Armavir, Maikop, Sochi stations

I’ve almost completed a new rail line, from Armavir to Sochi through Maïkop. Almost because I messed up layers in Photoshop for Maïkop, certainly causing this pink line, so I will have to restart the modification of Maïkop region from scratch later.

 

It’s a painful task, first because of my terrible skill, then because each region needs to be modded twice, for Summer then Winter, because adjusting the link between 2 regions  forces to start again the game to assess the result. But it isn’t fully impossible ;-). Patience is the key.

 

 

The result is rather acceptable, even if crude.

Between 2 Photoshop Elements sessions

I’m going to explain why I’ve decided to give the same economical importance to Urals and Donbass.

First figures:

 

As a side note, these figures eloquently show why new plants or even restoration of a part of them was just impossible. Noticeable is the continual degradation to a very low level of the production between 1917 and 1920.

 

Basing the economical model on the 1913 levels would put South, ie mostly Ukraine at the first place, by a large margin. However, the 1918, 19 and 20 figures  proves Donbass was the most devastated area, whose part was even inferior to the Urals production. That’s a common error to consider sufficient to use the 1913 levels by assuming the geographical decline was even for all main industrial areas. It just wasn’t the case.

Last, these facts points out the degradation was less pronounced in the Northern and Central area, ie the core of the Sovpedia, that was protected from real fight, to the difference of the Urals and the Donbass.

FY has taken into account this, by concentrating WSU production in these 2 areas. They just need after March 1919 some coal and iron, coming from Urals and Donbass.

 

After theory, let’s back to the modding field…

Semipalatinsk railroad line:

I shouldn’t have read the ACW2 AAR

But I did it 😉 Alas, curiosity.

Beyond the fact I believed the Army was directed by Halleck after Shiloh, with Grant placarded as deputy General, and the AI has adopted a plan following rather closely the one Hood elected in 1864, with the same disastrous result, I will not develop more about ACW2 that could be much better when it will be released as the current version is only a beta. This first AAR hasn’t sparked in me the desire to mod ACW2, which should be at least playabe in pbem.

I’m more interested after FY to try to build my own EU IV mod as it’s the first version I feel able to put a sort of plausible sandbox on this very interesting period. I’m ruminating some ideas about a BOARDGAME on WW2 in Europe. I really don’t know if my love affair with ACW has definitively ended.

Side note about RUS map

Just for those interested in modding RUS map: .the AGE engine works for RUS both with bump and ping formats, and both formats may be used together. I don’t know which one is better

Deadline for the Fatal Years beta 1.09

I’m currently in the mid of the process to add some railroads on the map, and my pitiful gfx skill transforms this in a herculean task:

There’s some work yet to add to get an acceptable result.

Then there are a few heavy changes on the to do list: Kazakhstan, ending Siberian setup, remodelling the industrial options, take a closer look to Cheka units and role. I don’t know yet for this last item if it will fit the bill for the 1.09. Being open minded, I ‘ve read all proposals about in the Age system and tried to get inspiration from other games, without finding a solution for now.

All the other features I’ve exposed since my return a few days ago don’t come from etheral. They are the result of a rather long maturing period and by taking distance with the AGE engine. Cheka is one of these points that need to be carefully and patiently ruminated, until a simple and accurate portrayal surfaces. The mine system is something which was in formation a few months ago, however under cumbersome ways altering gameplay. A fresh look is what we need to design new ideas; otherwise, we just generally rinse and repeat the old formulas, with more details, only with more details until these burgeoning small additions blur and even destroy the main principles.

There will not yet be a diplomacy system in FY 1.09. The views are defined, but the AI events aren’t. About AI, the last BIG thing I’ve must achieve for 1.09 is the adaptation of AI to the new FY version. It should be rather short, but an AI is always a deception in itself, so I may just cross my fingers.

I’ve run today 2 turns of the GC. The debugging has been very quick. Yet the beta version, coming after this alpha prototype, will require a crucial work on balance, as I guess many values, especially for supply, will be in want of finetuning. You want to know the secret of a good game? Lenght of playtest. Anything under 3 playtest months can’t address balance or AI…

I hope to release the beta at the end of September. I expect the finalized version of 1.09 around May 2014. Or June if I nail the Cheka concept 😉

 

How Naval mines will work in the next FY version

Mines will be units with no movement allowance, low hide value placed in some naval regions, like Petrograd.

No movement allowance, because I don’t want to force players to move mines. So the mines will be created only in harbors owned by the faction.

 

No battle value too. An event will just fire randomly to destroy enemy naval units present in the mined regions.

The most knowledgeable in the RCW could object mines on the Dvina were drifting from Kotlas to Archangelsk. That’s why an event will randomly move mines from Kotlas to Archangelsk….

there’s a new railroad to create

Mines

I’ going to introduce naval miss on the Dvina and Petrograd. Dunno if Reds used naval mines on the Volga or other locations. Any hints?

Trotsky on Youtube

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=GT6zsQqR_hg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGT6zsQqR_hg%26feature%3Dyoutu.be