How to deal with strong PD?
 

Well, I am new to MP games and in my first game I encountered a huge problem of very high PD. By very high I mean 40-50.

What is the best of beating them in early to mid game, when you have very limited access to battle magic and not many mages?

Of course PD is not alone, their weaknesses are somehow filled with national troops.

I won't give examples as I would want some general ideas. After that I can give some specifics http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

Go around them. Attack a different province.

If it's a real choke point then the best way to deal with it is to bring an overwhelming force - your main army. If this army isn't likely to be enough, well then you'll have to direct your research to some stuff that invalidates PD, like SCs, powerful battlemagic etc.

Most PDs are vulnerable to spells which affect masses of meatshieldy troops, like aoe damage, poison, morale reducing spells, stuff with awe and so on.

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

But when there is 40-50PD in EVERY province on the border? And you get difficult research and are still in quite early game?

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

Invest your own gold is something more useful, and beat them later on.

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

If it can stop me it is not useless. Making as many troops as PD has and keeping them in front provinces would kill me with upkeep.

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

So don't attack it. Build forts instead. They shouldn't cost more than a pd of 50 or so, and will be far more useful in the long run. PD has its uses, but forts are a better long-term investment.

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

It hasn't stopped you, it's just delayed you. They spent loads of money on PD which will be useless when you later attack with your superior force and roll over the PD like it isn't there.

Unless they have forces/research to match yours AND the PD all over the place as well, in which case they just had a better early game than you - find an ally and double team them.

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

50 PD costs 1275 gold. That's a lot of gold.

Anyway, its kind of hard to give general solutions. If you gave us a more specific nation combination then we might be more useful.
So I'll just suggest a completely random strategy that might work (but probably won't http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif) - conquer underwater provinces so you can circle around his line of PD defense through the water.

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

Maybe you dont have any but flying squads can attack past them. A small stealth force can pass trough (or be discovered by defense) and raid a couple of provinces behind.

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

Now isn't that specific to nations with access to flying units? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif
And of course there are more ways, like remote summons, its just that its a lot easier when you get more specific. If we knew what nation he was fighting, we could suggest ways to defeat the PD since we'd know what it has, if he told us what nation he was using, it'd be easier to mention all the specific tactics you could use with them. Right now all we know is that there is a wall of PD that is apparently unbeatable. (Though of course it can't really be unbeatable.)

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

Well, I am MA TC and I am fighting against very big PD supported by hordes of longbowmen and knights.

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

Ah. That probably means that you are fighting against Man. IIRC, almost all of Man's PD is Slingers. What I would do is see if you can forge/procure a Staff of Storms. If you can, then you can 'shut down' his missile troops, use Storm Power on all of your Air mages (IIRC, MA TC should get some Air picks on their CMs), and cut loose with the Lightning, which is effective against heavily-armored troops like Knights.

Alternatively, if you have the Air magic to do it (say, on a Pretender), Wrathful Skies would also work. Hope this helps.

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

MA Man has Longbowmen in PD. And puts many additional behind PD.

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

When your enemy builds an unassailable stronghold you should fight him elsewhere.

Consider your reasons for wanting to take the extremely well defended province. Three that occur to me might be that you need it to access your enemy's provinces, you need to prevent troop production from that province, or for victory point reasons.

When access to your enemies provinces is restricted to a single province it is a good time to consider diplomacy. Your border must be short, so a prudent garrison need not be terribly large. Furthermore your foe has already made a sizable investment in static defenses which I would not interpret as an aggressive act.

In the case that you need to stop troop production, consider the rituals which cause unrest. If you keep the unrest over 100, no troops will be produced in the castle.

If you must take the province to prevent your enemy's ascension try using assassins and commander slaying rituals on the province. Horrors, Lamashtas, and battlefield wide negative spells are good ways to wreck emplaced forces without using your own armies. Damage shields and morale effects are both good ways to disperse unscripted chaff. Instant travel spells might still allow you to make attacks on other more weakly defended vp provinces. This is also another time to use diplomacy to your advantage, as every other player also shares the incentive to not lose.

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

Zeldor: Still, the Staff of Storms negates that. MA TC also has quite good Cavalry. Placing them on the flanks and telling them to attack Rear at least has a chance to bypass the PD and get to his real troops.

Arrow Fend is another easy way to negate missile troops.

As far as Battle Evocations, Falling Frost is your best bet. Most of your CMs can cast it, and the damage should be devastating against Longbowmen. Ice Strike is later in Evocation, but all of your CMs can cast that. Your Earth Alchemists can Earth Power into Blade Wind, another deadly spell against longbowmen. Similarly, your Fire Alchemists can Phoenix Power into Falling Fires.

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

VedalkenBear:

I know how to deal with them later, but the problem is that I got into game with difficult research and made some bad choices. And situation was much worse for me earlier so I am a bit behind with research and number of mages. Even troops with Parry 7 are not so effective against longbowmen.

Re: How to deal with strong PD?
 

About 40-50pd being a big investment or meaning the ennemy planned a static defense it's not always true. A so high PD has more chances to be the result of events on an already defended province considering the price (21 is the highest commonly used PD for castles, then an event +20pd or 2x+15). I had this kind of provinces in two successives games playing with luck 3 (except the province was useless because not on my border).