Imperialism II Army Compositions
Jim
much to the detriment of a few responsibilities. However, I am trying to
determine the best army compostion for attacking other great powers' forts
(yeah, I know, it depends upon what is defending the forts). My troops
constantly get routed while storming a fort.
In the beginning (well, after my first couple games at least), I became
infatuated with the light artillery (that was after discovering that bowmen and
heavy artillery weren't particularily useful). However, even with a large
number of them, they are dispensed rapidly if the power has 4 or more artillery
supporting a level 2 or 3 fort. The light artillery is quite expensive to
replace. I then tried using the calvary, but they don't seem good for much of
anything (maybe if there weren't any forts). Recently, I have been adding some
light infantry to draw the fire of the guns, but that still doesn't seem to buy
me enough.
If any experts have some thoughts on army composition (for both offense and
defense), I would appreciate it.
Also, I don't normally upgrade my naval units all that much (except for the
three I start out with). The all-purpose galleons become transport ships, and I
keep them throughout the game. Has anyone become convinced that it is worth the
materials to do the upgrade (as opposed to gobbling up another worker and build
an additional ship)?
Jim Dancho
ps. If anyone can provide a list correlating the colors of the flags (I am
color blind) to the great powers, that would be useful. More than once, I have
declared war against the wrong power which hurts as I stubbornly cling to the
iron-man philosophy (no reloads in real life even if you are color blind). I
suppose I could try to do this myself (can't find it in the manual), but it is
a time consuming process (have to find the flags first).
Rich Goranson
>much to the detriment of a few responsibilities. However, I am trying to
>determine the best army compostion for attacking other great powers' forts
>(yeah, I know, it depends upon what is defending the forts). My troops
>constantly get routed while storming a fort.
>
>In the beginning (well, after my first couple games at least), I became
>infatuated with the light artillery (that was after discovering that bowmen
>and
>heavy artillery weren't particularily useful). However, even with a large
>number of them, they are dispensed rapidly if the power has 4 or more
>artillery
>supporting a level 2 or 3 fort. The light artillery is quite expensive to
>replace. I then tried using the calvary, but they don't seem good for much of
>anything (maybe if there weren't any forts). Recently, I have been adding
>some
>light infantry to draw the fire of the guns, but that still doesn't seem to
>buy
>me enough.
Don't just charge. You can use your artillery to knock down a hole in the wall
that the defending artillery doesn't cover, then send in the troops, cavalry to
run through the breach and infantry to attempt to draw fire and move towards
the fortifications. Light cavalry does indeed draw fire well but can also move
quickly enough to engage the defending artillery. I do like to give the PO a
variety of things to shoot at. With me he can normally damage a fair number but
can rarely kill everyone.
>
>If any experts have some thoughts on army composition (for both offense and
>defense), I would appreciate it.
It does sound like you do not know when discretion is the better part of
valour. If you are attacking a fortified position and the forces are relatively
equal your chance of success is small. There are times when it is best just to
retreat before becoming engaged. As for bowmen, I have never used any. I prefer
to use fast moving lancers, particularly in open terrain battles.
>
>Also, I don't normally upgrade my naval units all that much (except for the
>three I start out with). The all-purpose galleons become transport ships, and
>I
>keep them throughout the game. Has anyone become convinced that it is worth
>the
>materials to do the upgrade (as opposed to gobbling up another worker and
>build
>an additional ship)?
In my experience, it is normally pointless to upgrade ships unless they have
many medals. Ships don't get experience as well as land units do. It is rare
where I am THAT short on food where I have to play games with resources to
limit my population. I suppose it would depend on your home country setup.
>
>Jim Dancho
>
>ps. If anyone can provide a list correlating the colors of the flags (I am
>color blind) to the great powers, that would be useful. More than once, I
>have
>declared war against the wrong power which hurts as I stubbornly cling to the
>iron-man philosophy (no reloads in real life even if you are color blind). I
>suppose I could try to do this myself (can't find it in the manual), but it
>is
>a time consuming process (have to find the flags first).
