Imperial Glory - Long Battles

Imperial Glory is an interesting addition to the turn based strategy game. Lot's of mods to enhance the gameplay.

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Hengist
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Imperial Glory - Long Battles

Post by Hengist »

I'm amazed when I think how long a battle can last in Imperial Glory. Here's what happened last night...
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It’s November 1798 and despite my sternest diplomatic warnings, France still refused to vacate territory they had seized from Spain earlier in the year. After a final ultimatum, Britain and her long-standing ally, Portugal, formally declared war on France and moved troops into the occupied Castile area of Spain. The Royal Navy also immediately blockaded all of France's commercial and military ports.

Then the fun started…

Britain and her Portuguese allies took to the field. Scouts reported that the French army was moving in column towards our position. Time was of the essence, so I selected a small hillock in the middle of a steep sided valley and unlimbered the field artillery and set up a defensive line. Flanked by infantry and cavalry on the wings, I patiently waited for the battle to commence.

I noticed that the enemy army was light on Cavalry and didn’t pose a great threat in that department. However their infantry outnumbered the allies by a ratio of 3:1.
I expected the French columns to advance directly onto my position, however to my surprise, they formed up in double line on a nearby hilltop, using the lay of the land to their tactical advantage. I wasn't about to assault their position, so I tried to lure them down from their lofty perch by using a detachment of Hussar cavalry as a feint, but the enemy forces were having none of it. Then I spotted a fairly isolated unit of French infantry on one of their wings, towards the bottom of the hill that they occupied. I immediately saw my chance and ordered a company of Lancers to charge the French unit. The Lancers annihilated the French detachment before they could form square; they also succeeded in disrupting the French battle lines, as other enemy units rushed to their comrade’s aid. At this point I withdrew the Lancers. Three units of French riflemen then advanced off the hill on to our right flank. As they got into range I gave the order for the field artillery to open fire. The cannon shot devasted the enemy and by the time the remnants of their units reached our lines they were in a sorry state indeed, a simple job for the allied infantry to finish off the enemy with a few good volleys of well aimed musket fire.

Meanwhile, the remaining units of the French army were calling up their reserve, and manoeuvring them in an attempt to reform their battle line on the hill (At this point the battle had already lasted 20 minutes). It was quite clear by now that Johnny Frog wasn't about to leave the safety of his hill a second time without good reason, so I decided to take a risk as the French had already been given a bloody nose and were somewhat depleted in strength from the first engagement of the battle. I limbered my guns and told them to take up a new position on the enemies left flank and well within allied cannon range of the French battle lines. When the guns were in position and the infantry and cavalry had formed up along side them, I gave the order for the cannon to start their bombardment. Shot ripped into the neat orderly enemy lines from the flank, causing much injury. Then the whole remaining French army started to advance down off the hill to engage us (Johnny Frog had his reason to move, at last). When the enemy were halfway towards our position, I ordered the artillery to cease their fire and engaged the French with Infantry musket fire. As the enemy drew nearer, I gave the order to my front line of infantry, to fix bayonets and charge. The French were in disarray, one enemy unit was even seen leaving the field of battle, this was the decisive moment. I ordered two companies of Hussars to engage and run down the remaining French troops, which they did with deadly efficiency. The French now lay scattered, the dead and dying strewn all over the battlefield. The scene of carnage was ghastly. The day was ours. The French were repulsed. The honour and glory of Victory belonged to the allies.

Then I looked at the clock, 30 minutes had elapsed from the start of the battle through to the end, I was surprised by how much time this battle had taken. This was the longest battle that I'd played in Imperial Glory, since purchasing it, and it was a nice welcome change of pace.

What a bloody great game this is, once you start to get into it. :)

"O'er the hills and o'er the main.
Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.
King George commands and we obey.
Over the hills and far away".
giskard
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Post by giskard »

Those big battles are great but the small ones are worth fighting too.

Russia vs Austria.

Russia = me
2 squads of line infantry, 46 and 60 men in the units respectively.

Austria = AI
3 Squads, 1 Arty, 1 Hussars and 1 Line infantry.

Clearly they had the advantage, that one squad of hussars could have done enough damage to me to make it very easy for the remainining forces to wipe me out.

