How to capture Paris from Belgium

[Slaists]

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...