Was attacked cross-theater yesterday

[hoof]

Another good thing happened yesterday: The British attacked me across theaters. Normally, as France, Newfoundland is pretty much immune to attack. So I was surprised as a British fleet, complete with an army, sailed from the inter-theater zone right into my port. They unloaded their troops, which marched on, and attacked my town. Not only did the AI do a naval invasion from across theaters, but they used the port-trick to allow the attack on the city the same turn that they show up. Nice!

Unfortunately for the British, I had lots of allies, and took London within 3 turns, so the action has cost them dearly. But this was a cool thing to see happen in the new patch.

[hoof]

Another improvement I just noticed: Artillery targetting a unit will shoot at the part of the unit you select. Click on the middle? The canister shot goes to the middle. Click on an end? it goes to the end (and even adjusts as men die, so a series of 4 shots can "walk" the line so to speak). Gone are the days where Canister shot only aims for one side. CA obviously has addresses many of our concerns. So far so good (other than the wierd Austrian -50 diplo penalty thing I got declaring war on Venice)

[peacemaker]

Sorry if this sounds rude but a pet peeve of mine is double posts (as opposed to editing your first one). Just throwing that out there

Anyway I was attacked several times in the trade nodes by my enemies while playing, and as I landed an army in india it seems that another nation also wanted to invade(I was france, GB also came along) and so I had to fight them immediately after capturing Mysore. Good thing I didn't destroy the walls

As for the artillery I haven't used it much but it's good that now it targets where you need it to.

[Zenicetus]

I just got a cross-theater naval invasion too.

I'm playing the UP on M/H. My first moves were taking Caracas so I could trigger a war with Spain without involving France right away (New Spain is allied with Spain but not France). That let me invade Flanders with a little breathing room.

France did declare war a few turns later, which I was expecting since they are allied with Spain and I was ticking off the Spaniards by taking Flanders.. But France's first move against me wasn't in the European theater at all. They sent a strong fleet with a big army from Europe to Curacao, and kicked me right off the island. That was unexpected... I thought I'd have a little time to mess around in the Caribbean before dealing with heavy French assets, but this was on something like turn 8 at the start of the game. It was a smart move by the French.

OTOH, they've been sitting there in Curacao for the last 10 turns and not doing much about driving me off the mainland or reinforcing French Guyana (which I'm about to take), so it's not perfect. But it's better.

[rvg]

... (other than the wierd Austrian -50 diplo penalty thing I got declaring war on Venice)

I believe that penalty stems from the fact that Austria has unlimited military access to Venice from the get-go. Thus, attacking Venice comes with a hefty backstabber penalty.

[Servius]

@ nameless: I'm assuming GB made a beach landing in UP to invade Holland, right? It would be perhaps too cool if you could dock your ships in an allies port and disembark them for the extra movement ability.

[nameless]

@ nameless: I'm assuming GB made a beach landing in UP to invade Holland, right? It would be perhaps too cool if you could dock your ships in an allies port and disembark them for the extra movement ability.

Yeah, they landed an army near Amsertdam and the next turn invaded Hannover. Hannover beated them back but then another army landed again and together the two destoyed Hannover. Since it was my protectorate and I was focused on Austria I had to divert an army north to retake the city and stave off the English invasion. Every now and then they would land a fleet on the coast, by that time though I conquered Amsertdam so instead they landed next to the city (I had a sloop in port) and engaged me from there.

[Tsar of Floyd]

Austria on H/H, holding Rumelia has been attacked by Great Britain once and Turkey twice by sea, and Turkey 3 times over the Bosporus..... additionally Spain assaulted Athens, and all the invasions were amphibious

[Graphic]

A few days ago:

[peacemaker]

Just wondering guys, what difficulty are you playing on? I wonder if it makes a difference...

[hoof]

I always play Normal difficulty level. The harder difficulty levels gives the AI wierd advantages that I don't like (like sloop crews able to defeat 4th rate crews when otherwise undamaged and equal, square-rigged ships sailing directly into the wind faster than I can go cross-wind, line infantry reloading much faster than mine for same experience, etc). Yes, it makes the overall campaign easier, but I firmly believe that it's better to be able to crush the enemy every time, than to have to accept flagrant (and often unbelievable) cheats in order for the AI to be competitive.

[Servius]

Once the AI was able to pull off naval invasions, I started placing a Militia unit in each port, testing a theory that the AI won't execute a naval invasion unless it can dock its troop ships in a regional port. So far this theory has held true. I have yet to see the AI perform an amphibious assault.

Since it seems that naval invasions in general are up, has anyone seen an enemy army land on the coast when the ports were garrisoned?

[A1_Unit]

Not me, though the navies now seem go into their own ports - to pick up troops?

[nameless]

Once the AI was able to pull off naval invasions, I started placing a Militia unit in each port, testing a theory that the AI won't execute a naval invasion unless it can dock its troop ships in a regional port. So far this theory has held true. I have yet to see the AI perform an amphibious assault.

