Holy Roman Empire Army

[Gen. Monkey-Bear]

How do I form an Army out of the HRE force initially commanded by Saxe-Hildburghausen? I am in Early April 1757 in my game. The force hasn't unlocked yet but I want to prepare my army for when it does. Is it possible to form an army of HRE units at all?

[Gen. Monkey-Bear]

Actually I don't understand in general how to form armies. I don't see any Army Headquarters like in AACW. How do I form an army (but especially with the HRE troops), and is there a limit to how many armies I can form?

[Pat "Stonewall" Cleburne]

You just need a 3 star in RoP. You can't form an army with the HRE until they unlock.

[Erik Springelkamp]

Actually I don't understand in general how to form armies. I don't see any Army Headquarters like in AACW. How do I form an army (but especially with the HRE troops), and is there a limit to how many armies I can form?

I have that question as well.

I did form a HRE army when they unlocked, and extra armies for Austria and France, but I still don't understand why sometimes the army formation by a three-star general will displace another general, and in other cases it will form a new army.

[Krot]

I have that question as well.

I did form a HRE army when they unlocked, and extra armies for Austria and France, but I still don't understand why sometimes the army formation by a three-star general will displace another general, and in other cases it will form a new army.

As far as I know assigning an army command to a general does not displace another army commander automatically. It just costs you some VPs and NMs if you have an unasigned general with greater seniority. To send an army commaner into oblivion you need to give special order on the general unit panel paying appropriate costs which can be avoided if the very same turn and in the very same region an army command is given to a general who is senior than retired one.

[Erik Springelkamp]

As far as I know assigning an army command to a general does not displace another army commander automatically. It just costs you some VPs and NMs if you have an unasigned general with greater seniority. To send an army commaner into oblivion you need to give special order on the general unit panel paying appropriate costs which can be avoided if the very same turn and in the very same region an army command is given to a general who is senior than retired one.

So if you give the senior general an army, and then also assign an army to the junior general, you can then move the senior army out of reach of its corpses and attach the corpses to the better junior army?
Or maybe you have to move both generals out of each other's range before creating the second army?

[Krot]

So if you give the senior general an army, and then also assign an army to the junior general, you can then move the senior army out of reach of its corpses and attach the corpses to the better junior army?
Or maybe you have to move both generals out of each other's range before creating the second army?

If you have an appropriate stack it will be attached as a corps to the nearest army in command range.

If you have two or more armies at the same distance (number of regions between your stack and friendly army COs) new corps is attached to the army commander with higher seniority IMO.

[Soderini]

Also, keep in mind that there is a maximum number of armies you can form, for Prussia it's 6 IIRC, eight I think for the coalition. While promoting incompetent commanders away with army commands certainly is a possibility, it is also limiting your number of real armies you can have in the field and thus the number of fronts you can operate in.

[Gen. Monkey-Bear]

Does the seniority restriction apply to all nationalities, or only commanders of the same nationality?

For example I want Saxe-Hildburghausen to command the HRE army. I know he's a horrible commander, but he does have the trait "HRE Commander" which means he can command those troops without penalty. But Daun and Charles of Lorraine both are more senior than him. Charles is not a HRE commander, so he would have a penalty to command the HRE force. The same is true for Daun. I don't want any command penalties on this force, so I can't use either Daun or Charles. But will I lose national morale if I appoint Saxe-Hildburghausen to command? He has less seniority, but he is a different nationality. Does seniority only count for generals of the same nationality, or does it mean I also cannot appoint junior French, HRE, or Russian leaders as commanders?

[Gen. Monkey-Bear]

I also meant to ask: how severe is the penalty to command troops of another nationality?

[Ebbingford]

IIRC they cost 4 times their normal command costs, unless you also have a leader of the same nationality as the troops.

[Baris]

Since there is not much troop building as AACW always use the best commanders for corps, army from the start. NM loss from seniority not important .
"HRE commander" ability is only important if there are independent HRE units in the stack. Once they are in a brigade they all costs 4 CP for any nationality corps&army leader.
But can be good to appoint Saxe-Hildburghausen at least corps commander that he can gain more command points under ex: Daun.

[Gen. Monkey-Bear]

Thanks Baris! I did not know that about the standard command cost for brigades.

So I guess all generals are judged with the same seniority scale, regardless of nationality?

[Baris]

Yes, all minor major coalition commanders being equal as far as I know.