Hello I am applepieofdeath and today I thought I'd show
something a bit different.
I am actually working on another project but I'd thought I'd
take a break from it since I haven't played the actual game
in awhile and I also discovered that there are some people
who still believe the ONLY sensible way to win as the ELF is
is to delete the changeling military or have allies.
If that is your preference, go ahead,
I am not above certain cheesing as you will see in this run
and I know sometimes doing things the "right" way
isn't always fun for everyone, but I thought I'd show it's
not necessary to go THAT far.
All this being said, I am not considering this
a "true" guide since there are certain harsher conditions
will mention later that I enjoy doing the ELF in
that may or may not apply to you.
But I hope showing how to do it in a more extreme case
can give you some ideas, especially if you're more new.
If you've seen my montage on the ELF,
I will not be completely replicating that,
since some of my tactics there was for the sake of drama
and not practicality.
These videos shall be mostly about gameplay and not story
unless I feel it's relevant
and I will do my best to keep my biases from both
EaW and MLP out of it, but I won't make any promises.
Now for those conditions I mentioned,
I do this on Elite difficulty,
New Mareland will leave the UPA,
and I will eventually be liberating a bit more than
just Equestria.
I normally play on ahistorical
but for the sake of being a bit more generally applicable
I'll keep historical on.
Though messing with New Mareland
may have ruined that if the AI responds.
I will also mention
I did savescum a few times and there was one update to
EaW halfway into recording but this isn't a challenge video
and nothing about the update should affect
the general strategy.
Okay, research: nothing but industry not even electronics,
Build enough mils for the Great War then nothing but civs.
And this will do for now.
Thorax is gone so
I then separated the jaegers and tanks into one army group.
The rest into the second as my main line
which I will convert entirely into queen's guards.
In early wars, quantity over quality.
Now, I set up recruitment to
fully fill my main line (120 divisions total)
but I got really lazy with the math here
I ended up ordering too many and
I highly recommend you also
bring them out in bigger batches.
I'll also give Trimmel defensive doctrine
so later one he has less attack capabilities.
Free trade to boost the industry.
And also strike a deal with Skyfall
Remember, right now quantity over quality
I don't have much to say about the war with Olenia itself
but
while not crucial,
it is preferable that when they're about to surrender,
or they do surrender,
you use their major status to start a quick justification
against Nova Griffonia (or Virgilia if their still alive).
In this case I started with the bears also
since they weren't responding to my envoy,
but it turns out to just be a delay
or faulty memory on how long it takes.
The AI can't hold at this stage
so just keep encircling any you'll be fine.
Just like before
at close to the conclusion to the war,
start justifying on the next enemy,
in this case, Stalliongrad.
Now draw a fallback line like this,
let them overextend and break through.
Same deal, war almost done, justify on the Y/Jaks.
Note that I've left the Pinguins alone for now.
After dealing with the Y/Jaks,
the north should be mostly be your puppets
and with that it is now time to
prepare for the invasion of Equestria.
Preparations are complete,
the main line has been filled,
unmodified jaegers maxed
and tanks at four.
Politics are more focused on maximizing
civilian factory construction
spies deployed,
and this was my industry at the time.
So here is the modified template I used for the main line.
Yes it does look like garbage.
But that's the point.
After I switch over, they'll be stuck with this
and either they'll sacrifice veterancy,
or make new divisions entirely from scratch.
But since Equestria has militarized,
will it hold?
It doesn't have to,
my puppets, who I will not call in,
have created a massive border that has stretched
UPA forces so thin even these divisions can break-through.
I think I should take this moment to also mention
when I first tried this strategy I did not take the north
and the UPA divisions were strong enough
to think about attacking me.
However in those times they had only
just militarized so while they did push in for a bit
they eventually burned themselves out.
Though that is not a factor this time.
What IS important however, is
you do not stop encircling.
This area looks probably good?
Ok let me check this side.
That fine? Ok, etc. etc. Don't focus on one division.
As you can see, after a few months
they're now struggling to keep the front filled,
but don't stop until I would recommend like 70-80% empty,
in terms of industry and ponypower, they CAN bounce back
Speaking of industry, let's go total mob.
And also waste infantry expertise on less attack.
They seem weak enough now I think I'm gonna take the
Jaegers and tanks on a road trip,
take some souvenirs
all. the. way. down. to. Mane.hatten.
Now this is arguably the most important part,
pay attention these three provinces
especially the middle one.
I'm going to start building it up.
Now you could just halt your armies
to give yourself more time,
but to make this seem a bit more, "natural",
I won't order Trimmel to stop.
The main priority is to build a fort line like this
with the beginning and end behind rivers.
The reason why I don't just go directly south-west
from Summerfield is because,
while I can't secure the Manehattan province,
I can fully secure the other two this way.
Originally this is what I used to use,
but I realized later on this no longer works,
so here's my new construction priorities of level 5 forts.
Now I said forts are the most important, but
civs and infrastructure take a lot longer to build
so as long as the fort line is being built,
I can make sure it's not the only thing.
Also do not forget max AA.
As the war ends,
plunge the Changelings into war with the Pinguins
and Dragons in hopes that they burn out
some of the veterans in the process.
With that ends part 1, see you in part 2.