Soldato
You need manpower to keep reinforcing regiments, the military buildings help you generate more manpower. Mercs are OK in a pinch to conserve manpower but they are expensive.
Europa Universalis IV
- Thread starter ceemuk
- Start date
Man of Honour
How do you mean military buildings? You mean the barracks and training grounds?
Edit: Oh I see yes. Well as HungryHippos has said they help your resources. Barracks offer manpower in particular provinces, training grounds will give you an extra regiment land limit modifier and so on. You can also increase manpower individually per province which will also increase the land limit but this is only available if you have a certain DLC and it escapes me which one.
Certain ideas will also increase your manpower and army ability in general. Also be aware that idea groups doubled up will offer specialised abilities. Like Defensive and Administration together will give you a certain buff. It's worth seeing which groups are good together as some of these bonuses are excellent.
Reference Mercs, they are very expensive since the new patch but the administrative idea group certainly helps with this. Depends which way you want to go of course.
Edit: Oh I see yes. Well as HungryHippos has said they help your resources. Barracks offer manpower in particular provinces, training grounds will give you an extra regiment land limit modifier and so on. You can also increase manpower individually per province which will also increase the land limit but this is only available if you have a certain DLC and it escapes me which one.
Certain ideas will also increase your manpower and army ability in general. Also be aware that idea groups doubled up will offer specialised abilities. Like Defensive and Administration together will give you a certain buff. It's worth seeing which groups are good together as some of these bonuses are excellent.
Reference Mercs, they are very expensive since the new patch but the administrative idea group certainly helps with this. Depends which way you want to go of course.
Soldato
Just in case you didn't know, if you use the production interface it will tell you how much manpower you'd get from building barracks in each of your regions. Same goes for trade power and income from market places and churches etc.
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Soldato
Ah right so use for additional manpower, I couldn't really work out what they were for haha. In this game I never invested in manpower so probably not a surprise I struggle in battles unless I have a huge numerical advantage.
Soldato
You can consolidate regiments if your manpower runs out/low, as reinforcing is expensive (basically reorganizes them). If you hover over the manpower at the top left you will see the how many men you need to reinforce the units, and how many you generate each month.
Generally if you do need mercs, it's best to get only infantry, try to keep your cavalry and artillery as normal regiments.
You should also try your best to keep up in military tech, it's very important indeed. And pay attention to unit composition. Early game you want primarily infantry and some cav. Mid game throw in some artillery as well. Late game artillery is king basically, and cav less so. A late game 40 stack might look something like 20 inf / 2 cav / 18 artillery. Also pay attention to attrition and supply limits, if your units have skulls on them they are taking attrition. You will always take attrition in enemy territory, but it's worse in things like Russian winters in Siberia, and in provinces with low development where supply limits are low (you can see what they are by selecting an army and hovering over a province).
I quite often find myself splitting my army (shortcut S key) to avoid massive attrition from supply limits, especially early game. Late game tech reduces supply limit impact and improves it besides.
Generally if you do need mercs, it's best to get only infantry, try to keep your cavalry and artillery as normal regiments.
You should also try your best to keep up in military tech, it's very important indeed. And pay attention to unit composition. Early game you want primarily infantry and some cav. Mid game throw in some artillery as well. Late game artillery is king basically, and cav less so. A late game 40 stack might look something like 20 inf / 2 cav / 18 artillery. Also pay attention to attrition and supply limits, if your units have skulls on them they are taking attrition. You will always take attrition in enemy territory, but it's worse in things like Russian winters in Siberia, and in provinces with low development where supply limits are low (you can see what they are by selecting an army and hovering over a province).
I quite often find myself splitting my army (shortcut S key) to avoid massive attrition from supply limits, especially early game. Late game tech reduces supply limit impact and improves it besides.
Soldato
Yeah I had attrition issues when I went to war fighting for Portugal in Morocco. Nice tip about consolidation I've never done that before.
I have such a big incomeband reserves I tend to go mental on mercs and I recover so quickly with my income I can clear my loans quickly.
I have such a big incomeband reserves I tend to go mental on mercs and I recover so quickly with my income I can clear my loans quickly.
Man of Honour
Do you really use that many artillery units in your composition? If I had a 40 regiment army I'd probably have 20 inf 10 cav and 10 art. Depending on the nation of course, cav has flanking which can obliterate infantry ranks. But it's also very expensive. I don't know the ideal composition.
Soldato
artillery gets better and better throughout the game as time goes on, artillery is the only thing that can attack from the back row as well, you just need to keep the front row for infantry/cav.
cav can flank yes, but late game it's not as useful, better earlier on.
If you have 20 artillery and the enemy has 40 on their back line, you will be massacred somewhat!
cav can flank yes, but late game it's not as useful, better earlier on.
