Prussia - Information & Discussion

[Ares1000]

I do not dispute the 4 rounds per minute figure, which we have implemented into the game. However, we will in no form or fashion drop the Austrians to 1 volley per minute. That figure is something close to ludicrous, and if it is true, can only be explained by a lack of paper cartridges, as it can take close to a minute if you are using a powder horn.

I also find it rather incredible that you're claiming they aimed. Nobody aimed. Especially not at 4 volleys/minute. They point. They present. They do various things, but they do not aim. Not like we think of it today.

And while you claim they were trained to "aim" low, another explanation could be that they had the heaviest and longest muskets of the era, which a person who is not aiming might naturally be inclined to let droop a little.

The Prussians in this game are and will continue to be represented by having the best time per volley. But we will not make them some sort of supermen who also have good melee and better-than-average accuracy. That isn't the way games work, sorry. We won't do it with Prussia and we won't do it with Great Britain, which seem to be the two factions that people most desire given superman status.

I did say aim or point in my first post in this thread, in the book it say's aim, i dont think you should take the word to liturary tho, just that they are aware where they are pointing their gun hence the word aim, i do know they didnt look down the barrel while they pulled the trigger as you would get all that smoke and stuff in your eyes, anyway taking a look at the enemy line then pointing the gun where you are thought to then quickly turning the cheek and closing your eyes while you pull the trigger can be done quite fast.

I dont belive i have said anything about melee stats, unless your thinking about the fusiliers, i do agree with the 4 rounds a minute if not slightly better, as this is a game and cant recreate the loss of quality in a regiment, or the nerves of soldiers affecting their ability to reload as fast as they can.

As for the accuracy, prussian troops were trained to account for recoil or so it say's in the book The Army of Frederick the great second edition, which is full of details and information and must have taken the author a hell of a lot of research, so it seems realistic to give them a bit better accuracy compared to most line infantry, but i understand if its unbalancing the game to much, either way i love IS and will continue playing it.

[Ares1000]

As for my thoughts on stats for the fusiliers was just a little increase in defense atleast, the fusilier has 8 i belive, while the Prussian line has 13, 8 seems a bit low for a unit that is fighting the same way as the line infantry just that they arnt as big.
10 is perhaps more fitting and lowering their shooting ability down to the line infantry if not slightly bellow, or is there any info that fusiliers were a bitt better at shooting fast than the line infantry ?.

[Bopachinas]

I have an issue with Prussian ability to field such effecive light troops, especially so early in game. The reason the Austrians posessed the better structured army was their use of the Grenzer, these units caused havoc amongst Prussian foot regiments. The Frei-Korps are abusurdly skillfull at long range. These men were in reality nothing more than deserters and criminals and only became prominent when Freidrick II realised he needed a counter to the Grenzer. He ended up using them as second class units of the line.

[Ares1000]

I was wondering if the Bayreuth Dragoons could be added as a unit ?.
Im also wondering if their would be possible to get a cavalry reform for mid-game ?, reflecting the Agressive change in the cavalry, you can alter the stats of cavalry units weakning them til the reform is researched, altough i would like to see better agressive stats (after the reform) than we currently see in midgame cavalry, in attack atleast.
Currently Leib Hussars can loose to Ungarich hussars even after hitting them with a charge and not reciving one themselves, i do not know how good Hungarian hussars were but the Austrians themselves did say their own hussars were no match for the Prussian hussars.
I like to see historical realism but fearing it might make Prussia to good you could give Austria some limited elite cavalry units.

[EbonKnight]

Eh, okay.. either I'm doing something wrong or the whole story of machinegunners of death with rank fire is bogus. I was absolutely dominating with line infantry before this tech and thought hell, now it just gets better. Instead, even though there isn't really any long breaks in the firing process it seems that only the first row fires (at least animation-wise) and judging by the ammount of casualties I'd say it's close to that being true anyway. What gives? Is it just that prussians reload so fast anyway it's much better to have a concentrated death-barrage from one long row or am I just doing something wrong? I usually deploy three-deep and so far it's been majorly sucking, friendly fire killing probably like 1/5th of what normal fire did to their guys and general casualty pool for them dropping significantly from what I can tell :/

[EgyptianNecrophiliac]

Hm. Rank fire is supposed to work up to 3 ranks. First one fires, reloads while crouched, second rank fires etc.

[EbonKnight]

Yeah, that's what I thought too. Anyhow firepower's dropped off significantly, the only advantage I can see is a few more shots fired off at running enemies (but that's what cavalry's for anyway.. finishing off stragglers).

[EgyptianNecrophiliac]

Try PB&J's crackle mod. It affects line infantry.

[Flavius Silvanus]

This maybe the most fun I've had playing any Total War game.

