Force Compositions?

[kentul01]

how do most of you form up your divs,corps,armies? where do you put the artillery batteries? what about calvary?
this is how i set one of my divs.
two 7 element brigs
1 sharpshooter
2 artillery batteries
is this good? or should i concentrate the artillery with the corps commander, or perhaps the army commander? the way the game uses elment limits, how can you put 60 or more batteries in an army the way boths sides had at gettysburg for an example?

[runyan99]

Two batteries per division is too little artillery firepower.


My typical CSA division is:

1 leader
1 Div HQ (1.04a)
11 infantry regiments (about 3 brigades)
1 Cavalry Regiment
4 Artillery batteries

=18 elements

Once 1.05 removes the DivHQ, I'll probably try to increase the artillery component to 5 batteries, although this can be difficult to afford for the CSA.

I try not to include more than one cavalry component in a division, because I think it does not help, and the infantry is probably more powerful.

[gbs]

Don't forget that the large CSA regiments come with embedded artillery batteries and even some of the smaller one do as well. Same for cavalry.

[runyan99]

That's why I usually go out of my way to recruit first the brigades which include an artillery battery.

The brigades with cavalry are problematic, because if you are not careful, you can easily end up with a division that contains three cavalry regiments, which is too much. So, I try to use one brigade with cavalry per division.

[kentul01]

so do you assign any artillery to the corps itself? do infantry brigs assigned to the corps help?

[runyan99]

I try not to. In fact, I have found that independent artillery batteries can slow down a corps stack very significantly. Not sure if that is a bug or not.

Besides, having loose batteries and brigades isn't efficient from a command point perspective.

[Stonewall]

1 leader
1 sharpshooter
1 cavalry
4 artillery
10 infantry
---
17 elements - not sure what to do about the new slot since the divisional HQ has been eliminated. I'll try to add one unit with pontoon capabilities if possible or a 5th artillery unit if the US player. If playing as the CSA, another infantry regiment is probably the way to go.

[kentul01]

I try not to. In fact, I have found that independent artillery batteries can slow down a corps stack very significantly. Not sure if that is a bug or not.

Besides, having loose batteries and brigades isn't efficient from a command point perspective.

historicaly most reb divisions had several artillery batteries assigned to them, but they also had corps artillery as well. union forces usually had artilley at the corps and army reserve level.
also, what is excatly the role of the sharpshooter?

[Stonewall]

Sharpshooter gives the unit its assigned to an initiative bonus, meaning that its more likely to get off the first shot. Its a massive advantage to have your divisions equipped with sharpshooters. Especially when the enemy's aren't.

[Jabberwock]

That's why I usually go out of my way to recruit first the brigades which include an artillery battery.

The brigades with cavalry are problematic, because if you are not careful, you can easily end up with a division that contains three cavalry regiments, which is too much. So, I try to use one brigade with cavalry per division.

The brigades with cavalry are more useful as independent occupation forces, especially for protecting rail / supply lines.

[Johnny Canuck]

Sharpshooter gives the unit its assigned to an initiative bonus, meaning that its more likely to get off the first shot. Its a massive advantage to have your divisions equipped with sharpshooters. Especially when the enemy's aren't.

So if you have a corps with, say, three divisions, each division should have its own sharpshooter element? What effect would a sharpshooter element attached to the corps itself (i.e. not part of a division) have?

[Stonewall]

The sharpshooter gives all elements in the same unit the initiative bonus. It does not work by attaching one sharpshooter to the Corps. You need on in every division to get all your divisions with the bonus. Or, you can stick it in a couple of divisions and hope those are the ones selected for the combat phase. But, its a unit level attribute, like strong morale and entrencher.

[Johnny Canuck]

I think I am still a bit murky about the difference between a unit & a stack. What would the impact of a sharpshooter element in a corps/independent command with no divisions (let's say it has three brigades, an artillery battery, & a sharpshooter element)?

[Stonewall]

A unit is composed of elements. A stack is composed of units. A unit would be a brigade, regardless of the number of elements in it. A division is also a unit with a number of elements. A Corps is a stack comprised of units (either divisions of brigades). The units in a Corps are comprised of elements.

The sharpshooter gives an initiative benefit to all elements in its unit. So, if you have a 3 regiment infantry brigade and one of those elements is a SS, the entire brigade gets the bonus. If that SS brigade is in a stack with other units, the bonus does not apply to them. If, however, the SS is incorporated into a division, the bonus applies to every element in the division.

[Johnny Canuck]

Thanks for the clarification, Stonewall - that makes quite a bit of sense.

However, it does raise another question (if you don't mind yet another ). You mentioned above that some leader attributes operate on unit level, such as entrencher. Does this mean that Longstreet's entrencher attribute is only useful if he is commanding a division (i.e. it would affect the elements in the division), since if he is commanding a corps, the only unit he belongs to, & which the entrencher attribute would affect, is himself?

[ussdefiant]

Attributes like Entreachments work on the Stack level, if i recall, meaning that either Longstreet would have to be the stack commander or (depending on just what category the Entreacher ability is in) he may just have to be in the stack to grant the ability to the entire stack (ala Artillerist)

[Stonewall]

The entrencher attrribute is a unit attribute. It does not apply to the stack. However, the attribute "defensive_engineer", which essentially does the same thing, is a stack attribute. If you download the database files, there is one called "AACW_DB_Ability_list08.xls" that will list how each attribute is applied.

Atrillerist is a "group" attribute, meaning the entire group benefits from its inclusion.