More Questions

[salilsurendran]

Hello Friends,
I had a few questions:
1. Almost always one of my trading partners port gets blockaded. This makes me lose money for that turn and when it happens for multiple turns, I make almost no money. When one of my trading partners is blockaded shouldn't the trade be automatically routed to other nations? Also if I cancel my trade agreement with that nation will the trade to my remaining trading partners?
2. I am playing as Great Britain on Hard and France is nearby. It almost always declares war on the thirteen colonies and my allies within the first few turns and cause me to severe my alliance. Since it is very powerful I can't go to war with it. Then when I build up some wealth it declares war on me. How do I avoid war with France?
3. Most of my army is in the 13 colonies conquering Indian territory and my navy at the trade theaters protecting my trade vessels. This leaves mainland Great Britain with a very weak army and almost no navy still France doesn't attempt an amphibious landing. How smart is the AI?
4. Is a siege of an enemy city useful in any way? Should I directly attack instead of demanding surrender and continuing a siege. I guess this will allow enemy reinforcements into battle.
5. Retreat is becoming a big headache. When I face a stronger enemy and I click the retreat button my forces run to the a random point on the map, instead of being logical and going to the nearest reinforcements. How do I control the retreat. Are there any patches that will allow this?

[eXistenZ]

3. the Ai almost never invades by sea.
4. Well, i alwyas wait fro them to attack, so i can make a good line-up, decimate them with canister shot and chasing the routing enemies. After that, taking the city (on autoresolve) is very easy

the others i don't know for sure

[salilsurendran]

So if I build settlement fortifications will it help me last a siege longer and help me bring in reinforcing armies without being attacked first.

[War&Politics]

If you play as GB you are going to have to go to war with France. They aren't as powerful as they seem and you can not simply give up the thirteen colonies.

[salilsurendran]

One more questions. has anyone ever been able to defend the Rupert's Moose Factory against the attack by Huron-Wyatan tribe? I basically find myself defending with two lines of infantry men and skirmishers? Is defence even possible?

[eXistenZ]

One more questions. has anyone ever been able to defend the Rupert's Moose Factory against the attack by Huron-Wyatan tribe? I basically find myself defending with two lines of infantry men and skirmishers? Is defence even possible?

You can always ally with them, so you don't have to fight them

[salilsurendran]

Yes I did it. I actually defeated the Huron tribe in the first battle itself. The difference this time was I hid my rangers in the woods.

[MortenJessen]

Hi there.
1) No.
2) You can not, since France controls one of your victory-regions.
3) and 4): answerd by eXistenZ.
5) No. Sorry.
Y.S.
M. Jessen

[dutch81]

Hello Friends,
I had a few questions:
1. Almost always one of my trading partners port gets blockaded. This makes me lose money for that turn and when it happens for multiple turns, I make almost no money. When one of my trading partners is blockaded shouldn't the trade be automatically routed to other nations? Also if I cancel my trade agreement with that nation will the trade to my remaining trading partners?
2. I am playing as Great Britain on Hard and France is nearby. It almost always declares war on the thirteen colonies and my allies within the first few turns and cause me to severe my alliance. Since it is very powerful I can't go to war with it. Then when I build up some wealth it declares war on me. How do I avoid war with France?
3. Most of my army is in the 13 colonies conquering Indian territory and my navy at the trade theaters protecting my trade vessels. This leaves mainland Great Britain with a very weak army and almost no navy still France doesn't attempt an amphibious landing. How smart is the AI?
4. Is a siege of an enemy city useful in any way? Should I directly attack instead of demanding surrender and continuing a siege. I guess this will allow enemy reinforcements into battle.
5. Retreat is becoming a big headache. When I face a stronger enemy and I click the retreat button my forces run to the a random point on the map, instead of being logical and going to the nearest reinforcements. How do I control the retreat. Are there any patches that will allow this?

1. If it worked like that then blockades would have little effect ... it should hurt your economy if a trade partners port is blockaded. You have a few choices: cancel the trade agreement and take your merchandise somewhere else, or wait, or help your trade partner out and use your navy to clear the seas.
2. You most certainly can and should go to war with France ... France is a pest in the side of GB ... they can challenege you in North America and that is one war you cannot lose. Read the guide on GB and follow it. Basically take your army and ship it to New Foundland take it ... take Nova Scotia next and work your way all the way down to New Orleans. Never disregard your alliance with the 13 colonies!
3. France isn't very smart in invading GB but they can so keep a fleet there in reserve ... keep friendly relations with Spain this is possible but their navy is your biggest early threat till you have the money and know how to build your 74 gun SOL. Stay focused on North America.
4. Sieges can be usefull as they usually sally and this lets you fight a defensive battle ... wipe them out and next turn you can take their walls against a much lighter defense. If you have a good numerical advantage always offer them the chance to surrender this can save alot of time and men.
5. As far as I know you have no control over a retreat but assuming you are near a border it is my experience they will retreat to the closest border. I suggest not retreating not even a tactical retreat due to this issue.

