korvessa
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What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Sun Jun 11, 2017 1:58 am

I have been playing the Swedish intervention - as far as I know on the easiest settings.
I keep getting swarmed over with enemy troops.
It seems that I can never buy new troops - even though I have many "available"
In my current game, both Saxony and Brandenburg have joined me (I play Swedes)
Further, I have 130 gold, but having a hard time gathering war supplies - usually I have zero.
There's been a few times where I have enough gold and supplies - but it still won't let me purchase anything.

I have converted Pomerania & Mecklinburg - including Rostock & Hamberg - but I still get swamped.

What is the secret?

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Durk
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Sun Jun 11, 2017 4:31 am

No secret, just hard planning. This game and each of its scenarios are terribly and historically parsimoniously limited on resources needed for reinforcement and building new units.
A few things you can do:
Look for the convert money to war supply option.
Use the contributions option
Appeal to England for War Supply.

But limitations on resource is a challenge. Mostly you need to prioritize. I go for replacements with the few I gather.

korvessa
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Sun Jun 11, 2017 5:30 pm

Look for the convert money to war supply option


Where does one find that?

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Durk
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Sun Jun 11, 2017 11:53 pm

Open what are often called the cards options. It is in the upper left, the middle icon which looks like playing cards. You can also us cntl f12 to open.

korvessa
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Mon Jun 12, 2017 12:20 am

Durk wrote:Open what are often called the cards options. It is in the upper left, the middle icon which looks like playing cards. You can also us cntl f12 to open.


I must not be on the right setting - as I don't have that option available in my card deck.
Any idea what I need to change so it appears?

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Durk
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Mon Jun 12, 2017 2:19 am

Perhaps you just need time. It comes into your deck a couple of times each year. Once there, it remains until you use it. So play a few more turns.
Don't get me wrong, building new units and replacements is a major challenge in this game in the early years.

phoenix
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Sun Jul 02, 2017 6:31 pm

I'm also playing the Swedish scenario and have exactly these questions. Thanks for the replies, Durk. Not many reply in here, so much apreciated.

The secret to supply, replacements, money, generally bothers me. What should I do? The things you've mentioned above, ok. But what else? Look for regions with high supply and occupy them? That will get me general supplies, right? But not money or war supplies? Is that right?

For building units and replacements I seem to need both war supplies and money. So can anyone make a comprehensive list of things to do to get these two items, aside from playing those relevant cards that show up? Or is there NOTHING else you can do - does the game just allocate money and war supplies on a script we have no warning or info about? It seems pretty opaque to me at the moment.

Thanks.

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Ripster8
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:08 pm

Supply is automatically produced by cities and depots. The larger the city/depot the more supply is generated. Supply is automatically allocated to units located in the same province are adjacent provinces only - there is no supply chain as in other AGEOD games. Supply can be moved by units (who carry a limited stock with them) and by supply wagons. Generally speaking a level 4 or 5 city with a level 4 depot can supply just about any major field army c.2000 combat power. Beware of overstacking your major armies, leaving them for long periods in small cities and find the largest city to hunker down in before the snow flies! Your digital soldiers will disappear in droves if left out in the woods in winter!

As far as war supply (WS) and gold, I have never played the Swedish scenario, only the Grand Campaign. However, gold and WS will usually be in short supply. Every year (March?) you will receive a certain amount of $/WS based on your ownership of certain strategic cities. It is indeed not clear which cities those are until you are actually playing the game, however. Additional war supply can come via diplomatic actions you take in the strategic atlas, and from RGD cards (requisition and contribution, I think) that you can play on certain regions. You have to activate the RGD icon and select the specific card to see where it can be played, if anywhere. Be sure to examine the negative affects the RGD will have - sometimes they are severe! There are also scripted and random events that will add $/WS to your coffers.

