Is it possible to just defend yourself with Soldiers?

[Buorhann]

I'm new, but I was asked a question by some folks interested in playing.  They wanted to focus on the econ parts of this game, which seems pretty simple if you ask me, but if someone was to focus straight up economy ( No military ); they'd most likely get farmed quite a bit by more aggressive players, right?

 

So, could a person just building straight up resource gathering/production defend themselves with enough Soldiers?  Or would they need to focus on obtaining Ships/Planes/Tanks too?

[Niklaus]

Soldiers alone are an ineffective defense. But it really depends on your time of reaction to be honest. In usual circumstances, you will never be attacked by more than 2 nations at once and they will have only 6 turns to conduct the attacks.

 

Max damage they can do is going to be only of these options - blockade you, ground victories or air superiority.

 

Have a small army at all times. Say 3000 or 6000 soldiers, if you are in an alliance. And around 10000, if you are not. It also depends on your nation size.

 

If econ growth is what you and your friends are looking for and aren't interested in politics, I'd suggest you join Sigma. It's a hard neutral alliance.

 

If you are yet undecided about what you want with politics of the game, join a non-neutral alliance. I'd recommend applying to Rose or The Seven Kingdoms. Both are good choices but feel free to look for one on your own.

[Niklaus]

Also 20-30 tanks at peace time will be more than enough for a small nation in peace time, under risk of being raided. When I was around 200 score, I managed to survive without maintaining even that in peace time but that's coz I was in an alliance.

Edited February 1, 2015 by Niklaus

[fistofdoom]

If you're looking to completely avoid war, good luck, but you'd be less likely to get farmed if you're in an already established alliance, try for an alliance on the first two pages, but see if you can talk to some of the guys from a couple that interest you.

[naTia]

It all depends on your score. Only people within a certain range can attack you, and at different scores people tend to have different amounts/types of units. For example small nations may only have soldiers or tanks. Nations 100 or so score up will begin to have ships and aircraft. 100 score more than that might begin to have more military.

 

Some of the largest factors in not having your nation raided are as follows:

• Size of your army
• Size of your nation
• The alliance you are in

Emphasis on the alliance you are in, because joining an alliance with adequate protection and strength will deter raiders. However, it can only go so far so having a small military based on your score would be advised but not 100% necessary.

[Niklaus]

Whatever route you choose to follow, always have a decent stockpile of war resources on your hand.

[Buorhann]

How do alliances protect you?  Or is it just by affiliation and fear of retaliation?

[naTia]

A fair amount of it is affiliation and fear of retaliation. Some alliances are allied, others just don't attack each other.

[Anneal]

A fair amount of it is affiliation and fear of retaliation. Some alliances are allied, others just don't attack each other.

 

How do alliances protect you?  Or is it just by affiliation and fear of retaliation?

 

Alliances are not total barriers, though. They only deter most nations already in alliances from attacking you. And there are "rogue" nations, which are non-aligned raiding nations who are usually heavily militarized. 

 

In my opinion, you shouldn't just have one barrack in your capital city.

[MRBOOTY]

If you are in an alliance, you most likely have no need to fear

My alliance completely destroys anyone who attacks anyone in my alliance, and they make that policy quite clear

But you can defend with just soldiers

But you also need airplanes, otherwise you can just be flown over

Other that that just join an alliance

You will most likely not get attacked, and you'll be fine, I promise

[ataraxis]

Speaking as a heavy low-tier raider: if you don't want to be raided by me, either join my alliance or join a very well-established alliance.

 

(I assume that if you want to focus on economic growth, you probably won't want the former, so there's always the latter.)

 

By well-established, my personal list could be the top 7 plus a few others (tS, TEst, Arrgh, Sigma).

Edited February 1, 2015 by ataraxis

[Erin]

Yeah, always get ships and planes, ships once you reach around 150-200ish score. Tanks aren't supremely important, although they definitely help fill out your numbers, since you can have more of them in terms of equivalent soldier-power than soldiers per city, and they tend to last longer. Ships and aircraft are essential to make and break blockades, which will cut you off from trade and external help. And after that, airstrikes are definitely going to be your worst enemy against a really motivated opponent once you get above 100ish score. They can demolish your infra like nothing else except missiles, especially since the attacker can launch them until the war expires. Against raiders, though, enough soldiers should probably suffice for most cases.

 

With regards to soldiers, too, they definitely are critical to your defense, especially against airstrikes. I'd recommend keeping around 1/2 of your maximum possible troop capacity on hand at all times if you plan to strike it out with a small/self-made alliance. Since you can only recruit 1/3 per day and the really threatening attacking/raiding nations will often be at full or near full mobilization themselves, you won't be set back too much... probably.

Each city can hold a maximum 5 barracks, so once you're making enough and are big enough that you can afford it, you might make do with 2 or 3 per city and reallocate resource-mining improvements for more troops if war comes. This will probably slice out a fair chunk of your income, but you should still have a pretty decent amount left over, and it's a decent way to build up raw materials stockpiles while also maintaining armed deterrent.

 

On the other hand, as long as you're in an alliance, period, you'll probably rarely see combat as long as you're decently well-armed. I've only been attacked a few times myself, and I've been in a 1-2 person alliance since I started. Please correct me if I'm saying anything wrong, too.

Edited February 1, 2015 by Erin

[Pwnius Scrubius]

If you are in an alliance, you most likely have no need to fear

My alliance completely destroys anyone who attacks anyone in my alliance, and they make that policy quite clear

But you can defend with just soldiers

But you also need airplanes, otherwise you can just be flown over

Other that that just join an alliance

You will most likely not get attacked, and you'll be fine, I promise

Your rap is a lie

[Ashland]

Soldiers defending things?

 

Are you insane?!

[ELPINCHAZO]

you have to pile them up,like sandbags.

[Firetrout]

you have to pile them up,like sandbags.

 

I thought piling them up was when they were put on the offensive. Can't defend while drowning in corpses.