Hello, I've been playing as Brazil/USA, and I've noticed that whenever I try to invade other countries, I fail. With Brazil it was Venezuela, and USA with Mexico. How do I actually win wars? It seems so much harder than any other paradox game.
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Well... to win a war, you basically move around your troops, beat enemy divisions and conquer territory, while keeping revolts down in your homeland (as more war exhaustion results in higher revolt risk). Then, you offer peace terms that your opponent can accept. Or even offer a white peace if your goal was just to cripple his army/navy.
Unlike games such as Hearts of Iron, you can't outright annex any country; only those with 3 or less provinces or uncivilized nations. Total occupation is usually difficult as well due to uprisings, and demanding a lot of territories result in higher badboy, which will consequently lead neighbor nations to declare war on you if it is too high (beyond a dozen, usually). "Winning a war" in Victoria is to cripple your opponent as much as you can while securing important provinces (if possible), or even satelliting him.
Not very detailed, but I hope this piece of advice helps.
Unlike games such as Hearts of Iron, you can't outright annex any country; only those with 3 or less provinces or uncivilized nations. Total occupation is usually difficult as well due to uprisings, and demanding a lot of territories result in higher badboy, which will consequently lead neighbor nations to declare war on you if it is too high (beyond a dozen, usually). "Winning a war" in Victoria is to cripple your opponent as much as you can while securing important provinces (if possible), or even satelliting him.
Not very detailed, but I hope this piece of advice helps.
Thanks, I knew most of that, except the part about small land gains. So basically I should aim for swift victorys and quick peaces?
Also remember the timeframe. Warfare in this period was in general favorable to the defense and the game reflects this. Terrain, entrenchment (digging in), and so on will all work against you. As you mentioned mexico and venezuala as your battlegrounds, well there's plenty of hilly terrain, mountains and in venezuela's case jungle/forests to fight in. In overall, but especially in your theatre of war, you will definately need to outnumber your enemy in terms of manpower. Having more advanced technology would ofcourse also help tremendously, but you will certainly need a numerical advantage as well.
But to basically answer your question:
Do not fight (when attacking, defense is another story) with equal numbers if the conditions (i.e. terrain, fortifications, technology, entrenchments etc.) are against YOU
Always try to have the numerical advantage whatever the conditions
Use brigades for extra fighting power (especially artillery)
Shore bombard where you can
EDIT:
See combat modifiers on Vickywiki to check what effects there are on combat. You could also check the military units and army strategy page
But to basically answer your question:
Do not fight (when attacking, defense is another story) with equal numbers if the conditions (i.e. terrain, fortifications, technology, entrenchments etc.) are against YOU
Always try to have the numerical advantage whatever the conditions
Use brigades for extra fighting power (especially artillery)
Shore bombard where you can
EDIT:
See combat modifiers on Vickywiki to check what effects there are on combat. You could also check the military units and army strategy page
Last edited:
Early in the game it makes a big difference if you've picked Jominian or Clausewitzian, as the Jominian school gives higher morale and will make troops last longer in battles. I think the forum consensus is that Clausewitzian is a better choice in the long run, but for the early wars it's tough.
My personal rule of thumb when it comes to starting a war is that I need 20-30% more divisions than the enemy to be somewhat certain of a successful campaign. This becomes more true in the later game where more divisions are involved since the AI is really good at creating a continuous and strong defensive line when it has enough troops to do it with and you need reserves to be able to make breakthroughs. Early in the game with few divisions the AI has a harder time in my experience.
My personal rule of thumb when it comes to starting a war is that I need 20-30% more divisions than the enemy to be somewhat certain of a successful campaign. This becomes more true in the later game where more divisions are involved since the AI is really good at creating a continuous and strong defensive line when it has enough troops to do it with and you need reserves to be able to make breakthroughs. Early in the game with few divisions the AI has a harder time in my experience.
