2 questions playing as triple Entente

[balenami1291]

First question:[&:]
I read a lot of times manual. It seems HQs are used only to activate offensive.
If Yes, at start of the war, French HQ seems stay better far away from the front line.
I think I will not planning offensive for a lot of time ....
Or not ????

Second question:[:)]
After a first game where (AI) German army didn't declare war at belgium and aimed at Paris, I was enforced to stop this french disaster and start again. At second game my setup was better and french frontal defense was optimized.
The AI, at the fist Impulse, declare war at belgium !!

Great game!!
AI seems to be able to play in differerent manners
but are we sure "Fog of war" works for AI too?

Excuse my bad english

[ejs6263]

HQ's are the strategic focus of the game. They are assigned activation points that are used for mounting offensives. France's ability to mount a meaningful offensive depends on what the Germans do. If the Germans get bogged down moving through Luxembourg, Belgium and northern France, and French troops are not severely diminished by the time the BEF arrives in numbers, you may be able to counter-attack depending on how many points you have left. One thing I liked about Frank's design was that the game actually replicated the futility of France's infamous "Plan XVII" - the foray into Alsace-Lorraine in 1914 - which in reality was a debacle and in this game also is difficult to accomplish. The same thing happens to the Russians if they attempt an offensive into East Prussia. Just as in the actual war, I could never sustain the offensive.

As for your second question, I think you are right that the game AI is dynamic in that it responds to your moves and initial placement.

[06 Maestro]

mi

The French Army will need to be counter attacking or perhaps a diversionary attack into southern Germany. The HQ's will be needed at the front. If a section of front seems vulnerable, then yes, I would certainly pull them back one hex.

I've started one game as the TE, and was rather surprised to see the German Army smashing right through to Epinal-the AI apparently is flexible. IIRC, I saw a statement by F. Hunter; "the AI guesses". This should keep it interesting.

Oh, and by the way, your English is far better than 1/3 of the population of my home city. You are easily understood.

[SMK-at-work]

HQ's are safer 1 hex behind the front unless you are actually planning on attacking - at one point we were trialing a rule that a HQ that was retreated lost 1 activation point but I don't recall whether it made teh final or not.
 
1 hex behind you don't rusk anything tho, but you do lose a little flexibility in that you can only activate 2 frontlien hexes instead of 3 or possibly more.  However for counter-attacks to retake lost ground they are fine - since the enemy will ahve advanced the front line to you!!

[FrankHunter]

The German AI (such as it is) randomly selects a personality before the game, von Schlieffen, von Moltke (the Elder) or von Falkenhayn.   These personalities don't dictate to the rest of the AI, they simply add another variable to various decisions.  For example Schliffen is more likely to want to take a "France first" strategy, Moltke will push more for a "Russia first" strategy and Falkanhayn will look more at knocking out minors while engaging in attrition on the main fronts.

Again, the AI itself decides how things will go, the personalities just give some things a bit more of a push when the decision is close.

The AI does not peek at your stacks.  On the other hand it does have a memory of past games and if a pattern is repeating it might have a good idea of what you have.  Then again the situation could look similar but ithe AI could be very wrong.