Losing battles despite having almost all advantages

[Thunder103093]

This happens all the time when i play this game for the last 8 years. But my armies always lose to other armies of equal size despite having most advantages & im sick & tired of this. im doing a norway game, nearing the end of the game & im fighting Shun. When i fight them, i have higher morale, discipline, tactics & better generals. Im using according to all the youtube guides i watched, the best stack possible for 40 combat width, which is 50-0-40. The only things i don't have is sometimes being on the offense. but with all of this, according to everywhere i look up, i should be absolutely destroying them with no effort. but no its the opposite, hell alot of the times im getting stackwiped eventhough battles take way longer then the requirements. So can someone please explain to me why im losing when i have all these advatages? This is just bs ive had to deal with all the time i've played this game & i want it to stop

[Marquoz]

Battle results are determined by the following factors:

--Relative tech levels. Even a difference of one point can have a huge impact. Make sure you are the one in the lead.
--The terrain you fight on. Always attack in plains. Always try to defend in hills, mountains, or forests. Don't cross rivers to attack. Make your enemies cross one to attack you.
--Generals. But not just any general will do. Siege pips are wonderful against forts but do nothing in a battle. Fire pips are useless until infantry develop good fire values and cannons advance a few levels. Etc.
--Combat width and army composition. You want a front row of infantry + cavalry equal to your combat width. For most nations, a small number of cavalry (2 to 6, depending on combat width) is optimal. Your rear row should be exclusively artillery. At low tech, you don't need many, but by the time you reach military tech 10 to 13, you want a complete row if you can afford it.
--Sending in a second army to reinforce the first in large battles after significant damage has been done to your side.
--Making sure your troops are fully funded in wartime and have time to reach max morale.
--Drilling. The AI loves to drill, and the bonuses it provides are powerful. Once you can afford it, drill your armies in peacetime.
--Advisor and ruler bonuses
--National and military idea groups--but note that you can do VERY well in combat without either of these.

Once you really learn how combat works, you will go entire campaigns without losing a single battle.

[Thunder103093]

Originally posted by Marquoz:

Battle results are determined by the following factors:

--Relative tech levels. Even a difference of one point can have a huge impact. Make sure you are the one in the lead.
--The terrain you fight on. Always attack in plains. Always try to defend in hills, mountains, or forests. Don't cross rivers to attack. Make your enemies cross one to attack you.
--Generals. But not just any general will do. Siege pips are wonderful against forts but do nothing in a battle. Fire pips are useless until infantry develop good fire values and cannons advance a few levels. Etc.
--Combat width and army composition. You want a front row of infantry + cavalry equal to your combat width. For most nations, a small number of cavalry (2 to 6, depending on combat width) is optimal. Your rear row should be exclusively artillery. At low tech, you don't need many, but by the time you reach military tech 10 to 13, you want a complete row if you can afford it.
--Sending in a second army to reinforce the first in large battles after significant damage has been done to your side.
--Making sure your troops are fully funded in wartime and have time to reach max morale.
--Drilling. The AI loves to drill, and the bonuses it provides are powerful. Once you can afford it, drill your armies in peacetime.
--Advisor and ruler bonuses
--National and military idea groups--but note that you can do VERY well in combat without either of these.

Once you really learn how combat works, you will go entire campaigns without losing a single battle.

yeah i've been told that for years & its just not true so i don't want to hear that i will never lose a battle when i do often despite having most advantages. but you did bring up stuff i forgot to add

We have the same tech

i have better generals, maybe worse case theirs could be slightly better in certain battles but overall i have better ones

i do send more in but that doesn't helo

i always fund my army to max morale before battle, same with drilling

i have a discipline advisor, my current ruler only has navigator atm

Norway doesn't have any army idea bonuses, no idea about Shun. i have Quantity, Quality, Offense & Defense ideas added too

[Narrowmind]

If you were really leading in all those things, I would guess it was a legendary 3 star general you were up against. Try to use the terrain to your advantage, and reinforce with the extra 10k, because if not, they're taking a morale hit from losses while not being able to participate. Also, make sure you've maxed your regiments instead of just having the numbers across many half full units. You'll do that through shift consolidate.

[Narrowmind]

Originally posted by Thunder103093:

yeah i've been told that for years & its just not true so i don't want to hear that i will never lose a battle when i do often despite having most advantages.

If that's how you really feel, then I guess we should all move on. You might refrain from posting then if we can't help you with what's not true.

