ACW Cavalry Mod

[Jagger]

I have been seeing a lot of dead cavalrymen. Primarily when they are stationary, lacking the evade order and a division or more of infantry moves into their region. In this situation, I have seen lots of completely massacred cavalry regiments. Also, even with evade, I have seen whole cavalry regiments destroyed when they happen to bump into a corps of infantry. Recently I lost three full regiments that happened to bump into a division plus force.

During the Civil War, cavalry regiments were very rarely destroyed except during long range raids. Their mobility allowed cavalry to easily evade even mass amounts of infantry. Other cavalry was the threat to cavalry. And those battles rarely resulted in destruction of cavalry regiments. In 1864, Lincoln jibed Sheridan with that old saying of "who ever saw a dead cavalryman". Well in this game, there are a lot of dead cavalrymen-actually too many.

So I put together this little cavalry mod. First, I created a new ability called UnitSkirmisher. This is an ability that applies only to the unit. The ability will not add a benefit to an entire division or group-only the specific unit with the ability. If a battle situation causes a unit with this ability to attempt a retreat, the unit will have a 65% bonus to the retreat attempt for the first 4 hours of the battle.

The UnitSkirmisher ability is provided to all cavalry units and indian units. In addition, reb horse raiders and bushwashers plus Union Raiders also have this ability. The ability is represented by the horse head symbol on the unit. You will see the symbol appear on divisions with those ability units but the benefits do not apply to the entire division-only the specific regiment with the ability.

In addition, I have reduced the troop quality of cavalry by 2 for each type. I have also added 1 to their protection value to reflect the ease of withdrawal of highly mobile cavalry. The objective is to make cavalry less likely to fight for long time frames and suffer less casaulties when they are fighting.

Entire cavalry regiments can still be wiped out if attacked by large infantry formations but far less likely. The result is more likely they will suffer casaulties while retreating from combat.

Cavalry will only attempt the "withdraw from combat" tactic when clearly in a disadvantageous situation. If the battle is even or they have the advantage, they will fight as normal. Although they are not quite as effective fighters due to their lowered TQ which means they will not fight as long. Combined with their +1 protection value, you should see less dead cavalry men. However cavalry will still be very effective against other cavalry and militia in battle results-just less casualties.

I have tested the mod and so far, am happy with the results. However I would like others to test the mod and provide feedback. The more eyes and the more feedback, the better the results. So I would appreciate feedback.

To install the mod...

1. Use copy/paste to make a backup copy of the abi_alias file in the Alias folder of the ACW folder

2. Use copy/paste to make a backup copy of the entire models folder in the gamedata folder of the ACW folder

3. Upload the Alias_abi_aliasUnitSkirmisher22Sept07 zipped file from the bottom of this post into the Alias folder and unzip. Overwrite existing abi_alias file. This file adds a new ID for the new ability.

4. Upload the 76UnitSkirmisher22Sept07 into the abilities folder of the gamedata folder and unzip. This is a brand new file and will not overwrite old files. This is a new file with the UnitSkirmisher ability definitions.

5. ModelsUnitSkirmisher22Sept07 into the models folder of the gamedata folder and unzip. This zipped file contains modded models for all Union/Reb cavalry, reb horse raiders, reb horse partisans, indians and Union horse Raiders. A total of 12 modded model files.

Once complete, start up your modded ACW. You will see the new ability icon on all modded units. The icon will appear on divisions containing units with the ability-but again, only the specific modded regiments will have the ability.

This mod can be introduced into an ongoing game without problems.

If you have any questions, let me know. Also I would appreciate any feedback.

[runyan99]

Increasing the evasiveness of cavalry seems like a good idea. I've seen Forrest's brigade wiped out several times when a Union corps enters his region, and he cannot or will not get out of the way.

Single regiments of cavalry, especially when entrenched to a high level, also seem very bad at avoiding combat with large enemy infantry forces.

[Jagger]

Increasing the evasiveness of cavalry seems like a good idea. I've seen Forrest's brigade wiped out several times when a Union corps enters his region, and he cannot or will not get out of the way.

Single regiments of cavalry, especially when entrenched to a high level, also seem very bad at avoiding combat with large enemy infantry forces.

I have been happy with cavalry and the evade order. Unfortunately, the evade order only applies if the cavalry has a move order. When cavalry are stationary, they are often absolutely crushed by infantry when in reality, they would simply outrun infantry when they posed a threat.

The UnitSkirmisher order doesn't function in the same manner as the evade order. The evade order gives a unit the opportunity to completely avoid enemy units. The UnitSkirmisher order allows a unit a better opportunity to withdraw from combat once combat starts. Which is the reason for the high percentage (65%) to withdraw. Cavalry cannot survive many rounds of combat vs infantry. Either they escape quickly or they are destroyed.

[Pocus]

the appliance level should be set to Self, not Unit for your ability. Unit-level scope means that it benefits the whole unit, ie you merge a cav element into a division, which is a single unit, and it will slip like a soap in a bathtube.

[Clovis]

really interesting. Going to integrate this in my mod.

[PBBoeye]

We've got two discussions going on here (one thread also in the IMPROVE forum). I'd like to suggest to [color="Blue"][SIZE="5"]Korrigan[/size][/color] to condense the discussion into one thread so valuable info isn't lost. It's just going to spin further out of control for tracking thoughts if we don't. I think this mod has an extremely strong chance of affecting the game in a beneficial way, so this should be a hot topic for awhile.

hehe just wanted to get your attention, Korrigan.

[PBBoeye]

the appliance level should be set to Self, not Unit for your ability. Unit-level scope means that it benefits the whole unit, ie you merge a cav element into a division, which is a single unit, and it will slip like a soap in a bathtube.

What you're saying, if I get this correctly, is that the cav element is now a part of a bigger 'unit' in a force (whether division or not) and thus the whole group of elements becomes the 'unit'.

[Clovis]

a rpoblem maybe with brigade integrating a cavalry regiment: is the new ability applying to all sub-component? If so, it would be needed to reevaluate things...

[Jagger]

the appliance level should be set to Self, not Unit for your ability. Unit-level scope means that it benefits the whole unit, ie you merge a cav element into a division, which is a single unit, and it will slip like a soap in a bathtube.

Actually I used "self" internally within the file. The name of the file was just designating to me that the ability only applies to the unit.

So it is still good to go. No problem.

[Jagger]

really interesting. Going to integrate this in my mod.

Absolutely, you are welcome to it!

[Jagger]

I have added the "UnitSkirmisher" ability to both CSA and US horse artillery and also to the Texas Rangers.

1. Upload zipped file to the models folder within your gamedata folder. Unzip and overwrite the three original files. And your done.

If you have any problems, let me know.