A Welshman's Quest for Doritos

[Selzro]

As long as your +4 attack general lives, this appears to be the best course of action. You can attack their armies when they split up or become weakened from attrition, and follow them with small bands of irregulars who liberate the provinces they occupy, while you build up warscore through battles alone. If their army becomes so weak that you can go on the offensive on their turf, that will mean you can look forward to some territorial expansion as well (Oregon, perhaps?).

[WelshDude]

As long as your +4 attack general lives, this appears to be the best course of action. You can attack their armies when they split up or become weakened from attrition, and follow them with small bands of irregulars who liberate the provinces they occupy, while you build up warscore through battles alone. If their army becomes so weak that you can go on the offensive on their turf, that will mean you can look forward to some territorial expansion as well (Oregon, perhaps?).

So, a strategy of retreating, and then slipping irregulars past the line to retake provinces, and attacking forces less powerful than mine? It goes against my stubborness, but you've got a definite point - and a track record to back it up. I'll start playing now, but further additions from anyone are welcomed. No matter how bad you are, you'll probably still better than me .

[WelshDude]

Symmetry is a wonderful thing. Next update played out, now I've just got to write it.

[Dewirix]

Although you've already played it out, I'd echo Selzro's comments. Send your regular infantry army against smaller US stacks that you can beat before they're reinforced. If you can, surround and wipe out US formations, and don't risk your own troops piecemeal. Only try to retake lost territory if there's no chance you'll get attacked doing it. You can't afford to lose brigades like the Americans can.

[Commandante]

Although you've already played it out, I'd echo Selzro's comments. Send your regular infantry army against smaller US stacks that you can beat before they're reinforced. If you can, surround and wipe out US formations, and don't risk your own troops piecemeal. Only try to retake lost territory if there's no chance you'll get attacked doing it. You can't afford to lose brigades like the Americans can.

I second this motion. Let the US armies enter Mexico and try to beat as many of them separately there. You can either build war score through beating their armies and hounding after them until they're destroyed, or you can surround and annihilate them and get war score through occupying territory.

If you hound their armies to build war score and then occupy the state you want (Oregon is a good suggestion), you have a good chance of forcing the US to relent. ¡Arriba!

[WelshDude]

I appear to have lost a couple of screens, But I'll attempt to give you an explanation of what happened. Basically, Houston fell, and I started to move all my troops into Dallas, which is a jungle and gets a defensive bonus. Unfortunately, I accidentally left a brigade in Okmulgee, and the following happened.



Obviously I can't affordd to throw troops down the drain like that. But my 'divide and conquer' strategy means I do have to do stuff like this:



But the USA is far stronger than me. One of the provinces I occupied in the previous update is taken back easily, and I've got to say there's really not much I can do about it.

But I have been occupying parts of Colorado for a while now (I left occupying forces when I was hounding in the last chapter), and it's finally starting to pay off.



I won't bore you with all the screens, but the fact is most of Colorado is occupied soon after this.

In an added bonus, I get some prestige!



See, other countries sing our praises! Wish they'd stop the USA steamrollering us then, but you can't have everything. Unless you're the UK in 1.2.

I was going through the diplomacy screen, to see what nations I have to overtake to for Great Powerness, and I found this.



Industry 0, Military 20, both far below me, and they're a GP! That's the effect Idealism (and possibly Romanticism) has. It won't last, but it's a bonus all the same.



Okmulgee falls, this means my stack, which I have moved to Oklahoma City, will soon be under attack.



Unfortunately, with all this, I miss a rather large army on the western front.



*Sigh*



You know they say bad news comes in threes? Well, here is proof:



This is not the disaster it would have been five years ago, but it's still a sad end for a Mexican hero. Fare well, we salute you, and all the rest of it. Now let's get back to good stuff.



Sorry for the bad screen. What you can see here is my 36,000 strong army in a jungle, commanded by a +3 defensive general, with the (offmap) 33,000 US troops steaing towards it from Okmulgee. You can also see twenty thousand US troops sitting in Pueblo. Together these two armies would pose a great threat to my stronghold. The thing is, in an example of the AI needing severe improvement, the twenty thousand troops are standing still. No further comment is required.

Anyway, they attack, and I'm liking the dice rolls.



But not as much as I like the casualties.



Yes, that 1414 dead per day for the USA., and 88 for Mexico. Just shows the wonders of defensive strongholds.

This unfortunately does not last.



Terrible isn't it?



Ok, enough of the deadpan, this huge. To illustrate how big this is, take a look at that 3.7 score. Take a good, long look at it. And then look at this.



Do a bit of basic maths and yes, you will have noticed that one battle has turned the war completely on it's head.

