Unit Combination: data loss on elements

[Carrington]

Weird things happen when you combine and split units:

Split units out of a division, and it looks like some of their elements take on generic names? (I'm not sure about this, but I was noticing a number of "infantry" elements after splitting out a division).

I'm also scratching my head at the 1st WV Brigade, which now contains the 16th and the 18th New York regiments... Does a division repopulate its names when it divides?

Also, odd issues and undocumented features with the split behavior:

1) I notice that the Irish Brigade can be split as if it were a division.
2) Sometimes a division must be split a number of times to reveal all its components. (it seems this is particularly an issue when a leader is attached).

Combination: Militia units from two states can be combined into one militia unit. Interesting.

1) More interesting: the combined unit will adopt one of its states as the correct one. e.g. combine a PA and a WV militia unit of one element each -- it becomes a PA militia unit of two elements.

2) In the above situation the elements take on the PA identity as well, so that the 2.PA Volunteer element and the 5.WV volunteer will both have the "PA" icon in the element panel.

It's not clear what's going on under the hood -- in this case, does the 5.WV volunteer lose its combat bonus for being in West Virginia?

[Carrington]

Ah, I see, when a division splits, it doles out regiments to its brigades randomly -- I notice that the 1 West Virginia Brigade now contains "Infantry" regiment and "5 NY 'Zouave Guards" (and seems to have lost its 6 pounder battery.)

Hmmm.. not quite... 2-3 recombinations later, and 1 WV Brigade seems to have settled down with its 5 NY Zouave Guards and its infantry, while the two New York regiments have disappeared. Something very funky going on under the hood.

[caranorn]

The bit about the 6 pounder artillery is due to the fact that much of those are in fact 10 pounder or better. In other words, light artillery seems to upgrade to regular artillery, but those brigades are set to only contain light artillery, so when they split from a division you end up with an all infantry (or infantry and cavalry) brigade and a lone artillery battery (with a new name, like Light Infantry Regiments separated from their brigades...), in the next replacement phase the brigade is likely to receive a new Light Artillery battery bringing it back to its theoretical strength.

[Pocus]

this is for now a limitation of the engine... that elements are split to brigades without remembering from which brigade they were in the first instance. I'm more and more thinking of improving this part, because this would solve some problems, as a brigade would always be able to get an element which was a part of it initially, whatever the new kind of element (ie even if the 6 lb changed to 12 lb, this would still be allowed).

[runyan99]

What is going on with the artillery? 6lb guns seem to magically transform into 10lb Parrots, and 12lb Napoleons all seem to morph into 20lb Parrotts when incorporated into a division. This is a bug I presume.

EDIT - actually, it seems this doesn't only happen to brigades rolled into a division. I found one brigade which has never been part of a division, and their artillery element, named '12 lb pounder' is mysteriously made up of, yes, 20 lb Parrotts.

Everything changes to rifled Parrotts.

[Jacek]

Runyan, maybe they are just upgrading their weaponry. The manual says it will happpen later in the game. Which year is it?

[Pocus]

the element has been improved by the regular upgrades done every turn by events. But the limitation I was speaking about is fixed now, for the next update: elements will remember what was the parent unit now, so this is fixing quite a bit of issue in the new version.

note: I will be away until tuesday evening.

[runyan99]

the element has been improved by the regular upgrades done every turn by events.

Okay, but they seem to be happening too fast. Historically the CSA was hard pressed to put artillery into the field at all, and yet in my game it is only March 1862 and almost all of my 6lb and 12lb Napoleons have already been upgraded, and I'm just tripping over 10lb and 20lb Parrott rifles.

Personally, I'm quite skeptical that the CSA was able to upgrade ornance like this at all during the war.

[runyan99]

I've got an absurd example.

Early in '62 I recruited and trained an Arkansas brigade which included a battery of 6lb guns. While the unit was still en route to it's division, the brigade had already upgraded to 10lb Parrotts! The original guns never even made it to the front.

Where are they finding new artillery in Arkansas? This upgrade function is WAY out of control.

[Pocus]

we will check that, thanks.