[color="Black"]English FAQ[/color]
Warning: Questions in the English FAQ are different from the French one because different questions have been asked by the French speaking community.
1 MANUAL, MAP, DOWNLOAD, SOFTWARE, ETC.
1.1 Will the ability to download the game always remain or will it only be an option until the game is available on CD?
1.2 I have a low spec computer, how can I speed up BoA?
1.3 Any chance you can publish a PDF of the map?
1.4 How do I find the manual? I downloaded the game...and can't seem to find it anywhere...
1.5 Do you plan to release a Mac OSX version?
1.6 Does BoA run on PC emulator on Linux computers?
1.7 Could you give a typical Play by Play on how PBEM is supposed to work?
1.8 Command values for leaders are different in the FAQ than they are in the manual, which one is wrong?
2 SCENARIOS, EVENTS, VICTORY CONDITIONS
2.1 I have taken a rebel city but I don’t get the VP
2.2 Is there a way to sway the various Indian tribes to change sides?
2.3 It is currently January of 1778, why have I not run into some Frenchmen?
2.4 What triggers foreign intervention? Are the arriving forces historical or variable?
2.5 What should I do with the US bateaux in the Greene 1780 scenario?
2.6 On the map there tiny flashing boxes with a number in them next to some towns, cities or forts, usually 1. What do these mean?
2.7 Are you willing to release a scenario editor?
2.8 How are victory points awarded?
2.9 Is there a way to get a victory point tally during the game?
3 ARMIES
3.1 What is the difference between defensive and passive stance?
3.2 What do detection numbers mean? (e.g.: 4/1)
3.3 What does troop quality stand for?
3.4 How can I know how powerful units are?
3.5 Am I correct in assuming that 1 Heart = 25 Men?
3.6 Is there an easy way to group units?
3.7 How useful are Supply Units?
3.8 What does the icon with the scissors on the top of some of my units mean?
3.9 How does the game engine determine where an army will retreat to?
3.10 How can you tell how large of an army a particular region can support?
3.11 What do the little red or green balls at the base of a stack/unit on the game map signify?
3.12 Is there a way to ensure that armies will coordinate an attack?
4 NAVAL UNITS
4.1 Why did I lose all my transported troops as ranged losses and no transports were sunk?
4.2 What is the best use for Bateaux fleets?
4.3 How do I load troops on my ships?
4.4 In cities, is there a trick to load troops onto boats?
4.5 Is there a way to move troops to a city, load the boat, then move the boat during the same turn?
4.6 Is there an easier way of unloading all transports than drag and dropping each icon to the shore?
4.7 Can Bateaux be moved from the St Lawrence River at Montreal via the other river south to Lake Champlain?
5 REINFORCEMENTS, REPLACEMENTS, DISBANDING AND RECRUITMENT
5.1 Is there any way of telling which units will receive replacements?
5.2 Some replacements are available, why do my regiments not recover strength?
5.3 How does militia recruitment work?
5.4 I've noticed that some continentals disband, shouldn't they stick around?
6 SIEGES
6.1 How are sieges taken care of?
6.2 Are naval units taken into account when besieging a fort?
6.3 How to order a sortie against a besieging army?
7 UNITS AND LEADERS STATS
7.1 Can you explain Leader ratings (e.g., 5-4-2)?
7.2 What does “Delayed orders” mean?
7.3 What does the strategic rating of a leader do?
7.4 What is Seniority?
7.5 What is Command Penalty?
8 REGIONS
8.1 How can I gain military control in a region?
8.2 How useful is military control?
8.3 How does region control work affect VPs? Sometimes the region raises your flag and the ledger does not award you VP control…
8.4 The region Winchester has loyalty for Tory 110% and insurgents 10%. Why is this? (bug fixed)
1 Manual, map, download, software, etc.
1.1 Will the ability to download the game always remain or will it only be an option until the game is available on CD?
To be precise, customers who order the box now will receive a bonus free download option. This is valid until March 15th, 2006, as our manufacturing of the CDs has been delayed. Digital download will always be available.
