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Since Burgundy is not in the war, we ask for (and receive) military access on June 23rd. This does let us pass through Burgundy's lands, but their supply limits are too low to avoid attrition. (Ignore the supply limit of 2 - it hadn't refreshed when I took the shot. The mouseover is the correct calculation...).

Is there a screenshot missing? I could be blind, but I'm not seeing these things in the screen above this paragraph. (The mousover is of France's army, and nowhere is the supply limit of 2 to be seen.)

Great update, btw. I'm learning things every time.
 
Is there a screenshot missing? I could be blind, but I'm not seeing these things in the screen above this paragraph. (The mousover is of France's army, and nowhere is the supply limit of 2 to be seen.)

Great update, btw. I'm learning things every time.

Ooops, there is a missing screenshot. I'll find it tonight and put it in.
 
Then we see how long it's been since it was patrolled (you have 33 days to patrol before pirates start spawning), and what fleets have been patrolling. Remember - a ship is considered to be patrolling even while they're getting drunk and chasing women in port.

Well, that's what sailing is all about:D
Great Tutorial AAR. Briliant.

P.S.
It's 35 days, not 33, please fix it (post 43). Thanks.
 
Well, that's what sailing is all about:D
Great Tutorial AAR. Briliant.

P.S.
It's 35 days, not 33, please fix it (post 43). Thanks.

Whoops. Fixed! Also, added the screenshot of Cambray's supply limit.
 
Chapter 11
The Occupation of Paris, part 2

With the French armies fleeing (and being pursued) towards Paris, I get a revolt event in Meath, Ireland. Revolt events usually give you a way to avoid the revolt, which is usually (but not always) worse than the revolt itself.

In this case, since it's January, I pay 20 ducats and take the tax/stability hit to avoid another rebellion to have to put down. The key was that it comes in the first half of the year, and the tax modifier won't affect my yearly tax.

ct11irishrevolt.png


February 1: Another battle in Paris, and no French relief army in sight! If I can destroy this army, I should be able to besiege Paris without being harassed. The French army flees to Caux, and I pursue.

ct11battleofparis2.png


March 1: My attempt to wipe the French army has failed - my army's morale finally crumbles, leaving me no choice but to break off towards Picardie, march to Calais, and reinforce my armies. --- It's always better to retreat yourself than run completely out of morale! ---

ct11bofcaux.png


April 25: Brittany sues for White Peace (remember we were at war due to their guarantee of Munster?). The AI will generally sue for white peace after a while if there's no action going on, especially if you have a larger army. I graciously accept - since they were an ally, I would take full infamy for any provinces I take, and there's nothing worth taking for 4 infamy.

ct11brittanywp.png


May 15: The French army splits up - 10 regiments in Normandie, and the other 10 regiments are probably in Paris (the AI will protect its capital if it has nowhere better to send the army).

January 1, 1405: An attempt to strike straight for Paris runs into a meatgrinder - I got crappy rolls, and got the forest terrain modifier. Again, I retreat manually to avoid my army doing something stupid like retreat south. The army in Normandie just sat around watching.

ct11bofparis3.png


January 31: When at war, check the war summary periodically, to gauge how the war is affecting your enemy. --- If a nation was the one originally attacked in a war, they get a -5 Revolt Risk "National Defense" bonus in their provinces that share their culture group, so a homogeneous nation that is defending in a war can soak quite a bit of war exhaustion! --- In this case, France wasn't the initial defender, so they have +5.69 RR in every province. Also, war exhaustion reduces legitimacy for monarchies...which reduces tolerance (and thus increases RR) and increases RR. It can all add up to a spiral of revolts!

ct11warsummary.png


May 27: Another try at Paris, and I finally throw the French out.

ct11bofparis4.png


July 1: My plan for Paris is to exploit the AI: The AI will often not attack a besieging army if the odds are against them. The AI is hoping attrition wears me down so they can attack, I'm hoping they get the forest terrain modifier in battle, or stand around long enough for me to take Paris. The army in Normandie and Caux start a strange dance - one army will march towards paris, then stop, then the other starts, stops, etc. The reason is simple: army 1 starts marching, the AI realizes army 1 can't win, then it stops, and it repeats with army 2. For some reason, I've hit a sweet spot in the AI, and it can't get both armies marching fast enough.

