Sometimes war can be an inevitable part of ruling a country in Europa Universalis 5, and not only is your victory dependent on the size of your military, but you’ll find the formation of your militias to be pivotal to your country’s successes when it’s time to go to war.
Your army composition in EU5 is important to consider, with each group of potential fighters having pros and cons you’ll need to weigh overall and in each position on the battlefield. With troop specialization between countries and terrain elements to consider, your war generals definitely have their work cut out.
Army Composition Can Make Or Break Battles
Understanding Unit Types
Though you’ll spend the earliest days as a forming countries counting on the might of civilian levies willing to take up arms, eventually, you’ll maintain a standing army ready to fight at a moment’s notice, professional soldiers that let the members of levies return to their normal Pop positions. This is when you’ll begin dealing with some rather advanced warfare, too, so military might won’t be a bad thing before long.
There are two key pieces of military strategy you’ll need to understand if you’re hoping to see success: your troop types to know how best to use each group of fighters, and your compositional positions to know where these groups fight most effectively when sent onto the battlefield. With combat specialties between troops, you’ll need to know how each one works in order to place them somewhere advantageous.
The most important kinds of armies you’ll have fall into a few broad categories.
- Infantry types of units are ideal for ground combat, charging into battle on foot and using all manner of weapons to fight. These units are good for siege warfare, and they’re typically fairly easy on your treasury, too.
- Archers provide support from flanking positions to aid in battle with a slew of ranged attacks to fight from a range and provide ample covering fire.
- Cavalry charges into battle fiercely as part of your mounted unit collective for close-ranged combat strikes. They’re good for breakthroughs in tight formations from your enemies and can move easily, but they’ll often cost more to maintain, too.
- Artillery units are all about providing ranged support with their selection of heavy machinery and weapons.
Additionally, you’ll potentially have additional units based on which country you’re playing as in the game, with countries like England receiving iconic units like Longbowman that require more specifications to use but that can sweep battles in your favor with ease. Learn to use your nation’s specific unit, since it’s likely gone down in history as something pretty powerful if it’s being included in the game!
Battle Types And Unit Formations
In general, you’ll need to consider every unit’s specialties when designing your army composition and assigning positions for the battles ahead, since the range of capabilities in your fighters is aided best by putting them into the most advantageous positions. The game breaks this into center, left flank, and right flank positions. You can keep units in reserve, too, to ensure you’ve got enough bodies on the battlefield at any given time.
These three positions serve as fronts, and you’ll find each front tends to act largely independent of one another, focused on their own goals in the war. You’ll want to keep archers and artillery units in flanking positions, able to fire on the enemy as they advance without needing to take center stage. Cavalry units receive bonuses when dealing damage from flanking positions, and infantry comes in varying sizes, giving you plenty of troops to place and position. It also gives them a good vantage point to decimate the opposing cavalry that’ll likely be doing damage to your
Infantry units tend to do best in the center, where they’re able to put boots on the ground and charge right into battle to fight headlong against the advancing armies. Use your strongest infantry for the right battles, since they’ll be the ones taking and dealing the brunt of the damage in most wars. Keeping groups of units together based on their typing is typically a good idea to provide coverage and support.
By default, a unit will attack the unit that stands exactly opposite their position, but they’ll readjust their sights if need be. Use this knowledge to your advantage and position your strongest units in the most advantageous positions for the battles at hand.
The game will also give you the option to evenly distribute your available troops across the available battle positions. This is a good choice for if you’re just getting started with commanding armies, or for if you’re not quite focused on specializing with a certain type of unit. The game factors in morale and supplies when assigning positions to these troops.
A good idea when forming your army composition is to use the terrain to your advantage, too, with the land around you able to provide just as much cover and support as certain human military units.
