Manufacturing Italy (a PoN GC)

[Director]

No, no, gentlemen. You have it entirely wrong. The battlecruiser was not only a fine idea but a potentially war-winning weapon... within a narrow range of a decade or so after it was first proposed, if it was used in its intended roles and if only one fleet had them.

A battlecruiser is here defined as an all-big-gun ship with cruiser speed, whether this is achieved by sacrificing armor thickness (British model) or number and size of guns (German model). These 'cruiser-killers' should be used to blow a hole through the light ships guarding an enemy fleet and enable the collection of good intelligence on the location and disposition of the enemy; equally, they could form a 'fast division' to reach across the enemy's bow and cross his 'T' or force him to turn away. And if your enemy has a fast division then the value of one for your own fleet is enhanced...

So... in theory, great. Of course the problem is that theory and practice are the same - in theory - but different - in practice.

Where battlecruisers were used AS INTENDED they performed very well. Even the thin-skinned British models would have been fine if ammunition had been properly handled, instead of the flash-doors being propped open and shells and propellant heaped in piles in the turrets. This foolish British insistence on a high rate of fire with no regard for safety should the enemy ACTUALLY FIRE BACK doomed thousands of men to death and wreaked havoc on the British battlecruisers. It is extremely fortunate that the German High Seas battleships never 'got to grips' with their British counterparts. If they had, the same disregard of basic safety in the handling of explosives might have cost Jellicoe more battleships than Beatty lost battlecruisers. So let's take that part of Jutland out of the equation... battlecruisers did not explode because they were fragile, they exploded because safety precautions were ignored. It was the battlecruisers that exploded at Jutland because they did most of the shooting and being shot at - the battleships scarcely cleared their main batteries and few British battleships were hit.

Explosions aside, British and German battlecruisers alike showed they could suffer enormous damage and still be repaired and fight again. Other than British BCs lost by careless and foolish handling of explosives, one battlecruiser was sunk - SMS Lutzow - after taking at least 24 heavy-caliber hits. None were lost at Dogger Bank, Coronels or in the various actions of the Goeben under German and Turkish colors. That's a pretty good record for any capital ship...

HMS Hood was lost, as best I can determine, because her designers did not anticipate she would be fired on thirty years later by weapons of vastly higher muzzle velocity from an angle that exposed her weak ends and from a range that exposed her weak deck. A failure of armor? Yes... in the same way a tank designed in 1918 would see its armor fail when hit in the rear by an 88mm anti-aircraft gun. A thorough refit (similar to that of other British ships before WWII) might not have saved Hood but would have greatly improved her odds.

So the battlecruiser was a THEORETICAL triumph - a ship able to close the range rapidly and land heavy blows before its opponent could effectively reply. Unfortunately the battlecruiser 1) did not in fact have a monopoly on long range fire, 2) could not put more than 3% of its shells on target anyway and 3) was not in practice enough faster than a conventional dreadnought to make speed a decisive factor. Against the old, slow piston-engined battleships or against an out-gunned, out-ranged cruiser a battlecruiser would have been grim death; against a dreadnought battleship not so much. But still... in practice the ships were not a failure (IMHO).



Loki, I'm still not exactly sure what you did to balance your economy but I'm glad it worked. Now about those Prussians... is this the war you were planning to script or one that is coming on its own? Whichever is true it simply means that your shift from Nasty to Nice has confused the Prussians. And you know what Prussians do when they get uneasy...

[loki100]

Who'd have thunk that merely firing grape shot at unruly protesters could come back to haunt you? Poor Umberto, so misunderstood. And those new 'taches. Tsk. It simply won't do. I suspect that Italy's relative decline in dominance is directly correlated to the decline in manly facial fuzz.

Aye who would have suspected that shooting at your population might mean some of them get a but antsy at you in consequence ... life really is unfair.

I also blame the loss of facial protection on the unexpected aggresion by the northern barbarians ...

To be honest, not a whole lot going on (what's another 4,300 dead Italians? Can't amount to much in the scheme of things. And another dead king? Well, there's always a new one available). The most interesting thing - to me, at least - is to see how things are running slightly off the rails, even in the more tightly controlled environment that PON offers (relative to Paradox titles). The Boers beating up the Brits - okay, that could happen: I assume they got their horse-powered B-52s out of storage for that one. The same Boers deciding that it'd be much nicer to own Belize (rather than, say, any piece of South Africa currently held by the British)... That's where the train of predetermination begins to derail. By the way, wasn't Belize known as the Mosquito Coast? Really sells the place, doesn't it?

Aye, it has been an undramatic period but I really needed to let things calm down after the British war and sort out the economy. Fortunately the game engine decided what was needed was additional drama.

Overall, yes the world looks much as ours. The main issues are that IndoChina has resisted the French, China seems to have grabbed a large chunk of Burma and some colonial regions are split up differently. In terms of the pecking order, I'm starting to see signs of the US catching GB (I guess that industrial power is driving that). The big shift is obviously Italy's status.

I halfway expect the Swiss to pick up their tools and turn that coal mine into a top-notch operation, running like an exquisitely crafted and ultra-efficient cuckoo clock. Just to spite you. I'd say an invasion is in order - if only the game would let you extract any meaningful concessions.

no chance, that province is swarming with rebels – they are welcome to sort out their own mess.

Ah, the Teutons are coming south once more to wreck the Roman state! Time to appoint a dictator, raise fresh legions and have at it!

Seriously, this sounds pretty scary. I hope the hated Hun will have to come at you through the Alps, so you can set up some good killing fields. Combined with your bug report about 'immortal Turks', this might prove to be a bit of a challenge...

Uhuh, that was the real oh shit moment of this game. I've been playing a lot of Flashpoint Red Storm (utterly addictive – WEGO applied to a hot cold war) and that has oh shit moments a plenty, such as when your artillery or HQ gets hit by artillery or you lose a tank company in minutes to either Hinds (Mi-24s) or Apachese. Stunningly addictive.

But hey! You made off with the majority of the prestige pot! That's worth something. Must have something to do with the fact that the Germans can barely muster the same amount of mustache as the Italians.

Aye the prestige boost was nice, the art now is not to lose the resulting war ...

I see that during the debates, someone "stole" at least 4,800 prestige points (even before the final split that gave you 90% of the pot). Would that have been the dashing Italian Diplomatic Corps?

Also, what happened to the "be nice" to others diplomatic approach?

I suspect it was the same businessmen who pay somewhere around 100 times the notional value of goods ...

well as we'll see in the next update I did start by being nice ... just its very hard to sustain

No, no, gentlemen. You have it entirely wrong. The battlecruiser was not only a fine idea but a potentially war-winning weapon... within a narrow range of a decade or so after it was first proposed, if it was used in its intended roles and if only one fleet had them.

A battlecruiser is here defined as an all-big-gun ship with cruiser speed, whether this is achieved by sacrificing armor thickness (British model) or number and size of guns (German model). These 'cruiser-killers' should be used to blow a hole through the light ships guarding an enemy fleet and enable the collection of good intelligence on the location and disposition of the enemy; equally, they could form a 'fast division' to reach across the enemy's bow and cross his 'T' or force him to turn away. And if your enemy has a fast division then the value of one for your own fleet is enhanced...

So... in theory, great. Of course the problem is that theory and practice are the same - in theory - but different - in practice.

