Going OFFENSIVE

[Praaktis]

I think it also matters who your opponent is.

If its France or a huge HRE Austria or anyone with a severe MP or tech advantage you might play differently.

I also always look at all my factors including the allies involved and their NIs...(do i have Military Drill? do they?) and try to make a bee line to their capital(s). Remove Austria's allies from the war if they have any. Controlling a path to their capital (or any number of provs) keeps the WS positive and has a significant impact against the AIs reluctance to make peace, in the sense that you can widdle down their Stability if they refuse a cheap deal.

It httt, its all about superior numbers, morale and playing defensively... and using good leaders. Try attacking with a high shock general with decent maneuver and witness a new realm of warfare.

If I’m taking huge losses in combat due to tech discrepancy I add 3 discipline advisors.

As PJ said above, i use a similar tactic with 3 stacks and rotate them in and out. You don’t want to attrit yourself to death this is why you cant/shouldn’t keep all 3 stacks in the same prov... but you do it to win the battle and move on. After that i usually seige 3 separate provs if i can and move 1 army back to refresh while the other 2 defend what i took. I always move an army back to refresh if its been fighting and isnt at full strength

And btw I assault ALL the time if i can... Why drag out a war you can finish in 2 years? It's pointless... It depends how much MP you have and how huge of an opponent you have... I dont go recklessly skyrockecting my WE with heavy losses but on the other hand having 10k infantry sitting on a prov with 1k garrision waiting for it to fall is a waste of time and resouces when you could have 3 or 4 in that time.

 

[henryjai]

A few principles that I always follow is as below,

1. Avoid major enemy stacks
-Always avoid battling the main force of your enemy, you certainly don't want your main stack to get wiped out. Always go bully those smaller stacks to exhaust the enemy troops.

2. Wait, wait for opportunities
- When you are the weaker side you usually can't win the war quick, instead you need to wait for your enemy to be exhausted, usually AI would have quite high WE and internal rebellions would provide you chance to advance, or at least demand a province or two, or sometimes you only want a white peace. Things really gone bad in my game as Manchu when Ming decide to send their 100k army against my 25k, Ming occupied a considerable amount of my territory but I survived the war when Ming had loads of internal rebellions, I even gained some province due to that war.

3. Be troublesome, be mobile, strike hard.
- head to head fighting isn't the only option in war, wreck the plans of your enemy by sieging their province in their rear. That's generally how I fight with inferior odds.


Something regarding my army composition:
Small stacks: 3000 Cav, 5000 Inf -versatile small stacks, those made up colonial garrisons and rear area infiltrations, 5000 inf is enough to siege lv 1 forts.
Smaller stacks: 2000 Cav 3000 Inf - really stupid kind of composition that I don't use unless I am really weak.
Medium stacks: 5000 Cav, 7000-8000 Inf - versatile stacks that could be used for battles, assaults(could take down lv 2 forts), enough to fight the armies of most minor powers.
Normal stacks: 8000 Cav, 12000 Inf, (2000 Art) - sort of "main battle stacks", easy for assaults, battles, sieges, chase downs...
Large stacks: 10000 Cav, 15000 Inf, (3000 Art) - these stacks are something I employ against great/major powers, very deadly indeed.
Super stacks: something 15000 Cavalry and 30000 Infantry, usually no artillery for better speed, enough to fight and destroy stacks of any size.

I don't have siege stacks since I regard siege as a poor way to advance because they are lengthy and I always prefer assaults whenever possible.

 

[Slovenc]

Well in my game as Italy I defended my norther border with Branderburg, who is HRE, with a 20000 stack of 10000 CAV and 10000 INF against ~120000 Branderburg's troops(my other troops were in war with Castille, some 3/4 of the small states in France and all of the North African muslim states and the Swiss.). The border was Niederbayern-Tirol minus Salzburg. They conquered Linz, Steiermark and ocassionaly Kärnten due to the long border. I wiped all of their troops becouse of my 3/6/5/1 general. I white peaced them after two years but they had two of their kings killed in the war, -3 stability made possible by spies and revolt overwhelmed country becouse of the WE.

