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Played as the CSA for some time and started thinking in terms of fortifying the bottlenecks like Fredricksburg, Cinncinati and St Louis. The idea is to create an obstacle which 'fixes' the Union armies at one point so that I can hit them with my concentrated forces. Yet it doesn't seem to work...

Union armies bypass my fort at Manassas with impunity, rarely stopping there to beseige the fort there. At Fredricksburg they arrive and assault it immediately. Very often them manage to take it really quickly even with a collection of ex-militiamen turned regulars (about 12 units).

So, what exactly are the uses for (buildable) forts on the map? Do they impede/slow the progress of an opponent? Or do they just enhance the defence of one particular location? If so by how much?

Tnx in advance!

I know forts provide a bonus to defense, but I am not sure of the value. The Wiki should have that information in it.
I do not believe that they will impede an enemy, unless he is intent on assault.
As far as a strategy for building forts. I place them in key areas on the river, such as Paducah, KY. I also tend to build in Louisville, St Louis, and some of the smaller cities if I am seeing more than the usual river activity. I really like the Paducah location because an enemy naval unit is going to take some damage before heading down the Mississippi. This fort plus the ones behind it usually take care of most of the "expeditions" down the river.

As I understand it, to block movement or fire on shipping, forts need to contain at least 1 infantry/militia and 1 artillery unit, and they must be entrenched to at least level 5.

Hi
I think the level 5 entrenchment only applies to units on the open. This way the stack is considered like a non permanent fort.
Forts with arty will always be able to fire on enemy ships passing. What I don’t know is if forts without arty can also fire. Do they have some intrinsic fire power??

About impeding enemy movement, forts don't do it.
For this it will be better to entrench sizable forces on the region so they will exert a ZOC that impede passing them by. Units inside structures doesn’t exert ZOC, to my knowledge
Don’t know the exact numbers for the forts additional protection. But they give some defensive bonus (how much?? ) and limit the number of enemy elements who can assault at a given time, because of the limited frontage.
I agree with Doomwalker that the best way to use forts is to control rivers. If there is no river, I usually prefer to let the troops entrench and use the wagons and guns elsewhere.

Regards

arsan wrote:Hi
I think the level 5 entrenchment only applies to units on the open. This way the stack is considered like a non permanent fort.
Forts with arty will always be able to fire on enemy ships passing. What I don’t know is if forts without arty can also fire. Do they have some intrinsic fire power??

About impeding enemy movement, forts don't do it.
For this it will be better to entrench sizable forces on the region so they will exert a ZOC that impede passing them by. Units inside structures doesn’t exert ZOC, to my knowledge
Don’t know the exact numbers for the forts additional protection. But they give some defensive bonus (how much?? ) and limit the number of enemy elements who can assault at a given time, because of the limited frontage.
I agree with Doomwalker that the best way to use forts is to control rivers. If there is no river, I usually prefer to let the troops entrench and use the wagons and guns elsewhere.

Regards

Upon further review,
I concur, although we should update the wiki to make these points clearer.

I'm not totally certain about forts without artillery, but think (and hope) that they must have an artillery unit to fire...

Thanks for the feedback guys!

How does one entrench an army in the open? Just leaving a force in place is enough?

And BTW I guess forts would prolong a siege. Am I right?

Yes, they will entrench automatically, but having an engineer unit on the stack accelerates its progress. You will need several turns to get high level entrenchments.
Also, to attain level 5 or more entrenchment level you must have arty on the stack.
About siege, again don't know the exact numbers but yes, siege takes longer.
Lodilefty,
I was thinking about the intrinsic fire power because to build a fort you need to spend arty on it... but i don’t know the answer
In fact i seldom build any forts.
Depots, yes, frequently, but forts
They seem too expensive for what they offer, specially if you still need to put arty inside to fire passing ships.

Cheers!

Tnx for the info arsan.

Does this entrenchment also apply if a unit is inside a city? (you know when it is represented as a little flag)

You can entrench inside a structure too (city or fortifications), but this is a different place than outside, so you have to restart from scratch. Inside a structure, it means you are making preparations more than digging the earth as you guess.

Fortifications created during the war were rare, so here you are not building a brick fort, but an extensive line of forts and trenches, like around Washington.

Last, Forts do exert a ZOC, 2 time the amount of MC you have in the region, this can prevent units to slip past it. Supplement the fort ZOC with troops outside though, for a stronger effect.

Tnx Pocus. So a combination of large garrisons and a small army or corps should suffice to stop or at least slow the marauding Yankee armies.

Pocus wrote:Last, Forts do exert a ZOC, 2 time the amount of MC you have in the region, this can prevent units to slip past it. Supplement the fort ZOC with troops outside though, for a stronger effect.

Ups! I was not aware/remember this Sorry
Some more questions
1 -This rule applies both to stand alone pre-war forts and newly constructed (inside cities) forts??
2- I understand units inside structures don't exert ZOC (with the exception of forts) Is this right?
3- Do forts have intrinsic fire power (i mean, without arty units inside) ??

Offwolder

IMHO, as a rule of thumb, its better the other way around: small garrisons and big corps entrenched outside the structure.
Bear in mind that garrisons can't retire if they lose a battle. They are considered surrounded by the attacking army (like in a siege) and will surrender instead or retire
It's a risky thing and you can lose for good a lot of troops that, on the open, will retire to another region and be available to fight another day.

Another thing: if the attacking army only have attack orders (orange arrow) instead of assault (red arrow) they will not fight the garrison, just the units outside.
This have bad side: your defending forces are divided and won’t support each other in some instances. And a good side: even if you lose and retire to another region, the enemy will still need to siege / assault to structure, so they will spend at least another turn before fully controlling the region, giving you time to organize or react.

Regards!

1. yes
2. yes
3. no

Pocus wrote:1. yes
2. yes
3. no

Thanks!

Pocus wrote:You can entrench inside a structure too (city or fortifications), but this is a different place than outside, so you have to restart from scratch. Inside a structure, it means you are making preparations more than digging the earth as you guess.

Fortifications created during the war were rare, so here you are not building a brick fort, but an extensive line of forts and trenches, like around Washington.

A good example of a large fortification built during the war is Fortress Rosecrans in Murfressboro, TN. It was built by General Rosecrans to guard his supply base when he marched on Chattanooga in the summer of 1863. Portions of it still exist and are a part of Stones River National Battlefield.

Here is a site with a map of the fort and photos of the existing portions.

Fortress Rosecrans page on the SRNB site.

Hmm, it is amazing the stuff you learn every day. I live about 90 miles from Murfreesboro and never knew that was there. I will have to go check it out the next time I am up there.