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Overview [/Size]
1. How to initiate a battle?
2. Commitment of stacks
2.1. Marching to the sound of the guns
2.2. Sallying out from a structure
2.3. Stacks with different command postures in battle
3. Commitment of elements
3.1. Combat-elements and support-elements
3.2. Frontage points
3.3. Frontage usage
3.4. Allocation of elements
4. Sequence of battle
5. Ranged combat
5.1. Who goes first?
5.2. Target-selection
5.3. Attempts to hit the enemy
5.4. Being hit
6. Close combat
6.1 Cavalry charges
7. Withdrawal and rout
7.1. Withdrawal-decision
7.2. Withdrawal-success
7.3. Withdrawal-hits
7.4. Routs
8. Aftermath
8.1. Experience
8.2. Capturing the enemy (Prisoners of War, capturing weapons and elements)
8.3. Victory points and national morale
8.4. Pillaging
8.5. Wounded and dead leaders
9. The art of battle-report-exegesis
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1. How to initiate a battle?[/Size]
A pitched battle is initiated when the following conditions are met:
1. There are at least two opposing stacks in the same region (subregion: region, not structure)
2. An “offensive” or “assault” command posture has been assigned to at least one of the stacks
3. The player(s) with the “offensive” or “assault”-stack(s) must have detected the enemy stack(s)
A siege-battle is initiated when the following conditions are met:
1. There are at least two opposing stacks in a region. One of the stacks is positioned in the sub-region “structure”. The other (opposing) stack(s) are positioned in the sub-region “region”.
2. An “assault” command posture has been assigned to at least one of the stacks in the sub-region “region”.
3. If the structure features a fortification-level, the structure has to be completely breached, i.e. the number of breaches must equal the fortification-level.
Depending on your settings (Options/Game/Delayed Commitment), it might take some days until a battle is commenced.
[color="red"] An army-stack cannot initiate a battle if there are other friendly troops present(?) (If that's true: Do not order a synch-movement for a strong army-stack and a weak column-stack in order to attack? The weak column-stack might initiate battle and withdraw before the army-stack moves in to support?)[/color]
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2. Commitment of stacks [/Size]
[color="red"]Actually I don't understand the order in which stacks are committed to combat. This is very bad for the commitment of stacks is really a "basic" of immense importance! There are a lot of questions: Is there "one" battle field, so that all elements committed (using frontage points, see below; they may stem from different stacks?) can fight against each other? Or do elements of one stack only fight against elements of a single enemy stack (we know that units fight against units, see below)?
How are stacks with different command-postures drawn into battle? We know the rough order: assault prior to offensive prior to defensive prior to passive, and: sub-region "region" prior to sub-region "structure". But we don't know what this means. Let's say all elements of an offensive stack have been deployed and there are frontage points left? Now all defensive stacks are "activated" to fill the remaining frontage points? Which one of the defensive stacks goes first? Or are the defensive stacks committed once the offensive stacks withdraw/rout?[/color]
2.1. Marching to the sound of the guns
When a column-stack or an army-stack is engaged in battle, other column-stacks (or the army stack) which are part of the same army and which are positioned in a region adjacent to the region where the battle takes place, may enter the battle and support their fellows. Therefore, the columns or the army in the adjacent region must not be in a “passive” command posture (and it must not have an “evade fight” order) and they must pass a “march to the sound of the guns”-check. [color="red"] This check is made prior to each round of combat. A new "marching to the sound of the guns"-test is necessary prior to each round. So it can happen that a stacks supports another stack in battleround 1, but fails its test for battleround 2. (?? - actually I wonder as there are "xy supports Xy"-messages for each round of battle - so it seems that marching to the sound of a guns is checked for each round?) [/color]
All stacks eligible to march to the sound of the guns have to test individually. The base chance of joining a battle is 100%. This probability is modified by the following factors:
1. -10% for each day of marching that the supporting stack would (theoretically) need in order to enter the region where the battle takes place. All factors affecting the stack’s movement speed apply (e.g. cohesion, weather, activation status of commander, etc.). E.g. when the battle takes place in a mountainous region, the chance is reduced. Stacks moving at cavalry-speed are more likely to enter the battle (except in bad weather).
2. +10% if it is the army-stack which has been engaged by the enemy in the adjacent region.
3. +25% if it is the army-stack that marches to the sound of the guns.
4. +5% for each point of strategic-rating of the army/column-commander who tries to march to the sound of the guns.
5. -10% if the stack that tries to march to the sound of the guns is in a “defensive” command posture.
6. -1% for every 5% of enemy control in the regions. Both, the region where the battle takes place and the adjacent region are taken into account – the enemy military control in both regions is added together and then divided by 5.
