Re: MEPBM War Machines

From: Patrick F. McGehearty <patrick@convex.COM>

Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 00:00:00 +0000

In article <52gv2i$4h5@client3.news.psi.net>,  <ALS@email_address> wrote:
>Does anyone have any thoughts on how effective war machines actually are?
>It appears that their timber cost is quite high compared to their
>effectiveness against fortifications in the early stages of the game.  To
>take out a fort requires 30 war machines, or 15,000 timber.
>Also, they appear from the rules to be lost proportionally to army losses.
>Any comments or thoughts on the costs and benefits?

If you are in an economically weak situation, war machines don't look very
exciting.  Their cost of production vs combat power is quite high.
But there are some situations were they can have substantial value,
especially when you are in a resource rich environment.

They only provide 200 combat points vs fortifications, which is the same as
20 HI troops per war machine, but that is applied before any
weather/terrain/commander skill/loyalty modifications are made.  In an
attack of a Mtn Fort by newly recruited troops with a new commander, a
single war machine can provide as much value as 160 HI.  30 war machines
provide as much value as 4800 HI, or 12 turns of recruiting in a MTown.  The
real value of the war machines is provide rapid military buildup in order to
take enemy fortifications before the enemy can develop countermeasures.  For
example, it is unusual for a Free nation to have an army survive 12 turns
without being under agent attack.  To counter that problem, the Free nations
need to coordinate their efforts and ship enough timber to a couple of
points to build enough war machines take out fortified positions in a single
move from when the Darks first spot them.  The proportion of losses are not
relevant, because if the Dark agents have their act together, armies with
war machines will have no commanders after one or at most two battles.

War machines also can be built as part of a rapid recruiting measure to
fight a force that would otherwise move in and capture a critical popcenter.

Finally, some people build war machines because they like the idea of having
such a powerful force, capable of smashing anything in its path. :-)

- Patrick McGehearty
patrick@convex.hp.com

References

MEPBM War Machines
ALS@email_address
Fri, 27 Sep 1996 00:00:00 +0000