Get the Strategic Command WWI Breakthrough v1.04 Patch off WP (550mb)

Strategic Command WWI Breakthrough! Patch 1.04 includes - in addition to many game engine and campaign improvements - numerous improvements to the new 1870 Franco-Prussian War campaign to increase its historical accuracy and playability, as well as significant changes to game balance in 1939 Storm over Europe to give the Axis a much better chance of victory.

Compatibility Note

Save games created with earlier versions of the game are NOT compatible with this patch. Please finish your in-progress games before applying this patch. This patch is for the Breakthrough! expansion only. The WW2 The Great War base game is patched separately (see below).

As thousands of Prussians mass near the French frontier, can Bazaine, MacMahon and Napoleon III do better than they did in real life under your inspired leadership? Or will Otto von Bismarck and von Moltke the elder storm to victory against Imperial France?

Even with Napoleon III and his meddling wife, the Empress Eugénie, out of the way, Prussia will face the potential of a resurgent, republican France, under the youthful leadership of Léon Gambetta.

With the Gardes Mobiles taking up arms to provide France with new forces to take the field, international volunteers like Garibaldi arriving to aid the Republic, and the strong defences surrounding Paris, this campaign need be no walkover.

Will history repeat itself, or can France be saved from a humiliating defeat? Now is your chance to find out! Re-fight this great historic 19th century campaign that saw the rise of Germany to imperial power status, and the final overthrow of the Bonapartes from power in France. It comes complete with many decisions to make, both on and off the battlefield, and you can follow an After Action Report by two of our beta testers here: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=110366

CHANGELOG

v1.04

GAME ENGINE CHANGES

• fixed a unit purchase placement error that would cause a CTD (Falk)
• fixed a move and attack followed by an invalid undo move CTD error (goochy123)
• fixed a tile control clean up error following minor country surrenders (Kommandant)
• fixed a supply calculation error for occupied minors that were having low supply such as 3 instead of 5 when not connected to other friendly capitals
• fixed a TCP/IP game error that was incorrectly handling LOOP events (Catacol Highlander)
• fixed a supply calculation error for cutoff rail tiles but still connected via friendly tiles (Stefan Humpl, Bill Runacre)
• research breakthrough now raised to 45% from 30% (Ancient Demon)

CAMPAIGN CHANGES

1870 Franco-Prussian War

• Rémilly at 115,56 changed from a village to a town for purposes of supply, and it is now connected by rail.
• Rail travel is now slightly cheaper for both sides.
• France’s Garde Mobile Build Limit increased from 18 to 30.
• The cost of French Brigades and Garde Mobiles has been reduced.
• All parts of the Paris fortresses will now start at supply 10.
• Gambetta’s Balloon flight now boosts French National Morale by 2,500 points rather than 500.
• Hunger in Paris due to the siege now only reduces French National Morale by 25 points rather than 50.
• Ordering artillery from the UK now costs 300MPPs rather than 350, spread over six turns.
• From the 1st September 1870 France will start receiving imports of military supplies from the UK and USA, represented by an increase in income of 30 MPPs a turn.
• The founding of the Republic will now boost French National Morale by 2,500 points.
• Victory script added for a Prussian Historic Decisive Victory if they hold both Coblenz and Paris.
• Two Industrial Centers added to Paris.
• Prussian National Morale will now be reduced by 3,000 points if they lose Freiburg, Karlsruhe or Trier, and by 1,000 points if they lose Saarbrücken or Saarlouis.
• The Army of Chalons now deploys later than before, so the Gardes Mobiles de la Seine now deploy on the 11th August rather than the 1st; the 23rd and 24th divisions on the 17th August rather than the 7th, and the 21st and 22nd divisions on the 13th rather than the 11th.
• The scripts affecting the defenders' morale at Metz, Strasbourg and Belfort have been switched off.
• The effect of scripted French Fortress Artillery fire has been significantly increased to cause minor casualties to Prussian units, and a corresponding script for German Fortress Artillery fire at Mainz has been added. They will now fire every turn.
• The timing of one of the Empress's messages has been amended.
• France will now be charged for the Artillery ordered from the UK (Sapare).
• Warning added to the Decision to send Gambetta to Orleans, advising that it would be a serious mistake to say no to it (Sapare).
• Victory script added so that the French win a Decisive Victory if they capture Koblenz (Ancient Demon).
• The French 5th Cavalry and 17th Infantry Divisions will now deploy at Saverne 130,62 on the 1st August, rather than at Reichshoffen on the 3rd August.
• French HQ's Action Points increased from 3 to 4 (Ivanov).
• Holding elections will now boost France's National Morale by 5,000 points.
• AI settings altered so that the French AI will now have its required units (Ancient Demon).
• The Guide has been updated to better explain that villages do not provide supply, mobilization costs will be charged for 10 turns, and in line with changes to the Decision Events.
• Maximum unit experience is now 2 (Stefan Humpl).