Generals are by far the most important in war especially on the offensive, when there's attrition. A good general with high maneuvre will get rid of that weakness and still slaughter the opponent. When you go on the offensive, concetrate on removing their stacks from the face of the earth and after that quickly divide your INF stacks into 1000 mens divisions and give them to besiege each enemy's province so that they can't
A) Build more troops
B) Waste their money for building troops thus minimizing your war bounty

If possible besiege all of their provinces even before you wiped them all out.

 

[King Nothing]

I don't have siege stacks since I regard siege as a poor way to advance because they are lengthy and I always prefer assaults whenever possible.

And btw I assault ALL the time if i can... Why drag out a war you can finish in 2 years? It's pointless... It depends how much MP you have and how huge of an opponent you have... I dont go recklessly skyrockecting my WE with heavy losses but on the other hand having 10k infantry sitting on a prov with 1k garrision waiting for it to fall is a waste of time and resouces when you could have 3 or 4 in that time.

Hmmm... 10k infantry sitting in one province? That's not very effective. I would say it's pretty stupid... But if you siege 5 or perhaps even 10 provinces with those 10k instead they will fall faster than if you assault. Average siege time for a level 1 fort is probably somewhere around 200 days. If you assault 5 provinces it will take longer both due to the walking time and the resting you will have to do. Assaulting is faster against a small enemy but much much slower and much much more costly in men and war exhaustion against a larger enemy..

And siege stacks are of course also stupid to have. It's extremely easy to split up the fighting army to take care of sieges.

When going offensive I should already have the upper hand (basically already have won the war) so when I move in to their land with a 10k stack and beat back their almost beaten army I just break out my 2 most battered regiments and let them stay to siege while I move on with 8 regiments in pursuit of their army. Repeat if needed and soon you will have their whole country covered with sieges. It's faster than assaulting, you will not take much we and at the same time you have made their whole country useless to them since they can't rebuild their army which they will do if you don't siege but assault instead..

 

[King Nothing]

Well in my game as Italy I defended my norther border with Branderburg, who is HRE, with a 20000 stack of 10000 CAV and 10000 INF against ~120000 Branderburg's troops(my other troops were in war with Castille, some 3/4 of the small states in France and all of the North African muslim states and the Swiss.). The border was Niederbayern-Tirol minus Salzburg. They conquered Linz, Steiermark and ocassionaly Kärnten due to the long border. I wiped all of their troops becouse of my 3/6/5/1 general. I white peaced them after two years but they had two of their kings killed in the war, -3 stability made possible by spies and revolt overwhelmed country becouse of the WE.

Generals are by far the most important in war especially on the offensive, when there's attrition. A good general with high maneuvre will get rid of that weakness and still slaughter the opponent. When you go on the offensive, concetrate on removing their stacks from the face of the earth and after that quickly divide your INF stacks into 1000 mens divisions and give them to besiege each enemy's province so that they can't
A) Build more troops
B) Waste their money for building troops thus minimizing your war bounty

If possible besiege all of their provinces even before you wiped them all out.

Perfect play I would say. But don't forget the terrain. In HttT that's a killer in those provinces. Lots of mountains and hills and if you are defending with that super general they can hardly do any damage at all.. 6 shock bonus from the general and 4-6 from the terrain. That's hard to beat when you roll a 10 sided dice. Even if they roll a 9 and you roll a 0 you will win.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

The easiest way to go offensive is to counter attack.

Starting large scale operations in enemy territory, esp. during the early game, is suicidal and will often result in heavy losses with minor achievements.

Let them come to YOU, destroy their entire army and then start sieging with 2-3k units in every province. However, take your chances to make the enemy bleed. See an enemy 8k INF stack and your 15k CAV is nearby? Get them! Enemy has assaulted your fort and is low on morale? GET THEM!

However, avoid ping-ponging in enemy territory. If you exceed the province supply limit, you will suffer attrition when you enter the province and at the end of each month. If the enemy is running off and you would have to attack several times to destroy him, better break off your attack and return to your territory.

Offensive warfare in EU3 is difficult - even more difficult since HTTT. And honestly - offensive tactics for large late game empires (esp. in MP when everyone has lvl 4-5 forts in each province)? I have no idea. At all.

I have yet to find an offensive strategy, that is valid and valuable against a rather equal enemy...

