The future of merchant convoys....

Commander - The Great War is the latest release in the popular and playable Commander series of historical strategy games. Gamers will enjoy a huge hex based campaign map that stretches from the USA in the west, Africa and Arabia to the south, Scandinavia to the north and the Urals to the east on a new engine that is more efficient and fully supports widescreen resolutions.
Commander – The Great War features a Grand Campaign covering the whole of World War I from the invasion of Belgium on August 5, 1914 to the Armistice on the 11th of November 1918 in addition to 16 different unit types including Infantry, Cavalry, Armoured Cars and Tanks, Artillery, Railroad Guns and Armoured Trains and more!

Moderators: Lord Zimoa, MOD_Commander_The_Great_War

Post Reply
AEWHistory
Posts: 67
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2014 12:28 am

The future of merchant convoys....

Post by AEWHistory »

Well, that's sorta my question: what's the future of this gameplay feature? To be more specific, I'm curious if a few changes are still being considered.

First and foremost letting the players control the movement if these convoys. This would give Germany at least an ice cube's chance in hell of getting one of those Atlantic convoys... as it is that will never happen unless you have a generous or inept entente player.

Second, random convoy placement. This doesn't really apply for some, such as the Norwegian convoy which would originate in the same spot each time, but the convoys coming from the south Atlantic shouldn't necessarily appear in the same hex each time they show up. Some would appear near Africa, but others should appear closer to the Caribbean, and still others in the center. Now THAT would make for a neat game of hide and seek on the high seas!

Third idea I've had is for perhaps a little randomness to convoy size. Not sure if this is a good idea, but it seems like an idea that might be neat. The avg should still work out to 10, but the convoys don't always carry the same materials and have the same value, so why not let the game reflect that. Is that a neat idea or no?

One last question: when Germany loses control of the seas early in the game a note flashes that seems to indicate that Germany might be able to get their convoys to resume shipping if they can challenge entente control of the seas and break the blockade. However, I'm not aware of anywhere where it states what constitutes breaking a blockade, does anyone?

As always, many thanks!
DanielHerr
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2015 12:49 am

RE: The future of merchant convoys....

Post by DanielHerr »

Random placement should be possible to make. The blockade can be broken by building up your navy or sinking the British. Kirk has posted about enabling player convoy control, so it might be in the next patch.
danielherr.github.io
AEWHistory
Posts: 67
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2014 12:28 am

RE: The future of merchant convoys....

Post by AEWHistory »

ORIGINAL: DanielHerr

Random placement should be possible to make. The blockade can be broken by building up your navy or sinking the British. Kirk has posted about enabling player convoy control, so it might be in the next patch.

Could you elaborate on "building up your navy"? Is the blockade broken if the Germans launch a new dreadnought? Or sinking a Brit Dreadnought? I've wondered if it required the German navy to take control of some area of water and hold it.... I dunno.
User avatar
operating
Posts: 3158
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 11:34 am

RE: The future of merchant convoys....

Post by operating »

ORIGINAL: AEWHistory

ORIGINAL: DanielHerr

Random placement should be possible to make. The blockade can be broken by building up your navy or sinking the British. Kirk has posted about enabling player convoy control, so it might be in the next patch.

Could you elaborate on "building up your navy"? Is the blockade broken if the Germans launch a new dreadnought? Or sinking a Brit Dreadnought? I've wondered if it required the German navy to take control of some area of water and hold it.... I dunno.
Aaron

Here is the lua game file on breaking the blockade. Most of it is "mumbo-jumbo" to me, but there is a 1.5 ratio mentioned that could be the clue to your question:
-- German convoys reactivated
function BlockadeBroken()
if GetEvent("BlockadeEstablished") ~= 0 and GetEvent("BlockadeBroken") == 0 then
local entente = game:GetAllianceById(1)
local cp = game:GetAllianceById(2)
local ententeStrength = 0
local cpStrength = 0
for faction in entente.factions do
for unit in faction.units do
if unit.type == Unit.NAVAL then
if unit.hex ~= nil and unit.hex.region == 1 and unit.prototype.name ~= "transport" and unit.prototype.name ~= "convoy" then -- ignore convoys & transports
ententeStrength = ententeStrength + unit.hp
end
end
end
end

for faction in cp.factions do
for unit in faction.units do
if unit.type == Unit.NAVAL then
if unit.hex ~= nil and unit.hex.region == 1 and unit.prototype.name ~= "transport" and unit.prototype.name ~= "convoy" then -- ignore convoys & transports
cpStrength = ententeStrength + unit.hp
end
end
end
end

if cpStrength/ententeStrength > 1.5 then
-- Blockade broken
SetEvent("BlockadeBroken", game.turn)
game:GetFactionById(2).luaData.blockaded = 0
end
end
end
and one flew over the Cuckoos nest
AEWHistory
Posts: 67
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2014 12:28 am

RE: The future of merchant convoys....

