Ideas on four Great War events

[GePap]

Well, as I sort of mentioned in Curt's Kaiser thread, I am trying to make a Great War-Europe scenerio (yes, another one), and I am asking for a few suggestions:

I am trying t make sure no events are pre-ordained, in the sense that if you play Russia you must face a revolution, or if you play Germany you must face American troops in 1917-18, or If you are playing the Turks you must fight off an Arab revolt even if you are doing extremely well.

NOw, for the Russia revolution, that is not too hard-base it on Russian military performance-but for a few tohers it sort of it, specifically, America's entry into the war.

So I a aking if anyone has any new ideas as to how, with the MGE engine, set up an event like this one-something I could then also use for the 1916 Dublin uprising, the Arab revolt, the Kiel Mutiny, and perhaps, most challenging of all, if even possible, the French Army mutiny of 1917.

[our_man]

You could use a tech trigger for the Arab Revolt. Make the British able to research an "Arab Revolt" advance to represent the initial resources they invested in the campaign. When they research this make Arab nomad units pop up in Arabia.

For America's entry into the war, a more complex tech trigger can be used. If the Germans research, for example, "Unrestricted U-Boats" set up an event to give the USA a "German Antagonism" tech. The British could research the "Cryptography" advance, with another tech trigger giving the USA the "Zimmerman Telegram" advance. Make "German Antagonism" and "Zimmerman Telegram" the prerequisites for the advance "USA: Declaration of War" that causes a 'makeagression' event against Germany. Thus the US will not become involved in the war unless influenced by both Germany and Britain.

[POTUS]

Or, if Germany researched "Un-Restricted Submarine Warfare", then America would get "Shipping to Britian Sunk" where they would lose money because of submarines sinking every ship. Then, the British could research "Convoy System" creating an escort ship to patrol for subs and allowing, America to research "Declaration of War".

[Harry Tuttle]

our_man's got a good point. Making the "America enters the war" trigger happen only if the proper research is discovered by multiple civs and maybe if a city is taken will keep the trigger out of the normal course of play. If the advances are kept seperate from the researchable tech tree then the trigger for "America enters the war" will be only possible from multiple actions taken by the human player and the other AI civs.

[Boco]

Is this MP?

IMHO, a successful strategic WWI scenario should have the feel that 'just one more attack could break the enemy line'. Most of developed Europe should contain fortress squares to prevent stack death. Then balance things out so that on average it takes 1.5 attacking units to eliminate 1 defending unit. Each side would race to build up a critical mass at the right spot to achieve a breakthrough. This race should be economically exhausting. Since the Western Front lies closest to the industrial heartlands of France and Germany, it would attract a lot of buildup. Failure to hold that line would mean quick defeat for either of these countries.

Historical tactical or technological revolutions could give transient moments of opportunity to the discovering civ. The heavy mortars of 1914, the tanks of 1917-8, and the Stoßtruppen of 1916-8 could temporarily tip the balance of attrition in favor of the attacker.

Once a breach is made, it should be difficult to exploit. This was the strategic failing of the remarkably tactically successful Kaiserschlacht and Caporetto offensives. Most units should not be able to ignore ZOC's. If aircraft units have very short radii, this would give a role for cavalry, armored cars, etc. They're weak, but at least they can ignore enemy ZOC's to spearhead drives through enemy lines. Movement costs and mf's should also limit the ability to exploit a breakthrough.

In this context, mutinous troops could be represented by very low af's but reasonably high df's (at least for France, Italy, and Germany — Russia is another situation). A series of events could render units of 'normal' morale obsolete. Only mutinous ones can be built. With the high attrition rate, soon mutinous units will form the bulk of the affected army.

Historically, it was appalling casualties that led to most of the mutinies. Perhaps strategically placed immobile trigger units with appropriate UNITKILLED triggers could work. They shouldn't be the first to defend a stack. Ideally, the attacker may have to eliminate several defenders before attacking the trigger unit. A wise player would protect these units as much as possible. This could lead to a Verdun mentality. There are flaws to these assumptions: it was appalling offensive not defensive casualties that broke morale. Still it might work.

Mutinies could be turned off by using geographical triggers. Award a tech that's a preq for decent units. IIRC, the Italians and possibly the French did become potent offensively in late 1918.

Hope this makes sense.

[lord of the mark]

Wouldnt this be easier to do with Civ:TOT?

[GePap]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
Wouldnt this be easier to do with Civ:TOT?

probably, but I don;t have TOT.

Since this is based in Europe and not global, there is no American civ, and the unrestricted Sub warfare aspect does not really matter nor make much sense gameplay wise.

But still, I can use our_man's great techtrigger ideas and base it off British propaganda and the Russian revolt.

OK, this is one thing I have been thinking-actually have the provisional government in Russia..would it be possible to have one event that ends the Monarchy (fundamnetalist gov) in Russia and sets up a republic-now-how good for Russia this will be differs, since they would be forced to now support lots of units they did not before..and if this new gov continued to lose, BAM, soviet revolution!

I would also set up the possibility of Red revolts against the Habsburgs and Germans.