Grand Campaign, impressions and suggestions

[Tordenskjold]

Playing this game for 50 some hours I just can confirm that this is an AWESOME game with few shortcomings. Those I have found is listed under and hopefully some of them might be adressed by the developers, if they make sence that is. The game is very time consuming though and it should be as easy and quick to handle as possible and thus give more time on the strategic considerations. This is my input:

1. Rail repair: It looks if you have to press the repair button every turn instead of the unit keeps repairing the rail line till it’s fixed. Tiresome and annoying for the blue.

2. You might be familiar with this message: “This leader can’t perform offensive actions this turn". I would like to see this status with one look instead of having to click the stack.

3. And this message: “Not enough assets (0 divisions are requiring the form-up cost)". (Tooltip in the form division box). This happens even with a full bank account. Why is this, and how is the connection between amount of dollars and available assets in this respect?

4. Recruitment: It would be great if it was possible to see with one look on the units tab wether it is movable or fixed to the region. For instance with the use of another colour. This is one of the most disturbing factors in the game.

5. After a battle General McLellan disappeared. I read through to all the messages without finding anything about his “departure”. The ledger helped to establish that he was gone, which means dead I guess?

6.
a) Messages: Do I actually need to know that a unit is almost finished training?

b) The message in red about new units is great but would be even greater if the "news" where clickable and brought you to the actual city.

Well, that is enough I think. I love the game and wonders if this is a good PBEM game, but that is another story.
Enjoy!

[Rafiki]

2. You might be familiar with this message: “This leader can’t perform offensive actions this turn". I would like to see this status with one look instead of having to click the stack.

If the leader of the stack is inactive, the white envelope next to his icon will be yellow/brown instead.

[chainsaw]

5. After a battle General McLellan disappeared. I read through to all the messages without finding anything about his “departure”. The ledger helped to establish that he was gone, which means dead I guess?!

Break out the champagne and tell us how you did it! Maybe Mac left the army to create an exploratory committee for the 1864 presidential race? <kidding...sort of>

It is very rare to lose a 3 star, but your point is well made. It would be a nice addition to hear of wounded or KIA leaders in the ledger, and when healed of their wounds get an announcement they are ready for service ("General Ima Bullet-Catcher awaits another command")?

Your other point about recruitment and finding newly raised units is valid (and I have made a number of suggestions to no avail). I have learned to use the e/r/t/y keys to cycle through all valid movable units before I hit "next turn". Slow but effective. (You can also tag some units with "s" to make them sentry or stay in place as local guards - reduces the number to cycle through)

[Tordenskjold]

If the leader of the stack is inactive, the white envelope next to his icon will be yellow/brown instead.

Thanks, that's one.

[Hobbes]

Hi Tor, isn't it the "almost finished training" message that allows you to click on the text and then takes you to the unit on the turn it is first unlocked?

If so it's something I find very useful.
Cheers, Chris
P.S. it's a wonderful PBEM game!

[Tordenskjold]

Break out the champagne and tell us how you did it! Maybe Mac left the army to create an exploratory committee for the 1864 presidential race? <kidding...sort of>

It is very rare to lose a 3 star, but your point is well made. It would be a nice addition to hear of wounded or KIA leaders in the ledger, and when healed of their wounds get an announcement they are ready for service ("General Ima Bullet-Catcher awaits another command")?

Your other point about recruitment and finding newly raised units is valid (and I have made a number of suggestions to no avail). I have learned to use the e/r/t/y keys to cycle through all valid movable units before I hit "next turn". Slow but effective. (You can also tag some units with "s" to make them sentry or stay in place as local guards - reduces the number to cycle through)

Thanks! I know about the e/r key. I was not aware of the s key for "freezing" the unit and t/y for ships, great!
Yet I have found that I am not going through all the land units anymore because it is a bit too time consuming, s might help though.

[Tordenskjold]

Hi Tor, isn't it the "almost finished training" message that allows you to click on the text and then takes you to the unit on the turn it is first unlocked?

If so it's something I find very useful.
Cheers, Chris
P.S. it's a wonderful PBEM game!

Hi, you are right in the respect that you get to the unit when clicking on the message. The unit are then not totally finished with training and has a low cohesion value. I would rather prefer a message when the unit is combat ready. Of course the situation might be different for the Conferderates with less resoursces, only played the Union so far.
I'll check out PBEM!

