Newbe stuff

[Pitbull]

Hi everyone,

For context, I bought the game a while back and tried unsucessfully to master it. I'm back at it again but this time I'm going to ask my "dumb" questions instead of stumbling around with trial and error.

1. From what I've read from Runyon's AACW 101 post, Armies stacks cannot attack which I understand. So is there any benefit to include Corp's in the stack?

2. Regarding activation: I've been playing the 1862 East scenerio as the Union. Is there anyway to get the initial Corps to activate faster? Some don't seem to activate at all. Are those Generals good for anything?

3> How do you keep an amphib operation supplied over several weeks?

[It's a Trap]

1. Combining the 2 removs the corps and makes it a army stack. Army stacks are good for reserves cause they can and I believe have the highest chnace to "march to the sound of the guns".

2. Activation is based on a random chance. The higher the stategic rating the better the odds. And beginning Union Generals are not very bad at this.

3. Take a port, build a depot if its a small one. And make sure your supply is pumping 3/3 in naval transports

[Jim-NC]

Welcome to the forums.

1. A corps is different than an Army. An Army stack has a 3 star general and his HQ in and says something like "Army of the Potomac". A corps is a stack that has a 2 star general that is attached to an army. Corps provide many benefits (like MTSG, command increases). So usually, you send your corps to attack (not your army).

2. Active generals playing as the Union? Good luck. The first stat of a general is his activation so a 3-1-1 general has an activation of 3 (you will see that a really good general like Lee or Grant has a 5 or 6 activation, while a not so good general like McClellan has a 1). The game makes a "roll" to determine if a general becomes active (or inactive). You just have had bad "rolls" on your activation. McClellan is almost never active.

3. Bring wagons with the attacking force. Wagons attract supply.

Use the search function to find posts that list information about these and any other questions you might have. And if all else fails, ask, someone will come along and answer your questions.

[enf91]

The easy answer to your 2nd question is that your army is led by McClellan, who is a 1 in strategic rating. Because he is an army commander, his ineptitude rubs off on his corps commanders. The only way to get rid of this effect is to get rid of McClellan. If you do it early, you will have to suffer a MASSIVE NM effect because his political rating is very high. If you suffer it for a few months, his political rating drops after 2 events to 25, so your NM penalty drops from 20 to 5. This, of course, means that you have to suffer having a useless army against Lee, but at least your production and cohesion rates won't drop 10%.

[GraniteStater]

To be absolutely clear, the activation numbers (SR) and Off/Def are just like a die. 6 means the general is always activated, 1 is, well, 1/6 of the time.

An Army stack can be inactive in any given turn, but the Corps stacks may well be active. The idea is to fight with the Corps, kind of. You don't have to - sometimes I have smaller, self-contained Armies without any attached Corps. The Army HQ stack will go to support its own Corps a bit quicker than a Corps will.

[phantomfeather]

Hi everyone,

For context, I bought the game a while back and tried unsucessfully to master it. I'm back at it again but this time I'm going to ask my "dumb" questions instead of stumbling around with trial and error.

1. From what I've read from Runyon's AACW 101 post, Armies stacks cannot attack which I understand. So is there any benefit to include Corp's in the stack?

2. Regarding activation: I've been playing the 1862 East scenerio as the Union. Is there anyway to get the initial Corps to activate faster? Some don't seem to activate at all. Are those Generals good for anything?

3> How do you keep an amphib operation supplied over several weeks?

Pitbull,
ACW does have a pretty steep learning curve which, if you're a junky like me, will become rewarding after you start getting the basics down. I've been at it more than a year & I'm still learning. I'm playing my first PBEM game now which is MUCH different than playing against the FI.

Like a previous post said; ask around or search the forum, it's an excellent place for advice. This place is extremely helpful even to the more experienced players. The guys that run this forum, the modders, team coordinators & whatever other titles they have are extremely helpful.

Welcome to the forum & good hunting!

[Vegetius]

To be absolutely clear, the activation numbers (SR) and Off/Def are just like a die. 6 means the general is always activated, 1 is, well, 1/6 of the time.

In fact, a general with a strategic rating of 6 can be inactive is the dice roll shows twice 1, i have already asked to Pocus.

And an Army won't attack if there are Corps in the same region but it will attack if it is the single stack in the area.

[Mickey3D]

And an Army won't attack if there are Corps in the same region but it will attack if it is the single stack in the area.

But it will support the corps if this one fights (there is perhaps some randomness linked to the leader strategic rating - not sure).

So including a corps in an army stack with a good leader is still a valid way of doing : alone it can act as a corps, together with a stack it will support it (don't forget to use the coordinated move order [sorry not sure of the name in english as I'm playing with a french version : it's the two parallel arrows]).

[Pitbull]

I am very impressed with the level of support that you all provide w/o the condenscending tone I've seen in other forums. I really appreciate the insight. "I'll be back."

[Big Ideas]

Also a leader who was active last turn gets a +1 to this turn's strategic rating. So your fours and fives leaders can be quite dependable.

And any leader with a strategic rating of 6 or higher and fail his check by rolling a six followed by a second six (a special die-roll for leaders rolling a six). So all leaders can have 1/36 chance of failing.

[Benihana]

Also a leader who was active last turn gets a +1 to this turn's strategic rating. So your fours and fives leaders can be quite dependable.

And any leader with a strategic rating of 6 or higher and fail his check by rolling a six followed by a second six (a special die-roll for leaders rolling a six). So all leaders can have 1/36 chance of failing.

Did he mention if the double-6's were checked before or after the +1 to rating? If the +1 is added prior the check, the odds of an inactive 6 star of being inactive on the third turn would be 1/18 and 1/9 for all turns after (anytime he is active 2 turns in a row, the third turn would be 1/9).

I should think the +1 would be added prior the check else 5 star generals would be better than 6 star (a 6 star would have a 1/6 chance to roll a 6, while a 5 star would roll a 5 and not pass the double-6 check, then +1 and stay active).