1. How MANY early invasions are too many ?

The worst I've seen are 2 invasions, spaced 1 month apart, if you ignore Open Play.

2. If multiple early invasions are coming, what is the spacing in arrival months (this can make a huge difference)?

They need to be close together, because otherwise your city can fall apart because some critical resource (or a critical gate) has been destroyed. Likewise, there are no immigrants during an invasion, so the city can stall if there are a series of overlapping invasions.

3. How BIG are the early invasions (number of enemy troops)

I'd avoid scripted invasions. Just set the Favor low to start with, and then use a Reduce Favor event or three to force the invasion. That ensures an invasion if NO forts are build, but leaves the player wondering if she wasted resources if there's no invasion. The playability is greatly enhanced.

If you want to force an invasion anyway, bring in about 50% more strength than the player will be able to muster, so that defensive strategy, and Gauntlets, becomes a major factor.

Or .... you can simply overwhelm any possible defense, thereby forcing a surrender, and then use smaller subsequent invasions that the player MUST defend. That approach is used in Qin.

4. What is the aggressiveness setting of the invading troops ? (lower aggression = retreat after taking fewer casualties)

Not true. Aggressiveness only effects the search range, and thereby the likelihood of early engagement. Hit points are Hit points.

5. How much starting cash does the player have to use for bribes ?

Forget bribing at Very Hard. Compared to Normal, buildings cost 50% more, bribes cost 100% more, and you have 75% as much starting cash.

6. What kind of map resources and/or early gifts does the player have to quickly build his army ?

Jade with a customer or two for Carved Jade, plus the ability to raise and import Raw Silk with a customer or two. And the ability to import weapons.

7. Does the player have any early allies/vassals he can call for defensive aid ?

You can't afford it at Very Difficult. You'll have to give two maximum valuable gifts just to prevent the Ally or Vassal from rebelling. Better that you spend the same money on Weapons.

Also, if the invasion is within the first several months, you'll only get 4 or 5 units because the Military hasn't developed as yet. Asking for assistance from multiple cities DOES NOT increase the offered troops, but it DOES make each of the requested cities mad at you. Ask for assistance from the city with the MOST shields, if that's your only choice.

8. Is there adequate early commodities to use for homage gifts to summon a Hero to help fight ?

Jade and Silk are the only commodities that will develop quickly enough to get a Hero within the first 18 months.

9. How big is the city map ? Where are the invasion points in relation to the most likely place the player will build ?

It depends more on the Rivers than on the size of the map. Rivers can't be protected with a Wall, so they are natural entry points.

10. Will the invaders bring catapults ? (HUGE difference if they don't bring them)

Not that I've noticed. Catapults are too slow and too easy to pick off if you use Cavalry to attack from the rear flank. It only takes infantry about 2 days to punch through a City Gate.

11. The difficulty level played at (my goal: the situation should still be winnable even if played at 'very hard')

Design it at Very Hard.

12. How many 'warning months' are the invasions set to give the player ?

Never more than 3 months. Force the player to use spies.

Marvl, thanks for the excellent input.

I beg to differ with you about the aggressiveness setting of invaders having an affect on how many casualties they will accept before retreating. It's stated on page 31 of the Campaign Creator .pdf, and I've observed it to be accurate (it's most recognizable when comparing 'turtle' invasions to 'fierce dragon' ones). Perhaps you just read my words wrong; I didn't say their hit points were lowered, I just said the casualty threshold to trigger a retreat is lower.

You make good points about using 'subtract favor' and/or 'set favor' events to let the AI trigger invasions instead of scripting them, but there are several advantages to scripting, such as:

1. You can be certain of the size of the invasion force, since you can set it in the event; it's not dependent on the shields the rival city has.

2. You can be certain the invasion will come regardless of the difficulty level the player is using for the game; if a player is using a lower difficulty setting, the 'favor' events won't guarantee invasions coming at a specific time.

3. You can be certain of the aggressiveness level and targeting category the invaders will use; you lose most of the ability to micro-manage these in invasions triggered by the AI, after 'favor' events.

4. Scripted invasions let you change the 'warning months' the player gets before the invasion arrives; in non-scripted invasions you just get the default everytime (which is what? 6 months?) .

I would prefer to avoid intentionally 'overwhelming' the player with an impossible invasion early on, even if it got easier after that. My fear would be that they would just quit the campaign out of frustration, thinking the mission was too imbalanced. But I admit this is a personal preference for a designer, and adequate hints given in mission splash-screens or in a text file in the campaign download could explain what the intention was. Indeed, it could be interesting to design a campaign in which it is intended for the player to be conquered, and then they have to fight their way back to freedom.

Catapults are a big difference because of their range, and their ability to wipe out a whole fort of your troops with only a couple of hits. They force the player to maneuver against them (quickly), as you stated, which changes how the player carries out his defense. Perhaps it can be boiled down to this: when the enemy brings catapults, you can't just sit behind your walls and let your ranged fire win the day. When they don't bring catapults, you can get away with this tactic.

[This message has been edited by Gweilo (edited 02-07-2003 @ 11:21 AM).]

Far be it from me to argue with anything MarvL says (and BTW, MarvL, I've printed out your food buyers exit points graphic and use it constantly), but I often get heroes (ancestral ones at least) into the city by the beginning of the second year (your #8). If Sheng Nong is available, I try to get him by the second February (so I can build farms and plant wheat), if it's Huang Di, then I want him by March to plant silk. Two medium gifts very early (when you still need only four) usually do the trick. I start my ceramics industry as soon as I can, or if I have salt I use that, and import some medium priced commodity (such as paper).

I've played through the whole game on very hard, and I've dealt with some early invasions (until I learned how to forestall them). July of the second year would be earliest I would care to see an invasion. If it came (or was threatened) earlier, I would restart and see how I could avoid it (not possible if you're going to do all scripted ones--which perhaps would be a good idea if you don't want restarters like me avoiding them all the time). Definitely an easy-to-open trade route that sells weapons would be good (it takes so long to get foundries and weaponsmiths going). And do allow the palace, it's less trouble than building elites, unless the city itself is manufacturing silk. You could make wood more difficult to come by, thereby making catapults and crossbowmen more difficult to build without leaving the player feeling defenseless.

Like MarvL, I have never asked for defensive help from allies or vassals (it just plain costs too much at very hard). I never became a vassal myself either (remember, I'm the great restarter!). I rarely bribed invasions--usually only when I had a month or two to go on a monument before victory and was rolling in money anyway.

Hopes this helps in some small way. I'll look forward to seeing some new scenarios from you.

8. Is there adequate early commodities to use for homage gifts to summon a Hero to help fight ?

Like Lucy, I've gotten a hero at or before the beginning of the second year by giving two medium gifts very early. If I can import some cheap junk, I'll give them that. Other times I might plant hemp in the first year and use some of that as homage. Anything that is cheap and readily available will do.

Lucy and Grumpus -- I appreciate your feedback. The campaign I'm currently working on is in line with your comments.