Ask Apolyton Anything about Conquer the World

[Tim Train]

The starting setups are dependent on several factors, including the defender's territory strength, the reinforcements on both sides, any bonus cards played, and rare resources under each players' control.

Territory strength determines the number and size of the defender's cities. A size one territory has just a basic starting setup of a few farms and a woodcutter. At size four, the defender gets a second city. At size eight the defender will have three cities with defending towers and castles, as well as bonus starting resources. (Note that these are somewhat subject to change before release as we continue to balance the game).

Reinforcements come in play in the first few minutes of the scenarios. If you have supporting armies in neighboring territories, they will send troops that can significantly increase your chances of success. Allies can also send reinforcements--in that case the ally will bring citizens who can construct new cities and join you as an equal partner in the attack, in addition to some military units.

Bonus cards can be used to "even the odds" when you are attacking into a key territory with particularly high strength. Some bonus cards give you starting technology, or resources, or special powers that last for the scenario.

All these variables make every Conquest scenario have its own special setup. Attack a strength 8 capital territory and you'll need a lot of bonus cards and / or reinforcements to change the equation. If your opponent attacks you with an ally, you'll be in a Teams of 2 situation with the enemy ganging up on you.

Finally, rare resources can also significantly affect the starting situation. In you capture a territory with a rare resource in it (as shown on the strategic map), then that rare resource is available to you in every subsequent scenario. You gain its bonus income and its special power. One of the positive side-effects of this feature is that later scenarios get started much more quickly due to the increased resources at your disposal. This helps eliminate some of the repetitiveness of the early game, when many of your tasks are similar. Instead, you can be creating armies and planning assaults much more quickly.

Tim

[MarkG]

good to have you back Tim

[tniem]

How is territory strength determined?

Is it one of those things of how many armies you have in it?

Or is it size due to prior battles on the territory?

Thanks Tim.

[Tim Train]

Territory strength depends primarily on how long you've held a territory. The territory increases in size for every Age you've held it. You can also choose to spend tribute to increase the territory strength.

[Bridger]

Hey tim, how can you conqure the whole world exactly? I heard that you can choose from 1 to 4 turns per age (which means 8 to 32 turns total) but there are more than 32 territories, and with only 1 battle per turn....that doens't equate to conquring the world? Does capturing an enemy capitol give you all their territory in the CtW map?

[theponyguy1]

Does the actual CTW map have fog of war, or can the player see what happens in the other territories?

And also, can I cheat in CTW? Because in EE, I had to download a trainer to cheat in the scenerios which made the game run slow.

[Tim Train]

You have four turns per Age (except for the Ancient Age, where you only spend one turn), for a grand total of...29! Conquering a capital does give you all of that nation's territories, so you can certainly win in the allotted time. Also, when you overrun a territory, that does not count as your attack; you can do as many overruns in a turn as you can manage to put together. Finally, there is a rare bonus card called "Treachery" that allows you to take a province without fighting, and that also does not count as your attack for the turn.

The player can see what is happening in other territories in CtW, as an abstraction of the timescale covered in the game.

You will have access to all the cheats in CtW scenarios that you get in the regular game, which should be most anything you could want. We're big fans of letting people mess around with the game however they want, including "artificial enhancement" :-). Of course, that doesn't extend to MP, where cheats are disabled.

[Bridger]

by overrun you mean surrounding an enemy territory on all sides and then attacking? do you need an army in every territory or just need to own all the territories around it?

[vovan]

Overrun is when you have three armies more than the defender, as has been mentioned several times before.

I have a question about this "Treachery" card, though. I suppose one can't use it on a capital... But also, is there some other limit on its use - like maybe one cannot use it on a very strong province?

Thanks for the answers, they have been great so far.

[Tim Train]

To clarify, overruns are where you have 2 more armies than the defender has. But otherwise, vovanism has already anticipated some of the balance changes that got made on the "Treachery" card--you cannot use it in a capital territory, and you cannot use it on a territory of strength 4 or higher.

Tim

[Bridger]

So then if you simply bring 2 armies to bear on a territory with no defending army you can take over the territory easy. Good deal.

How many armies would you have after say... you get halfway through the campaign? I'm just trying to picture what kind of numbers we're talking about. Does every other territory supply an army? every other 2 territories?

If you loose an attack, do you loose the army (or if you loose a defence with the army in that territory)? And if you loose it, does the original territory you got the army from "respawn" the army after a time?

Just trying to figure out how you aquire/loose armies really.

[theponyguy1]

Say I have this treachery card, do I have to use it on an adjacent territory?

And also, in CTW, if I attack on my eastern flank and I get attacked on my western flank in the same turn, do I play two games?

P.S. So far, BHG has had, IMO, the best public relations section then any other game developer. It's good to know that the company actually reads over this stuff. From the bottom of my teenage heart, Thank you.

[Tim Train]

There are 49 territories total in CtW, of which 14 contain the supply depots that provide armies. You also start with an army, so you can aquire a total of 15 in a game. Six or seven might be a reasonable mid-game total, depending on your strategy, starting location, and ability.

The only way to lose armies in CtW is to lose control of a supply depot (similar to the board game Diplomacy).

As for the Treachery card, you are correct that you have to use it on an adjacent territory. Another balance change to that card that happened awhile back :-).

If you execute an attack and also have to defend in a turn, you will fight two battles in that turn.

As for the best public relations section, no way man! I'm development :-). Our Microsoft PR & marketing people are great, I have to say, but I personally would not be staying at work until midnight for the third night in a row if it weren't for working on the game. I've been a fan and folllower of Apolyton for several years now, and I'm just happy that these guys have this cool site that we can post on.

Tim

[Bridger]

Thanks for all the feedback tim, will make the learning curve a lot gentler for many of us!

So if you get attacked by say 3 different countries (or maybe 3 times by the same country on different fronts?) would that mean you'd play 3 battles (plus 1 if you attacked)?

[Tim Train]

You would, but unless the AI REALLY hates you it won't attack more than once per turn, and usually not even once per turn. It used to be more frequently, but it was no fun to get bogged down by continual AI attacks.