User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

ROP - Beta AAR - Fredericus Rex (1758 Campaign)

Sat Feb 20, 2010 12:47 am

[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]

As many of you have already read in this forum, Rise of Prussia (ROP) is the new game from the french based studio AGEOD, now owned by Paradox Interactive.
The game is a historical strategy simulation that recreates the seven years of warfare (1756-1763) that shook the continent of Europe in the 18th century.
The player can assume the role of military and political leaders in command of land and naval forces belonging to either the Prussian Kingdom or nations opposed to Prussia (Austria, Russia, France).
The engine uses a system of simultaneous turn resolution, so you can expect a slightly different experience from the usual "Real Time" feel from games that are released by Paradox, like Hearts of Iron or Europa Universalis.
The ROP game system will be familiar to veteran players of AGEOD’s previous titles like Birth of America I and II (aka Wars in America) , American Civil War and Napoleon's Campaign.... with some important improvements that we will dwell when the right time comes...

After this brief introduction... we will get into the details of this wonderful game... :D


[font="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="4"]Index of Chapters[/size][/font]
1-Introduction
2-Organization of the Army (part 1) (part 2)
3-The Planning Phase (part 1) (part 2)
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte


BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)

AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Chapter 1

Sat Feb 20, 2010 12:48 am

[font="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="4"]Chapter 1: Introduction[/size][/font]

The game offers the posibility to start the campaign from the very beggining, with the Invasion of Saxony on 1756.... but we do not want to do that right now, we want to get directly into the action. :D
So, the best option to do that is to go directly to 1758, when the prussians are fighting to survive while being attacked from all sides with superior numbers... a battle for survival while trying to give the coalition the last definitive blow.
France, Austria and Russia are ready to advance and destroy to prussian invaders.. while the military genius of Friedrich must use the superior prussian discipline to his favour and turn the tide.

But, before we get into the scenario, we will take a look at some options that the game offers and can probably change the course of the game later...

[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
We will start the game with 3D models for the units so you can take a look at them now. But later we will change it to the 2D models, because I like to see the "faces" of my leaders on the units portraits.

[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
We will play with normal rules, like fog of war activated, normal attrition, etc.
Options like historical attrition can really change the way you play the game... so I do not recommend that for the faint of heart...
I do not like to play with "randomized generals" ON, but for replayability it is a great option... specially if you are playing a PBEM game against a friend and you want add another layer of difficulty to the experience.
One important option to mention, specially for new Paradox's players, is the one about the activation rules. Currently I have selected the hardest option, but you have a more "normal" one that means land forces will have a large movement and combat penalty if the stack commander (leader) is not activated. This is the one recommended for all the players. You even have a softer one if you want...
But in my case, I have selected the hardest option that has the added difficulty of adding a high chance of not being able to move at all your forces with a non-active commander. That's really hard in some situations... it means that if your leader is not active, your force may really starve to death or be easilly surrounded by the enemy. I think it is a very interesting option... so keep it in mind for your games.

[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
No special bonuses for the AI, the only exception will be that the AI receives more time for "thinking" in exchange of a slightly slower turn processing... something that you will not notice if you have a high end PC.

[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
We disabled Error Logging for the AAR, but I strongly suggest that you leave that checked, because you get more feedback if you want to get into the Logs files and see what went wrong.
One important note, specially for "old" PCs, keep in mind that this "error logging feature" writes to a .txt file all the things that happen in the game... so, that constant writting to a file may really slow down your PC if you are running out of RAM or you do not have enough processing power.
I always keep this active... and I recommend you the same... but be aware of the posible slowdowns for "oldies". ;)

You can play as much as you want with all these options to get the best out of the game...
I will not explain each one of them, because I am sure you want to get into the game right now... but if you want to know the details of each one, don't hesitate to ask. ;)

So, finally, we get into the scenario selection screen... and the one selected is, like I said before, the 1758 Campaign...
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]

Now, some historical background on how the war is going for the prussians... because as you may supose, we will play with the prussians...
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]

The war is not looking good, the enemies of Friedrich are coming from all sides. We must hold the ground and try to strike hard each one of the big nations whenever we can, so we take them out of the war one by one...
If they come togheter, there is no chance we can withstand the onslaught...
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Chapter 2 (part 1)

Sat Feb 20, 2010 12:48 am

[SIZE="4"][font="Comic Sans MS"]Chapter 2: Organization of the Army[/font][/size]

The scenario represents the historical situation of all the factions on this date, Early May of 1758. So, our forces are already spread around the entire map into their historical positions after the early battles took place since the last two years of the conflict.
We have to play with what we have at hand... the current organization of the Prussian Army consist of the following three Main Armies:

[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]

The PWR is a relative value representing the hypothetical power of the unit. That doesn't mean that if the power of X unit is bigger than the power of Y unit, X will win... the truth is far from that... ;)
But as a guide, it is a very useful value... specially when you can spot enemies forces and check their power this way.

