Jimmer
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Joined: 12/5/2007
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It depends on which nation you are playing, actually. France can pretty much take any six corps and Nappy and he's happy. But, Austria, with two small guard corps and limited cavalry in their infantry corps, has to think a lot harder. Against France, probably 4 inf corps, 1 cav, and 1 guard. But, if Nappy is coming with a full army, then skip the cav corp, as it isn't going to do much good anyhow. France can be beaten, but only VERY rarely will it happen with enough of its enemy's morale left over to have any kind of pursuit. Better to have a larger army for the 95% of battles where you don't break the French.
Turkey's main army should be some multiple of 3 corps: 6, 9, 12, 27 ( :) ). Turkey, unlike Austria, should almost ALWAYS have a couple of cav corps. Turkey rarely wins battles outright, but, when she DOES win, she always gets pursuit. It is VERY common in battles that Turkey wins that she actually kills more money's worth of factors in pursuit than in the main battle. I've actually seen her take out 100+ troops twice, mostly in pursuit. This with an army of less than 75. Not bad.
Prussia has very good corps, but lousy leadership. Until Blucher, that is. Before he shows up, Prussia should cower in an unreachable corner of the nation and hope to last. Once Blucher shows up, Prussia can take any corps, except the big ones should always be present.
Etc.
Now, a couple of notes:
For nations which have true guard, the guard should ALWAYS be with the main army. Artillery, not so much "always" as "mostly". The reason the guard is essential is to prevent huge losses. Yes, they provide better morale, and yes, they can turn the tide of battle from middling showing to victory. But, their real benefit is to prevent huge losses. (This is true in the game, not necessarily historically.) Every player with guard should check the tables as that nation gets closer to losing. A point may come when loss is inevitable, but a mutual breaking is not. However, a commitment of the guard can sometimes turn what looks like a rout into a minor loss, and sometimes turn a minor loss into a mutual break.
Army size: Always have a multiple of the good leader's rating, when possible. This is the point just below where the tactical rating will slip by one. For instance, at 1-6 corps, Nappy's rating is a 5, but the 7th corps makes him a 4. So does the 8th, 9th, etc., all the way to 12. Why take 7 corps when 12 will do? :)
Note the previous entry also applies to forces which are depending on reinforcement. Say, Davout attacks Charles with 2 corps. If Nappy intends to reinforce in, having 4 corps with him is ideal, as that makes him spot on his tactical maximum of 6.
Some leaders simply have too small a tactical maximum rating for this to work. Wellington is a 5/5, but only with 3 or fewer corps. Not incredibly useful against Le Grande Armee'. So, sometimes the above gets tweaked a bit. Khan, Ali, Kutusov, Bagration, etc., also suffer from this ailment to a degree.
The key in "number of corps" is to know the enemy: How many corps will you be up against? (Don't forget about HIS turn, either!) A 3 tactical rating is just as good as a 4 against Nappy. On the other hand, when his move comes around, your having a 3 means he can double-stack to a 4 rating. So, be careful with this.
< Message edited by Jimmer -- 3/19/2008 5:32:59 PM >
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