Empires in Arms is the computer version of Australian Design Group classic board game. Empires in Arms is a seven player game of grand strategy set during the Napoleonic period of 1805-1815. The unit scale is corps level with full diplomatic options
The Brits have the added bonus of taking VP's off anyone who looks to be doing too well at getting to there VP total. Of course if no-one gets to there victory point target then GB wins anyway!
I have yet to see a game where nobody wins. GB can only subtract points from coutries that she is at war with, and if she is subtracting, she isn't winning either. The only time I use subtraction as GB is when its a tool of diplomacy to get someone out of a war...
"surrender conditionally now turkey, or i'll subtract your VP's and you will score zero for the THIRD quarter in a row!!"
... and that only happens when I can't beat them honestly in a war to begin with.
Personally I agree with Barbu, i would think everyone should worry if GB gets to totally dominate the seas (except GB of course) from early in the game. You can get a coalition together that can threaten to invade France easily enuf but if no one has any ships the same cant be said about a coalition against GB. It takes a LOT of money and a LONG time to build a fleet back up from nothing and you cant do it by surprise.
The ability to strike at where-ever the enemy isnt ,and hop aboard your ships and go away to safety if an army thats too big comes near means the Brits will be raking in the VP's i would think, and will have a pretty good sized army from that african manpower and the Swedish corps.
The Brits have the added bonus of taking VP's off anyone who looks to be doing too well at getting to there VP total. Of course if no-one gets to there victory point target then GB wins anyway!
I completely agree on the power of GB Navy, but i don't see it as a huge danger as long as GB is at war with France. Making a four countries coalition against GB cause it sinks some Russian ships is a greater danger cause it will probably cause Fr and GB to be at peace in the end. That will free the ships that are blockading Fr (more that what Fr disband more oftenb) and leave GB enough ships to try to defeat Sp or Tu and regaining some of the lost PP.
As long as GB is at war with Fr and they don't control much of the minors with fleet, you have a huge chance of defeating it with a coalition even if it lost some ships since the beginning. So as Sp i would make pressure and threats of DoW so that Sweden and Denmark don't fall in GB hands, rather in Pr hands instead, what a GB player can agree with.
However, that may vary if you play with advanced naval rules that make GB fleet increase too quickly; or without the Calais crossing arrows or without the advanced naval transport rules. I play with the last two but not the first one, that make a difference.
I completely agree on the power of GB Navy, but i don't see it as a huge danger as long as GB is at war with France. Making a four countries coalition against GB cause it sinks some Russian ships is a greater danger cause it will probably cause Fr and GB to be at peace in the end. That will free the ships that are blockading Fr (more that what Fr disband more oftenb) and leave GB enough ships to try to defeat Sp or Tu and regaining some of the lost PP.
Lets think about that for a moment. GB is at war with Russia France and spain, and is forced to surrender due to an overwhelming enemy force in England.
France was at war with GB first and chooses either the fleet or access,
If he chooe fleet, then russia choose access, thus forcing France to leave the peace, then spain chooses fleet. And then they divide the rest of the terms between them.
If he chooses access, then Russia choose to remove the brittish army, thus forcing France to leave the peace, and Russia and spain divide the rest of the terms betwen them.
GB and France are still at war, and if GB want a peace with France he will have to surrender unconditionally once again.
It is both in spains and russias intrest that france and GB stay in war with each other, so I dont think this is a unlikely scenario.
Lets think about that for a moment. GB is at war with Russia France and spain, and is forced to surrender due to an overwhelming enemy force in England.
France was at war with GB first and chooses either the fleet or access,
If he chooe fleet, then russia choose access, thus forcing France to leave the peace, then spain chooses fleet. And then they divide the rest of the terms between them.
If he chooses access, then Russia choose to remove the brittish army, thus forcing France to leave the peace, and Russia and spain divide the rest of the terms betwen them.
GB and France are still at war, and if GB want a peace with France he will have to surrender unconditionally once again.
It is both in spains and russias intrest that france and GB stay in war with each other, so I dont think this is a unlikely scenario.