With the fight already at our gates, there isn't much time available to do a major reorganization of the army... if we try to do that right now, we will probably fail, loosing the major bonuses we have from this organization (no command penalties, etc) and we will not be ready to do any major battle quickly.
For the ones reading this that are not familiar with the AGE engine, the little coloured icons on each leader portrait represent a positive or negative ability of that leader.
For example, you can have a leader that it is a "Military genius" and will grant a wide variety of bonuses to the troops under his command... but on the other hand others may give a penalty, for example, someone with the "ability" Slow Mover will decrease the speed of the unit.
One of the key to success, specially in this case, is the good use of our superior leadership... that's the only chance Prussia has to beat the superior numbers they will throw at us.

Now, let's take a look at the detailed info of each army...
[CENTER]
Led by King Friedrich II STR 6 / OFF 4 / DEF 3
Image

Led by General Keith STR 5 / OFF 5 / DEF 5
Image

Led by Prinz Wilhelm STR 4 / OFF 0 / DEF 0
Image

Led by Prinz Ferdinand Preusse STR 3 / OFF 2 / DEF 2
Image

Led by Major General Seydrlitz STR 5 / OFF 3 / DEF 1
Image[/CENTER]

In case you are wondering, the 3 ratings for each commander represent the following (taking directly from the game's manual):
Strategic Rating: A Leader’s Strategic Rating is used to determine the likelihood that he will be considered ‘Active’ during a game turn. The higher his Strategic Rating, the more likely he will be ‘Activated’. This rating is also used to determine the Leader’s Command Radius if placed in command of an Army and the amount of Command Points he is able to bestow upon subordinate Corps and units.
Offensive Rating A Leader’s Offensive Rating is used when a Leader is in command of a Force that engages in combat while assuming either an Assault or Offensive Posture. The Offensive Fire and Assault values of every unit in the Force are increased by 5% per point of a Corps commander’s Offensive Rating. The Offensive Fire and Assault values of every unit in a Brigade are increased by 3% per point of the Brigade commander’s Offensive Rating. These values are cumulative—units receive bonuses from both commanders if applicable.
Defensive Rating A Leader’s Defensive Rating is used when a Leader is in command of a Force that engages in combat while assuming either a Defensive or Passive Posture. The Defensive Fire and Assault values of every unit in the Force are increased by 5% per point of a Corps commander’s Defensive Rating. The Defensive Fire and Assault values of every unit in a Brigade are increased by 3% per point of the Brigade commander’s Defensive Rating. These values are cumulative—units receive bonuses from both commanders if applicable.


As you can see, the higher the values, the better for us... ;)
The ratings of General Keith and King Friedrich combined can really change the tie during the course of a battle, so, they will surelly lead the offensive campaign wherever we go.

Each unit portrait that you can see in there, apart from the leaders portraits, shows us a lot of usefull information on a quick glance. We can easilly get the status of our fighting forces by just looking at that panel:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
It is very important to always keep an eye on that... because a force with low cohesion or strenght can reduce its chances enormously in case of an attack... so we better head for cover to replenish our men in that case.

Another way of looking at this panel is by pressing the Control Key (CTRL) to see the number of men, horses and canons the selected units have. So, let's look at Keith's Korps with CTRL pressed to see what happens:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
As you can see now, it is one our biggest units out there.

Also, if you look carefully, you will notice that some unit portraits have a lot of little "beams" (or dots, or whatever you want to call them) to the left of each unit portrait. That means that the unit is a brigrade and that has many elements inside. To actually see them you just need to position the mouse on top of the unit you want to see and a new display will appear showing you the details of that unit, like this:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
There you have all the details about the Schorlemer Brigade inside the Keith's Korps... interesting, no?

(to be continued...)
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Chapter 2 (part 2)

Sat Feb 20, 2010 12:49 am

(continues...)

