Any assisitance would be helpfull
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I have just played a few scenarios and the tutorials and I am still baffled by this game. So I have decided to bite the bullet and play a full campaign from the beginning to see what happens.
The civil war
Confederates
normal difficulty
no AI extra time.
Turn 1
Not having a clue about economics, and only a basic understanding of reinforcement and replacement. I decide to look at my active armies to see if there is any organisation that needs doing.
First thing I spot is a group of units near Fort Sumter with no command elements at all, but available for action. I move these in offensive mode to Fort Sumter.
I move the Suffolk militia to Norfolk naval base to lay siege.
I move the Winchester militia to Harpers ferry to lay siege.
I notice the ‘R’ scroll active units button stops working I must assume I have no more land units that could move that have not been assigned orders.
The ‘T’ & ‘Y’ button doesn’t do anything so I assume all the naval units are locked.
Just to make sure I go to the ledger to see if you can see active units in it.
F1. No luck you cant seem to see if a unit is active from the ledger, but I am impressed with the filter buttons down the side this will be useful later.
F2 reveals that there are no reinforcements available
F3 shows that there are replacements. Not really understanding what this is all about I decide to buy some infantry replacements and militia replacements to cover for losses in the first turn.
F4 is very scary. I think I should call for volunteers I have no idea if this has already been done. I suspect it has because of all the militia and garrison units locked on the map?? The manual says this is a good idea at the start of a war so I do it.
F5 is practically terrifying. I don’t like the look of any of these. Leave well alone I think.
F6 is a bit worrisome. I know the confederacy is hopelessly outmatched industrially so I am tempted to industrialise my best regions (I naively assume these to be Virginia, North Carolina and Missippi)Actually the best is Georgia!. I know I am short of river transport so I buy 5.
I have a quick read of the manual at this point. Ummm still not sure what this is about. I will do light industrialise Georgia. I notice industrialisation is dropping my war supplies. I have no idea what the effect of this is, so I go for light rather than medium industrialisation bit less scary.
F7 looks ok as it is my people are all loyal or near enough. I wonder if this is designed at the right level disloyalty in the civil war was regional rather than state based. Eg Western Virginia and Eastern Tennessee.
F8 is too scary.
F9 Interesting but not to relevant yet.
Run out of ideas. I will press the end of turn button.
Turn 2
Bit worrying took 30 seconds to process that turn. With an AMD FX55 and 2 gig of Ram.
No sign of any hostile activity from the Union.
I notice Fort Sumter is besieged, but there is no siege counter on the board. Odd? I decide to assault the garrison rather than wait to see if the enemy reinforce.
Norfolk is besieged and due to the weakness of my force I decide to continue the siege.
Harpers ferry is besieged and due to the weakness of my force I decide to continue the siege.
I have a lot of 1 star generals with blank heads not sure what this signifies. I decide to spread them out to some of the nearby csa garrisons and militias besieging union garrisons.
I have some cavalry in Texas. I decide to move them to Dallas for a possible attack into New mexico.
I decide to invest in light industrialisation in Virginia.
I look at the messages and apparently the call for volunteers has given me 153 conscript companies. I don’t know where they are because they aren’t in the reinforcement screen. I hope they will turn up later.
A message about an Iron works in rome (don’t know where that is) might be due to my industrialisation efforts. I decided to double click on the message and it shows Rome is in Georgia.
Time to end the turn.
TBC..........If anyone is interested?
"TBC..........If anyone is interested?"
I am. I have started a campaign game and am a few months into it, and I am interested in strategies other players are following. I called for volunteers right off the bat with gratifying results playing as the North. In 61 I am following the strategy of securing the border states of Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland. It worked well enough for the North historically.
I am. I have started a campaign game and am a few months into it, and I am interested in strategies other players are following. I called for volunteers right off the bat with gratifying results playing as the North. In 61 I am following the strategy of securing the border states of Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland. It worked well enough for the North historically.
Stoneage
Also definitely interested...have been waiting for more AAR type info. AACW is much more complex than BOA ( in a very good way ) and the map is larger. Its been a steep learning curve for me w/o some tips, strategies, etc. to get started. Like you I am playing the Confederates after playing tutorial a couple of times. So far not doing too bad and am adjusting the various F1-F8 ledger items to get a feel for the gameplay. Unlike you. I am playing on AMD 3000XP w/ 1 gig of Ram and giving the AI xtra time. Turns take about 2-2.5 minutes to process.
Also definitely interested...have been waiting for more AAR type info. AACW is much more complex than BOA ( in a very good way ) and the map is larger. Its been a steep learning curve for me w/o some tips, strategies, etc. to get started. Like you I am playing the Confederates after playing tutorial a couple of times. So far not doing too bad and am adjusting the various F1-F8 ledger items to get a feel for the gameplay. Unlike you. I am playing on AMD 3000XP w/ 1 gig of Ram and giving the AI xtra time. Turns take about 2-2.5 minutes to process.
Turn 3
Took 40 seconds to process.
Victory we have captured Fort Sumter, I decide to garrison the fort .
A load of units have appeared near Norfolk so I am gathering the active ones together to bolster the militia besiging the city.
