Best Guides and Resources for New Players in Cow 1.5

First Days in 1.5

1.5 is a drastically different game than 1.0, however, if one knows how to play it, it can be just as much fun, if not more. This guide will teach you how to get set up in the first days of 1.5. It is general throughout doctrines, but you may want to modify it a bit based on your specific doctrine, and strategy. If want to see the differences between doctrines, check this page out: https://wiki.callofwar.com/wiki/DOCTRINES

(Note: Many of these tips are tailored towards PC users. While most of these will still work for mobile users, it is generally easier to accomplish them on PC)

DAY 1/DAY 2:

The minute you get into a map, open the diplomacy menu, and set your relations with all AI to Right of Way. This boosts your popularity, and will prevent most AI from declaring war on you later.

Research (Part One

After you finish setting AI relations, open the research menu. Now, your menu is different depending on what your doctrine is, but usually, the first couple of days don't differ that much. The first thing you want to research is Infantry. While you start off with plenty of Infantry, this will allow you to later research better ground units such as commandos. Research time differs based on your doctrine, but it shouldn't take longer than 30 minutes to research Infantry.

While your infantry is being researched, head over to the Ordnance section, and start some Artillery. Artillery is a vital unit in the early days of the game. It allows you to bombard enemy units while staying safe, far away from the battle. If you have High Command, you can set fire control, allowing you to use Artillery as a blockading tool.

Construction (Part One

While you are waiting for your research to finish, head over to the provinces tab, which is located at the right of the screen (PC only). Before you can start producing units, you first need to construct some buildings.

Your biggest concern in 1.5 is resources, so you can't waste them by constructing every single building in every single province. Instead, I like to construct each building in a different province.

Let's select the first province in the list, and open the construction menu. Now, find "Barracks" in the menu, and click build. Barracks allow you to build infantry troops. This isn't very important in the beginning of the game, but will be vital later on.

Now, head back to the provinces tab and select the second province in the list. Now, we're going to build an Ordnance Foundry. This will allow is to produce those vital artillery we started earlier.

You'll start to see a pattern here with what we're doing. Go back to the provinces tab and select the third province. Now, build a Tank Plant.

If you haven't noticed the pattern yet, we're going through the list and constructing a different building in each province. To keep things organized, we're going down the list in order. Once you run out of provinces (there should only be 4 or 5), go back to the top of the province menu and either queue the next building (if you have High Command), or wait for the current one to be done and then construct the next building. Stop once you finish queueing/building a Secret Lab, as we're going to do something different for the rest. At the end of this, you should be constructing 1 Barracks, 1 Ordnance Foundry, 1 Tank Plant, 1 Aircraft Factory, 1 Naval Base and 1 Secret Lab. (Note: You may not be able to build a Naval Base in all provinces, as Naval Bases can only be constructed in coastline urban provinces. Keep this in mind when constructing so you can shift things around.)

In your border provinces, construct Fortifications and Bunkers.

While you are waiting for your research and construction to complete, you can start forming coalitions or chatting with fellow countries in the diplomacy menu or in the newspaper.

Research (Part Two

Now that your previous research is done, we can start some new ones. First, go to the Armor section in the research menu. Now, start researching Armored Cars. Armored Cars have a great view range, are fast, and reveal stealth units. They have great offensive power against Infantry, and they are best used as scouts, as well as stacked with other units to increase view range.

Many players research Tanks as the backbone of their army. However this means that there are usually multiple tank vs. tank battles. Unfortunately, the basic tank, Light Tanks, don't do so well against other tanks and are mainly for Infantry. This means that we need some other units to defend against tanks. The best ground units to defend against tanks are Anti-Tanks, and Tank Destroyers. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the game we don't have the ability to research Tank Destroyers, and regular Anti-Tanks are pretty slow. You'll want them later but for now, we can skip them. Instead, let's head over to the Air section of the research menu. The best air unit to deal with Tanks is the Attack Bomber. Attack Bombers are available on different days depending on your doctrine. For Axis and Comintern, it is first available on Day 1. For Pan-Asian and Allies, it is available on Day 2.

If Attack Bombers are not available for research in your doctrine, I suggest researching Interceptors. These will protect your Attack Bombers from other planes. They are also useful in defending your army from enemy bombers. If Attack Bombers are available for you, research them first and then research Interceptors.

