Shattered retreat

[squid881]

OK, I'm willing to admit I don't understand this mechanic. Here's what happens.

I lose a battle: Enemy chases it and wipes it
AI loses a battle: Army retreats halfway across Europe and won't fight my army

What gives? Whenever I fight a large war against a large enemy, every victory is hollow because their army retreats to show up half a year later at full strength. I can never wipe them but they can wipe me.

 

[Saint Cad]

Plus they build morale and strength almost immediately so if you chase after them after a close battle they can actually outmorale and outnumber you.

 

[Djoums]

You can manually retreat after 12 days of battle by ordering your army to move somewhere. In my experience the AI uses this a lot in losing battles to avoid too harsh casualties and a full drop of morale.

 

[sunsterson]

make ai better, not buff them with cheats.

 

[lordelenath]

Shattered Retreat works the same for both the players and the AI. There's no cheating involved whatsoever. If you want to know what kind of cheats the AI can employ, there's a post somewhere listing all 'cheats' the AI has at it's disposal.

EDIT: This is the mentioned thread - http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...andings&highlight=facts+and+misunderstandings

 

[squid881]

I don't think there's cheating involved. I just don't know how to win anything when the enemies just do shattered retreats all the time and come back at full strength. I don't understand this mechanic; it seems to just make wars drag on and on because nobody (except, perhaps, for an admittedly rather inept player) loses armies and they regain morale so quickly.

 

[Stategem161803]

I don't think there's cheating involved. I just don't know how to win anything when the enemies just do shattered retreats all the time and come back at full strength. I don't understand this mechanic; it seems to just make wars drag on and on because nobody (except, perhaps, for an admittedly rather inept player) loses armies and they regain morale so quickly.

The single most effective means by which to wipe an enemy stack is what I call army rotation.

The methodology goes like this:
1. Identify the target (enemy stack)
2. Assemble two similar-strength forces
3. If you are so vastly outnumbered that it is impossible to assemble two similar strength forces, use scorched earth tactic. (You'd be surprised just how little numerical advantage matters with scorched earth)
4. Lure the enemy to a province without terrain penalties (plains for instance)
5. With one of the two forces you have assembled, engage the enemy or if the enemy is so willing, wait to be engaged yourself.
6. Once the engaged enemy army dips below half morale, retreat (preferably to friendly or owned territory for maximum reinforcement.
7. The enemy army will be unable to move because it is disorganized due to low morale.
8. Move in fresh army and wipe enemy army.
9. Try to time it such that the fresh army arrives right after you retreat.
10. Never retreat just before a tick (end of the month) because the enemy will regenerate morale.

 

[Legolas]

An army that loses a battle due to low morale will retreat far away - from my experience, almost to the furthest part of your country that is "safe" (but sometimes to a large-base-tax province or your capitol). Same goes for the AI.

An army that retreats from battle while retaining some morale above 0.5 will retreat to where it's told to, no matter how far away. Again, this works both for the player and the AI. In fact, I noticed that the AI does not utilize the strategic advantage of multi-province retreats: if the AI army retreats from a battle without having lost all morale, it will retreat only to a neighbouring province.

 

[CatKnight]

There are no cheats involved. I've annihilated enemy stacks multiple times. It's one of my primary tactics.

If you're determined to destroy them - and this should almost always be true - then the second the battle's over pause the game and hover over their stack. Notice which province they're retreating to. Assuming your own morale is still fair, you should be able to chase them and get there before they're able to move completely out of your way. If that does happen, pause, locate and chase them again.

They (and you!) do receive a morale boost and reinforcements at the beginning of each month - and I think the reinforcements at least are greater if they're moving through home territory. It is certainly possible to lose the follow up battle, but really that only happens if the first battle was so close your own army almost shattered.

 

[BBBD316]

I make use of that AI failing all the time. Allow them to meet my army, have another larger army enter after they meet. The AI retreats back to the province they come from, I follow and inflict an even larger defeat.

I would prefer the army to disolve and then slowly re-emerge in a province far away, so the army has been routed but then the remanents reform, rather than a horde of men fleeing through enemies lines in somewhat good order.