It seems that only Firaxis will make a patch for colour blind players. I truly
hope that this becomes more common.
Sweden - Gold cross on light blue field
England - Red, white and blue Union Jack
France - Gold fleur-de-lis on dark blue field, aka "France ancient"
Portugal - Green with red bordure seme with estucsheons (shields)
Spain - Castile's castle and Leon's lion in quarters
Holland - Red, white and orange horizontal tricolour
Germany - Red, white and black tricolour with black maltese cross
Italy - Red, white and green tricolour
Ireland - Green, white and orange tricolour
Switzerland - White couped cross on red field
Scotland - Red lion on gold field surrounded by the Scottish "seme-de-lis"
bordure.
I'm doing this from memory so if I've made an error, please correct me...
Rich Goranson (Lord Stephan Calvert deGrey)
Buffalo, NY (Barony of the Rhydderich Hael, Æthelmearc)
Diplomacy addict, F&E guru, Expos fan and medieval re-creationist
"I could have conquered Europe, all of it, but I had women in my life." - Henry
II
Kim
> It seems that only Firaxis will make a patch for colour blind players. I
truly
> hope that this becomes more common.
>
> Sweden - Gold cross on light blue field
> England - Red, white and blue Union Jack
> France - Gold fleur-de-lis on dark blue field, aka "France ancient"
> Portugal - Green with red bordure seme with estucsheons (shields)
> Spain - Castile's castle and Leon's lion in quarters
> Holland - Red, white and orange horizontal tricolour
> Germany - Red, white and black tricolour with black maltese cross
> Italy - Red, white and green tricolour
> Ireland - Green, white and orange tricolour
> Switzerland - White couped cross on red field
> Scotland - Red lion on gold field surrounded by the Scottish "seme-de-lis"
> bordure.
>
> I'm doing this from memory so if I've made an error, please correct me...
Don't worry, we will :)
Andrew Harding
methods that are useful for taking out forts.
The first isn't about army composition at all, but about strategy. Try to
threaten multiple provinces with attack so the defender has to either split
his force or guess where you are going. If you can only afford one offensive
army and the border is narrow this will require a port in the province
containing your army and enough ships to feint an invasion of several other
provinces. (Against the AI, consider setting up for the attack and then
waiting a turn to see where the enemy troops go, then attack a weakly
defended province). Because of the cash cost of invading, you want to be
sure that your attacks are going to succeed.
The usual method, as the manual notes, is light artillery class units
combined with enough range fire capable force to draw the fire from the
defenders, so the artillery can get it's shots in without opportunity fire.
Sufficent artillery can destroy defending cannon without ever being fired
upon themselves. If you do not have ranged supporting units it may be
possible to destroy the fortifications at one end of the wall, allowing
knights or lancers through to draw fire then firing with the artillery.
As force size and quality climbs, this becomes harder. In the late game, I
don't take artillery in province assaults, leaving them to defend my own
provinces. (Mainly because of the cost of replacing the artillery, which
tends to die when attacking large forces even when enemy opportunity fire
being drawn off - when the AI gets it's turn artillery is a mightily
atractive target). I use a small number (3-4) of light infantry, a small
number of light cavalry (0-4) and a lot of heavy infantry (all remaining
slots). The light infantry use their speed and range to draw enemy fire,
which they survive better than any other unit. The heavy infantry remove the
emplaced guns and target whatever else they can reach. The cavalry sweep
through the holes made when the emplaced guns are destroyed and melee weaker
or damaged enemy units, then move to end their turn adjacent to enemy heavy
artillery.
Hope that helps. Oh, and don't forget ships - a strong blockade is a very
powerful weapon mid to late game. I won my last game with one (Spain was
vastly ahead in army size and quality, but thirty frigates rapidly put paid
to the diamond convoy and the army didn't move much after a few turns.)
Andrew Harding
Jim wrote in message <19991103002934...@ng-fa1.aol.com>...
>I have recently purchased Imperialism II and have been enjoing it quite a
bit
>much to the detriment of a few responsibilities. However, I am trying to
>determine the best army compostion for attacking other great powers' forts
>(yeah, I know, it depends upon what is defending the forts). My troops
>constantly get routed while storming a fort.
