Why was my butt handed to me?

[diraska]

Ok, so I am playing the Polish campaign as the Russians. I freely admit, I am not that great at this game, and I am still getting the handle of the game mechanics. But, I feel like I made some sort of MASSIVE mistake as the Russians, and the only thing I can come up with is that my mistake was going to war against Napoleon.

So, it is turn three and I have engaged Napoleon twice, and I have suffered roughly 117,000 combat casualties, while France has suffered only 7,500. Both times, I suffered incredibly high losses, while inflicting only minimal loses on the French forces.

Now, I expected Napoleon to beat me up a bit, but I was not expecting him to make a punching bag out of my armies.

I had my armies on an aggressive stance (I was trying to smash up a corp that got to close) and then Napoleon came charging at my army and we had roughly equal numbers, with him edging me out by 10 units or so. The the Great Killing began....

The only thing I can picture is my forces standing there suddenly realizing that they forgot to bring ammo to the game, but feeling like they should stay anyway.

So, any advice on why my army was completely and utterly destroyed after two battles? (and napoleon's forces just charged at me, no fancy movements, I was not surrounded or had enemies coming at me from multiple angles... it was just hey diddle diddle straight up the middle for napoleon)

Sincerely,

Pummeled in Poland.

[cleveland]

I've been on the fence about purchasing this game and when I see combat results like that I stay on the fence. Is this a typical result? If it is, is there any way to "mod" the game so that combat results are more historical?

[Pocus]

Diraska, are you playing with the latest patch? We had some troubles in the earlier version about lopsided results, but now people are content (mostly) with the battle outcome.

[Bylandt]

I've played most campaigns now (with both sides) and have never experienced such disparities in casualties. Sure you're not missing something?

Were you out of supply?
Was the cohesion of your troops very low?
Were the troops not properly organised in corps and divisions?

[Heldenkaiser]

If you would constantly fight a concentrated French army with small bodies of troops, so that they get wiped out for very small French losses, you could get such results and after a while they would add up to something like this, I suppose. I played this campaign once from the French side, and I remember my opponent had massive problem coordinating his army, while the French leadership edge made sure that my army nearly always fought united. My opponent is a lot more experienced with this engine than I am, so the losses were not quite this disproportionate, but I whipped him rather easily and badly too.

[Bylandt]

Hm. Maybe Diraska is on to something. Just tried the 1807 campaign myself (latest patch).

- 1st battle: about a 100.000 russians against 30.000 french. Result: Russians lose 5.000, no french casualties.
- 2nd battle: same battle but with Russian stance on "offensive": Russians lose about 30.000, French 10.000
- 3rd battle: even larger battle, Russians have double the troops, three times the guns. Result: Russians lose 45.000, French lose 15.000.
Each time the French were crossing a river.

I've never had results as these in all the other campaigns.

[bbriley]

Ok, so I am playing the Polish campaign as the Russians. I freely admit, I am not that great at this game, and I am still getting the handle of the game mechanics. But, I feel like I made some sort of MASSIVE mistake as the Russians, and the only thing I can come up with is that my mistake was going to war against Napoleon.
-- snip --
Now, I expected Napoleon to beat me up a bit, but I was not expecting him to make a punching bag out of my armies.
-- snip --
Sincerely,
Pummeled in Poland.

It isn't fully clear to me - was this a PBEM match or your playing against the French AI? In Austerlitz in a PBEM game with Dale H, my French forces are beating the stuffing out of his Austrian and Russian forces in the area bounded by Ulm on the west, Wien on the east and Brunn to the northeast. I am not a "whiz" in this game, but may I assume that Napoleon's brilliance on the field (translate: his command ratings in the engine) is having a significant effect in the battle outcomes, even in a PBEM game? I might add that my forces are losing their/our collective shirts (and supplies) down in northern Italy (sobbing...).

Humbly,
Pummeling in southern Germany.

[sparta]

Have just bought the game and started the 1807 campaign. Won easily almost without trying as the french (excessive russian casualties for few french). Tried agein as russian. Concentrated 150.000 russians in good supply east of warsaw and was whipped by 60.000 french - taking 45.000 casualties to 10.000 french. I was on an offensive stance which seems to be a poor idea as a russian.

Is it just me or is it to easy to just concentrate a huge french army and storm fortresses which historically craved months of siege and bombardment?

[diraska]

I downloaded the new patch. (FYI, i love the changes they made) But I have not run the same campaign yet (to afraid), but I did play the Danube campaign and I was roughly handled by the Austrian forces (I made some pretty dumb decisions as the French) so i assume that has leveled the casualty playing field. Thanks for the tips guys. To anyone else who has this problem, get the update and see if that helps. If it doesnt, then all I can think of is that Russian troops have terrible stats, but I have not done the research on that.