Any Guidance for a Young Tsar ?

[d_con_k]

Looking at the PON AGEOD forum things seemed a little dead so, as a fledgling Tsar of all the Russias, I figured I’d take a chance and see if anyone would be nice enough to answer a couple of questions:

1. I’m looking to take quite a different course than the historical government – where building the economy, education and trade are the priority. In foreign affairs, I would like to keep peace in Europe / with the Ottomans as much as possible and focus on affairs in the Asian SOIs.

1a. From various posts I have read, it seems that I cannot avoid the Crimean War?

1b. If so, what would be a trigger for them (Brits, French and Turks) to accept peace while not having my empire take too much damage and without too much cost?

1c. I know the British shouldn’t want me in the Med with my fleet. Would transferring it up to the Baltic in advance help?

1d. Any tips for putting the Crimean thing to bed as soon as possible would be appreciated?


2. It seems that my folks back home want more varied products than what I can currently provide – so I have bought some Merchant ships to send over to the Americas / Caribbean for coffee, rum etc but it’s going to take some time.

2a. I have 2 merchant fleets from the start of game. Is there any way to split those merchant fleets in the Maritime sea boxes?

2b. Or are they just considered one non-modular unit even though they are composed of multiple ships ?

[starchaser]

1. Keeping peace with Ottomans are not best decision - your goal in this game is to gain twice of VP over your closest rival. Many VP-generating locations (including Constantinople aka Tsargrad) are in Ottoman lands and you want them under your military control to overtake brits, who have huge advantage in Victory Points over you. Just building late-game industry is not enough to overtake them.

1a. Unlikely - since 1852 there is chance every turn to get event which give CB to Turkey, GB, France vs Russia, and to RUS vs Ottomans. Even if you do not start war, AI will do it most likely.

1b if you defeat them hard enough they will sue peace. France and GB will try perform naval landings in Black sea area, sometimes in Baltics - you can try defeat their forces while they are landing or (if you lucky) catch them in sea - AI sometimes not excort them properly. If you destroy their main battlegroups they likely to sue for peace.

1c. Nope, it doesnt matter, But you likely need those ships to defend vs allied naval invasion (1b).

1d. It will end most early 1855 (usually by 1856), there is event where russia auto-loses war by Paris Congress. I think I forgot to send 1 fix to this event - currently it will fire in anyway, not even checking are you are still at war with Ottomans due to typo.

You can fix it manually - find Crimean Crisis Events.sct in events folder, open it with notepad, and search for line EvalDiploItem = "TUR then replace it with EvalIsAtWarWith = TUR

Now lose war event wont trigger if you manage to manually end the war before 1855.

2. If wait until decision to free serfs will be available around 1860 you will see that needs of your population will multiply when all those serfs will convert to peasants with more needs. You need to prepare for this. But on the other hand you will finally get lots of possible workers for factories (serviles do not work there and do not promote to workers).

2b is correct. You cannot split units into individual elements (ships, platoons, cannons).


A little advice - try to squeeze enough money to boost research of improved rifles - they advance army to next generation, which will be a lot more powerful. You will get a tool to defend agains europeans and effectively beat backward Ottomans and central asian states.

[d_con_k]

Thanks for all the detailed information Star Chaser, I shall certainly keep it all in mind.

In terms of the goals vs Victory requirements – I have a somewhat different objective with this play-through : Overall game victory is not the priority . I am only looking to shape Russia into an alternate state that meets my vision:

1. Transformation into a Modernized state (as much as is possible)

2. Strong defensive stance in Europe / border with Ottomans

3. Strong development / influence in Kazakhstan at first then Primorie, Manchuria SOIs etc

4. Solid trading with US / Western hemisphere

5. For my Tsars to be more focused on the people, Save the Empire from Communism and have the royal family keep their heads

I know it’s kind of odd to not be shooting for total game victory but I tend to role-play a bit in games like this and go for a personal goal as opposed to the official game objectives.

[starchaser]

Well, anyway you should prepare for at least 2 wars with Ottomans which are scripted (not to mention that in WW1 they will fight on Central Powers side).