I generally buy replacements to keep my field armies at full strength before purchasing new units. If $/WS are tight (as they usually are) then you can often specify which units get replacements by using the nationality and unit type categories to narrow your replacement efforts. In the last GC I played (AAR on this forum) once the major field armies started going head-to-head it was all I could do to keep my units at full strength. I was requistioning the heck out of my unfortunate digital peasants and burghers but it was either that or submit to the heretics/papists (depending on which side you are on, of course!). It was really quite realistic and very enjoyable. Of course about half way through I had to take over the Protestant side (I was playing as the Catholics) since the AI collapsed on me, but it was a hoot nonetheless! Hope this helps!

phoenix
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:57 pm

It does help, Ripster. Thanks. And I'm in the middle of reading your AAR (though there seem to be a lot of pics missing, it is still great and very helpful also). Haven't got to the AI collapse yet. That sounds bad. Has the problem, whatever it was, been cured, do you think?

Can you add anything about building depots and how desirable that is?

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Ripster8
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Sun Jul 02, 2017 10:54 pm

Sorry about the AAR pictures. When AGEOD switched to a new forum format many of the pictures were lost. I thought I reloaded all of them so I will recheck it. Seems to be working for me.

In any case, depots. Depots are vital to move your armies forward into enemy territory and they are constructed by expending one supply wagon per level of depot. So they are somewhat expensive to construct (supply wagons ain't free!) and therefore you have to focus your efforts in line with your plan of campaign. What is the line of advance you are contemplating? What are the cities along that route and how big are they? How close will my armies be to friendly sources of supply? Do I have enough wagons to shuttle supply back and forth to keep my lads supplied?

Operationally supply is a major part of the overall problem you are faced with in TYW: Can I defeat the enemy's field forces decisively enough so that I can besiege and capture his major cities and can I keep my armies supplied while I am doing this? Oh, and can I do it all before winter hits and freezes my poor digital soldaten to death? It's one reason I play with all leaders activated - with month-long turns it is hard enough to get anything done given the aforementioned problems of battle, siege, supply and winter. But it does add a very cyclical rhythm to the game with defined campaigning seasons and very limited objectives (usually) for a given year.

phoenix
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Mon Jul 03, 2017 8:50 am

Maybe I'm confusing your RUS AAR, Ripster, which has many missing pics. Now I start again on Conflagration it seems ok. Thanks.

Thanks for the supply wagon details. Most useful.

How do you get to play with all leaders activated? I assume you mean with something other than the activation slider set to the far right, as that only allows them to move, even if not activated. Is there something I can change to keep them all activated? I would like that, as don't understand the need for the activation check at all.

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Ripster8
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Mon Jul 03, 2017 8:43 pm

Hmm. I looked at the RUS AAR and all the pics seem to be there, too. But in any case the leader activation change is made from the initial game screen once it has finished loading. Select 'OPTIONS' and then 'GAME' and you should see a selection titled 'LEADER ACTIVATION'. I believe you move the slider all the way to the left and that allows all leaders to be activated every turn. Check the tool tip to make sure I am not leading you astray...

phoenix
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Mon Jul 03, 2017 9:13 pm

To the extreme right, in fact. That's how I missed it. Thanks.

The pics - many of them - don't show up for me in RUS, but they're ok in conflagration, thanks, which I've now read. Great AAR. And very helpful. I wonder if the AI would have been better if all the sliders had been maxed out in its favour? On the other hand, it went to sleep because it was stuffed, basically, which is fair enough, and, if you like, 'realistic'. The problem was it couldn't stop you wrecking it, so I guess maxing out the sliders in its favour might help. I note you didn't seem to have the 'Sweden entry issue' - ie that Sweden didn't enter until Denmark was defeated. Or did you? When you concluded the peace with the Danes was that a 'Danish defeat' and hence triggered the Swedes?

Anyway, great AAR. I don't have RUS but will lok at the AAR and decide whether to buy. What would you recommend, Ripster? I'm finding it quite gentle to learn this 'system' via TYW, but clearly I can see already that many aspects are missing from TYW that are present in the 'larger' games. I have bought (due to the sales) CW2, TEAW and already had, from long ago, but unplayed, WoN. I wonder which of those has the most reliable AI opponent? I've heard that the grand campaign in WoN runs into difficulty because the AI can't handle the minor nations too well. Have you played WoN, Ripster? Any opinions? Thanks again.

