April 1861 CSA Campaign AAR on Hard Difficulty

[soloswolf]

1) Ships just take a long time to build. Naval engineers will speed up both build and repair times a great deal.

2) In the status bar that shows your ZoC/Evade points, Ammo+Supply, etc. (It's a short zig-zag ling with a number next to it. Engineers and Siege guns can help you entrench faster, as can some general traits.

3) (My question) What are you spending all of your WS on?! You make an obscene amount per turn.

[lycortas]

Great AAR, thanks for writing it.

My i ask why you are building frigates and steam frigates? They are obscenely expensive and you can never match the fleet the Union has at start.


Mike

[Rafiki]

I'll join in, wondering about frigates; you mention that you build frigates to get more WS, but frigates cannot be used as blockade runners; only ships with transport capacity can perform in that role, i.e. transports and brigs.

[Turbo823]

1) Ships just take a long time to build. Naval engineers will speed up both build and repair times a great deal.

2) In the status bar that shows your ZoC/Evade points, Ammo+Supply, etc. (It's a short zig-zag ling with a number next to it. Engineers and Siege guns can help you entrench faster, as can some general traits.

3) (My question) What are you spending all of your WS on?! You make an obscene amount per turn.

Thanks for the information Solowolf.

I'm only getting between 25-30 WS a turn now. Before I was getting about 19 WS a turn. I'm not spending massive amounts as you can see from my reinforcements/replacements.

[Turbo823]

I'll join in, wondering about frigates; you mention that you build frigates to get more WS, but frigates cannot be used as blockade runners; only ships with transport capacity can perform in that role, i.e. transports and brigs.

I thought they could be used as both a raider and a blockade runner. I was going to stick them in the World Shipping box to hammer the naval transports then switch them over to a runner. The manual says that the world shipping box and the transports there provide supply to coastal areas. I was hoping to keep the supply for the coastal areas down so as to make coastal invasions less viable.

[Rafiki]

Raiders: in shipping box, attack Union shipping, need to be warships
Blockade runners: in blockade boxes, transport $ and WS, need to be transport or brigs. AFAIK, frigates have no transport capacity, and they are therefore useless as blockade runners.

Playing as the Union, I have never had any capacity problems when it comes to ocean supply, so I don't know if it's a viable strategy to try to curb Union coastal invasions that way. Also, any invading force can use supply from transport units that accompany them.

[Turbo823]

Here is why my WS are constantly at 19!


I didn't realize that leaving the Industrial markers was consuming War supplies ! Should the message box at the bottom be telling you that?

[soloswolf]

As long as you have the WS to maintain the investment, they will stay active. If you right click on them, they will go away and you will be free to purchase A LOT.

(For future reference, the bar across the top of your screen shows your 'on-hand' and amount produced this turn or each of your three resources. Your WS was consistently showing upwards of 50 and you obviously weren't spending much of it on troops, etc, which led to my question.)

The financial tab in your ledger shows on-hand, production, amount spent this turn, etc. and can be very helpful.

[Turbo823]

Raiders: in shipping box, attack Union shipping, need to be warships
Blockade runners: in blockade boxes, transport $ and WS, need to be transport or brigs. AFAIK, frigates have no transport capacity, and they are therefore useless as blockade runners.

Playing as the Union, I have never had any capacity problems when it comes to ocean supply, so I don't know if it's a viable strategy to try to curb Union coastal invasions that way. Also, any invading force can use supply from transport units that accompany them.

Its a lot easier to challenge the threat of a naval invasion by creating supply problems in the world shipping box than it is to defend against unrestricted supply and large scale invasion. With 3 frigates I hope to create some disruption. I am not sure about viability of this is either honestly but it makes me feel like I am doing something about reducing the threat.

[Turbo823]

As long as you have the WS to maintain the investment, they will stay active. If you right click on them, they will go away and you will be free to purchase A LOT.

(For future reference, the bar across the top of your screen shows your 'on-hand' and amount produced this turn or each of your three resources. Your WS was consistently showing upwards of 50 and you obviously weren't spending much of it on troops, etc, which led to my question.)

The financial tab in your ledger shows on-hand, production, amount spent this turn, etc. and can be very helpful.

Ah, ok. Well at least I don't have any WS issues now.

[W.Barksdale]

Raiders: in shipping box, attack Union shipping, need to be warships.

With the 50% improved efficiency in 1.10 it will be interesting to see how this turns out. I haven't yet tried it myself as I'm used to using the resources elsewhere.