1st one is Crimean and 2nd one is 1877 Russo-Turkish war. You really not adivsed to avoid 2nd one - it will dramatically change balance of power in Balkans in your favor and push Ottomans out of there. You should be prepared to blitz Adrianople - if you can do it before summer of 1878 war wil end on more favorable San Stefano Accords instead of Berlin Congress (tho you still not get Kars or Batumi, which was historically transferred to Russia after this war).

If you want peaceful expansion - aim towards central Asia, because you can annex states up to India peacefully. You want them, beause there is lots of cotton, wool and silk which will be valuable for late-game textile industry and some tea for domestic consumption. And there is many VP sites - with them in your possesion probably you will still be able to win. Remember to put infantry or calvary garrions there to get the points. Do not forget to send some prospectors to find more resources in frontier. Do not invest in Alaska, it will be autotransfered from you in about 10 years (but you can edit 1 line in event file to not do so, if you want alaska gold for yourself, but it will give potential casus belli for USA vs you)

Still try to research rifles - you need not fall too far behind european states in military tech - if you are too weak european states will invade (1st candidate - Prussia/Germany, because they have lots of objectives in your Baltics and Poland, but if you weak enough even Austria, Turkey or Persia can attack)

[d_con_k]

A couple more questions if I may:

1. Are rifles dependent on Percussion Cap Musket and Light Armaments research ? Or does it just appear on its own in time? in the Academy ?

2. Once the development / research is complete, will my units already deployed automatically upgrade or do I need to do something to update their weapons? I was hunting around and could not see an interface for upgrades on the units.

[starchaser]

1. No, to research "muzzle-loaded rifles" you need first develop "precision machining" tech.
This tech will also give you mechanical factories, which are not very useful early in game (you maybe need only couple of those before 1865-70 to support early factories), but as time go on their product will be required everywhere in large quantities - from factories to improved resource-producing sites.

2. They will automatically upgrade, using reserve units of the same type, from war ministry interface (hotkey F3). They will only upgrade after not moving 1 turn, and usually in places where this unit can be bulid (eg. safest place to putting your force before upgrade is your own fortresses). Troops after upgrade will lose some coercion, so it is better to plan for upgrade to happen in peacetime - to have 1-2 turns to safely power up.

[d_con_k]

Well Star Chaser, you were right …. The 3 amigos – Britain, France and the Ottomans declared war on the 1st of Jan 1852 although I had taken no offensive action against them or their interests.

I believe that Britain did not like the fact that I was second only to themselves in Prestige, had a national contentment average of nearly 70% and had raised Kazakhstan up to Colony status. Also had relationship with Austria up in the high 90s and kept Prussia from being too grumpy at 28.

I would have continued and fought but I had 2 issues that perhaps you could advise on:

1. I had developed rail lines from St Petersburg to Moscow and then from Moscow to Kiev and then to Nikolaev (to facilitate quick vertical movement of troops). Oddly however, even though the area data stated that I had railroads in Roslav and Nikolaev, the black lines stopped there and did not connect all the way through. I was then forced to build new rail in adjacent areas. (would have taken 200 more days)
Any idea why those 2 areas would not become part of the connected “black line” chain ?

Also – I noticed that when I went to issue the Rail special order in Moscow, the icon was greyed out. Perhaps I did not have the overall capacity to move those troops? How is this calculated ?

I could not find anything in the manual about a formula – I just saw a mention that you need a big enough pool.


2. I had been keeping my large army groups in Forts looking to pick up some upgrades but they just kept sitting there and my corresponding replacements in the War Ministry were untouched.

So – I am guessing that the 2 techs we spoke about earlier (Percussion Cap Musket and Light Armaments research) were already applied.

If that is the case, I’m guessing that there is no significant upgrade available for Russia before Jan 1852? I had the "precision machining" tech at 100% in the Academy but nothing happened or seemed to become available after that.

Any ideas?

[starchaser]

1. "Black lines" are purely cosmetical. In fact they are created by gamedevs by manually putting coordinates for each one in prevMap.ini file. In some areas they definitely not did good enough job (like some Russian areas), but it even worser in Central Asia (around Afghanistan) and Africa. Important thing is just having this "railroad" stats for province.

Yes, icon is greyed out if you lack enough railway pool, Im not sure myself how this is calculated, If i need to move large force over big distance I just divide it in small enough units for railroad movement icon to appear and move them in parts.

