I. Basic Rules and Tips
Beginner's Rules:
- Focus on raising morale and economic output.
- Double-stuff provinces are really important.
- ONLY build barracks in double-stuff provinces (you get a significant recruitment speed bonus)
- When attacking, ALWAYS declare war first.
- Don't attack anyone until you have at least one ally.
- The best allies are communicative, cooperative, and at least one country 'away' from you (room to grow!)
- Always attack with at LEAST double, ideally triple the force strength as the enemy.
- Use your artillery wisely;
- protect it behind your front lines/main force,
- put at least two men with each artillery unit to 'soak' up damage.
- Be careful who you make your enemy.
- In big games, it's often best not to draw too much attention.
- Scouting is super useful. One or two single troops, or even better, balloons, can save you dozens of troops or more by allowing you to attack weak points or avoid strengths.
- When a province is below 35% it is in revolt, and you must garrison troops to be sure it doesn't switch sides to another country. A safe garrison is 4-7, but even 2-5 is better than none.
Beginner's Checklist (do these in order):
- Build recruitment offices in all provinces first
- Build 1 barracks in each of your double-stuff provs
- Build a fortress in your capitol (morale) and strategic border provinces.
- Set all full AI countries to open borders (they will eventually reciprocate).
- Build your first rail, if you can afford it, in your best energy province (either a double-stuff, or a well-positioned oil province).
- Unless you have a TON of iron and oil, don't waste it on armored cars, focus on economic development, and then artillery.
- Factories, harbors, rails and barracks are ALL more productive in double-stuff provinces.
- Place a defensive spy in your capitol.
II. Morale Matters
Morale is the most important metric(measure) of success in the game. It's a HUGE part of your score, and it determines both the economic output of your provinces and the fighting strength of your troops. When a province is below 35% it is in revolt, and you must garrison troops to be sure it doesn't switch sides to another country. A safe garrison is 4-7, but even 2-5 is better than none.
When you are spending resources to improve your holdings, focus on building MORALE and production in your provinces.
Strategic Guidelines:
Morale is everything in this game. It determines building speeds, army strength, and economic production. The cheapest way to raise morale is fortresses, then harbor/rail. Keep your resources in the green by using the sliders on your resource page to balance production such that you're producing what you want, and not in debt (less than 24-hour supply).
There are a few ways to keep morale high. First, your capitol HAS to be at 100%. This takes having supplies in all material areas, especially food. If you have a material that is red, and you have a zero stockpile, you are eating into your morale. One way to do this is to Switch (use the sliders) production to the products you can sell high, and buy the other ones low. Another way is to increase production by increasing morale. Cheapest way to do this is fortresses, then factories, the harbors then rails. Double-stuff provinces should get 3x the attention, make sure their morale/production is high by building above structures.
Once your capitol is at 100%, consider its location. Farther away from capitol = lower morale. For example, if you moved your in one direction that might seem more secure, but it will also negatively effect morale in your provinces in the other direction.
Focus on building artillery (then BS/Rails).
Railroads only in provinces with energy or double-resource.
Barracks only in double-stuff provinces, or if you have a large surplus of grain. Double-stuff provinces recruit much more efficiently than regular provinces.
Tactical Guidelines:
Rule number ONE: attack only in numbers AT LEAST 3-4 times the defender's. If you need them to have less troops, use artillery with most of your troops in front of the arty to protect them.
Protect your Artillery/Navy:
You may know this, but troops (men) can protect battleships in the same way that they protect artillery. the soak up most of the damage until they are gone (if they're in the same stack) and make a great shield if they're put in front of the BS so that it can keep bombarding while the men are dealing with attackers....
Always attack unprotected artillery. Always protect your artillery and BS/Rails with a few troops. Ideally, place your army in front of them so they're never involved in melee battle at all.
Sea/Land Interface:
You know about landing armies safely? You should land your forces on the Bursaid side of Cairo while a few troops (6 maybe) sit in front of your BS. He'll shoot, cairo will send troops, and your bs will kill them before they do much to your 6... If you try to land directly, you'll have to fight at sea-strength against land-strength forces...
Garrisons:
FYI, if you leave 4-5 troops in newly captured provinces, this prevents them from revolting to another owner, and also from counterattack... I think 5 troops guarantees no revolt until it reaches 36%, at which point you can have 2 or even 1 i think.
War Declarations: Declaring war (as opposed to sneak attacks) actually matters a lot in how AI treats you. If you sneak attack, they will hold a grudge, and all AI will be MUCH less likely to allow you to set to peace.
If you are honorable, you can set AI countries to open border and they'll eventually return the favor. This can prover VERY valuable in providing access to other targets, and for staging/moving forces.
