Preparing for Conflict

[mroyer]

Consider:
Your nation is on the brink - an aggressive neighbor appears to be rattling the saber and you believe it's only a matter of time before you descend into a state of war.

What sorts of things do you do to prepare?

(a) Militarily -> what is done to prep the military for a wartime footing?

(b) Economically -> do you do anything to shift from a peacetime to wartime economy?

(c) Supply -> How do you predict the increased burden on the logistics net?

(d) Logistics -> what do you do to prepare the logistics infrastructure for the coming supply burden?

(e) Politically -> Do you do anything at all politically to prepare?

(f) Other -> what other things do you do to prepare?


I find I am systematically deficient. I'll believe I'm ready to go, only do discover one or more of the above isn't nearly as prepared as it needs to be.

-Mark R.

[Clux]

First and foremost, we are lacking critical information as:

[*] How much industry do you have? are you able to afford a few medium tanks or mechanized infantry?
[*] Whats the core of the enemy forces? Infantry with a couple of artillery and light tanks battalions? motorized infantry? mechanized infantry?
[*] Do you expect to be attacked in one or several fronts?
[*] Its there any choke point than you could exploit?
[*] How much manpower you can use without crippling your industry?

Without taking that as consideration, then:

(a) Militarily

[*] Start making OHQ battalions to counter the enemy army
[*] Move your troops to the choke points or better defense positions (try to take advantage of nature)
[*] If possible use militias on other flanks where you might be attacked but you're not sure
[*] If you can afford to make artillery/tanks, make sure to make Siege Grenadiers formations or Heavy Siege if the enemy uses a lot of infantry
[*] if the enemy its going to use lots of tanks, make sure to make assault guns with long barrels, they're not super good as medium tanks but they're cheaper and better at defense
[*] if the enemy its going to use lots of tanks and you can't afford to make assault guns, then make lots of Heavy Rpgs OHQs, if possible use Heavy RPG or Advanced Heavy RPG

(b) Economically

[*] Make sure to protect your supply lines and your mines/industry, if they're not going to be in immediate danger, use militias to secure their surroundings
[*] If you're sure than the war its going to last a long time and you can afford it, make "deep core mines" (Deep soil filtration IIRC), they are quite expensive at first but at level 2-3 they provide a good amount of metal and rare metals infinitely, so they're a very valuable resource in late game
[*] If you're going to use lots of fuel, make sure to make hydroponics and industry to convert food to oil (I don't remember the asset name or tech) to have a secure oil source later on
[*] If you're low on manpower, reduce the production of assets than you don't really need (maybe you have lot of energy without any use, or oil, or food)

(c) Supply

[*] Make sure than your supply lines are secure from either minors or your future enemy
[*] if possible increase the truck station level at the capital, upgrade the supply depot level (the one towards the frontlines) to increase its range and change the roads to paved road, rail stations are vulnerable to strategic warfare (rockets and missiles) and since you will be fighting defensively you shouldn't need the big boost of the railway

(d) Logistics

[*] If your capital and other important zones (mining/industrial hubs) are separated by mountains or long distances, consider making a 2nd SHQ, just bear in mind than the new SHQ should be self maintained, meaning than it needs its own food, water, electricity, IP, metal and rare metals production

(e) Politically

[*] You always need good leaders for the councils, but you also need good commanders to win the war, make sure than first and foremost they're of the same ideology than your government, a commander with bad relation will perform bad on recovering and motivating the troops.
[*] All commanders should have at least 30 in war and 25 in Charisma, if possible they should be cap III, otherwise consider using them for covering fronts where you're not in war against majors.

