How do I destroy enemy army?

[ct11]

If I occupy all enemy entry point on battle field and defeat them, will they be totally destroyed?
If I defeat one enemy army, and ask my army to follow their retreat closely, am I able to destroy it completed?
Or any other way to do it?

[SAS]

For the first no, they can still retreat.
I have only "destroyed" any entire army twice. It was on the main campaign map after defeating it in several tactical battles and surrounding it after it retreated with another army. It then was disbanded.

[crono900]

I defeated and wiped out the CS Missouri State Guard (MSG) by attacking multiple times. I had to get them down to about 400 men and wiped them out, before their army fully dispersed from the campaign map.

1st this was on Spring '61 campaign (not career mode), I also had readiness turned OFF, so I didn't have to wait to recover. I set my Army of the West to defensive stance, as to not appear hostile. I also did had only recruited 1 battery and 1 1500 man brigade for a total of about 3000, against their 3-4 625-1000 man infantry brigades and 1 battery. I had to enter siege and then assault them about 6 battles all within about 10-15 days of chasing and whittling them down. Right after I finished I ran into their Western Department of about 10000 vs my 2000-2500 men. The last battle with the MSG had the Western Dept. only a few hours away from joining the battle but I wiped them out before their reinforcements arrived (It was a battle I was unsure if I'd win).

I had very few losses overall, as my artillery dealt most of the casualties to the MSG and they lost their artillery completely in the 2nd battle.

"So this is how to destroy them"
Lure them into a battle they think they can win or holed out until allies arrive, on campaign map, use a small army-division (like 1 cavalry brigade) on defensive stance, with a huge army behind them to join the battle. Then just keep chasing them down after each battle with this tactic and so long as you keep eliminating them before the receive the new units, you can wipe them out. (Easier to do without readiness)

"If I occupy all enemy entry point on battle field and defeat them, will they be totally destroyed?"
Unfortunately no the units that went missing will group together to reform their army. You will do a good amount of damage though.

"If I defeat one enemy army, and ask my army to follow their retreat closely, am I able to destroy it completed?"
Absolutely, so long as they recover there morale enough to think they can withstand a fight against you they will enter defensive siege battle, of which, you can then assault their position.

"Or any other way to do it?"
Pretty much already answered at this point, but here are some pointers.
-In battle have a cavalry division circle wide (as to not draw attention) around them to the road you believe is going to be their escape route. Then after you route a unit, wait until they get close enough to realize their escape is blocked and use CRTL RMB on the routed unit with a cavalry brigade (in attack column) to charge and follow them. After a few in-game minutes, of the chasing melee, the routed unit will start losing about 50 men every minute (these will be represented as capture men so make sure you have a POW camp). This will help whittle them down faster.
-Capturing their entry points effects them getting reinforcements. (As far as I know)
-Pay attention to the locations of other forces on the campaign map. Try and get their other forces occupied while you chase down a target.

p.s. the story of how I defeated them was in the 2nd or 3rd month of the war.

[ct11]

Originally posted by SAS:

For the first no, they can still retreat.
I have only "destroyed" any entire army twice. It was on the main campaign map after defeating it in several tactical battles and surrounding it after it retreated with another army. It then was disbanded.

What do you mean by surrounding it?
I tried to move my army ahead of the retreating enemy army (by railway), it still cross my army though it gets many causality. Is it because the entire army you mentioned got too many causalities so that its strength became 0?

[ct11]

Thanks crono900.
Please verify if I understand what you said correctly.
There are 3 ways to destroy army.
1. Disable readiness at beginning, trigger battle as much as possible. Each battle causes some causalities, the army is destroyed evebtully.
2. Use cavalry to charge routed enemy brigade. I also used it before but it doesn't act well. Firstly, the troops don't attack routed enemy, infantry doesn't shoot at them, cavalry doesn't charge even very close to them. Secondly, while the cavalry moves farther, order delay causes I can't order cavalry to follow retreating enemy precisely. Not sure if there is any enhancement or fixes on this recently.
3. Order army to follow retreating enemy army on campaign map. It can cause many causalities but it is difficult to make their strength to 0 before they retreating back to their state as my army moves slower than theirs in their state.

[crono900]

1. Yes as one way. So long as you keep them from fleeing at the sight of you.
2. Charging causes units to tire faster. When tired a unit will stop it's charge and must be told to charge again. I miss spoke when I said to hold CTRL, it's ALT RMB to charge without delay. As for marching cavalry far away. If it is a Division HQ with cavalry only, just micro manage them and use ALT Move with the DivHQ so it wont wait for it's CO. Then moving the cavalry individually will only require the orders from the DivHQ. It's been a while since I've ran down routed enemies so they might have patched this to prevent it.
3. Yep, If you can circle around them before engaging, you might be able to force them to retreat farther into your states.

[ct11]

Originally posted by crono900:

1. Yes as one way. So long as you keep them from fleeing at the sight of you.
2. Charging causes units to tire faster. When tired a unit will stop it's charge and must be told to charge again. I miss spoke when I said to hold CTRL, it's ALT RMB to charge without delay. As for marching cavalry far away. If it is a Division HQ with cavalry only, just micro manage them and use ALT Move with the DivHQ so it wont wait for it's CO. Then moving the cavalry individually will only require the orders from the DivHQ. It's been a while since I've ran down routed enemies so they might have patched this to prevent it.
3. Yep, If you can circle around them before engaging, you might be able to force them to retreat farther into your states.

Hmm... Having a direct cavalry army to make the order delay less is a clever thought.

[crono900]

Originally posted by ct11:

Originally posted by crono900:

1. Yes as one way. So long as you keep them from fleeing at the sight of you.
2. Charging causes units to tire faster. When tired a unit will stop it's charge and must be told to charge again. I miss spoke when I said to hold CTRL, it's ALT RMB to charge without delay. As for marching cavalry far away. If it is a Division HQ with cavalry only, just micro manage them and use ALT Move with the DivHQ so it wont wait for it's CO. Then moving the cavalry individually will only require the orders from the DivHQ. It's been a while since I've ran down routed enemies so they might have patched this to prevent it.
3. Yep, If you can circle around them before engaging, you might be able to force them to retreat farther into your states.

Hmm... Having a direct cavalry army to make the order delay less is a clever thought.

It works with artillery and infantry too.

I like having my division's units to specialize in certain positions.
-For artillery I have 3 batteries with 1 engineering infantry for support and breastwork construction. The guns for the batteries are broken up as, 1 Howitzer for close range anti-personnel, 1 parrott or ord for long range counter-battery, and 1 field gun for a mix between the 2 prior.
-For infantry I like having 3 with rifles and 1 engineering with muskets. Each of them have a specific role to play, such as 1 sharpshooters for long range, 1 tanks with high morale to draw attention, and 1 close range support to flank those attacking the tank and the engineers to construct breastworks and cover retreats if needed.
-Cavalry will have similar numbers, except their roles might vary like they'd focus all on fighting unmounted, charging, or screening. The artillery in a cavalry corps artillery would be horse artillery with one cavalry unit for support.