If you have 20 artillery and the enemy has 40 on their back line, you will be massacred somewhat!
Soldato
Few more questions, right near the end of my England game but I cannot win a battle against France. I can put 30k more troops on a battlefield but I always lose and on the odd times I win (pretty much all of Europe against France solo) they rock out 50k stacks from nowhere every few months, it's baffling, have I missed something?
I also had (past tense now irritatingly) New Foundland and Thirteen Colonies but I had to give them up due to high liberty desire, I said there anything I can do to keep them beyond the one option that costs 20 prestige a use? They are constantly slipping away and I can do nothing about it and end up just granting them freedom.
I also had (past tense now irritatingly) New Foundland and Thirteen Colonies but I had to give them up due to high liberty desire, I said there anything I can do to keep them beyond the one option that costs 20 prestige a use? They are constantly slipping away and I can do nothing about it and end up just granting them freedom.
Man of Honour
By the late game you should be able to field 100k men in a single battle fairly easily. Especially as England. France get some amazing army bonuses and it is always a challenge to stop them. France will also have huge reserves of manpower, so if you win one battle, unless you stack wipe their army they will be able to field another fairly easily.
Liberty desire can be tricky but theres a number of things you can do. If you have the DLC's you can placate their rulers, or basically bribe them to stay faithful to your cause. Also, LD is calculated on things like army strength. Bearing in mind once your colonies start to expand by themselves they will add +1 regiment every province, at least. This means if you have two colonies, with say potentially 20+ regiments in the field at any one time, they are going to be fairly close to your army limit (if you can only field 30 regiments). This will add huge amounts of LD. the trick is to keep tabs on their LD and work out what they want. Low taxes and things like that also help significantly. There's a lot to it, so it's worth taking a look at the Wiki.
Liberty desire can be tricky but theres a number of things you can do. If you have the DLC's you can placate their rulers, or basically bribe them to stay faithful to your cause. Also, LD is calculated on things like army strength. Bearing in mind once your colonies start to expand by themselves they will add +1 regiment every province, at least. This means if you have two colonies, with say potentially 20+ regiments in the field at any one time, they are going to be fairly close to your army limit (if you can only field 30 regiments). This will add huge amounts of LD. the trick is to keep tabs on their LD and work out what they want. Low taxes and things like that also help significantly. There's a lot to it, so it's worth taking a look at the Wiki.
Soldato
You want to stop France reasonably early as England if you can, they are weaker at the start without their national ideas.
Also what military ideas have you taken? by end game you want at least 2 or 3 of them. I recommend quality, offensive, defensive (no particular order here). Your troops will be much better with those.
To keep LD desire your best bet is just to be bigger and be able to field a larger army, keeps the LD down.
Also what military ideas have you taken? by end game you want at least 2 or 3 of them. I recommend quality, offensive, defensive (no particular order here). Your troops will be much better with those.
To keep LD desire your best bet is just to be bigger and be able to field a larger army, keeps the LD down.
Soldato
I can field 150k troops and still turn a profit but France destroy me with around 70-80k for no reason I can tell (I have a good setup and balance of artillery and cavalry etc) and on the odd times i actually manage a win a month later game time another 70-80k appear.
At one point I was allied with Austria and Spain we had about 250-300k troops in French territories, destroyed 3 60k stacks they fielded and took a load of territory then out of nowhere (literally only bit of France I could see was the farthest south point) they marched out a single 120k stack and destroy a 180k stack I had with Austria then matched the remaining 50k and destroyed about 95k Spanish army and by the time I had bungled up a 40k merc/troop mix in Normandy they matched in with about 120k again.
It feels (but probably isnt) like a bull cheat mode, I can't ever keep up recruitment wise and they can kill me with huge numbers deficits. I can understand them being a bit better but it feels although they are outlandishly over buffed. The fact that I was 3 in score rankings (with better military than France) that Spain was 4 (again better than France) and Austria was only marginally behind France and the three of us with huge numerical advantages get easily handled is massively frustrating. Makes me feel like I'm missing something fundamental.
Edit: I have both the quality and quantity ideas, nothing else.
At one point I was allied with Austria and Spain we had about 250-300k troops in French territories, destroyed 3 60k stacks they fielded and took a load of territory then out of nowhere (literally only bit of France I could see was the farthest south point) they marched out a single 120k stack and destroy a 180k stack I had with Austria then matched the remaining 50k and destroyed about 95k Spanish army and by the time I had bungled up a 40k merc/troop mix in Normandy they matched in with about 120k again.