Where battlecruisers were used AS INTENDED they performed very well. Even the thin-skinned British models would have been fine if ammunition had been properly handled, instead of the flash-doors being propped open and shells and propellant heaped in piles in the turrets. This foolish British insistence on a high rate of fire with no regard for safety should the enemy ACTUALLY FIRE BACK doomed thousands of men to death and wreaked havoc on the British battlecruisers. It is extremely fortunate that the German High Seas battleships never 'got to grips' with their British counterparts. If they had, the same disregard of basic safety in the handling of explosives might have cost Jellicoe more battleships than Beatty lost battlecruisers. So let's take that part of Jutland out of the equation... battlecruisers did not explode because they were fragile, they exploded because safety precautions were ignored. It was the battlecruisers that exploded at Jutland because they did most of the shooting and being shot at - the battleships scarcely cleared their main batteries and few British battleships were hit.

Explosions aside, British and German battlecruisers alike showed they could suffer enormous damage and still be repaired and fight again. Other than British BCs lost by careless and foolish handling of explosives, one battlecruiser was sunk - SMS Lutzow - after taking at least 24 heavy-caliber hits. None were lost at Dogger Bank, Coronels or in the various actions of the Goeben under German and Turkish colors. That's a pretty good record for any capital ship...

HMS Hood was lost, as best I can determine, because her designers did not anticipate she would be fired on thirty years later by weapons of vastly higher muzzle velocity from an angle that exposed her weak ends and from a range that exposed her weak deck. A failure of armor? Yes... in the same way a tank designed in 1918 would see its armor fail when hit in the rear by an 88mm anti-aircraft gun. A thorough refit (similar to that of other British ships before WWII) might not have saved Hood but would have greatly improved her odds.

So the battlecruiser was a THEORETICAL triumph - a ship able to close the range rapidly and land heavy blows before its opponent could effectively reply. Unfortunately the battlecruiser 1) did not in fact have a monopoly on long range fire, 2) could not put more than 3% of its shells on target anyway and 3) was not in practice enough faster than a conventional dreadnought to make speed a decisive factor. Against the old, slow piston-engined battleships or against an out-gunned, out-ranged cruiser a battlecruiser would have been grim death; against a dreadnought battleship not so much. But still... in practice the ships were not a failure (IMHO).

as ever, am in awe at your knowledge of this material. I think I just succumbed to the lazy version that the Battlecruiser was flawed as it was hybrid and just not very good at its claimed role. Seems as if the concept made sense, just the execution (either in terms of technology or tactics) was flawed?

Loki, I'm still not exactly sure what you did to balance your economy but I'm glad it worked. Now about those Prussians... is this the war you were planning to script or one that is coming on its own? Whichever is true it simply means that your shift from Nasty to Nice has confused the Prussians. And you know what Prussians do when they get uneasy...

I basically went back to the logic you need at the start of the game. 2Coats started an AAR over on the Paradox AGEOD forum that set out a very logical model, I tend to muddle along and get their more incrementally.

Unlike at the start there is only one constraint (coal) whereas at that stage almost all the main variables (capital, coal, manufactures etc) are in shortage. On the other hand, at the start I had about 5 factories and the same number of agricultural sites.

What was happening I was short in the production cycle by about 300-400 coal. The AI routine simply allocates the coal till it has run out (it doesn't think X is more valuable than Y) and I think it was tending to allocate to industry not agriculture. This was good as it sustained my prestige, but bad as a number of key goods were not being produced.
My solution was to set a coal budget. Domestic production (more strictly production from Italian owned mines) + a lowish estimate of likely purchases.

I then worked out how much coal each structure was using (boring, just work down the F11 screen and record the results). Decided on my priorities and closed down all usage in excess of my budget. Let it run a few turns, and then started to fine tune. My goal was to get the key goods back into balance.

Unlike early game, I had no worries about private capital availability and could quite happily run a huge balance of payments deficit (this was covered by sales to my own population). Over the last game year since those adjustments, I've slowly moved back to a rough balance in terms of trade as I have started to put items back up for sale.

As to the Prussians – I blame Wagner ... can't be good for them.

[loki100]

1901 opened with much the same concerns as the last few years. Fine tuning of the industrial and trade patterns to secure key goods and the steady accumulation of prestige. However, two problems led to a shift of direction from April onwards.

One was the slowing of prestige gain against GB, as I started to fear I wouldn't make double their score by 1920. I think I was gaining 1.5 percentage points per annum, so with 77% at the start of 1901, it looked like I would end with around 105%, so enough but very vulnerable to late game developments. The other was the growing command problem, I have too many (not very good) 1/2 star generals and thus a real problem in leading my army.

This was a problem as if I decided another war with GB was essential to break their economic recovery, then fielding a well led veteran army seemed a very good idea.

Oddly there was a single solution to all these problems – another war with the Ottomans.

But first,

Verdi dies (this will have important consequences later in the year when the Italian diplomatic corps tribute group encounted a bunch of Germans who rather like Wagner).



Zanardelli comes to power. The trend to disturbing facial furniture continues.



Anyway, the Italian General Staff found an old copy of Garibaldi's well known classic – A guide to ancient ruins and how to create them. The urge to liberate the Lebanon with its well known ancient ruins became too much to resist.

Four large armies were gathered and deployed. One column in Jerusalem planning to strike north along the Mediterranean coast supported by another in Kuwait aiming for Baghdad. In the West, the main army was to land at Kavala while a second army moved overland from Albania to capture Thessaloniki.








Stressed diplomats, confused by the recent 'be nice' policy [1], were relieved to return to doing what they did best, helped by the recent Ottoman seizure of Italian built coal mines in the Balkans.

To celebrate the return to war, new artillery models are ordered for the army.



However, as a warning that Italy was not in control of events, a number of rice fields are lost in the Boxer Rising in China.



Equally by September, came news that Russia had destroyed the nascent Polish state that had managed to survive for 20 years.



By the middle of August, in the west, the landings at Kavala are easily completed and Thessaloniki is threatened.



In an echo of slaughters past, the early war euphoria evaporated with a vicious battle on the old killing fields of Adrianople.



With this, Pelloux halted his advance, set out to besiege the fortess and wait for reinforcements.

In an attempt to turn the Ottoman defences, a fresh army under the inexperienced Bessozi was ordered to land at Kum Khale, closing the Dardenelles to Ottoman ships and threatening Istanbul from the Asian side.



Poor prior intelligence meant an Ottoman army in the region had not been detected [2] and what was planned as landings against a lightly held sector became a massacre as Italian troops disembarked under heavy shell fire. An entire infantry corps was lost, but fortunately, the Ottomans too were badly damaged and retired, especially after the main fleet had closed to the shore to offer direct support to the army.



The western prong of the invasion was stalled and fresh formations were drawn from reserve in Italy.

Fortunately, the eastern axis was far more successful and by early September, in Iraq, Italian troops threatened Baghdad.





At the end of the month, Pollio attacked Adana having secured the Levant





By early October, Italy was content with the progress of the war. In the east, almost all of Iraq and the Levant was under Italian control and armies were moving into Anatolia. In the west, the forces were besieging the key forts that protected Istanbul. It was expecting that by early 1902, Italian units would reach the city of men's desire for the third time in 30 years.

The only problem was the commitment of not only all the main field armies but 3 additional reserve formations had meant very few regular army units were left in Italy. This would have been of limited concern except that tensions with Germany had been steadily increasing in recent years due to overlapping colonial interests in both east and west Africa.

An unfortunate event at a cocktail party, where a German minister compared grappa to schnaps and suggested that Parma ham was over-rated spiralled out of control.



Italy's plan was to mix 'being nice' (I started with delay and other low key options) with 'being a bunch of operatic drama queens' in a tribute act to Verdi (ie ending with the ultimatum). The world recognised that Italy had been mortally insulted

Unfortunately, unlike the sensible Austrians in previous crises, the Germans too had been listening to too much opera. It would appear that basing your foreign policy on Wagner can lead to problems.



