AGEOD Forums

I know that Corps are attached to an Army, but are Divisions/Brigades required to be attached to a Corps by the player?

I know that clicking the 'Enable Divisonal Command' lets you assemble a Division but must this then be attached to a Corps to enter the Command Chain, or is that automatic?

Also, the Tables of Equipment list that comes up when the game is not letting you assemble certain units together as a Division, am I right in thinking that this lists the maximum of a particular unit type that can be in a Division? I could not find mention of this in the manual.

I am playing the Union in a full campaign and am only in October 1861 so can I assume that better leaders will eventually emerge as the Union command is pretty appalling at the start (Grant has just arrived though). I know this is historically accurate but it is frustrating too

TwoShedsJackson wrote:1) I know that Corps are attached to an Army, but are Divisions/Brigades required to be attached to a Corps by the player?

2)I know that clicking the 'Enable Divisonal Command' lets you assemble a Division but must this then be attached to a Corps to enter the Command Chain, or is that automatic?

3)Also, the Tables of Equipment list that comes up when the game is not letting you assemble certain units together as a Division, am I right in thinking that this lists the maximum of a particular unit type that can be in a Division? I could not find mention of this in the manual.

4)I am playing the Union in a full campaign and am only in October 1861 so can I assume that better leaders will eventually emerge as the Union command is pretty appalling at the start (Grant has just arrived though). I know this is historically accurate but it is frustrating too

Welcome aboard!

@1) Yes and no. Brigades and divisions can be used as separate entities at will, but wil suffer a command penalty when doing so without a higher ranking leader in ther same stack. A two star general may command up to twp divisions (i.e. be stacked with them) without penalty, even if the stack is not declared a corps. A "real" corps stack may include many more divisions and support units, because it receives additional command points from its parent army command. Thus, for delivering a much more efficient punch on the field of battle, it is usually better to organise larger forces into army corps, if possible.

@2) It "must" be added to a corps or army stack manually, unattached divisions are separate entities outside the Army-Corps command structure. Also, see above.

@3) No, You are completely free to decide how Your divs are composed, element-type wis., You can form Divs consisting solely of infantry, cavalry or even artillery. However, You can not incorporate more than one general and NO support units (supply wagons, engineers, medics and such) at all into a division.

@4) Use your best generals the most and promote them whenever possible. As the Union in a 61 campaign, have Lyon and Hooker see as much action as possible early on so they may gain seniority and become available for promotion. That way, with any luck, You can push Lyon to 3 stars (and thus availability for army command) and Hooker to at least 2 stars before 1862. The same goes for the competent guys which appear later as 1 and 2 stars.

Regards, Henry

Henry D. wrote:@3) No, You are completely free to decide how Your divs are composed, element-type wis., You can form Divs consisting solely of infantry, cavalry or even artillery. However, You can not incorporate more than one general and NO support units (supply wagons, engineers, medics and such) at all into a division.

The all-artillery or all-infantry division is a good way to lose all those units, the first due to frontage limitations and steamroller cavalry attacks, the second due to lack of fire-support. Combined arms is the way to go.

Engineers, medics, and signal units can join a division, supply wagons can't. Most players consider this a wasteful practice because those units dont use CP and it uses up division-spaces that could be used by combat units. The only advantage is in speed of movement. Support units inside a division don't move as slowly.

Henry D. wrote:@4) Use your best generals the most and promote them whenever possible. As the Union in a 61 campaign, have Lyon and Hooker see as much action as possible early on so they may gain seniority and become available for promotion. That way, with any luck, You can push Lyon to 3 stars (and thus availability for army command) and Hooker to at least 2 stars before 1862. The same goes for the competent guys which appear later as 1 and 2 stars.

In the newer versions, there is an entry at the bottom of the information window stating whether a general is promotable at all. Use the good ones that are promotable first.

Henry D. wrote:Welcome aboard!

@1) Yes and no. Brigades and divisions can be used as separate entities at will, but wil suffer a command penalty when doing so without a higher ranking leader in ther same stack. A two star general may command up to twp divisions (i.e. be stacked with them) without penalty, even if the stack is not declared a corps. A "real" corps stack may include many more divisions and support units, because it receives additional command points from its parent army command. Thus, for delivering a much more efficient punch on the field of battle, it is usually better to organise larger forces into army corps, if possible.

