a new settlement on the coast north of Yanbu called Weij. The Lawrence HQ has the same movement abilities as the Arab partisans. Since he not an Arabian general, he cannot contribute his command rating to the Arab partisans. However, if he is within 3 hexes of the Hejaz railway to Medina, he will increase the morale by 50% of Arab partisans units if they are within 3 hexes of the same stretch of railway. If Lawrence is placed on supply level 3 resource hex, he will enable the Arabs to be upgraded to Infantry Weapons 1.
If Arabia is liberated by capturing Medina, Faisal appears as an Arabian HQ with the same movement abilities. He can command Arab partisans with a command rating of 8, but his maximum strength is only 5, limiting his ability to increase their supply.
Comment: this differentiation between Lawrence and Faisal was made to restrict the benefits of two extra Entente HQs largely to the Arab partisans. Faisal's high command rating is offset by the fact that his maximum strength is 5. Neither of them their contribute command ratings to regular British troops.
11.4 The Caucasus
High mountain hexes have been added to the map for Mount Ararat (between the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Russia) and around Mount Elbruz in southern Russia.
A new weather zone has been created for the Caucasus region in eastern Ottoman Empire and southern Russia (see the weather layer in the Editor for details). The Caucasus weather zone has a much high probability of freezing and snow in the winter and a greater chance of mud or snow in the spring, compared to the adjacent European weather zone. This better reflects the harsh weather conditions that affected military operations in this theatre. The negative impact of winter on the Ottoman forces in the Caucasus has been expanded to cover the entire Caucasus weather zone (not just the area between Erzurum and Kars as in the regular game). On its western edge, the zone runs in an arc from Bayburt through Erzincan, Mus, Bitlis to Van (Trabzon and Rize fall outside the zone). As per the existing event, there is a 75% chance each winter turn that Ottoman units in this region will lose zero or one strength point and 20 - 40% morale. However, this penalty does not apply to Ottoman units based in towns or cities in this zone. These winter weather effects will apply as well to Ottoman units on the Russian side of the Caucasus weather zone.
Comment: the increased winter effects will adversely affect the Ottomans in this region; the reduction in the number of mountain corps will adversely affect the Russians. Since both sides are very sensitive to gains or losses in National Morale objectives, the Caucasus should remain a significant theatre of conflict.
* If Russia signs an Armistice with the Central Powers through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and withdraws from the war, the Ottoman Empire will gain control from Russia of Batum and Kars in the Caucasus. The Ottomans will earn the NM points for capturing these objectives when the occupy both towns with an Ottoman unit. However, the Ottomans must keep two Ottoman corps within five hexes of Kars, or these newly acquired territories will secede and join the adjacent Trans-Caucasian Federation. The Ottomans will then declare a state of war with the Trans-Caucasian Federation which will mobilize for the Entente. A new pop-up explains this to the Central Powers after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Comment: this feature was added to parallel the new requirements in this mod that Germany and Austria-Hungary keep some corps in the east near the borders of the newly independent republics in order to maintain control. It was also intended to create some possibilities for great power conflict late in the game in the Caucasus between the Ottomans and the U.K which is the controlling parent of the Trans-Caucasian Federation. This reflect the U.K. intervention in this region through Persia in 1918-19 as part of the Russian Civil War.
11.5 Armenia
Armenia starts the game as Russian minor which controls no territory of its own. Russia receives an Armenian volunteer detachment if the Ottomans move a unit to the border with Persian Azerbaijan (see section on Persia below). If Russia withdraws from the war, Armenian detachments will fight on as independent units aligned with the Entente.
Russia can build an Armenian detachment in Erevan through a new DE after the Armenian uprising in Van. The uprising is only triggered if an Ottoman unit is within 2 hexes of Van, starting on January 1, 1915
Comment: this makes the Armenian uprising in Van more consequential to the campaign in the Caucasus. It also allows the Ottomans to avoid triggering the uprising if they are prepared to leave Van relatively undefended.
*11.6 Expeditionary Corps
The two expeditionary corps that Germany and Austria-Hungary can build through DEs to send to aid the Ottomans now belong to a new Ottoman minor power. This minor also controls a third corps which the Ottomans can build through a DE to assist the other Central Powers if Romania enters the war on the Entente side. As a CP minor, Expeditionary Corps units can be commanded by Generals from any of the three CP majors. All three corps arrive in Adrianople. The new Expeditionary Corps minor has a build limit of two, so that if these two of these three corps are destroyed in combat, they can be rebuilt by the CP player.
(To create a new minor, I had to give it a new capital, which is located on the right side of the map on the Persian/Indian border. However, any newly built or rebuilt expeditionary corps which are placed there from the production queue are automatically moved by a loop script to Adrianople at the end of the CP turn).
Comment: In reality on the CP side, there was more flexibility to place units from different armies under different commanders than the game system allows. Using this device enables that. Including one new which corps the Ottomans can build reflects the forces they placed under German command as part of the invasion of Romania in late 1916.
11.7 Ottoman Resources
An additional mine has been added to the map two hexes from Zonguldak one hex from the Ottoman Black Sea coast. This will give the Ottoman 15 additional MPPs per turn.
Comment: This is to offset the increased resources earned by the UK and Russia from Persia. The Zonguldak coal beds extend to this location.
The DE allowing Russia to send agent to sabotage the Zonguldak mine has been extended to cover second mine hex, as well as naval units in the ports at Zonguldak and Trabzon.
Comment: This makes it a more damaging attack for the Russians to launch and could reduce the Ottomans willingness to put fleet units in their Black Sea ports, similar to the Italian and Austrian naval saboteurs in the Adriatic.
11.8 National Morale Objectives
Angora, Mosul and Zonguldak have been added as NM objectives inside the Empire which will need to be defended.
New National Morale scripts have been added enabling them to recover all the NM points lost if they recapture most of their NM objectives inside their own borders. (The exceptions are cities in the core of the Empire - Angora, Constantinople, Smyrna and Zonguldak).
Additional NM objectives for the Ottomans to capture outside their borders have been added in: Batum, Baku, Cairo, Cyprus, Kars, Kermanshah, Kuwait, Rhodes, Tabriz, Tehran, Tobruk, and Tripoli.
If Bulgaria joins the Central Powers and the rail route between Vienna to Constantinople is fully in CP hands, the Ottomans will earn 50 NM points per turn.
* Comment: In the existing game, Ottoman National Morale starts to sink from the outset and is almost impossible to rebuild. These changes give them a chance to recoup some of their losses, and perhaps even earn some NM bonuses by regaining territory lost in the past to Russia, Britain and Italy. Note that if Russia withdraws from the war, the Ottoman Empire will automatically gain control of Batum and Kars and will gain the NM points for these resources. This should help offset its war weariness losses later in the war. The 50 point bonus every turn for being connected by rail to Vienna is meant as an alternative to the bonus the other two Central Powers receive when Bulgaria joins their side
* 11.9 War Weariness
The Ottoman Empire will lose National Morale points to war weariness as follows:
- 50 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1915
- 100 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1916
- 150 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1917
- 200 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1918
As of January 1917, the Ottomans will have the option to spend 25 MPPs to gain 50 NM points per turn if their National Morale has dropped below 50%. As of February 1918, they will have the same option again if their National Morale has dropped below 40%.
11.10 Ottoman Armistice and Surrender
As noted in 6.5 above, the NM impact on Germany and Austria-Hungary of the Ottomans signing an armistice and withdrawing from the war has been reduced to the equivalent of the NM points gained when the Ottomans joined the Central Powers. To have the full NM impact listed in the regular game, the Entente has to drive the Ottoman Empire to surrender.
12. Persia
Comment: Both the Russians and British had significant zones of influence in Persia by 1914 and the oil wells in southern Persia were an important strategic source of oil for the British Empire. Persia was a complex secondary theatre of conflict between the British, Russians and Ottomans from the beginning of the war. These changes are meant to reflect that.
High mountain hexes have been added to the map on either side of Tehran to represent Mount Damavand and the Alborz mountains.
A new DE has been given to Russia which fires when the Ottomans enter the war, enabling the Russians to exercise their sphere of influence over northern Persia in the area known as Persian Azerbaijan. If they say YES, an area of northern Persia centred on Tabriz is transferred to Russian control. (This done by giving it to Armenia which becomes a 100% mobilized Russian minor). A Russian division will deploy in Tabriz. An Armenian Volunteer Detachment will also deploy if Ottoman troops move to the border with Persian Azerbaijan.
In the south, the oil well at Abadan has been transferred on the map back to Persia. A new Persian oil convoy route to the UK will start as soon as the UK seizes Basra. The land convoy will link the oil wells at Maidan-I-Naftun and Abadan and will end in Basra. The convoy will be worth 25 MPPs for the UK (or 30 MPPs if the Russians do not occupy Persian Azerbaijan). This is a net increase for the UK of 15 MPPs over the production of just the Abadan oil well when it was part of Mesopotamia. If the Entente liberate Mesopotamia, the Persian oil convoy will be re-routed to the U.K. through the port of Bandar Mashahr (so that Basra may be used for the convoy from Mesopotamia to the UK).
Germany can send agents into southern Persia, led by Wilhelm Wassmuss. Their target is to sabotage Basra and thus disrupt the Persian oil convoy to the UK. The cost of this DE has been reduced from 50 to 30 MPPs. The Central Powers can also interrupt the oil convoy through diplomacy by swinging Persia to the Central Powers. Or the Ottomans could choose to invade southern Persia and occupy one or more resource hexes on the convoy line. If the Central Powers conquer Persia, the UK can send agents to sabotage cities in central Persia.
Kermanshah, Tabriz and Tehran are now NM objectives for the Ottoman Empire. These new objectives should provide some incentives for the Ottomans to declare war on Persia.
If the Central Powers choose to DOW Persia, the 5 strength Persian Cossack Corps will mobilize to defend Tehran. However, the four 5 strength detachments of the Persian Gendarmerie (based in Kermanshah, Hamadan, Khorramabad and Qum respectively) each have only a 50% chance of mobilizing against the Central Powers if Ottoman units come within 3 hexes of their bases. The other 50% of the time they will defect and become Ottoman units.
If the Entente chooses to DOW Persia, all four of the Persian Gendarmerie units will mobilize if the Entente units come within 3 hexes of their towns. However, the Persian Cossack unit in Tehran will only mobilize against the Entente 50% of the time; the other 50% of the time, it will defect and become a Russian unit.
Note that if Persia mobilizes for the Central Powers (either due to diplomacy or an Entente DOW against Persia), the United Kingdom will automatically seize control of the oil producing hexes in southern Persia so that the oil convoy to the U.K through Basra will not be disrupted.
* From October 1915 onward, as soon as the British advance into Mesopotamia as far as Amara, a new DE will fire which allows the Russians to create a Persian Expeditionary Force. This force will consist of two units, a cavalry division which mobilizes in Tabriz and an infantry division which mobilizes in Astara.
Comment: All of these changes are meant to give both sides incentives to declare war on and occupy Persia, in order to gain greater control over its resources and positional advantage vis-a-vis the enemy.
13. Balkan Modifications
Comment: World War One broke out in the Balkans and the loyalties of the new states in the region were highly volatile. It is a critical theatre for the Central Powers if they wish to establish a land bridge to the Ottoman Empire. The longer Serbia survives, the easier it becomes for the Entente to send additional forces there through Greece or Albania. The following changes were made to better reflect history, and to make it an even more competitive theatre in the first fifteen months of the war.
13.1 Albania
Albania no longer has 75% chance to swing to join the Entente after the Albanian civil war breaks out in September 1914. It will remain neutral until one of the major powers declares war against it or it joins the Entente through one of two new Decision Events.
If the Central Powers declare war on Albania, Italy will swing 25 - 35% towards the Entente and Bulgaria will swing 10-15%. If the Entente declares war on Albania, both Italy and Bulgaria will swing by the same amounts towards the Central Powers. DOWs on Albania by either side have no effect on USA mobilization.
Greece will not be affected by a DOW on Albania. However, in October 1914 after the Albanian civil war breaks out, Greece will annex Northern Epirus, which is a small region in southern Albania.
* Under a new DE, Austria-Hungary can propose to Italy in December 1914 that it annex Albania instead of mobilizing against Austria-Hungary in early 1915 (see below). If Italy accepts this proposal, Albania will immediately become Italian territory. There will be no impacts on the mobilization of other majors or minors if Italy accepts this Central Powers proposal.
Albania can also join the Entente under another new DE, if Serbia decides to abandon its last capital and retreat through its territory (see below)
* Italy is now the Entente parent for Albania if it joins the Entente (rather than Russia in the regular game). If the Central Powers capture Tirana, Italy will lose 1000 NM points.
Comment: Albania only became an independent state through a pact among the Balkan powers in the spring of 1914. Italy was the major power with the greatest political ambitions in Albania. Although it is the poorest and weakest minor in the game, Albania occupies a potentially strategic location adjacent to Serbia and Montenegro. By not having Albania join the Entente in September 1914, the Entente no longer can use the port of Tirana to reinforce Serbia and thus will be forced to rely on reinforcing Serbia through Salonika in Greece, as happened historically. In this mod, once Bulgaria and Italy have joined the war there are no remaining disincentives for either side to declare war on Albania.
* 13.2 Serbia
A new DE for Serbia has been added which fires when Uskub is the last remaining Serbian capital, and the Central Powers have one unit adjacent to Uskub. This event allows Serbia to swing Albania to join the Entente, so that the Serbian army can retreat through Albanian territory to reach the port at Tirana, where they can be transported to safety. If Albania has been annexed by Italy, Serbia can make the same appeal to Italy to enter Albanian territory.
In return, Serbia automatically surrenders at the end of its next turn. This option is a last resort to save what is left of the Serbian Army if a retreat route through Greece is not open. Free Serbian units in Albania will undergo a special attrition round in their first turn there.
Comment: this new DE reflects the choice that the Serbian government had to make in November 1915 when three Central Power armies were descending on Uskub, and their escape route to Greece was cut off by the Bulgarians. Another new DE allows the Entente to occupy Corfu to serve as a base for the surviving Free Serbian units. Note that Free Serbian units are controlled by Russia (as long as Russia is still in the game) and can be upgraded in line with Russian tech levels.
* As noted above in 7.7, the National Morale impact of Serbia's surrender on other majors diminishes over time in this mod.
* The Entente parent for Free Serbian units after Serbia surrenders is now France (rather than Russia).
13.3 Bulgaria
* Bulgaria will swing 1-4% towards the Central Powers on a 35% chance per turn after Belgrade has fallen without requiring a CP unit to remain on Belgrade (as in the regular game). However, this swing will only occur provided that the Central Powers still control Lemberg, Krakow, Thorn and Konigsberg. If they lose control of one or more of those resources to the Russians, Bulgaria will not resume its swing towards the CP until those resources have been recaptured.
* A new script will fire if Nish is captured by the CP which will swing Bulgaria by 4-6% every turn towards the Central Powers.
Comment: the Bulgarians were very sensitive to the progress of the war on the Eastern Front, and they did not start to move with any speed towards the Central Powers until after Germany they had reversed all the Russian gains in Galicia in 1914. However, given Bulgarian claims to Ottoman territory occupied by Serbia, once Nish falls, they will move quickly to mobilize against the Serbs.
Bulgaria's alternate capital has been moved from Varna to Plovdiv.
Comment: As an alternate capital, Varna is very vulnerable to a surprise attack by the Entente from Romania; thus, it does not offer much of a back-up to Sofia if either side declares war on Bulgaria. Moving the alternate capital to Plovdiv in the centre of the country makes it impossible to take out Bulgaria in one move.
13.4 Montenegro
A new post-surrender partisan spawning hex has been added to Montenegro.
Comment: this seemed reasonable as a complement to Serbia's two partisans spawning hexes.
14. Greece
Comment: Although Greek forces played a minor role in active combat in World War One, its strategic location as a potential supply line and staging area for the Entente to support Serbia gives it an outsized importance in the early phases of the war. It starts as an opportunistic minor that can swing towards either side depending on threats and opportunities presented by its neighbours. However, the coherence of Greek policy was hampered by the political schism between the King and the Prime Minister. These modifications reflect that.
14.1 Greek Mobilization
Greece starts aligned with the Entente but at 0% mobilization. Once the Ottoman Empire enters the war Greece will swing to 15% for the Entente. If the Entente captures the Dardanelles and is has one naval unit in the Sea of Marmara, Greece will swing a further 30 - 45% to the Entente. If the Entente has one ground unit within 3 hexes of Constantinople, Greece will swing a further 10-15% each turn towards the Entente.
Comment: The Ottoman Empire was Greece's former imperial ruler. Greece and the Ottomans were at odds in 1914 over the protection of Greek communities in Anatolia. If the Gallipoli campaign had gone any further and the Entente seriously threatened Constantinople, the Greeks would have been keen to join the fray and pick-up more spoils from an Ottoman defeat.
Once Bulgaria reaches 70% mobilization for the Central Powers, Greece will start to mobilize for the Entente at 5 - 8% per turn and will continue every turn unless Serbia surrenders. If Serbia surrenders, however, Greece will swing 20 - 30% towards the Central Powers.
Comment: Greece was highly sensitive to Bulgaria altering the balance of power in the Balkans. If the Entente had not jumped the gun by intervening in northern Greece to support Serbia, Greece would have eventually mobilized and come to Serbia's aid as per their mutual defence pact.
14.2 Entente Intervention in Northern Greece
A new Decision Event replaces the British/French events in the existing game to "Pressure Greece to use Salonika as a Base". Starting on July 3, 1915, provided that Bulgaria has reached 60% for the Central Powers, each turn there is a 35% chance that France will be presented with a new Decision Event asking if they wish to intervene in northern Greece to open a new supply route to Serbia. If the Entente player says YES, northern Greece including Salonika transfers to Entente control, and the Entente can land units there. When Bulgaria enters the war, one 8 strength corps will mobilize as a new French unit in Salonika and one 10 strength detachment will mobilize in Kavalla. The rest of Greece will swing 10% away from the Entente. Greece will remain neutral and will not be affected by what subsequently happens to Serbia or Bulgaria. If the Entente player says NO, then the whole of Greece can still join the Entente at a later date after Bulgaria reaches 70% mobilization as described above.
Comment: this DE reflects the political schism that was precipitated in Greece in when the Entente responded to an appeal for intervention by the Greek Prime Minister that did not have the support of the King.
If the Entente intervenes in Greece, France will receive a new DE as soon as Serbia has surrendered giving the Entente the option to occupy Corfu, which they can use as a base for Serbian units to retreat to from Albania.
Comment: this happened in January 1916.
If the Entente does intervene and then Serbia surrenders and the Entente loses Salonika, Greece will shift a further 20-25% and become aligned with the Central Powers rather than the Entente.
Comment: This outcome would reflect the pro-German King Constantine consolidating his authority and shifting Greece towards the Central Powers after an Entente defeat in the Balkans.
If the Entente maintains control over northern Greece, they will have the option to force King Constantine to abdicate after the Russian Czar has been overthrown in the First Russian Revolution. If the Entente says YES, Greece will swing towards the Entente at 5-8% per turn every turn until it enters the war.
Comment: this happened in June 1917.
14.3 Re-routing the French Convoy to Serbia through Salonika
If the Central Powers occupy one of the five land hexes on the road between Cetinje and Pristina (including either of those towns), the French convoy to Serbia through Cetinje will be disrupted. A new DE will give France the choice to re-route the convoy through Salonika (rather than making this automatic, as in the regular game), provided Greece is aligned with the Entente. If Greece is not fully mobilized, re-routing this convoy will cost France 50 MPPs.
Comment: It seems reasonable that the Entente would have to pay neutral Greece to use the port of Salonika to supply Serbia. This also imposes a modest trade-off for the strategic benefit of being able to re-route the convoy.
14.4 Greek Convoy to Austria-Hungary
If Greece becomes aligned towards the Central Powers (0% or higher) through diplomacy and/or events, and if the Central Powers have occupied all of Serbia, the Eastern Mediterranean convoy from Greece to the UK will stop and a new overland convoy from Greece to Austria-Hungary will start running along the rail line from Athens to Budapest. Austria-Hungary is now the major for the Central Powers for Greece (to enable this convoy to fire).
14.5 Deployment of Greek Units
In the regular game, most Greek units will mobilize 50% of the time or less if an enemy unit is within the prescribed distance of their home base. This reflects the divided loyalties of the Greek army due to the political schism that emerged between the King and Prime Minister Venizelos. In this mod, that political fact is represented by the new Entente Intervention rules described above in 17.2. Instead in this mod, if Greece actually joins either the Entente or the Central Powers, there is a 100% probability that its units will mobilize as soon as enemy units come within range. In addition, the Greek corps in Salonika and the detachment in Kavalla mobilize as soon as Bulgaria joins the war to prevent either town from being captured in a surprise attack.
14.6 Greek Build Restrictions
Greece can only start build new units in April 1916.
Comment: Greece was very slow to mobilize its army and really only geared up its war effort in 1917 after King Constantine was forced to abdicate. This limit prevents Greece from being a troop contributing minor until the latter half of the war.
15. Austria-Hungary
* 15.1 War Weariness
Austria-Hungary will lose National Morale points to war weariness as follows:
- 50 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1915
- 100 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1916
- 150 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1917
- 200 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1918
As of January 1917, Austria-Hungary will have the option to spend 25 MPPs to gain 50 NM points per turn if their National Morale has dropped below 50%. As of February 1918, they will have the same option again if their National Morale has dropped below 40%.
* 15.2 Mutinies and Desertions
The risk of Austro-Hungarian units deserting has been increased in this mod, though the number of units affected at any one time has been reduced. There is a 2% chance each turn this will happen once Austro-Hungarian national morale falls to 50% and additional 2% chance once it falls to 35%. For Austria-Hungary, desertions are triggered along a specific stretch of front with Russia (only): within five hexes of Tarnopol, Czernowitz, Vinnitsa, Odessa, Kiev or Bucharest (if Romania is in the war) or within 10 hexes of Vilna. When a desertion script fires, every Austro-Hungarian unit in range loses 10% - 25% in unit morale and there is 50% chance of each unit losing one strength point. (In the regular game, the desertion effects are the same, but the risk is 3% per turn once Austro-Hungarian NM falls to 50%, affecting every unit within 35 hexes of Vienna).
The script which triggers mutinies and desertions among Central Powers units in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution no longer applies across the whole Russian front. Instead, separate scripts can fire affecting CP units within specified ranges of Petrograd, Moscow, Riga, Minsk, Vinnitsa or Odessa.
In addition, Austro-Hungarian troops that are relocated by the game engine from Russia back to Galicia or East Prussia automatically suffer a wave of desertions if Austro-Hungarian National Morale is 50% or lower. These units will lose 25-35% of their morale and can lose one strength point.
