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can anyone plz tell me how to build depots? I am always told in the tooltip that either a structure already exists, which i understand fine, or it says not enough units or enough of the right kind of units to build. I can not find anything in the manual or the tutorials that explain exactly how many or what kind of units are required. Plz help me here.

You can build deposits using your supply wagons or ship transports. There should be a little hammer button in one of your tabs that allows this to happen.

If you are patched up to date, it requires four elements of supply units. These can be two river transport units, which are two elements each, or a single supply wagon unit of four elements. (Also, ocean supply ships work as well, I just don't remember how many elements they have.)

The elements must be nearly full regardless of which units you choose to use. (i.e. not missing hits) Naturally, the river transport units can only be used in regions adjacent to the water.

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soloswolf wrote:If you are patched up to date, it requires four elements of supply units. These can be two river transport units, which are two elements each, or a single supply wagon unit of four elements.

This post is slightly misleading so I will clarify it.

River transport units ordered from the reinforcement pool have 4 elements. So you only need 1 river transport to build a depot at a harbour. Some river transports that are already in-game when the scentario is started only have 2 elements so you will need 2 of these guys. Note that you can combine 2 2-element river transports into 1 unit with 4 elements.

Ocean transports ordered from the reinforcement pool only have 2 elements. So you will need 2 of these units, 4 supply elements total, to build a depot at a harbour. Note that you can combine 2 2-element ocean transports into 1 unit with 4 elements.

W.Barksdale wrote:Note that you can combine 2 2-element river transports into 1 unit with 4 elements.

Note that you can combine 2 2-element ocean transports into 1 unit with 4 elements.

This post is slightly misleading so I will clarify it . You can't actually fuse them into a single element for gameplay purposes, but they count as 1 4-element unit for depot-building purposes.

enf91 wrote:This post is slightly misleading so I will clarify it . You can't actually fuse them into a single element for gameplay purposes, but they count as 1 4-element unit for depot-building purposes.

You can merge them into a single unit with 4 elements....Not sure what you mean Try it yourself if your skeptical....

The advantage is it makes your stack less bulky especialyl when there are lots of units.

I tried that. I don't know how you can, but the button for merging is not there.

very good and considerate of you guys to respond so fast. thanks. have another problem. it concerns keeping blockade squadrons supplied. i had norfolk completley locked in and isolated from the rest of the world (except the rest of the CSA, of course) and then about a turn after norfolk showed a blockaded icon, the fleets disappeard, and a turn later so did the blockaded icon. what with that? my only guess is my fleets died from lack of supply. how do you keep blockade fleets supplied? I hate to think i must micromanage shuttling them back and forth to a friendly port, especially when they start getting hungry and scurvy in only 2 or 3 turns. what about when my blockade starts reaching into so. carolina and florida. it's a long way to annapolis. surely there is a way to keep them supplied so that they can remain off coast and on duty long enough to have an impact on the war. help again plz.

vikingxr7 wrote:it's a long way to annapolis. surely there is a way to keep them supplied so that they can remain off coast and on duty long enough to have an impact on the war. help again plz.

Transport ships. And don't call me Shirley.

A couple of points and questions.

Point 1. About supplying blockade ships, yes, you can put a transport ship in the water region and the other ships there seam to draw supplies off of that as long as it has supply points. You can then send it back to port, Fort Monroe is of course the closest to the James Estuary (where you put your blockade to blockade Norfolk) plus it has a depot, so a transport should resupply rather quickly. If you are blockading areas further down the coast, if you have invaded a fort there, you can always build a depot in the fort for resupplying your transports and/or blockade ships. Just keep it well protected.

Point 2. I had a blockade going in the James Estuary through the winter of '62-'63. Apparently because of storms the cohesion on all of the blockading ships went down to below 25. Because the blockade was not broken even though some of the ships blockading had cohesion 0, I assume that the actual combat strength of a blockading ship is irrelevant.

Point 3. If your blockading ships do lose such excessive amounts of cohesion, they will have a hell of a time trying to defend themselves from raiders trying to break your blockade. Micro-management or not, I'd rather have enough ships available to rotate them in and out of the blockade if their cohesion starts to suffer, thus not turning them into floating targets for a clever CSA.

Question 1. I've only played against Athena (the AI) so I have no idea if the Athena can detect a blockading ships cohesion. When I have land units standing long enough next to CSA land units, I start getting pretty detailed reports (tool-tips) about their composition and strength. Does it work the same way with ships?

Question 2. As the USA, I get a report every turn telling me that so much money and so many war supplies are being brought in my harbors through the shipping lanes. I guess this is more or less the same for the CSA, except that they don't have nearly as many ships in the shipping lanes. Does my blockading some CSA harbors reduce this flow of money and war supplies to any extent if there are still other CSA harbors open?

Question 3. If the answer to Q2 is 'yes', I've read that even if the James Estuary is blockaded, Richmond will not be blockaded by this, meaning that money and war supplies still get through to Richmond (which is rather illogical)? In this case, does a blockade of the James Estuary affect money and war supplies getting to Richmond at all?

