Bonehead moves

[Sol Invictus]

Well I have to tell on myself since maybe I can prevent others from doing the same. Last night I started my first full 1755 campaign as the British and things were going well. I had captured Fort Duquesne, Fort Niagra, Fort Detroit, Fort ?'Pre up by Nova Scotia, and Louisburg. I was early 1758 and I was building up for the drive on Quebec when my garrison in Albany suddenly disappears. To late, I realize that I accidently took the garrison of Albany with my field army and left only militia in Albany. When their term of service was up, they went home, thus leaving Albany defenseless. The French of course immediately occupy Albany and destroy my Iroquois alliance so that now I have former Indian allies swarming me. leure: I decided to chalk it up to "learning the game", and plan to start "my fist full 1755 campaign" tonight. Damn crafty French and perfidious Indians. I shall have my revenge!

[Grell]

That's too bad Sol.

I'm playing the 1755 scenario as the French and it is tough, the English are coming out of the woodwork. Ah well all is still fun.

Regards,

Grell

[Sol Invictus]

Yeah, sometime around 1757, the English start receiving hordes of replacements and reinforcements. I don't look forward to playing France aginast another human in the 1755 Campaign.

[Grell]

I agree with you, playing against a Human as the French in the '55 campaign would be very difficult. It's tough enough as it is.

BTW I hope your next campaign fairs better than your first.

Regards,

Grell

[PhilThib]

Start to understand why we lost leure: ...if we hadn't, you would all speak French now

A good strategy for the French is really the Petty War one...destroy and rampage as much as you can, and ambush ambush ambus...

If you have a window of opportunity, grab Albany (but the English can't be that careless, can they )..and use the Iroquois to rampage even more...

[Grell]

Hi PhilThib,

My mother is French Canadian, her family came to Canada from France in 1647, I wonder if they fought the English?

Thanks for the strategy tips, every little bit helps!

Regards,

Grell

[Sol Invictus]

OUCH! Philippe, you cut me to the bone. In my own defense, I feel compelled to say that it was getting late at night and I was deep in my cups when the "tiny" faux pas was committed. I was actually pleased that the AI pounced on me like that. I appreciate it when the AI keeps me on my toes.

[Sol Invictus]

Another bonehead move, sorta. It is 1759 and I only lack Ft. Detroit and Montreal until I bring the French to the bargaining table. The previous turn, I send a small army across the ice on Lake Erie to capture Ft. Frontenac, which they do. Next turn I want to send reinforcements to the Frontenac garrison, so I order some regiments across the ice. It is January, so I figure the ice should stay firm for at least one more month. Well of course, a thaw developes and instead of an easy walk over the ice, my rather large reinforcement starts to walk around Lake Erie in the dead of winter. It is to late to recall them and they take very large weather casualties. I am right by an occupied french Fort, so I can either trek back to Oswego in the snow, or assault the fort an enjoy their warm accomodations. I decide to assault, which of course leads to rather large casualties, though I did sleep warm that night; at least the very few survivors did. The vast majority of my force that started this easy little trek across the ice of Lake Erie, spent the night on the cold ground, dead. I think I lost around four full regiments in this little excursion and Braddock got wounded and was sent back to new York. I don't know of any way to have avoided this situation, but at least I am aware of the cruel vagaries of the weather in the Americas now. C'est la vie in the fortunes of war.

I am absolutely loving this game. The WEGO turn system really captures the uncertainty and chaos that leaders in war must have to contend with much better than a IG/UGO system. I played a solid 5 1/2 hours last night and had to force myself to go to bed at 1:30 am. Tonight I will bring this American affair to a close and solidify my new British/American Empire. I can't wait until this weekend, when I will forge a new American Empire that is covered in fleur de lis; hopefully.

[Pocus]

accounts like your, even if you speak of the death of 4 regiments of french soldiers, is a pleasure to read for us the boa team!

[Sol Invictus]

Take heart Pocus, I am Britain in this game.

One suggestion; after I captured Ft. Niagra, a small fleet of Bateux appeared on Lake Erie. Since Ft. Niagra doesn't have a harbour and I didn't control Oswego, the fleet slowly died of attrition on the lake. Would it be possible to allow Bateux to beach on any shoreline in order to avoid attrition? Since Bateux were mostly small craft; some being simple warcanoes lashed together; they shouldn't really need a fullblown harbour. Another possibility would be to allow the construction of harbours or at least a delay in the appearance of the fleet until Oswego is captured.

[Pocus]

this is before all a pathfinder problem, not a gameplay decision. I have to look at it to circumvent a limitation it has, so if things unfold well, why not for your bateaux suggestion.

[Sol Invictus]

If it is a major coding problem, would it be easier to just delay the appearance of the fleet until Oswego is captured? Just make the capture of Oswego the trigger for the fleet appearance. If I remember correctly, Oswego has the only harbour on Lake Erie, so nobody should have a fleet unless they control Oswego anyway.

Same situation happens on Lake George after Ft. William Henry is constructed; Munro and a Regiment appear when you get the message that the fort is constructed, but there isn't actually a fort or a harbour. After a few turns, a small bateaux fleet appears and slowly dies on the water. Munro and the Regiment also suffer from attrition because they are locked to that location but are actually out in the open and suffer from attrition since there is no fort to shelter in.

[Grell]

Sheesh, now that is weird. In my present game as the French, Fort Willian Henry is built and garrisoned. Strange stuff you're seeing.

Regards,

Grell

[PhilThib]

Yes, very strange...the fort is built in the same event that creates Munro and the garrison...so you could not possibly have one and not the other...could you send us the save

[Sol Invictus]

That is strange. In two different games I have failed to see the fort. I will doublecheck to make sure I am not going crazy and just overlooking the fort. If it indeed does not exist in my game I will send the save. Since Grell is seeing it, I must be overlooking it.

[Pocus]

I need the save and the backups also (the whole game directory that is)

[Sol Invictus]

I just emailed you the entire file folder containing the save and all the backups for that turn. Hope this helps.

[Pocus]

is your provider insightbb ? My returning mail has been blocked, please send me the archive again, I just got a ... err shortcut

[Sol Invictus]

Yes, insightbb is my isp, resending now.

[Pocus]

got it, I will check the files today, thanks.