TGW-Div 1.6 -- World War I

[Tigranes]

I have only used the Help in Editor to gain most info. I am sorry if I stated something inaccurately.

How should I understand this:

Also armies cannot get automatic blitz promotion . It has to be gained through many combats (unless you are lucky, off course). Also the army unit itself cannot get promotions only units in the army.

I thought that "blitz" is not a promotion in Civ3 (unlike Civ4), it's a special ability just like Marines have one. Perhaps "veteran" container makes all the units to fight stronger, I am not sure anymore.

And yes healing and veteran production are always come together.

 

[Tigranes]

The Austrian government protests severely against the execution of civilians! Did Russia sign the Conventions of Den Haag or not!
All Russian/French citizens that were taken POW so far, are treated with respect in Austria and Germany. They have to work in the fields or mines to earn their daily bread, that's true, but they will be returned to their home countries unharmed after the war!
These barbaric Russian war crimes will not be tolerated!

Pfff! Before waving Hague conventions Austrians should look at their German brothers destroying civilian buildings in Riga bombardements. We won't even mention what's happening in Neutral Holland, including Hague itself!

 

[Lanzelot]

How should I understand this:

Also armies cannot get automatic blitz promotion.

I can explain this. "Blitz" means, a unit can attack more than once in one turn. Only certain units have this ability, for example the Russian Cossack, The German Panzer and Modern Armor (in standard C3C). And an Army can also do it.
Next there is a rule: a unit, which wins two battles in one turn, gets automatically promoted! (Normally the probability for promotion is 25% for reg --> vet and 12.5% for vet --> elite for non-militaristic civs, and twice as much for militaristic ones.)
This can be used for generating a large amount of elite units: just take your vet Cossacks to a barb camp that has just spawned 10 warriors/horsemen (or to an enemy stack of cheap units) and then kill two of them in one turn, and you have a 100% guaranty to get an elite promotion. This strategy is what Theoden calls automatic blitz promotion

However, even though Armies can blitz, the automatic promotion won't work for them. (As can be seen in my last TGW turn: most of my Armies killed two French units this turn, but I didn't get a single promotion of units inside the Armies.)

By the way: if you are skillful, you can even get "automatic promotion" with units that don't have the blitz ability: see http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8890618&postcount=15
Techniques like these are essential for "leader fishing".

 

[Tigranes]

Oh thanks! The more you live, the more you learn, as they say in our lands

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Received my turn but I probably won't get a chance to play it until tomorrow evening. Sorry for the delay guys.

 

[Lanzelot]

No problem, I understand... These turns just take ages.
(And even if I got the turn today, I would not be able to play before Saturday myself, so just take your time.) I think we are doing a decent speed with 2-3 turns a week, no need to rush and perhaps make annoying mistakes.

Lanzelot

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Week 47-48, 1914

France

French offensive against Liege peters out. One French army attacks German stack outside of Bruxelles defeating 1 German Rifle R after a preliminary artillery bombardment. General Moffre retires after this short action for some much needed sleep!

Britain

British Zeppelins bombard and destroy German Rifle R outside of Antwerp. The raid continues cutting off the rail and road link to Antwerp.

The Royal Navy bombards then attacks German mine outside Bremen losing 1 Iron Duke BB and 1 Dreadnought. British mines attack German mine Hegoliand Bight losing two British mines. German mines attacked this turn are promoted!

No other action by the British this turn other than bombarding Umm Lajj.

Italy

Italian submarines patrolling near the coasts of Albania and Greece sight an Austrian Destroyer Flotilla and an Armored Cruiser! Both ships are promptly sunk for no losses. It seems that the wounded Austrian Cruiser was steaming home after wreaking havoc on the Eastern Mediterranean fleet of the Royal Navy.

No other action this turn.

 

[Tigranes]

This propaganda Cossack looks exactly like the one in the game

 

[Lanzelot]

Ottoman Empire:
Finally Imperatritsa Mariya, who has done so much damage already to ships and cities in the Black Sea, can be engaged in battle by the Ottoman Black Sea Fleet! A light cruiser rushes towards her to open fire, but runs into an obstacle. It takes a while to sink, so we assume it was a submarine. Three more armored cruisers rush to the scene and open fire on Imperatritsa Mariya, damaging her to 4/9. The brave elite submarine that sunk two major Russian ships three weeks ago and has meanwhile been repaired in the docks of Sinope and gives Mariya the coup de grâce!