The only union activity was to abandon the Naval Yards at Gosport, thanks Yanks.
We have lots of armies mobilising I need to check these out.
I have only just noticed whats going on in Kentucky. Historically this state started the war neutral with a pro-csa bias. I would expect some of poltical event to bring Kentucky into the war. In the Victory games boardgame it depnded on which side violated the Kentucky neutrality first else it eventually went union anyway. It seems the Union control is limited to Padacah, Louisville and Bowling Greene and the rest is ours.
I decide to look at the other neutral state Missouri. This is Confederate south of the Usage river and Union to the north. Yet again I am surprise this complex political issue is not modelled via game events.
I notice I have naval raiders in Charleston so I send them to the Atlantic Shipping box.
Blockade runners from Galverston are sent into the gulf blockade box.
I notice union blockade at 15% is this the first sign the union are going to fight.
Suddenly I have loads of replacements in the pool on the F2 screen.
There is a CSA army in Richmond ‘Army of the Potomac’ I assume this is a historically accurate name! I want to organise army corps but there are no divisional HQ’s. I arrange for some divisional HQ’s and some new brigades as reinforcements.
Both my new armies are locked down. Drat.
I move Polks command to Fort Doneldson to prevent the union advancing down the rivers to sever Northern Kentucky from the Confederacy.
End of Turn 3.
Turn 4
Took 35 seconds
Union are starting to move they seized the depot in Rolla, luckily Prices command formed in south Missouri I send them to Springfield.
Armies still locked.
Sent out more blockade runners; Union blockades down to 10% not sure what this actually means.
Bought a few replacements my resource figures soon went red does that means there will be a delay or does it mean these wont be created. Cut back on replacements to leave resource figures black.
Sent detachment from Richmond to Norfolk to help end the siege.
End of turn 4
Took 40 seconds to process.
Victory we have captured Fort Sumter, I decide to garrison the fort .
A load of units have appeared near Norfolk so I am gathering the active ones together to bolster the militia besiging the city.
The only union activity was to abandon the Naval Yards at Gosport, thanks Yanks.
We have lots of armies mobilising I need to check these out.
I have only just noticed whats going on in Kentucky. Historically this state started the war neutral with a pro-csa bias. I would expect some of poltical event to bring Kentucky into the war. In the Victory games boardgame it depnded on which side violated the Kentucky neutrality first else it eventually went union anyway. It seems the Union control is limited to Padacah, Louisville and Bowling Greene and the rest is ours.
I decide to look at the other neutral state Missouri. This is Confederate south of the Usage river and Union to the north. Yet again I am surprise this complex political issue is not modelled via game events.
I notice I have naval raiders in Charleston so I send them to the Atlantic Shipping box.
Blockade runners from Galverston are sent into the gulf blockade box.
I notice union blockade at 15% is this the first sign the union are going to fight.
Suddenly I have loads of replacements in the pool on the F2 screen.
There is a CSA army in Richmond ‘Army of the Potomac’ I assume this is a historically accurate name! I want to organise army corps but there are no divisional HQ’s. I arrange for some divisional HQ’s and some new brigades as reinforcements.
Both my new armies are locked down. Drat.
I move Polks command to Fort Doneldson to prevent the union advancing down the rivers to sever Northern Kentucky from the Confederacy.
End of Turn 3.
Turn 4
Took 35 seconds
Union are starting to move they seized the depot in Rolla, luckily Prices command formed in south Missouri I send them to Springfield.
Armies still locked.
Sent out more blockade runners; Union blockades down to 10% not sure what this actually means.
Bought a few replacements my resource figures soon went red does that means there will be a delay or does it mean these wont be created. Cut back on replacements to leave resource figures black.
Sent detachment from Richmond to Norfolk to help end the siege.
End of turn 4
Turn 5
Decided to assault Norfolk
Bought a few more reinforcements.
Decided to rip up rail line between Bowling Greene and Louisville. Noticed that if you move and issue command it rips up the rails in the starting state not the one the unit moves too. Oops that was valuable confederate property you just destroyed son!!
Union sank one of our blockade runners.
Union army appeared outside Richmond, don’t know what they think they are doing there is a massive army in the city.
Saved file under new name got a file locked by operating system error when I pressed next turn. I had to restart the game.
Turn 6
Took over 2 minutes, screen went black windows said program is not responding. I thought it had crashed.
Norfolk is ours. (there was no message about this), its very confusing if lots of units are on the map in one area. Captured a very nice Union frigate in the harbour. Can we have a hide units command key please.
Union abandoned Harpers Ferry. Cool.
Abandoned industrialisation in Virginia to recruit more artillery batteries.
Union army outside Richmond has disappeared.
Discovered right clicking flags on cities with harbours hides units which are actually in the harbour although this is not always obvious at least to me it isn’t.
Tried out the message filters this will be useful.
Getting messages about failure to engage I am not sure if army stacks can engage without orders when in a defensive posture. Totally baffled about this.
Send my HQ’s from Montgomery, why build them in Montgomery they wont be in Richmond 23 days by rail for gods sake.
Move the Army of Shenandoah to the Port Royal gap to see how Union cavalry scouts will react and get in close support range of the Richmond army.