That completes our first main army, the bulk of our fighting force commanded by our King.
The other two main armies are composed like this:

[CENTER]Led by Prinz Heinrich STR 5 / OFF 4 / DEF 3
Image

Led by Major General Dohna STR 4 / OFF 2 / DEF 2
Image

Led by Major General Pennavaire STR 5 / OFF 0 / DEF 0
Image

Led by Major General Brunswick STR 5 / OFF 4 / DEF 4
Image

Led by Major General Moritz STR 5 / OFF 3 / DEF 2
Image[/CENTER]

By looking at the map and the position of our forces, I noticed that the Elbe Armee group is quite small, but we have the luck of having some Sachsen Regiments in the same province, Dresden, under the command of Wunsch.
So, to strenghten the Elbe Armee, we will create a new brigade with these regiments and merge them inside the Elbe Armee.
Let's get to it... we select the unit containing the regiments with Wunsch.
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
Using the highlighted button, we enable the Brigade Command for this leader to create the new brigade.
With that already done, we proceed to add the regiments to the brigade by selecting them all and pressing the "+" button highlighted.
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
The result is the newly formed brigade under Wunsch command. Notice the change of the name for the force (Wunsch' Force) and the new name of the portrait (2nd Brigade).
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
Now with this new brigade, we merge it inside the Elbe Armee... by just drag and dropping it on the Elbe Armee unit.
After all this, the new composition of the Elbe Armee unit looks like this:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
Notice the change on the Elbe Armee size... from the old:
Unit: 8 / Pwr: 231
To the new value:
Unit: 9 / Pwr: 485
So, we managed to achieve what we wanted... double the size of the unit.

... and finally our Western Army... the one that will need to hold the french hordes...
[CENTER]Led by Prinz Ferdinand STR 5 / OFF 3 / DEF 3
Image

Led by Erbprinz Karl STR 5 / OFF 2 / DEF 2
Image

Led by Major General Sporcken STR 3 / OFF 1 / DEF 1
Image

Led by Major General Wutginau STR 3 / OFF 1 / DEF 1
Image

Led by Major General Zastrow STR 4 / OFF 1 / DEF 2
Image[/CENTER]

As you can see, most of our leaders are the best of the best... with high strategic values that will keep them active almost 100% of the times... but also with good offensive and defensive values.
The key to our success is to select precisely when and where to fight, so our mighty leaders are present in the scramble.
Obviously, our enemy will try exactly the same, with leaders like Daum.... a leader that we should try to avoid as much as posible. ;)

Apart from this forces, we have small detachments spread around the entire map and garrison forces on major cities.
Most of this forces are locked in place to secure their position, so there isn't much to do with them unless they are activated later.

Now, the game is on...
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

User avatar
arsan
Posts: 6244
Joined: Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:35 pm
Location: Madrid, Spain

Sat Feb 20, 2010 12:54 am

:w00t: :thumbsup: :coeurs:

User avatar
Beren
Captain
Posts: 199
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 9:44 am
Location: Aviles, Asturias, Spain

Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:19 am

Cool!! :cool:
Image
"... tell the Emperor that I am facing Russians.
If they had been Prussians, I'd have taken the
position long ago."
- Marshal Ney, 1813

User avatar
Ironclad61
Major
Posts: 229
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 6:51 pm

Sat Feb 20, 2010 3:56 pm

Good luck in the AAR, kick some asses :thumbsup:

PD: i :coeurs: this game :D

User avatar
Beren
Captain
Posts: 199
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 9:44 am
Location: Aviles, Asturias, Spain

Sat Feb 20, 2010 3:59 pm

I hope that the only 1 Fredericks attribute is Master quicker of asses.... :D if not, its sounds very strange to see him with onyl 1 :)
Image

"... tell the Emperor that I am facing Russians.

If they had been Prussians, I'd have taken the

position long ago."

- Marshal Ney, 1813

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Sat Feb 20, 2010 4:33 pm

Beren wrote:I hope that the only 1 Fredericks attribute is Master quicker of asses.... :D if not, its sounds very strange to see him with onyl 1 :)

More or less.... yes. :D

It is a "container ability"... just like Napoleon in the old NCP. ;)
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

User avatar
Hohenlohe
Posts: 588
Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:24 pm
Location: Munich

Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:31 am

Wonderful news and info, dear Generalissimo... :thumbsup: :coeurs:

greetings

Hohenlohe, who wait for RoP... :coeurs:
R.I.P. Henry D.

In Remembrance of my Granduncle Hans Weber, a Hungaro-German Soldier,served in Austro-Hungarian Forces during WWI,war prisoner, missed in Sibiria 1918...

