Central Powers’ total victory appears inevitable as Entente crumbles on multiple fronts – Crusalis Week 4 War Report

Last week’s catastrophic, balance-shattering sack of Paris reverberates as the Entente suffers a string of heavy defeats and a loss of further major centres across Europe

Freed up from the 3-week long hellish war of attrition that bound most of their military might against their once primary geopolitical rival France, Vinovia’s Germany leaps onto another victim, eviscerating Petoria(St Petersburg), Russia’s second-largest city.

Assured that other directions would be taken care of by their allies, German leadership elected to follow a brazen and risky plan of a direct naval invasion against Petoria, capturing the key port of Helsingfors as the defenders scrambled to fend off the assault.

Petoria, primarily composed of and led by /int/craft veterans, had so far enjoyed a respectable run in Crusalis: The Great War, at one point controlling most of Scandinavia and even capturing a port directly north of Berlin.

Nevertheless, Germans bolstered by their Danish allies enjoyed wide local superiority in numbers, as Petoria could not count on any outside aid. The capturing of Helsingfors mostly proceeded without trouble for the German-Danish alliance, however, an attempt to establish a beachhead directly west of Petoria met with stiff resistance, and initially the attackers were unable to establish a stable presence there, being wiped on occasions by well-timed Petorian rallies.

With Copenhagen securing Helsingfors, attackers’ reinforcement time had drastically shrunk and their advantage began to compound resulting in Petoria’s inability to stem the eastward advance towards their capital node. The final nail in the coffin was the capture of the port of Petersburg, which allowed the attacking party to swarm the city, effectively ending any further resistance.

Germany captured the town 2 hours and 24 minutes into the war, promising Denmark a generous share of the territories gained.

To the southeast, Moscow and ex-French Cossacks battled against Austrians, who initially were stuck in the server queue, allowing Russians to liberate Kyiv and Kursk. Gradual Austrian build-up mostly reversed the battlefield fortunes, Kursk was recaptured and Austrians now stand a single node away from Moscow.

London was preyed upon by the Irish rebels and Benelux, who snatched the London node for themselves after the Irish sacked the city in the first place. Additionally, Benelux took revenge on Brussels for the betrayal during the previous war, sacking the Belgian capital.

The Balkan Federation and the Italian Empire teamed up to meet the threat of the resurgent Umayyad Caliphate, formed from a merger of India, Iran and Turkey. The new nation had to suffer a major blow a mere 45 minutes into the war with the fall of Istanbul, but Ankara was able to survive the onslaught, albeit it now stands almost completely surrounded by enemy claims.

Spain took advantage of Italian commitments in the east, liberating Murcia and Catalonia, these gains were, however, later reversed. Spain also had to contend with a large American incursion to the north, as well as Germans, who during the war’s final phase grabbed Gibraltar. However, unlike many of her Entente allies, Spain has so far managed to avert any disastrous losses.

The Far East provided the only clear exception to the prevailing theme of unending Entente’s defeats. The Umayyad Caliphate prevailed against the Koreans, successfully landing on the Korean Peninsula therefore potentially threatening the core of the vast Korean Empire.

In the Americas, with relatively little impact on the wider global war, Columbia captured the towns of Quito, La Paz and Lima.

Globally, the Central Powers significantly outnumbered the Entente.

Barring some entirely chaotic circumstances during the iteration-ending, 5th-week war period, the German-led Central Powers can be all but pronounced the ultimate winners of Crusalis: The Great War. Only Russia and Spain now remain standing for the Entente in Europe, and neither possesses any buffers that would reliably shield them in a 6-hour war period to come. In contrast, the Umayyad Caliphate’s end-game survival is highly probable, with no Central Power in a realistic position to knock it out. Nevertheless, as the alliance’s weight shifts following continued advances, its borders will almost inevitably shrink.

With the iteration marking its end in the next week’s war period, a complete breakdown of alliances and a free-for-all battle royale among the surviving nations becomes a real possibility.