Advice for someone who likes to give advice ("Tom", read this!!!)

[unmerged(27373)]

Well, as you said in a later post, navies take too long to build. But one bad result of this war is that when his wooden fleet is destroyed Tom may build a more modern one to replace it, which could cause problems in thier next war. Still, Memnon can deal with that later.

Yes, but it's just a possibility in my opinion. Many things hinges on how badly can Memnon damage Tom in the first war. If Tom's military is shattered (all divisions in France gone, all reserves wiped out to the last man, many partisans were killed in France, colonies revolt or at least force Tom to kill even more of his population), war reparation, humiliation, it is possible for Tom to rebuild his military but if Tom does, I strongly suspect France will go bankrupt if Tom tries to rearm himself rapidly after the war with a reparation burden.

1. Navies aren't cheap, Tom needs to spend a substantial amount of sum to build them.

2. Armies are cheaper to rebuild but again, it cost money.

3. With less population, depending on which group spawned partisan and killed, it's potentially possible for memnon to destroy some of France's craftman/clerk group to hurt France's economy more.

All these really depends on reparation. With mobilization, according to Memnon, France will start carry a debt. War reparation, debt, re-arm will all cause French coffer to run empty and amass more and more debt. Since Memnon cannot attack France's industry effectly at this point, except depopulate France, a reckless France rapidly re-arm has a good possibility of bankruptcy, further solving Memnon's problems.

Memnon's original problem is Tom's too far ahead of him in score so he'll not win. Bankruptcy will really help Memnon in closing the gap because Tom will lose prestige and industrial score. Since Memnon isn't that far behind in economy, losing 1/2 industry should seriously hurt France. UK gave guarantee for both France and Austria so...if Tom DoW Memnon and forgot about guarantee......UK is still #1 militarily I believe Pile on can be so much fun.

France can recover economically but each factory cost 1 year to build and 1 year to expand so while France re-arm, perhaps bankrupt and rebuild industry again, Memnon can always DoW again. With reparation, Memnon can probably afford to expand his own military faster than Tom's re-arm pace without worries.

 

[Memnon]

Tom bragged to me when the UK guaranteed his independence. When I saw that they had guaranteed mine, I grinned, but kept my mouth shut about it. Let's hope he doesn't find out until it's too late.

 

[unmerged(27373)]

If you have almost no colonial possession, a sneaky way to get rid of Uk guarantee on France is simple...

DoW France colonial...so what if you give up all your colonial posession? In exchange, UK guarantee is dropped and you're at peace with UK for 5 years.

This let you DoW France in great war without fear from UK (make sure you repair your relationship and reduce your badboy)

Edit: I can be wrong on this and I can't really verify this. I remember in one of my game, I attacked someone with a guarantee, after the war (which I won), gurantee was gone too but it might be guarantee simply expired.

 

[Memnon]

If you have almost no colonial possession, a sneaky way to get rid of Uk guarantee on France is simple...

DoW France colonial...so what if you give up all your colonial posession? In exchange, UK guarantee is dropped and you're at peace with UK for 5 years.

This let you DoW France in great war without fear from UK (make sure you repair your relationship and reduce your badboy)

You mean France will actually lose it's independence guarantee from the UK if I do this?

Darn. You know, I don't think I've actually claimed any colonies...

Wait! Patagonia!
*buys ticket on next steamer to Comodoro Rivadavia*

 

[unmerged(27373)]

You mean France will actually lose it's independence guarantee from the UK if I do this?

Darn. You know, I don't think I've actually claimed any colonies...

Wait! Patagonia!
*buys ticket on next steamer to Comodoro Rivadavia*

It's best to test it. I remember a game I played I attacked someone with guarantee. After war's over, that guarantee was gone too. It might be guarantee expired so it's best to test and make sure. I can be wrong on this though and I can't verify it right now

 

[Darkrenown]

You mean France will actually lose it's independence guarantee from the UK if I do this?

Does it matter? UK won't get involved if you DoW S-P anyway, will it? And the guarantees only last 5 years.

 

[Memnon]

Does it matter? UK won't get involved if you DoW S-P anyway, will it? And the guarantees only last 5 years.

Well sure. I was just curious. I thought it might be a way around the UK's incessent guarantees of the Ottomans. They don't have any satellites for me to DoW anymore.

 

[unmerged(27373)]

Well sure. I was just curious. I thought it might be a way around the UK's incessent guarantees of the Ottomans. They don't have any satellites for me to DoW anymore.

Does Ottoman throw any gurantees around? If so, perhaps DoW them instead?

Why do you want more ottoman provinces anyways? Isn't it better to spend your badboy on better richer provinces like from prussia...bavaria...or...France?

It'll be funny if you DoW S-P, France join but SP is leader..then SP offer you a bunch of good French territories on a silver platter during peace proposal..

 

[Darkrenown]

Maybe he wants a land connection to his arabian lands?

 

[Memnon]

Maybe he wants a land connection to his arabian lands?

Yup.

 

[unmerged(27373)]

Yup.

dont' tell me...blood for oil?

 

[Memnon]

dont' tell me...blood for oil?

Exactly.

