A newbie blunders forth - A Sardina-Piedmont PON AAR

loki100 said:

All you need is for the Austrian AI to do the decent thing and attack you

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Lets hope so! Although if it would be kind enough to wait until I wrap up my campaign in Somalia it would be appreciated. I am certainly not going to attack Austria as they as in your game have a defensive alliance with Prussia (plus Baden and another south german minor).

Stuyvesant said:

The natives have 25,000 soldiers holed up in their tiny, pre-industrial fort? I didn't even know there were that many people in Somalia at the time...

On a more serious note, will those massive numbers pose a threat to you, or are you sufficiently advanced that you'll be able to beat them, even at something like 10-to-1 odds against you?

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As JoeCon says the numbers are the other way around. There is a slightly strange mechanic at work where the fort in Mogadishu when attacked gets a 'Call to muster' which seems to give 5 garrison elements for free which promptly disappear after the battle is concluded. I am also slightly confused anyway why static elements inside the fortification are included in the battle for the province.

That is part of the reason though why I declared war (other than drunkeness) which is to try and come to grips with the intracies of the combat system in a relatively cost free way (or so I hope)

Joecon said:

The battle was the other way round, 25k Italian troops versus 2k natives, just the sort of odds Italy likes.

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Not just Italy I like those odds I am also considering bringing an even bigger stick.

loki100 said:

the number problem is common across the AGE games. Commonly you see if you have a force in defend (or in a fort) in a province where another unit is attacking. Its hugely misleading (& can be very panic inducing), best solution if it looks odd is to open the detailed reports - you'll see right at the top how many elements were engaged and this is a better measure of overall commitment to the actual combat.

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I am obviously missing something here how do you open the detailed combat report (apologies for being dense)?

1858 January to June

Diplomacy

Church bells ring throughout the kingdom as finally Switzerland agrees to a commercial agreement. In fact our diplomats are positively knocked off their feet when Britain also signs a commercial agreement at the first time of asking.

The reason for obtaining this agreement in the first place was to enable a coal mine to be built on the coal resource in France-Comte. Unfortunately the local population there is in a state of rebellion with the Swiss authorities who seem very reluctant to deal with the situation. We will now turn our attention to obtaining passage rights to help move on the local rebels.

The pope causes much gnashing of teeth in the corridors of power by his continual refusal to allow our peace loving troops to march through his country.

Diplomatic relations



Elsewhere the world basks in peace other than the ongoing conflicts of China versus the Taipang rebels and Persia versus Afghanistan.

And someone takes a pot shot at Napoleon (the next event in the unification chain)



An earthquake in southern Italy



Majerteyn War Sept 1857 to ?

Very little action on this front in the last 6 months as our forces were waiting for further reinforcements to arrive before assuming the offensive.

The status quo



Finally in early May General Franti arrives with a newly raised marine brigade, a light cavalry brigade and supply wagons.

After waiting a couple of weeks General Franti organises a flying column consisting of a colonial brigade, the marines, a field artillery regiment and the light cavalry. This force moves up the coast to attack Hobyo under cover of the naval squadron off shore



The enemy quietly slips out of the province to Ogadon before any hostilities occur. General Franti establishes full control of the province and proceeds with the building of a fort and mission station.

Next month we will attempt to bring the main enemy force to action in Ogadon.

Economy

We modified our Maritime Tax in March from 5% to 3% with the aim of attracting more foreign traders to use our merchant fleets (Maritime tax is one of the factors involved in deciding which country gets the resource when demand exceeds supply)

In January the populations of Genova and La Spezia both increased. This seems to have coincided with a substantial rise in the number of conscripts we are recruiting (from 6 to 13 a turn).

In May we passed more education reforms and in the following month we mastered the Military Medal technology which we had been funding.



This allows us in June to issue our first Military Medals for chasing nomads around the desert (+2 officers and reduced militancy)

We are now funding Muzzle loading rifles.

