EP '14 mechanics/balance

[Volcano Man]

A possibly interesting update of sorts...

I was fascinated with the idea of a hypothetical scenario based on a situation where the Russian 1st Army has reached and surrounded Koenigsberg, under the rationale that the 2nd Army was still hanging on in the south. So, I made one yesterday, mainly to see what would happen rather than just guessing and theorizing.

After playing the scenario several times it became obvious that it was EXTREMELY difficult for the Russians to get inside. I always suspected that, but it would seem to come down to a massive amount of luck to get through the first defensive line, and then even more luck to get into the interior. I actually broke into the outer defenses as the Russians when I played it solitaire twice, but ran out of steam before reaching the interior after three days of fighting both times.

So this got me thinking: I wanted to make sure I had the basics correct with the fortress itself because I could only vaguely remember the details there. So I went back and spent about six hours researching the fortress again by digging out my old data, which I love to do.  First I double checked the positioning of the outer forts with satellite imagery (Google Earth), because I knew that if I had gotten this wrong then the defenses would be too lock tight with no gaps in the perimeter that the Russians could threaten. So, using the Google Earth with triangulation measurements, lo and behold I did find several errors in their placement and have now made them more accurate (several moved one hex this way and one hex that way). As suspected, this actually increased gaps in a few places, in three places the gap is actually quite wide and impossible to block by 3rd party ZOC. This will make it even more important for the Germans to devote a garrison to the city (at least using Hauptsreserve Koenigsberg). Now there are about four major gaps in the outer defenses that must be defended, so the Germans cannot just stick units in all the forts and protect the gaps with ZOC.

Also, I discovered a misunderstanding in the initial research that the forts around Koenigsberg were modernized, but this is actually incorrect. These were 1800s brick constructed forts, so they are all downgraded to Redoubts with the smallest ones having no supply source now. In other words, they have all be reduced one level and the three smaller forts can possibly get isolated in certain desperate situations.

And finally, the inner defenses were made to be more accurate as well, again much weaker than I had them because the continuous row of redoubts was incorrect (this was due to a translation error on a Russian map).

Also, since I was looking, I figured I  would check the calculations on the 152mm de Bange "siege artillery" and the hard attack value turned out to be incorrect (it is 5 and should be 11, I was using the wrong shell weight in the calculation).  This in itself doesn't make a huge difference, but a higher hard attack doesn't hurt.

Corrected all of this for the next update. I think that in the next update it will actually be a reliable possibility to overrun Koenigsberg, so much so that the Germans will have to worry about that possibility, much more than that have to worry about it currently. They will also have to consider using their reinforcements from the western front as a relief force if the fortress ever gets besieged and attacked, while trying to hold off as long as possible for the relief effort to arrive in time. I think this may open up the dynamics a bit more here if the Russian commander is willing to take that risk to continue on with 1st Army.

I think I may make the hypothetical scenario available in the next update too - if I can test it in time.

So kudos for pointing me onto the idea of looking into the Koenigsberg situation. My guess is that I did initial research on the area early on in development and forgot to go back later and give it a second look.

OK, now I really must go back to the next title - I just couldn't resist a good investigation.   Other than this, I am not inclined to adjust anything with the Russians Army in general, but I am always up for making tweaks to scenarios for balance - fatigue, VP levels, etc.