Advice needed!

[Moriety]

Hi all,

I new to the game and playing my first grand campaign as the Union- and loving every minute of it!

I'd really appreciate some advice that the manual doesn't explain or I've missed, so here goes:

1) I've never got any dollars to spend unless I enact the bills when allowed- I suspect this might be because I've Industrialised every region to light Industry level and Maryland to Medium Industrial level. My current stocks are $25k/341 Conscript Companies and 1275 War supplies.
If it is the Industrialisation that is the problem can anyone offer advice on which States to Industralise and to what level?

2) What is actually used up when you form a Corps or division out of the above supplies? (ie: When you press the button for the Officer concerned to form a division).

3) How are the odds calculated for the strategic level of an officer to decide whether or not he is active?

4) "Hated Occupant" trait: I've searched hard to try to discover if this means he is good to be in pro-rebel town I have captured or should be kept well away...

5) Do the three key skills of an officer (Strategic/attack/defence) ever change or are they fixed for the game?

6) Is one supply train enough for a Corps of three divisions or would you recommend one supply train per division?

7) I read that 4 transport units can be combined but cannot do so?

8) I cannot form a division inside a town where I've created an Army and a Corps even though the 1* General is active- what might the reasons be?

9) I am forming 2-Regiment (or brigade?) Cavalry Units to act as police units against the never-ending suicide units the CSA AI keeps sending behind my lines (To the point I watched an Army Corps that was threatening a town disband and send the units off singularly thus ending any threat to the town).
Should these Police units be formed into baby divisions, kept leaderless or have the general take charge of just one unit whilst keeping the other in the stack? Any advice?

10) In a Corps is just one engineer needed inside one of the divisions or one per division? Same goes for balloons, Signals and field hospitals?

11) The biggie for me!:
I simply cannot fully understand the shipping and blockade box effects: Should I have One large fleet in each or several small fleets? What naval units should be used to protect the transports- I note the comments on the high patrol value of light frigates. Should I have as many warships in both of the boxes (the manual simply states balance- but the transports are cargo vessels!). Any advice on this one would be greatly appreciated as once I've understood what to put in them I can use my remaining warships for brown-water blockades!

Thanks in advance for any help offered

ps: When is the function of building railways going to be implemented?

[Aphrodite Mae]

Hi, Moriety! Welcome to the Forums! I think you'll find a lot of friendly, helpful people here, to help you when you can't find the answer to questions on your own.

Two excellent resources we have available are the "search" option on the menu bar at the top. You can click "advanced search" at the bottom to enable you to type in keywords to limit your results. The other resource we have is the AACW Wiki, which is a lot like an on-line encyclopedia. You'll find links to the Wiki in many signatures of forum members... often, along with links to the latest patches!

So... here are a couple of links to help you:
AACW Wiki: http://ageod.nsen.ch/aacwwiki/Main_Page
Latest AACW Patch: http://ageoddl.telechargement.fr/latest/AACW_Patch.zip

You may have noticed that some forum members have rows of small green pips beneath their avatar. Generally, the more pips there are, the more reliable the person's advice. That's because the pips mean that they've been awarded "reputation" by people who found their posts helpful. I'm the sole exception to this on the forum, as far as I know.

Another thread which may help answer a few fundamental questions is the thread, "What's not in the Manual". Here's the link:
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=10483

Have fun!
Havely

EDIT My husband has created a library of useful links for newcomers, here.

[Yellowhammer]

moriety,

1) As you suspect, you are spending way too much on Industrialization - and taking the big money hit every turn. I usually Industrialize States with 'Excellent' and if I'm feeling rich I'll add 'Very Good'. If money gets tight I'll turn them off. Note that in a year or so you won't need to industrialize much at all for War Supplies - you'll have more than enough.

2) IIRC 10 money, 5 conscripts, 1 War Supply for Division; nothing for Corps.

3) Dunno. Probably on the forum somewhere.

4) I think the Rebs will hate him... but I really I have no clear idea of the effect. Probably lowers the population loyalty stats.

5) Ratings can change (i.e., after successful attack an officer's offense rating goes up, which is why some players send some of the better officers off on invasions / raids to amp up stats).

6) Supply depends - I think that one unit is enough in a stack (i.e., Corps) for offense / defense bonus, but it can't feed everybody through the Winter.

7) To combine units - Select, Ctrl Select, Ctrl C. There's a list somewhere of all the units that can be combined.

8) Dunno. Are any of the units locked?

9) If I have an extra Division slot available, I'll choose a good Cavalry Trait General for a "baby division" (i.e., Sheridan with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th US Cavalry pacifying MO raiders and romping through IT and AR and TX). Putting a spare General in a stack is good. In the situation you describe with two Cavalry units, I would give the General command of one and keep the other in the stack with them (as you said).