ct11siegeofparis.png


December 21: My plans in Paris hit a huge snag...Henry IV dies during the siege of Paris. --- If a monarch is leading an army, they have a small chance (above the normal chance) of dying any time during a siege or battle. When they die during a battle or siege, your nation loses 1 stability due to the sudden death throwing things into chaos. ---

ct11henryv.png

"We're throwing a party, and we've invited all the frogs!"

On the bright side, I immediately get a heir (Mary), and Henry V has a high military stat, making him a brilliant general. Unfortunately, since my army is in hostile territory, I can't assign him to my army, and the French armies now all march towards Paris since the loss of Henry IV changes everything...

ct11henryv2.png

"We're throwing a party, and we've invited all the frogs!"

A quick note on how general stats are determined:
First, the current level of tradition is noted (for converted rulers, it's a combination of tradition and military skill - a high military ruler will get extra pips, a low military ruler will have less pips than tradition would otherwise dictate!), and a number of pips are distributed between Fire, Shock, Maneuver, and Siege. The max for Fire/Shock/Maneuver is 6, and the max for Siege is 1.

Then, modifiers are taken into account (lucky tag gives +2 fire/shock to 8 AI nations, Engineer Corps gives +1 siege, etc). Modifiers cannot push the total value above 6. For Siege, the highest siege rating (without a mod) is 3 (1 natural + 1 for full Defensive slider + 1 for Engineer Corps NI).

Fire and Shock are used directly in battle. Early game, Fire is useless, and most players swear the AI loves to give them high fire leaders in 1400. :)

Maneuver decreases travel time for your army. --- A high maneuver general can win a battle, and then beat the retreating army to the next province, so that the retreating army has to fight against terrain modifiers! --- It also reduces attrition by 1 point/pip.

Siege gives a direct bonus to the siege roll taken every month. It's also believed to help assaults. Of the 4 stats, it's the least consistently useful.
 
Why not just recruit a mercenary regiment in Calais, attach Henry to it, march it through Burgundy to Paris, join the army, and then disband the single regiment?
 
Why not just recruit a mercenary regiment in Calais, attach Henry to it, march it through Burgundy to Paris, join the army, and then disband the single regiment?

Shhhh...:)
 
Oh, Henry V looks like a great general, if only all my rulers came out that nicely.

Are you not doing the army merge thing because it's too cheesy/exploity, or are you just shushing him so you can explain it :)
 
I've heard the "Fire isn't useful early" thing before, but I'm unclear as to until when. Does it become useful at a certain date? Or is it based on tech? If so, what about when a higher Land tech fights a lower?

And what happens during the Fire part of combat in the early years, when it's useless?
 
I've heard the "Fire isn't useful early" thing before, but I'm unclear as to until when. Does it become useful at a certain date? Or is it based on tech? If so, what about when a higher Land tech fights a lower?

And what happens during the Fire part of combat in the early years, when it's useless?


Look at the fire and shock multipliers at the military screen. When fire goes up to something that looks useful, then fire is useful. And it's tech that does it. :)
If a higher tech fights a lower tech it's bad luck for the lower tech. You kill him with muskets and he does nothing with his... non-muskets.

And basically nothing happens during that phase if nobody have any fire power.
It's all very logical. :)
 
Look at the fire and shock multipliers at the military screen. When fire goes up to something that looks useful, then fire is useful. And it's tech that does it. :) If a higher tech fights a lower tech it's bad luck for the lower tech. You kill him with muskets and he does nothing with his... non-muskets.

The infantry fire modifier reaches .5 by Land Tech 22 (1565), and doesn't pull equal to infantry Shock (1) until LT 27 (1625). Artillery fire modifier reaches 1 at LT 18 (1530), but artillery generally isn't considered worth it until you get Chambered Demi Cannon at LT 21.

