Several newbie questions regarding all areas (damage calc...

[livelock]

Hello,
I have read many of the threads, but could not find good answers to all of them. I found the after-action report from "tkobo" also very good, although I would like to have seen the domestic price screens and the exact configuration of this troop stacks.

Beginning with the troop stacks:
1) What are good troop stacks? Diverse or monocultures?
1 Infanty + a few tanks + artillery OR monocultures with 7 tanks, 7 artillery and so on - what works best? Up to date I have many losses and just recently begun to set "initiative" to 0.

2) How long do repairs of damaged units take with respect to building them all new?

3) What kind of training options do you prefer?
+ a) Does any "minister" setting have *any* effect on training? I have never seen sending a minister units to trainings...

4) Does *any* of the ministers provide any value? (Except: Proposing research, setting price levels and adjusting tax, building units/missiles)
a) For example the diplomacy minister, does he do anything?

5) Many things seem to be very complicated, how do you...
a) Assess the strength of enemy units along your border (except clicking them all)
b) Let the right units attack them (without micro managemenet)
c) Compare to-be resarched units with current units?
d) Compare to-be traded units with current units?

6) How does "Iniative" exactly come into play in the dmg and def calculations, can anyone provide really detailed calculations?

7) How do you set domestic prices? Do you let the minister do it, do you set it to max? What do you do?

...many things on the macro level seem to be very hard. 2020 should really bring improvements eg.
a) Tell AI to guard a certain area
b) Tell AI where to bring what kind of units (borders, war fronts)
c) Detailed attack plans (there should be whole different view for that where you can assess al the details and make a real attack plan

Thanks to you & Regards,
André

[tkobo]

Some of the answers to these questions are very situational.
Some answers in red .

Hello,
I have read many of the threads, but could not find good answers to all of them. I found the after-action report from "tkobo" also very good, although I would like to have seen the domestic price screens and the exact configuration of this troop stacks.

Beginning with the troop stacks:
1) What are good troop stacks? Diverse or monocultures?
1 Infanty + a few tanks + artillery OR monocultures with 7 tanks, 7 artillery and so on - what works best? Up to date I have many losses and just recently begun to set "initiative" to 0.

Are you attacking a close combat hex ?A high defensive value hex ? open plains ? etc...
If your just looking for an all purpose stack, go with high tech mechanized infrantry .Like the LAV-5 or CROW.
If your low tech, you need to match the unit vs the challange.Find units with the appropriate stats and use them.
Problem with mixed stacks is, unless your very good with the escort command and dont mind the micro, the units in them get strung out and seperated during movement.They will sometimes even take different routes to a location,depending on the type of travel the unit is (wheeled,tracked, foot,etc..)


2) How long do repairs of damaged units take with respect to building them all new?

Hmm, im pretty sure they reppair faster than a build from scratch, but ive never compared the two,so i could be wrong3)

What kind of training options do you prefer?
Training is expensive and takes time, so i dont use it for many units.When i do use it, it usually for the experience boost, not the speciallty .So someone else can probably give you a better answer

+ a) Does any "minister" setting have *any* effect on training? I have never seen sending a minister units to trainings...

Dont know

4) Does *any* of the ministers provide any value? (Except: Proposing research, setting price levels and adjusting tax, building units/missiles)
a) For example the diplomacy minister, does he do anything?

Some of the priorties do achieve something, just dont ask me which ones

5) Many things seem to be very complicated, how do you...
a) Assess the strength of enemy units along your border (except clicking them all)

Clicking to me eqauls my end of the recon, so i do it and dont mind.
After a while, i got a feel for which units i had to respect more than others,which made things easier


b) Let the right units attack them (without micro managemenet)
Only make and deploy the BMVs ?
Other than that, well combat IS micro,so its hard to avoid

c) Compare to-be resarched units with current units?

d) Compare to-be traded units with current units?

both of these are just a look and see solution. Micro but not that bad, and once you get to know the unts you ownt even have too

6) How does "Iniative" exactly come into play in the dmg and def calculations, can anyone provide really detailed calculations?

Not I.it does affect who attacks first though, which directly influences the other two.

7) How do you set domestic prices? Do you let the minister do it, do you set it to max? What do you do?

Depends on the region, the government and the cash flow.But often i pick oil, elcetricity and consumer goods and max them.This often means i have to adjust or even turn off their price (make them free) at some point if a democracy that i want to keep a democracy.As prices affect dar big time.

...many things on the macro level seem to be very hard. 2020 should really bring improvements eg.
a) Tell AI to guard a certain area
b) Tell AI where to bring what kind of units (borders, war fronts)
c) Detailed attack plans (there should be whole different view for that where you can assess al the details and make a real attack plan

Would be nice.Hopefully by supreme space biker bimbos 2220, we'll see some of this added

Thanks to you & Regards,
André

[livelock]

hey tkobo, thanks for your reply - i didn't get the price thing - what do you try to maximize?
do you have a picture of a typical in game set-up?

when I begin the game) I raise them? decrease them?
when economically stable) I raise them? make them free?

I have not used prices as DAR influence, I let the minister manage them so far - but I guess this should change, I just don't know which types affect what?

food & water - easy, make it free and it increases your standards, but also demand will go up and up...
timber, coal, goods? no plan... what are the effects?

[tkobo]

np.

Right from day one, before i even let the clock run (if im not using my presets) i set the domestic price for oil, electricty and consumer goods to the max.

Now i can leave them set at the max price for every other government type BUT democracy.
In a democracy, those maxed price settings will most likely kick your dar into the low twenties or high teens.
You will not win an election there.So about 1 or 2 months before an election, just give all three of those and more, away for free.IE lower prices to lowest price possible
This will make your dar sky rocket and you will win the election.

After the election is over, you will have years again to bleed your citizens dry.So right after your grand electorate victory, reset those three to max price again.

As for the other resources and goods, i dont bother with them unless i need to cut down comsumer use while new facilities are buidling to cover any shortage.
If so, i raise those prices if possible, and lower use that way til the new facilities are live. At which point i lower them again.

[livelock]

so the DAR does not really matter at all - if I turbocharge it 3 months before the election? if I have high prices and good social service, will I still get enough immigratns?

[tkobo]

Does dar matter ? Sure it does IF you want certain things.

Immigration is one of those things.

Now you can counter the bad effect of some high prices somewhat, with social spending as you say, but currently to what degree i cant say for sure.
Way back when, i could max out all domestic prices and max out all social spending and get a reasonable dar.
But its something i havent done in a while and its hard to keep straight what worked when vs what works now, with all the patches.

And i believe there are other factors that affect Immigration as well.

As for elections, yup you can totally ignore your dar til 2 months before elections and still get a circa 40 share in votes.
Ive been known ot make verything free, max out social, and make taxes zero.Best share i can remember was a circa 60 share of votes.
Which is pretty impressive in a four party system

Hopefully this is something we wont be able to do in sr2020