Since it seems that naval invasions in general are up, has anyone seen an enemy army land on the coast when the ports were garrisoned?

England landed an army in UP territories (Allied) and then moved them in to take out hannover.

[Seyavash]

Once the AI was able to pull off naval invasions, I started placing a Militia unit in each port, testing a theory that the AI won't execute a naval invasion unless it can dock its troop ships in a regional port. So far this theory has held true. I have yet to see the AI perform an amphibious assault.

Since it seems that naval invasions in general are up, has anyone seen an enemy army land on the coast when the ports were garrisoned?

I just had Sweden land an amphibious assault team to attempt to retake their home city. granted it was just across the bay from Finland, but it is still a beach landing rather than a port attack. too bad it's such a small army.

[Kantalla]

Had two naval attacks playing as Spain from Great Britain yesterday...

The first wasn't particularly subtle - two decent sized navies took station off the coast of Florida for about 5 turns before finally declaring war and landing. Getting plenty of warning meant I was able to recruit some defenders, if only they had been smart enough to sail to say Cuba and land there.

About 10 turns later, after a temporary peace, Great Britain declared war again and landed an army next to Lisbon in Portugal. That one was unexpected, and it was a very close run thing to hold the city.

In both cases any ports in the area were defended, so the invasion was direct from the ships.

[A1_Unit]

So having 1 unit in your port won't save you from naval invasions?

[Vlad Tzepes]

So having 1 unit in your port won't save you from naval invasions?

Nope. Spain just landed a stack on my precious Curacao island. I had the militia in the port and it didn't matter.

[Servius]

Yep, I just had Marathas send a full stack all the way from India to the Carribean and they landed on one of the islands, completely bypassing the garrisoned port. I'm going to have to completely rethink region defense now. It will no longer suffice to just put a Militia unit in the port as assume the region is untouchable.

This also means I'm going to have to start garrisoning Britain.

I think I may just go crazy with a navy in the future, so that I can quickly destroy fleets at sea and blockade enemy ports.

[Fisherking]

Prussia 1.4 H,

Turn 2 GB offers trade of Bahamas for East Prussia, Refused

Turn 4 GB shows up with a fleet carrying troops, DoWs

I garrison port in Brandenburg

Turn 5 GB lands near Königsburg, I killed them but at great coast.

For those who have not played Prussia in 1.4 Here is a chance to see what the AI can do. It is not the little cake walk that it has been. You are no weaker than before but the other factions will make you sweat. The victory conditions are also changed if I remember correctly. 14 of the 15 required regions are named.

[Claudio]

I had my first experience with the AI launching a naval invasion yesterday. I was playing as Sweden on Hard/Medium. I had been at war with Russia since 1702, and grabbed Karelia from them shortly afterwards. I destroyed a few half stacks when I sent my eastern army into Moscow territory to cause trouble, with the aim being to coerce them into a peace agreement favourable to me by threatening their capital city. It didn't work, but I didn't bother to take Moscow, I just withdrew the army and it has been defending my eastern provinces for around a decade.

Poland declared war out of the blue at some point, but has made no attempt to attack me. They could march through Moscow to get to St. Petersburg and attack me there but they're content with just being at war with no action I guess. I gave that province just west of St. Petersburg to Prussia on turn 1 in exchange for plug bayonets so that I wouldn't be sharing a border with Poland and Courland, who always eventually come at you if you play as Sweden, but Prussia never, ever bother me when I play as Sweden. I let them do their thing, they let me do mine.

I decided to declare war on Denmark since I was already at war with Russia and Poland, and took Norway from them. I used my navy to block that little land-bridge so they couldn't march over it and straight at Stockport, but I still kept just over half a stack in that general area because I expected them to land troops by sea at some point.

However, they didn't. Surprisingly, it was my long-term (since turn 1) trading partner, Great Britain, that did the deed. I had been bulking up my navy slowly over the entire game, and it consisted of my admirals 4th rate and 9 6th rates. I figured I would only ever have to fight Denmark's navy, and that setup would do nicely since they never build anything more than sloops, so when I saw a British navy with about 10 sixth rates and at least 8 other assorted units of fifth and fourth rates carrying a full stack of line infantry, regiments of horse and demi-cannons through the straits, thinking they might be on their way to land in Prussia who they were at war with, I almost shat myself when they declared war, landed in Norway and TOOK Norway...

But.. what was the point? I was their trading partner for 20 years, and they have been at war with Prussia for 15 years, so they could have attacked their enemy instead of me, who hadn't made any land grabs for 17 years and hasn't threatened Britain in any way, shape or form.

[Kantalla]

But.. what was the point? I was their trading partner for 20 years, and they have been at war with Prussia for 15 years, so they could have attacked their enemy instead of me, who hadn't made any land grabs for 17 years and hasn't threatened Britain in any way, shape or form.

I can imagine the AI asking this question when up against these treacherous players, Denmark probably thought that by not joining their allies in war against you that you would focus on those you are actually at war with!

Was Norway lightly defended, on the basis of no obvious threat?