Marcus Caelius
07-28-2009, 13:43
I was actually quite pleased with the level of challenge in my British campaign. I focussed on the Americas taking control of all the north and much of the south, but by 1799, the Marathis were at the top, and i was struggling to win in a world-wide war with the Marathis, Spain and France . I was also used to being defeated by large forces of native americans, and in naval engagements with pirates.
So i started a new game with the Prussians. I decided that although my mid-term aim would be Gdansk and Silesia, i would go slow, just build up trade-partners, a financial reserve, and build up the province as far as i could - which i did.
In terms of forces, the only unit construction i did by 1705 was:
2 line infantry
2 12lb foot artillery
1 sloop
2 indiamen
the rest was default units as i was hoping to keep upkeep costs low so that my coffers remained full.
I sought peace and trade with every neighbour
Poland and Austria soon fell into war, the Turks joining in against Austria.
I started wondering if i should dow austria to get a piece of pie, or dow Poland to save Austria and prevent the Poles getting too strong (mistaking this game for Diplomacy!)
But no need! Come 1706, the Poles declared war on me.
My initial fear was, i've waited too long! Poland got what it needed in Austria and is looking for it's next victim. Well, smiling to myself, here comes a good fight to look forward to - like I had with the Cherokees in my previous campaign!
OK, here comes the advance guard! 1 and a half units of line infantry advance into Berlin province and raid the Lusatia farmland for 33 gold. They advance on to Berlin where half my western army is.
They were intercepted, 150 Polish line infantry faced 5 line infantry regiments, 1 pikemen, 2 regiments of horse, 2 batteries of artillery.
So the Poles were defeated for no Prussian casualties. I was further helped by the fact that the Poles advanced their small army one unit first, then the other, making sure that all the canister could be focused.
Well, i thought, the advance guard made a mistake there, now let's see where the main Polish force strikes!
But actually, that was the entire invasion force and attack.
I took a look at the situation. I saw that Gdansk was entirely undefended, so i marched a small army from East Prussia to Gdansk and slaughtered the armed citizens protecting it. OK, Gdansk is mine for about 10 casualties.
Silesia had recently been captured by the Poles, and the army there was still a bit ragged, so i advanced my army from berlin (minus the artillery) to lay siege.
Just for laughs i decided to press the "demand surrender" button, and for the first time ever (but nonetheless sensibly), they surrendered.
So that's it, the invasion force repelled and both Gdansk and Silesia taken for about 10 casualties.
-------------------------------------
Now I am not just complaining. I am sure that poland will fight on until death. I find so long as i never enter a power's land, or fight a battle, peace agreements are possible, but i expect that this time Poland will fight to the bitter end, uttering preposterous messages all the while.
This is the weakness when programmers design a declaration of war algorithm on such flimsy ideas. The Polish attack was laughable for the following reasons:
1) the attacking force was woefully inadequate for the task, even if it had been against another AI opponent
2) the Polish had not taken any steps to protect itself from the most likely counterattack.
It was a completely excrementitious attack, that did not show any preparation whatsoever - nothing comparable to Civ for example, where a DOW is accompanied by the rapid arrival of a stack of doom.
Now Poland is now much weaker than it was, and it did not really require me, as a human, to do anything at all.
I do not have a problem with a dow if it has a chance of yielding any benefits whatsoever to the attacker. In some cases, i grant you, a dow can be made with the acceptance of sacrificing some provinces, but they ought to be minor compared to the expected gains.
There are two grand strategies that could be described as valid here:
1 Each power aims to maximise it's own strength, as if controlled by other humans
2 All powers operate together to try and contain the human - which is a cheap and lazy substitute for thought in programming, but can still be made to work.
In this case, it does neither, since i was following a peaceful strategy, but have been immediately invited to expand my domain.
Poland's strategy here could have been the following: settle with austria, build up and repair forces, then assemble an army capable of winning against the opposing forces in Prussia, assuming it was controlled by the AI, then advance to take objective.
Or another strategy could have been: settle, consolidate, build up and rely on superior resources to force prussia onto the offensive against a superior enemy. Try and attack much later with a grand alliance.
Or another strategy could have been, solidify defenses, send small raiding forces to upset my economy while avoiding interception, force me to counterattack against strongly held positions.