Once your Armored Cars are done, research Light Tanks. These tanks are great for attacking light armor, which your enemies have, as all players start with a few ACs. They are also pretty quick, making surprise attacks and blitzkriegs possible.

Now, head over to the naval section and research Submarines. These units are great for forming naval blockades, scouting, and destroying unescorted convoys/capital ships.

After all of this, you should research Rocket Artillery in the Secret section. This may not be available on Day 1 for all of you, but should be available on Day 2 by the latest. This form of artillery is better for attacking infantry units, whereas regular Artillery is best for armored units, like tanks.

Unit Production:

Now we get to the fun part, building our army. Let's recall how we built a different building in each province. This now allows us to produce different units in each province. We are going to now take advantage of an awesome feature in the province menu. This is the Select All button. The Select All button is useful when you want to mass produce unit, but we are going to use it so we don't have to select each province individually. The button looks like a check box, and is at the very top of the province menu. Click on it. Then, click on the production button. You can go through the list and produce/queue Infantry, Artillery, Submarines, Light Tanks/Armored Cars (I recommend producing both, as LTs are best for light armor, and ACs are best for unarmored), Attack Bombers, and Rocket Artillery (you may have to wait till Day 2 to produce Rocket Artillery).

If you have HC, produce each of these, then go back and click the queue button next to each of them 4 times. This queues 4 more of each unit, allowing you to quickly build up your army. If you don't have HC, don't worry! You can log on whenever you want and produce more.

Construction (Part Two

Using the Select All feature, select all of your urban provinces and head to the construction menu. Now, find Industry, and click build.

Attacking AI:

While our buildings are under construction and our units are being produced and researched, we can prepare to invade AI nations. Stack 3 Infantry and 1 Armored Car. Create two of these groups. In 1.5, it is very important you grab urban provinces as quickly as possible. This gives you VPs, which you need to win, and it also denies your enemy the means to produce more troops. With most AI, there is usually one urban province, and there may be a few rural provinces. This means that you should head to the urban province first. Use your two stacks to invade the AI country.

DAY 3/DAY 4:

Construction:

Start to upgrade your Industry. Use the Select All feature and head over to the construction menu. Find Industry in the menu. Now, it should say "Industry Lvl. 2" instead of "Industry Lvl. 1." Press build. If you have HC, press the queue button next to Industry 3 times. If you don't have HC, wait until each Industry is complete, then construct the next level. Do this until your Industry reaches level 5, and you can't build anymore.

Remember, if you don't have enough resources to construct any of these, you can always wait a little bit!

Research:

By now, you should be able to research Tactical Bombers. These bombers are great at destroying Infantry and other unarmored units. Now, your air force will be able to tackle all sorts of ground units.

To defend against air and tank attacks, research Anti-Tank and Anti-Air.

You should also start focusing on your navy some more, if you're an island nation, or a coastal nation. First, research Destroyers. Destroyers are KEY to a navy. They, as the name implies, find and destroy Submarines. Capital ships such as Battleships and Aircraft Carriers are extremely vulnerable to Submarine attacks, and Destroyers will eliminate this danger.

Next, research Cruisers. Cruisers provide anti-air support to your navy. They are needed in a navy to protect it from Naval Bombers. They can also be used to bombard enemy ground troops from range.

Finally, research Battleships. Battleships are the most powerful naval unit, and can be used to destroy enemy navies, as well as to bombard ground units. Their only weakness is from Submarines.

Your naval research is complete for now, so let's turn our attention to upgrading.

Head over to the Infantry branch, and research Infantry Lvl. 2. Upgrading our units as early as possible will give us an advantage over our enemies who don't upgrade.

We also want better versions of our infantry units. Research Motorized Infantry. (Note: If you have the Comintern doctrine this won't be available until Day 5.) Motorized Infantry is a faster version of Infantry, best used to support your tanks while not slowing them down.

Similarly, research Self-Propelled (SP) Anti-Air, Self-Propelled (SP) Artillery and Tank Destroyers. These units are faster versions of Anti-Air, Artillery, and Anti-Tank. They are great for accompanying your tanks without hindering their progress.

