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I'm sure there will be a 1914 scenario, but I think 1912 is a great idea. I would also be happy with a 1911 one. (There was something like that in one of the mods, but I forgot which one.)

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but for the moment only a 1912 one is planned. For my part, I prefer to have only a well-balanced, finshed scenario than several unbalanced, unfinished, and in the end barely playable ones.

I can't help you there, but the tales of history mod used the E3 map for ww1 if that helps.

Well, what we actually have in mind is slightly more detailed than the E3 map. For further explanation, let's have a look at this extract from the map's "prototype":



Unfortunately I have neither the time, nor I'm skilled enough with Jamie's Mapmaker to make such a map by myself. That's why I'm desperately in need of a map modder.
 
WiF3 Development Diary #2 - The economic system


Here’s the first English translation of the already published (in French) development diaries for the mod. The others will follow, as announced, rather irregularly.

If you’re fed up with panzerporn and you do think the best in life is to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and to hear the lamentation of their women, if possible at the bottom of a trench, then there is still hope for you.

One of the prominent features of the WiF3 is its economic system, of which this Dev’Diary will try to give some kind of a preview.

During WW1, the involved nations not only had to mobilize their male population to fill the ranks of their respective armies, but also to mobilize their economy: it was a total war, after all. Therefore, it seemed logical, as with army mobilization, to tie economic mobilization to a slider moved through decisions. The result is a budgetary system, where the slider’s position will determine consumer goods needs. The higher the military budget, the less IC required for CGs. And therefore, the more IC available for other expenses (more or less akin to military expenditure). The “Free market/Planned economy” slider has been used (and renamed “Peace economy/War economy”) for this.

Here’s a pictured example. In 1912, Belgium is a rich and highly industrialized country, but a neutral one: military expenditure is comparatively low, the rest being drained by civilian expenditure (that is, consumer goods). Here, the latter will require about 56 of 71 IC, which leaves barely 15 IC available to produce units, buildings, supplies, or to modernize existing units.


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One can notice with the slider’s position that Belgian military expenditure is the lowest possible, but this will soon change, as both King Albert and Prime Minister Brocqueville want to increase it in order to modernize the army. And so do I, as a player.


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To move the slider, a decision is required. Here’s the one that will increase military expenditure from “low” to “moderate”.


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You will notice in the following screenshot that there will always be a part of the public that will be displeased by an increase in military expenditure. Here the resulting dissent is small, but the more you spend in the military, the higher the dissent hit.

Please note that it is made through a finance law, and that your parliament only debates the budget once in a year. In peacetime, once the military budget has been raised, you will have to wait one year before increasing it again.


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The decision’s effects are immediate. In the following screenshot, budget increase allowed me to get about 3.2 more IC. It is not much, but enough, at this time, to produce a couple of air units or to upgrade some machinegun detachments in the army.


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As you can see in the next picture, increasing military expenditure has other effects on production and upgrade time and cost, research cost, gearing bonus, and so on.

In peacetime, increasing military expenditure is possible up to a given threshold: only the first five steps (from “Low military budget” to “Emergency credits”) will be available. The other five, the “war economy” strictly speaking, will be available only in wartime and treated by a later Dev’Diary.


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This one is not completely over, though. Early in the mod’s development, it has been noted that before WW1, most countries generally had laissez-faire economic policies and viewed state intervention as potentially harmful. To reflect this, and the fact that players will have much less IC available to build factories, we chose to add an economic growth system.

The player will still be able to build additional factories (most governments ran and build state manufacturing plants such as army arsenals or naval shipyards), but the action of the private sector will be modelled through annual economic growth events.


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Contrary to those existing in DH vanilla, these events are scripted and will occur in early January of each year, provided the country is not at war. The event’s result is somewhat delayed, as about one month is required for statisticians to compile economic results, and random: five possible outcomes are possible, from a slight recession to a very high growth.


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That’s all folks!
 