Comment: Desertions were an increasing common occurrence among Austro-Hungarian forces as the war progressed. Formations raised from Slavic nationalities within the Empire were particularly prone to desert - hence this effect has been restricted to the Empire's eastern front with Russia, as most of the troops on the Italian front came from the German-speaking parts of the Empire. The wave of desertions for relocated Austro-Hungarian units after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is meant to parallel those suffered by German and Bulgarian troops. See details below.
* 15.3 National Morale
Over the course of the game, Austria-Hungary's National Morale will be reduced due to the following additional factors:
* Austria-Hungary will not have the option to support refugees from Galicia and will lose 2000 NM if Russia invades Galicia.
* If the Russians capture both the Galician Oilfields and Czernowitz, Austria-Hungary will lose 50 NM per turn due to the destruction of prime agricultural land in eastern Galicia and Bukovina. This will continue even if the Austro-Hungarians retake both objectives. (In the regular game, they lose 50 NM points each for the Oilfields and Stanislaw, but this ends when either objective is recaptured).
* Austria-Hungary will lose 50 NM per turn as long as Serbia controls Nish, due to disruption of grain imports from Romania along the Danube. If Romania joins the Entente, Austria-Hungary will lose 100 NM per turn due to the complete cessation of grain exports from Romania. These penalties will cease if Romania withdraws from the war (i.e., signs the Treaty of Bucharest).
* Once Emperor Franz Joseph I dies and Kaiser Karl ascends to the throne, Austria-Hungary will lose an additional 50 NM per turn, due to increased nationalist tensions under the new Emperor. There is a 10% chance per turn starting on September 17, 1916, of the death of Franz Joseph. (This replaces the 500 NM hit that Austria-Hungary takes when Kaiser Karl ascends to the throne in the regular game).
* Austria-Hungary will also lose 500 NM when the Russian Czar abdicates in the First Revolution, due to the encouragement that will give to national minorities in Austria-Hungary.
* However, Austria-Hungary will gain 50 NM per turn, once Russia withdraws from the war through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. See section 15.4 below.
* Comment: The regular game severely under-estimates how fragile Austro-Hungarian national morale was from the start of the war, due to the shaky legitimacy of the Dual Monarchy with most of its national minorities. Access to food supplies from eastern Galicia and Romania was also critical factor. These changes reflect that. Despite the mounting NM losses that Austria-Hungary will face by 1917, they can reduce those if both Italy and Russia are forced to withdraw from the war. Forcing Romania to surrender, if it joins the Entente side, will also help Austria-Hungary make it to November 1918 intact.
* 15.4 First Winter in the Carpathians
* During the three winter turns of 1915, on January 2, January 30 and February 27, Austro-Hungarian units stationed on hill or mountain hexes (only) in the Carpathians will suffer extra attrition effects. (For this purpose, the Carpathians means any hill or mountain hex inside the 1914 borders of Austria-Hungary west of Czernowitz, east of Ostrawa and north of Klausenberg, inclusive). There is a 75% chance on each turn for each unit to lose zero or one strength points and 20%- 40% morale.
Comment: Austro-Hungarian units were very poorly equipped to deal with the winter conditions they experienced when fighting against the Russian in the Carpathians in the first winter of the war. These new scripts reflects they heavy attrition they suffered. (These attrition effects are equivalent to what the Ottomans suffer every winter in the Caucasus).
* 15.5 Diplomatic Proposal to Italy
* If Austria-Hungary rejects the option of transferring Trento and Trieste to Italy in December 1914, a new DE will fire giving Austria-Hungary the option of proposing to Italy that it annex Albania, in return for no objection by the Central Powers. If Italy accepts this proposal, it will significantly slow Italy's swing toward the Entente, giving Austria-Hungary relief from having to defend its borders with Italy until late 1915. If Italy accepts this proposal and the Entente side later decides to request that Serbian forces be able to escape through Albania, Austria-Hungary will automatically declare that a state of hostilities exists with Italy. See details below of how these options will affect Italian mobilization rates.
Comment: The Chief of the German General Staff von Falkenhayn recommended to his Austrian counterpart, Conrad von Hötzendorff, that he make such a proposal after Italian nationalists started agitating for war. Conrad rejected this suggestion. This DE gives the CP side the opportunity to consider that diplomatic option.
*15.6 Russian Armistice
If the Central Powers sign an armistice with Russia through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Austria-Hungary will also earn 50 NM points per turn and 25 MPPs from grain exports from Ukraine. To maintain these grain flows, they must keep two Austro-Hungarian corps within three hexes of Lemberg.
Comment: The Austro-Hungarians also benefited from the division of Ukrainian grain exports agreed among the Central Powers after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and they had to maintain considerable number of troops in the east to ensure that it. This provision reflects that.
15.7 Naval Saboteurs
The DE for the Austro-Hungarian saboteurs attacking Italian port now cost 25 MPPs for two turns (rather than 50 MPPs for one turn).
Comment: The existing DE triggers early in the campaign at a time when Austria-Hungary needs all the MPPs it can get to build up its armies on the Italian frontier. This change makes this option easier to afford for Austria-Hungary.
15.8 Polish Legion
The DE for Josef Pilsudski's Polish Legion now costs Austria-Hungary only 30 MPPs, and the unit arrives at the start of the third turn, on August 29, 1914.
Comment: The reduced cost more fairly reflects the value of the unit (it arrives at half strength) and it makes the DE more attractive for Austria-Hungary in the opening weeks of the war.
16. Denmark
If Denmark swings to 30% for the Central Powers, a loop is created in the Baltic allowing German ships to move through Denmark from the Baltic to the Kattegat. If you move your cursor over the Baltic near Denmark, the hexes of this new loop will be identified. German ships can also use the existing loop to move into the Baltic through Denmark without a causing Denmark to swing to the Entente. This is explained in a new DE that fires for the Central Powers when Denmark reaches 30%.
If Denmark swings 40% to the Entente, the same provisions will apply to all Entente ships. A different loop has been created for the Entente to use to move from the Baltic to the Kattegat, which is also visible if you move your cursor. A new DE fires for the Entente as well, explaining this.
The U.K. can allocate 5 diplomacy chits to Denmark; Russia, 3 chits and France 2. Italy and Serbia are blocked from allocated chits to Denmark but not the U.SA. For the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary can allocate 5 diplomacy chits each, but not the Ottomans.
Comment: these options create a limited ability for both sides to move from the Baltic to the North Sea without bringing Denmark fully into the war. It could lead to more naval combat in the Skagerrak and the Kattegat around Denmark, or the lower Baltic.
17. Egypt
To reflect the severe supply challenges of combat in the Sinai, the roads across the desert hexes in the Sinai and the Suez Canal have been removed from the map. The town of Nekhl in the middle of the Sinai has been removed too. El-Arish has been reduced in size to a settlement. It will have its supply value reduced to zero until U.K. can complete a rail line and a freshwater pipeline from Port Said to El Arish. A new DE gives the UK the option to rebuild the supply from El Arish starting in April 1916, provided that it controls the route from there to Port Said.
Comment: these modifications are intended to make it harder - though not impossible - for either side to mount attacks across the Sinai. Historically, the U.K. only launched its campaign to conquer Palestine in 1917 after the freshwater pipeline and rail line across the northern Sinai had been completed.
18. Finland
If Finland becomes independent and is aligned with the Central Powers (after the German DE to send General von der Goltz there) it can swing an additional 20% if the Central Powers capture Revel in Estonia and an additional 20% if the Central Powers capture Narva.
Comment: this is intended to give the Central Powers an incentive to bring Finland fully into the war on their side so they can attack Petrograd from the north. This could encourage them to try to conquer Russia outright, rather than acceding to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
19. France
*19.1 War Weariness
France will lose National Morale points to war weariness as follows:
- 75 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1915
- 150 NM point per turn starting on January 1, 1916
- 225 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1917
- 300 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1918
As of January 1917, France will have the option to spend 37 MPPs to gain 75 NM points per turn if their National Morale has dropped below 50%. As of February 1918, they will have the same option again if their National Morale has dropped below 40%.
* 19.2 Impact of U.S. War Entry
The NM boost that France receives when the USA enters the war has been reduced from 3000 to 2000 NM points. This has been offset by increasing the boost which France receives when US troops land in France from 1000 to 2000 NM points. However, to obtain the latter boost, the U.S. must land at least three U.S. army corps within 5 hexes of Paris.
Comment: U.S. entry into the war was met with unrealistically high expectations among French troops that a large American force would immediately appear in Europe to support them. This new requirement is meant to model that. It is also intended to give the Entente side more reasons to build and transport U.S. corps to fight in France.
*19.3 French Army Mutiny
If French National Morale is at 50% or below, there is a 2% chance per Entente turn of a French army mutiny breaking out among troops within three hexes of Ypres, Paris, Chalons and Toul. Affected units will not suffer strength point losses but will lose 50 - 85% of their unit morale. Unlike the desertion scripts for Italy, Russia and Austria-Hungary, these are one-time events; once a mutiny has happened in a given location, it will not happen again. The presence of one U.S. Army corps within 3 hexes of each of these locations will reduce the risk of a mutiny there to zero.
Comment: the French Army mutiny of 1917 was a major event on the Entente side of the war. It affected about 40% of French Army divisions on the Western Front. Affected troops did not desert and would defend themselves but refused to go on the offensive. These provisions replace the French mutiny scripts in the regular game. The opportunity to reduce the risk of mutiny by stationing U.S. corps nearby is intended to model the positive morale effects of the arrival of substantial U.S. ground forces on French army morale.
20. Germany
*20.1 National Morale Effects of the Entente Naval Blockade
The effects of the Entente naval blockade on German National Morale are as follows:
- In 1914, -20 points on the Northern Line and - 10 points on the Distant Line
- In 1916, -30 points on the Northern Line and - 15 points on the Distant Line
- In 1917, -40 points on the Northern Line and - 20 points on the Distant Line
- In 1918, -50 points on the Northern Line and - 25 points on the Distant Line
* This means that if all the blockade hexes are occupied with Entente ships in 1918, Germany will lose 800 NM points per turn. Note that the increased blockade effects in 1918 require that the USA has entered the war.
* 20.2 National Morale Effects of Unrestricted Naval Warfare
* To partially offset increased effects of the Entente blockade, the NM benefits of Germany declaring unrestricted naval warfare have been increased. Germany will earn:
- In 1914, +75 NM points for each shipping zone that has a German naval vessel on one hex
- In 1916, +110 NM points for each shipping zone that has a German naval vessel on one hex
- In 1917, +150 NM points for each shipping zone that has a German naval vessel on one hex
Comment: this schedule has been weighted to encourage Germany to declare unrestricted naval warfare before the U.S. enters the war (as actually happened, and which contributed directly to the U.S. decision to enter the war).
* 20.3 Reduced food imports from the Netherlands
* The U.K. has a new DE that will fire in March 1916 giving it the option of tightening the blockade against neutral shipping to the Netherlands. If the UK accepts this option, German MPPs from the Netherlands will be reduce from 65 MPPs per turn in 1914 to 50 MPPs in 1916, then 30 MPPs in 1916 and finally only 10 MPPs by 1918. In addition, the hunger penalty that Germany pays even if the Netherlands in CP aligned will rise by 10 NM points per turn per year, starting in 1916.
* 20.4 "Turnip Winter"
* Germany will lose 500 NM per turn due to increased hunger for ten turns, from November 16, 1916, through May 5, 1917.
Comment: The German population faced acute hunger in the winter of 1916 -17 due to the loss of more than 50% of the potato crop due to heavy rains. This period became known as "turnip winter".
* 20.5 Diversion of Synthetic Nitrogen Production
* Three new DEs give Germany the option of diverting its supplies of synthetic nitrogen used to make shells into fertilizer to boost domestic agricultural production. Germany will have three opportunities to make this decision in the first CP turns of 1916, 1917 and 1918 respectively, provided German National Morale is at 90% or below. Each DE allows Germany to spend 50 MPPs to earn 100 NM points per turn. These German DEs are in lieu of the option of spending MPPs to raise national morale given to Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
Comment: After all of its stocks of imported fertilizer were exhausted by the beginning of 1916, Germany could have replaced them with the synthetic nitrogen being produced by the Haber process. Instead, the German High Command was determined to use all of these stocks for the production of artillery shells.
*20.6 Effects of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
* After Bolshevik Revolution has happened in Russia and Russian National Morale has dropped to 12% a revised DE pops up for Germany to begin negotiations with Russia to end the war. If the CP player accepts this DE, then there is a 50% chance at the end of each subsequent Entente turn that the Russians will conclude the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and will withdraw from the war. (Once the DE has fired for the Germans, the Russians cannot withdraw from negotiating an armistice; it is just a matter of chance when they will agree to it). Once that event fires, all of the territorial transfers and creation of new states dictated by the Treaty happen at the end of the Entente turn.
Unlike the regular game, under the Treaty, Germany receives control of the three Baltic states of Estonia. However, to maintain control of these new territories, Germany must move one corps immediately to occupy respectively Revel in Estonia, Riga in Latvia and Kovno in Lithuania and must keep them there. Otherwise, each of these territories will declare independence at the end of any CP turn in which their capital is unoccupied. A new pop-up explains this at the start of the CP turn.
Comment: I have made the Treaty a two-step process that happens over a Central Powers turn and then an Entente turn to reflect the delays that actually happened in concluding the negotiations between December 1917 - February 1918. It also works better to have the territorial transfers occur at the end of an Entente turn.
Historically, Germany retained control over the Baltic states until the end of the war, but the internal instability in the area (including from the Bolsheviks) required them to maintain forces there, who became the nuclei for pro-German Freikorps at the beginning of the Russian Civil War. The CP player may decide that it is not worth keeping three corps tied up to maintain control over all three of these territories and will agree to let them one or more of them declare independence. The only negative impact for the CP side will be the loss of MPP income from the resources in that territory.
*20.6 Mutinies and Desertions
The script in the regular game which trigger mutinies and desertions among Central Powers forces in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution no longer applies across the whole Russian front. Instead, separate scripts can fire affecting all CP units within specified ranges of Petrograd, Moscow, Riga, Minsk, Vinnitsa and Odessa.
In addition, all German and Bulgarian troops that are relocated by the game engine from Russia back to East Prussia or Galicia automatically suffer a wave of desertions if German National Morale is 50% or lower. These units will lose 25-35% of their morale and have a 50% chance of losing one strength point.
Comment: This reflects the losses that German army suffered to desertion after the Treaty was signed. Many returning German soldiers in 1918 refused to be transferred to the Western Front and simply went home. In game terms, this means the CP side will probably need to spend an extra turn replacing these losses and letting their units regain unit morale before moving them to the Western Front, or elsewhere.
*20.7 German Funding for Indian Nationalists
The DE giving Germany the option of funding a nationalist plot in India has been modified. There is no longer any MPP cost to saying YES to this decision. If the plot is successful, it will cost the U.K. 300 NM points in addition to losing up to 30 MPPs from the disruption in production from India. However, there is a small risk that if the plot is discovered by U.S. authorities, the USA could swing 2-4% towards the Entente.
Comment: The plot uncovered by the affair of the Annie Larsen was one of the more intriguing German initiatives to disrupt the British war effort by promoting subversion in its most important colony. These changes give the Germans more reasons to say yes to this gamble, as well as new reasons to say no.
*20.8 New HQ for General Falkenhayn
The German DE offering the option to create a new HQ for General Falkenhayn only fires as after July 3, 1916, if Verdun is still in Entente hands and Romania has entered the war on the Entente side.
Comment: The Kaiser requested Falkenhayn's resignation as Chief of the General Staff in late August 1916 because of these two perceived failures. These adjustments make both conditions for this DE to fire.
21. Gibraltar
If the UK does not enter the war on the first turn, a new DE pops up allowing the French navy (only) to use a naval loop to move through Gibraltar from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and vice-versa. The loop will operate without any delay between the two sea hexes due east and due west of Gibraltar. These hexes will be identified by a pop-up if you move your cursor over them. Once the UK is fully mobilized, this loop will disappear.
Comment: In the standard game, the French navy cannot pass by the UK fortress of Gibraltar until the UK enters the war. This is intended to remove that obstacle. A DE has been used to ensure that the Entente player is aware of this possibility. See also the new provisions for Spain which can trigger a loop in Spanish African to by-pass Gibraltar.
22. Iceland
If Denmark swings to 30% for the Central Powers, a new DE gives Germany the option of gaining control of the port of Reykjavik for 100 MPPs.
Comment: this could be very useful for resupplying German subs raiding in the North Atlantic.
23. India
In this mod India has been added as an active U.K. minor. The units of the Indian Army that deploy in Egypt and Mesopotamia as a result of U.K decision events now arrive as Indian units. Karachi has been added as a port and an Industrial Centre on the map in Balochistan (since the map extends to this far western edge of British controlled India). Indian units that are built or rebuilt will appear here and can be transported from Karachi to Egypt, the Middle East or the Mediterranean. Two additional corps have added to India's build limits over and above the units that arrive as DEs, in case the UK wishes to use them.
Comment: India was a major troop contributor the British Imperial forces in World War One, so it seems reasonable to give them this visibility in the game. The Entente has an incentive to use Indian Army units in Egypt and the Middle East (as was done historically), since it is faster and more secure to transport them there compared units coming from Great Britain, and they are better equipped than other U.K. forces to deal with the effects of summer heat.
24. Italy
24.1 War Weariness
* Italy will lose National Morale points to war weariness as follows:
- 50 NM points per turn as soon as it enters the war in 1915
- 100 NM point per turn starting on January 1, 1916
- 150 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1917
- 200 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1918
As of January 1917, Italy will have the option to spend 25 MPPs to gain 50 NM points per turn if their National Morale has dropped below 50%. As of February 1918, they will have the same option again if their National Morale has dropped below 40%.
* 24.2 Mutinies and Desertions
The risk of Italian units deserting has been increased in this mod, though the number of units affected at any one time has been reduced. There is a 2% chance each turn this will happen once Italian national morale falls to 50% and additional 2% chance once it falls to 35%. Desertions are triggered along a specific stretch of front: either within two hexes of Udine, Verona or Bologna, or within 3 hexes of Turin. When a desertion script fires, every Italian unit in range loses 10% - 25% in unit morale and there is 50% chance of each unit losing one strength point. (In the regular game, the desertion effects are the same, but the risk is 3% per turn once Italian NM falls to 50%, affecting every unit within 20 hexes of Rome).
*24.3 Annexing Albania and Slower Mobilization
* If Austria-Hungary makes the proposal to Italy in December 1914 to annex Albania, Italy will receive a new DE giving them the choice to accept it. Accepting the proposal will cost 10 MPPs per turn for 5 turns. Italy will then immediately annex Albania (which will cease to exist as a country). Italian mobilization will rise to 25% for the Entente as of January 2, 1915. Then it will only continue to rise by 4-8% per turn on a 25% chance each turn, rising to a 50% chance each turn after the beginning of September 1915. This rate compares with a 10-25% swing each turn on a 75% chance starting in January 1915 if Italy says NO to the Austro-Hungarian proposal.
* If the U.K. enters into secret talks with Italy and helps fund its mobilization (as per the existing DE for the Treaty of London), Italy will swing an additional 10 -15% to the Entente. This DE will only fire once Italy reaches 40% mobilization on or after April 1915.
* If Italy has annexed Albania before Italy has joined the war, Serbia can appeal to Italy to allow its troops to enter Albania to escape destruction by the Central Powers (see above). This DE will only fire for Serbia if Italy is already mobilized at 50% or more for the Entente. If Serbia accepts this DE, the Austro-Hungarians will immediately declare that a state of hostilities with Italy and Italy will move to full mobilization next turn.
* If the Entente gains control of Albania by whatever means, Italy will lose 1000 NM points if the Central Powers subsequently capture Tirana.
Comment: this new DE is meant to give the Italians the option of improving the Entente's strategic position in the Balkans at the cost of a slower mobilization rate for Italy. A slower mobilization rate however could also enable Italy enters the war with a higher state of preparedness than it normally does in the spring of 1915. It also makes the U.K. option to sign the secret Treaty of London with Italy a more significant option for the Entente side.
24.4 Italian Armistice
A new armistice script has been added if Italian national morale falls to 25% or below. Austria-Hungary will be asked if they wish to respond positively to a signals that Italy is ready to sign an armistice. If they say YES, there is a 35% chance of the Italians signing an armistice each CP turn, as long as Italian national morale stays at 25% or below. If an armistice is triggered, all forces on both sides will be automatically moved back to friendly territory and Italy becomes neutral. Italy will transfer territory in northern Italy to Austria-Hungary, including the towns of Brescia, Padua, Venice, Verona, and Udine. Austria-Hungary will earn 2500 NM points and Germany will earn 1500 NM points; France will lose 2500 NM points. However, if Austria-Hungary rejects the overtures for an armistice, Italy will gain 2500 NM points and will fight until it surrenders.
Comment: This script was added to make attacking Italy a more interesting strategic option for the Central Powers. They can gain permanent NM gains and inflect a NM loss on France while permanently protecting Austria-Hungary's southern border from attack if an armistice with Italy is accepted. However, if the CP side fights on and pushes Italy to surrender, then the NM benefits and costs will be double the above amounts and the Central Powers can threaten to invade France from the south. The threshold for triggering feelers towards an armistice has been set at a relatively high threshold (25%) to reflect the brittle level of public support in Italy when the war starts to go badly.
24.5 Convoy to Italy from France
A new DE has been written giving France the option of starting its convoy to Italy as soon as Italy enters the war. Previously, the Entente had to wait until Serbia had surrendered before the convoy from France to Italy could begin.
Comment: Depending on the situation in the Balkans, Italy may be able to make better use of the extra resources than Serbia. Also, Serbia may still have access to the convoy from Russia.
24.6 Italian Frogmen
The DE for the Italian frogmen against Austro-Hungarian ports now cost 25 MPPs for two turns (rather than 50 MPPs for one turn).
Comment: As with the equivalent change in the cost of the Austro-Hungarian saboteurs, this is intended to make this DE easier for Italy to afford early in the war.
25. Libya
25.1 The Senussi Uprising
The DE for the Ottomans to fund the Senussi revolt has been moved up to August 7, 1915, and the trigger has been set at 25%. This will make the starting date for the revolt somewhat more unpredictable for both sides.
More partisan spawning hexes and more spawning events have been added to in Libya to make it difficult for the Italians to prevent Senussi partisans from spawning. The spawning hexes south of Tobruk have the highest likelihood of spawning partisans, the ones further west have a lower trigger per turn. The maximum number of Senussi partisans that can be active at one time is 4.
Senussi partisans have the same increases in combat and movement capabilities as Arab partisans.
Comment: these changes were made to make the Senussi uprising a more potent threat to the Italian position in Libya, and to partially offset the increased threat to the Ottomans from the Arab uprising.
