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236 USA Benjamin F. Butler ldr_USA_Butler3 $Occupier NULL NULL NULL 8 15 3 7 General 1 NULL 1 1 2

Nicknamed "The Beast" for his oppressive occupation policies in New Orleans and "Spoons" for his confiscation of silver. His only successful offensive operation of the war was the 1861 campaign in North Carolina and that was mainly due to the Navy. His harsh occupation of New Orleans was widely condemned in both the North and in Europe. Jefferson Davis ordered that he be executed if captured. If Generals can be captured in the game that could be an interesting event.

236 USA Benjamin F. Butler ldr_USA_Butler3 $Hated_Occupier $Slow_Move NULL NULL 8 20 3 7 General 1 NULL 2 0 1

In game terms, I wonder why the Union player would use a 2-0-1 leader with negative traits for anything, rather than an anonymous 3-1-1 leader that might be around.

Good question. There's the political cost to remove him. I would hope the players can't get large numbers of anonymous leaders. Butler managed to hang around for more than three years. He could qualify for the recruiter ability to make him somewhat useful. I think he was the last of the really bad political leaders to go and he was really bad. We need more game information about leaders.

Occupier is not necessarly a negative trait, it can help calm a city, as he has done historically. Otherwise I agree that either he is too hardly judged, or generic leaders are too good, they should be 3-0-0 IMHO.

How many generic leaders can you have?

We are aiming at 6 initially plus 3 per year then.

obviously, i have no basis for the statement.... but that seems like alot of generic leaders.... esp considering the large number of historical leaders available..

perhaps tho pocus you're correct...maybe the generic leaders should be 3-0-0....otherwise there should be some sort of hidden/generic pol value for all historical generals to force the player to give them a command (even in lansing michigan) over the generic leaders..

I would say there's a small number of historical leaders. There are only 58 union and 51 confederate leaders by my count. The union can't come close to providing enough historical corps and army leaders for the formations they had by the end of the war.

Butler was not a good general, he was however, the best possible choice to occupy New Orleans. He was definitely hated, but he pacified that city very well. No matter the price placed on his head, once he took over the city, and issued Order # 28, the city definitely calmed down and was not really a problem again. The reason you want to keep him active is to garrison recently taken cities so you can pacify them as quickly as possible.

ok...well can the generic leaders come out with low, random stats then?

I'm unsure we will have time for that.

Spharv2 wrote:Butler was not a good general, he was however, the best possible choice to occupy New Orleans. He was definitely hated, but he pacified that city very well. No matter the price placed on his head, once he took over the city, and issued Order # 28, the city definitely calmed down and was not really a problem again. The reason you want to keep him active is to garrison recently taken cities so you can pacify them as quickly as possible.

I agree 100%. He was a terrible field general, but as a politician and an occupier he shaped the Union war effort. Both in New Orleans as you said, but also when he passed his order regarding runaway slaves as "contraband of war," allowing US troops to not have to return them to their masters. This move certainly hampered the southern war effort, as well as set the tone for later policy towards emacipation. Butler certainly deserves the terrible combat values, but he should be the most effective US general at managing conquered southern cities. Also, would anyone consider a trait, something like a recruiting officer, where he gets manpower for "colored" regiments, to represent the runaway slaves that flocked to his troops at Fort Monroe and New Orleans. I know that it was only after the Emancipation Proclaimation that Black troops were officially recruited, but it could provide some sort of manpower bonus until then (perhaps representing the soldiers freed up from manual labor, that would be done by contrabands instead). Just an idea.

236 USA Benjamin F. Butler ldr_USA_Butler3 $Hated_Occupant NULL NULL NULL 8 20 3 7 General 1 NULL 2 0 1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin_Butler_%28politician%29