Fritz comes marching!

[AGRICOLA]

I should have posted this a few days ago when I first thought of it, but I figured that there was no point as you had everything under control.

My suggestion is that the Brits be given tech 97 in April 1758. This would accomplish the same thing as giving it to them when Hanover is taken but would eliminate the possibility that the Prussians get 2 sets of reinforcements in 1758.

[techumseh]

I though of that, too. I wanted to wait until Hanover was partly overrun before triggering the reinforcements, partly for historical reasons, and partly to provide playbalance and challenge. In my experience this point usually comes about Oct 1758, give or take a month. So I could have set the trigger as a specific turn, but this worked reliably, so I went with it. I hope it's the last major issue that needs fixing.

[Turno]

At first look - dunno why - it seems to me there's something wrong in the cities' unwalled look. I'll check on my books later on.

[AGRICOLA]

Hadn't gunpowder made city walls more or less obsolete by 1750? I suppose there were existing walls, but did anyone want to pay for their upkeep?

I thought that by this time military engineers were designing earth and stone fortifications where the earth served to absorb cannon shot, something that stone walls failed to do.

[Palaiologos]

Interesting point there Agricola.

My apologies Tech, i was midway my third playtest(trying to imitate Agricola) when i err... sort of got too lazy to go on. By the time i found the energy to continue you had already published the scenario.

Need any more playtest or anything? Because logging on the net will be getting increasingly difficult for me as time goes by.

[techumseh]

Originally posted by AGRICOLA
Hadn't gunpowder made city walls more or less obsolete by 1750? I suppose there were existing walls, but did anyone want to pay for their upkeep?

I thought that by this time military engineers were designing earth and stone fortifications where the earth served to absorb cannon shot, something that stone walls failed to do.

I think that city walls were not totally obsolete until the development of rifled artillery in the mid-1800s. That's when many European cities finally tore them down.

You are right in saying that Vauban-style fortresses had replaced city walls as the key defensive facility well before that, however they could still provide improved defense capacity that would make things much more expensive for the attacker.

[techumseh]

Originally posted by Palaiologos
Interesting point there Agricola.

My apologies Tech, i was midway my third playtest(trying to imitate Agricola) when i err... sort of got too lazy to go on. By the time i found the energy to continue you had already published the scenario.

Need any more playtest or anything? Because logging on the net will be getting increasingly difficult for me as time goes by.

No, thanks Pal. Your comments were very helpful. Three games in a row is far more committment than I expected. I hope that after a break, you do try the finished version sometime.

[techumseh]

Originally posted by Turno
At first look - dunno why - it seems to me there's something wrong in the cities' unwalled look. I'll check on my books later on.

That may be because they're on fire. I use that visual technique to motivate me to keep my city walls in good repair.

[McMonkey]

Techumseh

Congratulations. This scenario is amazing!!! I'm rubbish at it but I'm having fun getting kicked from three different directions!

Plan 1 was too ambitious and I overextended myself and was weak everywhere.

Plan 2 will be formulated using that great luxury, heinseight! This time I will be more cautious and ruthless in abandoning doomed cities.

This game is introducing me to a whole new era of history. Sometimes just reading about events is not enough, a good game really gets you into the frame of mind and brings the period to life!

10/10

[AGRICOLA]

Originally posted by Werd100:
Plan 1 was too ambitious and I overextended myself and was weak everywhere.

Originally said by Frederick the Great:
He who defends everything defends nothing.

Originally posted by Werd100:
Plan 2 will be formulated using that great luxury, heinseight! This time I will be more cautious and ruthless in abandoning doomed cities.

Originally said by Frederick the Great:
What is the good of experience if you do not reflect?

AGRICOLA:

[Cyrion]

It seems Frederick himself agrees with Techumseh's scenario!

[Turno]

Originally posted by techumseh


That may be because they're on fire. I use that visual technique to motivate me to keep my city walls in good repair.

No no no, it wasn't that. After reading my Cambridge, i've noticed all of the european cities - and unlike many of the colonies - had actually walls, but not with defensive purposes anymore, since these were useless against gunpowder weapons. Gates were closed at night and reopened at dawn to help toll collectors. An anti-"tax evasion" device.

That's what puzzled me and i couldn't remember...

... and that's why M.eur Lavoissier had his own head cut off during the French Revolution. He indeed ordered a rebuild of Paris wall, this increasing fiscal pressure on citizens. And when they remembered it... zack! Off the head.

[AGRICOLA]

No British or Hanoverian unit under Prussian control may move east of line 29 (Brunswick), and no Hesse-Kassel unit or the Ferdinand unit may move east of line 33 (Magdeburg). Actual Prussian units built in NW German cities may move farther east to reinforce Frederick.

The above house rule is from the readme that comes with the scen. It is also given in a post on the FTG development thread.

I conveniently managed to forget all about it.

Adhering to this rule is going to difficult at all times and probably impossible when the Prussians receive reinforcements in 1758.

In 1758, at least some units are likely to be spawned in Brunswick. Also, Hamburg is the only reachable city west of Brunswick that a player might hold at that point in the scen. Consequently, [Ha] and [Br] units spawned in Brunswick may have no legal place to go to get behind city walls.

Later in the scen, the non-vet spawned units are not the ones that one might want in front line cities. I checked some recent saves from mid-1760 and discovered a troop of British Dragoons in Budapest and a troop of Hanoverian Hussars in Szolnok, thoroughly enjoying the local cuisine and beer. They didn't seem to mind being that far east of the 'Brits and Hanoverians Keep Out' line.

Seriously, the 'line' undoubtedly reflects the political realities at the time but does not add anything to the game.

[techumseh]

The rule is important, since these units should really belong to another civ, ie: the British. I used the technique of spawning units of the British/Hanoverian army in British cities, but which belong to the Prussian player in order to give the person playing the scenario control over all major aspects of the war and to ensure that the western front didn't collapse because the AI was as bad a general as the Duke of Cumberland.

There were very different interests at stake between Prussia and Britain, and there is no way the Pitt government would have allowed it's army to be used for the conquest of central Europe by Frederick. (France is another matter.) The fact that there are British Dragoons in Budapest, is evidence that ignoring this rule unbalances the game.

[AGRICOLA]

The fact that there are British Dragoons in Budapest, is evidence that ignoring this rule unbalances the game.

Not really. The troopers rode there long after the Hungarian cities had been conquered and are there strictly as happiness troops. As long as there are a couple Prussian Hussars in cities west of Brunswick with which the Hussars and Dragoons in Hungary could exchange places, I don't see how it can possibly unbalance the scen.

Of course, this does not address the question of what the units that are spawned in Brunswick in 1758 are supposed to do to get themselves behind city walls. Even if the Prussians do hold Hamburg, to get to that city by road, the units have to go east of the "Dogs, Brits & Hanoverians Verboten" line. If Hamburg is not in Prussian hands, there is no Prussian city that they can enter legally.

Furthermore, the only road west from Brunswick leads directly to Hanover which is French because its capture triggers the spawn. Are you suggesting that spawned Brit and Hanoverian units stage a really large-scale Charge of the Light Brigade against the fortress and other French units behind the city walls in Hanover?

I suppose that they could remain in Brunswick and help garrison the city but that does not do much good. When I tested this, it took the French only a few turns to eliminate a dozen Prussian units.

Sorry to keep arguing this one, but, IMHO, strict adherence to this house rule is impractical.