New Player Questions

[jeff b]

I've just got AACW for Xmas. I'm using the 1.7h patch. I've played the tutorial, three battle scenarios and have just started a campaign. Couple of questions.

In some of the scenarios, the Union gets divisions but no corps. It seems to me that they do not cooperate like corps do. Do these divisions actually belong to my armies? I played the shiloh scenario a couple of times, some times creating corps under McClernand, and Lew Wallace, and other times leaving them as divisions. It seemed to me that leaving them as divisions didn't really work that well. I'm wondering if it was because I was not using them correctly.

Another thing I have noticed is that the AI will run troops right through my forces. What is the best way to prevent the enemy from getting into your rear. Putting a force on Offense strikes me as a way to cause a battle, but then you lose the terrain benefits. How do you defend a hunk of territory where you will have the defense benefits while still preventing passage through your territory?

What is the best way to bring the Cavalry raiders to ground?

If you have a force on defense, can the enemy still raid and destroy your rails?

[tagwyn]

Upgrade to the 1.08 Christmas patch. And read this forum and AACW wikki. T

[runyan99]

The Union does get corps. They can be formed with any loose ** rank leader, if they are in range of an army HQ. Check the manual for more info, and for more on divisions and corps, read my 101 thread here

http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=6823

As for the cavalry raids, one technique is to put a small independent force, say a brigade, in offensive stance to chase off cavalry raiders, while leaving your larger forces in defensive stance, so as not to lose defensive advantages. If all of your units are in defensive stance, they often will not engage the cavalry.

[jeff b]

Thanks for the tip on putting 1 unit on offense and the rest on defense.

I've been playing my campaign further and have noted 1 problem. I take a 1 star that has a number of units with him. I click on enable division command, but then it seems to revert to independent command next turn. Do I have to dump everything in the stack, enable the division command, and then add the units back in in order for it to stay as a division?

[runyan99]

Yes remove any attached units, then enable division command.

Actually, to read your post, I'm not sure you are adding any units to the division at all. You need to select the leader and the units in question, then hit the + button which will merge them together.

[arsan]

As runyan said.
Its not enough to have the new divisional leader and the units on the same stack. After you enable the leader as divisional commander (silver stripe on his name) you have to put the units you want "inside" the division selecting leader and units and using the merge units button.
You must add units to the division on the turn you enabled it or the leader will revert back to "non division" status next turn.

Another possible reason is that you don't have enough money or war supplies on hand at turn end to pay for the division.
They cost 10 money, 5 war supplies and 1 conscript company each.
So try to left some of this "on the bank" after making your replacements/reinforcements shopping if you are forming new divisions.
You don't pay the cost when you enable a division, only at turn end , so you can make and unmake divisions freely in the turn to try it.
You will only pay for the ones still enabled at turn end.

Cheers!

[jeff b]

OK, now that I have making a division down. What about their usage? Do divisions actually belong to an Army or only to a corp? I know how to attach a division to a corp commander. I am trying to figure the best way to use a division in a manner besides placing them in a corp. Will your division commander get the benefit of the Army commander, or only Corp commanders?

[runyan99]

Just follow historical practice.

Form a corps and fill it with divisions. Make sure your corps stay in range of the army commander.

[Spharv2]

Divisions do help, but to get the full use out of the army structure, you need to use the whole thing, division/corps/army. Divisions are generally used as the building blocks of corps in larger armies and as independent forces in some of the lower priority areas. Generally, I'll use a lone division or two in Missouri, West Virginia, Arkansas, places like that where you really can't afford to put enough forces to justify a full army. Occasionally, I'll use a corps if the army HQ is close enough, but they're generally occupied far enough away that it doesn't offer any real bonus.

As for the forces penetrating your lines, if it's merely cavalry raids, I've had the most success with using militia (and the occasional full brigade in high value cities) as a garrison force, then collecting 3-4 forces of cavalry behind the lines to chase down any raids. If you're actively pursuing them, they are faced with the decision to fight, turn around, or continue and get caught later when they're at a large disadvantage. If the first, then you need to make sure you have a fairly large advantage in numbers since your supply of good cavalry leaders is quite a bit less if you're playing as the North. If the second, then mission accomplished, if the third, then they're probably going to lose a group of cavalry because the attrition will begin to hit them pretty hard after a bit and when you fight them, the odds are it wll be a bad defeat for them. To make sure that works though, you need to garrison well, otherwise, they're liable to take a place that allows them to resupply.

One nice advantage of the more mobile defense is that once your front begins advancing, those defensive cavalry units can be upgraded with some horse artillery (and possibly some light infantry, depending on whether you value more firepower or mobility) and you can begin paying the enemy back for his raids with some of your own. Breaking rail in the South can be much more devestating than in the North as they have fewer alternate routes to switch to to overcome them.

[jeff b]

Just follow historical practice.

Form a corps and fill it with divisions. Make sure your corps stay in range of the army commander.

Historically, Corp structures didn't really appear until mid-1862. Grant fought Ft. Donnelson and Shiloh with only divisions, Manassas, Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, and quite a few other battles were fought with a divisional structure. Little Mac was opposed to forming Corps until his various division commanders had proven themselves (plus other political considerations). Even in the game you can't form many Corps early on. What I am trying to do is to use my divisions effectively before Corps become common.

[runyan99]

While Grant's command at Donelson was not historically labeled a corps, it is easy to see it through the prism of AACW as 'Grant's corps' under the army command of Halleck, or as an indepentent stack of divisions under Grant's overall command.

Stacks of divisions not officially part of a corps can be used effectively in AACW. The only trick is to use the right mix of leaders to remove command penalties, but I have already talked about that im my 101 thread.