Some questions about Duke's Awakening in the light of CoH mining changes

[Gregorovitch]

So for my CoH game I've gone down the line of Duke's Awakening (which I've never done before) and have reached the point, actually some time ago, where I can trigger the final act and deliver the Duke's Fleet etc. It seems to me that the mining changes from CoH have put something of a spanner in the works of this plot line in the shape of Pious Mists IV and indeed key stations in Pious Mists II where I have large scale mining assets and infrastructure. Which poses a strategic conundrum.

Having 25+ rep with both Paranid factions I could, of course, simply do nothing and leave Duke to his own devices after delivering his fleet and carry on happily mining and selling ships to all sides ad infinitum. But where's the fun in that, I say.

On the other hand actually helping Duke puts me at war with the owner of by far the most important mining ground in the region and the source of about 50% of the resources required by my industrial centers located in GE, BHS and 18 Bn.

This presents a strategic dilemma because securing Pious Mists II and IV (meaning obliterating the Paranid presence there) involves necessarily physically separating the HOP from the Paranid which seems contrary to the whole point of this exercise.

So, I don't actually know what Duke does after triggering the final act of this plot, or what he might be capable of doing should I elect to assist him. I have run the game for a short while following triggering the fleet delivery just to see what happens and it seems he just starts attacking the Paranid stations in Duke's Haven and more or less loses all his ships in so doing. Disappointingly, although I built him a whacking great shipyard and he has subsequently built a large number of stations mimself, I see no evidence as yet that he is building large numbers of ships with which to service the hoped for rampage across the southern Paranid sectors. . This was just experimental, I haven't decided what to do yet going forward.

I could, of course pull out of Pious Mists altogether and relocate my PHQ (which hosts my shipyards) more or less anywhere since all my main production facilities have 5* managers etc, and exploit new replacement mining grounds up north perhaps. But I'm not sure I can be arsed to do that. Not without significant motivation anyway.

So the question really turns on what Duke is actually likely to do and what, with my assistance, he is capable of. Being able to build as many Asgards, for example, as I like and observing from taking a couple of them for a test drive in Scale Plate Green that they can 1-shot a K with 60% shields and 100% hull I am in a position to obliterate the Paranid from Duke's Haven in a jiffy and thus preserve Duke's starting battle fleet. I could also clear Pious Mists II without difficulty.

The questions I have therefore are basically:

a) WIll Duke actually use his shipyard to build more ships?
b) Will Duke expand and take over Pious Mists II and beyond?

[EGO_Aut]

In my game,

A. Yes
B. No

PAR tried to occupay his main sector with big fleets many times, so Xenon made big incursions and raids in PAR sectors. I had to stop my shipyards for all but duke, and help PAR with my fleets against Xenon. On the other side HOP has nearly no ships in HOP sectors but duke.

[Alan Phipps]

The HOP/PAR/XEN/ARG/ANT balance around the HOP areas varies greatly from gamestart to gamestart (and TER/PIO now throw new variables into the mix too); thus the situation when and after you support the Duke can vary greatly from game to game. It is thus very difficult to predict what will happen in anybody else's game (although the Duke squandering the fleet you gave them seems a common-enough theme).

[grapedog]

Dukes awakening? Is that uniting the HoP and PAR or keeping them split?

I dont remember having to do much of anything in pious mists for either one, and ive done them both. I remember building a base, which gets attacked, but not long afterwards they are united. The base i built was a juggernaut and made short work of the opposition forces.

If it is keeping them split up, all i had to do was the fleet delivery and build a shipyards in nops iv, if i recall correctly...