Balloons

[Bismarck1940]

How do you build these? I cannot find in panel anywhere (under any type of unit).

[The Red Baron]

These appear by event; check the message log each turn. Once the event fires, you will be able to build a few units. Balloons will be categorized as a support unit, like field hospitals or HQs. This is true for the Union, but I don't know if the CSA receives any balloon units.

[Merlin]

Balloons are awesome. Stick 'em in a corps for a functionally free cav brigade recon ability.

[ArmChairGeneral]

I'm not so hot on balloons. Almost every division (and thus stack) probably already has a 5 Detection cav element in it anyway. Balloons do give a +1 max CP bonus, allowing your large formations to go over the 18 CP maximum. Compare this to a Signal Corps' +2 CPs for not much more resources, and the cost benefit on balloons is not that attractive. They DO stack with the other types of CP boosting support units, though, so they do become useful in the largest corp stacks that need every command point you can get (and already have one of the more efficient CP support units in them). As the CSA the free one that is scripted is usually enough until the war is quite advanced. I rarely build more than one or two in a game (one is scripted for the CSA for free).

In the balloon tooltip there is a reference to lifting the fog of war, but I have been unable to discern a mechanical effect for this beyond the 5 Detection, which most cav elements already give. If they provide some benefit that I am unaware of beyond 5 Detection and +1 CP then I might re-assess their utility.