Cant reorganise the Army at Richmond not able to form corps this seems to confirm the need for those division HQ’s on the way from Georgia….grrrrr.
Decided to concentrate a small force at Nashville for a push on Bowling Greene, this will expose New Orleans but I don’t think the Union follows any classic strategies like splitting the Confederacy via the Mississippi.
Moved Magrudas force to Richmond and sent Richmond Army north towards Manassas Juntion.
Decided to assault Norfolk
Bought a few more reinforcements.
Decided to rip up rail line between Bowling Greene and Louisville. Noticed that if you move and issue command it rips up the rails in the starting state not the one the unit moves too. Oops that was valuable confederate property you just destroyed son!!
Union sank one of our blockade runners.
Union army appeared outside Richmond, don’t know what they think they are doing there is a massive army in the city.
Saved file under new name got a file locked by operating system error when I pressed next turn. I had to restart the game.
Turn 6
Took over 2 minutes, screen went black windows said program is not responding. I thought it had crashed.
Norfolk is ours. (there was no message about this), its very confusing if lots of units are on the map in one area. Captured a very nice Union frigate in the harbour. Can we have a hide units command key please.
Union abandoned Harpers Ferry. Cool.
Abandoned industrialisation in Virginia to recruit more artillery batteries.
Union army outside Richmond has disappeared.
Discovered right clicking flags on cities with harbours hides units which are actually in the harbour although this is not always obvious at least to me it isn’t.
Tried out the message filters this will be useful.
Getting messages about failure to engage I am not sure if army stacks can engage without orders when in a defensive posture. Totally baffled about this.
Send my HQ’s from Montgomery, why build them in Montgomery they wont be in Richmond 23 days by rail for gods sake.
Move the Army of Shenandoah to the Port Royal gap to see how Union cavalry scouts will react and get in close support range of the Richmond army.
Cant reorganise the Army at Richmond not able to form corps this seems to confirm the need for those division HQ’s on the way from Georgia….grrrrr.
Decided to concentrate a small force at Nashville for a push on Bowling Greene, this will expose New Orleans but I don’t think the Union follows any classic strategies like splitting the Confederacy via the Mississippi.
Moved Magrudas force to Richmond and sent Richmond Army north towards Manassas Juntion.
Stoneage wrote:
I look at the messages and apparently the call for volunteers has given me 153 conscript companies. I don’t know where they are because they aren’t in the reinforcement screen. I hope they will turn up later.
Well... this is what I have been able to figure out about this.
There are a number of options for getting new troops, calling up for volunteers is a good start because it doesn't effect your national morale. As the war proceeds, and you take more casualties, it will be tougher to get troops, and you will have to pay for them as manpower gets more scarce (for example, by using mobilization).
The conscript companies you recieved are like cash in the bank, they aren't available until you commit national assets to convert them into the different times of troops.
Look at your troops on the map, especially the "divisions" which should include a number of "elements" (different units shown in the far right box). As the Union player, at the beginning of the game, I noted that most of the "regular" elements contained in the divisions were woefully understrengthed. To bring these units up to strength, go to the replacements screen. Here you see all the different troops types and have the opportunity to "buy" more. When you mouse over a unit box, it will state in the dialogue box below how much it costs. When you "buy" replacements, an envelope will be placed in the box. The replacements are then automatically tranferred to your units in the next few turns. If you watch the brigades in your divisions, you will notice that the "red" begins to disappear as the "element" comes to full strength.
Reinforcements are straight up "buys" of dedicated brigades from different states that will turn up on the map after your turn. They cost dollars, "conscript companies" and war supplies (which are manufactured or brought in from overseas). Note that militia don't cost war supplies (that's important!), just money and men.
Once you get some brigades, try to get them into divisions. A leader with a division and three infantry brigades, must "command" all the elements (division plus the three infantry brigades). It's best to "assign" the infantry, artillery or cavalry from the brigades directly to the division. To do so click on the group, then below in the boxes, hold down the... forgot... control or shift key, and click on all the units to be lumped together. When you click on a unit, there will be a silver boarder around it. So, click on the division, hold down shift key, then select the other three brigades. Once you have done that go to the "tent" segment of special orders (in the middle after movement) and you will see a box lite up with a "+" sign in it. Click on that box, and the brigades will disappear and reappear in the far right hand box as elements. Now you have a leader with only one division to command, and thus far less command penalties. This is real important to learn how to do. You not only reduce the amount of counters on the map, but make your troops easier to control and more efficient to command by the general who you assign to leader the division. In the end, you should have (for a division) something like... a general, a division (which contains all your fighting units) and a supply unit.
And BTW... for generals, it doesn't matter if he has a picture of his face or if it is black, what matters is his rank and his capabilities. Mouse over the general and you will get a big black mousetip filled with information.
Hope that helps some. I'm still new to the game too... so I'm learning as well.
Ray (aka LAVA)
Thanks Ray,
Yes I did notice that I now have a vast pool of reinforcements; I just forgot to mention that in my lengthy posts. The problem now is two fold; organisation which I know how to do but cant progress due to the inability to form army corps and secondly I cant afford to buy any of these reinforcements.
