Armies beyond combat width

[Arginine]

What's the point of sending in multiple armies into one battle? isn't all that count s is the combat width? Let's say my combat width is 24, does it make a difference if I send in 1 army with 30 regiments, 2 armies with 30 regiments each, or 1 army with 60 regiments?

How to make best use of my huge land force limit? Should I be fighting multiple fronts, or just one massive one?

[Arsonium]

I believe that larger army still deals more morale damage in short term. So far it seems the best way is to start with full combat width and send small groups of infantry one after another to keep morale steady.

[Sarkin]

Well if you have extra armies , they can still move regiments up to replace ones that have retreated though usually i keep a few in adjacent provinces an if it looks like i'm about to lose especially by a narrow margin i send in the neighboring army to tip the tide back in my favour. which the arriving army with its fresh morale will of course bolster the morale for the entire battle so... that helps longevity.

[Arginine]

Thanks guys, so I am going to be a little more specific here: I am playing as Hungary, trying to annex as much of the Ottomans as possible. I have no probelms conquering the euorpean side, but on the Asian side, Ottomans and the Iraq group up in a large army. I have the numbers, they have the higher moral, so it looks bad for me. 70 regiments ws 50 (Ottoman + Iraq together) with 3.4 moral vs 5. I don't think I can win the battle, since I had 1 large battle on the european continent: my 30 army vs the ottoman's 22 regiment large army, where I sent in another 30 regiment, and the battle was actually pretty close. I can hold the eurpean side, I have the war goal, and a positive ticking war score, I can hold it out there, since I have the largest navy in the game and can block almost all of the ottoman ports, making them impossible to cross over from asia.

So: what would be the best option? Hold out and turn against France (Ottoman ally) or build up an army twice of my current size and just rush the asian continent and try to get a 100% war score before I go bankrupt?

[Omniconda]

il try explain how it works using teh 24 width listed above.

the first 24 units will join the front rank and fight with cav on the edges to flank.
if engaging less than 24 enermy you will match them with as many inf as they have then Cav will join to flank and extra inf will move to the side and not fight
Any units over the 24 will join the second rank and cycle to teh front as the front units take dmg from morale or casulties.
If cannon are in battle they will start on back row and move forward only if there isnt enough Inf cav available to match the enermy front row.

So extra units over the combat width will be in the battle but will not do any dmg untill the front row starts routing.
All units in the battle will take Morale dmg during each round of combat rolls even if they where not activly doing dmg.

With this in mind,
when fighting a larger stack it is better to use a full combat width army, and bring in a second army of inf after 1-2 days battle to reinforce and another if battle is really big.
This will allow your fresh troops to fill the gaps without taking the Morale hits from rounds they couldnt fight in and reduce attrition of moving huge stacks.
The fresh Inf will keep any cannons safe on the back row where they can do as much dmg as possible.
Tech 16 and above is where cannons really make a diffrence and the second row should where affordable be full cannon 20/4/24 for a european nation
Before tech 16 1-5 cannon can usually do the job of seiging

[Arginine]

Thanks! As Hungary, I try to get as much cavalery as possible. I can fill my army with 50%, and they have a 20% boost to them. So if I have less inf than the opponent, he will match my inf width and fill the rest with cav? Let's say 24 combat width, I run 14/10/5 and the enemy has 20/4/5, our front line will have 14 inf both, and I get a huge flanking bonus for having more cav filling all 24 spots in the first row, while my opponen tonly has 18?

[nekoman]

Originally posted by Arginine:

Thanks! As Hungary, I try to get as much cavalery as possible. I can fill my army with 50%, and they have a 20% boost to them. So if I have less inf than the opponent, he will match my inf width and fill the rest with cav? Let's say 24 combat width, I run 14/10/5 and the enemy has 20/4/5, our front line will have 14 inf both, and I get a huge flanking bonus for having more cav filling all 24 spots in the first row, while my opponen tonly has 18?

he will also fill all 24 spots in front row. It is not that infanrty will match another infantry, but they can only fight someone in front of them, so when you have more infantry than your enemy can put in the first row extra guys cant fight anything.

[Arginine]

Thanks guys!

[Chadwbacca]

Every nation has the same width size? (24 front, 24 back)

[nekoman]

Originally posted by Mr.Batman:

Every nation has the same width size? (24 front, 24 back)

It depends on military tech so it grows over time.

[Arsonium]

Originally posted by shogunsmurf:

there is even terrian types that lower or increases width, worth noting.

I think that was removed in one of the patches. It is still present in many mods though.