We started the construction of the following:

• Merchant fleet
• Shipyard in Sardinia (March)
• Iron extraction in Alessandria (April)

We completed the following

• Military Gear in Liguria (January)
• Textile shop in Sardinia (April)
• Manufactured goods factory in La Spezia (May)
• Merchant fleet sent to Bay of Bengal trade box

Our internal demand is

• 20 Food (+1)
• 16 Common Goods
• 11 Luxuries

We supplied this demand at 100% over this period. Our average satisfaction is 98% ; our militancy stands at 0%; literacy remains at 77%.

Our population breakdown is

• Peasants 57%
• Workers 26%
• Middle class 12%
• Upper class 3%
• Aristocrats 2%

Organic Stockpile


Inorganic


In early May we have sufficient gold and gems to enable us to convert them to state funds.

Military

We have added

• Marine brigade
• Heavy cavalry and line infantry replacements
• Exploration party
• Field hospital
• Supply wagon
• Cavalry division

Liguria completes its expansion to a level 20 naval base. Construction begins on expanding our depots in Piedmont and Alessandria

Colonisation

We are now focussing on our colonisation efforts even to the detriment of our economic build up in attempt to close the prestige gap with the (many) nations above us. The short term focus is to overhaul Japan.

• Prospecting in Mogadishu finds us a wool resource
• Anthropological and Natural Society expeditions are completed (125 prestige)
• A natural society and geographic society expedition are currently underway in Tripoli.
• Loughberang trade post
• Mission and fort in Hobyo

Our aim is to ensure that the limited expedition options available to us are always in play to maximise our prestige gain.

Prestige

loki100 said:

how do you get that rather useful little prestige screen? Also once you've beaten Austria looks like you will need to do something to slow down the British.

Its odd what is the same as in my game. I too have seen a long term Swiss revolt in Comte, which they are ignoring.

Well done with the commercial agreements. As a test I reduced my tariffs to not very much for a few turns - the resultant increase in international love towards S-P was impressive

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Between the pride of nations logo at the top left of the screen and the resource summary is an innocuous looking green and red gauge. If you hold the mouse over it you get the screen. Don't ask me why such useful information is hidden here As much as I love this game I do think some of the information could be presented in a more logical way a straight forward country comparison screen would be nice.

Your right about Britain and Austria now all I need to figure out is how to beat the worlds second largest land power and the worlds biggest naval power easy

Stuyvesant said:

Color me thoroughly embarrassed for not spotting that. If I didn't already have a headache today, I'd do a little Homer Simpson-esque "D'oh" forehead slap.

I like your military intervention in the Horn of Africa. It's not too complicated, not too many troops involved, so it's a nice way to get to grips with the way things work.

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Its definately helping me get to grips with the supply side and how to organise my miltary. I am not sure I have these things mastered yet as all I have managed to do so far is chase my foe from province to province. As soon as I arrive they retreat without any casualties. Still a nice fun diversion from calculating how much wood I need to buy this turn:happy:

Sathariel said:

People are making me wanna play PoN again . Tried to start that game on a several occasions and I failed each and every single time, but maybe instead of trying to play Prussia, UK or the USA, some small Sardinia could be more suiting for my limited skills. Anyway, I`ll follow this AAR, maybe I`ll learn something (actually already did, in my game as Prussia I had no idea how the colonization works and I found out a bit about it here ).

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Glad this has helped some and good to have you on board!

I know where you are coming from the game is very daunting when you start (For my first game I tried Russia needless to say that ended in confusion after only a few turns). I would strongly recommend Sardinia-Piedmont as a starting nation even though the starting economy is a basket case you have a limited number of provinces to worry about and it is much easier to identify the problem areas (getting a handle on the economic side of things is the key to the rest of the game in my opinion). You also have a very tightly defined goal in unifying Italy with the ability to dip your toe into the colonial side of the game (One draw back with SP is you don't get the full range of colonial options until you have formed Italy)

1858 July to December

Diplomacy

After some positive diplomatic exchanges our relationship with Britain has warmed considerably and we now consider them friendly to our nation. We hope to extend this friendship in the future by asking for access to Britain’s ports around the globe. This will now become a major goal of our future diplomatic efforts and will give very real strategic advantages.