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Just some ideas.
-if it is possible, could you replace the pictures under the division, Air Wing, Flottila one for a more ww1 version?
-there could be a new dissent system tied to time and manpower losses. I mean the longer the war drags on, the more unhappy people will be and also with the dead.
-a high enough fallen soldier amount in a short time could mean mutinies in the army, or morale loss.
-I don't know if you have thought that, but the participants of ww1 could have key locations, or goals, which if they succeed to take gives them reward. Somewhat similar to other mods in wargoals, but without time limit. (So if Paris is captured only in 1918, that's not a problem.)
-you are probably focusing on historical parts, but it would be good, if sometimes ww1 would have different participants. (Maybe give some event a low chance.) So the usual option for Italy to choose differently, or events for Spain, Norway, Sweden etc. to join
-if the industrial output is not enough, than some "hinterland" events could happen, in which the civilians are becoming quite unhappy
-using the idea of paintings for events (like in Tales of History mod), or colored pictures would make this mod much better looking
 
- Of course, graphics are still far from being done. Changes are still needed for some interface pictures, and for all decisions/events pics (you will soon realize they all have the same one as of now). By the way, anyone who wants to help with these pics is welcome.
- Hehe, it appears you already grasp the major principles of the upcoming "national morale" concept.
- As I may have expressed it previously, ahistorical event chains are left undeveloped for now as our priority is to have a balanced historical scenario - which would mean a balanced mod. But these ahistorical chains are not excluded from the mod at all.
 
WiF3 Development Diary #3 – War economy


This time, let’s dive into the mod’s economic system once the war starts.

The problem of the (otherwise necessary) general mobilization is that it drains a large part of the adult male manpower to send it to the military. The result is a sharp decrease of the industrial output: you will have much less IC available.

This decrease, at first, is mostly compensated by the “Sacred Union” event, which fires as soon as the country is at war. This event is related to “National Morale”, another soon to be implemented WiF3 concept which will be explained in a future Dev’Diary, therefore I won’t go down into details for today. Let’s say that a strong national morale boosts IC output, but tends to erode as months and then years pass. As a result, civilian workers lose their motivation and are less and less willing to make sacrifices in order to attain an increasingly uncertain victory, resulting in the IC output eroding as well.

The same “Sacred Union” event also sees the parliament enthusiastically passing a “War credits” bill, that is, level 6 of the “War economy” slider. Here’s an example when the glorious Kingdom of Belgium answers to Luxembourg’s sneak aggression:


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The next slider steps (from 7 to 10) will then become available (possibly with some delay… the war is supposed to be short, do you remember?). Exceptional dangers require exceptional measures, and increasing military expenditure will be possible every six months rather than every year.

This economic mobilization will make available not only more IC (through the significant decrease in CG needs), but also many decisions designed to compensate for the inevitable decline of your war-disturbed economy. The conflict will have more adverse effects than the loss of IC output. Supply consumption will skyrocket, as fighting units will burn them ten times faster in combat than while sitting idle (a value yet to be balanced, of course). Furthermore, the war will decrease resource production in the same way than IC output, which may cause shortages possibly compounded by a blockade or a submarine campaign.


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In the picture above is a decision that will allow you to requisition railway workshops to make them produce artillery shells instead. Similar decisions will increase supply production to face the ammunition shortages that plagued most countries in the early months of the conflict. Of course, each decision can have adverse effects, immediately or later. This one reduces the available transport capacity and the effective supply efficiency, since rolling stock will lack adequate maintenance.

The availability of these economic decisions is determined by several factors, the top two being the country’s position on the “War economy” slider and its administrative level.

The former means that some decisions, often the more elaborate (and the most efficient) ones, will be available only in later stages of the economic mobilization (that is, after one year and a half or even two years of war).

The latter is a fixed value (from 1 to 6) attributed to each country and depending on a dozen criteria, themselves based, as much as possible, upon objective data. It means that comparatively “undeveloped” countries, like Serbia or Mexico, won’t have access to the same economic decisions as more developed ones, i.e. Germany or France.


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Rationing is a good example thanks to its progressive implementation. For example, Serbia won’t be able to go further than “Nation-wide rationing” (see above) while Belgium, in the end, will have the possibility to establish a more efficient “Ministry of supply” (see below) which will further increase supply production and will reduce dissent instead of increasing it.


