TGW-Div 1.6 -- World War I

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Week 31, 1914 Britain

The BEF launches the first Allied counterattack against the German invaders. Calais is taken with no resistance. The BEF continues its drive and captures Ypres. Fighting is light with one German Machine Gunner and one German Garrison lost for no losses to the BEF.

British diplomats send monetary aid to Russia.

Summary of losses:

1xGerman Machine Gun
1xGerman Garrison

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Week 32, 1914 Italy

The Italian military is finally mobilized and moves into action. The beginning of fighting in the Italian Alps begins with Italian artillery shelling Austro-Hungarian positions in Trieste. No losses are recorded for either side.

Summary of losses:

None

 

[Tigranes]

(Anyway: I don't undertand, why in this scenario Breslau is not connected to the railway net yet?! I would think that in reality the German railway net was already pretty much complete by 1914. And Silesia was a major industrial area at that time, almost as important as the Ruhr area.)

For that matter I have no idea what happened to the rail link between Moscow and Petrograd. Historically this was the very first railroad constructed in Russia. It's hard to imagine Kiev without railways in 1914 either and list can go on. We could assume that rails just needed a repair, as no one can build a railroad to Breslau in 1 week

What troubles me much more are comparisons between German and Russian Infantry. Disparity is simply way too high and unfair. Russia was intended to "kill" by numbers not by strength in this scenario -- which does not really reflect the reality. 65 mil Germany has mobilized 11 mil men (estimates vary), and 175 mil Russia has mobilized 12 mil men during the entire war. Attack 4 and defence 8 is just too low...

 

[Lanzelot]

Ottoman Empire:
Finally mobilized. And already the first surprise of the war: the Neutrals declare war on us, when we are not willing to pay them!

Light Bombardment of Salonika. Ottoman Cavalry dies attacking a British Light Artillery position near Kuwait. Infantry moves in to finish the job.
Bombardment of British invaders near Gaza.

Austria-Hungaria:
Killed a few scouting Russian Cavalry. Battleship Radetzky accidentally run over "something" and was promoted to veteran.
Light Bombardment of Italian Army Groups Cadorna and Diaz. No other action on the Isonzo front.

Germany:
Heavy bombardment of French artillery positions east of Brussels. 4 German Armies attack. Falkenhayn dies! All of Germany mourns over the loss of the "Hero of Krakow"!
But French losses are high as well: 2 machine guns, several Inf divisions, garnisons and 7 artillery pieces. The French Cavalry runs away in horror...

Two Russian Inf divisions killed in minor squirmishes in the east.
German Baltic Fleet moves on from Riga to Helsinki and sights the Russian Baltic Fleet. The German Destroyers immediately open the battle.
German losses: 4 destroyers
Russian losses: 1 cruiser, 2 destroyers. Two more cruisers and two destroyers heavily damaged.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

The French Cavalry runs away in horror...

I like your commentary here. I laughed when I read that!

 

[Tigranes]

Wow! What an eventful turn indeed!

I guess Entante and Russia can now sign RoP with Neutrals, if there is no objection...
Let me know plz before I paly my turn....

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

I agree but really it's up to Lanzelot.

 

[Lanzelot]

Wow! What an eventful turn indeed!

I guess Entante and Russia can now sign RoP with Neutrals, if there is no objection...

I don't like that idea...
No honestly, that would give you a distinct advantage: I still can't go through Neutral territory (obviously...), but you would then be able to go through their territory and attack my countries everywhere, where there is no front line. All my countries would then also need to cover all their borders with the neutral countries, which would easily double my current frontline! You would not need to do that, so you can keep the shorter (and thus better defended) front line.

Also consider: only Osmania is at war with the Neutrals. Germany and Austria still have good relations with them. So they can't enter Neutral territory.

I don't intend to make this a major war. I'll just kill a number of units and take a few towns until they are willing to talk and then make peace again. Just pretend nothing has happened, and then we can go "back to normal" soon...

 

[Lanzelot]

What troubles me much more are comparisons between German and Russian Infantry. Disparity is simply way too high and unfair. Russia was intended to "kill" by numbers not by strength in this scenario -- which does not really reflect the reality. 65 mil Germany has mobilized 11 mil men (estimates vary), and 175 mil Russia has mobilized 12 mil men during the entire war. Attack 4 and defence 8 is just too low...

