For God, King & Country - A March of the Eagles (Great Britain) AAR

REMcPhail said:

2Coats:
I've read through this a couple of times over the last couple of days. What a great resource for new players, particularly of Great Britain, where those initial naval successes give a the game seductively easy feel - until you start fighting land battles in France or Spain. Thanks for taking the time to do this and for keeping it updated.

A couple of comments:

1. As noted earlier, the British garrisons have definitely been reduced in one of the patches since you started - perhaps to reflect your gameplay? The garrisons that are gone include some of the ones you disbanded.

2. Naval battle changes: I'm not really liking the squadron approach to navies, or the percentage of "strength" change that was made in one of the patches. But it does explain why in your earlier posts you have so many more ships than we have now - each squadron reflected the actual number of ships. Hmmm . . .

3. You've done very will with this, comparatively speaking. I dominate the sea, quite easily (too easily, in fact), but I'm really struggling with land battles. I get frontage (I played HOI3 extensively) but I'm struggling with how it's implemented. Every column (or flank) has a frontage, and that frontage is represented by the gold bar at the top of the column, as well as a number. Each province has a number of frontage modifiers, which add to or subtract frontage. But I don't see where there's a frontage number for a particular engagement - something like, "Your frontage for this battle is 12" (divided by three would be 4 for each flank). But maybe I'm missing something (or is too much hand-holding)?

Again, great job and thanks for writing this.

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Sorry for the delayed response as I'd hoped to answer and post an update together. However that hasnt been possible due to heavy workload.
1. Not sure... but given its an exploit, and that the best leaders find exploits in their situations... I guess the devs decided to cut this out for players!
2. Id agree with you. Personally it would be to my preference to allocate strength pts per model to a "squadron". So that individual ships are built but must be contained in a fleet of say a minimum score of 20 pts. So 20 galleys = squadron, 5 frigates = a squadron, 2 SotL = a squadron, etc.
3. The frontage for a particular battle is determined by terrain. IF you check the terrain tooltip it should tell you. As different terrain has differnt frontage you can check the players guide to get a comprehensive account of all the different terrain and their attributes, as some affect certain types of unit as well.

Oh and thx... yeah, the trick is to choose your battles and not to be afraid to retreat. Until your AI partners are in the position you want them to be, so you can join them. Of course if they get outmanuevered you have a tough choice, do you help out or let them get massacred... its even worse when you know they are going to get trounced by a bigger enemy force. Esp. if you force is only big enough to inflict x more damage against the emeny, but you know it will get wiped out.

Szpg said:

Please help me. When I start the game, I have lot lesser ships, than you describe. For example Nelson has only 10 ships, the whole Dutch fleet is only 4 ships. How it can be, and what can I do? Thanks for the answers!

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SAS said:

That sounds odd. I would register your game and if you think there is a bug post in the tech/bug reporting forum.

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as REMcPhail states (point 1 above) (and probably stated earlier) it seems that the release version nerfed a few things... maybe as a result of this AAR, maybe not. So that explains the discrepancies.


Hopefully updates will restart this week.

After a longer than expected hiatus For God, King and Country continues...

NOTE: This game has switched over from Beta version to the latest release version as I could not overcome the issue with disappearing fleets. So I'm not sure if anything will CTD or fail later during the game.

Also SQUADRONS are now depicted as individual ships... i.e. A naval unit = 1 ship. When combined these form squadrons or fleets, which is an arbitrary measurement of numbers rather than anything more specific.


2 November
Tripolitania guarantees its neighbour Piedmont's independence.

4 November
The new formed 2^nd Army arrives on the island (of Rodos) and begins to siege the isolated defenders of the local fort. A quick appraisal of the situation shows that it too will be a long drawn out affair. The sighting of the fort also provides particular logistical considerations in that in order for any assault to be possible. Namely a fleet must be in control of the neighbouring sea zone Dodecanese to the north-west.

We decide to limit the number of casualties by waiting this siege out for the duration. This will likely take many months to achieve. This is unfortunate as attrition is fairly high at 5%.

In terms of budget we made 265+ ducats through province and harbour taxes and only paying maintenance for our forces so we are nearing the 1000 ducat mark which will allow for another civilized development to occur in due course.

