what to do against huge armies of AI

[unmerged(14626)]

what to do against huge armies of AI...at every level higher than Very Easy, the AI builds huge armies by cheating. Because you can't build those big armies.

And it also seems that when you ally with them, they don't actively come to your aid but just stand there.

How do you win then??

 

[danedwardsuk]

Let them come to you. Whilst their armies are withering away with attrition you can sneak in through the back door and conquer their territories

 

[unmerged(10224)]

You run away Or try and draw them to easily defensable, well fortified grounds, preferably with a low supply limit.

Don't try and defend everything, try and work out how the enemy will attack --often they have set patterns, like beelining for the Capital, or always attacking a specific province. Defend what you can and concentrate on these AI 'favorite' provinces.

Yeah, and try and sneak an army behind the front so you can kill his new recruits as well as sever supply lines.

 

[unmerged(18316)]

Originally posted by malagate89
And it also seems that when you ally with them, they don't actively come to your aid but just stand there.

Indeed
But fortunately they do the AI´s AI-allies do the same .
And if you have allys bordering your enemy they will attack in 9 out of 10 times.

And yes, attrition will do the job against the ai-armies.
or you can beat them at the correct terrain (cavalry in plains etc...)
But I agree that the armiy-building-capabilities of small AI-nations are totally out of balance thus provoking asymetric warfare even if you should be the major combattant.
I also believe that the HRE wouldn´t be swallowed so much if the members couldn´t beat the crap out of each other so easily because they´re all heavily armed.

 

[Daelyn75]

The AI armies are totally unrealistic, Denmark in my game had about 90K troops, and their total population for their two provinces was about 80K, this was while they are at peace as well, what a joke. I'm also unhappy with the AI tech advances in the first half of the GC, even a one provence Ireland can more or less keep up with the highest tech levels, come on whats with that!

 

[Chaingun]

Well the population shown is just the population of the biggest city in that province, which is typically just one tenth of the total province population (except when the city is very large, a city with 200000 inhabitants in a small area province doesn't imply the total population is two million).

 

[unmerged(18316)]

I´ve seen one province min ors having >100.000 troops, at populations of about 30.000. (Scotland)
Even multiplied with 10 every third is a soldier, also including women and children...
A bit unrealistic isn´t it, eh ?

Prussia at the end of the 18th century had a standing army of sth. in the range of 20 to 30k men, and that was considered huge back then, while in the game it is a joke.

 

[Szordrin]

Divide by 100 if the numbers are hard to take , but they do have a bit of a large armed force compared with a similar human counterpart !

Try to make good alliances, avoid them unles sure of victory, outmaneuvre them. Wear a lucky charm?:rofl: ?

 

[CarcassDK]

Yor talk about population in the major city of a provins, but that doesn't mean that their couldt be more.

Don't tell me that Denmark only had 80k of population in 1419 or beyond...

Maybe denmark has 40k of inhabitants in Copenhagen located on sealand, but that does not mean that the population on the rest of sealand would not be bigger, of course it is. Denmark had a lot of farming inhabitands living on the country, so in numbers it not unrealistik, but yes weird!

This is just an example.

And if you neighbor makes huge armys like france tend to do, just watch their inflation increase with extreme speed, and then you will see their land tech go to hell, and they will become easy pray for you far more proffesional and well equipped army!...

in one og my games as Denmark france reached an inflation above 500% and england above 900%... DEAD MEAT if you ask me!

 

[unmerged(20077)]

Originally posted by danedwardsuk
Let them come to you. Whilst their armies are withering away with attrition you can sneak in through the back door and conquer their territories

...and this works especially well in Russian provinces, where "General January" will kill off invaders during sieges. Scandinavian winters can be almost as harsh as well. If the enemy starts an assault, they start losing men and morale and that can be a good time to launch your counterattack.

 

[unmerged(18415)]

I also believe that the HRE wouldn´t be swallowed so much if the members couldn´t beat the crap out of each other so easily because they´re all heavily armed.

Yes, but then France would have a much happier time in the HRE instead.

 

[unmerged(11535)]

Solution:

Hack the SaveGame File and reduce the offending armies by 10...

 

[unmerged(18239)]

Scorched earth.

Let them come and witle their numbers down in sieges and trough winters. Then smash your cavalry and leaders (If they are available) into them.

 

[unmerged(3931)]

Use lots of cavalry! Run circles around your opponent. Don't let his army catch you. The AI breaks off little bands. Annihilate those little guys. Whittle the AI army down this way and by using attrition to your advantage. Even the movement attrition helps.

When the a large but whittled down AI detachment moves toward a plains space be prepared to mass an attack. You may need to attack from multiple provinces so as to avoid attrition the month before. And you will want to arrive on the frst few days of the month. Attack with a superior total shock value due to cavalry numbers and there will be little left of your opponent. And you take relatively small casualties.

Next fan out to cover all of enemy territories. Provinces building troops need heaviest cover. Destroy all enemy troops and halt troop production. Then wait for the seiges to complete for 100% victory!

With 60K to 80K cavalry I can gain 100% victory against an equal land equipped China in the 15th century. China may have 100K infantry and 10K cavalry at the time. It's really important where those 10K cavalry are. If you get the infantry separated from the cavalry they are both dead. Together, they can still be dangerous. If you make a poor guess about the enemy troop composition, you can flee the first day of the battle and return to fight another day.

 

[unmerged(11499)]

Originally posted by CarcassDK
in one og my games as Denmark france reached an inflation above 500% and england above 900%... DEAD MEAT if you ask me!

I always wonder how much does it cost to build a single 1k unit of any kind with this inflation (But I didn't calculate it yet because of the following two reasons: I'm not so good in maths )

Not to mention the case, when a one prov minor has a few 10k armies, has a lot of money in the pocket and huge tech level at the same time...

 

[unmerged(19226)]

re malagate89

what to do against huge armies of AI...at every level higher than Very Easy, the AI builds huge armies by cheating. Because you can't build those big armies.

I play on normal/normal EEP 142a last beta 1.07 and in EVERY of my games as China or Austria I was always able to have much bigger armies than ANY of my AI enemy. I have never met AI army bigger than my own army (of course during the war time).

And it also seems that when you ally with them, they don't actively come to your aid but just stand there.

In my game as China or Austria my allies (Korea and Bavaria) always have sent me "great aid troops".

 

[unmerged(3931)]

An ally will send aid troops to into enemy terrirory if there is a land route. The AI is very poor about using ships to send troops. The AI sends 1k, and when that is annihilated another 1k. Once in a while a few troops are sent. It's not until a foothold is established and some troops remain that are not annihilated that the real force of troops comes in.

Getting back to the land route... if the land route passes through your territory that's great. The AI ally marches huge amounts of troops through your territory possibly clearing seiges. The AI will find a land route path of least resistance when it moves a troop unit. It doesn't matter that later on the path may be "blocked" by heavy resistance; the AI's path is set and it sticks to it, unless there is another war or peace during movement. Many times there is one province that must be passed through, and you can count on enemy troops piling up there also. So then you know your ally will be helping a lot.

But if there is no land route, the AI doesn't help much except to send ships and pile up troops on seiges you have already started. That's not really much help since it causes you attrition.