Can you just confirm something for me. In order to build a division do you need a divisional HQ?
P.S. In case anyone misinterprets what I am writing. I am not complaining about the game, its just that I find learning things from manuals very difficult and I find human feedback vastly improves the situation.
Yes I did notice that I now have a vast pool of reinforcements; I just forgot to mention that in my lengthy posts. The problem now is two fold; organisation which I know how to do but cant progress due to the inability to form army corps and secondly I cant afford to buy any of these reinforcements.
Can you just confirm something for me. In order to build a division do you need a divisional HQ?
P.S. In case anyone misinterprets what I am writing. I am not complaining about the game, its just that I find learning things from manuals very difficult and I find human feedback vastly improves the situation.
Stoneage wrote:In order to build a division do you need a divisional HQ?
Yep...
Same with Armies, you have to buy an Army HQ first.
I'm on the yankee side.. you on the reb, but we seem to be seeing a fairly similar picture. You got a couple 3 stars (Army leaders), maybe a couple two stars (Corps leaders)... I have only 1, and a whole bunch of 1 stars (division leaders).
So... it appears to me you are going to have to bite the bullet on organization at the beginning of the war by organizing as best you can without corps, until the 1 stars prove themselves in battle and are elegible for promotion.
So, for example, it appears you have to take that army leader and fill him up with divisions if you don't have a corps commander available, and then go do some fighting.... to get the one stars promoted.
Ray (aka LAVA)
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Hell Patrol
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LAVA wrote:Yep...
At first blush, it seems kinda complicated, but, it appears, that once you figure out how you get troops and organize them, things start falling into place.
Ray (aka LAVA)
ok...I think that I have the division/corps org down. But I can't seem to get an Army org for R. E. Lee ( a three star and active ) w/ an Army HQ in the same stack. The area for creating the army is greyed out after selecting both. The Army HQ is valid w/ high cohesion. Probably something really simple I'm missing. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong? Thx.
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Hell Patrol
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Hell Patrol wrote:I have seen this a few times by inadvertantly leaving a unit selected from another Corps, Division etc. I also Ctrl-Clk too quickly when there are alot of units in the same stack/region.
Thx for the response but don't think that its due to any of these. I did notice that Gen. Lee is fixed in the region unless attacked and I can't move him ( from Richmond ) to say Manassas to "relieve" Beuregard. This may have an impact on his forming an army in 1861 vs. the Spring 1862?
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Hell Patrol
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- Location: California
Hmmm, i still new to this as well. A couple possibilities until we hear from Pocus etc., is it possible he is already an Army? I have had success by disbanding(splitting) an Army/Corps and then re-forming them to my liking. This always seems to work when i can't figure out "why" and seem to have everything i need...good luck!
IIRC i have made Army/Corps with fixed leaders but just couldn't move them...yet.
IIRC i have made Army/Corps with fixed leaders but just couldn't move them...yet.
oldspec4 wrote:Thx for the response but don't think that its due to any of these. I did notice that Gen. Lee is fixed in the region unless attacked and I can't move him ( from Richmond ) to say Manassas to "relieve" Beauregard. This may have an impact on his forming an army in 1861 vs. the Spring 1862?
There you go. Lee was used as an adviser to Jefferson Davis during the period between his hopeless West Virginia campaign and the wounding of Joe Johnston, when he took command of the army of North Virginia. He requested a field command, but Davis was under pressure already from the rest of the government to separate himself from the details of army command, in which he meddled incessantly, so he set Lee up in that position to make it appear that he was letting go a bit. Until the event occurs where Lee is unlocked, you cannot form an army with him. Making the player wait until an army commander is wounded would be a bit much, so instead he's just locked into that advisory position for that set period.
Spharv2 wrote:Until the event occurs where Lee is unlocked, you cannot form an army with him.
Yep... there is your answer.
On the yankee side of play you have the same problem at the beginning of the scenario. You have a valid Army commander and HQ at Fairfax, VA, but they are locked, so you can't form the army. A couple months into the game, you get a message saying he's good to go and sure enough, he's unlocked and can be given Army commander status.
You also have a yankee division there with a 2 star attached. Once you form the army, you need to separate him from his division and then he is able to form a corps. Remember, there are no Corps headquarters, so you just need a 2 star general to do it.
Ray (aka LAVA)
Spharv2 wrote:There you go. Lee was used as an adviser to Jefferson Davis during the period between his hopeless West Virginia campaign and the wounding of Joe Johnston, when he took command of the army of North Virginia. He requested a field command, but Davis was under pressure already from the rest of the government to separate himself from the details of army command, in which he meddled incessantly, so he set Lee up in that position to make it appear that he was letting go a bit. Until the event occurs where Lee is unlocked, you cannot form an army with him. Making the player wait until an army commander is wounded would be a bit much, so instead he's just locked into that advisory position for that set period.
Thx for confirming my thoughts...should help my future battle planning. I'm very impressed by the game mechanics and historical nuances such as this. Also, this forum has been a wealth of info for understanding the depth of the game; and a great assist to those of us that ain't the quickest on the learning curve.
Not finished the military moves for turn 7 its getting a bit hairy in Virginia, but I will let you see my latest write up. I have discovered a few more useful titbits.