Question 4. Does any partial blockade (seven elements instead of eight) prevent money and war supplies from reaching the partially blockaded harbor?

Question 5. Does controlling a fort next to a harbor exit prevent or reduce money and war supplies from reaching that harbor? For example, would controlling Ft. Sumter stop money and war supplies from reaching Charleston?

Question 6. Do I understand any of this?

W.Barksdale wrote:You can merge them into a single unit with 4 elements....Not sure what you mean Try it yourself if your skeptical....

The advantage is it makes your stack less bulky especialyl when there are lots of units.

How do you merge naval units? There is no "+" button, and dragging-and-dropping doesn't work. Is there a special key or combo that works?

Many Thanks, -D

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Gray_Lensman wrote:In the rare cases where naval units are actually able to be merged the "+" button will be lit up. This is very rare since it really only happens with a few starting units in a scenario setup that were deliberately "shorted" a few elements, but that same unit could normally contain more elements then were initially placed with them. In such cases, if there is an exact match of the missing types of elements, the "+" will be presented. Like I said this is very rare since the units you produce in the reinforcement screeen will always have the full complement of elements.

No sorry. There is no "+'" button for fleets. Ocean transports produced in the reinforcement screen do not have the full complement of elements.

DaemoneIsos wrote:How do you merge naval units? There is no "+" button, and dragging-and-dropping doesn't work. Is there a special key or combo that works?

Many Thanks, -D

Yes there is a special key! Select the 2 2-element ocean transport units by holding down the Ctrl key. After both are highlighted press Ctrl C and it will nmerge these units together. The only ships you can merge are transports, max 4 elements. Also some of the initial blockade squadrans can add certain ships types. Or if a unit has elements destroyed you can add the corresponding lost one. The Ctrl C hotkey works for land units too, however, in this case the "+" will be available.

Captain_Orso wrote:A couple of points and questions.


Point 2. I had a blockade going in the James Estuary through the winter of '62-'63. Apparently because of storms the cohesion on all of the blockading ships went down to below 25. Because the blockade was not broken even though some of the ships blockading had cohesion 0, I assume that the actual combat strength of a blockading ship is irrelevant.

Correct, it is the number of elements that determine a blockade (not their strength). Although they must be warships.

Captain_Orso wrote:Question 1. I've only played against Athena (the AI) so I have no idea if the Athena can detect a blockading ships cohesion. When I have land units standing long enough next to CSA land units, I start getting pretty detailed reports (tool-tips) about their composition and strength. Does it work the same way with ships?

You use artillery to detect ships (every unit has a detection rating, calvary are good on land, artillery are good at sea.

Captain_Orso wrote:Question 2. As the USA, I get a report every turn telling me that so much money and so many war supplies are being brought in my harbors through the shipping lanes. I guess this is more or less the same for the CSA, except that they don't have nearly as many ships in the shipping lanes. Does my blockading some CSA harbors reduce this flow of money and war supplies to any extent if there are still other CSA harbors open?

They get their money/WS from the blockade runners. The main blockade boxes reduce the amount of every port by the percent indicated (blue water blockade). The brown water blockade (placing ships in the water region directly next to the port) only effects the port in question. So you can choose to blockade only Richmond, or only Wilmington. But you need to be right next to the port. IIRC, this is a game engine limitation. You have to blockade the water region exactly next to the port, not a few spaces away (logically, any blockade would stop Richmond from getting supplies, but the game doesn't work that way - Maybe for AACW 2).

Captain_Orso wrote:Question 3. If the answer to Q2 is 'yes', I've read that even if the James Estuary is blockaded, Richmond will not be blockaded by this, meaning that money and war supplies still get through to Richmond (which is rather illogical)? In this case, does a blockade of the James Estuary affect money and war supplies getting to Richmond at all?

Question 4. Does any partial blockade (seven elements instead of eight) prevent money and war supplies from reaching the partially blockaded harbor?

Question 5. Does controlling a fort next to a harbor exit prevent or reduce money and war supplies from reaching that harbor? For example, would controlling Ft. Sumter stop money and war supplies from reaching Charleston?

Question 6. Do I understand any of this?

W.Barksdale wrote:Yes there is a special key! Select the 2 2-element ocean transport units by holding down the Ctrl key. After both are highlighted press Ctrl C and it will nmerge these units together.

Sweet! That worked perfectly, WB. You rock. -D

Point 1. About supplying blockade ships, yes, you can put a transport ship in the water region and the other ships there seem to draw supplies off of that as long as it has supply points. You can then send it back to port, Fort Monroe is of course the closest to the James Estuary (where you put your blockade to blockade Norfolk) plus it has a depot, so a transport should resupply rather quickly. If you are blockading areas further down the coast, if you have invaded a fort there, you can always build a depot in the fort for resupplying your transports and/or blockade ships. Just keep it well protected.

According to the AACW Wiki: "Fleets at sea can replenish general supply from adjacent land regions with a stockpile, but they can only replenish ammunition in ports. Naval transport units can also be used to manually transport general supply for troops located in adjacent coastal regions, similar to supply wagons."