1.2 I have a low spec computer, how can I speed up BoA?
A bit of explanation first: The BoA map is huge, with 876 regions drawn by hand. On computers with 512 MB RAM or lower, they don’t all fit in memory, so BoA use a caching technique: only some of the regions are in memory at a given time. This means that when you first scroll on a new area, or if you un-zoom the map, your video and general RAM have to process new bitmaps. This is the cause for the occasional lag (cursor lag or scrolling lag) you can get at these times.
Here are some tips that may help minimize this lag:
On the system tab for the game options be sure to have these selections checked:
-Textures initialize
-Region pre-caching (but only if you have at least 512 Mb)
-Allow High Mem
Defragmenting the hard drive where BoA is running can really increase performance.
If this is not enough, when you start the game, scroll around the starting area a bit, without de-zooming, so that the regions are loaded.
Playing with a Filter ON demands more CPU power and slow down performance.
Check if your video driver is up to date. An old driver can significantly hamper the game speed.
What will do the most good would be to have 1 GB of motherboard RAM.
1.3 Any chance you can publish a PDF of the map?
http://www.birth-of-america.com/english/gallery.htm
1.4 How do I find the manual? I downloaded the game...and can't seem to find it anywhere...
C:\Program Files\Birth of America\Docs
BoA supports alt-tab without problems, so you can simply launch the PDF manual in parallel with the game and switch between them as you need to.
1.5 Do you plan to release a Mac OSX version?
There is no Mac version planned... it will depend on how many Mac users want the game.
1.6 Does BoA run on PC emulator on Linux computers?
Yes, but configuration is complicated.
1.7 Could you give a typical Play by Play on how PBEM is supposed to work?
1. As the host (arbiter) and player, you create a new game. Rename it to something clear, like MP_Yorktown for instance (MP = MultiPlayers). Quit the game (or just alt-tab), and go to the saves directory, and open the folder named MP_Yorktown.
2. There are 3 files there. The .HST is the master file and you don’t need to send it. There are 2 .TRN files, one for each side. Send the one belonging to your opponent to him. A .TRN ( = turn) file lists all assets a faction has, and what the faction sees of the other faction (accounting for fog of war).
3. Your opponent, when he receives the TRN file, creates a folder in the saves directory (Birth of America\BoA\Saves); let’s call the folder MP_Yorktown, for example. He then puts the .TRN file you sent in it.
4. Now each of you open the game with Load Game, give orders and Save (not End Turn, as this will immediately process the turn, and you still need the .TRN file from your opponent!).
5. There is, in each of your directories, a new file generated: the order file, .ORD ... As a host, you have nothing to do but wait for your opponent. As the opponent, you send the .ORD file to the host. The host then adds this ORD file to the directory where the saved game is. The host should then have 5 files there: the .HST, which has not moved, the 2 .TRN files, and the 2 new .ORD files, generated by the players.
6. The host reloads his turn, and then clicks the end turn button to process the turn. The previous turn is archived into a backup directory and the game is processed. Go to MP_Yorktown, and there are now only 3 files: the HST file, and the 2 new TRN files. Repeat step 2 above, etc…
I hope this is clearer... As a side note, the developers know that its a bit old fashioned to have to move & send the files by yourselves. They are hoping that the next project will let allow the time & money so that Pocus can automate the process a bit, with the functionality retro-added to BoA via patch. It is very important to AGEod to update the games frequently with the improvements such as this.
1.8 Command values for leaders are different in the FAQ than they are in the manual, which one is wrong?
The FAQ shows the right values. The manual is unfortunately not up to date on that. The actual command ratings are 2 for a 1-star leader, 4 for a 2-star leader and 12 for a 3-star leader. These values have been modified a few times during the beta testing to reach the perfect balance... somehow the last version slipped by AGEOD’s attention in English version manual (the French manual is correct).
