Most efficient way to wipe out a super power

[Antiochus_Soter]

What is the most efficient way to wipe out a super power like the Selucids or Egypt?

Because they have so many provinces, it is going to take at least 6 wars. So which of these strategies for each war would be the most efficient way to wipe them out?

1) Fight short wars and in each war, just fight until you get the 40% or 60% war score (whichever it is to ensure that they will suffer a stability drop by refusing a moderate tribute in peace) and try to get about 3 or 4 provinces. Then build up your manpower for the next war.

2) Sacrifice more manpower and try to get a war score of 99%, i.e. by capturing about 80% of their provinces, then in the peace negotiations you can get about 6 provinces, but then it will take longer to build up the manpower to allow you to start the new war.

3) Go all out and fight really long wars ensuring that you capture every single one of their provinces so that you get the full 100% war score and then demand 7 or 8 provinces, even if it means sacrificing just about all of your armies (so you end up with 40 unit cohorts that only have about 2,000 troops surviving)

It seems like option 1 is probably the most efficient right? Just get that 40% war score that forces them to conceed provinces whose combined value is under 40 points or esle take a stability hit. That way you still can get about 3 provinces in the peace deal without losing too many men in the war. 3 provinces is not that much but that will actually make you 6 provinces stronger than they are (you gain 3 and they lose 3), then in the next war maybe try to get 4, and in the next one take 5. Then after about 3 wars and 60-70 years of game time you have pretty much broken their backs....

What do other people tend to do? Short quick wars to grab a few provinces? Or all out wars of annihilation?

 

[Wave]

I'd say it depends a lot on the superpower. I usually try to achieve some goal and after that another and then eventually I have annexed the country if all goes right.

A couple of examples with different large countries:

1.Take all coastal provinces you can. If it's possible to have them all you don't have to worry about their navy and bringing in more troops is much easier. With Rome this is rather impossible but i.e. Seleucids are good target with this.

2. Cut the nation to two pieces. This tactic should be used always. Rush a highway trough their country to give their provinces "no land connection to capital" penalty. If you can totally "insulate" their capital, go for it. Then they're in deep yellow liquid.

3. Once you've taken some provinces from the enemy and you're in peace build stockades immediately. In the next war they will very soon siege those provinces and if you can double the time it takes you're already on the winning side as then you can take 2 provinces during the time they take 1.

4. If possible throw in a couple of barbarians. If you're fighting Rome as Gaul country take the advantage of your rather aggressive neighbours and start a barbarian snowball that will eventually aim towards Roma and cause some mess. The cons are that they will attack you as well and may suddenly accept peace or grab their lands and become their own country.

EDIT: 800th Post! Caek for everyone, 200 to go!

 

[Antiochus_Soter]

I'd say it depends a lot on the superpower. I usually try to achieve some goal and after that another and then eventually I have annexed the country if all goes right.

2. Cut the nation to two pieces. This tactic should be used always. Rush a highway trough their country to give their provinces "no land connection to capital" penalty. If you can totally "insulate" their capital, go for it. Then they're in deep yellow liquid.

Yep I have used that tactic against the Seleucids but I think it is a little gamey. One thing you can do is surround some of their provinces so they can't access them and then support rebels there. They wont be able to suppress the rebellion and then those provinces will declare independence. before they declare independence you can even proclaim a gaurantee on the main nation, which will give you a cassus belli against the rebelling provinces so that you can quickly gobble them up.

But I consider this tactic a little gamey and a-historical. It makes your Empire look patchy and ugly and is just not historically realistic. Why would the rival nation agree to such a treaty settlement? It is only because it is the AI that it allows these kinds of peace agreements...

 

[Cheexsta]

"Efficient" and "wipe out superpower" don't really work well together in a single sentence

I've had some very positive results in undermining a superpower using intrigue. Use high-finesse characters (no less than 9; preferably 10 or 11) to smear the reputation of the ruler, which will drop the loyalty of his followers. Encourage the disloyalty of powerful generals and governors. If you're at war, do your best to drain their manpower by fighting defensively, and sue for peace after reaching 40 warscore just to drop their stability.

In war, I prefer to chip away at important provinces rather than trying to go for 99% Warscore, since it's just too costly to do so, especially in manpower. Try to get to 40% as soon as possible, which can be achieved by holding just a handful of provinces, blockading a bunch of ports, and winning as many battles as possible. Sue for peace, asking just for one or two important (i.e. high manpower) provinces at a time.

Don't be afraid to break a truce if you know you can afford the pig stabbings anyway. You can keep hitting them in this way and just be completely relentless. It'll still take a couple of decades of tough wars, but it's possible.

 

[tului]

I'd say it depends a lot on the superpower. I usually try to achieve some goal and after that another and then eventually I have annexed the country if all goes right.

A couple of examples with different large countries:

1.Take all coastal provinces you can. If it's possible to have them all you don't have to worry about their navy and bringing in more troops is much easier. With Rome this is rather impossible but i.e. Seleucids are good target with this.

2. Cut the nation to two pieces. This tactic should be used always. Rush a highway trough their country to give their provinces "no land connection to capital" penalty. If you can totally "insulate" their capital, go for it. Then they're in deep yellow liquid.

3. Once you've taken some provinces from the enemy and you're in peace build stockades immediately. In the next war they will very soon siege those provinces and if you can double the time it takes you're already on the winning side as then you can take 2 provinces during the time they take 1.

4. If possible throw in a couple of barbarians. If you're fighting Rome as Gaul country take the advantage of your rather aggressive neighbours and start a barbarian snowball that will eventually aim towards Roma and cause some mess. The cons are that they will attack you as well and may suddenly accept peace or grab their lands and become their own country.

EDIT: 800th Post! Caek for everyone, 200 to go!

I'm celebrating 1500 posts in...1 more post.