Relations with the USA also continue to slowly improve. Our goal here is to sign a commercial agreement to aid us in accessing their vast gold reserves.

As usual the governments of Switzerland and the Papal States continue to stonewall our efforts at passage rights through their country. Our efforts in this regard will continue next year.

Not previously mentioned was the fact that several years ago we made diplomatic overtures to our Italian brother states regarding the grand project of a unifyed Italy. All have since signed up to the principle of unification (i.e. I played the unification decisions on their capital provinces until they agreed to unification. This is the 2nd way to unify Italy minus the Austrian controlled provinces but does allow you to keep Savoire and Alpes-Maritime rather than ceding them to the French)

The treaty of Plombiere is signed in early September


In conjunction with this event our relations with Austria turn hostile (-17 to -39) and our defensive alliance with France is reaffirmed (In reality this event would give you a defensive alliance with France if you hadn’t managed to already get one through normal diplomatic means)

I Army will move out of its barracks in Piedmont and deploy along the Austrian border in the hopes of provoking a diplomatic crises with Austria. The next year could be critical for our nation (although in all likelihood the Austrian AI will not attack)!

Diplomatic relations



We suffer an insurrection in Alpes-Maratime (even though the people are happy and the revolt risk is zero.)



Elsewhere in the world there is no resolution to the conflict between Persia and Afghanistan and the slaughter in China continues. In the USA there are signs of trouble as loyalty to the US declines in its southern states.

In Tunisia it looks like a French attempt to grab the country has been repulsed for the time being.

Majerteyn War Sept 1857 to ?
The war here has heated up considerably in the last 6 months as we lose 4000 men to roughly 10000 of the enemy in a series of engagements.

The situation in the North


We have gained military control of Berbera and Ogaden and started building fortifications to hold them from enemy incursions. We have also built mission stations (each colonial structure allows you to supply 3 elements for free). In addition Ogaden has started work on a depot and Berbera has started construction of an anchorage.

The main Majerteyn army has moved to besiege Ogaden whilst a small detachment of fighters is besieging Berbera. General Fanti (recently reinforced with a new Colonial brigade and field hospital) will sortie this turn in an attempt to clear the besieging forces from both locations. The battle weary 1st Brigata will remain in Berbea to lick its wounds and take on replacements.

Further south a brigade of marines and a light cavalry regiment will move north up the coast in an attempt to secure Busaso (the last Majerteyn province)

The situation in the South


We were able to secure military control of Hoboyo and Baidoa. Again fortifications are being constructed together with mission stations. These two provinces are particularly valuable as they provide a shield to our main base in the area Mogadishu.

In Mogadishu itself we have constructed a railroad and are now getting production from our Opium farm (basically we become the world’s first drug cartel as no one else is selling Opium) Mogadishu is also extending its depot (to level 2).

Early skirmishes

Mogadishu August


Hoboyo August


After chasing the native army around for several months general Franti finally corners the enemy in Ogaden (September)




In late November (he was inactive for 3 turns) he tries to eliminate his enemy at Berbea




After this bloody encounter with the Majerteyn who seem to have an inexhaustible supply of replacements another battle occurs in Berbea in December


General Fanti’s column is now severely fatigued from marching through the desert and several bloody battles and suddenly looks vulnerable to a shattering defeat. Luckily reinforcements arrive by sea into Berbea which should allow him to prosecute his campaign.

Economy

In November we increased our excise and corporate taxes to 50% and 8% respectively in attempt to meet the increasing costs of our armed forces and research.

The increased funding for Muzzle Loading rifles is having an affect (currently at 76%)

We started the construction of the following:

• Luxury goods shop in Sardinia (July)
• Steel Mill in Alessandria (October)
• Merchant Fleet

We completed the following

• Shipbuilding completed in La Spezia (July)
• Railroad completed in Mogadishu (October)
• Iron extraction completed (Alessandria)
• Merchant fleet sent to North Baltic

Our internal demand is

• 20 Food
• 16 Common Goods
• 11 Luxuries

We supplied this demand at 100% over this period. Our average satisfaction is 98% ; our militancy stands at 2%; literacy remains at 76%.

