Leaders in WIA: Questions

[Paul Roberts]

I'm finally getting around to giving WIA the play time it deserves, and I find that I just don't understand certain things about leaders.

I'm coming from AACW and NCP, where leaders are attached to brigades, formed into divisions, made to lead Corps, and appointed to Army command in ways that make perfect and coherent sense to me. In WIA, however, it seems that leaders are piled together with combat units such that, effectively, every WIA stack is just one big unit (in AACW terms). There are some cases where leaders are merged with brigades (as with those Germans and their pet battalions), but these are rare.

Is it ever possible to merge a leader with a unit in WIA? I can't find the usual interface cues for this, and I have read the manual thoroughly. If leaders don't merge, here's my big question: do all leaders' special abilities apply to all combat units in the same stack? For instance, does a leader with the "skirmisher" trait give that ability to every unit?

Also, stack size: Is there an upper limit to the size of a stack in WIA? In AACW stacks are ultimately constrained by a cap on command points, but that cap does not seem present in WIA.

Thanks for answers!

[lodilefty]

No merging "in game", although they can be [and are] combined in scenario setups.

One big stack. The units are only regiments, so a 'big stack' will often be less that 10,000 men...

Abilities apply per same rule as any AGEOD game. In popup unit detail, look at tooltip of ability, if it says "if the commander", then to apply, the leader must be in command of stack.

No 'hard code' stack limit [but a max 35% command penalty, which is moddable], but logistics and supply require close attention. 'Superstacks' will starve.....

This simplified command system reflects the organizational fluidity of the small forces used in North America in that era. An entire Army in NA was often smaller than one corps in European warfare. [Also makes it a simpler game to manage]

Free Game playing tip:
When playing WIA, remember: "Amateurs study Strategy and Tactics. Professionals study Logistics"

Hope this helps

[Paul Roberts]

No 'hard code' stack limit [but a max 35% command penalty, which is moddable], but logistics and supply require close attention. 'Superstacks' will starve.....

This is exactly what I was overlooking. Thanks!

[Siekster]

No 'hard code' stack limit [but a max 35% command penalty, which is moddable], but logistics and supply require close attention. 'Superstacks' will starve.....

Hope this helps

Not to mention that nasty "your largest army suffers from poor sanitation" event.....

[Paul Roberts]

Not to mention that nasty "your largest army suffers from poor sanitation" event.....

I don't want to think about what that literally means...

[Hobbes]

Not to mention that nasty "your largest army suffers from poor sanitation" event.....

Yes, I was somewhat disparaging about Lodi's Implementation of this event but now find myself using smallpox to help reduce Indian stack sizes in
Pontiacs War

Cheers, Chris

[Siekster]

Yes, I was somewhat disparaging about Lodi's Implementation of this event but now find myself using smallpox to help reduce Indian stack sizes in
Pontiacs War

Cheers, Chris

Too bad we can't catapult diseased cattle and corpses at the enemy army