Post by AEWHistory »

WOW! That would require a truly impressive feat of naval victories, knocking out members of the entente, and/or building the CP navies to accomplish that! If I am understanding correctly then the CP would need to possess 1.5x the strength of the entente to break the blockade. I'm assuming this is raw strength points, but even that is tough. I'll have to go and do the math to figure this out. My gut says that if the CP could equal the entente in naval strength then the blockade would've been effectively broken. To put it another way, if both sides had equal strength then the entente would have been faced with the stark choices since they needed naval superiority much more than the CP. Consider:
1. A geographically close blockade of GER had to have naval superiority or risk the Germans breaking the whole damn fleet out or, worse, inflicting a decisive defeat on the Royal Navy.
2. The Austrian and Ottoman navies, such as they were, had to be controlled and limited.
3. Ships had to be protected.
4. Raiders had to be hunted (I'd love for the Germans to be able to build surface raiders in this game).
5. Subs had to be hunted.
6. I know I'm missing something else....

So by my reasoning the entente needed enough naval assets to control the CP navies AND cover their butts from the rear. This would require a substantial naval superiority, without which some areas would have to be left either unprotected or minimally protected, I think this would allow the CP to start running the blockade again.... Maybe. I'm still mulling this over, but I feel like this makes sense. Or I'm just tired from days of grading and gone punch drunk, :)
User avatar
operating
Posts: 3158
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 11:34 am

RE: The future of merchant convoys....

Post by operating »

ORIGINAL: AEWHistory

WOW! That would require a truly impressive feat of naval victories, knocking out members of the entente, and/or building the CP navies to accomplish that! If I am understanding correctly then the CP would need to possess 1.5x the strength of the entente to break the blockade. I'm assuming this is raw strength points, but even that is tough. I'll have to go and do the math to figure this out. My gut says that if the CP could equal the entente in naval strength then the blockade would've been effectively broken. To put it another way, if both sides had equal strength then the entente would have been faced with the stark choices since they needed naval superiority much more than the CP. Consider:
1. A geographically close blockade of GER had to have naval superiority or risk the Germans breaking the whole damn fleet out or, worse, inflicting a decisive defeat on the Royal Navy.
2. The Austrian and Ottoman navies, such as they were, had to be controlled and limited.
3. Ships had to be protected.
4. Raiders had to be hunted (I'd love for the Germans to be able to build surface raiders in this game).
5. Subs had to be hunted.
6. I know I'm missing something else....

So by my reasoning the entente needed enough naval assets to control the CP navies AND cover their butts from the rear. This would require a substantial naval superiority, without which some areas would have to be left either unprotected or minimally protected, I think this would allow the CP to start running the blockade again.... Maybe. I'm still mulling this over, but I feel like this makes sense. Or I'm just tired from days of grading and gone punch drunk, :)

Raiders were successful due to raider supply ships or supply subs for the most part. As far as supply subs go, it may have only supplied other subs.
and one flew over the Cuckoos nest
AdmiralSarek
Posts: 30
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2015 1:47 am

RE: The future of merchant convoys....

Post by AdmiralSarek »

I can decode the script for you, it counts all of the hit points of naval ships for each side (not including ones in the productions queue, transports and convoys), then if the CP has greater than 1.5 x the hit points of the entente then the blockade is broken.

A 1:1 ration would seem to be more realistic, but hey that's what is says.

It would appear to include subs, so just get the CP to build about 15 subs? That would break the blockade nicely. Or sink lots of Entente ships. I guess this is a reason to preserve all of the CP ships rather than throwing away the useless old armored cruisers, pre-drednaughts and that Turkish cruiser just to save maintenance.
Post Reply

Return to “Commander - The Great War”