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

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Hmmm OK I did a search for it and see that Kristoffer tossed a comment in on that which left it alittle gray.
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...=000941#000007

Ah OK. I thought you meant something about patrol effectiveness. Thanks for the link anyway.

[licker]

Here's one other consideration (I think) when discussing a standing army vs. the PD. You don't pay upkeep on PD, and when PD wins, all losses are regenerated. Actually I'm not 100% sure on either of those, but I'm like 99% sure

Depending on the length of the game and the number of PDs and size of standing armies the initial PD cost vs. the upkeep will have different break points for where its effective and where its not. Thats still an oversimplified view though, as often depending on terrain, your reaction force will still be slow to get anywhere, and sometimes even supplies will be an issue for them. Then again, the reacaion force will probably be stronger than the equivalent amount of PD...

Its a question that isn't quite as simple as some make it out to be. There are circumstances where its simple, but likely more where it isn't so cut and dried.

My 2c anyway

[Master Shake]

The benefit of not having to pay upkeep on the PD is huge. Army upkeep can eat up 80%+ of your income every turn.

Having a real army defend in a province with decent PD is a great asset. I ususally design my unit set up to incoporate the start location of PD units. I leave a gap in hold/attack troops in the center so that the PD cannon fodder can charge out quickly. I want those free infantry units to take the first wave of attacks and spells.

The AI also takes PD into account when deciding who to declare war on and attack. If you have lots of low-PD provinces, good chance you could be the next target.

[NTJedi]

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.

[PvK]

Originally posted by licker:
Here's one other consideration (I think) when discussing a standing army vs. the PD. You don't pay upkeep on PD, and when PD wins, all losses are regenerated. Actually I'm not 100% sure on either of those, but I'm like 99% sure ...

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

[LordArioch]

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.

[OG_Gleep]

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.