Border Conflicts WTF is going on?

[Frozen Yakman]

I've just started and lost my first border conflict as Guangxi. It was not at all clear how many of my troops would enter the conflict. It was not at all clear what I could do to win the conflict. It just chose a stack of 6 guys who happened to be in the area and started attacking with them. They didn't try to expand across the front and I could not tell them which province to attack or draw up a battle plan for them to follow. I lost and I have no clue why.

 

[Surimi]

Border conflicts are not like normal wars, and deliberately so. Since the countries are not at war, the armies fighting are not acting under orders and thus you don't get to control the conflict personally.

As far as I can tell, any division on the border at the time gets caught up in the conflict, until a certain number is reached (I'm not sure if it's based on combat width or number of divisions) and then no further divisions will join. The divisions caught up in the war fight a single battle against each other, in which the attacker has to completely push the defender out. Once this happens, the war is "won" and the province changes hand. If the attacker is beaten back, the decision fails and the war is lost.

The way to win border conflicts is not to have a lot of divisions, but to have high quality (and ideally offensive) divisions and station those on the border before the conflict starts. Armoured divisions would be ideal, but since this is China elite infantry with a decent amount of artillery will probably be your best bet. Aim for high attack and breakthrough.

You can also use a decision to escalate the border conflict to an actual war, at which point normal rules apply.

 

[Gallicus]

If only it worked that way Surimi. I've had the same frustrations as the OP. It does not make any sort of sense the way troops and generals are picked. What you posted would make sense if that's how it actually worked. However, it doesn't.

From what I can tell after a few attempts (as PRC), it picks 6 *RANDOM* divisions and a *RANDOM* general from all available troops/generals, regardless of their current position or leadership. In just my last attempt it made *MAO* the general! (suffice to say I lost that one big time). It also dropped 2 troops that were on the border and pulled in 2 troops NOT on the border (bordering China). It also forced all 6 divisions to one specific location rather than multiples across the border.

So, in sum:

1) Picks any 6 divisions, regardless of location
2) Picks any general/field marshal, regardless of if they're leading other troops
3) Picks one or more spots on the border and drags the 6 divisions to it
4) You're the attacker, suffering hefty penalties (as the defender gets far more defense than you get attack)
5) The defender can reinforce after you force a defender back; you cannot re-engage after one of your attackers is pushed back

In all, this seems like a wasted mechanic as it is currently implemented, which is unfortunate. It is not at all intuitive for the player and causes a lot of frustration. I'm not suggesting the player/attacker should win in all cases, but at least make the mechanic make more sense. Allow the player to decide if the troops they have are in good enough shape to engage a conflict. Right now the player cannot make a meaningful decision because it's a COMPLETELY random outcome, and moreover, can cause problems on other fronts when random divisions get pulled away from those fronts to the border conflict, while other troops ON THE BORDER just stand around because they weren't selected.

 

[Technoincubus]

Japan-USSR Khalkin Gol border conflict. Japan NEVER won in all my game sessions. Not even close one. I got 6 random units dragged from 1\6 of the world and a general from another side of a planet.

 

[Kenshi]

I agree, it feels really strange. I tried it 6 times as prc and lost all attempts, so I gave up. I always kept my infantry up to date and created as strong divisions as I could, but the moment the conflict begins your opponent just draws all his 6 divisions to the defence. So it is 6 div vs 6 div. If they are also up to date, defender will always win, because of def boni I guess. (I am not so much into the numbers).

It is like Gallicus said, I created mountaineers and light tank divisions but you can not choose which divisions to take into the conflict and then you get a random general. This mechanic should really be overhauled.

 

[D3po]

I already posted a topic about this, but in a nutshell:
It doesn't matter if you have superior divisions (20 width against 8) or equipment as the enemy AI can disengage, reinforce and gain ORG while in combat. You can't, you just attack with your whole width (6divisions) and lose ORG across the board and lose 90% of the time.
Especially as Guanxhi it's a waste of PP as you can't declare before 50% WT and you're basically attacking mountains against Yunnan.

As PRC it also happened that Xi Bei was excersizing all of it's troops, but once conflict broke out they magically started gaining ORG mid combat and were reinforcing the front while doing so.
There is no logic in the mechanic...

 

[Makhno]

As PRC, i win my border conflicts relatively easily : i take 6 divisions, the better ones, a good general, and i let this little army close to the borders with a battleplan for the bonuses*/
My other divisions are not close and when i launch the border conflicts, it is these troops that are chosen.
I ate xibei easily in this way.

(*I don't know if it works)

But, yep, it's not well explain in the game how it works.

 

[sortulv]

I've had attacking divisions return to the fight several times...
And it always seems to pick armies that are on the border in question, and always 6 divisions (regardless of the size of the divisions).
So, to win - just increase the size of your units to beat them up...
(note that to return to the fight, a unit recover all org, so that is a lot easier if you have follow a doctrine gives bonuses to that).
My biggest problem with them is the choice of general - never figured out how that worked...