Turn 7 (Victory 319, Morale 100)
Took over 2 minutes
In terms of economy by studying the economic panel at the top of the screen I can see in abstract terms how much money is coming in, but at first I cant reconcile that with any thing tangible. Then I spot the little green squares on the houses in some of the cities these correspond to cities or regions generating Money. Productive capacity is visible on the map as factories in the city squares. Amazingly you can also see the supplies as crates and ammunition as cannon balls, these are confirmed by the economic panel at the top of the screen. Little tents show where conscripts are being raised.
At last I can see my economy and I can see in real terms how blockade runners are bringing in small amounts of war supplies and money must be from selling our exports. Not so sure about how commerce raiders are effecting the Yanks.
Looking at rail capacity at first I am confused about what is the difference between current and maximal.. Experimentation shows that any units that use or are using rail movement from previous turns reduce the capacity by their transport weight. Also I see that I have insufficient capacity to move supply, the manual tells me that if you have enough unused rail capacity it is used automatically to move supply. I am not sure what the actual benefits of these supply movement are and whether I should be doing anything about this.
Union starting to use its naval power attacking several of my costal forts and having a go at my commerce raiders.
Union attempt at amphibious relief of Norfolk failed because we have already captured it, more fool the Yanks.
There is a union balloon floating over central Carolina, cheek or what.
Union cavalry seize port in Westmorland Virginia. Also union amphibious activity on the Rapahannock. Ummm this may be worth looking at.
Lots of messages about our cause losing support in areas of the Union, all of which are now at 0%. I assume we must have had some residual support in the north.
Messages about confederate ironclads being constructed in several ports, GREAT
I noticed that the tool tip for fixed units actually tells you how long they are fixed for and what unfixes them. Sigh obvious if only I had noticed this before.
Union are besieging Harpers Ferry. Not message about that I only noticed by accident.
Union activity in Northern Arkansas, need to get those lazy bums in Texas into action and get my cavalry on the move. Luckily a militia cavalry unit has been raised nearby and I have sent that over to start harassing the Union.
Union probes pillaging and making a nuisance of themselves around Cairo. I am sensitive about the forts on the upper Mississipi particularly Island no 10.
Just noticed that western Virginia is a political entity even though we have some of its regions. Never received any messages about this. I need to be more vigilant, there is a lot of activity that I am missing, maybe I am not reading the messages carefully enough.
Turn 7 (Victory 319, Morale 100)
Took over 2 minutes
In terms of economy by studying the economic panel at the top of the screen I can see in abstract terms how much money is coming in, but at first I cant reconcile that with any thing tangible. Then I spot the little green squares on the houses in some of the cities these correspond to cities or regions generating Money. Productive capacity is visible on the map as factories in the city squares. Amazingly you can also see the supplies as crates and ammunition as cannon balls, these are confirmed by the economic panel at the top of the screen. Little tents show where conscripts are being raised.
At last I can see my economy and I can see in real terms how blockade runners are bringing in small amounts of war supplies and money must be from selling our exports. Not so sure about how commerce raiders are effecting the Yanks.
Looking at rail capacity at first I am confused about what is the difference between current and maximal.. Experimentation shows that any units that use or are using rail movement from previous turns reduce the capacity by their transport weight. Also I see that I have insufficient capacity to move supply, the manual tells me that if you have enough unused rail capacity it is used automatically to move supply. I am not sure what the actual benefits of these supply movement are and whether I should be doing anything about this.
Union starting to use its naval power attacking several of my costal forts and having a go at my commerce raiders.
Union attempt at amphibious relief of Norfolk failed because we have already captured it, more fool the Yanks.
There is a union balloon floating over central Carolina, cheek or what.
Union cavalry seize port in Westmorland Virginia. Also union amphibious activity on the Rapahannock. Ummm this may be worth looking at.
Lots of messages about our cause losing support in areas of the Union, all of which are now at 0%. I assume we must have had some residual support in the north.
Messages about confederate ironclads being constructed in several ports, GREAT
I noticed that the tool tip for fixed units actually tells you how long they are fixed for and what unfixes them. Sigh obvious if only I had noticed this before.
Union are besieging Harpers Ferry. Not message about that I only noticed by accident.
Union activity in Northern Arkansas, need to get those lazy bums in Texas into action and get my cavalry on the move. Luckily a militia cavalry unit has been raised nearby and I have sent that over to start harassing the Union.
Union probes pillaging and making a nuisance of themselves around Cairo. I am sensitive about the forts on the upper Mississipi particularly Island no 10.
Just noticed that western Virginia is a political entity even though we have some of its regions. Never received any messages about this. I need to be more vigilant, there is a lot of activity that I am missing, maybe I am not reading the messages carefully enough.
Okay, I'm going to give it a go here, answering some of your questions.
By the way, good eye noticing the city graphics, you can tell almost everything you need to know about a city by just looking at it. To add to what you put down, you can also tell if there is any industrialization by looking for the smokestacks and little factory graphic. The CS especially needs to pay attention to that because they have so few industrial areas to start, losing any is a big problem. This is also a good reason to try and keep your industrialization attempts behind the lines. Of course, with the Union able to pull off amphibious invasions, the front lines can be anywhere.
