Fortress Corsica

[EvilSanta]

I am playing as Italy and Im having a slight problem with my ancient enemy Genoa.They are my core and I want their cot.Their capital is too juicy target when its undefended but there is a problem.Corsica.There is 40000 freaking guys in there.I have understood that there is a penalty when amph assaulting.I havent yet tried to assault it.My last war with them ended when their navy beated mine over and over again.Now I have made an navy to be feared but Im not quite sure how to take Corsica.It has supply limit of six if I remember right so they should die there but those troops have been there for atleast 50 years.What to do?

 

[unmerged(51378)]

Is it actuall troops? If it is, the only thing I think you can do is either hope they leave or send an army over there and hope their moral get low, they "flee" but has nowhere to go so they disappear.

If they are in the fortress, try beat their armies & Navy enough and take Liguria so they offer you Corsica.

 

[EvilSanta]

How can they offer me Corsica when its not my core and Im not going to control it?I quess I have to nake 3 separate fleets and send armies along them.1 army assaulting them at time lowering morale so they eventually lose.Its going to be hard fight.I need atleast 50 years to have enough ships and troops for such invasion.

 

[th3freakie]

If they are in the fortress, try beat their armies & Navy enough and take Liguria so they offer you Corsica.

Yeah, if corsica is your core that would be the best option.

If it isn't your core... well, you're kinda doomed since the AI won't offer you stuff you don't control.

edit: beaten dam

Another idea is to give yourself that core via a event of your own making...
But if you don't wanna cheat then just /cheers to the AI idea and accept that Genova will last forever

You may also want to try this - take Liguria, and then move away your army. The Genovese may be tempted to take their 40k (or a fraction of that) back to liguria to take it back.

 

[unmerged(6925)]

The only way to really beat such an army is to continuously assault it until its morale finally breaks (which will cause the army to disappear, if it has nowhere to retreat). Assuming you can occupy all their provinces besides Corsica, you can attack that huge army over and over and not have to worry about war score.

 

[Duke of Wellington]

You may also want to try this - take Liguria, and then move away your army. The Genovese may be tempted to take their 40k (or a fraction of that) back to liguria to take it back.

Good advice, I have used that tactic succesfully at other times when in a similar situation. Often with Rhodes as Ottomans, it simply means piling big armies of infantry into the island and killing them off with not only battle but attrition. Just make sure you attack near the end of the month giving yourself the least chance of losing before the month ends and of the battle goes long enough your troops may be there over 2 month endings as they fight then retreat. Basically though its gonna cost you lots of troops which hopefully you're able to afford.

 

[unmerged(15337)]

You might consider the wimp's option -- peaceful diplomacy, vassalization, and diploannexation. But if you have to take Corsica by force, it will be painful as said by the others. The good news is that you only have to be lucky once to destroy the enemy army there. The bad news is that you are likely to pay a high price until you finally do break them.

 

[unmerged(1631)]

Another way that might help is to stagger your assault. For instance, if you have 100 ships and 100k troops available, split them into groups of 25 then stagger your attack.
While the defenders morale is constantly dropping, your soldiers morale is being replenished. This usually does the trick

 

[EvilSanta]

I quess I go for peaceful option.Thats the thing I love in Eu2 that isnt in HoI2.You can theorically conquer world without fightning a single war.I quess I go for my original plan and get rid of final spanish strongholds in italian heel and Sicilia.Too bad that spaniards just dishonoured their alliance with Venice and joined Austrias gangsta team.I have to call french to help me and when french are as leader of alliance you can be sure they make peace as soon as possible.Have to take Apulia quickly to have hopes for getting it.

 

[Duke of Wellington]

I quess I go for peaceful option.Thats the thing I love in Eu2 that isnt in HoI2.You can theorically conquer world without fightning a single war.I quess I go for my original plan and get rid of final spanish strongholds in italian heel and Sicilia.Too bad that spaniards just dishonoured their alliance with Venice and joined Austrias gangsta team.I have to call french to help me and when french are as leader of alliance you can be sure they make peace as soon as possible.Have to take Apulia quickly to have hopes for getting it.

