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Kitano1314
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What is the best way to set up my brigades?

Tue Aug 15, 2017 8:17 pm

Hi, is there a better way to be setting up our brigades?
I mean when I organize my army at the start of the game most of the brigades are made up of 2 infantry and 2 grenadiers or 2 line infantry.
Is it better to just leave them like this or should I break them up and make up brigades of 4 grenadiers and 4 line inf etc.
which is what I've been doing?

How do other players set up your brigades?

Baris
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Re: What is the best way to set up my brigades?

Tue Aug 15, 2017 10:41 pm

I spread grenadiers so only 1 unit in each brigade. They are elite inf and they get less replacements. The more they get spread less they are target.

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loki100
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Re: What is the best way to set up my brigades?

Wed Aug 16, 2017 8:18 am

also a brigade of 4 elite formations will attract a lot of attention on the battlefield - the targetting algorithm tends to go for the strongest stack. So it'll win a lot but take heavy losses in very hard to replace units.

Main issue - esp with the Austrians - is the light infantry. Convention (if slightly ahistoric) was to put one in each brigade - as skirmishers they reduce the damage. However, they have no separate Command Point load so can also sit in the corps/army stack for free. This matters as early/mid game with the Austrians you are short of brigades and of corps commanders so struggle to use your army effectively. Basically keeping the light inf sep is a way to effectively bring about 8-10 more line battalions effectively to fight.

One exception to avoiding putting all your elite units in a single brigade is with the Prussians. Putting all the very best heavy cavalry into one or two - and then into a corps led by a cavalry specialist - can produce a devastating force. its less likely to be targetted (cavalry are given a lower chance) and probably worth it for the force impact.
Last edited by loki100 on Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
AJE The Hero, The Traitor and The Barbarian
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Kitano1314
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Re: What is the best way to set up my brigades?

Wed Aug 16, 2017 8:20 pm

Thanks for the replies,
I hear what your saying about spreading the grenadiers around to improve their survivability but I think of grenadiers being these really really big dudes totally tooled right up and possible of doing some serious damage so naturally I want to create whole brigades out of them.
Also with light infantry I would expect they would be better in their own brigades so that they have the freedom to move and manoeuvre to their advantage without being slowed by being joined with heavier units?
I should really do a little research on army composition of the period as the little knowledge I possess of medieval and modern warfare sounds like it's at odds with this era.

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loki100
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Re: What is the best way to set up my brigades?

Thu Aug 17, 2017 7:03 am

The advice about not forming Gds brigades is driven by knowledge of the combat engine. Part of this is it selects targets and sets up brigades (and loose battalions) for combat. The largest (in terms of combat power) is selected first so if your Gds brigade is in a standad corps it will be in combat.

Now it will win, most likely, but its almost bound to take heavy losses.

If you want to create this sort of brigade put it in the stack with the army commander. This is almost always committed in support of a corps already in combat - so by the time it arrives the enemy is engaged. Can be an effective way to overwhelm the enemy.

The map in RoP doesn't really reward light forces on their own. Its not like WiA where raiding and skirmishing is part of the core game. Part of the problem is both sides have fairly large armies and if a light infantry brigade comes up against regulars it will tend to lose. I now think the best use of the Austrian Grenzler battalions is outside the brigades and loose in the corps stacks (as above they do not cost command points so this is efficient). Also light infantry as in-formation skirmishers is more Napoleonic than a feature of the Seven Years War.

While this is all for Wars of Napoleon, some posts here will help: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tt.asp?forumid=1569 as the routines of stack and target selection are identical and may help you with how to structure your brigades

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Kitano1314
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Re: What is the best way to set up my brigades?

Sun Aug 20, 2017 12:52 am

That's been a great help thanks for the reply loki
I will keep that in mind from now on.

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