[arsan]

I'm pretty sure CSA raider ships don't "really" attack USA transports. Raiders just make the USA lose some WS and money per turn, as the message on the log reports.
So your raiders will not have any direct effect on the sea supply capacity of the north. They will have some effect on the north economy, as they subtracts some resources from the USA pools, so they will be less able to build new troops. But only slightly.
Maybe in the veeery long run, the WS and money losses caused by your raiding could make the USA less able to build new transports and send them to the box. But this will be a very limited and indirect effect.

[Rafiki]

I've seen Union transports be sunk in the Shipping Box, but it doesn't happen often, and IMHO, I don't think you get much of a ROI for the firgates you buy and send there, compared to others you can do.

[arsan]

I've seen Union transports be sunk in the Shipping Box, but it doesn't happen often, and IMHO, I don't think you get much of a ROI for the firgates you buy and send there, compared to others you can do.

I had never see it!
I never build any raiders. Just use the ones you receive for free until i found a better use for them, if ever...
Runners are a MUCH better investment for the CSA IMHO...

[Turbo823]

Late January 1862:

Economy:
My War supply situation was much better than I thought! I failed to realize that leaving those industrial markers on in the economy was consuming all the war supplies. I thought mistakenly that they were a one time investment. On a positive note, those constant investments have left my economy in better shape so something good came out of it. I now need to catch up and close the gap with the troops. Fortunately I have the means.


Administration:I need to catch up and close the gap with the troops.


Replacements:
My troops on the ground have taken a heavy hit from the winter attrition. There are going to need replacements.


Reinforcements:
I am building the bigger composite line brigades this turn. Time for some slugging power. In addition, I've built a ocean brig. A really cool feature in this game is how militia are converted over to line infantry. The unit cards of the various state militia are all different and colorful. It all creates a nice atmosphere to the game. The locking of garrisons is also a nice feature as it forces you to defend areas instead of stripping the coastal areas and sending them north.


Industrialization: I spent enough on that for now!

Virginia Theatre:
McDowell ventures out towards Richmond along with Milroy. The terrain towards Richmond is mud so that should slow him down. Lee is now commanding the defense of Richmond although for some reason he has that padlock on him. Lee goes inside the settlement --if McDowell wants Richmond let him assault it or let the winter attrition eat him during a siege. Hello, Johnston is finally making some progress - as you can imagine his Johnston corps is severly reduced. Bonham will take up winter quarters in Burkesville. Jackson is still refitting in Lynchburg.


Tennessee Theatre:
Pretty quiet here although Grant is making some noise. Looks like Grant shed some of his troops on the river transport near Cornith. Wonder where they are headed..


Arkansas Theatre:
A lone Union cavalry moves on Fayetteville. Van Dorn is there with 4 militia which should be plenty to drive the invaders back.


New Orleans/Mobile:
Currently I have one line infantry brigade in New Orleans and Mobile. Both ironclads have been completed and deployed in an offensive posture. The New Orleans naval force also contains 3 gunboats. This may look like a decent deterrent but it isn't. I've seen Athena run by the fort artillery pieces in Tennessee and I saw how the Merrimac in Virginia was sunk. A large naval invasion with a strong commitment of ships will easily sweep by this. Mostly likely I will need full divisions in Charleston, Mobile, and New Orleans to have any chance of holding these important coastal cities.


Lower Mississippi:
Just a reminder to myself that I need to start defense preparations in the Lower Missisippi. Vicksburg is what prepared but another equally important strategic city is Port Hudson as it controls the passageway of 2 western rivers. I'd like to put a coastal gun in Port Hudson and strengthen the garrison. I'd like to put a brigade in Natchez to reinforce either Vicksburg or Port Hundson. Those coastal guns cost a fortune though.


Combat: None. There was however a lot of cannon fire centering in the blockade boxes.

[Turbo823]

1862 Early February:

Economy:
I plan to build Army HQ's this turn. One in Virginia (Shenandoah) under Johnston and another one in Tennesse under A. Johnston. I wonder if these 2 generals are related...


Reinforcements: 1 x Brig in Middle Atlantic, 2 Army HQs
Replacements: 8 x Line Infantry, 2 x Cav, 1 x Heavy Arty
Industrialization: None

French Intervention in Mexico:
This is something of a surprise as I had VH for Foreign Intervention! It seems a bit strange that the CSA is picking up resources from the French Conquests - makes no sense. The French troops are padlocked in Veracruz..


Tennessee Theatre:
Athena's strategy here perplexes me. The Union forces are all south of me without any visible means of a supply line. Even the rail lines are cut. I'll press hard with Polk and Hardee (in Memphis) once the weather improves.


Virginia Theatre:
The Union forces get caught in a cold snap and are exposed to winter attrition.


Naval: My first of 3 frigates is finished and moving towards the World Shipping box as a raider. We shall see how effective raiders are...

