Intercepting Armies
 

Numerous times, I have instructed armies of various sizes to move / attack into neighboring provinces, but those armies were somehow preemptively attacked causing my army to then not move. Sometimes the enemy "intercepting" army consisted only of a single unit - a very irritating way to have stopped my army of hundreds.

However, every time I try to duplicate this feat myself - by sending attacking armies against an enemy on the move - somehow my intercepting armies never seem to "catch" the enemy.

Is this an AI bug? Has anyone observed any "rules" which constrict how such interceptions would work? It certainly would change my strategy.

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

The order of events in a turn, as described in the manual, provides some hints; e.g., armies going to friendly territory always move before armies going to hostile territory.

If both of you are trying to move into enemy terrain, I've been told the order of army movements is partly random, but is influenced by things like army size and terrain.

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

You've been unlucky. I have used this trick too, and it works just as well against the AI as it does against you. However, in order to "catch" the enemy army, you have to:

1.) Originate in the same province that the enemy is moving to, and be headed toward the same province he's coming from.
2.) Either have a largish army or get lucky. The chance of interception is somehow based on the size of the armies, and if both armies are small they can "pass through" each other.

-Max

P.S. BTW, if you really do have an unstoppable army of hundreds, this is a good reason to split them into two or more columns. It's a lot harder for the opponent to stop both columns, even if he knows exactly what province you'll be moving into--then the delayed column just catches up. On the other hand, if your army is NOT unstoppable this invites defeat in detail.

P.P.S. One other possibility--it *might* depend upon which nation you're playing. I know that if two EA nations both attempt to move into an indy province on the same turn, and one of them is Abysia, Abysia will always attack the indies first and will therefore be the defender in the battle.

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

That clears things up considerably! The #1 item that MaxWilson specified is probably a detail I have always overlooked. I am currently playing a MP game where I tried - unsucessfully - to have THREE armies intercept an large enemy army, from three different directions (but not where it was heading).

Thanks... I shall experiment!

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

Size is definetly a factor on pass thrus. Keep in mind that a province is one months travel for many units. Its large enough to be a small kingdom of its own. For US people Im thinking the size of a county? Thats also part of the answer for why defend ends up with such a different result than patrol.

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

Counties are pretty small, maybe 50 miles across at most. I understand that it's possible to hike from Denmark to Greece in a month's time; since a hiker would probably have a mapmove of 2, that makes 2500 km/2 = about 1000 km the standard size of a province. On the other hand, armies move slower than individuals, but 15 km/day is still a pretty fair minimum for light infantry. So each province should be at least 225 km across.

In U.S. terms, each province should be about the size of a medium state. Maybe Pennsylvania or Louisiana-sized, not New Mexico or (ack!) California. There's actually a map on the Illwinter web site that lets you play on a map of the U.S., which makes you think about how ridiculously small the armies are, given the territory they control.

-Max

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

Remember. No roads. The "roads" benefit would be comparable to having that terrain benefit. Its still not exact but it still gives an idea that its bigger than most people think of provinces.

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

Are cavalry on the plains significantly slower than cavalry on roads? Obviously roads could negate the effect of *bad* terrain (swampland), but I gave units their best mapmove in that calculation, which means they're on optimal terrain.

-Max

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

Maybe Dominion months are only 5 days long? It's never specified. Would certainly fix the scaling issue, plus locking yourself up in a lab for 30 days to cast one spell seems like a bit much.

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

If 2 armies are moving toward each other, assuming they intercept, is it completely random which province the fight occurs in?

Perhaps bigger armies move more slowly, so the eventual fight is likely to occur in the prov that originally held the bigger army. Or perhaps terrain slows the movement of troops, so the fight is more likely to occur in the prov with the most rugged terrain. Or perhaps the fight is more likely to occur in the prov of the army with the slowest troops.

Whatever the game mechanic, is it possible to skew the result (i.e. which province the fight occurs in) by preemptively attacking an opponents prov with ritual summons? In other words, is there any way to delay an opponents army (ever so slightly) such that if both of your armies are moving towards each other, the fight is more likely to occur in the opponents prov than your own?

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

Of course, if months are only 5 days long, then 12 months = 60 days, so e.g. Abysians start dying of old age when they're 12 Earth years old.

RE: Interception. I don't know, but it would be good to find out.

-Max

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

Magical summons and battles happen before movement, but do not effect movement (unless a commander dies).

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

I'd like to see a clearly specified mathematical equation explaining chances of intercepting an enemy army. I've been annoyed by the 'randomness' of army interception since my first MP games, since it takes a lot of guessing to make the right move.

Also, does planting spies/scouts in the province improve your chance of intercepting an enemy army?

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

I don't see why it would, and it probably doesn't.

-Max

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

Sounds like a good suggestion though. Makes sense to me. If I have a scout hiding in his province then it should be able to give me better info on his armies movements. A "plus" in interception would seem reasonable. Go ahead and put it in the wishlist.

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

But what if you don't want to intercept, and want to bypass the army instead. Shouldn't a spy be able to help with that as well?

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

yes that's a very good point. I guess the only way to resolve this issue is by giving spies/scouts the ability to carry more orders than they currently have. For example a 'detect enemy army movement' order which improve chances of intercepting enemy army, and a 'mislead enemy army movement' order which improve chances to evade enemy army.

I guess while this can make the game more in-depth, it would complicate the game interface even further.

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

A successful assasination attempt seems to stop the movment of at least that commanders units. I can not say for sure, but when I assasinate a lot, I seem to face smaller than expected armies, which I can often defeat in detail as Max suggested.

Re: Intercepting Armies
 

I gave up trying after about half a dozen failed attempts.

Though I did have a N1 mage and 10 troops take a well defended province in a amazing display of magic and fighting. He had one man left when the enemy broke and ran with overwhelming numbers.

So if the other guy zigs when you zag you can win a province.