[EU3] How do battles work?

[iamme]

I don't know why but I can't win a battle in this game to save my life. Even when I put my king on my biggest army (7000) It cannot defeat the enemy army(5000) even when it is defending. I'm pulling my hair out over here so everything you know about battles in EU3 would be helpful.

[zznɟ ǝɥʇ]

There are a few things to keep in mind.

Land tech level - what are they compared to you?
Generals - do you have one? do they? it's theirs better?
Terrain - if it's mountainous, your cavalry is doomed. If there's a river you have to cross, you get a penalty.

Have a look at the 'warfare' section here.
http://www.paradoxian.org/eu3wiki/Reference_Guides

[Ishoss]

I got a question, as well: Since cavalry is dominant in the early game, I figure manuever has an effect in the battle-phase as well?

[ccllnply]

I got a question, as well: Since cavalry is dominant in the early game, I figure manuever has an effect in the battle-phase as well?

I think the reason cavalry dominate so much in early game is because of their shock value, which means they can kill loads of infantry very quickly

[Empress Meg]

I will tack on my question in this thread too.

I'm at war with the Burgundians after they attacked one of my vassals. My problem is morale. With great consistency, I find my armies beaten in just seconds with their morale plummeting as soon as they engage. Here's what I think might be relevant:

-The enemy have one Land Tech level higher than mine. This was not an issue with other nations I've had the misfortune to war with, England, Castile, Aragaon, etc. I know that sometimes there is a slight increase in morale of 0.05 per cent, but that's not been an issue before with these other nations.
-Yes I do have my land maintenance slider maxed.
-I've had several battles with the same army composition as Burgundy (10k cav, 10k infantry, same general stats) and I have no luck whatsoever with keeping morale high.
-I've created a massive army of over 35k men to combat Burgundy's 20k army and have lost because my morale just disappears.
-My stability rating = +3
-All of my units are national, I don't use mercs.

What do you think is causing this horrible drop in morale? I don't mind losing battles or even wars, but this is driving me mad not being able to even pretend to defend with such huge numbers.

Devoirs The Empress

[Ishoss]

Are the battles in quick succesion? The loser will have pretty much 0 morale then.

How good military stats are your king/president and how good are theirs?

How much is your quality slider at versus theirs?

How much is your land slider at versus theirs?

Do they have any advisors which increase discipline/morale?

What National ideas do they have? Military drill increases their discipline, I think.

[Chuffy]

Also infantry and cavalry have hidden bonuses at each level. Infantry get Fire increased and Cavalry get their shock increased. This is actually pretty huge as at land level 18 when you get access to maurician infantry their stats combined with the hidden fire value bonus suddenly means infantry are able to hold their own incredibly well against cav. This doesn't last too long however as when latin caracole cav become available their stats and the hidden shock value bonus push cavalry back into the limelight again. of course once you get to the 18th C. infantry start to become incredibly good again.

[Empress Meg]

Are the battles in quick succesion? The loser will have pretty much 0 morale then.

In the test I did, I kept the army back to regain full morale. That little green bar is always in my sights now.

How good military stats are your king/president and how good are theirs?

Oh, I have no idea. :S I did not even think of this, I'll check it out next time I'm inagem- thanks!

How much is your quality slider at versus theirs?

Mine is more towards the quality spectrum, not sure how to check theirs.

How much is your land slider at versus theirs?

Again, more towards land. I do not know about theirs.

Do they have any advisors which increase discipline/morale?

No, not yet anyways.

What National ideas do they have? Military drill increases their discipline, I think.

Oh, I will look at this as well. I'm so concerned with getting the "quest for the new world" idea that I never even bother with the land/naval ideas.

Also infantry and cavalry have hidden bonuses at each level. Infantry get Fire increased and Cavalry get their shock increased. This is actually pretty huge as at land level 18 when you get access to maurician infantry their stats combined with the hidden fire value bonus suddenly means infantry are able to hold their own incredibly well against cav. This doesn't last too long however as when latin caracole cav become available their stats and the hidden shock value bonus push cavalry back into the limelight again. of course once you get to the 18th C. infantry start to become incredibly good again.

Ah, I'm not even close to the double digits yet. I will certainly keep this little extra boost in mind. Thank you!

How do I combat such a big loss of morale right in the middle of a war? This game doesn't exactly favour quick changes, does it?

