Starter Guide to the Psychological and Analytical aspects of battle
Mar 12, 2016 16:33:26 GMT
kanue, Jean Lannes, and 3 more like this
Post by Franz von Hipper on Mar 12, 2016 16:33:26 GMT
This guide is aimed to help new players understand the basic psychology of battle, that includes: Analysing the situation, decision making, acting decisively, keeping alert, the art of the retreat and learning from defeat.
Example map: Prussia in 1809 conquest scenario:
#1: Observe, Analyse and Understand
The first thing you need to do when you enter a battle is to observe the map, that means: spotting your enemies, your allies, their generals, their troops, their important cities, ect.
Example: On our map, you are direct neighbours with the Rhine and Poland, but you also share a border with Austria. Also your friend Russia is on the other side of Poland. Note that you are separated by water from Sweden and that Denmark and the Netherlands can attack you trough the Rhine. Don’t forget the powerful France also on the other side of the Rhine.
After observing, you must analyse the situation, that means that you must: spot who is more likely to attack you, how will they attack you, who will attack you in the long term, who is the most dangerous towards your nation, etc. Also keep in mind that knowing the AI's priorities is a valuable assets, because the AI well sometime prioritise some targets over others. To understand the A.I its is recommended to read this old but atill valid guide: AI explained
Example: Poland and the Rhine are my direct neighbours, so they will surely attack me first. Rhine owns Davout a excellent general and they are backed by both France and Denmark. Poland have some great generals in Poniatowski and Dombrowski, however they are encircled by three of my allies (Austria and Russia). Denmark, Sweden and Holland don’t have the power to fully invade me, they however can be pesky and should be kept an eye on. France is powerful, they however are distracted by Great Britain (represented by a red arrow) and the Spain (not on the map).
The third step is to understand, you need to take all the information from earlier and make logical statements with it. You must also think in the place of your enemies, and understand their situation.
Example: Rhine, is backed by France, so their main target should be me or Austria. The Rhine also keep France away from attacking me with a full scale, Rhine is a buffer state. Poland will try to exit the encirclement, so they will logically try to get cities from the weakest of the 3 states that surrounds, so me and some of Austria.
#2: Intelligent decision making and acting decisively
When you make your decision, you must take all the information you got from the last step. You need to predict you enemies reactions to your moves, but also predict what your allies will do, because 2 vs 1, is easier to handle than 1 vs 1.
Example: I basically have to chose to either defend (by defend I mean more passive, you can still move forward) against Poland and attack the Rhine, or to Defend against the Rhine and attack Poland. Austria will be mostly unable to help you vs Poland or the Rhine because they must defend against the Ottomans. If I attack Rhine, I will be put on direct contact with France and Denmark. Poland is alone, I should be able to capitalise on that by taking a few cities, maybe even Warsaw…. Ect.
After making the decisions, you must commit to it (that does not mean to hold until you die as we will see later.). That means that you must not hesitate and that you must choose an idea and go with it, if you attack, you attack, if you retreat you retreat. Good decision making can be the difference between a good general and a excellent general, also between a win and a defeat. Beside you have time, no life and a overview of the map, all things that napoleonic generals did not have, so use them to your advantage.
#3: Be Alert
This step is simple, but one of the most crucial. The goal here is to keep an eye out on your enemies, even if they are far, because they could be closer than you think. The basis here is to do a quick refresh of the first step every turn so you always know what's going on and act accordingly. It is also important to not get tunnel vision (getting too focused on a battle or a opponent), because that is just asking for defeat.
#4: The Art of the Retreat
I know that some new players come in thinking that retreat is a bad and cowardly thing, and fighting until your death is the brave thing to do. This conception is wrong, retreat can win you battles, because a retreat can lead to a serious counter attack that could bring you victory. There a many cases where a retreat can be useful including:
Saving a general: If this game is chess, your generals are your queens, that means that they are your most powerful pieces. If a general is doomed to die against a opponent with more health, you should retreat back to a city and let him get his life back. Because a General that is alive is much more effective than one that is dead.
Joining back the main army: If a good group of cavalry and infantry gets too far ahead, you could consider bringing them back to your main army, doing so could save their lives and make them stronger because they now have backups and the presence of artillery to support them.
#5: Learning to from your mistakes.
This is not real life, a lost is acceptable, even beneficial sometimes. Even the best players of this community have lost a few time. When you lose, you should always analyse what you did wrong and try to lear from it and come back even stronger. You have to learn from your mistakes, and that will make you a better player.
