Part 2: Turn 1 Part 2, Turn 2, and Turn 3 Part 1
July 23rd, 1914. Turn 1 Part 2Our best generals have come together to decide to focus on Serbia first. This will involve commissioning a new army, building up for a mass artillery strike, while also adding garrisons to the border with Russia. Our brave men should have us in Belgrade in a month, maybe two for Skopje.
We commission our new army (to be named for those who like doing lucky units). In three turns, this will be ready for deployment. This will give us 50 pp next turn, enough for a new garrison and artillery.
We move up the Temeschburg Reserve. This spot, protected on three sides by river, should be quite defensible once they can dig in.
The Budapest Reserve marches out from the city, showered in roses by the grateful populace. We deploy them to garrison Lemberg and defend it from the Russian horde.
July 23rd, 1914. Serbian Response
Sarajevo is attacked by a Serbian army. Although they aren't a full strength army, they beat Serbia back suffering no noticeable casualties after a week of fighting.
Turn 2, July 30th, 1914
Our civilians do their part and start on production of new artillery and a new garrison.
Trying to build on our momentum 3rd Army strikes out into the mountains. It is hard fighting, and in the end the Serbians inflict as much damage to our larger unit as they sustain. This could have been worse, but launching an attack from a static unit yields a bonus as opposed to having to move and then attack. It does prevent moving after though because it focuses all resources into the fighting.
Damn their mountains and their rivers! 2nd Army joins in to support, with our generals predicting even losses. Dug in like rats, they annihilate a brave Austrian Corps while only losing a regiment or so. No matter, in a few weeks we will purge their mountains with shells and drive them away from this terrain. One other note is that our efficiency for these two armies has dropped to 9. It isn't enough to worry, but two weeks of mountain fighting have taken their toll. If efficiency drops too low we may need to pull back and let the men rest.
A sobering reminder that you are only as good as your recon. Sometimes combat prognosis works out and sometimes it doesn't
July 30th, 1914. Serbian Response
Vultures! The Royal Belgrade Guard flies out from their holes and strikes at the weakened 2nd Army. We lose the better part of a corps at the expense of only a division and our brave men fall back to dig in to the mountains and have the rivers for support.
Sarajevo is struck again and though we lose two regiments the men hold the city.
Another unit is railed to the front. Our boys from Temeschburg should provide ample deterrence to the Serbs.
August 6th, 1914. Turn 3
Special Event time! Special events can come up at certain times or when certain conditions are met. They can be anything from cities swapping allegiance to new nations joining to morale events.
Well well well. Germany has honored its alliance and declares war on our enemies. France and Germany are about to butt heads and Belgium, refusing to just let Germany stroll through, will be pulled into the fight. Britain, guaranteeing Belgian independence will surely fight as soon as it can pack up its men and ship them off.
This screen summarizes production, research, and events for each turn. I'll be posting this for easy information from now on
New reserve deployed to Krakow. All of our major cities bordering Russia are now defended but depending on what our German allies do this may or may not be enough.
As we prepare to shell Serbia back into the 19th Century we decide to prepare for a proper attack.
This is repair mode. It replaces men and supplies in our armies. Because we have to produce weapons, ammo and the men themselves, it costs manpower and pp. A unit can move and then repair but if it repairs it cannot fight.
We shift 1st and 3rd in front of 2nd Army and reinforce all of them. Once our artillery is ready we will fan out all three armies and grind Belgrade into dust.
Current production. We add another army to the queue.
Britain will declare war in one turn and the bear will rise in two. Our estimates show that it will still take Russia 3 weeks or so to deploy new armies though they can always throw untrained green men at us one week at a time. As far as Britain goes
they have this here channel thing. We estimate it will take them at least 1-2 weeks to load up their men, another 1-2 to move them and then yet another 1-2 to disembark.
I say 1-2 because the turn size shifts. It takes about 3 turns for Britain to actually wield forces on the continent
Germany
Ah to once again be at war with France. Seems like just yesterday we taught them a lesson after reacquiring and renaming Elsass-Lothringen. Once again we shall use our superior armies, hop on a quick train to Paris and force them out of the war. Though Belgium vows to stop up, they shouldn't get in the way. England will defend them but as our Austrian comrades have pointed out, the channel should delay them nicely. We also still have some time before Russia is ready. Here is our tactical situation.
In the east we have two armies and a reserve guarding Koenigsberg. We also have our one functional airbase. We can see a Russian army and reserve, though we don't know what else is out there. If this is it, we should have a good 6 weeks to run wild before things get hairy.
In the south, we have 4 brave garrisons guarding Elsass-Lothringen with two more reserves behind the main lines. France, clearly holding a grudge has 4 armies and 1 reserve ready to steal our rightful lands from us. Though we are outnumbered, we are dug in and we believe our infantry to be a higher caliber than theirs, at least for now.
In the north, we have 6 mighty armies fully supported by cavalry and artillery ready to invade Belgium per the Schlieffen plan. A fortress garrison guards Liege, though we assume they have at least one full army and with possible supports lurking around.
The German navy. Though we are outnumbered by Britain's, it can still be formidable in home waters. Our two major concerns with the navy will be attacking British shipping and defending our iron ore.
We can use caution and deploy the whole navy on the east side of the Kiel Kanal and block any incursions into the Baltic or
go full U-Boat and try to destroy British convoys and troops before they reach vital ports. Warning that their major trading paper, the USA, may view this unfavorably and it could open up our shipping to British Submarines sneaking in.
The new Beta patch is going to overhaul the naval system but for now and in most multiplayer games, these are the basic options. There is another naval surprise left for now though but we don't know that
Finally, we get to the German Strategy
Although we are poised to strike into Belgium the fact is our mighty factories and the will of the German people will allow for many reinforcements to be produced and somewhat quickly as well. This allows us for two possibilities, one of which can be very high risk and high reward.
Don't stop be-Schlieffen. We are poised to do this. The main German mistake historically was shipping different Corps to Russia and allowing the Miracle at the Marne to happen. We ship some reserves to important cities in the east but put our main thrust into the west. This should be over in a few months, it worked in 1870, after all.
Around 3 a.m. a sentry heard strange noises coming from a command tent. As he walks in, he sees a general in full Prussian splendor sprawled out on the floor. Empty bottles of liquor are scattered all over and he looks quite unkempt. On the table, only covered in a little vomit are some plans labeled "General Flieschen TOP SECRET." Clearly the alcohol had an effect as these plans involve Focusing on Russia first. They detail pressing into Belgium and then establishing a safe line outside of Paris while strike Warsaw from multiple sides and then driving straight into Russia with everything Germany has. This could cause the Bear to reel but with current deployment as is it could threaten our position in the west.
the reverse schlieffen can be a lot of fun and push deep into Russia capturing lots of new industry. It can also break the western front wide open. I thought I would give you guys the option. It would be even riskier since the bulk of Austrian forces wouldn't arrive until Serbia is dealt with
So goons, you have a large update, some choices, and lots of armies to name and get attached to before they get run through the meat grinder.