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Stopping Howies.
So. You're wanting to stop Howies. Now, I'm rather new to this game, but....well. Here's my idea.
#1) What is Howitzer main strength?
The Howies strengths are this: They have a HUGE attack factor(Unsurprising....Most attack units have massive attack factos, they need to to have a chance of defeating defenders) and the ability to ignore city walls. In addition they have 3 MP.
#2) The weaknesses of the Howitzers: They're land units, and expensive.
Now. The problems as I see it are this: Most people have all there cities connected with railroads,which let's 10 howies rip 10 cities apart in a turn.
Nothing can stop Howitzers....right?
Wrong.
Here are some of my ideas...now I might be wrong, and if so, tell me.
1)Prevention.
This one is simple. An Ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...wipe out everyone before Howies. Since this is impossible(Hell, if you guys could do that, ya wouldn't be complaining!)
The second one is this: Don't let em do that. First off, if by the time Howies bumble onto the scene you're still sharing the continent, chances are whoever gets it first will win, the rest of the game will be an orgy of mutual bloodshed.
However...if you control a continent(And you should! No sharing! Sharing BAD!) you should do this.
Build a Navy and airforce and keep em off the borders. Unless they can get Transports in to your continent and hook the howies up to the rail line, they're just targets for fighters.
Build a Powerful Navy and Airforce...hard to do on Democracy, I know, but do it anyway. Specifically, you want cruise missiles, Bombers,(MAYBE)Nukes, and a fleet which is powerful enough to hammer your opponent.
I am a firm believer in sea power. I Love Ocean Power! Control the Ocean and you win the war!
Here's how ya do it. Use your missiles and bombers as scouts. Move them out as far as they'll go(without crashing, of course) and keep an eye out for encroaching enemy fleets. The fastest a Transport moves, I think is 7 moves(Bah, I can't remember)But it's lower than a Bomber...simply keep your eyes open, and smash down any transport which comes near your continent. The second prong is your fleet..if you see an encroaching fleet, sally them out and duke it out. Fight like mad to kill those transports, and use your superior air power(If he has enough Aircraft carriers to make it a real fight, you've already lost...<g>) and kill the Howies before they plop off the boat.
Now...If your opponent doesn't believe in sea power, he can't invade until he's built a force able to punch through yours.
In that time...you can build your own army, and invade...the best defense is a good offense!
Now..let's say they get past the perimeter defenses...all is not lost my friends! No..because you built to last! Let's say your opponent drops 15 Howies on you. One would expect them to take as many as 45 cities in a single turn.
Secondary defenses:
Build a hill under your city. (Yes, use engineers to make your city into a hill. +50% defense will help damage the enemy)Not good enough, I know. But here are some others.
First off....You Built your entire continent into railroads, didn't you? You did, right? Look. I admit that roading things over is great from a defensive standpoint..Railroading a large continent, however is a BAD IDEA.
Who does it help more? Yes...you can build one large force and put it someplace and put it ALL in one place...but they can do the same thing to you!
So here's my idea...Railroad it, but pull a Stupid AI trick(aka Roman Maneuver) and every few spaces along the railroads, put a fortress with a powerful vet Mech Inf.
6+3+3+6(And if you put it on a mountain, it's even better)
Howies ignore city walls...but they don't ignore fortresses. So one or two defenders on a mountain which the howies HAVE to take can put a serious crimp in there defenses.
Do this the whole way. Lemme do a crummy lil Map.
Key:
O means city
= means railroad
F means fortress
O===F===F===F===O
The Opposition has to pound his way through multiple hard points to get through to your next city...2 Mech Inf in those will kill things by the job lot.
Now, the problem is...using your rescources efficiently..after all, you don't wanna put all your cities 10 squares apart, right? I have 2 options.
Gather all the cities in an area, and hook it to another collection of cities through a long, defended rail line
OOO OOO
OOO=====FFFFF==OOO
OOO OOO
This way, the enemy can only take a part of your empire away from you, and you can take it back with a Diplomat-or-howie rush of your own!
And finally...you don't wanna Lose ANY cities..Heck, nobody does.
Final defenses: At each corner, build a fortress. Place 2-3 powerful defenders in each fortress. the enemy then has to either daisy-chain or take out the units in the fortresses in order not to violate ZOC.
Of course, these aren't permanent solutions! These are stopgaps, designed to keep you in the game until you can hit them back. If your opponent doesn't have em, you can use transports and a Howie rush of your own to beat his negligible defenses into the floor...and conquer an entire continent in a turn.
At least...those are my ideas. Feel free to give critisism.
