Barracks spamming on day 1

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    • Barracks spamming on day 1

      So on all the games Ive joined so far there's always that one guy or more that just spams barracks on every one of his core provinces regardless of how much manpower is actually made in that place.
      Is this a sign of someone who doesnt know what theyre doing or is this legit?
      Does it also mean they have to be golding to even afford all that AND everything that follows? I can understand lack of manpower in the beginning but not to THAT degree lol.
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    • Each level of a barracks increases manpower. A level 1 barracks increase manpower of the province by 10%. Some core provinces have less than 100 manpower.

      However, I don't see spamming barracks on day 1 as a good use of initial resources.
      To me, to do it on day 1 in all barracks without using gold seems like a waste of initial resources. To use gold to get resources and build barracks in all provinces seems to me a waste of gold.

      So on the plus size, all those barracks do raise their available manpower per day.
      In my opinion, most of them don't know what they are doing. Seems to me that they could put gold and resources to better use. Each level 1 barracks does generate 10% more manpower per day. So over time they would have more manpower from their core provinces to use on military units.
      In their provinces with industrial complexes, they could spam infantry (using gold to buy the resources). it would still take time to get enough additional manpower to get additional military. If manpower from their cores without barracks was enough to buy 10 infantry, then after 24 hours of all cores with barracks, they would be able to buy 11 infantry with their manpower instead of 10 infantry. It does take other resources to buy those infantry which could be used for other things. So, in the short term, it isn't that helpful. In the longer term, they are cranking out more manpower which could allow them to produce a larger military.

    • I've seen experienced and otherwise knowledgeable players (whom I respect) do this. Personally, I think it's a major misallocation of scarce cash, goods and food early in the game, and just plain dumb. If your game strategy requires high manpower production, there are much better ways to do it than building an L1 barracks in every province on Day 1. Building any kind of barracks in your bottom 10 manpower-producing provinces can be remarkably inefficient and costly; e.g., what does an L3 barracks buy you in a province that produces 47 men per day, at a cost of $25,000, 5,000 tons of food, and 5,000 tons of goods? (Hint: 50% of 47.) If you really need that extra manpower production, focus on building barracks in your top 10 manpower-producing provinces, and don't waste resources on the least populous.

    • When I see the newspaper littered with this I know immediately several things about this player.

      In 36 hours there will be a militia for every one of those barracks. I know they won't have resources to build much else if they are dumping it all into militia. I know that militia are slow, so in a week or so they might get from one side of their country to the other in order to make a large fighting force, so they aren't a threat to me in the near future. I also suspect if they are building that many militia they will be using them mixed in every stack.

      So in short this strategy might work against the player to sends lone light tanks into their territory, but it won't help much against planes or artillery.
      War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin keep out of the way til you can. - Winston Churchill



      VorlonFCW
      Retired from Bytro staff as of November 30, 2020.

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    • There are some countries, on some maps, where building a large number of barracks and militia makes sense.
      This situation occurs when the country has few initial industrial complexes, very limited production of iron and oil, but abundant production of manpower, goods and food.

    • WayneBo wrote:

      There are some countries, on some maps, where building a large number of barracks and militia makes sense.
      @Wayne: Look at your current game, sort your provinces based on manpower production, and do the math. Using my example above, it never makes sense to build barracks in a province whose daily manpower production is 47. Even with an L3 barracks, the manpower bonus is 22 or 23 more men per day at a ridiculous cost.

      It rarely makes sense to spam L1 barracks in your bottom 5 or 10 manpower-producing provinces. It's far better to build L3 barracks in your top 5 or 10, where the +50% manpower-production bonus can actually do some good relative to the cost in resources.

    • haha I didnt think this would start such a large conversation =O
      Ive just started about 6 days ago and Im in 4 games. So far Ive been able to take advantage of them and trade my food for other stuff like iron with them, and Im percieving them as much less of a threat than the others who have put their money into factories, roads, or airbases.
      Fun game! I think Im hooked :rolleyes:
      Its also great playing the capitalist on the market when people post absurdly low prices or insanely high ones if theyre buying lol...

    • MontanaBB wrote:

      and do the math. Using my example above, it never makes sense to build barracks in a province whose daily manpower production is 47.
      In the cases of folks building barracks and militia in every province their priority is to get as many units as fast as they can. They are firm believers in the "militia are cheap and fast" theory. So they build 20 barracks to do that with.

      In my estimation they will have 20 militia on day 3 from the rural barracks, and if they also built antitanks and artillery in their cities, followed closely by antiair, they would have a good defensive force for several more days if they used them effectively. The problem comes that you have burned through a lot of food and manpower to make those militia, so now you have a struggle t.o grow. You are also married to feeding those militia unless you send them off to die in battle.


      Sadly I have not seen anyone who starts out in love with militia like that use them very effectively. I am sure such players exist.
      War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin keep out of the way til you can. - Winston Churchill



      VorlonFCW
      Retired from Bytro staff as of November 30, 2020.

      >>> Click Here to submit a bug report or support ticket <<<

    • VorlonFCW wrote:

      MontanaBB wrote:

      and do the math. Using my example above, it never makes sense to build barracks in a province whose daily manpower production is 47.
      In the cases of folks building barracks and militia in every province their priority is to get as many units as fast as they can. They are firm believers in the "militia are cheap and fast" theory. So they build 20 barracks to do that with.
      In my estimation they will have 20 militia on day 3 from the rural barracks, and if they also built antitanks and artillery in their cities, followed closely by antiair, they would have a good defensive force for several more days if they used them effectively. The problem comes that you have burned through a lot of food and manpower to make those militia, so now you have a struggle t.o grow. You are also married to feeding those militia unless you send them off to die in battle.


      Sadly I have not seen anyone who starts out in love with militia like that use them very effectively. I am sure such players exist.
      I have done this many of times and it has worked for me ;)
      Stringfellow Hawke
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    • I personally don't think this is a good strategy because it expends A LOT of starting Goods and Grain on those Barracks, and then it costs more Grain to upkeep them. I typically only build a Barracks in a region with an industrial complex, and then train infantry from it while I build either roads or airports. I don't think spamming a Barracks on Day 1 is a good idea also because it REALLY damages your Grain output in the long run and, honestly, doesn't give much manpower in return.
      “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.”

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