Dingo Fence and ROP

[Pulsatingpecs]

Anyone used the Dingo fence trick so you have a one-way ROP agreement?

Basically build defensive units and make a giant "dingo fence" on your borders then negotiate ROP, so you can travel freely thorugh bordering Civ's exploring, all the while keeping them out?

Works on Regent, will this work on Monarch+ or will the AI land unit s by boat to circumvent the "dingo fence". AI doesn't seem to do this in Regent, unless i declare war. But during peace time they just mill aorund the fence.

[MrWhereItsAt]

But is it worth the cost in upkeep?

[Pulsatingpecs]

Costs a fortune yes, but to have detailed information of my neighbours infrastructure, city and resource locations, i am already planning a campaign to wipe them out (I need the Coal!). Cheaper than paying the exorbitant sums charged by the spies and embassies...

[vmxa1]

Well it can be doen with worker and there fore be a lot cheaper (espcially if cpatured). I never heard the term for it though.

[DrFell]

I would use warriors or obsolete units for it. Workers are better commited to improving terrain.

[vmxa1]

I would not even do it at all, but just pointing out it has been done with probably all low end units.

[Pulsatingpecs]

The fence works really well when railroad is abound. stops the AI from trespassing while you build fortresses outside their towns.

Under democracy where war weariness is a huge factor in keeping the populace happy, the dingo fence/stack tactic is absolutely vital to running a war. It keeps the troops inside your borders until the ROP is negged, then one or two turns to position troops and one or two turns to raze a civ. Short sweet and downright dirty. As all good wars should be.

I'm sure this would work in deity/monarch.... as long as u have the funds to support such an army.

[AuraSeer]

Originally posted by Pulsatingpecs
Costs a fortune yes, but to have detailed information of my neighbours infrastructure, city and resource locations, i am already planning a campaign to wipe them out (I need the Coal!). Cheaper than paying the exorbitant sums charged by the spies and embassies...

Wouldn't be even cheaper just to trade for their map?

If you've already got that army built, there's no reason to have it sit around and wait while your scouts explore. Trade your map for theirs, declare war and march right in. You'll have the same military advantage without wasting so many turns of upkeep, and without the reputation hit that comes from breaking a ROP.

I dunno.. unless you have a really short border, this seems like a huge expenditure for little benefit. Or have I overlooked something?

[Pulsatingpecs]

the main aim of the fence and the ROP is to position troops outside their towns before the war, Thus you can eliminate an entire civilization in one turn or so. Marching in a huge map takes ages and that auses dissidents which leads to half your cities going to unrest. Position, attack, raze. Their borders are nullified and your troops are no longer in enemy territory further limiting war weariness. It's a great way to take out a strong neighbour. And with that many troops your military wil be feared so your rep shouldn't be a problem. If someone thinks bad of you, pah! let them bring tanks.

[BlackOut]

I do this even with out a ROP, just to keep the ai units from trying to cross into my territory, (either to attack someone on the other side, or to plop down a city in the useless squares). Works great.... (I use the free workers mostly)

[Meshelic]

In certain situations I've done land embargos, especially when another civ friendly to me is being attacked by a large civ that I am not friendly with at all. I don't know what it is but the AI ALWAYS sends troops through the player's (mine) territory. Tell them to back off and they'll just keep coming until one or the other declares war. One way I've noticed to prevent that from happening is to have a large large military. I think it's a bit intimidating. If I'm playing a builder civ with minimum defenses then I usually expect to get walked over. But when I play with a large military they seem to steer clear. I like that.