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Unit101

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May 7, 2009
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I am working on this mod to test my modification skills, for leisure and fun. I am not sure when or if this will be finished or playable, but I certainly hope so!

The concept:
This game shall be a hybrid between a standard scenario and a battle scenario game. It's limited to the Southern balkans, Asia Minor, the Middle East and some parts of Africa. It is neither historical nor meant to be historically plausible, so don't expect it to be completely realistic.

The map:
The reason for the map limitations are: I) I want to focus on the Middle East especially, II) It is very difficult to finish a working world-map full with events, nations etc. as a start.

testwkh.png

Asia Minor:

Nations:
Greece, in a state of civil war, most likely to get into territorial conflict with Bulgaria and Turkey, depending on the outcome of the civil war.
Bulgaria, a strong military force, may possibly be affected by a Communist coup. It has strong claims on Greek provinces.
Turkey, also a strong military force, very likely to become the strongest player or collapse completely by attacks from all sides. It is also plagued by violent internal opposition to the secular government.
Armenia, may be involved in warfare with Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Turkey or even Syria.
Kurdistan, surrounded by rather hostile states, it will have to decide its strategic goals carefully.
Iran, a large nation. Iran is also plagued by internal conflict (Balochistan), most likely to get into conflict with Iraq. Maybe it will revive the Iranian empire?
Iraq, a weakened Arab monarchy. It has territorial disputes with Kurdistan and Iran. There's a large risk of a coup by Arab nationalists.
Syria, another weakend Arab state. There's a bitter conflict between government loyalists, pan-Syrianists and Arab nationalists: the outcome of this internal conflict will decide its foreign policy.
Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is staunchly conservative and will try to prevent Arab nationalists from gaining momentum.
Egypt, one of largest countries in the game. It is the first Arab country with Arab nationalists in power. Its staunchly anti-Zionist and against all Arab monarchies. It encourages Arab nationalist revolts throughout the Middle East. Domestically, there are problems with some Coptic militants, as well as several independence movements in Sudan.
Israel, on the eve of war the Zionist enterprise only controls Tel Aviv and several enclaves in the North. The first months will determine its existence. But that's not when the conflict ends. The Zionist movement is deeply divided between Leftist idealists, Right-winged groups who want a Greater Israel and a religious movement whose aim is to build a country according to religious law. Will it find allies in this world?
Ethiopia, an African nation with a large army. It is mainly hostile against the Dervish State and the Egyptians who are in control of Eritrea.

Non-Playable Nations:
The reason for non-playable nations is that this allows me to put focus on a limited amount of nations to make them more fun to play with.
Albania, a minor nation, may possibly be affected by a Communist coup, may be involved in a border dispute with Greece.
These will be non-playable, or at least for the moment, to put the focus on larger countries.
Antakya, the fragile republic of Antakya is an ethnically diverse state. It cannot stand on its own. The future status of Antakya will be a source of conflict between Syria, Turkey and possibly even Greece.
Azerbaijan, a small nation with lots of oil, it will have a dispute with Armenia and possibly Iran. A natural ally of Turkey.
Cyprus, in a situation similar to Antakya. It will likely be a source of conflict between Turkey and Greece.
Yemen, plagued by three factions: Royalists, Arab nationalists and southern secessionists.
Oman, a Sultanate having good ties with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia might intervene to prevent Arab nationalists from gaining power.
Cyrenaica, a Kingdom in eastern Libya. In case of an Arab nationalist take-over in Egypt it will probably witness some serious dissent.
Dervish State, an Islamic state in northern Somalia. Its in a perpetual territorial conflict with Ethiopia.
Lebanon, Lebanon is a deeply divided society, each sect has their own vision of the country, and desire to realize their vision with outside help, while strongly condemning their rivals for doing the same.
Jordan, a moderate Arab monarchy. It has declared war on Israel but it is equally worried about the rise of Arab nationalism. It may agree to form a Hashemite Union with Iraq, if that country isn't taken over by Arab nationalists. Jordan does have one strength: it controls Jerusalem, together with Mecca the province with the most victory points.
Palestine, for in-game reasons Palestine doesn't exist yet. Instead Palestine is carved up between Jordan, Syria, and Egypt. They can agree to create Palestine after victory on the Zionists. Or they can simply hold on to the territory they gained.

Potential Problems:
- The main problems right now are IC and resources. These will have to be adjusted to make the nations fun and playable. Because 3 or 10 IC is simply not very nice to play with.
- I am not sure what would be the most balanced OOB for each nation.
- I have already reworked airbases and naval bases.

Wars:
The game starts with two wars: the Israel-Palestine conflict (which I will be working on first) and the Greek Civil War.

israelk.png

The situation in Palestine/Israel.
asiaminor.png

Border mayhem in Asia Minor! Perhaps some land fortifications are needed?
 
Looks excellent!
It would be nice if the mod could slowly extend to the whole Mediterranean though.

Agreed, it would also be better if all nations are playable. But I am trying to be realistic with myself and the time I want to spend on this. My first test is going to be the Israel-Palestine conflict, then I will create events for more conflicts and how they can be intertwined. Hopefully the mod will slowly expand!
 
New year wrap up:

I started working on the events for the Arab-Israeli war. I have written several events and this particular war is playable albeit unbalanced, short and lacking flavor.