Don't know if you noticed, but railways also improve output of various production sites in provinces where are they completed. But you initially you lack technologies to produce enough coal to support huge railroad network (coal also used by steam-driven ships), so it's a good idea initially to concentrate production in hubs with railroads, to maximize your investment.

2. There is 2 types of items in Academy - "technologies" and "inventions / ideas". 1st ones you research, but second ones are added instantly by chance (small chance every turn after certain date). Full requirements for "muzzle-loaded rifles" tech is:

1) "precision machining" tech
and
2) "minie bullet" invention.

"Minie Bullet" can happen anytime from 1850, unfortunately you just out of luck.

This can happen - in my German game it was discovered around 1855 (which is pretty funny, because GER have significant boost to research and is made to lead in tech race), but usually it discovered within first year. Just check Academy every turn - after finishing "precision machining" muzzle-loaders can be added there anytime.

[d_con_k]

Thanks - I have a new game going on - and this time I have deployed significant forces to the south in order to prepare for the upcoming Crimea crisis.

I was looking to address the Command Point issue with my big stacks by purchasing Signal units and Balloon Observers.

Odd thing is, I was able to buy them once and now they no longer appear in the available choices from the Military purchase sub menu - and that is in any province.

Any idea why they would no longer be available ?

[starchaser]

When you build units, you can see small digit in the top left corner of unit card - this the limit, how many you can build. Initial limit for baloons and signals are pretty low and you reached it already.

Limit can be increased by 2 ways -
1) events (tho there are none for baloons and comm units, but russia have one (1874) for some combat infrantry types)
2) research - closest techs for both of unit types you mentioned will be resercheable from 1860, next batch - in 1870.

[d_con_k]

Got it - thanks. I guess this prevents the "stacks of doom" that I have heard of being too effective. So I guess it's time to experiment with : Is it better to have a very large stack and accept up to x % penalty or see if multiple stacks under no leadership penalty is better.

From what I have read, large units are a priority target in and they are sort of "matched up" when battle starts so if the opponent has more, you may have some problems.

So it seems that a few large Corps style units is preferable to a bunch of smaller units. Unfortunately - in the South, that seems to be a major part of my force - a whole stack of Cossack units. Before Crimea I may redeploy them to around Rovno with the Cossack leader as they seem to get a bonus with clear terrain and are not so good in Mountains. (Caucasas)

[starchaser]

Combat in this game is pretty complex and there is many working ways to organize your forces in effective way. Some thoughts about topics you wrote about.

Using single huge stack is not best idea - AI usually will send some smaller units to you rear to mess with your supply lines and you will need someone to catch them. Using lots of small units is also undesirable - you need someone to defeat larger enemy formations. Game prefers balanced formations, with inf, arty and calv units so corps are definitely better than battalions because they are consist from basic unit type (inf or cav) with arty attached, so they are pretty self-sufficient and balanced force. BTW, armies in the same role (offensive, defensive etc.) will merge for combat, but when they are in different they will fight separate battles.


This is not the only working solution, but my personal favorite is to create 2 large formations per theatre at least equal to rival major armies in strengh and power it up to the max using proper generals and have some second-line troops, at least few uncommanded units (at least battalion in strength) to act as rearguard or reserve because AI usually do not create many large armies (above few thousand points in strength), but also usually also not put all his units into one army. So you need to be prepared to catch not just 1 strong stack, but also some smaller but still strong formations.

Large armies with proper generals can beat even larger enemy force.
Some generals have really bad traits which give significant penalties to their forces, so you should shuffle generals to pick good ones to lead major stacks and have weaker guys in secondary positions. If you have some good guys which cannot take command of your "dream-army" due to low rank (outranked by weaker generals), you can give him command of special medium size army (few balanced corps in size) to stomp rebels and smaller enemy units in order to promote him. Developing your good generals can actually change course of war with equally sized AI force, because AI put generals in armies pretty randomy, without actually caring about proper characters for the role.

Final - dot not forget about supply. For example, in Caucasus it is difficult to have huge army due to low development of local area - your guys will run out of food and just die out. They can life off the land, but this is effective only for smaller forces. So if you fight Turks, you main theatre will be in Balkans, like it was IRL. It is okay to put caucasian forces on defensive and let Ottomans repeat Sarikamish battle from WW1. Moutains give large defensive bonuses.

[d_con_k]

Thanks for the additional guidance Star Chaser.

