I've been playing this game since release and I developed my own standard army composition that I strife towards as the game progresses. I ussually want an all round force if I ever need to fast deploy them somewhere else. I also have a few questions, which I'll put at the bottom of the post.
I try to outfit my armies as followed:
3 corps, 9 elements (2 inf divs + 2 medium art each)
2 individual cav div (not in a corps)
2 H art
1 pioneer, engineer, field hospital, signal, recon planes, zeppelin
I only add 2 SH arty to a second army when I need it
As my techs go up and storm troopers become available I ussually add 1 or 2 to the army, same for fighters. Once tanks become available I tend to take out 1 cav and replace it with a tank battallion, depending on how many CPs I have available.
I'm curious how others outfit their armies and the general strategies behind them. I want to try different variations and see what I like best.
When it comes to artillery; do field guns have a special purpose other than being cheaper and faster to build as opposed to medium artillery?
Do the modifiers of the support units stack? for example, is there any point in having 3 field hospitals in one army?
Is there a difference between air units inside an army and air units inside an airfield? Other than the boni of said units of course.
Is it a good idea to have res div inside an army but not in a corps? Or should I strife to replace them with inf divisions?
Hello and welcome to the forums Dfuzzy. 
The artillery is different (medium artillery is better than light artillery for example - check out their detailed views). The one thing I try to add if I can is mountain troops to a corps (they make movement so much better in hills/mountains). I don't believe they stack, so 1 hospital is enough I believe. I keep my air units in my army, that way they retreat with the army if something goes wrong. I try not to have loose divisions in the army, as they can easy be destroyed (they have 1/2 of the hits as a corps with 2 divisions) - but that is me. I sometimes end up doing that anyway.
The artillery is different (medium artillery is better than light artillery for example - check out their detailed views). The one thing I try to add if I can is mountain troops to a corps (they make movement so much better in hills/mountains). I don't believe they stack, so 1 hospital is enough I believe. I keep my air units in my army, that way they retreat with the army if something goes wrong. I try not to have loose divisions in the army, as they can easy be destroyed (they have 1/2 of the hits as a corps with 2 divisions) - but that is me. I sometimes end up doing that anyway.
Remember - The beatings will continue until morale improves.
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Welcome aboard, Dfuzzy.
The best army in my opinion is the one that's best for the job in question. Sometimes extremely well-prepared armies are slow in movement (think of Bülow's 2e Armee). My advice is to think of the situation, the terrain, the weather, and obviously the enemy you are facing. If you are facing mountain troops in well-defended mountains in winter what's the point of bringing a huge army when frontage will be relatively low anyway. A big army also needs to be fed... big time. Huge movements can put strain on your logistics.
Ideally in clear terrain and an equal enemy (not light troops, "partisans" in other AGEOD games, etc) you will want to max out the CP indeed. All powers can do this right from the start in EAW by uniting some corps to the leading armies, but this will mean you will have more powerful armies in certain regions and be unable to hold a front in others (since regions will have less troops there). This is almost what historically happened in September 1914 when the 1st and 2nd German Armies had a small but significant gap between them and the Allies took advantage of it to stop them.
All in all, this game abstracts greatly the two different kinds of war. Trench war in the West, relatively mobile in the East. As CP and EE I tend to produce more "cannon fodder" troops for the Eastern Front, in the West you need to be careful about every move and quality is the key. Also, after November (trench level 4) most attacks in the West are quite risky unless the troops are in high cohesion, the Generals activated (good luck with that in Veteran activation mode!), and you have lots of artillery WITH ENOUGH AMMO. I can't stress that last point enough.
You army composition is great for a frontal attack in Europe. I would add to the mix some more field (light) artillery as they sting without decreasing the heavy ammunition. And they are dirt cheap.
This won't help them a lot. Actually when units are destroyed by routing the first things to be captured by the enemy are supplies, ammo dumps, and airplanes. I suspect other auxiliary units can be captured as well. I have captured many times airplanes this way and the AI tends to "protect" them by stacking them in armies, thus I am pretty sure it can happen there. Perhaps being free roaming means they can have a retreat roll independently which is actually better. Not sure.
The best army in my opinion is the one that's best for the job in question. Sometimes extremely well-prepared armies are slow in movement (think of Bülow's 2e Armee). My advice is to think of the situation, the terrain, the weather, and obviously the enemy you are facing. If you are facing mountain troops in well-defended mountains in winter what's the point of bringing a huge army when frontage will be relatively low anyway. A big army also needs to be fed... big time. Huge movements can put strain on your logistics.
Ideally in clear terrain and an equal enemy (not light troops, "partisans" in other AGEOD games, etc) you will want to max out the CP indeed. All powers can do this right from the start in EAW by uniting some corps to the leading armies, but this will mean you will have more powerful armies in certain regions and be unable to hold a front in others (since regions will have less troops there). This is almost what historically happened in September 1914 when the 1st and 2nd German Armies had a small but significant gap between them and the Allies took advantage of it to stop them.
All in all, this game abstracts greatly the two different kinds of war. Trench war in the West, relatively mobile in the East. As CP and EE I tend to produce more "cannon fodder" troops for the Eastern Front, in the West you need to be careful about every move and quality is the key. Also, after November (trench level 4) most attacks in the West are quite risky unless the troops are in high cohesion, the Generals activated (good luck with that in Veteran activation mode!), and you have lots of artillery WITH ENOUGH AMMO. I can't stress that last point enough.
You army composition is great for a frontal attack in Europe. I would add to the mix some more field (light) artillery as they sting without decreasing the heavy ammunition. And they are dirt cheap.
Jim-NC wrote:I keep my air units in my army, that way they retreat with the army if something goes wrong.
This won't help them a lot. Actually when units are destroyed by routing the first things to be captured by the enemy are supplies, ammo dumps, and airplanes. I suspect other auxiliary units can be captured as well. I have captured many times airplanes this way and the AI tends to "protect" them by stacking them in armies, thus I am pretty sure it can happen there. Perhaps being free roaming means they can have a retreat roll independently which is actually better. Not sure.
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