I've been lurking here for a few days, so sorry if this has been asked before, but are there any articles/threads about fighting Total war. Its my first game on regent level and I am the Ottomans (obviously playing conquests). I've been warmongering throughout the ages and control about 40% of the map - large map of big islands. My reputation has been appalling throughout for some reason, and the inevitable has happened and every other civ (save the one city on a one tile island inca "empire" has declared war on me. We're about even in the tech race, currently mid IA, and I've already had my golden age. I converted to democracy to do some building as the infrastructure had suffered during my wars of expansion, but now the WW is getting to me - every city that isn't hopelessly corrupt is in disorder with 50% lux.

My military force is concentrated on one continent which I share with the persians - who initially took a few cities of mine before I counter attacked and regained them - but is unlikely to be able to make a sustained attack into persian territory. On another continent my military force is pathetic, and all the cities far too corrupt to even defend themselves against the invading americans, my presence on this island is at risk and i have lost 6 cities already (I'm about 3/4 turns into the total war). I have 2 islands of about 10 cities each that are not currently under attack, but only 1 of them is productive due to the FP, the other is too corrupt to do anything. The productive island can produce reinforcements but they will be at least 4/5 turns away from the front line - plus it is vulnerable to attack as the defending forces are out of date and i can see a load of ships approaching the island. Furthermore my navy is non-existant and i am surrounded so I cannot leave cities undefended.

Basically I think i am screwed. So are there any good threads that deal with these situations?, is it worth the 6-8 turns of anarachy to change governments so i can get my core producing again and make some money to rush units?, Also anything that could explain why my reputation has caused this, and how to repair it?

My objectives are to regain the territory I have lost during the war, and cause significant damage to those who started it.

This is kinda hard to follow, so I wont give you any advise on strategy.

NEVER rush to change your government. Stick with the current goverment. With the war, the secret is get the max units out there. Only switch the government when you have built up a strong military and are at piece. With a rep/demo form of government, be cautious to avoid sending the government into anarchy, which could be a distaster.

If you don't want to fight, then make peace. Most of your war-weariness probably comes from the war with Persia since they captured some cities of yours. Making peace will clear up all your war-weariness problems and buy you some time to rebuild your military.

When I play, I only fight wars that I declare. I don't take the fight to random civs that declare on me. I generally pick off any units that come near my territory, and make peace at the earliest opportunity. If fighting a country isn't in my plans, then I don't do it. I essentially always give in to demands from the AI. Giving up a few gold, or even a tech or luxury is nothing compared to a war I am unprepared for, the loss of a possible trading partner, and the cost to make peace with that nation and any allies he gets. That's how I avoid getting ganged up on.

So, my advice is to make peace with whoever you can. If they won't talk to you, they will in a few turns. Doing some damage to them can speed up the process. If you want to be at war with someone, buy AI to be your allies. This will prevent them from allying against you, and it will make your side of the war look stronger, so neutral AIs will be less likely to attack you.

If you really want to remain at war with everyone who declared on you, then yes, a switch to communism would be good. You'll just have to bite the bullet of anarchy if you intend to keep fighting, otherwise war-weariness will just get worse. But peace and rebuilding as a democracy would be better.

Man, with Democracy, if you don't hold Universal Sufferage, will not you be screwed as the war will kill you. Democracies don't like war too much...I had a similar problem and I was playing Rome, so I switched to Monarchy as I needed to stablise my population who were getting very angry about the war. It took 10 or so turns to bring everything under control, but then I regained my lost terriritory and continued the war. You also need to make peace terms as much as possible. Continually check all you AI's to seek terms. Some will eventually come to the table, they always do... this is my two cents worth - I am only at the Monarch level, so others will have there say as well...You can switch to Facism, and believe me they will not blink an eye lid in fighting to the death... :p

The War Academy has some good articles on reputation, corruption, and war weariness.

Based on what I know, I'd forget pride if I were you and see if you get out of these wars by giving unproductive cities on other islands. If at all possible keep a city per island to airlift units into later. If you can't reasonably make peace then I would do a government change. You must control your home island completely. I think that should be your main objective. If it requires a protracted war with superior human tactics using artillery and infantry, then so be it. You should be able to defend your home island with 1 defensive unit per city, maybe a dozen artillery and a few offensive units after all cities are part of a railroad network and there is no shared border. Then you can concentrate more effectively at fighting foreign wars. I wouldn't build a big navy so close to being able to build airports. You'll certainly need atleast 5 transports for establishing a beachhead and transporting artillery (iirc or is it workers), and then a few destoyer-style units for cover to keep the transports from being picked off in the open sea.

Should you decide to make peace remember not to get into a war for atleast 20 turns or your WW will return full force. I guess diplomacy (recruiting allies after a war has started) failed for you because of your bad reputation. I don't think there is any way to improve your reputation much at this point. You should still be able to trade something like a tech up front to get an alliance after things have calmed down and you make a move on Persia.

SWITCH TO COMMUNISM NOW!
and post the save

I think you should switch to communism. That helps with the corruption and the war weariness. Also try getting a peace treaty, since it doesn't sound like you're doing very good. I would capture that one-city-empire, but that might just be me.