Oh, please, anybody, come up with a valid strategy that you like, and if any of them incorporate what actually did happen, I'll do 50 push ups with my 3 year-old daughter on my back.
So i started a new game with the Prussians. I decided that although my mid-term aim would be Gdansk and Silesia, i would go slow, just build up trade-partners, a financial reserve, and build up the province as far as i could - which i did.
In terms of forces, the only unit construction i did by 1705 was:
2 line infantry
2 12lb foot artillery
1 sloop
2 indiamen
the rest was default units as i was hoping to keep upkeep costs low so that my coffers remained full.
I sought peace and trade with every neighbour
Poland and Austria soon fell into war, the Turks joining in against Austria.
I started wondering if i should dow austria to get a piece of pie, or dow Poland to save Austria and prevent the Poles getting too strong (mistaking this game for Diplomacy!)
But no need! Come 1706, the Poles declared war on me.
My initial fear was, i've waited too long! Poland got what it needed in Austria and is looking for it's next victim. Well, smiling to myself, here comes a good fight to look forward to - like I had with the Cherokees in my previous campaign!
OK, here comes the advance guard! 1 and a half units of line infantry advance into Berlin province and raid the Lusatia farmland for 33 gold. They advance on to Berlin where half my western army is.
They were intercepted, 150 Polish line infantry faced 5 line infantry regiments, 1 pikemen, 2 regiments of horse, 2 batteries of artillery.
So the Poles were defeated for no Prussian casualties. I was further helped by the fact that the Poles advanced their small army one unit first, then the other, making sure that all the canister could be focused.
Well, i thought, the advance guard made a mistake there, now let's see where the main Polish force strikes!
But actually, that was the entire invasion force and attack.
I took a look at the situation. I saw that Gdansk was entirely undefended, so i marched a small army from East Prussia to Gdansk and slaughtered the armed citizens protecting it. OK, Gdansk is mine for about 10 casualties.
Silesia had recently been captured by the Poles, and the army there was still a bit ragged, so i advanced my army from berlin (minus the artillery) to lay siege.
Just for laughs i decided to press the "demand surrender" button, and for the first time ever (but nonetheless sensibly), they surrendered.
So that's it, the invasion force repelled and both Gdansk and Silesia taken for about 10 casualties.
-------------------------------------
Now I am not just complaining. I am sure that poland will fight on until death. I find so long as i never enter a power's land, or fight a battle, peace agreements are possible, but i expect that this time Poland will fight to the bitter end, uttering preposterous messages all the while.
This is the weakness when programmers design a declaration of war algorithm on such flimsy ideas. The Polish attack was laughable for the following reasons:
1) the attacking force was woefully inadequate for the task, even if it had been against another AI opponent
2) the Polish had not taken any steps to protect itself from the most likely counterattack.
It was a completely excrementitious attack, that did not show any preparation whatsoever - nothing comparable to Civ for example, where a DOW is accompanied by the rapid arrival of a stack of doom.
Now Poland is now much weaker than it was, and it did not really require me, as a human, to do anything at all.
I do not have a problem with a dow if it has a chance of yielding any benefits whatsoever to the attacker. In some cases, i grant you, a dow can be made with the acceptance of sacrificing some provinces, but they ought to be minor compared to the expected gains.
There are two grand strategies that could be described as valid here:
1 Each power aims to maximise it's own strength, as if controlled by other humans
2 All powers operate together to try and contain the human - which is a cheap and lazy substitute for thought in programming, but can still be made to work.
In this case, it does neither, since i was following a peaceful strategy, but have been immediately invited to expand my domain.
Poland's strategy here could have been the following: settle with austria, build up and repair forces, then assemble an army capable of winning against the opposing forces in Prussia, assuming it was controlled by the AI, then advance to take objective.
Or another strategy could have been: settle, consolidate, build up and rely on superior resources to force prussia onto the offensive against a superior enemy. Try and attack much later with a grand alliance.
Or another strategy could have been, solidify defenses, send small raiding forces to upset my economy while avoiding interception, force me to counterattack against strongly held positions.
Oh, please, anybody, come up with a valid strategy that you like, and if any of them incorporate what actually did happen, I'll do 50 push ups with my 3 year-old daughter on my back.