[DirkX]

Hi, you are right in the respect that you get to the unit when clicking on the message. The unit are then not totally finished with training and has a low cohesion value. I would rather prefer a message when the unit is combat ready. Of course the situation might be different for the Conferderates with less resoursces, only played the Union so far.
I'll check out PBEM!

the unit is by then combat ready. it just hasnt full cohesion, when you get th emessage you can start moving that unit around, very important imo, since you cant move it before.

[kcole4001]

The 'almost complete' message indicates to me it's time to move the new unit, or if it's a garrison Militia unit, move it into the defensive trenches in the same region while moving the old, fully trained unit to a new garrison duty elsewhere (ie: following behind an advancing corps).

[Gray_Lensman]

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[Tordenskjold]

Thanks!
1)You might be right about the RR repair, but I am not quite sure. Since you can also use Engineer in repairing rails it indicates that some repairs might take more than one round..

2)You might be right about this too, but I have formed so many Armies, Corps and Divisions that I can't understand that I wouldn't recognice if I did something differently. I wonder if the word "asset" is the clue here...

[Gray_Lensman]

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[Le Ricain]

Playing this game for 50 some hours I just can confirm that this is an AWESOME game with few shortcomings. Those I have found is listed under and hopefully some of them might be adressed by the developers, if they make sence that is. The game is very time consuming though and it should be as easy and quick to handle as possible and thus give more time on the strategic considerations. This is my input:

1. Rail repair: It looks if you have to press the repair button every turn instead of the unit keeps repairing the rail line till it’s fixed. Tiresome and annoying for the blue.

RR repair is meant to take less than one turn. However, it can sometimes take more than one turn, especially if you are using militia to perform the task. I agree that it can be pain. Using the E/R/T/Y helps to point out problems such as this.

2. You might be familiar with this message: “This leader can’t perform offensive actions this turn". I would like to see this status with one look instead of having to click the stack.

I believe that Rafiki has answered this one.

3. And this message: “Not enough assets (0 divisions are requiring the form-up cost)". (Tooltip in the form division box). This happens even with a full bank account. Why is this, and how is the connection between amount of dollars and available assets in this respect?

If you look at the black screen at the top you will see how much money, conscripts, etc that you have. For each you have listed two numbers, for example 100 (+200). The first number tells you what your current account holds (what was transfered from your last turn) and the second tells you how much your account will gain in this turn.

You can use the total of these amounts to build units and improve infrastructure. However, you can only use your current account to form divisions. If that first number is zero, you are stuck until the next turn regardless how big you bank account is.

4. Recruitment: It would be great if it was possible to see with one look on the units tab wether it is movable or fixed to the region. For instance with the use of another colour. This is one of the most disturbing factors in the game.

On the envelope icon mentioned above by Rafiki, you will a small gray lock symbol superimposed if the unit is fixed.

5. After a battle General McLellan disappeared. I read through to all the messages without finding anything about his “departure”. The ledger helped to establish that he was gone, which means dead I guess?

It is actually quite difficult to get a 3* general removed in combat. You need to have his stack elminated in order to get the chance. On the battle resolution screen you can see which generals have been wounded or killed. Next to general symbols at the top, you will get either single cross or two crosses.

6.
a) Messages: Do I actually need to know that a unit is almost finished training?

b) The message in red about new units is great but would be even greater if the "news" where clickable and brought you to the actual city.

a) I believe this has been answered.
b) This has been discussed and possibly will be addressed in future.

[Tordenskjold]

Thanks, things seems to get clearer, but I still have some issues on 3 and 4:

3. I checked very accurate and at the time I had more than 500.000 cash and more than (200.000 coming in). So absolutely no trouble with cash. This happened a lot during the first campaign, just ended, and I suppose many would have seen this message. I watch for it in the next campaign.

4. About fixed units: I mean on the tab where only the name of unit is written. If fixed units was marked as such, it would not be necessary to click on every unit each time to find the offensive and movable ones. I am not the kind that remember the names of the units, my brain aint build for it

[saintsup]

If the leader of the stack is inactive, the white envelope next to his icon will be yellow/brown instead.

Yeah but if it is not the leader of the stack and you want to know if he is active to form a division or form a new stack or whatever, you have to go to the tooltip of the general. Some visual aid could be welcome.

[saintsup]

Hi Tor, isn't it the "almost finished training" message that allows you to click on the text and then takes you to the unit on the turn it is first unlocked?