Yea before going into total war switch to communism. Total war is fun I for one always fight to the death, I turn it into a war of total extermination and take over, to the point where it's either me or the other side that is totally knocked out of the game. For strategy use ALOT of air and naval bombardment as well as artillery for the ground forces (just make sure to keep the artillery with at least 4 tanks or infantry on it at all times). If you're fighting total war with 40% of land owned I suggest at least 70 bombers and 10+ Mobile SAMS protecting your air bases and about 200+ Modern armor. I'd have to see the map to give good strategic advice.

For some tactical suggestions, put impregnable fortresses over every choke point on the map. If you don't wanna burn every city to the ground to keep it out of enemy hands then make SURE you watch every area every turn and back up those cities being attacked. Remember (especially with lethal land bombardment) air power is the #1 priority, bombers can devastate any land force in large numbers, even with lethal land bombardment off. Whenever possible, lure the enemy army into unfavorable and unvaluable terrain and pound him non-stop with artillery then attack. It's possible to trick the computer, so set up diversions, make him think youre weak at a certain spot then when he attacks at that "weak" spot rush in a mass of tanks etc. use your imagination. When the enemy launches major attacks, launch immediate counter-attacks and retake any territory, if the situation is completely hopeless then burn the "about to be captured" city to the ground. Make use of paratroopers, build alot of them and put em in stacks of 5-10 and launch small raids with em in enemy territory (land paratroopers then cut off vital improvements in enemy territory, capture then disband workers etc)

Dont let your cities be captured. If you are really fighting a PURE total war then burn your cities to the ground before they are captured. Dont give your enemies the satisfaction of capturing your cities. Be ruthless. Throw your workers in front of incoming armies to distract them. Destroy your roads, burn your crops, blow up your mines. Leave nothing for your enemies to use. Pull your forces back from undefendable areas and pick a good spot to make your stand. Then fight tooth and nail, give no ground no matter how bad it looks. Your enemy will throw everything at you, while they do this build up your reserves behind the lines, out of range. At the first sign of weakness from you enemy launch an attack with everything you have got. Build nothing but military units, if you can mobilize for war. Attack in numbers and defend in numbers, and try to force your enemy to fight you on your terms. Remeber dont be afraid to destroy stuff and sell stuff you can always rebuild when you have destroyed your enemy. Its kill or be killed, sometimes this means killing your own too!

Remember the number 1 rule for when fighting agaisnt an overly powerful force: "BE the overly powerful force" ;)

Well you won't have to worry about or remember that, because if you're the overpowering force there isn't another overpowering force :crazyeye:.

hmmm, well I decided to risk anarachy and go for communism. Unfortunately the americans proceeded to capture a further 7 cities before I managed to get a peace treaty. On the other big island I was more succesful in driving the Persian invasion out and getting my revenge by taking 6 cities from him in addition to regaining my lost cities. before my military was over-stretched and I got a few techs from him when i asked for peace. The Japanese also foolishly gave me a few cities for peace.

I decided I would wait before taking my full revenge on the americans and put all my resources into outpacing him in the tech race and rebuilding my military. Furthermore I started building factories in my cities to try and improve my productive capacity. A few turns later I noticed Japan was losing heavily to America so i sent my remaining attack force onto the Japenese Island and took 8 cities from them, wiping them out, thus putting me back into a decent position for a domination win. I slowly rebuilt my military and turned previously useless cities into decent production centres with factories and hospitals. Revenge was going to be sweet.

Then I built the secret police HQ. A few turns later I noticed that corrpution had actually increased, and I was unable to build hospitals. A quick search on here revealed I have suffered from a bug. I reloaded the game to see if I had an auto save from before building the secret police - and I don't. So just I was going to get my first domination win on regent (I'm normally a builder that relies on space race wins) a showstopping bug appears destroying my productive capacity. So I'm a little pissed off I'm going to have to start a new game.

When I play, I only fight wars that I declare. I don't take the fight to random civs that declare on me...I essentially always give in to demands from the AI. Giving up a few gold, or even a tech or luxury is nothing compared to a war I am unprepared for, the loss of a possible trading partner, and the cost to make peace with that nation and any allies he gets. That's how I avoid getting ganged up on.

So, my advice is to make peace with whoever you can.

Wow, that's really backwards. You need to learn how to make people declare on YOU so WW won't hurt you as bad. By declaring on someone else with Rep or Demo, you're just asking for trouble if it is a long, drawn out war. And why do you give in to their demands all the time? If they declare on you, your morale goes up, your view among other nations is significantly better, and surely you can defend yourself long enough to make them beg for peace.

You need to learn the art of war. ;)

Do you still want revenge?The perfect revenge against America is to first get a right of passage agreement (it's possible even if they really despise you, as long as you have money and he doesn't...or resources). Then, once you have that, position large armies next to his biggest 5 cities, and have another huge army around his border. Once you've done that, declare war, take over those 5 major cities...and if you really want revenge burn them to the ground and immediatly unleash your huge army on the border.