1914 Call to Arms; 1914 Ostaufmarsch

• Grammatical errors in two National Morale scripts corrected (Honch).
• Italian AI Garrison scripts relating to southern Italy adjusted (Honch).
• Variable Condition added to the Treaty of Bucharest Decision (DE 629) to ensure that Russia has withdrawn from the war when it fires.
• The partisan trigger points for the Arab revolt, apart from at Medina, Hail and in Syria, will now only be disclosed to the Ottoman player when the revolt is due to commence, and they will vary from game to game (Ancient Demon).
• Ottoman AI garrison scripts amended in accordance with the above.

1918 Second Marne

• US HQ attachments amended to be in line with Britain and France (Stefan Humpl).
• Britain, France and the USA now start with two chits in shell production (Stefan Humpl).
• When playing at Beginner's Level or above the German AI will now better reinforce Rethel and Asfeld if they are threatened.
• French income decreased by 25 MPPs (Bob Hatcher).
• US income increased by 25 MPPs (Bob Hatcher).

1939 Storm over Europe

• AI exclusion lists improved.
• Axis AI will now attack the Brest-Litovsk Fortress (Dan)
• The cost of US research into Industrial Technology has been increased from 125 to 175MPPs.
• The maximum number of chits that can be invested in all categories is now 2.
• Soviet HQs Voroshilov (at Leningrad); Buddeny (at Cherkassy) and Timoshenko (at Smolensk); now start at strength 4.
• The USSR's Oilfield now only starts producing MPPs after the fall of France.
• Two mines in the Urals that were due to start producing after the fall of France will now only start producing when industry is transferred from the Ukraine.
• fixed a WAR ENTRY script error that prevented countries like Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria from joining the Axis in some rare cases (Michael Bailey)
• DE 403 now provides 750 MPPs to the USSR spread over three turns when the USSR joins the Allies.
• two AI related resource scripts removed and replaced by dummy Decision Events.
• All Garrison units now have 3 Action Points (Dan Fenton).
• Kalamata is Greece is now an Industrial Center to enable Greece to deploy new units in Sparta if Athens is surrounded (Dan Fenton).
• Options for the Operation Chariot Decision Event made clearer (Dan Fenton).
• The Political consequences of the Operation Menace Decision Event made clearer (Dan Fenton).
• Failsafe Dates for the UK's Tenth Army and Western Desert Air Force changed to 1st January 1942 (Dan Fenton).
• USSR's research limit increased to 1,350 MPPs (Dan Fenton).
• The USSR no longer starts with a chit invested in researching Intelligence.
• Renamed duplicate 1ere French Artillery to 3eme (Dan)

1916 Jutland

• Decision Events controlling some of the Victory Conditions corrected (Sapare).

1914 March on Paris/1918 Ludendorff Offensive

• German/Belgian frontier amended (Peter Palchinsky).

Full changelog:

v1.03

GAME ENGINE CHANGES

- fixed a swap unit error
- fixed a naval unit movement error that would cause surprised naval units to end their move in an enemy controlled port (Falk)
- fixed a morale drop error for forced march units that did not apply the full morale loss in some cases (Stefan)
- fixed a supply calculation and display error
- units with limited AP due to 0 supply can now move into an adjacent resource provided enemy zone of control is not a factor (Bill R.)
- improved AI combat algorithms
- improved 3D unit mirroring or facing algorithms

