Tactics, Stacking

So what I like to do is have 2 tank destroyers (or 4 AA), 2 medium tanks, 2 light tanks, 2 sp AA (or 6 regular AA) 4 motorized infantry, 5 artillery (or 2 sp artillery), and then 2 commandos. These are my basic land troop formations, and to enlarge it I use that ratio, as long as the SBDE is 100%. Now I used to not like SP stuff, I just used tanks, AT, AA, infantry, sometimes motorised infantry, and stuff like that, but when my friend was beating me a lot in alliance games, I noticed he used SP stuff, and motorised infantry, so I kind of made up this basic land formation ratio. Also, for bombers, I do 5 fighters (or 2 rocket fighters), and 5 tac bombers. For ships I do 3 battleships, 2 cruisers, 2 destroyers, and 5 subs. And then I use rockets for strategic warfare a lot, like if I'm at war with a country that has a lot of forts, or shares a water border with me. I will also build railroad guns for water border countries I'm at war with. I hope this helped, and also let me know if I'm doing something wrong, cause my friend beats me a lot in these games, and I want to get back at him. Thanks!

My old model stack is this...

Medium Tanks = 3 to 5 stacks(Level 3), Mechanized Infantry (Level 2) = 2 to 3 stacks, SP Anti-Air (level 2) = 2 stacks.

This stack should give at least 100 to 150 plus strength points which is scary to face in mid game. I usually field two to three of these stacks and use a hammer and anvil tactics.

My air support usually is this...

4 to 5 stacks of level 3 or 4 Tactical Bombers and Attack Bombers.

Due to range constraints I usually do not mix interceptors with the bombers and I do not build Strategic Bombers in the mix either since my old doctrine is focused on blitz and immediate destruction of enemy armies.


My new model stack is this

Early game (Priority build)

Ground: Light Tank (level 2) + Motorized infantry (level 2): Usually 5 stacks each in one army.

Air(Landlocked nation): Tactical Bomber (level 1) 5 stacks, Interceptors (level 3) 5 stacks.

Air(Archipelago or surrounded by water): Naval Bombers (level 4) 5 to 8 stacks, Interceptors (level 5), 8 stacks.

Naval: Battleships (level 2) 2 stacks, Cruisers (level 3) 2 stacks, Destroyers (level 1) 4 stacks per flotilla
Aircraft carrier(level 2) 2 stacks

Mid to late (Priority build)

Ground(Offensive): Medium Tank (level 3 to 4) 4 to 6 stacks, Motorized infantry (level 3) 2 to 3 stacks, SP anti-air (level 3) 3 stacks.

Ground(Support): Mechanized Infantry (level 3) 4 stacks, Tank Destroyer (level 3) 4 stacks, SP Artillery (level 3) 6 stacks, SP Anti-Air (level 3) 2 to 4 stacks

Air(land locked): Tactical Bomber (level 4) 8 stacks, Attack Bomber (level 3) 5 stacks, Interceptors (level 5) 8 stacks

Air(archipelago or surrounded by water): Naval bombers (Max as possible) 8 stacks, Interceptors (Max if possible)\

Naval: Battleships (level 4) 4 stacks, Cruisers (level 3) 3 stacks, Destroyers (level 2) 5 stacks per flotilla
Aircraft carrier (level 3) 4 stacks

I haven't tried my new model stacks yet but learning from my old stacks I guess this is a better model. Let me know what you guys think.

You shouldn't be thinking in terms of "standard" armies or stacks. Merge and split them as the battlefield situation develops.

Ok, so I had a 28 stack of planes patrolling over a 41 stack of mixed units, 1AA gun, 3 SP AA, 8 rocket artillery, 5 lvl 2 light tanks, motorized artillery, infantry, armored cars, too many too remember exactly what they were, but they started with 880.4 hp and started with 902.4hp, every 15 minutes he'd lose roughly 33and I'd lose roughly 31. I thought the damage should've been more severe to him. So I went on here and read that more than 10 stacks aren't as effective. So I split them into 4 stacks (2 stacks of 3 interceptors, 3 tac bombers and 2 attack bombers and 2 stacks of 2 int, 2 tacs and 2 attack bombers). The next round I lost 72 and he only lost 48. My conclusion is: that strategy is bullshit. Yeah I caused more damage (about 50% more), but I took more than 100% more damage. Wtf?

You have to understand the mechanics. When you do some kind of damage (unarmored, light armor, heavy armor) the best ten units in your stack are evaluated for that type of damage; all the others are ignored (for doing damage).

Now consider what that means. When you have a stack of 10 tacs and 10 AB's and you're fighting a mixed stack, 10 AB's are doing the armored part of your damage, and 10 tacs are doing the unarmored damage. That's very efficient. When you split them in two times 5-5, your tacs end up doing armored damage and the AB's doing unarmored damage (because now they're in the "best 10" for that stack), and they're just not very good at that.

The defenders on the other hand still pick their "best 10", but they defend EACH TIME your stacks attack. So in the example above they deal twice as much damage.

Another effect to take into account is TAKING damage. Even though only the "best 10" DEAL damage, the entire stack TAKES damage, not just those 10. That means that when you fight multiple rounds with a big stack, your "best 10" stay fit for a longer time because part the damage taken is diverted to units who aren't actually fighting themselves.

Now I am assuming it wouldn't happen with ground units dividing into 2 equal stacks? They defending unit will only be defending once or would it still be able to defend once for each attack?

No, same story there.