25.2 Italian Garrisons
A 5 strength Italian Colonist Garrison will mobilize in Benghazi if CP forces (including partisans) approach within three hexes.
* 25.3 Ottoman Regulars
The DE giving the Ottomans the option to form a half strength regular corps in support of the Senussi can be triggered if the Senussi capture Benghazi or Tobruk, in addition to Bardia (which was the only trigger point in the standard game). The Ottoman corps arrives in the town that has been captured by the Senussi.
26. Morocco
Two more partisan spawning hexes have been added to Morocco. If one Moroccan partisan hex spawns on a 2% chance, the chances of the other two partisan hexes spawning increases to 10%. The cost to Germany of funding the Moroccan partisans has been reduced from 50 to 30 MPPs. This DE now triggers with a 20% chance starting in November 1914. If Germany says YES, France has a 20% chance of receiving a pop-up advising that German agents are funding subversion in the Riff.
Comment: these adjustments makes the German option to fund subversion in Morocco more attractive and should require France to pay a bit more attention to Morocco over the course of the game.
27. Netherlands
The U.K. and France may each allocate 5 diplomacy chits to the Netherlands. Russia, Italy and Serbia are blocked from allocated diplomacy to the Netherlands, but not the U.S.A. For the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary can allocated 5 diplomacy chits each, but not the Ottomans.
* There is a new DE for the UK that fires in March 1916 to strengthen the blockade and thus reduce food exports to Germany from the Netherlands, at a cost of swinging the Netherlands more to the Central Powers. See the section on the U.K. below.
28. Norway
If Norway swings to 50% for the Central Powers, Germany obtains control of the ports of Bergen and Stavanger.
The Norwegian convoy to the U.K. that is triggered when Norway reaches 20% for the Entente will shift from Narvik to Trondheim if Sweden also moves to 20% for the Entente. The Norwegian convoy to the U.K. will terminate in the port of Rosyth rather than Cromarty.
The U.K can allocate 5 diplomacy chits to Norway; France 3 chits and Russia 2 chits. Italy and Serbia are blocked from allocated chits to Norway, but not the U.SA. For the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary can allocate 5 diplomacy chits each, but not the Ottomans.
Comment: securing these two Norwegian ports could prove very useful for German naval attacks against the Entente blockade line in the North Sea. Rosyth is a much bigger industrial center and thus a more logical endpoint for these convoy than Cromarty. The slightly longer convoy route may offer some additional raiding options for German subs.
29. Portugal
Portugal starts the war 50% aligned for the Entente, which will increase to 60% after the Germans surrender in South-West Africa in July 1915. A new DE has been added that fires on March 25, 1916, reflecting the historic events that brought Portugal into the war on the Entente side. Portugal will swing to 85% for the Entente, followed by a 75% chance that the Central Powers will declare war on Portugal. Portugal can also swing 3- 6% towards the Entente if Germany has ships on the convoy route that passes in front of Lisbon to Bristol, or near Lisbon.
Comment: these events can bring Portugal into the war on the Entente side by early 1916 at a cost of 50 MPPs, perhaps aided by one or two diplomacy chits if the Central Powers do not declare war.
* 30. Romania
* Czernowitz has been added to the list of Austro-Hungarian NM objectives which will swing Romania 10 - 15% towards to the Entente if captured by the Russians. If recaptured by Austria-Hungary, Romania will swing back 8 - 12% towards the Central Powers.
Comment: Czernowitz was the capital of the important agricultural province of Bukovina. Adding it to the list of NM objectives that will help sway Romania to join the war will increase the chances of Romania entering on the Entente side, in particular in the 1916 campaign. Historically, Romania declared war on the Central Powers in late August 1916.
The probability of Frozen weather in Winter has been increased for the European weather zone from 60% to 80%. It has also been increased in the short Late Fall and Late Winter seasons. Small adjustments have been made to increase the probability of Frozen weather in the same seasons for the Alps and Caucasus weather zones.
Comment: given that Snow no longer has an effect on combat effectiveness for ground units, in the regular game, Winter does not provide a reliable break in the fighting on the main European fronts This increase in the chance of Frozen weather is meant to offset that.
11. Ottoman Empire Modifications
Comment: One of the main purposes of this mod was to enhance the range of strategic options for both sides in the Middle East, the Caucasus and in Persia. This has been done by a variety of new Decision Events that give the Entente greater scope for attacking the Ottoman Empire, and to increase the Ottomans' ability to defend their territory. Additional scripts have been added to reflect the weather and supply challenges of campaigning in this region. Some small changes were made to the map to increase realism and to enable the new DEs.
11.1 Gallipoli Campaign
Comment: the following changes have been to increase the realism of the Gallipoli theatre in western Turkey and to encourage the Entente to attempt an amphibious invasion there.
The map for this region has been extensively redrawn:
- narrowing the Gallipoli Peninsula;
- moving the town of Gallipoli onto the Peninsula;
- making both Straits hexes hill terrain, as well as the hex 199,103;
- moving the port at the tip of the peninsula one hex up, adjacent to the town of Gallipoli;
- adding a new port on the Sea of Marmara south of Adrianople at Tekfurdagi;
- adding a new town on the Aegean coast next to the Bulgaria border at Aynoz.
The 8 strength corps that starts the game on the town of Gallipoli has been moved to Panderma on Asia side of the Sea of Marmara. The Ottoman Empire also starts the game with a 5-strength coastal gun deployed at the mouth of the Dardanelles.
Two new Gallipoli campaign DEs have been written for the UK and France, offering the UK the option of having a unit of the Royal Marines deploy to Lemnos, along with a new French Marine division. The Royal Marines arrive on December 5, 1914, followed by the French Marines. A one-time loop will automatically transport to Lemnos any Entente unit sitting on Alexandria on January 2, 1915 (this allows the I ANZAC Corps to take part in the initial assault without paying to transport them from Alexandria to Lemnos). Once deployed to Lemnos, these units can be loaded one per turn on Amphibious Transports. This means that all three units will be on transports by April 10, 1915, and they can launch an invasion on the nearby Turkish coast the next turn, on May 8, 1915.
If the UK says NO to the Gallipoli Campaign DE, they will then be given the option of saying YES to the existing DE to occupy Lemnos and deploy only the Royal Marine division there. If the UK says NO, Lemnos will remain in Greek hands.
If the Entente says YES to the Gallipoli campaign DE, the Ottomans will be rewarded if they can contain or defeat the invasion. Specifically, the Ottoman Empire gets a 500 NM boost if the Entente has only captured the town of Gallipoli by August 1915; and a 2000 NM boost if the Entente holds no Ottoman towns or cities between Smyrna, Constantinople, and the Bulgarian border by January 1, 1916.
If the Entente can place a naval unit in the Sea of Marmara, either by capturing both Straits hexes controlling the Dardanelles or by capturing the Bosporus, there will be mobilizations swings by Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania towards to Entente. The Ottomans will also lose 2000 NM points. This replaces the NM losses and mobilization swings in the regular game if the Entente captured the town of Gallipoli in its former location. This more accurately reflect the impact on nearby minors if the Entente is able to threaten Constantinople. If the Ottomans subsequently retake control of the Sea of Marmara by recapturing the Dardanelles and the Bosporus, they will regain the 2000 NM points lost, but will not reverse the mobilization swings against them.
11.2 Mesopotamia
To increase their ability to hold Mesopotamia, the Ottomans have a new DE that fires in April 1915 allowing them to build a railway line from Aleppo to Baghdad by December 1916. (To enable this, a new settlement has been added to the map on the railway line two hexes south of Diyarbakir). Building this line costs 4 X 25 MPPs, shared between the Ottomans and Germany. However, the line cannot be completed until the Central Powers are able to establish a rail link from Berlin to Constantinople (by capturing Nish from Serbia and bringing Bulgaria into the war).
Mosul has been made a NM objective for the Ottomans. This makes it a more valuable target for capture by Russia or Britain if they plan a campaign in Mesopotamia. An additional Ottoman corps now mobilizes in Mosul when the Ottomans enter the war - as happened historically.
Campaigning in Mesopotamia was made more difficult by the marshes and the spring floods in the region. To reflect this, new Supply scripts have been added that on a random basis in spring turns will temporarily reduce the supply levels of the towns in lower Mesopotamia between Baghdad and Basra.
A new DE has been added to give the Ottomans the option of creating a new HQ in Baghdad (Khalil Pasha) in May 1916, at a cost of 4 X 50 MPPs. The timing reflects the historic date when Khalil Pasha was promoted to take command of the Ottoman Sixth Army in Baghdad.
A glitch in the regular game has been corrected so that if the British send an Indian Army detachment (Force D) to seize Basra as soon as the Ottomans enter the war, Force D will actually deploy onto Basra (rather than Kuwait). However, if the Ottomans manage to force march a unit to occupy Basra in time before they enter the war, the British invasion will fail, and Force D will deploy instead in Kuwait.
If the Ottomans recapture Basra from the British, it will revert back to Mesopotamia. If the Entente liberate Mesopotamia (by capturing Baghdad), Basra will also revert back to Mesopotamia to allow the Mesopotamian convoy to the UK to begin.
The Ottoman Mesopotamian Volunteer unit that mobilizes through a DE when the British seize Basra will now deploy in Amara, rather than Baghdad, putting it closer to the front.
Kuwait has been added as NM objective for the Ottomans, worth 1000 points.
Comment: Building the new rail line and the new HQ in Baghdad should make it easier for the Ottomans to defend Mesopotamia and potentially use it as base to invade Persia. The small changes to the British invasion of Basra in 1914 and the Ottoman response make it less predictable that the British will capture Basra and more important that they do so, as they will need to control it to trigger the Persian oil convoy and later to serve as the base for General Maude to launch the Mesopotamian Campaign. The seasonal flooding in the spring and the heat effects in the summer will make it somewhat harder to campaign in this region for part of the year. Taken together these changes should make Mesopotamia a more complex and interesting theatre in the war in the game.
* 11.3 Arabia
Comment: in the existing game, it is easy for the Ottomans to suppress the formation of any Arab partisans and thus thwart the Arab Revolt. These changes make the Revolt a much greater threat for the Ottomans.
The British Decision Event to sponsor the Arab Revolt by sending T.E. Lawrence to Arabia can start as early as November 1, 1915, but it has only a 20% chance of firing per turn. This makes the start date of the Revolt more unpredictable for both sides.
Both the number of partisan spawning hexes in Arabia and the number of chances per turn for partisans to spawn have been increased, making it almost impossible for the Ottomans to prevent the Revolt from beginning. The maximum number of Arab partisans that can be active at one time is 6. However, the Arab partisan hexes spawn in waves, starting first around Medina in January 1916; then in the Hejaz Mountains in March 1916; then north and east of Tayma in July 1916; and finally, east of Amman and Damascus, only if Jerusalem, Maan or Amman have been captured by the Entente.
To make it easier for Arab partisans to move into the desert to escape detection, the remote desert and mountain hexes of Arabia will become Entente territory in three waves. The first wave covering the mountain hexes east of Medina triggers when the Arab Revolt starts. The second wave is triggered when the Arabs capture Ha'il. It covers all the desert hexes on either side of the road to the Persian Gulf. The third wave covers all Syrian Desert hexes in Arabia that extend north to the road from Jordan to Mesopotamia. It is triggered when a partisan occupies one of four hill hexes on the western edge of the Syrian Desert. Once the Arab Revolt DE fires, these hexes will be identified by a pop-up if you move your cursor over them. (Since Arabia as a minor remains occupied until Medina is captured, these hex transfer happen by having them transfer to the new independent minor of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia only exists in this mod for this purpose).
The attacking strength of Arab partisans has been increased by 1 against soft and hard targets, making them comparable in attack to detachments. They also have a 30% chance of evading combat losses when attacked. Their action points have also been increased to 5 (up from 3), giving them greater range of movement. In addition, they get a one hex movement bonus if they start their turn in a desert hex, thus enabling them to move three hexes per turn across deserts.
Cutting the Hejaz Railroad from Amman to Medina becomes an important objective for the Arabs, as the Ottomans will lose 75 NM for each player turn that the rail line is cut. Two new Ottoman garrisons deploy when the Ottomans enter the war, based in Tabuk and Tayma, to help protect the rail line.
If the Arabs capture Medina and liberate Arabia, it becomes a British minor. In addition to having a build limit of 5 partisans, Arabia can build 1 regular infantry corps, 1 cavalry division, 3 infantry detachments and 1 HQ (Faisal).
* T.E. Lawrence can now arrive as an Egyptian HQ if one of the following towns is captured by the Arabs: Aqaba, Tabuk, Tayma, Yanbu, or a new settlement on the coast north of Yanbu called Weij. The Lawrence HQ has the same movement abilities as the Arab partisans. Since he not an Arabian general, he cannot contribute his command rating to the Arab partisans. However, if he is within 3 hexes of the Hejaz railway to Medina, he will increase the morale by 50% of Arab partisans units if they are within 3 hexes of the same stretch of railway. If Lawrence is placed on supply level 3 resource hex, he will enable the Arabs to be upgraded to Infantry Weapons 1.
If Arabia is liberated by capturing Medina, Faisal appears as an Arabian HQ with the same movement abilities. He can command Arab partisans with a command rating of 8, but his maximum strength is only 5, limiting his ability to increase their supply.
Comment: this differentiation between Lawrence and Faisal was made to restrict the benefits of two extra Entente HQs largely to the Arab partisans. Faisal's high command rating is offset by the fact that his maximum strength is 5. Neither of them their contribute command ratings to regular British troops.
11.4 The Caucasus
High mountain hexes have been added to the map for Mount Ararat (between the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Russia) and around Mount Elbruz in southern Russia.
A new weather zone has been created for the Caucasus region in eastern Ottoman Empire and southern Russia (see the weather layer in the Editor for details). The Caucasus weather zone has a much high probability of freezing and snow in the winter and a greater chance of mud or snow in the spring, compared to the adjacent European weather zone. This better reflects the harsh weather conditions that affected military operations in this theatre. The negative impact of winter on the Ottoman forces in the Caucasus has been expanded to cover the entire Caucasus weather zone (not just the area between Erzurum and Kars as in the regular game). On its western edge, the zone runs in an arc from Bayburt through Erzincan, Mus, Bitlis to Van (Trabzon and Rize fall outside the zone). As per the existing event, there is a 75% chance each winter turn that Ottoman units in this region will lose zero or one strength point and 20 - 40% morale. However, this penalty does not apply to Ottoman units based in towns or cities in this zone. These winter weather effects will apply as well to Ottoman units on the Russian side of the Caucasus weather zone.
Comment: the increased winter effects will adversely affect the Ottomans in this region; the reduction in the number of mountain corps will adversely affect the Russians. Since both sides are very sensitive to gains or losses in National Morale objectives, the Caucasus should remain a significant theatre of conflict.
* If Russia signs an Armistice with the Central Powers through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and withdraws from the war, the Ottoman Empire will gain control from Russia of Batum and Kars in the Caucasus. The Ottomans will earn the NM points for capturing these objectives when the occupy both towns with an Ottoman unit. However, the Ottomans must keep two Ottoman corps within five hexes of Kars, or these newly acquired territories will secede and join the adjacent Trans-Caucasian Federation. The Ottomans will then declare a state of war with the Trans-Caucasian Federation which will mobilize for the Entente. A new pop-up explains this to the Central Powers after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Comment: this feature was added to parallel the new requirements in this mod that Germany and Austria-Hungary keep some corps in the east near the borders of the newly independent republics in order to maintain control. It was also intended to create some possibilities for great power conflict late in the game in the Caucasus between the Ottomans and the U.K which is the controlling parent of the Trans-Caucasian Federation. This reflect the U.K. intervention in this region through Persia in 1918-19 as part of the Russian Civil War.
11.5 Armenia
Armenia starts the game as Russian minor which controls no territory of its own. Russia receives an Armenian volunteer detachment if the Ottomans move a unit to the border with Persian Azerbaijan (see section on Persia below). If Russia withdraws from the war, Armenian detachments will fight on as independent units aligned with the Entente.
Russia can build an Armenian detachment in Erevan through a new DE after the Armenian uprising in Van. The uprising is only triggered if an Ottoman unit is within 2 hexes of Van, starting on January 1, 1915
Comment: this makes the Armenian uprising in Van more consequential to the campaign in the Caucasus. It also allows the Ottomans to avoid triggering the uprising if they are prepared to leave Van relatively undefended.
*11.6 Expeditionary Corps
The two expeditionary corps that Germany and Austria-Hungary can build through DEs to send to aid the Ottomans now belong to a new Ottoman minor power. This minor also controls a third corps which the Ottomans can build through a DE to assist the other Central Powers if Romania enters the war on the Entente side. As a CP minor, Expeditionary Corps units can be commanded by Generals from any of the three CP majors. All three corps arrive in Adrianople. The new Expeditionary Corps minor has a build limit of two, so that if these two of these three corps are destroyed in combat, they can be rebuilt by the CP player.
(To create a new minor, I had to give it a new capital, which is located on the right side of the map on the Persian/Indian border. However, any newly built or rebuilt expeditionary corps which are placed there from the production queue are automatically moved by a loop script to Adrianople at the end of the CP turn).
Comment: In reality on the CP side, there was more flexibility to place units from different armies under different commanders than the game system allows. Using this device enables that. Including one new which corps the Ottomans can build reflects the forces they placed under German command as part of the invasion of Romania in late 1916.
11.7 Ottoman Resources
An additional mine has been added to the map two hexes from Zonguldak one hex from the Ottoman Black Sea coast. This will give the Ottoman 15 additional MPPs per turn.
Comment: This is to offset the increased resources earned by the UK and Russia from Persia. The Zonguldak coal beds extend to this location.
The DE allowing Russia to send agent to sabotage the Zonguldak mine has been extended to cover second mine hex, as well as naval units in the ports at Zonguldak and Trabzon.
Comment: This makes it a more damaging attack for the Russians to launch and could reduce the Ottomans willingness to put fleet units in their Black Sea ports, similar to the Italian and Austrian naval saboteurs in the Adriatic.
11.8 National Morale Objectives
Angora, Mosul and Zonguldak have been added as NM objectives inside the Empire which will need to be defended.
New National Morale scripts have been added enabling them to recover all the NM points lost if they recapture most of their NM objectives inside their own borders. (The exceptions are cities in the core of the Empire - Angora, Constantinople, Smyrna and Zonguldak).
Additional NM objectives for the Ottomans to capture outside their borders have been added in: Batum, Baku, Cairo, Cyprus, Kars, Kermanshah, Kuwait, Rhodes, Tabriz, Tehran, Tobruk, and Tripoli.
If Bulgaria joins the Central Powers and the rail route between Vienna to Constantinople is fully in CP hands, the Ottomans will earn 50 NM points per turn.
* Comment: In the existing game, Ottoman National Morale starts to sink from the outset and is almost impossible to rebuild. These changes give them a chance to recoup some of their losses, and perhaps even earn some NM bonuses by regaining territory lost in the past to Russia, Britain and Italy. Note that if Russia withdraws from the war, the Ottoman Empire will automatically gain control of Batum and Kars and will gain the NM points for these resources. This should help offset its war weariness losses later in the war. The 50 point bonus every turn for being connected by rail to Vienna is meant as an alternative to the bonus the other two Central Powers receive when Bulgaria joins their side
* 11.9 War Weariness
The Ottoman Empire will lose National Morale points to war weariness as follows:
- 50 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1915
- 100 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1916
- 150 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1917
- 200 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1918
As of January 1917, the Ottomans will have the option to spend 25 MPPs to gain 50 NM points per turn if their National Morale has dropped below 50%. As of February 1918, they will have the same option again if their National Morale has dropped below 40%.
11.10 Ottoman Armistice and Surrender
As noted in 6.5 above, the NM impact on Germany and Austria-Hungary of the Ottomans signing an armistice and withdrawing from the war has been reduced to the equivalent of the NM points gained when the Ottomans joined the Central Powers. To have the full NM impact listed in the regular game, the Entente has to drive the Ottoman Empire to surrender.
12. Persia
Comment: Both the Russians and British had significant zones of influence in Persia by 1914 and the oil wells in southern Persia were an important strategic source of oil for the British Empire. Persia was a complex secondary theatre of conflict between the British, Russians and Ottomans from the beginning of the war. These changes are meant to reflect that.
High mountain hexes have been added to the map on either side of Tehran to represent Mount Damavand and the Alborz mountains.
A new DE has been given to Russia which fires when the Ottomans enter the war, enabling the Russians to exercise their sphere of influence over northern Persia in the area known as Persian Azerbaijan. If they say YES, an area of northern Persia centred on Tabriz is transferred to Russian control. (This done by giving it to Armenia which becomes a 100% mobilized Russian minor). A Russian division will deploy in Tabriz. An Armenian Volunteer Detachment will also deploy if Ottoman troops move to the border with Persian Azerbaijan.
In the south, the oil well at Abadan has been transferred on the map back to Persia. A new Persian oil convoy route to the UK will start as soon as the UK seizes Basra. The land convoy will link the oil wells at Maidan-I-Naftun and Abadan and will end in Basra. The convoy will be worth 25 MPPs for the UK (or 30 MPPs if the Russians do not occupy Persian Azerbaijan). This is a net increase for the UK of 15 MPPs over the production of just the Abadan oil well when it was part of Mesopotamia. If the Entente liberate Mesopotamia, the Persian oil convoy will be re-routed to the U.K. through the port of Bandar Mashahr (so that Basra may be used for the convoy from Mesopotamia to the UK).
Germany can send agents into southern Persia, led by Wilhelm Wassmuss. Their target is to sabotage Basra and thus disrupt the Persian oil convoy to the UK. The cost of this DE has been reduced from 50 to 30 MPPs. The Central Powers can also interrupt the oil convoy through diplomacy by swinging Persia to the Central Powers. Or the Ottomans could choose to invade southern Persia and occupy one or more resource hexes on the convoy line. If the Central Powers conquer Persia, the UK can send agents to sabotage cities in central Persia.
Kermanshah, Tabriz and Tehran are now NM objectives for the Ottoman Empire. These new objectives should provide some incentives for the Ottomans to declare war on Persia.
If the Central Powers choose to DOW Persia, the 5 strength Persian Cossack Corps will mobilize to defend Tehran. However, the four 5 strength detachments of the Persian Gendarmerie (based in Kermanshah, Hamadan, Khorramabad and Qum respectively) each have only a 50% chance of mobilizing against the Central Powers if Ottoman units come within 3 hexes of their bases. The other 50% of the time they will defect and become Ottoman units.
If the Entente chooses to DOW Persia, all four of the Persian Gendarmerie units will mobilize if the Entente units come within 3 hexes of their towns. However, the Persian Cossack unit in Tehran will only mobilize against the Entente 50% of the time; the other 50% of the time, it will defect and become a Russian unit.
