my current map

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    • Oh, @dfrost,

      One of the other things we should warn you about that's kind of related to making sure you defend your homeland: what I call the "suicide tantrum."

      Sometimes, when you attack a player who doesn't think they can successfully defend themselves or beat you, they'll immediately initiate the "suicide tantrum". Some players on the Forums don't get bothered by it, but I think it's the silliest, most immature thing in the world.

      What happens is: the opponent gets butthurt because you attacked them and because they believe they are going to lose. So, instead of attempting to defend themselves, salvage the game, or benefit themselves in any way, they'll just send all of their existing units at your homeland to try to ruin your game. I think of it as the equivalent of flipping over a boardgame; "You're going to beat me?! Okay, then, I'll mess up your game out of pure spite, even though it still doesn't benefit my game in any way."

      I'm warning you now: The "suicide tantrum" is really, REALLY popular among public players. Some players will even keep logging back in over and over again to a game they've already essentially DAYS AGO just to keep trying to mess with you. I've had players go to the effort of hiding their remaining forces in a remote spot in the ocean JUST so they can log back in much later to try to sneak in and ruin my homeland. It's ridiculous, in my opinion. I don't expect everyone to fight every battle head on (I don't), but I do think everyone should be playing to win, rather than playing to cause someone else to lose.

      Anyway, watch out for that. Some folks won't even try to defend themselves; they'll just jump straight to the "suicide tantrum" if they feel threatened by you.
    • Teburu wrote:

      PerigeeNil wrote:

      You're not going to conquer the globe with them
      nervous laughter

      PerigeeNil wrote:

      Oh, @dfrost,

      One of the other things we should warn you about that's kind of related to making sure you defend your homeland: what I call the "suicide tantrum."

      Nothing 1 ship cant handle ;) Last apoc x 4 game dude sent 30 units at my homeland as PGN describes. If he would have stayed and fought he could have put up decent fight and he did this by the time I even got to border his homeland (Algeria) and his country was a ghost town so wasnt hard to figure out what would happen. It was a long boat ride from Med to off Australian coast to die.
      "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him "

      aka ...The killer formerly known as BuckeyeChamp
    • Also, @dfrost (I'm just rambling now; you can tell me when it's too much),

      Beware the belief that "I can't leave units behind to defend because I have to use them all to keep conquering!" That's bloodlust, buddy. You said yourself that you were at like 288VPs on Day 11 (or something), and the next closest person was at like 150. So,... you don't really NEED to keep dedicating all of your combat units to conquering at breakneck speed; you just WANT to.

      I think this is a big reason why so many players in this game (by FAR FAR the vast majority of public players) completely neglect defense. They're all full throttle on bulldozing forward, but their homelands are sitting wide open, and they're sacrificing the defensive bonuses from which they should be benefitting.
    • PerigeeNil wrote:

      I think this is a big reason why so many players in this game (by FAR FAR the vast majority of public players) completely neglect defense. They're all full throttle on bulldozing forward, but their homelands are sitting wide open, and they're sacrificing the defensive bonuses from which they should be benefitting.
      In one sense, I think you're exactly right. In another sense, I think you're exactly wrong.

      You did fine describing the good reasons for investing in a defense insurance policy. You are 100% right about those reasons.

      However, I offer this alternative: If your/my goal is defeating all opponents as quickly as possible and moving on to the next game, it can make sense to play the odds and invest very little in defenses.

      Occasionally you'll roll snake-eyes and either have to scramble to defeat an opponent who surprises you, or you'll lose to that opponent; but the rest of the time you'll succeed in taking out the trash faster and in keeping opponents more on their back foot/feet than would have been possible otherwise.

      I don't think any of us have rigorous statistics about whether a sturdy defense increases average wins per year, and so, with only a bunch of anecdotes to guide us, I don't think we can say either approach is the best (in public games).

      So, I focus on an almost 100% best-defense-is-a-good-offense style, and others focus on a style that also includes expansion but includes a bigger % spent (more than I spend) on defense.

      Both groups, and everyone in between, win often because of the total package of strategies & tactics the players apply..
    • PerigeeNil wrote:

      dfrost wrote:

      yea, after reading the comments, i am definitely sold. bunkers and national guard. got it. and i guess it doesn't help when i talk about in public how my homeland cities are not protected so what's the strategy with occupied cities and those those with ports? it's hard to protect my coast when my resources are going for an offensive strategy and 0 supplies. build some bunkers and just add the ng over time? i have miles and miles of coast. not as deadly as someone attacking my homeland and capitol but still so vulnerable by sea
      Regarding coastal defense: It's an entire huge topic of its own, and there are widely differing opinions on the best way to do it. Personally, I'm a "navy early!" guy. Warships can destroy (unescorted) naval transport ships without taking any damage at all. You need warships to fight warships, and warships will sink troop/ground unit transports every time. SO,... personally, I put ships in all my homeland port cities very early. It doesn't 100% protect my homeland from enemy warships (my opponent could fight my navy with theirs), but it does 100% protect my Homeland (port cities) from unescorted troops coming in on transports.
      A lot of (good and not-as-good) players choose not to go navy early, because they want to focus their time and resources on creating a larger conquering ground force. This is one of the ways in which I'm defensive. I build relatively few ground units in the earliest days of the game, if I'm playing a country with multiple coastal cities, because instead I'm researching and building ships to guard my Homeland port cities.

      Check out my Day 10 New York update under the Order of Battle Thread. You'll see that I have multiple Corvettes, multiple Frigates, and a Destroyer already built (not the fastest possible, but still sooner than most would choose to build all of that). That's because I started researching ships on Day 1, and building them as soon as I felt like I could get to them.
      I try to at least build corvettes for my coastal cities. It’s not a solution for a long active game but it could help you survive early game against a minor assault. It has saved me.
      "Retreat hell! We're not retreating ..we're just advancing in a different direction." General Oliver Smith USMC