The Ottoman war meant that there were almost no regular infantry formations left in Italy. Peace terms were hastily sent.

In Italy, the army consisted of cavalry and mountain divisions. These were ordered to secure the Dolomites and hope to halt any early German attack. It would be at least 2 months before the main army could be brought home and ready to face this new crisis [3].



Italy looked to its French ally to honour their long standing peace treaty.

[4]

[1] there is an analogy here to the situation in Britain after 1997. Briefly Robin Cook, the Labour Foreign Secretary, introduced what he called an 'ethical foreign policy'. The mere concept caused an awful lot of confusion among a group of people who would rarely recognise an ethic if it bit them on the bum.

[2] Or, more likely as its not entrenched, moved into the region

[3] To make this much worse, some 50% of my coal imports come from Germany.

[4] Should say that after encountering the immortal garrison bug I have reverted from the 1.04 beta to 1.03. Some of the new fixes were good and useful but that was halting the game – not just for me but stopping the AI achieving anything as well.

[Solemnace]

Hmm you've found yourself an unenviable situation. Let's Hope Prussia can't get troops to you through the Alps.

[Stuyvesant]

Uhuh, that was the real oh shit moment of this game. I've been playing a lot of Flashpoint Red Storm (utterly addictive – WEGO applied to a hot cold war) and that has oh shit moments a plenty, such as when your artillery or HQ gets hit by artillery or you lose a tank company in minutes to either Hinds (Mi-24s) or Apachese. Stunningly addictive.

Do tell me more... I've taken a quick gander at the game at Matrix's website (cue my usual sticker shock experience), but I do have a birthday coming up, which might leave me with some spare cash - if I don't buy that 8' telescope I've got my mind set on.

PS: Awesome lecture by Director, as usual. I think even he concedes that battlecruisers were a very specific solution for a very specific scenario and were basically useless for the role they had been designed for by the time WWI came around, but it's always very enlightening to read the wealth of information he can bring to bear.

Anyway, the Italian General Staff found an old copy of Garibaldi's well known classic – A guide to ancient ruins and how to create them. The urge to liberate the Lebanon with its well known ancient ruins became too much to resist.

I took a look at the website and I must agree: the tower that is pictured is far too pristine to be considered a decent ancient ruin. It needs more ruin to look convincingly ancient. I'm sure the Italian army (and the gazillion howitzers its bringing up in its wake) can lend a helping hand.

Are you trying to achieve a white peace with the Ottomans? You're making good progress in the Middle East, but that battle at Adrianople was far more even than I had anticipated - have the Turks managed to rebuild/modernize their army somehow? That would be troubling enough by itself, but even more so now that you need a swift end to this war.

Looking at the forces you have in northern Italy and comparing those combat power ratings to your armies in the Levant makes for grim reading. If the sunbathing Prussians of yore (the ones camped out in Slovenia during your last Austrian war) come knocking, I don't think you have anything to keep them from marching all the way to Rome. Did the French [s]commit suicide[/s] stand by you as your steadfast ally?

[loki100]

Hmm you've found yourself an unenviable situation. Let's Hope Prussia can't get troops to you through the Alps.

yep, given how much care I've put into planning all my previous wars, this is very different, especially having to deal with the very random 'end of war' redeployment and finding the bulk of the army having a holiday in the Eastern Aegean

Do tell me more... I've taken a quick gander at the game at Matrix's website (cue my usual sticker shock experience), but I do have a birthday coming up, which might leave me with some spare cash - if I don't buy that 8' telescope I've got my mind set on.

It is very very good. I never suspected you could make the WEGO approach work for modern (or indeed WW2) warfare but it does brilliantly. The resolution of the order cycle is like watching an AGE game on steroids, the AI is good and the small scenarios are not just learning exercises but gripping tussles in their own right. Now of course, it helps to forget what it would actually have represented for most of us living in Europe ... but it is very deep, subtle and easy to play. Now whether it matches up to an 8'' telescope (wish you Americans would use proper measures) is a judgement only you can call?

PS: Awesome lecture by Director, as usual. I think even he concedes that battlecruisers were a very specific solution for a very specific scenario and were basically useless for the role they had been designed for by the time WWI came around, but it's always very enlightening to read the wealth of information he can bring to bear.

I've played far enough ahead to unlock the tech - to my untutored eyes, the BC looks like my current (pre-Dreadnought) battleships, its not noticeably faster or differently armed.

I took a look at the website and I must agree: the tower that is pictured is far too pristine to be considered a decent ancient ruin. It needs more ruin to look convincingly ancient. I'm sure the Italian army (and the gazillion howitzers its bringing up in its wake) can lend a helping hand.

Are you trying to achieve a white peace with the Ottomans? You're making good progress in the Middle East, but that battle at Adrianople was far more even than I had anticipated - have the Turks managed to rebuild/modernize their army somehow? That would be troubling enough by itself, but even more so now that you need a swift end to this war.

Looking at the forces you have in northern Italy and comparing those combat power ratings to your armies in the Levant makes for grim reading. If the sunbathing Prussians of yore (the ones camped out in Slovenia during your last Austrian war) come knocking, I don't think you have anything to keep them from marching all the way to Rome. Did the French [s]commit suicide[/s] stand by you as your steadfast ally?

I offered the Ottomans pretty good terms and got out. To have gained what I wanted (the Levant) would have taken about 1000 warscore. So that would be taking Istanbul, all the other key cities and holding it for some time - not least from past experience the Ottomans have a positively Russian approach to partisan warfare. So that would take all my army to achieve.

France and Belgian unfortunately both gave a nice gallic shrug and decided not to really bother with this war. At least, my right of passage is intact, so I have one means (other than naval landings in the North Sea) to invade Germany - but first, its a case of removal the alligators from the swamp.

[loki100]

Given that all my previous wars have seen meticulous pre-deployment of the armed forces, this, to put it mildly, was a shock. For the first time, Italy finds itself the victim of aggression at a time when its main armies are away on a training exercise in the Ottoman Empire. Italy itself was guarded by 2 infantry corps, 3 divisions of alpini, 2 of cavalry and the substantive fortifications built before the war with the British.



These were ordered into the Dolomites to block the direct route from southern Germany into Italy. The massive fort at Trieste would have to stand alone, blocking the way in from the east.

Part A – The Scramble to Prepare

The first response was diplomatic, peace with the Ottomans and to remind the French and Belgians of the defensive treaty that had helped keep the peace in Europe these last 50 years.



The reserves were hastily mobilised, partly for the additional combat formations but above all else to improve the pool of trained replacements.



Units were hastily embarked and redeployed to Northern Italy


(these were redeployed to Albania so relatively easy to bring back to Italy)

Especially the great bulk of the Italian army sunbathing in the Eastern Aegean or hanging around Jerusalem admiring the graffitti and modern ruins.



Early estimates were that the Prussians outnumbered the Italian army more than 2-1. The hope was these units were less experienced, having only seen action in the brief Danish war.



The recent Ottoman operations had raised Italy's National Morale (132) but it was clear that Prussia was a formidable foe (NM of 121) with an army more than double Italy. Strategically it was clear that this would be an essentially defensive war. Austria was prepared to let German, but not Italian troops, across its territory. Italy could reach Germany via France, but the first task was to secure the northern borders.

Part B – Opening Clashes

By the start of December, the first German units appeared on the borders, just as a semblance of a defense was constructed in the Dolomites and behind the Isonzo, for the moment Trieste would have to rely on its powerful fortress.



The weaker of the two fleets was deployed to Antwerp. Hopefully this would help interdict German shipping and intercept any naval invasion. The stronger was kept in Italian waters as a last line of defense.