Ottoman, Austrian and Italian Infantry has similarly low attack values. I'm not sure, but I think it reflects reality:

• At the beginning of the war, the Russian army was very ineffective, because of the incompetency of the Russian high command (in particular General Schilinski). Just consider the battle of Tannenberg (Aug 1914), where the Russians lost close to 170000 men and 500 guns, while the Germans lost only 20000 men, and shortly afterwards the battle of the Masurian Lakes, again with high Russian losses in men and artillery (although this time they were able to retreat in good order). The Russian Generals had not yet adjusted to the "modern way of warfare": they didn't use airplane reconnaissance and cavalry reconnaissance, and they did not use the railway effectively.
• At the end of the war, shortage in ammunition and rifles reduced the strength of the Russian infantry considerably. I read somewhere that some battalions had only one rifle for 5 men. Once the one with the rifle was dead or wounded, the next behind him had to pick up the rifle and continue fighting. Of course things like these reduced the morale and ultimately lead to the Revolution.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Yes you have a good point. Let's not make RoP with the Neutrals and things will go back to normal soon. The only thing that might change things though is if the Neutrals attack an Ottoman city or unit within the Ottoman borders this could trigger the MPP with Germany and Austria. In that case events will obviously escalate.

This is an interesting twist non the less and should make for a very interesting game. In the meantime let's agree not to make the situation unfair for any party involved.

 

[Tigranes]

I don't mean to be pushy, but please consider the following. Some of the Neutral powers icluded under Neutrals in our adaptation eventually turned against Central Powers. Romania, Greece, Portugal, Arabia -- on our map, and many more, including Japan, worldwide. While Spain, Denmark and such remained Neutral, in our approximation we can have only 3 possible situations: Neutrals remain Neutral, Neutrals join on the side of Entente, Neutrals join on the side of Central Powers.

Since Turkey is in locked alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungry, this would normaly cause the war with all 3 countries, if Germany were AI, it was bound to declare a war due to the mutual protection treaty. The logic of the scenario suggests that all your blovk should declare a war on Neutrals, and so you can use their territory to invade it.

In real War Romanian entry made Central Powers stronger -- they got an access to the Romanian Oil after beating unprepared Romanians. Since they declared the war -- war it is! You can use it for your advantage and for coalition victory.

You can argue, that you would give them 100 gold, if only you knew about my arguments. If so, that's a valid point. On the other side, involvement of Neutrals adds a challenge to this game, and in this case remotely simulates the reality -- Central Powers became increasingly isolated in the World. Except for Russia, no country made peace with Centrals before the end of the war.
To merge this 2 points I propose the following compromise:

1. Declare war on Neutrals as Germany and AH, since they declared first.
2. You don't have to fight with them until end like in real WW1. Make peace at any time.
3. If they EVER declare on any of us, we are to abide the same rules as your block.

P.S. I am missing SAV file... Did you send it?

 

[Tigranes]

Russian economy starts slowly recover after the blow with all the Small Wonders lost in Belgrade. Russian bankers escaped with their money to Novgorod and finally reopened Russian Wall Street in the center of that city, famous for it's trade traditions.

Russian Baltic fleet attacked light German forces SW of Helsinki. German light cruisers 'Augsburg' and 'Magdeburg' where sunk by dreadnought battleship Slava and submarine E-9. Unfortunately two other submarines were rammed by German ships in the unsuccessful attempt to deliver more losses to the invading fleet.

Russian Black Sea Fleet accomplished mine-sweeping operations in Bulgarian waters. One undisclosed ship was badly damaged in the process.

One Serbian and one Russian infantry units died during the unsuccessful counter-attacks in Serbia and Poland.

In Western Armenia Imperial soldiers secured Hill 205 east from Erzerum. Railroad Engineers spotted right outside of the mighty fortress, but were out of reach to the Caucasus Army.

Russian railroad workers finally reestablished direct rail link between Moscow and Petrograd. 1 liter of vodka was awarded to each hard working engineer.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Week 32, 1914 France

Limited action this week by the French. After losing it's artillery force France must consolidate it's defenses. However Marshall Petain attacks lone German Rifle unit outside Liege and destroys it.

