Military tradition

Military traditions location

Army Tradition and Navy Tradition (collectively Military tradition) are long term, floating measures of the pool of experience of a nation's military forces on land and sea. They give bonuses depending on their strength, are gained through actions of the appropriate forces and decay over time if not increased. Army tradition provides higher morale and quicker manpower recovery, and naval tradition provides higher morale and better trade steering. High tradition significantly improves the skill of recruited military leaders.

Army tradition

Also shown as in the end of combat screen.

100 army tradition gives 100% of the following bonuses:

	+10%	Recover army morale speed
	+25%	Morale of armies
	+10%	Manpower recovery speed
	+5%	Siege ability
	+0.10	Commanderies faction influence
	+0.10	The aristocrats influence
	+0.10	Girondists influence
	+0.10	Militarization of state

Gaining army tradition

• Battles are the primary source of army tradition for small and medium-sized nations. You can view how much you gained in any particular battle on the battle result screen. The exact formula for tradition gain is not currently known, but the relevant factors are:
  • Casualties inflicted on the enemy. The more kills, the more tradition.
  • Stack wipe bonus. The complete destruction of enemy stacks grants more tradition than simply inflicting the same number of casualties.
  • Relative strength of nations. This unknown factor determines the conversion ratio between casualties inflicted and tradition gained. It may depend on any or all of the following factors: national base tax, force limit, army size, unit types, unit quality, total manpower, current manpower, etc. If there are multiple nations on the same side of battle, their conversion factors appear to be averaged. Large nations can therefore gain considerably more army tradition from battles by fighting with smaller allies.
  • Leader trait Glory Seeker increases army tradition gain from battles by +50%.

The number of troops that you send into battle, the losses that you suffer, and the quality of your leader have no observable effect on your army tradition gain.

Note: Battles lost will not reduce tradition. It is gained regardless of victory or defeat.

Certain ideas increase the amount of military tradition gained from battles:

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+50%	—	Dhundhari idea 5: Battles in Foreign Lands Mapuche idea 3: Mapuche Tactics Miao idea 7: Legacy of the Miao Rebellions Thomondian idea 6: Thomond's Army Reform	Fulani ambition	—

• Each successful siege grants +1 army tradition. This is the primary source of army tradition for larger nations.
• Some events can affect tradition.
• Several ideas contribute to tradition:

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+1.00 yearly	—	Defensive idea 1: Battlefield Commissions Quality idea 2: Quality Education Cypriot idea 2: Frankish Crusaders	—	—
+0.50 yearly	Afghan traditions Bahmani traditions Karamanid traditions Prussian traditions Songhai traditions	Armenian idea 6: Nakharar Titles Baluch idea 7: Baluchi Leadership Beloozero idea 5: Officers of Beloozero Bengal Sultanate idea 2: Promote Habshi Generals Burmese idea 4: Chakravartin Caucasian idea 6: Eastern Influence Cossack idea 5: Military Society Delhian idea 1: Afghan Nobility Khorasani idea 2: Rein in the Turko-Mongol Emirs Knights Hospitaller idea 7: Crusader Tradition K'iche idea 2: Ilo'kab traditions Leonese idea 1: Heritage of the Reconquista Muiscan idea 3: Gueches Wrestling Muscovite idea 2: Legacy of Dmitriy Donskoi Nagpuri idea 4: Invite Maratha Warriors Najdi idea 1: Bedouin Poets Naxian idea 4: Legacy Of Crusaders Nepali idea 4: Rajput Refugees Ogasawara idea 5: Ogasawara-ryu Satake idea 1: Hitachi Genji Sistani idea 4: Loyal Service Takeda idea 7: Koyo Gunkan Telugu idea 2: Telugu Warrior Aristocrats Uesugi idea 2: Yamanouchi and Ogigayatsu Branches Yaroslavlyian idea 5: Cult of Generals	Anatolian ambition Ashikaga ambition Daimyo ambition	—
+0.25 yearly	—	Russian idea 6: The Table of Ranks	—	—

• Other modifiers:

Type	Yearly army tradition
Trade Company Investment “Township” (DLC required)	+0.10 per Township (limited to 1 per trade company charter area)
Active forts	+1 per current technology fort per 50 development (capped at 1)
Mughals Government Reform “Rajput Kingdom” (DLC required)	+0.50
Republic Government Reform “Noble Elite”	+0.25

Losing army tradition

The base tradition decays at 5% of the current tradition annually. (This is not a flat –5; thus 20 tradition decays by 5% and will reduce 1 to 19.)

