Scouting with Cavalry with success

[major snafu]

Hi all,

Been playing and working to figure out how to scout and screen with cavalry, but I have had a number of units completely wiped out and I am trying to figure out what I am doing incorrectly.

In each case where a Cav unit was completely wiped out, (meaning hits taken equaled hits available) was a lone unit (or maybe a pair of units) set to blue/green which should be defend and retreat is attacked.

In all but one case these units we engaged and eliminated by forces that did not, themselves, contain Cav - but only infantry.

So it is probably some nuance I am not yet understanding with the engine because I would have expected Cav to be able to disengage and retreat (with those settings) from any infantry force because the are more mobile.

These was no mud, which is one of the first things I was suspicious of.

In the case were it was Cav vs Cav, well , that is the luck of the draw and they were out matched.

So what is the correct settings for a Cav force in the 20-40 strength range to be out scouting and be able to retreat from attackers with a high degree of success?

Thanks,

SNAFU

[Cardinal Ape]

I tend to run my scouts in Passive/Passive with evade orders. If I need to gain MC then I might put them in Defensive/Passive. I think the key to not getting busted is to all always keep moving; the evade combat special order only works if the unit is moving. Using the shift key while issuing orders will let you set a patrol between two regions if need be.

[Gray Fox]

What the good Cardinal said. Here's a link to an earlier discussion.

viewtopic.php?f=331&t=44547

[Rod Smart]

Blue and green means that your unit will defend, and run away at the first sign of trouble.
That's not what you want, since it means that you are telling your unit to fight, and to retreat after the first round. You are getting your weak units killed on the first round of battle.

Set to green/green, click that "evade combat" button, and, as Cardinal Ape says, keep them moving.



That's a useful link to follow...

[ArmChairGeneral]

Also pay attention to the non-combat stats for your individual cav elements; they vary widely between conscripts, regulars, and regulars with experience stars. If you have a two-cav stack but one of them has low Evasion because it is a conscript, well....

Cav gain stars quickly and can benefit a lot from spending a few turns in a Training Master's stack to move them up the effectiveness curve.

You probably have figured this out already, but you want to scout from a region adjacent to your region of interest rather than moving into or through it. You will get 4 detection on the adjacent region which is more than enough to gather quality intel on all but the most stealthy of stacks.

You will know you have pretty thorough intel when you can see the enemy stack's commander stats and a list of units with PWR ratings. Pay close attention to the "Also Present" stuff at the bottom; these are often inside a structure, but sometimes are just stacks you have minimal intel on.

BTW, intel is never false. If you see it, it is true at the moment, though not necessarily complete.

[major snafu]

To all - thanks!

To ACG: Yes I have been scouting from adjacent regions. What surprised me in a few cases was that the CSA AI attacked the CAV by moving into the region I was in and they (the CAV) were wiped out. So G/G for these units from now on.

This game is really interesting, always another layer of something to learn..

[ArmChairGeneral]

Major_snafu, sometimes that happens by coincidence, i.e. they just happened to be moving that way already, so bam you get engaged. That is very common if you are on one of their rail lines.

In this case I'm guessing they spotted you approaching on the turn before, and sent a counter-scout.