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Dortmund -> RE: Napoleon's Glory (1/26/2016 10:48:57 AM)
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[quote="Crimguy"]I'm in. I'm not buying until I get a new computer so this is as good as it gets for me.
Love to hear your thoughts on gameplay mechanics as you go.[/quote]
This game doesn't require a great computer to be played. Mine has 7 years and the turn goes a little slow, but no problem. ;)
[quote="Warspite"]Can you show more on the navies too please?[/quote]
Oh, man, I forgot to put here that important part. Sorry, I have to translate the AAR and I just forgot that part, that should be placed after the first post. Please pardon any mistakes in the text as english is not our native language. Here it is:
Initial situation. January 1, 1805.
At the start of the campaign Napoleon is located in Boulogne-sur-mer (Calais area) with a large army (which will be the Grande Armée) with the intention of invading England. But he needs a powerful fleet wich he lacks. With this purpose in December 1804 he pressured Spain to declare war on England and thus combine both fleets in order to try to defeat the English fleet. However, even combining both fleets he would’nt have enough power to defeat the much larger Royal Navy. But Napoleon was bold and thought he could archieve in the sea what he did into the battlefield, where he succeeded confronting very superior forces...
Objectives panel.
[image]http://www.puntadelanza.net/Publico/2015/AARs/20151230_AARWON_Dortmund/09Objectives.jpg[/image]
In this window we can see important information as the scoring, the objectives, the comparison of land / sea power and the national morale.
France is first at VPs value with an avantage of 1,250 points over Britain, the second nation in this list. If we reach 9,375 VPs we’ll win the game, so we have a 53% progression to victory.
In national morale we have 110 points, with a slight lead of 5 points over our archrival Britain. The other countries have a moral of 100.
The comparison of land / sea power figures quickly show us which army and fleet is more powerful now. Again we go ahead in terms of army (the stronger of all nations) but the English army is much more powerful: 4.32 times more than the French one. Here we can see that even adding the Spanish naval power to the French one, we would not reach even half the British power.
The big square shows us the objective cities of the nation and the value of his capture cities. Specially remarkable is the high value of London (150), whose capture would virtually end the war. Also noteworthy are Vienna (20) and Warsaw (15). The other cities have a value between 5 and 2 points.
Diplomacy
Let’s take a look at the allies and enemies of France. At the same time I will send the first diplomatic offers.
Friendly nations:
The friendliest countries are those part of the French Alliance: Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland and Berg.
France has alliance treaties with Bavaria and Fsansir’s Spain. The relations with Spain are 60, cordial. The relations are better with Bavaria, a nation that has a small but pretty decent army. The bad thing is that it is controlled by the AI, so I offer the Bavarians the possibility of entering the French Alliance, to see if I can manage to control this army someway.
Another friendly country is Nassau, which gives me military access and supplies. The relations are excellent (95), so I also offer them to join the French Alliance.
Enemies:
Britain and Hanover are now both members of the anti-French coalition and are at war with us. As Britain is protected by a large river called ocean we must pay attention to Hanover. Oldenburg and Hesse are the countries through which I must pass to get to Hanover, so I send diplomats to improve our relations.
Egypt is another country with bad relations with France -95, the result no doubt of Napoleon's expedition.
The kingdom of Piedmont (which only rules now Sardinia), with -50 also has bad relations. Russia and Austria also have the same number.
The kingdom of Sicily -25 relationships is also a possible target for the army of Massena, if allowed by the Austrians.
Neutral:
Baden, Wurtemberg and the Holy Roman Empire are other important countries to get along with so we can cross our troops thorugh its territory to reach Bavaria and Austria, so I propose state visits to the three states. Furthermore, I offer Baden and Wurtemberg local support, which means that in case of attack France will support them.
I see important too to get along with the papacy to reach the Kingdom of Sicily. State visit.
After all this diplomatic affairs, I have left 42 diplomats.
Strategic map. Status of fleets and armies.
In the strategic map we can see the position of the various forces involved, both our own and the enemy forces detected. We begin by fleets.
Fleets:
[image]http://www.puntadelanza.net/Publico/2015/AARs/20151230_AARWON_Dortmund/10aStrategicMapFleetA.jpg[/image]
As you can see, the English fleets block some of the most important ports on the Atlantic coast. As you will see, the French naval leaders are very poor. I remember that this is for historical reasons related to the French Revolution.