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In all, some three dozens of such economic decisions have been included in the mod. They will allow, for example, to send a part of the mobilized manpower back into the factories to gain IC…


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… to reopen unprofitable, abandoned old mines in order to get some much needed resources (please note that this option will only be available if your country already has the said resource on its territory).


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War production itself can be monitored closely to increase IC output, through the implementation of increasingly efficient measures (see the “War production office” below).


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And if you worry about the loss of TC induced by the requisition of railway workshops, you will have the possibility to compensate for them thanks to a couple of decisions, including the following « Nationalizing railways » one.


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Finally, after months of fighting and sacrifices, Belgium prevails, and Luxembourg’s iron ore is mine!

The main problem of all these decisions is that they require money. A lot. Really.

Therefore, the next Dev’Diary’s subject will be how to finance your war effort.
 
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Looks good!
 
What events do you allude to ? July Crisis ?
Well, before the Germans invaded Belgium, they had issued an ultimatum (mostly free access for German troops in exchange of compensation and guarantee of territorial integrity) which Belgium refused. In-game it would look like mild "Danzig or war" event/decision on which BEL can respond:
a) positively (join Central Powers, give access for GER, get some claims in France [Dunkirk, Lille] and maybe colonies in exchange for supplies)
b) decline - so GER can DoW them if they choose Schlieffen Plan
 
Well, before the Germans invaded Belgium, they had issued an ultimatum (mostly free access for German troops in exchange of compensation and guarantee of territorial integrity) which Belgium refused. In-game it would look like mild "Danzig or war" event/decision on which BEL can respond:
a) positively (join Central Powers, give access for GER, get some claims in France [Dunkirk, Lille] and maybe colonies in exchange for supplies)
b) decline - so GER can DoW them if they choose Schlieffen Plan

That'd be a pretty shocking thing to acquiesce to. There would almost certainly have to be negative affects to something like that (such as regular events for random atrocities on the part of the Germans?) and an initial hit to dissent.
 
WiF3 Development Diary #4 – Inflation and price control


Do you remember the end of the previous Dev’Diary, when I announced the next one’s subjects as “how to finance your war effort?”

I lied.

Today, we’ll talk about inflation.

Inflation, that is, the rise of prices, was common throughout WW1. Few countries experienced inflation under 100% (which means prices twice as high as their pre-war level) during the war, with the most affected seeing prices rising up to fifteen or twentyfold.

In WiF3, some economic decisions generate inflation, like war production control or borrowing money to the national bank (also known as “printing money”). In-game effect is threefold: dissent arises because people are unhappy to see their daily bread being more and more expensive; unit production is also more expensive; and it reduces supply production efficiency because (guess it) supply is more expensive as well.

The “War economy” slider also generates inflation: the higher the military expenditure, the higher the unit cost (up to 25%). This is counterbalanced by a decrease in production time, but only to some extent (up to 15%).


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At first, I included a decision about price control in the war economy system, but I realized that nothing really justified it. Therefore, I decided to link this decision to a persistent inflation event.

Now, as soon as your country is at war, an inflation event appears randomly. Its effects are mild, but it happens quite often: in average once a month, but possibly twice as often if you are extremely unlucky.


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The first occurrence of this event makes the price control decision available. It gives three options: prices set below market level, above market level, or only upon a limited part of overall production. Their respective effects are:


- Prices set below market level: unit production cost decrease, supply production efficiency increases (as it is cheaper), dissent decreases because people imagine that prices will remain low. On the long term however, IC and resource output will decrease (through a belated event) because producers are no more motivated by prospects of increased profits.

- Prices set above market level: the opposite. Unit production costs increase, supply is more expensive (and its production less efficient as a result), people are unhappy because they think they will have to pay much more, but after some time IC and resource output will rise as producers are motivated by the artificial increase of their profits.

- Limited price control (set prices for a quota of the production, with the rest sold at market prices): supply production efficiency somewhat increases (because the government can buy what it’s interested in at a lower price) but people are generally unhappy as they still feel exposed to daily inflation.


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Each choice also has an effect on the inflation event’s frequency.

Setting prices above market level is the most expensive choice in the short term, but is actually the best one to reduce inflation, as producers are satisfied with their increased benefits. The inflation event fires about 60% less often.