However with just over 74k in manpower that must be on put hold for now. We decide to continue to augment our main army at home with an additional 4x KGL artillery brigades to be built in Bristol. Manpower cost is just under 5k. While in Hull 4x new Rifles brigades are recruit at a cost of 7k in manpower.

8 November
The New Coalition Available alert fires informing me that France is creating its own new coalition. It is time to look to old friends. The situation isn't too great. Though we have high relations with Prussia and Austria and moderate relations with Russia and Sweden, not one is willing to join our new coalition (Impossible is the outcome shown).

So we must content ourselves with raising relations with Prussia, Russian and Austria.

9 November
On this day Spain declares it's third conflict of aggression against Sicily. This is a surprise and one that will ultimately prove good or bad for our intentions in the long run. As it seems we will inevitably need to go to war with Spain to gain the dominance locations we need.

Tunisia adopts the March of the Guns idea.

10 November
A quick check on Wellesley's force shows they have made splendid progress inland towards their next target. Attrition is moderate at 5%, though supply from Athina is at 100%.


12 November
Calamity! Austria and the Ottomans declare peace. Ottomans has to give up a lot of its land on its northern border. This is not ideal.

13 November
The next day Wellesley's force reaches the city of Ioanina and begins preparations for a siege. However the situation allows for a assault to be made in haste as the garrison commands only a thousand soldiers. This should be an easy victory for us with acceptable losses.

In their war with Oldenberg, Prussia achieves a complete victory and demands full annexation, gaining 10 prestige.

14 November
As the defenders of Ioanina stage a valiant defence, Wallachia adopts the Coordinated Moves idea. A few hours later and Ioianina is in British hands. Wellesley's reorganises his troops quickly and sets off northwards to the coastal city of Tiran. What or who can stop his march across the Hellenic peninsular now?

A quick check of the War window shows a warscore of 4% after only 3 battles having been fought.


15 November
After twelve days the siege of Rodos continues to gather pace. The fortress has sustained light damage and the garrison lacks supplies. Though not enough to commit to an assault, at least progress is being made towards a conclusion.

22 November
Wellesley's force reaches Tiran and begins besieging it. Wellesley's orders a reorganisation of the army's flanks. With no guard units in reserve, it is time for a change of tactics. On both outer flanks we select more offensive choices, while in the centre we choose a primarily defensive tactic.


24 November
Prussia announces that it guarantees Nassau's independence in case it is attacked. While Austria guarantees Wuttemburg's independence a few days later. Mecklenburg adopts the Volley Fire idea.

27 November
A review of the Home Army shows that it numbers almost 78 thousand. Soon it will exceed a 100,000 and we will be ready to go on the offensive on the continent once more. That is once our coalition partners agree to aid us.

29 November
After 104 days the siege of Candia (one of our primary targets) has nurtured results. The fort has received severe damage and the garrison lacks supplies. Soon it may even be time to launch a final assault against the remaining 1743 men enclosed within.

30 November
Spanish ships are sighted of the coast of Gaeta (Italian mainland near Naples). It looks like the Spanish are taking advantage of Sicily's reduced military numbers, due to our previous conflict with them. Sneaky!

3 December
The Mediterranean & Red (Transport) fleets head to the port of Athina to resupply.

4 December
Disaster!!! The Ottomans negotiate a peace with the Russians. This leaves us exposed to their remaining might... though hopefully their forces will have been decimated to a large extent during their fighting with the Austrians and Russians/Persians. Seems that peace came at great cost for the Ottomans too as huge swathes of provinces to the east or the Persian bother are given up! However, maybe they will not be inclined to give up their remaining territory to us!

Austria guarantees Mecklenburg's independence.


7 December
Austria adopts the idea of Glorious Arms as Wellesley's forces begins to launch an offensive against the garrison in Tiran.

9 December
Two days later and the victory is achieved. Tiran is added to the Great British empire or at least control of the city and province is.
Result: GB victory.
Losses: OE – 1450 men; GB – 205 men.