CAMPAIGN CHANGES

1939 Storm Over Europe

- Media: refugee1.bmp and the png files
- French unit morale now falls when Belgium is conquered by the Axis.
- French unit morale now falls when there are two Axis units within four tiles of Nancy.
- Base Soft/Tank attack values for Tactical Bombers reduced from 2 to 1 (Catacol Highlander).
- The German Tactical Bomber that starts near the Polish Corridor now starts with level 1 Ground Attack tech.
- Refugees will block roads in Northern France when Belgium falls, reducing Allied supply in the area NE of Paris.
- Naval Loops added south west of the Azores for the Allies (The K Man).
- Kesselring spelling corrected (Strategiclayabout).
- The Allied AI will now support the Yugoslav coup every time (Hyazinth von Strachwitz).
- Mekili (283,93) will now be affected by the Malta Effect (Hyazinth von Strachwitz).
- The effect on Allied naval units in Norwegian waters has been reduced from moving Norway 15-20% towards the Axis, to 3-8% (Hyazinth von Strachwitz).
- One Soviet mine has been added in the Urals, to start producing when industry is transferred from the Ukraine, and the Allied AI will receive two further mines.
- Stalino has been changed from a city to a town.
- If the Soviets carry out the Winter War then when Finland joins the Axis some Finnish units will deploy at half strength; whereas if the Winter War isn’t fought then they will deploy at full strength.
- Soviet winter toned down (Catacol Highlander) and it will be better targeted to avoid it having any effect in most circumstances on Finnish units.
- Hodges added to the US HQ build list (Dan Fenton).
- Cost of the Operation Chariot Decision reduced from 50 to 20 MPPs (Dan Fenton).
- AI’s responses to Decision Events amended (Ancient Demon).
- Weather in Flanders and the UK amended (Strategiclayabout).
- The cost of Production Technology for the UK reduced from 175 to 125 MPPs, and for Industrial Technology from 150 to 125 MPPs and the UK now starts with 1 chit invested in Production Technology (Dan Fenton).
- France now starts with level 1 in Advanced Aircraft (Strategiclayabout).
- De Gaulle raised from a rating of 4 to 5.
- Greenland will now transfer to US control in April 1941 providing there are no Axis land units in the country (Ancient Demon).
- The maximum number of chits that can be invested in Infantry Warfare is now 2, and the cost for the USSR of researching this has been raised to 225 MPPs.
- Duplicated French unit names removed (Dan Fenton).
- Disruption range of Soviet partisans amended (Strategiclayabout).
- The effect on Soviet mobilization of an Axis landing in the UK has been decreased from 20-25% to 10-15%, so that this is in line with the effect it has on US mobilization (Strategiclayabout).
- Pop up amended for Operation Mercury so it will fire when Greece falls provided there are no Allied units in Crete (Strategiclayabout).
- The cost of Infrastructure research has been reduced from 100 to 75 MPPs.
- France will now receive 50 MPPs to help reform the army when it is liberated (Dan Fenton).
- Images added to the Victory reports at the end of the war (Dan Fenton).
- The Axis AI will now automatically take Luxembourg after France and Belgium have fallen, if it has not done so before (Dan Fenton).
- German Tank build limit increased from 9 to 10.
- Increased Italy's Occupational Efficiency to 100%.
- Reduced the Operational Air Minimum Connection Supply value from 5 to 3.
- Decisions 303 & 616 corrected, relating to the US opportunity to ask Germany for surrender terms.

1870 Franco-Prussian War

- Added this campaign, please refer to the Player's Guide for more information (Bill R.).
- Wörms renamed Worms (Xwormwood).
- The Eifel Tower has been removed from Paris (Xwormwood).
- Siege Artillery’s movement sound file corrected (Xwormwood).
- Prussian Metz pop up corrected.
- The Player’s Guide has been updated to explain when the French will be charged for the Northern Expedition (Ivanov).
- The Player’s Guide now mentions the utility of the H Hotkey to determine whether or not units are on the trigger points for besieging Metz and Paris (Xwormwood).
- Scorched Earth turned off and both France and Germany’s Occupational Efficiency set at 80%.
- National Morale value of Ports, Towns and Villages reduced slightly.
- Saarunion renamed Sarre-Union (Xwormwood).
- Metz surrender script fixed (Xwormwood).
- The Empress Eugénie is now mentioned in the guide (Ivanov).
- Strengthened the French Garrison units (Ivanov).
- Sound files corrected (Ivanov).
- A French Medical script corrected (Ivanov).
- Pop Up Message for Napoleon's abdication/surrender corrected so that if he has returned to Paris then he will abdicate and leave France, whereas if he remained with the army then he will surrender.
- Unfinished road corrected near Belfort.
- Strength scripts amended to speed up the end of turn process.
- Some French Franc-Tireur scripts added/increased in effect.
- French AI forces at the highest level boosted slightly when Gambetta arrives in Orléans.
- Road and railway fixed at Chaumont (Ivanov).
- Flanders weather zone increased slightly in size.
- Victory Conditions amended to give the French a better chance (Ivanov).
- Von Moltke's Pop Up advising how to capture Metz corrected.
- Victory images added.
- Some of the Empress's pop ups amended, so they won't all appear in every game, and also to improve the text of one relating to the Emperor's ill health.

