[EU4] War Academy I: Army Composition & Basic Combat

[@remansparadox8604]

Got a new mic for Christmas, let me know what you guys think of the sound quality.

[@omgrussian]

Last one was pretty good but this one manages to be even better. Great!

[@EmmaOWnzU]

I like it, especially with your edits, in earlier videos you could tell which stuff was recorded, now it's a constant. Thanks for a great video! Just completed your Ming to Mughal!

[@DummyUrD]

Your previous mic was already pretty good, I don't hear a big difference but there is still a slight improvement. Thanks for your informative vids!

[@redoputra1611]

Finally! Thanks Reman 😀

[@theworstvow]

It's very gut, mein Freund!

[@beefyblom]

0:46 "Here's an example of a normal battle you might see" Revolutionary Theodoro vs Russia

[@cavejohnson982]

9 morale

[@sanda386]

Lmao

[@arcadiusrex215]

This is the ideal army composition. You may not like it but this is what peak damage looks like.

[@niklas4842]

Arcadius Rex nice meme

[@Kingdemonpigfromhell]

It's not what peak damage looks like though, that's just not the case nor what the video is saying. When it comes to western troops infantry only deal more damage than cav at tech 6 and 7.

[@Dusty2084]

@@Kingdemonpigfromhell i'm late to the party, but they were making a meme.

[@Cherryfish386]

ALL CAVALRY

[@granttutty6210]

Calm down little kid...

[@Ulas_Aldag]

Have like 1000 hours in the game and after watching your video, Iam felling like a complete noob.

[@niklasnoeske5850]

Ulaş Aldağ I actually have 3000 and still :D

[@dickheaddan4106]

3800 and still :(

[@user-rj8pp6br8e]

820 hours and still.. oh wait I am an actual noob

[@NoOnesBCE]

He is good very good but still did not advertise the Best easy Micro strat just keep your Inf and Cannons CW Stacks seperate so you can adjust on the fly (arrival dates become paramount )

[@AlanMakbeth]

You are not alone, mate.

[@frysebox1]

But cavalry loot faster... important thing to consider when you're pulled into war by your ally and have to strategically plunder your enemies land while they do the fighting

[@hubeargreat7212]

I like you.

[@graveeking]

Actually a really good point I often forget. It's particularly relevant when one is 'carpet sieging' an already defeated enemy - the amount of extra loot they can get from a even slightly developed province that you want to move on from to occupy the next province is actually a pretty sizable amount. And of course, it also hurts the enemy's economy in the short-term if you're not able to annex that province, especially with devastation in the game.

[@XonokMe]

"Strategically" enrich yourself out of someone else's war, instead of helping them out. I like it.

[@xytez3452]

You really like hordes, don't You?

[@winser21]

Doesn't matter much when you're gouging yourself with that cavalry cost the entire late game.

[@FatheredPuma81]

Cross a straight into a mountain province without a general while the enemy is waiting there with a 6/6/6 General. Greatest meatgrinder I hope to one day see.

[@MrDwarfpitcher]

Do not forget to add crossing a strait I abused the ai alot by defending an Island to the south of India that way Once their 30+ stack would land, I'd cut reinforcements off with my navy

[@Vincrand]

@@MrDwarfpitcher That is also how I beat Teutonic Order + Livonion Order + Riga as Ösel (custom nation with 3 dev).

[@rwfr190]

armies without cavalry are dishonorable sir. Do you expect a cannon to charge and save the day?

[@tomothan]

Of course not, there's infantry for that

[@ShahjahanMasood]

Boom 🔥🔥🔥

[@-Faris-]

Reminds me of the time the Polish cavalry charged German tanks in WW2

[@panzertee9790]

The Lone Traveller That didn’t actually happened it was a myth perpetrated by the nazis to demean the poles and convince the the Germans that they were fighting and inferior enemy, when in fact the Nazi army had hundreds of cavalry themselves

[@ecksdee8021]

@@panzertee9790 i thought that polish cavalry did attack tanks but they used anti-tank rifles and not swords

[@darkfireslide]

Hey Reman, as always your videos are really in-depth and precise. I think what you could have done better, however, is emphasizing how much more important artillery becomes later in the game, compared to how relatively weak it is when first unlocked. I think there's even an argument to be made that until about tech 16 or so that there isn't really a point to building artillery except to siege. But maybe this is in the next video? I think something else to consider is how your tech group's pips and your current general can affect your army composition. A 3/6 general in the late game isn't ideal, but a few cavalry regiments could really make use of the shock modifier since their shock is still so much higher than infantry in the late game. I could be wrong, of course, and that's fine too, but I love that EU4'S combat is complex enough to warrant this kind of discussion.

[@remansparadox8604]

I plan on covering exactly how artillery becomes better next video when I go into the second half of the combat equation, which includes fire and shock modifiers. The part about how general/unit pips can impact army composition is... intriguing. It obviously has an impact and a 0/6/x/x general late-game would obviously be much better with cav than a 6/0/x/x. However, generals are so ephemeral and tend to bounce around all over the world that it's usually not worth the effort. In my many hours of watching other advanced players, I don't think I've ever seen them change their army composition late-game due to general or unit pips. Still, it would be interesting to see how much better a composition could be.

[@darkfireslide]

Yeah, and to be fair, minmaxing to that degree would probably honestly be something you would only do in single player; in multiplayer there just isn't time or impetus to do so. Of course, in single player, often at that point in the late game it doesn't really matter anyway if you've already snowballed. It's still mostly theoretical and to be honest, I'm just being contradictory for the sake of being contradictory, haha. Odds are the improvement isn't enough to justify the amount of money spent getting the 6-12 cavalry regiments you would need to change your army. Still, if you have a 0/6/x/x in the late game, why I thought you might cover that, because yeah, cav is really important in the early game, I feel. Even at tech 7, having full combat width artillery technically isn't a *bad* thing, but if you have that much money anyway, you can probably build twice or three times the number of regular, combat-capable troops. That being said, I did an England campaign on my channel a while ago and artillery was actually useful for a short bit when I rolled a 5 fire general at mil tech 12 or something like that. Did it really matter? It's hard to say. And I mean, at the end of the day, it's a grand strategy game, so usually what matters most are things not related to generals or unit pips. I just feel that if a player bothers to learn how shock/fire, generals, and pips all work, you might as well try something interesting if you get put into a weird situation with a general or something.

Tech group pips mattered a lot in EU3 and very early EU4 patches. They really flattened the difference at some point, and it's really not worth thinking too much about now.

[@trygveplaustrum4634]

Can we get a degree at the end? I feel like this knowledge would have an actual monetary value.

[@kedrak90]

Trygve Plaustrum Only if there is an exam at the end. Reddit get on that!

[@mazlog299]

well some people pay for a degree in womens studies and other things where you cannot get a job so... why not this? And it's free?! heck ya lol

[@Real_SkyRipper]

@@mazlog299 oh yeah Gender studies, first class: there are two, that's it congrats you all pass. XD

[@revolutionarycomrade]

@@Real_SkyRipper conservatives have one joke... and it's not even funny.

[@henriquec8848]

@@revolutionarycomrade it is not a joke.

[@Graybat12]

Wonder if paradox has plans in some future update to make late game cavalry more relevant given the critical role even going into the 1600s. There were tons of battles in the late modern period where cavalry was critically important.

[@darkestkhan]

Cavalry was important because w/o threat of cavalry there is no need for infantry - just go straight into artillery. Add threat of cavalry and it is no longer so simple.

[@MultiNacnud]

cavalry in later years were used as scouts (J.E.B Stuart american civil war for example),maybe paradox could reduce the fog of war if they are deployed in an army.

[@noaccount4]

The Mughals, the Cossacks and the Central Asian powers all primarily relied upon their heavy or light cavalry throughout this period, it's wrong to say cavalry didn't play a major role

[@pinturicchio4400]

Would be nice if Cav can operate out of the combat with (make 3-4 fields which just Cav can use) so they are more out of the scope of the main army. Maybe let them attack the second line directly if no other Cavalry is on the enemy side? Dunno if that would be to strong or wouldnt change anything but at least it sound nice to me

[@rabidfurify]

The way that armies deploy, particular wrt reinforcements, is so obviously broken by design that I occasionally forget exactly how it works because of how incredibly stupid, unintuitive and damaging to gameplay it is. Cavalry should clearly be able to exceed normal combat width limits to make them relevant in the later portion of the game where every combat is at max width. And armies should adjust themselves mid-combat in order to keep cavalry on the flanks (where the enemy is not at max width) and all artillery should be pushed to the back line. Even if we don't allow cavalry to be able to exceed normal combat width limits (which would be a fairly significant change) they would still have some marginal use late game if they could be deployed to the flanks from 'reserve' as the enemy line shortens, in order to allow you to deal maximum damage to a crumbling enemy army.

[@olivialambert4124]

This was incredibly useful, thank you. I'd been looking for in depth guides with mathematics and the scientific approach for a while so I fell in love with your channel immediately. I'd been looking for a proper explanation to combat and the wiki just wasn't cutting it with some areas beyond me, some below me, and lots of "get this army" with no explanation such as suggesting a tiny 10 wide army stack which really wouldn't cut it even at the very start of my game. This video brought me up to speed enough to understand the rest of the wiki and explained why giving me the skills needed to make my own armies. Again, thank you.

[@TheOnlyFeanor]

I was basically gonna make this comment. Amazing video, very clear and concise !

[@verloren844]

I love how much influence Reman holds, actually. After the recent video about 20 vs 40 combat width in HOI4 EVERY HOI youtuber or streamer I watch started using 40 width divisions.

[@BrandstifterFussel88]

"Dead soldiers can't fire their guns" - *Laughs in Vampire Coast*

[@alphamikeomega5728]

*Laughs in Osowieć Fortress*

[@claudiavidican]

'If you're a new player, chances are you're not building enough artillery.' Yep, sounds about right, now I'm excited to use my new found knowledge in EU4.

[@Thunder103093]

I build alot of artillery & im still losing wars

[@emo_girlbymgk8181]

Who’s back after part IV, some 2 years later.

[@alvarlindstrom2188]

Something I really REALLY can’t stress enough is your ability to make something this complicated understandable. Someone else could’ve EASILY just been rambling on with numbers for way to long and being hard to understand while you take everything one by one and slowly so that I understand very well. You’ve earned yourself a sub!

[@austinshires3735]

Your videos are actually so amazingly good

[@Adamos321]

Wow, this is absolutely increcible, indept and well described guide. One of the best I've ever seen for any aspect of any game. Thank you for that Reman!

[@rodguy35]

When I have 400 hrs on Eu4 and still have no idea what I'm doing

[@mlg_teletubby9391]

When I have 500 hours but feel like I have to re learn the game every expansion. I think I've actually gotten worse over time.

[@lucashampton6269]

Sound quality is amazing! Also, thank you for making this video! I have played lots of EU4 but never knew for sure how to approach it the best way.

[@tailshey129]

Dear Reman, your fabulous gaming skills, insightful interrogation on the mechanics alongside the gentle and polite presenting style make me love everyone of your video. I truly appreciate all works you have done and I am always ready for your next video. I just finished the Ryukyu Q&A, and I almost felt jealous that all those commenting question gets your answer. That being said I also have several questions that I would like to ask. 1. You promised us that you would make a video on Ming-Yuan on the patch ”Third Rome”. I know it is very hard to make a video and you are busy on other more intriguing topics upon Paradox Strategical Games, but I just would like to say that I am still interested in that topic even it is already”Cradle of Civilization”: Is the Ming-Yuan still available now? Is it still powerful? And how to quickly form Yuan as the Ming blob? 2. As a Chinese player, the patch Mandate of Heaven is a light of hope and delight, but it also brings a difficult choice: conquering or tributary? Through all the Ming games I have played after the patch, this question has been an endless puzzle for me. I would like to apply for your attention on this game mechanic. Using your erudite knowledge upon Paradox Game, you can tell us that is it more beneficial to gain as much tributary states as we can, or we should just conquer all the land we can instead of making more and more Tributary States. Also, how is the benefits of tributary states differ through all states on different continents, is it better to make Asian States, European States, or even American tribes into Tributary?While dealing with “Tributary Range” Is it more efficient to just conquer small land as “Tributary Bases”, and make the country around your tributary states? Or is it better to conquer through big states such as Russia, and make a pathway from Asia to Europe, while making tributary states along the way? 3. Can you also do a video about the world conquest difference, if the religion, culture, or even capital is locked by the achievements? Is there any difference in the world conquest if your original position is not on an island, but Byzantium which is in the middle of multiple great powers, or Karaman which is surrounded by a big power like Ottoman? Is it different for World Conquest if it is a one state minor? Thank you for all your effort, and I do not want to urge you in answering ay of the question, please take your time, and keep your pace. Finally, is there anyway that I can send you patrons, I really love your work and I want to keep you around as far as I can.

[@CitySwimmah]

Man you are a wolf among sheep withing eu4 tutorial youtubers. Truly eye opening stuff , Thanks

[@Fruzhin5483]

LOL, i have been playing the game for a year, I restored the Roman empire as Byzantium, and yet, my army composition has usually been 4 Inf, 2 cavalry, 1 artillery, LMAOO

[@LordPelegorn]

shows how sadly little important it is in single player since the AI just doesn't know what to do... (if you know what you're doing in other parts of the game)

[@ptkstefano]

How did you started out your game? I've been wanting to try a Byz game but it's the start that kills me.

[@verdiss7487]

Sounds like a late game AI army composition. Yeah get on fixing that next time you play, it's honestly amazing how much of a difference it makes to have a full backline of artillery.

[@salviija774]

Vali Rusev I have always been 5:1:3 in late game

[@Fruzhin5483]

Well, It is very easy actually. I start by improving relations with the Albanians, by guranting them, and Hungarians, while building ships and preparing an army. I usually destroy my forts since they wont have any use for me. When u have the alliance with the Hungarians and Albanians, try to invite some of the balkan nations like The Wallachians and Serbians and start building a spy network on Venice. Depending on the situation u can either declare war on the Venicians or wait for the Ottomans to declare war on the turkish minors. Now, your war with the ottomans! It is best to transport your army to Wallacia through Hungary, thus being able to besiege Edirne( or Adrianopol). Wait for them to go to war with one of the turkish minors or some other Asian country, so to be able to trap their army. Make sure to personly siege every county u want to take, MOST IMPORTANTLY EDIRNE!!! Try expanding into the mediterenian islands A.k attack venice, Genoa and the Knights. If u can vassalise Albania and invade Serbia and Bosnia. This is my opening. Try declaring war to the ottomans only when they are already at war

[@yourethatmantis5178]

I kinda wish Cav had some kind of use in combat, like the scouting bonus in Vicky 2 or something.

[@Videokirby]

Perhaps Cav could punish frontline Artillery even more, operating on the assumption that Artillery isn't as useful against fast-moving targets like Cavalry and that they could close the gap much faster than Infantry. They would also prioritize attacking Artillery over infantry. This would give Cavalry some staying power in main armies, and could inflict fast-damage on pure Artillery stacks.

[@982-o4e]

that is another game, go play vic2 ...

[@enderaslan7998]

At the beginning of the game you can get full effectiveness if you send inf in groups of 2 by 2 and retreat them after enough damage to enemy infantry So cav will be in charge always Very much micro management but you dont have tooo much to do in beginnig. Especially their shock values are sky rocket for that era and you will save thousands of manpower

[@-Faris-]

Remember the day you said: We don’t need algebra in real life! Now look back at the formulas used to measure casualties in eu4 battles Yeah, we all now regret saying that

[@ecpgieicg]

Regarding cavalry use, have you try fighting a 40inf+30art stack with 30inf+10cav+30art stack? Depending on how late is late game, of course, the stack with 10cav can decimate the pure infantry army by taking no practically no shock damage while dishing out tons of damage in shock phase themselves. The problem is severely exasperated when the dice roll is favorable for the infantry army in shock phases but less so in fire phase. The army with 10 cav is effectively immune to disadvantageous dice roll in shock phases. I just don't see how flanking bonus is the main reason for cavalry use barring extremely early game. Can you address this pease?

[@LordPelegorn]

i don't know about his points but another reason is that fire phase comes first, where the exact opposite happens. the cavalry will get decimated first, meaning they will have less strength in the shock phase, dealing less damage

[@ecpgieicg]

+Marvin Heierli This is where the tech level comes in. You can't assume in general the 10cav regiments can result in total disparity in the combat potential of the whole armor during fire phase across all tech levels. Feel free to refresh on the pip charts of different unit groups first. There are a lengthy periods of time where infantry only has marginal amount of extra fire pips compared to cavalry. (And before those times, the two are straight up equal in fire pips.) Are the implications clear to you from this point?

[@Ascordigan]

I am far from an expert but from MIL tech 16 and onwards at least, the cav shock phase benefit is simply outclassed compared to their cost. Art can fire from the back line and at tech 16 have almost as much fire as cav has shock. Also at this point, western inf has 12 pips compared to the 10 cav pips, making them better overall. So the main cav advantages, shock damage and flanking, is diminished and negated respectively. At this point, inf and art combine to deal more fire damage than cav can deal shock damage (and the art advantage is so great you want to spend your money there) and the army size ruins flanking. Cav can still do things, sure, but it's much more expensive than simple infantry and simply not worth it on a cost-based measure anymore.

[@ecpgieicg]

MIL tech 16 is actually exactly the point I am referring to. Try what I said and see if a stack wipe from time to time justify the cost.

[@LordPelegorn]

maybe i missunderstood you but looking at the unit pips on the wiki at tech 16 the fire pips for infantry range from 2 to 4 depending of tech group while cav has 0 to 2 pips, looking at western tech infantry has 4 fire pips to only 1 fire pip for cav. this difference only grows bigger with more tech

[@TLedoux-px4xl]

It really makes my day seeing that you uploaded a video.

[@scroogietw6878]

Ive watched and read many army guides now and this one is by far the best it covers stuff completely and from the bottom up. Thank you a lot Reman! :D

[@3ipolarBear]

Thank god for your take on that, been feeling the need for someone to put an in depth definitive resolution for the optimal army composition problem since no one on the forums or reddit ever seems to agree on the same numbers

[@andrewryan2417]

One of the best in-depth guides of EU 4 I've ever seen, keep up the good work!

[@SSKOverLord]

The fact that you have only 38k subscribers is beyond my understanding . Thank you and keep up the good work !

[@Yitick]

New mic sounds great! Did you make a pop filter? Also, thank you for making these videos. It breaks down a very overwhelming amount of information into great, well explained pieces.

[@stevenjhill5448]

Another 'must-have' set of videos to have on the EU4 learning curve. Congratulations on the best strategy-gaming tutorials on YT

[@Perzyn]

I want to thank you for this series. As someone who always tried to learn how to play EU IV and always ended discouraged, partly due to opacity of many game systems, this video made it much easier to understand what I've been doing wrong (a lot).

[@giovannicalderon4859]

Reman this video just opened my eyes. 2000 hours and I realize Im trash. Thanks man!

[@Robi2009]

Wow, I have read and watched many army compisition tutorials and never anyone said to drop cavalry completely... But your reasoning is sound and logical. Good to know.

[@dnjj1845]

Took a hiatus from this game, good refresher series Reman, well done.

[@jordanbey2546]

What point would you say constitutes late game; the point where you stop using cav?

[@jaredkrol3739]

Jordan Bey he said around tech 16

[@jordanbey2546]

Jared Krol Thanks, I must have spaced at that part

[@verdiss7487]

I say tech 13. At this tech, artillery become a major boon for any army, and generally by this point you are able to sustain a full stack of inf/art. Dump the cav in favor of fleshing out your infantry with large back lines of artillery.

[@lord6617]

It depends on the opponents you are fighting. If you are mostly picking on nations who don't field a single stack that is full combat width, then ditching your cavalry is not optimal, because they are still getting flanking bonuses. AND some nations infantry unit pips are straight garbage until you get to tech 12+, in which case you actually want to run as much cav as you can reasonably afford, because your regular infantry troops suck. (fairly certain eastern european tech group is a good example of this) And tech 16 is like, mid game.

[@Melodeath00]

Tech 16 is the big one for Art dmg, but Cav is still relevant up to tech 22. After 22, the Shock phase is irrelevant, so you don't care about Cav any more. Between 16 and 22 is kind of a transitional period. Cav is still valuable for their amazing Shock dmg, but once you get to 22, it's all about the Fire phase.

[@Mountaineer2]

What I really like about you Chanel is that your Videos are about quality instead of quantity. And dude... the qualitiy of your vids is just insane :D

[@forte5203]

I feel like I need to take notes, I've played like 200 hours of eu4 and had no clue about needing that much artillery. This really helped me

[@arshadshauib7201]

Bless you sir, I just got this game with the Dev weekend sale and this video series is goated...cheers!!

[@Shaymuhs]

Your videos are amazing, the work put into them is second to none and since I subscribed over 6 months ago I've never missed a notification. Keep it up!

[@konradkruk9468]

Thank you so much ! It is the last mechanic in EU IV , of which I have no clue how to conscientiously interact with .

[@plattari]

This cleared up so much! I have 300h in this game and up until now i have been a total noob. I feel like this is gonna make my campaigns atleast twice as easy. Thanks so much man! You rock!

[@Rannos22]

Hey found one of these videos in my suggestions Really good work I would suggest throwing these into a playlist so it's easier to watch in one sitting and easier to find the other parts later

[@cou2707]

To make late game cavalry useful they could: 1. always allow for flanking even at maximum combat width. 2.Let cavalry grant bonuses to the rest of the army to represent scouting etc. 3.Could perhaps reduce attrition (from cavalry being useful for foraging). 4.Give large bonuses to casualties inflicted to retreating units. 5. Have a chance to cause a 'breakthrough' whereby cavalry attacks artillery in the second line, or deals massive damage to infantry in the first line (to represent being attacked in the rear by cav). Just some thoughts.

[@gaiusjuliuscaesar4201]

The sound sounds great lmao, and thank you for this vid, after 1000 hours of eu4 still learn something new everyday

[@lord6617]

I feel like cavalry usage really demands a more in depth discussion, as using or not using it a lot of times depends on your opponent and morale values, as well as your economic situation. Cavalry does a ton of morale damage, and most times unless your troops are prussian space marines, you don't win battles just by killing the enemy, but by crushing the enemy morale value. And the AI is highly prone to fielding not a full combat width of cannons, so the cannon's backline fire damage isnt killing your cav, and the infantry won't be shielded by the backline cannons, which adds up to a LOT of shock and morale damage. The same thing can happen to you, as well, as the AI likes cav a LOT more than players usually do. Running a stack with less than a full combat width of artillery and all infantry into an enemy stack with a heavy mix of cav and a good shock general can destroy you, especially if its a country with very high morale bonuses like france. How many artillery to field is a video all to itself as well, but until province unit support values get to late game quantities, artillery is the single greatest killer of your troops (via attrition by being over province support) so you very rarely have more than 1 stack with full width artillery, which is where the above comments come even more into play imho.

[@MrWepps]

Cavalry pursuits following a victory in battle often had the most devastating and damaging effect of the whole shebang. I wonder why Paradox never included that in an otherwise awesome game.

[@blueknight1706]

Can’t wait for you to talk more about horde combat and such, still having trouble with properly optimising my stacks so they can take on ming

[@RedBaronHill1]

Glad to see you back and great new idea for a series of videos!

[@GgGTeMpLaR]

when is the transition to late game at which point you should stop making cavalry? at tech 16 when you get artillery? also, should you only put artillery in an army that has its frontline combat width already filled up?

[@azraelb2]

it totally depends on your situation. If you either could flank the enemy with extra front row units, or if you could stop the enemy flanking you, then additional front row units are much better than additional cannons. your inf/cav ratio is more a budget question than anything else. Both inf and cav have multiple tech levels where they are stronger and weaker, but in general cav always does more damage than inf except maybe in the very very lategame (last 4 techs). E.g. at tech 16 (western) cav is pretty weak and only a little bit better than inf while at tech 23 cav completely dominates inf again. It also depends on your leaders. If you have a leader with 6 fire and 0 shock, it would be pretty uneffective to use a lot of cav when inf already have a decent fire multiplier. if your leader has 0 fire and 6 shock, it would be pretty stupid not to use as much cav as you can...

[@lord6617]

Also, if you aren't filling full width artillery, you almost NEED a few cav to counter the enemy cavalry on the edge, otherwise they'll wreck your infantry and roll up your flank with their better unit values. This can be somewhat alleviated by always having a smaller stack behind your main stack and running it into the battle late as reinforcements, but its still a valid reason to keep cav around.

[@Melodeath00]

Tech 22 is the one where I drop the Cav. Art has 1 Fire dmg at tech 7, then it get's 0,4 more at 13, 1 more at 16 and 2 more at 22. 16 is generally accepted to be the tech where Art becomes an actual combat unit. Before that, it's more for the Siege bonuses, or just some extra dmg if you are swimming in cash. After 16 however, you need to start adding a lot of Art to keep up. After 22 you need a full backline of Art, or go home.

[@chomes8048]

I lost as Venice last night after taking out the balkans nations, byzantium, athens, milan and annexing both of my vassals. I had an amazing trade based economy going and had force limit army ready to go in the balkans just in case the ottomans decided to attack me. The ottomans did indeed attack me and they easily defeated me twice in 2 wars that were about 10 years apart despite me having a higher military tech by 2 the first war and 3 the 2nd war. In the 2nd war i had a roughly +20 force limit too compared to the first war, but still i was wiped out easily. I realise now that i had way too much cavalry and not enough artillery. Thank you! I will make a small nation again and fight with correct composition this time and see how i go!!

[@RayzorMCO]

how'd it go

[@pat45a]

Thank you very much for the tips about artillery! I wasn’t using them outside of sieges because of their price and they seemed useless in combat (in large numbers i mean). I didnt know theses guns would help my armies fight better !

[@ToroNero]

Oh my, thank you so much for this Reman. I wish you come back to youtube.

[@pakitin]

I'm amazed by the amount of data you use, it's very useful. I was a user of EU2 on its day and now in EU4 I'm like: a 40 regiment army losing to a 20 one WTF!! My brain is exploting right now hehehe. Thanks.

[@EthanBlur]

Wow 1000 hours in and I had no idea about artillery thanks man.

[@UnclDeD]

>units take no damage on second line Actually units take morale damage there. That's also why you don't want to put infantry on 2nd row. This is like the main trick of early game pvp wars. Also after they increased reserves morale damage, you don't wanr to push 300k instantly into the battle in the late game too.

[@barbadoskado2769]

nice video, cool explaning. also with going into the details and the formulas!

[@TheRealXartaX]

Actually even without flanking cavalry is worth it because you can cram more power into the same force limit (especially early game where it's low). Which is kinda a big deal. But yeah if you take it out of that context you're right.

[@Drakulas77]

Fire dominates late game combat. The problem with all cavalry is they get very little fire and fire defence pips. They would barely do any damage during the first phase and by the time the battle enters shock phase they are again to beat up to really hurt the enemy even in their dominate combat phase.

[@TheRealXartaX]

>>>>>>especially early game

[@lord6617]

I mean, you could write a book on all the tactics in eu4 combat, but there are a ton of situations even late game where cav is good to have around. If the enemy isn't fielding full width artillery, its good to have, if you are fielding multiple armies, usually they aren't all and aren't all facing full width artillery. Also, you can do things like running cavalry into your main army as reinforcements after several days of combat, etc.

[@32Mormon74Guy07]

Excited to see what you say about combat ability, that is one thing that has never clicked. Also glad to hear confirmation of my army composition. I use a mix of 2 and 3. +10-20% more infantry in my main stacks, with reserves along side. As a suggestion to cover, I would be interested in seeing what a good ratio of normal infantry/merc infantry would be for your average nation, both for your main fighting force, as well as for reserve forces.

[@32Mormon74Guy07]

Well, one thing I noticed one time just messing around in the nation designer is that you can have a modifier for discipline, and also one specifically for merc discipline. So that makes me wonder if standard discipline doesn't actually apply to mercs. But, maybe it does. I only started a month ago, I've never really payed attention or looked for anything like that, and only recently started actually using mercs, though still no loans.

[@phluphie]

Reman, great as always. Question re: cavalry late game. How effective would it be to build units w/ only cavalry and use it to pillage the enemy's lightly defended rear? Basically destroying the enemy's ability to make war? I did this in a US Civil War game years ago. Gave JEB Steward 1000 horses and sent him up north. Worked fantastically for keeping McClellen's army undermanned/unsupplied. Also, please include in-depth naval warfare in this series. I keep trying to make Japan the UK of the east, but not at all sure what's going on w/ naval warfare.

[@marcustulliuscicero5443]

Somehow I cannot replicate the success of your army composition. I use 18 inf + 14 art stacks in the mid-1600s as Persia, and even when fighting at a morale/discipline/tactics advantage in defensive terrain my stacks take massive losses.

[@brothir]

That's waaaay too small an army in the first place, and also too little infantry. Even if you can't afford a full line of artillery, you still want as much infantry as possible to prevent your artillery from ending up on the front line. You should look up combat width by tech here: eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Land_warfare#Combat_width

[@soaringpenguingaming8646]

Awesome look at the combat mechanics... very informative. Thanks for sharing!

[@Madhattersinjeans]

Appreciate you breaking down some of the combat mechanics but the cavalry composition deserves some more attention.

[@dougie8747]

So if you have a general with particularly high fire or shock (or some other bonus to a particular phase) is it worth considering using unit types and compositions that also have a corresponding high fire or shock to cement your advantage in the appropriate phase? Or does it balance out and whatever advantage you gain in fire or shock you lose in the other? Assuming your OP 6 shock general doesn't die in the first siege. :)

[@silverpin8248]

ClusterDenies yes it is definitely worth considering

[@Dumertone]

It is worth considering in singleplayer games. In multiplayer, with no access to pause, tailoring armies to individual generals is extremely heavy on micromanagement, and, IMO, is not worth it.

[@rhubarbcereal]

Things I was doing wrong: 1. 25% of army was cannon when it really should have been 45-50% 2. Building calvary late game. 3. Not combining armies before attacking. 4. Quickly clicking out of the "battle" screen whenever it came up because it was too confusing. Thanks for the tips!

[@squazl]

My army composition is usually art+5%(min. +1) with equal amounts of inf to match the siege requirements for modern forts and prevent small attrition from slowing down the siege. Depending on my forcelimit and income I build multiple of those and then fill another army with 4 cav, 5 art and combat width-4 inf. Suitable for fighting in the early game, taking out capital forts, reinforcing my other stacks in combat and pre-sieging. With pre-sieging I mean progressing a forts siege progress, while your siege stack is busy, and then letting the siege stack take over and finish the siege almost immediately.

[@squazl]

With the newly added army professionalism I found it important to always be at forcelimit until you reach 100% army professionalism.

[@terrencesauve]

Update for 1.30 Merc system? Some nations have great bonuses and that extra manpower pool at a cheaper cost is a godsend!

[@aoxc61]

An excellent and very informative video. This will definitely improve my playing of EU4!

[@Jiet-sk6pg]

Reman, Unsure whether you'll see this, but I had question about how the artillery damage is calculated. Is it separate damage value from the infantry it's supporting, or is it combined? How does that work with the pip distribution (i.e. is it the arty's pips vs the infantry's + opponent's arty)?

[@serluke2388]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I just need enough morale to win the battle... so if I play, let's say, France with Elàn and fight only Austria (disregarding ideas here), it might be suitable to use the unit types that have less offensive/defensive morale pips but more fire/shock pips in order to deal more damage?

[@Quwertyn007]

"Here is an example of a normal battle you might see" *revolutionary theodorian forces kick Russia's butt*

[@MikeMMKK2003]

This is the most useful guide I watched.

[@diamanty3720]

Im a little bit confused right now. How do I actually do this composition? I know how to build regiments and how to put them together to armys. But how can I controll that my artillary is landing in the second line when i build an army? Is it automatically landing there if the first line is completly filled? Thanks for any answers!

[@Android_ELITE]

6:11 What's the basis for this mechanic? If I engage 5 enemy infantry units with 20 of equal size, I'm just going to surround them. Are infantry troops incapable of crossing the front line? Is it an honor system??

[@hovi93]

Yes. In EU4 all soldier follow the proper conduct of war. No dirty strategies

[@lord6617]

Assuming a base minimum of troops, faced with bad odds, the opposing force can always "form square" and fight all sides, in which case your "flanking range" is more a factor of you being able to hit troops on the corners of the square with more fire. Also, in EU4, there is the "Overrun" mechanic, where if you have more than 10 times your enemies forces, its an automatic stack wipe (which is the origin of the common eu4 military meme "Always get your 10s to 1s kids")

[@gzs7483]

1200hrs pleb here 1st of Love the videos Reman rly cool also made me so happy when u described the hybrid strat because thats what I independently arrived at :D

[@mohammadthaer7334]

Im a simple man, I see reman post a video I press like without seeing it 👍

[@tonythesopranos5310]

Thank you so much for this, I've just not been able to play euiv for months because my armies constantly get their shit kicked in unless they clearly outnumber the enemy, and it makes fighting any larger country impossible, so you just spend all game at peace.

[@graveeking]

I'm actually a fan of keeping the 4 extra calvary regiments around until the high-late game where the battle is more often than not decided in the first fire phase with the initial barrage of death. The extra flanking range actually comes in extremely handy as a 'win more' effect. So very rarely do you get to finish off an enemy entirely in one battle - and more often than not weaker Nations can't field a full combat width, even in the mid-late game - and there will be weaker nations with weaker stacks, colonial nations, the remaining nations in the HRE and if Ming survives a few border Asia provinces quite often. Obviously, it's a different story in multiplayer but even then they come in handy if you do win a battle. Not only is it good against smaller stacks but in the last few turns in battle calvary get in a few last kicks as the enemy's line collapses. This is especially devastating when the cannons take the front line in the last few turns of combat before they retreat - the extra hits your calvary get in costs your enemy heavily, both in terms of manpower and cost. With that said I wouldn't justify it in -every- stack I have - just the frontline ones. Backlines can remain the typical infantry/cannon core but the frontline sieges... It's worth it I find. Not to mention the calvary scale to 3 at tech 18 which is terrifying (and eventually 4). Even if the AI misplaces them they can still get in those last extra kicks onto an enemy line. Maybe I'm overvaluing those last extra kicks but I'm reasonably confident in saying that in long wars of attrition between two mega-nations those extra kicks in every battle you win can actually make a difference over time and force them into loans and mercs just that little bit sooner. But I haven't crunched the numbers personally so maybe it's not all that worth it. I'm convinced it's more manpower efficient (presuming you're at your force limit) - but I'm not entirely sure on ducats cost efficeny

[@mbogucki1]

This makes me appreciate Total War: Empire army mechanics more.

[@lequinow]

Nice video as usual. Obviously, depending on where you're playing in the world, you'll want to evaluate your stacks as the game goes on. Western Europe let's you field grand armies without much micro since the supply limit is huge. If you're in western Africa where attrition is a big deal, you'll want something that works better on most of the terrain without having to constantly split your armies. I've been using a 15/2/10 template for my troops for a very long time and it's convenient, practical and effective to accomplish most of your goals in SP from tech 13 to 23.

[@Peanutcat]

Reman, if money was a non issue, would you still consider cavalry a bad option for late game armies? Is there any other reason why you would use infantry over cavalry other than the cost/ cav ratio limit? Cavalry still provides better units compared to infantry no?

[@Melodeath00]

Cav does like zero Fire dmg, even in the lategame. Inf does a mix of Fire and Shock. The reason why you want to use all Inf armies, is to amplify the power of late game Art: Fire dmg. If money is never an issue, armies like what you described, pretty much being an early game army with the addition of full backlines or Art, would be viable between techs 16 and 22, maybe even 13. Tech 13 gives Art 0,4 more Fire mod, while 16 gives 1 more and 22 gives 2 more, with 2 later techs, like 26 and 32 afaik giving 2 more. Late game art has a Fire modifier of 8,4.

[@samotten9874]

Surely you would still want some cavalry late game for fighting smaller stacks; the flanking range allowing more units to engage and the bonus shock damage could easily be the difference between a stack-wipe and your enemy being able to retreat.

[@marcoweinhofer938]

Awesome video, really didn't know cav usefulness dropped off so hard in the late game.

[@neutralgoodhuman9255]

Pipless infantry is the best infantry! And I love your videos, you're doing an amazing work!

[@Salacavalini]

Can you make a video dedicated to Cavalry? Like going into more detail on why most Western armies should stop using them in the late game (other than flanking not being important in the late game), but also on which nations (e.g. Poland, Hordes) get good mileage out of Cavalry, and how best to manage Cavalry Support Ratio for these nations if it's below 100% maximum?

[@jayb4431]

Hearts of iron 4 game was pretty good and gave me an unforgettable feeling of an absolute ruling entity. My knowledge has expanded beyond the boundaries of the Universe. I must continue my journey with console commands in Cheat Land.

[@brokenmotor2]

YES!!! I have waited for this! Thanks, reman!!

[@gammaray152]

Victoria 2 war academy when?

[@MFMegaZeroX7]

Heck, I just need to learn how to play Victoria 2

[@drenkydrenk7544]

+MegaZeroX7 Victoria 2 as a game is not hard to understand. When people say it's complex they are referring to the technical aspect. I'd argue HoI4 is more difficult gameplay-wise.

[@Alex-0597]

1 part Hussar, 1 part Engineer, 4 parts Infantry, 4 parts Artillery. Bake for 30 minutes in lamentations of enemies, season with with powder of foes driven before you, and serve with lemon twist.

[@imperator692]

@@drenkydrenk7544 Yeah. I have an easier time with Vicky 2 than Hoi4, and I'm still learning the trading system in Vicky.

[@GreenFitzy43]

Hi Reman, another great video thank you for all the effort. I was wondering I have read that some people suggest using Mercs for infantry and your own troops for Cav and artillery because of balancing man power. Having watched your video on army professionalism you suggested using mercs or your own trained troops. Is there any weight in on how merc vs levies effect army comp? I would assume this would depend on national ideas, income, manpower reserves, and who you're fighting but as a general rule of thumb?

[@joriandrake]

You mentioned Poland as exception from the cavalry rule, how would other nations like the ones with the horde ideas (even if reformed government) or Hungarian ideas change your calculations? Not to mention using different religions like Shia or Tengri?

[@WhyName]

Anyone got any advice about navy comp? Is there any point having more than 13/14 heavies in a stack? Or does the limited engagement width make that useless?

[@Redactedredacted5837]

8:49 Artillery 11:14 1st Composition Suggestion 12:58 2nd Composition Suggestion 14:10 3rd Composition Suggestion

[@rydergamesnl1862]

REEEEEEEEEMAN we love you! Thanks for the enlightenment!

[@TripleTalkGames]

whats the background music? is it just ingame eu music?

[@kurax_5771]

so.. .what about mid-game? And f.e. as poland? i also heard some people use only cav as a horde; btw whats better for first mil idea: quality or defensive? i always thought defensive

[@Slangnegativ]

You're great Reman. You should give CK2 some love too.

[@HonestObserver]

Does the late game strategy of no cavalry still work against horde enemies? Are their horses just getting blown up by cannon fire or something.

[@whooch9318]

Learn allot from these videos. Excellent presentation along with graphical representations of the subject matter being explained. Thank you Reman's. Can someone explain to me, when reinforcing an army, what is meant by over stacking the artillery. Does that mean that once the artillery is placed on the front line, because of lack of infantry and there is a reinforcement stack sent into the battle, the mechanics will continue to hold that artillery on the front line and not move it to the back?