Sneaking units

Hi there.

In Dom2 we can see the "sneak bonus" of all stealthy units. Most, including scouts, have 0. Spies and assassins often have +5. Some commanders even have +30.
But do somebody knows what this means exactly ?
Is this a % bonus ? But what is the base chance to be caught ?
I also read in the manual (p. 11, nr 4.8) that local defense (even 10+) is less efficient than real patrols -- is local defense still useful then, for the price ?

TIA,
Sunray

I'd like to know this as well. I do know from tests that 20 Provincial defense is semi-adept at catching Scouts (+0 Stealth) and having 10~15 normal army (militia or 2 move units) will capture most everything except spies. Those usually take an army 20+ patrolling.

It's very hard to test to find out.

[General Tacticus]

Well, from playing the World War scenario, where everybody starts with 5 provinces with 40 defense, I get this feeling :

A scout (+0) going in a 40 defense province has about 50% chance by turn to get caught.
A Ulmian spy (+20) has about 20%.
Of course, 40 defense is much too expensive to use to catch scouts.

In both cases, they won't Last very long. Going further inside is virtual suicide for the scout (get caught and nowhere to retreat = dead), and very risky for the spy, but it can be done if you do not plan to stay there.

Two more remarks :
- As long as you have a friendly province to retreat to, put your scout at the rear of the battlefield and order him to retreat. Even if he gets caught, he won't die but will retreat to friendly territory.
- As a general rule, it is a very bad idea to leave provinces at less than 10 defense, and I would upgrade it to 21 unless the province is really useless. There are many way to take a defenceless province, and the AI knows them all.

In Single Play issue 2 is more of a 'mandatory' but MP this is not the case and it's more based on the strength of the Provincial Defenders to what you set it at while being able to stop sneak attack spells and spy/stealth province snatches.

Just a FYI about Provincial Defense is the AI thinks in terms of 10's in determining how many units are there. So if you have between 1-10 Provincial Defense it thinks you have 10 Units there, 11-20 = 20, 21-30 = 30, 31-40 =40 etc.

Try not to abuse it too bad

[ January 16, 2004, 13:38: Message edited by: Zen ]

[General Tacticus]

Originally posted by Zen:
In Single Play issue 2 is more of a 'mandatory' but MP this is not the case and it's more based on the strength of the Provincial Defenders to what you set it at while being able to stop sneak attack spells and spy/stealth province snatches.

Just a FYI about Provincial Defense is the AI thinks in terms of 10's in determining how many units are there. So if you have between 1-10 Provincial Defense it thinks you have 10 Units there, 11-20 = 20, 21-30 = 30, 31-40 =40 etc.

Try not to abuse it too bad

Oh! I already knew 21 was a very good number (you get your unit and a second commander at that number). Now I know it's even better !!

[Truper]

Oh! I already knew 21 was a very good number (you get your unit and a second commander at that number). Now I know it's even better !!

The variability by nation is worth paying attention to. Man has awful province defence - at 21 they get more militia and a Monk. Abyssia on the other hand gets Abyssian infantry and a Warlord - and a couple of nations even get mages for the 2nd commander...

[General Tacticus]

And Ulm gets a havy infantry with Ulm Ring mail and tower shield, while Mictlan gets a captured slave and a slinger

[Kristoffer O]

Originally posted by Zen:
Just a FYI about Provincial Defense is the AI thinks in terms of 10's in determining how many units are there. So if you have between 1-10 Provincial Defense it thinks you have 10 Units there, 11-20 = 20, 21-30 = 30, 31-40 =40 etc.

Try not to abuse it too bad

No risk, this is a false assumption.

Are you sure? Either the AI thinks that or is under some other assumption. I guess from those that is how it used to work and now it still works. Maybe there is another factor that makes 11 and 21 key provincial defense numbers that the AI prefers not to attack.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Zen:
Are you sure? Either the AI thinks that or is under some other assumption. I guess from those that is how it used to work and now it still works. Maybe there is another factor that makes 11 and 21 key provincial defense numbers that the AI prefers not to attack.

From my own observations of when I was being attacked by Imprint Souls, the AI tended to attack my 20 def locales and left my 21 locales alone. I do believe there is some merit to your argument ...