Combat: None

[pepe4158]

Turbo ...the unions problem is manpower, not resources like you, the little bit of damage you might inflict will be insignificant to the union, use those frigs as blockade runners, preferably from the gulf of mexico box as athena will tear them up in the other.

[lodilefty]

Turbo ...the unions problem is manpower, not resources like you, the little bit of damage you might inflict will be insignificant to the union, use those frigs as blockade runners, preferably from the gulf of mexico box as athena will tear them up in the other.

Frigates cannot be blockade runners. No transport capacity.

[Rafiki]

Frigates cannot be blockade runners. No transport capacity.

That's what I've been trying to say too!

[pepe4158]

lol...thks...yeah i build the brigands n never build frigates (as the south) myself anyway...so was confused why he even built them ......maybe send them to N.O. to protect against amphip invasions if a PVP game, but doubt athena uses amphipious assalts much huh?

Hmmm would it give some protection though to your blockade running brigands, or just slow them down then?

Just wondering since he has them where to put them to maximize their effect...maybe with a few transports in the gulf of mex square?...as Athena is pretty weak there with only one blockade flotilla in the gulf area?

My point really being all along as now that he DID build them, where could they best be used, as I contend a little stronger then Raf they would almost be worthless trying to destroy Athenas supplies (in her convoy square), as they would be better served if some how they could be used to bring more WS into Turbo (who is gona get killed anyway lol)

[Rafiki]

(...) Turbo (who is gona get killed anyway lol)

pepe, if you can't say something nicer than this, why bother saying at all?

Personally, I think Turbo is doing pretty well for his first campaign, and as the CSA and on "Hard", even. A lot better than I ever did, that's for sure

[pepe4158]

lol just jiving him Raf...yeah he stepped in it deep Id say n doing well for his first ever, but bite off more then he could chew we have a saying here.

But my point in posting was wondering what could he do with the frigates now that he had them? How could he make that blunder work to his advantage? N i think the best move would be buy a couple of transports and put them in the gulf of Mexico (transports seem to build fast).
In PvP he would be slaughtered doing that, but Athena usually puts only that one flotilla there...so maybe could pay off I was wondering?

Its funny, right before Jackson was killed in Lees greatest victory, he had ordered pikes for his Corps. men, because he liked bayonet charges and his men didnt have enough bayonets since they were mostly home equiped, after his death,the pikes just sat in a Richmond warehouse.

Point being they possibly could have been used for something n if Turbo finds a use for his frigates maybe Lee shoulda had Turbo lol

[Turbo823]

I have a couple of questions/comments:

1) With the 1.10 patch out, can I safely use it without having to restart? I'm using the Beta4 patch.

2) I know everyone is convinced that raiders are worthless, but in this new patch Pocus says that the raiders do more damage in the world shipping box. Has anyone actually experienced this or is the raider worthless assessment based on past experience. Just curious.

3) The load game function is really a mess and I have a lot of problems finding my AAR game to load. The load game takes forever to load. I've been saving every turn using the cntl-save button button after doing a normal save. The game format saves as CSA April Campaign as a pretext and the rest of file is barely legible. Its majorly frustrating.

[Pocus]

(3) you are inflicting you quite a lot of trouble, if you create new saved game each time you do a turn. The game save automatically every turn, with a 24 turns history. You don't have to control save, except if you want to duplicate your entire game!

[soundoff]

Personally, I think Turbo is doing pretty well for his first campaign, and as the CSA and on "Hard", even. A lot better than I ever did, that's for sure

I'd echo that Rafiki. I think its very commendable. I must also congratulate Turbo on putting a considerable amount of effort into producing a detailed AAR.

The only observation I'd make at this stage not covered by others is that I'd be inclined to raise taxes a couple of times and not be too worried about the inflationary costs just so I could offer a financial inducement in 'Calling for Volunteers' The extra conscipts you generate are IMHO well worth the trade off. After all in the long term its the lack of manpower that is likely to cripple.

[pepe4158]

I have a couple of questions/comments:

2) I know everyone is convinced that raiders are worthless, but in this new patch Pocus says that the raiders do more damage in the world shipping box. Has anyone actually experienced this or is the raider worthless assessment based on past experience. Just curious.
.

Well wouldnt say tottaly worthless, just as Raf pointed out not getting enough impact for your investment.
As the union Athena is never crippled by a shortage of WS as you are, and the liitle bit of damage you do to her cash flow is kinda negligable to her versus the shortage of WS you have.
So how to turn that WS shortage around is your problem...most PvP players put an ungodly amount of brigands in the gulf box...but since you have the frigates just trying to think of some good investment use for them as Athena puts only that 1 lone squadron down there, was thinking if you put your frigates in that gulf box, as a fleet with a few transports, you might make it pay off but Ive never tried it as I usually am trying things against Athena that would work in PvP and since I am countering that box in 1 of my games with an ungodly amount of flotillas may work against Athena but not PvP.

