Can Sardinia into Tunis?

[Thorik]

I'm wondering whether it's possible to succesfully invade Tunis (or any african country really) as Sardinia-Piemonte (before you get Establish Protectorate and other colonial actions after uniting)?

That is - if I declare war, would I be able to get military control and establish myself there? Or will France kick me out as soon as they increase their CP and use protectorate/colony actions?

[loki100]

I think the French protectorate would boot you out ... I'd also not do anything to annoy the French early game.

Till you unify (and get a decent set of colonial cards) its very hard to build a colony, so your best route is to take a colony off someone else. As a hint, the Ottomans have control over quite a bit of land that is worth acquiring, especially around the Horn of Africa.

[Thorik]

Thanks for reply!
Well, we sort of split Tunis with Frenchies. They got capital and I those sweet sweet fruits in Bizerte. I know that in time they will probably declare protectorate, but if not, then we will see.

Follow-up question: I took Zanzibar (island), by just simply landing there with Colonial Brigade. Huh? I didn't declare war or worsened relations with Zanzibar (country), but now I can't kill their units - they are hidden and appear only when I leave the island. How can I destroy them? I already brought light cavalry with detection 5. My SOI went up there so I want to stay for good.

[loki100]

ah, you've found out the true horror of colonial war PoN style. This happens a lot, not just that you lack detection to bring them to battle but even to see them. All you can do is to bring in high detection units (as you have done) and I found that native/colonial units seemed to be more effective than European regulars.

good thing is its partly random, so if you hang around long enough you will get some detection.

The colonial game in PoN is slow, it takes a while to establish an infrastructure and some loyalty and dealing with a colonial revolt is a grim business

[Thorik]

Thanks again!
Well, I've been stationing Light Cavalry + Colonial Brigade for almost a year in Zanzibar and still got nothing. Long wait indeed.

Next question! As I understand there should be some kind of "Exploration Party" in my units' pool, probably next to Prospector, but there is none. Bug or WAD? Should I add one through custom event?
Also - what are the main factors involved in chances of geographic/anthropology/natual expeditions and prospecting? Presence of (hostile) native troops? National loyalty?

I'm wondering whether I should start some kind of Live Question Feed disguised as yet another italian AAR.

[loki100]

There can't be too many Italy AARs

The other thing to try is you have some commanders with a detection trait (the game tends to swap your command pool every 15 or so years), so they might help.

You get a batch of colonial cards when you unify which are enough to build up your colonial penetration. You remain a bit limited in this respect as the national trait for Italy is 'regional' not 'global' (I forget the exact wording) but its no real barrier, just that if you are in a race with another power like Britain or France you could lose out.

The first three exploration types are pretty much interchangeable. They build up your knowledge of surrounding regions by revealing either more of the map or raising colonial penetration. Protect them with troops if you can, it is really frustrating to lose one that is say a single turn away from yielding the results due to hostile locals. The chance for success is relatively low, so you need to keep on playing them till one 'sticks' and then the clock runs down till you get the results (I don't think there is much you can do to raise the success chance). Prospecting is a little different in that you can play it in provinces you have already explored as it may reveal new resources that are not clear on the map at the start

[Acularius]

Next question! As I understand there should be some kind of "Exploration Party" in my units' pool, probably next to Prospector, but there is none. Bug or WAD? Should I add one through custom event?

Try looking until the brigade filter, that's the only way I've tried to look for it (Doesn't seem to appear in support filter like the prospectors do)... because doing the 'all' takes too long.
I only figured this out after Barth lost his exploration element to the dastardly Beninese. Barth continued on for a long time until he retired.

[Erostratus]

Prospecting is a little different in that you can play it in provinces you have already explored as it may reveal new resources that are not clear on the map at the start

Re: this. Are the resources random in the provinces each time you start a scenario or are they set? I'm assuming they are set.

[loki100]

Re: this. Are the resources random in the provinces each time you start a scenario or are they set? I'm assuming they are set.

they are fixed, so once you have played the game you will know where they appear - but you've still got to trigger their appearance