On Saxony, 1806
Dec 7, 2017 16:40:59 GMT
ππ³π°π΅π΄π¬πΊ, liamcog, and 1 more like this
Post by pathdoc on Dec 7, 2017 16:40:59 GMT
I played this nation because I wanted to unlock all the Tavern generals for the TG article I'm doing (bit by bit; I promise 1806 will be added on soon). I soon started enjoying it for its own sake. Why?
1) It's a minor nation, so you can put lots of your own generals into the fight if you want to (all of them, I think).
2) It's central to everything.
3) At the beginning of the game it has Prussia to its north, Austria to its south and Russia to its east (there's a thin sliver where the Prussian and Austrian borders meet before you hit Russia). So you are surrounded by friends, and only the Western and southwestern border with the Confederation of the Rhine is your immediately neighbouring enemy. The Ottoman Empire is also a long way off, Africa tends to settle its own scores first (if the Major powers don't settle them for it), and Denmark's main problem is very definitely not you.
4) You have a tavern (Dresden) with four generals, if it so happens that you want to use them, and the first three out the gate have Defence Art, Mass Fire and Assault Art in that order.
5) You have infantry, cavalry and artillery-generating buildings from the very beginning.
6) Brunn (Austrian Level III city) is immediately accessible to theft by your cavalry on the very first move, and Leipzig (Level I city, Prussian) on the second or third if its defenders are driven out, decide to advance or are destroyed without enemy capture.
7) The River Danube forms your southern border, imposing a one-turn delay on anyone attempting to cross.
8) In this year, fortresses of all types are available for construction. If you have a 999-turn version of the game and want to play a defensive, waiting strategy and build up an army while you send isolated cavalry etc. out to turn your allies neutral in preparation for eventual betrayal, you can build a really solid defence system.
9) Your starting general, in Dresden, has the Architecture skill and can upgrade captured or stolen low-tier cities for a low price, which is very good in the early game when you are trying to maximise income and minimise expenses.
10) You have a light stone fortress to help cover the southern flank.
11) Food is not usually a problem.
12) If you steal from Prussia, Kleist is VERY forgiving. He will rant and bluster that he doesn't want to see such thing again, etc., but it takes a lot to turn him hostile from neutral.
13) I have found that if the Swedes (who are always EXTREMELY parasitic) enter Prussia, they are sometimes seen to be attacked and down on health; this means that the Swedish AI subroutine has provoked the Prussian AI subroutine into war, even if they are both still your ally (or neutral). Fortunately it is not hard to steal all the Swedish farms, and the opportunity to turn them at least neutral sometimes also presents itself (e.g. by going up into Denmark and stealing the port west of Aalborg after they have taken it from the Danes), so then you can often both starve them to paralysis AND exterminate them.
The downsides I have found are that:
1) Franquemont is quick to attack you, but he only has 2 stars for the infantry he's on and a +1 attack item. This is good because your starting general is August 1, who is only 1 star, and he is on triple formation grenadiers vs. Franquemont's double-formation guards infantry. Fortunately he has the blue jacket, which IIRC is +4 infantry defence. That one's going to be close, and you might want to bring the heavy cav that spawns just northeast of you over, so that Franquemont can be flanked and attacked when he is morale-dropped (and possibly double morale-dropped because of the cavalry attack; save-load is advised here if you aren't going to deploy your own generals).
2) The Russians are very parasitic & predatory on their allies, and love to occupy friendly cities. Though they are not as keen on this as the Swedes, they arrive earlier in the game and they don't always prove useful against your enemies. You can't move your cavalry or artillery from their spawning bases without covering those bases, at least with a single formation militia unit. UPDATE NOTE in 2021: EITHER THE AI HAS BEEN CHANGED SO THAT THIS NO LONGER HAPPENS, OR I INADVERTENTLY MISREMEMBERED THIS AS HAVING HAPPENED AT THE TIME.
3) You have to have your defences in order by the time French generals start arriving. Thankfully you are not their main target; Prussia and England are. The Italians, two nations away on all fronts, generally aren't a problem until much later if at all; they have the Austrians to their east to worry about, and Vienna and the stables & artillery factory to its east & heavy fort to its west are a far more tempting target for them. This will buy you lots of time.
Neutral point (some ups, some downs):
1) This is a VERY big map with lots of blue territory to cover, much of it over water or in restrictive territory (North Africa, Ottoman Empire, the entire Italian peninsula, France, Spain), and by the time you get to North Africa it can be all blue. For this reason it's not appropriate as a princess rushing conquest, yet to finish it as Saxony in 99 turns (if you have that limitation) requires princess-rushing levels of haste and organisation. But because there is so much ground to cover with so many enemies to kill, if you have some strong generals and/or princesses and a game version with hundreds of turns, it can potentially end up being a really productive rank and medal grind.