Devoirs The Empress

[Darkarbiter]

Things that affect battles:
Morale (free subjcets changes this, land v.s. naval, ideas, land tech level, your religion, general's maybe, offensive/defensive, maybe some flags, the morale values of the specific unit your country is useing)
Discipline
Shock/Fire values of the units you are useing
+The hidden bonuses to these values that are described in some tech file but is sortof hidden ingame. This makes cavalry a lot better earlier.
Reductions for the attacking unit attacking over a river or in bad terrain etc
General's fire/shock bonuses (which is affected by the offensive/defensive slider and the aristocracy slider)
National ideas(mostly just affects the above)
Advisors(mostly just affects bonuses given above)
The roll of the dice (not that big of an effect, though can make the difference when things are pretty even)

How do I combat such a big loss of morale right in the middle of a war? This game doesn't exactly favour quick changes, does it?

Make sure to only change infantry and cavalry one at a time and that you've got enough of the other one to continue fighting the battles temporarily. It's pretty realistic that nations don't just change their armed tactics mid war/battle, or at least not easily.

[Empress Meg]

Well, I was defeated, horribly. I also incurred a tremendous amount of inflation. So, I'm off to try once again. I'll keep a better eye on my prestige too, that seems to have an affect on morale ( in addition to nearly everything else ingame). Phew, the changes in UE3 Complete are massive! But I am enjoying it greatly.

Thanks for all yall's advice thus far, I'm sure I'll keep popping in here for more fiddly questions.

Devoirs The Empress

[Darkarbiter]

I haven't really noticed prestige having that big an effect on morale.

It has a much larger effect on diplomatic relations.

[Ishoss]

It has quite a large effect on morale, actually.

[Empress Meg]

Prestige is a killer if it's not in the green - nearly everything in your kingdom/empire.

I am having slightly better luck as Milan, just birthed into Italy. However, I have encountered another issue. My numbers dwindle in battle amazingly fast. My morale is quite good now (4.68 something) and I win most battles but I end up losing thousands of men. For instance:

Italy has land tech level of 18, and the Maurician Infantry
Austria has land tech level 17.

In a battle
Italy has 11k horse, 8k infantry, and 3k arty
Austria has 12k horse 5k infantry, and 2k arty

Fairly even odds, no? In that battle I came out with 986 cav, 1,071, infantry, and 2k arty (yes I wrote it down after a few of these similar engagements!). As I said above my morale stays higher than Austria so I do win, but I lose nearly all of my infantry and cav to Austria in a single battle. Austria on the other hand always comes out with nearly all of their regiments intact and ready to pound me anew lol. Is it merely because I'm in their territory and not my own, or because of some value I've not discovered?

And thank you all for your morale tips, they have helped considerable!

Devoirs The Empress

[Dewy]

Prestige is a killer if it's not in the green - nearly everything in your kingdom/empire.

I am having slightly better luck as Milan, just birthed into Italy. However, I have encountered another issue. My numbers dwindle in battle amazingly fast. My morale is quite good now (4.68 something) and I win most battles but I end up losing thousands of men. For instance:

Italy has land tech level of 18, and the Maurician Infantry
Austria has land tech level 17.

In a battle
Italy has 11k horse, 8k infantry, and 3k arty
Austria has 12k horse 5k infantry, and 2k arty

Fairly even odds, no? In that battle I came out with 986 cav, 1,071, infantry, and 2k arty (yes I wrote it down after a few of these similar engagements!). As I said above my morale stays higher than Austria so I do win, but I lose nearly all of my infantry and cav to Austria in a single battle. Austria on the other hand always comes out with nearly all of their regiments intact and ready to pound me anew lol. Is it merely because I'm in their territory and not my own, or because of some value I've not discovered?

And thank you all for your morale tips, they have helped considerable!

Devoirs The Empress

thats odd never seen that before, all i can guess is generals. Does Austria always beat you in higher rolls in that case that's why your men act like Russians (why bother with a gun when you can use a bayonet?). Also your factions leader how good is he if he is bad I'd say get him killed.

[Empress Meg]

It is happening when I fight against the Ottomans as well. We both have massive armies 12 -15k men each for infantry and horse and I get slaughtered but win, while they retain the bulk of their troops and regenerate in two month's time. :S It forces me to constantly have troops in the works in all of my provinces - no time to wait for ten months to have my army fully resupplied with men and material. Getting crazy. My generals I thought were okay but I have no way of comparing them to their (the enemy's) generals, do I?

I'll look at the little dice things and take notes.

Devoirs The Empress