Production:

If you are a coastal or island nation, start to produce your navy. First produce Cruisers. These will allow you to patrol your borders quickly. Next, produce Destroyers. These will spot and destroy enemy subs who dare to come near your coastline. Finally, produce Battleships. Battleships are the backbone of your navy (although Submarines are extremely important too).

Let's also produce some more air units. Produce a couple of Tactical Bombers. We also want some more Attack Bombers. Our starting Interceptor isn't enough, so let's produce two more Interceptors. Let's group all of our air units together.

Now, we need to provide support to our tanks. Produce some SPAA, SP Artillery, and Tank Destroyers.

Finally, let's upgrade our Infantry. Right click on the map, and using your cursor, draw a circle around your troops. Keep the right click held down, and when you finish, release your right click. A button that looks like a green up arrow should come up. Press on it. This begins to upgrade your Infantry to level 2.

DAY 5:

Construction:

Now we start building Recruiting Stations. Recruiting Stations will boost our manpower, which is needed to produce troops. Use the Select All feature, and head over to the construction menu, and navigate down to Recruiting Station. Click build.

Use the Select All feature, and head to the construction menu. We are going to start constructing production buildings in all of our urban provinces. We now have plenty of resources thanks to our level 5 industry. This is the part where HC really comes in handy. If you don't have it, it's still doable, but a bit more tedious. However, this is an important step if we want to keep our army large. Click the Build button next to Barracks Lvl. 1. This starts building Barracks in the 3-5 provinces that don't have them already. If you have HC, queue all of the unit production buildings. Otherwise, wait till barracks are finished, and construct Ordnance Foundry Lvl. 1. Keep going down the list until you construct all unit production buildings.

Production:

At this point, you can choose what you want to produce. Just remember to keep a balanced army, which allows you to counter all forms of enemy attack.

Research:

Research Railroad Guns. Railroad Guns are extremely powerful long range units. They are useful for bombarding enemies far before they reach you. They will serve you well throughout the game.

Attacking Players:

If players haven't attacked you already, they will. Instead of waiting for them come to you, you should go to them. Try to find someone near you. Send your planes or subs to scout their defenses, and try to find a weak spot, with little or no troops. Move your Light Tanks, SPAA, SP Artillery, Tank Destroyers, and Motorized Infantry into two groups. Prepare your planes to attack the border. Coordinate your attack, making sure that your planes and ground units strike at roughly the same time. This is a version of the blitzkrieg strategy. DON'T RUSH STRAIGHT TO THE CAPITAL!!! They will most likely have fortified the path, as this is an obvious move. Instead, take the urban provinces near you, and draw out their forces. Don't spread your units too thin. This makes it easier for them to destroy you. Instead, follow SBDE, and keep 10 defensive units and 10 offensive units in a stack.

Well, that's about it. You should have a good economy and a good military at this point. From here, you choose how you want to play. You can always ask in the forums or chat if you get stuck and need some help.

Please reply here if you have any suggestions or questions!

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to VorlonFCW for coming up with the idea for this guide, and thanks to Torpedo28000 for giving me his strategy for starting out in 1.5. BIG THANKS to BMfox, who's 1.0 guide this is based off of. Thanks as well to Genghis Khanson and dv8nt for helping out with specific mechanics as well as for helping me out with ideas and strategies. Thanks to the rest of the EN team for helping me out with questions I had, and thanks to all of you for reading!

Check out this great manual by dv8nt: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Mhm2yXTcGVwZnyeR7xGj5Cvdk5J9RVX2Hj_mhapiBO0/edit

It goes much more in-depth than my guide, covering strategies, units, maps, etc.

Hey @DoctorDR1 you are most welcome. Thanks for the acknowledgement! Very nice guide, I've learned a thing or too myself. Going straight for level 5 industry is a surprising but good strategy. I wonder though if it's feasable in 4 days in term of resources with the combination of troop production and research.

If I may make some suggestions:

- I would include the fact that taking a capital will boost your overal moral with 10%. Doing so might prevent the need to build recruitment stations until later in the game which spares the resources to build a bigger army and be more agressive.

- Include upgrading, spamming and production time: It might be better to spam certain units and only then do the research and level them up afterwards. This way is faster than uprading straight away which results in longer production times and higher building requirements to speed up the process.

