Some questions about warfare

[Crazer]

Some questions about leaders and army organisation:

1. What's the difference between 2 situations:
a. Leader and unit are in the same stack but not merged.
b. Leader and unit are in the same stack and merged.
In the second case I see that combat value of a merged unit is increased, does it mean that merging is more profitable, or will a unit benefit from that bonus anyway (not merged)?

2. Let's say I have a bunch of leaders and a host of units all in the same stack, not merged. In case of batlle, who's going to command what? How will their abilities infuence units (sum of all leaders abilities to all units)? What if I merge leaders with units?

3. Why, when I check detailed combat log, only part of my huge army participates in combat (seems randomly chosen and commanded by not the brightest general), then it loses after one round and the whole army retreats, suffering heavy losses. I've read about FRONTAGE concept in the manual, but I thought the rest of the army is supposed to be in reserve, not run like rabbits seeing couple of forward units destroyed.
In other words, how do I attack with big armies in a most effective way? Should I split them somehow, or give them more aggressive orders?

4. I gave my army a defending order while moving into enemy controlled province. So I hoped to gain some ground and make some recon without immidiately starting a combat (and maybe get some bonus defending if attacked). Yet a battle started immidiately (why? an enemy force was in offensive stance? a bit strange for a defender, but ok, lets assume that), and combat screen says something like "At least one of your units was in offensive stance". Encountered that situation a few times. How is that possible?

[Husky]

3. Why, when I check detailed combat log, only part of my huge army participates in combat (seems randomly chosen and commanded by not the brightest general), then it loses after one round and the whole army retreats, suffering heavy losses. I've read about FRONTAGE concept in the manual, but I thought the rest of the army is supposed to be in reserve, not run like rabbits seeing couple of forward units destroyed.
In other words, how do I attack with big armies in a most effective way? Should I split them somehow, or give them more aggressive orders?

4. I gave my army a defending order while moving into enemy controlled province. So I hoped to gain some ground and make some recon without immidiately starting a combat (and maybe get some bonus defending if attacked). Yet a battle started immidiately (why? an enemy force was in offensive stance? a bit strange for a defender, but ok, lets assume that), and combat screen says something like "At least one of your units was in offensive stance". Encountered that situation a few times. How is that possible?

2. May be your army had very low cohesion after movement?
3. In regions with 5% or less Military Control (enemy territory), a Force will automatically adopt Offensive Posture in an attempt to gain a foothold. However, Forces in Passive Posture or those composed entirely of cavalry, Irregulars, and support units may move through enemy territory without switching Posture.

[Prussian Prince]

You need to click on the name tab of the infantry, cavalry,artillery,etc unit and drag it onto the leader that you want to command it. This way the leader will be first and the units under his command will show up next. Once you create a division this way you can then drag and drop this unit unto a higher level leader to make a corps. This is the simplified version of creating stacks.

[Husky]

You need to click on the name tab of the infantry, cavalry,artillery,etc unit and drag it onto the leader that you want to command it. This way the leader will be first and the units under his command will show up next. Once you create a division this way you can then drag and drop this unit unto a higher level leader to make a corps. This is the simplified version of creating stacks.

You realy think its work? All units will be in last stack without any chain of command. No need to make division stack initially.

[Crazer]

2. May be your army had very low cohesion after movement?
3. In regions with 5% or less Military Control (enemy territory), a Force will automatically adopt Offensive Posture in an attempt to gain a foothold. However, Forces in Passive Posture or those composed entirely of cavalry, Irregulars, and support units may move through enemy territory without switching Posture.

2. How do I know/check that?

3. Thanks, that makes sense.

[Pocus]

on the map, the blue bar is the average cohesion bar.

[Laudon]

1. What's the difference between 2 situations:
a. Leader and unit are in the same stack but not merged.
b. Leader and unit are in the same stack and merged.
In the second case I see that combat value of a merged unit is increased, does it mean that merging is more profitable, or will a unit benefit from that bonus anyway (not merged)?

2. Let's say I have a bunch of leaders and a host of units all in the same stack, not merged. In case of batlle, who's going to command what? How will their abilities infuence units (sum of all leaders abilities to all units)? What if I merge leaders with units?

These are very good questions, I would like to see them answered in a clear way too. In ROP, the units in stack could be merged with general to form a brigade. Brigade as part of a stack needed fewer Command Points, in opposite to the same not merged units. The combat value for brigade was also better, IIRC. But..., in PON I don't get the point of merged units (or sub-units), because there should be no formal command chain system. I'm puzzled about the exact procedure of passing leader abilites on units too.

[McNaughton]

Some questions about leaders and army organisation:

1. What's the difference between 2 situations:
a. Leader and unit are in the same stack but not merged.
b. Leader and unit are in the same stack and merged.
In the second case I see that combat value of a merged unit is increased, does it mean that merging is more profitable, or will a unit benefit from that bonus anyway (not merged)?

2. Let's say I have a bunch of leaders and a host of units all in the same stack, not merged. In case of batlle, who's going to command what? How will their abilities infuence units (sum of all leaders abilities to all units)? What if I merge leaders with units?

I will try my best to answer these questions. I merged 1 and 2 together, as they are fairly similar in their explanation.

Basically, the key here is seniority. Whomever has the greatest seniority will 'lead the battle'. If you have two stacks in one territory (and sometimes in a neighbouring and they move to the sound of the guns) the leader with top rank and top seniority (3* over 2* leaders) will take command.

In regards to stacks, there are certain types of abilities.

A) Those that are in effect only if the leader leads the stack
B) Those that are in effect on all elements in the stack if the leader or not
C) Those that are in effect upon elements directly connected to the leader (i.e., a leader attached to a Corps directly).

So, it really depends on the rank, seniority, and ability of the leaders as to who does what.

3. Why, when I check detailed combat log, only part of my huge army participates in combat (seems randomly chosen and commanded by not the brightest general), then it loses after one round and the whole army retreats, suffering heavy losses. I've read about FRONTAGE concept in the manual, but I thought the rest of the army is supposed to be in reserve, not run like rabbits seeing couple of forward units destroyed.
In other words, how do I attack with big armies in a most effective way? Should I split them somehow, or give them more aggressive orders?

The leaders themselves can panic and run, depending on who they are, some indeed are quite the opposite (who will not run). Depending on how much cavalry you have (and your opponent) the chance of being over-run in a retreat can vary. I recommend ensuring that you avoid all infantry forces, as if an enemy has a lot of cavalry, even though individually it is weak, they will clean up a retreating infantry force with low cohesion. It basically comes down to element statistics, cavalry has a higher evade and capture (not quite the right word, but good enough), which makes having them in your stack good for screening and routing.

4. I gave my army a defending order while moving into enemy controlled province. So I hoped to gain some ground and make some recon without immidiately starting a combat (and maybe get some bonus defending if attacked). Yet a battle started immidiately (why? an enemy force was in offensive stance? a bit strange for a defender, but ok, lets assume that), and combat screen says something like "At least one of your units was in offensive stance". Encountered that situation a few times. How is that possible?

Stance is just that, how your forces are going to react when in a combat situation. Sometimes a leader itself can change stance depending on their abilities and situation (hothead and reckless I believe will get you into trouble).

One thing I really liked in all AGEOD games was that regardless of your best planning and strategy, your commanders can totally mess things up (march to the sound of the guns when you want them to stay put, retreat when you want them to attack, attack when you want to scout, etc.), which is really the same situation as to what other grand-commanders faced in real war. That is pretty much the issue you are experiencing now (your commanders are probably not behaving well ).

[Laudon]

Thank you for your helpful answers, McNaughton.