>
>In the beginning (well, after my first couple games at least), I became
>infatuated with the light artillery (that was after discovering that bowmen
and
>heavy artillery weren't particularily useful). However, even with a large
>number of them, they are dispensed rapidly if the power has 4 or more
artillery
>supporting a level 2 or 3 fort. The light artillery is quite expensive to
>replace. I then tried using the calvary, but they don't seem good for much
of
>anything (maybe if there weren't any forts). Recently, I have been adding
some
>light infantry to draw the fire of the guns, but that still doesn't seem to
buy
>me enough.
>
>If any experts have some thoughts on army composition (for both offense and
>defense), I would appreciate it.
>
>Also, I don't normally upgrade my naval units all that much (except for the
>three I start out with). The all-purpose galleons become transport ships,
and I
>keep them throughout the game. Has anyone become convinced that it is worth
the
>materials to do the upgrade (as opposed to gobbling up another worker and
build
>an additional ship)?
>
Jeff Drummond
In article <19991103002934...@ng-fa1.aol.com>, jada...@aol.comha-ha (Jim) writes:
|> I have recently purchased Imperialism II and have been enjoing it quite a bit
|> much to the detriment of a few responsibilities. However, I am trying to
|> determine the best army compostion for attacking other great powers' forts
|> (yeah, I know, it depends upon what is defending the forts). My troops
|> constantly get routed while storming a fort.
|>
|> In the beginning (well, after my first couple games at least), I became
|> infatuated with the light artillery (that was after discovering that bowmen and
|> heavy artillery weren't particularily useful). However, even with a large
|> number of them, they are dispensed rapidly if the power has 4 or more artillery
|> supporting a level 2 or 3 fort. The light artillery is quite expensive to
|> replace. I then tried using the calvary, but they don't seem good for much of
|> anything (maybe if there weren't any forts). Recently, I have been adding some
|> light infantry to draw the fire of the guns, but that still doesn't seem to buy
|> me enough.
|>
|> If any experts have some thoughts on army composition (for both offense and
|> defense), I would appreciate it.
For offense, you need some light infantry or light cavalry to soak up the
enemy's opportunity fire and first salvo. Send them in first to draw fire,
and then your light artillery will have a chance to do some damage. There
are a lot of variations on this theme. Forts defended with massed artillery,
however, are always difficult. Best to avoid them and attack elsewhere if
possible.
For defense, artillery rules, but it's expensive. If you want to be able
to counterattack and destroy some attacking units (or just to ensure that
you can fight and still retreat), then I find cavalry and light artillery
to be most useful.
|> Also, I don't normally upgrade my naval units all that much (except for the
|> three I start out with). The all-purpose galleons become transport ships, and I
|> keep them throughout the game. Has anyone become convinced that it is worth the
|> materials to do the upgrade (as opposed to gobbling up another worker and build
|> an additional ship)?
Upgrades are probably a waste of material on transports, because you can
get a new ship for the same amount of material plus keep your old ship.
The only time it might be advisable is if/when you're really tight on food,
and the extra labor becomes an issue.
However, older ships are also slower ships. If you're being blockaded or
even if raiders are operating in your capital's sea zone, then newer,
faster ships may be more likely to evade capture.
-Jeff j...@cray.com
--
"For a soldier I listed, to grow great in fame. And be shot at for sixpence
a day." --Charles Dibdin, 1745-1814
STEAMFAX
firepower and though shorter range than cannon, are dangerous once in range of
whatever they they target.
Mob rush them with muskeeters.
sum...@mediaone.net
I dont use ANY artillery at all-it's just not cost effective. 4-6
light inf to soak up damage, the rest all regular inf. Art are routed
with a single shot of equilivant tech art-and it takes 4+ art shots to
rout a fortified art. Once the inf rout the first art(2nd round of
combat), it blows a hole in the wall you can go through-even fire
through. Havent tried this in a while but the early versions let you
send multiple waves if you went from different countries, I think they
changed this tho.