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Imperialism seriesVen's Play-by-Play notes on Nigh On Impossible(12 posts)(12 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted December 12, 2012
Hey gang, I'm Ven and I've been playing Imperialism since the late 90's.

I've noticed (as I'm sure most of you have) that Imperialism doesn't have a serious internet following anymore, and there doesn't exist a comprehensive guide to make the Imperialism experience enjoyable for all. I'm here to help, although I won't be writing a guide as you would expect. What I will be doing is generating a random map and taking notes listing everything I do and why I do them. I will post these notes along with the generation key for the map as well as the occasional save game, so that readers are free to follow along and play the game out just as I did if they wish.

This will be played on the hardest difficulty setting, which as you will see is not all that hard.


First, a quick word regarding nation selection and placement of a capital city
When choosing which nation to play, there are a couple of options:
- A nation that has no land borders with a major power or minor nation;
- A nation that has a land border with a major power only;
- A nation that has a land border with a minor nation only; and
- A nation that has a land border with both major power(s) and minor nation(s).

It's too early to get into the specific strengths and weaknesses of each one, but for now we will play on what I consider the easiest: an isolated island nation. So, click on the globe in the main menu to create a game on a random map. Control-click on the globe in the random game screen to bring up a text box where you can enter codes to get specific generated maps. For this guide, I am using:

Sawash.

The only isolated major power is Devron (AKA Tangland AKA the orange one), and that is us.

So here we are, looking at our options for placing our capital. It has to be within one tile of of water (either ocean or river), and we want it to be near resources while at the same time supporting as many workers as possible. The best bet is on the east coast, Here.

I'm off to clean and cook dinner, but I will hopefully get to more of this tonight or tomorrow morning. Stay tuned...
Posted December 13, 2012
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Veneteaou: Hey gang, I'm Ven and I've been playing Imperialism since the late 90's.

I've noticed (as I'm sure most of you have) that Imperialism doesn't have a serious internet following anymore, and there doesn't exist a comprehensive guide to make the Imperialism experience enjoyable for all. I'm here to help, although I won't be writing a guide as you would expect. What I will be doing is generating a random map and taking notes listing everything I do and why I do them. I will post these notes along with the generation key for the map as well as the occasional save game, so that readers are free to follow along and play the game out just as I did if they wish.

This will be played on the hardest difficulty setting, which as you will see is not all that hard.


First, a quick word regarding nation selection and placement of a capital city
When choosing which nation to play, there are a couple of options:
- A nation that has no land borders with a major power or minor nation;
- A nation that has a land border with a major power only;
- A nation that has a land border with a minor nation only; and
- A nation that has a land border with both major power(s) and minor nation(s).

It's too early to get into the specific strengths and weaknesses of each one, but for now we will play on what I consider the easiest: an isolated island nation. So, click on the globe in the main menu to create a game on a random map. Control-click on the globe in the random game screen to bring up a text box where you can enter codes to get specific generated maps. For this guide, I am using:

Sawash.

The only isolated major power is Devron (AKA Tangland AKA the orange one), and that is us.

So here we are, looking at our options for placing our capital. It has to be within one tile of of water (either ocean or river), and we want it to be near resources while at the same time supporting as many workers as possible. The best bet is on the east coast, Here.

I'm off to clean and cook dinner, but I will hopefully get to more of this tonight or tomorrow morning. Stay tuned...
It looks very promising! I'll follow your guide for sure.
Posted December 17, 2012
Yeah there is a definite lack of guides. I've been playing for around 7 years and I still don't know all the ins and outs!

I always reroll the map if I start bordered with a major power. Trying to compete with the AI in navy AND land army is just too much early on. Those forts are a huge drain on your cash.
Posted December 18, 2012
I apologize for not getting this started sooner; it looks like I may not have a chance to start until after the holidays. That said:
I always reroll the map if I start bordered with a major power. Trying to compete with the AI in navy AND land army is just too much early on. Those forts are a huge drain on your cash.
I've never built forts. Except once I'm making so much money that I can't spend it all. They get in the way of troop movement on the battlefield and don't provide enough benefit to make up for it. Instead, I build a great deal of heavy artillery - which placed in border provinces scares the AI into not attacking unless they greatly outnumber me. And as long as industry/trade/diplomacy are getting my attention, they won't outnumber me.

