Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: Mus

Looking at your OOB you must be bursting with horses after all this time. Is it only lack of money preventing you having more cavalry units?

I do have a good surplus of horses now. I did have the money (and will again soon- hopefully) to build cavalry divisions. The real reason I did not was the high cost and its affect on unit inflation costs. I had some hope of getting UCI reduced to zero. After four years of peace it dropped to 8% from a high of about 26%. Its already back up to 16%-without even building one cav unit. I have 3 good cavalry divisions now and 4 lousy ones. I will be building some in the future. As of now I'm not sure if the irregular cav count towards the mob limit. The only way my unit count makes sense regarding the limit is if I discount the irregular (starting ones) from the total. If I could go back 10 years I would dump a few of those almost useless units and build some real cavalry. I did build one heavy cavalry division-they surrendered in battle...and those suckers were expensive.

Can you speculate as to the cause of Russian reticence? Anthropoid was a very inactive player in all the games I was in with him... is he playing Russia in a very sleepy manner in this game as well? Russia having few glory targets it starts the game in control of basically has to make war on it's neighbors to place decently at all for it's size. Once it has it's waste under control (5-8 years tops with decent management) it should also have the money and other resources to start building a very scary (~500k, not including cossacks, of 4+ morale infantry and decent cavalry and ample artillery contingents to go along with that) army to use on it's neighbors. Maybe Russia is thinking about attacking you at some point instead?

It seems that Czar Poid was distracted by some illusions of fighting alien beings on some "big screen" in the Kremlin. It seems that he is well again. In view of the financial mess that Russia fell into recently I think those illusions were causing some serious lack of focus regarding his position in this contest. In another game (1st 4X) I played as Russia (1803 scenario). I found Russia can be a powerhouse-and eliminated waste even with that late start. It does seem to be short on banks-or a good balance between it mob limits and income. I was kept financially afloat in that game by some rather large grants from Great Britain.

He is interested in joining the current war with France and Turkey against the unholy alliance of Prussia, Spain, Austria and partial involvement of Great Britain. His financial mess has dampened his enthusiasm in joining right away.

As Russia is really behind in Glory and Turkey has multiple VP provinces, I would not be too surprised if he were to take a stab at me sometime in the future. However, Austria and Prussia are sitting on many more points that Russia could acquire-and without my help he will never get those. Hopefully, Czar Poid and I have communicated enough to where he will trust me a bit more than he had in the past.

France and Turkey are about to embark on a great campiagn frought with risks. If it does not work out (France gets stabbed in the back again) folks will wonder just what in the hell we were thinking. But hey, "no balls, no glory",[;)] If the Czar was to join us it would reduce the chances of failure greatly-and it would have great potential benefits for Russia. We shall soon see what the Czar decides.

ORIGINAL: Zap

I'm glad they are continuing. the game is at a critical stage. What will you do with the two countries without leaders, no that 2 have dropped out?

Well, I'm glad too. There has been a year put into this game already-and it is getting close to some real action again.

We still have 8 players. There are a couple that seldom communicate, but they are still in the game.

I am in one of the 4 v 4 IWGC games as Russia and my UCI is up around 50% or so IIRC. There is just no way to avoid it if you want a decent cavalry arm as cav is expensive and usually several times the money reduction factor (or whatever you want to call it) in the UCI formula. Every cav division pops it 3-4 pts at least IME.

"no balls, no glory", [:D] Maestro put that on your flags. As you ride into battle and become the famous and feared leader of the hordes[:)]

Yea Mus, I am coming to the conclusion that the inflation cannot be avoided. I was tinkering with the idea of building large numbers of merchants and possibly a diplomat or two. If inflation hits 20 or 30 percent, such new units will be impossible to build. I guess I will just have to forget about new diplomats.

ORIGINAL: Zap

"no balls, no glory", [:D] Maestro put that on your flags. As you ride into battle and become the famous and feared leader of the hordes[:)]

Hmm, now that's an idea. Something like the international road signs with the red slash through the pictures...[X(][:D]

May 1805
Glory Report

This may be the last monthly report before war breaks out. There are so many variables that it pure speculation to say how Glory will change over the next year. The Ottoman Empire could be at 1800-or at 900. It is an interesting time...
If the O.E. looses this war it will be impossible to ever catch up to Great Britain again. It will be still be attempted in any event.