Setting prices below market level is more profitable in the short term, but is less efficient against inflation because prices are too low to satisfy producers. Inflation event’s occurrence are reduced by about 45%.

Limited price control has no adverse effect either in the short term or the long term, but is rather inefficient against inflation as the rest is exposed freely to increases in price: it reduces the inflation event’s rate by only 30%.


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As far as possible, these values are not arbitrary. Like most of the mod’s economic system, they are based upon data and ideas provided the book The Economics of World War One, authored by Stephen Broadberry and Mark Harrison.

In any case, inflation will never be totally suppressed, and you’ll have to cope with it. As its occurrences are “semi-random” (mitigated more or less efficiently depending on your choice with the “Price control” decision), you may be more or less lucky with it. Prices will rise steadily and the longer the war, the harder the inflation’s effects.

This is close to the mod’s philosophy as defined two years ago: your nation has only limited resources, and as the war drags on, it must mobilize more of these – which, in turn, becomes more and more unsustainable. The same principle also defines the mobilization, war economy, and (the upcoming) national morale system. At some point, resources will lack to sustain the war effort and if it happens, your nation’s “will to fight” will be broken. This also means you will have to win the war before that, and that simply waiting might be a risky strategy.


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The production cost of the active component of a standard Belgian infantry division, before (see above) and after (see below) one year’s inflation (limited price control has been established).

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Next time we’ll really talk about finance.
 
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@Eginhard 38 I am super stoked to play this after WIFII became my most used mod on DH.

Just a few queries, the link on the first page is the open beta yes?

Also if the German chooses to focus on the East instead of trying to knock the French out, will the Brits not join the war as quickly?
 
Open alpha has not been released yet. The link in the first post is only about DevDiaries in French.

As said before, we're not in ahistorical options for now. The so-called "Schlieffen Plan" had three variants in addition to the one actually used and two of them can form the basis of an alternative choice. About this matter, Moltke's insistence on implementing Aufmarsch II West (striking France first regardless of its intention to join the war or not) and the Kaiser's inability to prevent him to do so should be noted. Nevertheless, should have one of the "Eastern" variants of the mobilization plan been chosen, it seems obvious that France's entry in the war would have been delayed for a few days, and Britain's probably longer, the British lacking the invasion of Belgium or even an attack on France as an immediate justification.
 
WiF3 Development Diary #5 – Finance


As the proverb says, money is the sinews of war.

Darkest Hour offers two usual ways to get money: by allocating IC to consumer goods production, and by selling resources through foreign trade. This money is then used to fund research, espionage, diplomacy or even the purchase of raw materials when they are lacking.

These resources still exist in the mod, of course, but they will now be clearly insufficient. Previously seen decisions and still undisclosed ones (related to research, mobilization, propaganda, etc.) will cost big bucks, which ordinary income (mainly indirect taxes and customs duties, figured by money from consumer goods and trade, respectively, in the game) will be unable to provide for. You will have to find money elsewhere.

The first solution is to raise taxes (or create new ones). There are, in all, about half a dozen such decisions. Some can be taken only once, like the forced requisition of foreign currency or precious metals.


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Other decisions have recurring effects: once taken, you will receive an annual event with a report on the collection of the tax, as in the screenshot below. This amount, expressed as other economic decisions in proportion to the number of base IC (actually a percentage of the maximum daily production of money), depends on the country's administrative development. Tax decisions’ availability is also determined by the latter, as well as the degree of economic mobilization and the amount of money left in your coffers.


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Overall, these tax decisions will be fairly ineffective. Obviously they will earn money, but it will be far from enough to pay for all expenditures.

This reflects another reality of the First World War: all the belligerents were massively borrowing, often up to three-quarters of their total income, to fund their war effort. This brings us to the second way to get money: financial decisions.

There are four types of financial decisions: loan from other nations, loan from the financial market, war loan, and loan from the National Bank.

The first, as its name suggests, allows you to borrow money from another country. It is a complex system which required writing nearly 200 events and there's no need to go down to technical details here. Yet, it works for both a human player and the AI. The borrowing country receives a sum of money in exchange for a negative offmap money production that figures interest payments; for the lending country, it is the opposite (a positive offmap production in exchange for a sum deduced from the stockpile).


