Seriously?

[ronehjr]

This is the Persian army invading Rome. What the hell am I supposed to do with this? And why is this happening? Haven't played the game in a few months, I knew there were some changes, didn't know the changes were 'have fun having no chance'.

And while I am struggling with decadence, Persia, despite being massive, is at the top. Who decided Persia should be completely unstoppable?

[ronehjr]

Is there a reason screenshots don't load?

[Gray Fox]

I take the screenshot from the game and convert it to a .jpg format with MS Paint. This makes it small enough to post. You can attach three screenshots in one post.

[ronehjr]

Screw that process. My next question. I am playing early Rome. Every combat initially shows I should be winning easily, often something like 50% to 1 % . I am not just losing, not just getting disrupted, but my flanking attacks are getting disrupted. My units are quite often breaking after 2 rounds, while Gallic warbands are hanging in for three or more rounds whilst flanked and even being attacked by general led units. The only way I can win is to outnumber my enemy considerably. I'm playing on Legate.

[poesel71]

Its a bit difficult to answer that without any data so here is my guess.

In FOGE a battle is a series of 1-1 fights with often very limited frontage. That means that troop quality plays a VERY important role and is much more important than numbers (unless you fight in the desert or open plains).
So first of all you need trained troops. For that you need battle where a win is assured (yes, hen and egg problem). 'retaliate' into neighbouring provinces is a good tool to train.
Then you need a good general. He should have at least a 1. It makes a big difference.
Then look for terrain and what boni and mali you get from that. Choose your troops accordingly.
You need support troops for the second line. Every front line troop should have at least one support. Archers are best.
Same goes for skirmishers: they can weaken the enemy before you even start and give you the edge to win some battles.
Unless you are in the mountains or heavy forest you need horses for the flanks. Either to hurt the enemy or defend against his cavalry.

The trick is to pile bonus on bonus so you win the individual battle.
Attrition through battles does not work very well here IME. Better do it economically or through diplomacy.

[Pocus]

I would say he is playing the tac battles in FOG II!

[rbodleyscott]

My next question. I am playing early Rome. Every combat initially shows I should be winning easily, often something like 50% to 1 % . I am not just losing, not just getting disrupted, but my flanking attacks are getting disrupted. My units are quite often breaking after 2 rounds, while Gallic warbands are hanging in for three or more rounds whilst flanked and even being attacked by general led units. The only way I can win is to outnumber my enemy considerably. I'm playing on Legate.

A few tips for playing Empires battles in FOG2:

1) You should be looking not only at the Impact Win:Draw:Loss chances, but the Melee Win:Draw:Lose chances too. They are often significantly different.

A 50% chance of winning the Impact phase does not correspond to a 50% chance of winning the overall combat. If your unit wins the impact, but the enemy unit passes its cohesion test, then you are into the Melee prediction for the rest of the combat, which is likely to be much more even, or may even favour the enemy.

2) Troop quality can have a massive effect on the chances in a combat, and in exported battles troop quality is significantly impacted by the ratings of the opposing generals in Empires. These are not averaged out. If Empires deems you to be the attacker, your general will use his attack rating, the enemy general will use his defence rating. Conversely, if Empires deems you to be the defender, your general will use his defence rating, the enemy general will use his attack rating.

Hence if you have a 2-0 general and you are strategically defending, your general will count as a 0 rated general, which will have a adverse effect on troop quality in exported battles if the enemy general has a higher rating.

3) Also you need to be aware:

a) What constitutes a flank attack:

• i) An attack at 45 degrees to the front is not a flank attack.

• ii) An attack by a unit that did not start its whole move behind the flank does not qualify as a flank attack.

b) A flank attack only has a minor effect if:

• i) The enemy unit is not already engaged in melee.

• ii) It is by light troops on non-light troops.

4) FOG2 gives the AI no extra bonuses whatsoever in any aspect of the game - neither in combat, cohesion tests or anywhere else. The RNG is not tweaked in its favour. Both sides are playing on a level playing field.

Moreover, the combat Win:Draw:Loss predictions are calculated by dummy-running the actual combat that will occur 1000 times and reporting the results as a percentage. So they are a pretty accurate estimate of the chances of winning each combat round. But winning a combat round does not mean winning the overall combat, it just means that the enemy unit must take a Cohesion Test, and if it passes the combat continues without any major change.

Hence, if your troops are consistently losing it is either because:
a) They are being used in disadvantageous terrain or against opposing unit types they are not best suited to fighting.
b) The enemy has an advantage in quality - which depends on the situation in Empires, as outlined above.
c) The enemy simply has weight of numbers - which also depends on the situation in Empires.
d) You are very unlucky - but nobody has bad luck all of the time.

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I would strongly recommend reading the FOG2 manual, which you can access from the FOG2 game launcher, or is also available from the FOG2 STEAM product page.