1) It's a minor nation, so you can put lots of your own generals into the fight if you want to (all of them, I think).
2) It's central to everything.
3) At the beginning of the game it has Prussia to its north, Austria to its south and Russia to its east (there's a thin sliver where the Prussian and Austrian borders meet before you hit Russia). So you are surrounded by friends, and only the Western and southwestern border with the Confederation of the Rhine is your immediately neighbouring enemy. The Ottoman Empire is also a long way off, Africa tends to settle its own scores first (if the Major powers don't settle them for it), and Denmark's main problem is very definitely not you.
4) You have a tavern (Dresden) with four generals, if it so happens that you want to use them, and the first three out the gate have Defence Art, Mass Fire and Assault Art in that order.
5) You have infantry, cavalry and artillery-generating buildings from the very beginning.
6) Brunn (Austrian Level III city) is immediately accessible to theft by your cavalry on the very first move, and Leipzig (Level I city, Prussian) on the second or third if its defenders are driven out, decide to advance or are destroyed without enemy capture.
7) The River Danube forms your southern border, imposing a one-turn delay on anyone attempting to cross.
8) In this year, fortresses of all types are available for construction. If you have a 999-turn version of the game and want to play a defensive, waiting strategy and build up an army while you send isolated cavalry etc. out to turn your allies neutral in preparation for eventual betrayal, you can build a really solid defence system.
9) Your starting general, in Dresden, has the Architecture skill and can upgrade captured or stolen low-tier cities for a low price, which is very good in the early game when you are trying to maximise income and minimise expenses.
10) You have a light stone fortress to help cover the southern flank.
11) Food is not usually a problem.
12) If you steal from Prussia, Kleist is VERY forgiving. He will rant and bluster that he doesn't want to see such thing again, etc., but it takes a lot to turn him hostile from neutral.
13) I have found that if the Swedes (who are always EXTREMELY parasitic) enter Prussia, they are sometimes seen to be attacked and down on health; this means that the Swedish AI subroutine has provoked the Prussian AI subroutine into war, even if they are both still your ally (or neutral). Fortunately it is not hard to steal all the Swedish farms, and the opportunity to turn them at least neutral sometimes also presents itself (e.g. by going up into Denmark and stealing the port west of Aalborg after they have taken it from the Danes), so then you can often both starve them to paralysis AND exterminate them.
The downsides I have found are that:
1) Franquemont is quick to attack you, but he only has 2 stars for the infantry he's on and a +1 attack item. This is good because your starting general is August 1, who is only 1 star, and he is on triple formation grenadiers vs. Franquemont's double-formation guards infantry. Fortunately he has the blue jacket, which IIRC is +4 infantry defence. That one's going to be close, and you might want to bring the heavy cav that spawns just northeast of you over, so that Franquemont can be flanked and attacked when he is morale-dropped (and possibly double morale-dropped because of the cavalry attack; save-load is advised here if you aren't going to deploy your own generals).
2) The Russians are very parasitic & predatory on their allies, and love to occupy friendly cities. Though they are not as keen on this as the Swedes, they arrive earlier in the game and they don't always prove useful against your enemies. You can't move your cavalry or artillery from their spawning bases without covering those bases, at least with a single formation militia unit. UPDATE NOTE in 2021: EITHER THE AI HAS BEEN CHANGED SO THAT THIS NO LONGER HAPPENS, OR I INADVERTENTLY MISREMEMBERED THIS AS HAVING HAPPENED AT THE TIME.
3) You have to have your defences in order by the time French generals start arriving. Thankfully you are not their main target; Prussia and England are. The Italians, two nations away on all fronts, generally aren't a problem until much later if at all; they have the Austrians to their east to worry about, and Vienna and the stables & artillery factory to its east & heavy fort to its west are a far more tempting target for them. This will buy you lots of time.
Neutral point (some ups, some downs):
1) This is a VERY big map with lots of blue territory to cover, much of it over water or in restrictive territory (North Africa, Ottoman Empire, the entire Italian peninsula, France, Spain), and by the time you get to North Africa it can be all blue. For this reason it's not appropriate as a princess rushing conquest, yet to finish it as Saxony in 99 turns (if you have that limitation) requires princess-rushing levels of haste and organisation. But because there is so much ground to cover with so many enemies to kill, if you have some strong generals and/or princesses and a game version with hundreds of turns, it can potentially end up being a really productive rank and medal grind.