And that's not all. My momentum gathers - is it victory I smell in the air?





Of course, the USA has other ideas. It needs to respond, and those troops that were hanging back go in.



It's New Year's Eve. The election results will be announced tomorrow. A battle has just started that will decide the fate of the war. What's gonna happen? Find out next time on A Welshman's Quest fro Doritos, san Vic2 time, same Vic2 station!

[Selzro]

Ignacio Kosterlitzky will be mourned, but Mexico has a new hero in Salvador Ruiz! Oklahoma City will no doubt one day be renamed Ruiz City in his honour!

[Prince of Savoy]

Wow man, I don't think I could stand under this much pressure from the US.

Peace out quickly and brace for Manifest Destiny.

[Avindian]

Dallas is a jungle?!

Epic update; I really like the byplay between your army and the Americans. I'm anxious to see what happens!

[tamius23]

Poor Lippe-Detmold can't become a GP - the need to have more than one state. Therefore, you needn't overtake them. Does that make you feel better?

[VagabondvonLMG]

Really loving this AAR!

[Tanzhang (譚張)]

Wow man, I don't think I could stand under this much pressure from the US.

Peace out quickly and brace for Manifest Destiny.

Thing is though, if he does that he'll be bracing for the rest of the game. If he's in any position at all to weaken the US by taking some of their territory, he should do so. Either that or wait for the CSA and steal some of their teritory, but that could be 20 years away.

[Dewirix]

Thing is though, if he does that he'll be bracing for the rest of the game. If he's in any position at all to weaken the US by taking some of their territory, he should do so. Either that or wait for the CSA and steal some of their teritory, but that could be 20 years away.

Yeah, it's a tough one. While in the long run your best bet is to wait for the Civil War and intervene to keep the South from losing, if you can get concessions out of them in this war then so much the better. Remember, a beaten-but-still-at-war-with-you US is no threat. Once you make peace, the five-year countdown starts again, and they'll use that time to rebuild their armies and come at you with even more. If you can string the war out while you're winning, and it doesn't cost you a fortune, do it.

[Vaya con Queso]

Once you make peace, the five-year countdown starts again, and they'll use that time to rebuild their armies and come at you with even more.

Not if he cuts them down to size =P

[brycef]

Not if he cuts them down to size =P

That is a very costly war goal to get. He'd have to occupy a lot of US territory and states to get that goal I'm afraid, but yes that would solve some of his problems.

It comes down to how much money you have (or willingness to go into debt) to fight the war to the bloody end (i.e. total elimination of the American Army and occupation of all the US). If you can do it then you should. Get as much territory and war goals (like Cut Down to Size) as you can get. If on the other hand you don't think you can totally defeat all US forces with your current army or afford a long war, then it becomes a matter of how good a peace you can get before economic/military collapse occurs.

[Vaya con Queso]

Yeah, I sort of meant that as a joke. It would be awesome if he could manage it, but I'm aware that doing so would be highly unlikely. With only 18 brigades, the best he could (realistically) hope for is to get a white peace, and then spend the next five years focusing on closing the military gap, both in terms of army quality and quantity.

[Retrograde]

Yeah!! Pick off the imperialist gringos one by one! Arriba arriba andale andale!

[morningSIDEr]

A very well fought defensive war, I get the feeling you may just be able to sneak something from this (besides your survival of course). If you can beat America now, you'll be able to beat her again in the future. Hang in there!

[Juan_de_Marco]

forget about occupying everything near your own border. focus on occupying factories (they give you up to 5x the warscore compared to a non-factory province) and the state that you want (when occupied, a state costs 1/2 the initial demanded warscore). New York can be very profitable: Has a lot of population and a lot of factories. Useful for the future, especially as it cuts a part of the US off. Better to claim one good state than two of the plains' states, you probably will not have enough BB to spare to claim two states. Then fill New York with Forts to slow down re-occupation for the next war.

[WelshDude]

Right, politics first. To coin a phrase, they'll be dancing in the streets of Liberal tonight.



Ok, that's not much of a shock, but let me tell you, this is.



I have a new part in government. Which is Laizzez Faire and Free Trade. Oh well.

And back to the war, I'm doing pretty damn fine, even if I do say so myself.



That'll do, to say the least. And it does.



Only 2.7 warscore this time, but that's still a great advantage. Which is followed by a smaller disadvantage.



My army in Okmulgee had been attacked newly-recruited US troops, and I intended to send my main army to reinforce it after the battle was over. Unfortunately, it finished a bit late. Oh well.



The US is continuing to attack me, but if you'll look, you'll see a flag inthe above screen...



What should I do? What do I do? I'm open to advice. Oh, and sorry about the late update. I bought Shogun 2.