Rich Hamilton is taunting us

[Volcano Man]

Sorry, not much time to comment - as I am trying up the final loose ends here for release - but these two general observations deserve a response:

Having said that, I'm worried about the impact of low supply levels on operations. The Austro-Hungarian units in the screenshot have a supply level of 42 and they're on a major road on the Austro-Hungarian side of the Danube. Considering the very limited Serbian ammunition industry, their supply situation is likely to be worse.

On the other hand, as neither side is likely to have numerous artillery units, Low Ammo can still be avoided through good C&C management.

Don't worry, as always, the supply situation in this next game has all be very carefully rationalized, and calculated.

That said, you are correct - the name of this next game (in the earliest campaigns in the title) will be command management.  The one who manages command the best is usually the one that can accomplish the most success and the get most out of their troops. Someone who doesn't manage their command well will wonder how they can accomplish anything at all. The A-H in particular are powerful, but clumsy. I personally like situations where resources are stretched, and the commander has a chance to shine or fail abysmally but their own actions in C&C management (keeping units attached, knowing when to move HQs, etc).

However, as I try to do, the campaigns change over time in how they are represented. Later campaigns have different supply situations but the earliest campaign is more like two old ladies slapping each other, which escalates over additional campaigns, culminating into all out brawl in the final campaign.

That said, there have also been some improvements to the command system in FWWC that will be carried over to the other games. Most importantly dealing with small strength (tactical) HQs - these can now move around in non-Travel Mode without going Out of Command, and these would be things like most brigade HQs.  This helps out a great deal for the armies that have brigade HQs, in that they become a strength, not a weakness during the First World War. It also means that, at some point, this will greatly assist the offensive side in the previous two titles when they are updated (such as the Germans in F14, and Russians in EP14).

The abysmal Russian supply situation in East Prussia '14 removes a lot of the challenge for the German defender: with FWWC casualty rates, you need a constant stream of replacements in order not to be bled white in a matter of days. The Russian supply situation in the war was bad at that point, but as numerous mechanics are linked in terms of benefits/penalties, the cumulative effect is in my opinion too severe in the East Prussian campaign scenarios of EP '14. I haven't tried the Lodz campaigns against a human opponent yet.

I respect your opinion, but it is a broad judgement here. 

Not wanting to get into a big disagreement here, but this was a very meticulously calculated aspect of EP14's early campaign, one that I spent many months figuring out.

The underlying rationale is fairly straightforward: the Russian Army in EP14 has effective soldiers and they outnumber the Germans in the early campaign by over 2:1 in all things (infantry, MGs, cavalry, guns). On paper, they should have annihilated the Germans. However, it is well established that the Russians were suffering from abysmal supply at the start of the war, as it was a monumental task to supply their colossal forces in East Prussia and Galicia.  This supply problem was mostly worked out over time, but apart from their command structure, their logistics is what failed them the most, at least in 1914.  It is completely unrealistic to expect that the Russians were in a position to provide significant replacements to their massive forces during the early 1914 campaigns, at least not during their offensive in East Prussia.

Anything less would create a purely pro-Russian fantasy situation as far as I am concerned -- something that would not be balanced, nor produce a *possibility* of a historical result. But this is the tough decision of a game designer; to have to (hopefully) create a situation that can allow for a historical result, but at the same time allowing enough flexibility to also create a-historical results as well. It is a constant dance.

The easiest thing for me to have done there would have been to give the Russians generic command, and good supplies, but then make the entire Russian Army be poor D quality or less.  But I don't like easy approaches, and in the end I decided on being more elegant, I think, because the generic/mediocre approach makes perfect sense for the communist Red Army in WW2, but not for the Imperial Russian Army of WW1. There needed to be subtle differences between how the Russians behave in FWWC vs. PzC.

Apart from that, who is to say that the Russian Army in East Prussia should have +5% more supply though, I just can't get bogged down in that though.  I am satisfied with the result.

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(in response to the other comments)

Besides that, I can say additional FWWC games are in various stages of development too (yes, like Galicia, and a Middle East title, and more), but this next one is what happens to be what was finished first. Also, this next title was personally very interesting to me, due to its relative obscurity, and the number of campaigns in it and number of nations involved -- you will see!). 


Not much else I can say for now. Busy busy busy, but I hope to notes will adequately explain my decisions.

Enjoy!