So I charged up a hill and took control of 2 buildings. I new the AI would pound it with cannon fire leaving me defenseless so I moved my men to the back of the hill to force the enemy to get closer. When they where close enough to the buildings to allow my muskett men to shoot back i charged one squad into the closest building to the enemy and left the other as bait for the Cavalry.

The took the bait and charged down my infantry, the infantry in the building then proceeded to nullify the advantage they had over me by taking out the cavalry.

The enemy arty had just gotten within range by the time Cavalry where all dead and had fired 2 shots at the building my troops occupied.

The surviving troops from the Cavalry attack then shot up the enemy arty whilst my men in the building wiped out the enemies line infantry.

Surviving forces

Me = 50 and 26 line infantry.

Enemy = zero.

But that was the end of a long campaign against Prussia, Austria, France, Poland, Saxony and England who had all declared war on me. They out numbered my armies atleast 5 to 1 and took a lot of my hard earned territory.

I couldnt take them collectively so I stepped back and waited for the first fool to enter Kiev. Then wiped them out. Then I moved on to the region next to Kiev and wiped out the enemy. Then I entered Austrias territory and wiped out the enemy. At the same time the french where making a dash for greece so my 3 armies took them on and won. 3 more french armies came my way, again those 3 armies wiped them out. Then i placed my troops so they flanked where the french usually attacked from, hoping to ambush them when Poland attacked and Saxony offered peace.

Poland outnumbered my troops 4 to 1. They where badly beat up in the other battles yet I managed to wipe out the polish 3 armies that attacked me and 2 more later leaving Poland no choice but to sue for peace.

Then the french came again and took theior revenge on my troops in greece.

Shortly after i sued for peace.

I had lost 2 territories but gained 2.

This was the end of round 1, there was to be similar wars every few turns on hard difficulty. Eventually the English came at me from sweden, the Prussias declared war and came at me from Poland. 2 armies pushed them both back using timing to divide them and conquer them one at a time.

Playing on hard is fun but like the name says very hard. It appears to make a differience only on the campaign screen. I have not noticed any difference in the battles yet.

Other than the AI is a little smarter at higher difficulty levels.

Giskard
http://www.respawn.co.uk
Imperial Glory Guides and charts.
Hengist
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Post by Hengist »

I really like the battle AI.

Compared to another certain Strat/Tact game based in the classical age (which shall remain nameless), in IG I sometimes loose a battle against the AI, in the other I don't. That tells me that the IG battle AI is better.
Queeg
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Post by Queeg »

Absolutely. The battle AI in IG is far superior to that in that nameless other game. I've already lost more battles in IG than I ever did there.
giskard
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Post by giskard »

Not sure id agree there but....

IG is much more polished and appears to achieve the same things as TW games achieve without turning the game into a modifier game. In the TW games i look at the map and i think +2 for that hill, look at trees at the bottom of the hill and think -12 moral if i hit them from there but a -2 if they spot my cavalry in those woods.

In IG those modifiers are not known so its a case of that hill should give me some advantages and it does. I dont like the way the forests are treated like buildings though.

Im convinced it has more tactical detail built in than pyro care to admit. They have stayed pretty quiet about the details in that area.

I also noticed the AIs tactical choices increase at higher difficulty levels. For example its better at running a campaign on the campaign screen on Hard and ive seen it use hills and square formations against cavalry on hard too. Never seen that on easy or medium difficulties.

They dont appear to gain any bonuses for armour or shooting skills at harder levels either is great. I hate an AI that cheats. If they do they are so small they hardly make any difference to the game from the players point of view.

It seems to me the AI simply plays better at higher levels and is less dumb, avoiding some of the more stupid mistakes easier AIs make.

Though you can still distract the AI with a fake charge on one of its flanks :)

Giskard
http://www.respawn.co.uk
Imperial Glory Guides and charts.
Hengist
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Post by Hengist »

giskard wrote: I also noticed the AIs tactical choices increase at higher difficulty levels. For example its better at running a campaign on the campaign screen on Hard and ive seen it use hills and square formations against cavalry on hard too. Never seen that on easy or medium difficulties.