Note that if Persia mobilizes for the Central Powers (either due to diplomacy or an Entente DOW against Persia), the United Kingdom will automatically seize control of the oil producing hexes in southern Persia so that the oil convoy to the U.K through Basra will not be disrupted.
* From October 1915 onward, as soon as the British advance into Mesopotamia as far as Amara, a new DE will fire which allows the Russians to create a Persian Expeditionary Force. This force will consist of two units, a cavalry division which mobilizes in Tabriz and an infantry division which mobilizes in Astara.
Comment: All of these changes are meant to give both sides incentives to declare war on and occupy Persia, in order to gain greater control over its resources and positional advantage vis-a-vis the enemy.
13. Balkan Modifications
Comment: World War One broke out in the Balkans and the loyalties of the new states in the region were highly volatile. It is a critical theatre for the Central Powers if they wish to establish a land bridge to the Ottoman Empire. The longer Serbia survives, the easier it becomes for the Entente to send additional forces there through Greece or Albania. The following changes were made to better reflect history, and to make it an even more competitive theatre in the first fifteen months of the war.
13.1 Albania
Albania no longer has 75% chance to swing to join the Entente after the Albanian civil war breaks out in September 1914. It will remain neutral until one of the major powers declares war against it or it joins the Entente through one of two new Decision Events.
If the Central Powers declare war on Albania, Italy will swing 25 - 35% towards the Entente and Bulgaria will swing 10-15%. If the Entente declares war on Albania, both Italy and Bulgaria will swing by the same amounts towards the Central Powers. DOWs on Albania by either side have no effect on USA mobilization.
Greece will not be affected by a DOW on Albania. However, in October 1914 after the Albanian civil war breaks out, Greece will annex Northern Epirus, which is a small region in southern Albania.
* Under a new DE, Austria-Hungary can propose to Italy in December 1914 that it annex Albania instead of mobilizing against Austria-Hungary in early 1915 (see below). If Italy accepts this proposal, Albania will immediately become Italian territory. There will be no impacts on the mobilization of other majors or minors if Italy accepts this Central Powers proposal.
Albania can also join the Entente under another new DE, if Serbia decides to abandon its last capital and retreat through its territory (see below)
* Italy is now the Entente parent for Albania if it joins the Entente (rather than Russia in the regular game). If the Central Powers capture Tirana, Italy will lose 1000 NM points.
Comment: Albania only became an independent state through a pact among the Balkan powers in the spring of 1914. Italy was the major power with the greatest political ambitions in Albania. Although it is the poorest and weakest minor in the game, Albania occupies a potentially strategic location adjacent to Serbia and Montenegro. By not having Albania join the Entente in September 1914, the Entente no longer can use the port of Tirana to reinforce Serbia and thus will be forced to rely on reinforcing Serbia through Salonika in Greece, as happened historically. In this mod, once Bulgaria and Italy have joined the war there are no remaining disincentives for either side to declare war on Albania.
* 13.2 Serbia
A new DE for Serbia has been added which fires when Uskub is the last remaining Serbian capital, and the Central Powers have one unit adjacent to Uskub. This event allows Serbia to swing Albania to join the Entente, so that the Serbian army can retreat through Albanian territory to reach the port at Tirana, where they can be transported to safety. If Albania has been annexed by Italy, Serbia can make the same appeal to Italy to enter Albanian territory.
In return, Serbia automatically surrenders at the end of its next turn. This option is a last resort to save what is left of the Serbian Army if a retreat route through Greece is not open. Free Serbian units in Albania will undergo a special attrition round in their first turn there.
Comment: this new DE reflects the choice that the Serbian government had to make in November 1915 when three Central Power armies were descending on Uskub, and their escape route to Greece was cut off by the Bulgarians. Another new DE allows the Entente to occupy Corfu to serve as a base for the surviving Free Serbian units. Note that Free Serbian units are controlled by Russia (as long as Russia is still in the game) and can be upgraded in line with Russian tech levels.
* As noted above in 7.7, the National Morale impact of Serbia's surrender on other majors diminishes over time in this mod.
* The Entente parent for Free Serbian units after Serbia surrenders is now France (rather than Russia).
13.3 Bulgaria
* Bulgaria will swing 1-4% towards the Central Powers on a 35% chance per turn after Belgrade has fallen without requiring a CP unit to remain on Belgrade (as in the regular game). However, this swing will only occur provided that the Central Powers still control Lemberg, Krakow, Thorn and Konigsberg. If they lose control of one or more of those resources to the Russians, Bulgaria will not resume its swing towards the CP until those resources have been recaptured.
* A new script will fire if Nish is captured by the CP which will swing Bulgaria by 4-6% every turn towards the Central Powers.
Comment: the Bulgarians were very sensitive to the progress of the war on the Eastern Front, and they did not start to move with any speed towards the Central Powers until after Germany they had reversed all the Russian gains in Galicia in 1914. However, given Bulgarian claims to Ottoman territory occupied by Serbia, once Nish falls, they will move quickly to mobilize against the Serbs.
Bulgaria's alternate capital has been moved from Varna to Plovdiv.
Comment: As an alternate capital, Varna is very vulnerable to a surprise attack by the Entente from Romania; thus, it does not offer much of a back-up to Sofia if either side declares war on Bulgaria. Moving the alternate capital to Plovdiv in the centre of the country makes it impossible to take out Bulgaria in one move.
13.4 Montenegro
A new post-surrender partisan spawning hex has been added to Montenegro.
Comment: this seemed reasonable as a complement to Serbia's two partisans spawning hexes.
14. Greece
Comment: Although Greek forces played a minor role in active combat in World War One, its strategic location as a potential supply line and staging area for the Entente to support Serbia gives it an outsized importance in the early phases of the war. It starts as an opportunistic minor that can swing towards either side depending on threats and opportunities presented by its neighbours. However, the coherence of Greek policy was hampered by the political schism between the King and the Prime Minister. These modifications reflect that.
14.1 Greek Mobilization
Greece starts aligned with the Entente but at 0% mobilization. Once the Ottoman Empire enters the war Greece will swing to 15% for the Entente. If the Entente captures the Dardanelles and is has one naval unit in the Sea of Marmara, Greece will swing a further 30 - 45% to the Entente. If the Entente has one ground unit within 3 hexes of Constantinople, Greece will swing a further 10-15% each turn towards the Entente.
Comment: The Ottoman Empire was Greece's former imperial ruler. Greece and the Ottomans were at odds in 1914 over the protection of Greek communities in Anatolia. If the Gallipoli campaign had gone any further and the Entente seriously threatened Constantinople, the Greeks would have been keen to join the fray and pick-up more spoils from an Ottoman defeat.
Once Bulgaria reaches 70% mobilization for the Central Powers, Greece will start to mobilize for the Entente at 5 - 8% per turn and will continue every turn unless Serbia surrenders. If Serbia surrenders, however, Greece will swing 20 - 30% towards the Central Powers.
Comment: Greece was highly sensitive to Bulgaria altering the balance of power in the Balkans. If the Entente had not jumped the gun by intervening in northern Greece to support Serbia, Greece would have eventually mobilized and come to Serbia's aid as per their mutual defence pact.
14.2 Entente Intervention in Northern Greece
A new Decision Event replaces the British/French events in the existing game to "Pressure Greece to use Salonika as a Base". Starting on July 3, 1915, provided that Bulgaria has reached 60% for the Central Powers, each turn there is a 35% chance that France will be presented with a new Decision Event asking if they wish to intervene in northern Greece to open a new supply route to Serbia. If the Entente player says YES, northern Greece including Salonika transfers to Entente control, and the Entente can land units there. When Bulgaria enters the war, one 8 strength corps will mobilize as a new French unit in Salonika and one 10 strength detachment will mobilize in Kavalla. The rest of Greece will swing 10% away from the Entente. Greece will remain neutral and will not be affected by what subsequently happens to Serbia or Bulgaria. If the Entente player says NO, then the whole of Greece can still join the Entente at a later date after Bulgaria reaches 70% mobilization as described above.
Comment: this DE reflects the political schism that was precipitated in Greece in when the Entente responded to an appeal for intervention by the Greek Prime Minister that did not have the support of the King.
If the Entente intervenes in Greece, France will receive a new DE as soon as Serbia has surrendered giving the Entente the option to occupy Corfu, which they can use as a base for Serbian units to retreat to from Albania.
Comment: this happened in January 1916.
If the Entente does intervene and then Serbia surrenders and the Entente loses Salonika, Greece will shift a further 20-25% and become aligned with the Central Powers rather than the Entente.
Comment: This outcome would reflect the pro-German King Constantine consolidating his authority and shifting Greece towards the Central Powers after an Entente defeat in the Balkans.
If the Entente maintains control over northern Greece, they will have the option to force King Constantine to abdicate after the Russian Czar has been overthrown in the First Russian Revolution. If the Entente says YES, Greece will swing towards the Entente at 5-8% per turn every turn until it enters the war.
Comment: this happened in June 1917.
14.3 Re-routing the French Convoy to Serbia through Salonika
If the Central Powers occupy one of the five land hexes on the road between Cetinje and Pristina (including either of those towns), the French convoy to Serbia through Cetinje will be disrupted. A new DE will give France the choice to re-route the convoy through Salonika (rather than making this automatic, as in the regular game), provided Greece is aligned with the Entente. If Greece is not fully mobilized, re-routing this convoy will cost France 50 MPPs.
Comment: It seems reasonable that the Entente would have to pay neutral Greece to use the port of Salonika to supply Serbia. This also imposes a modest trade-off for the strategic benefit of being able to re-route the convoy.
14.4 Greek Convoy to Austria-Hungary
If Greece becomes aligned towards the Central Powers (0% or higher) through diplomacy and/or events, and if the Central Powers have occupied all of Serbia, the Eastern Mediterranean convoy from Greece to the UK will stop and a new overland convoy from Greece to Austria-Hungary will start running along the rail line from Athens to Budapest. Austria-Hungary is now the major for the Central Powers for Greece (to enable this convoy to fire).
14.5 Deployment of Greek Units
In the regular game, most Greek units will mobilize 50% of the time or less if an enemy unit is within the prescribed distance of their home base. This reflects the divided loyalties of the Greek army due to the political schism that emerged between the King and Prime Minister Venizelos. In this mod, that political fact is represented by the new Entente Intervention rules described above in 17.2. Instead in this mod, if Greece actually joins either the Entente or the Central Powers, there is a 100% probability that its units will mobilize as soon as enemy units come within range. In addition, the Greek corps in Salonika and the detachment in Kavalla mobilize as soon as Bulgaria joins the war to prevent either town from being captured in a surprise attack.
14.6 Greek Build Restrictions
Greece can only start build new units in April 1916.
Comment: Greece was very slow to mobilize its army and really only geared up its war effort in 1917 after King Constantine was forced to abdicate. This limit prevents Greece from being a troop contributing minor until the latter half of the war.
15. Austria-Hungary
* 15.1 War Weariness
Austria-Hungary will lose National Morale points to war weariness as follows:
- 50 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1915
- 100 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1916
- 150 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1917
- 200 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1918
As of January 1917, Austria-Hungary will have the option to spend 25 MPPs to gain 50 NM points per turn if their National Morale has dropped below 50%. As of February 1918, they will have the same option again if their National Morale has dropped below 40%.
* 15.2 Mutinies and Desertions
The risk of Austro-Hungarian units deserting has been increased in this mod, though the number of units affected at any one time has been reduced. There is a 2% chance each turn this will happen once Austro-Hungarian national morale falls to 50% and additional 2% chance once it falls to 35%. For Austria-Hungary, desertions are triggered along a specific stretch of front with Russia (only): within five hexes of Tarnopol, Czernowitz, Vinnitsa, Odessa, Kiev or Bucharest (if Romania is in the war) or within 10 hexes of Vilna. When a desertion script fires, every Austro-Hungarian unit in range loses 10% - 25% in unit morale and there is 50% chance of each unit losing one strength point. (In the regular game, the desertion effects are the same, but the risk is 3% per turn once Austro-Hungarian NM falls to 50%, affecting every unit within 35 hexes of Vienna).
The script which triggers mutinies and desertions among Central Powers units in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution no longer applies across the whole Russian front. Instead, separate scripts can fire affecting CP units within specified ranges of Petrograd, Moscow, Riga, Minsk, Vinnitsa or Odessa.
In addition, Austro-Hungarian troops that are relocated by the game engine from Russia back to Galicia or East Prussia automatically suffer a wave of desertions if Austro-Hungarian National Morale is 50% or lower. These units will lose 25-35% of their morale and can lose one strength point.
Comment: Desertions were an increasing common occurrence among Austro-Hungarian forces as the war progressed. Formations raised from Slavic nationalities within the Empire were particularly prone to desert - hence this effect has been restricted to the Empire's eastern front with Russia, as most of the troops on the Italian front came from the German-speaking parts of the Empire. The wave of desertions for relocated Austro-Hungarian units after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is meant to parallel those suffered by German and Bulgarian troops. See details below.
* 15.3 National Morale
Over the course of the game, Austria-Hungary's National Morale will be reduced due to the following additional factors:
* Austria-Hungary will not have the option to support refugees from Galicia and will lose 2000 NM if Russia invades Galicia.
* If the Russians capture both the Galician Oilfields and Czernowitz, Austria-Hungary will lose 50 NM per turn due to the destruction of prime agricultural land in eastern Galicia and Bukovina. This will continue even if the Austro-Hungarians retake both objectives. (In the regular game, they lose 50 NM points each for the Oilfields and Stanislaw, but this ends when either objective is recaptured).
* Austria-Hungary will lose 50 NM per turn as long as Serbia controls Nish, due to disruption of grain imports from Romania along the Danube. If Romania joins the Entente, Austria-Hungary will lose 100 NM per turn due to the complete cessation of grain exports from Romania. These penalties will cease if Romania withdraws from the war (i.e., signs the Treaty of Bucharest).
* Once Emperor Franz Joseph I dies and Kaiser Karl ascends to the throne, Austria-Hungary will lose an additional 50 NM per turn, due to increased nationalist tensions under the new Emperor. There is a 10% chance per turn starting on September 17, 1916, of the death of Franz Joseph. (This replaces the 500 NM hit that Austria-Hungary takes when Kaiser Karl ascends to the throne in the regular game).
* Austria-Hungary will also lose 500 NM when the Russian Czar abdicates in the First Revolution, due to the encouragement that will give to national minorities in Austria-Hungary.
* However, Austria-Hungary will gain 50 NM per turn, once Russia withdraws from the war through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. See section 15.4 below.
* Comment: The regular game severely under-estimates how fragile Austro-Hungarian national morale was from the start of the war, due to the shaky legitimacy of the Dual Monarchy with most of its national minorities. Access to food supplies from eastern Galicia and Romania was also critical factor. These changes reflect that. Despite the mounting NM losses that Austria-Hungary will face by 1917, they can reduce those if both Italy and Russia are forced to withdraw from the war. Forcing Romania to surrender, if it joins the Entente side, will also help Austria-Hungary make it to November 1918 intact.
* 15.4 First Winter in the Carpathians
* During the three winter turns of 1915, on January 2, January 30 and February 27, Austro-Hungarian units stationed on hill or mountain hexes (only) in the Carpathians will suffer extra attrition effects. (For this purpose, the Carpathians means any hill or mountain hex inside the 1914 borders of Austria-Hungary west of Czernowitz, east of Ostrawa and north of Klausenberg, inclusive). There is a 75% chance on each turn for each unit to lose zero or one strength points and 20%- 40% morale.
Comment: Austro-Hungarian units were very poorly equipped to deal with the winter conditions they experienced when fighting against the Russian in the Carpathians in the first winter of the war. These new scripts reflects they heavy attrition they suffered. (These attrition effects are equivalent to what the Ottomans suffer every winter in the Caucasus).
* 15.5 Diplomatic Proposal to Italy
* If Austria-Hungary rejects the option of transferring Trento and Trieste to Italy in December 1914, a new DE will fire giving Austria-Hungary the option of proposing to Italy that it annex Albania, in return for no objection by the Central Powers. If Italy accepts this proposal, it will significantly slow Italy's swing toward the Entente, giving Austria-Hungary relief from having to defend its borders with Italy until late 1915. If Italy accepts this proposal and the Entente side later decides to request that Serbian forces be able to escape through Albania, Austria-Hungary will automatically declare that a state of hostilities exists with Italy. See details below of how these options will affect Italian mobilization rates.
Comment: The Chief of the German General Staff von Falkenhayn recommended to his Austrian counterpart, Conrad von Hötzendorff, that he make such a proposal after Italian nationalists started agitating for war. Conrad rejected this suggestion. This DE gives the CP side the opportunity to consider that diplomatic option.
*15.6 Russian Armistice
If the Central Powers sign an armistice with Russia through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Austria-Hungary will also earn 50 NM points per turn and 25 MPPs from grain exports from Ukraine. To maintain these grain flows, they must keep two Austro-Hungarian corps within three hexes of Lemberg.
Comment: The Austro-Hungarians also benefited from the division of Ukrainian grain exports agreed among the Central Powers after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and they had to maintain considerable number of troops in the east to ensure that it. This provision reflects that.
15.7 Naval Saboteurs
The DE for the Austro-Hungarian saboteurs attacking Italian port now cost 25 MPPs for two turns (rather than 50 MPPs for one turn).
Comment: The existing DE triggers early in the campaign at a time when Austria-Hungary needs all the MPPs it can get to build up its armies on the Italian frontier. This change makes this option easier to afford for Austria-Hungary.
15.8 Polish Legion
The DE for Josef Pilsudski's Polish Legion now costs Austria-Hungary only 30 MPPs, and the unit arrives at the start of the third turn, on August 29, 1914.
Comment: The reduced cost more fairly reflects the value of the unit (it arrives at half strength) and it makes the DE more attractive for Austria-Hungary in the opening weeks of the war.
16. Denmark
If Denmark swings to 30% for the Central Powers, a loop is created in the Baltic allowing German ships to move through Denmark from the Baltic to the Kattegat. If you move your cursor over the Baltic near Denmark, the hexes of this new loop will be identified. German ships can also use the existing loop to move into the Baltic through Denmark without a causing Denmark to swing to the Entente. This is explained in a new DE that fires for the Central Powers when Denmark reaches 30%.
If Denmark swings 40% to the Entente, the same provisions will apply to all Entente ships. A different loop has been created for the Entente to use to move from the Baltic to the Kattegat, which is also visible if you move your cursor. A new DE fires for the Entente as well, explaining this.
The U.K. can allocate 5 diplomacy chits to Denmark; Russia, 3 chits and France 2. Italy and Serbia are blocked from allocated chits to Denmark but not the U.SA. For the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary can allocate 5 diplomacy chits each, but not the Ottomans.
Comment: these options create a limited ability for both sides to move from the Baltic to the North Sea without bringing Denmark fully into the war. It could lead to more naval combat in the Skagerrak and the Kattegat around Denmark, or the lower Baltic.
17. Egypt
To reflect the severe supply challenges of combat in the Sinai, the roads across the desert hexes in the Sinai and the Suez Canal have been removed from the map. The town of Nekhl in the middle of the Sinai has been removed too. El-Arish has been reduced in size to a settlement. It will have its supply value reduced to zero until U.K. can complete a rail line and a freshwater pipeline from Port Said to El Arish. A new DE gives the UK the option to rebuild the supply from El Arish starting in April 1916, provided that it controls the route from there to Port Said.
Comment: these modifications are intended to make it harder - though not impossible - for either side to mount attacks across the Sinai. Historically, the U.K. only launched its campaign to conquer Palestine in 1917 after the freshwater pipeline and rail line across the northern Sinai had been completed.
18. Finland
If Finland becomes independent and is aligned with the Central Powers (after the German DE to send General von der Goltz there) it can swing an additional 20% if the Central Powers capture Revel in Estonia and an additional 20% if the Central Powers capture Narva.
Comment: this is intended to give the Central Powers an incentive to bring Finland fully into the war on their side so they can attack Petrograd from the north. This could encourage them to try to conquer Russia outright, rather than acceding to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
19. France
*19.1 War Weariness
France will lose National Morale points to war weariness as follows:
- 75 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1915
- 150 NM point per turn starting on January 1, 1916
- 225 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1917
- 300 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1918
As of January 1917, France will have the option to spend 37 MPPs to gain 75 NM points per turn if their National Morale has dropped below 50%. As of February 1918, they will have the same option again if their National Morale has dropped below 40%.
* 19.2 Impact of U.S. War Entry
The NM boost that France receives when the USA enters the war has been reduced from 3000 to 2000 NM points. This has been offset by increasing the boost which France receives when US troops land in France from 1000 to 2000 NM points. However, to obtain the latter boost, the U.S. must land at least three U.S. army corps within 5 hexes of Paris.
Comment: U.S. entry into the war was met with unrealistically high expectations among French troops that a large American force would immediately appear in Europe to support them. This new requirement is meant to model that. It is also intended to give the Entente side more reasons to build and transport U.S. corps to fight in France.
*19.3 French Army Mutiny
If French National Morale is at 50% or below, there is a 2% chance per Entente turn of a French army mutiny breaking out among troops within three hexes of Ypres, Paris, Chalons and Toul. Affected units will not suffer strength point losses but will lose 50 - 85% of their unit morale. Unlike the desertion scripts for Italy, Russia and Austria-Hungary, these are one-time events; once a mutiny has happened in a given location, it will not happen again. The presence of one U.S. Army corps within 3 hexes of each of these locations will reduce the risk of a mutiny there to zero.
Comment: the French Army mutiny of 1917 was a major event on the Entente side of the war. It affected about 40% of French Army divisions on the Western Front. Affected troops did not desert and would defend themselves but refused to go on the offensive. These provisions replace the French mutiny scripts in the regular game. The opportunity to reduce the risk of mutiny by stationing U.S. corps nearby is intended to model the positive morale effects of the arrival of substantial U.S. ground forces on French army morale.
20. Germany
*20.1 National Morale Effects of the Entente Naval Blockade
The effects of the Entente naval blockade on German National Morale are as follows:
- In 1914, -20 points on the Northern Line and - 10 points on the Distant Line
- In 1916, -30 points on the Northern Line and - 15 points on the Distant Line
- In 1917, -40 points on the Northern Line and - 20 points on the Distant Line
- In 1918, -50 points on the Northern Line and - 25 points on the Distant Line
* This means that if all the blockade hexes are occupied with Entente ships in 1918, Germany will lose 800 NM points per turn. Note that the increased blockade effects in 1918 require that the USA has entered the war.