Bursa is moving right along with rapid expansion in all areas. Bosnia had a rush job on building up fortifications as it is a border province with the barbarians to the north.

May 1805

Culture Report

Spain is still making arts improvements adding to its culture. One big advantage to having this high culture level is a rapid increase in moral. This can come in handy during war. Of course, there is also a monthly increase in Glory as a return on culture.

At some point I will have to initiate the "Amphitheater Initiative".

May
Economic Report

The Unit Cost Increase (UCI) is back up to 15% and is still climbing. Should I find it necessary to increase my mobilization limit during this war it will go much higher.

Taxes are still being increased. This is driving down production. A time will likely come in the near future where there will be strategic shortages that will drastically slow down some types of development. More money is needed-so taxes will continue to climb.

May
Strategic Map

Great Britain's main army is sitting in England where it can be a threat to France. Spain is siting in a threatening position on Frances southern flank. Austria's main army is still at its old watering hole southeast of Vienna. Prussia is not quite mobilized, but closely huddled near the French frontier. Threat forces are thick everywhere.

Ottoman forces are nearly 100% ready for war against Austria. The great question is how France will be able to assist in a war against Austria when it cannot trace a supply through Switzerland. It cannot DoW Spain without Prussia-and thus England invading France.

Is it possible that Prussia will not allow France to cross its territory? Is Prussia and Austria planning on ganging up on the O.E. while France cannot do anything to help?
Questions, questions. The time of action is near-the time of speculation is over-almost.

May

I have had some good intelligence on Spain for a couple of months. The Spanish Italia Army is shown here. It looks like a decent force, but looks a little weak in several areas. The Spanish Army has some very good upgrades-second only to France. It numbers about 158,000. The position of this force will draw some French attention.

May
Strength Report

The Ottoman Empire has Passed Austria in military power-however, very slightly so.

Maestro,

Looking at the map I see russian, with what seems to be very little concentration of troops. They don't look mobilized to do anything. Are they in with you or out?

ORIGINAL: Zap

Maestro,

Looking at the map I see russian, with what seems to be very little concentration of troops. They don't look mobilized to do anything. Are they in with you or out?

I am certainly hoping to see some movement by Russian forces in the next turn. Even if not planning on joining the war right away, those should be moved closer to the action.

June 1805
Glory Report

The Glory standings have remained consistent. Spain is still advancing rather quickly at a rate of about 25 per turn. This would be enough to put it in the lead within a few years-assuming there was no war to drag it back down.

In the current political environment Spain is safe for at least 2 years. France had to sign a non aggression treaty with Prussia nd Spain to allow the war with Austria to advance. As I am allied to France-and will act as an ally, I will not be DoWing Spain on my own. Even assuming the added Glory for Ottoman conquest of Austria Spain will likely be in the lead in 2 years. That will simply be too much Glory for Spain to hold onto...

Another 3 barracks have been completed this month. This is really having an affect on the Ottoman Army.

June 1805
Strategic Map

France has moved closer to an invasion route to Austria. It remains to be seen what will happen here. Switzerland can be crossed without too much issue, but supply cannot be traced through the mountains. Prussian controlled Germans Provinces may be crossed, but will be a touchy issue. France and Prussia are prohibited from going to war with each other, but France will have to violate Prussian territory-interesting.

The Austrian Army has concentrated a second army in the west to meet the French threat.

Russia has made some minor movements towards the west with one corps. I hope the delay in movement was due to pulling the forces out of garrison. I do not know what the Czar is planning.

Last month I moved the Egyptian Army to Greece and it is making its way to Albania where there is a little rebellion going on. It will soon join in the Jihad against Austria.

June
Strength Report

All powers except Sweden are increasing military strength. Most are very slight-the Ottoman Empire has a somewhat accelerated rate. There is a little more to come in the near future. As I utilized some "experience points" for unit training I will not have enough to acquire the mobb limit upgrade in July. So, the Ottoman forces will soon reach the maximum limit.

The recent unit additions were quite expensive-the Ottoman treasury has fallen drastically.

The Army marches! War has broken out with Austria.

Why doesn't basically everyone bordering Austria want to attack it at this point in the game? Particularly Prussia?

That's a good question, Mus. I think Prussia could gain some provincial target points from Austrian territory-not really sure. Certainly it could use the conquest glory points. I suspect that Prussia wants to keep Austria somewhat on its side for the coming crusade against France.