Fortify Population Center: Order No. 494

"'Then the brothers of Maedhros drew back, and fortified a great camp in Hithlum.'" (S)

If there is a single lesson to be learned to improve game play, it must be "Think Economics". Anytime a player can use resources more effectively than the enemy, that player will succeed. This is true in every facet of the game. It just so happens that some orders are obvious in their economic usefulness: using companies so that a number of characters only need to use one move order; hiring troops with armor instead of later making the armor; hiring heavy infantry instead of light infantry. Some orders are more subtle. The economic usefulness isn't readily apparent at first glance. One such order is Fortify Population Center.

There are no two ways to cut it. This is an expensive order to use.

First of all, it requires a Commander to use an Average Skill order. This means that for any reasonable chance of success, a commander of at least l rank 40 needs to be present. However, because it is a command order, command artifacts will help in the success of this order being carried out. Fortunately, as a side bonus, successful use of the order will increase the command rank by 1-5 points. This is the ONLY order a commander can issue outside of an army to directly increase the command skill (Issue Personal Challenge - 210, notwithstanding). This is a nice bonus considering the cost of this order. As a final note, regarding commanders, only one successful order is allowed per population center per turn, although it would be humorous if the rules allowed otherwise ("Sire, our scouts report the camp is unfortified!" "Well, then, Charge!" "Hey! Where'd that Citadel come from?")

Secondly, the gold and timber outlay are tremendous. See table 494-1, below. Looking at the information initially is somewhat misleading. This is because a player must first have the underlying fortification in place in order to improve the fortification level (I.E.: There needs to be a Keep at the population center before a Citadel can be erected.). This places the true cost of a fortification to be equal to the sum of all fortifications before it, as well as itself. As a result, starting fortifications are a valuable commodity. This is especially true when one realizes that timber is generally one of the more expensive commodities in the game. It is not unusual to have to pay 10 gold or more per unit of Timber. This can make a measly tower cost nearly 11000 gold!

Third, and perhaps most subtle, is the long term maintenance costs: 500 gold per fortification level per turn! Interestingly enough, the more fortifications a population center has, the more cost effective it is to maintain them. A tower, which costs 1000 gold and 1000 timber, has a maintenance of 500 gold per turn (half of the gold cost). while a Keep (8000 gold/timber) has an upkeep equal to only a quarter of its initial gold outlay.

So why is the order to improve fortifications so cost effective? There are fivereasons: 1) Fortifications allows a player to raise a bigger defense in a population center than the rules would otherwise allow, 2) Fortification Defensive Values are added to the population center's defensive value, and then modified by loyalty, 3) Fortifications prevent population centers from degrading, 4)They can be raised as an an army is invading, and 5) Fortifications stop enemy movement. A player gets ALL of these benefits just by issuing a single order (That and a Command Rank bonus, to boot!). Lets examine these reasons.

First, fortifications allow a player to raise a bigger defense in population center than the rules would otherwise allow. Presume for a moment two Commanders in a City. Normally, despite having two commanders in the same hex, the MAXIMUM defense that could be raised per turn, presuming sufficient resources, is 500 Heavy Cavalry in Mithril Armor (16000 constitution). More typically, a player will raising 500 Heavy Infantry with No Armor (5000 constitution). This is because each population center has a maximum limit of troops that can be hired there. However, with sufficient resources, a player can exceed this population center defense by raising fortifications. Now, instead of merely adding 5000 defensive points to a hex, a player can add 7000 or more in a single turn. If reading this does not impress upon you how significant this is, then you have never played a front line nation like the Northmen, Woodmen, Dragon Lord or Witch King!

Secondly, Fortification Defensive Values are added directly to the population center's inherent defensive value, then modified by loyalty. The rules show that in order to calculate out a population centers defense, one takes the population center's defensive value, and adds to it the fortification defense value. This number is multiplied times 100% + the loyalty of the population center, expressed as a percent. Thus, a 20 loyalty camp with a Tower has a defensive value of (200 + 2000) x 120% or 2640! Now it is critical to remember that an invading army's war machines LOWER the amount of fortification points available to be modified BEFORE any final calculations take place (at the rate of 200 points per war machine).Thus, if our same camp was attacked by an army with even a single warmachine in it, the defensive value drops to (200 + (2000-200)) x 120% or 2400. What these calculations mean, is that fortifications provide an added value beyond the mere defensive value shown. Take Minas Tirith for example: as a city/citadel, starting with a loyalty of 100, its defensive value is a staggering (5000 + 24000) x 200% or 58000! To even come CLOSE to this defense in an army, a player would pay upkeep of at LEAST 10875 per turn (presuming all heavy cavalry in Mithril armor), or four times what Minas Tirith actually costs to maintain.

Third, Fortifications prevent population centers from degrading. This can be very important for cash strapped nations, such as the Witch King. These nations can increase their taxation level to 80% or more without fear of losing their population centers due to low loyalty. This is because a population center will not degrade as long as it contains either a fortification or a character belonging to that nation. As a corollary to this, fortifications ALSO help to prevent an enemy from threatening a population center. In game 92, Aragorn, with BOTH of his command artifacts, and a 400 HC army, failed to threaten away a camp at 1804. Why (other than bad luck)? Because 1804 had a Fort.

Fourth, Fortifications can be thrown up as an enemy approaches. On most player maps, players can see invading armies approaching obvious targets. A clever player may wait until the last possible turn to increase the fortifications. This has two immeadiate effects. First, the invading army will have no scouting report of the fortification until the turn they actually enter the population center. This can really put some rain on the invader's parade! Secondly, as the fortification didn't exist (or wasn't improved), chances are the invader will not have sent an agent in to reduce the fortification levels. Either way, the defender can possibly buy at least one more valuable turn as the invader brings in more resources in order to capture or destroy the population center.

Fifth, and finally, fortifications stop enemy army movement. This is an astounding ability that can make or break a war, especially when combined with the above described tactic of waiting to throw up fortifications until the last moment. Many crafty players will put a measely camp in the middle of a road or pass leading to their more valuable territories (hex 1906, in front of Mt. Gram, is an excellent example of this). Then, when an enemy army draws near, the blocking population center gets an instant fortification. Even a lowly tower will stop the biggest invading army in its tracks for a single turn. This single turn can mean an extra turn of hiring, consolidating characters, bringing in friendly agents or even clearing out the area before the big battle occurs. (However, it is important to remember, as mentioned above, this order is of Average Difficulty to issue. A player can embarrass themselves by not having the order succeed. Thus it is important to assign fortification improvement to at least a 40 rank commander.)

In conclusion, a player interested in maximizing the effectiveness of their nation will definately use or be aware of the implications contained in this order. There are too many nations that use this order on a regular basis to ignore it.

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Text Copyright 1999 by Jeffery A. Dobberpuhl. All game mechanics and terms are Copyright 1993 by Tolkien Enterprises, as produced, designed and distributed by Game Systems, Inc. *Note that the information in this Table is taken from the Middle Earth Play By Mail Third Age Circa 2950 Rulebook, by Game Systems, Inc.