* 20.2 National Morale Effects of Unrestricted Naval Warfare
* To partially offset increased effects of the Entente blockade, the NM benefits of Germany declaring unrestricted naval warfare have been increased. Germany will earn:
- In 1914, +75 NM points for each shipping zone that has a German naval vessel on one hex
- In 1916, +110 NM points for each shipping zone that has a German naval vessel on one hex
- In 1917, +150 NM points for each shipping zone that has a German naval vessel on one hex
Comment: this schedule has been weighted to encourage Germany to declare unrestricted naval warfare before the U.S. enters the war (as actually happened, and which contributed directly to the U.S. decision to enter the war).
* 20.3 Reduced food imports from the Netherlands
* The U.K. has a new DE that will fire in March 1916 giving it the option of tightening the blockade against neutral shipping to the Netherlands. If the UK accepts this option, German MPPs from the Netherlands will be reduce from 65 MPPs per turn in 1914 to 50 MPPs in 1916, then 30 MPPs in 1916 and finally only 10 MPPs by 1918. In addition, the hunger penalty that Germany pays even if the Netherlands in CP aligned will rise by 10 NM points per turn per year, starting in 1916.
* 20.4 "Turnip Winter"
* Germany will lose 500 NM per turn due to increased hunger for ten turns, from November 16, 1916, through May 5, 1917.
Comment: The German population faced acute hunger in the winter of 1916 -17 due to the loss of more than 50% of the potato crop due to heavy rains. This period became known as "turnip winter".
* 20.5 Diversion of Synthetic Nitrogen Production
* Three new DEs give Germany the option of diverting its supplies of synthetic nitrogen used to make shells into fertilizer to boost domestic agricultural production. Germany will have three opportunities to make this decision in the first CP turns of 1916, 1917 and 1918 respectively, provided German National Morale is at 90% or below. Each DE allows Germany to spend 50 MPPs to earn 100 NM points per turn. These German DEs are in lieu of the option of spending MPPs to raise national morale given to Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
Comment: After all of its stocks of imported fertilizer were exhausted by the beginning of 1916, Germany could have replaced them with the synthetic nitrogen being produced by the Haber process. Instead, the German High Command was determined to use all of these stocks for the production of artillery shells.
*20.6 Effects of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
* After Bolshevik Revolution has happened in Russia and Russian National Morale has dropped to 12% a revised DE pops up for Germany to begin negotiations with Russia to end the war. If the CP player accepts this DE, then there is a 50% chance at the end of each subsequent Entente turn that the Russians will conclude the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and will withdraw from the war. (Once the DE has fired for the Germans, the Russians cannot withdraw from negotiating an armistice; it is just a matter of chance when they will agree to it). Once that event fires, all of the territorial transfers and creation of new states dictated by the Treaty happen at the end of the Entente turn.
Unlike the regular game, under the Treaty, Germany receives control of the three Baltic states of Estonia. However, to maintain control of these new territories, Germany must move one corps immediately to occupy respectively Revel in Estonia, Riga in Latvia and Kovno in Lithuania and must keep them there. Otherwise, each of these territories will declare independence at the end of any CP turn in which their capital is unoccupied. A new pop-up explains this at the start of the CP turn.
Comment: I have made the Treaty a two-step process that happens over a Central Powers turn and then an Entente turn to reflect the delays that actually happened in concluding the negotiations between December 1917 - February 1918. It also works better to have the territorial transfers occur at the end of an Entente turn.
Historically, Germany retained control over the Baltic states until the end of the war, but the internal instability in the area (including from the Bolsheviks) required them to maintain forces there, who became the nuclei for pro-German Freikorps at the beginning of the Russian Civil War. The CP player may decide that it is not worth keeping three corps tied up to maintain control over all three of these territories and will agree to let them one or more of them declare independence. The only negative impact for the CP side will be the loss of MPP income from the resources in that territory.
*20.6 Mutinies and Desertions
The script in the regular game which trigger mutinies and desertions among Central Powers forces in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution no longer applies across the whole Russian front. Instead, separate scripts can fire affecting all CP units within specified ranges of Petrograd, Moscow, Riga, Minsk, Vinnitsa and Odessa.
In addition, all German and Bulgarian troops that are relocated by the game engine from Russia back to East Prussia or Galicia automatically suffer a wave of desertions if German National Morale is 50% or lower. These units will lose 25-35% of their morale and have a 50% chance of losing one strength point.
Comment: This reflects the losses that German army suffered to desertion after the Treaty was signed. Many returning German soldiers in 1918 refused to be transferred to the Western Front and simply went home. In game terms, this means the CP side will probably need to spend an extra turn replacing these losses and letting their units regain unit morale before moving them to the Western Front, or elsewhere.
*20.7 German Funding for Indian Nationalists
The DE giving Germany the option of funding a nationalist plot in India has been modified. There is no longer any MPP cost to saying YES to this decision. If the plot is successful, it will cost the U.K. 300 NM points in addition to losing up to 30 MPPs from the disruption in production from India. However, there is a small risk that if the plot is discovered by U.S. authorities, the USA could swing 2-4% towards the Entente.
Comment: The plot uncovered by the affair of the Annie Larsen was one of the more intriguing German initiatives to disrupt the British war effort by promoting subversion in its most important colony. These changes give the Germans more reasons to say yes to this gamble, as well as new reasons to say no.
*20.8 New HQ for General Falkenhayn
The German DE offering the option to create a new HQ for General Falkenhayn only fires as after July 3, 1916, if Verdun is still in Entente hands and Romania has entered the war on the Entente side.
Comment: The Kaiser requested Falkenhayn's resignation as Chief of the General Staff in late August 1916 because of these two perceived failures. These adjustments make both conditions for this DE to fire.
21. Gibraltar
If the UK does not enter the war on the first turn, a new DE pops up allowing the French navy (only) to use a naval loop to move through Gibraltar from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and vice-versa. The loop will operate without any delay between the two sea hexes due east and due west of Gibraltar. These hexes will be identified by a pop-up if you move your cursor over them. Once the UK is fully mobilized, this loop will disappear.
Comment: In the standard game, the French navy cannot pass by the UK fortress of Gibraltar until the UK enters the war. This is intended to remove that obstacle. A DE has been used to ensure that the Entente player is aware of this possibility. See also the new provisions for Spain which can trigger a loop in Spanish African to by-pass Gibraltar.
22. Iceland
If Denmark swings to 30% for the Central Powers, a new DE gives Germany the option of gaining control of the port of Reykjavik for 100 MPPs.
Comment: this could be very useful for resupplying German subs raiding in the North Atlantic.
23. India
In this mod India has been added as an active U.K. minor. The units of the Indian Army that deploy in Egypt and Mesopotamia as a result of U.K decision events now arrive as Indian units. Karachi has been added as a port and an Industrial Centre on the map in Balochistan (since the map extends to this far western edge of British controlled India). Indian units that are built or rebuilt will appear here and can be transported from Karachi to Egypt, the Middle East or the Mediterranean. Two additional corps have added to India's build limits over and above the units that arrive as DEs, in case the UK wishes to use them.
Comment: India was a major troop contributor the British Imperial forces in World War One, so it seems reasonable to give them this visibility in the game. The Entente has an incentive to use Indian Army units in Egypt and the Middle East (as was done historically), since it is faster and more secure to transport them there compared units coming from Great Britain, and they are better equipped than other U.K. forces to deal with the effects of summer heat.
24. Italy
24.1 War Weariness
* Italy will lose National Morale points to war weariness as follows:
- 50 NM points per turn as soon as it enters the war in 1915
- 100 NM point per turn starting on January 1, 1916
- 150 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1917
- 200 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1918
As of January 1917, Italy will have the option to spend 25 MPPs to gain 50 NM points per turn if their National Morale has dropped below 50%. As of February 1918, they will have the same option again if their National Morale has dropped below 40%.
* 24.2 Mutinies and Desertions
The risk of Italian units deserting has been increased in this mod, though the number of units affected at any one time has been reduced. There is a 2% chance each turn this will happen once Italian national morale falls to 50% and additional 2% chance once it falls to 35%. Desertions are triggered along a specific stretch of front: either within two hexes of Udine, Verona or Bologna, or within 3 hexes of Turin. When a desertion script fires, every Italian unit in range loses 10% - 25% in unit morale and there is 50% chance of each unit losing one strength point. (In the regular game, the desertion effects are the same, but the risk is 3% per turn once Italian NM falls to 50%, affecting every unit within 20 hexes of Rome).
*24.3 Annexing Albania and Slower Mobilization
* If Austria-Hungary makes the proposal to Italy in December 1914 to annex Albania, Italy will receive a new DE giving them the choice to accept it. Accepting the proposal will cost 10 MPPs per turn for 5 turns. Italy will then immediately annex Albania (which will cease to exist as a country). Italian mobilization will rise to 25% for the Entente as of January 2, 1915. Then it will only continue to rise by 4-8% per turn on a 25% chance each turn, rising to a 50% chance each turn after the beginning of September 1915. This rate compares with a 10-25% swing each turn on a 75% chance starting in January 1915 if Italy says NO to the Austro-Hungarian proposal.
* If the U.K. enters into secret talks with Italy and helps fund its mobilization (as per the existing DE for the Treaty of London), Italy will swing an additional 10 -15% to the Entente. This DE will only fire once Italy reaches 40% mobilization on or after April 1915.
* If Italy has annexed Albania before Italy has joined the war, Serbia can appeal to Italy to allow its troops to enter Albania to escape destruction by the Central Powers (see above). This DE will only fire for Serbia if Italy is already mobilized at 50% or more for the Entente. If Serbia accepts this DE, the Austro-Hungarians will immediately declare that a state of hostilities with Italy and Italy will move to full mobilization next turn.
* If the Entente gains control of Albania by whatever means, Italy will lose 1000 NM points if the Central Powers subsequently capture Tirana.
Comment: this new DE is meant to give the Italians the option of improving the Entente's strategic position in the Balkans at the cost of a slower mobilization rate for Italy. A slower mobilization rate however could also enable Italy enters the war with a higher state of preparedness than it normally does in the spring of 1915. It also makes the U.K. option to sign the secret Treaty of London with Italy a more significant option for the Entente side.
24.4 Italian Armistice
A new armistice script has been added if Italian national morale falls to 25% or below. Austria-Hungary will be asked if they wish to respond positively to a signals that Italy is ready to sign an armistice. If they say YES, there is a 35% chance of the Italians signing an armistice each CP turn, as long as Italian national morale stays at 25% or below. If an armistice is triggered, all forces on both sides will be automatically moved back to friendly territory and Italy becomes neutral. Italy will transfer territory in northern Italy to Austria-Hungary, including the towns of Brescia, Padua, Venice, Verona, and Udine. Austria-Hungary will earn 2500 NM points and Germany will earn 1500 NM points; France will lose 2500 NM points. However, if Austria-Hungary rejects the overtures for an armistice, Italy will gain 2500 NM points and will fight until it surrenders.
Comment: This script was added to make attacking Italy a more interesting strategic option for the Central Powers. They can gain permanent NM gains and inflect a NM loss on France while permanently protecting Austria-Hungary's southern border from attack if an armistice with Italy is accepted. However, if the CP side fights on and pushes Italy to surrender, then the NM benefits and costs will be double the above amounts and the Central Powers can threaten to invade France from the south. The threshold for triggering feelers towards an armistice has been set at a relatively high threshold (25%) to reflect the brittle level of public support in Italy when the war starts to go badly.
24.5 Convoy to Italy from France
A new DE has been written giving France the option of starting its convoy to Italy as soon as Italy enters the war. Previously, the Entente had to wait until Serbia had surrendered before the convoy from France to Italy could begin.
Comment: Depending on the situation in the Balkans, Italy may be able to make better use of the extra resources than Serbia. Also, Serbia may still have access to the convoy from Russia.
24.6 Italian Frogmen
The DE for the Italian frogmen against Austro-Hungarian ports now cost 25 MPPs for two turns (rather than 50 MPPs for one turn).
Comment: As with the equivalent change in the cost of the Austro-Hungarian saboteurs, this is intended to make this DE easier for Italy to afford early in the war.
25. Libya
25.1 The Senussi Uprising
The DE for the Ottomans to fund the Senussi revolt has been moved up to August 7, 1915, and the trigger has been set at 25%. This will make the starting date for the revolt somewhat more unpredictable for both sides.
More partisan spawning hexes and more spawning events have been added to in Libya to make it difficult for the Italians to prevent Senussi partisans from spawning. The spawning hexes south of Tobruk have the highest likelihood of spawning partisans, the ones further west have a lower trigger per turn. The maximum number of Senussi partisans that can be active at one time is 4.
Senussi partisans have the same increases in combat and movement capabilities as Arab partisans.
Comment: these changes were made to make the Senussi uprising a more potent threat to the Italian position in Libya, and to partially offset the increased threat to the Ottomans from the Arab uprising.
25.2 Italian Garrisons
A 5 strength Italian Colonist Garrison will mobilize in Benghazi if CP forces (including partisans) approach within three hexes.
* 25.3 Ottoman Regulars
The DE giving the Ottomans the option to form a half strength regular corps in support of the Senussi can be triggered if the Senussi capture Benghazi or Tobruk, in addition to Bardia (which was the only trigger point in the standard game). The Ottoman corps arrives in the town that has been captured by the Senussi.
26. Morocco
Two more partisan spawning hexes have been added to Morocco. If one Moroccan partisan hex spawns on a 2% chance, the chances of the other two partisan hexes spawning increases to 10%. The cost to Germany of funding the Moroccan partisans has been reduced from 50 to 30 MPPs. This DE now triggers with a 20% chance starting in November 1914. If Germany says YES, France has a 20% chance of receiving a pop-up advising that German agents are funding subversion in the Riff.
Comment: these adjustments makes the German option to fund subversion in Morocco more attractive and should require France to pay a bit more attention to Morocco over the course of the game.
27. Netherlands
The U.K. and France may each allocate 5 diplomacy chits to the Netherlands. Russia, Italy and Serbia are blocked from allocated diplomacy to the Netherlands, but not the U.S.A. For the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary can allocated 5 diplomacy chits each, but not the Ottomans.
* There is a new DE for the UK that fires in March 1916 to strengthen the blockade and thus reduce food exports to Germany from the Netherlands, at a cost of swinging the Netherlands more to the Central Powers. See the section on the U.K. below.
28. Norway
If Norway swings to 50% for the Central Powers, Germany obtains control of the ports of Bergen and Stavanger.
The Norwegian convoy to the U.K. that is triggered when Norway reaches 20% for the Entente will shift from Narvik to Trondheim if Sweden also moves to 20% for the Entente. The Norwegian convoy to the U.K. will terminate in the port of Rosyth rather than Cromarty.
The U.K can allocate 5 diplomacy chits to Norway; France 3 chits and Russia 2 chits. Italy and Serbia are blocked from allocated chits to Norway, but not the U.SA. For the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary can allocate 5 diplomacy chits each, but not the Ottomans.
Comment: securing these two Norwegian ports could prove very useful for German naval attacks against the Entente blockade line in the North Sea. Rosyth is a much bigger industrial center and thus a more logical endpoint for these convoy than Cromarty. The slightly longer convoy route may offer some additional raiding options for German subs.
29. Portugal
Portugal starts the war 50% aligned for the Entente, which will increase to 60% after the Germans surrender in South-West Africa in July 1915. A new DE has been added that fires on March 25, 1916, reflecting the historic events that brought Portugal into the war on the Entente side. Portugal will swing to 85% for the Entente, followed by a 75% chance that the Central Powers will declare war on Portugal. Portugal can also swing 3- 6% towards the Entente if Germany has ships on the convoy route that passes in front of Lisbon to Bristol, or near Lisbon.
Comment: these events can bring Portugal into the war on the Entente side by early 1916 at a cost of 50 MPPs, perhaps aided by one or two diplomacy chits if the Central Powers do not declare war.
* 30. Romania
* Czernowitz has been added to the list of Austro-Hungarian NM objectives which will swing Romania 10 - 15% towards to the Entente if captured by the Russians. If recaptured by Austria-Hungary, Romania will swing back 8 - 12% towards the Central Powers.
Comment: Czernowitz was the capital of the important agricultural province of Bukovina. Adding it to the list of NM objectives that will help sway Romania to join the war will increase the chances of Romania entering on the Entente side, in particular in the 1916 campaign. Historically, Romania declared war on the Central Powers in late August 1916.
Last edited by mdsmall on Mon Apr 01, 2024 6:27 pm, edited 10 times in total.
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
31. Russia
* Comment: Significant changes have been made to the settings for Russia in this version of the mod. The overall intent is to better reflect the poor quality of Russian command and control and ability to supply their troops, compared to their CP opponents. The changes described above reducing the benefits of Industrial Tech for all powers will in particular reduce Czarist Russia's ability to grow its economy to an enormous size over the game. (Czarist Russia simply did not have to capacity to mobilize its huge economy the same way the Soviet Union in World War Two). At the same time, Russia has been made more resilient to rapid collapse by reducing the NM value of Warsaw and the NM value of Russian resource hexes. In order to drive Russian National Morale to the point where they will withdraw from the war, it will be necessary for the Central Powers to continue to destroy Russian armies, rather than just sitting on territory gained in Poland and the Baltics and waiting for Russian National Morale to fall. This reflects the Russians historic willingness to surrender land if necessary and lure invaders deeper into their territory.
* 31.1 War Weariness
* Russia will lose National Morale points to war weariness as follows:
- 75 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1915
- 150 NM point per turn starting on January 1, 1916
- 225 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1917
- 300 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1918
* As of January 1917, Russia will have the option to spend 37 MPPs to gain 75 NM points per turn provided that the First Revolution has already occurred (triggered by Russian National Morale dropping below 25%). As of February 1918, the Kerensky Government will have the same option again if their National Morale has dropped below 30%.
* 31.2 Mutinies and Desertions
The risk of Russian units deserting has been increased in this mod, though the number of units affected at any one time has been reduced. There is a 2% chance each turn this will happen once Russian national morale falls to 50% and additional 4% chance after the First Revolution has occurred. For Russia desertions are triggered within a specific number of hexes of Petrograd, Moscow, Riga, Minsk, Vinnitsa, Odessa and Bucharest (if Romania is in the war). When a desertion script fires, every Russian unit in range loses 10% - 25% in unit morale and there is 50% chance of each unit losing one strength point. (In the regular game, the desertion effects are the same, but the risk is 4% per turn once Russian NM falls to 50%, affecting every unit within 35 hexes of Moscow).
* 31.3 National Morale Objectives
* The national morale impact on Russia of losing Warsaw has been reduced to 3000 NM points (down from 5000). Germany gains 1500 NM by taking Warsaw (rather than 2000). However, Russia loses 2000 NM points rather than 1000 if Brest-Litovsk is captured.
As noted above in 8.3, new NM objectives have been added for Russia in Baku, Batum, Kars and Tiflis, which will cost Russia NM points if they are lost. At the same time, new NM objectives have been added for Russia in Lemberg, Krakow, Thorn and Konigsberg which will earn NM points for Russia if Russia captures them.
Comment: One reason why East first strategies for the Central Powers have become so frequent is that Warsaw is such a huge national morale liability for Russia. At its original value of 5000 NM, Warsaw has a higher NM value than Verdun and far higher than Petrograd or Moscow. Yet Russia abandoned Warsaw in 1915 without putting up a fight.
* 31.4 Supply and NM Value of Russian Resources
* Most resources hexes in Russia have had their supply value reduced by 2, thus towns provide a supply of 6 and fortified towns and cities supply of 8. Ports, capitals and major cities are unaffected.
* Towns, fortresses and ports in Russia have had their NM value reduced to 0; fortified towns have had their NM reduced to 10 (from 15); cities have had their NM value reduced to 20 (from 25).
These changes do not affect the MPPs produced by these resources.
* Comment: the reduced supply from Russian resources better reflects the lack of infrastructure and the significant logistics obstacles of supplying armies inside Russia. The reduced NM values is designed to encourage the traditional Russian scorched earth tactics of withdrawal in the face of an invading enemy. To knock Russia out of the war, the Central Powers will probably have to destroy most of Russia's armies. Just sitting on captured towns and cities in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia will probably not be sufficient to drive Russian National Morale to the point where the Bolsheviks offer an armistice.
* 31.5 Tech Restrictions
Russia tech investment limit has been reduced to 1200 MPPs. Russia's ability to invest in Trench Warfare, Industrial Tech and Command and Control have has new limits, as noted above.
* 31.6 Russian Rail Line Upgrades
* In September 1914, Russia will be offered a DE giving it the choice of upgrading the rail line to Archangelsk. This will be necessary in order to enable the convoy from Britain to start. The DE will cost 25 MPPs per turn for two turns. The work will be finished in time for the convoy route to begin as of April 10, 1915. Saying YES to this DE is a pre-requisite for the subsequent DE in January 1916 proposing to open a new rail line to the warm water port of Murmansk.
Comment: the single-track railroad south from Archangel in 1914 needed significant upgrading before it could be used to transport any significant volume of convoyed resources from Britain.
31.7 Deployment of the Russian Navy
On the first Entente turn in August 1914, Russia is given the choice through three new Decision Events of deploying one sub, one destroyer and one heavy cruiser in either the Baltic or the Black Sea. The DE that fires in December 1914 offering Russia the option of building a seaplane carrier, also comes with the option of building it in the Baltic or the Black Sea. The Russian naval mine that was placed in the Gulf of Finland in the regular game has been removed, giving the Russians two mines they can place on either coast.
Comment: these modifications give the Russians more options in deciding how to allocate their navy between their two separate coastlines and against different enemies.
31.8 Caucasian and Turkestan Corps
The Caucasian and Turkestan Corps that mobilize for Russia have been reclassified from mountain corps to regular corps. The exception is the 1st Caucasian Corps which is now the 1st Caucasian Mountain Division.
Comment: in the regular game, four Caucasian and Turkestan units arrive as a mountain corps - which makes Russia the only power that receives these units for free. It also gives Russian forces an excessive advantage against their Ottoman opponents in the Caucasus. This change corrects this imbalance while still giving Russia one free mountain division at the start of the game.
31.9 Russian Surrender
If Russia surrenders to the Central Powers (rather than signing an Armistice through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) both Germany and Austria-Hungary receive 5000 NM points.
32. Spain
If Spain reaches 20% for the Central Powers, a new DE will give Germany the option of spending 50 MPPs to obtain access to the ports of Tangier and Melilla in Spanish Africa. A new loop will come into effect allowing one Central Power ship per turn to move between these two ports, by-passing the British fortifications in Gibraltar. The loop fires 75% of the time.
Comment: This will give the Central Powers some flexibility to either reinforce their fleets in the Mediterranean or in the Atlantic. Given that the Entente can relatively easily blockade these two ports, they will most likely be used by CP submarines rather than surface ships.
If Italy withdraws from the war or surrenders, Spain will swing 30% towards the Central Powers. This will normally be sufficient to trigger the DE offering the Central Powers the option to gain access to these ports in Spanish Africa.
