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Thread: Strategy Map - Marching Unitited or Concentration at a Point?

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    Default Re: Strategy Map - Marching Unitited or Concentration at a Point?

    Good recce is important. Fighting smaller battles helps, as you avoid the 20 unit threshold, and the AI bodging part of a key battle, by insisting on control of some of your precious forces. It is definitely possible to get "burned". Some of the Diplomacy strategies mentioned in guide feature "misdirection", but it's possible to pull off occasionally without the drag of frustrating Diplo. negotations.

    Whilst it's not always applicable, in a campaign where time/space considerations and manuever comes into play it's very satisfying. You can sometimes "take" a whole enemy army out of equation, simply by misdirecting them; if the AI is left with forces in the wrong place, it's worse than not having them, as the upkeep cripple the faction finances preventing them from raising troops in the required spot.

    Detachments sent by AI are also cheaper to bribe, adding another strategic possibility.

    Maneuver and a dynamic campaign (going in the back door) tends to lead to storming a town with open gates (may be no wall arrows), rather than siege possibly following a battle on ground of enemies choosing, Direct siege battle, where enemy fight to death generally leads to more casualties.

    On Quirinus's point, I think you can capture cities faster (perhaps not first one but a whole string on campaign) if you destroy the main opposing army in the open taking very few losses fairly early on. Furthermore you can launch an attack sooner, with re-inforcements following on, if you're prepared to march divided. Sometimes, you can deflect armies long way away from a city (or have them halted by a 3rd faction with hidden stack), which is then attacked from a surprise direction.

    Being willing to take the risk and bank on gathering a relief force in time, after a smaller force exploits an opportunity, justifies the recce effort of spies, and can unbalance opposing faction, as they rush to react with the superior forces.

    The AI also tends to keep some garrison force, plus a force outside a city, so I've had some success with threatening a city from one direction, then turning to take a more important city; which gets a (weakened) army to chase a stack it shouldn't actually attack. Then have 2nd army moving in, which can wipe out the smaller city protection forces left behind after the main army destroys the attacking AI stack.

    Another trick is to have a main force in "ambush" and have a smaller bait army in more open terrain which the AI promptly attacks, only to run into a superior army.

    If you prefer to always to campaign with 1 united force, and not use multiple armies, how do you take advantage of interior lines (those roads you like to build and naval transport), shifting thrust of an attack to provoke and exploit weak points?
    Last edited by RLucid; 04-21-2008 at 18:12.

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