How are army/naval tradition gains calculated?

[marat271]

Like stated, what factors into how much army/naval tradition one gains from battles? Is it how many you defeat, their technology level, their size, their general?
Anything to explain this enigma would be nice.

 

[Zupanicarr]

From the Wiki, Army tradition:

Battles are the primary source of army tradition. You can view how much you gained in any particular battle on the battle result screen. The amount of tradition gained in battle is directly proportional to the casualties inflicted on the enemy, as well as the relative strength of the nations involved. Small weak nations will gain considerably more tradition when fighting large strong nations. The number of troops that you send into battle, the losses that you suffer, and the quality of your leader have no observable effect on your army tradition gain.

Each successful siege grants +1 army tradition

I believe you may also gain slightly more tradition from losing battles, but I haven't played the game in awhile and that may have been changed(or never existed at all).

Regarding Naval tradition:

Battles are the primary source of navy tradition. You can view how much you gained in any particular battle on the battle result screen. The amount of tradition gained in battle is directly proportional to the casualties inflicted on the enemy, as well as the relative strength of the nations involved. Small weak nations will gain considerably more tradition when fighting large strong nations. The number of ships that you send into battle, the losses that you suffer, and the quality of your leader have no observable effect on your naval tradition gain.

It is possible to increase naval tradition by conducting trade missions with fleets (scaled by naval force limits). If a nation's entire fleet is conducting trade missions, the nation will get an extra +2% naval tradition per year.

 

[haltabush]

Battles are the primary source of army tradition.

Each successful siege grants +1 army tradition

I guess sieging gives WAY more than army tradition in 99% of the cases then no?
I mean in a "normal" war, usually I don't gain so much army tradition through battles, I rarely exceed 1 AT/battle.

Also, regarding naval tradition, you can get 1 NT for each new sea zone explored.

 

[Hopit]

Honestly, as I often play as brandenburg or form Prussia, I rarely bother with army tradition (never care for naval tradition) as I can just make it go to 100 without warring at all.

But the way it's gained from battles, seems to differ a lot, even when you're fighting the same enemy multiple times.

 

[Gaamel]

Honestly, as I often play as brandenburg or form Prussia, I rarely bother with army tradition (never care for naval tradition) as I can just make it go to 100 without warring at all.

But the way it's gained from battles, seems to differ a lot, even when you're fighting the same enemy multiple times.

Prussia's AT is cheat mod. Not only does the nation benefit from -1% AT decay and +0.5 yearly AT, but the very size of the country makes it very easy to gain AT in battles. You have a medium-sized elite army for most of the game, so battles against your neighbours are very productive. Maintaining that kind of AT with big nations like France or Spain is much more difficult.

 

[pgroves]

You seem to get LOADS more tradition if you join a battle started by your vassal or ally than one you started yourself, but I don't know the exact mechanics of this

 

[haltabush]

You seem to get LOADS more tradition if you join a battle started by your vassal or ally than one you started yourself, but I don't know the exact mechanics of this

It's probably related to size of country then... Oh a new exploit that I didn't know! Thanks!

 

[egill]

fighting a rival really boosts tradition

 

[Hopit]

Prussia's AT is cheat mod. Not only does the nation benefit from -1% AT decay and +0.5 yearly AT, but the very size of the country makes it very easy to gain AT in battles. You have a medium-sized elite army for most of the game, so battles against your neighbours are very productive. Maintaining that kind of AT with big nations like France or Spain is much more difficult.

You don't even need to fight or make war for the AT to go to 100.
It does that itself xD

 

[zodium]

Tradition gain is a function of casualties suffered relative to the battle leader's force limit. If your 1BT vassal somehow has a 6/6 general, you're getting 5 tradition out of that battle pretty much no matter what. Note that mercenaries do not count.

You seem to get LOADS more tradition if you join a battle started by your vassal or ally than one you started yourself, but I don't know the exact mechanics of this

Which explains this.

 

[Denkt]

Naval tradition gained per year from trading is:

2*SP/NF

SP: Number of ships protecting trade (light ships only)
NF: Naval force limit

So if you have as many light ships as your Naval force limit protecting trade you gain 2 Naval tradition per year, if you got twice as many ships protecting trade as your force limit you get 4 Naval tradition per year.
Note however that trade ships maintainment cost increase alot with every light ship built if you got more light ships then the force limit.

 

[Gaamel]

Prussia's AT is cheat mod. Not only does the nation benefit from -1% AT decay and +0.5 yearly AT, but the very size of the country makes it very easy to gain AT in battles. You have a medium-sized elite army for most of the game, so battles against your neighbours are very productive. Maintaining that kind of AT with big nations like France or Spain is much more difficult.

You don't even need to fight or make war for the AT to go to 100.
It does that itself xD

I know, but in the first 50 years or so you rely on fighting to raise AT. And with the new League system if you're lucky you can stack 2*0.5 yearly AT just by taking part in the wars. Defensive is almost optional with Prussia now, quality or quantity might well be more useful than it...

 

[Hakuromatsu]

I know, but in the first 50 years or so you rely on fighting to raise AT. And with the new League system if you're lucky you can stack 2*0.5 yearly AT just by taking part in the wars. Defensive is almost optional with Prussia now, quality or quantity might well be more useful than it...

IMO Defensive is better as an early-game military group, anyway. By the time you reach 100 AT, if you can stay there, you probably can skip Defensive. But, self-capping AT from +2 AT and -3% AT Decay as Prussia is wicked if your Prussian playstyle doesn't involve nonstop conquest.

 

[unmerged(291783)]

The tradition gain formula is complicated, and has never been written down in precise form. There are several factors that are certain to be involved however, and some that are certain to be irrelevant:

Relevant factors:

• Casualties inflicted on enemy. If two nations are repeatedly pitched in battle against each other under identical national conditions but different battlefield conditions (i.e. must reload game), then tradition gain for each nation will depend only on the amount of casualties they inflict.
• Stack wipe bonus. Wiping an enemy stack earns considerably more army tradition then inflicting the same number of casualties through normal combat.
• Relative power of nations involved in battle. This is the unknown factor that determines the conversion rate between casualties inflicted and army tradition. It could involve any or all of the following factors: base tax (with or without buildings), force limit, current army size (soldiers/regiment count), unit types (inf/cav/art), unit quality (pips/tech), tech group, total manpower, current manpower, etc. What is known for sure right now is that all nations fighting on a particular side seem to just average their conversion factors; a large nation dragging a weak vassal around into every battle can significantly increase its tradition gain. Existing data also strongly suggests that this conversion factor involves more than just base tax or force limit alone; nevermind that these two factors are themselves almost impossible to distinguish since one is derived from the other. Anyone who wishes to sort out this mess would be advised to first study how other, easier to access, relative power factors work (e.g. relative strength of alliance for war enthusiasm, relative army/navy strength factor in rival selection window, relative military strength factor for various diplomatic proposals). In practice however, begging for developer input is probably the easier path to take.

Irrelevant factors:

• Casualties suffered.
• Unit type of casualties inflicted.
• Number/quality/type of troops sent into battle.
• Leader used.
• Terrain.

Regardless of what the exact formula for army tradition gain is, the conventional wisdom is remarkably true: if you are a nation of any respectable size, then carpet sieging will be your best source of army tradition. If you don't have enough targets or the ability to carpet siege on a regular basis, then you can consider picking up some ideas that grant army tradition or reduce its decay.

Edit: Added irrelevant factor: troops sent into battle.