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By default, the AI will always accept to lend money. But a human player being asked for a loan has the choice to refuse, which may lead to amusing situations in multiplayer games.

The loan from the financial market is faster to obtain (you don’t have to wait for a nation to have enough money in stock to get a loan). However, it is more expensive because the interest rate is twice as high: investors want results. In the same vein, the more a nation relies on financial markets, the less they will want to lend more money to it. Therefore, this option can be used only a few times (it depends on the borrowing country’s size) and each further use of it will give less money to the borrower.


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The war loan is well known: it aims at getting people to lend their savings to the state. The government issues war bonds that are advantageous for the state because they require a "maturation" delay: their interest rate rises very gradually, in a way usually calculated so that the weight of the interests is felt only after the war.

This decision is useful because it can be taken every six months, regardless of the status of your cash. However, as the will of your citizens to lend you their hard-earned savings depends on whether the war turns in your favor or not, the money brought by each subscription will depend on the national morale. And as it will tend to decline over the conflict, every war loan is likely to return less than the previous.


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When even the war bonds will no longer be sufficient to finance the war effort, there will be a last solution: borrowing from the National Bank. This loan will not be expected to make a profit (since the National Bank is a government institution), so you will not have to pay any interest. However, this funding, made from scratch, equates to money creation (that is, "printing money", regardless whether bank notes are actually printed or not) and therefore generates inflation. If you read the previous Development Diary, I should not need to further explain the concept.

So this is a double-edged decision: while it gives some much-needed money, its long-term effects on the war effort can be very harmful. Still, you might have no choice, as the need to spend your money will be omnipresent. Printing money will always be available without delay when your stock falls below a critical threshold, unlike the other financial options.


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The financial system is designed to work for both the players and the AI, which will never fall short of cash (so its trade and research will not be disrupted).

This Development Diary is the last one about the economic system. It is now implemented, with the exception of events related to transatlantic trade, which will be developed later.

As a side note, the mod had reached what is called internally as alpha 0.04, which means that main scenario events (for the moment leading to historical Balkan Wars and opening events of World War One) are implemented as well. It is still “closed”, though, as I encountered trouble with techs. Tech trees are implemented since long ago, but I have trouble with the secret weapons folder and how to make techs researchable there. If you have some experience about this, your help would be greatly appreciated.

(Thanks to ^_AC_^ for this Dev'Diary's English translation)
 
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WiF3 Development Diary #6 – Mobilization system


Though I may have previously mentioned it in passing, the mobilization system has not been thoroughly discussed yet. This Dev’Diary will cover this gap.

Overall, the mod’s mobilization system is very similar to Darkest Hour’s, which is not much surprising since I was involved in its design. However, even if the principle is the same (a decision driven slider with related events giving manpower), there are a few changes.


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First, the various levels of mobilization (figuring recruitment laws) are slightly different. Here they are, step by step:


1- Professional Army (as the name suggests, the army accepts only volunteers in its ranks);

2- Limited Conscription (either a fraction of all conscripts serves in the military for a long term, or all conscripts follow a short training, often a few months possibly completed by refresher training periods later);

3- Conscription - One year term (all conscripts follow one year of military training);

4- Conscription - Two years term (all conscripts follow two years of military training);

5- Conscription - Three years term (all conscripts follow three years of military training);


These steps correspond to a normal functioning in peacetime. Each level provides additional manpower, proportional to the population of your country. Of course, the more you extend the military service term, the more dissent you get, because your anti-militarist and pacifist citizens complain.

Let’s continue.


6- Partial Mobilization


This is a specific action which I wanted to improve after realizing that few players in vanilla made a difference between a partial mobilization (recalling the younger classes and preparing the army for a potential conflict) and general mobilization (recalling all men still subject to military duty). Some players use it to gradually mobilize their forces early in the war, others simply to have more manpower in peacetime. Few use it for what it really was: a preparatory measure for war.