- To upgrade troops or not to uprgrade? The advantages and disadvantages.

I'll try to post some newer guides for 1.5, I'm aware that my current guides are horribly outdated.

EDIT: Speaking of, just released this guide for the 25 Player Historically Accurate map. Will add more as they come.

Tibet: Here

I have some additional info for players that see a problem in relying on planes to early.

DoctorDR1 wrote:

Your biggest concern in 1.5 is resources, so you can't waste them by constructing every single building in every single province. Instead, I like to construct each building in a different province.

In your border provinces, construct Fortifications and Bunkers.

I would heavily advise against the second thing you say here. There is absolutely no reason to have building fortifications as a standard thing in your game plan.

Building defensive units in the start of a game and cutting back on casualties

Your suggestion on building attack bombers as fast as possible is actually not a good idea in a lot of situations. In the beginning especially planes are quite expensive in relation of the price you pay versus the damage you get in return. It also overlooks the troops players start with, lots of infantry. Against which attack bombers are not a great help. On top of that they can only move where you build airstrips or airplane factories. This advise also in a way counters the 'resources are a big concern' type of play. Planes receive damage when they deal damage so in the beginning when your economy is not that strong yet dealing damage while receiving damage is not a great thing. This is extra true because planes are expensive. Most players accompany their tanks with infantry anyway which creates a problem for the attack bombers.

As you said in the beginning, you start with a LOT of infantry. Infantry are a defensive type unit that are good against infantry. How do you compliment your army well at this point? Create defensive type units that are good against something else then infantry. That means training anti-tank to protect the infantry from light tanks or armoured car attacks and building anti-air to protect from players that do indeed build planes. Or, if your enemy has a LOT of planes, build interceptors and have them hover over your (ranged) troops.

This plays on the strong side of what your army already has. Starting armies already have strong defence and this way you expand on that. For attacks I would suggest ranged weaponry, rocket artillery is a must early game because everyone starts with infantry like you said, normal artillery is an option because it is cheap (more so in comintern) and can be built easily.

Building a lot of light tanks and combining them with infantry is not a great idea because you are wasting the higher defence of the infantry this way. It's better to wait until you have motorised infantry and combine those with medium tanks. Until that time comes putting your defensive units in front of your ranged weaponry saves you a lot of casualties and saves your defences for when you need them. As for fighting AI NEVER FIGHT AI WITH ANYTHING ELSE BUT RANGED WEAPONRY IN THE EARLY GAME. If you shoot at the AI with ranged units the AI walks towards them, having your starting infantry ready between your artillery and the enemy means your infantry can use their higher defensive damage instead of their lower attack values. This helps.

This way of starting also means you will not need an aircraft factory anytime soon but it could be wise to build an additional ordnance factory (if interceptors are not needed). Or start building industry for a resource you have less of when compared to the other resources you have.

Plenty of options in the game

I love this guide. I hope all new players read it and do exactly what it says... when they play against me

Where to start?

>> In your border provinces, construct Fortifications and Bunkers.

There is almost never a good time to build a bunker. Certainly not at the start of the game. Resources are scarce, and you still don't know where your enemies are. Are you fortifying a border with a future ally? Are you driving *away* a potential ally by fortifying?

In a recent game, my neighbor fortified the border and started building industry everywhere. I immediately attacked him and took over his country. Fortification means bad player. Destroy immediately.

>> While you are waiting for your research and construction to complete, you can start forming coalitions...

Never start coalitions in the first few days, unless you know the player(s) from earlier games. Most of the people who start a game will be gone by day 4. Plus you paint yourself into a corner. Players who could be friends are your enemies because you are in opposing coalitions.

Early coalitions give a false illusion of security.

Take it easy. Keep your options open.

>> The best ground units to defend against tanks are Anti-Tanks, and Self-Propelled Anti-Tanks. Unfortunately, at the

>> beginning of the game we don't have the ability to research Self-Propelled Anti-Tanks, and regular Anti-Tanks are

>> pretty slow.

If your enemy is building tanks early, then you should absolutely built AT guns, because they are cheap, effective, and pair well with infantry. They move at similar speeds and cover each other's weaknesses. An AT gun is the perfect early-game AT weapon.