In early December, the first clash of the war was in E Africa. No German or Italian was involved in this battle between their respective native forces. The small victory brought great cheer to an Italian populace fearing that the Germans would win the race for Northern Italy.



By late December, it seemed as if the Italians had won the race. The Dolomites were reinforced and the main combat armies slowly arriving in the Veneto. It was, though, too late to prevent the Prussians bringing Trieste under siege,



But their first attempt to force the Dolomites was easily repelled



So, a year that saw Italy start a war with the Ottomans for little but the prestige, and the possibility of improving her control in the Eastern Mediterranean ended with her at war with a major European power.



In terms of prestige, the Ottoman war gave some benefits (remember you gain +1 for every battle no matter how small). Also as both the colonies develop (the new cities event) and my SoI score improves, the gain from the colonies increases from +10 to +11 a turn.

Overall prestige is up from 181,650 to 193,657 (a gain of 12,000 compared to 8,000 in the last two years) and this shows in the boost against target from 77% to 80% (ie 3 percentage points). GB gained almost 3,000 (so similar to 1900 from 117,784 to 120,458). The Ottoman war helped here but the main reason was my haul from the diplomatic hissy fit with the Germans – the only pity of course is I now face the danger of seeing German units wandering around Testaccio if I am not careful.

Worth noting the USA is starting to catch them up, having gone from 94,655 to 101,254 (ie around 7,000). This is deeply worrying as there is no way can I do anything to hold them back. Partly there is no way could I manage it as a military operation as I doubt their army is scattered around like the British. Mainly as I am completely dependent on coal production from my mines in the USA to power my own industrial base and the US is a major trading partner for a range of goods.

Losses are up as to be expected. At the end of 1900 I had lost 3.58m (and my NM was 116), at the end of 1901, this was up to 3.66m (and my NM was up to 130). So the Ottoman adventure had cost me around 80,000 dead.

Since the start of the Prussian war, my losses have been minimal as I presume this is not showing losses among my colonial forces – in particular those I have inherited rather than those I have created. This makes sense as I can't buy replacement for those units either. Prussia has lost around 1,000 men (226,950 to 227,950) in their attempt to emulate the Vandals.

Oh, and neither France nor Belgium decided to join in – both taking a large prestige hit for failing to honour their treaty requirements. Since Prussia was the aggressor, their defensive alliance with Austria doesn't apply.

This has the advantage, if I can call it that, of clarifying my war aims. I want peace, and if I can gain prestige on the way, that will be very helpful.

[Stuyvesant]

Well, on the bright side and looking at it from a historical perspective, the French never were able to stand up to the Prussians (and I can't believe that the Belgians would make any noticeable difference), so at least you won't have to worry about the Hun swarming into Italy from the Cote d'Azur. Your frontlines are well defined and you have the advantage of mountains and rivers on your side. Excepting Trieste, of course.

Thankfully, the Prussians have not yet mastered the art of Blitzkrieg and took their time in getting to you. Your mobile defenses still look rather paltry (compared to your offensive armies currently cruising the Med), but it seems to have been enough to stop the initial Prussian probe. Here's hoping you'll have enough time to reinforce the lines before the Hunnic hordes show up. Oh, and it's winter, that should play to your advantage too, right? Maybe the Alps can become the deep-freeze cemetery for countless German soldiers.

[loki100]

Well, on the bright side and looking at it from a historical perspective, the French never were able to stand up to the Prussians (and I can't believe that the Belgians would make any noticeable difference), so at least you won't have to worry about the Hun swarming into Italy from the Cote d'Azur. Your frontlines are well defined and you have the advantage of mountains and rivers on your side. Excepting Trieste, of course.

Thankfully, the Prussians have not yet mastered the art of Blitzkrieg and took their time in getting to you. Your mobile defenses still look rather paltry (compared to your offensive armies currently cruising the Med), but it seems to have been enough to stop the initial Prussian probe. Here's hoping you'll have enough time to reinforce the lines before the Hunnic hordes show up. Oh, and it's winter, that should play to your advantage too, right? Maybe the Alps can become the deep-freeze cemetery for countless German soldiers.

Aye, Trieste is the strategic problem. Its isolated and the only way to guard it is to put the bulk of the army into Friuli (Udine) which has no protection. But Trieste is one of my objectives so if it falls I lose a lot of warscore and take an NM hit.

Fortunately, the Germans have taken their time. I think they have recreated the mega stack that wandered around earlier, so they can't rail it quickly. Splitting it down may have given them Friuli before I could get organised, as it is they arrive in time to have to fight.

If any readers are worried this is going to be a war of small scale skirmishes ... I offer you the next update

[loki100]

My goals in this war remain defensive – ie to make the Prussians go away. However, given how tight the prestige struggle is going to be, what I can't do is to spend prestige to achieve this. So ideally I need warscore that I can then trade for peace.

One option is to attack some of Germany's colonies. In particular their Pacific colonies are very vulnerable to my forces deployed in Australia.



This sets up a campaign that will take those 3 isolated provinces and then move onto the Solomon Islands to the north.

However, the distraction of war in the South Pacific is soon lost. 500,000 Germans (wearing rather dashing purple uniforms) supported by almost 5,000 guns launch an all out assault on Trieste.



Even as Italy digests the news that the fort held, news comes in of enemy landings in Sardinia. Later news indicates this is not a German but an Algerian army [1].



Despite their losses, the Prussian army is still over 8,000 power. However, in an attempt to raise the siege, the main Italian armies leave their trenches on the Isonzo and move onto the plains of Friuli. It will be almost 4 weeks before they reach Trieste as it is essential to bring all the artillery.



Even as the army moves east, a second German attempt to force the Dolomites is easily beaten off.



However, before the main army can arrive Trieste falls. The weakened garrison beat off the first attack



But not the second.



Trieste was in German hands, but it had cost them over 340,000 casualties.

Hoping to catch the Germans before they could re-organise, Pollio's army, reinforced with Alpini divisions, was ordered to press on.



But were beaten off.



For the first time, the Italian army faced an enemy even more committed to using artillery than they were.

By Late February, both sides had taken heavy losses and broke off to recover.



Looking for an alternative, the Italian high command ordered its last reserve not to Northern Italy but to Belgium. The intention was to ensure at least some of this war was waged on German soil [2].



By early March, Italy returned to the offensive in Trieste. Rested, with the army fully deployed, and the main fleet offshore, it was decided to gamble on dislodging the Germans.



Even as they advanced, a third German attack in the Dolomites was beaten off.



In the meantime over 700,000 men clashed in battle outside Trieste. The pouring rain limited the impact of the massed artillery and the elan of the Alpini carried the day. 180,000 fell and critically, a large part of the German army collapsed. Clearly, unlike the Italians, they had not been able to replace their losses from the earlier battles [3].



The Alpini and cavalry paid a heavy price for leading the attack [4].



By the middle of March, it appeared as if Italy had achieved a defensive victory. German attacks in the Dolomites had been limited to probes rather than the all out offensives of the Austrian wars. The fort of Trieste was still in German hands, but their main field army had taken heavy losses.

Both sides were shocked at the bloodshed and Prussia's morale had fallen with news both of their losses when taking Trieste and that Italy had managed to drive them back into Croatia.



So since the start of the war I've lost 200,000 (from 3.66m to 3.86m) and Prussia 480,000 (from 0.23m to 0.71m). The critical numbers are that my NM is up to 138 (despite the hit for losing Trieste) and they are down to 102 (from 123 at the start of the war). Not only have they lost NM for their defeats but they gained none when they took Trieste due to the losses in the actual battle.

This NM bonus will be critical in any battles and also help me reach an acceptable peace deal.


A short aside on the Battlecruiser. Amidst all that, I finished researching the tech and ordered 2 squadrons for the navy.