Summary of losses:

1xGerman Rifleman (10/12/1)

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Week 32, 1914 Britain

No action reported by the BEF on the Western front. A small skirmish erupts outside Kuwait city as a unit of British Riflemen (11/5/1) destroys the Turkish Rifleman (4/9/1) that killed a lone British artillery piece.

On the diplomatic front it was announced today that Germany and Austria-Hungary are now at war with the Neutrals. In a surprise turn of events the Neutrals have declared war on Russia!!

In other news a British transport sailing in the Channel mysteriously sinks. There were no survivors but the smoke from the wreckage just before going under could be seen from Calais. Authorities are investigating the incident.

Summary of losses:

1xBritish Transport
1xTurkish Rifleman

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Week 33, 1914 Italy

All is quiet on the Isonzo. Italian forces are withdrawn from the front lines in an effort to solidify the defenses.

Summary of losses:

none

 

[Tigranes]

Week 32, 1914 Britain



On the diplomatic front it was announced today that Germany and Austria-Hungary are now at war with the Neutrals. In a surprise turn of events the Neutrals have declared war on Russia!!

Wow! This settles one question and rises the second. Since Germany and Austria both are in the locked alliance with Turkey it is understandable that Germany and AH automatically were placed at war with Neuts by the Civ3 engine as soon as it had a chanse.

The declaration of war at Russia really surprises me -- I have set Neutrals on the lowest aggression level! They liked everyone! I think they got pissed because there was no RoP agreement with them... What do we do now? Should Entante collectively declare on them too? Like the entire world is now against the Imperialistic states, who fight with each other? Or should we just downplay this episode and just try to make peace with them?

 

[Lanzelot]

Very interesting turn of events...!

I think the problem with the Neutrals is: they are too strong!

Nation            Cities  Land  Population
Neutrals          59      1823   449
Ottoman Empire    34      1116   326
French Empire     31       684   302
Austria-Hungary   26       427   209
British Empire    25       679   215
German Empire     25       321   270
Italy             19       502   199

As you see, they have twice as many cities and three times as much land as almost anyone else. This probably explains, why they demand tribute and then declare war...
Are you sure you set the agression level to lowest?

Only Russia is stronger:

Nation            Cities  Land  Population
Russian Empire    68      2550   491

Therefore I'm really puzzled, why they now declared on Russia?!

BTW, what is the difficulty level? The game says "Major", whatever that means... I hope it's something like Regent or lower, because otherwise they will be producing millions of units. (They have outdated units, but these are cheap to produce. Now imagine a Deity production bonus of 40%, and these 59 cities will be cranking out units like crazy, which will pillage everything (because they are too weak to attack, but quite ok on the defensive, so the AI will use them for pillaging)!

The mutual protection pact makes it difficult, maybe even impossible to sign peace now: let's assume at some point I'm able to make peace as the Austrians. But before the next Ottoman turn comes around, so that the Ottomans can make peace as well (if the Neutrals are willing to talk at all), the Neutrals may attack an Ottoman unit, which draws Austria right back into the war...!
I will need to wait until the Neutrals are willing to talk to all three of my countries and then sign peace in the order Ottomans -> Austria -> Germany.

I don't know, what the Western Allies should do. A RoP with the Neutrals would in any case be too unfair! That's like having a second Russia on your side! But if you declare war as well, it will become even more difficult to ever get back to "normal"...
Let's play one more turn and try out, how many forces the war with the Neutrals really binds. If it's a significant part, then probably you should also declare war on them, so we all have the same disadvantage.

Lanzelot

 

[Tigranes]

The difficulty is Regent, in our case Mayor.

I agree with my opponent!

Lets play one round and then decide. I am pretty sure, that if you make peace with one it will make you to sign peace with all. So no worries there.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Based on experience with other scenarios with locked alliances, i.e. El Justo's Cold War Scenario, if any one member of a locked alliance makes peace with a civ then all members of the alliance are immediately set to peace ending the war.

As I was playing last night and saw these declaration of wars by the Neutrals I thought to myself, "how dare they interrupt our war!" LOL

 

[Lanzelot]

As I was playing last night and saw these declaration of wars by the Neutrals I thought to myself, "how dare they interrupt our war!" LOL

Yes, let's team up and show them darn rascals!

Don't have much time tonight. Will play tomorrow. And my mails to you still don't get through: not even the ones without attachments... Hope that'll get better soon.