When a stack succeeds its march, it participates in [color="red"]this round of battle [/color] as if it was in the region where the battle takes place, but it does not actually move there. The stack does not suffer any river-crossing penalties, but on the other hand, it doesn’t profit from any entrenchment levels either. [color="red"]When the side of the supporting stack withdraws from combat, the supporting stack does not withdraw to a random friendly region, but stays in its “starting” region?[/color]
[color="red"] When a stack fails this test, it will not participate in this round of combat (but it will try again in the next round - if there is one). [/color]
2.2. Sallying out from a structure work in progress
2.3. Stacks with different command postures in battle work in progress
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3. Commitment of elements [/Size]
3.1. Combat-elements and support-elements
“Rise of Prussia” differentiates between two types of elements: combat-elements (infantry, cavalry) and support-elements (artillery, supply wagons, commanders, pioneers, sappeurs). You can always check this information in the element-panel.
3.2. Frontage points
Sources:
source 1,
source 2
Depending on terrain, weather, and the distribution of roles (defender/attacker), your side gets a certain amount of “frontage points” in battle. Frontage points for combat-elements are always calculated separately from frontage-points for support-elements. In order to know the exact amount of frontage points for each terrain and weather, you have to consult the
modding files (check out the “terrains”-xls-file and use the tabs at the bottom; the blue lines give the frontage-points for the attacker/defender and for combat- and support-elements -[color="red"] OR ELSE: I guess that the "Combat_Units_OFFCost" says something about frontage-boni stemming from your Commander-in-Chief? [/color]).
A little example: In fair weather and in a region with “woods”, both (?) sides get 250 combat-frontage points and 150 support-frontage-points each.
Who is attacker/defender? …work in progress
[color="red]In open terrain (clear, woods), the commander-in-chief bestows additional frontage points according to his quality:
(rank of general) x (off./def.-rating of general) x 25 = additional “combat”-frontage points
(rank of general) x (off./def.-rating of general) x 10 = additional “support”-frontage points[/color]
[color="red"]In any other terrain, the bonus is reduced and additionally depends on the strategic-rating of the commander-in-chief. [/color]
The commander-in-chief is the highest ranking commander in battle. Rank is determined by the “rank” of the commander (amount of stars). If there are several commanders with the same amount of stars, their seniority comes into play (the lower the seniority-value of a leader, the higher his rank). A commander-in-chief may be positioned in the region where the battle takes place, or he may enter the region by marching to the sound of the guns. Moreover it can happen that a commander-in-chief withdraws from a battle (together with his stack), thereby handing over the command to another general. Thus, the amount of frontage-points (calculated prior to each round of battle) may change when a new commander-in-chief enters or the old one leaves the battle.
3.3. Frontage usage
Once all stacks that are going to participate in the upcoming round and the frontage-points of each side have been determined, elements are deployed on the battlefield. Each element consumes a certain amount of frontage points, in other words: it fills a certain amount of slots on the battlefield. The amount of frontage points that an element consumes depends on its movement-type, and in further consequence on the prevalent terrain and weather. The amount of frontage-points needed is equal to the amount of days that the element would theoretically need to enter the region where the battle takes place. E.g. an element of heavy foot needs 7 days to enter a region with woods [color="red"] (roads are not taken into account for this purpose)[/color]. Thus, as a defender, you could deploy up to 25 elements of heavy foot-elements (180/7=25,7) – but there is no room for any other combat-elements left in this case. Speed-Boni or mali due to under-commandment, leader-abilities, speed-coefficients etc. are not taken into account for this purpose. The only factor is the “movement-type” of an element in combination with the prevalent terrain and weather. You can check the exact values in the xls-file I’ve mentioned above (see 3.2.). The same rules apply for “support”-frontage points and support-elements.
3.4. Allocation of elements
All elements of the committed stacks constitute the “pool” of elements for the upcoming round of battle. All slots are filled with elements of that pool until either all frontage points have been consumed or there are no elements left. All elements have the same chance to be picked to fill the slots. E.g. cavalry elements are picked with the same probability as infantry elements, even though they may consume more or less frontage-points than infantry-elements. There are only three factors here:
1. Elements with a lot of hits [color="red"] (maximum hits, not actual hits?)[/color] are more likely to be committed than elements with few hits.
2. Elements that have routed during a previous battle-round have their chance to be committed reduced for the remaining rounds.
3. Elements that have already been committed in a previous round of battle are likely to be committed again in a succeeding round. (So it is not a total chaos: it is unlikely that a complete battle line is exchanged between two rounds of combat.)
As for support-units, you need to know that not more than 1 supply-wagon-element will be committed per round. Thus, even when there are lots of supply-elements in your stack, there will be enough space for your artillery. Leaders do not consume frontage-points.