-In Brest is located my strongest squad, which can be more powerful because now suffers a command point penalty. I will send more admirals there if I can. A more powerful enemy fleet blocks the port.
-In Rochefort I have a small squad of different units.
-In Boulogne is a landing flotilla that is capable of carrying a large number of troops to England. However the escort vessels consist only of a few frigates and the transport ships have a ridiculous evasion capability.
-In Toulon is docked my second most powerful fleet. His admiral is Villeneuve... an incompetent commander with a strategic value of only 1 point, which means that if he tries to evade combat he’ll be caught almost always. Besides its low morale infects the fleet. I get rid of him leaving him on land immediately to try to avoid a Trafalgar battle. The commander who replaces him is not great but at least there is no command point penalty.
-In the Indic ocean there is a small but interesting flotilla, led by my best naval leader.
-In Saint Malo is a unit of corsairs. In the Civil War 2 fast ships play a good role for trade. In this game I do not know his role yet, but I think it's not the same because they have a low level of supplies.
Moreover, as already mentioned Fsansir, the English also strangle the Spanish Atlantic ports. Nelson is in Cadiz plugging the exit of the Cadiz spanish fleet. The same applies to La Coruna. The only unblocked Spanish fleet in the Iberian Peninsula is located in Cartagena.
Armies:
[image]http://www.puntadelanza.net/Publico/2015/AARs/20151230_AARWON_Dortmund/10StrategicMapB.jpg[/image]
France has two armies and can form a third one. A popup window warns us that we can have a maximum of 24 corps. Both armies as the bodies will increase as time goes on and the conflict intensifies.
Napoleon's army is located mostly around Boulogne, although other corps are located along the northern coast of France. In total it consists of 9 corps plus Napoleon’s one. The condition of these cops is excellent, for almost all contain units of all kinds, including support units as Headquarters (services that include doctors, engineers, signals, and instructors) and pontoons. Besides the units included in each body are balanced (infantry, cavalry, artillery ...), so I see no need to make any changes at all.
The second army is the Armée d'Italie commanded by Massena, a general who has very good characteristics of attack and defense but a mediocre strategic value. It is also a corrupt looter and (as Admiral Villeneuve) is a discouraged leader that lowers the morale of his troops. It has 4 bodies rather weak compared to Napoleon ones because this army has containment purpose.
We'll talk later in detail about the armies and their leaders.
Plans.
It seems rather soon to decide what to do. It’s winter, we have with Napoleon's army in the north and blocked fleets. For now I’ll just reinforce and I’ll keep playing diplomacy so the german states of the Rhine get closer to France’s interests.
Formation of new units
[image]http://www.puntadelanza.net/Publico/2015/AARs/20151230_AARWON_Dortmund/20Constr.jpg[/image]
There’s a great variety of new units to choose from. After thinking carefully I decide to build a couple of pontoon units and a corps HQ. I’ll put them in those coprs of Napoleon's army that lack them. This will improve the speed, fatigue recovery, artillery, experience gain, and so on of all units of the corps. The benefits are worth it. I also start the formation of a new infantry division in Torino to reinforce the army of Italy.
Regional decisions
Another great assortment of options to choose from. I’ve decided to play the following:
-Habeas Corpus, develop territory and requisition horses, all in Torino and Genoa. As you can see the Italians are going to bear the worse part of the French regional decisions... If I have luck, I'll put in jail the Piedmontese dissidents thereby winning 25% loyalty in these areas. I choose the decision "develop territory" just in case the "habeas corpus" fails, in order to win the loyalty lose by requisition horses. Horses are the scarcest resource in France.
-“Export Goods” in the Aegean sea to earn 200 pounds. Well away if the english player wants to avoid having to send ships to the other side of the Mediterranean.
-Runner In Boulogne. If we are lucky it will provide 300 pounds and 15 war supplies.
-Defensive works in Brest. It will improve the entrenchment in this area passing British ships. In theory, if the entrenchment is 5 or more, the batteries can shoot fleets, although it is uncertain as they are blocked.
-Draft In Nice, Toulon, Antwerp and Bruges. To get new recruits I lose 20% of loyalty and 3% of development in the selected areas. To compensate this I’ve decided to play in Antwerp and Bruges the two "develop territory" decisions left.
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