3 ms·
Ex Army officer. The 3:1 ratio is helpful, because it's a simple way of knowing "you should only choose to fight where you have an unfair advantage". Russia may
by mchusma 4y ago
Ex Army officer. The 3:1 ratio is helpful, because it's a simple way of knowing "you should only choose to fight where you have an unfair advantage". Russia may have had that if they had well trained forces, with a strong combined arms presence, and local Ukrainian support. Turns out, they had none of those things.
- 0x138d5 4y agoAlso this ratio is a guide for open terrain. In closed terrain and urban combat the defender has a greater advantage.
- FredPret 4y agoThe famous 300 Spartans did a lot of damage partly because they used the terrain to limit the size of the front
- IIsi50MHz 4y agoI seem to recall learning that the famous 300 Spartans also had another ~3000 Greeks in with them. Is the poplular tale of "only" 300 Spartans not a popular myth perpetuated because it sounds cooler?
- number6 4y agoThis is why you should use mountains to defend if you are attacked by a greater force in EU4. Smaller combat with.
- AtlasBarfed 4y agoAnd Civ1. And Civ2. And D&D War Machine. If you have a combat sim and it doesn't reward hills/mountains for defense, then you are playing a space sim.
- kqr 4y agoThis is a consequence of a more general principle: the ratio refers to the effective concentration of force at the time of battle. It doesn't matter how big your force is if you can only get a trickle going into battle. Then you will constantly be outnumbered where it matters. Similarly, in urban combat it's very hard to actually get a 3:1 effective concentration when you are moving in on someone else.