I think that fast victories are the best way against big (in size) nations.. To have a successful war the following tactics might be useful (some are mentioned before I think):
1. Destroying enemy devisions (early game)
-In the early game, the fire values of armies are still low. This results most of the time in battles where you or the enemy flees before you (or the enemy) can destroy devisions. So having a higher morale then the enemy (choosing Jominian attitude) is very useful.
-The ai has most of the time no real manpower problems, so even if they lose a lot of troops, but not their divisions, their army will stay intact because they keep reinforcing
-So the best way to destroy the army of the enemy is to encircle them. If all provinces around an enemy army are occupied by you, the enemy devisions will be destroyed if they try to retreat in a battle. In this case the enemy will try to fight to death
-You could try to lure an enemy army in your own country by leaving a province without troops. Then reconquer the surrounding provinces (don't send troops to the enemy army) and then when they are encircled, attack. Of course you could also encircle the enemy in his own lands, by sending your army to occupy provinces around the enemy before attacking him (Most of the time I only attack enemy devisions if they are encircled or if I can encircle an other enemy army by taking a province defended by the enemies troops)
2. Speed is important : D
-If you are faster than the enemy, you are more likely to have chances to encircle enemy troops and occupy the enemies provinces faster than the enemy can reconquer them back. Also if you win a war faster, partisans are less likely to show up.
-So to be faster than the enemy, it can be useful to use some cavalry in the early game, especially because cavalry has also a high morale and a high shock attack (they reduce enemy morale fast)
-Also try to occupy the province your army is located, before you move to another enemy province (if the province you are standing on is not yet in your grip, your army will move very, very slow)
-If your enemy has a large coast, it might be useful to transport your troops by sea instead of letting them walk. So send your troops aboard when they have captured a province and send them ashore to the next coastal province. (especially useful if the coastal provinces have a mountainous terrain). But keep an eye on your troops to avoid the enemy encircling you, and make sure your transports are defended by warships.
3. Capture the capital
-If you occupy the enemy capital you gain 20% warscore, so by holding the capital you can quickly get a favorable peace.
-If you plan on a really fast war, your goal should be to rush your troops as fast as you can to the enemy capital, but avoid encirclement of your troops A navy might be useful for a landing if your enemies capital is near the coast.
4. Look out for partisans
-If you think the war will take a lot of time (if you fight in jungles, mountains in a big country), try to leave a devision behind for every 2-6 captured provinces (if you have enough troops). If partisans appear you can then quickly send one of these reserve troops to kill the partisans, before they can reconquer lands behind your front.
5. Terrain is important
-The defender can get very high combat modifiers when fighting in mountains or other hard terrain. You can easily lose even with 10-1 odds when this happens. A way to attack in these terrains is by attacking from multiple directions (every direction gives you an 10% bonus) and encircling the enemy.
-Sometimes the best way to win against an enemy in bad terrain is to withdraw your surrounding troops, so your enemy moves to another province, giving you the chance to kill them or just occupy that province.
6. Other important things
-Technology can help a lot when fighting.. If your enemy has more technology you might need 2-1 odds sometimes and you'll lose more manpower, so try to have a better tech if possible
-Have a bigger army (very important )
-Having brigades might give you an edge over the enemy (but they can be costly)
-Having a (small) navy with enough transports and maybe a few frigates (or iron warships, if your enemy is advanced) can help a lot when fighting against minor powers (in South-America) to have more mobility and the option to fight really weak powers (Haiti, Uruguay (if you don't have a land border with them))
I hope you find these tactics useful and not too hard to read, also some of these tactics are only for the early-game
Good luck with the warmongering
EDIT: hmm the wiki-link above mentions also a lot of this I see now
1. Destroying enemy devisions (early game)
-In the early game, the fire values of armies are still low. This results most of the time in battles where you or the enemy flees before you (or the enemy) can destroy devisions. So having a higher morale then the enemy (choosing Jominian attitude) is very useful.