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I dunno. I think nukes are cool..If you're the only one who has em.
#1) What is Howitzer main strength?
The Howies strengths are this: They have a HUGE attack factor(Unsurprising....Most attack units have massive attack factos, they need to to have a chance of defeating defenders) and the ability to ignore city walls. In addition they have 3 MP.
#2) The weaknesses of the Howitzers: They're land units, and expensive.
Now. The problems as I see it are this: Most people have all there cities connected with railroads,which let's 10 howies rip 10 cities apart in a turn.
Nothing can stop Howitzers....right?
Wrong.
Here are some of my ideas...now I might be wrong, and if so, tell me.1)Prevention.
This one is simple. An Ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...wipe out everyone before Howies. Since this is impossible(Hell, if you guys could do that, ya wouldn't be complaining!)
The second one is this: Don't let em do that. First off, if by the time Howies bumble onto the scene you're still sharing the continent, chances are whoever gets it first will win, the rest of the game will be an orgy of mutual bloodshed.
However...if you control a continent(And you should! No sharing! Sharing BAD!) you should do this.
Build a Navy and airforce and keep em off the borders. Unless they can get Transports in to your continent and hook the howies up to the rail line, they're just targets for fighters.
Build a Powerful Navy and Airforce...hard to do on Democracy, I know, but do it anyway. Specifically, you want cruise missiles, Bombers,(MAYBE)Nukes, and a fleet which is powerful enough to hammer your opponent.
I am a firm believer in sea power.
I Love Ocean Power! Control the Ocean and you win the war! Here's how ya do it. Use your missiles and bombers as scouts. Move them out as far as they'll go(without crashing, of course) and keep an eye out for encroaching enemy fleets. The fastest a Transport moves, I think is 7 moves(Bah, I can't remember)But it's lower than a Bomber...simply keep your eyes open, and smash down any transport which comes near your continent. The second prong is your fleet..if you see an encroaching fleet, sally them out and duke it out. Fight like mad to kill those transports, and use your superior air power(If he has enough Aircraft carriers to make it a real fight, you've already lost...<g>) and kill the Howies before they plop off the boat.
Now...If your opponent doesn't believe in sea power, he can't invade until he's built a force able to punch through yours.
In that time...you can build your own army, and invade...the best defense is a good offense!
Now..let's say they get past the perimeter defenses...all is not lost my friends! No..because you built to last! Let's say your opponent drops 15 Howies on you. One would expect them to take as many as 45 cities in a single turn.
Secondary defenses:
Build a hill under your city. (Yes, use engineers to make your city into a hill. +50% defense will help damage the enemy)Not good enough, I know. But here are some others.
First off....You Built your entire continent into railroads, didn't you? You did, right? Look. I admit that roading things over is great from a defensive standpoint..Railroading a large continent, however is a BAD IDEA.
Who does it help more? Yes...you can build one large force and put it someplace and put it ALL in one place...but they can do the same thing to you!
So here's my idea...Railroad it, but pull a Stupid AI trick(aka Roman Maneuver) and every few spaces along the railroads, put a fortress with a powerful vet Mech Inf.
6+3+3+6(And if you put it on a mountain, it's even better)
Howies ignore city walls...but they don't ignore fortresses. So one or two defenders on a mountain which the howies HAVE to take can put a serious crimp in there defenses.
Do this the whole way. Lemme do a crummy lil Map.
Key:
O means city
= means railroad
F means fortress
O===F===F===F===O
The Opposition has to pound his way through multiple hard points to get through to your next city...2 Mech Inf in those will kill things by the job lot.
Now, the problem is...using your rescources efficiently..after all, you don't wanna put all your cities 10 squares apart, right? I have 2 options.
Gather all the cities in an area, and hook it to another collection of cities through a long, defended rail line
OOO OOO
OOO=====FFFFF==OOO
OOO OOO
This way, the enemy can only take a part of your empire away from you, and you can take it back with a Diplomat-or-howie rush of your own!
And finally...you don't wanna Lose ANY cities..Heck, nobody does.
Final defenses: At each corner, build a fortress. Place 2-3 powerful defenders in each fortress. the enemy then has to either daisy-chain or take out the units in the fortresses in order not to violate ZOC.
Of course, these aren't permanent solutions! These are stopgaps, designed to keep you in the game until you can hit them back. If your opponent doesn't have em, you can use transports and a Howie rush of your own to beat his negligible defenses into the floor...and conquer an entire continent in a turn.
At least...those are my ideas. Feel free to give critisism.
------------------
I dunno. I think nukes are cool..If you're the only one who has em.
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