Our population breakdown is

• Peasants 57%
• Workers 26%
• Middle class 12%
• Upper class 3%
• Aristocrats 2%

Organic Stockpile


Inorganic


To give an example of how much we are buying and selling in a turn


We in the main will avoid buying any goods from the major powers and will usually attempt to buy goods from South Italy (see this money as being invested for the future), Mexico and Brazil and other minor nations in South America.

During this period we have sufficient gold and gems to enable us to convert them to state funds in November.

Military

We have added

• Fortress artillery (Alessandria)
• Merchant and Naval ship replacements
• Infantry replacements x 2
• Colonial brigade
• Transport Squadron
• Garrison (Alessandria)

Piedmont completes the expansion of its depot to level 3. Alessandria expands its depot to level 2 and starts expansion to level 3. La Spezia completes a level 3 fort.

Colonisation

• Trading posts are opened in Tourane(Silk);Pleiko(Rice);Dongquai(Sugar);Hobyo(no resource but provides free supply for 3 combat elements)
• A natural society and geographic society expedition are completed in Tripoli. (175 prestige)
• Previously mentioned colonial structures in Somalia

Prestige



We have managed to move from 13th to 12th in prestige. Our first goal will be to overhaul Japan. So far this period we have closed the gap on them to just 350 points.

loki100 said:

its getting to the tense stage ... but that war in Africa may become an unwelcome distraction if Austria does take to war?

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You are correct the war is a definate distraction although not a fatal one I hope for a couple of reasons.

I haven't commited much of the regular army to this conflict (a marine brigade, a light cavalry regiment, a field artillery regiment and most importantly General Fanti). This commitment amounts to just over 100 in terms of its power rating so it is unlikely to make a difference one way or the other especially compared to the power I would gain by having France brought in on my side. I also have a transport fleet permanently stationed at Mogadishu so in theory I can have these forces back in Europe within 2 turns anyway.

I have also just taken their last province and I am aiming now to destroy their main field force so if successful I am hopeful that the war should be winding down soon anyway (famous last words!).

Where it is hurting is the number of replacement companies that I am currently using up rather than saving them for the main event (should the Austrian AI feeel brave enough).

I guess we will see. It is definately making each turn much more interesting that's for sure.

Stuyvesant said:

This calls for a serious investigation: how did those rebels manage to smuggle all those camels into the country unnoticed? A serious lapse in security...

Liked your honesty about your opium 'business'. And the going in the Horn of Africa is tougher than expected. I guess it's the fact that these savages natives can reinforce so quickly, that is turning this campaign rather bloody for you.

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Camels,Elephants apparently any animal can just wander over those alpine passes these days.

The campaign has been bloodier than expected and that is with me winning every encounter! I think this is a good simulation by the game for this particular date their should be much less of a technology advantage for the Europeans before the onset of breech loading rifles (In game I have not even finished researching the Muzzle loaded rifle tech).

Still I recently gained control of their last province so hopefully that will mean there supply of cannon fodder should dry up (famous last words)

1859 January to June

Diplomacy

Tensions with Austria ratchet upwards in this period as Cavour incites Italian nationalists in Lombardy and Venezia to revolt. Austria now publicly states she has a Casus Belli against us.



The army is put on a war footing and I Army takes up positions in Alessandria. The big question now is will Austria pull the trigger?

In March in a show of Italian solidarity the Papal State finally drops their objections to passage rights for our armies. We can now march overland to any point in Italy and more importantly can march into Venezia through either Parma or the Papal State.

Switzerland still refuses any thoughts of a similar agreement despite increasingly friendly relations. We will continue are endeavours in this area.

In May King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies dies.



Dalmatia is added to our list of future objectives.

This period also sees increasingly warm relations with Britain and a thawing of relations with the USA. The US continues to refuse our offers of a commercial agreement again we will pursue this in the next half of the year mainly in an attempt to secure our supply of gold which they are certainly not short of.



We also reach a tentative hand out to Prussia without much success.

The Sheewa (Ethiopia) declare war on us.

