The Great War VI

[B-DizL]

Ive seen alot of people wondering what the status is of the mod and ive hinted here and there about a new update but havent given many details. This update will be the biggest update since 5.0 but has stalled somewhat due to time constraints and a need for playtesting.

The first thing i will release for playtesting is the new startpos and scripting file.

Many changes have been made to the startpos which should result in some great new gameplay, here is a list of the new features

New Emergents

I based the emergents off of this map i found:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Complete list of emergents:

Ireland - Dublin
Flag:

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Hungary (Hungarian Democratic Republic) - Budapest
Flag:

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Poland - Warsaw
Flag:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Latvia - Riga
Flag:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Ukraine (Ukrainian People's Republic) - Kiev
Flag:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Lithuania - Vilnius
Flag:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Belarus - Minsk
Flag:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Finland - Helsinki
Flag:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Czechoslovakia (First Czechoslovak Republic) - Prague
Flag:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Yugoslavia - Zagreb
Flag:

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In addition there are now 3 regions that spawn generic rebel armies with red flags but have regionally specific names based on revolts that actually happened but never created a country.

Germany
Ruhr Revolutionaries
Bavarian Soviet Revolutionaries

Italy
Biennio Rosso Revolutionaries

Here is how the emergents appear on the map:

A fully dismantled Austria-Hungary, from left to right...

Czechoslovakia
Austria
Yugoslavia
Hungary
Poland
Romania

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A fully dismantled Russia, from top to bottom...

Finland
Latvia
Soviet Russia
The White Movement
Lithuania
Belarus
Ukraine

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

"The Soviet Challenge" or "Going the full Soviet"

This is a scenario I came up with based off the Russian map you see above, it came from play testing the emergents in Russia. This is how it works:

1) Disband all armies and navies on turn 1 and crank up taxes for all regions.
2) Hit end turn until you revolt in Petrograd and take the city right away.
3) Keep hitting end turn until the map looks like it does above (all emergents have taken their respective regions).
4) Turn taxes back down to normal levels and repair your broken buildings.

Now you're job it so defeat the White Movement in order to reclaim Moscow then reunify Russia under the Soviet flag and then destroy the world, of course!

Other Changes

Many other changes have been made to the startpos including:

1) Region wealth - Almost every region has adjusted income levels with a focus on buffing the central powers and somewhat nerfing France while also increasing the overall income for every faction including minors.

2) Starting Buildings - Previously many buildings were already at or close to their max level so for gameplay purposes Ive reduced them to level 1 to give the play more things to build. Also added more foundries in general to boost the construction of arty.

3) Religion - Added a greater mix of religions in eastern Europe for cause more unrest which should lead to more revolts and such, also added Jews to the game.

The placement of starting buildings and railways have been placed with 2 ideas in mind:

1) Every major nation now has what i refer to as a "Core" or "Heart" of the nation. This core consists of a group of regions that have every type of building (civil center, barracks, foundry) and every type of town (college, supply depot, level one industry, farm or stables, port, mine) if possible. This way if the AI looses the out lying regions they can still put up a decent fight and not loose the ability to continue research and have the benefits of the other type of towns like supply depot.

In the pics below i have circled the Core of each nation:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

For the central powers it creates this interlocking core that should make them even more powerful

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2) Every major nation now has a basic railway system or "backbone". In most nations this rail system leads from the core to right up to the region on the front line but the front line region itself has no rail system so the player must complete it to get the full benefit. The rail systems are level 1 and some have gaps like Russia which isnt pictured in this post because its so big ill have to make a collage. Every other region has no rail at all so theres still room for improvment by the player.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Also a small note: Germany has the best rail system with level 2 rails in the 2 main core regions making it easier to move troops from front to front.

Scripting Changes

1) Starting Armies/Navies - Added more army units including a larger variety of unit types especially for Great Britain and more naval units as well.

2) Added a small surprise on the eastern front for people playing as Germany or Austria

[philiposV]

is there any plan to remove the masts for naval battles?

[ComnenusTheOne]

Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me, pick me pick me pick me, i'll be a good boy, i'll do a thorough AAR as well, pick meeee.

[ComnenusTheOne]

Oh btw, in TGW 5.1.4 (or something) only a handful of factions are region based. For example, Serbia, when conquered, can either be Occupied or Looted. There is no Liberation option, and a revolution in the region produces the classic "rebel" faction, not an emergent Serbian faction. Same goes for France, who, for some reason, is a strange "Empire" faction, without the ability to reemerge, if defeated, or a counterrevolution to install monarchy or whatever. You plan on changing that?

Btw, why Yugoslavia in Zagreb and not in Belgrade?

[RNV]

I would gladly do some test. Is it a problem of I start after 28 february? (exams finish in that date)

[B-DizL]

Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me, pick me pick me pick me, i'll be a good boy, i'll do a thorough AAR as well, pick meeee.

