PD, how much?

[Gargoyle]

I was wondering how much Province Defense players generally use. The only really successful game I've played so far is with Machaka. I've seen on the threads that Machaka is considered to have a very weak PD.

I always put at least 11 in every province so it can defend against spell attacks. I put 21 in border provinces and as much as 31 if under severe threat if not occupied by a decent army. I guess most people know that the AI does not know the difference between 11 and 20, 21 and 30, and 31 and 40 when accessing defensive capabilities.

[quantum_mechani]

I do 1 as default, and only raise it if someone starts successfully raiding through it with spells/stealth units defeatable by PD. The only other time I raise it is if I anticipate a battle where I will need some extra fodder, in which case I might go as high as 21 if I have lots of gold, and the PD is Jotun or something.

[Cainehill]

I'll usually go 2 to 3 (especially when Quantum is in the game to help "remind" me to buy PD by using a scout to take my unguarded provinces ); Jotunheim and Abysia in particular I'll usually aim for closer to 5 - 10, depending on location & spare gold.

As far as the AI goes : I only play SP to test a design, since I get sick of nations all the way across the map declaring war, casting fires from afar, seeking arrow, etc, when they don't even know where I am; because of this I don't often game the 11/21 breakpoints.

Oh - another reason to put a moderate PD (5+) vice 1 : since I usually have a luck scale, I'd much rather get +5 to +15 PD event going on top of 5 or more - much higher benefit in terms of how much gold it would've cost me to build the PD myself.

Then... Maybe higher PD to protect un-fortified temples & active labs, albeit not with super-lame PD nations. Jotuns, Abysia, mmm, Ulm's decent because of their armor.

And as Quantum mentions : especially when you're surrounded, and you _know_ the enemy is going to try and hammer you, buying 20-40 PD can make the difference between losing a key army and destroying the foe, since the PD inflicts damage and more importantly, soaks up casualties while my Mass Protection, legions of iron, body ethereal, etc, are being cast on my troops and other mages are acting as artillery.

[PDF]

In MP I usually go for 3-4, just to be able to kill a scout if he attacks, total cost is ridiculously low at 6-10 gp.
As an exception with good PD nations (Jotun, Ulm) I put up to 10-11, or even more in some provinces if I'm pretty rich.
Else 11-21 is reserved for AI attack channelling in SP
Never ever I buy more than 21, it's an awful waste of gold.

[Boron]

In SP i often buy full 125 PD.
In MP you normally either do 2-3 PD or 10-11 Points to occasionally detect scouts.

There is one special occasion in MP when i buy 125 points of PD:
If i have hoarded lots of fever fetishes and can cast Haunted Forest.

I wish for the ulm alchemist god and make the alchemist stone.
Then iirc you get 45 gold per alchemized firegem.
If you have hoarded e.g. 500 fever fetishes you get then 45*500=22500 Gold per turn if you alchemize.

As long as you can keep the haunted forest up this rocks.
Hundreds of manikins are not so easy to kill and require more than a single SC or similiar.
So your opponent has to concentrate his attacks and thus you can easier decimate him.

[Chazar]

I usually go for either 1, 6, 11 or 24.

I put 24 in chokepoints that I do not want to cover with a fortress for whatever reason. The PD shall search for sneakers as well as being an upkeep free defence of the chokepoint, which works if there is some back up by mages and very few quality troops. Therefore I buy a lab as well, so that the mages double as researchers and defenders. I think that 21 is a waste, since the 22 gold for one point yields two units. So I stop around 24, i.e. 12 gold per unit obtained. Chokepoints defended in that way wont deflect serious attacks, but force the enemy to bring much more than a call of winds and a few sneaking troops.

I put 11 if I expect reoccuring heavy battles in that province, so that I have some freely regenerating chaff.

I always put 6 to protect myself from scout attacks. I think 6 is better than 5 because it yields a better scout report to the enemy, who cannot distinguish 6 from 11 PD.

I only put 1 if I am broke or if the province will be lost immediately (e.g. province was won by flyers or long-range summoning).