Positional Awareness

[JonBrave]

So I'm sitting in my fort, in province A (at the front lines). Enemy has just taken an adjacent province (which was mine), Province B. There's also a province C of mine, adjacent to both A & B.

Let's say, I have a force in my fort in A about the same size as his force in B. I reckon I can beat his head-to-head, so bring it on.

So what should I do? Sit (patrol) in A? Attack to B where he is? Move to C hoping/expecting he will be going there too?

I face this all the time.

Oh, BTW, the opponent is the AI! Hence the question.

[bbz]

I see, vs AI its a bit tricky I always feel that it sort of cheats and picks the best province to attack(the one that I didn't decide to move into) . I'd suggest going to C hoping that hes gonna attack there.(Thats is if you are in war with the AI but since it attacked province of yours you are) This way you do 2 things prevent him from taking any provinces of yours(A has fort so he cant take it in one turn) and if it goes for the fort he is going to remain trying to take it so you can destroy his army and then move on to take his territories.

The other option is to attack his province but I find it as a fifty-fifty chance, but every time I do they seem to get lucky and move their army first taking my province C and moving futher in my territories raiding me(and annoying me), so that option feels a bit useless.

Hence I recommend option 1.(then if he doesnt attack C or A, you can attack him from C.This gives a higher chance of intercepting his army, if on the next turn he decides to attack C, If he decides to attack your fort you'd get B and he will be stuck on top of your fort so you can kill his army)If you manage to destroy his army first then you can move on to conquering him without loosing provinces and being raided by 10 small AI armies.

[rdonj]

The AI LOVES to attack forts, so if you have an army that does not outnumber theirs sitting in it, the AI is likely to attack the fort. Otherwise it will generally attack whatever province is the most poorly defended or that it can attack with the largest number of troops. Of course it's entirely possible the AI will attack more than one of those provinces as well. Long story short, make whatever decision you think is most likely to keep the AI threat contained.

[Kobal2]

All other things being equal, attack B. There are three things that can happen:

- the battle happens in B. This leaves the fort in A open for recruitment, reinforcement, and an exit route if you lose the battle
- the battle happens in A. This is functionally not different from choosing to patrol A.
- (rarely) both armies skip by each other. The AI is sieging A, but is now cut off because you took B. Doubling back will ensure they die to the last man (as long as you can otherwise hold B, which shouldn't be too hard against the AI).

Putting ~10 points more PD in C than in A should ensure the AI never sets foot in there.

Against humans... too many variables, really. Not to mention that the "penalty" for attacking, that is to say the one buffing turn the defender gets, is much more important when it's a human milking it for all it's worth.

[bbz]

Kobal2, the thing is though, buying PD it this turn, will not ensure that the AI doesnt attack C, because it wont be visible to the AI when it makes its decicision, so it doesnt make any difference on its choice for the next trun. So it can still go to C(if it attacks this turn). If it doesnt attack the next turn then the pd will come into consideration(or if JonBrave had some PD on C from beforehand).

[parone]

once the AI breaches, it is really a pain. seems like its 50-50-90)(50-50 chance u will chose right, but you get it right 90% of the time). try to keep ai borders well protected/minimized.

i too think the AI might get a little TOO lucky. but hey, at least it makes them a bit more challenging.

[thejeff]

Originally Posted by bbz

The other option is to attack his province but I find it as a fifty-fifty chance, but every time I do they seem to get lucky and move their army first taking my province C and moving futher in my territories raiding me(and annoying me), so that option feels a bit useless.

Just to be clear, in this situation the AI is only being lucky in choosing to attack C, not in moving first.

Movement is resolved first.
If he attacks from B->C and you attack from A->B, both moves will always complete and you will fight in B and him in C.

You cannot get lucky and catch a moving army before it moves. All you can do is attack the province it's moving into (A->C and B->C) or meet it when it attacks the same province you're attacking from (A->B and B->A)

[bbz]

Yea didn't know that, thats why the AI seemed lucky

[Olm]

Originally Posted by thejeff

Movement is resolved first.
If he attacks from B->C and you attack from A->B, both moves will always complete and you will fight in B and him in C.

You cannot get lucky and catch a moving army before it moves. All you can do is attack the province it's moving into (A->C and B->C) or meet it when it attacks the same province you're attacking from (A->B and B->A)

Is that sure?
I understood the manual to explain it different. What is the advantage then of calculating moves into friendly territory first?
If this is correct it would very much change my tactics in taking enemy provinces. Atm I usually go back to one of my own provinces to ensure I am not caught in the move, that wouldn't be necessary.
And what about armies attacking from different provinces. Will they always fight together? I am almost sure I have seen otherwise, one army being intercepted and not reaching the destination.

[thejeff]

Yes.
There does seem to be little advantage in doing friendly movement first. Moves of more than one province can pass through what will become contested territory

Armies attacking from different provinces can be intercepted by forces from the province they're attacking. If A attacks C and B attacks C, A can be stopped by attacking from C to A.