Ok ComnenusTheOne youre in

After i read your post about youre playthrough i had considered PMing you right then and asking if you wanted to be a playtester but i decided to do it this way to show the community the mod isnt dead at all.

Oh btw, in TGW 5.1.4 (or something) only a handful of factions are region based. For example, Serbia, when conquered, can either be Occupied or Looted. There is no Liberation option, and a revolution in the region produces the classic "rebel" faction, not an emergent Serbian faction. Same goes for France, who, for some reason, is a strange "Empire" faction, without the ability to reemerge, if defeated, or a counterrevolution to install monarchy or whatever. You plan on changing that?

Btw, why Yugoslavia in Zagreb and not in Belgrade?

Serbia is the reason i starting doing startpos editing in the first place actually, all of these issues should be fixed but of course thats what playtesting is for. As for Yugoslavia, i considered a few different ideas but went with the way it is because i wanted Serbia to always emerge as Serbia but things could always change.

I would gladly do some test. Is it a problem of I start after 28 february? (exams finish in that date)

Yeah thats cool, exams are always more important. Theres still a ton more stuff after this to be tested anyway.

[ComnenusTheOne]

Yeah thats cool, exams are always more important. Theres still a ton more stuff after this to be tested anyway.

Blasphemy.... but i'll play along.... this time.

[duerker von eden]

I guess ill try it out iv been trying to get back into the total war games and iv gone back to TGW so why not.

[agunter999]

Ukrain Should either be a Directory or Hetmanate not a Peoples Republic.

[RNV]

I think he refers to the Ukrainian people's republic that tried to secede from USSR.

[The Hedge Knight]

is there any plan to remove the masts for naval battles?

You would not believe how difficult this has proved to be when I have tried it before.

[philiposV]

do you mean graphically? or getting the new model to work in game?

[ZeEmperor]

I`d test;but I have an idea,

as the State of SHS (Slovenes,Croats and Serbs) has the capital city of Zagreb in Croatia,would not a some kind of revolt be better in Serbia (Balkans region) so in Serbia te emergent would be Kingdom of SHS (Serbs/Croats/Slovenes) and that the State of SHS and the Kingdom are in bad relations so the Kingdom goes in war and takes their region,making a unified Yugoslavia?
Also,units for all the factions would be great,like faction specific ones.
Also what i dont like about the Serbian WW1 army is that the Chetniks/Četnici dont look how they really used to:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...8Detnicima.jpg

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://srbin.info/wp-content/uploads...455-213858.jpg

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://www.camo.ch/uploads/pics/5787m.jpg

Note the typical elements;
The hats;
Šajkača,with or without the "kokarda"

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://images.delcampe.com/img_large...61_001.jpg?v=3

The Šubara

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://www.malasrpskaprodavnica.com/...a_kokardom.jpg

And also many other stuff,such as the bullet belt around their coats and the beards (chetnik without a beard is no chetnik).
Also most of the serbian units wore the Šajkača hat i pictured above,so if youre not gonna do anything else,at least try to put a šajkača to cover every serb`s head.

Why this?
Cause I want the enemy im in war with to be as detailed as possible,also,one of these bastards almost killed my 10 year old nanna back in WW2.

Ye i wanna test.

PS
Another mistake in the flag this time:
This is how the State of SHS (Croatia emergent) flag looked like:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Serbs.svg.png

And later when Serbia "joined in" it was like this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://revijasandzak.com/wp-content/...-Slovenaca.png

[Poetic Pariah]

My, that's an awfully beautiful map.

But, I have to ask, will Germany still have their minor German States that you could liberate in case you wanted to crush the German Empire entirely and set it back to before they were united? And also, will Austria be getting an Albanian unit in this coming update?

Edit: Also, the same with Italy would be nice too and I'd love to see France become a nation again if their home region rebels.

[B-DizL]

I`d test;but I have an idea,

as the State of SHS (Slovenes,Croats and Serbs) has the capital city of Zagreb in Croatia,would not a some kind of revolt be better in Serbia (Balkans region) so in Serbia te emergent would be Kingdom of SHS (Serbs/Croats/Slovenes) and that the State of SHS and the Kingdom are in bad relations so the Kingdom goes in war and takes their region,making a unified Yugoslavia?
Also,units for all the factions would be great,like faction specific ones.
Also what i dont like about the Serbian WW1 army is that the Chetniks/Četnici dont look how they really used to:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...8Detnicima.jpg

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://srbin.info/wp-content/uploads...455-213858.jpg

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://www.camo.ch/uploads/pics/5787m.jpg

Note the typical elements;
The hats;
Šajkača,with or without the "kokarda"

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://images.delcampe.com/img_large...61_001.jpg?v=3

The Šubara

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://www.malasrpskaprodavnica.com/...a_kokardom.jpg

And also many other stuff,such as the bullet belt around their coats and the beards (chetnik without a beard is no chetnik).
Also most of the serbian units wore the Šajkača hat i pictured above,so if youre not gonna do anything else,at least try to put a šajkača to cover every serb`s head.