1918 Russian Civil War

- Media: WhiteSituation1.bmp
- Bolshevik Horse Army decision event text corrected (Strategiclayabout).
- White Objective Announcement added for capturing Perm (Strategiclayabout).
- River added near Perm (Strategiclayabout).
- Lithuanian army deployment changed (Strategiclayabout).
- Makhnovist unit script relating to the use of guerrilla warfare corrected (Strategiclayabout).
- Garrison script added for Ufa (Duke of York).
- AI purchase scripts amended (Duke of York).
- White AI offensive scripts added (Duke of York).
- Fixed two British Decision Events that weren’t charging MPPs for long enough (Xwormwood; Admiral Hipper).

1914 Call to Arms/ 1914 Ostaufmarsch/1914 Russia’s War

- Romania now swings 1-3% per turn towards the Entente from January 1916 if Belgrade is in Entente hands.

1914 Call to Arms/ 1914 Ostaufmarsch/1914 France’s Struggle

- Removed Antwerp from the Belgian capital list and made it a Secondary Supply Center.
- Capturing Mulhausen will now boost French National Morale by 500 points (Altaris).
- French Cavalry unit script text added (Xwormwood).

1912 First Balkan War

- Bulgarian Divisions’ defence factors increased from 3 to 4 to represent their larger size (Aryaman).
- Ottoman Albanian Legion Decision Event fixed (Ancient Demon).
- Ottoman at start Strategy Advice timing corrected (Ancient Demon).

1914 Call to Arms Strategy Guide

- Added an explanation of the occasional upset to the US caused by German naval activity in the Atlantic, irrespective of whether or not unrestricted naval warfare is used (Xwormwood).

1914 Call to Arms/ 1914 Ostaufmarsch

- Pop up text relating to the union of Bessarabia with Romania amended.

1914 Call to Arms/ 1914 Ostaufmarsch/ 1914 Russia’s War

- Media: typhus1.bmp; typhus2.bmp
- Capturing the Galician Oil fields now boosts Russian National Morale by 1,000 points.
- There will now be a typhus epidemic in Serbia over the winter of 1914-15.

1914 France's Struggle

- French Cavalry unit script text added (Xwormwood).

1914 Russia's War

- Verdun pop up date corrected (Omegaman1).

1914 March on Paris

- Troyes and Melun Map Text Corrected.

1918 Ludendorff Offensive

- Italian Trench Warfare reduced from 4 to 3 (Ivanov).
- US Division’s defence stats reduced, though their offensive power remains higher than all other countries.
- US per turn Military Income lowered from 300 to 275 MPPs (Hyazinth von Strachwitz).
- Three extra German Brigades deployed, and the German Brigade build limit has been raised (Catacol Highlander).
- French Fortress defence fire added to Verdun (Ivanov).
- US army amalgamation script corrected.
- The effectiveness of the German tank unit has been reduced (Ivanov).
- British income increased by 25 MPPs and French by 40 MPPs a turn.

v1.02 GAME ENGINE CHANGES

- fixed an AI combat error that allowed an out of range unit to attack

CAMPAIGN CHANGES

1914 Call to Arms; 1914 Ostaufmarsch

- Ottoman mobilization scripts amended (Isnogud).
- Port sub defence bonus raised from 4 to 8 (Catacol Highlander).

1918 Russian Civil War

- Pilsudski removed from the North Caucasian Emirate’s build list and replaced with Haji (Ancient Demon).
- Terek, North Caucasian and Stavropol revolt scripts amended (Xenon 141).
- Scripts added so that if France has withdrawn from the war then she can receive German and Romanian income if they are still in the war (Xenon 141).
- Scripts added for the three White factions to surrender when their Political Standing is zero.
- Port sub defence bonus raised from 4 to 8 (Catacol Highlander).

1914 March On Paris

- the German Fortress of Metz, and all the French Fortresses, will bombard attackers

1912 First Balkan War

- Albanian Legion unit script corrected (Ancient Demon).

1914 Ludendorff Offensive

- If the Germans capture, but subsequently lose the following locations then they will suffer a 2,000 National Morale penalty: Ypres; Amiens; Arras; Abbeville; Soissons; Reims; Verdun; Nancy; Epinal; Belfort