Someone already described the difference between reinforcements and replacements, but I'll emphasize that a bit. Replacements are what you need to flesh out depleted regiments, generally, the ideal is to have 10% of your total force available in replacements. You can see the numbers on the replacements screen. It tells you how many replacement "points" you have, and the max number you can have. So you generally want to try and keep 10% of the big number in stock. Not always possible, and after a bit of playing, you'll find out which types you need to invest more in. Generally for me, I tend to go through field arty and cavalry at a pretty high pace, so I try and keep those numbers up, and of course, line infantry are always the big one.
Reinforcements are the new units you'll need to increase the power and size of your armies, and garrison your rear areas. Units take time to train, and it's proportionate to the size and power of the unit. So, militia will raise and be fully trained by the following turn, while most regular units will take two or more turns to fully train. Keep this in mind when deciding what state to build units in, because while untrained units can defend themselves, their power will be significantly reduced. Naval and HQ units take quite a long time to build, so you need to plan in advance for these.
You'll notice that most units require three things; money, conscript companies, and war supplies. For the South, the big limiting factors are money and war supplies. War supply production can be increased through industrialization, but it's expensive, so it's a trade off whether to try and increase your industry or hope to depend on blockade runners to make up your shortfall. Blockade runners will bring in either money or war supplies, depending on which you need more.
The draft screen is pretty simple. Remember on most of the screens like this, you can right or left click on the description text for the options to cycle between different options for each. For instance, on the drafts screen, you can choose to call for volunteers with; no bonus or with a $1,000, $2,000, or $3,000 bonus. Generally, the US is the only side that will be able to afford to pay for volunteers. The CS money situation is just too tight to pay for it. The number of companies you get depends on your current VP I believe, so the more you have, the more recruits you'll receive. The other side is the draft options. You can choose Partial or Full mobilization to significantly increase the number of conscript companies available to build reinforcements and replacements. Usually, you'll want to start by calling for volunteers as there are no penalties for this option. Later, as you need more units and have built up your VP and NM, you can afford to take the hit to each for calling for a draft. Remember though, you can only use each option once every 6 months, so choose carefully.
The Financials screen is a big one for both sides. Nothing happens without money. The CS can't be afraid to let their inflation creep up. Everything will cost more, but without the large infusions of money available, the war will be lost. Inflation will also slowly drop over time, so if you can get to the point where you don't need as much money, you can use the lower end options and prices will slowly return to normal. The first two options you should look to use are the taxes and bonds. These impact your NM and VP levels, but don't have as large an effect on your inflation level. You can choose between 5, 6, and 8% war bonds, increasing the % will bring in more money, but will increase the penalties naturally. For the taxes, you can choose limited exceptional taxes, income tax, or regular exceptional tax. The same applies here, with limited exceptional providing the least money and fewest penalties up to the regular exceptional providing the most and costing the most. Paper money printing should be the option of last resort. It will provide a large infusion of money, but also increases your inflation by 4% per use. The one advantage of this one over the other two is that it can be used at any time, whenever you need a quick shot of cash. The other two are under the same 6 month limitation as the draft options.
Industrial expansion is a bit like rolling for tech in Axis and Allies for those of you who played it. In other words, it's a calculated risk. You can invest in it in the hope of increasing your production of the three types of supply, but it's not guaranteed, and it is expensive. I've seen 3 or 4 different industries get built in one turn, and I've had many turns where nothing gets built. It's relatively more important for the CS than the US. The US starts with a strong industrial base, and can probably make it through the war without any investment. The CS is quite lacking in supplies, so increasing the industry level can make a huge difference. You'll gain more if you can afford to keep a steady level of industrialization than if you are continually shuffling or removing the funding, so it's advised to scrimp and save as the CS to try to keep at least a light level of funding in at least one state. If you are successful, you'll receive a message the next turn, telling you where the attempt succeeded and what and how much you increased your levels. The other option here is the rolling stock and steamship investment. Keeping your rail levels above 100 is something to try for as the CS. Not only does it significantly improve the movement of supplies to the front line troops, but it gives you a margin of error if you have to do a significant number of rail moves in any turn. If you can manage to stabilize the economy, further investment here is never wasted money. Steamships work generally the same, but are, naturally, limited to river movement and supply. This option has a much larger impact in the west than the east, so rail is generally more important since it's usable anywhere you have a rail line.
You're correct about the loyalty levels, they are regionally (actually county) based. The loyalty page here is just for mass changes. If the Union takes an entire state, for example Louisiana or Mississippi, quickly, then you can use this screen to attempt to quell statewide unrest quickly. For more regional or local changes, you'll use garrisons, generals, and armies to affect the levels. (Hint, generals with an occupation trait like Butler increase your levels significantly faster.)