Why this?
Cause I want the enemy im in war with to be as detailed as possible,also,one of these bastards almost killed my 10 year old nanna back in WW2.

Ye i wanna test.

PS
Another mistake in the flag this time:
This is how the State of SHS (Croatia emergent) flag looked like:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Serbs.svg.png

And later when Serbia "joined in" it was like this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://revijasandzak.com/wp-content/...-Slovenaca.png

Interesting suggestions

The problem with this is Serbia tends to be conquered rather early then revolts, so what ever faction emerges from Serbia will be the faction you will be playing most of the campaign with. So id rather play a campaign with Serbia present throughout than a campaign where the State of SHS is there instead.

Also to make sure the update is released in a decent amount of time we arent oging to be adding new models/textures that havent been at least started to be worked on.

I love this flag tho...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

My, that's an awfully beautiful map.

But, I have to ask, will Germany still have their minor German States that you could liberate in case you wanted to crush the German Empire entirely and set it back to before they were united? And also, will Austria be getting an Albanian unit in this coming update?

Edit: Also, the same with Italy would be nice too and I'd love to see France become a nation again if their home region rebels.

This takes a ton of work so i only did the nations that came into existence after or during the war and i had to use alot of the German states as a base for the other emergents so it wouldnt be possible at this point without a major reworking.

I changed the rebel types in France but im not sure if France remerges after being conquered, which is how it should be.

[Poetic Pariah]

This takes a ton of work so i only did the nations that came into existence after or during the war and i had to use alot of the German states as a base for the other emergents so it wouldnt be possible at this point without a major reworking.

I changed the rebel types in France but im not sure if France remerges after being conquered, which is how it should be.

Kinda thought that'd be how it'd work, especially when you mentioned Ruhr Revolutionaries and Bavarian Communist Revolutionaries.

Not wanting to pester you too much, but will Serbia still be liberated within Italy or are they back in the Balkans? And is the US still based in the Netherlands? Or are those questions best reserved for later after the testing?

[B-DizL]

Kinda thought that'd be how it'd work, especially when you mentioned Ruhr Revolutionaries and Bavarian Communist Revolutionaries.

After working with emergents ive discovered there are various types of rebels that can occupy the emergent field in the startpos, which can lead to different outcomes when a revolt happens.

Basic rebels = when the revolt event happens they simply damage the buildings in the city that revolts but no army is generated.

Generic rebels = when a revolt happens an army is spawned but they have just a red flag and when they capture the city no new state is founded, they just stay as generic rebels.

Emergents = an army is spawned and when it takes the city a NEW faction is founded.

Revolutionaries = an army is spawned and when they take the city they become a new version of the existing faction (just different flag, gov type and name but still same faction ultimately.

Ruhr Revolutionaries and Bavarian Communist Revolutionaries are they generic type so they will rebel but they wont be one of the former German states like you mention just regular old rebels.

Not wanting to pester you too much, but will Serbia still be liberated within Italy or are they back in the Balkans? And is the US still based in the Netherlands? Or are those questions best reserved for later after the testing?

Please, pester away

The Serbia in Italy thing is totally fixed as well as a bunch of other odd issues like that but all this still needs testing of course.

One of the main focuses of this round of testing is not only the emergents but what happens when faction capitals are taken by the enemy, namely France and GB and Italy, and what happens when a revolution happens then.

[Poetic Pariah]

Please, pester away

The Serbia in Italy thing is totally fixed as well as a bunch of other odd issues like that but all this still needs testing of course.

One of the main focuses of this round of testing is not only the emergents but what happens when faction capitals are taken by the enemy, namely France and GB and Italy, and what happens when a revolution happens then.

Great Britain? So y'all have done something to the UK when they lose England? My, the team is going all out in this update. Doing the math (and assuming you've removed ALL the emergent nations in Germany proper) you still have about two more emergent nations you could use for other projects. Considering the depth and detail that has gone on, I suspect that they wouldn't be wasted (again, assuming they were all repurposed.)

[B-DizL]

IIRC practically every region in the campaign has the emergent faction changed or fixed.

I only mention GB because ive never seen what happens when they are taken by the enemy so im not sure if that needs to be fixed too.

[Poetic Pariah]

Every emergent faction changed or fixed? My, that begs even more questions then. I'm curious as to which vanilla emergent nations still exist in game and which were redesigned to better serve the modern century. And, of course, there is always the lingering question about nations who aren't emergent in vanilla and would die off if they were invaded and taken over, ie Sardinia or the Papal States. Would these nations be able to be reworked into emergent nations through startpos or is it simpler and safer to leave them scrapped?

And, of course, the inevitable question about is the United States still based in the Netherlands?