Hum don't really agree with that interpretation of the rule here. IMHO France must try to takes these two conditions as per the rule, if he is forbidden by another country choice, i think it's out of GB and France control, so the peace is in effect.
Second, GB has a good reason to surrender to France and Russia, cause she don't have anything to gain in a war with them. But against Sp or Tu, she can continue the war, restricting to armies to national territory with her fleets and gaining slowly PP by gaining some land victories with it's small army and capturing islands and country in Italy and North Africa.
So the question is : will Sp also have landed corps on GB land?
I have yet to see a game where nobody wins. GB can only subtract points from coutries that she is at war with, and if she is subtracting, she isn't winning either. The only time I use subtraction as GB is when its a tool of diplomacy to get someone out of a war...
"surrender conditionally now turkey, or i'll subtract your VP's and you will score zero for the THIRD quarter in a row!!"
... and that only happens when I can't beat them honestly in a war to begin with.
LMFAO!
Nelson stood on deck and observed as the last of the Spanish fleets sank below the waves…
Hum don't really agree with that interpretation of the rule here. IMHO France must try to takes these two conditions as per the rule, if he is forbidden by another country choice, i think it's out of GB and France control, so the peace is in effect.
That is an interesting interpretation, if that is true then the same must go for France surrendering to GB. So if France is at war with GB Austra and Prussia, and France chooses to surrender unconditionally to all. And GB chooses to remove napoleon as he has to, then they have peace even if Austria and Prussia block that by not choosing the same condition. In my oppinion that would be a load of bull as it completely removes any reason for having that rule. And I have the same opinion when it comes to GB surrendering to france. France dont care who sinks the fleet, he just want it out of the way, but he WILL want the access. And if he dont get the access and no one tells GB to scuttle some fleets, then he wont consider the English threat gone.
One could argue if the conditions france chose are up for grabs by the other or chosen by france still, and thereby not choosable by the others.
the rules (or the erratas, don't remember) clearly states that when Fr surrenders to GB and others MP, they MUST all takes the remove Napoleon leader condition.
when GB surrenders to Fr & others MP, only Fr can (and must) take military peaces terms & access.
"Nous vaincrons parce que nous sommes les plus forts."
Paul Reynaud, 20/03/1940
Second, GB has a good reason to surrender to France and Russia, cause she don't have anything to gain in a war with them. But against Sp or Tu, she can continue the war, restricting to armies to national territory with her fleets and gaining slowly PP by gaining some land victories with it's small army and capturing islands and country in Italy and North Africa.
So the question is : will Sp also have landed corps on GB land?
If Russia/France want GB to include spain in a peace, and they have had their corps in GB for 2 months or so it is relative easy even if spain dont have corps pressent
France and Russia can just threathen to take the following conditions
France: C.5.Access, C.4Land: Wales, Scotland and Ireland if able, else the largest minor navy power under GB control. C.6.LeaderNelson
Russia: C.1.c.Fleets: the two largest. C.6.LeaderNelson and C.3/C.7 witch ever gives the most money in the current situation.
Given that GB in this example was smart enough to first threathen Spain France and Russia, by trying to sink the russian fleet, then I think it would be most likely that Russia have a big enough grudge to find these terms acceptable for a peace where spain is left out.
I would like to add my two cents worth to Regeurk's request for advice as to which country he is best suited to.