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Sun Feb 21, 2010 6:42 pm

[font="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="4"]Chapter 3: The Planning Phase[/size][/font]

There is no way we can win, without a proper plan... and what is better than seeing your plan come into action and succeed?
Quoting a famous contemporary philosopher:
[CENTER]Image
"I love it when a plan comes together! "[/CENTER]

So, it is time to make a plan and stick to it as much as we can. But before doing that, we will try to follow a simple premise. There was a lot of discussion before, during and after the design of the game, in private and in public about the "offensive nature" of Friedrich during his military campaigns.
I will not start the discussion again here, so I do not need to say that I agree with part of that vision. Now, based on that, the simple premise is:
-All units around Friedrich will try to take offensive actions whenever it is posible. Even against all odds.
This can surelly backfire against me in the later stages of the game... but well, this is a game, and we are here to have fun... even if I loose, the idea is that you read something interesting. :D

With this in mind, let's now look at the scenario objectives:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
The important sections are highlighted in red (that doesn't mean that you shouldn't look at the rest, obviously).
Sudden Death is OFF for this scenario, so that means that if I reach the 200 NM threshold, I will not win instantly... I will have to keep playing on.
I need 10 strategical objectives to win, but I currently own only 6 of them.
On the other hand, in the list of Strategic Towns I already fullfil the condition, I control 15 out of a total of 30, when I only need 9.

After looking at this, we conclude that our main objective should be Prag, unless we want to avoid that fortress and head for Olmutz bypassing the main austrian army... probably making a huge mistake, because we will be easilly cut off from our supplies base.
But If we want to threaten Wien, we need to take Prag as soon as posible.
The problem is, obviously, the ammount of austrian troops inside the fortress.
We need to get more intel about that region before doing that gigantic operation. Also, our main army commanded by our King is far from Prag.
So, with all this in mind, this is the master plan we have....

Our main army led by our King awaits on Breslau.
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]

The plan is simple, Friedrich will head south to Schweidnitz, simulating a threat to Koeniggratz, while the bulk of the army under the command of Keith advances further to the south in a two phases advance.
The first phase will be to the right of Schweidnitz in case the position of Friedrich is threatened. In case it isn't, they will continue the advance deep south to attack the fortress in Olmutz and take away one objective from Austria.
After Keith accomplish this task, he will meet at the rendevouz point with Friedrich and advance into the Koeniggratz fortress.
While Keith is advancing, all the forces at Schweidnitz must hold their position waiting for the Keith's Korps (including the King).
[CENTER]Image

Image[/CENTER]


In Dresden the Elbe Armee doesn't have enough forces to storm the Prag fortress directly... or at least, that's what he High Command thinks.
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
So, their orders for now are to try to make a divertion for the Prag's forces, so they come out and fight outside the fortress protection.
Probably they will not fall in the trap, but at least, we will make the austrian forces beleive the threat is coming from Dresden... when actually the big force will come from the other side.
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
By no means the Elbe Armee must cross the river. That should create a natural barrier to try to survive in case of a surprise attack from Austria.
On the far left, you can see a small detachment force that will be fortified in place to protect the supply route to Dresden. We do not want to be cut off before Prag falls.
As you can notice here, there is a distinction between the postures of our armies (blue vs orange circle on the top right of each model)... that means that the "blue" ones are on defensive posture and the "orange" ones are on offensive posture.
We will talk in more detail about that later...

(continues...)
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Sun Feb 21, 2010 6:44 pm

(continues...)

On the far left of the map, our allies will have a hard time trying to protect their regions from the austrian and french advances.
Seeing they are far away from the "influence" of Friedrich, they will hardly commit offensive operations. They task is to hold the city of Munster at all cost.
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
The blue lines represent the supposed advance of the coalition forces.
Notice the different colour on the base of the model representing the different nationality of the stack.
All the reinforcements around the area will head to Munster to strenght that position.


Back on the north, there isn't much to show.
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
Our situation is precarious at least... if not worst.
It is almost impossible to hold Colberg from a russian attack with the current forces. So, we quickly order the construction of two new regiments to strengthen the position in there.
Here it is before drag and dropping the regiments:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]

After we have ordered their recruitment:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]

As you can see, they cost resources and there is a limit of how much of them we can recruit. These new recruitments will cost us money and conscripts... very important men that will not be able to fight elsewhere.
But, obviously, with this it will not be enough... the russians are too many, and too well trained to stop them with this small ammount of forces.
So, the Dohna Korps is ordered to march quickly to join the defense of that stronghold.
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
This move will reduce our forces in the south, where we will surelly need his men to storm Wien... but Colberg cannot be lost, or everything will fall to pieces.

Following the same idea, the Frei Bataillonen will also head north to help in the defense of the area... there is a long way to go from Berlin.
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]

The rest of the detachments will remain in place... because we want to... or because they just can't move at all (because of different reasons, being them: inactive leader, locked in place waiting for an event, etc).

