Today there has been talking about some of the many updates coming in the next patch, 1.33. Some of the updates are focused on AI, while the rest are combat-based.
With patch 1.33, Paradox have implemented quite a few changes to the game's AI. One of those is the way the AI sets up its armies, and via that they've found some more issues to fix, regarding land battles.
The thought that went into the army quality AI made the developers realize they should change some things about how combat works.
As mentioned in last week’s Developer diary; Unit Type Fire and Shock pips now affect morale damage as well strength damage. This makes the choice between Unit Types less imbalanced. Contrary to what was said last week, and in part because of feedback on that post, this will also apply to morale defense from the back row. The fact that this makes artillery more powerful and battles longer is counteracted by some more important changes Paradox decided to do:
- Infantry and Cavalry can no longer deploy/reinforce to the back row.
- Backrow regiments will now retreat when reaching 0% morale, same as front row regiments.
- Constant 0.03 morale damage per day is now only applied to reserves, and not to regiments on the battlefield.
Paradox Interactive
If there are any of you that do not understand how this affects the combat meta in practice. Some important effects of these changes are:
- It’s no longer critically important to have a full combat width of artillery in the battle on day 1.
- An army of 2x combat width infantry is now superior to an army of 1x combat width infantry. Previously they were roughly equal.
- You’ll need more artillery than just the combat width to last a long battle.