As you can see, some of their stats are very close to those of the current generation of pre-Dreadnought battleships:



On balance though they are an upgrade on the pre-Dreadnought battleships. Better rate of fire (3 times per turn), do more damage as opposed to inflicting cohesion loss, faster and better at detecting and evading. I intend to start phasing out my 1880s Battleships (this will cost prestige) and replace them with the Battlecruisers. I need to keep the overall size of the navy under some control as it is another drain on my coal stocks.

On balance it seems as if AGEOD agree with the Director – they were a valid idea in the right circumstances - although I think their defensive value is too high ... but need to see the Dreadnought stats before coming to a judgement on that.

Oh and as a result of finishing the precondition techs, I am on the road to the Dreadnought.



At least that means I can test my guess as to what has been stopping this tech creating the relevant unit to build.




[1] – nope I wasn't expecting this either
[2] – this is quite safe, as unless Germany declares war on Belgium I can operate across the border at will – much as I cannot follow up their armies if they fall back into Austria. I maybe able to defeat some smaller detachments or even capture some non-fortified cities.
[3] – worth noting that the apparently even numbers is a bit false. Each supply unit has 1,000 men and they had 108 supply units there, so their effective army was around 270,000. With their retreat losses, I think most of the combat units were destroyed.
[4] – I think this indicates the importance of a large store of replacements rather than raising them to need. It gives you 2 turns advantage over an opponent when recovering from battle losses and thus its more likely their losses will see an actual lost elements while you can absorb the casualties. Over the last 5-6 years, I've been steadily building up all these replacement pools.

[Stuyvesant]

[2] – this is quite safe, as unless Germany declares war on Belgium I can operate across the border at will – much as I cannot follow up their armies if they fall back into Austria. I maybe able to defeat some smaller detachments or even capture some non-fortified cities.

Time to break out the matches and start playing in the Ruhr area... Of course, Churchill was a big fan of such a peripheral strategy, forever hoping it would draw off German forces from the Western Front, and his success rate was less than stellar. Be interesting to see if a peripheral thrust into the Ruhr would yield different results.

Those were some incredibly bloody battles, WWI-like. The results seem to bear out your assertion about having replacements ready - apart from the fort battles, you seem to not have lost any units, while the Prussians hemorrhaged at least 50 units outside of Trieste. Now, can you regain control of the fort and then hold the province in force (it's a plains province, isn't it?), while at the same time guarding the alpine passes? So far, the Germans haven't sent anything big across the Alps, but if they did throw a several-thousand-power stack at you in the Dolomites, could your screening units hold that back?

Looking forward to some battlecruiser action in the North Sea - if you have them ready before the war is ended.

Final puzzler: why oh why are the Trieste Huns all purple (because you beat seven shades of the brown stuff out of them - badum-tish)? Any idea? Are they an allied army, perhaps from Bavaria or somesuch place?

Oh, and how did Algiers come to declare war on you? Surely they are not allied with the Huns (it's a Vandal-Hun alliance, threatening to destroy the Roman Empire!)? And why hasn't France done the decent thing and subjugated the whole area by now? Don't they start out the game (in 1850 - 50 years ago) in control of the Algerian littoral?

[loki100]

Final puzzler: why oh why are the Trieste Huns all purple (because you beat seven shades of the brown stuff out of them - badum-tish)? Any idea? Are they an allied army, perhaps from Bavaria or somesuch place?

I guess its a force they inherited on unification - if you look at the battle screen shots for the Dolomites there are some lime green people in there.

But ... its hard not to think that 20 Century European history would have been much less grim if the German army had decided against Feldgrau and marched around in a very fetching purple uniform instead?

[Jim-NC]

Beware overconfidence against the Germans. The purple are allied units (same as the lime green), and they may never have upgraded after unification (thus, they could be 1850 units against your 1890 units).

The big fight will be against all German units. You would need to ask someone who has played Germany past unification (and several upgrades past that to know if the purple are as advanced as they could be).

[Taciturn Scot]

But ... its hard not to think that 20 Century European history would have been much less grim if the German army had decided against Feldgrau and marched around in a very fetching purple uniform instead?

The overall gaiety of the era could also have been enhanced had the German soldiers tied a helium-filled party balloon to their helmets as they marched to war so that they could inhale the gas before charging into battle crying 'Hurrah!' in high-pitched squeaky voices.

Frivolity aside, this AAR has been one of the best I've read anywhere, and you and Narwal have produced some beauties in your time. AGEOD is lucky to have you guys promoting their games so handsomely.

[Director]

Indeed, I do think the battlecruiser had a - limited - place in the naval lineup. I mostly condemn Royal Navy practice of treating ammunition and shells like bags of cement and baulks of lumber out of the misplaced belief that they could use rapidity of fire to crush an opponent before he could effectively shoot back. Fisher intended the battlecruiser to be a super-weapon, and the history of wonder-weapons is littered with cases where it was too expensive, ineffective, technically over-reaching, easily-countered or simply invalidated when the enemy built his own.

I'm sorry to see that PoN perpetuates that silly 'right of passage' nonsense. No major nation would ever give permission to another to stage a war on its territory while remaining at peace itself; the mess and fuss of having foreign soldiers camped in your fields, traipsing through your towns and generally behaving like soldiers would be too difficult for the 'host' government to permit. The idea that Belgians or Austrians would permit a massive foreign army to camp on their soil and launch invasions across the border is I think pretty seriously wrong. Still, if that is the game mechanic then I suppose you are bound by it. And the good news is that France staying out is balanced by Austria and Britain voting to do likewise. If only Russia would follow its practice from the Italo-Ottoman War and opportunistically chime in against your enemy... ah, well.

I do celebrate your glorious victory in recouping the loss of Trieste - gave Heinrich a good thrashing, what? But it must be said... if your loss ratio is 1:2 and the German army is double your size then you are not (in a military sense, without the political considerations) winning. Judicious use of your troops in Belgium could serve to pin larger numbers of Germans on the western frontier. In real life, of course, the Germans would simply invade Belgium... I advise you to return to the defensive strategy of the Italo-Austrian War and bait the Germsn into costly offensives in prime defensive terrain. Where the enemy has a safe haven, to which he can safely retreat and regroup, the war becomes one of attrition - and this is not in your favor.

It seems that you have done all you can to ready your armies for the war. I hope it will be enough: the German Army is not an unstoppable juggernaut's car but it is a formidable force to fight alone. One hopes this will be a war the Germans stumbled into and be glad to get out of.

[sagji]

I'm sorry to see that PoN perpetuates that silly 'right of passage' nonsense. No major nation would ever give permission to another to stage a war on its territory while remaining at peace itself; the mess and fuss of having foreign soldiers camped in your fields, traipsing through your towns and generally behaving like soldiers would be too difficult for the 'host' government to permit. The idea that Belgians or Austrians would permit a massive foreign army to camp on their soil and launch invasions across the border is I think pretty seriously wrong.

It is worse that seriously wrong - it is totally in appropriate, it would have been considered an act of war by the host nation without a declaration of war - so in game terms would but the host country at war with the target, entitle the target to call on its allies as it has been attacked, and inflict a huge prestige penalty on the host for attacking without a declaration of war.

The Hague (V) convention of 1907 is available online.

[loki100]

Time to break out the matches and start playing in the Ruhr area... Of course, Churchill was a big fan of such a peripheral strategy, forever hoping it would draw off German forces from the Western Front, and his success rate was less than stellar. Be interesting to see if a peripheral thrust into the Ruhr would yield different results.

