Feary M/t defensive tactics

[kwijybow]

Question for you all. As some of the forum regulars may know already, I was rather annoyed by the changes to the game since I played last. Ive been trying to adjust to the new mentality of offense is your best defense. I have found a kingdom worthy of defending me however I remember many people suggesting keeping a standing army to deter people from attacking me. Fear of retal. Now a thought that came to my mind, would it be worth it to devote like 5% of my land to stables so my elites would have horses? Would anyone be deterred from attacking a Feary province if it had horses amassed to match elites? I know it wouldn't be much of an offense...just wondering if it would even be enough to matter?

[noobium]

They wouldn't be deterred, but 5% stables on a Faery is useful for creating the offense necessary to send out safely, or at least safer than without them, once war starts. You would really want to be able to mass nightmare/nightstrike as a kingdom, and have an appropriate target lined up - most likely an attacker of equal or greater acreage, who would have the offense to tear apart your top and needs to be brought down asap.

While the stables are decent for retal purposes, Faery elites are expensive and they can't afford to spend land on hospitals, so you really would want to avoid retaliating. Better to have attackers close enough to your size to retal on your behalf. Still, having the option to retal - or to hit into an exposed attacker with 15-20dpa oow - is better than not having that option. You don't need stables for that, but stables are useful for reducing not just how exposed you are to attack, but for reducing the number of elites spent on those retals.
Of course if you have offspecs then retaliation is a lot easier, but offspecs on faery (or halfer for that matter) are problematic for so many reasons.

[Bukharistan]

Would never run stables as a faery. If you need to send out you can always wait for some army to come home and steal their horses --> 2-3 ops and you'll have enough for every troop sent.

[Persain]

if you're scared of being hit as a feary run schools/hospitals. Its better to minimize the damage done then waste your def ambushing/hitting. Feary/elf/halfling are typically still about runing as much def as you can. The "offense is the best def" for these prov comes in by have attackers in you kd that can retal for you.

[Bukharistan]

Agree with Persain. There is no way you can effectively defend yourself as a faery. On top of that you usually have more recourses than attackers (both science and gold/runes), so in a trade-off you'll always lose.

[Palem]

Would never run stables as a faery. If you need to send out you can always wait for some army to come home and steal their horses --> 2-3 ops and you'll have enough for every troop sent.

I ran stables last age :p

I wasn't a TM...but yea. Ran high homes too lol

[noobium]

I ran stables last age :p

[kwijybow]

I tried running stables when I rerolled Elf for a few weeks. I didn't get attacked nearly as much as my first Feary province did, but I also had a slightly different build all together so I can't really attribute the lack of attacks to just the horses / army.

[Nightmare_]

Homes and hospitals are key. 10-20% homes and 10% hosp will go a long way to improve your raw numbers and sustainability. If you're talking about being hit OOW, not much point to retaliate. You'll just lose. Let others cover for you. If they can't, well, that's another story - tough luck.

No need to build stables. In war, if you're active, just steal horses from people whose armies come home. OOW, schools/forts likely have better utility anyway.

[tras19]

I wouldn't run stables on a fae t/m. On a hybrid maybe. Your best way to increase that off or def is to get a lot of pop sci under your belt. More pop=bigger army. That strategy works on every race/pers ;)