AGEOD Forums

Pierre Beauregard with his brand new abilities and assorted icons. The stats seems weird but this is because I'm playing with the Random Generals option. (He is 4-2-4 in normal time).

Time to survey the British. The Erie squadron is patrolling the area, in case of another wave of Red Coats on the soil of US of A (never a two without a three!)

Semmes, the seawolf of the Confederacy, is retreating after some merchant shipping hunting.

Pocus wrote:Pierre Beauregard with his brand new abilities and assorted icons. The stats seems weird but this is because I'm playing with the Random Generals option. (He is 4-2-4 in normal time).

How does this randomisation work? Can you have all stats and also the special abilities completely randomized? Can you also have the stats and special abilities hidden at the start, where you have to fight battles in order to "unlock" them?

This would really make for a true trial and error experience (just like the real thing)

One concern though, will the confederate generals have a better chance at having better stats and abilities when you randomize? otherwise the south will not be able to compete at all

In the shipping box there is in the background 2 detailed ships. Are they something of a "Tableau de chasse" or just for visual ?

With regard to confederate raiders placed in the shipping box. Besides destroying union shipping these raiders first stripped their prices of all valueable cargo. Also while in the real war these raiders never captured any union ships carrying gold from california they certainly could have.

To represent all this, will raiders therefore be able to bring in a certain amount of (price) money?

the random generals rule is not the hidden generals rule, because having hidden generals pose many problems to be solved, so I'm unsure we will do it, even for a patch. For example even if we mask the abilities, you can still guess them in many ways (how fast the leader move, if he gives a cohesion bonus to troops, etc.). And this is only one problem amongst a dozen!

For now, Randomisation has three levels, and have safeguard so that a good general can't be too bad, or a bad one can't be too good. It can affects Strategic, Offensive, Defensive, but not the abilities.

No the 2 ships images are just for flavor.

The merchant shipping box only represents Union shipping. For blockade runners, you have to send them to the blockade box, where they will earn you stuff each turn they are not sunk (we decided to abstract the back and forth shuttling done by the runners, once they make into the box, they will earn you something until sunk by the Union blue water blockade ships, or you retreat them manually because of lack of supply or damages).

The Brits in Michigan!? That would change the war, wouldn't it?

The graphics look great. I love the boardgame style box areas on the side of the map.

Pocus wrote:...having hidden generals pose many problems to be solved, so I'm unsure we will do it, even for a patch. For example even if we mask the abilities, you can still guess them in many ways (how fast the leader move, if he gives a cohesion bonus to troops, etc.). And this is only one problem amongst a dozen!...

Even though I think it would be a great feature and would give a nice flavour to the game. So, I pretty much vote for its inclusion!

nemethand wrote:Even though I think it would be a great feature and would give a nice flavour to the game. So, I pretty much vote for its inclusion!

Eh, I was never a big fan of the idea of hiding names, the randomization of generals ratings is a much better way to go.

Spharv2 wrote:Eh, I was never a big fan of the idea of hiding names, the randomization of generals ratings is a much better way to go.

Thereotically, I agree with you, but I think it makes the game less historical

Depends on your point of view. If you want as much historicity as possible, play without random generals. If you want to deal with the issues that both Lincoln and Davis faced in finding generals, use the randomization. I plan to use it most of the time and I'll just accept the fact that sometimes McDowell or McClellan may be the next coming of Caesar. After all, if McClellan hadn't lost his nerve in front of Richmond in '62, we might remember him as the best US general to come out of the war, and Grant and Sherman could just be footnotes in history.

I see your point...

Spharv2 wrote:Depends on your point of view. If you want as much historicity as possible, play without random generals. If you want to deal with the issues that both Lincoln and Davis faced in finding generals, use the randomization. I plan to use it most of the time and I'll just accept the fact that sometimes McDowell or McClellan may be the next coming of Caesar. After all, if McClellan hadn't lost his nerve in front of Richmond in '62, we might remember him as the best US general to come out of the war, and Grant and Sherman could just be footnotes in history.

As long as it is an option that you could turn on and off, i agree with you.