Tactics: Attacking Movement
Date: August 20, 2008 11:26AM
Hola amigos!
This is a guide of how to make optimal attacking moves in a number of situations, a vital part of success in this game. However optimal your tactics are however, they are useless without a strong strategy, so if you are new be sure to check out Strategy of Paars in the forum.
Righty-ho then, lets begin. For my example I will use the classic 3v3 battlefield of Moldovia/Bulgaria where we control Moldovia and our opponent Bulgaria, but this guide can be applied to any provinces. I will list the armies in the provinces in this order: (Ukraine/Moldovia/Bulgaria/Byzantium). Eg (10/5/20/10)
First of all it is vital to understand that the order you make your moves in during the alotted time is the order you will move in! So attacking moves should almost always be done first and backland moves last. I can't stress this enough!
Situation 1. (10/8/10/0) (The Counterstrike)
So Bulgaria outnumbers Moldovia and if our opponent gets 1st move, we will lose it. So our 1st move is to reinforce it with the 10 armies in Ukraine. Now say we get 1st move, and then Bulgaria attacks and kills 10. Now we have 8 in Moldovia and 0 in Bulgaria. We were smart and anticipated this and made our second move Moldovia attacks Bulgaria! Now instead of losing Moldovia, we gain Bulgaria!
This is one of the most important moves to learn as this situation will arise constantly.
Situation 2. (0/10/8/10) (The Hail Mary)
Now the situation is reversed, so we need to watch out for the same move as above. Either we do not attack Bulgaria and we are near certain to keep Moldovia, or we attack Bulgaria and risk losing Moldovia. This decision must be made taking in alot of different factors, which comes down to one idea: Who is set to lose most? If Moldovia is primitive but Bulgaria is advanced, we must try to attack, and if it fails bad luck. But if Moldovia is better, just stay and hold it and rely on buying armies to beat the next attack.
Situation 3. (0/10/2/10) (The Freebie)
This may look similar to Situation 2 but it is not. In this case we can attack bulgaria AND keep Moldovia for certain. Just make your 1st move to attack with 5 instead of all 10. If 1st turn is ours we take Bulgaria, if not their reinforcements will fight our attack off, but we still have 5 armies in Moldovia to defend the counterattack from only 2 armies in Bulgaria! Remember even though they may have more in a province after they reinforce, they can only attack with what was there initially!
Situation 4. (The Sidestep)
Ok lets make the situation a bit more complex. You have taken Bulgaria from your opponent and have 10 armies there. Now Byzantium and Macedonia have 5 and 7 armies respectively, and both provinces are equally developed. Now most players will assume you will attack Byzantium because you have a great chance of winning 10v5. Therefore they will attack you with the 7 from Macedonia, and if they move first and kill 7 armies of yours, your next attack will be 3v5 in Byzantium which you will lose. So to avoid this situation, attack Macedonia instead! Then it doesnt matter who goes first, you are nearly gauranteed the win.
Situation 5. (The Cap Trap)
Lets move away from out example provinces and say we have a large army in Genoa next to our opponents capital, Roma say. The army in his captial outnumbers ours and since we have no reinforcements nearby his army will defeat ours if they meet. However, he can not move since he is cap-trapped! Let me show you why. If he tries to attack us with his army, but we get 1st turn and move from Genoa to Corsica, his capital will be either weakly defended while his large army is in Genoa. Now he is in danger of losing his capital should we move 1st again!
In some situations it is better to risk losing your capital like this than staying in and defending, for example if no help is nearby and you are in danger of losing should you not take your provinces back immeadiately.
Situation 6. (20/20/15/15) (The Counter-Counterstrike)
Finally, this move is very useful for chokepoint battles like Moldovia/Bulgaria or England/Brittany and you expect your opponent to try and counterstrike you. Instead of trying to take Bulgaria in your 1st turn and leave yourself open for the counterstrike, reinforce from your backland and then attack Bulgaria on your LAST move. What usually happens is your opponent will reinforce his land, then attempt the counterstrike in his second move with 15 armies, which your 40 will fight off, leaving 25 in Moldovia and 15 in Bulgaria. Now your last attack will be 20 vs 15, and you have taken Bulgaria without danger to yourself.
That is it for this part of the Tactics guide, if people find it useful let me know and I may do more. Also if anyone has something to add please do!
I hope this will help your game reach the next level.
Happy Conquering!