War Academy/Machiavelli Institute: Contingency Plans

[GoodFella]

With our new land we have also aquired new neighbors, and I think we might want to start thinking about developing a system of contingency plans for potential wars (i.e. what we do in the event that Greece declares war on us). We can begin discussing it here.

I am also playing around with a system of naming them so they're easily identifiable, I'll post more on it later.

[Spiffor]

To me it seems the Germans are more likely to attack us than the Greeks or Persians (the Americans might sneak attack us, but the probability is weak)

Indeed, the Germans don't have much good land to grab, being stuck by America and ourselves to the south, Aztecs to the north, and soon Greeks to the West.

Also, Bismark is definitely a very agressive opponent, and is annoyed at us, while Alexander is cautious (and has always been)

Should the Germans attack, I suggest we ally with the Greeks, even if the cost is high : we'll be in the situation to get the most interesting cities for us (like Munich and Hamburg). The problem is that Greeks will grab cities near ivory coast, but it's unlikely someone attacks us before Ivory coast is settled (and Greeks will probably be the first to settle there)

[GePap]

I would agree that Germans are a bigger threat, and I also think we can take them without an allience. The Greeks are too far to realy help wih the Germans. If we want an ally, the Aztecs would be a better one gainst the Germans.We will have to watch the Persians once they have immotal, but they might also go to war with england first.

[Captain]

Why not name them according to the country or colour? Like Defense Against Greek Aggression or Attack Against German Defenses or Counter to Greek Offense or Invasion of Germany or Offense Against Germany. Makes sense and is descriptive, but maybe not very exciting.

We should have several plans, or levels to the plans. Ideally, the lower level plans can be followed by a higher level plan if the situation warrants. Each level of the plan has its own focus.

Offensive plans:

Incision: Short stab, cutting out some significant sector of the enemy to force peace
Invasion: Large thrust, gutting their country
Vassalization: Leaves enemy so helpless we may need to defend them from annihilation
Annihilation: Complete obliteration of the enemy

Defensive plans:

Blunt: Blunt or block enemy invasion, cripple enemy offensive strength, focus on minimizing damage to cities and infrastructure (tile improvements)
Check: Check enemy invasion, eradicate enemy offensive strength, focus on eliminating enemy units (possibly at expense of luring those units into less defensive terrain but losing infrastructure due to pillaging)
Counter: Goal is to deflect invading armies from our core regions and vital resources and concentrate on a counterinvasion, to wipe out enemy production (pillaging them and capturing their cities or cutting supply lines), this may leave enemy units within our lands or result in the loss of some of our cities, focus is on eliminating enemy production capability first, then entrapping enemy units

[adaMada]

If we did set up a system of Contingency Plans, it'd probably be best for the someone to 'appoint' several citizens to, with the publics input and approval, write and update emergency plans. I think that, to make it doable and reasonable up to date, you'd have to have different people doing nearly all the civs. It could also be a public venture, perhaps with a thread per civ where everyone's ideas for offensive/defensive war on that civ could be combined, with a new thread being started every twenty/fifty/hundred turns, or however often was felt necessary. Captain's system of plans could def. work as a base for this sort of thing, if the plans were to be updated as necessary.

Just a few random thoughts...

-- adaMada

[Captain]

this was just an example, but i thought of a few modifications

Originally posted by Captain
Offensive plans:

Incision: Short stab, cutting out some significant sector of the enemy to force our way (peace, tributes), focus on quick resolution and minimal distraction from our other plans
Invasion: Large thrust, taking a substantial amount intact, focus on our gains
Devastation: Large thrust, gutting their country for the purpose of crippling them, focus on their loss
Vassalization: Leaves enemy so helpless we may need to defend them from annihilation, focus on creating a vassal
Annihilation: Complete obliteration of the enemy, focus is obvious

[Edrix]

I personally like the method where we take the country's color (green for Grecce, for example), and then add 'Case' in front of it, like the plan against America. It gives us a feeling that in case Greece attacks, we'll follow Case Green. Just a thought.

[Robber Baron]

Spiffor's right, IMO: we can probably expect an early visit from Germany.
(Too bad, because I still hope they can help contain the Aztecs.)
Case Blue should probably be a priority.
And incision may be the best counter: approach by way of mountains, with swordsmen (should try to station one or two on standby, In Seeberg, once we feel we can spare them). Take out Frankfurt, Hamburg, pillage the plains beyond (with horsemen?), demand Munich in peace negotiations. See if we can leave the rest standing, as an (admittedly) weakened buffer. ...
Preliminary thoughts, for what they're worth.

[adaMada]

Yea, I like that naming scheme too, though it'd be nice if the country name was in parentheses at the end, since I can't ever remember which is which . Maybe we could do a combo of both this idea and also Captain's (though the name really doesn't matter that much), for example: Case Green-Incision (Greece). Case color is color of civilization being attacked (don't know what you do if the plan calls for the attack of two civs at once, I guess you could just put two colors), the -Incision is the specific plan title, and the ()'s is the targeted civ (redundant and would only be used in the formal thread subject title).

Anyway, this really doesn't matter that much... a system for putting together the plans themselves is far more important .

-- adaMada