Does a large army discourage invasions?

[Bateman1982]

In the foreword it mentions having a decent sized army will deter neighbours from invading your country, is this correct?

If it is, is it dependent on reserves size, number of deployed units.. ?

Any info would be appreciated, thanks

[Draken]

Interesting question... I would say no, your army size has very little "weight" in AI's "strategic" planning . I've seen small regions attacking very big one ( not with update 4 tho)

[Balthagor]

I can offically say not as of 4.4.2 but this is on the wishlist to make the AI pay more attention to force ratios.

[bergsjaeger]

Well quality over quantity should be factored in. A good example be one Abrams battalion could in real life wipe out a T-72 force 5 times bigger. Course training be another factor as well as terrain.

[Gripen]

Related to your question- Having a large army (jammed up right on their borders) encourages invasions.

I found in a Florida scenario, I built many bases and watched the belli bar increase every 6 days. When I flooded the border with as much as I could, I found the belli bar increased once every 5 days.
I removed the army from their border, and found the belli bar went back to increasing every 6 days.

Gripen

[Balthagor]

I can offically say not as of 4.4.2 but this is on the wishlist to make the AI pay more attention to force ratios.

Just asked George about this, and he told me it will look at the number of personel you have (active+reserves is public knowledge) and how many units it sees. It does not differentiate between 200 units seen on its border or 200 units seen at the other end of your territory.

[tkobo]

Interesting.However its far more likely to actaully see the 200 units on its border ,than it is to see those 200 units if they are deep in another regions lands.

So moving units to the border is still probably a more effective way to get yourself noticed(make them dislike you ).

[Eric Larsen]

I can offically say not as of 4.4.2 but this is on the wishlist to make the AI pay more attention to force ratios.

Just asked George about this, and he told me it will look at the number of personel you have (active+reserves is public knowledge) and how many units it sees. It does not differentiate between 200 units seen on its border or 200 units seen at the other end of your territory.

Chris,
As North America in the World scenario I massed, and I mean massed, my army in central America to invade South America. I really packed them in like sardines, but I know the SA AI only saw a few hexes of it in the very front. Didn't seem to bother the SA AI as it never really moved forward any defense. I went through the border like a hot knife through soft butter.

The AI's should be a little better at detecting and reacting to border buildups. Granted you could hide them in bases to make them hard to see but the SA AI never did any recon around the border after seeing I was massing up. It did send a few more units to the border area, but way too few.
Thanks,

Eric Larsen

[Balthagor]

...The AI's should be a little better at detecting and reacting to border buildups..

I would expect this has already been posted on the forum somewhere, we've had the same comment ourselves within the team. Feel free to add further comments in the AI section.