Questions about PD and other

[MaxWilson]

thejeff said:
I never seem to get this invincible wall of PD vs the AI effect.

Maybe because I tend to play against Impossible level AIs? At least the initial attacks tend to have 4-500 troops. Even 100 PD isn't going to stop that for most nations.

Sure, once I've slaughtered most of those troops with mages and elite units, high PD would probably stop the AI's attacks, but by that time I'm advancing and most of that PD winds up in the backfield, where it's useless.

I play against many impossible AIs (sometimes a random mix of difficult/mighty/impossible) and I have found that the invincible-wall effect is rare for me too. Or rather, while the AI does tend to bang its head repeatedly on well-defended provinces, it does so with a large enough army that PD by itself is rarely enough, even in the early midgame. Maybe I'm just stingy--I rarely raise PD above 21, and almost never past 30--but I find PD is most useful when stiffened with some actual troops, at minimum an H2 caster and ideally a bunch of missile troops too.

-Max