A destroyer, looking for the British fleet around Rhodes, finds a French sub and sinks it. 2 Armored Cruisers bombard Makri and hit two marines. Where the heck is the British fleet gone?!

Usual bombardment of Russian troops near Ezerum.


Austria-Hungaria:
Austrian troops continue advance to Zhitomir and kill two conscripts and two cavalry.

Naval battle of Bari: submarine sinks Italian Pre-Dreadnought, repaired battleships rush by as support, on runs over a submarine? Three others sink three Italian destroyers.

Germany:
Conference of Berlin: in unprecedented generosity, Kaiser Wilhelm grants the exile government of The Netherlands an audience and agrees to the creation of an independent and neutral state of Netherland. Now German, English, French and even Indian soldiers all may go buy tulips for their sweethearts at home without having to risk their lifes...! Isn't that nice?
If this experiment works ok successfully, the German government may be willing to enlarge the still small Netherlands territory and may even give other suppressed people of Europe (like the Polish, Baltic or Ukrainian people) an independent country of their own.

Bombardment of Brest-Litowsk. Falkenhayn-Junior and Moltke kill 2 MG. Zeppelins and battleships destroy Russian railway links all over the eastern front.

Heavy bombardment of British Pre-Dreadnoughts outside Hamburg. A couple of German ships attack.
British losses: 2 Pre-Dreadnoughts
German losses: 1 Pre-Dreadnought, 1 elite submarine??

 

[Tigranes]

Life is bitter on the Eastern Front. Entire Finnand riots after Elite Battlecruissers destroy rails. In older versions of TGW the Gulf of Finnland had minefields and unhistorical activity of German ships was not possible, which made all the sense, IMHO.

New battleship Poltava sinks Elite BC Von Der Tann, but gets redlined. Advancing German armies in Belorussia get yellowlined by artillery. West Armenian army totally enveloped and trying hard to escape. New all Cossack Corps under Gen. Ruzsky manages pillage rail in former Russian Lithuania and being 3 mp bravely escapes

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Week 48-49, 1914

Short report as not much action and it's late for me.

French artillery shells German Rifle R outside Bruxelles then Petain attacks the German cavalry there killing him.

British Zeppelin finishes off the German Rifle R outside Bruxelles. Zeppelins also raid the interior of Germany for the first time in the war. Rail lines are disrupted at several places in the Ruhr.

British artillery destroy the walls at Umm Lajj. Expedition to Makrit threatened by Kemal. There is nothing we can do but brace ourselves for the inevitable attack. Our forces have severed the rail link however between Constantinople and Jerusalem.

In the Adriatic sea the Italian Navy sinks two Tegetthoff BB that were protecting a wounded Pre-Dreadnought. A great victory over the Austrian fleet! No other action by Italy.

edit!: Italian mines sink Turkish Armored CA off of Rhodes.

The allies are frustrated at the conversion of Antwerp to a neutral nation. However the pain and suffering of the locals has for them, now ended. The tulips will indeed grow again.

 

[Lanzelot]

Ottoman Empire:
Kemal takes undefended Makri. As was to be expected, the British have behaved themselves like Vandals and destroyed all city buildings like marketplaces, libraries, etc! A wonder they didn't damage the Hospital as well! The brandnew Turkish Mediteranean Fleet rushes close by and takes the British Marines under heavy fire. Well, they won't escape, so the artillery that had originally been intended for softening Makri, is using the Angora rail-line to rush to Trabzon and Ezerum and give the departing Russian troops a fare-well fireworks...
First they bombard the Cossacks blocking the railway. Two Turkish Infs die in an attempt to pushback these Cossacks, so in the end an elite Bulgarian Inf and the von Sanders Army need to do the job. Finally the connection to Ezerum is free, and the artillery - together with 3 more that just got finished this week - can red-line almost all defending units. Unfortunately the Turkish army is lacking the necessary attacking power to follow up on that success. Von Sanders kills one more Inf A.