I hope this guide will help the new player to gauge the more psychological and analytical aspects of this game, because they are crucial to victory.
Example map: Prussia in 1809 conquest scenario:
#1: Observe, Analyse and Understand
The first thing you need to do when you enter a battle is to observe the map, that means: spotting your enemies, your allies, their generals, their troops, their important cities, ect.
Example: On our map, you are direct neighbours with the Rhine and Poland, but you also share a border with Austria. Also your friend Russia is on the other side of Poland. Note that you are separated by water from Sweden and that Denmark and the Netherlands can attack you trough the Rhine. Don’t forget the powerful France also on the other side of the Rhine.
After observing, you must analyse the situation, that means that you must: spot who is more likely to attack you, how will they attack you, who will attack you in the long term, who is the most dangerous towards your nation, etc. Also keep in mind that knowing the AI's priorities is a valuable assets, because the AI well sometime prioritise some targets over others. To understand the A.I its is recommended to read this old but atill valid guide: AI explained
Example: Poland and the Rhine are my direct neighbours, so they will surely attack me first. Rhine owns Davout a excellent general and they are backed by both France and Denmark. Poland have some great generals in Poniatowski and Dombrowski, however they are encircled by three of my allies (Austria and Russia). Denmark, Sweden and Holland don’t have the power to fully invade me, they however can be pesky and should be kept an eye on. France is powerful, they however are distracted by Great Britain (represented by a red arrow) and the Spain (not on the map).
The third step is to understand, you need to take all the information from earlier and make logical statements with it. You must also think in the place of your enemies, and understand their situation.
Example: Rhine, is backed by France, so their main target should be me or Austria. The Rhine also keep France away from attacking me with a full scale, Rhine is a buffer state. Poland will try to exit the encirclement, so they will logically try to get cities from the weakest of the 3 states that surrounds, so me and some of Austria.
#2: Intelligent decision making and acting decisively
When you make your decision, you must take all the information you got from the last step. You need to predict you enemies reactions to your moves, but also predict what your allies will do, because 2 vs 1, is easier to handle than 1 vs 1.
Example: I basically have to chose to either defend (by defend I mean more passive, you can still move forward) against Poland and attack the Rhine, or to Defend against the Rhine and attack Poland. Austria will be mostly unable to help you vs Poland or the Rhine because they must defend against the Ottomans. If I attack Rhine, I will be put on direct contact with France and Denmark. Poland is alone, I should be able to capitalise on that by taking a few cities, maybe even Warsaw…. Ect.
After making the decisions, you must commit to it (that does not mean to hold until you die as we will see later.). That means that you must not hesitate and that you must choose an idea and go with it, if you attack, you attack, if you retreat you retreat. Good decision making can be the difference between a good general and a excellent general, also between a win and a defeat. Beside you have time, no life and a overview of the map, all things that napoleonic generals did not have, so use them to your advantage.
#3: Be Alert
This step is simple, but one of the most crucial. The goal here is to keep an eye out on your enemies, even if they are far, because they could be closer than you think. The basis here is to do a quick refresh of the first step every turn so you always know what's going on and act accordingly. It is also important to not get tunnel vision (getting too focused on a battle or a opponent), because that is just asking for defeat.
#4: The Art of the Retreat
I know that some new players come in thinking that retreat is a bad and cowardly thing, and fighting until your death is the brave thing to do. This conception is wrong, retreat can win you battles, because a retreat can lead to a serious counter attack that could bring you victory. There a many cases where a retreat can be useful including:
Saving a general: If this game is chess, your generals are your queens, that means that they are your most powerful pieces. If a general is doomed to die against a opponent with more health, you should retreat back to a city and let him get his life back. Because a General that is alive is much more effective than one that is dead.
Joining back the main army: If a good group of cavalry and infantry gets too far ahead, you could consider bringing them back to your main army, doing so could save their lives and make them stronger because they now have backups and the presence of artillery to support them.
#5: Learning to from your mistakes.
This is not real life, a lost is acceptable, even beneficial sometimes. Even the best players of this community have lost a few time. When you lose, you should always analyse what you did wrong and try to lear from it and come back even stronger. You have to learn from your mistakes, and that will make you a better player.
I hope this guide will help the new player to gauge the more psychological and analytical aspects of this game, because they are crucial to victory.
