BGForums

I am playing in Europe scenario as Bulgaria with normal difficulty and latest patch is installed.

It has been a year and a half since the beginning and almost all of the regions hate me. Both of the diplomatic and civilian ratings are very low and I don't know what to do here. I do not have a big building capacity. (big? it is just 10! ) my domestic rating is 30% and increasing slowly.

I don't really understand why this happened.I couldn't make alliances because of the lack of funding.I can't give 50-100M to region per day. And now all of the world is against me. No one has a big war justification except Greece.However I don't see my future bright.Any suggestions for my situation? Or is that normal in game.In the end do I have to fight everybody?

My second problem is the military build-up because of the WM offers.WM is offering military deals to a few nations every day.(sometimes to me) But now everyone has huge armies! Even the tiny Macedonia has a solid army and still they make profit in economy.They accept almost every deal. All countries has lots of units except the countries at war.(Germany was against her neighbours and callopsed!)

My question is about wars between other nations. I saw that all countries around the Germany attacked her.But that is it. Will AI attacked each other eventually.Or will they keep buying tanks from WM day after day and do nothing.

Thanks guys.

2010 was built like that. You can slow this hate process down by reducing your build capacity, that close some bases.

BG have stated that diplomacy will be different in 2020.

ANY successful diplomatic negotiation will at least slow deterioration of relations, so look for things the target region needs and make a deal that's too good for them to pass up. ForEx, if you see them buying food and you have stock, sell it to them (as a Dip trade, not through the commodities screens) REAL cheap (even free).

Since Update 5 (IIRC) the effect of one-sided offers is based on its value relative to the ecomomy of the target region, so the preferred "cash gift each day" approach can be impractical to poor regions until you get your own economy humming. But, I do believe that all successful transactions have a positive affect, and I can almost always find something the other region will agree to.

Good luck, and please post what you try / learn as you go!

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Mitchell

One of my favorite things to do to help my diplomatic efforts was tech trading. Usually I would make an offer, add in some profit for the AI country, and then add on a tech to push the profit margin upwards. They don't always fall for this, but it can help. I always got a laugh out of selling the AI some sort of tech they would never use. Example: the AI does not build facilities, so trading them facility tech like synthetic metals plants was worthless to them.

Even better, was "giving" them a military tech that I knew they would want to build, but that involved a unit so expensive that it would slowly bankrupt them. In any case, this trick can inflate that "profit" number in a diplo-trade.

-Light

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"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” -Winston Churchill

thanks guys.I generally trade unit designs and techs.I don't have the money to research by myself. I sell Russian based techs for US/West techs.There is always a balance problem in value of the offerings but it is ok. So in the end it is a part of the game that eventually all of the regions except allies will hate you and on some point you have to fight.

I am still looking for the answer of my other question guys.I will be happy if anyone help me.

I have to work, but I'll try to answer.

Just keep in mind the usual quality of crap the WM sells people. They aren't selling Merkava IVs and Leopard IIIs and M1-A5s. 90%+ of what they sell is total crap. So even if that neighbor's unit stacks look scary and huge, they are just dung heaps with a few gems buried in them.

The way the AI and Causus Belli works, it usually works out to one "bad guy" at a time. If you can trick someone you want to attack into declaring war on you, then everyone's belli towards you will drop a good chunk in "sympathy". Meanwhile their belli towards the evil Nazi aggressor will rise and several countries may well join in the war. Sort of neutral allies.

-Light

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"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” -Winston Churchill

Hmm OK.Then there will be two more questions.

1-What if I don't want to fight? I want my neighbours fight eachother and get weaker.However, they just sit and wait! Is there a possiblity for another random war in scenario or should I do something about it.

2-How can I trick my target county to attack me. I know that an alliance with their enemy is an option but it is not possible right know. I can make trade embargo. And what else?

While I don't think I've played the Greece scenario I do know it is quite common for other countries to go to war against each other and in fact often base my plans around such eventualities.

One favorite strategy of some other contributers on these forums (notably Tkobo, IIRC) is to ally yourself with a country who you expect will be declared upon by some third country in the forseeable future for the purpose of swooping in to grab the spoils yourself. I will see if I can find the thread and post a link but the basic idea is that once you are brought into the war by the DoW against your ally you let them do most of the fighting while you content yourself with attacking weak points in the agressor's rear or re-capture territory he's taken from your ally. If your "ally" loses you can even end up with most (or more) of his territory by stealing it back from the now war-weakened agressor.

The trick, of course, is to predict who will attack whom, which I admit is the part I still have trouble with. I don't think there is any way to see the belli of another country twards its neighbors so you either have to be familiar with the scenario or watch developments very carefully. I find that I can almost always make an alliance with at lease one other region, especially if I start early, and sooner or later they end up having a war with somebody. As I said I wish I knew more about how to predict such things, and will appreciate any advice you or others might have on the matter.

The situation you describe being in is common in SR2010 and not necessarily bad, for the reasons Lightbringer outlines. Getting attacked by one other counrty can be a good thing (provided you can at least defend yourself, of course) since the belli of most other countries will drop as a result (at least temporarily). The exception might be if your attacker is allied with another country; that ally might get a belli increase and/or also DoW on you. Again the key is to predict which of your neighbors is most likely to attack first, and then provoke the attack only after you are ready. In the case of the timing you do have some tools at your disposal, such as suddenly raising your build cap (by activating dormant bases, for example), rushing a bunch of troops up to his border, etc.

Please let us know how things go in your game!

