Hello and questions about unit building, strategic redeployment, province defections

[Emre Yigit]

Hello, I'm new to this forum (found it by accident since the link at prideofnationsgame.com sends you to the Paradox forum), and new to PoN.

First, great game! But the first game I've ever played where I had a book to hand to read during the game turns.

Anyway, I have a few questions (underlined for your convenience; I've searched for the answers here and on Paradox and couldn't find them). FWIW, I'm playing as the Ottomans, a suitably masochistic introduction, but have made some headway over the years (currently in 1860).

The Ottomans have Anatolia in colonial status (as national territory), which I found subtle indeed, but if that is the case, which is where I'm able to raise most of my land troops. The reason appears to be that when I look at the unit files, I see that, say, the Guard corps has

Code: Select all

Area = $Area_Thracia
AltArea = $Theater_Ottoman

while almost every other unit has

Code: Select all

AltArea = $Theater_Ottoman

which means I can only build fortress artillery in Anatolia. But they cannot be transported. There appears to be a button for "Strategic redeployment". This appears as an option to move heavy artillery, but then has no effect. Is the action itself triggered by a tech (I do have both the rail and the riverine transport capacity). A) How do you move heavy artillery from one province to another, landlocked province?

As the Ottomans, I am faced with numerous spontaneous and scripted uprisings. The scripted ones are straightforward (I know roughly where they'll appear ) but the spontaneous ones are really annoying; basically, I'm playing whack-a-rebel. Anyway, my question here is this: one of these rebellions started in Van, one of my three eastern provinces bordering Russia, and which I had at great cost upgraded to a Level 2 industrial fort (but which was not garrisoned). This fort was immediately reduced to zero. B) I thought that forts of size 2 and above could not be destroyed? Is this again a tech thing, or is it because Van is a colonial area? And: more generally, C) Is an ungarrisoned fort useless?

I started off with three provinces in the Horn of Africa (the Eritrean region), which at great effort I managed to upgrade to colonial status. I did the same with Tripolitania. Then I noticed that a province defected spontaneously from the Egyptians to me (adjacent to my Tripoli province) and two defected in Eritrea to me. My goal is simple: survival! I don't want to expand into areas where I might be drawn into conflict with other nations or beyond the game's (rather restricted) SoI designation. In any case, as the Ottomans, I have my hands full with the territory that I already have, and do not wish to go adventuring (yet). D) How and why do province defections occur, and can I guard against them?

I have steadily rising militancy in my Balkan territories. I can pass all of the decrees I wish, but they do not seem to have an impact. So, for example, my militancy in Albania may be 4 at the start of one year. So I declare martial law. This should reduce militancy by 3 points. It has no effect at either the start or the end of the process. Looking at the particular event, I can see that it has no effect on serviles, (who must be truly pissed off in Albania.) E) Is there a screen for a detailed provincial breakdown of militancy, contentment, etc?

That's all, for now. Thanks for any input.

EDIT: Another question. F) How and when do I get the means do discover inner Arabia? Is this a tech or an event?

[loki100]

some basic ideas.

first do you have patch 1.03c, that unlocks fortress artillery that you have built yourself (but I believe most of the scenario start guns are locked for ever)

forts once ready do have an auto-garrison but if its a really important location add a properly raised fortress unit - not least, this can then be deployed outside the fort in case of need and may help with slowly denying space to rebels. Your fort may have been destroyed as the rebels might have lacked the CP to sustain such a structure - you see this quite a lot in colonial wars where if you capture a province all the existing colonial buildings are destroyed - so that may be linked to the notionally colonial status of Anatolia.

when you declare a colony you do sometimes gain other provinces that are deemed to be part of that district, so this is scriptted.



Militancy - send in the army (literally), any unit with a high police value is your friend - so MP, cavalry are very useful, line infantry ok. Check out militancy using the F6 (I think, its the census screen). But containing and driving down militancy is a long term job, equally I believe that some of your state's national characteristics (such as tolerance for minorities) may have a role here.

You need an 'explorer' unit, I'm not sure but I believe this is made available when you get the 'Source of the Nile' tech (if not that one its a similar one), then deploy that unit adjacent to the undiscovered region and you can deploy the explorer card into the unknown region (there are other preconditions)

& you are very brave taking on the Ottomans for your first game ...

[Taillebois]

Emre Yigit sounds a bit like he might be playing his home team.

[Jim-NC]

Welcome to the forums Emre Yigit. You will find us to be welcoming and ready to help those in need.

In regards to rebels. They are very slippery, and are able to move from one province to another quite easily. If you send in troops to fight them in 1 area, they can easily "bounce" to another. Thus to truely get rid of them you have to do the following:
1. Garrison all provinces surrounding them with a force set on offensive posture. A good detection value helps them see the rebels.
2. Attack the rebels with a force that is bigger then them, with a high detection and pursuit value (cavalry).
3. Destroy the rebel elements (you must destry the entire element, or the unit heals back to full strength next turn). Usually, the rebels pop up with 2 elements in their unit, so you have to destroy the element completely twice (or in 2 battles).
4. Repeat until all rebel elements are destroyed.

Do not hestiate to ask with any questions, and the search function is your friend.

[Emre Yigit]

Thank you all. I thought I came prepared from years of strategy gaming, but the scale of PoN is remarkable.

And yes, I'm playing my ancestors' team.

Which makes me a double masochist, I guess.



Edit: I'm rather liking the game, despite the steep learning curve. It reminds me of a vastly updated and expanded Empires in Arms (the boardgame - that dates me! )

[Emre Yigit]

Thank you all. I thought I came prepared from years of strategy gaming, but the scale of PoN is remarkable.

And yes, I'm playing my ancestors' team.

Which makes me a double masochist, I guess.

[Sir Garnet]

Auto-garrison only works for countries with garrison units (colonial countries) and with auto-garrison set (via scripted AddGarrison command) for that country's structures. Others (Latin American countries, for example) don't have garrisons at all so you must use regular army. One or both of these may explain what you saw in Turkey. I'm hoping to find someone to collaborate on a mod to add auto-garrison and maybe garrison and fortress units.

[Kensai]

If by colonial countries you mean major, playable out of the box countries, yes. But I think it could be easier fixed with an IsMajor=1. Nonetheless, the Ottomans is a major country, in these calculations. Garrisons should be raised.