2 Scenarios, events, victory conditions
2.1 I have taken a rebel city but I don’t get the VP
Historically the British had to garrison the most important towns which led to several raids against them. In the game, a player only get the VP of a town if either:
1. There is a regular regiment in the region.
2. The region's loyalty is 51% or above.
2.2 Is there a way to sway the various Indian tribes to change sides?
In order to stabilize the game, most Indian loyalties are set from the start and won't change, apart from one or two exceptions.
Usually, Indians are French-Allied in all French & Indian war scenarios (hence the name). Only the Mohicans are pro-English from the start
Exception #1 - All Indians are pro-British in all revolutionary scenarios.
Exception #2 - The Iroquois nations (6 tribes) are pro-British but neutral in the 1755 campaign. They will activate as British allies when Fort Frontenac falls (or if "unfixed" by British regulars of size 15 or higher). However, if the French take Albany, the Iroquois will "smell" victory and switch allegiance to the French
2.3 It is currently January of 1778, why have I not run into some Frenchmen?
The chance for French Intervention will begin in April 1778 (even if the alliance is signed in February of that year), with roughly a 15% chance of occurring and increasing by 5% each month until it reaches 75%. In addition, for every grand area where the British controls every strategic city, the percentage of intervention drops by 15%.
2.4 What triggers foreign intervention? Are the arriving forces historical or variable?
In the American War of Independence campaigns, French intervention is triggered by a set of events, such as an American victory, Benjamin Franklin signing the alliance, or the date can also be altered by the extent and state of English success or failure in the Colonies (i.e. the more likely the British are to win, the less the French are to intervene early).
Spanish intervention is not included in the game right now but a Don Bernardo Galvez campaign in Florida and Louisiana should be implemented once we have received the proper historical data.
Once the French are in the war, they will send their "Expédition Particulière". Their intervention forces are rather historical to start with. Once France is in the conflict, it will also trigger some variable adjustments (both to French and English forces and fleets) depending partly on the balance of power in the West Indies (crucial for both belligerents).
2.5 What should I do with the US bateaux in the Greene 1780 scenario?
Honestly, they are almost useless but are included for historical accuracy.
2.6 On the map there are sometimes tiny flashing boxes with a number in them, usually 1. What do these mean?
It's the number of armies you have in that structure. Move your mouse cursor on the structure and you can see the tool tip with the exact composition of the garrison.
2.7 Are you willing to release a scenario editor?
The first step will be to give you the tools to write or edit scenarios as we do: you just need Excel and this is quite simple. A full drag & drop in game editor is less sure.
2.8 How victory points are awarded?
Strategic and objective cities give VP. Killing enemy give VP (each unit has an attached custom VP value, kill George Washington for a big boost)
2.9 Is there a way to get a victory point tally during the game?
The VP tally is available thru the ledger (F1 to F4, or click the globe near the mini-map)
3 Armies
3.1 What is the difference between defensive and passive stance [posture]?
Passive is really a passive posture, not just a reserve one. A retreating army switches to passive for example, and passive armies never attack by themselves, even if other friendly armies are attacked in the same region. They will defend themselves if attacked, however, but with severe penalties, and will quit the fight at the first opportunity.
The advantage of the defensive posture is that you benefit from terrain, and entrenchment. Armies in defensive posture on the other hand don’t initiate battle either, but if one defensive army is attacked, all others that are not in passive posture join the fight.
3.2 What do detection numbers mean? (e.g.: 4/1)
The first is the detection rating vs. land units, the second vs. naval units. It is checked against the hide value of the opponent unit (army or fleet). Some bonuses to this hide value are: +1 in very harsh weather (blizzard), +1 in wilderness. No wonder a regular can’t see an Indian 10 meters in front of him! If you have 51% loyalty in your favor in the region, you gain +1 detection point.
3.3 What does TQ stand for?
TQ = Troop Quality. One of its key functions is during fire and assault.
Units which are hit make a test against their TQ: if they fail, they stop firing (i.e. run)...
