Lost 60% of power for no apparent reason?

[jennison]

This Corps had 1664 power:



I hit the End Turn button, and then it went down to 687!



I checked the log and it wasn't involved in any battles or anything (no log messages whatsoever pertaining to this Corps)

What gives?

[Ethan]

Hi jennison!

It may have been struck by an epidemic. Note the decrease in cohesion. Take a look at your log messages, it usually appears at the end.


PS: An advice... Try to reduce the penalty rate (35%).

[jennison]

Hi jennison!



PS: An advice... Try to reduce the penalty rate (35%).

Ah, ok I'll check for epidemics. I have since moved to a different save game and I haven't lost the power, but will check if it happens again.

And yes about the penalty rate, I have a tough time with that as well.. Not to veer too far off topic, but any advice on reducing that? I have as many units as I can in divisions, etc..

[Ethan]

Try not to carry single units in Corps (use for this divisions). Add signal and balloons units that will provide you extra CP's. You can also create more Corps for each Army and thus distribute your divisions better ... Among other things.

Good luck and enjoy playing!

[Pat "Stonewall" Cleburne]

Just stick 4 divisions in each corps. Don't stick loose units in unless you have extra CP to spend.

[jennison]

Thank you gentlemen. Time to do some re-organizing.

[jennison]

Just stick 4 divisions in each corps. Don't stick loose units in unless you have extra CP to spend.

Maybe I'm putting too many divisions in a Corps? I had 7 divisions, removed three, and now my Penalties disappeared.

But now I of course lost a lot of power removing those divisions.. Should I beef up the Corps again with 7 divisions to get back the power, or is it better to not have the penalty?

Edit: Think I answered my own question. Splitting that super-corps into two Corps removed the command penalties. Plus the combined force is over 3,000 in power.

Thanks again Ethan, Pat.

[Ethan]

You're welcome, jennison!

As long as you can, keep your stacks without penalty. Any stack with a penalty will have less power than the same stack without penalty. Remember it because this is a very important rule.

Usually, you can include 4 or 5 divisions for each Corps, but to be sure not to have any penalty I recommend you that place the mouse pointer over the white envelope to know how many CP's receives a stack and thus you can calculate how many divisions you can include in it, for example. See attached image.

Finally, here I show you a link that can be very useful.

Have fun!!

[caranorn]

Back to the original question, you obviously moved the corps (first picture you are at Spotsylvania marching towards Richmond, second you are at Louisa. So assuming the two images are just one turn apart, you 1) moved the corps and lost cohesion doing so, 2) something hapenned to annul your order to move to Richmond, probably your corps avoided combat due to low cohesion, losing even more cohesion in the process. And I just noticed you were moving in assault stance...

So a few words of advice. Any move will cost cohesion, the shorter the move the less you lose. If you have a few days of the turn left after your move your unit will also recover some of the lost cohesion, more so the lower your stance. The longer your planned offensive move the more things can go wrong ending up with your commanding officer deciding it's a good idea to refuse battle. Unless you are hoping to surprise your enemy, your best bet is to advance in small hops, leaving a few days at the end of the turn to recover cohesion. If you can (that is you are not moving through any territory with more than 95% enemy control), move in defensive stance, that way you will recover most of your lost cohesion at the end of the turn...

Of course the others' advice about divisions and corps is absolutely correct. A corps with 35% command penalty is as good as worthless in AACW...

[jennison]

Back to the original question, you obviously moved the corps (first picture you are at Spotsylvania marching towards Richmond, second you are at Louisa. So assuming the two images are just one turn apart, you 1) moved the corps and lost cohesion doing so, 2) something hapenned to annul your order to move to Richmond, probably your corps avoided combat due to low cohesion, losing even more cohesion in the process. And I just noticed you were moving in assault stance...

So a few words of advice. Any move will cost cohesion, the shorter the move the less you lose. If you have a few days of the turn left after your move your unit will also recover some of the lost cohesion, more so the lower your stance. The longer your planned offensive move the more things can go wrong ending up with your commanding officer deciding it's a good idea to refuse battle. Unless you are hoping to surprise your enemy, your best bet is to advance in small hops, leaving a few days at the end of the turn to recover cohesion. If you can (that is you are not moving through any territory with more than 95% enemy control), move in defensive stance, that way you will recover most of your lost cohesion at the end of the turn...