What is disturbing is that "almost finished" means in fact "finished"

[saintsup]

3. I checked very accurate and at the time I had more than 500.000 cash and more than (200.000 coming in). So absolutely no trouble with cash. This happened a lot during the first campaign, just ended, and I suppose many would have seen this message. I watch for it in the next campaign.
:

AFAIK you need cash AND WS to create division. Could it be the problem ?

[Le Ricain]

AFAIK you need cash AND WS to create division. Could it be the problem ?

You need cash and conscripts and war supplies. Playing as the Union it is usually the first or second items that get you.

[kcole4001]

Something that would be a nice addition (no idea how implementable, however) would be to provide a map overlay via the left hand buttons (control, supply, allegiance,etc) that shows where breaks exist in the rail network.

It's very easy to overlook areas if you don't scroll across the entire map carefully.
Sometimes the unit representations obscure the broken rail symbol. Very hard to spot when the map view is broadened a couple of steps.

It would be nice to be able to highlight these trouble spots quickly and tend to them as part of a regular turn routine.

[Le Ricain]

Thanks, things seems to get clearer, but I still have some issues on 3 and 4:

3. I checked very accurate and at the time I had more than 500.000 cash and more than (200.000 coming in). So absolutely no trouble with cash. This happened a lot during the first campaign, just ended, and I suppose many would have seen this message. I watch for it in the next campaign.

4. About fixed units: I mean on the tab where only the name of unit is written. If fixed units was marked as such, it would not be necessary to click on every unit each time to find the offensive and movable ones. I am not the kind that remember the names of the units, my brain aint build for it

3. It is obviously not a problem for money. I suspect that your current account in either conscripts or WS is the problem. Playing as the Union I would guess that lack of conscripts in your current account is the problem.

[Rafiki]

Perhaps an extension to the control filter. Today it only shows USA/CSA control, but I imagine that the palette could be expanded to cover the various control levels too, making it a lot easier to see rail coverage?

[Tordenskjold]

Thanks for all aid. But, there is still a problem. Playing now the CSA I am trying to form a division with an active 1. star general. The form division button is greyed out and the tooltip sais "Not enough assets (0 divisons are requiring the form-up cost)" The number 0 is quite confusing. 0 should mean 0.

Anyway, my stock is taken from the Financial screen: $505.00 - Conscripts 212 - War supply 3. I realize that there might be a rather big difference between stock and Next turn stock, and that current stock counts.

So, what might be the case is that "asset" include war supply. And that it is not enough to form a division. Are we getting closer?

[Le Ricain]

Thanks for all aid. But, there is still a problem. Playing now the CSA I am trying to form a division with an active 1. star general. The form division button is greyed out and the tooltip sais "Not enough assets (0 divisons are requiring the form-up cost)" The number 0 is quite confusing. 0 should mean 0.

Anyway, my stock is taken from the Financial screen: $505.00 - Conscripts 212 - War supply 3. I realize that there might be a rather big difference between stock and Next turn stock, and that current stock counts.

So, what might be the case is that "asset" include war supply. And that it is not enough to form a division. Are we getting closer?

I believe that the division form up costs are $ 10,000, 1 conscript and 5 WS.

[Tordenskjold]

Great, sounds probable. But how do you know, is it written anywhere?

[Le Ricain]

Great, sounds probable. But how do you know, is it written anywhere?

Place your tooltip over the division creation button before you punch it to create a division. It will give you the cost.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[Tordenskjold]

Sure is, thanks!

[Tordenskjold]

Hi again. Playing a PBEM game as CSA (Early 1861 Campaign)I found out this based on Le Ricains answer:

"I believe that the division form up costs are $ 10,000, 1 conscript and 5 WS"

I checked my assets before the round started: 12.000$, 103 Conscript, 19 Tons war suply. More than enough i would think.

Then I redeployed (using the specific button) General McCulloch. His features are, or more correctly was: 5-2-2

After I redeployed him to some cavalry units in Texas his rating is: 3-0-1! What's the reason? He was in the same city as other generals, but not organized in an army or corps. Don't get it.

While grounding about that I decided to create a division. McCulloch is active and I had the means to do it, but the button was greyed out again! That might cause me some serious trouble with the blue jackets leure:

[Rafiki]

Generals that assume division command get a penalty to their ratings; perhaps there's something of the same for generals who redeploy?

(Never used the redeploy myself)

[Le Ricain]

Le Recain = "Human" ACW Encyclopedia

Gray & Tordenskjold,

Thanks for the kind comment.