Good luck!

[Tim1988]

Hello Friends,
I had a few questions:
1. Almost always one of my trading partners port gets blockaded. This makes me lose money for that turn and when it happens for multiple turns, I make almost no money. When one of my trading partners is blockaded shouldn't the trade be automatically routed to other nations? Also if I cancel my trade agreement with that nation will the trade to my remaining trading partners?
2. I am playing as Great Britain on Hard and France is nearby. It almost always declares war on the thirteen colonies and my allies within the first few turns and cause me to severe my alliance. Since it is very powerful I can't go to war with it. Then when I build up some wealth it declares war on me. How do I avoid war with France?
3. Most of my army is in the 13 colonies conquering Indian territory and my navy at the trade theaters protecting my trade vessels. This leaves mainland Great Britain with a very weak army and almost no navy still France doesn't attempt an amphibious landing. How smart is the AI?
4. Is a siege of an enemy city useful in any way? Should I directly attack instead of demanding surrender and continuing a siege. I guess this will allow enemy reinforcements into battle.
5. Retreat is becoming a big headache. When I face a stronger enemy and I click the retreat button my forces run to the a random point on the map, instead of being logical and going to the nearest reinforcements. How do I control the retreat. Are there any patches that will allow this?

1. It would be a bit pointless if blockading a port didn't stop trade. To free it up again, either send your navy to help your ally, or get trade agreements with other nations.
2. You're gonna go to war with France at some point. You are playing as England after all, its traditional enemy. DO NOT abandon the 13 colonies. Once you get them your income will shoot up. France aren't that powerful anyway and will likely have their hands full with the factions to their East (e.g. UP and Prussia).
3. It is rare for the enemy to naval invade you, but it does happen some times. The best thing to do is have a powerful navy to stop them. Blockade their ports if you can to stop them building up their navy.
4. I always wait for the enemy to sally out so I can fight a defensive battle (unless I significantly outnumber the enemy).
5. You can't. I know its really annoying.

As for defending Ruperts Land, I've never had a problem with it. Right from turn 1 just build the best troops available to you every turn (make sure you build the military governors building instead of the other one so you can build better troops). Just line up your line infantry and militia, preferably on some high ground (with pikes behind if you've got any). Hold fire until the indians get really close before firing a close range volley and receiving the charge. Keep any rangers hidden on your flanks so they can fire into the sides of the enemy once engaged. Putting your line infantry into squares after they've fired also helps, as it means they cant get outflanked by the superior numbers of the indians.

Also, make bayonets your first research. They'll give you the edge in combat and if I recall right, they only take 3 turns to research.

[salilsurendran]

I did win against the Huron tribe like I mentioned in the previous post. I hid my rangers in the woods and flanked them. I was thinking that if my trade partner's port is blockaded then in real life most nations would sell those goods to other nations. It shouldn't lead to a lose of income, maybe a minor loss of income would do since it will take some time to reroute the goods with other trade partners but not a permanent loss of income.

talking about the economy. How am I supposed to increase my tax income. I invested over 8000$ upgrading buildings and my tax income went up by a paltry 500$. Some of the workshops I upgraded promised $1100 increase in regional wealth. At 40% tax, I estimated my tax income will increase by 440$. I built a host of other buildings also that promised $600 increase each. After all those buildings are constructed I see my income has increased by about $500 instead of the expected $1200. Is there something about tax that I don't understand. Like am I receiving the money over time or something? I think something similar is happening with trade also because the amount of $ mentioned on the trade route is not what is seen on the economy panel. But will have to check on trade more thoroughly.

[Tim1988]

This might sound like strange advice, but lower your taxes. Although in the short run your income will fall, it allows speeds up the growth of new towns and population, and in the long run will really pay off. If you enter a large war and need an immediate cash boost then raise your taxes for a couple of turns and then reduce them again as soon as you can afford to. I've completed campaigns as Britain on H/H a couple of times and always have taxes on virtually the bare minimum. Once you get the 13 colonies your income should shoot up anyway.

As for the tax question, i'm not sure. One thing that you should check (you may already have done it) is your ministers. Make sure that you have good ministers in all positions and get rid of any that are rubbish (treasury and justice are the two most important ones). Some ministers can have bad traits that reduce tax revenue.

