October 1759 – No Canada for you. Come back next year !
Well, October 1759 is a month of retreat on all fronts :
On the Champlain :
Surprised by winter, but it is not too bad.
On the Ontario :
Not too much to retreat, eh… Just an officer. The three other officer were sent to Quebec were I was lacking CP.
Note that the French did not insist either :
So the landing I was expecting did not happen.
And finally, I am going to lift the siege and retreat by ships in Quebec :
I say “by ship”, because it was not obvious. I had thought of taking Trois-Rivieres to have a full season in 1760. I did not, though, for too reasons :
- The supply output would not have been enough. My army needs 101 in supply, and Trois-Rivières has a level 2 city and a level 2 port, i.e 10 supply levels (in winter). Add a depot to this, that’s 20 supply levels, ergo 100 supplies produced. Just enough, but it means my army would have been depleted by attrition.
- I cannot go to Trois-Rivières in less than 2 turns, due to the enemy zone of controls, in red on the map.
For this reason, I evacuate by ships. I don’t want to be trapped by ice, either.
Beginner’s corner – Zone of control, Patrol, Evade
I might be wrong on a few points, as it is complex and the manual is not up-to-date.
One of the game concepts that you can play without for quite a long time before it bites you savagely is zone of control. Basically, zone of control are provinces you cannot go into without fighting your way first.
Each region has a “patrol” value, which is calculated is the addition of :
- The sum of the “Patrol” value of all the UNITS of a region, this patrol value being the average of the values of its elements.
- 100*The level of fortification of the province (if you own it)
This sum is then divided by the percentage of military control you have in the region.
This patrol value is then compared to the Evasion value of units trying to “get through”
The minimum value of the evasion value of an army (the better the higher) :
- A bonus if the weather is good, a malus if it is bad
- A bonus if the unit is small, a malus if it is big. Small is less than CP AND units large, large is more than 9 CP OR units large.
Here is where you find those values (with some examples) :
Once you have that, the Patrol value is divided by the Evade value. The “blocked” army cannot move in any adjacent region where its level of military control is less than this number.
Numerical example :
The enemy has a patrol value of 500. You want to go through with a gun unit (Evade : 2). You can only go in province with at least 500/2 = 250% of Military Control. Impossible.
The enemy has a patrol value of 500. Your cavalry has a Evade value of 12. 500/12 = 41,7% You can only go in the provinces where you have at least 42% of Military Control.
Remember you don’t count the Patrol value of the provinces you want to move IN. Only the ones you want to move TO.
Practical examples. In Montréal, the French patrol value is :
- A level two fort : 200
- The units – 34. I opened the French file to know this (the game is finished).
- Military Control : 75%
Patrol value : (200+34)*0,75 = 176.
Here are some examples based on this. Remember that due to the “small size” bonus that I cannot calculate to add to the theorical value, and a bonus due to the stormy weather.
The Patrol / Evade might also have a link with the chance to be intercepted when avoiding battle, but I don’t know more.
Conclusion : it might be useful to send a small unit first when you want to go somewhere in enemy ZOC, so you raise your Military Control. Then, you can move the rest of the army.
End of beginner’s corner
In the South, we exchange our position, as I take the boat and they take the road :
The difference is that the French left no one in Savannah, which is now mine. Pity I could not capture the boats, though.