[Thunder103093]

Originally posted by Ratlegion:

If you were really leading in all those things, I would guess it was a legendary 3 star general you were up against. Try to use the terrain to your advantage, and reinforce with the extra 10k, because if not, they're taking a morale hit from losses while not being able to participate. Also, make sure you've maxed your regiments instead of just having the numbers across many half full units. You'll do that through shift consolidate.

i hate those generals so much & they need to go. but what happens in my battles is my troops are getting btfoed so badly in the 1st few days that my artillery goes into the frontline . i have more infantry to prevent this from happening & its really stupid when i have all these advantages that should straight up prevent this. this is happening too when im on the defense & the ai isn't adding troops on while i do

[Marquoz]

Originally posted by Thunder103093:

yeah i've been told that for years & its just not true

No, it absolutely is true. I've played this game since launch and I'm expert at it. I go centuries without losing a single battle, and I fight constantly. If you study my advice, you can do the same. If you ignore it, you should quit the game. You'll never do well.

[Malvastor]

You gotta include some screenshots here for there to be any way of figuring out what's happening in the first couple days of the battle that's smashing through your infantry so badly. Otherwise everyone who replies is basically just guessing at which factor you're missing out on.

[Thunder103093]

Originally posted by Marquoz:

Originally posted by Thunder103093:

yeah i've been told that for years & its just not true

No, it absolutely is true. I've played this game since launch and I'm expert at it. I go centuries without losing a single battle, and I fight constantly. If you study my advice, you can do the same. If you ignore it, you should quit the game. You'll never do well.

its not true, i did study your advice that you & others have giving me since 2015 & watch all the guides of the big eu4 youtubers for years, i do what they say & i have all these advantages & guess what, I still lose battles. So no its not true that doing that would not lose battles, otherwise it would work for me then & its just annoying smugness when you say it works when i see the opposite

[Thunder103093]

Originally posted by Malvastor:

You gotta include some screenshots here for there to be any way of figuring out what's happening in the first couple days of the battle that's smashing through your infantry so badly. Otherwise everyone who replies is basically just guessing at which factor you're missing out on.

i looked at the ledger, here are my stats compared to me & shun

I have 78 Army Tradition to Shun's 75
i have 59 Army Professionalism to Shun's 66
I have 118% Discipline to Shun's 114
I have 10.32 morale which is the highest in the world to Shun's 9.96 which is the 2nd highest.
We both have the same tech
My force limit is 810 to Shun's 732
& my stacks are 50-0-40 to whatever Shun uses
I have better generals the majority of the time

[Marquoz]

Trying to help you is pointless. Experts at EU4 win almost constantly. One of them, me, just tried to share that expertise with you. Instead of listening, you say my advice is a lie.

Insulting the people who can help you is not a productive approach. Why did you post at all if you refuse to listen?

[Malvastor]

Originally posted by Thunder103093:

Originally posted by Marquoz:

No, it absolutely is true. I've played this game since launch and I'm expert at it. I go centuries without losing a single battle, and I fight constantly. If you study my advice, you can do the same. If you ignore it, you should quit the game. You'll never do well.

its not true, i did study your advice that you & others have giving me since 2015 & watch all the guides of the big eu4 youtubers for years, i do what they say & i have all these advantages & guess what, I still lose battles. So no its not true that doing that would not lose battles, otherwise it would work for me then & its just annoying smugness when you say it works when i see the opposite

Originally posted by Thunder103093:

Originally posted by Malvastor:

You gotta include some screenshots here for there to be any way of figuring out what's happening in the first couple days of the battle that's smashing through your infantry so badly. Otherwise everyone who replies is basically just guessing at which factor you're missing out on.

i looked at the ledger, here are my stats compared to me & shun

I have 78 Army Tradition to Shun's 75
i have 59 Army Professionalism to Shun's 66
I have 118% Discipline to Shun's 114
I have 10.32 morale which is the highest in the world to Shun's 9.96 which is the 2nd highest.
We both have the same tech
My force limit is 810 to Shun's 732
& my stacks are 50-0-40 to whatever Shun uses
I have better generals the majority of the time

That's all good. But please- if you want to get specific advice about what's going wrong for you, click on a battle that you're losing and show us screenshots. If you have a save you can send someone, even better. Listing the factors that are in your favor still leaves us guessing about what could be causing you problems, and you insisting that you're doing everything right, and us saying that you must be doing something wrong if you keep losing, and so on until the whole thread devolves into frustrated flamewar.

[Octopuses]

In game press L and go to army quality comparison.

[bri]

Your stats are close enough to theirs that factors such as terrain, general pips, or poor rng on the die rolls will tilt battles one way or the other. The ai pats close attention and will generally avoid combat when those factors aren't in their favor...

[Thunder103093]

Originally posted by Octopuses:

In game press L and go to army quality comparison.

didn't i post my army stats earlier? wouldn't that be the main stuff to know

[Thunder103093]

Originally posted by bri:

Your stats are close enough to theirs that factors such as terrain, general pips, or poor rng on the die rolls will tilt battles one way or the other. The ai pats close attention and will generally avoid combat when those factors aren't in their favor...

i know i was losing on the defense with good/better generals, i stg it cannot by just because of rng. the ai cant account for that, unless its like the ai in other games that play that DO KNOW what the rolls are going to be....