Question 3. If the answer to Q2 is 'yes', I've read that even if the James Estuary is blockaded, Richmond will not be blockaded by this, meaning that money and war supplies still get through to Richmond (which is rather illogical)? In this case, does a blockade of the James Estuary affect money and war supplies getting to Richmond at all?

According to the AACW Wiki: "Assigning enough warships to blockade a specific port will result in a 50% loss of production for the blockaded port. In addition, enemy units are severely limited in their ability to enter or leave such a port." So if I understand correctly, I believe that supplies will still get into Richmond (if nowhere else than over land) but the production from Richmond will be reduced by 50%.

Jim-NC wrote:The main blockade boxes reduce the amount of every port by the percent indicated (blue water blockade).

According to Hobbes' AACW Quick Reference Guide: "The % are halved when you compute output, i.e. a 40% blue water blockade gives a 20% reduction in money, war supply, ammo, and general supply for the CSA.

The overall blockade % is weighted toward the less blockaded box to force a spread. The maximum being 99% (meaning that all the high seas are under control, thus reducing CSA production output by 49.5%)."

Has this rule, halving the % in the blue water blockade box in determining reductions for the CSA production, been changed since the Quick Reference Guide was stickied?

thanks again everyone. your info is helpful. keep it coming. I'm new at this game and it has trainloads of detail, so I'll probably have trainloads of questions. Wouldn't it be nice if the manual and tutorials were more thorough. But then it would be as long as an unabridged version of 'War and Peace'.

gchristie wrote:[SNIP] ... thus reducing CSA production output by 49.5%)."[SNIP]

No, if I now understand correctly, God only knows ,

the 'Blue Water Blockade' reduces the amount of money and WS coming into the CSA, thus indirectly reducing CSA production by limiting her resources.

Blockading a harbor itself reduces the 'output' of that region by 50%. How much that will be I suppose you have to guess, because you can only see it for your own regions by hovering the pointer over that region and looking at the 'Production Scoreboard' (panel at the top center).

So in my current game as the USA, if New York, NY were blockaded its current production (Money: +45, Conscripts: +8, War Supply: +18, General Supply: +462, Munitions: +122) would be halved to ( : +22.5, : +4, : +9, : +231, oke:: +61). Just had to do that

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Gray_Lensman wrote:Actually, we're both correct... The CSA transports (which I happened to see first) actually do have a max compliment of 2 elements while the USA transports further down the database start out with 2 elements but can be increased to 4 elements. I had never noticed the difference before.

Ahh me either! I don't think I've ever built transports as CSA. Learn something new everyday with this gem!

...and brown-water blockades of certain ports cause the blue-water blockade % to go up. IIRC, a brown-water blockade of Norfolk gives +5%, Charleston +8%, Mobile +6%, others of a lesser amount. Brown-water blockade of New Orleans also seems to cause the blue-water % to go way up, but I don't know the %.

Yet capturing them does bupkis, AFAIK. If that is true, it's a little silly that the entire CSA gets penalized for a blockaded, though not captured, port.

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OK, I'll concede that point. But does capturing the city also yield blockade effects? If not, why?

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Gray, you are kidding right?

Since when does blockading a harbor (you cannot blockade a city) change the money and WS imported to a faction?

[INDENT]“Brown Water Blockade” represents tactical blockading of harbors. Assigning enough warships to
blockade a specific port will result in a 50% loss of production for the blockaded port.[/INDENT]

Instruction Manual, Revision 2.0, For AACW v. 1.0.5, page 42.

Gray_Lensman wrote:I would imagine so since that was one of the tactics used during the Civil War to more effectively shutdown imports into the CSA. Only Pocus could say for sure however.

Every campaign scenario has startup statements for both sides. 2 of them involve the parameters for the two types of blockades

The first one (Blue Water):

SetBlockades = $Atlantic Blockade|6|$Gulf Blockade|6


The second one (Brown Water):

AddHarborBlockaded = $Warwick, VA|1|$Norfolk, VA|5|$Currituck, VA|1|$Tyrell, NC|1|$Hyde, NC|1|$Beaufort, NC|3|$Carteret, NC|3|$New Hanover, NC|5|$Charleston, SC|8|$Hardee, SC|1|$Beaufort, SC|1|$Ebert, GA|1|$Chatham, GA|6|$Carroll, GA|1|$Pullman, GA|1|$Wayne, GA|1|$Leon, FL|1|$Wakula, FL|1|$Duval, FL|1|$Saint John's, FL|1|$Volusia, FL|1|$Tampa, FL|1|$Hale, FL|3|$Milton, FL|1|$Gulf, MS|1|$Springfield, LA|1|$Iberville, LA|16|$St Joseph, LA|1|$Alexandria, LA|1|$Pierre, LA|1|$Berwick, LA|1|$Matagorda, TX|3

It might be that the Blue Water is only 12 percent instead of 40 as I implied above. Pocus would have to clarify it.

The numbers in the 2nd one add up to 75.

So does that mean the maximum blockade is 87% and you get only 12% for blue-water blockades? I hate to sound clueless, but I'm illiterate in computer game code.