Spain- This country jumps out as having your name on it! Typically, the Spanish player will not be an offensive power house, though opportunities sometimes present themselves. i.e invading FR when FR is over extended! SP can do well against an unassisted TU, due to it's naval superiority. But, on the defense, SP shines as being one of the most difficult countries to subdue due to their guerrillas, inhospitable terrain, and numerous fortresses! SP also has numerous expansion opportunities including Italy, North Africa, and Portugal. :')
Russia- Another good choice as it is probably easier to defend than Spain. Offensively it is a good choice because it has such a huge manpower supply you can quickly recover from huge losses, due to offensive blunders! :'0
Great Britain-Another good choice, as long as your comfortable with navy, and are capable of forming good alliances!;")
France-Avoid it like the plague. If you cannot be creative on the offense then you will not due well with Nappy. ;'(
Prussia- I would avoid it. Prussia is not the best place to defend. The Capital is to vulnerable, and you don't have the depth of a Russia. In addition, there will be times that you will have to be aggressive, and rise above the poor leadership qualities of the Prussian army(at least till Blucher comes on board!).When the Prussian goes on the offensive you will have to as creative as the Fr to win, and even more importantly preserve the Prussian army, which is hard to rebuild.;'{
Austria-This might be a fair choice for you. You have a great leader in Charles, plus lots of good Austrian corps. So, mistakes are more forgiving. Austria's capital is vulnerable so you need to have lined up some good allies who can finance you in the event it is occupied! But, against most enemies it is a good country for a defensive player. Especially when you can pop in the Freicorp, or the Tyroleon corp! :'?
Turkey-Only if you don't plan to attack anybody. Turkey can do ok picking up it's fair share of minors, but in wars against Major powers it takes a real finesse to do well with them! It doesn't take many losses before you're headed to the instability zone. Then have fun keeping all those minors under controll! You will wind up converting valuable $ resources to Free States so you don't have to garrison corps there to keep them happy.:'[
Anyway, there is my opinion, hope it is useful, and continue to enjoy EIA. It is the best multi player game out there!
Montesaurus
I don't buy that Spain should DOW Britain in the Scandanavian scenario. Obviously Britain takign Denmark and Sweden and sinking the Russian fleet (well technically just the Baltic fleet, but that should be most of the Russian fleet) is EXTREMELY bad news for Spain. But in this scenario France has an enforced peace with Britain, and even with the Turks in the alliance the British fleet can cream Spain. Russia is the one naval power that can, ultimately, recover from losing her fleet. She has the resources to build a fleet reasonably quickly, and hopefully will be able to regain Sweden and Denmark in due course.
To me Spain declaring war here is suicidal - you're simply begging the British to sink your own fleet at which point Spain is a non-entity. The better response is, in my opinion, to start building as many ships as possible, perhaps to set Portugal free and have her start building fleets, and to engage in agressive diplomacy with Britain about how you will react to the Russian fleet being sunk. Also strongly encourage France will also focus on ship building, although the threat to France is much less than that to Spain.
And if Britain proceeds to sink the Russian fleet anyway I still think Spain's best approach is to suck it up - get into as strong an aliance as possible with France, build as many ships as possible, and wait things out. You still have to hope that France is farsighted enough to see the great dangers, and clearly France will be leading and Spain following, but taking on Britain without France is just too dangerous. Eventually Russia will recover somewhat, and then, hopefully, something can be done about Britain. Spain, Turkey and Russia can't do anythign againt Britain unless his fleet was really hurt fighting France beforehand.
And I agree that in this scenario Britain is almost always unwise to sink the Russian fleet. It forces Spain into France's arms.
But if Spain DoW uppon the briths when he notices his intentions, will prevent GB to attack Russian fleet in the Baltic, or at least stay in Cadiz with all the fleets and corps ready for quick invasion will elude GB to move his fleet up towards the russians...no?
If the main british fleet is in the baltic then the island is pretty vulnerable..even for spanish navy
Spain don't have to DOW to threaten GB. Transporting French corps is enough a threat and won't allow an attack on the ships after. Without forgetting it cost no PP but it reduce opportunity to gain some also.
EiA can be a subtile game. No need to always jump on the DOW.
Spain don't have to DOW to threaten GB. Transporting French corps is enough a threat and won't allow an attack on the ships after. Without forgetting it cost no PP but it reduce opportunity to gain some also.
EiA can be a subtile game. No need to always jump on the DOW.
Well, of course if you can avoid to spend PP in a DoW it is better, but if you have a chance to invade GB with your fleets and corps from Cadiz you should DoW, it is difficult to have your fleet in a french port, too close to GB to be blocked and probably your fleet will spend many years there...
Probably having 3 corps and 3 fleets in Cadiz will avoid the brits to take his fleet into the baltic...
