Wars on multiple fronts:

[Shoobs]

How do you deal with wars on multiple fronts ( IE, your entire western and southern side if you're china and have expanded even larger than you normally are to the north and east ) ...and with revolts occuring in quite a few internal provinces?

Can you only make larger armies......my opponents are sending stacks of 20+ into my territory.

The only thing in my benefit is higher income and (nearly)100k manpower...and tech is equal cross the board.

 

[Capibara]

I define my priorities, if you're battling against more than one enemy, then choose the one you could benefit more from winning an try to get a quick peace with the other one.

 

[Shiggs]

well... being Ming and having expanded much, you'll probably need at least 80K troops. I personally like forming armies of 2 cavalry, 5 Infantry, maybe 1 or 2 artillery in a few stacks, but not artillery your main attack stacks.... more for stacks that will be defensive or doing sieges. If you start marching around armies bigger than 10K, they will suffer more attrition and likely take longer to march around, especially if they have artillery. Plus if I recall correctly, it'll take your armies nearly a whole year to march from one side of Ming lands to the other anyhow.

With your enemies sending stacks of 20+ into your lands, I would try to keep a nice infantry army (maybe around 15-20K) around where they are, accompanied by another large stack of all cavalry... If you can get your enemies to attack your infantry stack (or just beat them to the province they are attacking), you can get the land bonus, then while they begin the battle, march in the cavalry stack and they'll do massive damage.

If you keep beating down your rivals you may start to get peasants wars or librium veto, depending on which version your using, so I would advise to let the rebellions and nationality conflicts settle down a little before annexing the entire south east asia region.

Also like Capibara said, you need to prioritize your enemies... rebels are of the least concern in my book.... If I'm at war with multiple enemies and have some rebel appearances, I try to kill off the lesser rivals, or those who are not alliance leaders first, then kill or make peace with alliance leaders, then swoop back for the rebels.... the only exception to that is if rebels take a high income province like Jaingsu, which you'll never want that to be occupied by enemies.

 

[Shoobs]

well... being Ming and having expanded much, you'll probably need at least 80K troops. I personally like forming armies of 2 cavalry, 5 Infantry, maybe 1 or 2 artillery in a few stacks, but not artillery your main attack stacks.... more for stacks that will be defensive or doing sieges. If you start marching around armies bigger than 10K, they will suffer more attrition and likely take longer to march around, especially if they have artillery. Plus if I recall correctly, it'll take your armies nearly a whole year to march from one side of Ming lands to the other anyhow.

With your enemies sending stacks of 20+ into your lands, I would try to keep a nice infantry army (maybe around 15-20K) around where they are, accompanied by another large stack of all cavalry... If you can get your enemies to attack your infantry stack (or just beat them to the province they are attacking), you can get the land bonus, then while they begin the battle, march in the cavalry stack and they'll do massive damage.

If you keep beating down your rivals you may start to get peasants wars or librium veto, depending on which version your using, so I would advise to let the rebellions and nationality conflicts settle down a little before annexing the entire south east asia region.

Also like Capibara said, you need to prioritize your enemies... rebels are of the least concern in my book.... If I'm at war with multiple enemies and have some rebel appearances, I try to kill off the lesser rivals, or those who are not alliance leaders first, then kill or make peace with alliance leaders, then swoop back for the rebels.... the only exception to that is if rebels take a high income province like Jaingsu, which you'll never want that to be occupied by enemies.

Ehhe. I wish it was that easy. They declared war within months of each other AFTER I had another war declared on me six months prior with someone in the middle of my provinces.

To top it off, I had another 4 year war before that....
not to mention I have a standing army of 106 regiments, mostly infantry. I pulled some from the Siberian ( west ) front to deal with the war in the south since they attacked with larger armies than expected ... AND one of their allies had armies INSIDE my nation traveling around and saying hi with my peasants.


Seriously, not fun..
And I hate to pay anyone ducats to end a war, since I'm always running out by the end of the year.

