Stuck in a city

[Benihana]

Immediately following a successful assault on Fredricksburg the NVA was moved inside Fredicksburg, while Benjamin McCulloch's Winchester Militia (18/18) was either displaced or moved into the region outside the city. Corps have not been activated yet.

NVA cannot move out of the city, either to the region or a different region due to this tiny element. McDowell has been active every turn I've tried. I've tried assault and offensive posture. I've tried moving NVA into the region (it seems to spring back to the city), and move it on top of the offending element. Is there some other requirement I might be missing? It seems awfully ahistoric that a 600 man element can keep a 20,000 man army pinned inside a city.

Thanks in advance.

[soloswolf]

Does your stack have an injured general in it? That would lock it down.

If so, just remove him from the stack.

[Heldenkaiser]

Out of curiosity, why did they move into the city in the first place?

[slimey.rock]

I think what may be happening is that you don't have enough military controll of the region. If McCulloch's force was not there you could move no problem. Anyways, I think the solution is to "prepare a sortie" using the enter city button. Hope this helps

[Benihana]

Does your stack have an injured general in it? That would lock it down.
If so, just remove him from the stack.

Nope, everyone is healthy. The stack isn't locked, it's being prevented from moving by McCulloch.

Out of curiosity, why did they move into the city in the first place?

Okay I lied. Turns out they're not inside the city, it just looks that way. The army token centers over the city and won't move, even when I move it to the countryside. It does that spring-back thing I mentioned. So the real problem is that the army won't engage no matter which posture, and can't move out of the region.

I think what may be happening is that you don't have enough military controll of the region. If McCulloch's force was not there you could move no problem. Anyways, I think the solution is to "prepare a sortie" using the enter city button. Hope this helps

Shouldn't they still attack even if they don't have enough control?

If this screenshot doesn't help pinpoint the issue I'll figure out how to upload a proper saved game file. Don't mind the strange tactics, I'm trying to see if I can win before winter 1861 as Union. Thanks again for any help.

[slimey.rock]

Well since you're not locked in the city that changes everything. It is clear that your army is being affected by Zone of Control which would stop your force from moving into regions with little military control. However, if your army is in offensive posture they should definitelly force McCulloch's force to a battle or retreat. So I'm still not sure why you haven't engaged McCulloch.

[soundoff]

I think you will find it is the dreaded ZoC. Try this. Remove those 3 supply elements the 4th, 5th and US Army Train from McDowells command then put in your attack order. I think you will find it will work. Also those awful red shaded regions should disappear.

[Benihana]

I hadn't looked into ZoC at all, and misunderstood it to be a positive thing (the red areas only seemed to show up for my large stacks, so I assumed it meant I had a lot of control). I think the game incorrectly models this, because a large force could be harassed by a relatively small one, but not pinned down. Certainly a 600 man unit and supply train wouldn't pose much threat to McDowell and his 20k.

I tried a few things, but none of them really got the result I expected. Removing the supply wagons DID allow for mobility again, but did not result in conflict resolution. The only way I could attack McCulloch is by setting the militia I had in the region to offensive. The battle result screen included McDowell and the militia but the results themselves seem to indicate only the militia fought. If I left the NVA in Fredricksburg another turn on offensive he would have attacked, but I don't really have time for him to sit in place to deal with such a small force.

Either way it was good reading. Perhaps I'll be able to use ZoC against the enemy now that I understand it. I was also able to capture Richmond on the very next turn, although the Rebs had already moved their capitol ><.