Public or Private?

[Hoche]

Will corps strenghts be pubic or private, or will it be an option?

[Le Tondu]

I think that this question relates to the Fog of War question.

Did the original game have Corps strengths being private or was that an EiH kind of improvement?

FOW is another one of those anxiously awaited items.

Maybe Bart can shed some light?

[Hoche]

In the original game there is a question as to whether corps strengths were made public or kept private. I have played games both ways and prefer private corps strengths. I just wanted know what MAtrix was going to do.


FoW is a bad idea. It is a bad idea even for an option. No on FoW!!!

[Yorlum]

I agree that FoW is a bad idea, if only because a game with FoW would not be Empires in Arms. To those who suggest it as an option, I reply with another question; how much extra coding would be required to allow for that option? It would seem to me that the AI would have to have two modes to play in, which would complicate and add time to the ship date.

I am willing to wait a while for the game to be done right, but not for such chrome.

[Camile Desmoulins]

I think that it should be secret, because it is a middle way between "we known everything" and the FOW. The game, also, leaves this type of information very undoubtedly he/she should stay reserved, and I think that this informatin would be known is a bad idea.

I take advantage to outline another question that can be more delicate: are the loans of money known or not?. The diplomacy (one of the basic pillars of this game, certainly) it radically varies according to the answer it's positive or negative

Camile

[Chiteng]

If you allow FOW, I dont see how you can defeat Spain.
If you dont know where is partisan are, you would need to garrison each province. Only the French have that kind of muscle.

That doesnt cover Cossak or Friekorp. Its a can of worms.

[von Curow]

Hidden corps strengths were a feature of EiA which EiH seems to have removed! Actually, in a computer game, I think FoW is probably better. The benefit of having revealed corps strengths, however, is to prevent the "frightening" stack of 4 corps with minimal factors from running around. There is, after all, a point when intelligence of the time could tell the difference between 4 factors and 48 factors...

[Roads]

I can't imagine the game being much fun if all corps strengths are revealed. I hope there is at least the option to make them all hidden.

Raises the question of how to avoid savegame hacking in PBEM though.

[Pippin]

I often wonder if it is really realistic to keep Fleet counters always public.

[StCyr]

of course it is NOT. It should only be public if the ships are in a sea area that is beside and (friendly) coast-area, or if in contact with other ships on high sea. I guess this could be managed very well in a computer game... Matrix, listen pls...

StCyr

[Le Tondu]

StCyr,

I think that is a great idea. Why not keep em hidden until in the same hex. As aUSCoast Guard vet, we were always told that visibility at sea is considered to be 10 miles at best.

[Mark Breed]

One thing everyone is forgetting. The fleets in EiA represent only the Men of War. Frigates are out there patrolling and gathering information on the enemy fleets.

The only person to benefit from the FoW in my opinion is the British with their 9 fleets and 120 ships.[&o]

Regards,
Mark

[denisonh]

Of course, most of the frigates patrolling were British, as the French were predominately bottled up in port......

[pfnognoff]

ORIGINAL: von Curow

Hidden corps strengths were a feature of EiA which EiH seems to have removed!

If I remember correctly it was not removed in EiH. It is one of the best features of the original game! Imagine comming accros 4 french corps with your big and clumsy Austrian army, do you select Assault to try to prevent their escape, or are they full and you need to approach with much more care...

[oldtimer]

Keeping corp strengths hidden is essential to EIA and EIH. The FOW aspect comes in by not knowing what corp are moving around or what size they are. You do know though where corp are.

When it comes to combat knowing your opponents strength before a Chit Pick ruins most of the excitement in beating your opponent. If you know you have 40,000 troops and your opponent has 3,000 you pretty much know what chit you are going to pick.

Also knowing corp strengths bascially removes all feints in the game. Half your bluffing power is gone.

I think it will be a big mistake if corp strengths, what corp, are known and picking chits after strengths are known. You removed a big portion of the original game if Matrix does indeed do this in the computer version.

Having not seen it I do not know how exactly they address this.

[montesaurus]

I can't imagine keeping 4 corps around with minimal strength in them, just to hide ones intentions. To risk 2 political points is very expensive. Even 2 corp at the cost of 1 political point makes me hesitate. It better be pretty important as far as what your hiding to risk a political point. Unless your the French/GB, those political points are sometimes hard to collect, but easy to lose!

[NeverMan]

ORIGINAL: montesaurus

I can't imagine keeping 4 corps around with minimal strength in them, just to hide ones intentions. To risk 2 political points is very expensive. Even 2 corp at the cost of 1 political point makes me hesitate. It better be pretty important as far as what your hiding to risk a political point. Unless your the French/GB, those political points are sometimes hard to collect, but easy to lose!

Trivial Combat. 5-1 odds

[ardilla]

Just remember that from I viewed in the screenshots there will be ships of the line (or manofwar), frigates and transports, so it is getting complicated the war at sea.
IMO I really like it, because I think that was a very important thing that the game has left a bit.

It could be interesting using corps fullness values, low, medium, high, for fleets and corps, this could give an idea of how many people/ships are in a corps more practical and more realistic, but it is just an idea that the computer version could add.

Regards.

[Marshall Ellis]

Hey guys:

Thought I posted this last night ???

Corps strength will not be public unless you're in combat and even then only after chit selection.

Fleet strengths will be public as will the ship building locations.

Thank you