Elsewhere Spain formally declares war on Morocco and the nation state of Rumania is formed.



Tensions mount between the USA and Brazil



Military

The current military situation and formations in Italy



I Army


II Army


Alessandria Garrison


Austrian Army


Our current war plan for dealing with Austria remains unchanged.

On the advent of hostilities I Army will fall back on Piedmont where it will rendezvous with French reinforcements moving to the front (in theory). It is hoped this withdrawal will lure the Austrian army based in Venezia forward to attack towards Alessandria.

The garrison in Alessandria has been significantly strengthened and its fortifications modernised (level 3 industrial fort). It is hoped that the city can be held but if not it should require time and casualties to reduce it.

Once the Austrian army has been detected moving forward (there are balloon units based in both Alessandria and Parma to provide warnings of enemy movements in Lombardy and Venezia) II Army will move from Liguria through Parma to Venezia primarily to cut off the enemy from its supplies and interdict any reinforcements (a detachment from this army will then move to Trent to completely isolate the Austrians). It is hoped that the Austrian force can be cut off from its supplies and then eliminated with minimum casualties.

Once this army has been removed our forces will attempt the liberation of Lombardy and Venezia.

Majerteyn War Sept 1857 to June 1859

The war here has been wound up in all but name (we have not yet signed a formal peace treaty). Every enemy province has been occupied and the enemy army has taken refuge in neighbouring Shewa (Ethiopia).

The last major battles occurred in Ogadon against the main enemy army.





This is followed by a rebellion in Baidoa and the surrounding provinces



This rebellion is swiftly put down.

For his part in the war General Fanti has been promoted to a 3* general.

Sheewa War May 1859 to ?

Rather unexpectedly the Sheewa declare war on us promptly followed by a series of attacks on our forward depot in Ogadon





It has yet to be decided whether we will fully prosecute this war and extend our holdings or seek a swift resolution until the prospect of a major European confrontation has blown over.

We have added

• Merchant and naval ship replacements
• Infantry replacements x 3 (Mainly to cover our war losses)
• Observation Balloon Unit
• Cavalry replacements (all types)

Alessandria expands its depot to level 3

Economy

We reduced our Tariffs to 19%

We are on the verge of understanding Muzzle Loading rifles (currently at 91%)

We started the construction of the following:

• Luxury goods shop in Alessandria (February)
• Railroad in Nice (April)
• Railroad in Hobyo - Somalia (June)

We completed the following

• Shipbuilding completed in Sardinia (March)

Our internal demand is

• 20 Food
• 16 Common Goods
• 11 Luxuries

We supplied this demand at 100% over this period. Our average satisfaction is 100%; our militancy stands at 1%; literacy remains at 76%.

Our population breakdown is

• Peasants 57%
• Workers 26%
• Middle class 12%
• Upper class 3%
• Aristocrats 2%

Organic Stockpile


Inorganic


Our coal mine in Tuscany has been closed down by industrial action since April with no signs when it will be reopened. We press ahead with more educational reforms in May

Colonisation

• A fort and mission are built in Busaso
• A level 1 depot is completed in Mogadishu
• An anchorage is completed in Berbera and an extension ordered
• Anchorages are completed in Busaso and Hyboyo
• We explored the Goba region in Ethiopia
• We completed a depot in Ogaden
• We build a fort and mission in newly acquired Sheewan territory (Harar)

Prestige



We have maintained our prestige ranking this time around and are slowly shrinking the gap with Japan. Japan's prestige grows at roughly 14 per turn while ours is usually 16 per turn. During the next period several colonial missions should complete and it is hoped that we will substantially narrow the gap.

Stuyvesant said:

Your plan for dealing with the Austrians isn't very dashing, but I hope it does the job - assuming that the Austrian AI will actually take the bait and attack. I'm interested to find out if you'll have more luck than loki100 had in his game.

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I suppose it is not that dashing I am only intending to split my force in front of a superior enemy in an effort to produce a Cannae style envelopment to totally destroy the enemy:happy:

My guess would be the Austrian AI won't attack I think it will calculate that French involvement is too much for it to handle. We can hope though!