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Ok, why does northern Austria begin under Russian control?

Which scenario are you looking at, and what are you considering to be "northern Austria"?

1805 Grand Campaign and all the provinces in Austrian "Poland" begin with a Russian ownership flag?

Austria north of the Wrepz. South of the Bug.

I will go ahead and make an educated guess to answer your question concerning Russian control of those areas. The concept of Lines of communication were a vital one during the Napoleonic war, and Napoleonic strategy was frequently to conceal his own line of communications and to turn his enemies.

In Wars of Napoleon, lines of communication are not separately modelled and combined with lines of supply and territory control/ownership. When you start the campaign you can go with the basic supply model or else choose the harsher historical supply models. The 1805 campaign always had the possibility that Napoleon will defeat Austria quickly before Russian forces can arrive in force.

And the result of a big Austrian defeat can bring a peach treaty which could in effect cut Austria from the 3rd coalition and separate themselves from Russia. Russia could then find themselves stranded inside Austria, cut off from supply and communications. By making those territories Russian, they are establishing their line of communications and even if Austria quits the coalition, Russia will be ab le to retreat to distance without suffering the staggering losses that can come by marching in harsh weather and from being out of supply.

Very gamey if that is the case

Also affects eastern Prussia Byalistock region.
If the supply issue is the reason (which is a poor solution imo if that is the case), then why even bother with the national borders where they are located?

captain14 wrote:Also affects eastern Prussia Byalistock region.
If the supply issue is the reason (which is a poor solution imo if that is the case), then why even bother with the national borders where they are located?

Totally forgot, that Prussia got that in the third Polish division. So I never really took notice.

"Gamey?"... a good description. That flag denotes the military control of the area, not the political ownership and it is temporary only. After Russia has retreated back east, the territory will convert back to its political ownership.

A good example of how this bears of game play is as the French when you invade Russia. As your corps pass through a territory, the territory may change its control to French with the French flag. not only is supply now running through that area but additional forces will move more quickly through the territory. However, if you pass through a territory too quickly, the military control may not change and you will not yet be able to pass supply through that area.

A good technique to speed the rate of invasion is to send cavalry divisions up your route so as to seize control and therefore speed the rate which your army corps will pass through them. The setting of your cavalry will matter since the more passive the mode, the longer it takes for them to convert the area to their control. Use the "2" button to change the map shading to show the control and supply lines.

The technique of proceeding your army corps with a blanket of cavalry is also important in 1805 when you have a race to Vienna. If you take too much time to get there, the Russian Army will have arrived and the battle of Vienna will be much more costly.

Using cavalry in this manner also acts to screen the advance of your infantry, as it was done historically. However, you need to be prudent doing so, otherwise your cavalry divisions can be bumping into the retreating enemy's rear guard and getting a "bloody" nose. Cavalry strength afterall is expensive to replace.

And this supports Napleon's Military Maxims. ... that territorial objectives are always secondary to the destruction of the enemy army and the preservation of your own.