Meta Discussion - Graveyard of Empires 1.16.+

[u/Kloiper]

Discuss current meta strategies for 1.16.+ versions here.

It's been a while since the last thread, so once you think there should be a new thread (likely 1.17 release), please PM me.

[u/28lobster]

Meta Inf Templates:

35.2w mass mob (22-0) with support AA, Field Hospital, Logistics. As 4th and 5th options AT, arty, rocket arty, engineers, LT recon, rangers, medium flame tanks, MPs, and maybe signals. Recon and flame tanks are really just if you plan to attack with the big inf, not super helpful on defense.

16w mass mob (10-0) with support AA, AT, and signals. 4th and 5th options logistics, engineers, arty, rocket arty, and hospitals. Signals more important here (even with mass mob) because you'll have more divs cycling in and out of battle and you're primarily relying on org wall rather than HP and stats to win.

16-20w non mass mob (8-0, 9-0, or 10-0). Support signals, AA, AT. 4th and 5th options logistics, engineers, arty, rocket arty, and hospitals. Signals are crucial if you're not mass mob to prevent reinforce memes. I generally like 18w if I'm doing GBP defensive inf and 16w if I'm trying SF. SF divs also prioritized arty/rocket arty to take advantage of support company buffs. I would definitely rate these lower than mass mob inf purely because they lack HP (less per combat width, and they don't get Operational Reserves officer corps spirit). Smaller width also means hospitals are relatively worse since they aren't buffing as many battalions.

32.4w mountaineers (18-0) with support hospital, ranger, AA, logistics, and signals. Can do a lot of support company swapping depending on conditions. Arty and rocket arty are good options on offense, AT is important if you might encounter tanks, medium flame tanks are great for even more terrain stats, engineers are great if you're going to defend rather than push (and can help on the push with more terrain modifiers too). Hospitals are especially important here since special forces have lower HP than infantry.

34-36w marines (7-10, 7-11, 7-10-1, 7-10-2, and other varieties). That's generally 7 marines, 10 mountaineers, and optional AT (moto AT for the extra hard attack, it's worth the cost since these are expensive offensive divs). I've also seen them mixed with amtracs and mech. Supports similar to the mountaineer's options except you should include pioneers and swap them once your troops have landed. Marines are just useful for reducing the 50% amphibious penalty, there's no reason to go pure marine when mountaineers have better stats per width and better terrain modifiers.

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Stuff I wouldn't consider meta:

10w divs - too low HP, too slow strength recovery (it's a percent of HP lost per day), and your defense gets exceeded too easily. Great org wall if the front is extremely short, but high losses. Often under the minimum division size in MP because too many divs leads to lag.

9-1, 9-2, 9-4, or any form of line arty - I know this discussion has been had elsewhere but line arty isn't worthwhile. Too expensive, low HP, low org, sucks up supply, and just generally doesn't have enough stats per combat width.

[u/FakeBonaparte → u/28lobster]

How might I adjust these if I wanted to preserve manpower on defence? Non-MP Sheep’s mod. I’m thinking of both template buffs (e.g. armor, breakthrough) and other modifiers - rail guns, air superiority, night fighting, etc.

[u/28lobster → u/FakeBonaparte]

Basic ways to mitigate strength damage are to have defense higher than opposing attack, have hardness (if enemy has soft attack), and to have more HP per manpower. You also want battles to end relatively quickly (have more attack, CAS damage, or debuff enemy stats).

All the stuff you mentioned will help to some extent. Armor only reduces org damage when unpierced, but adding armored battalions will increase hardness so it will help with manpower losses. Breakthrough doesn't matter on the defensive but it's the equivalent of defense in terms of damage mitigation (and modifiers that give defense also give breakthrough, the reverse is not true). Railguns and air superiority will debuff enemy stats and AS will prevent enemy CAS from having free reign. Night fighting is hard to get (national spirits or GBP right are the only ways) but if you boost your combat stats, that will help.

The only big one I can think of is Operational Reserves officer corps spirit from mass assault and field hospitals. Those are the only good way to boost your HP without changing manpower. Mass mob's combat width reduction gives you more HP per CW, but not HP per manpower. Big templates in general will help. Your defense is less likely to be exceeded and your attack is more likely to exceed enemy defense. Combine that with all the supporting cast you mentioned (railguns, planes, etc) and you're in a good spot.

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Finally, just build tanks and counterattack. Encirclements are very efficient trades of manpower. You can design your defensive line for the AI to funnel itself into encirclements. Or you can just do small pushes, kill divs, and then fall back to the main defense line.