In addition, during assaults, each unit makes a test against its TQ: if it fails, it stops assaulting. Usually, Militias have low TQ...but if they have proper officers (those with the Militia ability), their TQ increases by +2
3.4 How can I know how powerful units are?
The unit overall strength mainly measures how powerful a regiment is.
When you move the mouse over one of your armies on the main map, or over an enemy army that you have good intelligence on, you will see a number like 18/24 after each combat unit. It means that the current overall combat strength of the regiment is 18 against its potential (undamaged) combat strength of 24. This aggregated “power” value is computed by the game by using as a base the statistics of the unit (offensive fire, defensive fire, range, etc.) times a coefficient which takes into account the actual number of hit points the whole regiment has. The higher the overall power value is, the stronger the unit is in combat. Some common values are: a full strength regiment is around 28 to 32, or 24 for an American militia. An Indian nation unit is around 16, a courier des bois (French skirmisher) around 21, etc.. As a quick reminder you just have to know that a 30 point regiment is very strong at full strength.
You can also check the overall combat strength by checking the number in each unit card on the regiment stack window (the panel at the bottom centre of the screen). Finally, the NATO symbol on the regiment panel is shown in red when the regiment is not at full strength. With some practice you should be able to estimate at a glance how powerful your army is.
3.5 Am I correct in assuming that 1 Heart = 25 Men?
Hit points are an abstract figure. A line regiment generally has 8 hit points for each element (for a total of 32) but, in fact, unit size in this era was quite variable. English regiments, at full strength, were around 500 (or less) while French regiments were typically 800-900 and some militias climbed to 1600!
The overall combat strength shown in the tool tip is an aggregated value of the stats of the unit, but its just an approximation. In combat, a regiment won’t be able to use it’s full combat value, but instead each of his company will fire, according to the offensive fire, initiative rating, rate of fire, etc. The battle engine is very precise when computing battles.
3.6 Is there an easy way to group units?
Just drag one tab to the army tab you want to group and they will combine. Tabs ARE in all ways the same as armies. You can also multi-select some units in an army and drag them into the tab of another army. This works for fleets too. If you want to load say 2 regiments of a 3-regs army into the harbored fleet of the region just select those army units and drag one of them to the fleet tab.
3.7 How useful are Supply Units?
See section in the FAQ above for more on this topic.
3.8 What means this icon with scissors on the top of some of my units?
It does the unit is moving to "Merge" with another unit mean. Check out the tutorial for more details.
3.9 How does the game engine determine where an army will retreat to?
This is supposed to be the region with the highest military control, with regions having less than 5% being interdicted [blocked].
3.10 How can you tell how large of an army a particular region can support for supply purposes?
This is a difficult question, as each regiment can provide a different amount of supply. You have to check the numbers in the tool tip of each unit or in the detail window (when you click on a NATO symbol at the far right). Also, a supply chip as reported in the region tool tip is worth 5 supplies and 2 ammo, so no direct relation can be calculated. There is also the supply filter, which is very handy for checking the supply status of a unit or stack: green means the region should provide enough supply, while red means you are in danger of lacking supply. But it’s only an estimate, as adjacent regions can also give supplies to your army. In fact, you don’t know more than the generals of the era knew when they waited for the wagons of food. Only some experience with the game will tell you that the city will be enough, or not...
3.11 What do the little red or green balls at the base of a stack/unit on the game map signify?
This indicates the "size" of the army: the more balls, the more units in it and the color is an indication of the average army state: green = most units are in good condition, orange = some are damaged...and if red...well...you'd better hide your force for a good rest.
3.12 Is there a way to ensure that armies will coordinate an attack?
There is no delay move order, as it would not be realistic. Not only is this a game problem, it was a real life problem too. Coordinating units, especially during the time frame of this game, is an extraordinarily difficult proposition (just ask Burgoyne, or Napoleon and Grouchy at Waterloo). But, if your 2 armies are in the same region, combining them will not add a penalty, if neither had one to begin with, so you should combine them.