The following belligerents participate:
Lebanon: only has two weak divisions, by event it either declares a token war on Israel (its units remain locked) or a full war. It will sign peace with Israel either when Israel invades the southern portion of the country, or when all Arabs have given up fighting and Lebanon has been at war for some time and it did not take any of Israel's provinces (which I saw happening during a test game).
Syria: has two infantry divisions stationed at the Golan Heights. It also has one militia division (Arab Liberation Army) and another small militia (strength at 10), composed of Druze: this militia will be removed from the game if Israel takes over Haifa and it will activate a militia division on the Israeli side. This simulates Druze defections from the losing Syrian army.
Jordan: has only one full division with an armored brigade, the Arab Legion. There are three half-strong divisions which simulate Iraqi volunteers. There is also a weakened militia which simulates Palestinian irregulars in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Egypt: Egypt has to be strengthened, it has two infantry divisions. Other units are all weakened militias: Muslim Brotherhood (activated by event), Army of the Holy War (Palestinians in Gaza), Sudanese volunteers, North African volunteers and a Yemenite-Saudi Brigade (may be upgraded to infantry instead?).
Israel: At first Israel had 13 divisions, all very weakened divisions simulating brigades. However it turned out that either: they get destroyed due to their lack of strength, or the mobilization event causes Israel to have fully equipped divisions. There's also an irregular militia unit, the Irgun, which may be a cause for internal conflict in the future.

I have written events for armistice agreements, defections, unit activations and secret agreements. Right now all these events have a very quick offset because I needed to see their effect immediately. Jerusalem gained a land fortification.

Israel wins, obviously, if it takes out all enemies. The Arab states will sign "armistice agreements" (ingame: return to status quo). Syria will cede Haifa and Akko, Egypt will cede Eilat. Jordan holds Jerusalem, but a future war will be fought here anyway. Invasion of Lebanon is not always needed, if they propose a secret agreement they wont attack you even though they are at war, but this doesn't always happen!

The Arabs win when Israel is no longer in control of any province. Who-ever took over Tel Aviv will inherit Israel. The alliance falls apart quickly after this. Depending on the outcome of the war, Libya, Yemen, Iraq and Saudi Arabia will receive events regarding their volunteers (which will then be removed from the scenario).

Palestine will be created by Egypt in Gaza. Syria, Lebanon and Jordan will then agree or disagree to give them their portion of Palestine, if they still control it. The Jordanians are least likely to hand over anything (nameli Jerusalem) to Palestine.

If this sounds all too predictable I have two remarks. The OOBs need to be balanced (community advice needed), especially Egypt, so the chance of winning for either side is 50/50. If Israel wins, then this increases the chances for coups* throughout the Arab world, which may ultimately lead to a stronger pact against Israel in the future. If Israel loses (read: ceases to exist), then the chances of coups are still there. Also Egypt will be angered if Jordan signed peace with Israel before the war ended and refused to hand over Jerusalem to the pro-Egyptian Palestinian puppet in Gaza. A hypothetical Egyptian-Hashemite war (no events written yet), will probably involve many states in the Middle East depending on their political stances.

*For instance if Syria loses the war the risk of an Arab-nationalist revolution increases which may seek unification with Egypt or arm pan-Arab groups in Lebanon which will probaly absorb Israel into another war. Alternatively, if Syrian-nationalists take over the Middle East may see rivalry between a Syrian-block, an Arab nationalist block, and monarchies such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia (though not necessarily as allies). That said, such a coup may also happen even if Syria wins the war.

In conclusion the Arab-Israeli war is me testing my modding skills, the outcome of the war is actually the start for more conflict.

What I need:
- Advice on what are a balanced, challenging OOBs for all sides:
- Advice on the amount of IC which will be realistic but also allow for military build-up:*

*For instance Egypt is supposed to become a serious regional power, relatively comparable to major powers in the full world scenarios.

Happy New Year everyone and I will certainly continue my work next year!
 
The mod is getting slowly but progressively better and more fun.

Question: how do you set free/offmap IC in the .inc (country?) files. I want to add one industrial capacity to simulate an offshore base. I am sure I have seen this before, just in the list of escorts and transports and so forth. I know how do give a country offmap IC by event but this is not what I want. Thanks to anyone who knows.

EDIT: Or is the trick to make the IC modifiers more than 100%? I hope not.
 
The case of Southern Arabia
southyemeny.png


Again, the mod is moving forwards slowly slowly, but I certainly did not abandon this project. The last weeks I worked on tens of events for southern Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Southern Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The events might be out of balance from time to time but they are stable by now.

Yemen is a tiny country in the game which will inevitably be struck by civil war. Many countries will have interest in supplying one side. Saudi Arabia wants the regime to remain stable to prevent a pro-Egyptian government, Egypt sees Yemen as another (costly) launching pad against Saudi Arabia and even Israel prefers a Royal enemy to an Arab nationalist one.

South Yemen is a tiny expansionist country with a Left-Wing radical government. A peaceful unification or a small war between South and North Yemen is a matter of when, not if.

omanrebels.png

South Yemen responds to bombings by Oman

Oman is an unstable sultanate. It will be struck by an insurgency which leaves it with three choices: support from Saudi Arabia, support from Iran or bombing supply lines in Southern Yemen. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran benefit from "supporting" Oman in exchange for the province of Khasab, and Saudi Arabia might take control of Oman all together. Even revolution does break out, Oman will lose its off_map extra industrial capacity to Iran. This offmap ic simulates the port city of Gwadar, which used to be under control of the Sultan in real life.
Bombing supply lines in South Yemen may provoke South Yemen to give support to rebels and increase the chance of a revolution. Or it may succesfully destroy the revolution all together.

khasab.png

What kind of Middle Eastern ruler doesn't want a naval base at the Persian gulf?

Southern Arabia is not an interesting place to fight as human player, but the events with many different outcomes will partly determine the geopolitical situation for countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt. For instance, should Arab revolutionaries take over Yemen and Oman, this opens a new front in a future war between Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

syriah.png

Meanwhile in the Levant, Syria chose a Syrian Nationalist path, but for now the Arabs are too busy with the Dhofar insurgency in Oman