Giskard
I've seen the AI do the above, on medium, lots of times. Perhaps the frequency of how often they do it increases on higher levels?
Homer
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Post by Homer »

Hengist who where u, Britian or france? And another thing. U Guys write too much on here. lol.
Take NO Prisoners!!!! Homer!!!.
Toverballen
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Post by Toverballen »

Hengist. what a great post was that.
I took the liberty to post your great writing on a site i know a lot of people look at.
Its a great game, and this forum rocks :)
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LevMyshkin
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Post by LevMyshkin »

w/o comparing the battles in IG to "that other game", the ones in IG are at least fun!

i like the way that all of the objectives are not in your starting position.

i once split my forces to go around this mountain, not realizing just how big it was. my cav reserve along with a black watch and my lone artillery walked right into the french army. i kinda lost track of 'em. :evil:

my cav was nearly wiped out till my 12 pounders gave 'em all hell. my inf arrived when it was nearly over. that black watch was tuff as nails too! 8)

too bad that the "game scientists" won't enjoy the game for what it is.


cuz it's fun!! :yes:
Hengist
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Post by Hengist »

Homer,
I was playing for King George :) (Britain).

----------

Toverballen,
Thanks for the kind words, glad you enjoyed my ramblings.
giskard
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Post by giskard »

Lol i always find it funny during this instant message days when people say a post is too long on a forum. :)

Im not making fun of anybody, it just shows we all lazy readers these days. :)

Anyway, i was playing Russia on hard and got attacked by everybody. On hard you really need to keep your sympathy levels up and watch your alliances. On medium and easy is less important. In fact you can almost forget about making an alliance occasionally at those levels. On hard you definately cannot.

Im going to add that to my guide at some point.

Giskard
http://www.respawn.co.uk
Imperial Glory Guides and charts.
Homer
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Post by Homer »

Hengist, King George Forever! I Am PLaying AS Britain And I Taking the Whole World.
Take NO Prisoners!!!! Homer!!!.
Hengist
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Post by Hengist »

I totally agree with you there Homer :)

Keep the troops spirits up by singing this English folk song as you march to battle...

"Here's forty shillings on the drum
For those who'll volunteer to come
To 'list and fight the foe today.
Over the hills and far away.

(Chorus)
O'er the hills and o'er the main.
Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.
King George commands and we obey.
Over the hills and far away.

When duty calls me I must go
To stand and face another foe.
But part of me will always stray
Over the hills and far away.

If I should fall to rise no more,
As many comrades did before,
Then ask the fifes and drums to play.
Over the hills and far away.

Then fall in lads behind the drum,
With colours blazing like the sun.
Along the road to come-what may.
Over the hills and far away".
giskard
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Post by giskard »

Hello all.

Well ive played all the nations and found the following to be true.

Austria, prussia and russia result in a game with similar objectives all the way though. You end up having to take the same countries early on and the same countries later in the game. Though all these nations offer a much harder and more strategic game over all.

Englands only choice is where to invade first. Not the masterpiece of a opening game that is required from the nations above.

France is a little like austria but much more powerful. So they are the easiest nation to play. A bit of a no brainer really.

If i had a way to open those pack files id see about enabling Egypt and Bavaria as playable nations. :)

Giskard
http://www.respawn.co.uk
Imperial Glory Guides and charts.
Homer
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Post by Homer »

lol. I like the British beacuse U can't get invaded.
Take NO Prisoners!!!! Homer!!!.
giskard
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Post by giskard »

I think Hengis would disagree :)

Besides, the good thing about the other countries is that once you learn to position your armies 1 region back from the border so when an enemy attacks you, your the one who choses when and where to fight, things are much more fun. :)

I have played all the nations and for me Prussia gave the most intense game, followed by Russia and then Austria.

Giskard
http://www.respawn.co.uk
Imperial Glory Guides and charts.
Homer
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Post by Homer »

Why would He Disagree?
Take NO Prisoners!!!! Homer!!!.
giskard
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Post by giskard »

Read his posts above, Bavaria invaded England in his game.
Sweden invaded scotland in my game.

So Englands definately not safe :)

England invaded Moroco by sea in one of my games, they had 4 ships with troops off shore and placed 3 of them in Moroco. So if there is port, your not safe at all. :)

Giskard
http://www.respawn.co.uk
Imperial Glory Guides and charts.
Hengist
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Post by Hengist »

A late reply, but...

Homer,

I think Gis was talking about this thread...
http://www.tafn.info/TAFN/forums/viewto ... ight=#2848
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