The political options screen is pretty useful. Move capitol is obvious. You can choose one of three cities to move it to, and believe me, moving it is much preferable to losing it, so if you think it might fall, use this option. The bottom left option is the foreign intervention option. Here you can cycle between three choices to attempt to increase (Or decrease if playing the US) the chances of foreign intervention. The first option for both sides is the "tough" policy. Either a blockade or an embargo on cotton. This is a high risk, high reward option. The level can move significantly, but it could swing either way. The next two are the concession options. You can choose territorial or trade concessions. These are unpopular with your people, but can be useful. For the CS, the trade concession one can be quite handy since you receive money for choosing it. The change level is quite a bit smaller than the tough option though. The right side options are not available at the start, but will appear eventually. The top right is a prisoner exchange, which will increase both sides conscript pool. This obviously helps the CS more than the US since they're working with a much smaller pool, but can get the US through a tough spot now and then too. The bottom right is the emancipation policy for both sides. If you choose emancipation, you will also have the option to recruit blacks on the draft screen too.
The objectives screen is nice as it shows you the current foreign intervention level, victory level, number of POWs and other useful information.
The blank generals are simply those who's artwork is not done yet. This should be remidied through a patch soon.
The blockade level is related to the number of blockade ships the US places in that box to attempt to stop your blockade runners. The US can do two blockade types, blue and brown water. The blue water uses the ocean boxes and attempts to find and destroy your runners, while the brown water is a close blockade of ports by placing a certain number of ships directly by your harbors. This is much more effective, but also more dangerous for the US ships.
Army of the Potomac was indeed the initial (Optimistic) name for the CS army in Virginia. Lee renamed it when he took command.
When your resources go into the red, the final purchase or purchases that made it go into the red will not be built. If I recall correctly, the builds are saved and done the next round, but I can't recall off the top of my head, I usually keep my stocks in the black at all times.
The initial division HQs you created were placed in Montgomery because those units are produced in the capitol, and in the beginning of the game, the capitol is in Montgomery, then moves to Richmond on the historical date that they shifted their government.
As the engine is currently, they were unable to duplicate the whole West Virginia secceeding from Virginia and joining the Union thing, so it begins as a US state. Limitations of the game there.
The capture of Norfolk netted the CS about 2,000 naval guns and literally tons of supplies. Those supplies enabled the laying down of those CS ironclads. Be warned though, ironclads are, in my opinion, significantly underpowered still. I've brought this up in the beta forum, and I think they said it might change, but they are definitely not a fix all for the navy, even against wooden ships.
By the way, good eye noticing the city graphics, you can tell almost everything you need to know about a city by just looking at it. To add to what you put down, you can also tell if there is any industrialization by looking for the smokestacks and little factory graphic. The CS especially needs to pay attention to that because they have so few industrial areas to start, losing any is a big problem. This is also a good reason to try and keep your industrialization attempts behind the lines. Of course, with the Union able to pull off amphibious invasions, the front lines can be anywhere.
Someone already described the difference between reinforcements and replacements, but I'll emphasize that a bit. Replacements are what you need to flesh out depleted regiments, generally, the ideal is to have 10% of your total force available in replacements. You can see the numbers on the replacements screen. It tells you how many replacement "points" you have, and the max number you can have. So you generally want to try and keep 10% of the big number in stock. Not always possible, and after a bit of playing, you'll find out which types you need to invest more in. Generally for me, I tend to go through field arty and cavalry at a pretty high pace, so I try and keep those numbers up, and of course, line infantry are always the big one.
Reinforcements are the new units you'll need to increase the power and size of your armies, and garrison your rear areas. Units take time to train, and it's proportionate to the size and power of the unit. So, militia will raise and be fully trained by the following turn, while most regular units will take two or more turns to fully train. Keep this in mind when deciding what state to build units in, because while untrained units can defend themselves, their power will be significantly reduced. Naval and HQ units take quite a long time to build, so you need to plan in advance for these.
You'll notice that most units require three things; money, conscript companies, and war supplies. For the South, the big limiting factors are money and war supplies. War supply production can be increased through industrialization, but it's expensive, so it's a trade off whether to try and increase your industry or hope to depend on blockade runners to make up your shortfall. Blockade runners will bring in either money or war supplies, depending on which you need more.
The draft screen is pretty simple. Remember on most of the screens like this, you can right or left click on the description text for the options to cycle between different options for each. For instance, on the drafts screen, you can choose to call for volunteers with; no bonus or with a $1,000, $2,000, or $3,000 bonus. Generally, the US is the only side that will be able to afford to pay for volunteers. The CS money situation is just too tight to pay for it. The number of companies you get depends on your current VP I believe, so the more you have, the more recruits you'll receive. The other side is the draft options. You can choose Partial or Full mobilization to significantly increase the number of conscript companies available to build reinforcements and replacements. Usually, you'll want to start by calling for volunteers as there are no penalties for this option. Later, as you need more units and have built up your VP and NM, you can afford to take the hit to each for calling for a draft. Remember though, you can only use each option once every 6 months, so choose carefully.