 

[Shiggs]

it can be tough, especially trying to maneuver around huge lands like that. I would just like to say practice makes perfect... A few months ago I thought that the battle sequence and the usual results were just completely luck based and garbage... After awhile you'll get used to it and figure out some tricks to help you survive and even dominate eventually, although starting as Ming, your basically already ripe for world conquest.

 

[Shoobs]

I play a mod where I start as a single city and colonize for expansion early.
I can post some pictures of what I mean...
but then...you'd really think the world looks odd. I mean, Morocco has cores ( and their culture) set up in the souther china territories that I haven't bothered to kick out yet ( infact, they were allied with another nation inside my territory and went to war with me with men inside my territory. All over the place. For a colonies, they had 15 regiments just in the southern china territories plus more littering my empire. I am guessing they had a HUGE stability hit because of this. )

I am also having revolts in my of my overseas areas and places that used to be Korean / Brunei ( again, one city..leaves alot of grey provinces in east asia. )

 

[Wizzington]

I have a standard tactic for fighting two enemies that together outclass me, but each of which I could take on separately:

Divide your forces something like 80 / 20. Use the larger contingent to attack one side, take territory as quick as you can (if you have money, hire mercenary infantry for expendable fort assault troops), while the smaller contingent takes on the other side - avoid fighting their main force, instead, use it entirely to take territories that they are not defending. It's not supposed to win the war on the other front, just slow down the rate at which you're losing territory.

As soon as you can, settle for a white peace with the side you're attacking, turn back, and crush your other enemy with your entire army.

 

[StephenT]

Prioritise, prioritise, prioritise.

Are any enemies approaching your capital, your CoTs, or your high production value provinces? They're your first priority. Beat them back ASAP.

Are there any minor countries in the opposing alliances which don't share a border with you, and have no army nearby? Offer them a white peace. (Or even better, wait for them to offer you one. They usually will after a year or two). This reduces your enemies' war capacity.

Now, you need to focus your efforts. If you're outnumbered, the worst thing you can do is split your forces and try and fight all of your enemies; you'll be defeated everywhere. Instead, you need to virtually abandon one front in order to concentrate a larger army on the other.

How to decide who to attack:

Is there an enemy country that you can knock out of the war quickly, perhaps by occupying its capital? Then do so.

Do you have a positive war score against any of your opponents? Then try and get a separate peace with them immediately. Don't get greedy and demand provinces; just go for a white peace. If your war score is too low, try sending an army or amphibious force to capture their capital, as above... you don't need to hold it forever, just occupy it then immediately offer peace. Or try blockading them.

Is one enemy spending all its time occupying a bunch of worthless desert and mountain provinces in Central Asia, or beseiging a line of level-5 fortresses? Then leave them to it, and send your troops elsewhere.

Are you still losing the war? Then suck it up and offer one enemy alliance ducats or even provinces to leave you alone. Yes, it's annoying; but it gives you a target for your next war once you're strong enough again. Revenge is sweet.


After this, work out why everybody keeps attacking you. If you've got a reputation of 98, then that could be the reason. Or if your army is much smaller than all your neighbours', then you look like a fat, juicy target to the AI. Or maybe you just need to spend money imcreasing your relations with one of your more powerful rivals.

 

[Shoobs]

Prioritise, prioritise, prioritise.

Are any enemies approaching your capital, your CoTs, or your high production value provinces? They're your first priority. Beat them back ASAP.

Are there any minor countries in the opposing alliances which don't share a border with you, and have no army nearby? Offer them a white peace. (Or even better, wait for them to offer you one. They usually will after a year or two). This reduces your enemies' war capacity.

Now, you need to focus your efforts. If you're outnumbered, the worst thing you can do is split your forces and try and fight all of your enemies; you'll be defeated everywhere. Instead, you need to virtually abandon one front in order to concentrate a larger army on the other.

How to decide who to attack:

Is there an enemy country that you can knock out of the war quickly, perhaps by occupying its capital? Then do so.

Do you have a positive war score against any of your opponents? Then try and get a separate peace with them immediately. Don't get greedy and demand provinces; just go for a white peace. If your war score is too low, try sending an army or amphibious force to capture their capital, as above... you don't need to hold it forever, just occupy it then immediately offer peace. Or try blockading them.