If you can pull it off that should be a lot better way of doing plus you might get the 40K troops for your own sinister means

 

[unmerged(20077)]

I had this problem trying to take Sardinia. The only solution is to keep on building transports and infantry, taking advantage of your much higher income and manpower, and flinging big armies at the enemy, gradually reducing their numbers. After about 5 or 6 attempts you should win.

 

[unmerged(51378)]

Yeah, if corsica is your core that would be the best option.

If it isn't your core... well, you're kinda doomed since the AI won't offer you stuff you don't control.

edit: beaten dam

Another idea is to give yourself that core via a event of your own making...
But if you don't wanna cheat then just /cheers to the AI idea and accept that Genova will last forever

You may also want to try this - take Liguria, and then move away your army. The Genovese may be tempted to take their 40k (or a fraction of that) back to liguria to take it back.

If you win enough battles, and then I mean MANY battles, they *might* offer you Corsica, although it's not your core. You need quite a bit of luck, though.

 

[unmerged(15337)]

If you win enough battles, and then I mean MANY battles, they *might* offer you Corsica, although it's not your core. You need quite a bit of luck, though.

In older patches, 1.05 for example, I saw this kind of thing many times. But even in 1.07 I never did. I think you really have to capture the province now.

 

[unmerged(32886)]

In older patches, 1.05 for example, I saw this kind of thing many times. But even in 1.07 I never did. I think you really have to capture the province now.

Agreed. I've never encountered it in later patches.

 

[Earl Uhtred]

If Sardinia is, Corsica really should be an Italian core too. That it ended up French is a freak of fate and it was the target of later Italian ambition.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

I agree with mrlifford. Stagger your assault to hold up your morale and defeat them with morale.

The die roll for damage and morale reduction happens on day 4 of the attack and every 5 days after that. So if you have a bad morale roll, you can replenish your morale to the average of the exhausted army and the fresh one assuming it shows up before your army cuts and runs (assuming it doesn't cut and run immediately). Around four to six units arriving at 5-10 day increments into the contested province is frequently enough to overcome even a hard target.

At lower tech levels, cavalry has much better morale reduction effect suring the shock phase of the combat every other 5 day period (until the fire phase starts at LT9, then it's every third 5 day period). You can destroy much of the enemy's morale with cavalry.

So use as much cavalry as possible, even in Mountains (tan provinces) where cavalry has a combat disadvantage. You aren't trying to kill all the enemy, just make them cut and run. When they run with no escape route, their army disbands completely.

Cavalry effectiveness slowly phases out through the middle tech levels (actually, the other units become more effective faster than cavalry, but the result is effectively the same). Still, breaking up a large army and spacing out the arrival times of the units into the battle is a good way to keep your morale up to break a hard target. It reduces the effect of a bad morale streak.

If it fails, you can try again after you replenish your army. You are bound to have some good morale streaks too.

 

[unmerged(3931)]

What is are the respective land techs? If your land tech is between LT 7 and LT 21 inclusive, then you will want something other than pure cavalry in your attack. You want something to wear down enemy morale during the fire phase. Stagger your attack waves with the different phases in mind; you can attach 1K infantry to large cavalry forces just to keep the timing consistent.

Oh yes, the supply limit may be six for you, but it is no surprise Genoa has 40K men in Corsica. Genoa gets 5 * base tax value supply plus 10K supply for each fortress level plus four for leader bonus. So let's see... Genoa has a small fortress in Corsica, right? Genoa's maximum army without attrition is 39K.

Send in a single soldier to arrive on the last day of a month, just to loot. The next month, send in 20K infantry to arrive the last day of the month to cause maximum attrition to your enemy. Stagger your attacks so that cavalry arrives five days latter. More infantry arrives five days after that and so on.

 

[EvilSanta]

Thanks for good suggestions but I decided to go peaceful way as it will eventually be cheaper and less annoying.I already got Genoa accept vassalization.Now I have to wait 10 years to try start annexing them.

 

[Duke of Wellington]

Good thats the hardest part out the way. How big are you as Italy?

 

[Lurken]

Thanks for good suggestions but I decided to go peaceful way as it will eventually be cheaper and less annoying.I already got Genoa accept vassalization.Now I have to wait 10 years to try start annexing them.

Better wait 30 years, it is much safer then that they will accept DA.