Since the release of CoW 2.0, there has been a major increase in the strategy of capgrabbing. For those of us who don't know, capgrabbing is the act of attacking another nation for the sole purpose of taking their capital, for morale purposes or otherwise. The reason this is being more of an issue lately is because of the +10% morale factor that is issued whenever you conquer an enemy capital. This is enough to prevent any recently conquered provinces (at 25% morale) from revolting at day-change. I'm not saying this is a bad idea, but everyone should be on alert, because you never know when it might happen to you. The person who does it could be you next-door neighbor, or someone from halfway around the world.
Because of this, I am making this simple guide including some helpful measures to reduce the chance of being at risk of capgrabbing. These tips are listed below:
Because of this, I am making this simple guide including some helpful measures to reduce the chance of being at risk of capgrabbing. These tips are listed below:
- Keep your capital inland. This means that your capital should not be close to a border with another nation, or even the coastline for that matter. This may not be possible from day 1, but once you start expanding this is definitely something that you should consider. I usually try to have at least 3 provinces between my capital city and a border. This means that any potential capgrabbers will have to go through at least 3 provinces to get to my capital province. Depending on what terrain the provinces are, it could take several hours for the enemy to get through those provinces.
- No coastline capitals! This may seen obvious, but you wouldn't believe how many players I've seen keep their capital on the coastline, or even worse, MOVE their capital TO the coastline! This makes it way easier for someone to just sneak in and take your capital out. If you start with a coastline capital, you should move it inland as soon as possible. This might be hard for some nations, especially island nations (like Japan, Cuba, etc) but once they start getting their feet wet in the mainland they should move their capital there.
- Don't leave it undefended! I have seen dozens of players that, once they have conquered a large area, they leave their capital (or even their entire homeland for that matter) undefended, moving most all of their troops to the frontlines! Let's say that someone attacks you while you are asleep with the intention of capgrabbing - they can take it out with no pushback! When you wake up, it might want to make you rage-quit. I suggest keeping at least 3 defense-specialized units (infantry, armored car, etc) in your capital, and at least 1 defense-specialized unit in each of your core cities. PRO TIP: Keep an interceptor (preferrably the one you start out with) patrolling over your capital to defend it from air assaults.
- Build fortresses. This will only help if you are doing Step 3, but it's important nonetheless. These will give additional defense to your defending units and make it even harder for someone to take out your capital while you are AFK. They're not too expensive to build, and having them at level 3 can prevent the enemy from seeing the garrison, as well as giving your troops a 50% defense bonus (combined with the 15% homeland defense bonus)