Austria-Hungaria:
The Austrian fleet is trying to pay back the Italians this week. Damaged Zriny bombards Pre-Dreadnought. A submarine comes by and sinks it. Prinz Eugen attacks a slightly mis-spelled Dante Alighieri and sinks it, gaining elite status. Radetzky attacks Guilio Cesare and sinks it! For some strange reason something is blocking its path when it tries to look for survivors?!

Germany:
The usual Zeppelin bombardment of railways on the eastern front. Battleships destroy more railways around Helsinki.

Battle of Brest-Litowsk: the entire German artillery force bears down on Brest-Litowsk. Afterwards 10 German Armies attack, followed by Inf A. 22 Russian divisions die, mostly Inf R conscripts. German losses: 2 Inf A. A new leader appears and forms the Army Engelbrechten. Then Inf R joins the attack, but 4 in a row die, promoting a Russian conscript to elite! Falkenhayn-Junior (10/24) tries to kill that elite, while it's still 4/8, but also dies!! Moltke (9/20) finally finishes it off before retreating. Attack broken up.

Moff: so far I didn't know Zeppelins have lethal bombardment! (The civilopeadia really needs rework...)

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Hi Lanzelot,

Yes I found out by accident that Zeppelins had lethal land when I first starting playing this scenario way back when. I agree that the Civilopedia needs much work to explain a lot of these key points.

 

[Tigranes]

In new adaptation we are playing right now Zepps can just destroy buildings and scout, that's what they mainly did in WW1, not bombing divisions.

 

[Tigranes]

3 Weeks before a New Year!

State funeral is organized for the heroes of Brest-Litovsk which killed the first German Corp by Russians in this game. Brest became famous in WW2 for the stiff resistance but even in our WW1 it still shows formidable resilience. Entire Empire is scrambling to reinforce it.

Austrian Corps shelled near Zhitomir and yellowlined. If I am not mistaken, Austria is missing Battlefield Medicine, so no healing for Austrian Invaders!

Western Armenian army is now in safe Eastern Armenia! That was a long and fruitless journey, but hey, we kept Turks busy for a while...

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

gps Lanzelot

Week 49-50, 1914

France:

The French bombard troops in Nancy with Counterbattery fire but take no other action this week.

Britain:

The Royal Navy continues it's shelling of the German minefield belt at the Northern tip of Denmark. The regular mine is shelled and attacked by two British Orion Class BB's. Both British ships lose their lives and the mine is promoted to veteran status.

British Zeppelins bomb and kill German Rifle R outside of Liege. The road and rail link is then bombed.

Umm Lajj gets bombarded by artillery and then a British Rifle A attempts to break into the city. He fails however, paying with his life.

Italy:

The Regia Marina spots an Austrian 1914 Submarine near Bari and sinks it with a 1914 Destroyer Flotilla. No other action this week other than the usual shelling of Austrian trenches in the Isonzo area.

 

[Lanzelot]

Update: did not get a chance to play over the weekend. Next days will be busy, and this is always a 3-4 hour turn. I ask for leave until Thursday (when my Easter vacation will begin...)

Lanzelot

 

[Tigranes]

That's ok , Lanzelot! How do they say "Easter" in Germany Does it have a meaning of "Resurection", or it is more like they have in English? And 3-4 hours, wow I would never think it takes so long with all the artillery Germany has

 

[Lanzelot]

"Easter" is "Ostern", so probably same roots as in English.

Well, a lot of time goes into looking around and finding the next weak spot to attack (), into coordinating Turkey, Austria and Germany, and into micro-managing the cities.

(By now I finally managed to mine the necessary tiles and distribute them among all cities, so that each city can produce one unit per turn. (Or an artillery in two turns, without wasting too many shields.)

 

[Lanzelot]

British Zeppelins bomb and kill German Rifle R outside of Liege. The road and rail link is then bombed.

One question though, while we wait for the Christmas truce to be over...:

For 3-4 turns now Moff is bombarding units and rails on the Western Front, but never reports one of his Zeppelins being shot down. I have biplanes on "air superiority duty" in all the cities around (in some cities even two biplanes). Why don't they even attempt to shoot at the Zeppelins? Something broken here?