War system is TRASH

[Shahadem]

AI armies take almost no losses when they lose (but I take massive losses if I lose) leading to having to constantly chase them all over the map FOREVER. And if you don't they will run around sieging all your towns/castles while you chase them down and then the ones you caught will lose the fight but get to run away because they take almost no casualties from losing while the ones that ran away but you didn't catch will take the time to siege your cities.

To make matters worse winning a largescale battles provides almost no warscore and the amount of warscore you can gain in total from winning all battles is CAPPED FOR NO REASON.

I've been stuck chasing the same armies around for 30 years because they just won't die as they take almost no casualties despite losing when they were greatly outnumbered. And instead of being forced to at least retreat back to their country of origin they just immediately split up after losing and go try to siege multiple cities. If I didn't run to chase off each tiny unit that splintered off from the main army I would lose the war because they would succeed at sieging.

This is absolutely miserable because the system does not work.

[Cryoz]

Do you have skirmishers or horsemen to inflict pursuit casualties after a victory?

[／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼]

lol just play the benny hill theme when you start chasing

[gidro]

Pretty sure the guy you're fighting has perks in martial so he is more resistant, faster, good at sieging.... And your caracter doesn't.

Unless it happens with every enemy, I'd say it works. Some rulers are a pain to fight.

[Maze]

Op, I have noticed that too. I'm playing on single player, and every time I win a battle, the enemy seems to take little casualty or loss and split off, regardless how big or small of advantage I may have in terms of numbers.

I'll keep playing to see if this changes.

[temeraire785]

Don't see much change from CK2 to be honest. Though I don't know why you're not inflicting any casulties, I usually knock out several hundred per battle fairly reliabley. Yous more Men-at-arms perhaps?

[Brother Frank]

Originally posted by MAz1ng87:

Op, I have noticed that too. I'm playing on single player, and every time I win a battle, the enemy seems to take little casualty or loss and split off, regardless how big or small of advantage I may have in terms of numbers.

I'll keep playing to see if this changes.

You need units with pursuit in their stats or you will barely kill anyone. This is why its important to have cavalry and other units that have high pursuit.

[ShepherdOfCats]

The tool tips say that the quality of the army is important. And it is. Not just about numbers.

Levies are the most basic troops, and you get those from your holdings. Make sure you are recruiting men-at-arms on the military tab up at the top right of the screen, and I like to use those to fight my first battles. Once you've weakened the enemy armies it gets easier. If you start losing at the start of the war it only gets worse.

Knights are overpowered. I had 2 armies of 2500 poorly trained levy-only armies. (by the way, you are dividing your armies up but keeping them close, I hope) I put about 4 knights with average prowess and martial skills (10-15) in each of them, and they went from being poor-quality to superior (just one rank below the best). It takes time to divide and set up your armies but it definitely pays off. If you can help it don't raise the troops from rallies directly near the border, this will give you time to set them up.

Supply limits will ruin the largest armies. If supplies drop below 60 (I think, maybe 50?), the armies start suffering combat penalties for low supply. The AI loves to doomstack, and will usually be low on supplies after a few sieges. If your army is starving, run away. . . . I'm serious. If you run across an elite army of any respectable size it will cut your army to ribbons. Fall back into your territory and make sure your army size is below the supply limit for the county they're in or they won't start resupplying.

Some religions get terrain bonuses, and pagan religions get defensive bonuses when they're defending their home territory. Keep that in mind.

That's about it. It took me a while to figure it out but the best thing you can do is abuse the heck out of that "invite champions" decision. Don't forget to check your court for guests who might also have skills. Prowess is really all you need for good knights, even if they're not great with the martial skill, but you do need some high martial characters to make up your commanders.

[Brother Frank]

Originally posted by ShepherdOfCats:

best thing you can do is abuse the heck out of that "invite champions" decision.

Prowess is really all you need for good knights

Also whenever you capture someone make sure to convert and recruit them as the price of letting them go. This is an easy to way to get a lot of knights for free. Peasant revolt leaders tend to have like 16-24 prowess on average so those are the ones I love to get the most.

[ZombieHunter]

Feels the same as CK2 after they patched the battle system. I still don't completely understand how it works in CK2 b/c sometimes it is cake and other times it feels like you find an invincible army. CK3 gives a little bit more info as to troop strength vs the enemy which is nice.

[Brother Frank]

Originally posted by ZombieHunter:

Feels the same as CK2 after they patched the battle system. I still don't completely understand how it works in CK2 b/c sometimes it is cake and other times it feels like you find an invincible army. CK3 gives a little bit more info as to troop strength vs the enemy which is nice.

Honest to god the AI is so bad with their men at arms so war in 3 is pretty straightforward. Almost all of them buy a lot of light infantry so your general one size fit all maa composition should be mostly bows 1 pike 1 cav.

[LP Maiden]

The new navigation system is a mess. When playing in england, your ennemies will just run from you all along the island, and then jump on a boat, and just go back to the other side of the island, and you're good for another run.

[Maze]

Originally posted by Brother Frank:

Originally posted by MAz1ng87:

Op, I have noticed that too. I'm playing on single player, and every time I win a battle, the enemy seems to take little casualty or loss and split off, regardless how big or small of advantage I may have in terms of numbers.

I'll keep playing to see if this changes.

You need units with pursuit in their stats or you will barely kill anyone. This is why its important to have cavalry and other units that have high pursuit.

Ah, makes sense. I'm not fairly new to the CK series, but these type of games were always low on my to play list. I actually like this one! Thanks.

[Brother Frank]

Originally posted by Maiden:

The new navigation system is a mess. When playing in england, your ennemies will just run from you all along the island, and then jump on a boat, and just go back to the other side of the island, and you're good for another run.

Good news is you can abuse the teleporting armies and then catch them off guard with that juicy recently disembarked penalty (-30)

Also if they're getting on boats it takes a significant amount of time so you can usually catch them before they get away.

Originally posted by MAz1ng87:

Ah, makes sense. I'm not fairly new to the CK series, but these type of games were always low on my to play list. I actually like this one! Thanks.

Of course. Feel free to add me if you've got other questions or just ask here, I've been nolifing ck3 so I've got a pretty ok handle on it.

[ShepherdOfCats]

Originally posted by Brother Frank:

Originally posted by ShepherdOfCats:

best thing you can do is abuse the heck out of that "invite champions" decision.

Prowess is really all you need for good knights

Also whenever you capture someone make sure to convert and recruit them as the price of letting them go. This is an easy to way to get a lot of knights for free. Peasant revolt leaders tend to have like 16-24 prowess on average so those are the ones I love to get the most.

Great point. Peasant leaders are usually very skilled.

It takes some micromanaging but if you see one of your vassals in a war against a peasant revolt, throw down a rally point near by, raise your army, and start marching towards the peasants, then join the war. You will catch the peasants before they can react and if you win the battle the leader will surrender to you. (unless they have multiple armies)

I do kind of wish the game would give you notice if your vassals are involved in a peasant revolt. Either that or I'm missing something. I usually don't find out there's a revolt until I notice one of my vassal's counties has been occupied.

[Anzelak🦑]

lol.