'Turbo charge' your initial army!
Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:11 pm
I posted this initially in reply to a newbie seeking help getting started but I want it to get a wider view and comments.
First off I must say that I really enjoy this wonderful game. It is complex, deep and strategic in a manner that I love.
However there are some basics that beginners can easily miss! I have been playing at least 200 hours of this game over the last month and just discovered yesterday that MANY of the options in the Draft, Financials and Politics Tabs are right clickable! Not only are they right clickable, but the changes that you can make here are DRAMATIC. I am sure this is old news to those of you who have been playing this game and perusing these forums for months, but this was astonishing to me.
I am no newbie to wargames like this, but if I had not read a passing reference to the right click on one of the posts here, I would still be ignorantly plodding along with minimal size armies because of the limitaions imposed when you right click. Let me explain to the other newbs:
For the Union, the amount of soldiers that you can draft in the first year is your limiting factor if you don't right click. Your initial Call for volunteers will net you 138 companies if do it on turn one with no right click. Right click and you discover that you can pay $3k per company and 2 NM points and get up to 433 companies! Thats a nearly 300% improvement that can make a huge difference. Partial Mobilization yields 532 companies, but right click and Full Mobilization appears and you can get 729 companies for an additional 50 VPs and 1 more NM point. You will quickly discover that you don't have enough money to pay for these additional companies to make them into units.
Onto the Financial screen where low and behold right click and you can raise more money at a faster clip too! 8% bonds are available to raise 311K right away and creat 2% inflation. Exceptional Taxes are available raising 373K instead of 117k. It costs you 1 more NM and 1% inflation but you need the money if you have the extra companies. Both of these measures have a middle setting for a little less money and cost, but the improvements add up to raising $684k instead of a piddling $221k which will enable you to start building out some of these additional companies that you now raised. Print some money and get inflation started cause you are going to need the money to convert all those extra companies into units!
All of this revelation leads a player to see the possibilities available during 1861 now! You can't build armies during the first two turns, so no need to draft soldiers. However you can raise money and you are damn well gonna need it once you bring in the drafts and mobilization on turn 3. So raise as much money as you can in the first two turns and then begin to mobilize and put together your now greatly expanded army on turn three. Don't forget to raise reinforcements and invest in your economy and infrastructure. (railways and transport ships) Lots of units are needed to man the borders, so huge numbers of militia should be raised in addition to planning on building out divisions as advised elsewhere in this discussion. The militia eventually convert to line troops, so raising most of your troops as militia is the cheapest option. Most of the time the troops stand around doing little fighting during much of 1861 anyway! The game converts roughly 10% of your militia troops to line troops every turn, so get them into the game where they can stand around, get trained up and become line troops!
Lastly, the options on the Politics tab are also right clickable! Other options besides the blockade are available for you to explore! The rebels have the same 'right clickable' options available to them so they can expand their initial armies also.
Being able to raise these huge numbers of troops in 1861 is the reason I am guessing that many of the more experienced players here are playing the mods that I am learning limit your ability to raise these huge early armies. I would appreciate if one of the oldtimers would comment on this and let me know if I should abandon playing without the mods if I wish to PBEM?
First off I must say that I really enjoy this wonderful game. It is complex, deep and strategic in a manner that I love.
However there are some basics that beginners can easily miss! I have been playing at least 200 hours of this game over the last month and just discovered yesterday that MANY of the options in the Draft, Financials and Politics Tabs are right clickable! Not only are they right clickable, but the changes that you can make here are DRAMATIC. I am sure this is old news to those of you who have been playing this game and perusing these forums for months, but this was astonishing to me.
I am no newbie to wargames like this, but if I had not read a passing reference to the right click on one of the posts here, I would still be ignorantly plodding along with minimal size armies because of the limitaions imposed when you right click. Let me explain to the other newbs:
For the Union, the amount of soldiers that you can draft in the first year is your limiting factor if you don't right click. Your initial Call for volunteers will net you 138 companies if do it on turn one with no right click. Right click and you discover that you can pay $3k per company and 2 NM points and get up to 433 companies! Thats a nearly 300% improvement that can make a huge difference. Partial Mobilization yields 532 companies, but right click and Full Mobilization appears and you can get 729 companies for an additional 50 VPs and 1 more NM point. You will quickly discover that you don't have enough money to pay for these additional companies to make them into units.
Onto the Financial screen where low and behold right click and you can raise more money at a faster clip too! 8% bonds are available to raise 311K right away and creat 2% inflation. Exceptional Taxes are available raising 373K instead of 117k. It costs you 1 more NM and 1% inflation but you need the money if you have the extra companies. Both of these measures have a middle setting for a little less money and cost, but the improvements add up to raising $684k instead of a piddling $221k which will enable you to start building out some of these additional companies that you now raised. Print some money and get inflation started cause you are going to need the money to convert all those extra companies into units!
All of this revelation leads a player to see the possibilities available during 1861 now! You can't build armies during the first two turns, so no need to draft soldiers. However you can raise money and you are damn well gonna need it once you bring in the drafts and mobilization on turn 3. So raise as much money as you can in the first two turns and then begin to mobilize and put together your now greatly expanded army on turn three. Don't forget to raise reinforcements and invest in your economy and infrastructure. (railways and transport ships) Lots of units are needed to man the borders, so huge numbers of militia should be raised in addition to planning on building out divisions as advised elsewhere in this discussion. The militia eventually convert to line troops, so raising most of your troops as militia is the cheapest option. Most of the time the troops stand around doing little fighting during much of 1861 anyway! The game converts roughly 10% of your militia troops to line troops every turn, so get them into the game where they can stand around, get trained up and become line troops!
Lastly, the options on the Politics tab are also right clickable! Other options besides the blockade are available for you to explore! The rebels have the same 'right clickable' options available to them so they can expand their initial armies also.
Being able to raise these huge numbers of troops in 1861 is the reason I am guessing that many of the more experienced players here are playing the mods that I am learning limit your ability to raise these huge early armies. I would appreciate if one of the oldtimers would comment on this and let me know if I should abandon playing without the mods if I wish to PBEM?
apy:
