Feedback on the Icarus Mod

[mdsmall]

Since I posted Version Four of the Icarus Mod a week ago, ten players so far have requested copies of it. I have sent earlier versions of the mod in 2022 to a few more people. Since it is now in circulation, I thought I would create this new thread and invite anyone who has played the mod - either in multiplayer or single-player mode - to post some feedback on it. All comments and suggestions are welcome! I hope to make at least one more revision before asking the devs to release with the next update to the standard game.

Michael

[MarkusB1972]

hello, mod sounds fantastic and i downloaded it, but cant figure out how or where to install it and make it work.
Can you help me out?

[mdsmall]

Hi Markus - Load the game and click on Editor in the opening menu. Then click on the very small blue folder on the top left-hand side of your screen. That is the Mods folder. Then copy the Icarus folder and the Icarus .cgn file there. Exit the Editor and start the game. You should see 1914 Icarus as one of the choices now under the list of Campaigns. I hope this works for you.

Best regards,

Michael

[WideEyes]

From what I can tell, the Finnish event to activate a swing after capturing Baltic ports doesn't fire, as refusing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk means the Finnish Civil War event will likewise, remain untriggered.

[mdsmall]

From what I can tell, the Finnish event to activate a swing after capturing Baltic ports doesn't fire, as refusing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk means the Finnish Civil War event will likewise, remain untriggered.

Hi Wide Eyes,

Thanks for the feedback. I went back to look at the settings in the mod and I do not think you are correct. The new scripts in the mod that swing Finland more the Central Powers if the CP capture Revel and Narva will fire if the Germans have sent Von der Goltz to Finland to rally the Whites in their civil war (DE622). That DE will fire for Germany as soon as Finland becomes independent, and Finland becomes independent after Russian national morale drops below 25%. None of these scripts are linked to accepting or refusing a Russian armistice offer through the Treaty Brest-Litovsk. Of course, if the CP accept Brest-Litovsk, they will have no need of Finnish help to capture Petrograd. But before Brest-Litovsk happens, or if the CP refuses it, Finnish help might be useful.

Cheers,

Michael

[WideEyes]

That's fairly strange. I don't recall it firing at all. Did I force a Russian defeat to Bolshevik control scenario too fast?

[mdsmall]

That is possible. To be honest, I have yet to see those Finnish scripts fire in an actual game, since Russia tends to collapse after the Bolshevik Revolution before the Central Powers can reach those towns on Gulf of Finland. Few CP players have the nerve to refuse Brest-Litovsk when it is offered to them. But that's why I added those scripts to the mod (plus I wanted to have a reason to script something that might make independent Finland join the war).

[mdsmall]

I have finished writing a new update to the mod - Version 5 - which I plan to release soon. It will probably be my last update for a while. So, if anyone has any feedback on the earlier versions, I would be interested in hearing it. You can post your comments here, email them to me at michael.small.2010@gmail.com, or just send me a PM.

Michael

[Vincenzo21]

I finished the campaign as Central Powers and I did get the script for the intervention to the Finnish civil war.

One problem I encountered was that Italy never joined the war at all. I waited until 1918 to see if anything happened but it didn't.

Great mod! thanks for your hard work!

Cheers,
Vince

*Edit: Never mind, I just realized you had a new version of the mod.

[mdsmall]

One problem I encountered was that Italy never joined the war at all. I waited until 1918 to see if anything happened but it didn't.

Very glad to hear that you liked the mod. That's curious about Italy not joining the war. I made no changes in the regular settings for Italy entering the war. The only way that should happen is if Austria-Hungary agrees to transfer Trento-Trieste to Italy. Did you say yes to the that DE? If not, can you describe a bit more what happened with Italy in your play-test?

Cheers,

Michael

[Vincenzo21]

One problem I encountered was that Italy never joined the war at all. I waited until 1918 to see if anything happened but it didn't.

Very glad to hear that you liked the mod. That's curious about Italy not joining the war. I made no changes in the regular settings for Italy entering the war. The only way that should happen is if Austria-Hungary agrees to transfer Trento-Trieste to Italy. Did you say yes to the that DE? If not, can you describe a bit more what happened with Italy in your play-test?

Cheers,

Michael

Hi Michael, I got none of the scripts for Italy. Nothing showed up about Italy through the whole campaign. I just finished the campaign as the Entente and everything was all good. I'll download your latest update and see if I have the same problem.

Thanks,
Vince

[mdsmall]

Hi Vince - I am honestly puzzled how that could have happened. I have checked the scripts dealing with Italian mobilization in both Version 4 (the one you played) and in Version 5 (the newest version). They are identical to the scripts in the vanilla version of the game. Italy starts in August 1914 as Entente aligned but at 0% mobilization. It automatically swings 10% to the Entente on December 1, 1914 and then there is a 75% chance every turn that it will swing 10-25% towards the Entente from February 1, 1915 onward. If the UK decides to sign a secret pact with Italy, it will swing an additional 10-15%.

There are only two factors which could prevent that from happening. The first is if Austria-Hungary agrees to cede Trento-Trieste to Italy (DE704). Human players rarely say yes to that DE (for good reason) and the AI is programmed to say YES 0% of the time. The second is if Italy somehow had swung to the Central Powers before December 1914. The only ways I can see that could happen would be through diplomacy by the Central Powers towards Italy (which the AI is not programmed to do), or by an Entente DOW against Switzerland (which I doubt you would do as the Entente).

In Version 5 of the mod, there is additional factor. If the Entente declares war against Albania, Italy will swing 25 - 35% away from the Entente. So, if the Entente does that before Italy has reached more than 35% for the Entente, there is a definite possibility that the Italy will swing to become CP aligned, and then the scripts described above will not fire.

Anyhow, let's regard this instance in Version 4 of the game as an anomaly. When you game test version 5, please take note of how and when Italy starts to swing and if it does not follow the pattern I have outlined above, please let me know. And thanks for your interest in the mod!

Cheers,

Michael

[OldCrowBalthazor]

Hi Vince - I am honestly puzzled how that could have happened. I have checked the scripts dealing with Italian mobilization in both Version 4 (the one you played) and in Version 5 (the newest version). They are identical to the scripts in the vanilla version of the game. Italy starts in August 1914 as Entente aligned but at 0% mobilization. It automatically swings 10% to the Entente on December 1, 1914 and then there is a 75% chance every turn that it will swing 10-25% towards the Entente from February 1, 1915 onward. If the UK decides to sign a secret pact with Italy,

There are only two factors which could prevent that from happening. The first is if Austria-Hungary agrees to cede Trento-Trieste to Italy (DE704). Human players rarely say yes to that DE (for good reason) and the AI is programmed to say YES 0% of the time. The second is if Italy somehow had swung to the Central Powers before December 1914. The only ways I can see that could happen would be through diplomacy by the Central Powers towards Italy (which the AI is not programmed to do), or by an Entente DOW against Switzerland (which I doubt you would do as the Entente).

In Version 5 of the mod, there is additional factor. If the Entente declares war against Albania, Italy will swing 25 - 35% away from the Entente. So, if the Entente does that before Italy has reached more than 35% for the Entente, there is a definite possibility that the Italy will swing to become CP aligned, and then the scripts described above will not fire.

Anyhow, let's regard this instance in Version 4 of the game as an anomaly. When you game test version 5, please take note of how and when Italy starts to swing and if it does not follow the pattern I have outlined above, please let me know. And thanks for your interest in the mod!

Cheers,

Michael

Yeah I haven't seen this either. Sure wouldn't want to either in my next MP match.
Welp time for some hot seat testing by me. I'm sure you have been too Michael after this report.

[BillRunacre]

In Version 5 of the mod, there is additional factor. If the Entente declares war against Albania, Italy will swing 25 - 35% away from the Entente. So, if the Entente does that before Italy has reached more than 35% for the Entente, there is a definite possibility that the Italy will swing to become CP aligned, and then the scripts described above will not fire.

As a Major power, Italy cannot switch sides to become CP aligned due to mobilization scripts or diplomacy.

If it does not fire in another game, the best thing to do will be to see if the DECISION still shows in the list of scripts that can be found in Options -> Advanced

If it does not appear then it will have been presented to the player, but if it does still appear, then that means it did not fire.

[mdsmall]

As a Major power, Italy cannot switch sides to become CP aligned due to mobilization scripts or diplomacy.

If it does not fire in another game, the best thing to do will be to see if the DECISION still shows in the list of scripts that can be found in Options -> Advanced

If it does not appear then it will have been presented to the player, but if it does still appear, then that means it did not fire.

Hi Bill - that is interesting to know that Majors can not ever change alignment. So the 90% swing to the Central Powers for Italy if Trento-Trieste is transferred by Austria-Hungary (DE704) can only set Italian mobilization back to zero. That's helpful advice as well about how players can see if a DE has fired while playing the game.

Let me also take this opportunity - for anyone who is reading this sub-forum - to thank you for the huge amount of advice you have given along the way in developing this mod. I simply could not have done it without the ability to get swift responses from you about all of my modding questions.

Cheers,

Michael

[BillRunacre]

Thank you Michael, always happy to help.

[go_rascals]

Just finished my first playthrough, as the Entente vs. AI CP. Got Entente major victory in July 1918, but it sure didn't feel like it. Maybe that's the way it really felt after the war?

Must say I really enjoyed this! Balkans and Middle East had a lot more going on. AI was also much more aggressive with its navy- His Majesty's fleet got a couple of nasty surprises. Diplomacy seemed better too, but that may be because I put quite a bit into turning Norway and Sweden early, while the AI spent only 250 MPP on diplomacy for the whole game.

[go_rascals]

Currently playing another game as the Entente. I noticed that when I liberated Mesopotamia, the next turn all hexes not occupied by Entente troops reverted to Ottoman control. The same thing happened in Arabia.

I also thought Romania withdrawing from the war with no CP troops in Romania, and in fact the Romanians several hexes into A-H, was curious.

[mdsmall]

Currently playing another game as the Entente. I noticed that when I liberated Mesopotamia, the next turn all hexes not occupied by Entente troops reverted to Ottoman control. The same thing happened in Arabia.

I also thought Romania withdrawing from the war with no CP troops in Romania, and in fact the Romanians several hexes into A-H, was curious.

Hi - good to hear you are enjoying the mod and I appreciate the feedback. I have found the glitch that would have triggered Romania to withdraw from the war earlier than expected. I will fix that shortly and will put the corrected version into dropbox.

However, I can't reproduce the problem when play-testing with Mesopotamia or Arabian surrender (and in my own full play-tests games, Arabia has been liberated without any reversion). The only way that either should revert back to Ottoman control is if the capital of either territory is recaptured by the Ottomans. In the case of Arabia that would happen if the Ottomans recapture Medina. For Mesopotamia, the Ottomans would have to recapture Basra and Baghdad (since Mesopotamia has an alternate capital). Were those cities retaken in your current game? Grateful if you can provide any other details about exactly what happened in each instance which might help me troubleshoot the problem.

Cheers,

Michael

[go_rascals]

I have a thought. When I captured Baghdad, Basra was controlled by me but unoccupied. I got the "Entente liberate Mesopotamia" message, but the next turn I got "Mesopotamia moves capital to Basra". In Arabia I passed through Medina but did not occupy it at the end of the turn. The same thing happened as in Mesopotamia. Maybe I have to physically occpy all capitals at the end of the turn?

Currently playing another game as the Entente. I noticed that when I liberated Mesopotamia, the next turn all hexes not occupied by Entente troops reverted to Ottoman control. The same thing happened in Arabia.

I also thought Romania withdrawing from the war with no CP troops in Romania, and in fact the Romanians several hexes into A-H, was curious.

Hi - good to hear you are enjoying the mod and I appreciate the feedback. I have found the glitch that would have triggered Romania to withdraw from the war earlier than expected. I will fix that shortly and will put the corrected version into dropbox.

However, I can't reproduce the problem when play-testing with Mesopotamia or Arabian surrender (and in my own full play-tests games, Arabia has been liberated without any reversion). The only way that either should revert back to Ottoman control is if the capital of either territory is recaptured by the Ottomans. In the case of Arabia that would happen if the Ottomans recapture Medina. For Mesopotamia, the Ottomans would have to recapture Basra and Baghdad (since Mesopotamia has an alternate capital). Were those cities retaken in your current game? Grateful if you can provide any other details about exactly what happened in each instance which might help me troubleshoot the problem.

Cheers,

Michael