Those were some incredibly bloody battles, WWI-like. The results seem to bear out your assertion about having replacements ready - apart from the fort battles, you seem to not have lost any units, while the Prussians hemorrhaged at least 50 units outside of Trieste. Now, can you regain control of the fort and then hold the province in force (it's a plains province, isn't it?), while at the same time guarding the alpine passes? So far, the Germans haven't sent anything big across the Alps, but if they did throw a several-thousand-power stack at you in the Dolomites, could your screening units hold that back?

Looking forward to some battlecruiser action in the North Sea - if you have them ready before the war is ended.

Final puzzler: why oh why are the Trieste Huns all purple (because you beat seven shades of the brown stuff out of them - badum-tish)? Any idea? Are they an allied army, perhaps from Bavaria or somesuch place?

Unfortunately I never had the chance to burn anything down. I took a province in the Saarland and then realised there was a massive, huge, very big bunch of Germans nearby. So I grabbed the peace treaty they offered – Italy has now captured Santa Claus (this will make sense in the actual update).

The other regret was finding there is no German navy, I had a fleet hanging around off Jutland/Heligoland and nothing happened. So my shiny new battlecruisers went untested. I reckon, with their high detect values, they could be very good for commerce raiding though.

Oh, and how did Algiers come to declare war on you? Surely they are not allied with the Huns (it's a Vandal-Hun alliance, threatening to destroy the Roman Empire!)? And why hasn't France done the decent thing and subjugated the whole area by now? Don't they start out the game (in 1850 - 50 years ago) in control of the Algerian littoral?

I really don't have a clue about Algiers. France has been embroilled in a colonial war over there for the last 10-15 years, so that might be a partial explanation. But why they were cruising the Med, looking for an infeasibly large fortress to besiege is a mystery.

Beware overconfidence against the Germans. The purple are allied units (same as the lime green), and they may never have upgraded after unification (thus, they could be 1850 units against your 1890 units).

The big fight will be against all German units. You would need to ask someone who has played Germany past unification (and several upgrades past that to know if the purple are as advanced as they could be).

Post war I did a check. Couldn't find any purple people (I think they were all wiped out in the retreat) but the other odd coloured units (which were coded as Hannover etc) were indeed all 1850s stuff. No wonder they took such massive losses. Pity as it would be better for the unification process to actually destroy those minor armies rather than incorporate something that has little real value.

The overall gaiety of the era could also have been enhanced had the German soldiers tied a helium-filled party balloon to their helmets as they marched to war so that they could inhale the gas before charging into battle crying 'Hurrah!' in high-pitched squeaky voices.

Frivolity aside, this AAR has been one of the best I've read anywhere, and you and Narwal have produced some beauties in your time. AGEOD is lucky to have you guys promoting their games so handsomely.

Yep, handsome purple uniforms and balloons – a definitely good way to prevent wars taking place.

Thanks for the praise, I keep on trying to lure Narwhal back to writing up an AAR but he's really busy. We had a short AJE tussle but it wasn't that interesting a game to be honest.

Indeed, I do think the battlecruiser had a - limited - place in the naval lineup. I mostly condemn Royal Navy practice of treating ammunition and shells like bags of cement and baulks of lumber out of the misplaced belief that they could use rapidity of fire to crush an opponent before he could effectively shoot back. Fisher intended the battlecruiser to be a super-weapon, and the history of wonder-weapons is littered with cases where it was too expensive, ineffective, technically over-reaching, easily-countered or simply invalidated when the enemy built his own.

I'm sorry to see that PoN perpetuates that silly 'right of passage' nonsense. No major nation would ever give permission to another to stage a war on its territory while remaining at peace itself; the mess and fuss of having foreign soldiers camped in your fields, traipsing through your towns and generally behaving like soldiers would be too difficult for the 'host' government to permit. The idea that Belgians or Austrians would permit a massive foreign army to camp on their soil and launch invasions across the border is I think pretty seriously wrong. Still, if that is the game mechanic then I suppose you are bound by it. And the good news is that France staying out is balanced by Austria and Britain voting to do likewise. If only Russia would follow its practice from the Italo-Ottoman War and opportunistically chime in against your enemy... ah, well.

I do celebrate your glorious victory in recouping the loss of Trieste - gave Heinrich a good thrashing, what? But it must be said... if your loss ratio is 1:2 and the German army is double your size then you are not (in a military sense, without the political considerations) winning. Judicious use of your troops in Belgium could serve to pin larger numbers of Germans on the western frontier. In real life, of course, the Germans would simply invade Belgium... I advise you to return to the defensive strategy of the Italo-Austrian War and bait the Germsn into costly offensives in prime defensive terrain. Where the enemy has a safe haven, to which he can safely retreat and regroup, the war becomes one of attrition - and this is not in your favor.

It seems that you have done all you can to ready your armies for the war. I hope it will be enough: the German Army is not an unstoppable juggernaut's car but it is a formidable force to fight alone. One hopes this will be a war the Germans stumbled into and be glad to get out of.

Aye, that invade out of a neutral country option is seriously wrong. But the alternative I guess would be a lot of wars that ended in stalemate as neither side could reach the other. The real issue is that the diplomatic AI is very sketchy.

Realistically in this situation, its hard not to see Austria-Hungary joining in. Unlike Germany, they have real reasons for war and I hold provinces they believe to the theirs. The crisis mechanic is a genius bit of game design, but it sits in splendid isolation. Integrated into a wider, more dynamic, diplomatic game and it would make this game even more awesome.

In general, as in the next update, I did indeed try to remain on the defense, apart from one very bad scare. Equally I took the first peace terms that were on offer. I could have fought on and perhaps removed their colonial interests in E Africa, but it was hard to justify keeping this war going.

It is worse that seriously wrong - it is totally in appropriate, it would have been considered an act of war by the host nation without a declaration of war - so in game terms would but the host country at war with the target, entitle the target to call on its allies as it has been attacked, and inflict a huge prestige penalty on the host for attacking without a declaration of war.

The Hague (V) convention of 1907 is available online.

I'm still playing around with the idea/script that Christophe.Barot has started. I'd like to amend the pre-WW1 sequence to reflect this game and see if that can trigger a multi-alliance war. But, as here, I think the AI is pretty unwilling to honour a defensive alliance and will often look to end a war quite quickly – logical if it is a struggle with no obvious goals.

[loki100]

As the main armies consolidated their hold around Trieste, the Germans launched another attack in the Dolomites. The first blow was easily absorbed.



However, that had been little but an advance guard. Perhaps lulled into complacency by the history of the Italian army in this region, Baldissera was overwhelmed and forced back into the Po Valley.



Fortunately, the fortress still held, preventing an immediate Prussian invasion towards Milan.

The high command had little choice. One army was left to maintain the siege of Trieste and the other two ordered to guard Venice. The risk of a second large German attack trying to raise the siege had to be accepted.



For the second time in this war, the Italian army had been outmanouvered and was engaged in a desperate redeployment to meet a German offensive.

In the north, Bersozzi had reorganised and his troops were coping well with swapping Rhodes for Antwerp. They were ordered to invade the Saarland and hopefully draw off some of the German units now in Northern Italy.



Fortunately, by late April the immediate crisis was over. Unable to breach the massive fortifications in the Dolomites, the Germans redeployed so as to raise the siege of Trieste.



In consequence, by early May, the Italian armies were organised in their traditional alignment. One army retook Trentino (Sud-Tirol/Alto Adige ... this is confusing stuff, especially as I worked there some 10 years ago), 2 on the plains of Friuli and the final one guarding Trieste. Any German attack would be met by the bulk of the Italian army, operating from well constructed defensive lines.



To secure this new defence line, Trieste was stormed, removing the last German strongpoint in Italy.



At the same time, news came in of an Italian victory in the Rhineland.



