Part 5: Turn 9, Turn 10
Turn 9: October 15th, 1914
Production
Two new armies are ready. We are going to save our production this turn for repairing and reinforcing armies.
Research
Next turn we will have grenades for our troops. This will greatly add to their offensive power and help break out entrenched defenders.
Diplomacy
We have plenty of time before new powers join the Entente but Ottomans are still on the way! They may be useful to us as they pull British attention away from Europe. Maybe they can even contest the Caucasus and pull Russian attention down.
Management
We are still producing enough to chug out one army per turn but only just.
Eastern Front
von Falkenhayn takes an attack projected at -1 -4 in our favor and we end up smashing half of a corps with no serious casualties! We repair the 1st Eastern Army to get ready for the Russian onslaught.
New button! So the chevron button upgrades units. It costs production and the unit is deactivated for a turn while it refits. They can still defend, but don't upgrade a unit you want for offensive operations. We upgrade our new Serbian Volunteer Army and the Krakow Reserve to use our new industrialized weapons. Because these units are defending and the bonus is +4 to base defense, the Eastern Front is our priority for defensive upgrades.
Ore has arrived in Koenigsberg! The cowardly Russians never even attempted to interdict them. Next turn we will have 30 more PP available to our German units. This unit is also quite safe because attacking a harbored fleet is usually -7 -1 at best against the attacker.
I may have said 100 more last update. It is 10 PP per step of the convoy. Shows how much I actually watch anything involving navies in this game. With 3 steps, it is only 30 PP. Still a welcome boost.
A new Austrian army is deployed in reserve at Krakow. Hopefully we won't need it until the Serbian campaign ends.
Serbian Front
2nd and 4th Armies destroy a Serbian army and move up. Unfortunately, because of the fighting, they don't have time to reinforce. Luckily though, they only face a corps based on our intel.
More Serbians appear on the horizon as our other three armies probe ahead. Because of this, they rest for two weeks and we deploy our artillery to break them next turn.
Western Front
We move a Line Corps up but it will still be entrenched and behind a river. It may draw attacks and hopefully hold those two armies in place.
The battle begins!
Before we move any of our armies we shell Paris into dust. Although doctrine dictates that armies use artillery for support and cover, there is an intelligence reason for the shelling. The Parisian Army is shielded by a river on two sides. Despite our artillery tech being 1, it still hits efficiency and lowers the integrity of the enemy. If the shelling breaks the Parisian morale, we can let Hindenberg lead the charge (though generals upgrade all units in a radius remember his army has extra shock and attack) with 5th and 2nd following. If the artillery fails to have an impact, it would be more prudent to have 5th and 2nd smash the weaker units on the flanks, then bring up the other armies to hit Paris from 5 sides after a second attack. Being deliberate here can save us a hard winter of attacking across rivers and through snow (attacking and even moving in winter does wonders to a unit's efficiency).
Ausgezeichnet!
We shatter two divisions into cowering masses and the French officers, though their mustaches are mighty, start to lose control of their men. With two divisions and two efficiency gone it is time to act.
The Battle of the Marne:
Hindenburg races across the river and smashes into the shell shocked Parisians. Though the French have been battered by shells, both sides trade two divisions.
5th Army moves in to support, facing murderous machine gun and artillery fire as they cross the river. Two more divisions perish in the course of the two weeks, but the French are reduced to just more than a corps.
With the brave men fighting across the river, our only unit with fields in front of them, 2nd Army, launches the third prong and hits from the southeast...
Ah! To be in Paris with the leaves only starting to fall is a beautiful thing. We get this message about the future of the war:
It indeed may later, but for now France is still in the war. The loss of Paris and this event mean France will lose somewhere like 30 or 40 national morale. They can retake Paris and gain some back, but it is really a tough hit. Even if they try and fight to the death, each manpower tick will convince their populace that rule under the benevolent and superior Germans may not be so bad.
We straighten out and reinforce the rest of the line while 4th Army takes a mean spirited but very satisfying potshot at a French reserve corps.
We also deploy our new army to Russia in as a shock to everyone in high command. Is it hubris or prudence to start moving troops east when the French are still in the fight?
Allied Response
The AI punishes you for mistakes. It really does. That said, sometimes you can draw it in to silly attacks like this. The French throw hundreds of thousands of men at our 1st Line Corps to try and retake that little bit of ground. While they bleed for inches of dirt, a their capital flies the German Imperial flag.
The French Army swaps out for an English one. Maybe the Tommies are a little more fresh without the weight of losing their capital on them?
Serbia and Russia tighten, repair, and upgrade their lines. Good thing we have some PP coming in because we until we upgrade the Germans with grenades we will no longer have a clear advantage in the east as far as technology goes. The first upgrade, the +4 to attack means that we will probably have to commission or bring artillery to start moving against Russia.
Turn 10: October 29th, 1914
More industry and air research is now activated. We already have a fighter airbase and can build zeppelins, but this will allow us to research and build bombers and longer range and more advanced fighters.
Grenades are ready and we will have to upgrade as we go in the west, lest we rip momentum away from Hindenburg and his supporting armies. The east will need them to combat the bear's slow awakening from hibernation.
Eastern Front
We use our massive influx of production to repair and upgrade our units.
After this, two more armies are deployed in reserve to the east.
Serbian Front
We bombard one of the Serbian armies and take out two divisions and some efficiency but at the cost of dropping to 7 ourselves.
We move up, upgrading and reinforcing our men. 5th Army launches a probing attack at the weakened Serbs but it seems their recent upgrade has made them formidable on defense. We still have 11 shells stockpiled; enough for an attack the next week.
Western Front
4 armies at Verdun. 4. Our cavalry scouts ahead trying to pocket their whole line and notices this gem. If we can cut that entire salient, they will be half supply and easy to destroy. That said, with 4 armies right on our flank, we will have to move at least one army to engage them.
Hitting the French by air and by shell, we move one of our flanking units from Paris to the outside of Verdun and do some decent damage to the enemy. We also send an army down to help the cavalry hold the pocket. In the west we continue to tighten up, repair, and pick on any unlucky reserves that present an opportunity.
Disposition of forces but there is no PP left for anyone after all of the upgrades.
One diplomatic note is that our ambassadors are sure that the Ottomans will join next turn.
Allied Response
The French continue to petition for the return of Elsass-Lothringen but the big move is that Britain has figured out my plan and starts shifting south. Hopefully we can outrun them and surround and destroy the bulk of the French army.
Even after the ill-advised probing action by 5th Army, it seems Serbia sees the writing on the wall. They slowly pull back in an attempt to protect Skopje and continue the war.
Russia pulls off a sweet encirclement of territory with nothing in it. It may work out because if I flank from Koenigsberg I may be able to nab more than just a reserve. Or the second supply route will prevent any encirclement. Still a funny move by the Russians.
The Russians pull back some troops. Perhaps it is time to start on the offensive?
Going to stop here for now. Next time, we have the Ottomans ready to go and an enemy retreating on two fronts with the chance to pocket many of the men in the west.
That said, it is already November so getting too greedy could be bad.