Ideas and policies that reduce yearly army tradition decay are:

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
−1% yearly	Couronian traditions Shimazu traditions Traditions of Theodoro Uesugi traditions Utsunomiya traditions	Aristocratic idea 5: Noble Officers Amago idea 1: Omi-Genji Castilian idea 1: The Reconquista East Frisian idea 2: The Saxon Feud Mewari idea 1: Rajput Heartland Prussian idea 4: Noble Cadets Shoni idea 6: Hagakure Tapuian idea 4: Land of Mythology Texan idea 5: Frontier Nation Tupi idea 6: Head Hunters	Albanian ambition Québécois ambition	Espionage-Quality: The Deserter Act

Other modifiers:

Type	Yearly army tradition decay
Mughals Government Reform “Mansabdari System” (DLC required)	-0.3%
Monarchy Government Reform “Aristocratic Court”	-0.5%
Active Parliament Issue is “Extend Officer Commissions”	-1%

Navy tradition

Also shown as in the end of combat screen.

100 navy tradition gives 100% of the following bonuses:

	+10%	Recover navy morale speed
	+25%	Morale of navies
	+100%	Trade steering
	+25%	Privateer efficiency
	+100%	Blockade efficiency
	+0.10	Trade faction influence
	+0.10	The traders influence
	+20%	Sailor recovery speed

Gaining navy tradition

• Battles are the primary source of navy tradition. You can view how much you gained in any particular battle on the battle result screen. The amount of tradition gained in battle is directly proportional to the casualties inflicted on the enemy, as well as the relative strength of the nations involved. Small weak nations will gain considerably more tradition when fighting large strong nations. The number of ships that you send into battle, the losses that you suffer, and the quality of your leader have no observable effect on your naval tradition gain.

Some ideas increase the navy tradition gain from battles:

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+50%	—	—	Malayan sultanate ambition	—

• Some events can affect tradition.
• Light ships that are protecting trade or privateering grant +2 naval tradition per year for every 100% of your naval force limits utilized in this manner. The formula is

${\text{yearly tradition gain}}={\frac {2\cdot {\text{number of light ships protecting trade or privateering}}}{\text{naval force limit}}}$

• Ships blockading ports grant naval tradition.
• Each terra incognita sea zone revealed through naval exploration grants +1 naval tradition.
• Several national ideas contribute to tradition:

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
+1.00 yearly	Breton traditions Cham traditions Galician traditions Hadramhi traditions Kono traditions Luzon traditions Mahri traditions Mogadishan traditions Mori traditions Piratical traditions	Naval idea 4: Naval Glory Al-Haasa idea 7: Legacy of Ramah ibn Jabir Berber idea 4: Corsairs Canadian idea 4: The Maritimes Catalan idea 1: Consulate of the Sea Cebu idea 3: Protect against the Magalos Danish idea 2: Old Naval Traditions Greek idea 2: Maritime Heritage Khmer idea 3: Cham Migration Malabari idea 6: Mapilla Sailors Montenegrin idea 5: The Call Of The Sea Munster idea 6: Pirate Haven Novgorod idea 6: Funding the Ushkuiniks Siddi idea 2: Siddi Seamanship Tunisian idea 3: Corsairs	British ambition East Frisian ambition	Administrative-Maritime: The Naval School Act
+0.50 yearly	—	Malian idea 5: Lost Fleet of Abubakari II Ragusan idea 1: Ordo Marinaritiae	—	—
+0.25 yearly	—	English idea 1: A Royal Navy	—	—

Losing navy tradition

The base tradition decays are 5% of the current tradition annually. (This means –5% of the current tradition, not a flat –5; so if you have 20 tradition then decay will reduce it by -1 annually.)

Ideas and policies that reduce yearly navy tradition decay are:

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
−1% yearly	Mindanao traditions	Aristocratic idea 5: Noble Officers Luzon idea 5: Luzon Sailors Mahri idea 6: Book of Navigation Sulawesi idea 2: The Bajau Utsunomiya idea 4: Cadet Branches in Western Japan	Candarid ambition	Aristocratic-Maritime: Noble Naval Traditions

Note: Battles lost will not reduce tradition. It is gained regardless of victory or defeat.

Military leaders

Main article: Military leader#Formulas for point distribution

Tradition also improves the skill of military leaders. 100 army tradition gives, on average:

• +3.6 to fire, shock, and maneuver
• +1.2 to siege

skill of a general.

Footnotes

Warfare