Once again about using tanks and aircraft in the ground battles. I have the tech researched, and I think I have had it for a long time, yet when I am attacking I can only use infantry.
You might need to change your troop allocation. If you go to the military screen (where the list of all your fleets is) then look on the left, there’s a button for ground troop options. Make sure you have something more than 0% set for the tanks and aircraft.
OMG! thank you for that information. Not only can I change my troop allocation, but you can also upgrade your troops.
Note also that the allocation directly impacts on your manpower - troops use a lot more manpower than tanks and aircraft!
I wish I hadn’t forgotten about that because I ran out of manpower!
Manpower is another of those really small but very innovative tweaks to these sorts of game systems. There are not many where it matters like this. I really like it.
So is it better to go all tanks or aircraft? If troops are inefficient, then why even use them?
Edit: you know what, I’m not sure. I was going by something PANCZASU said in one of his videos, but it’s unclear to me he’s right.
Tanks > Infantry > Air > Tanks seems right though.
I think their upgrades requires different strategic resources, so if you don’t have them you won’t be able to improve the tanks and planes.
I just realized now that I lost my game due to an economic victory that the military screen has a button to select which battle tactic cards are available in a battle. I’d been using whatever the default 3 cards were the entire game even though I have 13 available.
Well, I was peaceful for almost the entire game so it didn’t matter too much until the last 30 turns or so when I’ve had a couple wars.
Those battle cards are important in fights! Their effects are sometimes important, but sometimes the flotilla positions are really critical.
I’ve always liked the manpower feature in Europa Universalis even though I haven’t played that game very much. I like the idea of needed population to power wars and not just rely on building units.
Note also then that manpower affects fleet performance. If you are ground down my Craver ground invasions, eventually your fleets will struggle to have enough people to man them.
There are some mid-tier techs for ship weapons that focus on killing ship crews!
Then it would seem that a 33% split would be right since, AFAIK, you can’t see what the enemy has before your allocation. IE: the enemy has no air, so go 100% tanks.
Early game, going 100% tanks might well be right? Aircraft take time to be unlocked.
Also, I am assume there is trade in this game, like trade fleets, right? I researched trade and bult trade centers, but on the trade screen there is nothing going on. There looks like a spot for some kind of trade interactions, but its all blank. Am I missing something obvious again?
If you build a trade HQ and a trade subsidiary, a route should be present between those two (and between all future HQs and subsidiaries). There needs to be a clear route (lanes or wormholes) for trade. You can spend dust to upgrade the route. So I’m not sure why it’s blank.
Trade is one of the most opaque parts of the game, frankly.
I wish that the player could design multiple system development upgrades per level (at some type of cost). It doesn’t make sense to say when any system develops to level 2 it has to improve food production because that’s the system before it did. It would allow for more specialization and strategic choices. I’m all for making the player make difficult choices, but I don’t think limited the player here improves the game.
Agreed. There is also a massive overflow of unneeded luxuries - by the end of my last game I was selling hundreds to the markets every turn.
Okay, some more on troop management. If you look at the stats screen, there are some important implications.
Each unit (infantry, tank, air) has a manpower cost associated (see the ‘cost’ stat). So you will get less tanks per manpower than you will infantry. But they have more health. It’s worth looking at those stats and considering the options you have when invading versus defending, I think.