It's important when you play this game to constantly remind yourself that military is not the be-all-end-all that it is in other 4X games. Military in Imperialism is like a score: it merely represents how successful you have been overall in your play.
Posted January 16, 2013
Post more! I love this!
Posted January 16, 2013
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Celton88: Post more! I love this!
I'm working on it. Honestly, the holidays left me saddled with more projects than I'd expect to come from the holidays, so this might be slow-going for a while.




This community definitely needs it though.
Posted January 21, 2013
On my more recent games I decided to wait until the first turn before building embassies. That way I can avoid having to compete too heavily with other major powers. Would you recommend this tactic or is there a better way? I also use save scumming to reload the first turn if the other major powers claim all the minor nations hat produce coal.
Posted January 21, 2013
I do have a question. I'm in a game right now where I've taken over an entire Major Power except for 2 territories, but the capital is so heavily defended I can't beat it. I lose 11 guys and he loses 3 when we fight. What is the best way to overwhelm that? Or should I just make peace and move on to someone else?
Posted January 26, 2013
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gnarbrag: On my more recent games I decided to wait until the first turn before building embassies. That way I can avoid having to compete too heavily with other major powers. Would you recommend this tactic or is there a better way? I also use save scumming to reload the first turn if the other major powers claim all the minor nations hat produce coal.
You don't need embassies in minor nations at all, because non-aggression pacts only protect existing relationships should you declare war on another country, but it doesn't actually boost the relationship itself.

Instead, just build a trade consulate, make sure you have the largest trade subsidy on them, and then be damn certain to buy resources from them on every single turn. Work on building your merchant marine enough to where you can buy every last resource they sell - that way, no other major power can do the same.
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Celton88: I do have a question. I'm in a game right now where I've taken over an entire Major Power except for 2 territories, but the capital is so heavily defended I can't beat it. I lose 11 guys and he loses 3 when we fight. What is the best way to overwhelm that? Or should I just make peace and move on to someone else?
Two options:

- Move a general into the first tile the enemy can attack, at either the top or bottom of the screen. This opens him up to be attacked by one diagonal row of artillery at a time. Then, move as many heavy artillery into this same row as you can. On the next turn, they will get the first shots on your artillery, but you will be able to pop some of theirs into the yellow/red. Once this happens, if they can't retreat (which they can't because the fort is packed), they will surrender. You can then retreat, heal up, and do it all over again.
- Attack the capital with 8-10 mobile artillery. Move them all the way to the back of the battlefield. If the AI decides that they are powerful enough to take you, they will move units out of the fort in a nice little, strategically-inept single file. Heavy artillery coming for you cannot move and fire in the same turn, so you are able to pop off the ones they send out front first. Eventually, you will either be forced to retreat to protect your units, or they will stop coming at you. If they stop coming, just retreat units one at a time until they continue to advance. Rinse and repeat these attacks as many times as you have to.
Post edited January 26, 2013 by Veneteaou
Posted January 27, 2013
Thanks

I'm having some limited success with this. I guess the "Rinse and Repeat" portion of it is just getting a little old at this point :/

A lot of fun until the end, end game.

*edit* I also need to do a better job of saving. After a couple of those huge battles my program has a tendency to stop responding, losing the last 25 minutes of work. After that happens 3 times it is a little discouraging.
Post edited January 27, 2013 by Celton88
Posted March 25, 2014
I'm kinda sad to see nothing has come of this. I was really looking forward to it.
Posted May 02, 2014
I'd say the most important things on Nigh-on Impossible are industrialisation and to not be the one everyone gangs up on.
Industrialization means to upgrade alot of the same ressource in the same province so that you get free stuff from there. So when you have like 2 coal and 2 iron in one province you get 1 free steel that needs no worker and no raw materials from your pool. And when when that province would make enough steel you even get free hardware=tons of free cash. These don't even need to be connected to your depots or railway system,but the province must have a depot connecting the province city. Especially in the beginning this can be a big boost if you select a country that has provinces with lots of forests(the type that can have lumbermills). Then simply connect that province city first and upgrade your furniture factory a few times (the industrialisation of the provinces is connected to that plus a turn limit in the beginning,so upgrading it too much wont help till a certain turn) and soon the free lumber will roll in.

And to not be the one they gang up on, build a ship of the line when the other powers start making alliances. And then soon a second if they havent found a victim yet.
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Imperialism seriesVen's Play-by-Play notes on Nigh On Impossible(12 posts)(12 posts)
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