Before closing the turn, we decide to recruit two more regiments:
-one Garde du Corps in Breslau that will join the Friedrich forces later
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]

-one Large Garrison to protect the deep south from any austrian advance
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]

We are now ready to see our first move in action...
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

User avatar
Ironclad61
Major
Posts: 229
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 6:51 pm

Mon Feb 22, 2010 2:04 pm

Great, cant wait for the next part :thumbsup:

PD: use 3D units for armies is better to see the armies but with commander faces is more :coeurs:

User avatar
Duckman
Sergeant
Posts: 77
Joined: Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:16 am

small request

Mon Feb 22, 2010 8:46 pm

could i ask you for a max zoomed in screenshot of southern bohemia, a region close to my heart? :coeurs: since there will be little or no action there that i forsee i am moved to this motion :bonk: maybe centered on Tabor or Budweis? i am eager to see the region names. thanks a million! :thumbsup:

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Mon Feb 22, 2010 10:50 pm

Check the previous screenshots, unless I am looking at the map at full zoom, you will not be able to see the names of the regions. ;)

Actually, if I try to head towards Wien, I will have to go through that area... after taking Prag, obviously... ;)
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

Marquee
Sergeant
Posts: 84
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:59 pm

Tue Feb 23, 2010 1:47 am

Game looks good, can't wait for it :coeurs:

Am I stating the obvious when I point out that Friedrich is mispelled as "FriedriEch" in the game? :confused:

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Tue Feb 23, 2010 1:52 am

Marquee wrote:Am I stating the obvious when I point out that Friedrich is mispelled as "FriedriEch" in the game? :confused:

Yep... it is already corrected. ;)

You will see many things like that around... remember it is a BETA version... ;)

But keep them coming... you'll never know when you actually spot something that we have missed.... :thumbsup:
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

User avatar
Duckman
Sergeant
Posts: 77
Joined: Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:16 am

Tue Feb 23, 2010 1:36 pm

Generalisimo wrote:Check the previous screenshots, unless I am looking at the map at full zoom, you will not be able to see the names of the regions. ;)

Actually, if I try to head towards Wien, I will have to go through that area... after taking Prag, obviously... ;)


hopefully that will happen soon! :) i looked through all the screenshots and the closest i got somewhere else, maybe at paradox, was a pic of Frauberg on the edge of the screenshot. could you just take a screenshot fully zoomed in on the (yet) empty region? thanks a mille

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Chapter 4

Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:45 pm

[SIZE="4"][font="Comic Sans MS"]Chapter 4: The first encounter[/font][/size]

After I pressed the end turn button, the days started to pass by and my units followed the orders I issued... but to my surprise, Austria started agressively by trying to reach Dresden.
Thanks to our orders, they met the heavy resistance of the Elbe Armee in full force while they were crossing the river... and this is what happened...
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
A great victory for the Prussian Army. Outnumbered by around 10.000 men, we managed to inflict heavy casualties on the Austrian Army, including the complete destruction of many elements.
Now you may wonder, how do I know what happened during the battle? Well, the answer is complex and has three parts:

1) During the course of the battle, you will see dynamic graphic showing who is actually winning the battle (inflicting more hits on the enemy). But also, a new feature recently added, is that the engine will start commenting what is actually happening on every round of the battle. So you will be informed if your men are routed, if they are running desperately, if they are supporting another column, etc.
This was a very anticipated change to get more feedback during the course of the battles, so I am sure the old players of the AACW will be more than happy to hear this.

2) When the battle is over, you get that nice graphic that I posted in there. Apart from the numbers that you can see in there, you also have all those nice looking icons at the bottom. They are not there to "look pretty", they give you a lot of information about what happened.
For example, I can see in there that both armies were in offensive posture.
If you look at my icons, the 4 on the left represent the abilities present on my army at the battle (taken from the leaders or special units) and the ones on the right represent combat stats like luck, initial firing rage, benefit from favourable ground, etc.
Each icon has a nice rollover text that will be self explanatory, I will not get into them here... that will take forever.

3) There is another new feature... and that is the detailed combat report. Check the one from this battle:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
In there you can see round by round what happened to each element of your army. Again a muchly anticipated feature that will surelly be loved by most of the old and new players of AGEOD games.

As you can see, with those three parts you can really get an idea of what went good... or wrong during your battle.

But that doesn't end there... in the message log, we get more info about what happened AFTER the battle, like this:
[CENTER]Image
Image[/CENTER]
We can read in there that thanks to our victory, some leaders got their seniority increased.
Also, you can see the ammount of equipment captured... that will really come handy.

So, now that you have seen what happened during the first encounter... let's see what we will do next in the upcoming turn.

