Different postures in same area

[Philo32b]

I'm starting to get the basics, but some of the nuances elude me. For example, sometimes it's absolutely vital that posture will do what I think it will do, but I seem to get it wrong a lot.

Let's say you have two British forces--A and B--in Manhattan. Force A is set to Defensive. Force B is set to Offensive. Now a rebel force moves into Manhattan with posture on Defensive. The rebels will fight British Force B, to be sure, but will they also fight British Force A? Will A and B fight the rebels together or separately? And finally would anything change in this scenario if the rebels brought their force into Manhattan set to Defensive posture instead of Offensive?

[Sepul]

This is what i think:

A and B will fight together but only force A (wich is in defensive posture) will obtain terrain benefits (you can see this in the after battle report). If rebels move into Manhattan with posture on Defensive force B will try to start a fight because it was set to Offensive. Any unit set to Offensive will try to start a battle in the region but it is possible that your forces will try to retire if they are clearly outnumbered.

Hope this helps.

[Durk]

Another way of thinking of this is that the force in the area, Manhattan, if alone will likely be defensive. The entering force will likely attack, no matter their posture.
What is not clear, why would you want a force in Manhattan to be on offense. Is there an American force inside the city?
If so, this complicates you idea. American army may not 'have' to attack and defending force may sortie to help the new force.

Mostly you wish to be on defense if you own the area; and you will be on attack if you do not.

[Philo32b]

Thanks Durk and Sepul for the responses. My question comes from this: I've experienced cases where I have a defensive posture in Manhattan, and the rebels enter with a force on defensive, which starts to siege my fort in New York, ignoring my large defensive force just sitting there in Manhattan. So my thinking is to have a very small "trigger" force on offensive that makes defensive forces entering my province attack, which then involves my large defensive force. But I didn't know if all the forces fight together regardless of their individual postures or not.

[Durk]

Excellent question. One odd compounding factor is if the top leader of either force is not activated. More on that in a bit.

Your forces will all use the same posture. As long as the Americans have a unit in the city, they can be on the defensive.
If both forces use a defensive posture, no battle.
You forces fight together as long as one is not inside the city, then they do not. That is, if you are defending or attacking, only the outside force, then only the inside force.
Your offensive response will involve all your units in an attack; not a bad option, but one you need to exercise with care.

If a leader is not activated, they will not attack no matter what. This is actually a decent way to retake a city, your opponent attacks, always the worst posture.

[Philo32b]

If a leader is not activated, they will not attack no matter what. This is actually a decent way to retake a city, your opponent attacks, always the worst posture.

Thanks for some helpful information. By this last sentence I take it you are expanding on your caution about using the tactic of having your two forces "defending" Manhattan with one set to Defensive on set to Offensive postures. If your enemy enters Manhattan with an inactive leader, as his force cannot be switched to Offensive, the battle will occur but with all your troops from both forces switching to offensive (and hence losing terrain and cover bonuses). That's good to keep in mind.

[Sepul]

An example:

Invaders set to defensive come to a region crossing a river and you have 2 forces in this region. In this example it could be good to set one of your units in offensive position to force a battle, if both of your units stay in defensive position inside the fort the siege will start. Why is this a good choice? Because the invaders will have less cohesion than your stationary forces. But be careful about the condition of your units (leader, cohesion, force). I usually do this kind of things in my games to force a battle with an upcoming invasion force and this works great with landings or units crossing rivers.

If i´m an invader and want to take a fort i usually enter the region in defensive position and start a siege. If you have planned the siege you always can wait for the starvation of the garrison and being in defensive position is always a good choice because you wil obtain terrain benefits.

My advice: play a short scenario with both sides and try different combinations. If you play against the AI use the reasonable position (defensive) because the AI in most cases uses offensive to enter an enemy region, and it will start the battle with strong penalties.

[Durk]

As Sepul points out, not a simple solution, but some options based upon your situation to make things better.
But yes, all your troops essentially assume the same posture. One misleading thing, units inside and outside cities and forts do not cooperate even though the battle results imply they do.

[Philo32b]

As Sepul points out, not a simple solution, but some options based upon your situation to make things better.
But yes, all your troops essentially assume the same posture. One misleading thing, units inside and outside cities and forts do not cooperate even though the battle results imply they do.

More great information, Sepul and Durk. Thanks! I was like the AI in always arriving at a hostile province in Offensive posture. I will play around with arriving in Defensive now. And it is good to know that the inside and outside structure battles are completely separate. The battle results do indeed imply that they are together.

I've gone from getting my butt kicked (mostly by winter's ravages) to reaching a tie (down the the exact same point score, which the game held as a minor victory for the rebels for some reason), to winning a minor victory against the rebels in Decision in the North. All the good advice and information in the forum is helping! Thanks!