What Do General Pips Actually Do?

[PossibleTango]

How does having better generals actually help. I can find information on this but nothing detailed and in depth. Is there any information that goes in depth about this?

I'd like to know how it compares to disciple and morale as well. Is having a much better general better than 5% or 10% discipline or 15% morale?

 

[sigeena]

Check the wiki. I'm sure it's very much in depth.

 

[vitek69]

This is pretty in-depth imo: https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Land_warfare#Combat_sequence

Having a better general is much more impactful, especially early game, where modifiers like discipline/combat ability are rare and units have low number of pips.
General adds his pips (or to be more accurate, the difference between your and enemy's general pips is added) to the base damage inflicted by your units, which is then multiplied by your discipline and combat ability

The calculation is a bit convoluted, but bear with me, Let's assume in a battle, both sides have 1 unit of Halberd Infantry at full strength, with no modifiers from discipline, combat ability, terrain, etc etc, but one side has a 6 shock general and one side has a 0 shock general. Assuming they get the same die roll of 5, the 6 shock general's side will inflict 75 casualties, and the 0 shock general's side will inflict 45 casualties during the first shock phase of the battle. If both sides had 10% combat ability buff, they would inflict 83 and 50 casualties respectively

 

[Baswow]

Every general pip (or better, every fire/shock pip that you have more than the enemy general) increases the base damage dealt by your regiment in its respective phase. Simply put: 5% discipline increases all your damage by 5% (casualties and morale), while also reducing enemy damage since it increases your tactics. A single shock pip more increases your morale/casualty damage in the shock phase by a percentage depending on the average roll, terrain, and enemy general. In the extreme average situation (no terrain bonuses/penalties, equally good generals and unit pips, perfect average rolls) a +1 in shock would give you (42.5-37.5)/37.5 * 100% = 13.3% increase, so a total of 6.7% increase in shock + fire. However, like I said, the relative bonus varies depending on a lot of things.
My conclusion would be: 5% disc is a stable bonus and will always be equally effective. General pips are also very important and can multiply your other bonuses.