So; Professionalism has been around for a while; and I thought I'd have a quick talk about what I feel it's impact is.
Firstly; I will NOT be assumeing the 75 Professionalism+ General cost reduction in this. It's already been announced that the half price general bonus is moving to 100 Professionalism as to nerf the Slacken-General loop. With the Japan patch also announced to be an 'early Christmas gift' it seems as if this loop will be removed sooner rather than later.
The other thing I will not really be considering is the bonuses from Drilling itself. Drilling simply decays too quickly and takes too long to build up. At best; it is relevant for a single battle. Drilling is ultimately a means to an end to attain Professionalism; which gives more permanent bonuses [And the ability to slacken].
===
Things that are weaker:
1] + Force Limit Modifiers
This is the big one. Professionalism gain [And chance of increased general pips] is based off the percentage of your Force Limit that is drilling under the general. If your Force Limit is 300; good luck placing them all under a single general and drilling them without burning through your manpower hilariously quickly from attrition; and taking a massive economic hit in the process.
Even if your economy can take sustaining a massive Force Limit at full maintenance during peacetime drilling; do you have enough generals to not take attrition while drilling your entire Force Limit? Probably not; which means any Professionalism gain is slow.
It simply quite difficult to have a large army that is Professional. Large armies have their advantages; of course. But a smaller army will likely have a higher professionalism.
2] Army Tradition and General Pip Modifiers
While nowhere near as significantly impacted as + Force Limit modifiers; the fact that drilling allows generals to gain pips inherently makes modifiers that give Generals pips slightly less impactful. It is not a major nerf; but it is still a small loss in value.
===
Things that are Stronger:
1] + Manpower
More manpower means you can fight for longer without resorting to Mercenaries. More manpower also means you regain more manpower per month; which in turn means you gain more manpower when using Slacken. This notably buffs Aristocratic Ideas; since not only does this give a mnapower modifier; but the saving on Military tech can be put into even more manpower.
2] + Manpower Recovery Speed
Slacken Recruitment gives you 2 years worth of manpower. Which; in turn; makes Manpower Recovery Rate more important.
3] - Land Maintenance /-Unit Maintenance/Unit Cost modifiers
All of these reduce the upkeep cost of units. Since units must be paid the full amount when drilling; this effectively doubles the value of these modifiers during Peacetime; assuming you are drilling for Professionalism gain.
4] + Leaders without Upkeep
More military leaders allows more stacks to drill at once; particularly useful for larger nations or later in the game when you cannot park your entire FL on one province. [Also; another Aristo buff...]
5] Discipline
More Discipline is a modifier that stacks with damage dealt [Since both are multipliers]. In addittion; taking less damage means drill lasts longer.
6] -Attrittion
Helps Drill last longer
7] Mercenaries and all ideas pertaining to them
Low Professionalism also has it's upsides. -15% Merc Cost and +15% Available Mercs means even more Mercs can be spammed; for even cheaper. If a country has Mercenary-based ideas; they should certainly consider just spamming Mercs.
===
tl;dr?
A Professional army works best for nations with comparatively high manpower [To maximize Slacken and minimise reliance on Mercs] but a low enough Force Limit that maintaining Professionalism is reasonable; due to a combination of Supply Limits and Leaders without Upkeep.
A nation with a particularly large Force Limit is unlikely to be able to maximise Professionalism due to how Professionalism gains work. They should probobly just play as they used to.
Nations can also just fully invest in ideas which increase Mercenaries and go full low-Professionalism Mercspam. This works particularly well if they have defensible terrain to just win in a war of attrition. Once you drag the Professional army down to your Merc-spamming level; you win.
Aristocratic Ideas are a BIG WINNER from Professionalism. It gives you an extra general to drill with; allowing you to drill more units at once; as well as giving you a manpower modifier; reducing your reliance on Mercs. Meanwhile; Quantity [And to a lesser extent; Offensive] Ideas make Professionalism harder to gain due to the massive force limit modifier they give.
