why are my doomstacks losing to much smaller and weaker armies

[Uber-Chad]

i have big issues with this game but i wont deny it... its fun but one thing that's really getting on my nerves is that after Pyrrus dies my men are weak and cannot hold their own unless they outnumber the enemy 200-1. I have looked online for an answer and its really frustrating that this is an mechanic it needs to be removed, i have 5 armies all with 20k men all very good troops Heavy cav heavy inf (no elephants but it made no difference when i last tried this yes it happens in every game) is there some way to prevent this form happening i'm close to giving up with this game altogether now as its very unrealistic i was going to change my review from a negative to a positive one due to the fun i was having but this is just crippling and NEVER HAPPENED ONCE THROUGH HISTORY how an army with the defensive position and an extra 40k men cannot beat an army 1/3 their size is unbelievable and proves paradox needs to fix this game this should be priority N.o1 to fix but if anybody knows how i can salvage this issue before Phrigya decides to steamroll me with their weaker and smaller armies id be really grateful.

[僕の名前 (仮)]

choose the right tactic (for heavy inf/heavy cav that would be bottleneck or shock) and right composition, vs enemy tactic and composition (you can't see their tactic before battle but you can assume looking at their comp)

And you need good generals.

And maybe discipline or morale omen if you need extra edge.

[Rooter]

Im assuming Phyruss starts as a good general.
Ive noticed Generals make a big difference.
It seems a few mil levels make a big difference,

[Uber-Chad]

Originally posted by Rooter:

Im assuming Phyruss starts as a good general.
Ive noticed Generals make a big difference.
It seems a few mil levels make a big difference,

yes but Phyruss is now dead XD so i cannot use him and his new generation is much weaker in terms of stats also the army i used had a general with 9 martial i dont see how a difference of 2 martial can make such an difference in battle when i have literally over 20k more troops.

[Uber-Chad]

Originally posted by ммм, тортик v2.0:

choose the right tactic (for heavy inf/heavy cav that would be bottleneck or shock) and right composition, vs enemy tactic and composition (you can't see their tactic before battle but you can assume looking at their comp)

And you need good generals.

And maybe discipline or morale omen if you need extra edge.

yeah its definitely my moral as my men flee i usually have my troops on low pay when not at war does that make an impact as i turn it on to full when war starts but now i'm scared to ever turn off war pay if this is the result i also train my troops using the drill option and tactics made no difference as i have the correct tactic (i was deception they were skirmishing) so i had the advantage but its quite annoying how i still lose with 60k against 30k troops.

[僕の名前 (仮)]

if you switch from low to normal and morale fill up then its should be ok, if you fight with low morale then its bad. Renforce can fill it faster too.

deception

If it's low efficiency then it's not useful (hover on it to see which units need for which tactic). For heavy infantry only bottleneck and shock works (and also tripliex acies but i think it's rome only tactic)

[Uber-Chad]

Originally posted by ммм, тортик v2.0:

if you switch from low to normal and morale fill up then its should be ok, if you fight with low morale then its bad. Renforce can fill it faster too.

deception

If it's low efficiency then it's not useful (hover on it to see which units need for which tactic). For heavy infantry only bottleneck and shock works (and also tripliex acies but i think it's rome only tactic)

yeha its happened again is this supposed to stop quick expansion if so it's a very stupid mechanic so i just took on phyrgia and now macadon has randomly declared war because... Paradox cannot seem to make AI resonable... anyways now i have bad research ratio after taking over aetolia usualy when it goes into the negative there literally 0 i can do to improve it hopefully somebody makes a mod to remove the mechanic as it means i cannot win any battle unless i outnumber them 10-1

[Kapika96]

Post some screenshots of your army (to see composition, tactics, general etc) and of the moment a battle begins (to see comparative morale/discipline modifiers etc). Can't really help you improve your armies without knowing what the problem is in the first place.

Oh and small good armies beating large bad armies has actually happened a lot of times throughout history.

[bri]

Your morale doesn't recover instantly when you switch back to full pay, it takes several months. Also, you haven't mentioned anything about technology, it's quite possible the reason you're losing is because the enemy has better technology-your wooden sticks won't do so well against guys in platemail after all.

[Uber-Chad]

Originally posted by bri:

Your morale doesn't recover instantly when you switch back to full pay, it takes several months. Also, you haven't mentioned anything about technology, it's quite possible the reason you're losing is because the enemy has better technology-your wooden sticks won't do so well against guys in platemail after all.

thats the thing iv invested a lot into my military tech but it seems to all be futile i just want to conquer all of greece as pyrrus and kick out cassander from power as his family killed alexanders family. But as long as egypt and phrygia exist ill always hav e the AI randomly declare war on me and my large armies of 20k will get slaughted to a man by their 8k armies XD. my military tech is maxxed out but as im in the negative i actually dont know if i am gettign no more updates due to that i expanded rather fast due to playing as phyrrus as time flies so fast in this game and i wanted to get to carthage by the age of 60 (im still stuck in greece having both phrygia and egypt taking turns invading me and failing)

[Uber-Chad]

Originally posted by Kapika96:

Post some screenshots of your army (to see composition, tactics, general etc) and of the moment a battle begins (to see comparative morale/discipline modifiers etc). Can't really help you improve your armies without knowing what the problem is in the first place.

Oh and small good armies beating large bad armies has actually happened a lot of times throughout history.

im aware but it doesn't happen the way these battles are taking place hannibal didn't beat an roman army that outnumbered him 3/1 and he sure as hell never attacked the larger armies out in the open which is whats happening to me in this game he tricked them into clever traps and destroyed them like at trebia river im not being tricked the AI sends their measly 8k stack at me and i lose with my 20k vet army that's what i meant by unrealistic if i was attacking in a narrow pathway id expect to still win but with high casualties like i did when invading greece but losing is impossible even the persians eventually beat the spartans at thermopalye.

P.S how do i send screenshots in this chat

[Rooter]

take screen shot, goto the game in steam, find the screenshot bit on RHS of page.
then u have to upload the screen shot and use the id to link it here.

Everything I can think of has been covered already.
It might be glitched somehow, Im not sure.

[僕の名前 (仮)]

try add light cav to flanks and see if it helps …

and u didnt say what units enemy use (by skirmish I assume archers and horse archers, both of them beat heavy infantry, because of menevuer not because of tactic or bonus dmg... they kill your dudes before they even can reach you in melee)

btw, elephants lose to horse archers too

[僕の名前 (仮)]

or you could try another thing, make flank width 10, but it's more a temporary solution if you dont have time to change unit composition.

[CyPunk]

Originally posted by bri:

Your morale doesn't recover instantly when you switch back to full pay, it takes several months. Also, you haven't mentioned anything about technology, it's quite possible the reason you're losing is because the enemy has better technology-your wooden sticks won't do so well against guys in platemail after all.

It can take even longer, as it is tied to ruler martial score. I had a ruler once with zero martial and moral recovery was .03 a month iirc. Would have taken 10 years to get my reduced pay troops back to combat capable.

[Sadaurkar]

post a photo of a combat & your military screen