Hello, your friendly neighbourhood Crab here!One of the problems I've noticed with the EU4 community and how welcoming we can be is that our military advice is either vague, or contradictory. Everyone seems to have a vague idea of when fire pips become more useful on generals than shock pips; or how much cavalry is best; or exactly how much discipline is equal to how much morale - but we often don't even agree on what that vague idea is! To sort this out, I went away and built a (fairly complex) excel spreadsheet that simulates battles, which can be found here:It's very much a work in progress though, and I'm releasing an early version now to get feedback. So, how does it work?You'll notice that there's a fair bit of shorthand involved, as I tried to make "days" as compact as possible while still revealing all the relevant information. Almost all the information you have to fill in takes place on Sheet 1, "Initial Inputs". Here, the shorthand involved stands for:DSC = DisciplineBNS = BonusMRL = MoraleLDR = LeaderOFF = OffensiveDEF = DefensiveICM = Infantry Combat ModifierCCM = Cavalry Combat ModifierACM = Artillery Combat ModifierISM = Infantry Shock ModifierCSM = Cavalry Shock ModifierASM = Artillery Shock ModifierICM = Infantry Fire ModifierCCM = Cavalry Fire ModifierACM = Artillery Fire ModifierHopefully they should be quite easy to pick up. Essentially, just fill out the relevant stats for the two sides, and turn to the next sheet, Days 1-6, for the fun bit.In Days 1-6, there are only 2 things you have to fill out - the dice, and the rows. The rows are the bit I spent the most time on, because the only other EU4 battle simulator I know can only cope with front row mechanics. So, here's how this works:You should see a row with "Back Row" at the start. This symbolizes the back row in EU4 battles. It has 40 spare cells, so it works for battles of up to 40 combat width. If you put "A" in a cell, it means you have an Artillery Unit in that cell.Similarly, there is a row with "Front Row" at the start. Thus symbolizes the front row in EU4 battles, and similarly has 40 width. If you put "x" in a cell, that means there is an infantry unit in that slot, if you put "c" in a cell, there is a cavalry unit. Currently the calculator can't take artillery in the front row; but I'm working on it.Below each unit's slot, there are 8 rows. The first, MRL, tells you how much morale each individual unit has left. The second, UNT STR, tells you how much of the original 1000 soldiers in each unit are left. The third, ADJ DIE C, is the die adjusted for casualties - basically what happens to the die when leader and unit pips are taken into account. The fourth, BASE CAS, is the base number of casualties each die is translated to, and finally, ACT CAS, is the actual casualties: base casualties times modifiers. Note: this is not the casualties your unit is receiving, but the amount it is putting out! ADJ DIE M, B MRL DMG, and A MRL DMG work in the same way - the die adjusted for morale, base morale damage, and actual morale damage.In between the attacking and defending front rows, there is a die. if the die is green, (days 1 and 4), you can edit it. Otherwise, it's sorted out for you.Finally, once you've filled in the rows for Day 1, you only ever have to worry about dice - all the other rows should be fixed automatically! You'll notice that the current calcalculator is dealing with two armies, each of 6 infantry, to give you an example of how it works.So, what are the limitations?a. Currently only simulates the first 6 days of battle. This is because I want to release an early version now and correct any incorrect formulas now before extending it to further days, which is relatively easy. Note that itcan do more than 6 days of battle if you copy the UNT STR from Day 6 and the MRL from Day 6 for each unit, and put them back into Day 1 with new dice, but I want to make it much more convenient than that.b. THIS ONE IS IMPORTANT: the calculator currently does not take flanking into account. This means that BOTH ARMIES MUST HAVE EQUAL SIZED FRONT ROWS, and NEITHER ARMY MAY HAVE A BACK ROW LARGER THAN THEIR FRONT ROW. I will put flanking in, but it will be complicated and again, I want to check it works for more basic combat situations.c. Doesn't take terrain into account. This is very easy to fix and will be done shortly.d. You have to put in most of the information yourself. What I want to do is have unit pips and all modifiers due to tech fill themselves in automatically when you select your unit type and tech level from a drop-down list; I'm currently working on making this work now for user utility.e. Very occasionally, units in EU4 battles don't target the unit in front of them if it is very weak, but instead a stronger unit to the side. I don't know what causes them to do this so I can't simulate it, this will cause mild inaccuracies for large battles.f. This was built using entirely what it says on the wiki page and also some brief testing on my behalf, so the formulas are not guaranteed to be right (why it needs testing!)Aside from that, I think it should work, so what I'm looking for is testers! Basically, I need people willing to take equal front-row sized armies, put them in battle, and observe the first six days to see what casualty figures come out! Your help is really appreciated because a) I can make the calculator way better, b) I can then tell you perfect army compositions so you can wreck your friends in multiplayer, c) it helps newbies, and d) we can make the wiki accurate again.Thank you very much!EDIT: Also, if someone could put it on reddit's /r/paradoxplaza and /r/eu4 with this explanation, I'd also be really thankful.