Comment: this swing was added to increase the chances that this new Spanish naval loop will come into play in a later stage in the game. It seemed reasonable that if Italy is defeated that neutral Spain would shift its alignment somewhat towards the Central Powers.
33. Sweden
If Sweden and Norway both reach 20% to the Entente, the Swedish convoy to Germany will be re-routed through Narvik and will flow to the U.K. To enable this, the port of Narvik and three rail hexes in northern Norway will be transferred to Sweden. This convoy is worth 30 MPPs per turn; unlike the Swedish convoy to Germany, it is not affected by winter as Narvik is an ice-free port. Like the Norwegian convoy, the Swedish convoy to the U.K. will terminate in the Rosyth.
Russia can allocate 5 diplomacy chits to Sweden; France 3 chits and the U.K. 2 chits. Italy and Serbia are blocked from allocated chits to Norway, but not the U.SA. For the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary can allocate 5 diplomacy chits each, but not the Ottomans.
Comment: These changes are intended to give the Entente an additional incentive to use diplomacy to swing Sweden away from the Central Powers.
34. Switzerland
The German Decision Event to send agents to influence Switzerland to swing towards the Central Powers has been reduced in cost from 70 to 50 MPPs.
Comment: it seemed reasonable to reduce the cost of this DE to the equivalent of one diplomacy chit.
Geneva and Zurich have been added as alternate capitals for Switzerland.
Comment: given that Switzerland is a decentralized, federal state, it is realistic that they could move their capital if Berne is captured.
35. United Kingdom
* 35.1 War Weariness
* The U.K. will lose National Morale points to war weariness as follows:
- 80 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1915
- 160 NM point per turn starting on January 1, 1916
- 240 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1917
- 320 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1918
* As of January 1917, the U.K. will have the option to spend 40 MPPs to gain 80 NM points per turn if their National Morale has dropped below 50%. As of February 1918, they will have the same option again if their National Morale has dropped below 30%.
* 35.2 National Morale Effects of Unrestricted Naval Warfare
* Starting in 1917, the impact on British national morale of German unrestricted naval warfare will increase from minus 75 NM points to minus 100 NM points per turn for each NM hex that has a German vessel on or adjacent to it.
Comment: this increase over time is not as great as the increase in the costs to German national morale of the Entente blockade or the boost to German national morale of unrestricted naval warfare. This reflects the fact that German attacks on Entente shipping had a less severe effect on British war weariness compared to the cumulative effects of the British blockade on German national morale.
* 35.3 Tightening the Blockade Against Neutral Shipping
* The U.K will receive a new DE in March 1916 giving it the option of tightening the naval blockade against neutral shipping, in particular to the Netherlands. This will progressively reduce German MPPs and increase their NM losses, as outlined above. Each time that the blockade is tightened per year, the Netherlands will swing 5-10% towards the Central Powers.
* 35.4 Loss of Egypt
* The NM impact on the U.K of losing Egypt has been increased from minus 50 NM points per turn to minus 200 NM points per turn.
36. United States
36.1 The Zimmerman Telegram and its Aftermath
Comment: this single event has been converted in a series of interlocking DEs, reflecting the fact that there were four parties involved: Germany, Britain, the USA and Mexico and they each had their own calculations to make. Although it is still a desperation move by Germany, they now have more incentives to attempt it; and this will force some risk assessments by the British and the Americans.
Germany is presented the DE to send the telegram to Mexico as soon as U.S.A. mobilization reaches 70%. If Germany chooses to send the telegram, there is an 80% chance that British intelligence will intercept it.
If they do, the UK then must decide whether to leak the telegram to President Wilson or not. If they do, there is a 70% chance he will believe it - in which case the USA will go to war immediately. But there is also a 30% chance he will think it is a forgery - in which case the USA will swing 30 - 35% away from the Entente.
If UK decides not to leak the telegram or they fail to intercept it, Germany must decide whether to follow through in making a 50 MPP arms shipment to Mexico as a down payment. If they do, there is a 66% chance the Mexican government will accept the Germany's proposal of an alliance, in which case Germany will make a second 50 MPP payment to Mexico. There is also a 33% chance they will reject the German offer, keep the money, and maintain their neutrality.
If Mexico accepts the German offer, the US government has to decide whether to send a punitive expedition to Mexico, which will cost 3 X 50 MPPs and cause U.S. alignment against Germany to drop by 20 - 25%. The alternative is that the US government could ignore the threat from Mexico to keep their current level of mobilization against the Central Powers, but accept 5000 NM hit, a permanent loss of 20 MPPs per turn (needed to shore up the southern border) and a 10 - 20% swing towards the Central Powers on a 75% chance by other CP aligned neutrals in Europe (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands).
36.2 Mobilization Towards the Entente
The probability that the U.S.A. will start to swing 1-2% per turn towards the Entente after June 1, 1917, has been increased from 50% to 100% per turn.
Comment: Given the increased war weariness faced by the other Entente powers, they will need the national morale and MPP boost of having the U.S.A. join their side if they are to have a chance of winning the war in 1918. This adjustment will speed that up after June 1917.
36.3 Building the U.S. Army
Once a cease-fire is reached with Mexico, or the USA goes to war with the Central Powers (whichever comes first) the U.S.A. has a new DE to create a HQ for General Pershing in Washington at a cost 4 X 50 MPPs. If there has been an American punitive force sent to Mexico, Pershing will arrive with one point of experience.
Comment: Pershing was given command of the U.S. Army in early 1917, before the U.S.A. entered the war, after commanding the punitive expedition against Pancho Villa in Mexico (covered in one of the information pop-ups in the game). This DE reflects that fact and also gives the U.S.A a chance of having an HQ which they can afford when they enter the war.
As noted above in 19.2 and 19.3, France will only receive the full NM benefit of American entry into the war once three American corps land in France and are within five hexes of Paris. The presence of at least one American corps within three hexes of Ypres, Paris, Chalons or Toul is necessary to eliminate the risk of a mutiny among the French troops within the same distance of those locations.
Comment: In the regular game, if the USA enters the war at all, most Entente players do not bother with building U.S.A. Army corps. Historically, the U.S.A. deployed over a million soldiers to France by 1918. These provisions are meant to provide some incentive within the game for the Entente player to do the same.
36.4 Spanish Flu Events
Comment: the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic was a major factor in the last year of the war which so far is missing from the game. These changes model the early stages of the flu pandemic, as they affected American forces being sent to France and other Entente units in affected ports. The effects are similar to the Serbian and Ottoman typhus epidemics in 1914.
Starting in February 1918 if the U.S.A. has entered the war, American land and naval units on or within one hex of the ports on the East Coast of the U.S.A will have a 20% chance per hex of being affected by the "Spanish Flu". Affected units will lose 1-2 strength points and will suffering a 10% - 40% loss in unit morale loss. The flu will then spread in March to all Entente units within one hex of ports in Western France, and then move on in April to ports on both sides of English Channel up to Boulogne and London. In April it will affect Entente units with a diminished risk of 10% per port hex.
* 37. Optional House Rules
The following are two optional house rules which players can agree to use or not. They impose some specific limitations on play that can not be scripted by the game engine.
* 37.1 Naval Mines on NM and Blockade hexes
Both sides agree not to deploy naval mines on either the Entente Blockade hexes or the British NM hexes in the North Sea and North Atlantic.
Comment: From a game perspective, this will make it easier for both sides to dislodge enemy units occupying these hexes, as mines (once spotted) can be very time consuming to remove. This also makes sense from a historical perspective as mines are a passive weapon that cannot board or disrupt enemy shipping. If cargo ships learned that there were mines in an area, they would simply re-route around them.
* 37.2 Deploying Minor Forces Outside of Europe
The forces of minor powers on either side cannot be deployed to the Ottoman Empire east of Constantinople (inclusive) or south of the Sea of Marmara, to the Ottoman occupied territories in the Middle East, to Persia, to Egypt, to Libya or to French North Africa. The only exception are Greek units which may be deployed anywhere in the Ottoman Empire proper (but not its occupied territories) and Portuguese units which may be sent by the Entente to any of these areas.
Comment: From a game perspective this restriction will prevent the Entente from using Free Belgian units or Free Serbian units in these theatres and will prevent the Central Powers from doing the same with Bulgarian units. From a historic perspective, minor powers were committed to defending their homelands against aggression from their immediate neighbours, not acting as expeditionary forces in distant theatres for the major powers. They would have been extremely reluctant to be shipped outside of Europe for this purpose. Greece is a partial exception because of the presence of Greek communities within the Ottoman Empire and their historic tensions with the Ottomans. Portugal is an exception as it had a colonial empire and no immediate enemies on its borders.
38. Information Settings
New pop-ups have been written in the form of memos to different leaders describing the diplomatic dynamics at play with many of the minors in this mod. Additional historic images and event pop-ups are being added progressively to the mod.
If you wish to turn these offs, go to the Options menu before you make the first move, click Advanced, then Scripts, and then Decisions. At the top of the Event list on the right, untick DE175 and the new diplomatic pop-ups will not appear in the game. If you untick DE174, the existing strategic advice pop-ups will not appear. If you untick DE173, the historic event pop-ups will no longer appear. These options can be very handy if you are doing a hotseat test and do not need the eyestrain of having to click past these pop-ups to make each move.
39. AI Settings
The AI settings in the game have been adjusted to encourage the AI to carry out research and make purchases reflecting the new features in this mod (e.g., buying Heavy Artillery units). All of the new Decision Events have been given probabilities of firing for the AI which reflect a reasonable amount of risk-taking. A few new scripts - for example the British amphibious assault on Gallipoli in early 1915 or the Serbian retreat into Albania - have been set at 0% for the AI, because they require a degree of co-ordination with other moves by the same side which it is not possible to script in advance.
One significant AI setting that has changed is the probability of France declaring war on Belgium in September 1914 if Germany has not attacked in the West has been reduced to 50% (from 80% in the regular game). Instead, if the AI does not attack, it will aggressively try to bring Belgium into the war on the Entente side using diplomacy. This was done to give the Entente an alternative to attacking Belgium, given the heavy NM costs of doing so for France and especially the UK. If there is no German offensive into Belgium, the AI has been scripted to send UK forces to Egypt to carry out offensive operations there. Portuguese units (when they enter) will be sent to Egypt or Mesopotamia.
40. 1916 Campaign
A new campaign has been added using the mod, starting with the Central Powers turn on January 1, 1916. Overall, this campaign offers a new option for players who are very familiar with the opening moves in 1914 and who want to start the game in mid-war while everything is still in play.
Serbia has retreated into Albania and is on the point of surrender. Montenegro is about to fall too. Serbia's defeat will allow the Central Powers to re-allocate some forces, which Austria-Hungary needs as it is stretched by the by the new front in Italy and by the continuing Russian threat to Galicia. But they cannot ignore the Balkans completely, as the Entente has finally abandoned their beachhead at Gallipoli but are holding on to a small front around Salonika, which is now under transferred to French control. In the east, the Russians have lost Poland and Lithuania, but have amassed a significant army in Ukraine which they can use to launch the Brusilov Offensive. They can also attack the Ottomans in the Caucasus.
In Africa, the Senussi revolt in Libya has started. In the Middle East, the British have funded the Arab Revolt, and it is about to begin. Meanwhile, in Mesopotamia, an Indian Army corps is surrounded by Ottoman forces and the British have to decide whether to launch a rescue mission. One possible source of relief is Russia's Persian Expeditionary force which is about to deploy in Azerbaijan.
On the Western Front, both sides have deployed their heavy artillery units. Kitchener's new British Army has arrived in Flanders and is building-up to its summer offensive. Belgium remains very vulnerable, as only a toehold remains around Ypres under Entente control. Meanwhile, the Germans have to decide whether try to take Verdun, or to continue their push into Russia.
On terms of naval warfare, Germany has reached the peak size of its submarine fleet and some of its subs are on station in the Atlantic. It has already declared unrestricted naval warfare against the Entente blockade, bringing the USA to 35% mobilization. The Entente naval blockade against Germany is beginning to bite into German national morale.
The 1916 Icarus campaign uses all the same settings as the 1914 Icarus campaign. It assumes that the Entente has intervened in northern Greece and Serbia has decided to retreat to Albania. Bulgaria has entered the war. Romania is at 50% for the Entente and Russia has one diplomatic chit invested with Romania. Russia's initial naval units are in their historical settings. Russia has upgraded the rail line to Archangel. Russia has occupied Persian Azerbaijan and is funding the Persian Expeditionary Force. The UK has seized Basra and is receiving the oil convoy from Persia. The Ottomans have funded the Senussi uprising. The UK is funding the Arab Revolt. France is given a new DE on their first turn offering a choice of sending an artillery unit from Gallipoli either back to France or to the new Salonika front. France also has to decide on that turn whether to acquire Corfu from Greece as refuge for the retreating Serbians. The UK is given an option at the beginning of its first turn to mount a rescue mission to Mesopotamia.
The front lines have been placed where they were at this point of the war. The western front is the same as the 1917 campaign line - with the exception that one hex south of Ypres has been added to the Entente line to make it harder for the Germans to take Ypres immediately. The order of battle for each major is based on the units they would have received from August 1, 1914, onward, plus some losses due to combat. A number of units on the front lines start at less than full strength and more have not yet been upgraded to infantry weapons 1, so that both sides have to use the initial winter turns for reinforcements.
The National Morale levels for each major reflect the NM events that have happened by January 1, 1916, plus a reasonable assumption of the military losses by both sides. (The starting NM level for Austria-Hungary has been set fairly low to reflect their disastrous losses against Russia in the first eighteen months of the war). Note that Czernowitz, the Galician Oilfields, Lemberg and Przemyśl are no longer NM objectives for either side in this campaign, as they were already captured by Russia and then recaptured by Austria-Hungary before January 1916. However, retaking these hexes can still swing Romania to the Entente side.
Tech levels for each major have been based on an estimate of what each major could have achieved by that point in the war - recognizing that tech setting can only be allocated whole numbers, and not in percentage. Each major starts with the amount of MPPs they would have received at the end of the previous turn.
* Comment: Significant changes have been made to the settings for Russia in this version of the mod. The overall intent is to better reflect the poor quality of Russian command and control and ability to supply their troops, compared to their CP opponents. The changes described above reducing the benefits of Industrial Tech for all powers will in particular reduce Czarist Russia's ability to grow its economy to an enormous size over the game. (Czarist Russia simply did not have to capacity to mobilize its huge economy the same way the Soviet Union in World War Two). At the same time, Russia has been made more resilient to rapid collapse by reducing the NM value of Warsaw and the NM value of Russian resource hexes. In order to drive Russian National Morale to the point where they will withdraw from the war, it will be necessary for the Central Powers to continue to destroy Russian armies, rather than just sitting on territory gained in Poland and the Baltics and waiting for Russian National Morale to fall. This reflects the Russians historic willingness to surrender land if necessary and lure invaders deeper into their territory.
* 31.1 War Weariness
* Russia will lose National Morale points to war weariness as follows:
- 75 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1915
- 150 NM point per turn starting on January 1, 1916
- 225 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1917
- 300 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1918
* As of January 1917, Russia will have the option to spend 37 MPPs to gain 75 NM points per turn provided that the First Revolution has already occurred (triggered by Russian National Morale dropping below 25%). As of February 1918, the Kerensky Government will have the same option again if their National Morale has dropped below 30%.
* 31.2 Mutinies and Desertions
The risk of Russian units deserting has been increased in this mod, though the number of units affected at any one time has been reduced. There is a 2% chance each turn this will happen once Russian national morale falls to 50% and additional 4% chance after the First Revolution has occurred. For Russia desertions are triggered within a specific number of hexes of Petrograd, Moscow, Riga, Minsk, Vinnitsa, Odessa and Bucharest (if Romania is in the war). When a desertion script fires, every Russian unit in range loses 10% - 25% in unit morale and there is 50% chance of each unit losing one strength point. (In the regular game, the desertion effects are the same, but the risk is 4% per turn once Russian NM falls to 50%, affecting every unit within 35 hexes of Moscow).
* 31.3 National Morale Objectives
* The national morale impact on Russia of losing Warsaw has been reduced to 3000 NM points (down from 5000). Germany gains 1500 NM by taking Warsaw (rather than 2000). However, Russia loses 2000 NM points rather than 1000 if Brest-Litovsk is captured.
As noted above in 8.3, new NM objectives have been added for Russia in Baku, Batum, Kars and Tiflis, which will cost Russia NM points if they are lost. At the same time, new NM objectives have been added for Russia in Lemberg, Krakow, Thorn and Konigsberg which will earn NM points for Russia if Russia captures them.
Comment: One reason why East first strategies for the Central Powers have become so frequent is that Warsaw is such a huge national morale liability for Russia. At its original value of 5000 NM, Warsaw has a higher NM value than Verdun and far higher than Petrograd or Moscow. Yet Russia abandoned Warsaw in 1915 without putting up a fight.
* 31.4 Supply and NM Value of Russian Resources
* Most resources hexes in Russia have had their supply value reduced by 2, thus towns provide a supply of 6 and fortified towns and cities supply of 8. Ports, capitals and major cities are unaffected.
* Towns, fortresses and ports in Russia have had their NM value reduced to 0; fortified towns have had their NM reduced to 10 (from 15); cities have had their NM value reduced to 20 (from 25).
These changes do not affect the MPPs produced by these resources.
* Comment: the reduced supply from Russian resources better reflects the lack of infrastructure and the significant logistics obstacles of supplying armies inside Russia. The reduced NM values is designed to encourage the traditional Russian scorched earth tactics of withdrawal in the face of an invading enemy. To knock Russia out of the war, the Central Powers will probably have to destroy most of Russia's armies. Just sitting on captured towns and cities in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia will probably not be sufficient to drive Russian National Morale to the point where the Bolsheviks offer an armistice.
* 31.5 Tech Restrictions
Russia tech investment limit has been reduced to 1200 MPPs. Russia's ability to invest in Trench Warfare, Industrial Tech and Command and Control have has new limits, as noted above.
* 31.6 Russian Rail Line Upgrades
* In September 1914, Russia will be offered a DE giving it the choice of upgrading the rail line to Archangelsk. This will be necessary in order to enable the convoy from Britain to start. The DE will cost 25 MPPs per turn for two turns. The work will be finished in time for the convoy route to begin as of April 10, 1915. Saying YES to this DE is a pre-requisite for the subsequent DE in January 1916 proposing to open a new rail line to the warm water port of Murmansk.
Comment: the single-track railroad south from Archangel in 1914 needed significant upgrading before it could be used to transport any significant volume of convoyed resources from Britain.
31.7 Deployment of the Russian Navy
On the first Entente turn in August 1914, Russia is given the choice through three new Decision Events of deploying one sub, one destroyer and one heavy cruiser in either the Baltic or the Black Sea. The DE that fires in December 1914 offering Russia the option of building a seaplane carrier, also comes with the option of building it in the Baltic or the Black Sea. The Russian naval mine that was placed in the Gulf of Finland in the regular game has been removed, giving the Russians two mines they can place on either coast.
Comment: these modifications give the Russians more options in deciding how to allocate their navy between their two separate coastlines and against different enemies.
31.8 Caucasian and Turkestan Corps
The Caucasian and Turkestan Corps that mobilize for Russia have been reclassified from mountain corps to regular corps. The exception is the 1st Caucasian Corps which is now the 1st Caucasian Mountain Division.
Comment: in the regular game, four Caucasian and Turkestan units arrive as a mountain corps - which makes Russia the only power that receives these units for free. It also gives Russian forces an excessive advantage against their Ottoman opponents in the Caucasus. This change corrects this imbalance while still giving Russia one free mountain division at the start of the game.
31.9 Russian Surrender
If Russia surrenders to the Central Powers (rather than signing an Armistice through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) both Germany and Austria-Hungary receive 5000 NM points.
32. Spain
If Spain reaches 20% for the Central Powers, a new DE will give Germany the option of spending 50 MPPs to obtain access to the ports of Tangier and Melilla in Spanish Africa. A new loop will come into effect allowing one Central Power ship per turn to move between these two ports, by-passing the British fortifications in Gibraltar. The loop fires 75% of the time.
Comment: This will give the Central Powers some flexibility to either reinforce their fleets in the Mediterranean or in the Atlantic. Given that the Entente can relatively easily blockade these two ports, they will most likely be used by CP submarines rather than surface ships.
If Italy withdraws from the war or surrenders, Spain will swing 30% towards the Central Powers. This will normally be sufficient to trigger the DE offering the Central Powers the option to gain access to these ports in Spanish Africa.
Comment: this swing was added to increase the chances that this new Spanish naval loop will come into play in a later stage in the game. It seemed reasonable that if Italy is defeated that neutral Spain would shift its alignment somewhat towards the Central Powers.
33. Sweden
If Sweden and Norway both reach 20% to the Entente, the Swedish convoy to Germany will be re-routed through Narvik and will flow to the U.K. To enable this, the port of Narvik and three rail hexes in northern Norway will be transferred to Sweden. This convoy is worth 30 MPPs per turn; unlike the Swedish convoy to Germany, it is not affected by winter as Narvik is an ice-free port. Like the Norwegian convoy, the Swedish convoy to the U.K. will terminate in the Rosyth.
Russia can allocate 5 diplomacy chits to Sweden; France 3 chits and the U.K. 2 chits. Italy and Serbia are blocked from allocated chits to Norway, but not the U.SA. For the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary can allocate 5 diplomacy chits each, but not the Ottomans.
Comment: These changes are intended to give the Entente an additional incentive to use diplomacy to swing Sweden away from the Central Powers.
34. Switzerland
The German Decision Event to send agents to influence Switzerland to swing towards the Central Powers has been reduced in cost from 70 to 50 MPPs.
Comment: it seemed reasonable to reduce the cost of this DE to the equivalent of one diplomacy chit.
Geneva and Zurich have been added as alternate capitals for Switzerland.
Comment: given that Switzerland is a decentralized, federal state, it is realistic that they could move their capital if Berne is captured.
35. United Kingdom
* 35.1 War Weariness
* The U.K. will lose National Morale points to war weariness as follows:
- 80 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1915
- 160 NM point per turn starting on January 1, 1916
- 240 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1917
- 320 NM points per turn starting on January 1, 1918
* As of January 1917, the U.K. will have the option to spend 40 MPPs to gain 80 NM points per turn if their National Morale has dropped below 50%. As of February 1918, they will have the same option again if their National Morale has dropped below 30%.
* 35.2 National Morale Effects of Unrestricted Naval Warfare
* Starting in 1917, the impact on British national morale of German unrestricted naval warfare will increase from minus 75 NM points to minus 100 NM points per turn for each NM hex that has a German vessel on or adjacent to it.
Comment: this increase over time is not as great as the increase in the costs to German national morale of the Entente blockade or the boost to German national morale of unrestricted naval warfare. This reflects the fact that German attacks on Entente shipping had a less severe effect on British war weariness compared to the cumulative effects of the British blockade on German national morale.
* 35.3 Tightening the Blockade Against Neutral Shipping
* The U.K will receive a new DE in March 1916 giving it the option of tightening the naval blockade against neutral shipping, in particular to the Netherlands. This will progressively reduce German MPPs and increase their NM losses, as outlined above. Each time that the blockade is tightened per year, the Netherlands will swing 5-10% towards the Central Powers.
* 35.4 Loss of Egypt
* The NM impact on the U.K of losing Egypt has been increased from minus 50 NM points per turn to minus 200 NM points per turn.
36. United States
36.1 The Zimmerman Telegram and its Aftermath
Comment: this single event has been converted in a series of interlocking DEs, reflecting the fact that there were four parties involved: Germany, Britain, the USA and Mexico and they each had their own calculations to make. Although it is still a desperation move by Germany, they now have more incentives to attempt it; and this will force some risk assessments by the British and the Americans.
Germany is presented the DE to send the telegram to Mexico as soon as U.S.A. mobilization reaches 70%. If Germany chooses to send the telegram, there is an 80% chance that British intelligence will intercept it.
If they do, the UK then must decide whether to leak the telegram to President Wilson or not. If they do, there is a 70% chance he will believe it - in which case the USA will go to war immediately. But there is also a 30% chance he will think it is a forgery - in which case the USA will swing 30 - 35% away from the Entente.
If UK decides not to leak the telegram or they fail to intercept it, Germany must decide whether to follow through in making a 50 MPP arms shipment to Mexico as a down payment. If they do, there is a 66% chance the Mexican government will accept the Germany's proposal of an alliance, in which case Germany will make a second 50 MPP payment to Mexico. There is also a 33% chance they will reject the German offer, keep the money, and maintain their neutrality.
If Mexico accepts the German offer, the US government has to decide whether to send a punitive expedition to Mexico, which will cost 3 X 50 MPPs and cause U.S. alignment against Germany to drop by 20 - 25%. The alternative is that the US government could ignore the threat from Mexico to keep their current level of mobilization against the Central Powers, but accept 5000 NM hit, a permanent loss of 20 MPPs per turn (needed to shore up the southern border) and a 10 - 20% swing towards the Central Powers on a 75% chance by other CP aligned neutrals in Europe (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands).
36.2 Mobilization Towards the Entente
The probability that the U.S.A. will start to swing 1-2% per turn towards the Entente after June 1, 1917, has been increased from 50% to 100% per turn.
Comment: Given the increased war weariness faced by the other Entente powers, they will need the national morale and MPP boost of having the U.S.A. join their side if they are to have a chance of winning the war in 1918. This adjustment will speed that up after June 1917.
36.3 Building the U.S. Army
Once a cease-fire is reached with Mexico, or the USA goes to war with the Central Powers (whichever comes first) the U.S.A. has a new DE to create a HQ for General Pershing in Washington at a cost 4 X 50 MPPs. If there has been an American punitive force sent to Mexico, Pershing will arrive with one point of experience.
Comment: Pershing was given command of the U.S. Army in early 1917, before the U.S.A. entered the war, after commanding the punitive expedition against Pancho Villa in Mexico (covered in one of the information pop-ups in the game). This DE reflects that fact and also gives the U.S.A a chance of having an HQ which they can afford when they enter the war.
As noted above in 19.2 and 19.3, France will only receive the full NM benefit of American entry into the war once three American corps land in France and are within five hexes of Paris. The presence of at least one American corps within three hexes of Ypres, Paris, Chalons or Toul is necessary to eliminate the risk of a mutiny among the French troops within the same distance of those locations.
Comment: In the regular game, if the USA enters the war at all, most Entente players do not bother with building U.S.A. Army corps. Historically, the U.S.A. deployed over a million soldiers to France by 1918. These provisions are meant to provide some incentive within the game for the Entente player to do the same.
36.4 Spanish Flu Events
Comment: the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic was a major factor in the last year of the war which so far is missing from the game. These changes model the early stages of the flu pandemic, as they affected American forces being sent to France and other Entente units in affected ports. The effects are similar to the Serbian and Ottoman typhus epidemics in 1914.
Starting in February 1918 if the U.S.A. has entered the war, American land and naval units on or within one hex of the ports on the East Coast of the U.S.A will have a 20% chance per hex of being affected by the "Spanish Flu". Affected units will lose 1-2 strength points and will suffering a 10% - 40% loss in unit morale loss. The flu will then spread in March to all Entente units within one hex of ports in Western France, and then move on in April to ports on both sides of English Channel up to Boulogne and London. In April it will affect Entente units with a diminished risk of 10% per port hex.
* 37. Optional House Rules
The following are two optional house rules which players can agree to use or not. They impose some specific limitations on play that can not be scripted by the game engine.
* 37.1 Naval Mines on NM and Blockade hexes
Both sides agree not to deploy naval mines on either the Entente Blockade hexes or the British NM hexes in the North Sea and North Atlantic.
Comment: From a game perspective, this will make it easier for both sides to dislodge enemy units occupying these hexes, as mines (once spotted) can be very time consuming to remove. This also makes sense from a historical perspective as mines are a passive weapon that cannot board or disrupt enemy shipping. If cargo ships learned that there were mines in an area, they would simply re-route around them.
* 37.2 Deploying Minor Forces Outside of Europe
The forces of minor powers on either side cannot be deployed to the Ottoman Empire east of Constantinople (inclusive) or south of the Sea of Marmara, to the Ottoman occupied territories in the Middle East, to Persia, to Egypt, to Libya or to French North Africa. The only exception are Greek units which may be deployed anywhere in the Ottoman Empire proper (but not its occupied territories) and Portuguese units which may be sent by the Entente to any of these areas.
Comment: From a game perspective this restriction will prevent the Entente from using Free Belgian units or Free Serbian units in these theatres and will prevent the Central Powers from doing the same with Bulgarian units. From a historic perspective, minor powers were committed to defending their homelands against aggression from their immediate neighbours, not acting as expeditionary forces in distant theatres for the major powers. They would have been extremely reluctant to be shipped outside of Europe for this purpose. Greece is a partial exception because of the presence of Greek communities within the Ottoman Empire and their historic tensions with the Ottomans. Portugal is an exception as it had a colonial empire and no immediate enemies on its borders.
38. Information Settings
New pop-ups have been written in the form of memos to different leaders describing the diplomatic dynamics at play with many of the minors in this mod. Additional historic images and event pop-ups are being added progressively to the mod.
If you wish to turn these offs, go to the Options menu before you make the first move, click Advanced, then Scripts, and then Decisions. At the top of the Event list on the right, untick DE175 and the new diplomatic pop-ups will not appear in the game. If you untick DE174, the existing strategic advice pop-ups will not appear. If you untick DE173, the historic event pop-ups will no longer appear. These options can be very handy if you are doing a hotseat test and do not need the eyestrain of having to click past these pop-ups to make each move.
39. AI Settings
The AI settings in the game have been adjusted to encourage the AI to carry out research and make purchases reflecting the new features in this mod (e.g., buying Heavy Artillery units). All of the new Decision Events have been given probabilities of firing for the AI which reflect a reasonable amount of risk-taking. A few new scripts - for example the British amphibious assault on Gallipoli in early 1915 or the Serbian retreat into Albania - have been set at 0% for the AI, because they require a degree of co-ordination with other moves by the same side which it is not possible to script in advance.
One significant AI setting that has changed is the probability of France declaring war on Belgium in September 1914 if Germany has not attacked in the West has been reduced to 50% (from 80% in the regular game). Instead, if the AI does not attack, it will aggressively try to bring Belgium into the war on the Entente side using diplomacy. This was done to give the Entente an alternative to attacking Belgium, given the heavy NM costs of doing so for France and especially the UK. If there is no German offensive into Belgium, the AI has been scripted to send UK forces to Egypt to carry out offensive operations there. Portuguese units (when they enter) will be sent to Egypt or Mesopotamia.
40. 1916 Campaign
A new campaign has been added using the mod, starting with the Central Powers turn on January 1, 1916. Overall, this campaign offers a new option for players who are very familiar with the opening moves in 1914 and who want to start the game in mid-war while everything is still in play.
Serbia has retreated into Albania and is on the point of surrender. Montenegro is about to fall too. Serbia's defeat will allow the Central Powers to re-allocate some forces, which Austria-Hungary needs as it is stretched by the by the new front in Italy and by the continuing Russian threat to Galicia. But they cannot ignore the Balkans completely, as the Entente has finally abandoned their beachhead at Gallipoli but are holding on to a small front around Salonika, which is now under transferred to French control. In the east, the Russians have lost Poland and Lithuania, but have amassed a significant army in Ukraine which they can use to launch the Brusilov Offensive. They can also attack the Ottomans in the Caucasus.
In Africa, the Senussi revolt in Libya has started. In the Middle East, the British have funded the Arab Revolt, and it is about to begin. Meanwhile, in Mesopotamia, an Indian Army corps is surrounded by Ottoman forces and the British have to decide whether to launch a rescue mission. One possible source of relief is Russia's Persian Expeditionary force which is about to deploy in Azerbaijan.
On the Western Front, both sides have deployed their heavy artillery units. Kitchener's new British Army has arrived in Flanders and is building-up to its summer offensive. Belgium remains very vulnerable, as only a toehold remains around Ypres under Entente control. Meanwhile, the Germans have to decide whether try to take Verdun, or to continue their push into Russia.
On terms of naval warfare, Germany has reached the peak size of its submarine fleet and some of its subs are on station in the Atlantic. It has already declared unrestricted naval warfare against the Entente blockade, bringing the USA to 35% mobilization. The Entente naval blockade against Germany is beginning to bite into German national morale.
The 1916 Icarus campaign uses all the same settings as the 1914 Icarus campaign. It assumes that the Entente has intervened in northern Greece and Serbia has decided to retreat to Albania. Bulgaria has entered the war. Romania is at 50% for the Entente and Russia has one diplomatic chit invested with Romania. Russia's initial naval units are in their historical settings. Russia has upgraded the rail line to Archangel. Russia has occupied Persian Azerbaijan and is funding the Persian Expeditionary Force. The UK has seized Basra and is receiving the oil convoy from Persia. The Ottomans have funded the Senussi uprising. The UK is funding the Arab Revolt. France is given a new DE on their first turn offering a choice of sending an artillery unit from Gallipoli either back to France or to the new Salonika front. France also has to decide on that turn whether to acquire Corfu from Greece as refuge for the retreating Serbians. The UK is given an option at the beginning of its first turn to mount a rescue mission to Mesopotamia.
The front lines have been placed where they were at this point of the war. The western front is the same as the 1917 campaign line - with the exception that one hex south of Ypres has been added to the Entente line to make it harder for the Germans to take Ypres immediately. The order of battle for each major is based on the units they would have received from August 1, 1914, onward, plus some losses due to combat. A number of units on the front lines start at less than full strength and more have not yet been upgraded to infantry weapons 1, so that both sides have to use the initial winter turns for reinforcements.
The National Morale levels for each major reflect the NM events that have happened by January 1, 1916, plus a reasonable assumption of the military losses by both sides. (The starting NM level for Austria-Hungary has been set fairly low to reflect their disastrous losses against Russia in the first eighteen months of the war). Note that Czernowitz, the Galician Oilfields, Lemberg and Przemyśl are no longer NM objectives for either side in this campaign, as they were already captured by Russia and then recaptured by Austria-Hungary before January 1916. However, retaking these hexes can still swing Romania to the Entente side.
Tech levels for each major have been based on an estimate of what each major could have achieved by that point in the war - recognizing that tech setting can only be allocated whole numbers, and not in percentage. Each major starts with the amount of MPPs they would have received at the end of the previous turn.
Last edited by mdsmall on Mon Apr 01, 2024 2:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Hi
Thanks for the update.
I noted in section 2.1 Artillery changes that the numbers don't add up. (I quickly pulled the data into an Excel and calculated the column sums.)
Looks like something is off with the Ottomans.
Also, Entente sums, old and new, are a bit higher according to my calculations.
Country: Heavy Field New Old Net
U.K. 2 3 5 6 -1
France 2 1 3 3 0
Italy 1 1 2 2 0
Serbia 0 1 1 1 0
Russia 1 3 4 4 0
USA 0 2 2 4 -2
Sum Entente 6 11 17 20 -3
Germany 4 2 6 4 2
A-H 2 1 3 3 0
Ottomans 0 2 2 3 0
Sum CP 6 5 11 10 2
Entente 16 19 -3
Central Powers 11 10 1
Best,
Walther
Thanks for the update.
I noted in section 2.1 Artillery changes that the numbers don't add up. (I quickly pulled the data into an Excel and calculated the column sums.)
Looks like something is off with the Ottomans.
Also, Entente sums, old and new, are a bit higher according to my calculations.
Country: Heavy Field New Old Net
U.K. 2 3 5 6 -1
France 2 1 3 3 0
Italy 1 1 2 2 0
Serbia 0 1 1 1 0
Russia 1 3 4 4 0
USA 0 2 2 4 -2
Sum Entente 6 11 17 20 -3
Germany 4 2 6 4 2
A-H 2 1 3 3 0
Ottomans 0 2 2 3 0
Sum CP 6 5 11 10 2
Entente 16 19 -3
Central Powers 11 10 1
Best,
Walther
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Hi Walther,
Many thanks for catching those glitches in the artillery build totals. I have decided to go back to the previous build limit for the Ottomans of three units - two Field Artillery and one Heavy Artillery - but the Ottomans Heavy Artillery unit can only be built as of December 30, 1916. I have corrected the text above and simplified it by eliminating the columns for the "old build limits" (since all text formatting disappears when pasted into this forum).
I have also updated the files in Dropbox links given above. The corrected version of Icarus Version 6 is dated today, February 4, 2024.
Michael
Many thanks for catching those glitches in the artillery build totals. I have decided to go back to the previous build limit for the Ottomans of three units - two Field Artillery and one Heavy Artillery - but the Ottomans Heavy Artillery unit can only be built as of December 30, 1916. I have corrected the text above and simplified it by eliminating the columns for the "old build limits" (since all text formatting disappears when pasted into this forum).
I have also updated the files in Dropbox links given above. The corrected version of Icarus Version 6 is dated today, February 4, 2024.
Michael
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Based on a play-test for the 1916 campaign currently underway, I have corrected a number of small errors and made a few adjustments to the sequence of Decision Events in the opening turns. The latest edition of the 1916 Icarus campaign is now numbered Version 6.1. You can find in the Dropbox link posted above.
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Been playing as the CP, and enjoying everything so far. Things seem to have been going easier than under vanilla, but that might be just because I'm re-familiarised with the game now.
Arab revolt just fired as my 1 Jan 1916 turn started: minor point, you might consider renaming Saudi Arabia as the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz/Kingdom of Hejaz/Hashemite Kingdom/or similar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Hejaz
More importantly, there may be a bug with the Albania/Trieste/Trento decision.
When it popped up, I'm sure I selected to support Italy's ambitions in Albania. Nothing seemed to happen, but I assumed it would sort itself out at the right time. A number of turns later, just before the start of this 1 Jan 2016 turn, I got a message about how handing over Trento and Trieste encouraged Romania to the Entente side (I think); another about protest riots; and another about morale plummeting in the AH army. Three Italian detachments showed up, two of which are in Trieste and Trento, which I still own.
When I did a rerun to see if it happened again, it fired just before 6 May with the same effects.
Arab revolt just fired as my 1 Jan 1916 turn started: minor point, you might consider renaming Saudi Arabia as the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz/Kingdom of Hejaz/Hashemite Kingdom/or similar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Hejaz
More importantly, there may be a bug with the Albania/Trieste/Trento decision.
When it popped up, I'm sure I selected to support Italy's ambitions in Albania. Nothing seemed to happen, but I assumed it would sort itself out at the right time. A number of turns later, just before the start of this 1 Jan 2016 turn, I got a message about how handing over Trento and Trieste encouraged Romania to the Entente side (I think); another about protest riots; and another about morale plummeting in the AH army. Three Italian detachments showed up, two of which are in Trieste and Trento, which I still own.
When I did a rerun to see if it happened again, it fired just before 6 May with the same effects.
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Hi Bromley - very glad to hear that you are enjoying the mod. I am currently working through a play-test of the 1916 campaign and am picking up a few small glitches which I am correcting as I go in the mod files loaded in drop-box.
I will look into the issues with Italy and Albania today and will get back to you. These DEs worked without any trouble when I tested it previously in hot-seat mode. Are you playing the game in SP or MP mode?
Interesting point about renaming Saudi Arabia as the Hashemite Kingdom of the Hejaz. I had to use the country names that are already loaded into the game editor and Saudi Arabia is already there. There may be a way of renaming a country or creating a new country name. Perhaps Bill can reply here on that point.
Regards,
Michael
I will look into the issues with Italy and Albania today and will get back to you. These DEs worked without any trouble when I tested it previously in hot-seat mode. Are you playing the game in SP or MP mode?
Interesting point about renaming Saudi Arabia as the Hashemite Kingdom of the Hejaz. I had to use the country names that are already loaded into the game editor and Saudi Arabia is already there. There may be a way of renaming a country or creating a new country name. Perhaps Bill can reply here on that point.
Regards,
Michael
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Bromley wrote: Mon Feb 19, 2024 5:04 am
More importantly, there may be a bug with the Albania/Trieste/Trento decision.
When it popped up, I'm sure I selected to support Italy's ambitions in Albania. Nothing seemed to happen, but I assumed it would sort itself out at the right time. A number of turns later, just before the start of this 1 Jan 2016 turn, I got a message about how handing over Trento and Trieste encouraged Romania to the Entente side (I think); another about protest riots; and another about morale plummeting in the AH army. Three Italian detachments showed up, two of which are in Trieste and Trento, which I still own.
When I did a rerun to see if it happened again, it fired just before 6 May with the same effects.
Hi Bromley,
I think I can figure out what happened in your games. My inference is that you were playing the mod in SP mode and that you were playing as the Central Powers. As Austria-Hungary, you declined to cede Trento-Trieste to Italy (DE-702) and you said YES to the new DE (DE-703) making the diplomatic overture to Italy to occupy Albania instead of going to war in early 1915. This triggers a new DE for Italy (DE-300) which fires on the next turn. However, the AI playing the Entente declined to accept your diplomatic overture (the settings in the mod are for the AI to accept this offer 50% of the time). So, that explains why you did not see Albania changing hands. Unfortunately, I found a couple of glitches in the mod, which meant that as soon Austria-Hungary mobilizes its detachments to protect Trento and Trieste (which happens when Italy reaches 50% mobilization), you would see the Romanians swinging towards the Entente and morale plummeting in the Austro-Hungarian army - effects that are only supposed to happen if the Austro-Hungarians cede Trento and Trieste. My best guess for the three extra Italian detachments is that those are extra units generated by the game engine when playing against the AI, which the AI sent to the northern frontier.
I have now corrected the glitches I mentioned above, plus a couple of others I found along the way - so thank you for the report. I have done new hot-seat tests of all the combinations between DE-702, DE-703 and DE-300 for Austria-Hungary and Italy. From what I can see, they are all now firing correctly. So, please download the latest corrected version of the mod from the DropBox link above and give it go (the files are dated February 20, 2024). If you notice any more weird effects, please try to report exactly what you are seeing and the turn on which you are seeing it. That will help me identify the source of any remaining problems.
Best regards,
Michael
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Shall do. Thanks for all the effort you're putting into this!
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Try the main game folder.mdsmall wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2024 5:51 pm
Interesting point about renaming Saudi Arabia as the Hashemite Kingdom of the Hejaz. I had to use the country names that are already loaded into the game editor and Saudi Arabia is already there. There may be a way of renaming a country or creating a new country name. Perhaps Bill can reply here on that point.
There are some localization files where you are able to adjust the names for specific country IDs.
For me that's
"...\Steam\steamapps\common\Strategic Command World War I\localization.txt"
#COUNTRY_ID_95= Saudi Arabia
Of this txt file you can just make a copy and paste it in your mod campaign's main folder (or better to modify the textfile already present). It even works to only have that single entry there, as the game will just check what you want to override on the vanilla localization.
In this instance you could have that localization text file with just the entry:
#COUNTRY_ID_95= Hashemite Kingdom
and that would override the entry for #COUNTRY_ID_95 in the game's main folder.
Best regards
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Just finished another SP playthrough as the Central Powers. Extremely minor issue with DE - 647 (rolling stock for Baghdad railway) noticed.
;Set AI acceptance % (AI will accept 75% of the time)
#AI_RESPONSE= 100
AI Italy has yet to accept Albania in lieu of Trento/Trieste in any of my games. 50% chance, so it might be luck. When I was looking at DE - 300, I saw a couple of things that might or might not be errors.
;Set AI acceptance % (AI will accept 100% of the time)
#AI_RESPONSE= 50
And
#AI_RESPONSE_POPUP= <<TAG_136>>
TAG_136 in My Games\Strategic Command WWI\Campaigns\_1914 Icarus.v6\Scripts\Events\EN\decision.txt says this:
<<TAG_136>>= Italy Transfers Troops From Eritrea To Tobruk
Monkey see, monkey do though, so this may all be irrelevant.
;Set AI acceptance % (AI will accept 75% of the time)
#AI_RESPONSE= 100
AI Italy has yet to accept Albania in lieu of Trento/Trieste in any of my games. 50% chance, so it might be luck. When I was looking at DE - 300, I saw a couple of things that might or might not be errors.
;Set AI acceptance % (AI will accept 100% of the time)
#AI_RESPONSE= 50
And
#AI_RESPONSE_POPUP= <<TAG_136>>
TAG_136 in My Games\Strategic Command WWI\Campaigns\_1914 Icarus.v6\Scripts\Events\EN\decision.txt says this:
<<TAG_136>>= Italy Transfers Troops From Eritrea To Tobruk
Monkey see, monkey do though, so this may all be irrelevant.
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Hi Bromley,
Many thanks for catching these small discrepancies between the description and the actual script for these AI settings. Since I have not play-tested the game in SP mode (I use Hot-Seat mode at first to test out the scripts, and then play-test it against a human opponent), I can miss these things. I will double check all the AI settings before releasing the next version of the mod.
I expect it is a matter of chance that AI Italy has not yet accepted the Albania transfer, as the territory definitely transfers when I test it in Hot-Seat mode and accept that decision for Italy. I can think of other examples of things that have 50-50 chance which I have yet to see in practice. There are even certain historical photo pop-ups that still come as a surprise to me, despite countless hours playing this game!
Cheers,
Michael
Many thanks for catching these small discrepancies between the description and the actual script for these AI settings. Since I have not play-tested the game in SP mode (I use Hot-Seat mode at first to test out the scripts, and then play-test it against a human opponent), I can miss these things. I will double check all the AI settings before releasing the next version of the mod.
