|
Inmate
642
This post was
from an email address that is now defunct. It's a great collection of
tips; if Inmate642 happens to find this, contact us.
Imp. 2 is one
of my favorite games. I play on Nigh Impossible level and almost
always can pull off a win against the A1 (years of practice and many,
many games...imp.2 is also multiplayer).
Try this: Pick
a starting nation with no Major Power Neighbors and at least 1,
preferably 2 minor neighbors. Disband your starting units right off
the bat and make a paper too build a spy, turn your research down to
$0 and keep it there (your gonna need that $$$ for our massive
invasions). Plan on losing your spy quickly so make another (you will
need a spy constantly until you get to your first research goal....
Lancers, knights will do but lancers much prefered). On the very
first turn of the game, immediately at the beginning, declare war on
your two minor neighbors (if you do it later someone will declare war
on you and annex the victim minors and put you in deep do-doo).
Declare war on at least two minors even if you only have one as a
neighbor, I like to declare on three especially if one of them
borders a major powers capitol. (you can always "undeclare
war" later if they get to heavily influenced by another major
but the goal is to conquer them prior to that).
Send out two
of your three ships to trace the 'new world' outline. Keep the third
ship to sale goods in a pinch, or buy stuff only if you absolutely
have too (you will need $1200 - $1500 to make your first attack).
Have you Explorer find you at least 1 iron (hopefully 2) first and
get a road to it. (you can buy timber if you must at first..it's
cheap). Next find a bronze and a tin. You gotta have at least one of
everything..sheep and horses too. Don't pick a country that has no
horses and get a road to those horses as soon as you can..horses are
vital. By the time you spy your way to your first tech
"lancers" (you need Land Encloser to get to Lancers) you
should have enough manpower, bronze and horses to build 3 Lancers, 2
pikeman, and a Arquebusier or another Lancer/pikeman. You should also
know the exact location of all 10 "New World Capitols"
(send in your explorer to located the inland ones... look for the
port and follow the river).
As soon as you
get 'lancers', convert your peasants into the 6 soldiers.... at this
point you only need two peasants workers and they can sit idel a turn
or two, speed attack is our only goal right now. As soon as your
Soldiers are ready you should already have your two exploring ships
set to invade a "new World" capitol.... yes a capitol, we
are only going to take Indian capitols and we're going to take all 10
of them just as fast as we can. Those six units you built can do the
job, especially on Manual combat mode... kill his archers first and
double-triple team his pikeman like units one by one. The reason for
taking the 'New World' capitols is this: You get paid $1500 -$3000
for each one (which funds the next capitol attack) and it denies the
other great powers from colonising them and making money buy trading
with them, it also voids all those little 'ownership flags'. Look
around before launching you first attack to see if anyone has put an
ownership flag on a Capitol, if so...declare war on that Great power
and take that capitol first. You can get into a war with all the
great powers at this point without worry...they have no cannons to
invade you and you have no New World Territories to lose....they will
all make peace in 10-20 turns. Also, look for Diamond/Gems that have
been similiarly 'flagged'.... take them. Take Diamond/Gem territories
owned by Majors that don't have forts. Your goal here is to take all
ten "new World" capitols before anyone gets the light horse
cannon research (your second research goal). After 1 or two nations
get cannons the indians in the new world start to get horse
calvery...you will need musketeers and cannons to take capitols then.
Grab desert territory (Diamonds) and explore it later, Mountain
territory (Gems) next on desire list. 1 diamond will keep you in the
game, You can even win with no Diamonds/Gems by income conquesting
the "New World" and Minors but saving 1 or 2 for trading
income later in the game but this is a hard row to plow.
By the time
you get to horse cannons (try to get them first) you should have 8-10
indian capitols (no biggie if you don't have all 10, the remaining
one or two indian tribes can be colonized later and getting all their
calvery units is a great military boost. (better to conquer though).
As soon as you get cannons, invade those minor nations previouse
declared on. You will get paid for each providence which funds the
next attack (I like to have at least 4 cannons but 3 will do, build
enough units to get a General before atacking the Minors) and taking
the minor capitol last pays a big chuck of change. Work fast to keep
the other great powers out and start on a fort building campaign in
all your conquered territories (New World too). Scout out diamond/Gem
territories held by your enemies. Take them when ever you can (Taking
all a Great Powers Diamonds/Gems can efectively take them out of the
game...especially if you knock-out the trade partners like we are
doing here). Try to keep out of Major Power Wars at this point and
join in when they gang up on someone (make sure it isn't you by
having a good military and forts. Remember, ships count as military
units...build lots of ships Galleons, lots and lots of Galleons.
