Questions and Help for a Newbie

[Stonewalled]

Loving the game. Have completed the tutorials and read through the manual. However I have some questions for the vets.

What is the best method for forming Armies etc.... when you units are scattered. I mean HQ here, Cav there..... it seems trying to get them all together is a choir and was wondering the methods used.

Also, any beginners tips and tricks from the outset. Currently playing as the CSA. But plan on both sides.

Thanks in Advance and get pumping them out AGEOD!

[pasternakski]

Well. if you're sayin' it's a chore, you're preachin' to the choir.

The way I see it, you've got to take a long, overall look at your forces and what you hope to accomplish. For example, if you see the East as the primary theater of action, you want to plan in advance for formation of a full army command structure there, with HQs and support units, and get things moving toward where you think you will need them. This dictates your creation of reinforcements, as well. You need to think in terms like, "Okay, I'm gonna need x number of generals, HQs, medical units, infantry brigades, independent cavalry and artillery" and so on. Then, you can start planning allocation of resources to those areas you think to be secondary. My experience is that you're always going to be short of what you think you need everywhere.

I know these are only vague, general comments, but experience is the best teacher - and, believe me, you will start and restart many times before you develop a good sense for what you are doing, so don't feel like the lone ranger when you despair of figuring the blessed thing out - we've all been there and, in many respects, still are.

For an excellent example of masterful handling of forces, organization, and campaigning, I suggest reading Jimwinsor's thread as Western Theater commander in the "Grand Campaign 1862" forum. This guy really has it going on. I mean, if I was as good at this game as he is and he had a feather in his hiney, we'd both be tickled.

Oh. Did I mention that, after you've taught yourself how to handle army organization, it's all going to change in a week or two with a patch that removes HQ units from the game?

[Stonewalled]

Thanks for the reply.... looks like I will wait for the patch.... would be better to develop a strategy from there, then having one and throwing it away only to work on another one.

Hope this patch will not take too long.

[jimkehn]

Stonewalled....I wouldn't sit and wait for the patch. There is far too much fun to be had than to sit and NOT play the game. Most of what you are wanting to learn won't change anyway. You just won't hafta build and rail the HQ's. My suggestion when organizing armies early on, is that most noobs will ignore the fact that they can rail their units to a central location. I try to make a habit of adding at least one rail cap per turn as CSA. Rail attrits, and there can be random train crashes that can take bites outta your rail capacity. You need this rail to move supplies and ammo. Not to mention your troops and leaders.

[sval06]

As a CSA, I use to purchase big brigades (for example the 10 units in VA at an overall strength of 168).

OK, it will count as 7 units when forming your div but each unit is a little army by itself (ie Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery), and it is cheaper than purchasing each element alone.
With 2 of these brigades + 1 leader (always put a leader on Division especially with special abilities) + 1 HQ Div + 2 artilleries (purchased individually), you have a powerfull division in one month and the 18 boxes are filled.
Doing so, you will be sure to have a well balanced division with every arms on it, and the 10 brigades you can purchase allow you to have 5 divs like that...

After that, I would prefer to have numerous small corps (ie 1-2 divs) rather than 2 big corpses in a given army. Doing so, you will be able to have a military presence in a lot of adjacent areas (more flexible), and corpses can help each other because of their abilities to follow the battle sounds (rough translation from french, not sure of it... ).

If possible recruit locally: units better fight on their home state, and you will save both Rail points and time to move your units where needed. Not possible for HQs, I know leure:

Of course, this is general comments, and sometimes I don't act like that because of particular situations (ie more divisions when besieging a huge town in order to breach walls for example).

Another thing to keep in mind is to have an entire army/corps/divisions structure: This gives bonuses (or at least you don't have malus. It is especially true for the CSA who terribly lack of HQs)...

And the more important: Experience by yourself

Hope this helps

[Stonewalled]

Thanks for the advice... I'm going to start a new campaign up tonight. A little overwhelming at first... however like you say, the best way to learn is to dive in and find out.....

[Adam the VIth]

As USA it is easier to move your scattered units due to better rail connections and more rail capacity. So as the CSA, really consider what needs to be moved and what can walk, or even stay put.

As the others noted, you'll learn a ton from just playing the game, but keep in mind that as CSA, some forces need to be left in the Deep South to repel any invasions.

My strategy is to designate one main assembly point for each theater and bring the forces there, with priority on bringing powerful units in right away, then slowly gathering up the small units.

Hey, you'll have lots of fun failing the first couple of times, but as long as you take the lessons, you'll soon be maneuvering like Jackson in the Valley!

[Jabberwock]

I learned by playing short games as each side, with different settings for the AI. I would watch what Athena did, think: "Why did she do that?? Oh, I see why. How could I do it better?" By playing against her in aggressive mode with no fog of war, I slowly realized that an aggressive strategy really does work for the South.

[Pocus]

if only Athena could watch you and say to herself: how I can make better moves than him

[Walloc]

if only Athena could watch you and say to herself: how I can make better moves than him

Hehe Pocus. I remember doing research for a paper back in late 80ies about AIs and neural networks. Predictions at the time was that in 10 years, thats gone by 10 years now. That computer program AIs would be based on neural networks and could start challaging the human minds, possibly surpase it
While we seen Deep blue and such getting to par with "simpler" games as chess.
Wonder what IBM could do to a wargame AI if using same sorta resources as they did on deep blue. I suspect that they are still to complex, but i could be plesantly supprised. Certainly we havent seen for real neural networks based AIs, at leased not in commertial programs.
Wonder what the future will bring.

Kind regards,

Rasmus

[Jabberwock]

I had a discussion 10 years ago (via email) with a guy doing that kind of research at Stanford. He would set up neural networks to play "the prisoner's dilemna" (games don't get much simpler) against each other, and watch how strategies evolved through many iterations.

IIRC, he discovered that some of them got really good at predicting particular opponents, but not much beyond that.