Invading Mountains

[Bookworm83]

In my game I am surrounded by lots of mountains. One mountain chain in particular is home to an army of mutants, which I am currently at war with. I can fairly easily defeat these mutants, even with the entrenchment bonuses they are getting from the mountains. The problem is that my units are reaching the end of their supply chains very quickly because of the high cost to get logistics there.

Theoretically I can build roads through the mountains. But it costs 600+ IP per mountain hex to do so, and its early in the game so I don't have an abundance of that. And even if I could I can see mutants three or four hexes deep and moving around. On top of any mutants that I don't have enough recon to see. I've already them break out of one undefended flank so I'm pretty sure I can't see all of them.

Is there any good way to dig them out? A better unit type than my current light infantry and artillery? I have another random raider unit sitting just outside my supply in another set of mountains. And my capital is literally completely surrounded by mountains. So this is going to be an ongoing problem throughout the game.

On a side note it costs 30k IP to build a rail road one hex in mountains. That's pretty crazy.

[KingHalford]

It's designed that way: you're digging a railroad through several hundred kilometres of mountain that can be as large as Everest! It also ensures that high mountains are a consistent logistical challenge right through the game and not just a minor roadblock that are easily penetrated with a small investment of IP.

I think the Siege Infantry formations are indeed a good bet for clearing mountains. Follow them through with roads once you've got your economy to the point that it's more affordable to spend the IP.

Remember that IP is partly built by Industry, and partly from taxation of population, so I'd probably forget about them until you've gotten your economy up. Just leave some basic infantry guarding the mountains and those mutants will struggle to dislodge them. Just be aware that they do reproduce fast so they can often field a lot of units, you might need a fair few units to face them up, but they absolutely suck in defence so even a much smaller force will wipe the floor with them.

[Clux]

If they are deep inside the mountains I would suggest you to just make a defense barrier and start expanding on another side.

[Bookworm83]

My introduction to these mutants was them cutting my only rail line in half, so I am wary of leaving them to their own devices. And as you mentioned there are lots of them. Probably upwards of 100 that I can see so far. On top of everything else my territory actually curls around from my capital to the north of these mountains all the way to the south of them. And the southern area is home to a great deal of untapped resource deposits I'd like to mine. So I'd have to commit a substantial force to garrisoning the low mountains or risk a breakout. That said they haven't actually attacked any of my troops. I'm not really sure why. There are at least a few militia they could probably destroy.

[Kamelpov]

Well if it's me i just put some unit use hold the line at the limit of supply and call it a day and see elsewhere.

[KingHalford]

I'm with Kamelpov here. Obviously it depends on your exact situation, but that force you're guarding with, if used right, can be generating veteran troopers for you, and vets are exceptionally useful once you enter a major war!