Feature # 29 : Special Orders

[Pocus]

Specials Orders in AACW is the tool provided to the player in order to adjust finely how you want your armies and fleets to interact with the map or your enemy. Not all are available at a given time, as many are contextual to the place where is your army (build something eg), how able is your commander (if he is activated eg), or need to be triggered by a special unit or a specific condition (promoting a general eg).

Here is the list of orders which will be available. Don't hesitate to ask questions!

Ambush: Irregular units, like partisans, indians, rangers and raiders can try to set an ambush in wild, hilly or forrested regions. If they succeed they will have great combat benefits against an enemy entering the region, including first fire and the possibility to retreat easily.


Forced March: Forced march allows the force to move at a faster pace, but stragglers will result in a loss of combat potential. Good leaders and light units are more able to succeed.

Shelter in cityscape (when movement end): The force will enter the cityscape (city or fort) in the region they end their move. Useful when you want to garrison a structure with a force away from it at the start of the turn.

Make a (conditional) sortie: Your force is currently within a besieged fort or city. By ordering a sortie, it will join any combat initiated by a relief force outside the structure.

Naval Bombardment: Your fleet has some bombardment capacity and will bombard the first coastal structure or entranched position they encounter, provided you also have a force in the target region (support bombardment only). The enemy can retaliate in force if he has emplaced batteries (beware entrenched guns!).

Build a depot: The force will build a depot, by expanding 2 supply units.

Build a Fortification: The force will build a fortification network, by expanding 2 supply units and 2 artilleries units.

Build rail network/repair rail network: The force will build or repair the rail network in the region. Repairing is far faster and less costlier than building.

Destroy Rail network: The force will destroy the rail network in the region.

Destroy Fortification: The force will destroy the fortification in the region.

Move by River: The force can now benefit from the Riverine privileged Movement, and can travel much more quickly accross rivers during the turn.

Move by Rail: The force can now benefit from the Rail privileged Movement, allowing it to spend one day only for each region traveled, without significant fatigue for the soldiers.

Synchronized Move: The Army HQ and subordinates corps in the same region will move together, at the pace of the slowest corps.

Promote a leader: The leader has gained enough seniority to be eligible for promotion to a new rank.

Combine Units: The selected units can be combined into a single one. If a division HQ is in the selection, you will be able to detach them later, if not the combined units return to the force pool and fill up the rank of the first selected unit.

Detach from unit: The unit is made of several, agregated units and will be split.

Form up an army: You form an army by combining a GHQ unit with a leader of rank 3. The stack is now acting as an Army HQ and corps can be attached to it.

Dismiss an army: The army is dismissed, thus reverting to independent force status. All corps are dismissed too and revert to independent force status.

Attach corps to army: A stack containing a 3 or 2 -stars leader is declared as a corps of an army nearby.

Detach corps from army: The corps is detached from its parent army and revert to independent force status.

Evade fight (land or naval): the force is trying to escape fight in traveled regions. The chances are based on the Evasion value you have compared to the Patrol value your enemy has in the regions.






Early board of the special orders planned. Some are deprecated, some are not shown.

[Fatboy]

I notice there is a "Delay Move" icon. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

[Pocus]

Delay is one of those deprecated order

Well perhaps we will add it, but we have some discussions to do on it before that. It was supposed to allow some coordination between 2 forces which are not in the same region, allowing them to attack on the same day, and it remains to be seen if its historical.

The aim is to have your forces arrives at day 15 into the last region targeted by your move, so if you have 2 forces in 2 regions you know they will synch when they arrive at their destination, even if not part of an army-corps hierarchy in the same region (this is allowed for them, they move together). Perhaps too subtle for the period.

[veji1]

Could be interesting to allow the player to set an objective of coordinated arrival...Then depending on a few checks ( leader, weather, quality of troops, luck..) it works pretty well ( they arrive around the same time +- 1or2 days ) or badly ( not syched at all ). But if it is too complicated to code... You might as well live without it.

Good idea though, I guess it is worth testing.

[Sol Invictus]

It would be great if you can get it to work well. This would be an absolutely critical order if/when you get around to covering the Napoleonic Wars.

[runyan99]

Evade fight (land or naval): the force is trying to escape fight in traveled regions. The chances are based on the Evasion value you have compared to the Patrol value your enemy has in the regions.

This is a much needed improvement for the game over BoA. Simple proximity must not always lead to a large battle.

There will be many times when an army wants to manuever without bringing on an engagement. Ever since Quintus Fabius Maximus' Roman army shadowed Hannibal's force in Italy for months during the second Punic War, it has been possible for skilled commanders to maneuver large marching armies in close proximity to enemy forces without bringing on a general engagement. Even when one force is aggressively trying to bring the enemy to combat, a skilled commander like General Lee may find routes of maneuver which avoid a general engagement. These maneuvers are like a sort of dance, where the two armies jockey for position, until one or the other is forced by circumstances of supply, or geography, or chance, to take up a position and risk battle.

Throughout history, from Caesar to McClellan, generally a set piece battle only occurs when one army stops maneuvering to take up a defensive position AND the opposing army decides to attack that position. Failing that, there may be skirmishes or rear guard actions, but a pitched battle involving a large number of forces is unlikely.

[Korrigan]

Throughout history, from Caesar to McClellan, generally a set piece battle only occurs when one army stops maneuvering to take up a defensive position AND the opposing army decides to attack that position. Failing that, there may be skirmishes or rear guard actions, but a pitched battle involving a large number of forces is unlikely.

This was already the case in BoA. If both armies are on Defensive stand (or passive), no fight occurs. At least one must be looking after battle (attack or assault) AND must have detected the other army. Otherwise, both armies will be staying in the same region.

[runyan99]

This was already the case in BoA. If both armies are on Defensive stand (or passive), no fight occurs. At least one must be looking after battle (attack or assault) AND must have detected the other army. Otherwise, both armies will be staying in the same region.

Right. But, what is the difference between the Passive Stance in BoA and the new Evade Combat command? Does Evade Combat allow a moving unit to continue on its movement path, even when in the presence of an enemy army in Attack or Assault stance, without causing a retreat as is currently the case in BoA? I think that is the addition that has been needed. I'm hoping that is what Evade Combat will do.

[Pocus]

that is totally different. In Passive you are vulnerable when attacked, but can retreat more easily and will receive replacements and recover hits faster.

Evade Fight allow you to roll a dice to ... evade fight, even if there is an enemy seeking you in a region. It only works with some good chances for cavaleries and raiders, or if you have a small force with a good general.

[runyan99]

Well, certainly a good and necessary addition for small units like cavalry acting independently in a scouting or raiding role.

I suspect the order might be equally applicable for the interaction of larger forces like the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac. However, I'll postpone debating the merits of using the command in this way for now, until I see how the game handles these situations first hand.