11 replies to this topic

[Spongebob]

Ok guys as you know im out of 79 due to mismanagment of the countries bank account.

Now this is aimed at the players who have been around at the end of a game

How do you balance the books, how to you stop from running out of cash or resorces. How do you avoid the dreded negative moral.

The way I see it is if you cannot expand quickly and take over some choice realestate then you will run out of something and so cannot fight the war. If you suffer a few defeats what damage does that do to the bank account.

Serious questions this chaps, I know hard to believe.

[Hamish]

Spongebob, on Feb 27 2008, 06:24 PM, said:

Ok guys as you know im out of 79 due to mismanagment of the countries bank account.

Now this is aimed at the players who have been around at the end of a game

How do you balance the books, how to you stop from running out of cash or resorces. How do you avoid the dreded negative moral.

The way I see it is if you cannot expand quickly and take over some choice realestate then you will run out of something and so cannot fight the war. If you suffer a few defeats what damage does that do to the bank account.

Serious questions this chaps, I know hard to believe.

Cash management is probably one of the hardest things in Victory! In my experience, maintenance is often overlooked. It may seem like a good idea to build 6 LDBs in every possible location, they are cheap after all. But for an average country, let's say 20 provinces, the costs of doing that come to (20*2) * 6 * (8+73) = $19940 over the duration of the game. Not so cheap after all.

Of course, being Iceland didn't help you in game 79. Ships are very, very expensive.....

[nfbeerse]

Ships indeed are expensive, but still, if you maximize your available cities, it can be done.

I now have a large fleet as canada and my cash is still positive. I have not been negative since the start of the game...
It is all about planning and planning. Keep the cash positive and plan as far ahead as time allowes... For an island nation this is mandatory in my opinion.

Hope this helps,
Norbert

[Erich von Manstein]

Spongebob, on Feb 27 2008, 10:24 AM, said:

How do you balance the books, how to you stop from running out of cash or resorces. How do you avoid the dreded negative moral.
The way I see it is if you cannot expand quickly and take over some choice realestate then you will run out of something and so cannot fight the war. If you suffer a few defeats what damage does that do to the bank account.
Serious questions this chaps, I know hard to believe.

My tips:


Simple math. maximise income en minimise costs.

You can maximise your income by conquering big cities. But you could have guessed that one. I also resettle some pop to create new 50+ cities and I develop ADL and IMDL levels. Sure this costs a lot of money but after 5 turns you have paid for this. I don't believe there are any other means of getting more income so this brings us to minimising your spending.

Minimising costs is in my opinion the most important thing to prevent you from going negative. I only build ONE ldb everywhere. More in key locations but I only have a few key locations. Maintenance costs can become quite high!
Carefull with training, building railcap, moving pop over large distances and RPD orders. All those sure help to create a beautifull country but they can cost a lot of money.

Most important: plan plan plan ahead! You can allways recover from a negative cashflow. Just cut back on spending as soon as you are about to go negative.

BTW never quit! just DW some people before you go negative and smack 'm!!!


Von Manstein

[Spongebob]

Cheers peeps, I actually enjoyed playing Iceland and would love to try again, learned a lot just by sitting back a bit so expect me in the future whenever that is playing Iceland again and this time Im gonna stay the course. On a similar note the defeat of Iceland, is it possible to invade or is there a way of defeating Iceland without invading.

What tactics would you use to knock Iceland out, if I play icelance again i need to know how people would approach the situation so i can counter it.

[Grimor]

Spongebob, on Feb 28 2008, 05:43 AM, said:

Cheers peeps, I actually enjoyed playing Iceland and would love to try again, learned a lot just by sitting back a bit so expect me in the future whenever that is playing Iceland again and this time Im gonna stay the course. On a similar note the defeat of Iceland, is it possible to invade or is there a way of defeating Iceland without invading.

What tactics would you use to knock Iceland out, if I play icelance again i need to know how people would approach the situation so i can counter it.

if wanted.. easy...

1. planes vs ships is not balanced...
2. costs for ships should be dramatically be reduced. as well as their fuel consumption etc...

how one can defeat iceland well I could tell.. but it seems I am at war with iceland in vic80 so
for now... just do your math and you will see the big picture...

and due that expensive fleet the ones on a island mostly will have problems managing their cashflow once the real war starts...

[Warmaster]

THe suggestions that 50+ cities be maximized is quite valid EXCEPT for Iceland.

Iceland must import all its food and coal.

For the Food problem a DEDICATED campaign of some 20 turns of APD will make the island self sufficent but this emliminates the chance of growing new cities. Iceland must find a balance of expansion overseas conquering new 50+ cities AND a resonable chance of conquering rich agriculture lands so food can be returned to iceland on returning Queen Marys. Where can Iceland find a supply of Food???? Canada, Ireland, France, Spain and Great Britain are the only realistic candidates.

The coal problem is such that Iceland will run out of Coal/PET by something like turn 30. Iceland can get Coal by agreement or conquest of Great Britain, France or Canada. Given the Food problem mentioned above the name on both the Food problem and Coal problem list is Great Britain, France, and Canada.