 

[unmerged(27373)]

Exactly.

then....don't forget.....Iraq invaded Kuwait for oil....

should I wish the same fate falls to you?

perhaps britain can send lawrence of arabia...hmmmm

 

[unmerged(27583)]

I'm pretty sure, after the first war, Tom will have an appropiate answer for the next war. He'll still have 80 reserve divisions, and if he's 1st in industrial score, he'll pretty sure make a LOT of money. So maybe he has a million pound lying around there and could hold out in a war much longer as expected.
He might lose this first war, but that won't cost him the 1st place. In the 2nd war, he'll be prepared better...
Also, Tom knows he's 1st and Mem just 4th. He'll expect Mem to try something odd to make him win the game and a direct attack is what I would expect if I was him. In his place, I would deny entering the war over S-P, wait some days to mobilize, ally with Russia and then happily declare war on Austria (he was allied with GB, wasn't he?). Or better he declares war on Baden, for example, so that GB's guarantee of independence for you is worthless.
If I was Tom, you'd have zero chances!

 

[Memnon]

In his place, I would deny entering the war over S-P, wait some days to mobilize, ally with Russia and then happily declare war on Austria (he was allied with GB, wasn't he?).

He has a defensive alliance with UK, and the UK has also guaranteed my independence, and their navy can whoop his any day of the week. Also, if he just refuses to enter on the part of SP, that's fine. I'll satellite them, and then he'll have no way into me except by sea, where the UK can cover my back.

Or better he declares war on Baden, for example, so that GB's guarantee of independence for you is worthless.

By 1890, those German minors have built up a pretty substantial mobilization pool. Remember, he's on the other side of Bavaria, and if he isn't careful, he'll wind up fighting a substantially larger miliotary than he planned. He confessed that he's never fought a war in S. germany before, and he has no idea what kind of militar strength they have right now. As Austria, just as a test, i decalred war on them. I had to make a white peace.

If I was Tom, you'd have zero chances!

But that's because you've read this thread...and thank you, Dark Knight! :rofl:

EDIT: the longer I see this up here, the happier I am that I was kind enough to "Tom" not to use his real name.

 

[unmerged(27373)]

Does S-P still hold sulfur province? If so, don't you need sulfur?

Strong economy is troublesome but if you do it right, you can create a wide enough gap that France cannot recover fast enough every 5 years or less. (if you're willing to spend 100 prestige to break peace). You fight in French soil, disrupt its economy...bankruptcy will also do wonders.

defenders have terrain advantage, but the one who DoW the other has the advantage of surprise. Unless you screw it, it's more likely for Memnon to dictate how the battle si going to be fought than Tom can. As long as Memnon destroy enough ships, divisions so Tom can't recover in 5 years, Memnon will reduce Tom's score while he'll gain from reparation, etc. Who said Memnon will hoard his cash from Tom's reparation, he can very well industrialize himself and surpass Tom, given the fact Austria probably has a higher pop number in Europe, where you can build factories.

Just a suggestion, Memnon, if you might lose divisions in some situation, nconsider sacrifice reserves...keep as many of your standing divisions alive as possible so you don't have to do a lot of rebuild after the war. This way, all reparation will go towards debt payment and further industrialization as well as keeping up the military race.

Reparation last 3 years if I remember correctly, 3 years of reparation is a fairly heavy burden for Tom. When you consider those money are being shifted to Memnon, it further narrow that gap.

But, I agree, it's an uphill battle. Unless Tom's incompetent, my money's on Tom winning this game, not Memnon. The gap is fairly large, it's not impossible to close but it'll require perfect execution on Memnon's part while it may also depend on Tom screwing up.

It's like the close to end of the baseball season with magic number narrowing...in order for Team Memnon to win playoff birth, he has to win all the time and his opponent may need to mess up....memnon doesn't control his own destiny in a sense.

 

[Memnon]

Just so y'all know, the continuation of our game is scheduled for tomorrow evening. If you have any last-minute revelations about how to defeat Tom, now's the time, folks.

 

[unmerged(29181)]

Delcare War! All of history will remember the name MEMNON! Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!

 

[unmerged(27373)]

I hope you played in SP mode to figure out the timing issue...

Assume there's enough time

destruction of existing French divisions > destruction of French navy

If mobilization is only 2 months, which is too quick

destruction of French navy + occupy SP > destruction of French divisions.

Remember, you're not going to be able to catch up unless you inflict serious wound on him. That means destruction fo his military capability, sacking and holding Paris as well as deny French sulfur, factory, and other economical provinces during war. Killing French pop, everything to reduce his future capability of waging a war is a must for you to achieve... Priority provinces to take over are those with sulfur, iron, and wood. If you got force to spare, maybe take over some of his timber producing colonies.

If you don't do those...all I can say is...good luck....

 

[unmerged(27583)]

And I tell you: Use your military, make a good plan - and have fun! It shouldn't be your objective to humiliate Tom, just his country! You'll need him for a second game! ;-)
Ah, one last thought:
What about converting lots of your farmers in Austria into soldiers - say, Romanians - and build up 99 regular divisions in one go. As you place them with full morale you could give Tom a nasty surprise without even mobilizing!
This would also keep the AI from declaring war on you as your military score would rise significantly.