On the other hand, if nobody around you is building tanks, then why bother with Tank Destroyers? What you need is more anti-infantry weapons like motorized infantry, bombers, and rocket launchers.

>> While our buildings are under construction and our units are being produced and researched, we can prepare to

>> invade AI nations. Stack 3 Infantry and 1 Armored Car. Create two of these groups.

You'll have much better success with bigger stacks. 4 units is adequate, but 8-10 is even better. And vary your stacks, depending on terrain. If you're attacking a city, use up to 10 infantry. Send all your armor units to fight in the plains.

>> First, research Destroyers. Destroyers are KEY to a navy. They, as the name implies, find and destroy Submarines.

>> Capital ships such as Battleships and Aircraft Carriers are extremely vulnerable to Submarine attacks, and Destroyers

>> will eliminate this danger.

The first thing to research is Submarines, because they can scout enemy coast lines without being seen, and they can intercept enemy transports trying to invade you. Submarines are the best naval units in the game in 1.0 and that has not changed in 1.5 maps.

Also, why do you care about protecting your capital ships, when you don't have any? Maybe you'll never build a Battleship. Maybe you'll never need a Destroyer.

Submarines should always come first, and in many cases, they are the only navy you'll use on the map.

>> Head over to the Infantry branch, and research Infantry Lvl. 2. Upgrading our units as early as possible will give us an

>> advantage over our enemies who don't upgrade.

>> We also want better versions of our infantry units. Research Motorized Infantry. (Note: If you have the Comintern

>> doctrine this won't be available until Day 5.) Motorized Infantry is a faster version of Infantry, best used to support

>> your tanks while not slowing them down.

>> Similarly, research Self-Propelled (SP) Anti-Air, Self-Propelled (SP) Artillery and Tank Destroyers. These units are

>> faster versions of Anti-Air, Artillery, and Anti-Tank. They are great for accompanying your tanks without hindering

>> their progress.

That's a lot of research. For what purpose? What if none of your enemies have an air force, why invest in SP AA? Maybe your enemies have no armor, why invest in TD? The point of researching a new unit is not to "check it off the list". It's to counter an enemy strategy with your own units. Don't waste resources and research time on things you don't need.

Also, the units you build depend on resources. Maybe you're short on oil and metal because you're forced to build a lot of navy for an invasion or to counter and invasion. In that case, you can't use up metal and oil on motorized units when you have options that sage your metal and oil for units you need desperately.

Or maybe you're sending an army by transport. It doesn't need to be motorized. It's traveling by sea. Then it lands in some mountains, or a jungle. What good are the wheels and the tracks? You're better off with foot soldiers (may even have a bonus in forests). Save your oil for land wars that need to cover large distances.

>> ... Keep going down the list until you construct all unit production buildings.

Just, no. Only build factories that you need, where you need them. Most cities will have no factories. They will be your resource and manpower production centers. Other cities, probably closer to trouble spots, will be your unit producers. You want to decrease the marching distances for your units. And you don't want to pay for a bunch of factories that you'll never use.

>> Research Railroad Guns.

Rarely a good idea. RRG is a defensive weapon that has situational uses in the mid to late game, on some maps. For a new player, the RRG is a shiny object that will eat up their resources and get them killed. Plus the RRG (like the Battleship) attracts attention. People want to come after them and take them out. Don't attract attention. Especially if you're new to the game. Keep your head down. Stay alive a bit longer.

>> Move your Light Tanks, SPAA, SP Artillery, Tank Destroyers, and Motorized Infantry into two groups. Prepare your

>> planes to attack the border. Coordinate your attack, making sure that your planes and ground units strike at roughly

>> the same time.

I don't see how this advice is helpful. Early on, you want to fight with what you start with, so make a stack of 10 infantry and roll over your neighbor's cities. Later on, you build to counter what your opponent has. You might be using heavy doses of artillery+rockets with infantry walking into cities unopposed. Or you might be fighting armor battles on large plains provinces. But you rarely attack with Tank Destroyers, those are defensive units that hide in forests and cities, waiting to ambush an armored column.

I mostly agree with z00mz00m. I will add one thing : it is better at the beginning to kill an human player next to you (ideally someone who attacked another country, even better if he attacked another human player) than to attack an AI.