For their splendid work on the left flank Sir Stapleton Cotton receives the Tactical Nauce trait, while General Robert Schaeffe receives the Skirmisher II trait for his work on the right flank.

Now we task Wellesley's force to capture the city Uskub to the east. The army is ordered to the province Veles just to the south... so that that they can attempt to cross the river into Strumica, rather than straight into their target.

After 114 days the Siege of Candia appears to be arriving at its conclusion. The fortress has sustained a great deal of damage and the remaining 1703 members of its garrison are lacking supplies.



10 December
A small skirmish takes place as the remnants of the Army of Egypt encounter Wellesley's force in Tiran. The following battle takes place on the hills in the vicinity of the city. Any side with light infantry gains a small advantage from fighting on this terrain.

Several hours later the encounter is over. The enemy force is wiped out for next to no British casualties. Wellesley's gathers up his forces and continues to his next goal.


11 December
As the Spanish forces continue their siege of Sicilian held Gaeta, the siege of Rodos reaches its fortieth day. The fort has sustained a fair amount of damage and the 1825 strong garrison lacks supplies. Though assaulting the fortress would be folly and render our force with many a casualty.

15 December
About half-way to Strumica pointmen from Wellesley's force spot a new Ottoman force of six thousand troops moving towards their ultimate objective the city of Uskub.

18 December
A quick look at the Victory Conditions shows that we are now the leading contender in the race to achieve total dominance. At 78.5% we are just ahead of Russia, though we also have the accolade of Naval Dominant power.

19 December
The enemy army reaches the outskirts of Uskub just as Wellesley's nears the agreed staging area to the south. A new force of Ottoman troops is spotted joining the ranks of the Ottoman's Army of Egypt. Looks like the Ottomans are going to put up a fight.


20 December
The next day and we receive some fabulous news. Candia is in our hands. The siege is over, with the only losses coming from the attrition gained before the army was split in two. Our warscore is now a no so towering 6%. We will need at least three times this to gain control our two goals of Athina and Candia from any peace agreement.

Russia declares its intention to guarantee Mecklenburg's independence.



21 December
With Candia in our hands the Mediterranean and Red fleets move to transport the Peninsular army north onto the mainland. Hopefully in time to join Wellesley's force in its mission to attack and conquer all Ottoman cities.

After 48 days the other long lasting siege on the island of Rodos has seen a critical event take place. The walls are breach and the fortress has sustained a great amount of damage. It may well be time to commit to an assault on the remaining 1724 defenders.

However it seems moving the fleets to embark the army in Candia, proved to be a hasty decision. We will have to wait until the fleet is able to return to its anchorage of the island.

23 December
Wellesley's force reaches Veles, south of Uskub. A small problem appears to be that their supply lines are cut, which makes bringing the Peninsular army from Candia onto the mainland that much more urgent. Even more urgent that the seven thousand Ottoman troops gathered to the north. So while it has 100% supply instead of going east, heads northeast into the city itself. With some luck we can defeat any opposition forces and in Uskub before lack of supply becomes a problem.

28 December
At the year creeps upon us, Wellesley's force remains west of the river dividing it from its target Uskub. The Mediterranean fleet is anchored of our newly acquired prize of Candia on the island of Crete. As it takes on board the 15k troops of the Peninsular army. Bound for the region just south of Wellesley's. When it arrives the supply lines can be re-established once more.

The siege of Rodos remains active though after 55 days, the island fortress has sustained a great deal of damage and the wall is breached. It is now ripe for an assault by the 13208 men of the 2^nd Army, even if the garrison still numbers 1724 infantry.


29 December
Wellesley's force reaches Uskub and begins to siege it. Within are 2818 infantry acting as a garrison pitied against 15136 British soldiers, 3241 men of the artillery corp and 3432 cavalry. Assault is a possible choice as the circumstances indicate a fair chance of winning this assault.

Attrition for our force is running at 5%, with a breakdown of the following:
- Unit attrition weight: 23.48k
- Supply limit: 10k (-13.48k)
- Careful Planner leader trait (-1%)
= Current Attrition 5% vs Max. Attrition for province of 5%
Replacements required are: 3,464 at a monthly rate of 7%

Supply remains at 100% for now and covers 21 days.

