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Sorry for the delays - I've been working on the EU3 Combat simulator, which I will use for this AAR in the future. :)
 
Late 17th Century Combat - dots, modifiers, and morale, oh my!

Now that the EU Combat Simulator is giving accurate numbers, we can do an accurate comparison of units.

Tech level 33: Cavalry (Gallop) vs Inf/Art (Gustavian/Coehorn)
Inf/Art Shock:
Range: 7.5 - 74.1 (66.6)
Average: 40.44
Morale Range: .38 - 1.19 (.81)
Morale Average: .82

Cavalry Shock:
Range: 8.49 - 180 (171.51)
Average: 79.92
Morale Range .32 - 1.44 (1.12)
Morale Average: 0.58

Inf/Art Fire:
Range: 29.1 - 90 (60.9)
Average: 62.19
Morale Range: .51 - 1.94 (1.43)
Morale Average: 1.26

Cavalry Fire:
Range: 0 - 4.2 (4.2)
Average: 1.05
Morale Range: .03 - .13 (.1)
Morale Average: .05

Analysis:
Cavalry has a potential to do lots of damage - it also has greater potential to do practically nothing (feast or famine). Inf/Art averages 22 damage more than Cav between Fire and Shock (and about 1.47 morale), but a high cav roll in the first round will obliterate the infantry.

For comparison, this is what the cav would do if the inf had no artillery:
Range: 24 - 216 (192)
Average: 110.4
Morale Range: .32 - 2.24 (1.92)
Morale Average (.99)

If you add a 6 shock/6 fire general:
Inf/Art's average increases by 63.
Cav's average increases by 138. (in fact, Cavalry with a 6 shock general, no terrain penalties, and no opposing general, will do at least 540 damage in the first 5 days, and only needs a die roll of 4 to do 1000+.)

So why stay with inf/art?
1.) Inf/Art does much more Morale damage. Against cavalry, cavalry will run out of morale on average within 6-7 days. Once your enemy is out of morale, they are sitting ducks.
2.) Inf/Art conserves manpower by losing less men. The artillery, on average, saves 30 men/unit/day over what would happen to unsupported infantry. Cavalry get hammered even harder due to lower defensive rolls.
3.) Inf/Art does more consistent damage. A low manpower nation can't afford their cav doomstack to roll 0 against the opponent's 9 in the first round.
4.) I can't afford to spend tradition until I get Prussian Military Reforms, limiting the # of generals I can have.

Note: Later, I will create a cav doomstack for chasing down beaten armies, and for the wings of my army. Right now, that has to wait.
 
Good point! Forgot to mention you have to beat France 100%, release minors, and cripple them for a century or two. But somehow, they always come back and blob.

Yeah, I've seen French armies of 2k vanish into the fog of war while I'm beating them senseless then suddenly reappear next month with 15k. You've gotta wonder where they're getting their troops from...


I did once balkanise France to the extent where I had to intervene on France's behalf to stop Guyenne from blobbing too much when I was GB though. It's just a region full of bullies :( (except Dauphine whose independence I always try to encourage but who inevitably get reannexed within 20 years)

I'm enjoying the AAR btw, such a shame about the Grand BazAAR , I would have liked to see Andalucia reach 25 trillion
 
That simulator would be a very useful thing to have. :D

As for France, much easier to just do as I did as GB. Reduce them to 2 provinces and keep them warned for the rest of the game. Now I only have Castille (soon to be Spain after they diplo annexed Aragon) to worry about, but they're not so bad once the BBB is dead... :D
 
The analysis leaves cavalry at this stage only useful for support/chasing. The manpower preservation point is particularly vital, more so in longer wars (and I'm sure you'll have some of those with Russia or France eventually).
 
The analysis leaves cavalry at this stage only useful for support/chasing. The manpower preservation point is particularly vital, more so in longer wars (and I'm sure you'll have some of those with Russia or France eventually).

Yup, especially if you don't have inexhaustible MP reserves.

oddman & PrawnStar: Sadly, life and my new computer has decided to be a pain. I will reinstall EU3/NA/IN and the patches this weekend to see if I can get EU3 working again. I think I inadvertently killed a necessary file while poking around. :)

elbasto: Crush things!

Azugal: I was amazed at how deadly Napoleonic warfare is. Artillery is akin to a Death Star.

Unibrow, rapidem, Azugal: The main problem will be that I will probably never be able to have a large enough navy and MP reserves to fight a major colonial war, which will leave me vulnerable to attempts to take on France, England, or Spain. With a late game start, provinces have higher base tax, and are thus more expensive to take in peace settlements (look at PrawnStar's late game romp through Europe). Nassau, for example, has 16 base tax. CoT provinces will be even harder to take - I'm not sure I can take Danzig and another province from Poland in a war, for example.
 
Sadly, life and my new computer has decided to be a pain. I will reinstall EU3/NA/IN and the patches this weekend to see if I can get EU3 working again. I think I inadvertently killed a necessary file while poking around.
Fiddle, fiddle, break :)

With a late game start, provinces have higher base tax, and are thus more expensive to take in peace settlements (look at PrawnStar's late game romp through Europe).
Absolutely, against a 10 province Milan (all in the Italian Penisula) I was 7 wars from annexation in 1800!
 
naggy: I thought a bit before restarting, and chose a new strategy. The opening moves are otherwise the same, except I delay picking Scientific Revolution a bit to make room for a DoW on Holstein before they can get allies.

wise choice ! ! :D

naggy:
...June 1: Stab is finally back to 0. See why taking stabhits is better early than late?

good lesson ! ! :)

naggy:
...May 14, 1692: After lots of doing nothing, an opportunity opens up! Mainz leaves the Holy Roman Empire... .. Start things off with MA through Brunswick and Hesse. .. July 20: War is declared on Mainz. Ansbach wisely bows out, but Hesse foolishly joins in the war... .. November 1: Stability gets back to 0.

more good lessons ! ! :D

naggy:
...March 1, 1694: Stability hits 3. .. April 7: Mainz surrenders and is annexed.

splendid ! ! :)

naggy:
...June 14: Now that we have a border with France, I give them military access. This will serve as our early warning system.

and yet another good lesson ! ! :D

naggy:
...June 26: With the war finished...we are Prussia!

magnificent ! ! :cool:
 
Sorry - life's been 20 kinds of crazy lately, and what free time I had has been spent hacking things to death in Oblivion (or watching NPC's hack each other to death - thanks OOO!).

I hope to play tonight if I have time and update from that.
 
naggy: ...I hope to play tonight if I have time and update from that.

rest assured of two things. one, we will be here when you write it. two, we can't read it until/unless you write it... ;)
 
I gave up on a WC with Castille, because it was booooring.

I'll try a shorter timeframe - namely, I will try and unite Germany starting with the ascension of Friedrich the Great on May 10, 1668.

Goals:
* Form Prussia (I start as Brandenburg, and can form Prussia as soon as I get 20 prestige)
* Connect the Prussian Lands
* Form Germany
* Become Holy Roman Emperor

Bonus goals:
* Take the Austrian provinces from Austria
* Humiliate France
* Make inroads into India

What will not happen:
* Taking land in America. The cost of doing anything in America outweighs the utility of anything I could gain there against major powers.
* Any aspirations to naval greatness. Again, cost issues.


haha congratulations:D i have never started game later than 1399/1453 :) You are the first person i know ever did that (and since events arent a 'strong' part of this game i don't see a point in starting later and having less time to pwn world;p )
may i also propose Magna Mundi?:)