Yes they do.
Anyway, supported by a decent mainland empire that provides food, like northern luria or what you tried to have with the moot, food should not be an issue.
No, they don't. And yes, it would. You really are clueless as to D'Hara's food needs. At least the population rebalance helped things out a little, but still... That was plenty compensated by the ridiculous rot that is always in effect nowadays, regardless of warehouses. D'Hara imported food from the rest of the 'moot AND all corners of the continent. And it wasn't enough. No, Luria alone could not supply a decent enough food supply for D'Hara.
Because having the only invasion-routes be through a line of heavily fortified regions is a luxury we all have.
And with the new system... have you /tried/ landing in a region with troops (oh wait you did, how did that work out for you again)? And have you /tried/ doing it in a fortified region? You guys have the best defensive position in the game. Better than Arcaea even. Especially once sea zones kick in in the FEI. Who cares if you need food for it? Make friends with the right people then fight everyone else.
Right... Because the sea routes that lead to D'Hara aren't also as defended? And because 2000 CS behind lvl 3-5 walls is so DIFFICULT to defeat? Sure, the long sea routes USED to make it difficult for armies to arrive together... somewhat. But with the new delay arrival mechanic, that's not much of a concern.
The sea routes help make D'Hara more defensible, because it makes invasions costly in terms of embarking costs and disembarking casualties, but also especially because it allows D'Haran forces to move from one part of D'Hara to another regardless of having any region occupied by an enemy (previously, having a single region occupied meant that our realm was cut in half). So sure, the new sea travel makes us a bit more defendable... But it also makes participating in ANY conflict a hell of a lot more expensive.
Battle in Shinnen Purlieus
Total combat strengths: 7152 vs. 9607
The defenders take up positions inside the Motte and Bailey (2).
'Nuff said.
But not really though. You know that we're not coming after you. We're just assimilating LV so we can move on and do stuff that matters, you're the one prolonging this boring war. IF we were to come after you though, I'd imagine we'd run into a bunch of militia when trying to land. If not, who's the idiot?
What's your point? You act as if I somehow had anything to do with that battle. I've not been in any way even remotely involved in any battle. LV, +1 D'Haran noble, launched a stupid attack. So what? Lurians doing typical Lurian-style attacks.
Don't act as if the conflict is young. Or Luria's desire to attack D'Hara. This current war is plenty old. And your plans to invade are years old. LV got involved quite late in the war. We had barely anything left waving our flag. And now, we basically got it all back from the days of our peak. And we've been regaining land since before LV did anything.
No it means you can fight all over the continent with less of a distance from home penalty than others have. And to really backstab you, one needs a massive army. Because remember: forts, militia and naval travel. D'Hara must only fear a mainland invasion from Aurvandil, an SA-bloc or a Luria that isn't distracted at home and looks the same way for once. Anyone else just does not have the resources to bring a successful invasion force to the islands, not alone.
No, it means that unlike anyone else, we don't have any neighbors we could attack without having the distance from home penalty. Anyone, anywhere, is able to launch battles far away. Not just D'Hara. We just happen to not have anyone close to our capital, just a whole bunch of nothing (sea).
Forts are expensive. Militia is expensive. Naval travel is expensive. Food is expensive. And somehow, you think you have funds left after all of that to launch a sensible war? Did you even think of the costs of sailing BACK to the islands after any campaign? Because if you invade D'Hara, and somehow succeed, you can be pretty damn sure you aren't getting Paisly as a harbor on the western continent. Because if sailing from a friendly port with an army is expensive, sailing back from a hostile port is ridiculously more.
And stop citing "distractions" and not being united. D'Hara had nothing but a few regions left after unprecedented starvation, that's when Luria Nova and Solaria attacked us. And we fended you off on our own. You lost because Lurian military sucks. Not because of how awesome the isles are: we barely had any of it remaining under our control.
Come again? Luria is a place where dreams go to die, I fully agree with that. There's a whole lot of grand plans than a bunch of whining and peacocking and then nothing happens. But remember you're also talking to the guy that claimed Overlord's horns at the beginning of the invasion, to his face, and now enjoys refreshing beverages from nothing but those horns.
Luria's problem is a problem of characters and culture and I would say that D'Hara's problem is much the same. Just the fact that you insist that D'Hara has a terrible defensive position proves this point. They are however not my problems.
You can't seriously be taking any credit for your successes in the invasion... Invasions are a roll of the die. With the possibility of damning yourself or, like Enweil, being damned by others. Rio's had it nice many invasions in a row. Not because of how godly you were.
Luria's problem is its culture? Funny thing, the only good thing I ever hear about Luria is precisely its culture.
D'Hara's problem is the same? Who said we had a culture problem? That we considered our culture problematic? Or that our culture was in any way similar?
As for D'Hara's defenses, you obsess so much with the dazzling walls that you ignore all of the vulnerabilities. I guess we just did an awesome job hiding them for all of these years. I'm not saying that D'Hara can't fend off any invasion. I'm saying that it had weaknesses that could have been exploited to disastrous impacts. And most of all, I'm saying it makes for an atrocious warmongering realm. Having a bunch of walls doesn't mean you can launch successful invasions, or that you should even try.