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4. Sequence of battle [/Size]
A battle lasts up to six rounds per day, and it may continue for several days. The first battle-round (="hour 0") on each day has an increased starting distance (see below). Rounds 2-6 always start at distance 1. Prior to each round, a side may withdraw and thus put an end to the battle. [color="red"]A rout may also happen during a round of battle.[/color]
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5. Ranged combat [/Size]
5.1. Who goes first?
Now that all elements have been deployed on the battlefield, the initial distance between the two armies is determined. Bad weather and difficult terrain reduce the initial distance (for the exact values refer to the xls-file mentioned above under 3.2.). Once the initial distance is determined, it is reduced by 1 point per "phase"/distance. An element is eligible to fire when the distance reaches its range. E.g. an artillery-element will open fire at a range/distance of 4, whereas infantry opens fire at 3. Most of the time, several elements will be firing at the same distance (e.g. all infantry elements). In this case, the order of fire is determined by the initiative-values of the elements: elements with higher initiative are likely to open fire before elements with lower initiative (there is a random factor involved though!). When the initial distance is lower than the range of an element, this element will fire as soon as possible. E.g. when the initial distance is 2, an infantry-element will fire at distance 2, not at 1.
Note that it is very usefull to have elements with "skirmisher"-ability in your brigade, as they give a +1 initiative-bonus to all elements of this brigade (even when the "skirmisher"-element is not deployed on the battle field!).
5.2. Target-selection
Basically, an element may target any other enemy element on the battle field (which means that both elements have to be committed in this round). Note that the elements belonging to one unit (e.g. a brigade) always target enemy elements of one enemy unit. The selection of the enemy unit depends on the weight (total hits of the unit time their [color="red"]combat signature (maybe this refers to the distinction between combat-elements and support-elements, so that support-elements are less likely to be targeted?)[/color]) of the enemy units. This means that the elements of your unit are more likely to target the elements of a big brigade than to target a separate unit (with less hits). Let’s say there are two big enemy brigades on the battlefield (each has 25 elements for a total 250 hits per brigade) and one separate unit of 5 elements (50 hits). Each of your units (e.g. a brigade) will have a 9% chance to target the separate enemy unit, a 45% chance to target enemy brigade A, and a 45% chance to target enemy brigade B. So it can be a good idea to use separate units. But beware: When a whole brigade targets a separate unit, this unit is likely to be completely destroyed. When a brigade is targeted, the hits are likely to be spread among the elements in the brigade. Note that it can happen that a very, very unfortunate big brigade targets a unit with only 2 elements (and a total of 4 hits remaining). Is this case, most of the big brigade's fire is wasted as it can only "kill" the 4 hits remaining.
An element that has been targeted by an enemy element is likely to fire back at this element (if it has not fired already: "firing back" does not mean that it gets additional attempts!) I guess that this is not true for artillery-elements.
[color="red"]Artillery-elements always target the “biggest” (hits remaining?) enemy element on the field of battle? (unless the artillery is part of a brigade - in this case artillery targets the biggest element in the unit (e.g. a brigade) that has been targeted by the brigade which the artillery is part of)[/color]
5.3. Attempts to hit the enemy
When an element is eligible to open fire (according to range and initiative) and has picked an enemy element as its target, it has several attempts to shoot and hit the element. The number of attempts is determined by the “rate of fire”-value of the element. E.g. Prussian infantry gets three attempts, Austrian infantry only 2. An element that is shaken or which is part of an under-commanded stack has its rate of fire reduced by 1 (but never to 0!: see below).
The success-chance of an attempt is probably one of the most complicated formulae in “Rise of Prussia”.
At least we know the effects of weather and terrain: simply check the modding-file again. Right beneath the frontage-points, you can find the effects in the excel-lines 43-84; from top to bottom the values refer to: regulars, irregulars, militia, cavalry, artillery, supply, warships. Each category has 6 lines: ATKFire (ranged-combat-factor for elements on an aggressive stance), DEFFire (ranged-combatfactor for elements on defensive stance), ATKProt (Protection factor for elements on offensive stance), ATKDef (Protection factor for elements on defensive stance), [color="red"]ATKTQ & DEFTQ (maybe some close-combat factor?). [/color]
So, e.g. consider a battle in the "wilderness" on a rainy day ("mud"). You're in command of irregulars, whereas the enemys force consists entirely of cavalry. Each side has 96 frontage points at its deposal (not counting in boni from officers and the like...). However, as light foot only needs 10 days to enter wilderness/mud, you can deploy 9,6 elements on the battlefield, whereas the enemy can only deploy 4,8 elements (horse need 20 days to enter wilderness/mud). Moreover, your irregulars get a 20% fire bonus and a +2 protection bonus (and a +1 melee bonus?)! The cavalry, on the other hand is at -50% fire, -1 protection and -1 melee!
Rest:
work in progress 
I guess it must be "round", as you can only retreat at the end/beginning of a round, right? Nevermind!