In the Southeast, we will keep advancing towards the south, while our King awaits for the austrians to attack him in Schweidnitz.
[CENTER]Image

Image[/CENTER]

In the North, the plan continues... most of the forces are gathering around Setting, while Dohna's Korps maintain his advance towards Colberg.
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
As you can see, the first units of the russian horde start appearing on the far east...
Seeing the speed of their advance, we can supose that they are composed of light elements or mostly cavalry... so, they are not much of threat right now, but we must be careful so they do not wreak havoc behind our lines, destroying our supplies centers.

In the Center, we decide to start sending some new forces to the area of Torgau, that will later go to Dresden.
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
With the recent fight to the south of Dresden, it looks like Austria is coming this way, so we must be prepared for the worst.

In the West, the french are nowhere to be seen... at least for now.
So, we maintain our plan of gathering all around Munster.
A new calvary raid is sent to Kasel to see if they are coming that way or they will go for Dortmund.
We will also send some light forces to Dortmund to collect more info about the area.
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]

Sadly, we do not have the posibility to recruit many units per turn... we could start training replacements for the future, but for the moment, we will avoid that.
A new Pioneer unit is ordered in Breslau... this unit will later help during the siege of Koenigratz.
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]

We are ready to hit the end turn button now... and see what happens... and good news come from the front!!!

The Austrians came again:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
We hit them badly, again, but this early encounters were not expected... I am not so sure that the Elbe Armee will be able to hold the line if they keep coming this way.

But surprisingly, the austrians try to make a deep raid into our territory, something that was not expected.
You may have noticed in some previous screenshot that there was an austrina force near Schweidnitz, I thought they were coming the Friedrich's way... but nope, they headed north, to the Glogau Fortress.
Our forces were ready ... but they were composed mostly of cavalry elements.
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
So although we won... the cost was not exactly low for this battle... they will surelly come again in the next turn...
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:54 pm

Duckman wrote:hopefully that will happen soon! :) i looked through all the screenshots and the closest i got somewhere else, maybe at paradox, was a pic of Frauberg on the edge of the screenshot. could you just take a screenshot fully zoomed in on the (yet) empty region? thanks a mille

For the time being, I think this link will be useful for you:
ROP Hi-Resolution Map
:coeurs: :thumbsup:
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

User avatar
Ironclad61
Major
Posts: 229
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 6:51 pm

Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:38 pm

Great, i love the new features, no more "blind" battles information is allways wellcome :thumbsup:

Good battles but the last was a little... :confused: no ranged casualties in austrian forces??? with a great handicap in cavalry is incredible see no prussian arty attacks :confused:

PD: cant wait for the game but i need know what happend in this far country if we can see phisical edition or not :bonk:

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:53 pm

Ironclad61 wrote:Great, i love the new features, no more "blind" battles information is allways wellcome :thumbsup:

Good battles but the last was a little... :confused: no ranged casualties in austrian forces??? with a great handicap in cavalry is incredible see no prussian arty attacks :confused:

PD: cant wait for the game but i need know what happend in this far country if we can see phisical edition or not :bonk:

I was gathering cavalry in that region to send it later to the south. Thanks God they were there to help defending the fortress. :bonk:
The composition of Wedell's force was a mess, I was not prepared for that.
The only cannons present from my side were the ones from the fortress. ;)
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

User avatar
Longhairedlout
Lieutenant Colonel
Posts: 251
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2008 3:20 pm

Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:20 pm

I like the new battle report screen, very cool, I'm looking forward to ROP's release, less than 2 weeks now,have we got a price yet?

oh and I know this is a bit cheeky, after ROP has had a couple of patches and any major bugs are fixed, what's the chances of the new battle report screen being retrofitted to AACW :)

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:31 pm

Longhairedlout wrote:I like the new battle report screen, very cool, I'm looking forward to ROP's release, less than 2 weeks now,have we got a price yet?

That depends on Paradox now... ;)
But I suppose (read carefully: I SUPPOSE ;) ) it will be just like any other major release of Paradox. :D

Longhairedlout wrote:oh and I know this a bit cheeky, after ROP has had a couple of patches and bug's any major bugs are fixed, what's the chances of the new battle report screen being retrofitted to AACW :)

I would really preffer to see an AACW2 with a lot of new features (these, but also new map, new regions, etc).
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

User avatar
Duckman
Sergeant
Posts: 77
Joined: Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:16 am

Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:39 pm

Generalisimo wrote:For the time being, I think this link will be useful for you:
ROP Hi-Resolution Map
:coeurs: :thumbsup:


gracias, just what i wanted :w00t:

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Chapter 5

Thu Feb 25, 2010 1:16 pm

[font="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="4"]Chapter 5: The assets of the game[/size][/font]

There are many things that I didn't commented before and I think that some of you may have already wondered... specially the ones that haven't played AGEOD's games in the past.
Those are mostly, national morale, victory points, war supplies, Thalers (the money), conscripts, etc.
These are all national assets and are all stored at the faction level. That means that PRU has its own, and AUS has its own.

