Basically what should I do/know going into my first wars of EU4? How do I go about seiging, assaulting a province? What types of advantages do I need? What to do against a nation with a superior navy? And just one quick rant about how negative random events are stupid and a poor/lazy game design.
Basic principles of War?
- Thread starter unmerged(790658)
- Start date
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Don't ever siege-assault a province unless there's a massive manpower/morale differential. You'll take more losses than the province is worth. Just wait a siege out if possible.
It's all too situational to generalize much. What nations? What provinces are at stake? Allies? What tech levels? Navy--is this in an ocean or sea? Are you trying to amphibious or just worried about the blockades?
The most generic things I suppose you want:
Tech advantages
Morale bonuses
Bonus Discipline
A good leader or three (that often requires some fights before hand, but not always or necessarily).
To make the enemy fight you in a mountain and across a river.
I don't think the random stiff is poor or lazy game design. I quite like it.
The most generic things I suppose you want:
Tech advantages
Morale bonuses
Bonus Discipline
A good leader or three (that often requires some fights before hand, but not always or necessarily).
To make the enemy fight you in a mountain and across a river.
I don't think the random stiff is poor or lazy game design. I quite like it.
or more accurately, you'll simple wipe out your entire infantry trying to do so. so unless you have 50k men siegeing a 2~5k garrison, avoid assaulting. even better, avoid it unless you've breached their walls (ie. the walls breached modifier isn't zero). ... or you have 200k manpower and/or are using mercenaries anyway.
that said, to further help the OP, sieging is not affected by size. the factors that affect sieging speed are clearly indicated in the siege menu: leader siege skill, blockade (or lack of it), artillery (hover over it to see what intervals increase the siege die roll), and luck (in rolling a high enough dice roll ). sieging now is luck based - the stronghold surrenders randomly once a high enough dice roll is obtained and when the surrender chance is greater than zero (so even a 90% surrender chance still means there's a 10% chance they won't surrender, while a 1% surrender chance could still mean they'll surrender the next siege pulse ).
as for a superior navy enemy - simply avoid attacking them unless you have better ships (ie. using heavy ships against light ships, or using higher tech) and/or larger numbers (but even then that's luck based).
as for random negative events - they're quite appropriate to be honest - many things are out of your hands really, and simulating all the underlying factors that cause them would make too complicated a game, so some of them are best made as random events (which have more than appropriate conditions when to fire or not fire actually, so it's hardly lazy game design )
'If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles'
- If you are out-teched, know that you are out-teched. If you have a tech advantage, know what that means. Act accordingly.
- Know your opponent's diplomatic status; who will defend them and assist them when fighting you, and who might join you in vanquishing them.
- Look up your opponent's manpower reserves and standing army on the ledger. Do not look upon a doomstack in surprise, because it came from beyond the Fog of War boundary.
- If the enemy army has a general, let your army also have a general.
- If you are about to attack an army entrenched in the mountains, grit your teeth. If those mountains are prefaced by a river, grimace.
'Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, defeated warriors go to war and then seek to win'
'He who knows when he can fight, and when he cannot, will be victorious'
- Make sure your armies are fully maintained; it does not do to go to war with the maintenance slider set to zero.
- Position your armies carefully. Do not declare war and then scramble to position your armies in advantageous terrain.
- Have ample reserves. Do not fight when your manpower is low.
- Be poised; a stability of -2 is no time to start a fight.
- Build a war chest, for money is the sinew of war.
- Keep a pool of diplomatic points handy, as war exhaustion does not bear allowing to fester.
'There are five possible operations for any army. If you can fight, fight; if you cannot fight, defend; if you cannot defend, flee; if you cannot flee, surrender; if you cannot surrender, die.'
- Always outnumber your enemy. Mass your armies. A little attrition is better than ten thousand carcasses from a single battle of equals.
- If outnumbered, evade your foe. Make them chase you. Preserve your forces. Your doom will come only if you allow your armies to be utterly destroyed.
- For any battle of equals, terrain and generalship must be in your favour.
- Always chase down retreating enemy armies; do not allow the dice to favour them in a battle rejoined. Crush them completely.
- Do not assault enemy fortresses. The blood price is too high, and paying for it in coin will gut you.
- If you are out-teched, know that you are out-teched. If you have a tech advantage, know what that means. Act accordingly.
- Know your opponent's diplomatic status; who will defend them and assist them when fighting you, and who might join you in vanquishing them.
- Look up your opponent's manpower reserves and standing army on the ledger. Do not look upon a doomstack in surprise, because it came from beyond the Fog of War boundary.
- If the enemy army has a general, let your army also have a general.
- If you are about to attack an army entrenched in the mountains, grit your teeth. If those mountains are prefaced by a river, grimace.
'Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, defeated warriors go to war and then seek to win'
'He who knows when he can fight, and when he cannot, will be victorious'
- Make sure your armies are fully maintained; it does not do to go to war with the maintenance slider set to zero.
- Position your armies carefully. Do not declare war and then scramble to position your armies in advantageous terrain.
- Have ample reserves. Do not fight when your manpower is low.
- Be poised; a stability of -2 is no time to start a fight.
- Build a war chest, for money is the sinew of war.
- Keep a pool of diplomatic points handy, as war exhaustion does not bear allowing to fester.
'There are five possible operations for any army. If you can fight, fight; if you cannot fight, defend; if you cannot defend, flee; if you cannot flee, surrender; if you cannot surrender, die.'
- Always outnumber your enemy. Mass your armies. A little attrition is better than ten thousand carcasses from a single battle of equals.
- If outnumbered, evade your foe. Make them chase you. Preserve your forces. Your doom will come only if you allow your armies to be utterly destroyed.
- For any battle of equals, terrain and generalship must be in your favour.
- Always chase down retreating enemy armies; do not allow the dice to favour them in a battle rejoined. Crush them completely.
- Do not assault enemy fortresses. The blood price is too high, and paying for it in coin will gut you.
Someone read their Art of War
Sun Tzu's book of martial common sense does not bear forgetting.