10) Engineer - one per stack (i.e., Corps). Same for Signal and Medical.

11) By "balance", I think they mean balancing your blockading fleets between the Atlantic Blockade Box and the Gulf Blockade Box (i.e., maintaining a fleet in each one). I've seen some threads discussing several smaller fleets (stacks) versus one big fleet (stack) in each box, but I usually try to keep one fleet in each. I think that keeping a couple of transports with the blockade fleets helps keep them out there longer - but that may be just me (and not the actual game).

As for the Shipping Box, I usually put a brig unit and a frigate unit stacked with my transports - but I don't know if it helps or not. If I can see CSA Commerce Raiders, I may try to send a USA Hunter / Killer Squadron after them (brig, frigate, coupla steam frigates under an Admiral set to offense).

One more tip on using the USA Navy - keep a blockade fleet (I include Ironclad 'Monitor') at Hampton Roads to prevent an attack on Fortress Monroe VA. Also sometimes I'll move the Gulf Blockade Squadron unit to Fort Pickens FL to prevent attacks there.

PS - I think that the railroad building function got derailed...

[Le Ricain]

Hi all,

I new to the game and playing my first grand campaign as the Union- and loving every minute of it!

I'd really appreciate some advice that the manual doesn't explain or I've missed, so here goes:

1) I've never got any dollars to spend unless I enact the bills when allowed- I suspect this might be because I've Industrialised every region to light Industry level and Maryland to Medium Industrial level. My current stocks are $25k/341 Conscript Companies and 1275 War supplies.
If it is the Industrialisation that is the problem can anyone offer advice on which States to Industralise and to what level?

Stop spending money industrialising. There is no need to industrialise as the Union as you will receive plenty of supplies and war supplies.

2) What is actually used up when you form a Corps or division out of the above supplies? (ie: When you press the button for the Officer concerned to form a division).

10 money + 5 supply + 1 conscript

3) How are the odds calculated for the strategic level of an officer to decide whether or not he is active?

I believe that is based on a 6 sided die roll. A general with a strategic rating of 1 will be active 1/6 of the time on average.

4) "Hated Occupant" trait: I've searched hard to try to discover if this means he is good to be in pro-rebel town I have captured or should be kept well away...

No idea, but placing a tool tip over the trait will tell you the effects.

5) Do the three key skills of an officer (Strategic/attack/defence) ever change or are they fixed for the game?

Yes they can change. As a corps leader, they are changed by the Army general's traits. Generals who are successful in combat improve their offence and defense values alternately.

6) Is one supply train enough for a Corps of three divisions or would you recommend one supply train per division?

One supply train per corps is enough.

7) I read that 4 transport units can be combined but cannot do so?

I am not sure why you would want to combine 4 transport units together.

8) I cannot form a division inside a town where I've created an Army and a Corps even though the 1* General is active- what might the reasons be?

You are probably lacking money, supplies or conscripts needed to pay for division (see no 2 above).

9) I am forming 2-Regiment (or brigade?) Cavalry Units to act as police units against the never-ending suicide units the CSA AI keeps sending behind my lines (To the point I watched an Army Corps that was threatening a town disband and send the units off singularly thus ending any threat to the town).
Should these Police units be formed into baby divisions, kept leaderless or have the general take charge of just one unit whilst keeping the other in the stack? Any advice?

Two regiment cavalry units or cavalry plus horse artillery make good killer units for tracking down CSA cavalry or raiders invading the north. I usually put them under the command of one the cavalry trait generals.

10) In a Corps is just one engineer needed inside one of the divisions or one per division? Same goes for balloons, Signals and field hospitals?

One per corps is enough.

11) The biggie for me!:
I simply cannot fully understand the shipping and blockade box effects: Should I have One large fleet in each or several small fleets? What naval units should be used to protect the transports- I note the comments on the high patrol value of light frigates. Should I have as many warships in both of the boxes (the manual simply states balance- but the transports are cargo vessels!). Any advice on this one would be greatly appreciated as once I've understood what to put in them I can use my remaining warships for brown-water blockades!

Thanks in advance for any help offered

ps: When is the function of building railways going to be implemented?

In the blockade boxes you should place large fleets. Your blockade number should be around 40. The effect is exponential which means to go above 40% becomes expensive in terms of fleet investment. Use your brown water fleet to blockade ports.

In the shipping box, set your transports to evade combat. You might want to beef up the African squadron with a steam frigate or two. Leave the fleet on defensive as offensive setting is not any better ffor locating enemy ships, but causes cohesion loss.

[Jabberwock]

1) Industrialization

3) A random roll 1-6 must be less than the general's strategy rating for him to activate.

4) Dunno.

