Do Elite Regiments worth it?

[Claudius Aetius]

Hi All,

I'm trying to figure out the strategic importance of create a professional Army. I tried to create a hugely professional Army by keeping them drilling all spared time between wars. And I did achieve a huge amount of professionalism (almost 100%).

But then, during a war against the Ottomans, my Army twice times strong and much more professional was shamely defeated by the Ottomans army! Both Armies has one star leader.

So, what is the worth of an Elite Army?

Thanks in advance. You are really helping me a lot! :)

[Mr.M]

Not sure about how good it is

+15% maintenance is quite a lot

And it only reduces the time your regiments need to get to 100%, it doesnt affect professionalism

You also lose the drill rather fast

[Tulduil Iphukiir]

Originally posted by scaletho:

...
Both Armies has one star leader.
...

Stars does not matter: You can even have a 6/0/6/6 leader early game which is useless (in flat riverless terrain where the Maneuvre value is unimportant in battle), whereas a simple 0/2/0/0 can make all the difference.

Stars are only an indicator how many total pips a general has but important is the actual distribution.


And there are many more factors counting into the outcome of a battle, some of them: Morale, Discipline, tech level (unit types and tactics), ...

[The Uncleanest One]

It's extremely worth to have a professional army for the bonuses, specially the siege bonus wich, in wars where your war exhaustion skyrockets, goes down as the war progresses. Also the shock bonuses are pretty important too. What happened against the ottos may vary: Their units are stronger, generally. Their tech group is strong in early-mid game and decent at end game. Or your army composition was bad. Maybe because of your cavalry composition or your army width.

[XerxesTheUndead]

You also might want to look at the military ideas you are using while you're at war. Offensive, Quality, and Defensive each give specific bonuses that will affect how well they perform in battle, as well as some policies once you complete idea groups. Terrain can also be a factor, so be careful when entering mountains/forests and when crossing rivers.

[Claudius Aetius]

Originally posted by Tulduil Iphukiir:

Originally posted by scaletho:

...
Both Armies has one star leader.
...

Stars does not matter: You can even have a 6/0/6/6 leader early game which is useless (in flat riverless terrain where the Maneuvre value is unimportant in battle), whereas a simple 0/2/0/0 can make all the difference.

Stars are only an indicator how many total pips a general has but important is the actual distribution.


And there are many more factors counting into the outcome of a battle, some of them: Morale, Discipline, tech level (unit types and tactics), ...

Thanks, that's my another source of doubt: how can we achieve more tradition, morale, discipline? Is it the techs only?

[Zornvel]

Tradition: war + battles, castles, some ideas also gives a bonus.
Moral: Tech, Ideas, events, some countries have a bonus, advisors
Discipline: ideas, advisors. later absolutism, events, also some countries have a bonus

[Admod, the Equivocal]

The only reason you drill troops is to get army professionalism. The drilling itself isn't what you're after. I really like that button to click to gain manpower. Slacken recruitment will lower the army professionalism by −5%, since you gain 100% army professionalism you gain it back quick. 2 years worth of manpower with the click of a button.

[Claudius Aetius]

Thank you all, as always you were very heplful to my understanding of EU4. :)

[Fellini_Fiend]

Whatever you do don’t click the decision for faster drilling. The increase in maintenance is not worth getting the individual regiments drilled up faster. Like they get drilled significantly faster sure but that doesn’t effect the speed which you gain national Professionalism. Typically a large chunk of your Professionalism will come from hiring generals (+1% Professionalism each time you click that button). But you may very well lose a chunk of it from getting an instant amount of manpower (this has been my main use for Professionalism) or hiring a bunch of mercenaries at a time. That said it’s totally fine to hire mercenaries just if you are planning on relying on Professionalism while also relying on mercs try to not recruit new ones too often because it isn’t the amount of mercs you have in your army it’s how many you just recruited that effects it. So theoretically you can hire a bunch of mercs at 0% Professionalism and if you never ever hire any more during the rest of the game those same mercs will have no effect on your Professionalism at all. Well except that those mercs will not count for the amount of Professionalism you get yearly from drilling that army and mercs can only be in drilling armies that have regular units as well. If you’re doing that I would recommend having the maintenance slider all the way down because while the regular troops are being paid for while drilling the mercs aren’t because they have no effect on the rest of the army being drilled.

Also, the most value you get from Professionalism could arguably be once you get to 80% or higher. 100% is great and all because you spend half on generals and of course more siege ability and all the other bonuses but it’s with 80% Professionalism that you get the ability to get manpower back instantly into your manpower pool whenever you disband regular units. This works out great when you just annexed a vassal or you have your forces across the globe but need an army to defend a region you can’t get to quick enough. Think of them as cheaper mercenaries that don’t lower your Professionalism. Recruit a stack of regulars to fight some rebels or an enemy’s army you didn’t notice had gone towards some of your distant over seas provinces and then once you have taken care of the threat immediately disband them and get all of the manpower back.

I haven’t done that last bit in a while because my latest campaigns have had me focus on using mercenaries a lot so having high Professionalism was pretty much out of the question. Professionalism is fantastic for nations that are small or even medium sized and have enough of an economy to allow for having all your troops being drilled during peace time while still making money.