WWI Expansion?

[Price21]

WW1 is literally 'the Great War'
I'd buy this as a DLC even if it were $40, WW1 has so interesting although most only know small parts like the Ypres and the October Revolution etc.. when in reality there was so much sh*t going on that it is comparable to WW2..

 

[shri]

There is a strong argument that a WW1 Scenario should begin either on the day of the assassination or not long before it: the Germany of 1914 was not engaged in the kind of high-speed rearmament that the Germany of 1936-39 carried out. Germany already had a large army and navy in 1914 and probably could not have gotten much stronger with reasonable peacetime expenditure. Having the player start earlier than 1914 simply allows them to build up an a-historically massive war-machine.

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I second that, a- 1st January or even 1st June 1914 start is the best. January will allow 6 months of build-up, nothing too great whereas June will just allow the player to position troops on the Border and mobilise instead of waiting in the interiors with un-mobilised troops.
1st June 1914 seems the best considering the circumstances. Day of Assassination is a bit too short, considering the "Mobilisation times in WW1 cannot be easily showcased".

On the other hand, Germany did have a lot of scope to expand their war-machine had the "Political will existed". The German Fleet was as some English politicians wrote - a "Luxury Fleet". It was too big and thus became a threat to England but too small to actually threaten the Allies (UK+France+Russia were some 2.5X times stronger than the Germans, UK alone was nearly 2X stronger though in performance terms they were about 1.5X stronger).

On the other hand, Germany was spending just 3.35% of GDP on the military, UK was doing only 3% but France did over 4% and Russia did over 6%, Austria did just 3.2%-3.3% as did Italy. And these figures are post the 1912 expansion in armaments by Heeringen and Falkenhyn.
Again in terms of recruitment they did only 52% of population, France was doing 83% though Austria did just 39% and Russia only 30%.
A part of the Fleet if was not constructed, say- the BAYERN CLASS BBs and their support ships, money equivalent to 2 Corps could have been found easily, an additional 2 corps on the Western Front (and assuming no panic by von Moltke Jr) means the Western Front could have been crunched in 1914 itself.

P.S: All this is Hindsight 20/20.

 

[Aodhan_]

Or we could start in 1910 as there was a couple interesting minor war's that could escalate, the Italo-Turkish War and first and second Balkan War to name a few.

 

[FOARP]

Or we could start in 1910 as there was a couple interesting minor war's that could escalate, the Italo-Turkish War and first and second Balkan War to name a few.

You'd have to put some limitations on military growth - otherwise you could simply build yourself an ahistorically large military (you've got ~4 years until WW1 should break out and not much to do in the meantime). Sure, it's doable, but you'd have to have some constraints on the player.

Between 1905 (when the Schlieffen plan was drafted) and 1914 when war broke out, German strength in divisions increased by fewer than ten divisions.

Of course, having a timeline that includes at least the Balkan wars (the Italo-Turkish was was a little on the small side) might be fun, it just needs some constraints to make it properly playable.

 

[shri]

Or we could start in 1910 as there was a couple interesting minor war's that could escalate, the Italo-Turkish War and first and second Balkan War to name a few.

FOARP has already said it well.
Between 1905 and 1912, most armies except the Russian army were "STAGNANT" i.e. there was near 0 military growth. In 1912 all armies started the next round of "gearing up", the bulk of the Heavy Artillery, Mortars and Machine Guns used by the Germans at the start of war was built in the 1912-1914 time period.
War Minister Einem who was supreme from 1903 to 1909 was afraid of an "Urban concentration of troops in the Army" and thus did not increase the size.
War Ministers Heeringen and Falkenhyn learned from the "Russo-Japanese Wars" and implemented a "Heavy Artillery/Mortar/Machine Gun" program though only about 1 Extra army (the weak 7th) was actually added to the existing OOB, a few extra divisions were added in Regulars and Reserves but most of them were not "Standing" ones rather they were 2nd wave or "Mobilised ones" which became active in late 1914.