Firstly; I will NOT be assumeing the 75 Professionalism+ General cost reduction in this. It's already been announced that the half price general bonus is moving to 100 Professionalism as to nerf the Slacken-General loop. With the Japan patch also announced to be an 'early Christmas gift' it seems as if this loop will be removed sooner rather than later.
The other thing I will not really be considering is the bonuses from Drilling itself. Drilling simply decays too quickly and takes too long to build up. At best; it is relevant for a single battle. Drilling is ultimately a means to an end to attain Professionalism; which gives more permanent bonuses [And the ability to slacken].
===
Things that are weaker:
1] + Force Limit Modifiers
This is the big one. Professionalism gain [And chance of increased general pips] is based off the percentage of your Force Limit that is drilling under the general. If your Force Limit is 300; good luck placing them all under a single general and drilling them without burning through your manpower hilariously quickly from attrition; and taking a massive economic hit in the process.
Even if your economy can take sustaining a massive Force Limit at full maintenance during peacetime drilling; do you have enough generals to not take attrition while drilling your entire Force Limit? Probably not; which means any Professionalism gain is slow.
It simply quite difficult to have a large army that is Professional. Large armies have their advantages; of course. But a smaller army will likely have a higher professionalism.
2] Army Tradition and General Pip Modifiers
While nowhere near as significantly impacted as + Force Limit modifiers; the fact that drilling allows generals to gain pips inherently makes modifiers that give Generals pips slightly less impactful. It is not a major nerf; but it is still a small loss in value.
===
Things that are Stronger:
1] + Manpower
More manpower means you can fight for longer without resorting to Mercenaries. More manpower also means you regain more manpower per month; which in turn means you gain more manpower when using Slacken. This notably buffs Aristocratic Ideas; since not only does this give a mnapower modifier; but the saving on Military tech can be put into even more manpower.
2] + Manpower Recovery Speed
Slacken Recruitment gives you 2 years worth of manpower. Which; in turn; makes Manpower Recovery Rate more important.
3] - Land Maintenance /-Unit Maintenance/Unit Cost modifiers
All of these reduce the upkeep cost of units. Since units must be paid the full amount when drilling; this effectively doubles the value of these modifiers during Peacetime; assuming you are drilling for Professionalism gain.
4] + Leaders without Upkeep
More military leaders allows more stacks to drill at once; particularly useful for larger nations or later in the game when you cannot park your entire FL on one province. [Also; another Aristo buff...]
5] Discipline
More Discipline is a modifier that stacks with damage dealt [Since both are multipliers]. In addittion; taking less damage means drill lasts longer.
6] -Attrittion
Helps Drill last longer
7] Mercenaries and all ideas pertaining to them
Low Professionalism also has it's upsides. -15% Merc Cost and +15% Available Mercs means even more Mercs can be spammed; for even cheaper. If a country has Mercenary-based ideas; they should certainly consider just spamming Mercs.
===
tl;dr?
A Professional army works best for nations with comparatively high manpower [To maximize Slacken and minimise reliance on Mercs] but a low enough Force Limit that maintaining Professionalism is reasonable; due to a combination of Supply Limits and Leaders without Upkeep.
A nation with a particularly large Force Limit is unlikely to be able to maximise Professionalism due to how Professionalism gains work. They should probobly just play as they used to.
Nations can also just fully invest in ideas which increase Mercenaries and go full low-Professionalism Mercspam. This works particularly well if they have defensible terrain to just win in a war of attrition. Once you drag the Professional army down to your Merc-spamming level; you win.
Aristocratic Ideas are a BIG WINNER from Professionalism. It gives you an extra general to drill with; allowing you to drill more units at once; as well as giving you a manpower modifier; reducing your reliance on Mercs. Meanwhile; Quantity [And to a lesser extent; Offensive] Ideas make Professionalism harder to gain due to the massive force limit modifier they give.
