Paradox games like EU would 100X better with real battles

[pureRTS]

By now they should be able to replicate a similar combat system to Shogun and Medieval Total using sprites for the units. This system allows for even more units on the field than the total war series! Not only that but the game becomes more interesting as a result.

[Akar]

No, it really wouldn't. The sheer amount of battles and the number of troops participating in them would make them difficult to run and boring after awhile. There's a max of about 50k (last I checked) men per battle in Total war games, but in the Paradox strategy games there can be multiple groups of 50k men (On either side, so 100k total) fighting over different territories simultaneously. Not to mention the game's time mechanics would be totally messed up by real time battles. Unless the battles were decided in a separate dimension, there's no way you could fight all of the battles properly without sacrificing some other aspect of your empire. Plus, like I said earlier, you'll often times have multiple battles going on at once, which will just be a pain to manage all of them.

[Archduke Greens]

Indeed. I much prefer fighting large scale campaigns and directing my troops at certain provinces rather than telling them to go and hide in some trees to ambush a few enemies. I like the game not having RTS battles.

[SLN445]

I would like more control at ground level, but i know id just find someway to abuse the AI and make myself win despite large odds

Paradox games just need to improve the current Battle system, add in more controlable effects that can allow one with the proper use of Tactics and overall Strategy to win wars which atm just dont happen.

EU3 for example, its too easy to move large armies around.... you can easily land 10,000 troops in America, wipe out the American Indians then have those now conquered territories easily supplied, when you cant even place a Colony anywere near by for another 50 years.

[Akar]

Having to mess with the battles manually would make the games run extremely slow, especially late game where you are controlling many large armies across multiple theaters of war.

[pureRTS]

Have any of you played medieval I or Shogun I? The real time battles would be optional and the combat can easily support massive numbers of sprite troops. It'd be like the Dominion series which also has real time battles. Of course you're not going to personally fight all your petty battles, but you can fight the larger more important ones.

[SLN445]

Dont know about you but i tend to play almost every battle when i have a chance, ive found the AI taking over in TW games sometimes has a habit of losing even the most one sided battles in its favour.

[HissingNewt]

If they were to do this, they'd probably be best off having a battle start and become real-time, be played out, and then use the length of the battle there to calculate how long it lasts in the campaign map (reinforcements would be able to factor in if they arrived in time). Although in this system I'd prefer if they only let you control battles that your king personally participated in to make it more balanced.

[Wulfburk]

Although in this system I'd prefer if they only let you control battles that your king personally participated in to make it more balanced.

Agreed, specially on Crusader Kings 2 this would be AWESOME

[Archduke Greens]

I'd also like to point out that there aren't really any battles to be played. Each struggle for a province is a campaign of multiple battles. So real time battles would really suck

[Bernhardt]

The game would simply take too long. Also, only games this possibly could work would be in CK 2 or EU III. For HOI 3 definitedly not.

However, I do understand the OP. When I´ve played the first CK, I simply quit because the fact that battles lasted days looked like utter BS to me. "But Poitiers and other battles were fought in a day and no reinforcements arrived... They melee for 4 days? WTF is this ?" Nowadays I understand why it´s done that way, but it still feels weird.

[Geleco]

I don't think Paradox games would work well with real time battles, but their level of detail is something that Creative Assembly needs to take after.

[Comrade_Rory]

I don't think Paradox games would work well with real time battles, but their level of detail is something that Creative Assembly needs to take after.

This.

It's not "Paradox games would be 100x better with real battles" it's "Total War games would be 100x better with Paradox campaigns".

[atheniandp]

This.

It's not "Paradox games would be 100x better with real battles" it's "Total War games would be 100x better with Paradox campaigns".

Exactly.

Where Paradox can improve is lessening the significance of provinces in army movement and allow for more tactical positioning/zooming in regards to battles.

[Nutsack]

I do not think paradox should add battles similar to those of total war. But paradox titels do lack à bit in warfare, like for example i don't really enjoy seeing an army of 10,000 marching around in an arctic province like Finnmark or Iceland, especially in the middle ages. Something like a unit limit could perhaps be made to support the supply system, a province like say Iceland or Greenland, or a mountaineous region in the Himalayas could only support 1-3 thousand soldiers max. This would of course also depend on how developed the region is, there should be a small difference in unit limit from a medieval Iceland to when the year is 1700. Also I particularly don't enjoy seeing 10,000 soldiers in the Congo or the Amazon, I mean seriously wtf is that I don't even?

Also, battles are a bit boring when all you can pick between is for your soldiers to either be Latin Medieval Infantry, Longbowmen or Latin Knights. I want more region specific units if possible, something perhaps like the different infantry choices you could have in a Total War game. I don't see why when playing Denmark I can recruit Longbowmen in Copenhagen? I like the ship and naval system in all Paradox games.

One more thing is that I don't think a battle for inside a province necessarily has to take so long. Sometimes you can now see two armies during it out in the tiny province of Venice in a battle (or series of battles) that lasts for like 3 weeks. I don't know exactly if this is realistic but perhaps battles should be faster and more decisive, or less decisive. For example when retreating from a batte I don't think your army has to lose all of it's morale. Take king Henry in the hundred years war as an example, he marched his tired army through France and still beat them at Agincourt.

[nhytgbvfeco2]

there is a support limit, and while you can walk in larger armies they will quickly die and use up your manpower

[Geleco]

The support limit isn't always realistic though. It's still pretty easy by 1776 as a European power to have a few 100,000 strong armies in the Americas with no penalties whatsoever.

[Carach]

the comment about allowing more flexibility with deployment (away from plonking an army in a provice) is about the only thing bar some balancing and release quality (paradox known for putting out troublesome games and fixing them later) that would make it a bit better.

most of us however have been saying for years that CA can learn a lot from paradox games to improve their own franchise..

[Comrade_Rory]

CA seem to be a pretty "proud" company and I doubt we'll ever see them openly allowing themselves to be inspired by the Paradox games.

[HissingNewt]

the comment about allowing more flexibility with deployment (away from plonking an army in a provice) is about the only thing bar some balancing and release quality (paradox known for putting out troublesome games and fixing them later) that would make it a bit better.

most of us however have been saying for years that CA can learn a lot from paradox games to improve their own franchise..

Paradox seems to have improved a lot with release quality recently. I had no issues with For The Motherland, A House Divided, or Crusader Kings 2 upon release, so I think Paradox Development Studios is doing a good job with that so far.