When to FOG2 Export?

[MarkShot]

Of course, export if you like to fight.

In TW, auto-resolution usually led to 20% higher casualties for you. In long wars of attrition, auto-resolve could be very costly.

Here one would think only when combat power is close to export. (I find the the auto-resolve to usually be very accurate relative to human results.)

But I think another case is when frontage looks like it will negate your combat power. Why? Well, in the auto-resolve, the implementation of frontage is fairly rigid. But the implementation on a 2D FOG2 map is not nearly as rigid.

For example, yesterday it appeared that my huge skirmisher advantage would have been negated. So, I exported. I did put my "impact foot heavies" way back in the max frontage (which was limited, but fit them well). The skirmisher force deployed and rushed way forward. In essence the skirmishers (too much for frontage) swarmed the enemy and effectively won the battle before the enemy even reached my static heavy defense. Even if they had reached, my static line, their absolute numbers were way down.

So, I believe when frontage would hand you far less killing power than your combat rating, you should export and use time/space to negate frontage.

Comments? Thanks.

[jhornborg]

I usually export battles if the odds are closer than 65/35, or if I'm expecting to fight another battle with the army the next turn. I'm not worried about suffering a few extra casualties through autoresolve if I'll have a turn or two to recover losses.

[Demetrios_of_Messene]

In the beginning of a game with a fragile army and nation I tend to almost always manually play in FOG2, as the loss of a single unit can be hard to replace. More worrying is the loss of a high-skilled general, which can happen even during an easy battle and this is something I definitely do not want to risk.

Gradually, I tend to play less battles myself, focusing on the most critical or difficult ones.

Mid to late game, when I can replenish whole armies easily and generals are not so crucial to the big picture I mostly auto-resolve. I usually have powerful armies by then that can fend for themselves and it is not a big deal if they are occasionally defeated. At that point I prefer to manually play only battles that are somehow interesting to me (Vs an exotic army or if a victorious enemy has a high chance of wrecking havoc in too many of my home provinces etc.)


PS: If the king in a monarchy could be designated as a general, I would be tempted to manually play his battles for role-playing reasons, but this is not an option now.