South African Empire

[DavisStephens2012]

My Avatar's name was Butte Guambay and I was president of South Africa.I managed to build our economy to better heights by trading with allies of Botswana and Angola.I later sent a spy to Zimbabwe to make sure they were not going to attack me.If they did attack me,Botswana,or Angola we would all be at war against Zimbabwe.I later signed a land transit & supply treaty with Namibia in order to get to Angola easier.Zimbabwe apparently did not know about my alliance with Botswana & Angola.Eventually Zimbabwe surrendered to us three after Zambia declared war on the dictator of Zimbabwe.I refused the offer and eventually captured their capital.Zimbabwe fell on April 27th,2024.I then dropped out of the Angola-Botswana alliance and planned to do something big.Angola and Botswana began to worry.I later ordered a small of squadron of men to patrol the borders of both Swaziland and Lesotho.Both countries began to worry of an invasion.I then decided to invade landlocked Lesotho.Swaziland called Mozambique.Before I knew it we were at war with Mozambique and Swaziland.Botswana threatened to declare war if I did not cease fire but I did not listen.Mozambique then surrendered,but the country did not collapse and instead allow us to send men into their land.I later ran into a violent Malawi.I managed to invade them in only 3 months,Mozambique was my next target.When I invaded Mozambique for a 2nd time I had no idea I would face Botswana and Zambia too.I finished off Mozambique first who was still recovering from the 1st invasion.I then took southern Zambia and later captured the whole country.Botswana surrendered and fell after I nearly destroyed their capital.I then decided to unite all of Africa.I became a communist country and declared war on Angola & Namibia.I defeated Namibia after two years and Angola after six.I then declared war on Gabon and won after a year.I then invaded DRC and Congo.Both surrendered after only eight months.I then invaded Tanzania.Tanzan put a fight but lost.I then attacked Kenya.That is where my empire started tofall down.Kenya put's up a fight of a lifetime but loses after three years.My navy for some reason was attacked by both Somalia and Madagascar.I declared war on both of them.I managed to surround Madagascar,I did capture Somalia though.I then invaded Madagascar on land and they managed to beat us.I did not realize that my army and air force were tired of invading.Before I knew it countries were liberated by Madagascar.My empire ended on June 2nd,2034 after I surrendered to the liberated countries.My country went back to normal and lesotho was landlocked and we were forced to give food,water,and money to all of the liberated countries.My entire country fell three months later.West South Africa was now Lesotho and East was Swaziland.I THEN QUIT THE GAME AND TURNED OFF MY COMPUTER!

[tonystowe]

Davis, you should offer more details as to the reasons South Africa fell. I play S.Africa regularly and I would like to know more about its decline. Especially with Madagascar leading the recovery of so many regions from you.

1. Were you simply spread too thin?
2. Surely your economy didn't fail before your military.
3. What tactics, units, etc did you use successfully against the other regions, only to fail against Madagascar.


Thanks

Tony

[tkobo]

Before I knew it countries were liberated by Madagascar.My empire ended on June 2nd,2034 after I surrendered to the liberated countries.My country went back to normal and lesotho was landlocked and we were forced to give food,water,and money to all of the liberated countries.My entire country fell three months later.West South Africa was now Lesotho and East was Swaziland.I THEN QUIT THE GAME AND TURNED OFF MY COMPUTER!

I have to wonder what game he was playing.In sr2020, defeated countries cannot be reborn or liberated.

[Cutlass]

South Africa is usually a good country to start with as they have reasonable size, lots of good resources and a nice tech base for their area. While the original poster did not provide a lot of details I will simply note that in general:

1) Economies do have to be monitored and occasionally adjusted through time. The prices of commodities on the world market can change significantly and as a result what had been a good economic situation in terms of how many of what type of facility were being used to produce which commodity would also have to be adjusted. Also, as one expands, the demands on their economy for industrial goods, economic goods and military goods will increase. All of those goods are dependent on other resources being developed. Usually for any country in Africa, trying to keep the amount of electricity one is generating high enough to cover their needs can be a challenge. This is a complex game and the average player will likely have to go through a certain amount of trial and error before they find the best economic solutions for their region.

2) A new player is also likely to have his units largely controlled by the AI. As a result the casualties that his forces suffer will be a lot higher than they can be once he has got a good enough handle on the system to run his units by himself. If the player doesn't have enough military fabrication facilities producing enough units, coupled with a high unit loss rate and a collapsing economy (or a simple shortage of military goods) then they could be in a lot of trouble.

Also, all units are not created equal. Just because something is a tank and you need tanks doesn't necessarily mean you should be wasting your time making them. There are a lot of designs in the game, especially "early" tank designs, which are simply not that effective and surprisingly vulnerable to the "engineer spam" response that some of the AI controlled regions commonly use. Trying to figure out which designs you should be producing and juggling things to get the right mix of mechanized infantry, tanks and self propelled artillery, to say nothing of the equally important considerations of which air units to be producing and what missiles to be manufacturing are things which require a certain amount of trial and error on the part of the average player.

This is a little bit dated by now as some of the aircraft which I show as being unable to use "missiles" have since been modified to take them and a few other changes have been made. Nevertheless it may still be useful for anybody looking for some advice on which units to manufacture in the early game:

http://www.bgforums.com/forums/viewtopi ... 43&t=13062

For the original poster, or anybody else who may be struggling a little bit to get the hang of the game, don't expect to be able to figure everything out the first couple of times you play. This is a very complex game with a lot of variables to try to keep track of and things that you have to consider. If you're willing to put the time and the effort in to do that, then in my opinion the enjoyment you will get out of the game and the improved understanding you will develop of the problems associated with attempting to run an entire country in the real world will be worth it in the long run. If you are simply looking for a quick "click fest" type game that emphasizes eye hand coordination and your reaction speed in making use of the joystick and/or keyboard over a game that requires you to THINK about what you're doing and has a pace of play that's equivalent to a slow chess game then you will be disappointed.