Blockades

[ichi]

The way I always looked at the land bridges is that one or two ships wouldn't prevent an army from crossing over the course of an entire year. And they make the game a little more interesting, IMHO

ichi

[DanishPosh]

The way I always looked at the land bridges is that one or two ships wouldn't prevent an army from crossing over the course of an entire year. And they make the game a little more interesting, IMHO

ichi

I think you could argue the two points equally well and it comes down to your personal taste.

But imagine my surprise as I was sitting in fat Wessex with nothing but the governer and two trebuchets when the Spanish suddenly walked up my backyward with two full armies
I was able to throw them out though by the help of some reinforcements from Denmark and Saxony

That just sparked me to a new question, but I'd better make a new thread for that...

[dgfred]

I think you could argue the two points equally well and it comes down to your personal taste.

But imagine my surprise as I was sitting in fat Wessex with nothing but the governer and two trebuchets when the Spanish suddenly walked up my backyward with two full armies
I was able to throw them out though by the help of some reinforcements from Denmark and Saxony

That just sparked me to a new question, but I'd better make a new thread for that...

I was surprised too , but it was the English (with very weak army)
trying to visit my Flanders. Although they lost the battle, it did throw a little
wrench into my perfect work so far . I had to divert some valuable
troops from my Italian . A couple of turns later I did return the favor
to Wessex . Next I think I will either conquer all of England or give
the Spainish a little spanking. My Emperor Friedrich is in his 60's, and
is my namesake so I have made sure his reign has been a very prosperous one for Germany.

[EatYerGreens]

One thing I wanted to add, about land bridges.

The one place I can think of which would actually justify a land bridge being added to the game, because there is an actual land connection in reality, is between yummy Sweden and Finland.

For no better reason, that I can see, apart from the map cutting off too far to the south, they didn't put this in by default. Perhaps the reasoning is that north of that line the lands are too inhospitable for farming, long-distance route-marching or battling.

I think it would add considerably to the game dynamic if Novgorod had an additional direction in which to expand in. They seem to be able to recruit Viking units too, so it's a logical place for them to go.

Now, if only the AI could get Denmark to attack northward, instead of foolishly mixing it with the HRE...

The most annoying thing I find about the Wessex-Flanders bridge is that the immediate thought is that it's been put there to allow the English faction to shuffle forces between their island and continental landholdings but no. The start position has Flanders in French hands and the English are somewhat hamstrung by the need to build a keep, two ports, a shipbuilder and a ship (19 years) to make this fundamental connection, short of going to war with France more or less right from turn one.

It would be kind of entertaining to play out something like the 100 years' war but, by taking their richest province off them so soon, they're crippled at the outset and can't put up what could be described as stiff resistance after that point.

[Del Arroyo]

Yeah, the French get annihilated in every game I play.

[dgfred]

Yeah, the French get annihilated in every game I play.

You should give them a break and play as the French yourself .

I got to get Flanders whether I'm the HRE, Spanish, Danes or anyone for
that matter , surely a habit I need to break .

[Don Corleone]

I think the general idea is that the 'bridges' aren't so much intended to be bridges, as you don't need a fleet to cross the water. Think about it... the British evacuated out of Dunkirk mostly on fishing vessels (of course, that was in what in game terms would be Friesland).

But I think the idea there is how tough would it be to commandeer local vessels to make the crossing.

And I don't know if it makes sense to put a land bridge between Finland & Sweden. It would be pretty tough to lead an army through Kemi down to Stockholm in the middle of the winter.

[Shottie]

Well for the RL prespective. A fishing vessel or more trasnporting men (hidden in the boat of course) could get by a whole armada of ships also at night you could get a few boats across. From another point a huge D-day style invasion would be noticed and dealt with. After all a hunderd + boats filled with yelling men with sharp objects isn't the normal fishing boat look.

[Don Corleone]

You have a point. Maybe next time one of the CA guys logs in, we can ask them what was the rationale behind the land bridges.