You will be able to kill the AI whenever you want, its early development will be slow. In addition, once you have enough artillery (3-4), you will be able to kill them without losing anyone.

On the other hand, human players will soon become dangerous, but if you attack first with a concentration of force, they won't be able to counter it efficiently, and they WILL lose one or two cities. Sure, a better player than you may push you back and maybe win the war, but most players are not invested in the game yet, and they will just leave... which means you have a chance to be now invading a country larger than an AI country and that fight off even less.

Of course, another player may think of doing the same thing. There are a few tricks to know :

- Attack day 2 rather than day 1. Use your one starting plane and armored cars on the borders to know who starts concentrating, and who does not. The ones who does not should be safe,

- Check the stats from your neighbours, anyone with few victories or bad K/D ratio is most likely to go for AI players first

- You should be safe from attack from your border where there are no cities close to the borders, if any, as the enemy will have to cross half your territory before reaching you ; for the same reason if you are in the middle of the mountains (eg Tibet) you are pretty safe,

- On the other hand, if you are "last neighbour before the sea" of someone (eg South India, Spain), you are probably a top target for a player who wants to remove a border to defend... forever,

- Check whether your neighbors have better targets If you are say Sweden in a 100 players map, Finland can attack either you or Northern Russia, so he is a risk,

- Build one submarine to avoid landings if you have a strong coastal line with islands/neighbours with few opportunities on the other side (typically Madagascar if you are in S-E Africa, or anyone in range of the Caraibes),

- Research militia quickly and depending on the risk build a few quick militia to bolster in HP a small group of 3-4 infantry you would not use for the main attack but rather keep in defense against a "surprise",

z00mz00m wrote:

If your enemy is building tanks early, then you should absolutely built AT guns, because they are cheap, effective, and pair well with infantry. They move at similar speeds and cover each other's weaknesses. An AT gun is the perfect early-game AT weapon.

Artillery is a anti armour unit that you both can use offense and defense and it doesn't take any damage because it's ranged.

Attack bombers like all air units are the fastest units in the game. They are perfect to pick off those single light tanks who aim to rush trough your core provinces.

Infantry gets a 50% bonus in cities in 1,5 they are perfect to defend cities against all units also against a tank where an

anti tank is weak against everything but a tank.

As most players go heavy on the tanks making TD is a wise move as it is both a defensive as an offensive unit that is also strong on plains where tanks get their bonus.

z00mz00m wrote:

You'll have much better success with bigger stacks. 4 units is adequate, but 8-10 is even better. And vary your stacks, depending on terrain. If you're attacking a city, use up to 10 infantry. Send all your armor units to fight in the plains.

z00mz00m wrote:

That's a lot of research. For what purpose? What if none of your enemies have an air force, why invest in SP AA? Maybe your enemies have no armor, why invest in TD? The point of researching a new unit is not to "check it off the list". It's to counter an enemy strategy with your own units. Don't waste resources and research time on things you don't need.

The main reason to do a lot of research is to diversify your army. This way you are ready for whatever your enemy throws at you and you will always have a counter unit. As most players go heavy on the tanks making TD is a wise move as it is both a defensive as an offensive unit that is also strong on plains where tanks get their bonus. When under attack and you need a unit badly there's no time to do the research.

z00mz00m wrote:

>> ... Keep going down the list until you construct all unit production buildings.

Just, no. Only build factories that you need, where you need them. Most cities will have no factories. They will be your resource and manpower production centers. Other cities, probably closer to trouble spots, will be your unit producers. You want to decrease the marching distances for your units. And you don't want to pay for a bunch of factories that you'll never use.

z00mz00m wrote:

>> Move your Light Tanks, SPAA, SP Artillery, Tank Destroyers, and Motorized Infantry into two groups. Prepare your

>> planes to attack the border. Coordinate your attack, making sure that your planes and ground units strike at roughly

>> the same time.

I don't see how this advice is helpful. Early on, you want to fight with what you start with, so make a stack of 10 infantry and roll over your neighbor's cities. Later on, you build to counter what your opponent has. You might be using heavy doses of artillery+rockets with infantry walking into cities unopposed. Or you might be fighting armor battles on large plains provinces. But you rarely attack with Tank Destroyers, those are defensive units that hide in forests and cities, waiting to ambush an armored column.