-The ai has most of the time no real manpower problems, so even if they lose a lot of troops, but not their divisions, their army will stay intact because they keep reinforcing
-So the best way to destroy the army of the enemy is to encircle them. If all provinces around an enemy army are occupied by you, the enemy devisions will be destroyed if they try to retreat in a battle. In this case the enemy will try to fight to death
-You could try to lure an enemy army in your own country by leaving a province without troops. Then reconquer the surrounding provinces (don't send troops to the enemy army) and then when they are encircled, attack. Of course you could also encircle the enemy in his own lands, by sending your army to occupy provinces around the enemy before attacking him (Most of the time I only attack enemy devisions if they are encircled or if I can encircle an other enemy army by taking a province defended by the enemies troops)
2. Speed is important : D
-If you are faster than the enemy, you are more likely to have chances to encircle enemy troops and occupy the enemies provinces faster than the enemy can reconquer them back. Also if you win a war faster, partisans are less likely to show up.
-So to be faster than the enemy, it can be useful to use some cavalry in the early game, especially because cavalry has also a high morale and a high shock attack (they reduce enemy morale fast)
-Also try to occupy the province your army is located, before you move to another enemy province (if the province you are standing on is not yet in your grip, your army will move very, very slow)
-If your enemy has a large coast, it might be useful to transport your troops by sea instead of letting them walk. So send your troops aboard when they have captured a province and send them ashore to the next coastal province. (especially useful if the coastal provinces have a mountainous terrain). But keep an eye on your troops to avoid the enemy encircling you, and make sure your transports are defended by warships.
3. Capture the capital
-If you occupy the enemy capital you gain 20% warscore, so by holding the capital you can quickly get a favorable peace.
-If you plan on a really fast war, your goal should be to rush your troops as fast as you can to the enemy capital, but avoid encirclement of your troops
A navy might be useful for a landing if your enemies capital is near the coast.4. Look out for partisans
-If you think the war will take a lot of time (if you fight in jungles, mountains in a big country), try to leave a devision behind for every 2-6 captured provinces (if you have enough troops). If partisans appear you can then quickly send one of these reserve troops to kill the partisans, before they can reconquer lands behind your front.
5. Terrain is important
-The defender can get very high combat modifiers when fighting in mountains or other hard terrain. You can easily lose even with 10-1 odds when this happens. A way to attack in these terrains is by attacking from multiple directions (every direction gives you an 10% bonus) and encircling the enemy.
-Sometimes the best way to win against an enemy in bad terrain is to withdraw your surrounding troops, so your enemy moves to another province, giving you the chance to kill them or just occupy that province.
6. Other important things
-Technology can help a lot when fighting.. If your enemy has more technology you might need 2-1 odds sometimes and you'll lose more manpower, so try to have a better tech if possible
-Have a bigger army (very important
)-Having brigades might give you an edge over the enemy (but they can be costly)
-Having a (small) navy with enough transports and maybe a few frigates (or iron warships, if your enemy is advanced) can help a lot when fighting against minor powers (in South-America) to have more mobility and the option to fight really weak powers (Haiti, Uruguay (if you don't have a land border with them))
I hope you find these tactics useful and not too hard to read, also some of these tactics are only for the early-game
Good luck with the warmongering
EDIT: hmm the wiki-link above mentions also a lot of this I see now
A key to winning the war against Mexico as the US is to land a force at Veracruz and march overland to the capital. Stay on the defense elsewhere (if you can grab some land, do so). Once the capital falls (and it is rarely defended), ask for Mexico to become a satellite. Eventually, they will agree (it may take 2 or 3 tries, but rarely more). This will give you all of your cores on Mexico, as well as a good trading partner for techs later.
V The King said:
Actually AFAIK the requirement is 3 or less provinces that are in states. If the Netherlands have lost all of their European possessions except Amsterdam they can be annexed, including their colonies, by occupying Amsterdam.
Regarding winning a war - Remember that the AI loves its capital, moving some units towards it will greatly disturb its "plans". This is very useful even if you do not have the means to defend or even capture the capital, and should let you win with a very inferior army, especially if you use killing-stacks at your border with which to annihilate any units left behind by the AI.