It feels (but probably isnt) like a bull cheat mode, I can't ever keep up recruitment wise and they can kill me with huge numbers deficits. I can understand them being a bit better but it feels although they are outlandishly over buffed. The fact that I was 3 in score rankings (with better military than France) that Spain was 4 (again better than France) and Austria was only marginally behind France and the three of us with huge numerical advantages get easily handled is massively frustrating. Makes me feel like I'm missing something fundamental.
Edit: I have both the quality and quantity ideas, nothing else.
Soldato
Quantity is nice early on when manpower is a problem, but I would not bother with it most of the time, your troops fight better under the other 3 I listed and thus die less anyway.
Higher Military Tradition gives you much better general rolls as well, early game you want good shock pips, late game the fire pips are better.
You need to watch Terrain as well, try not to march into Mountains over a river etc, generally late game France is strong, and you need to either bate them to attack you, or keep your stacks close to eachother so you can rush in to support.
Higher Military Tradition gives you much better general rolls as well, early game you want good shock pips, late game the fire pips are better.
You need to watch Terrain as well, try not to march into Mountains over a river etc, generally late game France is strong, and you need to either bate them to attack you, or keep your stacks close to eachother so you can rush in to support.
Man of Honour
You haven't got lucky nations on have you?
Man of Honour
Also, are you losing when attacking or defending? Are your armies led by good generals? Comparison to the French that is.
Man of Honour
+1% Missionary strength
−10% Stability cost modifier
+10% Institution spread
+1 Monthly splendor
−25% Mercenary cost
-20% Embracement cost
-20% Advisor cost
−1 Interest per annum
+25% Manpower recovery speed
+10% Fort defense
+5% Siege ability
+10% Spy network construction
+25% Improve relations
−1 National unrest
+0.5 Yearly republican tradition
+1 Yearly legitimacy
−25% Aggressive expansion impact(Lucky nation bonuses)
Soldato
If lucky nation is on by default then it will be on, if you have to activate it then it's not.
I seem to lose attack or defence, general wise theirs always seem to be better but I'm not sure I can get a better general.
I seem to lose attack or defence, general wise theirs always seem to be better but I'm not sure I can get a better general.
Soldato
The higher your military tradition the better the generals you will roll, they can be really good and they do make a good difference. Use the Noble estate grant Generalship to reliably get 40 AT generals as well, which will probably be much better than anything you can roll, especially early game.
The best way to get high AT is with the ideas I mentioned, they boost it yearly (it always decays). You also get it for being in battles, sieges etc.
Late game France can definitely be tough though, you really need to just outmatch them much earlier unless you want to befriend them, but not a great idea as England as they are sort of in your way and historically rival you anyway.
Just taking France apart for you
http://i.imgur.com/y5fe3cw.jpg
The best way to get high AT is with the ideas I mentioned, they boost it yearly (it always decays). You also get it for being in battles, sieges etc.
Late game France can definitely be tough though, you really need to just outmatch them much earlier unless you want to befriend them, but not a great idea as England as they are sort of in your way and historically rival you anyway.
Just taking France apart for you
http://i.imgur.com/y5fe3cw.jpg
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Man of Honour
I *think* Luck nations is on by default. This can definitely go some way to explaining the problems you are seeing. France in nearly always a LN and that manpower modifier alone is enough to explain why you can see hundreds of reinforcement regiments appearing out of nowhere. I turn the flipping thing off it unbalances the game.
Soldato
Probably about to curse this by daring to have this thought but I'm having a great game as Holland.
I lucked out early as after a Provence/Burgundy war early game a condition of surrender was that they release me, so I got independence extremely early! Played it very slowly as I'm aware I can be crushed quite easily but I've picked up Utrecht, Breda, Antwerp and Geldre (or whatever the last one is) I've got a good income of about 5g a turn and now eyeing up Flanders. I've annoyed the HRE I don't dare touch another of their territories so Flanders are my target but they're in decent alliances and I'm stuck with England who are getting smashed.
Going to try and get France onside instead as they're a decent counterbalance to Austria who loathe me
At any point does the HRE disappear or do I just have to tolerate and work around it?
Thanks to all the tips from you chaps I'm still a noob but really got a better grasp of the intracicies!
I lucked out early as after a Provence/Burgundy war early game a condition of surrender was that they release me, so I got independence extremely early! Played it very slowly as I'm aware I can be crushed quite easily but I've picked up Utrecht, Breda, Antwerp and Geldre (or whatever the last one is) I've got a good income of about 5g a turn and now eyeing up Flanders. I've annoyed the HRE I don't dare touch another of their territories so Flanders are my target but they're in decent alliances and I'm stuck with England who are getting smashed.
Going to try and get France onside instead as they're a decent counterbalance to Austria who loathe me
At any point does the HRE disappear or do I just have to tolerate and work around it?
Thanks to all the tips from you chaps I'm still a noob but really got a better grasp of the intracicies!