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Towarischtsch

Second Lieutenant
41 Badges
Oct 11, 2012
129
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Hi all,
My first round in HoD was a game with Sardinia-Piemont, I united Italy, became a greatpower and got my core provinces, I am already in the 1880s and I colonized parts of Northern Africa. I wanted to try something different and new. So I decided to choose Afghanistan for my new game. I already made some trials, but I do not really know what to do! I once conquered whole Buchara, but my damaged army is not able to get fresh soldiers from the Soldier-POPs, because I do not get wool for recruitment. Also sometimes Russia invaded me. And I do not really know how to handle the reforms. I never played AHD, I only know the old westernization system. So do you have any tips for playing with Afghanistan? How to westernize quickly and how to handle with my neighbours
 
I haven't played in that region a lot, but I'm thinking that for Afghanistan you'll want to focus on army reforms, plus maybe land and education reform, and keep beating up your weaker neighbors for research points (yep, you can do that now). Maybe buddy up with Persia for the moment and take a bite out of Panjab when the UK inevitably invades them for Kashmir, and take your core back from Bukhara. This'll net you pops, prestige, and faster westernization.
 
In the past the strategy that worked well for me was conquering Panjab immediately, the UK usually sphere's or attack Panjab and that's bad, as Panjab is the largest nation in your vicinity and will give you tons of manpower.

After taking Panjab the rest of Central Asia is your's to do with as you will, Persia won't and can't stop you. The only problem left is the UK and Russia. This means you max relations asap in with them. After that go around conquering every nation in the area possible, starting with Kalat and Sindh for those valuable sea provinces.

Once you westernize go for military and cultural techs. Your industry/commerce is terrible and will probably remain so. Unless you think you can rectify this the only way you are going to get what you want is through military expansion.
 
GB spheres me very very slowly and Russia is not really interested in friendship and decides rather to invade me than to sphere me
Also what about the damn sheep!? I mean my country produces wool, but if I try to recruit irregulars, nothing happens, because nobody buys or uses wool to build them and my damaged units do not get reinforcments despite that I have enough soldier-POPs.

My idea was to conquer Kokand, Khiva and Buchara, but my wool and soldier problem and also the infamy prevent me from doing that. An the reactionary rebels always destroy my country after some decisions and 1-2 reforms.

I tried the thing with Punjab too ^^ Sometimes Punjab only attacked me instead of the British or the British were too fast, only once I got my one core province there

Persia always allies with Kokand, Khiva and Buchara, so I can not attack them and keep the alliance with Persia


EDIT: Ok, I will test the Punjab strategy!

By the way thanks for the previous suggestions!

EDIT: Ok, new problem ^^ When I try to conquer Punjab, my armies defeat the Punjabi soldiers, but when I occupied about half of all the regions, my army begins to starve and after some time I have no soldiers left to occupy the other free territories
 
Last edited:
!افغانستان ښیسته ځای دی

Oh Afghanistan how I hate you so much.

Also, when I was playing a practice game with my friend, he was Persia and I was Afghanistan; your superior generals and terrain actually make the Persians lose an 1836 war, especially if they try to dogpile.
I was surprised too. It might be doable. Just play on the defensive with Afghanistan's western terrain.
 
If you're short on wool, than manually change your stockpile on the trade screen to have a larger store of them. Then you'll buy it automatically in the short bursts when it becomes available to you, such as in the very beginning of the game. I'd recommend you do this to any rare trade good you'll need in large abundance at some point.

If you can't siege that means you don't have horse units or badly mismanaged your troops and attrition.
 
GB spheres me very very slowly and Russia is not really interested in friendship and decides rather to invade me than to sphere me
Also what about the damn sheep!? I mean my country produces wool, but if I try to recruit irregulars, nothing happens, because nobody buys or uses wool to build them and my damaged units do not get reinforcments despite that I have enough soldier-POPs.

My idea was to conquer Kokand, Khiva and Buchara, but my wool and soldier problem and also the infamy prevent me from doing that. An the reactionary rebels always destroy my country after some decisions and 1-2 reforms.

I tried the thing with Punjab too ^^ Sometimes Punjab only attacked me instead of the British or the British were too fast, only once I got my one core province there

Persia always allies with Kokand, Khiva and Buchara, so I can not attack them and keep the alliance with Persia


EDIT: Ok, I will test the Punjab strategy!

By the way thanks for the previous suggestions!

EDIT: Ok, new problem ^^ When I try to conquer Punjab, my armies defeat the Punjabi soldiers, but when I occupied about half of all the regions, my army begins to starve and after some time I have no soldiers left to occupy the other free territories

Wool is always going to be a problem, but stockpiling helps. The trick is to pick the battles, force them to engage you on terrain that supports your forces. Two large defensive battles on a mountainous terrain area will wipe out most of their armies. After that it's a case of conserving and going for their high pop provinces. They will carry on producing an infinite amount of soldiers, but taking those pop centers will let you do whatever you like. Occupying will take a while, but without fear of attack it can be done.