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Ripster8
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Tue Jul 04, 2017 5:31 pm

Thanks for your kind comments and glad you enjoyed the AAR's. I certainly enjoyed writing them. The TYW AI did run out of steam once I defeated the first large Protestant army, c. 1627? To keep the AAR going I started playing both sides and it turned out to be a pretty good game overall. The Swedes are very powerful early on and have lots of money so once they got organized they rolled back the Catholics quite well.

I have the following AGEOD games: TYW, ROP, TEAW, AJE, RUS, WON, CW2, and PON. It seems to me that the current AGE game engine is best suited to smaller, less grand strategic conflicts for two reasons. First the AI's conduct and second the turn processing time. The large the scale and complexity of the game the longer the turn processing time becomes, and the AI's flaws become more apparent. The turn processing time in PON was such that I could not bear to play it, even though I really wanted to! WON is similarly vexed with long turn processing times.

The AI tends to max out requisition/production possibilities, often to the detriment of national morale, and then creates a huge stack of death army which can trounce anything in the field but suffers terribly from attrition and supply problems. Also when and if the stack of death is defeated or suffers heavy casualties it wrecks national morale causing the AI countries to collapse/surrender. In my last game of TEAW the Western Allies created such a million-man army and were able to break through the German defenses repeatedly, but at a terrible cost in casualties. The Allies national morale was in the 40's when they surrendered.

So in my experience the AI does best with games like TYW, ROP, AJE and RUS. RUS also uses some scripting to assist the AI and I have found it very challenging, even playing as the Reds. In ROP I play as the Prussians and usually get a could fight from the AI. In AJE the Caesar vs. Pompey and Marius vs. Sulla scenarios are very good. In RUS I usually play as the Reds since I have had no luck playing as the Whites. In CW2 the AI does OK, but the AI Union suffers from the stack of doom mentality, and the AI South failed to defend Richmond effectively while sending raiders up into the Midwest and West.

All AGEOD games do well in PBEM, the problem being I much prefer single player. Also in single player you can play all sides in a conflict but that kind of defeats the purpose of a computer wargame, I think. My advice to AGEOD as they develop the new AGE game engine is to create a system that enhances AI play, probably by reducing the number of choices available to the AI by using scripting or other parameters that will keep it from trashing its own national morale, and avoiding the stack of doom mentality. It's great to have a beautiful map and a detailed historical OOB, character portraits, etc. but if the AI is weak the game is going to suffer for it.

Good luck and enjoy!

phoenix
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:52 pm

Thanks for the tips. I appreciate you taking time to answer. I think the games you list as best for single player games comprise a list I've seen others endorse too. I love playing PBEM, but never have the time I would like to devote with sufficient regularity, so also prefer SP.

In my TYW games at the moment (scenarios, Danish and Swedish - haven't got onto the full campaign yet) I've had to turn down the AI settings to stand a chance playing as Pro. If, in the Danish scenario, for example, I have them on aggressive with AI detect and activation bonuses (as recommended in game) then Tilly (especially, but also Wallenstein) is extremely mobile and aggressive, surprising and giving batle to all manner of units, some placed quite deep, and winning nearly every fight. That's a good thing, since I'm very new to it.

Might look at RUS, or even AJE. Cheers.

Baris
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Wed Jul 05, 2017 2:10 am

Swedish scenario was a bit difficult for Sweden side but as Ripster8 mentioned some Ageod games are designed to be played pbem. Failure in some critical moves may put opponent in bad situation just like AI play in TYW.
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3924400

With complicated division structure it is best to play CW'2 and RuS by Pbem. Victory conditions may not be perfect but the challenge is all that is important.

phoenix
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Wed Jul 05, 2017 7:33 am

Well, thanks Baris, but if that's true then I won't be buying RuS afetr all, as - for the reasons I gave - I much prefer SP. However, I've read only good things about the SP AI in RuS. Your suggestion that RuS is meant for PBEM only is the first I've seen saying that.

Baris
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Re: What is the secret to buying reinforcements?

Wed Jul 05, 2017 6:03 pm

I've started playing from vanilla RuS version. I think it may be a bit easier for me, solo play. Yes it is better overall in pbem play. But Reds against White AI may provide challenge, when AI difficulty setting increased.

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