The Financials screen is a big one for both sides. Nothing happens without money. The CS can't be afraid to let their inflation creep up. Everything will cost more, but without the large infusions of money available, the war will be lost. Inflation will also slowly drop over time, so if you can get to the point where you don't need as much money, you can use the lower end options and prices will slowly return to normal. The first two options you should look to use are the taxes and bonds. These impact your NM and VP levels, but don't have as large an effect on your inflation level. You can choose between 5, 6, and 8% war bonds, increasing the % will bring in more money, but will increase the penalties naturally. For the taxes, you can choose limited exceptional taxes, income tax, or regular exceptional tax. The same applies here, with limited exceptional providing the least money and fewest penalties up to the regular exceptional providing the most and costing the most. Paper money printing should be the option of last resort. It will provide a large infusion of money, but also increases your inflation by 4% per use. The one advantage of this one over the other two is that it can be used at any time, whenever you need a quick shot of cash. The other two are under the same 6 month limitation as the draft options.
Industrial expansion is a bit like rolling for tech in Axis and Allies for those of you who played it. In other words, it's a calculated risk. You can invest in it in the hope of increasing your production of the three types of supply, but it's not guaranteed, and it is expensive. I've seen 3 or 4 different industries get built in one turn, and I've had many turns where nothing gets built. It's relatively more important for the CS than the US. The US starts with a strong industrial base, and can probably make it through the war without any investment. The CS is quite lacking in supplies, so increasing the industry level can make a huge difference. You'll gain more if you can afford to keep a steady level of industrialization than if you are continually shuffling or removing the funding, so it's advised to scrimp and save as the CS to try to keep at least a light level of funding in at least one state. If you are successful, you'll receive a message the next turn, telling you where the attempt succeeded and what and how much you increased your levels. The other option here is the rolling stock and steamship investment. Keeping your rail levels above 100 is something to try for as the CS. Not only does it significantly improve the movement of supplies to the front line troops, but it gives you a margin of error if you have to do a significant number of rail moves in any turn. If you can manage to stabilize the economy, further investment here is never wasted money. Steamships work generally the same, but are, naturally, limited to river movement and supply. This option has a much larger impact in the west than the east, so rail is generally more important since it's usable anywhere you have a rail line.
You're correct about the loyalty levels, they are regionally (actually county) based. The loyalty page here is just for mass changes. If the Union takes an entire state, for example Louisiana or Mississippi, quickly, then you can use this screen to attempt to quell statewide unrest quickly. For more regional or local changes, you'll use garrisons, generals, and armies to affect the levels. (Hint, generals with an occupation trait like Butler increase your levels significantly faster.)
The political options screen is pretty useful. Move capitol is obvious. You can choose one of three cities to move it to, and believe me, moving it is much preferable to losing it, so if you think it might fall, use this option. The bottom left option is the foreign intervention option. Here you can cycle between three choices to attempt to increase (Or decrease if playing the US) the chances of foreign intervention. The first option for both sides is the "tough" policy. Either a blockade or an embargo on cotton. This is a high risk, high reward option. The level can move significantly, but it could swing either way. The next two are the concession options. You can choose territorial or trade concessions. These are unpopular with your people, but can be useful. For the CS, the trade concession one can be quite handy since you receive money for choosing it. The change level is quite a bit smaller than the tough option though. The right side options are not available at the start, but will appear eventually. The top right is a prisoner exchange, which will increase both sides conscript pool. This obviously helps the CS more than the US since they're working with a much smaller pool, but can get the US through a tough spot now and then too. The bottom right is the emancipation policy for both sides. If you choose emancipation, you will also have the option to recruit blacks on the draft screen too.
The objectives screen is nice as it shows you the current foreign intervention level, victory level, number of POWs and other useful information.
The blank generals are simply those who's artwork is not done yet. This should be remidied through a patch soon.
The blockade level is related to the number of blockade ships the US places in that box to attempt to stop your blockade runners. The US can do two blockade types, blue and brown water. The blue water uses the ocean boxes and attempts to find and destroy your runners, while the brown water is a close blockade of ports by placing a certain number of ships directly by your harbors. This is much more effective, but also more dangerous for the US ships.
Army of the Potomac was indeed the initial (Optimistic) name for the CS army in Virginia. Lee renamed it when he took command.
When your resources go into the red, the final purchase or purchases that made it go into the red will not be built. If I recall correctly, the builds are saved and done the next round, but I can't recall off the top of my head, I usually keep my stocks in the black at all times.
The initial division HQs you created were placed in Montgomery because those units are produced in the capitol, and in the beginning of the game, the capitol is in Montgomery, then moves to Richmond on the historical date that they shifted their government.
As the engine is currently, they were unable to duplicate the whole West Virginia secceeding from Virginia and joining the Union thing, so it begins as a US state. Limitations of the game there.
The capture of Norfolk netted the CS about 2,000 naval guns and literally tons of supplies. Those supplies enabled the laying down of those CS ironclads. Be warned though, ironclads are, in my opinion, significantly underpowered still. I've brought this up in the beta forum, and I think they said it might change, but they are definitely not a fix all for the navy, even against wooden ships.
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Hell Patrol
- Lieutenant
- Posts: 128
- Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2006 7:16 pm
- Location: California
Stoneage wrote:Its a shame this post has been moved. Admitedly it is primarily an AAR but it is also a sounding board for discussing game concepts which make up nearly 50% of the content. I just hope people will actually get to see it here.
Seconded. Could have been worth it to keep it in the general forum just a little bit longer.
Great post Spharv2!
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