I expect it is a matter of chance that AI Italy has not yet accepted the Albania transfer, as the territory definitely transfers when I test it in Hot-Seat mode and accept that decision for Italy. I can think of other examples of things that have 50-50 chance which I have yet to see in practice. There are even certain historical photo pop-ups that still come as a surprise to me, despite countless hours playing this game!
Cheers,
Michael
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Hi Bromley - from looking at the Wikipedia entry, I think the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz is the proper name for the country called Arabia in the game - i.e. the occupied country that becomes independent once Medina is liberated from the Ottomans.Bromley wrote: Mon Feb 19, 2024 5:04 am
Arab revolt just fired as my 1 Jan 1916 turn started: minor point, you might consider renaming Saudi Arabia as the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz/Kingdom of Hejaz/Hashemite Kingdom/or similar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Hejaz
In order to enable my new scripts in this mod which transfer control of large areas of desert to the Arabian partisans before Medina is liberated, I had to create another state on the Arabian peninsula that was already independent and Entente aligned. I did this by adding a single dummy resource hex in the far south-west corner of the map and giving that to "Saudi Arabia". Saudi Arabia has no other function in the mod, besides this.
So, for simplicity's sake, I am inclined to leave Arabia named as it is for now. The devs have already given it the Hashemite Kingdom flag.
Cheers,
Michael
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
More minor stuff.
29 Aug 1914. I've just lost Czernowitz (CP, SP).
Mobilization_2 points to <TAG_5> for the Fall of Czernowitz. <TAG_5> is the Fall of Krakow, which explains why I'm told Romania is mobilising over the fall of Krakow that I still hold.
Also, when looking into this, I saw some of the National Morale falls can't be reversed. E.g. Lille can be reversed, but Dijon can't. Seems to be the case with Czernowitz, which is how I noticed it.
Back to Mobilization_2. In the case of Czernowitz, the entry in Mobilization_2 that refers to Romania's feelings re. its recapture say:
#POPUP= Romania is Discouraged by the Central Powers Retaking Kraków
It correctly refers to Czernowitz though (197,86).
29 Aug 1914. I've just lost Czernowitz (CP, SP).
Mobilization_2 points to <TAG_5> for the Fall of Czernowitz. <TAG_5> is the Fall of Krakow, which explains why I'm told Romania is mobilising over the fall of Krakow that I still hold.
Also, when looking into this, I saw some of the National Morale falls can't be reversed. E.g. Lille can be reversed, but Dijon can't. Seems to be the case with Czernowitz, which is how I noticed it.
Back to Mobilization_2. In the case of Czernowitz, the entry in Mobilization_2 that refers to Romania's feelings re. its recapture say:
#POPUP= Romania is Discouraged by the Central Powers Retaking Kraków
It correctly refers to Czernowitz though (197,86).
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Hi Bromley,
thanks for catching that mistake in the pop-up. This script reads correctly for the 1916 campaign (which I am currently play-testing), but I seemed to have missed correcting it in the 1914 campaign. Will do that in the next update.
It was a deliberate design choice of mine to make some NM losses reversible if the resource is recaptured and some not. For most majors, NM hexes close to their borders with enemy powers are reversible (like Lille for France) while those deeper inside their borders are not (like Dijon).
In the case of Austria-Hungary, I made all of their NM hexes in Galicia non-reversible because even though the Central Powers retook Czernowitz, Lemberg and Przemsyl in 1915, their loss in the opening months of the war contributed to the permanent loss of AH National Morale and the rise of nationalist tensions in the Empire. This is something I wanted to highlight in this version of the mod. Austro-Hungarian NM hexes on the border with Italy are, for the most part, reversible.
Note though that mobilization #2 swings by Romania and Bulgaria are reversible in this mod. So, if you succeed in recapturing Czernowitz, Romania will swing back 8- 12% towards the Central Powers.
Cheers,
Michael
thanks for catching that mistake in the pop-up. This script reads correctly for the 1916 campaign (which I am currently play-testing), but I seemed to have missed correcting it in the 1914 campaign. Will do that in the next update.
It was a deliberate design choice of mine to make some NM losses reversible if the resource is recaptured and some not. For most majors, NM hexes close to their borders with enemy powers are reversible (like Lille for France) while those deeper inside their borders are not (like Dijon).
In the case of Austria-Hungary, I made all of their NM hexes in Galicia non-reversible because even though the Central Powers retook Czernowitz, Lemberg and Przemsyl in 1915, their loss in the opening months of the war contributed to the permanent loss of AH National Morale and the rise of nationalist tensions in the Empire. This is something I wanted to highlight in this version of the mod. Austro-Hungarian NM hexes on the border with Italy are, for the most part, reversible.
Note though that mobilization #2 swings by Romania and Bulgaria are reversible in this mod. So, if you succeed in recapturing Czernowitz, Romania will swing back 8- 12% towards the Central Powers.
Cheers,
Michael
Re: Icarus Mod update - Version 6.2
I have just posted my latest update - Version 6.2 - for the Icarus mod for Strategic Command, World War. This update has benefited from recommendations made by other players in this thread and in recent play-test games. Version 6.2 of both the 1914 and 1916 campaigns can be found in the Dropbox link given in the first post in this thread. The Guide to the mod posted above in this thread has been updated to reflect all the changes made in Version 6.2. Here is a summary of all the changes in Version 6.2, relative to my initial release of Version 6.0 in January, giving credit to other players who suggested these corrections or improvements. As always, please post further comments or feedback on the mod to this thread.
Corrections and Revisions
Both 1914 and 1916 campaigns
- All AI settings for all Decision Events have been reviewed and their description in the Editor matches the setting (bromley).
- Mobilization swing for Romania when the Entente captures Czernowitz has been corrected (bromley).
- Errors corrected for the impact on Austria-Hungary of the new Italian DE to occupy Albania (bromley).
- Description in the tech menu now match the changes in tech effects in the mod (W4lth3r).
- Heavy Artillery, Field Artillery and Stormtroopers now appear with those names in the Production menu.
- MPPs set to zero for the capitals of the three new minors created in this mod to avoid increasing the income of their controlling majors.
- UK is the Entente parent for Persia (same as the vanilla game).
1916 campaign
- the U.K., France, Russia and Germany all start with an increase in corps deployed or in the production queue, which better reflects the likely growth in their forces since 1914. Germany gains the most in these revisions.
- Austria-Hungary starts the campaign in a position to take Montenegro on the first or second turn, as happened historically.
- Either Germany or Austria-Hungary can occupy Uskub on the first turn, giving CP player the option to give either one the plunder from Serbia.
- Russian General Brusilov starts with an increased experience level, meant to facilitate initial success of his offensive.
- Four German subs now start the campaign on station in the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea (W4lth3r)
- Germany starts with 925 MPPs invested in tech chits (down from 1055); UK starts with 810 MPPs invested in tech chits (down from 830)
- Dates when a few DEs fire in the opening turns slightly pushed back to reduce bunching up of decisions that both sides need to make in the first or second turn of the campaign (W4lth3r).
- Arab Revolt DE has already been accepted by the UK when the campaign starts (W4lth3r).
- Persian Expeditionary Force DE has already been accepted by Russia when the campaign starts.
- One Ottoman corps has to move adjacent to Kut-al-Amara to start the siege there, thus giving the trapped Indian corps one more turn before it hits zero supply (W4lth3r).
New Features:
Both 1914 and 1916 campaigns
- Changed the impact of mutiny and desertion strength scripts for all majors so that if they fire, only units within range of specified resources are affected rather than then entire front.
- Set a new 35% NM threshold for increased mutinies and desertions for Italy and Austria-Hungary.
- Set a new First Revolution threshold for increased mutinies and desertions for Russia.
- Wrote a new French Army mutiny script which has the same impact as settings in the 1917 vanilla campaign; French mutinies are now more likely but will not affect the entire front at the same time.
- Arrival of U.S.A. corps near the front line in France and Belgium will eliminate the risk of French Army mutinies.
- T.E. Lawrence will now boost the unit morale of Arab partisans by 50% if they are within 3 hexes of the Hejaz railway.
- France is now the Entente parent for Free Serbian units (rather than Russia)
- The German DE to create a new HQ for General Falkenhayn only fires as of July 1916 if Romania has joined the Entente and Verdun is still in Entente hands
- The Ottoman regular corps that can be sent to Libya can now arrive in Tobruk or Benghazi if the Senussi capture either of those locations.
- New Ottoman minor created for German and Austro-Hungarian Expeditionary Corps, so these units can be commanded by generals of all three Central Powers.
- New DE added to give Ottomans the option of building a third Expeditionary Corps if Romania joins the Entente, so it can be placed under German or Austro-Hungarian command.
- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is now a two-step process, first a German decision event to start negotiations and then a Russian dummy DE which fires on a 50% chance per turn to conclude the Treaty.
- The three Baltic states are initially transferred to German after Brest-Litovsk. However each of them will declare independence unless Germany immediately stations a corps in their capital city.
- Austria-Hungary gains 50 NM and 25 MPPs from grain shipments from Ukraine after the Treaty, but must keep two corps within 3 hexes of Lemberg to guarantee the flow of grain supplies.
- Ottomans must keep two corps within 5 hexes of Kars after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, otherwise Batum and Kars will secede and join the new Trans-Caucasian Federation.
- If this happens, Ottoman Empire will declare a state of war agains the Federation, which now has the U.K. as its Entente parent.
- France only gains 2000 NM when the USA enters the war. It will gain another 2000 NM when three USA corps land within five hexes of Paris. This is the same overall NM gain as before, but now requires building 3 USA corps.
- NM impact of Serbian surrender for all majors diminishes by 500 points if Serbia surrenders after February 1, 1915 and by another 500 NM if Serbia surrenders after August 1, 1915.
- Ottomans only gain 1000 NM for capturing Batum (rather than 2000 NM).
- Salonika is no longer an NM objective for Austria-Hungary.
- Russia tech investment limit lowered to 1200 MPPs (from 1600).
- Probability of Frozen weather in Winter in the European weather zone increased from 60% to 80%. Other smaller increases made to the chances of Frozen result in Europe in Late Fall and Late Winter seasons.
1916 Campaign
- A new DE on the first Entente turn gives the UK the option to send an Indian corps and a cavalry corps from Egypt to Mesopotamia in a rescue campaign for the Indian corps besieged at Kut-al-Amara (W4lth3r)
Corrections and Revisions
Both 1914 and 1916 campaigns
- All AI settings for all Decision Events have been reviewed and their description in the Editor matches the setting (bromley).
- Mobilization swing for Romania when the Entente captures Czernowitz has been corrected (bromley).
- Errors corrected for the impact on Austria-Hungary of the new Italian DE to occupy Albania (bromley).
- Description in the tech menu now match the changes in tech effects in the mod (W4lth3r).
- Heavy Artillery, Field Artillery and Stormtroopers now appear with those names in the Production menu.
- MPPs set to zero for the capitals of the three new minors created in this mod to avoid increasing the income of their controlling majors.
- UK is the Entente parent for Persia (same as the vanilla game).
1916 campaign
- the U.K., France, Russia and Germany all start with an increase in corps deployed or in the production queue, which better reflects the likely growth in their forces since 1914. Germany gains the most in these revisions.
- Austria-Hungary starts the campaign in a position to take Montenegro on the first or second turn, as happened historically.
- Either Germany or Austria-Hungary can occupy Uskub on the first turn, giving CP player the option to give either one the plunder from Serbia.
- Russian General Brusilov starts with an increased experience level, meant to facilitate initial success of his offensive.
- Four German subs now start the campaign on station in the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea (W4lth3r)
- Germany starts with 925 MPPs invested in tech chits (down from 1055); UK starts with 810 MPPs invested in tech chits (down from 830)
- Dates when a few DEs fire in the opening turns slightly pushed back to reduce bunching up of decisions that both sides need to make in the first or second turn of the campaign (W4lth3r).
- Arab Revolt DE has already been accepted by the UK when the campaign starts (W4lth3r).
- Persian Expeditionary Force DE has already been accepted by Russia when the campaign starts.
- One Ottoman corps has to move adjacent to Kut-al-Amara to start the siege there, thus giving the trapped Indian corps one more turn before it hits zero supply (W4lth3r).
New Features:
Both 1914 and 1916 campaigns
- Changed the impact of mutiny and desertion strength scripts for all majors so that if they fire, only units within range of specified resources are affected rather than then entire front.
- Set a new 35% NM threshold for increased mutinies and desertions for Italy and Austria-Hungary.
- Set a new First Revolution threshold for increased mutinies and desertions for Russia.
- Wrote a new French Army mutiny script which has the same impact as settings in the 1917 vanilla campaign; French mutinies are now more likely but will not affect the entire front at the same time.
- Arrival of U.S.A. corps near the front line in France and Belgium will eliminate the risk of French Army mutinies.
- T.E. Lawrence will now boost the unit morale of Arab partisans by 50% if they are within 3 hexes of the Hejaz railway.
- France is now the Entente parent for Free Serbian units (rather than Russia)
- The German DE to create a new HQ for General Falkenhayn only fires as of July 1916 if Romania has joined the Entente and Verdun is still in Entente hands
- The Ottoman regular corps that can be sent to Libya can now arrive in Tobruk or Benghazi if the Senussi capture either of those locations.
- New Ottoman minor created for German and Austro-Hungarian Expeditionary Corps, so these units can be commanded by generals of all three Central Powers.
- New DE added to give Ottomans the option of building a third Expeditionary Corps if Romania joins the Entente, so it can be placed under German or Austro-Hungarian command.
- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is now a two-step process, first a German decision event to start negotiations and then a Russian dummy DE which fires on a 50% chance per turn to conclude the Treaty.
- The three Baltic states are initially transferred to German after Brest-Litovsk. However each of them will declare independence unless Germany immediately stations a corps in their capital city.
- Austria-Hungary gains 50 NM and 25 MPPs from grain shipments from Ukraine after the Treaty, but must keep two corps within 3 hexes of Lemberg to guarantee the flow of grain supplies.
- Ottomans must keep two corps within 5 hexes of Kars after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, otherwise Batum and Kars will secede and join the new Trans-Caucasian Federation.
- If this happens, Ottoman Empire will declare a state of war agains the Federation, which now has the U.K. as its Entente parent.
- France only gains 2000 NM when the USA enters the war. It will gain another 2000 NM when three USA corps land within five hexes of Paris. This is the same overall NM gain as before, but now requires building 3 USA corps.
- NM impact of Serbian surrender for all majors diminishes by 500 points if Serbia surrenders after February 1, 1915 and by another 500 NM if Serbia surrenders after August 1, 1915.
- Ottomans only gain 1000 NM for capturing Batum (rather than 2000 NM).
- Salonika is no longer an NM objective for Austria-Hungary.
- Russia tech investment limit lowered to 1200 MPPs (from 1600).
- Probability of Frozen weather in Winter in the European weather zone increased from 60% to 80%. Other smaller increases made to the chances of Frozen result in Europe in Late Fall and Late Winter seasons.
1916 Campaign
- A new DE on the first Entente turn gives the UK the option to send an Indian corps and a cavalry corps from Egypt to Mesopotamia in a rescue campaign for the Indian corps besieged at Kut-al-Amara (W4lth3r)
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Latest update to 1914 Icarus Version 6.2
Based on my latest play-test, I have just posted a corrected version of this mod in my Strategic Command dropbox (see the link at the top of this thread).
This was necessary after I found a few errors in the scripts for new units on the Central Powers side - notably affecting the Austro-Hungarian garrisons that mobilize on the Italian border in early 1915.
I have also corrected the build dates for heavy artillery, bringing forward the date or all majors by about four months into early 1915.
Finally, I am experimenting with a revision to the European weather zone (Zone 6) which covers about 80% of the map. I have broken it up into five zones - Western, Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern Europe. They all have the same weather patterns as the original European weather zone (with the exception of Southern Europe, which has a lower chance of being Frozen or Snow in Winter than the other four zones). The intention is to make the weather across the continent less uniform, and thus more interesting. It should also even out the incidence of good and bad weather between the two sides in a given season. Under this revision, if it is snowing in Eastern Europe, it is not necessarily snowing in Western Europe, and vice-versa. See the Weather Layer and the Weather Effects menu in the Editor for details.
If you have already down-loaded the version of this mod which I posted on April 1st, I recommend that you download this updated version.
Based on my latest play-test, I have just posted a corrected version of this mod in my Strategic Command dropbox (see the link at the top of this thread).
This was necessary after I found a few errors in the scripts for new units on the Central Powers side - notably affecting the Austro-Hungarian garrisons that mobilize on the Italian border in early 1915.
I have also corrected the build dates for heavy artillery, bringing forward the date or all majors by about four months into early 1915.
Finally, I am experimenting with a revision to the European weather zone (Zone 6) which covers about 80% of the map. I have broken it up into five zones - Western, Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern Europe. They all have the same weather patterns as the original European weather zone (with the exception of Southern Europe, which has a lower chance of being Frozen or Snow in Winter than the other four zones). The intention is to make the weather across the continent less uniform, and thus more interesting. It should also even out the incidence of good and bad weather between the two sides in a given season. Under this revision, if it is snowing in Eastern Europe, it is not necessarily snowing in Western Europe, and vice-versa. See the Weather Layer and the Weather Effects menu in the Editor for details.
If you have already down-loaded the version of this mod which I posted on April 1st, I recommend that you download this updated version.
Re: Icarus Mod, Version 6 in Preliminary Release
Latest update to the Icarus Mod, Version 6.3
After further play-testing, I have completed my latest - and I hope final - set of revisions to the Icarus mod for both the 1914 and 1916 campaigns. You will find the files for both campaigns in the Dropbox link at the top of this thread. Also included is a fully updated version of the Guide to the mod dated - April 26, 2024 - which explains in detail all the new features in the mod relative to the standard game.
A summary of the new features after my final round of revisions is as follows:
- The giant European weather zone has been divided up into five zones: Western, Central, Northern, Eastern and Southern Europe. This will make weather patterns across the continent in Autumn and Winter less uniform.
- If the Ottomans have not yet entered the war and still control Basra by January 30, 1915, they can build a detachment there to prevent its capture by the UK.
- If the UK decides not to seize the Ottoman dreadnought, Russia will only pay a 2000 NM penalty if the UK is not yet in the war.
- If the Ottomans do not garrison Constantinople with an Ottoman unit, they lose 100 NM points per turn.
- The field fortifications on the map in East Prussia have an entrenchment maximum of 2.
- The maximum swing from a diplomacy hit plus a bonus is 25%.
- Spain cannot swing through diplomacy beyond 50% for either side.
- Research now advances per level at 5%,5%,4%,4%,3%. This is slightly slower at levels 3 - 5 than before.
Based on further play-testing, I have reworked some settings from previous iterations of the mod:
- The UK, France, USA and Germany can invest 4 chits in Trench Warfare tech; other powers still can only invest three.
- Italy and the Ottoman Empire do not start in 1914 with a chit invested in Command and Control; instead, they each start with one chit invested in Trench Warfare.
- Russia does start at level 1 in Command and Control but cannot go any further in this tech.
- France, Russia and Austria-Hungary start with 44 MPPs each, enabling them to move two corps with operational movement on the first turn. Germany starts with 60 MPPs.
- Russia has the option to build the dreadnought that arrives in June 1915 on the Black or the Baltic Sea.
- Bulgaria will swing 10-15% to the Central Powers if Nish is captured; and then 4-6% per turn towards the CP if they have one unit on the Serbian - Bulgarian border.
In addition, players can now to turn on or off three settings from the Decisions menu (under Advanced options) before starting a game, if they wish to handicap one side or the other in the game:
- All the Central Powers war-weariness scripts can be turned off;
- All the Entente war-weariness scripts can be turned off;
- U.S. mobilization can be accelerated so that it will join the war by the end of 1916.
At this point, I do not plan to add further new features to the mod (at least not for a while). It needs to be stable so that players can discover it and explore how to make use the features that are there. But I will make corrections to the scripts as players discover glitches, or things they believe should be changed. Please post all feedback about the mod here, or DM me directly with your views.
I hope you enjoy the game!
Michael
After further play-testing, I have completed my latest - and I hope final - set of revisions to the Icarus mod for both the 1914 and 1916 campaigns. You will find the files for both campaigns in the Dropbox link at the top of this thread. Also included is a fully updated version of the Guide to the mod dated - April 26, 2024 - which explains in detail all the new features in the mod relative to the standard game.
A summary of the new features after my final round of revisions is as follows:
- The giant European weather zone has been divided up into five zones: Western, Central, Northern, Eastern and Southern Europe. This will make weather patterns across the continent in Autumn and Winter less uniform.
- If the Ottomans have not yet entered the war and still control Basra by January 30, 1915, they can build a detachment there to prevent its capture by the UK.
- If the UK decides not to seize the Ottoman dreadnought, Russia will only pay a 2000 NM penalty if the UK is not yet in the war.
- If the Ottomans do not garrison Constantinople with an Ottoman unit, they lose 100 NM points per turn.
- The field fortifications on the map in East Prussia have an entrenchment maximum of 2.
- The maximum swing from a diplomacy hit plus a bonus is 25%.
- Spain cannot swing through diplomacy beyond 50% for either side.
- Research now advances per level at 5%,5%,4%,4%,3%. This is slightly slower at levels 3 - 5 than before.
Based on further play-testing, I have reworked some settings from previous iterations of the mod:
- The UK, France, USA and Germany can invest 4 chits in Trench Warfare tech; other powers still can only invest three.
- Italy and the Ottoman Empire do not start in 1914 with a chit invested in Command and Control; instead, they each start with one chit invested in Trench Warfare.
- Russia does start at level 1 in Command and Control but cannot go any further in this tech.
- France, Russia and Austria-Hungary start with 44 MPPs each, enabling them to move two corps with operational movement on the first turn. Germany starts with 60 MPPs.
- Russia has the option to build the dreadnought that arrives in June 1915 on the Black or the Baltic Sea.
- Bulgaria will swing 10-15% to the Central Powers if Nish is captured; and then 4-6% per turn towards the CP if they have one unit on the Serbian - Bulgarian border.
In addition, players can now to turn on or off three settings from the Decisions menu (under Advanced options) before starting a game, if they wish to handicap one side or the other in the game:
- All the Central Powers war-weariness scripts can be turned off;
- All the Entente war-weariness scripts can be turned off;
- U.S. mobilization can be accelerated so that it will join the war by the end of 1916.
At this point, I do not plan to add further new features to the mod (at least not for a while). It needs to be stable so that players can discover it and explore how to make use the features that are there. But I will make corrections to the scripts as players discover glitches, or things they believe should be changed. Please post all feedback about the mod here, or DM me directly with your views.
I hope you enjoy the game!
Michael