Cavalry never has a fire modifier worth relying on. And as Panopticon notes, a sizeable tech differential gets very deadly, very fast. For example, here's a comparison of modifiers between centuries...
Code:
Tech  (Year) Morale	I Fire	I Shock	C Fire	C Shock	A Fire	A Shock
LT 15 (1502) 0.25	0.05	1	0	2	0.1	0.05
LT 24 (1600) 1.5	0.75	1 	0.3 	3.5 	1	0.15
LT 34 (1700) 2.1 	1.2 	1.25 	0.4 	4 	2	0.35
 
Feedback:​

I've been bad about feedback, figure I'd catch up from the last few posts or so:

Angry_Norway: Much of the information here has been gleaned over years of reading the forums - it's definitely a group effort!

Enewald: As I said to dinofs: Shhhh! :)

lordkestrel: Option 2. :)

dinofs: There is a faster method. :)

Rabid: If you're of the conquering bent, BB is your constant "friend". That, and poor relations. :)
 
Chapter 12
The Occupation of Paris, part 3

As noted earlier, the AI is very good at smelling out weakness, and with my army now leaderless, the French are preparing a dogpile.

However, since Burgundy is not in the war, I detach 1 regiment to run to Cambray, where Henry V can join the army and return! As a bonus, the regiment will get more reinforcements than it otherwise would...

ct12henryv3.png


February 1, 1406: Being a warmonger means it's really easy to forget to do unrelated things. In this case, I forgot to check the advisor pool 1 year after game start. Geoffrey Chaucer, my starting artist, kicks the bucket, and the only replacements are artists and navigators (colonial range is rather pointless if no one can get explorers...).

However, that reminds me to check my balance - I now have 658 ducats. I leave the Hanseatic Trade League, and create a new Center of Trade in London. This will give me a boost to colonists, taxes, and manpower, all things I need. I also can trade very easily in London, since my infamy won't reduce compete chance! --- You cannot create a new center of trade in a province if the province trades in your own CoT, or if you are a member of a Trade League. However, owning a CoT in a right culture/religion province gives such a huge tax/manpower boost, you should strive to get one as soon as you can afford it.---

ct12londoncot.png


I immediately dispatch 5 merchants - since I'm not so good at trading, it will take a while to get 5 merchants placed, but autotrading will take care of that.

While I'm taking care of the economy, I spend 2 magistrates to enact Land Reform in London, giving me a further 10% Production Efficiency, Tax, and Manpower. Since CoTs give a flat modifier, the percentage modifier from this decision increases the benefit of my CoT!

ct12londonlr.png


February 3: Henry V made it back to Paris right as the battle started, but France's overwhelming numbers turned the tide, and we are forced to retreat. The WE loss is not helping. I'm going to need another plan...

ct12bofparis5.png


April 22: Castille offers an alliance. Accepted. They can't help in this war (unless they declare war on their own, but since we now have cores on Burgundy, they might help there.

ct12castillealliance.png


July 22: Since I can't barrel my way into Paris due to 36 regiments being there, I'll have to be sneaky. In this case, a landing in Labourd and Gascogne draw the French armies... --- Loading onto ships is almost always faster than walking from province to province. You can use this to your advantage, by landing troops, waiting for the enemy to walk over and respond, then jumping back on the ships and offloading at your true target! ---

ct12fakeout.png


September 1: My armies have withdrawn from Labourd and Gascogne, landed in Calais with the rest of my army, and it's time to attack Paris again! Only 4000 infantry remain to stop me, and the bulk of their army has to walk all the way back to Paris from southern France!

ct12fakeout2t.png


September 14: 5:1 odds plus a 4 shock general = wipeout! --- If at any point in a battle, the odds become 10:1 or greater, the smaller army is instantly wiped out! ---

ct12bofparis6.png


October 2: I let my morale build up, and it's time to end this war quickly before the bulk of the French army arrives again. Paris has a Level 2 fort, which for the early 15th century, is a major pain to assault.