Also, some of your trade routes might be being raided? Take out the pirate islands as soon as you can (they have 2 in the Caribbean I think) and that will give you the double benefit of not having to worry about them too much and also being able to build plantations on their islands to get in more cash.

[salilsurendran]

Also, some of your trade routes might be being raided? Take out the pirate islands as soon as you can (they have 2 in the Caribbean I think) and that will give you the double benefit of not having to worry about them too much and also being able to build plantations on their islands to get in more cash.

I am about to attack one of their islands in the Caribbean. If I take out both then the piracy in Brazil should go down right? If not I was wondering how to group my ships in the trade theaters?
If I have 10 trade ships should I distribute them among all the available nodes or should I concentrate them on one node? Since in one node it will be much easier to defend with 10 ships but I don't want to lose a lot of income by distributing it among all nodes?

[dutch81]

Well if a factory was making 1000 before and the upgrade lets it make 1200, that is only a 200 difference even with taxes so high and 40% is way to high you are talking an increase of revenue of 80 for an investment of 2000 or more! Now, don't get me wrong upgrades are great you have to do it but their return is over the long haul ... if you need money this bad spend less on upgrades and maybe expand militarily in some rich provinces. That is a key point as well, take what you really need ... taking to much will reduce relations with everyone in that theater ... and might lead to more war, so choose wisely what you take. Also Tim's advice is spot on reduce the taxes all the way, learn to do with that ... trust me it is enough early on ... and you will make so much more in the long run, if you get in a tough war where you need more revenue then bump it up a notch that should be plenty to buy a few more troops in a tough situation but will not hurt your long term financial future. If you do this you will see happy provinces and rich ... they will grow faster making new towns ... and your individual towns will get richer and generate more wealth. Just don't forget to reduce those taxes again when the war is over.

[Tim1988]

Yes, if you take both of the islands then the pirate faction will disappear and you wont have to worry about them anymore. Nations that you are at war with will continue to attack your shipping and trade routes though.

As for the trade ships. I'm not really sure. I tend not to use the trade nodes that much early in the game as I find that keeping a navy to defend them is more expensive than its worth. Instead I focus on building plantations in the Americas and trading those goods. Thats just my style of play, however. I know that many people do use them and will earn a lot from them. Perhaps one of them will be able to advise you better than me...

From what I have experienced with them though, is that trade ships are next to useless in a fight anyway, and so its probably best to spread them out so that you lose less if you lose a fight. Hopefully someone else will be able to be more help though...

[dutch81]

Take as many trade nodes as you can ... if you lose them in a war it is ok ... even the worst trade nodes makes up for the cost of a lost ship in 2 turns or less. Then as you consolidate try to spread them equally to max your income. It is not that holding a single trade node with numerous ships earns you that much less, but it does quite a bit ... but you are also denying the trade income to the other factions. Another thing to consider is that the more ships you have bringing in a certain trade good the less valuable said resource becomes ... initially ivory is the biggest earner then it becomes spices ... the latter in the game you get the more valuable all the other stuff gets. So Tim's advice of building your colonies up instead of trade nodes might not be such a bad idea either ... I try to do it all!

[Lord_Slop]

Distribute the ships on the available trade nodes, if you have 1 ship in each node, prices remain the same, then adding more ships to each node decreases the commodity's price gradually.

[salilsurendran]

Trade does seem to be very risky, it is there one turn and completely disappears the other. My trade was completely stopped in one turn. I was at war with France and she moved all her ships into one of my ports. After I sent my soldiers into the port her ship stood outside my port. I saw the next two turns my trade income went down to 0 even though I had 4 ports only one of them theoretically should have been blockaded. How exactly does blockades work ? Does the ships have to be near the port or in the port. Also I was building a ship in one of the ports when the French ships moved it that work got canceled. Don't know if I received the money back or not. This whole war with France thing is stressing me out. It's army is stronger than mine and my army is in the America's fighting the pirates and Huron tribe. I have a strong navy in the port of Greenwich though. I want to prevent the French from making an amphibious landing on England because my army in England is next to nothing. I can stop a landing on England because of my navy in Greenwich but what if France decides to land in Ireland or Scotland. Would my navy in Greenwich be able to intercept? Or do I have to maintain a huge navy in each of the ports? Because if the AI lands on England I am toast. France just has two ports maybe I should place my navy in front of both of those ports? I am capturing the colonies of the pirates and the French in the Caribbean. I saw that we receive trade income from the goods produced in the colonies, but also tax income but the same is not true of the resources in the mainland? So if i capture a pirate island with a sugar plantation of 30 sacks of sugar at 15$, I immediately start receiving $450 + tax income.