By late May, the city was itself was in Italian hands as Italy reversed the dynamics of the early stages of the war.



And a fresh German attack in the Dolomites was easily beaten off.



With this, Prussia offered peace terms. With Italy free of German troops, and a massive German army active in the Rhine region



Italy accepted. The Marshall Islands gave her some a hold in the Pacific region and could be protected from her Australian colonies. The North Pole just seemed like a good idea [1]

With that, the nine month war ended. Neither side was satisfied, but equally neither had any reason to continue hostilities. In particular both had overlapping colonial interests.

The losses were sobering. In a war that saw almost nothing change, Italy lost just under 300,000 men (from 3.66m to 3.94m) and Germany 600,000 (from 0.23m to 0.83m).



Europe had been warned as to the potential cost of any further conflicts between the major powers.

[1] – I think Prussia took this off the Danes much earlier. So the Italian empire now stretches from the Pacific, to southern Africa to the North Pole.

[Jim-NC]

The bad news for you is that most of their (the German) losses were from 1850 era units (completely useless for the time period you are in. This means that they can probably field a bigger modern army now (as they removed all that deadwood).

Congrats on capturing the north pole. That's an old bug coming back (for those who don't know earlier in the game design, region 0 - I think it was 0, could have been 1 - was the North Pole, and if something went wrong on syntax, then it defaulted to that region. Thus there were a lot of CBs thrown around over that region, as most everyone had it as an objective region).

[Matnjord]

Well, quite a useless war I suppose, although the polar bear will be a welcomed addition to the Bioparco Zoologico Imperiale in Rome.

It's quite impressive to see how PON simulates the relative decline of an army. The army that emerged from the Austrian war seemed to be able to take anything in the world head on (great generals, everyone down the the regimental kitchen sink had boatloads of experience). Now, the proud Esercito seems to have been humbled, even if it was not defeated in the field of battle, by the german Heer. This begs for the World War I scenario you talked about before, where the nations of the Earth will fight to the last peasant in an apocalyptic war.

[Stuyvesant]

Well, you won, that's the most important thing... And you gained some tropical beach front (I guess we know where the Italian army will next redeploy for some R&R), as well as the North Pole. Which will come in handy in about 100 years, when global warming makes the Northeast Passage possible and you can start exploited all those yummy natural resources that are right there, under the seabed, just waiting to be dug up. Shame it won't come in handy during the game itself, though.

So, nothing of import really changed and it all rang up to a cost of about 900,000 casualties. That's sobering. As is Jim-NC's comment that you mostly slaughtered obsolete German units, allowing the Prussians to replace them with more fearsome modern varieties of Hun. I also noticed that your final assault on Saarbrucken cost you almost half your army - 47,000 casualties. I can see why a quick peace was in your best interests.

[Director]

The story told by the casualties is grim. If the German Army was twice your size and took twice your casualties then militarily it was a draw, and as Jim-NC points out most of what they lost they can replace with superior troops. That's... sobering.

Wars are however not decided militarily but politically (with the understanding that military actions powerfully affect but do not wholly determine political outcomes) and in the political sphere you undoubtedly won.

My conception of the events is a belligerent and unstable Kaiser landing his country into a position where it is war or disgrace... And then what should have been an easy grab at a tasty Italian cannoli turns into an embarrassing bone-in-the-throat: not the intimidating aspect Germany hoped to demonstrate to the rest of Europe. I suspect Germany's ministers made an end-run around a discredited and dispirited Kaiser and were overjoyed when Italy chose not to press harder.

That said, beware Germany if she ever feels the war must be fought to the knife. Based on this showing you might not win.

[sagji]

I suspect that most of what they lost they can't replace - I think that once they loose the non-prussian units they can't replace them as they aren't in the force pool. However they are also not taking conscripts for maintenance so more will be available to build new units.

[Jim-NC]

Also, they (non Prussian units) are militarily very weak (as they are completely outdated at this point). So it's a mixed bag, they can't be built again, but they were so weak that they were only really for show, and they no longer require upkeep/replacements.

It will be interesting to see what happens later on.

[loki100]

The bad news for you is that most of their (the German) losses were from 1850 era units (completely useless for the time period you are in. This means that they can probably field a bigger modern army now (as they removed all that deadwood).

Congrats on capturing the north pole. That's an old bug coming back (for those who don't know earlier in the game design, region 0 - I think it was 0, could have been 1 - was the North Pole, and if something went wrong on syntax, then it defaulted to that region. Thus there were a lot of CBs thrown around over that region, as most everyone had it as an objective region).

I suspect that most of what they lost they can't replace - I think that once they loose the non-prussian units they can't replace them as they aren't in the force pool. However they are also not taking conscripts for maintenance so more will be available to build new units.

Also, they (non Prussian units) are militarily very weak (as they are completely outdated at this point). So it's a mixed bag, they can't be built again, but they were so weak that they were only really for show, and they no longer require upkeep/replacements.

It will be interesting to see what happens later on.

The idea that all I have done is to make the German army more powerful is not that cheery to be honest. I came damn near to losing that war, or at the best, having to take any terms that were on offer. Right at the end I found a huge stack in Germany (the reason I retreated from the Rhineland) and if that had gone south, I was in deep trouble.

Also, having accepted the offer of the Marshall Islands – I've now found they have a permanent CB on me. Given where I am, I do think an alteration to the WW1 chain would be appropriate, and present a monumental end of game dynamic.

Well, quite a useless war I suppose, although the polar bear will be a welcomed addition to the Bioparco Zoologico Imperiale in Rome.

It's quite impressive to see how PON simulates the relative decline of an army. The army that emerged from the Austrian war seemed to be able to take anything in the world head on (great generals, everyone down the the regimental kitchen sink had boatloads of experience). Now, the proud Esercito seems to have been humbled, even if it was not defeated in the field of battle, by the german Heer. This begs for the World War I scenario you talked about before, where the nations of the Earth will fight to the last peasant in an apocalyptic war.

I think the way in which the Italian army has fluctuated is indicative of the way that morale, experience and leadership are all well modelled in the AGE games. I too remember fondly that elite army, led by 6-7 leaders, that I had at the end of the first Austrian war. I really regret being so casual in the second war that lost me a lot of those elite formations.

Overall, I do think a variant of WW1 is indeed a suitable goal.

Well, you won, that's the most important thing... And you gained some tropical beach front (I guess we know where the Italian army will next redeploy for some R&R), as well as the North Pole. Which will come in handy in about 100 years, when global warming makes the Northeast Passage possible and you can start exploited all those yummy natural resources that are right there, under the seabed, just waiting to be dug up. Shame it won't come in handy during the game itself, though.

So, nothing of import really changed and it all rang up to a cost of about 900,000 casualties. That's sobering. As is Jim-NC's comment that you mostly slaughtered obsolete German units, allowing the Prussians to replace them with more fearsome modern varieties of Hun. I also noticed that your final assault on Saarbrucken cost you almost half your army - 47,000 casualties. I can see why a quick peace was in your best interests.

Aye that last foul up at Saarbrucken rather got lost in the rush to peace, but it was further evidence that the balance of battle has shifted to the defense. I fear that will get worse in the next 10 years.

But yes, 100,000 dead a month, for a war that saw the transfer of 2 colonies of no use to either nation.

The story told by the casualties is grim. If the German Army was twice your size and took twice your casualties then militarily it was a draw, and as Jim-NC points out most of what they lost they can replace with superior troops. That's... sobering.

Wars are however not decided militarily but politically (with the understanding that military actions powerfully affect but do not wholly determine political outcomes) and in the political sphere you undoubtedly won.