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Mitchell

Here is the link to the thread describing the "ally gambit":

http://www.bgforums.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8902

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Mitchell

Well, the AI is not always going to sit back and "not let you fight"...but there are ways to minimize the amount of fighting you have to actually do. Cheap leg infantry and towed arty will usually be enough to make this work, so it can be set up pretty quickly, even by poorer countries. As I mentioned, once one country attacks you, you "usually" have some breathing room before anyone else will rebuild enough Belli to follow suit. (Unless you are the United States or Germany or someone else that pisses everyone else off very easily. In which case, declarations of war can happen in cascading "avalanches") Oh, some fighter/bombers and attack helos can be a very big help in this tactic too.

Choose a line of defense. Towns, factories, bases, and bridges make good defense points, but if you have to, open ground will work. As quickly as possible, build stacks of the toughest leg infantry (I prefer marines) and hardest hitting towed arty you can. 3-4 Inf, and 3 arty. Space these along your defense line close enough to support each other, preferably with overlapping arty fire in between them. Stage FBs, helos, tanks and mech infantry behind this defense line to reinforce any spot that gets in more hot water than it can handle.

Ok. So far this sounds like first grade beginner strategy...correct? Here is how it relates to the AI in 2010. If you can keep the enemy from crossing this line... you do not counterattack. Do not take possession of one single hex that the enemy has grabbed. After the AI has run out of steam attacking you, it will almost literally ignore you, if you do not take possession of any hex that they control. After a couple weeks of fighting, you can basically ignore this border. The AI may send the odd unit sniffing around, but it will not repeat any all out attacks. This is why it is very important to set up your line to hold everything you want to retain, because even the smallest counter attack will stir up the hornet's nest all over again. I often use this "stalemate" in the middle of invading a large enemy to catch my breath and repair/reinforce/reorganize my forces.

True, you will have to remain on defcon 3 and pay the money to remain there, but if you do not want to invest troops and attention, you can relax and build up your forces. Which brings us to the only sure fired way to speed up the AI's belli. Increase your buildcap. Upgrade the bases you have to larger sizes, build new ones. Even if you can't afford to build 64 tank brigades at one time, the AI will resent you being capable of this and eventually attack.

I hope this helped some,

-Light

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"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” -Winston Churchill

first of all sorry about the late reply because of my university responsibilites

Mitchell

it is a relief for me to know that AI will fight eachother in the future. I want it so much because I plan my attacks/defences for that kind of opportunity too. And the main problem here is predicting who will attack who as you said. I have problems making alliances with any of the regions but it is another topic.

Lightbringer

the AI ignorance thing looks usefull. I didn't know that. I always make my military preparations using '' hold the line '' idea. I let them come first. Let them sent their first and most dangerous wave to my defence lines. So I can really use that waiting tactic for repair/regroup time.

Thank you guys for your help. I have one more question.

Increasing building capacity is a good way to increase belli.That is ok.But how much should i do that? I mean is building a small military base enough to gain attention from my neighbour? Or must I have the greatest cap. in the scenario for this? I know that the second is very effective but I do not have the money to build huge bases.

I think you only need to be bigger (by 1) than your desired potential attacker. If you're biggest on the map then everybody's belli will keep going up (unless you work real hard to keep it down with other dip offers).

The static line / kamakazi AI is not only a very viable means for waging (and winning) a war of attrition cheaply, you can set up some real meat grinders this way. As Light said you only need inexpensive infantry dug in and backed up with plenty of inexpensive artillery. I like setting up a kind of funnel shaped area around a road to an enemy base. He will keep cranking out units and sending them piecemeal up the road, which I have flanked with artillery protected by infantry. With a deep enough funnel he gets pounded all the way in, decides to retreat and never makes it back to base because he has to run the same gauntlet on the way back out. A little gamey I know, but it fun during those rebuilding months between major actions...

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Mitchell

an extra bonus from this...

When I am ready to attack them and it has been awhile, allowing the AI to rebuild etc., I will "regrind" them into dust before sending in my own mobile forces. Simply pop one unit over the line. Take a few hexes back. Then as soon as you can, retreat this unit and watch the AI boil up like angry ants. Use a mobile unit, leg infantry will take too long to return to it's starting hex. In any case, do this 2-3-4 times and kill/heavily damage the AI's good stuff, then blitz in and slaughter their AA/Arty stacks.

The AI really is very "ant-like" in 2010. They make mounds. You do not want to stick your hand into one of these mounds and leave it there very long. They react by swarming with "warrior" ants charging out to sting intruders, and worker ants staying in the mound.

-Light

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"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” -Winston Churchill

It is good news that I don't have to built a lot of bases but I am still confused. I mean my tiny neighbour Macedonia has only 2 buildcap. but I have 10.Their belli is not increasing as far as I know.They buy hundreds of APCs and tanks from WM.However they just wait there like all of them.

May be I am too inpatient for that war thing.It has been only 1.5 year since the beginning.

Really, when is the time for war in some certain maps like Europe and Mid.East? For example in Mid.East scenario I guess there will be war between Israil and the Araps but can you give me a posibble timeline for that.Or in Europe scenario after the great Germany wars have any of you guys experienced another war in first 2 years or so?

What is Macedonia's belli at now (in the State Department panels)? What about their Dip and Civ ratings toward you? If the latter are high then their belli won't rise too fast. Build Cap is a major factor but not the only one. It also is the case that different scenarios are pre-wired for tensions to rise fast between certain regions but not others.

1.5 years is not too long; if you want to "peek" ahead save the game and hit the fastest speed button and then go get something to eat, watch a movie or something. Sooner or later someone will attack sombody else somewhere

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Mitchell