User Guide

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and the date that it should arrive.
Europa Universalis III’s provinces have a
wide range of sizes. When determining how
long it takes an army to march to an adjacent
province, the game bases the calculation on the
exact distance between the two provinces’ capi-
tals and compares this to the movement speed
of the army. Movement is always based on the
assumption that the army begins its movement
in the provincial capital’s location on the map,
and completes its movement when it arrives in
the destination province’s capital.
An army’s movement speed is determined
by the speed of the slowest regiment in the army.
An army that is composed entirely of cavalry
will move much faster than an army that con-
tains a regiment of infantry, and an army that
includes artillery will move the slowest of all.
If speed is an issue for your strategy, you may
wish to split an army into a fast-moving van-
guard and have a slower main force follow be-
hind. Just be sure that your vanguard is strong
enough to survive any combat it encounters be-
fore the main force arrives to assist it.
Each factor of your leader’s manoeuvre rat-
ing will increase the movement speed of every
regiment under his command. The speed is
also affected by the terrain. Armies move fast-
est through open plains, and will be slowed
down to varying degrees by forests, desert,
swamp, hills, and mountains. Crossing a river
also requires additional time.
Land Combat
Overview
A land combat is initiated whenever an army
enters a province that contains an enemy army.
Combat is highly abstracted in Europa Uni-
versalis III, where each engagement represents
an attacker’s campaign to gain control over an
enemy’s entire province. Combats frequently
last for a period of weeks and should not be
thought of as a single battle, but rather as a se-
ries of battles that eventually determine which
side has gained the upper hand in the area.
During each day of this contest, the invad-
ing force will make an attack against the de-
fender and then brace itself against the enemy’s
counterattack. The damage you inflict on an
enemy is determined by the type and size of
your regiments, the general that commands
them, any terrain or river-crossing modifi-
ers, your land technology level, and a certain
amount of luck. The two armies will continue
to exchange blows until one side has been com-
pletely eliminated or one army’s morale level is
so low that it breaks and retreats.
Once the battle is over, the victorious army
will remain in the province and the loser will
be forced to retreat. If the province is currently
controlled by the side that lost, the victor will
then lay siege to the capital and attempt to gain
control of the province. The attacking force
will only gain control of the province when the
siege has been successfully completed. Own-
ership of a province only changes when it has
been ceded as a condition of peace.
Field combats and sieges are handled differ-
ently by the game, so we will begin by looking
at former and then proceed to the latter.
Taking the Field
A field combat occurs whenever two oppos-
ing armies are located in the same province,
at which point you will receive a message that
notifies you that your army has encountered a
hostile force. There are no tactical decisions
for you to make. The battle will occur auto-
matically and will be resolved after the armies
have battled against one another over the en-
suing days. The only action you can take that
will affect the course of the battle is to order
your army to withdraw. Otherwise, the battle
is entirely in the hands of your general and the
outcome will be determined largely on the stra-
tegic decisions you made before sending it to
the province.
Although you have no control over the com-
bat, Europa Universalis III allows you to watch
its progress if you like. To do so, click on the
“go to” button on the message, or select the army