[EU4] An In-Depth Analysis of Drilling and Professionalism

Army drilling and professionalism have shaken up army quality in EU4. In this video I analyze them in-depth, show several ways to use them effectively, and answer the question of whether they are strategically worthwhile.

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Music: Carry On by Peppsen

[gilgamesh]

"Eu4 has modifiers that modify modifications of modified modifiers, but god help me if this is the most esoteric bonus that I have ever seen in this game." I laughed so hard, take your like sir.

[jwillard]

I think you're underestimating supply depots. They allow you to reinforce at the full rate in enemy territory (rather than the usual 50%). For example, if you're siegeing Constantinople in a very large Ottoman empire and your armies are being hammered by incoming Ottoman stacks, a supply depot allows your armies to reinforce at the same rate as the Otto armies in the entire state where a supply depot is created. You can also create a supply state where you can send battered armies to recover. Supply depots are only good against large empires that pack a punch, but they do have real uses.

[JeffPB]

EU4 in 2014: Morale of armies: +10%


EU4 in 2018: Reduced morale damage taken by reserves: +50%


EU4 in 2022: Reserves morale damage reduction when on a stated province with a fort and less than 10 devastation that borders a rival against whom you have 25% or above warscore while in golden age: +5%

[mikolaj]

"It can sometimes feel like it's a giant simulation where nation compete to see who can have the biggest modifiers that modify modifications of modified modifiers." Haha you made my day <3

[assatgames]

Deleting ships will always return sailors to the sailor pool. Always has, always will, with or without this DLC.

[draekas]

One thing I have noticed with drilled units is that for sure the infantry and cavalry soon lose their bonuses after some battles. That being said, as long as your cannons don't take any casualties, their bonuses persist for quite a long time. So as long as you don't fight a battle past the point of your front line breaking, those cannons keep putting out extra damage during the war.

So it might be a good strat to just drill your artillery regiments if you're trying to save ducats.

[XiaoYueMao]

you forgot one thing, the refill manpower when deleting troops acts as TELEPORATION (at a fee) ... for large nations it allows you to delete your armys and rebuild them on the other side of your nation in a month or two, and for really large nations this is faster then marching them

the cost tho is a bunch of gold and loss of drill :/ it might be useful in some situations, such as if your fighting a navally superior nation and your troops are stuck on one of your islands XD

[lukaf]

The -0.1 morale per battle day was introduced because giant doomstacks refilled with mercenaries could fight for months even in XVI/XVI century, and Paradox did not like that.

The idea of bonus to the reserves is great, but... Why so little? Make it so reserves take -75%/85% morale per day damage or something, not these puny rookie numbers.

[lucamaggiocaccio]

Thanks. It's also interesting to note that cannons drilling for the second half of the game is very powerful. Or at least it seems so, since they generally don't lose strength even if you pull out of some engagements. Also a full back-row of cannons is not a huge part of the army so it's not super expensive to drill.

[darkfireslide]

I think Defensive has been the de facto best early military idea group for a while now, and 15% morale and +1 army tradition are still two of the strongest military ideas in the game even after the early game.

[FoundationAfro]

RIP to useful slacken recruitment standards. You'll always give us manpower in our hearts.

[Snailman]

An interesting angle on this is it is a massive boost to island nations. UK, Japan, madagascar, and Indonesian nations can drill without fear of stackwipe as long as they maintain a powerful navy(UK and Japan have it easier here since they have much higher dev provinces) I think I will do a new Japan playthrough to get to 100 professionalism super fast. I also feel like the slacken recruit button makes wars of attrition very costly for both sides much more costly. If you are fighting late game France as Prussia in mp, they could drain their country dry simply throwing manpower at you.

[BigGameBargainHunter]

Placing a supply depot increases reinforcement speed for, the entire state, to the same as friendly territory. This is helpful if you're deep in enemy territory and trying to siege down surrounding areas.

[brantcasavant]

Reman, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE if you would do a video analysis on army composition. I never know what the optimal army comp is and I feel like all the stuff I've seen online is contradictory and confusing, e.g., whether and when cavalry is useful, how much artillery to own depending on artillery type, etc.

[zachmoser]

Hey Reaman, with these new military factors, how would you compose your troops differently and in general how do and did you compose your troops through out the game??

[DocsDota]

Seems like professionalism needs more reworking. A large nation like Ottomans or the British Empire did have a professional army just like Prussians did. Only difference is Prussians's army was a majority of professional army while Empire-sized armies with their vast size and number of troops housed elite armies and regiments (Like Janissaries), while having a lot of militias and mercs for other uses. In no shape or form does Prussian Army should say...defeat Ottomans in a fair fight just simply because their Professionalism is higher due to Prussia has less force limit and no mercs.
Another thing is drill's increase of professionalism based on force limit seems awfully ridiculous, just because a nation can man 50% of their population into basic training doesn't mean they really have to to have a professional army. Of course the counter argument is to prevent the opposite if it's based on overall number of troops, as you can have 1/1 troops in your nation and you will get professionalism up quickly by drilling that one guy. In this way professionalism should be a mechanic that gets diluted and refined as newer regiments fill in, but traditions and discipline really is what sets the bar for an army's professionalism in the real world.

Professionalism should be divided into 2 categories, where first one affects regiments and their specific perks (almost like Rome 2's armies that are both attached to generals and have military traditions for its own army), so you could have a raider team that is a bunch of cav regiments that are good at raiding, and a battering ram-like regiment to seek out enemies, and a siege team that specifically are designed to further be good at...well sieges. Of course one the most ridiculous mechanics in Rtw2 was the fact that there was a limited number of regiments to be used that vastly
limited game play and expansion. One solution would be possibly assigning all professionalism and traits to GENERALS and the Regiment they belong in, and making Generals physical units instead of attachments to armies. This will both prevent Generals being used in 2 different theatres by alternating armies, as well as making them almost paramount to a battle, since all the bonuses would be stacked on the general, a mob of units without the leadership can still fight and defend their city, but will be disorganized and thus be at an advantage. Also when Generals die, the regiment they created will continue and seek a new General that will carry on its traditions, but gains its own traits and pips, which can also be trained up as well.

Other thing is overall professionalism should just create higher ranking systems for potential regiments within a nation, Ottoman's Janissary are not less Professional just because they decided to use their overflow of cash to buy some cannon fodder mercs just so they dont lose out on Janissaries in a artillery barrage.

[MrTooawesomeforaname]

I used the supply depot to host my main army near a wall of forts near my borders, while the 10k stack do their siegeing. The supply depot can decrease the attrition rate, which is crucial for saving manpower in early-midgame.

[khaak]

Your comment on the Roleplay is pretty much the main reason for Drilling to be a great addition.

I know it's wrong as Prussia and I'd be more effective if I use mercs, but I MUST DRILL THE ARMY

[alexjiang]

Very useful information. Thank you very much, Reman!

[melfice]

One way you can use Drilling of your armies is to have a specific army that is for Sieging and sitting on enemy forts to wait for them to fall. and have an another army act as your "elite troops" and waiting on the sidelines for the enemy to attack you, this way you can waste as little drill as possible. and technically it gives you an edge over your foe considering your elite stack would be dealing much more damage than the enemy's attacking stack.