@2) It "must" be added to a corps or army stack manually, unattached divisions are separate entities outside the Army-Corps command structure. Also, see above.

@3) No, You are completely free to decide how Your divs are composed, element-type wis., You can form Divs consisting solely of infantry, cavalry or even artillery. However, You can not incorporate more than one general and NO support units (supply wagons, engineers, medics and such) at all into a division.

@4) Use your best generals the most and promote them whenever possible. As the Union in a 61 campaign, have Lyon and Hooker see as much action as possible early on so they may gain seniority and become available for promotion. That way, with any luck, You can push Lyon to 3 stars (and thus availability for army command) and Hooker to at least 2 stars before 1862. The same goes for the competent guys which appear later as 1 and 2 stars.

Regards, Henry

Thanks for the quick reply

So for 1) & 2) the best use for 1 star generals at first is to put them in charge of divisions then add them to a Corps if possible? I assume that 'adding' them to the Corps means merging them so they appear in the Unit panel when the Corps is selected, and not just having them in the same province so they show up as a seperate tab? This is where the 16 CP maximum for a stack comes in, right, to prevent uber-stacks being assembled?

for 3) last night I was trying to assemble a division with a 1 star general and two brigades of infantry, and two of sharpshooters, I think the total element count was 16 but the '+' button for form divison was greyed out until i either selected the two infantry or one infantry and one sharpshooter, with the tooltip mentioning this Table of Equipment - I might try and get a screenshot of this tonight to see if anyone can clarify why it would not let me select all four when the element maximum was not being reached?

Thanks again for the help, starting this campaign in April 1861 has really helped me to get into the game, it's almost like a tutorial with just a few units available at first etc. and builds gradually until the real fighting starts in 1862. I feel I nearly have got to grips with the Command Structure but just need these remaining pointers

Jabberwock wrote:The all-artillery or all-infantry division is a good way to lose all those units, the first due to frontage limitations and steamroller cavalry attacks, the second due to lack of fire-support. Combined arms is the way to go.

Indeed, I never said it was a wise thing to do. I should have been more clear on that, sorry...

Engineers, medics, and signal units can join a division, supply wagons can't. Most players consider this a wasteful practice because those units dont use CP and it uses up division-spaces that could be used by combat units. The only advantage is in speed of movement. Support units inside a division don't move as slowly.

Huh, they can? That was news to me, too. Apparently there still remain a lot of things to this game I haven't fathomed yet. Sorry again...

Regards, Henry

TwoShedsJackson wrote:Thanks for the quick reply

So for 1) & 2) the best use for 1 star generals at first is to put them in charge of divisions then add them to a Corps if possible? I assume that 'adding' them to the Corps means merging them so they appear in the Unit panel when the Corps is selected, and not just having them in the same province so they show up as a seperate tab? This is where the 16 CP maximum for a stack comes in, right, to prevent uber-stacks being assembled?

for 3) last night I was trying to assemble a division with a 1 star general and two brigades of infantry, and two of sharpshooters, I think the total element count was 16 but the '+' button for form divison was greyed out until i either selected the two infantry or one infantry and one sharpshooter, with the tooltip mentioning this Table of Equipment - I might try and get a screenshot of this tonight to see if anyone can clarify why it would not let me select all four when the element maximum was not being reached?

Thanks again for the help, starting this campaign in April 1861 has really helped me to get into the game, it's almost like a tutorial with just a few units available at first etc. and builds gradually until the real fighting starts in 1862. I feel I nearly have got to grips with the Command Structure but just need these remaining pointers

You're welcome.

For 1) & 2): Yes, exactly. Divisions must be stacked with the corps commander (i.e. appear with him in the unit panel under the same tab) to be part of the corps.

For 3). That is WAD, the maximum number of elements per division is 18. So if You already have 16 elements in one division, You may only add 2 more. If You try to add a 3 or more element brigade, the "+" button will stay greyed out.

Regards, Henry

P.S.: Heed Jabberwock, he knows much more about the how-to and why-is of the game than I do.

Remember that the general takes 1 element. Also, if you have attached a general to a brigade that was selected, you will run in to problems attaching it to the division.