 

[Praaktis]

Hmmm... 10k infantry sitting in one province? That's not very effective. I would say it's pretty stupid... But if you siege 5 or perhaps even 10 provinces with those 10k instead they will fall faster than if you assault. Average siege time for a level 1 fort is probably somewhere around 200 days. If you assault 5 provinces it will take longer both due to the walking time and the resting you will have to do. Assaulting is faster against a small enemy but much much slower and much much more costly in men and war exhaustion against a larger enemy..

And siege stacks are of course also stupid to have. It's extremely easy to split up the fighting army to take care of sieges.

When going offensive I should already have the upper hand (basically already have won the war) so when I move in to their land with a 10k stack and beat back their almost beaten army I just break out my 2 most battered regiments and let them stay to siege while I move on with 8 regiments in pursuit of their army. Repeat if needed and soon you will have their whole country covered with sieges. It's faster than assaulting, you will not take much we and at the same time you have made their whole country useless to them since they can't rebuild their army which they will do if you don't siege but assault instead..

I'm not trying to dispute your claims, but i dont think the Op needs help on how to conquer a beaten opponent if you already have the upper hand... youre skirting the point that he doesnt have a tech advantage... his 12k troops were wiped by 8k. Therefore he cant apply your tactic yet... Separating your troops into 1k batches is sucidial prior to completely wiping the superior forces.

To do that you need to be on the defensive and have superior numbers and decent leaders.

Perhaps we should clarify first this a total conquer war or just a war against a superior power you want to get out of?

To me it sounds like the latter and when i am smaller and I cant handle the losses from the battles I will employ haste with my tactics to get them give me something (or have them give up something) in peace with me before I get dogpiled by someone else.

The point i was making if if you control a line to their capital you more than likely will have that upper hand...

I also play hard difficulty, and aggressive AI so my opinions might be tainted... its still possible none the less.

 

[King Nothing]

I'm not trying to dispute your claims, but i dont think the Op needs help on how to conquer a beaten opponent if you already have the upper hand...

I wasn't really talking about that. My reply was only directed to the part you and another guy said about assaulting. That's why I only quoted that part.

But to get back to the OP. The point here is exactly that. He is asking about how to go offensive from a defensive position and that's exactly what I'm talking about. First beat him on your home turf and then when you are close to having him completely beaten, move in and finish the last remains of his army.

 

[unmerged(44611)]

When the battle of Vienna was in progress I had 2 cavalry sieging 4 provinces and 2 more dancing with Hungarian and Croatian single units trying to make themselves useful as vassals. I was not at a tech disadvantage. I don't understand how I lost on defense, with a 4 shock general, with 2 on quality, all cavalry, a numerical advantage, and a 3 star morale adviser. And I reloaded to see and I lost all 5 times.

 

[Hidden Legend]

When the battle of Vienna was in progress I had 2 cavalry sieging 4 provinces and 2 more dancing with Hungarian and Croatian single units trying to make themselves useful as vassals. I was not at a tech disadvantage. I don't understand how I lost on defense, with a 4 shock general, with 2 on quality, all cavalry, a numerical advantage, and a 3 star morale adviser. And I reloaded to see and I lost all 5 times.

What advisors and Tech level did Austria have?

Try to use spies to assassinate advisors if they are excellent lets say 6 stars then it needs to be done.

Do not attack them. They have only one front with you in the early game. Just stand on the border province. Build a back up stack so that you have at least 4 stacks, three to alternate on the border where Austria attack. You should be defensive. So only alternate by re inforcing before you extract the unit that has been fighting. Use your 4th unit to take military access through switzerland and then siege behind them. If it turns the death stack then just remove to a border faction. The game finds it difficult if you move into the province it has just left. Keep moving round either it will go one way or another and you can win more sieges then it can as the AI will just keep moving or decide to go stand somewhere or siege something with just the one stack then you can shadow it to catch the end of an assault or race through the sieges.

80 percent war score should be enough to humiliate Austria. Dont be afraid to use spies to fabricate claims after that and break the truce. Occasionally it is more useful to have a merged crown with a strong partner then to nibble away at it and destroy the faction. Also it is cheaper in infamy.

 

[unmerged(11600)]

I don't understand how I lost on defense, with a 4 shock general, with 2 on quality, all cavalry, a numerical advantage, and a 3 star morale adviser. And I reloaded to see and I lost all 5 times.

There's a Battle Tactics modifier for having more INF than CAV. With HT3, having mixes forces is generally superior to having all-CAV.

-Pat