As you could see in the objectives back then:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
I had more VP (victory points) than Austria, but less NM (national morale) than them. This is really a handicap, as you will see later.
But where are them? where I can see how much VP or NM I have?
Simple, here, at the top of your screen:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
Again, like in almost every interface in this game, a nice tooltip will explain you what does each number mean and how they work.
From left to right, they are:
  1. Victory Points
  2. Morale
  3. Engagements Points
  4. Thousands Thalers
  5. Conscript Companies
  6. War Supplies
As you could see already, everytime I ordered the recruitment of a new unit, some resources were consumed from that pool.
For every big battle I won, some resources were added to that pool (muskets, supplies, etc).
But how do I earn more of them?... easy, read the manual, it is all explained in there. :D
Ok, since you do not have the manual (yet!), I will give you a preview about the concept behind them and how they work... for all the details, you will have to get the game. ;)
Victory Points are earned and accrued each turn for such things as holding important locations on the map, achieving goals as set forth by individual scenarios, and by destroying enemy units. A running total of a player’s current Victory Points is displayed in the top left corner of the Main Screen.

National Morale is used to represent the willingness of a civilian population (and its military forces) to ‘continue the fight’. Having a high National Morale total indicates that a populace is more inclined to support the war effort; a low National Morale total is an indication that the people are close to giving up. In game terms, a high National Morale may trigger an Automatic Victory while conversely a low National Morale may trigger an Automatic Defeat.
National Morale is also used to modify unit cohesion, the production of supplies, and the accumulation of money.
Winning a scenario by reaching the Automatic Victory threshold should be viewed as a Major Victory whereas winning by virtue of having more Victory Points is a Minor Victory.

Engagements Points are gained from the strategic and objectives cities that you hold during a turn. Most of the time, you can use this points to buy new military options (like new recruits, or special brigades from your allies).

Concripts Companies: Except for a very few places which raise a minimal amount of recruits every turn, the only ways of recruiting more men is through the play of options. Men are needed in order to raise new units.

Money: Money is produced each turn in a few places such as your national capital or key financial or commercial centers (e.g. major ports), but those sources of income are marginal. The great bulk of your income will proceed from exceptional events.

Supplies: come in three varieties in ROP. Cities will produce these three kinds of supplies each turn depending on their size.
-War Supplies: This is a general term representing the equipment needed by your troops. Artillery and Cavalry cost lots of War Supplies, as they require industrial capacity, horses and raw materials. Infantry, on the other hand, costs fewer supplies, as muskets and other light equipment are easier to manufacture.
-General Supply: Armies need food, clothing, and other basic supplies to keep on moving and fighting. These are all grouped into the term “General Supply” (as opposed to “War Supplies”) and are distributed to your Depots and your troops every turn.
-Ammunition: Finally, another commodity you will need to keep your troops battle ready is Ammunition, which is tracked separately from General Supply but otherwise follows the same production and distribution mechanisms.

Interesting, isn't it?

Apart from the special supply system (that was explained before by Pocus), most of these things come from the center of your society, the big cities. In most of the cases, these are the objectives of the scenario, like Berlin, Prag, Wien, Dresden, etc.
So, the one that controls those key points, usually has the upper advantage during the long campaign.
If you are wondering how do you see that with a quick glance at the map... simple, turn on the supply filter and you will see this:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
Starting from top to the right:
  1. Money production
  2. Conscripts production
  3. War Supplies production
  4. VP value of the region

Then, the little crates or boxes show you the General Supply stored in that location, and the cannonballs obviously mean the Ammunition Supply.
As you can see, if you leave the mouse over the city, another tooltip gives you even more info about it.
Everything you need to get your hands on the supplies is there... so, I am sure you will use this map filter more than once during your campaign.

After all this, you can see now why I said in the beggining that having a lower NM is bad for my nation, or more generically, having a higher NM than the enemy gives you an edge over the enemy... and not a small one I must say. ;)
For example, your forces are recruited quicker, the efficiency of your forces is increased, your production of supplies and assets is increased, your cohesion is increased, etc. For a full list of bonuses and maluses, you can check the manual later... but I guess you already got the idea? right? ;)
So, even with such a small difference (10 points of NM), Austria is in a better shape than me. I have to turn the tide in my favour winning some astounding battles that will turn the NM on my favour...

