Absurd Battle Royale

[Cardinal Ape]

Hello.
Today I feel compelled to share the most absurd battle I have ever had with the AGEOD games. I have had plenty of big defeats and victories, but nothing on this scale. This is the type of battle that unexpectedly ends the war. Very much unexpected.

For several months the Union and Confederate forces were locked in a stalemate across the Cumberland River. After a few turns of both sides just sitting there I dubbed the area as inactive and focused elsewhere. Having an entrenched Grant with five rodman artillery brigades I felt pretty safe... and so it remained that way for several turns.
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While my campaign is going pretty well I must admit that at this point in the game I am getting pretty discouraged by the AI. It appears that my ASAP push into Missouri onto Fayetteville with 9 divisions has resulted in the Confederates abandoning Virginia, leaving only 2 and half divisions to defend everything north of Richmond. I refuse to attack there as it seems cheap.

Out of curiosity I take a look at the Confederate state of affairs. Its really bizarre... and most likely my fault. In the beginning of the game I edited the save to give the CSA some extra resources for an extra challenge (around 1500$, 300 conscripts, 300WS.) My mistake is clear: I misplaced the money into the conscript slot and vice versa. As a result the AI built almost all of their infantry brigades; I see only 6 left in the pool, 4 from Kentucky which may not be able to be recruited since it is Union controlled. I assume that the AI is struggling to deal with the very poor ratio of Generals to brigades. At this point I have invested a ton of time into the campaign so I decide to try to fix it before moving on to a new one. My solution was to edit the event for the class of 63' generals to trigger on the next turn along with some other loose generals. Since the AI needs some time to better organize their forces I plan to remain mostly idle until the spring of 63'.

Hoping that future of the campaign will be more fun, I process the next turn and this happens...
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Yup, so that happened... Grant gained 127 experience in one turn. Game over.

While I really enjoy AGEOD games it seems that I never have really won a game versus the AI on my own merit - the AI always seems to hand me a victory on a silver platter. It's like Athena is a sore-loser that never wanted to play the game in the first place. Half way into the game, at the smallest sign of defeat she just decides she doesn't want to play anymore so she tries to kill the game as quickly as possible by making suicide attacks, abandoning key places at key times, venturing out into blizzards without supply. Perhaps Ares would have been a better choice.

[Jim-NC]

Can't see the pictures.

[Cardinal Ape]

Can't see the pictures.

Oops, total fail on my part. I am not very forum savvy. Can you see them now?

The first pic just shows two armies on either side of the Cumberland. A Union force lead by Grant in Gallatin opposed by a massive Confederate force in Nashville. Grant has supporting corps in Bowling Green and in Clarksville making the forces about equal in power level.

The second pic shows the Confederates taking the offensive. They cross the river into Gallatin. A 2 division force led by Zollicoffer arrives 2 days ahead of the main force. In battle it is completely destroyed - 608 hits to 21!!

The third pic shows the battle with the main Confederate force arriving 2 days after Zollicoffer. While the CSA has more than 17,000 more men and cavalry than me, I have 330 cannons to their 127 in clear plains.... The result is a total victory for the Union - 1432 hits to 269. Of the 68,078 soldiers that attacked 50,489 died.

These battles combined for a total change of 21 NM!

[Smitzer52]

Wow, If this happened against a human player I guess it would be epic result. Against AI it seems normal no? Can´t say I am suprised here, uber Grant+ entrenchment+ similar or lower strength factor = sudden death+ uber Grant

Kinda reminds me a 7-8-6 Lee or 6-8-7 Grant in my games...game ended very quickly after such victories. Thx for the pics though, inspiring :-)

[Cardinal Ape]

Against AI it seems normal no? Can´t say I am suprised here, uber Grant+ entrenchment+ similar or lower strength factor = sudden death+ uber Grant

I guess what really caught me off guard about these battles was that it was not my doing. I mean, normally when I kick the crap out of the AI it is because I have attacked them with a superior force from a superior position with good generals. I was in the mindset of slugging through a long-haul campaign, so when I hit the 'end turn' button I was genuinely shocked and flabbergasted that my game was suddenly over.

[MarkCSA]

Not that uncommon in ACW I as the AI loved to amphib assault heavily fortified positions (leading to the assaulting forces being wiped out to the last man), but have not seen this happen too much in II.

It would be nice if the AI would figure out that attacking fortified positions over rivers is a bad idea and it should look to flank/river cross somewhere else. I agree with your mention of AI abandoning Front X for no good reason. Missouri or Kentucky is usually a walk over in 62 and 63 (for me as the CSA) as every man woman and pig has been moved to the meat grinder of Northern Virginia.

[Rod Smart]

"Seems realistic to me"
- John Bell Hood

[Cardinal Ape]

"Seems realistic to me"
- John Bell Hood

Haha, nice.