Just as a sanity check on my interpretation of the mechanics - could you confirm the following:

When fighting a Tribal country such as Khiva, once I get the required WS, I can take Khiva itself since it is a claimed / objective area.

But there is no way for me to ever "absorb" the other province Karakum since it was not adjacent to my national territory, was not a claimed region and I have no ethnic presence ?

So - in short, there is no way to absorb a Tribal country just like you cannot eliminate / absorb Majors / Minors ?

edit : I was in error about Karakum - it looks like it is Russia Influenced and I have 10% penetration.

So - if I march in there and kill his remaining army - can I then bring in more immigrants and start managing it like one of my regions from the start of the game that i am trying to bring to at least Protectorate status?

[starchaser]

Originally posted by d_con_k:

So - in short, there is no way to absorb a Tribal country just like you cannot eliminate / absorb Majors / Minors ?

Well, actually I always incorporated Central Asia peaceful way (slowly chief treaty/bribe, then declare protectorate when capital area hit 35% CP, and rest of areas around 10%, then up captial w/ migrants to 50% and rest of areas to 35% and then declare colony) - this way you can get all their land at once, + all their army ang generals. Just do not swallow more than you can chew - switch to admin. area view (button '5') and eat one colonial area at the time - there is no hurry, you will need their resources post 1870 - at that time you can probably already annex all the way up to Indian border, if you do it properly. If you play without historical SOI, you can then look at Byrma - they have gems and rubber (after certain event), some resources you will need in late-game and Britain often ignore that area in favor of others, more important to them.

Don't worry about Siberia, they autocolonize (up to status of national territory) by itself, via scripted events - you don't need to spend your colonization cards there, exept prospectors, to discover resources. There is some lurcrative deposits can be found (little hint - repeadelty search for resources in areas of Irkutsk and Birobidjan, especially in latter)

So - if I march in there and kill his remaining army - can I then bring in more immigrants and start managing it like one of my regions from the start of the game that i am trying to bring to at least Protectorate status?

For "lawful" annexation you still need to declare peace with them first - and request regions that you have enough warscore to annex.

[d_con_k]

Thanks StarChaser - a quick question if I may about the Alerts and Interests:

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Looking at the Interests and Alerts Table, I see the various entries for Potential Gain in Prestige in the colonial area - and taking Omsk for example - I see the potential gain is 108.

Does this mean that I can get 108 more - or is that total potential ?

In both cases, how can I see what I am actually achieving (current prestige earning) from this Colony?

I see Omsk is at 100% military control, 99 CP % etc ... is it worth trying to push the 99 -> 100 ?

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Looking at your advice on Siberia above, this may be moot for that area - but in general (when considering the rest of Russia's lands), it is still of interest.

[starchaser]

Originally posted by d_con_k:

Does this mean that I can get 108 more - or is that total potential ?

In both cases, how can I see what I am actually achieving (current prestige earning) from this Colony?

You get each turn fraction of that territorial prestige - if I remember manual correctly it is 1/33 of total province value if your CP is 100% and territory have full colonial status. If you lack ColPen or ColStats is lower than "Colony" you get fewer points. There is also also one-time prestige prize for achieving colonial status, which is based on value of newly-colonized area.

I dont think that you can see exact prestige from each territory, only in colonal ministry mode you can see total prestige gain from all colonies.

Originally posted by d_con_k:

I see Omsk is at 100% military control, 99 CP % etc ... is it worth trying to push the 99 -> 100 ?

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Looking at your advice on Siberia above, this may be moot for that area - but in general (when considering the rest of Russia's lands), it is still of interest.

Well, it based on prestige value of exact territory - as manual says you will get a bit more PP each turn for more CP, but in some cases difference between 99% and 100% CP can give less than 1 point of prestige and thus be completely pointless. And for some areas (like Siberia for Russia or various Western territories for USA) there is slow auto-colonization process scripted, which will rise your CP without wasting colonial cards.

About general value of this process - maybe it is better to concentrate on improving CP above levels needed for colony in mid- or late- game, after you colonised get all land you can chew, and can safely spend colonial card on your colonies without need to outbid competitors. And in early game spend card to colonize neutral, but highly-valuable countries - like Byrma (gems, oil and rubber) or area around present-day Nigeria and Ghana (there is a lot of gold).