Later, Indianmans are great transport ships. Don't upgrade the
galleons, they are a good all around ship but build Indianmans
instead after you get the tech. Don't build slopes, fluties,
frigates, raiders, ect.... Ship-O-lines only if in dire naval
trouble.... Galleons, Indianmans and later IronClads. IronClads rule
the game... he who gets them first wins the game, always. (get them
first, build 10 and blockaide an ememies homeport and he will totally
collapse in 10 turns, no money for him means no attacks by him, no
trading by him, starving units, ect.... don't just patrol his
sea-zone, go right into his port and smash 'em down hard). If they
send ships to your home-port, simply stop transporting everything and
leave your empty ships sit unharmed in port or move every one of them
out to engage in battle and overwhelm the blockaiders by vastly
superior numbers...then move them back and get the supply line
running again.
As this is
getting long, I will leave all minor details for you to figure out.
Tips: Don't upgrade ships (build new one at the same cost). Do
upgrade your units (those medals mean a lot). Keep your General
fighting (medals, medals, medals). Be the aggressor and not the
victim. The first Nation (Human or A1) to get 1 over half of the
amount need for vicory instantly makes a whole lot of enemies (stop
at half if it's convenient, let and A1 get the 1 over first then join
in the multple nation attack on him). Don't build Bowman at all but
if you get a bunch through annexation use them as expendable fort
rushers or disband them. Don't build more Knights or Lancers after
the first 3, Do build Squires, Cossacks, scouts, ect and keep
upgrading them (medals are nice and fast light calvery is great at
rushing into a fort after your cannons blew a whole through the
wall.. about 6 cannon shots on the same wall space open it up). A
late War Fort-busting force should be about: 2 0r 3
skirmishers/sharpshoots to take hits, 3 or 4 calvery to rush the gap,
3 or 4 Guards/Grenaders to walk in (Guards are slow but the most
powerful unit in the game.) And as many cannons as you can send (5 -
9 do a nice job). Start those coal mines early and have a stock pile.
Fancy pants workers are nice but don't forget that you can't turn
them into troops. If you have 10 "new world" territories
and a diamond/Gem you'll be just fine... over expanding makes defense
difficult but at some point later in the game there comes a time to
just let it all hang-out, run what you brung and go for it.... be the
aggressor and not the victim. If you think you can get away with it,
sail around and punch out every Minor Nations capitol just like you
did to the Indians... you will get paid for it handsomely and
eliminated A1 trade partners and annexation targets. Try to get at
least one territory on every land mass. Allies are nice but dump them
if they try to get you into a war, allies are for your defence
only..turn on them if they get ganged up on. Last by not least.....
Never Ever play as the French...they are your enemy and not your
ally. Standard Nation Personalities: England tries to build strongest
Navy, Sweden is an early aggressor and trouble maker but usually not
a end game power, Portugaul likes to pop down flags and can be a
powerful End-game sleeper, Holland is a nicely rounded nation, Spain
is usually a aggressive power to watch out for. France is a more
calculating power to watch out for. Generally France and Spain border
each other and often will go at it by mid-game. I like random
Personalities and generally pick Sweden or Holland. Remember, you
absolutely should have horses at home and at least 1 copper and 1
tin... Broze is very important to a Fast-Attack game plan. Don't over
defended threaten territories, most A1 attacks will be small in force
size. You will need a few units more per attack on Auto-Combat mode
then you would on Manual-Combat mode. (All Multi-player games are
Auto-combat but Manuel-combat is much more fun). It is Ok to lose a
New World Territory to gain a better one but never let them get on
your homeland or your asking for trouble. Having one territory on
their Homeland is sweet (they have to defend 3 places while you only
have 1 to worry about... get it?). If you can get the biggest attack
cannons first (field Artillery), feel free to take a shot at a lesser
Great Powers Capitol. (Starve out stronger enemy capitols). Heavy
Artillery, Culverin, Seige/Royal artillery, ect.. in very expensive
to build and really useless in a Fast-attack game plan. (You are much
better off with the faster horse, light and feild cannons.... like
IronClads rule the sea, Feild Artillery (backed by some calvery and
Heavy infanty to stop them from getting rushed) rule the battle
feild...upgrade those smaller cannons.
 |