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Its effect, besides the gain in manpower, is to unlock some units of your army (different for each nation) in anticipation of a conflict. This can be useful, for example, if you plan to surprise your neighbor with a declaration of war, as in the screenshot above where I sneakingly plan to attack Belgium. Therefore, it is possible to use this in peacetime.

However, it cannot be abused just to gain more manpower. If you decree partial mobilization, then happen to still be at peace 30 days later, you will get a nasty event adding a pretty good load of dissent. And this will happen again every 30 days, as long as you did not not demobilize or declare war on someone.


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7- General Mobilization


This is a key decision for a country at war. It not only provides you with large amounts of manpower and strengthens existing land units for free (as in vanilla DH), but it also unlocks them, something specific to the mod.

Historically, as its etymology suggests, mobilization not only made armies bigger by getting the existing units at full strength and (depending on each country’s peculiar organization) creating additional ones from a reserve cadre, but also made them mobile. In peacetime, military units are usually scattered around the whole country and have no reason to move, except for brief periods during annual major military exercises. Therefore, general mobilization is less about reinforcing units than sending them to the front – usually by train. This explains the differences observed in 1914 for each country, for example between Germany, which mobilization plan, drawn up to the minute, enjoyed an excellent and closely monitored rail network, and Russia, which mobilization was hampered by its insufficient transportation system.

Vanilla DH does not allow to figure this accurately, as both player and AI are free to position their troops on the border well before any conflict. To give this crucial phase its historical importance, I decided to lock land units in place. While at peace, you cannot move them. Naturally, this will not apply to units produced after scenario start. In the screenshot below, the Dutch army went with partial mobilization. The active components of each army divisions (divisions were more akin to army corps in the Dutch army) are already unlocked and at full strength. However, the reserve components remain locked because they have not yet been mobilized.


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Partial and general mobilization will allow you to unlock your forces and to send them wherever you want, either on foot or by train. In the latter case, be careful with your transport capacity! This, as you know it, adversely affects redeployment time and supply efficiency, the latter also affecting your units in combat. Please note that AI will not be much affected by this problem, since it has an advantage in this area (in the mod, redeployment of AI units will not take more than 21 days; as a result, Russian AI will have a specially designed, progressive mobilization to figure it more accurately).

By default, general mobilization can be enacted only after war has been declared. Historical accuracy enthusiasts need not to worry, though, since for most countries, partial and total mobilization will be scripted so as to be enacted before actual declarations of war, as it happened historically.

Furthermore, having land units locked implies, as you may have guessed, that each country has its own “customized” mobilization. This big work is already implemented, and in my humble opinion brings a lot of flavor to the mod (and a particular incentive to play games with different countries).


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As usual, once general mobilization has been enacted, further options are available.


8- Advance call of one class (conscripts are mobilized one year before the normal date).

9- Advance call of two classes (conscripts are mobilized two years before the normal date).

10- Total Mobilization (teenagers and very mature men are mobilized in a "last ditch mobilization" which also makes militia units available).


Of course, these last three steps are available only in wartime. They might be much needed, because unlike in vanilla DH, there will be no daily increase of manpower at all. Therefore, these decisions will be the only way to get more men (and you will need as many men as you can get).

Instead of a daily influx of manpower, you will get an annual event about mobilizing a new class of age – that is, all young men born in the same year and reaching military age: typically 20, possibly younger if you chose to lower this through the abovementioned decisions. You can choose between either mobilizing them, which will give you the corresponding manpower but will affect the economy negatively (IC and resource output will decrease), or sending them to the factories, which will increase productivity (IC and resource output will rise). This is a strategic choice: should I have more soldiers to make up for military losses or more workers for the war effort?


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Of course, as it has been hinted at in previous Dev’Diaries, each mobilization step will reduce your IC and resource output in proportion to the number of men mobilized: the more soldiers you get, the less workers you have. For ways to offset these negative effects, I refer you to previous Development Diaries, especially #3.

Please note that in order to better balance their manpower, some countries receive a special event a few days after general mobilization which gives them a number of volunteers, usually men who were previously spared from military service for various reasons (too young, exempted but still physically fit, students, foreigners, etc.). This was done to prevent the said countries to have excessive amounts of manpower in peacetime.


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