Maintenance trick to beat rebels

[unmerged(18425)]

No, I don't edit the save game. That makes serious cheating more tempting. I am pretty quick with the split and reorganize having at least 2K infantry and some cavalry.

Thing is, I don't see much difference with editing the save, just that it's less work. If you can defeat rebels by using tricks like arriving on the 30th of the month exactly, that's for me almost the same as using the alba cheat.
Afterall, the engine supports cheat commando's too

This does not mean I don't think it's extremely smart and a form of art understanding the engine in this way. To each his own.

 

[unmerged(18425)]

Some of the posts here seem to be suggesting there's an easy way of killing rebels with lots of small units, plus Ive often seen the AI attack them repeatedly with 1000 infantry. How does this work? I usually find it hard enough to kill them with a proper-sized army, let alone tiny ones...

I would like to know this too My rebel fighting capabilities are almost worthless.

 

[unmerged(19042)]

Would just 17 cavalry be able to loot anything? Dont you need round about a 1,000 just to get into a province with minimal fortification? Or do you rout them in there? DO routing troops loot btw? I know the AI does as they retreat deep into your territories, but can a player do that?

 

[unmerged(6147)]

Would just 17 cavalry be able to loot anything? Dont you need round about a 1,000 just to get into a province with minimal fortification? Or do you rout them in there? DO routing troops loot btw? I know the AI does as they retreat deep into your territories, but can a player do that?

Ws2_32 did that playing as Assam and in war against China very early in the game. At that stage China has a lot of fortressless provinces. Without a fortress they can be entered by any number of men... well not zero men

I am not sure I understand your question about "rout". But if you say lose a battle in an enemy province and the size of your army is only 17 men left and they entered the province on say the 2nd of a month, lost the battle at the 22nd and then starts retreating. Now they will loot the province since they don't have time crossing the border before the turn of the month. Good for you when it's you who lost the battle. Very irritating when you are the victim of this

 

[unmerged(3931)]

I would like to know this too My rebel fighting capabilities are almost worthless.

About how the AI defeats rebels with only 1K men, see what wryun had to say:

...the AI faces rebels using the old morale system, so it finds them a lot easier.

 

[unmerged(3931)]

Thing is, I don't see much difference with editing the save, just that it's less work.

If it's less work, it's not much difference. The units have ID numbers, so to get an ID assigned you have to break up a bunch of troops into 1K sized armies. Then save, edit, search for country, search for land units, search for particular units, edit a bunch of units to have size 17 or whatever, edit one unit to replenish the troops otherwise lost, save that file, then reload the game. And that's the easiest it gets; there could be a CTD in there. It takes time saving and reloading. And the AI does different things on reloading, sometimes smart, sometimes dumb, sometimes just annoying.

This does not mean I don't think it's extremely smart and a form of art understanding the engine in this way. To each his own.

Thanks, that's the way I see it too.

 

[unmerged(3931)]

Would just 17 cavalry be able to loot anything? Dont you need round about a 1,000 just to get into a province with minimal fortification? Or do you rout them in there? DO routing troops loot btw? I know the AI does as they retreat deep into your territories, but can a player do that?

Daniel A pretty much answered that. But in addition to fortressless provinces and retreating on contact with the enemy, small units can also loot provinces that are already controlled by you.

The reason for using small-sized units is that the bulk of your army is probably busy sieging more fortresses, fighting elsewhere, fighting rebels, or preparing for possible rebel attacks. I generally go for 100% victory or as close to it as is cost effective. Also, the practice makes for less risk of getting stranded behind enemy lines due to some revolts, or getting annihilated early in the month by a revolt that would take out a 1K unit.

 

[Desertfox]

There is one big weakness of rebels: if they lose the battle on morale they don`t retreat but are disbanded instead.
Especially in the beginning of the game, when morale is low and battles don`t kill many troops, and if the enemy doesn`t have a combat bonus like defending in mountains, you can get lucky and defeat a large rebel force with only 1K troops.
Myself I prefer to let attrition kill the rebel force to size (let them take 1-2 poor provinces if necessary; you can always siege them back if you`re quick) then attack with 3-4 times as much troops.