Re: border management and defenses - do you use them? up to what value?
 

LOTS depends on what nation you have chosen as some nations have great units for defending. For example Machaka's units have 0 protection so a simple tennis ball will kill them... so for this race province defense has very little value. Now Marnignon has units for province defense with 12 protection... thus much more valuable and worthwhile investing.

Re: border management and defenses - do you use them? up to what value?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">100% correct, and quite important.

As others have said, the nation makes a big differece - some are better than others, and some have specific levels that are good. IIRC you only get arbalesters with Ulm, up to level 19. At 20 you get a leader, but he usually doesn't fight. At 21+, you get men in chainmail with shields, who are great against most threats and complement the arbalests well (buying them time to reload and fire again before getting overrun), but now it's getting expensive to get them, and having a squad of them is much more effective than having one or two, so there is reason with Ulm to go up to the mid-twenties or higher, but it's a big investment which may not be worth it, particularly in a multiplayer game. The goofy truism "the best defense is a good offense" is often somewhat worth reflecting upon.

PvK

Re: border management and defenses - do you use them? up to what value?
 

I wouldn't phrase it as you "only" get arbalests with Ulm's first 20 points. With good armor, decent fighting stats, and a short sword, arbalests are among the best defense troops even without arbalests. Ulm's province defense is weaker than Jotunheim's, but still comparable to Marignon or Abysia.

Re: border management and defenses - do you use them? up to what value?
 

I was going to actually post something like this in the next few days but slightly different.

How do you manage your frontline borders when you are fighting a war?

If you don't keep an army on every border you can find yourself chasing around enemy armies wreaking havok behind your lines.

Re: border management and defenses - do you use them? up to what value?
 

This is where mobility comes in very handy. Mobility can win you more wars than pure strength. This is also why Supercombatants are so dangerous/good. Keep your lines held by either Castles, armies, or by offense and killing supply. Spells like Call of the Wind, Call of the Wild, Horde from Hell all make terrific 'mop up' spells that will let you harrass or kill armies inside your lines. If used in conjunction with flying armies/units and good guessing you can kill an army that breaks through your lines without much trouble.

Re: border management and defenses - do you use them? up to what value?
 

And let's not forget the wonderful spell Army of the Dead. For just 10 death gems you can plop an army of 40 longdead (plus a longdead commander) somewhere as an instant reserve. In places that have seen some decent combat recently, you can also get an additional up to 20 souless (plus a souless commander). These 62 defenders, added to a PD of 11 or 21 tend to discourage the AI from attacking that province. If the AI masses enough forces to threaten the province so defended, you'll have the great joy of then being able to use Fires from Afar and other mass-slaughter spells to disrupt the upcoming festivities. Not to mention the various commander-killing spells. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: border management and defenses - do you use them? up to what value?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I just meant "only" in comparison to what Ulm gets with 20+ in defense. Having enough HI to hold off the enemy for a few turns, can multiply the effect of the arbalesters.

PvK