Is one enemy spending all its time occupying a bunch of worthless desert and mountain provinces in Central Asia, or beseiging a line of level-5 fortresses? Then leave them to it, and send your troops elsewhere.

Are you still losing the war? Then suck it up and offer one enemy alliance ducats or even provinces to leave you alone. Yes, it's annoying; but it gives you a target for your next war once you're strong enough again. Revenge is sweet.


After this, work out why everybody keeps attacking you. If you've got a reputation of 98, then that could be the reason. Or if your army is much smaller than all your neighbours', then you look like a fat, juicy target to the AI. Or maybe you just need to spend money imcreasing your relations with one of your more powerful rivals.

The real problem is my ABHORISHLY HORRENDOUS army tradition and inability to gain good generals.
My enemies seem to have shock 5 shock 6 and shock 4 generals ( all tech level 0 or 1...despite being 70 years in. )
Its ...its HARD to deal with such highly classed generals when you have ...1 shock or 2 shock ( or much worse 4 fire 0 shock and 0 maneuver and 3 siege ;.; ).

If you read the time limit mod, remember, this is using Civilization Universalis.
Lands in my game LOOK NOTHING LIKE they would if I was playing normal and simply changed the dates.

Morrocco has colonized 6 southern traditionally chinese territories ( Changsha, etc. )

THe central asia territories that I'm fighting over to try to protect against Sibir have gold in them. Changatai and Kazan are also hitting some of my lesser territories.

THere are no fort 2+'s ANYWHERE.

 

[Shoobs]

The real problem is my ABHORISHLY HORRENDOUS army tradition and inability to gain good generals.
My enemies seem to have shock 5 shock 6 and shock 4 generals ( all tech level 0 or 1...despite being 70 years in. )
Its ...its HARD to deal with such highly classed generals when you have ...1 shock or 2 shock ( or much worse 4 fire 0 shock and 0 maneuver and 3 siege ;.; ).

If you read the time limit mod, remember, this is using Civilization Universalis.
Lands in my game LOOK NOTHING LIKE they would if I was playing normal and simply changed the dates.

Morrocco has colonized 6 southern traditionally chinese territories ( Changsha, etc. )

THe central asia territories that I'm fighting over to try to protect against Sibir have gold in them. Changatai and Kazan are also hitting some of my lesser territories.

THere are no fort 2+'s ANYWHERE.

JUST for fun, I opened up the game log.

Game[messagehandler.h:202]: 6 February, 145 We have been attacked in in Koda.
Game[gamestate.cpp:1620]: BRZ is a 'lucky' nation.
Game[gamestate.cpp:1620]: PRU is a 'lucky' nation.
Game[gamestate.cpp:1620]: FRA is a 'lucky' nation.
Game[gamestate.cpp:1620]: ADE is a 'lucky' nation.
Game[gamestate.cpp:1620]: HED is a 'lucky' nation.
Game[gamestate.cpp:1620]: ZAP is a 'lucky' nation.
Game[gamestate.cpp:1620]: SOF is a 'lucky' nation.
Game[gamestate.cpp:1620]: JAP is a 'lucky' nation.
Game[messagehandler.h:202]: 10 February, 145 We rejected peace offer from The Mamluks!

Just to let you know how the game's run.
Surprisingly, Japan refuses to NOT ally with me.
I go to war, they either declare war or decline and reapply for alliance not even 3 days later.
This is a Ming game. I'm surprised only ONE nation near me is lucky.

 

[comagoosie]

Peace, never underestimate the power of peace.

Get one person off your back so you can pummel the guy on the ground. I don't care how you get the person off, maybe with a handshake (white peace), give him candy (ducats), promise him he is better (vassalisation), or do his homework (give provinces). The point is a country has a hard time managing when it is fighting two different people.

 

[Shoobs]

Peace, never underestimate the power of peace.

Get one person off your back so you can pummel the guy on the ground. I don't care how you get the person off, maybe with a handshake (white peace), give him candy (ducats), promise him he is better (vassalisation), or do his homework (give provinces). The point is a country has a hard time managing when it is fighting two different people.

Or 5.....
How do you find Warcapacity?