Chimere wrote:

I mostly agree with z00mz00m. I will add one thing : it is better at the beginning to kill an human player next to you (ideally someone who attacked another country, even better if he attacked another human player) than to attack an AI.

AI is the safer and best advice. They have interesting recource provinces, a city and a capital which gives you an overal 10% morale boost in all your provinces. As your morale at the start is only 70% and your building and producing time is increaced this is extremely lucerative. By consequence it also makes your economy and resource production grow with 10%. All of that with zero risk. If i can choose in betwee attacking two or 3 AI in the start of the game or a player that will seriously weaken me, my choice is made.

Don't forget that early agression is now easily countered with a militia that is produced in 45min. Milita get a bonus in hills, forrests and mountains. Infantry gets a bonus in cities, the AC get a bonus on plains and your oponent has an overal 15% bonus in his cores. This means that every 30 minutes he will deal you 15% more damage and take 15% less damage himself. Very bad idea indeed.

BMfox wrote:

Chimere wrote:

I mostly agree with z00mz00m. I will add one thing : it is better at the beginning to kill an human player next to you (ideally someone who attacked another country, even better if he attacked another human player) than to attack an AI.

Early agression is very risky as everyone starts with the same units. An infantry unit is 50% stronger in defense. So attacking with 20 infantry units against a player with also 20 infantry who has the defense advantage plus 15% bonus in his cores is the receipy for disaster.

AI is the safer and best advice. They have interesting recource provinces, a city and a capital which gives you an overal 10% morale boost in all your provinces. As your morale at the start is only 70% and your building and producing time is increaced this is extremely lucerative. By consequence it also makes your economy and resource production grow with 10%. All of that with zero risk. If i can choose in betwee attacking two or 3 AI in the start of the game or a player that will seriously weaken me, my choice is made.

While everyone has the same amount of units, you can concentrate your attack (of course, the opponent can concentrate his defense, but then he can't defend anything). Once you grabbed a key-territory, your opponent HAS to retake it if he does not want to be crippled forever, which means he will be the one attacking and with the clock ticking

Of course, he could be trying to go for your core, and sometimes it is the best strategy, but it is not always possible, and ideally you kept 3-4 units in defense (and since you are the one attacking you kind of know where you have to defend) which means by the time the enemy counter-attack you can have bolstered it either with more infantry or if needed cheap to produce militia, while your attacking force either come back to finish off the enemy counter attack (if strong counter-attack) or carries on invading the enemy (if weak counter-attack).

Can it fail ? yes. Thats' why you pick weak players to do that, or players who are attacking another country.

"Best Guides and Resources for New Players in Cow 1.5"

The title of the guide. If the title would say for moderate and advanced players i would agree with you. But it isn't, it's for beginners and every beginner is by definition a weak player.

BMfox wrote:

"Best Guides and Resources for New Players in Cow 1.5"

The title of the guide. If the title would say for moderate and advanced players i would agree with you. But it isn't it's for beginners and every beginner is by definition a weak player.

Ok, true, this is supposed to be for new players. The advice has to be simplified. And all new players start in 1.5 now, so a lot of old advice may not make sense any more.

Defense is hard. Going on the attack is in many ways easier than trying to guess what all your opponents are going to do. A new player surrounded by experienced players has already lost. No sense worrying about it. Let them at least have some fun

Let's encourage a simple, all-out attack to start the game. Point out how to look for weaknesses and exploit them. Look at the "bonus" units that come with the doctrine. Playing as Comintern? Spam infantry, stack them up, and roll over your neighbor! Playing as Axis? Beeline for motorized infantry, and then attack all-out! It's risky, but at least the player will learn something about movement and combat, and get a feel for how fun the game can be.

As was said above this is a guide for someone who joined the game 5 minutes ago and is playing their first game. The beauty of this game is that there is no universal strategy. There is no single path to victory.

The most important thing is to observe and anticipate the enemy. Watch what the enemy does and make a move to counteract it. Every unit that your enemy uses has a weakness that you can exploit. learning these strengths and weaknesses is an important part of the game.

Enjoy your journey, and the lessons you learn about the game and yourself along the way.