Yes even though I was teasing Turbo he is doing well considering, just think he made too many concessions (not using the Cav exploit) and bite off a little too much playing hard level first campaign as he is learning the hard way there were still things he needed to know and perhaps would have been better suited on normal, but he said he did want a fight lol, n Athena will definitly give you that on hard as I cant even exploit her anymore as the south.
Hope not to get too far off topic, but I lose or close to a draw as the south on normal, but slaughter her as the north on normal in the new patch and still wonder whats up with that?

[Turbo823]

1862 Late February:
I installed the 1.10 Patch for this turn.

Economy:


Draft: None, I'm tapped out of options. 22 Turns for partial mobilization and 10 Turns for a volunteer call.

Financials: None, except Printing Money which I don't want to do. I need to wait for 10 more turns.

Replacements: 2 x Army HQ (to flesh out those 2 HQs), 2 x Cav
Reinforcements: None

Virginia Theatre:
Athena pulls her forces back to Charlottesville but notice that the rail line there has been cut. There is no depot in Charlottesville so I imagine the Union will have a more difficult time refiting her units.


Tennessee Theatre:
Athena has majorly cut the rail lines in West Tennessee. I am using militia and a cav unit to repair. Those Union river transports have to be hurting as Fort Henry/Donelson have been scoring plenty of hits on something..


Tucson Arizona Theatre:
Athena has moved Halleck into Tucson with a division and a couple of brigades. Sibley division is mostly rangers and 1 cav unit, not enough to deal with the threat if Halleck moves into Texas.


Naval:
I am going to stick to my perhaps misguided plan of using raiders against Union shipping. My second frigate is moving to the Atlantic shipping box. The first frigate will be there in 9 days. A have both ships set to an offensive posture. It should be interesting to see how much damage 3 frigates can inflict in the Atlantic Shipping box.

Combat:
None

Events:
+1 NM for the First Confederate Congress meeting and +1 NM for Davis being inaugurated.

The Union has not done any sea invasions yet and it is 1862. This is a major weakness with the Union AI as taking forts and cities is the way to strangle the CSA economy.

[Turbo823]

Well wouldnt say tottaly worthless, just as Raf pointed out not getting enough impact for your investment.
As the union Athena is never crippled by a shortage of WS as you are, and the liitle bit of damage you do to her cash flow is kinda negligable to her versus the shortage of WS you have.
So how to turn that WS shortage around is your problem...most PvP players put an ungodly amount of brigands in the gulf box...but since you have the frigates just trying to think of some good investment use for them as Athena puts only that 1 lone squadron down there, was thinking if you put your frigates in that gulf box, as a fleet with a few transports, you might make it pay off but Ive never tried it as I usually am trying things against Athena that would work in PvP and since I am countering that box in 1 of my games with an ungodly amount of flotillas may work against Athena but not PvP.

Yes even though I was teasing Turbo he is doing well considering, just think he made too many concessions (not using the Cav exploit) and bite off a little too much playing hard level first campaign as he is learning the hard way there were still things he needed to know and perhaps would have been better suited on normal, but he said he did want a fight lol, n Athena will definitly give you that on hard as I cant even exploit her anymore as the south.
Hope not to get too far off topic, but I lose or close to a draw as the south on normal, but slaughter her as the north on normal in the new patch and still wonder whats up with that?

I don't mind the teasing one bit. In fact it is because of Pepe that I started the AAR to begin. Honestly, I enjoy a game much more when I lose to the AI as I really enjoy the challenge.

[Turbo823]

1861 Early March:

Economy:
In another 9 turns I'll be able to draft/raise money.


Industrialization: None
Draft: None
Financial: None

Reinforcements: None
Replacements: 2 x Line Inf, 2 x Cav, 2 x Field Arty

Virginia Theatre:
Athena seems to be withdrawing McDowell to Fredricksburg. Keyes has a division headed towards North Carolina in the winter.


Tennesse Theatre:
I'm moving Polk's division to reinforce Memphis. McColloch's division in Bowling Green moves south in case Grant's force moves south. Grant has combined forces and has 2 divisions with him. I leave Breckingridge with a brigade to hold Bowling Green.


Naval Theatre:
1 Frigate has arrived in the Atlantic shipping box. 2 more is in route. I divert the Pymouth squadron to the box as well. I'll have 4 raiders there eventually.


Combat:
Grant engages Polk and easily wins the engagement.

[Rafiki]

I'm *really* not envying those transportation numbers of yours

Are there any Union threats on Nashville, or are things quiet around there?