Mon Feb 02, 2015 3:59 pm
Cwegche, I am just using the latest available update, 1.04 RC 5. Nothing else.
The AI behavior in the rest of the war was also very interesting. After losing the first naval battle, I moved a large fleet from the Mediterranean to join my Atlantic fleet, and the combined fleets moved into the English Channel. The English had their own large armada with a huge army on it heading for France, but it retreated from my combined fleet.
After a few turns, there was no sign of English land forces on the Channel coasts, fleets would enter the channel a few times, but they always retreated before combat, sometimes taking hits, but never staying to fight. It looked like I could invade, and to my sorrow, I landed a full Army under McMahon in the English Southwest, which was defended only by garrisons. The very next turn, the English moved several large forces into the southwest by rail, attacking my greatly outnumbered army. I had fallen into a trap. I could only land one army at a time due to shipping limitations, and the English had huge land forces hidden deeper in England. I had also landed a smaller force, mainly of siege artillery protected by some infantry.The smaller force was almost wiped out, but my main army defeated the initial English attacks, while outnumbered. But both forces retreated to the province where Southhampton is.
I quickly ordered my full army to board the transports in the channel. But the English moved in even more troops, and attacked so frequently that my army could not board the transports. I won some of the battles, lost another, but there was nowhere to retreat. It looked like I would lose this army, which was twenty percent of my non colonial forces.
In the meantime, the English had sent a number of multiship task forces into a many of the Commercial trade boxes at sea. Soon I was being attacked in eight to ten of these boxes every turn. Though I had wooden frigates and scouting ships in each box, it was clear that the British were using ironclads, as they inflicted many more hits on my ships, both frigates and trade fleets, than they suffered, every time. I suffered so much damage that my supply lines to my entire overseas empire were in danger. I sent two frigates and a scouting squadron into one of these boxes,all ironclads, and they got the worst of a battle against the English forces, though they suffered far less than the wooden frigates. As my merchant ships started to incur heavy damage, i could see disaster coming, though I provided plenty of replacements
I tried to evacuate my army from England for two more turns, and failed due to the constant English attacks. Though my army was still fighting, it was taking heavy losses, and would be destroyed in a couple more turns of combat.
I had an advantage in warscore, having taken several undefended English colonies in West Africa, and had taken Lagos and made Nigeria into a protectorate. I offered peace to England, desperately hoping they would accept. I did not want to lose my veteran army, or see most of my large colonial forces run out of supply once the Merchant ships were taken out.
Fortunately, the British accepted my offer.
The AI was not perfect. Once it sent an unescorted force of transports carrying troops into straits of Dover, from where they could invade my northeast coast. I wiped them out with a force of ironclad frigates. They also landed a large number of troops in Burma, which was separated from my Indochina by Thailand, for no reason I could understand. But they did lure one of my armies into a trap that would destroy it, and were destroying the merchant shipping that was supplying my far flung empire. In other words, they were winning the war, and i saw no solution to what they were doing in the time I had left.