To increase my chances of knocking down the walls, and keeping from getting driven off by the small French army in Normandie, I slow the game down and assault in 1 day increments. If after the first day I haven't killed 100+ people or done a decent chunk of morale damage, I retreat, cancel the retreat, and try again. --- Moving your army once the siege begins wipes out all siege progress (except garrison losses), including a breach in the walls, if you had the only army in the province. Otherwise, any other army that can siege will take the siege over, and you can't get the siege back. ---

October 2:
ct12102.png


October 3: I make great progress, and continue the assault.
ct12103.png


October 8: Halfway there, but another French army shows up in Nemours, so I stop, lest I run out of morale before the fort runs out of men or morale!
ct12108.png


While waiting for morale to return, the French attack in January, after I've knocked the garrison down to 846 men.
ct12bofparis7.png


Again, I wait for morale to return, and assault in March...
ct12parisfalls.png

ct12parisfalls2.png


My new mission: Recover Normandy.

Here are my cores in France now (I started with cores in Normandy, Caux, Paris, and Picardie). This is the diplo map mode, which gives you an easy way to tell what provinces you have cores on but don't own, or what provinces you own but don't have cores on.

ct12diplocores.png


----

Assaulting Primer:

Assaulting an enemy fort, when done right, can bring wars to a quick close, and let you redeploy armies rather than force them to stand around waiting for a siege and protecting the siege. When done wrong, you can easily lose your entire army.

* Always keep some cavalry with an assaulting army, since failing the assault runs you out of morale. Only infantry can assault!
* Unless the walls are breached or the garrison has 0 morale due to bankruptcy, don't assault without a 10:1 advantage (and at least mostly full morale). You can fudge this if you're high tech against a very low tech opponent.
* With a breach in the walls, you can win consistently with as low as 3:1 odds.
* With bankruptcy, if their morale bar is red, they have 0 morale, and you can assault with 1000 men and win.
* Military Drill, since it gives a 1 pt. morale boost, greatly helps with assaults (both defending and attacking!).
* If you click the button and your armies barely do any damage, retreat/cancel the retreat to stop the assault. No point waiting hundreds of men and your morale for nothing.
* If an enemy assaults you and fails, attack! Their infantry will have 0 morale (the AI won't stop an assault early).
* If you are several land techs behind your opponent, you are at a serious morale disadvantage. Don't assault unless you absolutely have to!
 
Excellent work. I forgot you can just detach a regiment and put the leader on it. :eek:o
 
Yummy cores galore! That's one reason to not hole up on your little island as England. Do you still retain cores there when you form GB? I can see why some people say England/GB has OP missions.
 
Yummy cores galore! That's one reason to not hole up on your little island as England. Do you still retain cores there when you form GB? I can see why some people say England/GB has OP missions.

Something of a spoiler here, but England has several fun options. The two best are:

1.) Conquer Scotland, Occupy Paris, form GB. Instant +2 centralization early. However, forming GB eliminates the chance to get the Hundred Years War missions (Occupy Paris, Recover Normandy, Vassalize France), so you want to get the good ones first. You get all the GB cores (including Orkney to kick Norway out), and keep the many French cores from Occupy Paris with this option. And yes, forming a new nation only gives new cores - it never removes old ones.

2.) Stay as England, Conquer Scotland, Occupy Paris, Vassalize France, move capital to the farthest SW Cosmopolitaine province (better for colonizing), reclaim all the Cosmopolitaine provinces, Culture Shift, form France after diplo-annexing France. You don't get the free cores in the Highlands/Orkney, but you will get all the French cores (more than France starts with!), and you get access to the much better French decisions (Absolute Monarchy FTW!). Note: I'm trying this in a test game to see if there are enough Cosmopolitaine provinces to do this. If you get early cultural assimilation events, you may not be able to culture shift. You also can't culture shift as GB in 4.1b - it's specifically excluded from the decision.

Also, if you move capital to the Continent, you can now form land connections to all of Africa and Asia when you go on a conquering spree.