5) Each experience star a general earns will raise either defensive or offensive rating, odd stars raise defensive, even raise offensive.

7) The list. Combining transports allows the building of additional transports beyond the original limits.

8) If even one unit in a stack is fixed or static, you will not be able to form a division. A fixed unit is easy to spot, it will have a lock in one corner of the unit in the unit pane, and another will show on the orders envelope to the upper right of the unit pane. Static militias are harder to spot. They will not show the individual lock, just the one on the envelope. Fortunately, they are usually stacked with fixed units. Tooltips for the individual units will also display this information.

9) I would not use extra leaders for small cavalry stacks. What Yellowhammer suggests for Sheridan is the minimum size stack I would consider giving a leader as the union. If you are trying to track and kill enemy cavalry, you don't have time to wait around for a general to activate. Generals think, colonels act.

11) USA - Balancing your fleets between blockade boxes will increase the blockade percentage. Keeping a couple transports rotating to those boxes will increase longevity. I generally use a steam frigate or two to protect the shipping box, regular frigates for the blockade boxes, the rest of my heavy ships divided into one or two serious blockade fleets, and brigs to support amphibious raiding. If amphibious raids aren't a big part of your strategy, brigs are very flexible for other tasks, either filling out brown water or blue water blockades, and slightly increasing longevity of those fleets.

CSA - Dividing fleets seems to help evasion if you're seriously outnumbered, but one big one is better for clearing out enemy raiders.


The railroad building function is not expected until AACW2. It is too big a change for a patch. It needs to be included into the original design of a game in order to work properly.

[Rafiki]

Division formating is explained in length (and illustrated!) at http://www.ageod.net/aacwwiki/Division#Creating_divisions

[Moriety]

Thank you all very much for your replies and thanks for the welcome!

This has been very informative.

I think I'll do a test with the leader I have that has the "hated occupant trait" (The tool-tip simply states he will impose martial-law without hesitation in any city he occupies)- I'll try him on his own and with a unit.

I managed to combine my transports and the single frigates too.

I've now decided on my fleet options and will be sending a single fleet to each of the 3 boxes thus:
Shipping box:
3 scouts
4 Frigates
2 Armoured Frigates
3 Steam Frigates
11x4 Transports (443 capacity)
Power= 537

Atlantic blockade:
4 Scouts
4 Lt Frigates
5xBlockade Fleets

Mexico Blockade:
2 Scouts
4 Lt Frigates
4 1/2 Blockade Fleets!
2 Steam Frigates

This leaves me with two smallish fleets- one for Hampton Roads and a roving one- possibly to later be supplemented into an assault fleet for landings.

Shame about the railways not being implemented, but hearing an ACW2 is on the way is a great substitute! (I hope it allows a "Long game" option and the choice to actually fight on a battle map any of the battles within the campaign if desired (like "Imperialism" did- but on a better battlemap of course))

One final thing: Am I correct in assuming from all your replies that the strategic rating of an officer never changes?

Thanks once again everyone,

Toby

[Aphrodite Mae]

One final thing: Am I correct in assuming from all your replies that the strategic rating of an officer never changes?
Toby

You're correct. Here's a Wiki link which explains it under "Effects for Leaders" at the bottom of the page:
http://ageod.nsen.ch/aacwwiki/Experience


Havely

PS Now, I have a question for the forum! Is it possible to generate a PDF of the AACW wiki for hardcopy, rather than printing out individual topics?

[Coffee Sergeant]

1) [
3) A random roll 1-6 must be less than the general's strategy rating for him to activate.

Wasn't there a change in one of the patches that leaders which were already active were more likely to be active on the next turn, and leaders which were inactive were also likely to be inactive the next turn?

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[Rafiki]

PS Now, I have a question for the forum! Is it possible to generate a PDF of the AACW wiki for hardcopy, rather than printing out individual topics?

I'm afraid not

[Pocus]

Wasn't there a change in one of the patches that leaders which were already active were more likely to be active on the next turn, and leaders which were inactive were also likely to be inactive the next turn?

It has always been there. If a leader was active the previous turn, he gets a +1 to remains active the next one.

Also, while I'm at secondary rules, a leader with 6+ rating always fails to be active if he rolls a 6 then another 6.

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[Daxil]

Also, while I'm at secondary rules, a leader with 6+ rating always fails to be active if he rolls a 6 then another 6.

Aww the week Napolean caught the flu and lost his hat.

[maqwyn]

I'm fairly new and have been reading more than posting but I might have one clue for you. I have found when making a division if you have one unit in the group your trying to add that is "this unit is static for X number turns" it can taint the whole group. When having trouble grouping your division check each brigade your trying to add. It won't always have the lock in it and you must search in the tool tip. Hope that helps.