It can be safely assumed that Canda is not overly practical. France is not practical without British help which finally and inevitably leads all of Icelands options to the issue of Great Britian.

I maintain that for long term expansion Iceland MUST confront the Great Britain issue. Either Great Britain must be a TA secureing a source of Food and Coal OR Iceland must invade England with the help of other powers. Iceland has no other realistic option but to be a TA of London or to capture London ASAP. Failure with either option will result in no growth opportunities and finishing the game as a impotent force.

[Spongebob]

Well thats the best advice i have seen on these pages for some time. Well explained and thought out.I shall make you an honorary member of the state of Spongestan. Cheers

[Warmaster]

Spongebob, on Feb 29 2008, 10:38 AM, said:

Well thats the best advice i have seen on these pages for some time. Well explained and thought out.I shall make you an honorary member of the state of Spongestan. Cheers

Thanks for the compliment but please spare me the honor. I feel that being a member of spongestan would paint a huge target on my back from your many enemies.

I must confess my logic was flawed.


I advocated Iceland must TA with Britian or Attack Britain as soon as feasible with allies.

There is in fact a 3rd way!! I forgot what happened in Game 77. I may be a bit hazy on how this came to pass but if I understand it correctly Iceland did TA with Britain (which as I suggest is quite feasible and wise) BUT then commenced to break the TA (after English ports were secured by CL orders) and then attacked England with the help of NEW TA's USA/Canada!

In fact the 3rd method of Icelandic success is to do BOTH of the options suggested. Both TA with Britain and then attack. Quite creative!; ethical issues aside that is!

In any event my thesis remains the same. Iceland cannot prosper without Britain as either a TA or as a slave.

[heavyB]

My humble opinion: if you need to buy naval, you are doomed from a financial perspective... unless:
-you have a TA that supports you financially.
-you have already increased your income significantly due to land expansions :

the bloody ships are simply to expensive to buy, maintain and feed...

Further I agree that ldb's are a waste of money, unless you use them in large quantities to defend specific (few) locations. In all the rest i advice that 1 does just as loosy job as 6 and still provides the same intel.

Erik

[cd_ernst]

heavyB, on Apr 1 2008, 02:48 PM, said:

My humble opinion: if you need to buy naval, you are doomed from a financial perspective... unless:
-you have a TA that supports you financially.
-you have already increased your income significantly due to land expansions :

the bloody ships are simply to expensive to buy, maintain and feed...

Further I agree that ldb's are a waste of money, unless you use them in large quantities to defend specific (few) locations. In all the rest i advice that 1 does just as loosy job as 6 and still provides the same intel.

Erik

I disagree

My books are balanced and my fleet, before conquests, was already large.

My experience in this game is a bit different! I found that a planning is essential. In 77 I play USA and am TA-ed with Canada. We made a planning from T0 to T40, and sticked with it. This meant we had to make a balanced build-up of all 3 types of forces: land, air & navy. And we didn't calculate conquests in this program. And although we work together, we are totally self sufficient.

So how do you balance the books? Make a realistic planning based on your initial country and stick with it. Unfortunately you will have to make a planning for each country seperatly... No 2 countries can be played in the same way...

Don

[Race Pilsner]

cd_ernst, on Apr 4 2008, 09:27 AM, said:

heavyB, on Apr 1 2008, 02:48 PM, said:

My humble opinion: if you need to buy naval, you are doomed from a financial perspective... unless:
-you have a TA that supports you financially.
-you have already increased your income significantly due to land expansions :

the bloody ships are simply to expensive to buy, maintain and feed...

Further I agree that ldb's are a waste of money, unless you use them in large quantities to defend specific (few) locations. In all the rest i advice that 1 does just as loosy job as 6 and still provides the same intel.

Erik

I disagree

My books are balanced and my fleet, before conquests, was already large.

My experience in this game is a bit different! I found that a planning is essential. In 77 I play USA and am TA-ed with Canada. We made a planning from T0 to T40, and sticked with it. This meant we had to make a balanced build-up of all 3 types of forces: land, air & navy. And we didn't calculate conquests in this program. And although we work together, we are totally self sufficient.

So how do you balance the books? Make a realistic planning based on your initial country and stick with it. Unfortunately you will have to make a planning for each country seperatly... No 2 countries can be played in the same way...

Don

I also didn't see anyone caution about the costs of Intel/Counter Intel and APD orders. These too can be costly.

Navy is not a breaker on costs unless you fail to accomodate the costs of building ships by making reductions in other areas. It's been really common over the years for an ally to tell me they can't balance their budget and when I ask them what they spend all their money on they can't tell me.

That's the real kicker on this issue. Do you know where you are spending your money and how vital those activities are to your overall plan? Do you have an overall plan? Do you detail it and keep it updated with each turns performance? As the others have already said, plan plan plan. To that my addition is, Document Review Improve. Don't just make a plan and blindly stick to it! Review the plan and how well you are hitting your goals. Adjust accordingly.

Race Pilsner