(f) Other

[*] If an enemy player its going to attack you, its because its confident in its bigger numbers, industry or tech advances, therefore you shouldn't expect to win the war since the beginning, you must first make sure than they don't breakthrough your frontlines and plan from there.
[*] Its possible to beat an enemy with superior numbers, with techs or more resources, if you don't have any of this, try convincing another player to attack your common enemy so he his distracted and isn't able to go all in against you.
[*] If the enemy its able to breakthrough, retreat just the enough hexes and make another frontline, otherwise the enemy its going to pocket your army and thats going to be your defeat.
[*] Sometimes its not about winning the war, but making the enemy pay for every hex than he conquers, the longer he takes to conquer you, the more time other players will have to ready up and beat him later

I hope this tips helps you and good luck on your war

If you have further questions about the game or how to play in mp, consider joining the unofficial discord if you haven't

[nukkxx5058]

Great answer to a good question, Clux ! Very useful.

[KingHalford]

Think your logistics is enough to support a war? Are you sure? I'd double the capacity, just in case.

Once you start sustaining casualties, you put a huge strain on your existing logistics chains getting men back to the front-line. Also, you need to anticipate vulnerabilities in your own defences: are you likely to lose a critical asset supplying some vital resource? Will that cause you to be taking more of it from somewhere else? If so, will that create a bottleneck?

When you're starting out, logistics is the single-most likely case for a game-restart, and that's doubly so once a war starts.

You also want a large stockpile of vital supplies, particularly fuel if you're using a lot of tanks. It's possible the enemy can cut off resource producing assets as above but leave you with no replacement, You'll need a buffer then.

Make sure you can guard your supply lines properly: as Clux said, make sure you've got formations sat on critical resources and I'd recommend some mobile infantry as a reserve to plug gaps.

Lastly, and this doesn't just apply to wars: ensure that each city is as self-sufficient as possible. You put extra strain on your logistics chain if you're having to ferry food from one place to another via the SHQ when you could just build one more farm.

[mroyer]

Clux, I really appreciate the time you took to write that excellent, comprehensive answer.
KingHalford, thanks for chipping in with some great additional pointers.

Clux:
we are lacking critical information

My question was genuinely general and not related to a specific game or situation. Your general answer was exactly the sort of response/discussion I was looking for.

Clux:
(c) Supply
...
[*] if possible increase the truck station level at the capital, upgrade the supply depot level ...

KingHalford:
Think your logistics is enough to support a war? Are you sure? I'd double the capacity, just in case.

In order to determine necessary infrastructure-level improvements to support a war, I presume one must predetermine the wartime supply requirement of a front-line army (which I understand will be different depending on whether an offensive or defensive operation is anticipated).

How do most players do this? Do you literally add up the potential requests from each individual unit at the front using pencil and paper? Do players just take a swag, such as doubling your peacetime infrastructure (as KingHalford suggests). Is there some statistic, report or other feedback in the game that people use to help judge this?

Indeed, this is often an issue I have - a logistics infrastructure that seems robust in peacetime collapses under the sudden burden of supplying an active campaign.

Clux:
consider joining the unofficial discord if you haven't

Yeah, I'm on that. I find discord generally a messy venue - topics are just plopped in linearly with time and the discussion meanders. Forums, such as this one, are better structured for topical discussions. Social media sites like facebook/discord better for general conversations.


-Mark R.

[KingHalford]

To answer your question about predetermining wartime supply requirements, honestly I just make a guess. I'm not an overly attentive player when it comes to things like this, so I'm probably not the best person to ask as I tend to make an educated guess as to what I'm going to be needing and then upgrade everything accordingly to that rough estimate. It can be as simple as "I'll probably need more" and then adding more, the point perhaps being that you're aware of potential weaknesses, and where there's awareness, there's less chance for a crack in your superstructure to go unnoticed until it's become a game ending fracture.

I'd say you could spend a few turns watching your zones and finding what is going into and out of them, and see if there are any bottlenecks that occur when you're putting more strain on it, say, by sending out more replacement troops or with building something big somewhere. If your supply chain can cope with building several large projects at once, you're probably ok.

[DTurtle]

I just keep an eye out for the left over logistics/percentage used of the initial logistics available. If it gets low I reshuffle the logistics using the logistics preview and give them more. If there isn't enough slack anywhere, then I build out more logistical assets (preferably when I notice the slack is going down).

Usually one turn of low supplies being delivered is not too much of a problem.