30 December
With the 8 brigades of the Peninsular army aboard, the Mediterranean and Red fleets make their way towards Thessaloniki.

31 December
The last act of the year belongs to Wellesley's force. The Ottoman city of Uskub is now in our hands.


Tomorrow we shall see what the new year bring in...

DC123456789 said:

Can you show us what Russia has taken from the Ottomans?

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Hi - the first pic provides a list of provinces.... but if you need a graphical version... Ive ADDED a screenshot which hopefully shows you the amount of territory in terms of scale. Its just below it.

Thats the only and best screenshot that shows that information, so I hope its enough.

DC123456789 said:

Yikes. That's a big chunk of territory ceded.

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It is - add to that Austria's take and thats a lot of land... but probably NOT many Dominance targets.

Seelmeister said:

Good to see you continuing with this 2Coats. The ending of hostilities between Russia and the Ottomans could make things interesting in the Greek theatre.

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Thx. There are about to...

Minigrinch said:

Austria really screwed over Russia taking them Black sea provinces! :laugh:

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Lol... yes and then some.

FOARP said:

This AAR demonstrates one of the central problems about MotE - it's not about the Napoleonic wars. Even when 2Costs here was fighting France, most of the fighting was territorial aggrandisement at the expense of Denmark and the German states, and after peace was made with France (which, really, should not be possible without Britain first suffering a total defeat) his main concern is preventing Russia from winning.

Historically, Britain made very little in the way of territorial gains - the Ballearic islands are the only thing that comes to mind. The Napoleonic wars were about coalition building - it was much more common for defeated minors just to switch sides (or switch sides ahead of defeat) than be absorbed.

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True... but this isnt a grand strategy game set during the Napoleonic era. If Ageod ever do a NC2 then Id expect that will more like the Nappy War simulation-esque game you may be after.

This game and AAR is continuing...

BPM said:

YES! Glad to see you back 2coats!

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TY.

Here is the next update... the situation is getting a little warmer under the French emperors collar!

1808

The war with the Ottoman Empire has gathered pace with victory after victory and the capture of Canida and Athani. The west coast of the Hellenic peninsula now lies in British hands.

9 January
Within a week the Peninsular army lands in Thessaloniki and begins to siege the local garrison, their plan to link up with Wellesley's force in country who have control of Uskub, but no supply line back to Athinai. With its cargo delivered the Mediterranean and Red fleets return to Dodecanese.

15 January
The island of Rhodes capitulates after a lengthy siege raising warscore to 10%. The 2^nd army is now free to embark onto the Hellenic mainland and help gain enough territory to force the Ottomans to cede those vital locations.

18-19 January
Wellesley's force assault Pristina inflicting a small victory against the Turkish garrison found there but losing more men in the process. The victory raises warscore to 12%.


23 January
The Royal navy is shocked when a large Ottoman fleet appears from nowhere and surprises two unsuspecting Ships of the line and 2 escorting frigates off The Sound. However superior British seamanship and morale fail that the day, as 2 ships of the line are sunk with no enemy ships lost. The surviving frigates they are forced to retreat, but they have brought the Channel Fleet time to sally forth from port in Dover.
Result: GB Loss.
Losses: OE - No casualties; GB – 2x Ships of the Line

25 January
Two days have passed and the admiralty doesn't dally ordering an additional 3 ship of the lines and 2 frigates from Dover to increase the navy's numbers from idle ports across the country. War score has declined by 1% due to the defeat.

29 January
The 2^nd army lands in Athinai after its short trip from Rhodes and begins to move north towards the fighting.

30 January
The Channel fleet catches up with the Ottoman navy and after a brief exchange of gunfire the two sunken Ships of the Line are revenged as the Ottomans are sent packing towards the French coast. Admiral Lord Keith improves his galley trait to level 2.


Result: GB Victory.
Losses: OE - 2x Ships of the Line; GB – No casualties


In other news...

During this month the following events unfolded:

• Sweden and Prussia continue their war. While Denmark continues to file away at Swedish possessions in its own war.
• Austria confirms that the Jean de Carro event happened to them.
• Diplomatic efforts to encourage Russia (87) into a new coalition continue. As they do with Prussia (169).
• Denmark announce they have a new regent King Frederick VI.
• Sicily adopt the idea of Depot Logistics. The Ottomans adopt Pasha Levies. Sweden adopts Overseas Bases, while Morocco adopts March to the Sound of Guns.

1 February
Another formation of KGL artillery is completed in Bristol. Our victory conditions stand at 85% achieved, with our nearest rival Russia at 71%. Still we have to unseat France from some of its Land Dominance locations. While a review of the Home Army now measures 85 thousand. War score in the 2^nd War of British Aggression is now 13%.

5 February
With Uskub and now Pristina liberated from Ottoman rule Wellesley's force heads east towards Filibe, in search of more bargaining power when peace is inevitably made.

12 February
Another 2 frigates are order in Liverpool to further increase the Royal Navy operational capacity.

13 February
The Ottomans inform the world that The Belgrade Higher School event happened to them. Ottoman forces begin to jostle for position around Uskub. Our forces react and attempt to move into position to thwart any counter move to catch them unawares. Meanwhile the assault by Sir Samuel Auchrmuty's Peninsular army continues to draw pace. After 36 days the fortress has suffers a fair amount of damage and the the war is breached!


The assault begins. Within two days Tessaloniki falls against the onslaught of 12000 British soldiers. The small garrison held out well but it was only a matter of time. During the engagement Sir Edward Pakenham gained the trait Entrencher. The sheer weight of numbers eventually won the day for the British army.
Result: GB victory.
Losses: OE –468 men; GB –292 men.


16 February
Off the Spanish coast two sizeable Ottoman fleets gather with dubious intentions. Nineteen ships against the paltry four that are on station there would not be to much of a contest. Warscore for the current conflict now measures 19%.

18 February
The territories of Prumica and Kilkis both fall which means the supply line from Tessaloniki to Wellesley's force is now in effect. In the meantime a sizeable Ottoman force of 19.5 thousand is now in Pristina. With another smaller force of a thousand looking to join up with it, the Ottomans will have a force nearly on par with Wellesley's force. Which makes his march towards Pristina that much more important.

19-20 February
The battle of Pristina between Sir Arthur Wellesley and General Ali Pasha begins in earnest and lasts just over a day. Casualties are very high for the Ottomans. One fears that this may have been their last chance of turning back the British invasion. Still they have mover half their numbers. If they can regroup and mount another counter-attack, this time on more suitable terrain then perhaps they can still resurrect the situation.
Result: GB victory.
Losses: OE –7817 men; GB –73 men.


21 February
While Pristina falls shocking news reaches London. Sicily loses its capital Palermo to Spain without so much as a struggle. Since it is one of our Dominance objectives, one that was simple to gain we will end up with no choice but to go to war with Spain at least.


Warscore in our campaign against the Ottomans is 17% now. Still some way off from the 20 or so percent required to cede our two targets: Athinai and Candia both of which we took earlier in the year.

22 February
The surviving Ottoman army from the battle for Pristina retreat most likely toward Nis, north of Pristina. Wellesley's does not let such a chance to destroy Ottoman resistance pass and follows suit hoping to catch the enemy before it reach the fort around Nis.

26 February
To the west of Wellesley's a small Ottoman force takes on the British Peninsular army in in the hills of Kavala in what looks like a delay action. The Ottomans take the most of it while the British army suffer similar casualties, though since their forces are larger they are but a drop in the ocean.

28 February
It is seems time and fortune has run out. France declares war. With a depleted fleet in home waters and a good number of our armies abroad, stretched out across the breadth of the Mediterranean, France has played a very cunning hand. Only the 100k men of the Home Army may end up being the difference if an enemy invasion takes place.



In other news...

• Russia has the Johann Freiderich Adam event occur for them on the 21^st February.
• Saxony adopts the Army Supply Train idea. While Tuscany and the Papacy adopts the March to the Sound of Guns idea.
• We are some way short of adopting our own idea with only 124 idea points accumulated.
• Our budget though is in good stead though we spent more than our income, though only using up some of our treasury reserves.

Another update next week...