My conception of the events is a belligerent and unstable Kaiser landing his country into a position where it is war or disgrace... And then what should have been an easy grab at a tasty Italian cannoli turns into an embarrassing bone-in-the-throat: not the intimidating aspect Germany hoped to demonstrate to the rest of Europe. I suspect Germany's ministers made an end-run around a discredited and dispirited Kaiser and were overjoyed when Italy chose not to press harder.

That said, beware Germany if she ever feels the war must be fought to the knife. Based on this showing you might not win.

I think the key there, was Germany had little to fight for, except forcing me to give up some colonies. I suspect, if Austria had joined in, it would have been far more determined. As in our time line, I reckon the loss of the Po valley would be acccepted, but Sud-Tirol/Alto Adige would be a running sore.

As above, Germany now has a permanent CB on me. Not reassuring, especially as we have overlapping colonial interests in E Africa.

[loki100]

This update is relatively short. It covers the second half of 1902 but also picks up on a few events in the first part of the year that were not connected with the German war.

Industrial Reports

Manufactures



I decide to build more coal mines in N America. I can't risk a dispute with the USA so I may as well commit myself to helping them exploit their natural resources.



Non-Manufactures



Oddly, the latter part of the game has seen me more interested in agriculture than industry. In general this sector is more volatile as I shift production priorities and try to gauge just how much of a surplus I can export. The problem items – sugar, tea and rum – and those were I have limited production – rice, tropical fruits – remain the choke points. There is virtually none for sale on a regular basis.

I'd like to build more rice and silk production in China, but the Boxers are still rising, so I'd rather wait till things calm down.



Despite the war, at the start of 1902 I had made a lot of progress in resolving the shortages in food and common goods. Checking again at the end, it seems as if I now have the problem under control.



This also shows how demand is increasing as my population grows. Once the war ended, I reverted to playing the various development cards on a regular basis (these give prestige and bonus growth).

I am left with a minimal shortfall in terms of food production. At the least, this should help keep militancy under control and certainly should stop militancy spilling over into discontent.



As you can see, militancy dropped over the year from 69% to 61%.

Other Events

Australia comes into being. Well apart from the really lucky bit around Melnourne that continues to enjoy high class coffee and properly cooked pizzas.



I was impressed by the effectiveness of my additional fortifications in the German war. Even if Trieste was captured, the additional garrison inflicted heavy losses. So now peace has returned, it seems like a good idea to prepare for the next war.



Equally, in preparing for the future, the 1880s navy is slowly scrapped. This costs prestige but I don't think they will be of much use. Equally just sat in port, they consume coal and I'd rather clear the slots in my navy for when the Dreadnoughts can be built.



Prestige



I have reverted to playing the various development cards as I now have population demand under control. This adds a steady flow of prestige (coded as 'regional decisions'). Also my SoIs improve and with it my colonial gain improves to +12 per turn.

Anyway for 1902, the key information is my prestige is up from 193,657 to 202,335 (so just under 9,000). I've lost some due to disbanding ships and my instinct is I lost enough units and battles in the war that overall I gained very little prestige. Still I am 82% of the way to my target with 18 years to go. So it seems as if I still might just manage to pull off a clear victory.

Britain is up from 120.458 to 123,524 (so keeping to their recent gains of around 3,000 per year). The USA is now more of a worry, up from 101,254 to 108,463 (a gain of 7,000). On this basis, they will catch the British some time around 1907 and then more or less keep track with my gains. In that case, I will never manage to reach double my nearest rival, but there is nothing I can do directly to hinder the US.

This might, however, mean the opening years of the twentieth century are rather warlike as I seek prestige.

[Stuyvesant]

In the last screenshot, the Prussians only have a slight combat power lead over you - I assume this is a direct result from your (their?) energetic campaign to weed out the dead wood. I wonder how quickly that number will go back up to the 200 range: if it doesn't, you might have wounded the Germans more seriously than initially thought.

[Gen. Monkey-Bear]

In the last screenshot, the Prussians only have a slight combat power lead over you - I assume this is a direct result from your (their?) energetic campaign to weed out the dead wood. I wonder how quickly that number will go back up to the 200 range: if it doesn't, you might have wounded the Germans more seriously than initially thought.

I expect that when they do modernize (and mobilize), they will do so relatively quickly. It is Germany, they have the industrial means. So Loki better keep his army constantly modern in order to keep up, otherwise they will have the advantage in terms of modernization.

[loki100]

In the last screenshot, the Prussians only have a slight combat power lead over you - I assume this is a direct result from your (their?) energetic campaign to weed out the dead wood. I wonder how quickly that number will go back up to the 200 range: if it doesn't, you might have wounded the Germans more seriously than initially thought.

I think this is partly a reflection of how mobilisation and reserves work. I have a professional army (honest, ok they could do with more training about care with matches), so when I mobilise I don't gain that many formations (its of more use for the influx of replacements). I think they gain a lot on mobilisation, so equally their relative army size fluctuates more when they stand down after a war. Demobilisation happens in the second part of the June or December after peace was agreed.

I expect that when they do modernize (and mobilize), they will do so relatively quickly. It is Germany, they have the industrial means. So Loki better keep his army constantly modern in order to keep up, otherwise they will have the advantage in terms of modernization.

Since, for a major power, by the mid-late game, money is not a constraint, I'd guess that like me they fully fund all research. So if there is any difference between the major powers it will be a few turns (dependent on the slightly random arrival of the tech in your research queue and variations in terms of education and population). So all things being equal, the armies are much the same. Clearly, as in the last war, the inherited armies on unification were a different issue, but I think that all the major European powers will be pretty much the same in terms of technology.

[loki100]

Judging by the number of screenshots I took (most peaceful years I manage 80 or so), I think we can describe 1903 as 'mostly harmless' (even before I edit, conflate etc I only had 28). Well like the planet of that description this maybe misleading in the longer term.

But lets allow 1903 its full place in this record.

Industry

Manufactures



Non-Manufactures



As you can see, food production is more variable than industrial output. This is mostly (for the goods I've marked A) deliberate as I open/close structures and adjust my foreign trade arrangements. The good thing is that I am meeting population demand for both food and common goods.



Italy rushes for gold, well an Italian does, and he's not sharing.



I also discover that my artisans are making money. Literally. Since this is Italy, I'm not so convinced this is good news.



I've more or less completed the exploration of Central Africa. A few small gaps, a large area in modern Angola are the remaining targets. After that, there is a huge area in Western Sahara awaiting the joys of grappa and polenta.



Staying with colonial matters, my SoIs continue to improve.



Once this goes over 0, I have some legitimacy and thus gain prestige for holding the colony. I am no longer trying to grab new colonies and the only colonial cards I play are the ones that generate prestige (basically the exploration cards and convincing local chiefs to sign treaties).

Overall the colonial position is:



I am still behind Britain in terms of colonial prestige but gain 12 per turn. The main issue is the ongoing tension with Germany over East Africa.

Prestige



So in a fairly quiet year, I gained 10,000 (from 202,335 to 212,340). I think the relative improvement is linked to re-opening more industry (as I build a few more coal mines) and the prestige flow from the regional development decisions.

Britain gained 2,700 (from 123,524 to 126,297) so a little bit below their recent annual gain, but still more or less in the 3000 range that they have had for the last 5-6 years. However, its the USA I am starting to keep more of an eye on, up almost 9,000 (from 108,463 to 117,110). I suspect the wounded British Empire is going to slip to #3 fairly soon. It does seem as if PoN takes the view of the twentieth century as an American century.

Also worth noting my NM has stayed fairly high from the Prussian war (134). I may well be very grateful for the advantages that gives before the game is out.

Oh, and don't worry, things will happen in 1904, some of them pretty big.