Those 'what more do I have to do' moments ?

[Methuen of Melnibone]

What're some of your examples ?

Mine was a fairly stereotypical one today, in which a defensive battle of near-peer forces, mine double in size & led by a better general, are defeated by the comic-book-marvel-studio faction. (and even the game knows that was my RNG rolling a lot of 1s, look at the warscore change)

 

[bokorthedust]

Your near-peer forces might not be so near, Anatolian units have better pips early game than Eastern ones. Your general isn't that much better either, shock is what rules the battlefield, and you only have 1 pip advantage in that, while your fire while somewhat matters, it's still pretty negligible at this point of the game. Plus you seem to be over your combat width (unless you reinforced mid-battle), which might make your cavalry deploy way to the flanks, effectively making them useless if they can't reach the enemy in the center, while their cavalry could hit a wide front of your forces, making you suffer more casualties and morale damage, ultimately costing you the battle. Discounting the RNG, which is what it is, I'd say this wasn't the 'what more could I have done' moment because there's a bit more you could have done

 

[Runite Drill]

Revert to v1.29 and spam loans + mercs

 

[Victoria 3 finally]

Where is Skanderbeg

 

[Methuen of Melnibone]

Revert to v1.29 and spam loans + mercs

Hahah, yeah - look above for the results of playing honestly

Where is Skanderbeg

The Albanian army ran off to lay siege to that casgte near Rhodes. There were only four units, so they weren't getting anywhere. Gotta love the AI sometimes

 

[EarlKonrad]

Your near-peer forces might not be so near, Anatolian units have better pips early game than Eastern ones. Your general isn't that much better either, shock is what rules the battlefield, and you only have 1 pip advantage in that, while your fire while somewhat matters, it's still pretty negligible at this point of the game. Plus you seem to be over your combat width (unless you reinforced mid-battle), which might make your cavalry deploy way to the flanks, effectively making them useless if they can't reach the enemy in the center, while their cavalry could hit a wide front of your forces, making you suffer more casualties and morale damage, ultimately costing you the battle. Discounting the RNG, which is what it is, I'd say this wasn't the 'what more could I have done' moment because there's a bit more you could have done

To add to that, apparently both armies engaged with damaged regiments. Damaged regiments fight worse than full strength regiments.

 

[Borgio]

One of both sides must have had the -1 terrain malus for attacking into Highlands terrain (maybe mitigated through the Age Ability (Adaptive Combat Terrain). And if the Attacker came from 4 (out of 7 possible) specific provinces, they would have had another -1 penalty for river crossing. Both generals have the same Maneuver value, so it is quite likely that those Byzantine troops were fighting with an additional -2 on every dice roll. Plus, the Ottoman army starts with 5% extra discipline, while the Byzantines starts with no similar bonus. We don't know what idea group bonuses both sides might have had.

Counting all those factors (and the ones mentioned before) together, it seems absolutely possible to lose a battle like that, even outnumbering the opponent 27 to 17 (which is not that much to be honest). It wouldn't even need ridiculous dice rolls