Of course the others' advice about divisions and corps is absolutely correct. A corps with 35% command penalty is as good as worthless in AACW...

Thank you, this is very helpful. I didn't realize cohesion effected power like that.


This would explain why my Corps size force I landed in Charleston only has 80 power right now.. lol.. I assume it's because crossing over those rivers etc, with no supply line (and I'm sure other contributing factors) has killed their cohesion.. This is probably for another topic, but I'll need to plan my next naval invasion a lot better.

Thanks again, and sorry to veer off topic.

Have fun!!

And WOW. That's a serious Corps you've got there in that screenshot Ethan.

[Longshanks]

Certain units, like the hospital one, also help improve cohesion. Also, it's best to go into battle with a Supply unit ... more than one if it's likely to be a multi-round or multi-day fight.

You don't want to be in a fight with no ammo!

[Ethan]

And WOW. That's a serious Corps you've got there in that screenshot Ethan.

I don't like to go into hostile lands alone.

[Ethan]

Jennison, keep in mind that cohesion represents a unit’s general readiness for combat. It is critical to a unit’s overall efficiency as it impacts almost every aspect of the game, such as morale, speed, firepower and the ability to “March to the Sound of the Guns”. A unit with low Cohesion could suffer from poor morale, desertions and stragglers, exhaustion, disorganization, inadequate training or any other debilitating factor. It will be slow in moving and prone to break during combat.

Movement and combat reduces a unit’s cohesion while resting gradually improves its cohesion until it ultimately reaches its maximum level. This depends on training and experience. NM affects a unit’s cohesion and its cohesion recovery rate when resting.

On the other hand, as Longshanks has said wisely , a medical service unit is able to provide health care even on the battlefield. It gives +15% to the Cohesion Recovery rate of all others elements of the Stack this unit is in.

Regarding supply wagons, they are special units which act as moving supply stockpiles and thus provide you with limited direct control over supply. They fill up during the supply distribution phase. Supply wagons allow you to keep selected forces supplied, even if they operate far from their supply bases. However, this will only last until they become empty and need to be resupplied themselves from a regular supply source.

Wagons tend to slow down the force they accompany and cannot be used by naval units.

Supply wagons also have the following additional benefits:

* They provide a +10% fire bonus during battles (provided they have some ammo left).

* They protect units from bad weather effects by trading hits for supply.

A supply wagon or transport ship is able to supply any land unit with both General Supply and Ammunition if it is in the same or an adjacent region.

I hope this can help you to understand the mechanic of the game better.

Enjoy Playing!

[Ethan]

Back to the original question, you obviously moved the corps (first picture you are at Spotsylvania marching towards Richmond, second you are at Louisa. So assuming the two images are just one turn apart, you 1) moved the corps and lost cohesion doing so, 2) something hapenned to annul your order to move to Richmond, probably your corps avoided combat due to low cohesion, losing even more cohesion in the process. And I just noticed you were moving in assault stance...

A very clever conjecture.

Bravo!

[Mickey3D]

Supply wagons allow you to keep selected forces supplied, even if they operate far from their supply bases. However, this will only last until they become empty and need to be resupplied themselves from a regular supply source.

A supply wagon is a "magnet" for supply distribution so, as long as you are not too far from a source of supply, it will receive new supply each turn.

[jennison]

This thread has been very helpful and has pretty much changed the way I play the game. I can't believe I won my first campaign (CSA) without knowing some of this stuff.. I'm finding the USA campaign to be much more challenging though, but more enjoyable. Thanks again everyone.

[Ethan]

Glad to hear it. Have fun playing this awesome game.

Greetings!

[Longshanks]

This thread has been very helpful and has pretty much changed the way I play the game. I can't believe I won my first campaign (CSA) without knowing some of this stuff.. I'm finding the USA campaign to be much more challenging though, but more enjoyable. Thanks again everyone.

Lordy, I was a complete idiot in my first few games, PBEM included. You learn the best lessons the hard way.