How to capture Paris from Belgium

**Marcus Caelius** · 08-21-2009, 12:23

Step 1. Check that the star fort, Fort Mauperge, is empty - it usually is. The AI hardly ever garrisons it's forts, even such prized possessions as Star Forts on the border with the country it has just decided to declare war on.

Step 2. Advance a force into the empty star fort, sufficient to defend against a full stack army. E.g. 4 of line foot and 1 of horse.

Step 3. Click end turn.

Step 4. The AI will send it's full Paris garrison to expend itself on the walls of Fort Mauperge. This is because the AI considers one of it's own forts under enemy control something that must be regained at all costs.

Step 5. Advance army from the star fort and any reinforcements you may have to the now unguarded Paris. Slaughter the firelock armed citizens.

This is much easier than the direct assault on paris, since defending a star fort is much easier than assaulting one.

---------------------------------------

Of course, any military strategy that suggests that a strongpoint that you consider vital to your security should be left unguarded until after it's capture, after which you should assault the fortifications frontally, is hardly a recipe for success on the battlefield.

Note(1) to AI designers. It is (and should be) harder to assault a star fort than it is to defend one. Therefore if the AI considers it vital to posses star forts, it should garrison them, and not wait until someone else occupies it.

Note (2) to AI designers. The corollary is that if a star fort is not worth garrisoning, then it is ALSO NOT worth reassaulting after it has been captured.

**Slaists** · 08-21-2009, 14:18

I've been doing this with the Dutch. Alternative to capturing Paris is holding that star port indefinitely (while blockading Northern French ports). French AI will waste army after army trying to retake the fort & that means, the Dutch countryside will be safe. If the fort gets damaged in the assault, just withdraw your mini-army from there to Belgium and wait a turn. The AI will oblige and fix the fort for your perusal.

The game-play upside of NOT taking Paris is that a Dutch campaign (a small European power with huge colonial aspirations) does not turn into another French campaign (a huge European power with huge colonial aspirations). The downside: you'll have to fight a fort battle almost every turn. If you want a breather from that, just besiege those unlucky citizens in Paris for a few turns. Break off the siege, re-siege again. That will keep Frenchies in check.

**Servius** · 08-21-2009, 16:10

I thought defending forts, particularly Star Forts, was a bad idea because the defender ended up at a disadvantage to the attacker.

Has something changed? Have forts become useful as a force-multiplier for the defender? You talk about 4 units of LI and 1 cav unit holding off the entire French garrison of Paris. How many units is that?

**Slaists** · 08-21-2009, 17:12

Originally Posted by Servius1234

I thought defending forts, particularly Star Forts, was a bad idea because the defender ended up at a disadvantage to the attacker.

Has something changed? Have forts become useful as a force-multiplier for the defender? You talk about 4 units of LI and 1 cav unit holding off the entire French garrison of Paris. How many units is that?

The fort walls and cannons are still useless. However, due to the stupidity of the AI, one can exploit the fact that the AI climbs the walls (and exhausts itself) in a piecemeal fashion and then, first things first, goes in a bee-line for the center square.

Surround the square with a few line units in a shallow "\/" shaped fashion so the AI approaching the center gets into a crossfire. It is important that the AI must have a free access to the square and does not have to fight on its way. If you notice the AI approaching so it has to cross through your unit, move the unit aside and let the AI pass. The remaining line unit should guard the rear of the ones guarding the center. This 'exploit' ensures a total wipeout for the AI. Of course, it works better if your line infantry already has fire by rank.

I'd throw in a few milita units (or light infantry if available) for that garrison force to occupy the buildings. Militia will start shooting at the AI as soon as it appears on the walls lowering its morale even further. A cannon (a demi-cannon is more than suited for this task) placed so it can cover the central square with canister is not a bad idea either.

**Marcus Caelius** · 08-22-2009, 13:08

yes, this is more or less how i do it.

of course it is ridiculous that yet again, for the third iteration of sieges, the best (and perhaps only) strategy is to surrender the walls, but there it is

**Servius** · 08-23-2009, 16:34

Huh, so essentially, it's a mousetrap. The AI is so drawn to the center flag that it will drive for it first rather than wiping out your relatively puny force of defenders? If that's true, then I should just surround the hunk of cheese as you've suggested. I'd worry about running out of ammo, but as you say, I could include some cannons with shrapnel shot, as cannons have unlimited ammo.

**Slaists** · 08-23-2009, 18:46

Originally Posted by Servius1234

Huh, so essentially, it's a mousetrap. The AI is so drawn to the center flag that it will drive for it first rather than wiping out your relatively puny force of defenders? If that's true, then I should just surround the hunk of cheese as you've suggested. I'd worry about running out of ammo, but as you say, I could include some cannons with shrapnel shot, as cannons have unlimited ammo.

Yes, it's a mousetrap. As to ammo my line infantry (4 of them) does not run out of it while wiping out full stacks.

The mousetrap works in the reverse too. The AI is absolutely clueless about how to defend when IT is the side defending a fort too. That's probably one of the easiest battles: taking a fort from the AI...

**A1_Unit** · 09-11-2009, 00:00

They even ignore my units that are garrisoned in a building right next to the flag.

**Dreadnought2** · 09-13-2009, 22:40

In two battles, I've had the attacker (Spanish in one case, Prussian in the other) send troops into the fort buildings to melee with the defenders while other units ran for the flagpole. In the Spanish case, two enemy units went in to melee with my grenadiers in the small armoury, only to be both broken because of exhaustion and casualties.

I've played around with the cheval-de-frise:
- on the 'side' of the front corners of the fort. It doesn't do much to infantry but if a side/rear gate opens and the enemy cavalry makes a run to get in, they'll take the shortest path and end up as horse-kebabs...
- across the inside of a couple of the entrances (especially the rear gate as the AI likes to run around the entire fort first...) so if I let them take the gate, they'll open it and try to surge their cavalry into the fort with the same result.

Cheers,
Dreadnought2

**Hermann the Lombard** · 09-16-2009, 15:29

Originally Posted by Marcus Caelius

Of course, any military strategy that suggests that a strongpoint that you consider vital to your security should be left unguarded until after it's capture, after which you should assault the fortifications frontally, is hardly a recipe for success on the battlefield.

Ah, but that was precisely the French technique in 1916 where Fort Douaumont, the centerpiece of the Verdun, was garrisoned by 68 men under the command of an NCO. Retaking the fort from the Germans cost more than 100,000 casualties. Now we see that the AI is in fact a brilliant simulation of real world strategy.