The skinny on combat width

[Madae]

Been reading about it, but there are things I still don't quite understand. Anyone feel up to the task of explaining effectively how this works? As well as some good division designs?

And I suppose in divisions that it doesn't matter what line you put a regiment in (using the designer and adding/subtracting regiments)? For some reason I thought this had something to do with depth and who can fight on a front line.

 

[adam_grif]

Divisions fight as a single unit, with no regard for which row or line the brigades they are comprised of are in. Their total stats are all that matter. 2 rows of 5 inf, or 5 rows of 2inf are the same.

Combat width is also calculated on a per-division basis, and it controls how many divisions you can fit into a battle. For example, if you have 60 combat width available, and 3x 20 width divisions, all of them will fight. If you have 40 combat width and 3x 20 width divisions, 2 of them will fight, 1 of them will stay in reserves until one of the others leaves the battle. In cases where things don't line up perfectly, e.g. 2x 24 width divisions trying to fit into a 40 width front, both divisions will join, but the second division (or perhaps both) will experience combat penalties to represent the fact that they can't bring their full force to bare properly.

 

[Dalwin]

Width is a topic that I do not want to go into great depth on at the moment. Suffice it to say that some will tout the benefits of making units be exactly width 20 or 40. While there is some benefit to those widths I think the case for doing so has been repeatedly overstated.

As to position within the grid, top to bottom makes no difference at all. There is some difference going side to side. There is a limit within one regiment (column on the grid) that requires all of the units there be of the same basic type. For this purpose artillery is of type infantry.

When starting a new regiment, i.e. moving over to a new column, one can make that a different type than the previous one but if you do the first block will cost 25 experience instead of 5.

 

[Madae]

So each province has a combat width assigned to it? How would I see that? And are they always divisible by 20?

 

[Opanashc]

So each province has a combat width assigned to it? How would I see that? And are they always divisible by 20?

Each attack has width of 40+40*number of attack axis. I.E. Attack from one province into a second one will give you width of 80. Attack from 2 provinces into a third - width of 120.
For details, read here.

 

[Madae]

If that is the case, then why not make regiments at 20 width? Seems to be the most effective way. Granted, I don't know the ins and outs, obviously...

 

[Opanashc]

If that is the case, then why not make regiments at 20 width? Seems to be the most effective way. Granted, I don't know the ins and outs, obviously...

You mean divisions?
4 divisions of 24 width can fight from one province, same as 20 width. Malus for exceeding battle width is negated by greater power of division, if properly composed. For example, each 24 width division has power of 12, while 20 width have power of 9, while exceeding combat width by 16 reduces battle power by 20%. 12*4*0.8=38.4, while 9*4=36. All numbers are taken randomly, and do not correspond to actual game numbers, but you get the idea.

 

[Madae]

I get what you're sayin', so 20 is nice in theory, but having many smaller divisions makes up for this anyway?

 

[egill]

Smaller divisions are less durable in battle and need to spend more industrial capacity to equip them all with support companies (which also reduces their organisation)

 

[Dalwin]

So each province has a combat width assigned to it? How would I see that? And are they always divisible by 20?

Actually no they have not assigned a width to each province. They are all the same which I personally think is a flaw. Battle width is a set amount. It is 80 width if the attacker is hitting from only one direction. For each additional province involved another 40 width is added. So if the attacker is hitting a province from three directions, for example, the total width for the battle will be 160. This number can be altered by the battle tactics chosen, but this is not something over which the player has direct control.