This is really challenging. And whoever said it is right about it being a crap shoot. Even if only Poland or Austria declares war, sometimes they will send some raiding units, and you can go bankrupt in no time if they damage a lot of your towns, or a port. Or a Pirate will sink your trade fleet. Fielding 2 full stacks is about 12k. Even if you take Saxony and West Prussia on the first turn, and then make peace with Poland for say 5k plus Miltary Access, your income will not support 2 Full Stacks unless you build trade fleets.

[Ares1000]

Playing as Prussia i havent buildt any trade ships in a long time, cause everytime i did after a serten patch or something was released my trade ships would get attacked by pirates, does is really pay to invest in that now ?.

I always demolish the Coaching Inn and used to build a school there, but now i tend to go for a Smith in stead, and rather build a school in Brandenburg once you get a new town, i also research Common Land Enclosures first, that only takes 3 turns and helps getting the town faster in Brandenburg.

I often ally my self with Poland and saxony in a hope that they will join against Austria once they decide to declear war on me, and i deliberatly dont build to many regiments in Brandenburg or East Prussia so that Austria will attack in the near future, and i allways at the start disband both artillery pieces and the cavalry in East Prussia, since im allied with poland East Prussia is pretty much protected and dont need a big army there.
Once war starts with Austria i will hopefully have researced ring bayonett, canister, square formation and Military Syllabus, and buildt walls around Berlin, i can then build up what i need and take Silesia, Austria is also usually very defensive and hesitate's to send large forces to attack Berlin in my experience atleast. Anyway thats how i usually start my campaign with Prussia, altough i have considered taking Hannover very early as it would be a nice region to take and will open up 3 new land trade routes, but Austria allways declear war at some point and probably sooner if my forces are in Hannover and not Brandenburg.

So how do you guys start your Prussia Campaign ?.

[strickland911]

Prussia is the my 2nd best GC ever. (gb would be first)
The Poles will never join a war with the Austrians... But they joined me when Great Britain declared war on me and landed a stack in East Prussia.
Well, After I managed to capture Vienna, the Poles have already dominated the Ottomans and moving to Palestine.
So I'm being tempt by myself to capture West Prussia from them. But that will be a problem because I don't have enough funds to support a 2 front war.
So I decided to be their allies... for now.
And now, I'm playing like how I played UP after capturing Vienna and Bavaria (gave it to the poles to not get involved in a war with the French). I now have the two pirate islands and the Dutch and French Guyana (UP has been destroyed by the French)
Once the people in my Caribbean colonies accepts their new ruler, I'll be moving my colonizers to India.

[Ares1000]

After i reinstalled IS 2.1 manually yesterday (aparently i had 2.1b installed) and started a new campaign as Prussia both Poland and Saxony joined me in the war against Austria, Poland hasent done this before after 1.5 was released but yesterday they did. I captured Silesia and tried to trade it for west Prussia but with no luck.

[Flavius Silvanus]

In regards to Trade Fleets, I've found that the pirates will only be present in 1 or 2 Trade Zones. I almost never see them in South America. Usually I can get one trade zone in Brazil and one Ivory Coast, Madagascar, or East Indies.

You just have to try not to go to war with one of the large naval powers. Sweden declared war on me, and sunk one of my tradefleets, which of course killed my income.

[Ares1000]

Yeah south america should be pretty safe but dont they move from zone to zone ? at some point or another.

[Flavius Silvanus]

In 1.3 they did a lot, and they also seemed to prioritize the players ships.

1.4 borked my game.

In 1.5 they seem to stay in the same zone, or just change rarely. This gives a chance for minors to keep trade zones, but from a majors point of view (Prussia is a borderline major) I think it was more fun in 1.3, because you basically needed a pirate hunting fleet full time.

[Ares1000]

I will try sending trade fleets then. Yeah in 1.3 they were a menace, and rightly so, Europe lost thousands of ships to pirates, but i dont think the pirates used as big ships as they do in the game.

[jo the greek]

Prussia is more like :
Who the hell wants cannons when you have musketmachine guns lol

[Ares1000]

I belive they are fireing at the same rate they did at Mollwitz 4-5 shots a minute.

[Nanook1]

Playing as Prussia for the first time in this mod was quite interesting, and an enjoyable experience. On the first turn I quickly conquered West Prussia; although I had a... unbroken "chain" between Berlin and East Prussia, I realized how somewhat useless the region was. I was thinking of trading it with another region, then decided against it and used it as my "backup" militia recruitment center . I made an alliance with Spain and found my small country shoved in the middle of Spain's War of Succession. I'm at war with Austria . Somehow, my half stack in Saxony (I think that was the name of the nation w/ the green flag) survived against two full Austrian stacks. Holy crack are Prussian infantry awesome.

[Lukianos]

The Prussian lineninfanterie are just sick. I think I timed their reloads at about 14-16s (i.e. 4 shots per minute). Later on the grenadieren and the guard troops have even faster reloads at 10-12s (i.e. 5 shots per minute). In short, I don't think I have had as much fun with a faction as I have with the Prussians