Well, that's enough for today... a very calm update... so I promise you for tomorrow more action... :D
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

User avatar
Ironclad61
Major
Posts: 229
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 6:51 pm

Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:33 pm

Good way to show cities information, trivial way :mdr:

We need wait one day more to see battles :bonk:

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:47 pm

Ironclad61 wrote:Good way to show cities information, trivial way :mdr:

We need wait one day more to see battles :bonk:

You just can't have all at the same time! :( :D
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

User avatar
Hohenlohe
Posts: 588
Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:24 pm
Location: Munich

Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:09 pm

I will be happy to see more action from the Prussians tomorrow. I hope you will win one or two decisive battles against the Austrian Coalition to stabilize your situation. I think that you can handle this especially against the Austrians in the South. If you can manage it to defeat them by Königsgrätz and north of Prag you should be able to besiege Prag with your forces and to withstand any relief forces they could move there. :thumbsup:

greetings

Hohenlohe, who prefers the Prussians... :coeurs:
R.I.P. Henry D.



In Remembrance of my Granduncle Hans Weber, a Hungaro-German Soldier,served in Austro-Hungarian Forces during WWI,war prisoner, missed in Sibiria 1918...

User avatar
Generalisimo
Posts: 4176
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:03 pm
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: ICQ WLM

Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:10 pm

[SIZE="4"][font="Comic Sans MS"]Chapter 6: There will be blood...[/font][/size]

Well, as promised, this update will see a lot more action than the previous one... but first, let's see the news that arrive from all around the world.
The Berliner Zeitung brings all these ones...
[CENTER]Image

Image

Image

Image[/CENTER]
As many of you may already know, this war can be considered the First World War... so, that's why news came from all the corners of the world telling us what is happening (or what happened historically to be more accurate)... but we play on this map, so let's get onto it now.

In the North:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
The russians start appearing, and are almost at the gates of Stettin.
Just like before, we are almost certain that this russian force is full of cavalry or very light elements. Something very obvious considering their speed of advance.
This is the reason why Dohna's Korps, that have just arrived in Colberg, is called back to strenght the defenses. Yes, Dohna is surelly not happy about this, and neither are us... but we better be sure that we can defeat the first wave of russians.
God only knows where they are heading... maybe to Berlin?...

In the Center:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
Not much to do around here. Without the troops of Keith and Friedrich, we can't storm Prag.
Also, considering the recent won battles, we will maintain the position, but this time, switching to an all defense one.
As you can see, more reinforcements are coming from the north, just in case that austrian detachment wants to attack Dresden.

In the East:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
Our plan is almost ready, so we will storm quickly the Troppau fortress, to clean the way to Koenigratz... and then Prag.
Sadly, there is one portrait that we didn't want to see... and have just appeared...
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
That's Daun's Army.... our Nemesis... we can only wonder where he will head now. This is another reason to quickly storm the Troppau fortress, before he can head this way.

This is an eagle eye view from the east and center fronts:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]

In the West:
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
We are playing VERY conservative in this front... so, there isn't much to do now.
We will just keep gathering information until we see some french forces coming our way.


And so, that's how this turn ends... oh wait, no, that's not how it ends... we press End Turn and this is what happens...

[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
The austrian force came again for more against this fortress.
A recent reorganization of the force in here, helped us to beat the austrian a bit more easilly than the last time.
Our cavalry continues to defend the fortress... will they come again?

[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
Just like we predicted, our Nemesis, Daun started to wreak havoc in our lines.
He storms the Neisse fortress and stops our reinforcements in there.
Not a very bloody battle really, but we lost in the end.
Look at his numbers... a tiny austrian army... no?

But the best is yet to come...
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
Another austrian detachment met our forces in Freudenthal. Our superior numbers gave us an edge... but with a huge cost in hits.
This time, our leadership failed... because the organization of these forces is not efficient nor the best. We will have to change that.
But, this is understandable, because the role of these forces is for support and reinforcements.
Soon, they will join another army...

And finally...
[CENTER]Image[/CENTER]
They come again... Austria seems determined to attack the Dresden fortress.
I do not think we will be able to hold longer this position if they keep sending more forces this way.
On our favour, Daun (like we have seen) went to the east... so at least we will not have to face him here... sooner or later, he will have to fight with Friedrich.

Sadly, only one of our forces reached Troppau... and because the defending forces never left the interior of the fortress, no battle happened in there.
Actually, that's good for us, because the coordination failed completelly and only part of our forces would have been present in the fight... leading to an almost assured failure.

Can we hold Lobositz?... will we start the siege of the Troppau fortress?... will Daun meet Friedrich?...
Maybe yes... maybe not...
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte




BOA-AAR: ¡Abajo el imperialismo Británico! (en español)



AGEOD Facebook Fanpage - news & screenshots about the upcoming games!

Return to “RoP: Rise of Prussia AARs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests