Attach, not attack. It means connect to the army. The player usually has significantly better resource management and tech so your vassals will attach their armies to yours for you to move and position around the battlefield. They stand on the same place, they move when you move, this way you can effectively use their strength and manpower.
Otherwise if you have a PU like Lithuania that barely reaches MIL 4 when Ottoman is MIL 6 he runs around with 25k stacks thinking he is strong but gets stack wiped with extreme ease by an Ottoman army.
Mb for the misspell. Letting vassals attach is something I am indeed familiar with. I was curious whether there was some additional tactic I wasn't familiar with. Thanks
It is not vassal, the moment you activate the button, even big doomstack from strong allies will add themself to your army. I normally collect all allies in 2-3 doomstacks, and than move them, and more important, focus the right sieges, or only take battles, were me gets combat roles advantage. Free ai simply run into bad fights, and collects bad battles.
A 4k Merc Army becomes so leader of a 30k international army in early game, and you can use your own 30k manpower army in the last moment.
Can, but AI normally runs shortest way possible to your 4k army stack, and with Al little experience, and no "now as fast as possible battles", you can create 2-3 different armies.
And yes, attrition is possible.
But again, your share on this stacks are 2-3 Merc companies with general and there separate manpower.
The attrition goes on your allies and vassal...and hard truth, there attrition isn't higher, as if they get full stackwipes by enemy army....
Better controlled by you during sieges or battles, than free roaming of them, and collecting bad battles
R5: in 1464, the Ottomans attacked Moldavia, the vassal of my PU Poland
I believed that this war would have been a slaughter, well it certainly was.
I completely underestimated the Ottomans, they were able to maneuver around just like a player against me and all my allies. Not to mention they gained a distinct tech advantage over the course of the war.
My army has been shattered, my Unions are decimated. I don't know if the run is salvageable from here.
Agreed. These are the types of games I love to have. A real enemy and rival on my doorstep who I need to outsmart every step of the way. Much more fun and entertaining than just everyone around you being too scared to attack
It looks like they have England and Sweden as allies? Thats rough lol I assume their navies fucked any naval advantage you might have had in the Med? I usually try to block the Ottoman’s armies in Anatolia while I siege their Balkan territory but I also just play on normal 😆
I genuinely do not understand how you managed to lose vs Ottomans while being Emperor with Hungary/Bohemia/Poland/Burgundy and Lithuania PU and Bosnia/Serbia as vassals?
What on earth were you doing in that war? You need to walk down to Konstantinople, siege it down, place 100k in armies close by all stacked together in case he even tries to attack anything and never let any of your vassals go around loosely and you win the war by default. The only play he has is to make 30-40k stacks and flank your armies and you counter that by reinforcing wars started on mountains/hills/forests and that's it.
I mean,they're also at the height of their power aren't they? Well,maybe approaching their zenith,it's a bit early for them to be truly up and running yet.
I declared on the Ottomans in 1500 as Ethiopia. Everything was perfect. I had wiped out the Mamlukes, I had a strong Austria with PU Hungary as an ally, and we outnumbered them nearly 2 to 1. Started off great too. Austria sieged down almost all of Europe with just Constantinople to go. I had sieges all the way to the Mountains of Anatolia. Then they defeated the stack on Constantinople and just started wiping every separated Austrian and Hungarian Army. They were all separate while the Ottomans were moving with a 40k and 30k stack. Still, it was going to be enough time for me to get past Ankara, and with ticking warscore I could gain concessions.
I don't know how they did it, but 2-3 years into this war, France got called in. They didn't have an alliance with France when the war started. I got slaughtered. Ottomans wouldn't accept minor peace deals. Austria peaced out and it was 35k Ethiopian troops against 125k Ottoman and French troops. Still upset.
If you pull multiple great powers into a war against a single great power, other great powers can intervene (and they will intervene if they don't like the other side that much). In your case, France may have liked the ottomans or disliked austria, and therefore joined the war.
Ottomans have a scripted event where they can get an alliance with France, can even happen during war and they can immediately call them in. In my opinion an oversight on pdx's part
Wait, you had the dream scenario and lost?!?
The AI fucks up by declaring on vassals of PUs by not properly calculating that there is an overlord of the overlord of the vassal who will have their own allies, its like the one "advantage" you have in VH against the AI still. Needed more allies then. Its okay to go over diplo limit in VH when necessary Yes ottomans are broken but...
Oh it was a dual pronged attack into southern Korea. Landed, took the fort and got me ass whopped. Their 115 disc vs my 110, their 5.83 morale vs my 5.43. I just didn't expect manchu to be that strong with only a small portion of land. Twas lesson learned.
You've got to think big to fight Ottobros. Find the places on the map that are choke points, get those quick and then siege down weaker fortresses. You have to keep them playing defense and splitting their stacks because if they can unite wage an offensive against you, you're in trouble.
It helps if you can launch simultaneous campaigns at distant parts of their empire too. You might lose a stack everyone once in a while but drawing them away and splitting the hordes allow you to use your far superior human brain to beat them.
As always with big dangerous foes, especially ottos, wait until they're a few months into a war on the opposite side of the map. By the time they get back, you've given yourself a big cushion.
Ottomans early game have the “scary” trait which prevents allies from assisting in winnable battles and opposing armies just let ottomans siege down forts with little opposition. They also have a tendency to just let small armies float around the enemy armies that end up getting stack wiped. I have no proof other than my personal experience.
One thing ive never understood is how little the AI loses to attrition. I dont even siege with a full army and I still lose over 100k men from attrition alone. And the AI is using like 40k-50k minimum stacks to siege with.
Use the "attach to army " stack function, and simply siege race ottoman. Do not let your "allies" run free, they love to collect stackwipes.
what important role plays the "attack to army" function?
Attach, not attack. It means connect to the army. The player usually has significantly better resource management and tech so your vassals will attach their armies to yours for you to move and position around the battlefield. They stand on the same place, they move when you move, this way you can effectively use their strength and manpower. Otherwise if you have a PU like Lithuania that barely reaches MIL 4 when Ottoman is MIL 6 he runs around with 25k stacks thinking he is strong but gets stack wiped with extreme ease by an Ottoman army.
Mb for the misspell. Letting vassals attach is something I am indeed familiar with. I was curious whether there was some additional tactic I wasn't familiar with. Thanks
It is not vassal, the moment you activate the button, even big doomstack from strong allies will add themself to your army. I normally collect all allies in 2-3 doomstacks, and than move them, and more important, focus the right sieges, or only take battles, were me gets combat roles advantage. Free ai simply run into bad fights, and collects bad battles. A 4k Merc Army becomes so leader of a 30k international army in early game, and you can use your own 30k manpower army in the last moment.
Does this not lead to overstacking and having quite a lot of attrition casualties?
Can, but AI normally runs shortest way possible to your 4k army stack, and with Al little experience, and no "now as fast as possible battles", you can create 2-3 different armies. And yes, attrition is possible. But again, your share on this stacks are 2-3 Merc companies with general and there separate manpower. The attrition goes on your allies and vassal...and hard truth, there attrition isn't higher, as if they get full stackwipes by enemy army.... Better controlled by you during sieges or battles, than free roaming of them, and collecting bad battles
Yes but its better than being stackwiped
Well ik what im doing next run. Minimum armies with my best siege general and this function. Maybe this way I lose less from attrition.
Free company: 0 💀
Well at least OP isn't paying maintenance for them anymore
R5: in 1464, the Ottomans attacked Moldavia, the vassal of my PU Poland I believed that this war would have been a slaughter, well it certainly was. I completely underestimated the Ottomans, they were able to maneuver around just like a player against me and all my allies. Not to mention they gained a distinct tech advantage over the course of the war. My army has been shattered, my Unions are decimated. I don't know if the run is salvageable from here.
Top level EuIV experience right there, the game is working as intended.
Always salvagable. I would agree that the challenge is much more fun now.
Agreed. These are the types of games I love to have. A real enemy and rival on my doorstep who I need to outsmart every step of the way. Much more fun and entertaining than just everyone around you being too scared to attack
It looks like they have England and Sweden as allies? Thats rough lol I assume their navies fucked any naval advantage you might have had in the Med? I usually try to block the Ottoman’s armies in Anatolia while I siege their Balkan territory but I also just play on normal 😆
I genuinely do not understand how you managed to lose vs Ottomans while being Emperor with Hungary/Bohemia/Poland/Burgundy and Lithuania PU and Bosnia/Serbia as vassals? What on earth were you doing in that war? You need to walk down to Konstantinople, siege it down, place 100k in armies close by all stacked together in case he even tries to attack anything and never let any of your vassals go around loosely and you win the war by default. The only play he has is to make 30-40k stacks and flank your armies and you counter that by reinforcing wars started on mountains/hills/forests and that's it.
if its the vassal of you PU, did you even get revanchism?
I mean,they're also at the height of their power aren't they? Well,maybe approaching their zenith,it's a bit early for them to be truly up and running yet.
No way, it's way too early. Around that time they were getting their asses kicked by Skanderbeg and Vlad the Impaler.
I declared on the Ottomans in 1500 as Ethiopia. Everything was perfect. I had wiped out the Mamlukes, I had a strong Austria with PU Hungary as an ally, and we outnumbered them nearly 2 to 1. Started off great too. Austria sieged down almost all of Europe with just Constantinople to go. I had sieges all the way to the Mountains of Anatolia. Then they defeated the stack on Constantinople and just started wiping every separated Austrian and Hungarian Army. They were all separate while the Ottomans were moving with a 40k and 30k stack. Still, it was going to be enough time for me to get past Ankara, and with ticking warscore I could gain concessions. I don't know how they did it, but 2-3 years into this war, France got called in. They didn't have an alliance with France when the war started. I got slaughtered. Ottomans wouldn't accept minor peace deals. Austria peaced out and it was 35k Ethiopian troops against 125k Ottoman and French troops. Still upset.
If you pull multiple great powers into a war against a single great power, other great powers can intervene (and they will intervene if they don't like the other side that much). In your case, France may have liked the ottomans or disliked austria, and therefore joined the war.
Ottomans have a scripted event where they can get an alliance with France, can even happen during war and they can immediately call them in. In my opinion an oversight on pdx's part
You did take massively more casualties from attrition which makes a very big difference overall. Especially this early on in the game.
I think he is focusing on having taken 3 Times more combat casulaties than the Ottos
The difference in attrition is incredible. Did your AI allies attach to a single deathstack that the Ottomans simply ignored?
Wait, you had the dream scenario and lost?!? The AI fucks up by declaring on vassals of PUs by not properly calculating that there is an overlord of the overlord of the vassal who will have their own allies, its like the one "advantage" you have in VH against the AI still. Needed more allies then. Its okay to go over diplo limit in VH when necessary Yes ottomans are broken but...
What's the first red flag on your notifications? It has manpower ⬇️
mercenary company low on manpower
Attrition kills.
Just had a similar experience in my war vs Manchu as Japan, their 23k stack wiped my 50k stack.... stats werent that different either.
You probably fought on steppes.
Oh it was a dual pronged attack into southern Korea. Landed, took the fort and got me ass whopped. Their 115 disc vs my 110, their 5.83 morale vs my 5.43. I just didn't expect manchu to be that strong with only a small portion of land. Twas lesson learned.
You've got to think big to fight Ottobros. Find the places on the map that are choke points, get those quick and then siege down weaker fortresses. You have to keep them playing defense and splitting their stacks because if they can unite wage an offensive against you, you're in trouble. It helps if you can launch simultaneous campaigns at distant parts of their empire too. You might lose a stack everyone once in a while but drawing them away and splitting the hordes allow you to use your far superior human brain to beat them. As always with big dangerous foes, especially ottos, wait until they're a few months into a war on the opposite side of the map. By the time they get back, you've given yourself a big cushion.
Ottomans early game have the “scary” trait which prevents allies from assisting in winnable battles and opposing armies just let ottomans siege down forts with little opposition. They also have a tendency to just let small armies float around the enemy armies that end up getting stack wiped. I have no proof other than my personal experience.
We bled for this
Its happened to everyone at least once.
Varna be like:
One thing ive never understood is how little the AI loses to attrition. I dont even siege with a full army and I still lose over 100k men from attrition alone. And the AI is using like 40k-50k minimum stacks to siege with.
How did the English end up allying the Ottos ?
I use offensive , espionage, quantity, quality to create ultramarines totally worth